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KNIGHT OF THE BUN. 413
representing the head. It is the universe contained
within the Deity.
It is a sign ancient as history and more than his-
tory ; and the complete understanding of it is the
key of the two worlds. It is the absolute philosophy
and natural science.
All the mysteries of Magism, all the symbols of the
gnosis, all the figures of the occult philosophy, all the
kabalistic keys of prophecy, are summed up in the
sign of the pentagram, the greatest and most potent
of all signs.
The white dove and black raven in the West repre-
sent the two principles of Zoroaster and Manes, good
and evil, light and darkness ; and the fourth and fifth
sephiroth of the Kabala, the mercy or benignity, ana
the justice or severity of the Deity.
The candidate in the ancient initiations surrendered
without reservation his life and liberty to the Masters
of the Temples of Thebes or of Memphis ; he ad-
vanced resolutely amid innumerable terrors, that
might well lead him to suppose that it was intended
to take life. He passed through fire, swam torrents
of dark and foaming water, was suspended by frail
ropes over bottomless gulfs. "Was this not blind
obedience, in the fullest sense of the word? To
surrender one's liberty for the moment, in order to
attain a glorious emancipation, is not this the most
perfect exercise of liberty itself? This is what thos«