THE LADDER

"I will arise and go unto my Father."

MALKUTH

Dark, dark, all dark! I cower, I cringe.
Only above me is a citron tinge
As if some echo of red, gold, and blue
Chimed on the night and let its shadow through.
Yet I who am thus prisoned and exiled
Am the right heir of glory, the crowned child.

I match my might against my Fate's.
  I gird myself to reach the ultimate shores,
    I arm myself the war to win: ---
Lift up your heads, O mighty gates!
  Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!
    The King of Glory shall come in.

TAU

I pass from the citrine; deep indigo
Is this tall column. Snakes and vultures bend
Their hooded hate on him that would ascend.
O may the Four avail me! Ageless woe,
Fear, torture throng the threshold. Lo! The end
Of matter! The Immensity of things
Let loose --- new laws, new beings, new conditions: ---
Dire chaos; see! these new-fledged wings
Fail in its vaguenesses and inanitions.
Only my circle saves me from the hate
Of all these monsters dead yet animate.
    I match, &c.

YESOD

Hail, thou full moon, O flame of amethyst!
Stupendous mountain on whose shoulders rest
The Eight Above. More stable is my crest
Than thine --- and now I pierce thee, veil of mist!
Even as an arrow from the war-bow springs
I leap --- my life is set with loftier things.
    I match, &c.

SAMECH (and the crossing of the path of Pe)

Now swift, thou azure shaft of fading fire,
Pierce through the rainbow! Swift, O swift! how streams
The world by! Let Sandalphon and his quire
Of Angels ward me!
No! what planet beams
This angry ray? Thy swords, thy shields, thy spears!
Thy chariots and thy horsemen, Lord! Showered spheres
Of meteors war and blaze; but I am I,
Horus himself, the Torrent of the sky
Aflame --- I sweep the stormy seas of air
Towards that great globe that hangs so golden fair.
    I match, &c.

TIPHERETH

Hail, hail, thou sun of harmony,
Of beauty and of ecstasy!
Thou radiance brilliant and bold!
Thou ruby rose, thou cross of gold!
Hail, centre of the cosmic plan! 
Hail, mystic image of the Man!
I give the sign of slain Asar.
I give the sign of Asi towering.
I give the sign of Apep, star
Of black Destruction all-devouring.
I give thy sign, Asar re-risen: ---
Break, O my spirit, from thy prison!
    I match, &c.

GIMEL (with the crossing of the path of Teth)

Hail, virgin Moon, bright Moon of Her
That is God's thought and minister!
Snow-pure, sky-blue, immaculate
Hecate, in Thy book of Fate
Read thou my name, the soaring soul
That seeks the supreme, sunless goal!

And thou, great Sekhet, roar! Arise
Confront the lion in the way!
Thy calm indomitable eyes
Lift once, and look, and pierce, and slay!

I am past. Hail, Hecate! Untrod
Thy steep ascent to God, to God!
Lo! what unnamed, unnameable
Sphere hangs above inscrutable?
There is no virtue in thy kiss
To affront that soulless swart abyss.
    I match, &c. 

DAÄTH

I am insane. My reason tumbles;
The tower of my being crumbles.
Here all is doubt, distress, despair:
There is no force in strength or prayer.
If pass I may, it is by might
Of the momentum of my flight.
    I match, &c.

GIMEL (and the crossing of Daleth)

Free from that curse, loosed from that prison;
From all that ruin am I risen!
Pure still, the virgin moon beguiles
My azure passage with her smiles.

Now! O what love divine redeems
My death, and bathes it in her beams!
What sacring transubstantiates
My flesh and blood, and incarnates
The quintessential Pan? What shore
Stretches beyond this secret door?
Hail! O thou sevenfold star of green,
Thou fourfold glory --- all this teen
Caught up in ecstasy --- a boon
To pass me singing through the moon!

Nay! I knew not what glory shone
Gold from the breathless bliss beyond:
But this I know that I am gone
To the heart of God's great diamond!
    I match, &c. 

KETHER

I am passed through the abyss of flame.
Hear ye that I am that I am!

THE RETURN

Behold! I clothe mine awful light
In yonder body born of night.
Its mind be open to he higher!
Its heart be lucid-luminous!
The Temple of its own desire
The Temple of the Rosy Cross!

As Horus sped the flame, Harpocrates
Receive the flame, and set the soul at ease.
I who was One am One, all light
Balanced within me, ordered right,
As it was ever to the initiate's ken,
Is now, and shall be evermore. Amen.

THE ASCENT UNTO DAÄTH

Come unto Me, ye, the Divine Lords of the Forces of Intelligence: Whose Abode is in the Place of the Gathering of the Waters.
Come unto Me, ye in whom the Secrets of Truth have their Abiding.
Come unto Me, O Tzaphqial, Aralim, Qashial, by the white Threefold Star, and in the Name of IHVH ELOHIM. 
Cause ye the Paths of Wrath to be opened unto me; that I may advance over the Tree of Life unto the Place of the River.

I stand upon the Northern Quarter of the Universe of Matter, and around me glows the Ruddy Flame of Earth.
Before me is the Portal of the Path of the Spirit of the Primal Flame: Thence gleameth the Red Glory into the World of Assiah.

Lift up your Heads O ye Gates!
And be ye lifted up, ye Everlasting Doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in.

I am come forth from the Gates of Matter:
I advance over the Path of Primal Flame:
And about me the Glory of the Fire is established.
Vast before me in the distance looms the Portal of the Glory.
I am come before the Gates of the Glory of God:
I cry against them in the Name of Elohim Tzebaoth.

Lift up your Heads O ye gates, &c.

Behind me is the Portal of the Primal Fire:
Behind me is the Golden Path of Sol:
At my right hand is the Ruddy Light of Mars:
And before me is the Gateway of the Waters of the Primal Sea.

In the Vast Name of AL the All Enduring
Let me pass through the gate of the Waters of the Primal Sea.

Lift up your Heads, O ye Gates, &c. 

I am come forth from the Gates of the Glory;
Around me are breaking the waters of the Primal Sea:
My path is in the Deep Waters,
And my footsteps are in the Unknown.

Vast before me is the Portal of Geburah:
Behind it is gleaming the Fire of the Wrath of God:
I cry against Thee in the name of Elohim Gibor:
Open unto me, Gateway of God the Mighty!

Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, &c.

I am come forth from the Path of the Waters:
I stand in the World of the Power of God:
I turn my face to the Right, and the Gate of the Lion is before me ---
Gate of the Path of the Lion, in the Sign of the Lion do thou open before my face.
Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, &c.

I advance over the Path of the Leader of the Lion,
By the Power of the Daughter of the Flaming Sword.
About me the Lions are roaring for their prey;
But I am Sekhet, of the Flaming Eyes.
Turned is my face to the left,
And the Priestess of the Silver Star is my guide.
Now am I come forth upon the Path of the Lion,
And my thought in the Place of the gathering of the Waters.
I am the Established one in Daäth!
In me is the Knowledge of Good and of Evil!
In me is the Knowledge of the Light Supernal!
And my face is turned downward unto Malkuth. 

Like all other methods, these, Travelling in the Spirit Vision and Rising on the Planes, are only to be judged by their success. It is impossible to lay down a single task for each individual; one may suit one, and another another; nevertheless it must be pointed out here that though these two methods, or rather two phases of one method, are in most cases fruitful in result, it is generally but a slight step forward, and very seldom does supreme illumination follow. However, as appetisers they are excellent, the student attaining to just that hunger for the Beyond, that appetite for the Unobtainable, which will carry him over many a gloomy mood, many a whispering of the impossibility of his task. Yet that they can accomplish more than this is also certain: to a few they have unlocked the Portal, to the many the Postern; but in all cases it is best that the student should place himself under the guidance of one who has actually travelled, and not trust to his own intuitions in an unknown land, for, if he do so, he will almost of a certainty be led astray, and Obsession may take the place of Illumination, and failure that of success.

Between the grades 4$=7$ and 5$=6$ seven months had to elapse, and during this time we find P. busily travelling the British Isles searching for a suitable house wherein to perform the Operation of Abramelin the Mage, which ever since the previous autumn had engaged his attention. In the month of May he had met D. D. C. F. 7$=4$, official head of the Order of the Golden Dawn. But he was still bent on carrying out the Operation of Abramelin, and journeyed to and fro all over the country endeavouring to discover a suitable dwelling for the necessary Retirement. Thus it came about that in    October of this year we find him settled in a remote and desolate district, a tumbled chaos of lake and mountain, in an ancient manor-house, making all necessary arrangements for this great operation in Ceremonial Magic.

Extracted from the Equinox Volume One, The Temple of Solomon the King