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THE ILLUMINATI - THE SCENTED GARDEN OF ABDULLAH THE SATIRIST OF SHIRAZ

The Vanity of metaphysic

XXXVI

SURAIYA  {FN1}

Sevenfold stands Suraiya in the sky;
Seven virtues do thy podex glorify.
First, thou art hotter than Jahim {FN1} itself,
And drier than Arabia art thou dry.
Third is thy tightness, like an hoop of steel,
And O! thy muscles, their mobility!
Fifth, is thy smell like jasmine-ambergris,
And soft thou art like peaches; seventhly,
Such is the beauty of its form that one,
Seeing it, might be well content to die.
(So {FN3} Allah blazes higher than the noon;
No water stains His spotless unity.
His love once hold thee, He will never loose;
But shake with rapture to the utmost "I";
The perfume of His love is wonderful,
And tender is He as a virgin's eye,
While for His beauty are no words of earth,
Nor can the heavens this need with song supply.)
So thou with Allah, man! hold Him as dear
(Nay, dearer!) as the apple of thine eye.
Then, when thou hast Him, cease to speculate --
Who hath the How is careless of the Why. {FN4}
So I, Habib, thy podex sodomize;
With simple art the Mullahs I defy
To analyse the mystery; nor care
So long as I am in the galaxy
Of sevenfold Suraiya; El Qahar
Lifteth his member evermore {FN5} on high.
So doth wise El Qahar to El Qahar
The fool by El Qahar the bard reply.

{Footnote 1. Suraiya -- the Pleiades.}

{Footnote 2. Hell.}

{Footnote 3. The passage in brackets is certainly spurious. We retain it as shewing the ingenuity of interpretation employed in this class of literature.}

{Footnote 4. The natural (though hardly altogether just) contempt of the practical expert for the arm-chair critic.}

{Footnote 5. Surely Oriental exaggeration.}

The ruling passion strong in death.

XXXVII

THE CRANE

What if our pleasures prove the bane
Of this thy lover's shuddering brain? {FN1}
Some evil Jinn may haunt the fane;
Some serpent hurt the sugar-cane;
Some rot infect the golden grain!
Nay, though my flesh grow boil and blain,
Each sinew cramp, each muscle sprain,
Each link dissolve of Nature's chain,
Each nerve disrupt in thoughts inane, {FN2}
Each function abdicate its reign,
I care not, so this love remain.
Dead or alive, insane or sane,
The perfect passion of us twain
Shall bring us blessing in its train
As summer brings the welcome rain.
Turn, life's deceitful weather-vane!
Our love is set as Charles his wain {FN3}
That lights to love the amorous swain. {FN4}
On one leg stands the thoughtful crane;
On one love rests my life; in vain
The evil Jinn may pour their pain,
Torture this soul again, again,
With wrath and will, with might and main;
High Allah can their hate restrain --
Our loves their goodly shape retain.
Though Shaitan {FN5} should the court profane,
He spits against the loftier plane
In empty malice. Who would deign
To mark him? By our lion's mane {FN6}
I swear! to tread the lonely lane
Of death to me is royal gain,
Since I with my Habib have lain,
And he my tool doth entertain.
I speak the truth; falter, nor feign'
Seeing my camel on the plain
Girt for the Journey; spared or slain,
My love's no moon to wax and wane.
Allah our love with mercy sain!
Then death's a splendid window-pane
Through which I look to the world to explain.
Give me the Cup! its wine I'll drain,
Thy podex to my member strain,
And thrust, and pull, and writhe amain: --
Thrill though each raptured dying vein
That El Qahar's dissolving brain
Be of his Destiny the bane!

{Footnote 1. Can this be a reference to the Western superstition that mystic devotion injures the intellect? Or only to the dangers of "obsession", to the appalling results which occasionally occur when the processes are ill performed? I cannot but give my adhesion to the former theory: at this stage of the poem el Haji is attacking sceptics and orthodox people: there is no imperfection in his love.}

{Footnote 2. El Haji's materialism. There is nothing strange to an Oriental in the theory that emotions and thoughts depend upon bodily changes. All books on Philosophy teach or imply this, in direct contradiction to the silly metaphysical theories of thought which pass current in the West. Yet they hold that all depend, ring within ring, upon the central point, God. If the Eastern is an idealist, it is the idealism of Malebranche or Berkeley; if a sceptic, it is the scepticism of Huxley or Hume; if a materialist, it is the materialism of Leibnitz or the earlier Kant.}

{Footnote 3. Charles' wain -- the Great Bear, the Car of David, and many other names, equally absurd.}

{Footnote 4. We do not know whether this can possibly have any reference to a local custom. In Egypt the rising of Sirius heralded various obscene religious festivals. Our own view is that the best signal for beginning a love-affair is the rising of -- no matter!}

{Footnote 5. Shaitan -- Satan. It is, however, a generic name for an evil spirit.}

{Footnote 6. Lion. The Persian, with the Scot and the Cingalee, claims a lion for his emblem.}

Satisfaction excludes speculation.

XXXVIII

THE GARDEN  {FN1}

I have a porcelain jasmine-jar
deep stained with crimson -- blood, I wis!
And in my garden do I lie,
my garden full of clematis.
Above me sing the birds, around
the rose and lily blush and pale;
Mine is a bower of eglantine,
my couch of lilac and nargis.
The cup of wine is in my hand;
the slaves await the master's word;
My huqqa {FN1} smoke to heaven curls,
laden with maddening cannabis. {FN3}
I feed upon my jasmine-jar
these eyes; this brain its beauty knows,
Its perfume roused to ecstasy
by cunning strain of ambergris. {FN4}
Above, Habib my lover hangs;
his podex is the jasmine-jar;
His lips are softly closed on mine,
one long unfathomable kiss.
All, all is rapture; who would shift
one inch, all mystery to disclose?
A fool is he who queries Quid?
still baffled by the question Quis? {FN5}
I do not care, for love is all;
one moment lent to mullah-talk
Is lost to love; and why complain
when nothing is at all amiss?
The folk that haunt the evil house
of Fatma to Hakim {FN6} resort
Wisely indeed: Thy drugs! they cry:
we cannot make a shift to piss! {FN7}
The Zahid still frequents the mosque
and moans the dreary Fatihah:
O fools! ye miss love's podex-joy,
and missing love all good ye miss.
Come, O Habib, thy podex close
on El Qahar's enamoured tool!
Though we mistake the world and God,
at least is no mistake in this.

{Footnote 1. After this ode the "secret key-number" breaks down. It is said that there are five odes missing. But no doubt need therefore be cast upon the genuineness of the following odes. Some weight is to be given to the contention that there can be only 42 odes, neither more nor less, for mystical reasons. Their Persian dress I cannot learn; but the Egyptians knew 42 Gods who purify the soul; and the Jews speak of the "Revolution of the 42-fold Name in the Palaces of Yetzirah" -- the world which should invade and redeem this material scheme of things.

Talking of this "scheme of things", I remember the wit of a certain comely youth at Oxford, who reproached his exhausted lover with the quatrain:

"Ah love! could Thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Would we not shatter it to bits, and then
Remould it nearer to the heart's desire."}

{Footnote 2. [Arabic] huqqah. It is said that this word represents hieroglyphically the process of smoking. [Arabic] the harsh aspirate changed to [Arabic] the smooth aspirate by medium of the force of [Arabic] which Arab mystics describe as being "of a watery, lunar nature, and consonant to dogs, jackals, beetles, pools, old women painted, dreams, water pots, drunkenness, illusion, broken spears, and astrologers". In this case the watery nature symbolizes the rose-water through which the smoke is drawn to purify and soften it.}

{Footnote 3. Cannabis -- Hashish, bhang, ganja, marijuana, kif, a drug much used by Yogis and Fakirs. It induces maniacal attacks, destroys the sense of proportion in time and space, and gives powerful emotions to its victims.}

{Footnote 4. Ambergris. Without much perfume of its own, it is priceless for bringing out the best of any others with which it may be mixed. The price in 1906 was 135 shillings the ounce.}

{Footnote 5. i.e. it is useless to explore the universe until the problem of personality is satisfactorily settled.}

{Footnote 6. Hakim -- doctor.}

{Footnote 7. Gonorrhoea is known in Persia as elsewhere. At a recital, when all the young men exclaim joyfully: "What flowing stanzas!" (suz), an old cynic may be heard to mutter: "What flowing gleet!" (suzak).}

Ecstasy beyond all price: but to be had
by him who casts away all other desires.

XXXIX

THE BARGAININGS

What shall a man give in exchange for the enjoyment of thy podex? {FN1} There is nothing in Iran, or upon the whole earth, that is worthy to be spoken of in this matter. The treasures of the sun and moon are not to be compared with it; if the stars also were to be offered, they would not equal the joy of even the first rubbings of the member against its orifice.

The desire of the fanatic is to cast away life at the feet of Heaven; {FN1} but for thy podex heaven and life together might be thrown away; and all the perfections of Allah are not worth one perfection of thy podex.

He therefore who would attain to merge his member therein offers nothing, but on the contrary employs to the best advantage whatever he hath, though in the Pursuit he forgetteth that he hath it, not valuing it. To him who so acts the Attainment of thy bed is certain.

It is only necessary to have seen thy buttocks agitated in walking beneath thy tunic for a wise man to abandon all other pursuits. {FN3}

All this hath El Qahar achieved; therefore for him thou wilt push out thy buttocks, causing that blush rose, thy podex, to expand.

The member of El Qahar will wallow therein like a water buffalo at noon in the pools of mud.
Come, Habib, thou hast not been sodomized since sunset; the member of El Qahar is erect and straining like a fresh horse; before darkness falls thou must be sodomized five times. {FN4}

{Footnote 1. Cf. Canticles; and Matthew, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"}

{Footnote 2. Refers to the Ghazi, still a terror to our Frontier officials in N.W. India. The method of manufacture is interesting. A poor and despairing man is selected and watched. One night, as he slinks through some deserted beggar's haunt, he is secretly drugged and conveyed to a palatial house with gardens and fountains. He awakes to find himself robed in fine linen and purple, surrounded by rich wines and foods, and by an adoring bevy of the most luscious beauties that he can imagine. He is however always kept to a certain extent under the influence of hashish, in order to bewilder him slightly, and to cause him partially to doubt the reality of his present joy. In a week or so he is again deeply drugged, dressed in his old rags, and abandoned in the same beggar's haunt as before. He wakes up utterly miserable, and consults the local Mullah as to his experience. "My son!" replies the good old man, "favoured of Heaven! You have had a vision of the realms of Paradise." He naturally wants to know how to get back, and the Mullah reiterates the well-known blessing on those who die slaying infidels, and further indicates such and such a Sahib -- who has probably made himself obnoxious to the faithful in some way -- as a suitable person to attack. Lord Curzon however very wisely met this manoeuvre by ordering the cremation of murderers of this type. If the body of a Mussulman is burnt he cannot go to Paradise; for the os coccygis, from which God will raise his body from the dust, is destroyed.

But it would probably be waste of time to explain all this to Mr. Keir Hardie.}

{Footnote 3. That is, even a very slight experience of the outer joys of the mystic path is sufficient to induce the neophyte to devote himself entirely to the same.}

{Footnote 4. Surely Oriental exaggeration; especially when one considers the shortness of Persian twilight. Perhaps the 5 refers to the Pentagram. Ed.}

The relations between the twins of rapture

XL

THE NAMINGS  {FN1}

[Arabic]

This member of mine is compassionate and merciful unto thy podex, of which he is king, greater than two-horned Alexander, {FN2} assuaging its desire.

Holy is this member and bringeth pleasure to thy podex; to him thou art faithful, like a child to its mother's breast, assuaging thy desire.

Terrible is my member to thy podex, causing him to tremble, but also he is dear; strong he is and proud, like a peacock spreading his splendour in the sun, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member hath created thy podex; he hurteth thee with a delicious pain, and pictureth thy podex as a beautiful garden, wherein like a young child he may play, assuaging thy desire.

My member pardoneth the infidelities of thy podex; he conquereth its resistence, and giveth pearly dew, like the stars to the roses, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

Beautiful is my member as it openeth thy podex, and allwise to know every secret recess thereof, holding it on its stiffness like a lion thrust through by a spear, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member supporteth thy podex as a rose-tree its flower; all night long it humbleth and exalteth itself, like the moon, assuaging thy desire.

My member cherisheth thy podex, drawing it close; and hateth it, pressing it away; it reareth all the petition of thy podex, like a maiden enraptured by a lute, assuaging thy desire.

My member seeth all podices, and judgeth that thy podex alone is beautiful; just is he therein, and consoleth it with pearly dew, brighter than the eye of a fawn, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member knoweth all the secret places of thy podex, and is longsuffering therein; great and perpendicular is he within thee like the sun at noon, assuaging thy desire.

My member pardoneth the imperfections of thy podex; worthy of thanks is he therefore, being exalted within thee, like a tower of ivory and gold, assuaging thy desire.

Great and strong is my member, and protecteth thy podex from his rivals; {FN3} he exposeth it, and numbereth his emissions, each like the spray of a fountain, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

Glorious is this member of mine and generous of pearly dew; beholding the heart of thy podex, like the sunset watching for the full moon, or like a darwesh meditating on Ya Sin, {FN4} assuaging thy desire.

My member heareth the complaint of thy podex; he is a vast member, and healeth thy misfortune, like cedarwood that healeth the sick, assuaging thy desire.

My member reconcileth thy podex with himself, and being exalted sendeth out his pearly dew; he is the witness of all these orgasms, like a-many comets and meteors, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member is the Truth, never swerving from thy podex; he is the advocate of its beauty, and strong is he like a young unweaned lion, assuaging thy desire.

Solid is my member, a foster-father to thy podex, ever providing it with pearly dew; and thankworthy is he, like a poet before a king, assuaging thy desire.

My member reckoneth the orgasms of thy podex, he who began them; he raiseth himself from the dead, and giveth thee life, like the moon to Musalla, {FN5} assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member slayeth thy podex with its terrible thrusts, he the living one! and he pleadeth for all the joys of thy podex, like Azrael {FN6} for death, assuaging thy desire.

My member is the only one that will fit thy podex, and he is the most holy one, as the Beyt Ullah is the most holy among mosques; he is the sole member, like Arafat {FN7} among mountains, assuaging thy desire.

My member is unaccompanied in thy podex; powerful is he, yea! most mighty, and hasteneth from orgasm to orgasm, like a man bringing tidings of victory, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member retardeth his ejection {FN8} in thy podex, prolonging our pleasure; he is the first therein and the last, like Israfel {FN9} among trumpeters, assuaging thy desire.

My member manifesteth himself erect and beautiful and concealeth himself forthwith in thy podex; for he is the fosterer of all thy beauty, like an harlot attiring herself, assuaging thy desire.

He is the tallest of all members, and charitable toward thy podex; he turneth the heart of thy podex to him, and avengeth Sodom {FN10} therein, pouring down a rain of pearly dew, yet hotter than flame, like ambergris upon the ocean, assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic]

My member pardoneth the overflowing of thy podex, and pitieth its grief; the Lord of the Universe is he for thee, and there is none like him, assuaging thy desire.

Worthy of glory and honour is my member, who divideth thy buttocks, and assembleth thy whole soul in thy podex, like a great king gathering an army in one place, assuaging thy desire.

Rich is my member in pearly dew, and enricheth thy podex therewith; he refuseth to withdraw therefrom, and afflicteth thee with the sweet pain of a thousand orgasms, {FN11} like the bitings and pinchings of a courtesan, {FN12} assuaging thy desire.

[Arabic] {FN13}

My member bestoweth much advantage upon thy podex; he is the light thereof, as the sun of the dark earth at dawn; and he giveth it peace, assuaging thy desire.

My member is the finder-out of thy podex, even in the darkest abyss; my member surviveth a thousand times a thousand orgasms {FN14} and inheriteth the wealth of them like a miser hoarding gold coin, assuaging thy desire.

My member is the guide of thy podex, never leaving it for a moment; patient is he, eternally toiling therein; {FN15} for Hua {FN16} is God, and His Name is Unknown, like all things save Himself only, {FN17} assuaging thy desire.

{Footnote 1. The ninety-nine names of God, in sections of 10; 3, 3, and 4 to a subsection, occur in this remarkable poem. These are the names:

[Arabic]
as salamu
peace

[Arabic]
al cadasu
holy

[Arabic]
al maliku
king

[Arabic]
arrahimu
merciful

[Arabic]
arrahmanu
compassionate

[Arabic]
al mutakabiru
the proud

[Arabic]
al jabaru
the mighty

[Arabic]
al azizu
the dear

[Arabic]
al muhaiminu
the terrible

[Arabic]
al muhminu
he to whom one is faithful

[Arabic]
al caharu
the conqueror

[Arabic]
al ghaffaru
the pardoner

[Arabic]
al musawiru
picturer

[Arabic]
al bariu
innocent

[Arabic]
al khaliku
creator

[Arabic]
al cabidu
holder

[Arabic]
al alimu
all-wise

[Arabic]
al fatahu
opener

[Arabic]
arrazaqu
bountiful

[Arabic]
al wahabu
giver

[Arabic]
al muzillu
hater

[Arabic]
al mu'aizzu
cherisher

[Arabic]
arrahfi'au
exalter

[Arabic]
al khafidu
humbler

[Arabic]
al basitu
supporter

[Arabic]
allathifu
the comforter

[Arabic]
al'adlu
just

[Arabic]
al hakamu
judge

[Arabic]
al basiru
all-seer

[Arabic]
assami'au
all-hearer

[Arabic]
al shakuru
worthy of thanks

[Arabic]
al ghafuru
pardoner

[Arabic]
al 'azimu
great

[Arabic]
al halimu
long suffering gracious

[Arabic]
al khabiru
all knower

[Arabic]
al hasibu
numberer

[Arabic]
al moqitu
exposer

[Arabic]
al hafizu
protector

[Arabic]
al kabiru
the great

[Arabic]
al alliyu
exalted

[Arabic]
al wasi'au
vast

[Arabic]
al mujibu
hearer of complaints

[Arabic]
arraqibu
beholder of hearts

[Arabic]
al karimu
the generous

[Arabic]
al jalilu
glorious

[Arabic]
asshahidu
witness of all

[Arabic]
al ba'asu
sender

[Arabic]
al majidu
exalted

[Arabic]
al wadudu
reconciler

[Arabic]
al hakimu
healer, wise

[Arabic]
al walihu
foster-father

[Arabic]
al matinu
solid

[Arabic]
al qawiyu
strong

[Arabic]
al wakilu
advocate

[Arabic]
al haqu
truth

[Arabic]
al mohiyu
giver of life

[Arabic]
al mo'aidu
resurrector

[Arabic]
al mobdiu
beginner

[Arabic]
al mohsiu
reckoner

[Arabic]
al hamidu
worthy of thanks

[Arabic]
al majidu
most holy

[Arabic]
al wajidu
the only one

[Arabic]
al qoyumu
advocate of all

[Arabic]
al haiyu
living

[Arabic]
al momitu
stayer

[Arabic]
al muqadimu
first of officers hastener

[Arabic]
al maqtadiru
most mighty

[Arabic]
al qadiru
of power full

[Arabic]
assamadu
unaccompanied

[Arabic]
al wahidu
sole

[Arabic]
al batinu
concealed

[Arabic]
azz'ahiru
manifested

[Arabic]
al ahiru
the last

[Arabic]
al aiwalu
the first

[Arabic]
al moahiru
retarder

[Arabic]
al muntaqimu
avenger

[Arabic]
al towabu
turner of hearts

[Arabic]
al baru
charitable

[Arabic]
al mutaalu
highest

[Arabic]
al waliyu
fosterer of all

[Arabic]
zuljalilie walikrami
worthy of glory and honour

[Arabic]
maliku el mulk
king of the universe

[Arabic]
arraufu
who pitieth

[Arabic]
al 'afuwu
pardoner

[Arabic]
al marhnyu
enricher

[Arabic]
al rhanyu
rich

[Arabic]
al jami'au
assembler

[Arabic]
al moqsitu
divider

[Arabic]
al adiyu
peace-giver

[Arabic]
annaru
la lumiere

[Arabic]
annafi'au
giver of advantages

[Arabic]
adhdharu
afflicter

[Arabic]
al man'au
refuser

[Arabic]
assaburu
patient

[Arabic]
al rashidu
(?beginning)

[Arabic]
al warisu
inheritor

[Arabic]
al baqiu
survivor

[Arabic]
al badi'au
inventor

[Arabic]
Hua is God; and there is none other God than Hua. Amen.}

{Footnote 2. Alexander the Great, still great in Hindostan. I can trace no legend to justify this epithet; perhaps it is merely poetic for "mighty".}

{Footnote 3. This verse (says Mahbub) conceals a "Great Word to become mad, and go about naked" if repeated 1001 times nightly for a number of nights not stated. Very probable.}

The concealed Word is only the common:

[Arabic]
"Glory to God, and Praise to God! There is no God but God.
Great is He, and protecteth us; there is no might save in Him,
the Exalted One."}

{Footnote 4. The "Heart of the Q'uran"; one of its holiest chapters, recited or read to all good Muslim at the point of death, whenever possible.}

{Footnote 5. Musalla, near Shiraz; as Richmond, near London; or the Cafe d'Hermenonville, near Paris.}

{Footnote 6. Azrael -- the angel of death.}

{Footnote 7. Arafat -- the holy mountain near Mecca.}

{Footnote 8. The Vindu-Siddhi, power of retaining the semen, is one of the most interesting and important branches of Hathayoga, the Hindu "Physical Culture". The following from the Shiva Sanhita, concerning the Vajroli Mudra, affords an adequate example of the method and aim: 53. Actuated by mercy for my devotees, I shall now explain the "Vajroli Mudra", the destroyer of the darkness of the world, the most secret among all secrets.

54. Even while following all his desires, and without conforming to the regulations of Yoga, a householder can become emancipated, if he practices the VAJROLI MUDRA.

55. This VAJROLI YOG practice gives emancipation even when one is immersed in sensuality; therefore it should be practised by the Yogi with great care.

56. First let the talented practitioner introduce into his own body, according to the proper methods, the germ-cells from the female organ of generation, by suction up through the tube of the "meatus urinarius"; restraining his own semen, let him practise copulation. If by chance the semen begins to move, let him stop its emission by the practice of the YONI MUDRA. Let him place the semen on the left hand duct, and stop further intercourse. After a while, let him continue it again. In accordance with the instruction of his preceptors and by uttering the sound "hoom", let him forcibly draw up through the contraction of the "Apana Vayu" the germ-cells from the uterus.

57. The Yogi, worshipper of the lotus-feet of his Guru, should in order to obtain quick success in Yoga drink milk or nectar in this way.

58. Know semen to be moon-like, and the germ-cells the emblem of sun; let the Yogi make their union in his own body with great care.

59. I am the semen, Sakti is the germ fluid; when they both are combined, then the Yogi reaches the state of success, and his body becomes brilliant and divine.

60. Ejaculation of semen is death, preserving it within is life; therefore, let the Yogi preserve his semen with great care.

61. Verily, verily, men are born and die through semen; knowing this, let the Yogi always practise to preserve his semen.

62. When through great efforts success in the preservation of the semen is obtained, what then cannot be achieved in this world? Through the greatness of its preservation (i.e. through celibacy) one becomes like me in glory.

63. The "vindu" (semen) causes the pleasure and pain of all creatures living in this world, who are infatuated, and are subject to death and decay. For the Yogi, this preservation of semen is the best of all Yogas, and it is the giver of happiness.

64. Though immersed in enjoyments, men get powers through its practice. Through the force of his practice, he becomes an adept in due season, in his present life.

65. The Yogi certainly obtains through this practice all kinds of powers, at the same time enjoying all the innumerable enjoyments of the world.

66. This Yoga can be practised along with much enjoyment; therefore the Yogi should practice it.

67. There are two modifications of the VAJROLI, called "Sahajoni" and "Amarani". By all means let the Yogi preserve the semen.

68. If at the time of copulation the "vindu" is forcibly emitted, and there takes place an union of the sun and the moon, then let him absorb this mixture through the tube of the male organ. This is "Amarani".

69. The method by which the "vindu" on the point of emission can be withheld through YONI-MUDRA is called "Sahajoni". It is kept secret in all the Tantras.

70. Though ultimately the action of them ("Amarani" and "Sahajoni") is the same, there are arisen differences owing to the difference of nomenclature.. Let the Yogi practise them with the greatest care and perseverance.

71. Through love for my devotees, I have revealed this Yoga; it should be kept secret with the greatest care, and not be given to everybody.

72. It is the most secret of all secrets that ever were or shall be; therefore let the prudent Yogi keep it with the greatest secrecy possible.

73. When at the time of voiding urine the Yogi draws it up forcibly through the Apana-Vayu, and keeping it up, discharges it slowly and slowly; and practices this daily according to the instructions of his Guru, he obtains the "vindusiddhi" (power over semen) that gives great powers.

74. He who practises this daily according to the instructions of his Guru does not lose his semen, were he to enjoy a hundred women at a time.

75. O PARVATI! When "vindu-siddhi" is obtained, what else cannot be accomplished? Even the inaccessible glory of my godhead can be attained through it.}

{Footnote 9. The angel to whom is allotted the duty of sounding "the last trump".}

{Footnote 10. Sodom -- a legendary city, said to have been destroyed by a volcano. But it has a mystic meaning. It is spelt [mem, daleth, samekh] in Hebrew, signifying by the secret keys of Qabalah Temperance (turning a man) from pleasure to Self-Sacrifice. (Erroneously read by Zahids as follows: the angel Metratron bestowing upon Indulgence condign Punishment). I doubt, though, if El Haji knew all this. A.L. (Nonsense! The Angel of the Key of [samekh] is Sandalphon, not Metratron, and is of Reconciliation. Even a Zahid would surely know this. The true key to its meaning is its value 104 = 8 x 13, and therefore its interpretation of the number 8, since 13 is only the basic unity. Now 8 refers to the Chariot and Abacadabra. Perhaps the two Sphinxes which the Charioteer drives are the symbols of the two sexes which he enjoys, even as the Sphinx is the Deification of the bestial, and therefore an apt Hieroglyph of the Magnum Opus. Ed.)}

{Footnote 11. Surely Oriental exaggeration.}

{Footnote 12. The rules for which are carefully laid down in the Ananga Ranga, and other works on the Science, Art and Craft of Love.}

{Footnote 13. For a similar literal division of the stanzas of a poem, cf. Psalm CXIX.}

{Footnote 14. Surely Oriental exaggeration.}

{Footnote 15. After all this, mere envy must drive us to assume a mystical sense for these writings.}

{Footnote 16. Hua -- He. But it is further the true and secret unpronounceable Name of God, concealed by its obviousness. The 100th name, about which people make such a fuss, is simply Allah [Arabic] itself, the other 99 merely replacing Allah in the sentence Hua Allahu alazi wailaha ill Hua, thus: Hua Arrahmanu alazi etc., and so for the rest. How [Arabic] came to mean God ([Arabic] the God) is a question for the profoundest scholarship; but we note that [Arabic] has the numerical value of 66, and that 66 is the sum of the first 12 numbers, beginning, as Orientals do begin in a cosmogony, with Zero. Now [Arabic] has the value of 12. The symbolism of this number will occur to all students. But without coursing that hare to death, we may lightly touch upon the traces of Hua through the languages. Hebrew Hua, English He; and note the remarkable similarity to Allah of Ille, Il, Lui, Le and so on.

The Hebrew Allah is [he lamed aleph] usually transliterated by our empirics Eloah, perhaps dropping an L because 36 is the value of [Hebrew letters from left to right: He Lamed Aleph] and the sum of the first nine numbers (0 to 8) being the number of their Divine Sephiroth (not including Malkuth, the world); and the addition of the 10th number {FN9} giving them 45, the value of the name [Hebrew letters from left to right: Mem Daleth Aleph] Adam. But even the Hebrews acknowledge the superior purity of the 12 system by retaining Hua as a title of Kether, their highest emanation. Unfortunately they seem to have forgotten that Kether should itself be counted as Zero, thereby altering their whole chain of aeons and its symbolism, though it is true that, realizing the necessity of Zero as starting point for any system, they concealed behind Kether three veils of the negative, culminating in Ain, pure negation. But this was rather an effect of the Brahminical (or post-Fichtean) metaphysic, in which an Absolute is reached by denying to it all possible predicates as thinkable, and therefore derogatory. Even when one retorted, "He is then Unthinkable", the wary Rabbi would reply, "Neither Thinkable nor Unthinkable." You can't win; but you don't want to play any more!

All this is far, far indeed from the true practical Qabalah, which contents itself with leading the student to the next stage, which teaches the animal to think, the thinker to aspire, the aspirant to wisdom and crowneth the wise man with the glory of the 12 Stars, his holy Genius.

Not that it is for a mere dabbler like myself to suggest to others even a line of research; but love conquers modesty, and I should like to hint that in the restoration of a duodecimal notation and cosmography lies the best hope of a perfect recovery of the perfect Way. A.L.

One is sorry to have to object that the Arabic Hua is spelt [Arabic] not [Arabic] and equals 11, not 12. The number 11, however, does represent the squaring of the circle, the Great Work, since there are 11 letters in Abrahadabra, whose symbolism is so enigmatical; [Arabic] is further the equation of a [Arabic] 5 the Pentagram and [Arabic] 6 the Hexagram, Micro and Macro-prosopus, Man and God.}

{Footnote 17. This is the extreme sceptico-mystical position; to admit that phenomena are perfectly mysterious, while asserting a direct consciousness of the Absolute.}

The fame of Ecstasy the redemption of the World.

XLI

THE RIDDLE  {FN1}

Habib hath heard; let all Iran
who spell aright from A to Z
Exalt thy fame and understand
with whom I made a marriage-bed;
Resort to tool-and-podex play
till all the world in tears is shed
Before the sword of Azrael,
the trump of Israfel the dread. {FN2}
Exalt, exalt our love at last
Among the living and the dead,
Resort to love, and press its purple
calix with His purple head,
Till fall the pearls with rubies strung,
the dews upon the dawn that bled.
Crimson, o lover, was our love,
and crimson streams the sunset past;
Hyacinthine glows the vault of night,
the Future certain, sure to last.
Accept the gold of noon that pours
its white-hot flood, its radiant blast!
Rampant within thy podex take
this member, stiffer than a mast.
Lively as love itself, supreme
in pride, stupendous in the vast!
Even the present gold and white,
the Moment ever fleeting fast,
Surrendered never! this delight
the Venus-throw hath surely cast. {FN3}
Jehannum shall exclaim "Habib!"
and light inform its murky fire,
Entrancing all the ghouls {FN4} to love,
waking the Shaitans to desire!
Rejoicing souls in Paradise
shall spurn the Hur al Ayin {FN5} with ire,
Opening their lips in pangs of woe,
offering their souls in pawn to hire!
Men from the utmost desert lands
shall spurt their steeds through sand and mire,
Even to look upon the face
immortal from this lewdly lyre.
Perfect, Habib, my magic song:
perfect our loves for ever are:
Olibanum and ambergris,
nargis and rose of the `attar, {FN6}
Lily and lilac, thus they rise
in fragrance to the morning star.
Light springs and liberty is fair --
o break the intoxicating jar!
It is enough that thou art Near,
the shamer of the foolish Far,
To glut thy jasmine podex on
the member of thine El Qahar;
To glut thine almond member in
the podex of thine El Qahar.

{Footnote 1. Riddle. In the Persian are perhaps concealed some details of the Poet's life and amours.}

{Footnote 2. Azrael -- angel of death; Israfel -- of the last Judgement, bear respectively a sword and a trumpet. We have taken Azrael, though modern Persians usually (not the text here. Ed) call him Abu yahya [Arabic] "Father John". Some ignorant Persians confuse him with Ezekiel! Result: "to sup with Father John" means either to eat dirt, i.e. apologize, or "to die". Hence an offended Persian, in a tavern brawl, may say, "You must sup with Father John tonight", meaning "Retract, or I knife you."}

{Footnote 3. Venus-throw -- the double six. The highest throw at dice.}

{Footnote 4. Ghoul -- a corpse-devouring devil.}

{Footnote 5. Hur al Ayin, pl. of Ahwar al Ayin, our Western "Houri". Literally, one whose eye is intensely white, i.e., the conjunctiva; while the cornea is perfectly black.] [Footnote: 6. `Attar' [Arabic] a druggist. "Attar of roses" (corrupted to "Otto of Roses") is all nonsense. The word meant is Atr [Arabic] perfume.}

The rapture in rapture.

XLII

BAGH-I-MUATTAR

Ye cypress-breasted boys of birth,
attend the coming of the gloom!
Expose your breasts of jasmine, show
your lily buttocks all abloom!
Let Love awake, and blush, as Love
comes glimmering from the starry womb,
With standing member all aglow,
purpled with cloth from Rapture's loom.
O tulip cheeks! O lips of rose!
the joy of Allah ye assume,
Rejoicing in the luscious play,
the slippery splendour of the spume
Cast from the holy hiding-place
for ever till the day of doom.
Rejoice, O podex, in thy strength!
thy spasms like the stars illume
Earth's darkness, life's disgrace, abash
the trifling terrors of the tomb.
The nargis scent shall steal about
the world, assuage its fret and fume,
Suspend the laws of Nature, break
Qismat's insufferable boom,
Incense the mountain and the plain,
sufflate the forest and the combe
Eternally with love, with love,
with love, the lily all abloom.
Love me, your poet; pass the night
from twilight gloom to twilight gloom
At podex-play with El Qahar
within his Garden of Perfume!

[Arabic]

ABJAD-I-AL'AIN

[aleph]

A Labyrinth do I the Paraclete
EIdolize in the House of gnathous Rock
STarry with scent of dittany of Crete,
ERotice with the love-chants of a cock
CROWing of her whose gnostic lips are wan,
LEYlah conceiving by the Lycian!

[beth]

Black is the midnight when that wintry bird
Stands on the snowbank like an ermine tail
Blotting the royal robes: he cries a word
That gilds the red blood in the blessed Grail:
Wherefore the Beetle ramps upon the Hill,
And argent angels trumpet sour and shrill.

[gimel]

Jinn gnash their wings and lurk upon the West:
Like camels they abandon life for love,
Sucking green poison from a dugless breast.
Such is the echo in these towers, above
The incandescent sea that rolls about
The soul of God, its ravelin and redoubt.

[daleth]

Drear and devout the dead monks moan and rave
Within these cells of this my labyrinth:
They couple with the ghuls upon my grave,
And on my monument's marmoreal plinth
They rage in amorous rituals unto Pan,
Whose leer breeds Thersites and Caliban.

[he]

Hour after hour *one* toils about the maze:
*Two* are embayed in bowers of moss and rose:
*Three* quarrel for the clue their spites erase:
*Four* squat like sun-kissed archipelagoes:
*Five* make an holy Nun (as none who counts)
And track Dione to her lustral founts.

[vau]

Woe to the world! the bull and girl conjoin.
The monster guards the grot: the sly goat grins
When priest and prelate privately purloin
The perfume of our quintessential sins.
Woe! when that pizzle, ripe from Hathor's Cow,
Writes the red blush on Pasiphae's brow!

[zain]

Zazel, the saturnine, the brooding fiend,
Listens and laughs at this ecstatic "woe"!
His desart teats from twisted terrors weaned
The ghost of Chasmodai: our vials flow
With galangal and marjoram and myrrh,
As Rhodope rapes life from Lucifer.

[cheth]

Chryselephantine cross! how good you gleam!
How gods and goats respire the dark perfume
Of oliban, and scent the erotic steam
Of myrtle in the cypress groves of gloom
That rolls and gathers into shapes of bronze
Who dream strange dreams and chant strange orisons.

[teth]

Temple and Thora, Taro and Throa!
These are the goals and gates whereto ye tend,
O ribbed red barrows, whose virilia
Earn muliebria at the smooth sad end.
Alas! ye have not learned with God and me
To say your father's name A-dun-a-i!

[yod]

Ieheshwah hath the tooth between the nail
And window in his word: therein is joy.
But whoso dons the gilded coat of mail
Takes from Damascus dame, and leaves the boy
To wander as he will with whips and sighs,
And vain hibiscus cloistered to his thighs.

[kaph]

Kabus the nightmare makes me mad for kus
When kun and kir are all the k's I can:
I grow Ex Epicuri grege sus:
I shave with steel these hairy marks of man:
Then Sappho swoops her sweetest on the goal
Of scorching blood, and swallows up my soul.

[lamed]

Lola be mine, and Lola rave astrain
Who findeth in my labyrinth a pool
To give her ganja-gramarye in grain: --
The boy is blind, but beautiful, O fool!
He cannot see the scars of thy disease:
Lydia and Lalage divide his fees.

[mem]

Myrrh be thy music, harping thy perfume,
When thou canst sit upon the foursquare stone
Shaped like an egg, well hid within the tomb
Where Jesus drawls: "Consult that cruel crone
Who mutters mantrams to her swart tom-cat,
And trims her broomstick toward Ararat!"

[nun]

Nina, the navrant enervating nun,
Anoint thee with the lewd laborious oil
She gathered of the sow-sweat sin the sun
And quintessentialized with tearing toil!
Let her anoint thee! thou shalt stand as stiff
As unicorn confronting hipogriff.

[samekh]

So fly above the hedges that confound
Thy clue-shorn chase: is Lampsacus afire
With sunset on its marble walls, enwound
As an hog's heart in the cobalt desire?
Is there a Tuscan holding to thine eyes
A tusky marvel to affright the skies?

[ayin]

Arab and I admit to gutsy fear.
We nurse the world in our expanded wombs.
With ambergris and cedar-oil we rear
Colossal children stolen out of tombs.
We hide them in our bowels, sooth to say,
To show them to the Lord of Judgment Day.

[pe]

Priapus laughs, and we behold him Pan;
Then if I smile, in me Panthea glows;
I am a panther, mark the caravan,
Devour a child, and plant a royal rose.
Then to my Rose if Pan is his own Pandar
My horn is worth the two of Alexander.

[tzaddi]

Tzedeq of God that winged magnificence
Is called by sylphs. It pours the pregnant pearls
Even on the thuribles of gilt incense
That smoke within the garlands of its girls.
So from mere myrrh mirific murders come,
And holy bane from plain olibanum.

[qoph]

Qaiyum thine anguish, with the thorny crown
Lashing thy brow, the jackal's direful din
Breaking thy body! Could not eiderdown
Serve thee? His kisses cool thee? Is not sin
The royal road to sainthood, eremite
Whose purple pestle shuns the Dog's delight?

[resh]

Rays of Aldeboran invade the coil
Of this my labyrinth and point the way.
Lick Nina for the consecrated oil!
Scrape Jesus for the sacramental clay!
See how the fumes of Voodoo curl around
Thy Wanga-circle, the enchanted ground.

[shin]

Shaitan appears. But gloomier clouds of smoke
Than hell's are here, where wand and spell combine
The utmost spawn of chaos to invoke
As gods within the most supernal shrine.
I am the master. Will not God contest
The last grim struggle for his Alkahest?

[tau]

Tangri suffices me, and I am He,
The bornless spirit with the sighted feet.
Twain pearls and seventy shimmer upon me:
My food is myrrh and dittany of Crete.
Dolphin and Phoenix round the Maypole tree
Dance to the wedding march of El Lutiy.

Explicit Abjad-i-Al'ain
 

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