Section VI

I TURNED aside and noticed an immense palace the base of which rested on clouds. Its mass was composed of marble and its form was triangular. Four tiers of columns were raised one above the other. A golden ball topped the edifice. The first tier of columns was white, the second black, the third green and the last one a brilliant red. I intended, after having admired this work of immortal artists, to return to the place of the altar, the bird and the torch; I desired to study them further. They had disappeared and with my eyes I was searching for them when the doors of the palace opened. A venerable old man came forth clad in a robe like mine, except that a golden sun shone on his breast. His right hand held a green branch, the other upheld a censer. A wooden chain was about his neck and a pointed tiara like that of Zoroaster covered his white head. He came toward me, a benevolent smile on his lips. "Adore God" said he to me in Persian. "It is He who sustained thee in thy trials; His spirit was with thee. My son, thou hast let lip by the opportunity. Thou couldst have seized instantly,

the bird,

Hakîm

the torch,

  Majûsî

and the altar,

  Hallâj

 

Thou wouldst have become altar, bird and torch at one and the same time. Now, in order to arrive at the most secret place of the Palace of sublime sciences, it will be necessary for thee to pass through all by-ways. Come . . . I must first of all present thee to my brothers." He took me by the hand and led me into a vast hall.

 

The eyes of the vulgar cannot conceive the form and richness of the ornaments which embellished it. Three hundred and sixty columns enclosed it on all sides. Suspended from a golden ring in the ceiling was a cross of red, white, blue and black. In the center of the hall was a triangular altar composed of the four elements; on its three points were placed the bird, the altar and the torch. "Their names are now changed," said my guide. Here the bird is called

  aspirna,

the altar

  Kabena

and the torch

  Nephrith?.

The hall is called

  Hajalah,

and the triangular altar:

  Athanor.“

Around the altar were placed eighty-one thrones, to each of which one mounted by nine steps of unequal height, the treads being covered with red carpets.

 

While I was examining the thrones, a trumpet sounded whereupon the doors of the hall

 

swung on theirhinges to let pass seventy-nine persons, all attired like my guide. Slowly they came near and seated themselves on the thrones while my guide stood beside me. An old man, distinguished from his brothers by a purple mantle the hem of which was covered with embroidered characters, arose, and my guide, addressing them in the sacred tongue, said: "Behold one of our children whom it is the will of God to make as great as his fathers." "May the will of the Lord be done," responded the old man, and turning to me he added: "My son, the time of thy physical trials is now ended . . . There remain long journeys for thee to undertake. Henceforth thy name shall be

  El-Taâm (arab.: die Nahrung).

Before thou visit this edifice, each of my eight brothers and myself will present thee with a gift." He walked up to me and with the kiss of peace gave me a cube of grey earth called

  human (Lawa);

the second gave me three cylinders of black stone called,

Qenka ;

the third a small piece of rounded crystal called;

 

the fourth a crest of blue plumes named,

  Ashqûshaq

he fifth added a silver vase which carries the name of,

  Geshem.

the sixth gave me a cluster of grapes known by the sages under the name of

  Marah-resha (?).

the seventh presented me with the figure of a bird similar in its form to

YHVH

but it had not its brilliant hues; it was of silver. "It has the same name," he said to me; "it is for thee to give it the same virtues." The eighth gave me a small altar, resembling the altar

Nephrîth

Finally my guide placed in my hand a torch composed, like

of brilliant particles; however, it was not lighted. "It is for thee," he added, "like those that have preceded it to give it the same virtues." "Reflect on these gifts" then said the chief sage. "They all lead equally to perfection, but none of them is perfect in itself. It is from their admixture that the divine product must come. Know also that all of them are null if thou employ them not in the order in which thou hast received them. The second, which serves for the use of the first, remains merely crude matter without warmth and without usefulness unless in its turn it is aided by that which comes after it. Guard carefully the gifts thou hast received and set out upon thy journeys after thou hast drunk from the cup of life." Hereupon he handed me in a crystal cup a shining liquor of saffron hue; its taste was delicious and it emitted an exquisite aroma. I was about to hand the cup back to him after moistening my lips in the liquor, when the old man said: "Drink it all; it will be thy only nourishment during thy journeys." I obeyed and felt a divine fire course through all the fibers of my body. I was stronger, braver; even my intellectual powers seemed doubled.

 

I hastened to give the greeting of the wise men to the august assembly I was about to leave, and at my guide’s command I entered a long gallery on my right hand.