ACROSS THE GULF
CHAPTER V

Now then the great exhaustion took hold upon me, and I fell at the feet 
of the Osiris as one dead. All knowledge of terrestrial things was gone 
from me; I entered the kingdom of the dead by the gate of the West. For 
the worship of Osiris is to join the earth to the West; it is the 
cultus of the Setting Sun. Through Isis man obtains strength of nature; 
through Osiris he obtains the strength of suffering and ordeal, and as 
the trained athlete is superior to the savage, so is the magic of 
Osiris stronger than the magic of Isis.  So by my secret practices at 
night, while my guardians strove to smooth my spirit to a girl's, had 
I found the power to bring about that tremendous event, an Equinox of 
the Gods.
   
Just as thousands of years later was my secret revolt against Osiris 
-- for the world had suffered long enough! -- destined to bring about 
another Equinox in which Horus was to replace the Slain One with his 
youth and vigour and victory.
   
I passed therefore into these glowing abodes of Amennti, clad in 
thick darkness, while my body lay entranced at the feet of the Osiris 
in the ruined temple.
   
Now the god Osiris sent forth his strange gloom to cover us, lest the 
people should perceive or disturb; Therefore I lay peacefully 
entranced, and abode in Amennti.  There I confronted the devouring 
god, and there was my heart weighed and found perfect; there the two-
and-forty Judges bade me pass through the pylons they guarded; there I 
spoke with the Seven, and with the Nine, and with the Thirty-Three; 
and at the end I came out into the abode of the Holy Hathor, unto her 
mystical mountain, and being there crowned and garlanded I rejoiced 
exceedingly, coming out through the gate of the East, the Beautiful 
gate, unto the Land of Khemi, and the city of Thebai, and the temple 
that had been the temple of the Veiled One.  There I rejoined my body, 
making the magical links in the prescribed manner, and rose up and did 
adoration to the Osiris by the fourfold sign.  Therefore the Light of 
Osiris began to dawn; it went about the city whirling forth, 
abounding, crying aloud; whereat the people worshipped, being abased 
with exceeding fear.  Moreover, they hearkened unto their wise men and 
brought gifts of gold, so that the temple floor was heaped high; and 
gifts of oxen, so that the courts of the temple could not contain 
them: and gifts of slaves, as it were a mighty army.
   
Then I withdrew myself; and taking counsel with the wisest of the 
priests and of the architects and of the sculptors, I gave out my 
orders so that the temple might duly be builded. By the favour of the 
god all things went smoothly enough; yet was I conscious of some error 
in the working; or if you will, some weakness in myself and my desire.  
Look you, I could not forget the Veiled One, my days of silence and 
solitude with Her, the slow dawn of our splendid passion, the climax 
of all that wonder in her ruin!
   
So as the day approached for the consecration of the temple I began to 
dread some great catastrophe.  Yet all went well -- perhaps too well. 
   
The priests and the people knew nothing of this, however.  For the 
god manifested exceptional favour; as a new god must do, or how shall 
he establish his position?  The harvest were fourfold, the cattle 
eightfold; the women were all fertile -- yea! barren women of sixty 
years bore twins! -- there was no disease or sorrow in the city.
   
Mighty was the concourse of the citizens on the great day of the 
consecration.
   
Splendid rose the temple, a fortress of black granite.  The columns 
were carved with wonderful images of all the gods adoring Osiris; 
marvels of painting glittered on the walls; they told the story of 
Osiris, of his birth, his life, his death at the hands of Typhon, the 
search after his scattered members, the birth of Horus and 
Harpocrates, the vengeance upon Typhon Seth, the resurrection of 
Osiris.
   
The god himself was seated in a throne set back unto the wall. It was 
of lapis-lazuli and amber, it was inlaid with emerald and ruby.  
Mirrors of polished gold, of gold burnished with dried poison of asps, 
so that the slaves who worked upon it might die.  For, it being 
unlawful for those mirrors to have ever reflected any mortal 
countenance, the slaves were both blinded and veiled; yet even so, it 
were best that they should die.
   
At last the ceremony began.  With splendid words, with words that 
shone like flames, did I consecrate all that were there present, even 
the whole city of Thebai.
   
And I made the salutation unto the attendant gods, very forcibly, so 
that they responded with echoes of my adoration.  And Osiris accepted 
mine adoration with gladness as I journeyed about at the four quarters 
of the temple. 
   
Now cometh the mysterious ceremony of Assumption. I took upon myself 
the form of the god: I strove to put my heart in harmony with his.
   
Alas! alas!  I was in tune with the dead soul of Isis; my heart was 
as a flame of elemental lust and beauty; I could not -- I could not.  
Then the heavens lowered and black clouds gathered upon the 
Firmament of Nu.  Dark flames of lightning rent the clouds, giving no 
light.  The thunder roared; the people were afraid.  In his dark 
shrine the Osiris gloomed, displeasure on his forehead, insulted 
majesty in his eyes.  Then a pillar of dust whirled down from the 
vault of heaven, even unto me as I stood alone, half-defiant, in the 
midst of the temple while the priests and the people cowered and 
wailed afar off.  It rent the massy roof as it had been a thatch of 
straw, whirling the blocks of granite far away into the Nile. It 
descended, roaring and twisting, like a wounded serpent demon-king in 
his death-agony; it struck me and lifted me from the temple; it bore 
me through leagues of air into the desert; then it dissolved and flung 
me contemptuously on a hill of sand.  Breathless and dazed I lay, 
anger and anguish tearing at my heart. I rose to swear a mighty curse; 
exhaustion took me, and I fell in a swoon to the earth.
   
When I came to myself it was nigh dawn. I went to the top of the 
hillock and looked about me.  Nothing but sand, sand all ways.  Just 
so was it within my heart!
   
The only guide for my steps (as the sun rose) was a greener glimpse in 
the East, which I thought might be the valley of the Nile reflected.  
Thither I bent my steps: all day I struggled with the scorching heat, 
the shifting sand.  

At night I tried to sleep, for sheer fatigue impelled me.  But as 
often as I lay down, so often restlessness impelled me forward.  I 
would stagger on awhile, then stumble and fall.  Only at dawn I slept 
perhaps for an hour, and woke chilled to death by my own sweat. I was 
so weak that I could hardly raise a hand; my tongue was swollen, so 
that I could not greet the sun-disk with the accustomed adoration. My 
brain had slipped control; I could not longer even think of the 
proper spells that might have brought me aid.  Instead, dreadful 
shapes drew near; one, a hideous camel-demon, an obscene brute of 
filth; another, a black ape with a blue muzzle and crimson buttocks, 
all his skin hairless and scabby, with his mass of mane oiled and 
trimmed like a beautiful courtesans.  This fellow mocked me with the 
alluring gestures of such an one, and anon voided his excrement upon 
me.  Moreover there were others, menacing and terrible, vast cloudy 
demon-shapes....
   
I could not think of the words of power that control them.
   
Now the sun that warmed my chill bones yet scorched me further.  My 
tongue so swelled that I could hardly breathe; my face blackened; my 
eyes bulged out.  The fiends came closer; drew strength from my 
weakness, made themselves material bodies, twitched me and spiked me 
and bit me.  I turned on them and struck feebly again and again; but 
they evaded me easily and their yelling laughter rang like bells in 
my ears.  Howbeit I saw that they attacked me only on one side, as if  
to force me to one path.  But I was wise enough to keep my shadow 
steadily behind me: and they, seeing this, were all the more enraged: 
I therefore the more obstinate in my course.  Then they changed their 
tactics; and made as if to keep me in the course I had chosen; and 
seeing this, I was confirmed therein.
   
Truly with the gods I went! For in a little while I came to a pool of 
water and a tall palm standing by.
   
I plunder in that cool wave; my strength came back, albeit slowly; 
yet with one wave of my hand in the due gesture the fiends all 
vanished; and in an hour I was sufficiently restored to call forth my 
friends from the pool -- the little fishes my playmates -- and the 
nymph of the pool came forth and bowed herself before me and cooked me 
the fishes with that fire that renders water luminous and sparkling.  
Also she plucked me dates from the tree, and I ate thereof.  Thus was 
I much comforted; and when I had eaten, she took my head upon her lap, 
and sang me to sleep; for her voice was like the ripple of the lakes 
under the wind of spring and like the bubbling of a well and like the 
tinkling of a fountain through a bed of moss.  Also she had deep notes 
like the sea that booms upon a rocky shore.
   
So long, long, long I slept.
   
Now when I awoke the nymph had gone; but I took from my bosom a little 
casket of certain sacred herbs; and casting a few grains into the 
pool, repaid her for her courtesy.  And I blessed her in the name of 
our dead lady Isis, and went on in the strength of that delicious meal 
for a great way.  Yet I wist not what to do; for I was as it were a 
dead man, although my age was barely two and twenty years.
   
What indeed should befall me?
   
Yet I went on; and, climbing a ridge, beheld at last the broad Nile, 
and a shining city that I knew not.
   
There on the ridge I stood and gave thanks to the great gods of Heaven, 
the Aeons of infinite years, that I had come thus far.  For at the 
sight of Nilus new life began to dawn in me. 

CHAPTER VI

Without any long delay I descended the slopes and entered the city.  
Not knowing what might have taken place in Thebai and what news might 
have come thither, I did not dare declare myself; but seeking out the 
High Priest of Horus I showed him a certain sign, telling him that I 
was come from Memphis on a journey, and intended to visit Thebai to 
pay homage at the shrine of Isis.  

But he, full of the news, told me that the ancient priestess of Isis, 
who had become priest of Osiris, had been taken up to heaven as a sign 
of the signal favour of the God.  Where at I could hardly hold myself 
from laughter; yet I controlled myself and answered that I was not 
prepared to return to Memphis, for that I was vowed to Isis, and 
Osiris could not serve my turn.
   
At this he begged me to stay as his guest, and to go worship at the 
temple of Isis in this city.  I agreed thereto, and the good man gave 
me new robes and jewels from the treasury of his own temple.  There 
too I rested sweetly on soft cushions fanned by young boys with broad 
leaves of palm.  Also he sent me the dancing girl of Sleep.  It was 
the art of this girl to weave such subtle movements that the sense, 
watching her, swooned; and as she swayed she sang, ever lower and 
lower as she moved slower and slower, until the looker-listener was 
dissolved in bliss of sleep and delicate dream. 
   
Then as he slept she would bend over him even as Nuit the Lady of the 
Stars that bendeth over the black earth, and in his ears she would 
whisper strange rhythms, secret utterances, whereby his spirit would 
be rapt into the realms of Hathor or some other golden goddess, there 
in one night to reap an harvest of refreshment such as the fields of 
mortal sleep yield never.
   
So then I woke at dawn, to find her still watching, still looking into 
my eyes with a tender smile on her mouth that cooed whispers 
infinitely soothing. Indeed with a soft kiss she waked me, for in this 
Art there is aright moment to sleep, and another to waken: which she 
was well skilled to divine.
   
I rose then -- she flitted away like a bird -- and robed myself; and,       
seeking my host, went forth with him to the Temple of Isis.
   
Now their ritual (it appeared) differed in one point from that to 
which I was accustomed.  Thus, it was not death to intrude upon the 
ceremony save only for the profane.  Priests of a certain rank of 
initiation might if they pleased behold it.  I, therefore, wishing to 
see again that marvellous glowing of the Veil, disclosed a sufficient 
sign to the High Priest.  Thereat was he mightily amazed; and, from 
the foot judging Hercules, began to think that I might be some sacred 
envoy to inspector from the Gods themselves.  This I allowed him to 
think; meanwhile we went forward into the shrines and stood behind the 
pillars, unseen, in the prescribed position.
   
Now it chanced that the High Priestess herself had this day chosen to      
perform the rite.
   
This was a woman tall and black, most majestic, with limbs strong as  
a man's. Her gaze was hawk-keen, and her brow commanding. But at the 
Assumption of the God-form she went close and whispered into the Veil, 
so low that we could not hear it; but as it seemed with fierce 
intensity, with some passion that knotted up her muscles, so that her 
arms writhed like wounded snakes.  Also the veins of her forehead 
swelled, and foam came to her lips.  We thought that she had died; her 
body swelled and shuddered; last of all a terrible cry burst from her 
throat, inarticulate, awful.
   
Yet all this while the Veil glittered, though something sombrely.  
Also the air was filled with a wild sweeping music, which rent our 
very ears with its uncouth magic.  For it was like no music that I had 
ever heard before.  At last the Priestess tore herself away from the 
Veil and reeled -- as one drunken -- down the temple.  Sighs and sobs 
tore her breast; and her nails made bloody grooves in her wet flanks.
   
On a sudden she espied me and my companion; with one buffet she smote 
him to earth -- it is unlawful to resist the Priestess when she is in 
the Ecstasy of Union -- and falling upon me, like a wild beast she 
buried her teeth in my neck, bearing me to the ground.  Then, loosing 
me, while the blood streamed from me, she fixed her glittering eyes 
upon it with strange joy, and with her hands she shook me as a lion 
shakes a buck.  Sinewy were her hands, with big knuckles, and the 
strength of her was as cords of iron.  Yet her might was but a 
mortal's; in a little she gave one gasp like a drowning man's; her 
body slackened, and fell with its dead weight on mine, her mouth 
glued to mine in one dreadful kiss.  Dreadful; for as my mouth 
returned it, almost mechanically, the blood gushed from her nostrils 
and blinded me.  I too, then, more dead that alive, swooned into 
bliss, into trance.  I was awakened by the High Priest of Horus.  
"Come," he said; "she is dead."  I disengaged myself from all that 
weight of madness -- and the body writhed convulsively as I turned it 
over -- I kissed those frothy lips, for in death she was beautiful 
beyond belief, joyous beyond description -- thence I staggered to the 
Veil, and saluted with all my strength, so that it glittered under the 
force of my sheer will.  Then I turned me again, and with the High 
Priest sought his house.
   
Strange indeed was I as I went through the city, my new robes dark 
with blood of that most holy sorceress.
   
But no one of the people dared so much as lift his eyes; nor spoke we 
together at all.  But when we were come into the house of the High 
Priest, sternly did he confront me.
   
"What is this, my son?"
   
And I weary of the folly of the world and of the uselessness of things     
answered him:
   
"Father, I go back to Memphis.  I am the Magus of the Well."
   
Now he knew the Magus, and answered me:
   
"Why liest thou?"
   
And I said "I am come into the world where all speech is false, and 
all speech is true."
   
Then he did me reverence, abasing himself unto the ground even unto 
nine-and-ninety times.
   
And I spurned him and said, "Bring forth the dancing girl of Sleep; 
for in the morning I will away to Memphis."
   
And she came forth,  and I cursed her and cried: "Be thou the dancing 
girl of Love!"
   
And it was so.  And I went in unto her, and knew her; and in the 
morning I girded myself, and boarded the state barge of the High 
Priest, and pillowed myself upon gold and purple, and disported 
myself with lutes and with lyres and with parrots, and with black 
slaves, and with wine and with delicious fruits, until I came even 
unto the holy city of Memphis.
   
And there I called soldiers of Pharaoh, and put cruelly to death all 
them that had accompanied me; and I burnt the barge, adrift upon the 
Nile at sunset, so that the flames alarmed the foolish citizens. All 
this I did, and danced naked in my madness through the city, until I 
came to the Old Magus of the Well.
   
And laughing, I threw a stone upon him, crying: "Ree me the riddle of 
my life!"
   
And he answered naught.
   
Then I threw a great rock upon him, and I heard his bones crunch, and I    
cried in mockery: "Ree me the riddle of thy life!"
   
But he answered naught.
   
Then I threw down the wall of the well; and I burned the house with 
fire that stood thereby, with the men-servants and the maid-servants.
   
And none dared stay me; for I laughed and exulted in my madness.  Yea,     
verily, I laughed, and laughed -- and laughed --  

CHAPTER VII

Then being healed of my madness I took all the treasure of that old 
Magus which he had laid up for many years -- and none gainsaid me.  
Great and splendid was it of gold more than twelve bullocks could 
draw, of balassius rubies, and sardonyx, and beryl, and chrysoprase; 
of diamond and starry sapphire, of emerald much, very much, of topaz 
and of amethyst great and wonderful gems.  Also he had a figure of 
Nuit greater than a woman, which was made of lapis lazuli specked 
with gold, carved with marvellous excellence.  And he had the secret 
gem of Hadit that is not found on earth, for that it is invisible 
save when all else is no more seen.
   
Then went I into the market and bought slaves. I bought me in 
particular a giant, a Nubian blacker than polished granite seen by 
starlight, tall as a young palm and straight, yet more hideous than 
the Ape of Thoth.  Also I bought a young pale stripling from the 
North, a silly boy with idle languishing ways.  But his mouth burned 
like sunset when the dust-storms blow.  So pale an weak was he that 
all despised him and mocked him for a girl.  Then he took a white-hot 
iron from the fire and wrote with it my name in hieroglyphics on his 
breast; nor did his smile once alter while the flesh hissed and 
smoked.
   
Thus we went out a great caravan to a rocky islet in the Nile, 
difficult of access for that the waters foamed and swirled 
dangerously about it.  There we builded a little temple shaped like a 
beehive; but there was no altar and no shrine therein; for in that 
temple should the god be sacrificed unto himself.
   
Myself I made the god thereof; I powdered my hair with gold, and 
inwound it with flowers.  I gilded my eyelids, and I stained my lips 
with vermilion. I gilded my breasts and my nails, and as God and 
Victim in one was I daily sacrificed unto that strange thing that was 
none other than myself.  I made my giant Nubian high priest; and I 
endowed his wand with magic power, so that he might properly perform 
my rites.  This he did to such purpose that many men from Memphis and 
even from more distant towns, leaving their gods, came thither, and 
did sacrifice.  Then I appointed also the pale boy warder of the 
Sanctuary: and he swore unto me to be faithful unto death.
   
Now there arose a great strife in Memphis, and many foolish and lewd 
women cried out against us.  So fierce was the uproar that a great 
company of women issued forth from the city and came into the island. 
They slew my pale boy at the gate, though sword in hand he fought 
against them.  Then they frothed on, and I confronted them in my 
glory.  They hesitated, and in that moment I smote them with a deadly 
itching, so that running forth they tore off their clothes and set 
themselves to scratching, while my people laughed until they ached.
   
At the term, indeed, with exhaustion and with loss of blood they died 
all; four hundred and two women perished in that great day's 
slaughter. So that the people of Memphis had peace for awhile. 
   
But as for me, I mourned the loss of that young slave. I had his body  
embalmed as is not fitting for other than a king.  And at the door of 
the temple I placed his sarcophagus beneath a hedge of knives and 
spears, so that there was no other access to my glory.
   
Like honour hath no slave had ever.
   
Thus then I abode three cycles of the season; and at the end of that 
time the high Priest died.
   
For mine was a strange and dreadful rite to do; none other, and none       
unfortified by magic power, could have done this thing.
   
Yet I too sickened of that everlasting sacrifice.  I was become worn 
and wan; there was no blood but ice in my veins. I had indeed become 
all but a god ...
   
Therefore I took the body of my Nubian, and slew four young girls, 
and filled all the hollow spaces of his body with their blood. Then 
too I sealed up his body with eight seals; and the ninth seal was 
mine own, the centre of my godhead.
   
Then he rose slowly and staggeringly as I uttered the dreadful words:

A ka dua
Tuf ur biu
Bi aa chefu
Dudu ner af an nuteru!

Then I touched him with my wand and he rose into full power of his 
being; and we entered in, and for the last time did he perform (though 
silent) the ceremony.  At whose end he lay shrivelled and collapsed, 
shrunken like an old wineskin; yet his blood availed me nothing.  I 
was icier than before.  Yet now indeed was I Osiris, for I sent out 
flames of cold gray glory from my skin, and mine eyes were rigid with 
ecstasy.
   
Yea, by Osiris himself, I swear it!  Even as the eyes of all living 
men revolve ceaselessly, so were mine fixed!
   
Then I shook myself and went forth into the city of Memphis, my face 
being veiled and my steps led by slaves.
   
And there I went into the temples one by one; and I twitched aside my 
veil, whereat all men fell dead on the instant, and the gods tumbled 
from their places, and broke in pieces upon the floor.
   
And I veiled myself, and went into the market-place and lifted up my 
voice in a chant and cried:

Death, and desolation, and despair!
I lift up my voice, and all the gods are dumb.
I unveil my face, and all that liveth is no more,
I sniff up life, and breathe forth destruction.
I hear the music of the world, and its echo is Silence.

Death, and desolation, and despair!
The parting of the ways is come: the Equinox of the Gods is past.
Another day: another way.
Let them that hear me be abased before me!
Death, and desolation, and despair!

Then I pulled away my veil, and the cold lightnings of death shot 
forth, and the people of the city fell dead where they stood.
   
Save only one, a young boy, a flute-player, that was blind, and, 
seeing not those eyes of mine, died not.
   
Then to him I spake, saying:
   
"Arise, summon the priests and the people, all that remain.  And let 
them build a temple unto Osiris the God of the dead, and let the dead 
be worshipped for ever and ever." 
   
This I said, and went out from the city with the two slaves that I had 
left in the gate, and we went unto Nile, unto a cave by the bank of 
the river; and there I abode for many months, weeping for Isis my 
Lady. For though I had avenged her in many dreadful deeds, yet I 
brought her not back unto life.  Moreover the lover of her was as it 
were dead in me, so that my heart stirred not at the thought of her.  
Say that my love wandered like a ghost unburied, frozen, adrift upon 
the winds!
   
Now of my deeds at this period it is almost too horrible to tell. For 
I performed great penance, in the hope of vitalizing that dead 
principle in me which men call the soul.
   
I starved myself shamefully, in this manner.  First surrounding myself 
with all possible luxuries of food, brought in steaming and savoury 
from hour to hour, I yet condemned myself to subsist upon a little 
garlic and a little salt, with a little water in which oats had been 
bruised.
   
Then if any wish arose in me to eat of the dainties around me I gashed 
myself with a sharp stone.
   
Moreover I kindled a great fire in the cave so that the slaves 
tumbled and fainted as they approached. And the smoke choked me so 
that I constantly vomited a black and ill-smelling mucus from my 
lungs, stained here and there with frothing blood.
   
Again, I suffered my hair to grow exceeding long, and therein I 
harboured vermin.  Also, when I lay down to sleep, though this I did 
not till with swollen tongue and blackened throat I could no longer 
howl the name of my dead Lady, then (I say) did I smear my limbs with 
honey, that the rats of the cave might gnaw them as I slept.  
Moreover, I pillowed mine head upon a corpse dead of leprosy, and 
whenever that dead soul of mine stirred at all with love toward my 
Lady, then I caressed and kissed that corpse, and sang soft songs to 
it, playing with gracious words and gestures.  All this spoke loudly 
to my soul, rebuking it for its weakness and corruption.  So too the 
bitterness and foulness of my life would often overleap the limit of 
sensibility; and then for hours together would I be lost in a raging 
whirlwind of laughter.  At this time my slaves would be afraid to 
come anight me, and then darting out of the cave I would catch one by 
the hair and dragging him within put him to exquisite torture.  This 
indeed was of great use to me;  for I would devise atrocious things, 
and if they served to excite his utmost anguish I would then try them 
on myself.  Thus I would run needles steeped in Nile mud beneath my 
finger-nails, so that the sores festering might produce a sickening 
agony.  Or again I would cut strips of skin and tear them off; but 
this filed, though it acted well enough upon the slave, for my own 
skin had become too brittle.  Then I would take a piece of hard wood, 
and hammer it with a stone against the bones, hurting the membrane 
that covers them, and causing it to swell.  This too I had to abandon, 
but the limb of the slave died, and he swelled up and rotted and 
turned green, and in shocking agony he died.
   
So then I was compelled to cure myself magically, and this was a great 
loss of force.
   
Yet was I "Far form the Happy Ones," although my lips hung on my 
fleshless face like bean-pods withered and blackened, and although 
there was not one inch of skin upon all my body that was not scarred.  
   
Yet my trial was night its end.  For the people of Memphis, wondering 
at the frequent purchases of dead lepers made always by the same 
slave, began, as is the wont of the ignorant, to spread foolish 
rumours.  At last they said openly "there is an holy hermit in the old 
cave by Nile."  The the barren women of the city came out stealthily 
to me in the hope that by my sanctity their dry sticks might blossom.
   
But I showed them my dead leper, and said "Let me first beget children 
upon this,and after I will do your business." This liked them not; yet 
they left me not alone, for they went home and cried out that I was an 
horror, a ghoul, a vampire.... And at that all the young and beautiful 
women of the city, leaving their lovers and their husbands, flocked to 
me, bringing gifts.  But I took them to the dead leper and said, "When 
you are beautiful as that is beautiful, and when I am weary of its 
beauty and its delight, then will I do your pleasure."
   
Then they all raged vehemently against me, and stirred up the men of 
the city to destroy me. And I, not being minded to display my magic 
force, went by night (so soon as I heard of this) and took sanctuary 
in the shrine of Osiris that I had caused them to build.  And there I 
attained felicity; for uniting my consciousness with the gods, I 
obtained the expansion of that consciousness. Is not the kingdom of 
the dead a mighty kingdom?
   
So I perceived the universe as it were a single point of infinite 
nothingness yet of infinite extension; and becoming this universe, I 
became dissolved utterly therein.  Moreover, my body lifted itself up 
and rose in the air to a great height beyond the shadow of the earth, 
and the earth rolled beneath me; yet of all this I knew nothing, for 
that I was all these things and none of them.  Moreover I was united 
with Isis the Mother of Osiris, being yet her brother and her lord.
   
Woe, woe to me! for all this was but partial and imperfect; nor did I 
truly understand that which occurred.
   
Only this I knew, that I should return to my city of Thebai, and rule      
therein as High Priest of Osiris, no longer striving to some end 
unheard-of or impossible, but quietly and patiently living in the 
enjoyment of my dignities and wealth, even as a man.
   
Yet one thing I saw also, that as Isis is the Lady of all Nature, the      
living; and as Osiris is the Lord of the Dead, so should Horus come, 
the Hawk-headed Lord, as a young child, the image of all Nature and 
all Man raised above Life and Death, under the supreme rule of Hadit 
that is Force and of Nuit that is Matter -- though they are a Matter 
and a Force that transcend all our human conceptions of these things.