liber963

LIBER CMXIII
the head of a goat. And between them burneth a pyramid of
flame, which consumeth neither but blindeth both, so that the
one beholdeth not the other. Notwithstanding, when the one
is lost in the water, and the other is burnt up in the flame,
they become united in the form of a woman fashioned of
Earth and of Air, who without husband is yet mother
of many sons.
9. Now the Sons are in truth but one Son; and the one
Son but a daughter draped and never naked; for her mother is
naked, therefore is she robed. And she is called the Light of
my Love, for she in conealed, and cannot be seen, as the Sun
burneth over her and drowneth her in fire, whilst below her
surgeth the sea, whose waves are as flames of water. When
thou hast licked up the oceanthou shalt not see her because of
the fire; and when thou hast swallowed the Sun surely shall
the waters be driven away from thee, so that though the fire
be thine the water hath slipped thee, as a dog its leash. Yet
the path is straight.
8. Along it shalt thou journey, and then shalt thou learn
that the fear of death is the blood of the world. So the woman
dressed herself in the shrouds of the dead, and decked herself
with the bones of the fallen; and all feared her, therefore they
lived. But she feared life; therefore she wove a dew-moon
in her tangled hair as a sign of the fickleness of Death, and
wept tears of bitter sorrow that she should live in the blossom
of her youth. And her tears crept like scorpions down her
cheeks, and sped away in the darkness like serpents; and for
each serpent there came an eagle which did carry it away.
7. “Why weep?” said the Balance swinging to the left.
“Why laugh?” said the Balance swinging to the right. “Why
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