Emerald Tablet VIII: The Key of Mystery “Once, in a time p…

Emerald Tablet VIII: The Key of Mystery

“Once, in a time past, I saw on the shores where time exists not the formless forms of the Hounds of the Barrier … ”

The secrets of the universe Thoth wrote of seem hidden …

… yet he wrote that “mystery is but hidden knowledge. Know and ye shall unveil.”

“Man is in process of changing to forms that are not of this world.”

“Search ye the mysteries of Earth's heart. Learn of the Law that exists, holding the stars in their balance by the force of the primordial mist.”

Thoth wrote that humans are beings “of earth and of fire.”

“Let thy flame shine out brightly. Be thou only the fire.”

“Wisdom is hidden in darkness. When lit by the flame of the Soul, find thou the wisdom and be Light-Born.”

Then, Thoth spoke again of “Ancient Atlantis,” of the “Kingdom of Shadows” and the “coming of the children of shadows.”

“Far in the past before Atlantis existed, men there were who delved into darkness, using dark magic, calling up beings from the great deep below us.”

Long ago, these beings were “conquered by Masters” and “driven below to the place whence they came.”

But some remained, “hidden in spaces and planes unknown to man.”

“Lived they in Atlantis as shadows, but at times they appeared among men … Serpent-headed when the glamour was lifted but appearing to man as men among men.”

“Crept they into the Councils … Slaying by their arts the chiefs of the kingdoms, taking their form and ruling over man.”

“But the Masters were mighty in magic, able to lift the Veil from the face of the serpent, able to send him back to his place.”

“Yet, beware, the serpent still liveth in a place that is open at times to the world. Unseen they walk among thee in places where the rites have been said.”

“Seek not the kingdom of shadows, for evil will surely appear.”

Thoth then warned of his travels to the “end of space of this cycle” where he “glimpsed the Hounds of the Barrier, lying in wait for he who would pass them.”

“Strange and terrible are the Hounds of the Barrier. Follow they consciousness to the limits of space.”

A long time ago, Thoth approached the great Barrier and saw the Hounds “on the shores where time exists not.”

“Hiding in the midst beyond time I found them, and They, scenting me afar off, raised themselves and gave the great bell cry that could be heard from cycle to cycle and moved through space toward my soul.”

“Fled I then fast before them, back from time's unthinkable end.”

“But ever after me pursued they, moving in strange angles not known to man … Fled I through circles back to my body.”

The Hounds can capture a soul who dares to pass the Barrier and hold it in bondage until “this cycle is completed.”

“Entered I my body. Created the circles that know not angles … and lost the pursuers in the circles of time.”

“But, even yet … cautious ever must I be not to move through angles, else my soul may never be free.”

“The Hounds of the Barrier move only through angles and never through curves of space.”

“Few there are who have succeeded in passing the Barrier to the greater Light that shines beyond.”

“Heed ye my warning: seek ye to move not in angles but curves, and if while free from thy body, though hearest the sound like the bay of a hound ringing clear and bell-like through thy being, flee back to thy body through circles.”

“Attempt not to pass the guards on the way. Rather should ye seek to gain of thine own Light and make thyself ready to pass on the way.”

“Light is thine ultimate end, O my brother. Seek and find ever the Light on the way.”