EPHESIAN DIANA.

165

the speech of an angel and of a spirit with man is heard in man, and, since it equally affects the organs of hearing, that it is equally sonorous (Swedenborg; also Occult Sciences, p. 93; London, 1855).

The Greek Bacchanals were well acquainted with the mythos of Eve, since they constantly invoked her, or a person under her name, in their ceremonies.

Black is the Saturnian colour-also that of the Egyptian Isis. Under the strange head of the embodiment of Deity under darkness, the following remarkable facts may be considered the Virgin and Child are depicted black at the Cathedral at Moulins, at the famous Chapel of the Virgin at Loretto, in the Church of the Annunciation at Rome, at the Church of St. Lazaro and the Church of St. Stephen at Genoa, at that of St. Francisco at Pisa, at the Church of Brixen in the Tyrol, at a church in (and at the Cathedral of) Augsburgh, where the black figures are as large as life, at the Borghese Chapel in Rome, at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Pantheon, and in a small chapel at St. Peter's, on the right-hand side, on entering, near the door. The reader can make references in his memory to these places, if he be a traveller.

The writer who goes by the name of Dionysius Areopagita teaches that the highest spiritual truth is revealed only to those who have transcended every ascent of every holy height, and have left behind all divine lights and sounds and heavenly discoursings, and have passed into that Darkness where He really is (as saith the Scripture) who is ALL, above all things (De Mystica Theologia, cap. i. sec. 3; Hours with the Mystics, vol. i. note to book i. chap. 2, by R. A. Vaughan, B.A.).

The words graven upon the zone and the feet of the Ephesian Diana, which Hesychius has preserved, are the following:

"These Ephesian words," says Plutarch (Sympos.), "the Magi used to recite over those possessed with devils." "Damnameneus" is seen on a Gnostic amulet in the De la Turba Collection (The Gnostics, p. 94).

The Argha had the form of a crescent. The Argo, arc, or arche, is the navis biprora. It is clear that, as neither the full moon nor the half-moon was ever the object of worship, it is the crescent horns of the moon which imply the significance. These mean the woman-deity in every religion.

The snake associated with the mysteries among the Hindoos is the cobra-di-capella. It is said that the snake on the heads of all the Idols in Egypt was a Cobra. The name of the monarch or Chief Priest in Thibet is the Lama, or the Grand Lama. Prester-John is the great Priest, or Prestre (Prêtre), Ian, Ion, Jehan, or John (the Sun). Lamia is the "snake" among the Ophidians; Lama is the hand lamh, hand, is a divine name in the Scythian tongue. It also means the number 10, and the Roman numeral X, which is a cross. Now, the double pyramid, or hand, (a) ▲, of the Egyptians comprises the mystic mark signifying the two original principles water and fire, as thus-(6) -the union of which, as intersecting triangles, forms the famous Hexalpha, or "Solomon's Seal," or "Wizard's Foot," which, according to the Eastern allegory, is placed (as that of St. Michael) upon the Rebellious Spirits in their "abyss" or "prison."

Pyr is the Greek name of fire (thence Pyramid), and mythologically of the sun, who was the same as Hercules.

THE LATIAN JUPITER.

167

And the great analyser of mythology assures us that Pur was the ancient name of Latian Jupiter, the father of Hercules; that he was the deity of fire; that his name was particularly retained amongst the people of Præneste, who had been addicted to the rites of fire. Fire, in short, in these mythologies, as also in all the Christian churches, meets us at every turn. But we must not mix up heathen ideas and Christian ideas in these matters.

Egyptian Torso. (British Museum.)

JUR engraving borrows from the West Front of Laon Cathedral, France, a Catherine-Wheel (or "Rose") Window. The twelve pillars, or radii, are the signs of the Zodiac, and are issuant out of the glorified centre, or opening "rose," the sun, or "beginning of all things." "King Arthur's Round Table"

displays the "crucified" Rose in its centre.

In the "tables," alternating with tying-knots, of the Order of the Garter,-which "Most Noble Order" was originally dedicated, be it remembered, to the Blessed Lady, or to the Virgin Mary, the microcosmical, miniature "King Arthur's Round Table" becomes the individual female discus, or organ, waxing and waning, negative or in flower, positive or natural, alternately red and white, as the Rose of the World: Rosamond, Rosa mundi. And here we will adduce, as our

Fig. 34.

ORIGIN OF THE ORDER OF THE "GARTER.” 169

justification for this new reading of the origin of the Order of the Garter, the very motto of the princely order itself :

or,

"Honi soit qui mal y pense !"

"'YONI' soit qui mal y pense !”

What this "Yoni" is, and the changes meant and apotheosised through it, the discreet reader will see on a little reflection.

All the world knows the chivalric origin of this Most Noble Order of the Garter. It arose in a princely act, -rightly considered princely, when the real, delicate, inexpressibly high-bred motive and its circumstances are understood, which motive is systematically and properly concealed. Our great King Edward the Third picked up, with the famous words of the motto of the Order of the Garter, the "garter”—or, as we interpret it, by adding a new construction with hidden meanings, the "Garder" (or special cestus, shall we call it ?)—of the beautiful and celebrated Countess of Salisbury, with whom, it is supposed, King Edward was in love.

The following is from Elias Ashmole: "The Order of the Garter by its motto seems to challenge inquiry and defy reproach. Every body must know the story that refers the origin of the name to a piece of gallantry: either the Queen or the Countess of Salisbury having been supposed to have dropped one of those very useful pieces of female attire at a dance; upon which old Camden says, with a great deal of propriety, and a most just compliment to the ladies,' Hæc vulgus perhibet, nec vilis sane hæc videatur origo, cum NOBILITAS sub AMORE jacet. The ensign of the order, in jewelry or enamel, was worn originally on the left arm. Being in the form of a bracelet to the arm, it might possibly divert the attention of the men from the reputed original; it