Book of Saphah

Historical Rites and Ceremonies Section

Fonece

(THE SEVENTH DEGREE IN THE ORDER OF ISRAEL) |1416|

35/P.1. Master: Who are you?

35/P.2. Pupil: A Son of Light. Behold the sign and emblem. |1417|

35/P.3. What did you see in the light?

35/P.4. The altar of Eolin.

35/P.5. What was its character?

35/P.6. The altar of incense and altar‑fire rose up before me. The wind ascended and the stars shone in the firmament. A tree grew by the battlement and the black evil crossed the southwest. In the center stood the cross of Eolin, studded with pearls and diamonds.

1416  see image i045

1417  Initiate here reads from top of first row of Tablet downward. --Ed.

i045 Tablet of Fonece. Begin at 1, and read downward; then at 2, etc.   (see image only)

35/P.7. What else did you see?

35/P.8. In the southeast floor of the temple, satan, black with the smoke of blood and war, demanded my surrender. And he drew forth the flaming sword.

35/P.9. What did you do?

35/P.10. I said, I pray to none but the Ever Present Creator. In Him I have faith. You I do not fear.

35/P.11. What next?

35/P.12. I came to the chamber of industry and I was taught a useful trade. After that I traveled northwest.

35/P.13. And was honored for your good work and love of peace, I suppose?

35/P.14. No, Master. I was confronted by a crowned king. |1418| He demanded that I stop, and ordered me to pray to the God he served. I remonstrated, |1419| saying: I pray only to the Great Spirit, trusting only in good works done to all men. || Instantly he flew into a rage, saying: You are the worst of men; your soul shall feed the fires of hell. With that, he hurled a javelin at me.

35/P.15. I escaped and traveled north, and came to a country most rich and prosperous, where many Israelites had gone before me.

35/P.16. Why did you not stay there?

35/P.17. I did, for a season, but warriors came and possessed the land and drove the Israelites away

35/P.18. What next?

35/P.19. I fled to the northeast, and came among savages, where I barely escaped being slain and feasted upon.

35/P.20. Which direction, then?

35/P.21. I traveled east and came into a country old in religion and philosophy. They had great riches for the rich and great poverty for the poor. Their philosophers wasted their time in reading the ancients.

35/P.22. Why did you not remain with them?

35/P.23. I was too poor to live with the rich, and too ambitious to live with the poor, who were little better than slaves.

35/P.24. Where did you travel next?

35/P.25. |1420| Toward the north part of the middle kingdom, where I came among magicians and necromancers.

35/P.26. What happened there?

35/P.27. They consulted the stars, moon, and palms of their hands, and called up the spirits of the dead, who then appeared before them. There was no industry among them, and I could find no employment with them. Nor did they assist one another.

35/P.28. Where next?

35/P.29. I went further south, where I came to an uninhabited country, the most favored under the sun. It was a place of joy and praise, filled with beautiful rivers, forests, plains, valleys, and countless singing‑birds, all things raising up the ceaseless voice of glory to Great Eolin. Here I sat down and wept.

35/P.30. What, wept in so fair a place?

35/P.31. Alas, I remembered the crowded cities and warring empires. Here there were no people, and I could not live alone, so I traveled still further south.

35/P.32. And certainly found a good place next?

35/P.33. Alas, me. The country was good, the climate warm, and all things grew abundantly without labor.

35/P.34. And why was it not most excellent?

35/P.35. Voluptuousness was an ocean for them to bathe in. And their priests taught them, that, for all sins, if before they died, they called on Daeves, Son of the sun and Savior of men, they would ascend to the upper heavens on the third day after death. So I, not loving indolence or lust, departed out of that country.

35/P.36. Where next?

35/P.37. Toward the southeast, coming into a land afflicted with priests, soldiers and beggars. So I fled further east.

35/P.38. And what then?

35/P.39. |1421| I came to a small settlement of Israelites where I was received by warm hands. Here I prepared to settle down in peace for all my days. But the state soon became attractive by its places of learning and the beauty of the gardens and glory of its manufactories. There being no idle people nor beggars among us, the idolaters of Hemah, Savior of men, falsely accused us and then declared war on us, and with a powerful army marched upon us, taking all our possessions. I escaped and turned westward once more.

35/P.40. Your fate has been hard. Why do you smile?

35/P.41. Because, however hard my fate has been, it is nothing compared to that which I saw had once befallen another people where I came next.

35/P.42. What happened there?

35/P.43. This was a country once rich in ancient temples and monuments, but now ruined and desolate. Broken pyramids and colonnades, tumbling walls, and thorns and wolves, marked the once habitable places of mighty kings and high priests. By the tablets on the crumbling walls I read that these people, in ancient times long past, were worshippers of idols and Gods who professed to save the souls of men. And I saw that their pride and glory lay in ships of war and mighty weapons of death. Having myself learned the trade of a potter, I took up an ancient, ruined pot, and read this inscription on it: Because I am a Faithist in the Great Spirit, Eolin, I am enslaved by these idolaters. Alas, what is my crime?

35/P.44. Most pitiful place! Where to then?

35/P.45. I met a friend whose head had been compressed in infancy in order to make him a prophet. He took me into his private habitation and taught me how the brain and nerves of flesh could be changed in infancy, by pressure, to make the grown‑up man of any character desired. Next he taught me the monotony of sound that brings on the prophetic spell and power to see the unseen. He thus expounded the philosophy of miracles, even to dying and coming to life again.

35/P.46. Wonderful philosophy. Will you show me some of these miracles?

35/P.47. I will, O Master, but the secret of their workings I cannot show.

(The pupil exhibits.)

35/P.48. It is true, O friend! Surely, too, you have taught this wisdom to the world?

35/P.49. No; my teacher sent me south, to a school of prophets, where I learned the mysteries of invocation and prayer.

35/P.50. For what purpose have you visited my temple? |1422|

35/P.51. To make pots.

35/P.52. What, with all your wisdom?

35/P.53. A useful employment is the highest service to the Maker of all.

35/P.54. You and your people shall be my people; my harvests shall be yours; and my gardens and orchards; for He Whose eye sees all, is upon me, and I am His servant.

35/P.55. |1423| There are three more chambers in my temple: The first preserves the wisdom of the ancients. The second is the chamber of industry and inventions.

35/P.56. In the third and last chamber are the secrets of the fullness of worship. The name of this chamber is Om, because it is here the recipients repose in spirit from all the cares of the earth.

35/P.57. (Signs and passwords, and form of initiation, withheld from publication, because the rites are still practiced.) |1424|

1418  Initiate here reads from top of second row of Tablet downward. --Ed.

1419  presented objection or protest, with reasoning

1420  Initiate here reads from top of third row of Tablet downward. --Ed.

1421  Initiate here reads from top of fourth row of Tablet downward. --Ed.

1422  Initiate here reads from top of fifth row of Tablet downward. --Ed.

1423  The inscriptions of Fonece are in part found in China, India, Persia, Arabia, and belonged to the Mound‑Builders of America. Ga'hoe ah mak, the position of the great serpent (solar phalanx), would therefore make these Phoenician rites common to China and America at the same period of time. The twenty degrees embraced architecture, mathematics, agriculture and astronomy, sufficient for a dense population of cultured people. And yet the ceremonies imply that there had been great empires long before that period. --Ed.

1424  As shown throughout this Saphah, the 1882 and 1891 Oahspe editions did not publish such signs, passwords and forms.

Aribania'hiayaustoyi

(Tablet of Ancient Egypt) |1425|

The invocation interpreted reads: |1426|

35/Q.1. Now I am strong in You, O Jehovih. Your bow in the firmament encompasses me on all sides. The follies of earth have turned my eyes up toward Your holy place.

35/Q.2. I have seen Your enemies bowed down. The king and the mighty man of valor with the two‑edged sword are hidden away in a dark corner. There is no light for them. You have grown up sweet‑scented flowers in the path of him who will not look upward; but a serpent comes upon him and he cries out against the vanities of the earth.

35/Q.3. In the far‑off corners of the world You have sown the seed of evil and death, and the man of darkness hurries there; but Your glories he will not observe. He builds his foundation in perishable things. But the hope of the righteous man lights up the inner chamber. He sees Your judgment seat. He seeks You in all good things and in the durable; he glorifies You in Your works.

1425  see image i046

1426  Those who sat around the table for spirit communion kept their eyes riveted on the graven characters. He who sat at the end where the crown is, was the oldest and was called rab'bah (father). It will be observed that the invocation is more than an interpretation of the characters, although they are all designated in the words. The rab'bah led off, but all the circle joined in the reading of it. The Gau (the plumb‑line) was moved by the spirits in answer to the questions of the rab'bah. In some countries the gypsies still invoke spirits in this way. --Ed.

i046 Tablet of Ancient Egypt.   (see image only)

35/Q.4. I will turn away from my house and my lands and look upward all my days. Yes, the fruits of the earth shall be my servants; my crown shall be woven by Your hands.

35/Q.5. My heart points up toward Your kingdom; but the heart of the man of darkness is downward to things that perish. You have set Eon (Aries or Te) in the midst, and he shall judge the living and the dead.

35/Q.6. You have made me above the diamond and above all precious stones; but the man of darkness goes after these. Your children he does not care for; he does not see. Truly, I will run quickly to them and lift them up. They shall be gems for my raiment; they shall become a glory in Your sight. Yes, I will turn their eyes up toward Your holy place.

35/Q.7. I will set up Gau before them, and the magnitude and glory of Your worlds shall entrance them.

35/Q.8. Your unseen hand shall become seen, and my brothers and sisters shall read the diadems in Your firmament. Your hand has quickened my eyes to see and my ears to hear You, O Life of my life!

35/Q.9. My understanding comes out of Your tablet (book). Its pages are engraved with the sun, moon and stars. Yes, all things proclaim the words You have written. None can counterfeit Your handiwork. From Your tablet I will read from the rising of the sun till its setting.

35/Q.10. My hands shall be skilled with tools to do Your labor. I will weave fabrics, and my house shall be built within the square of Your compass, for it shall be righteous work. My eye shall look toward Your dwelling‑place. I know Your sight is upon me. I will be joyful before You, my Father!

35/Q.11. To none other will I bow myself in supplication and worship. In Your presence, I will labor for peace on all occasions.

35/Q.12. My hand I will uplift on Your behalf, and yet no man shall feel the weight of my arm upon him. By Your crescent I am sworn to You. By the seven stars and by the sun, which is in the midst of the firmament and is its glory, and by the moon, I have spoken.

35/Q.13. Before Rea (Es, the air and ether), |1427| in Your name I have sworn. I have lifted up my voice. I will have no diadem but that which is woven by You!

35/Q.14. I will sing You new songs every day, and find new words of praise for Your glories. My trials shall be like whetstones and a hewing‑ax. My talents shall increase in wisdom and in whatever way You lead me for my own good.

35/Q.15. Before Your sacred altar I will come, knowing Your angels will come also. Yes, they shall teach me Your decrees.

35/Q.16. Your gifts shall be my gifts, my portion, whatever seems just in Your sight.

35/Q.17. Your messengers shall come to me, and my house shall be their house, they shall behold my labor; they shall admonish me wisely.

35/Q.18. They shall teach me wisdom in all You desire of me. The secret of my love to You, I will tell them, and I know they will lift me up for Your glory. In Your praise I will sing forever, O Jehovih! Amen!

1427  equivalent to the Mother Sublime

Ho'ed

(Tablet of Hy'yi) |1428|

Invocation reads:

35/R.1. Mithra said: You who invoke me, the Swift, Shining, with sword uplifted. Invoke me on the Tablet of the sun, and the world, and the crown, high raised. Bow down low and say:

35/R.2. Behold, the rose, deep rooted in the earth. Jehovih rises in majesty of All Light. His colors no man makes, nor does any man know the cause. This subtle perfume, where does it come from, and where does it go? What power creates it, and propels it?

35/R.3. O You unseen Om! Is my Spirit like perfume? Where does it come from, and where does it go? Give me of Your Mithra, O Om! |1429|

1428  See image i047. || These tablets were engraved on inlaid tables, called family altars, around which the family sat for spirit communion and prayer. The father led in repeating the invocation, and the wife and children spoke in concert. After the Israelites left Egypt, the graven tables were abolished, but invocation at the family table was continued, and is even to this day among some of the Jews (so‑called). --Ed.

1429  The Faithists were taught that he who goes forth to labor calls upon Jehovih, but he who supplicates in receptivity calls upon Om.

35/R.4. Make my heart look upward to You, Who are All Pure, Heavenly! Wife, Spouse and Mother! You, Who comes, I adore You!

35/R.5. The corporeal world You have, O Jehovih, placed in the midst of the lowest places, bringing forth. Do not bind my soul to it, You All Going‑forth.

35/R.6. My heart no longer looks downward; my corporeal passions I have subdued. Yes, even the diamond, the highest shining corporeal thing, does not bind me.

35/R.7. You, O Corporeal Sun, burning and full of flame, that brings forth the corporeal, growing harvests, hear me proclaim the All Eye that creates, making the souls of men. You, O Corporeal Sun, that makes of the things that are made, what a glory is yours! But farther and nearer than you are, O Sun, is Jehovih, Who creates without things that are made; the All First Creator. He goes forth, Jehovih. He comes, Om, the Bride and Mother, nursing with full breasts.

35/R.8. And you, O Moon, hear my upward soul, aspiring above all corporeal things! You, my Love, Majestic, ruler of waters and winds, I adore you. But a greater, the All Great Om, fed you. From Her breasts you were, O moon, high upraised. Eolin, the Mighty, touched you with His little finger and you have sped on. Come to me, O Om, spouse of the Seen and Unseen.

35/R.9. O you Stars, full of shining in the high heavens. Who can measure your distant places? Who can see your great corporeal majesty? O what a glory is yours, thrown in the high heavens! There, far, the souls of my forefathers roam, full of praise and prayer. Make me all pure, O Om, so that I may ascend.

35/R.10. Send forth Your Crown, O Eolin, Creator of all moving things. O You Incomprehensible and full of glory! Make me oblivious to all corporeal things, and fill me with Your going‑forth forever.

35/R.11. Make me to look, not backward nor to myself, but to perceive You, O Jehovih, and Your Lords and Gods, strong in majesty, and spirit high‑soaring, forever! Amen!

 i047 Tablet of Hy'yi.   (see image only)