Secret_History

320 The Secret History of the World
we cannot possibly include a page-by-page examination of Le Mystère in this
volume, but there are a number of important points to be made here.
In the first edition, Canseliet tells us right at the end of his preface:
The key to the major Arcanum is given quite openly in one of the figures
illustrating the present work. And this key consists quite simply in a color revealed
to the artisan right from the first work. No Philosopher, to my knowledge, has
emphasized the importance of this essential point. In revealing it, I am obeying the
last wishes of Fulcanelli and my conscience is clear. 218
Most of the preface to the second edition is taken up discussing a, “star shining
on the mystic virgin - who is at one and the same time our mother (mere) and the
hermetic sea (mer) - announces the conception”. 219 Canseliet tells us, “the star is
the great sign of the Work”. Naturally, this is wrapped in parables, with a
sufficient amount of diversion to occupy the puffers. But, having said all that,
Canseliet tells us even more. He comments that the reader might wonder that he
has spent so much time discussing the star, but the reason is that it leads us
straight into Fulcanelli’s text. He next tells us:
Indeed, right from the beginning my Master has dwelt on the primary role of the
star, this mineral Theophany, which announces with certainty the tangible solution
of the great secret concealed in religious buildings. This is the Mystère des
Cathédrales, the very title of the work. 220
The only problem is, for the puffer, these remarks are nonsense. Fulcanelli
begins Le Mystère talking about cathedrals in general, the feast of fools, and
wanders all over the place. He most certainly does not begin by talking about “the
primary role of the star”, this “great sign of the work”, or does he?
Yes, he does.
Remember what Canseliet said?
The key to the major Arcanum is given quite openly in one of the figures
illustrating the present work. And this key consists quite simply in a colour
revealed to the artisan right from the first work. No Philosopher, to my knowledge,
has emphasized the importance of this essential point.
Well, for a mind that thinks in terms of Kabbala, there is no way to understand
this. But, for a mind that thinks in cabala, the language of the gods, the birds, the
mother tongue, the solution is easy. If one opens to the very first “work of the
artisan”, or sentence of the book, there is a “figure” given - figure = number also! -
and that figure that is the key to the Major Arcanum is the number seven.
In the first sentence of the book, “the work of the artisan”, Fulcanelli writes…
218 Fulcanelli, Mysteries, p. 7.
219 Ibid., p. 13.
220 Ibid., p. 17.