Symbols ana a

See page 90ff.

^r> R. Lully, Cfovfcula, §16; cf. The a trail che.micum. 4.334.
^h Livrc dt~ Syncsius, BPC, 2.190; Flame!, Figures hieroglyphiqucs. (chap, 4), in BPC, 2:243.
⁷ Dk non mire, 30 i.
kalian edition, trans. Todi(l92l) 7 8. 13, 20. Concerning the dam we can return to the cited tradition (Phiiosophumena 5.7) that speaks of a wall behind which is found the "inner Man," who proceeds "trom the primordial celestial Man, Adam," fallen into a work of mere clay and mud in which "he has forgotten everything” (sleep, forgetting, etc.).

9. 
   Chenv'schc Hochzmc von Chrisrian Rosenkreuz (Paris, 1928), 36, Boehme (Dc sigmtiira,, 10, §63) calls the uther septenary the "diabolical castle," which "the knight will destroy in the seven kingdoms
   
10. 
    Philalethes, F.pisr. dc Ripley. §51; licguiac, §5,
    

other, celestial modality of water, which is used in 'resurrections’). Out of this the ashes will be sweet, good and fair. And ye will no longer see death."¹¹ Sometimes the seven indicates symbolic periods of time (days, years, etc,), which often refer to the same order of ideas.
The seven gates of the Mysteries of Mithras are encountered in the Arabic edition of the Book of Oscanes. in a vision occasioned by asceticism, fasting, and prayer, there appears to the author a being who conducts him to seven doors where, guarding the treasures of knowledge, is an animal whose own parts are being devoured among themselves¹² (as mentioned on page 34). This clearly symbolizes the desire that feeds on itself, establishing by its presence the obstacle to the realization of the transcendent states T And the seven initiations are seen in the symbol of the seven steps in the Stairway of the Wise in an illustration of the Amphitheatrum sapientiae of Khunrath, a work in which is also encountered the symbol of a "philosophical citadel” with seven towers, corresponding to the seven operations of the Art, with a dragon in the center, symbol of the prima materia.
In a mystical Syrian alchemical text, the usual veil of enigmas almost com­pletely falls away when we come to the Mirror contained within a temple appro­priately called the "Seven Doors":
The purpose of die mirror was not to allow a person to contemplate himself physically, because scarcely was the mirror put down, when the person lost memory ol his own image. The Mirror represents the Divine Spirit, When the soul sees itself in it, it observes the shameful things in itself and rejects them.
. . . Once purified, it imitates and takes as model the Holy Ghost; it becomes spirit itself; calm possesses it and it turns continuously to this superior state in which it knows (the divine) and is known [by it). Then having become without shadow, it divests itself of the chains that are its own and those it has in common with the body. And what is the word of the philosophers? Know thyself. With these words is conveyed the spritual and intellectual mirror. And what is this mirror if not the primordial divine spirit itself? When a man looks into it and sees himsell, he turns away f rom everything bearing the names of gods and demons, and uniting himself with the Holy Ghost, he becomes a perfect man. ... He sees the God that is in him. . . . This mirror is situated