This next invocation of Mercury was done with a new-made Image of the god in the East, a terminal Phallic figure in yellow wax, very beautiful, made that day by Fra. O.S.V. he also used these invocations "At the limits of the Night" and this "O light in light", before the "Majesty of Godhead". The Temple was opened at 11:20 p.m. on the first day of the vulgar year. The Versicle began at 11:40 and ended at 11:55 circa. Immediately Fra. L.T. completely lost control; although a man of some education, degraded himself and dispersed the holy invoked Prana by defacing this volume with the meaningless scrawls opposite {WEH NOTE: Not available}, declaring them to be the inspiration of Thoth which were unworthy even of his ape. In this way a great part of the virtue of the Rite was lost. Some results were however obtained, and these were recorded in the esoteric account of this Working. The Temple was closed at about 2 o'clock of the fore-noon of Friday.
The Esoteric Record [of the Second Working]
The god Hermes having been invoked, according to the Secret Rites, as elsewhere recorded, Frater L.T. proceeded to answer the demands, as follows:
Q: [O.S.V.]: Are we working right?
A: [L.T.]: No.
Q: What's wrong?
A: The time, and, to a less extent, the place.
Q: What is the right time?
A: Three hours before dawn.
Q: Does this apply to Mercury alone or to all the gods?
A: To Mercury alone.
Q: Are we to invoke Mercury again?
A: Yes.
Q: When, then?
A: On the day of the full moon.
Q: What god shall we invoke tomorrow?
A: Thoth.
Q: But Thoth is Mercury.
A: You will get another aspect.
Q: Shall we not use the same Versicle?
A: It does not matter.
Q: Shall I make statues of all the gods?
A: No.
Q: Shall I make tablets of all the gods?
A: Yes.
Q: Plain tablets, with the Versicles?
A: No.
Q: What tablets?
A: Tablets with the names only.
Q: In what order shall we invoke the gods?
A: The proper order is — Venus, Mercury, Juppiter, Luna, Sol.
Q: Will he help in Geomancy?
A: Yes.
Q: And also in the conduct of affairs?
A: In some not in all.
Q: In business?
A: In some business.
Q: What?
A: Books, money, love.
Q: How can we invoke Mercury better?
A: Use a golden pentagram, placing the same in a prominent position; drink yellow wine and eat fish before the Ceremony. Let the clock be removed.
Q: Can you suggest any improvements in the Ceremonies, especially that of Juppiter?
A: Scarlet and silver should be worn, and the crown O.S.V. L.T. is to wear the scarlet robe, violets are to be strewn and trodden with bare feet.
Q: Give a distinct proof of your presence, appreciable by the intelligence of O.S.V.
A: LET THE WAND OR ONE BECOME NINE, THIS IS THE SIGN OF PRIAPUS, BUT AFTERWARDS NOTHING.
O.S.V.: I understand and agree the proof.
L.T.: Shall I let Him take full possession now?
L.T.: I am going..........Yes. What do you want to know now? There are other things I can tell, or else ask me questions.
L.T.: You will receive good news in respect of money on the eleventh of January in the forenoon. Fra. L.T. will be concerned with it: it will be quite unexpected. Money will be given by someone to whom L.T. introduced O.S.V. A change in O.S.V.'s affairs in February.
O.S.V.: (I am going to ask a very important question: concentrate hard.) N.C.G.M.H.D. (This question enquires as to when the speaker shall attain the grade of Magus.)
L.T.: L.P. L is 50; and P. is 6.
L.T.: I don't know....Wait....Hours? I am not quite sure, but it is connected with time.
L.T.: The Ceremonies should be done every other night.
The Fratre then changed functions.
O.S.V.: The god has appeared to me in his character as a messenger, but as a robust adult, rather than a slim youth. He has the winged helmet and sandals, and bears a Caduceus of gold. (Frater L.T. confirms this description in every respect.)
O.S.V.: Hear the words which I bear through the ambient air. The Father of All hath girt Himself with a many-coloured robe; the Father of All hath spilt his seed on galaxy and globe. The formation of Nebulae is like the bursting of the seed pods of flowers. (These are not his words; but it is his meaning. I can't get his words at all.) What we call light he calls wind. Our highest spiritual experiences are what he calls light. That is why one gets the phenomenon of the Opalescent Universe, so to call it, in the Sacrament of the Ninth Degree.) (It is most important.... Never mind about that.) All this is the key to the meaning of the Latin invocation in the Vision of the Universal Mercury which I have never understood. (Memo; obtain a copy and confirm this) We shall shortly be given someone who will be of great help to us in our working.
L.T. now wished to ask questions.
L.T.: When will the reconciliation of which I am thinking take place?
O.S.V.: There is no real enmity, it is a mere tiff or misunderstanding.
L.T.: When will the pressure of which I am thinking be relieved?
O.S.V.: The answer to both these questions is Death, but I don't know in what sense.
L.T.: Will the most important prediction of December be fulfilled?
O.S.V.: Better than you think.
O.S.V.: Like the Sword of Damocles, it impends always, but may never fall. The answer, however, that I get, is three months.
O.S.V.: I haven't got that.... I want to lie here, and see Mercury. It seems that Hermes is my particular deity at present. The golden sparks of which the Universe is composed, are shot with silver lightnings. In his next aspect he should reveal to us a great deal of the inner meaning of this particular Rite.
In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, who is Mercury; and is therefore to be identified with Christ. Both are messengers; their birth-mysteries are similar; the pranks of their childhood are similar. In the Vision of the Universal Mercury, Hermes is seen descending upon the sea, which refers to Mary. The Crucifixion represents the Caduceus; the two thieves, the two serpents; the cliff in the Vision of the Universal Mercury is Golgotha; Maria is simply Maia with the solar R in her womb. The controversy about Christ between the Synoptics and John was really a contention between the priests of Bacchus, Sol, and Osiris, also, perhaps, of Adonis and Attis, on the one hand, and those of Hermes on the other, at that period when initiates all over the world found it necessary, owing to the growth of the Roman Empire and the opening up of means of communication, to replace conflicting Polytheisms by a synthetic Faith. (This is absolutely new to me, this conception of Christ as Mercury.) Some difficulty about the [....]
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To continue the identification, compare Christ's descent into hell with the function of Hermes as guide of the Dead. Also Hermes leading up Eurydice, and Christ raising up Jairus' daughter. Christ is said to have risen on the third day, because it takes three days for the Planet Mercury to become visible after separating from the orb of the Sun. (It may be noted here that Mercury and Venus are the planets between us and the Sun, as if the Mother and the Son were mediators between us and the Father.)
Note Christ as the Healer, and also his own expression: "The Son of Man cometh as a thief in the night."; and also this scripture: (Matthew xxiv, 24-7) "For as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."
Note also Christ's relations with the money-changers, his frequent parables, and the fact that his first disciple was a publican.
Note also Mercury as the deliverer of Prometheus.
One half of the fish symbol is also common to Christ and Mercury; fish are sacred to Mercury, (owing presumably to their quality of movement and cold-bloodedness.) Many of Christ's disciples were fishermen and he was always doing miracles in connection with fish.
Note also Christ as the mediator: "No man cometh unto the Father but by me", and Mercury as Chokmah "through whom alone we can approach Kether."
The Caduceus contains a complete symbol of the Gnosis; the winged sun or phallus represents the joy of life on all planes from the lowest to the highest. The serpents, besides being active and passive, Horus and Osiris, and all their other well known attributions, are those qualities of Eagle and Lion respectively, of which we know but do not speak. It is the symbol which unites the Microcosm and the Macrocosm, the symbol of the Magical operation which accomplishes this. The Caduceus is life itself, and of universal application. It is the universal solvent. It is quite easy to turn quicksilver into gold on the physical plane, and this will soon be done. New life will flow through the world in consequence. The god now lays his Caduceus upon my lips for silence; bidding me only remember that on the following night he is to come in another form.
The Temple was then closed.
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Written out from 12:45 — 2.30 p.m. 2.1.14.
