Initiation Of A Magi.

INITIATION OF A MAGI .

FROM TUE FUEXCH OF M . HENUI DELAAGK . IN Egypt , for four thousand years , the Pyramids have revealed , by their form , to the generations which have passed away , the eternal , immutable doctrine of the Holy Trinity . Ancient temples of the initiation , they have

been traversed by all the great geniuses of ancient times ; they have given lawmakers and promoters ot civilisation , as their traditions devoutly attest ; they have seen , without trembling , the convulsions of empires ; they have remained standing in the majestic attitude of eternal

truth-, also those consciences which suffered from the scepticism of the century would go back with happiness to the times of the earnest faith , when the founders of religion came to drink of the living waters of the eternal truth ; for , following the remark of St . Augustine , " Moses was

versed in all the sciences , and mysteries of the initiation of the Egyptians . " We will consider these mysteries from their truthful point of view , viz ., " the regeneration of the mind ; " also to learn in what manner the man was placed in a state to enter into immediate communication with his God .

When a man felt in his mind an ardent thirst for the truth , and in his heart tho necessary courage to brave the terrible ordeals of the initiation , he climbed up to the seventh course of the Grand Pyramid , where he found a window cut in the granite , which remained open day and

night . This opening , of about " three feet square , " tho only entrance to the temple of the initiation , was situated towards the north , that being tho side from whence comes the cold , darkness , and ignorance . There the aspirant would find before him a corridor—cold , damp , low-pitched ,

and arched like a tomb . Here he would find a hand-lam p . So low was the roof , that he was compelled to commence his forward progress in a crawling position . This consisted of a circuitous road , at the end of which was a pit with a large mouth ; its edges and sides covered with a dark

asphalte , as smooth as ice . The mouth of this gulf emitted a thick black smoke , and seemed to be one of the " ventholes of the infernal regions . Often , in the presence of this unfathomable pit , the heart of the aspirant failed . Some would slip backwards on their belly from this new obstacle ,

retrace their steps , and renounce their perilous enterprise . On the contrary , the man who had the courage to persevere , saw the initiated who accompanied him place over his head the lamp , then disappear down the dark precipice by the aid of a ladder placed in the interior ; the profound

obscurity concealing the iron steps of which it was composed . The candidate would follow him in silence . After having descended about sixty steps , he arrived at an opening cut in the rock , which served for the entrance to a road ; he would enter this aperture , and continue his

descent in a spiral direction for about fifty yards . At the end of this road was a double swinging door , made of brass , which opened by itself at'his approach , without effort or noise , but when it closed after him , produced such a crash

that the echoes , reverberating through the deep subterranean passages , warned the priests that a profane was coming to pledge himself in the gallery which led to the place of trial .

At this moment , the initiated , who had accompanied the aspirant , would tell him that he was not able to go with him any further , but before leaving him he made him write his " will ; " and informed him that Death was

probable in the perilous trials which he had undertaken ; in fact , that it was necessary to have a bold heart to enable him to persevere in his perilous enterprise . The aspirant who desired to continue his route came next to the new

gallery . Both sides of this gallery disclosed to him some deep recesses , or caves , in which were placed statues made of basalt . These fantastic images were disposed in such a manner that the vacillating light projected from the lamp

of the aspirant , falling on them , made him believe that he was surrounded by the shades of the dead , gathered together to contemplate the strange sight of a mortal descending alive into the infernal regions .

At the end of this gallery was a door guarded by three men armed with swords , wearing helmets or headdresses , made in the form of the head of the jackal . These

guardians — called m mythology Cerberus — at his approach advanced quickly towards him , one of them grasping him by the throat , at the same time saying" Pass if thou daresfc , but take care not to retreat , for we

Initiation Of A Magi.

watch at this door day and night to oppose the retreat of those who have passed its threshold , and to keep them shut up for ever in these subterranean places . " If these words did not shake the resolution of the aspirant , the guards stepped aside and allowed him to pass . He would

scarcely have proceeded fifty yards when he would see before him a very vivid light , by the aid of which he was enabled to perceive that he was in a vaulted chamber , about one hundred yards square . On the right and the left were raised two funereal piles , formed of branches of

the Arabian balsam tree , the Egyptian thorn , and the tamarind tree ; three kind of wood , supple and sweet scented , but very inflammable . It was necessary that the aspirant should pass these two furnaces , and as he did so the flames united and formed a flaming bower over his

head . Scarcely had he passed this scorching fiery furnace than he saw that he was in the presence of a torrent fed by the River Nile , which barred his further progress . The aspirant would stri p himself naked , roll up his clothes

into a bundle , attach them firmly to his head , taking care to fix above them his lamp , whose clear light pierced the blank darkness which enveloped him , and enabled him to guide his course to the opposite side of the river .

As soon as he gained the opposite side he saw before him an inclining arcade , which led to a landing stage six feet square , whose flooring concealed from his sight the mechanism on which it rested . Before him was a door ,

made of ivory , and garnished with two fillets of gold , which indicated that it opened from the interior . Vainly would the aspirant try to force this door and thus find a road ; it resisted all his efforts . Suddenly , two rings , very highly polished , appeared before him , which he grasped with his

hands ; but hardly had he done so than the flooring on which he stood was gradually drawn away , leaving him suspended by the rings over an abyss , out of which rushed a blast of wind which extinguished his lamp . Deafened bv thfi nm ' sfi . frozen bv the cold , tossed about by the wind ,

he remained in this cruel suspense about a minute . Little by little , however , the rings would descend , and the aspirant again felt the landing stage under his feet , the ivory door would open , and he would find himself in a Temple , brilliantly illuminated .

These trials were not only for the purpose of ascertaining the courage of the aspirant , but to show him , by a frightful symbolism , that the man of this life who aspired to possess the " eternal truth , " ought to commence by becoming dead to this world , descending : alive into the grave ,

sojourning long enough in the bowels of the earth to divest himself of his mortal body , and not to return until converted and regenerated , and born again unto a new life , after having triumphed over the " four elements of nature , " of which , bv original sin . he had become the slave . The

ideas which the nations of antiquity formed of the initiation were so grand , that we see the Epic poets make their heroes descend into the infernal regions , those who had not previously taken their part in the initiation of the revelation of the mysteries of the Goddess " Isis . " We

have seen the aspirant victorious in his struggle with nature ; we shall now see him fighting a desperate dual between his soul and his body ; in order that the " child of darkness " may become a " child of . light , " or demigod .

Those heroes of antiquity who were of the initiated were indicated by the word " Love . " They would have the soul kindle , not with the limited love of a woman , but with the infinite love of the Divinity , and humanity , which creates on earth heroes and saints .

The door by which the aspirant entered into the sanctuary was situated in the pedestal of the triple statue of Iris , Osiris , and Orus , sacred trinity , image of the three manifestations of the " creative God of the universe . " There the neophyte was received by the priests , ranged in

two lmes , like rich costly ornaments . Above them the aspirant discerned a triangle beaming with light ; in the middle was a sparking diamond , in the form of an " eye , " indicating that they were priests of Osiris , whose name signified the " Eye of God . " At their head was the

torchbearer , holding in his hand a gold vase in the form of a boat , named " Baris , " from which issued a brilliant light , symbol of the increated light . A second held the mystic

" Fan ; " * all carried in their hands some symbol , either of purification , power , or of virtue . The hieropbant , after embracing him three times , made him fall on his knees before the triple statue , and invited him to unite with them