Comte de Gabalis: Commentary Concluded: Seventh Prophecy. Merlin's Prophecy of World Peace and Enlightenment

A man shall grasp the lion within the earth, and the brightness of gold shall blind the eyes of those who behold it. Silver shall be of brilliant whiteness upon the circumference and shall disturb the different wine-presses. Mortals shall be drunk with the wine set forth for them and from a deferred heaven shall look back upon the earth. Their stern faces shall turn the stars from them and shall confound their usual course. They shall plow fields for those who are unworthy and for those to whom the moisture of heaven shall be denied. Roots and branches shall change places and the newness of the world shall be a miracle. The brilliance of the Sun shall be tarnished by Mercury's alloy of gold and silver and there shall be dread among those who investigate. Stilbon of Arcadia shall change the disk of the Sun. The helmet of Mars shall call for Venus. The helmet of Mars shall cast a shadow. Iron Orion shall unsheathe his sword. The Phoebus of the sea shall trouble the clouds. The madness of Mercury shall pass all bounds. Jupiter shall. forsake his lawful paths, and Venus shall desert the lines appointed for her. The ill will of the star Saturn shall subside, and it shall hinder mortals with a crooked sickle. The twelve houses of the stars shall deplore the transition of their guests. Gemini shall forego their accustomed embraces and shall call the urn to the

fountains. The scales of Libra shall hang obliquely until Aries shall put his curved horns under them. The tail of Scorpio shall produce lightnings and Cancer shall quarrel with the Sun. Virgo shall mount the back of Sagittarius and shall dim the flower of her virginity. The chariot of the Moon shall disturb the Zodiac and the Pleiades break forth into weeping. Hereafter the offices of Janus shàll never return but his gates shall lie hid in the interstices of Ariadne's crown. The waters shall rise at the stroke of a wand and the labour of the ancients shall be recreated. The winds shall strive together with an awful blast and shall make their sound among the stars. †

LATIN TEXT OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.

Amplexabitur homo leonem in humo, & fulgor auri oculos intuentium excæcabit. Candebit argentum in circuitu, & diversa torcularia vexabit. Imposito vino inebriabuntur mortales, postpositoque coelo in terram respicient. [Postpositoque e coelo in terram respicient]. Ab eis vultus avertent sidera, & solitum cursum confundent. Arebunt segetes his indignantibus & humor convexi negabitur [Arabunt segetes hi indignis quibus humor convexi negabitur]. Radices & rami vices mutabunt, novitasque rei erit miraculo. Splendor Solis electro Mercurij languebit, & erit horror inspicientibus. Mutabit clypeum Stilbon Arcadiæ. Vocabit Venerem Galea Martis. Galea Martis

umbram conficiet. Nudabit ensem Orion ferreus, vexabit nubes Phoebus æquoreus. Transibit terminos furor Mercurij. Exibit Jupiter semitas licitas & Venus deseret statutas lineas. Saturni sideris livido corruet & falce recurva mortales perimet. Bissenus numerus domorum syderum deflebit hospites ita transcurrere. Omittent Gemini complexus solitos, & urnam in fontes provocabunt. Pensa libræ obliquæ pendebunt, donec aries recurva cornua sua supponat. Cauda scorpionis procreabit fulgura, & cancer cum sole litigabit. Ascendet virgo dorsum sagittarij & flores virgineos obfuscabit. Currus Lunæ turbabit Zodiacum, & in fletum prorumpent Pleiades. Officia Jani mina redibunt, sed clausa Janua in crepidinibus Ariadnæ delitebit. In ictu radij exurgent æquora & pulvis veterum renovabitur. Confligent venti diro suffiamine& sonitum inter sidera conficient.

The Latin texts used are taken from Prophetia Anglicana, Merlini Ambrosii Britanni, ex incubo olim (ut hominum fama est) ante annos mille ducentos circiter in Anglia nati, Vaticinia & praedictiones: à Galfredo Monumetensi Latinè conversæ: una cum septem libris explanationum in eandem prophetiam, excellentissimi sui temporis Oratoris, Polyhistoris & Theologi, Alani de Insulis, Germani, Dotoris (ob admirabilem & omnigenam eruditionem, cognomento), Universalis & Parisiensis Academiæ, ante annos 300, Rectoris Amplissimi.

ad historiarum, præcipue vero Britannicæ, cognitionem, non parum lucis allaturum. Francofurti Typis Joachimi Bratheringij, MDCIII.

NOTE ON TEXT.

The various rescensions of the text of Merlin's Prophecy exhibit marked differences. The fad that a single word, the fifth in line one, is read in four different ways § is but one proof out of many which might he adduced as evidence that the original manuscript has been much corrupted in transcription. Since certain passages of the text as it now stands bear no relation to the general tenor of the Prophecy they have been emended, these emendations being inserted in brackets and followed in the translation.

INTERPRETATION OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.

A man shall grasp the lion within the earth, and the brightness of gold shall blind the eyes of those who behold it..

The first lines of this Prophecy describe the coming of the World-Saviour and its results. He is the man who shall grasp or understand and govern the lion, † Solar Force * and its action in the earth, the physical body. The brightness of gold, that is of the Saviour's golden or Solar Body ‡, I shall blind the eyes of those who behold it.

As gold is used mystically to signify that which is Solar or spiritual, so silver is employed to symbolise that which is intellectual. To say that silver shall be of brilliant whiteness upon the circumference of the gold is equivalent to saying that brilliant minds shall gather about the Manifested Spiritual Light.

Wine is the symbol of the blood of Christ or spiritual life of the church. Hence the wine-presses (the instruments through which spiritual life should flow into the world) are the churches. Brilliant minds inspired by the Manifested Light shall radiate the truth which they are receiving and shall trouble and disturb the different churches and their theological concepts of truth.

Mortals shall he drunk with the wine set forth for them and from a deferred heaven shall look back upon the earth.

Their stern faces shall turn the stars from them and shall confound their usual course.

Through knowledge of the Law governing Solar Force man shall gain power to awaken those ganglia corresponding to the planets ‡ and thereby controlling the planetary forces manifesting in him, shall unfold the immortality of his own being and become the master of his destiny.

"It is said that a wise man rules over the stars; but this does not mean that he rules over the stars in the sky, but over the powers that are active in his own mental constitution." PARACELSUS, PHILOSOPHIA OCCULTA.

They shall plow fields for those who are unworthy and for those to whom the moisture of heaven shall be denied.

Roots and branches shall change places and the newness of the world shall be as a miracle.

and the branches downwards." * The spinal cord is the tree whose roots and branches are here mentioned, and connects those minor brain centres which are seats of the higher consciousness in man and which when energised enable him to draw spiritual nourishment and illumination from the heaven-world". "As trees by their extremities are rooted in the earth, and through this are earthly in every part, in the same manner divine natures are rooted by their summits in the One." PROCLUS. To-day man is rooted in the earth. To-morrow, awakening to a consciousness of his divine nature, he shall be rooted in the One, and such radiation of Spiritual Light will result that the newness of the world will be a miracle.

Here ends the prophecy of the coming of the World Saviour, and some lines are now devoted to a description of the era in which these events will occur.

The brilliance of the Sun shall be tarnished by Mercury's alloy of gold and silver and there shall be dread among those who investigate.

Stilbon is a Latinised form of the Greek ὁ Στίλβων, the Shining One, a name given in antiquity to the planet Mercury;while Arcadia is a district in Greece which latterly became so identified . with the cult of Hermes (Mercury) that Statius terms the caduceus of the Messenger of the Gods virga Arcadia, * the Arcadian rod. Stilbon of Arcadia would therefore appear to be a reference to the Messenger of the Gods or World Teacher who shall change the disk of the Sun, cause men to regard the Sun in its true light. Aristotle in the De Mundo [c. 2] says, But the multitude of the planets being collected into seven parts, is distributed into as many circles. . . . Stilbon is the next (circle) in order, which some say is sacred to Hermes, but others to Apollo." Hermes is the God of Intellect, Apollo the Sun God and radiator of spiritual light and life. Hence it is not improbable that by the beautiful title Stilbon of Arcadia, Merlin obscurely signifies the tenor of the coming ministry to mankind which is destined to inspire an intelledtualism vivified by spiritual realisation.

Mars "was worshipped at Rome as the god of war, and war itself was frequently designated by the name of Mars." * Similarly Venus signifies love. The armour of war shall call for love. The armament of war will become Aso terrible as to compel love among the nations.

"Orion, a handsome giant and hunter. Having come to Chios, he fell in love with Merope, the daughter of Oenopion; his treatment of the maiden so exasperated her father, that, with the assistance of Dionysus, he deprived the giant of his sight. Being informed that he should recover his sight if he exposed his eye-balls to the rays of the rising sun, Orion found his way to the island of Lemnos, where Hephaestus (God of Fire) gave him Cedalion as his guide, who led him to the East. After the recovery of his sight he lived as a hunter along with Artemis. After his death, Orion was placed among the stars, where he appears as a giant with a girdle, sword, a lion's skin and a club." * Orion typifies the enlightened soul descended

deep into matter who, through giving way to his lower nature, loses his spiritual vision and after many tests and trials regains his divine birthright through the healing power of the Solar Force or Sun manifesting in man, being at last clothed with Light. The girdle, sword, lion's skin and club are symbols of Initiation; the sword being emblem of Justice and the Divine Law; the lion's skin of the lower nature slain for the clothing of the God in man. Orion symbolises the Initiate and his story recounts the progress of his Initiation. The meaning is that an Initiate or God-enlightened man shall unsheathe that sword which is the emblem of Divine Justice and God's Great Law,--shall reveal the Law of Nature, God, which wills obedience in all things.

The Phoebus of the sea is the Moon which symbolises the soul of man, and the clouds are the illusion which encompasses it when incarnate. The soul of man again awakening into a realisation of its true purpose shall endeavour to penetrate and dispel the illusion which enthralls it and prevents its mastery of the mind.

Jupiter (Justice) shall forsake his lawful paths, and Venus (Love) shall desert the lines appointed for her. The ill-will of the star Saturn shall subside, and it shall hinder mortals with a crooked sickle.

The crooked sickle is the Moon. A favourable aspect of Saturn to the Moon makes operative the sterling qualities of Saturn, restraint and a true sense of justice. Under such an aspect, the ill will of Saturn would subside. The word perimet (hinder) is used in this sense only when governing an abstract object. Mortales (mortals) must therefore stand for an abstrat idea, signifying the trend of mortal evolution which shall be hindered or restrained in its present course by a manifestation of Divine Justice. Saturn is said to bridge the gap between the mortal and the immortal natures of man, and similarly that which separates the mortal from the immortal evolution of the race. It is the property of this planet to crystalise events, or bring them to a crisis, in order that their lesson may be learned, and their experience garnered and transmuted into that truth which is justice, and which brings divine realisation and spiritual progress.

[paragraph continues] Merlin appropriately places Saturn after a prophecy of war and the confusion of mortal concerns, and before his concluding words which shadow forth the immortal destiny of the race.

The twelve houses of the stars (the twelve signs of the Zodiac) shall deplore the transition. of their guests. Gemini shall forego their accustomed embraces and shall call the urn to the fountains,

Gemini, "the well-known heroes Castor and Pollux. Although they were buried, says Homer, yet they came to life every other day, and they enjoyed divine honours. Castor, the mortal, fell by the hands of Idas, but Pollux slew Lynceus. At the request of Pollux, Zeus allowed him to share his brother's fate, and to live alternately one day under the earth, and the other in the heavenly abodes of the gods." * In this ancient myth the divine and mortal natures of man are represented by the brothers Castor and Pollux. To say that they shall cease their embraces is to imply that the divine, when understood by man, will be differentiated from the human, and that both will call the urn to the fountains of living waters, or consciously partake of the same essence. " He (the Sun) enters into Gemini at the time when the Pleiades rise." VITRUVIUS.

The scales of Libra shall hang obliquely until Aries shall put his curved horns under them.

Libra is the sign of the Balance, while Aries "the ram is the principle of generation." * Balance cannot be achieved by man until the principle of generation is understood and applied for the awakening and lifting up of that Regenerative Force which is the instrument the soul uses to build up its Solar or Spiritual Body. The spiritual equilibrium of the world will be upset until the generative force in man is transmuted into Regenerative Power. †

Virgo shall mount the back of Sagittarius and shall dim the flower of her virginity.

[paragraph continues] Sagittarius is the house of Jupiter, the giver of the law or holder of authority. It is possible to interpret this as an allusion to the present feminist movement.

"Astrea in the mythology of the ancients, was the goddess of Justice, who resided on earth during the reign of Saturn, or the golden age. Being shocked by the impiety of mankind, she returned to heaven, and became one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, under the name of Virgo."

The Pleiades were seven in number, six of whom are described as visible and the seventh as invisible. The Pleiades were virgin companions of Artemis and, together with their mother, were pursued by the hunter Orion in Boeotia; their prayer to be rescued from him was heard by the gods, and they were metamorphosed into doves, and placed among the stars." †

The Pleiades represent the seven principal ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, pursued by the Initiate Orion who seeks to

energise them. When energised (when the Divine Force flows through them) they are said to weep * and through prayer are changed into doves. The dove has been in marry ages the symbol of the Super Solar Force. To say that the Pleiades become doves is to say that they become vehicles of the Super Solar Force, and energised by it appear as stars. Thus "the Pleiades break forth into weeping" means that at a certain period of evolution the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system shall be highly energised, and men shall become God-enlightened and no longer subject to illusion.

There shall be no more war. "Janus occupied an important place in the Roman religion. He was the porter of heaven. On earth also he was the guardian deity of gates. At Rome, Numa is said to have dedicated to Janus the covered passage bearing his name, which was opened in times of war and closed in times of peace." † "He has also a temple at Rome with two gates, which they call the gates of war." PLUTARCH.

"Ariadne's crown, which is one of the celestial constellations, who left the world in Saturn's reign, called the golden age." THE LIFE OF MERLIN. LONDON, .1813. PAGE 275. Ariadne's crown here symbolises the advent of the golden age which shall cause wars to cease.

The waters are influenced by the Moon, and symbolically represent feeling or soul expression which shall flood the world when the magician, World Saviour, shall come. The wand of the magician is the spinal column energised by the power the Paraclete can give to man. This is the power Moses had, and which before Moses built up ancient Egypt.

Thus translated this passage may be taken to signify the return of the Ancient Wisdom brought back by old souls incarnate for this purpose; or literally rendered means "the dust of the ancients shall be restored." When the generality of mankind become enlightened, and understand the profound spiritual purpose which inspired the Egyptians

The winds shall strive together with an awful blast, and shall make their sound among the stars.

These are the "winds" of the Apocalypse (anemoi) or differentiations of the Solar Force manifesting in the cerebro-spinal system, and when man is able to sustain their inflow, they shall make their sound among the stars, energise the cerebro-spinal centres. These centres when energised are visible to the seer as rapidly revolving stars of great luminosity and restore to man super-physical states of consciousness. For the purpose of clear statement we have refrained from differentiating Lunar from Solar and Super Solar Force in this book. The Pleiades † are the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system energised by Lunar Force, while the stars here referred to, are the centres of the cerebro-spinal system, vehicles of Solar Force. The sympathetic and cerebro-spinal systems are thus prepared to sustain the inflow of the Super Solar Force, the Redeemer and Regenerator of mankind and the world.

"And He hath subjected to you the night and the day; the sun and the moon and the stars too are subjeeted to you by his behest; verily, in this are signs for those who understand: KORAN SURA xvi. THE BEE. EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITION, PAGE 201.

Wherefore let God be exalted, the King, the Truth! There is no god but He! Lord of the stately throne!" KORAN SURA xxiii. THE BELIEVERS, PAGE 150.

Footnotes

343:* "Theologists also signify the extension of the Solar Providence to mortal natures through tears." Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato. T Taylor's Translation, page 95.

SEVENTH PROPHECY.

MERLIN'S PROPHECY OF WORLD PEACE AND ENLIGHTENMENT.

LATIN TEXT OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.

NOTE ON TEXT.

INTERPRETATION OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.

Footnotes