Akaza

“ After a slight pause, Akaza went on:
“Thou must wield each triad into a unity. This is real initiation—the consummation of perfect harmony. Thou hast long since gone beyond the reach of impure thoughts emanating from the five sub-human orders of creation. When impure characteristics are removed the first labor is performed. Thy studies and all knowledge received is the second labor, because it prepared thee for esoteric science.
“The power of thought,” continued Akaza, “if rightly used, enables a man to transcend creation. ”

“ Six weeks later, when brain-fever loosed its grip upon him, Akaza found Yermah lying face downward at the door of the Temple of Neptune. He was moaning and sobbing piteously. In a half-crazed condition, he had eluded observation, and started out to find his foster-father, but had fallen by the wayside, overcome by sheer bodily weakness. Akaza lifted him up, and hushed him as he would a child.
“Thou art wrong to grieve like this,” he said gently and soothingly. “The Father in the Trinity is the Universal Creator; the Son is man himself. ”

“ As he took counsel of his higher self, the bells of the Observatory tower in Tlamco sounded like a silvery-tinkling sea-shell, faint but distinct to his clairaudient ear.
“Peace! peace! peace!” they seemed to say, while the lines of care slowly relaxed, and the face 181of the devotee was as serene and calm as a May morning.
The fireplace and entrance to the cave were so arranged that it was easy to produce a draught; so, when Akaza renewed by meditation and prayer, returned to the fire, the atmosphere surrounding him was fresh and pure. ”

“ The sun represents the planet which sheds these influences, and therefore stands for Power. This is the golden bowl, the essence of Life itself. The cross and the circle are the hieroglyphs of our spiritual nature.”
Akaza’s look became abstracted and intense, and he mechanically pushed his hair up from his forehead. ”

“ AKAZA KEEPS HIS VOW AND IS FINALLY FREE As he passed out of the temple, Akaza turned again to look at Yermah whose face was illumined, serene and calm. With his hands clasped before him, the Dorado stood as if in a dream, taking into the inner recesses of his heart the comforting assurance of immortality and of final union with the Divine, in which Kerœcia was a part.
“Farewell, beloved!” said the old man, as his eyes filled. “Thou hast passed the Gates of Light, and art come into thine own. Amenti, thou unknown, receive thy son! Amrah, King of the Brotherhood, give back my vow! ”

“ Thou art a veritable sun-god, destined to be thrice born in this life.”
“Oh! Akaza, why speakest thou in riddles? Thrice born, indeed! How is it possible without death and rebirth?”
Akaza smiled at his impatience.
“I charged thee in the beginning to remember that there is a dual meaning to all labors that a candidate for the initiation must perform. Thou hast already had two births in this body, and art facing the third.”
Yermah could not conceal his astonishment. ”

“ Noting that it was near the noon hour, Akaza said, making the hierarchal sign of benediction:
“Have done! If Alcamayn will go with me to the Observatory, I will fix the time of our journey, also its duration, that he may be better able to devote his energy to the cause of his fellow-servants. May the sun preserve and keep us free from malice and disease—two mortal enemies of the soul.”
As one man they responded: “Haille, Akaza! Haille!”
Setos was primarily a man of stomach. ”

“ This was answered by a howl of mingled rage and surprise, as Oghi crouched with each hair on back and tail erect with hostility.
“Remain motionless, Setos! Shouldst thou move I would not be responsible for the consequences,” commanded Akaza, as he hastily twisted the chain 97around a good-sized flowering shrub. He managed to get the eye of the infuriated animal, and in a few moments the danger was over. None but a man absolutely master of self and conditions, could have quelled this beast as Akaza did. ”

“ Akaza continued, after a thoughtful pause, “is the slaying of the vampire of procrastination—the temptation to halt in the path of duty. Thou wilt naturally think thy work completed when thou art allowed to return to Atlantis.”
“Why not?”
“Thou wilt not return to Poseidon’s kingdom for many days. Atlantis is doomed.”
“Akaza, what art thou saying?” In his excitement Yermah shook the hierophant’s arm vigorously.
“Thou art forbidden to give to others what thou hast learned. The world needs thee more than thou canst imagine. Thou art now facing the eighth labor of initiation.” ”

“ While he was speaking, Akaza moved and breathed like a person in pain.
“What I must explain to thee is the duality of thine own nature,” he went on, turning sadly toward Yermah, “the dual aspect of the labor thou hast already performed, and what thou must do in the future. First, then, Osiris is thyself—the I-am-I principle within thee, which is the same first, last, and all the time. Thy labor is the finding of the Perfect Way. Love is the consummation, and Wisdom is the way.” ”

“ Akaza—curses be his portion! says that the Blessed Story is an allegory. He, a viler apostate than his pupil, claimed that he would come again, as Hirach incarnate, to break the power of the black brotherhood.”
“Rather let us exterminate the last remnant of them, and give their bodies to the fishes!” was his companion’s intemperate rejoinder.
“Face thy duty resolutely, and may victory be on thy side!” said Imos, piously, as Setos hurried out of the house.
“He who holds our destiny, plans all things well. May thy hopes find fruition also!” ”

“ From out that center issues evermore a ray of the divine creative spirit, coalescing into the life of animate nature here.
“The adept gathers the component parts of that incomprehensible being—man—to his divine center,” Akaza continued. “He wills them into the being of another, and that other becomes the mother of a son, given from the depths of space. Such a son art thou, Yermah.” ”

“ As an initiate he knew all that transpired on the subjective as well as on the positive planes of consciousness. He was always a disturbing element on the shallow, false and artificial side of life. He cared nothing for consequences. A natural wanderer on the face of the earth, Akaza was in his element when it came time for him to lead Yermah’s band away from the doomed island. ”

“ The day was well nigh spent when Akaza approached the camp near the mouth of the Indian Canyon. Yermah and Kerœcia advanced to meet him, hand in hand, like happy children. Kerœcia did not wait for a formal presentation but came forward graciously.
“Patriarch and hierophant,” she said, “this temple awaits thy ministration. The love and obedience of my people and myself are thine to command.”
“Fair daughter of the gods, thou hast already a place in my heart, as I perceive thou hast in the affections of my comrades. Mayst thou ever be surrounded by a nimbus of joy and gladness.” ”

“ In geometry, it was encircling 194the square; in chemistry, it was the making of alchemical gold.
“The wise man rules his stars, the fool obeys them,” resumed Akaza, as he lifted the horoscope, and displayed the Grand Man of the Cosmos, figured in the center of the table by incised black lines on the ivory surface. ”

“ Yermah raised his head and gazed with streaming eyes at an apparition of Kerœcia, as he had last seen her in life, standing in the eastern entrance.
“She smiles and beckons me!” he said, in an awe-struck whisper. “Oh! my soul, why hast thou forsaken me? Why should death touch thee, if I must live?”
“Death claimed nothing but the physical body,” said Akaza, softly. “She feels not its loss. Look at her serene countenance. Wouldst thou spare her pain?” ”

“ Yermah was like a maimed lion—a pathetic and pitiable object—as he lay with his head on Akaza’s shoulder, while his pent-up feelings found vent in choking sobs.
“Thou art weakening thy sacred manhood in yielding thus to despair. Thou art intrusted with a mission for all peoples, for all tongues, and for all time. Think, my son, of being the world’s ideal lover through all the eons to follow! It is a blessed privilege! Thou hast witnessed a demonstration of the destructive majesty of cosmic force. Now thou art called upon to obey thine individual destiny. THOU HAST PERFORMED THE EIGHTH LABOR!” ”

“ Alone in the cave at midnight, he indulged it. Without balance and discrimination, this might be mere sentimentality or mawkish sweetness. In the spiritual man, however, balance and discrimination must of necessity be present.
Therefore, in Akaza love was strong and firm, as well as tender, wise and far-sighted. Seeing clearly amid the illusions around him, his love welcomed even pain for its object, when by suffering Yermah could gain treasures, and powers and gifts everlasting. He would lift no finger to frustrate the needful work, yet was rent by greater anguish than Yermah himself. ”

“ Our gallant spearsmen were advancing 380two deep, when he charged them with three bodies of horsemen.
“‘It is Akaza!’” cried our leader, Poseidon. “‘The traitor comes to certain death.’ Some say that bolts from a mangonel struck through our ranks; others, that he cut off the spear-heads. Of this I know not. Poseidon rode at him in mortal combat, but fell uninjured at Akaza’s feet. Failing to kill him, he was obliged to give the Dorado as hostage. Ichanor, the war-chief of Poseidon, was compelled to surrender his son Orondo. ”

“ He substituted a purple robe for the water-soaked tunic, gave Yermah sandals, and finally wrapped his own cloak around him.
“Thy attendants, Yermah? It were not well to leave them to the mercies of air and water lashed to fury.”
“None saw me leave Iaqua. Neither man nor beast shall suffer because of my misdeeds,” said the Dorado. “It has taken all this time to find my way. The dying day left me resolved.”
“Thy spirit called to mine at that hour,” said Akaza with a glad smile. “I felt it then.”
“And wilt thou have me for thy companion for the night?” ”

“ May thy courage wax and grow strong as a lion. Though absent from the body, yet I am with thee always. Thou art my successor in all things. Wear the mantle of authority as if the All-seeing Eye were bent upon thee continually.
Farewell, my best beloved! May that formless entity whose presence is everywhere felt, yet never comprehended, guide and bless thee always.
Akaza The Hermaphrodite. [14] Trying to fully realize that Akaza had crossed the boundary line between the two worlds, Yermah passed into the sanctuary.
But before he knelt he saw a tiny white square lying on the altar. ”

“ This purpose must subdue its antithesis—the lust for material power and gain.”
“If the material body is not kept in a healthy condition, the spirit and the soul cannot be perfected,” continued Akaza.
“This is not a fault of mine,” returned Yermah, with a touch of pride.
“Thou hast guarded the temple well. The sun never shone on a more perfect physical type. The fifth labor,” the hierophant went on, “is equilibrated Will—the caduceus which our order carries and uses as a wand. It is a spear in the hands of an adept, who compels all secrets and who knows all things. ”

“ The mouth of the cave faced due west, thus enabling Akaza to see the last glimmerings of daylight go out as the sun dropped, apparently, into the ocean 164or was swallowed up in the vaporous clouds or fog-banks each day. For many months Akaza had watched this process, and, since his return from the Yo-Semite, he had busied himself incessantly with astronomical calculations.
“Pause here a moment,” he said to Yermah, after a hearty greeting. “One of the grandest symbols in nature stretches out before thee. Primordial substance is always represented by water flowing out of naught, or nothing.” ”

“ The future is best served by full recognition of Monbas independence; they, in turn, must acquit themselves with honor. No man among the Azes desires to keep that which is not fairly won.”
“Dost thou dare to accuse us of unfairness?” cried Ben Hu Barabe, rising hastily.
“The Ians have long discoursed against the award of land made by us to the Azes. Much travail of spirit has befallen us because of our pledges to thy ancestry. Fie upon thee, for an ingrate!” he continued, hotly.
Yermah and Akaza were on their feet in an instant.
“Setos had spoken without consideration,” said Akaza, mildly. ”

“ No spirit goes through the Gates of Light into His presence except he be well weighed in the balance of the seventh sign.”
“This is the same as initiation into the Brotherhood,” returned Yermah, involuntarily.
“It is the planetary aspect of the labor thou art soon to perform.”
Akaza did not wish to go more into detail; so he hastened to say:
“If we place the half-circle over the cross, we have mind risen over matter, and compassion is the result. Then we have learned the value of mercy. ”

“ A round inlaid ivory wheel, supported by a porcelain tripod, was indicated. On its outer edge were the signs of the zodiac, chased in black, with a mother-of-pearl inlaying to indicate the spokes. A rough-edged parchment lay in the center, and Yermah’s quick eye saw that it was an orrery question, pertaining to Atlantis, drawn in colors.
“We are not to examine the horoscope at present,” explained Akaza, following Yermah’s gaze. “I brought thee in here to make sure of fire and the needs of the inner man. Now that they are secure, we shall devote the morning to the beach.” ”

“ Woman lies a crushed and soiled lily; while man, the victim of vengeance to the powers of nature, wanders a fugitive on the earth, chained to the hell of his depraved imagination—The Great Spirit of Light and Wisdom is to him a tormenting fiend!”
After a time, Akaza went into the cave. The fire had warmed the interior, and the lamps shed a softened glow, which was comforting to the weary old man.
He was hungry, but the food seemed almost to choke him. It had pleased his fancy to have Yermah break bread and eat salt with him in this hidden retreat. ”