the apple, even if all trace of the worm had been carefully cut out. Therefore there must be new and finer kinds of food developed.

While each of these "hours" takes but a few words to express, each of them may take years, centuries and often lives to attain. How few there be who even pass the first step, or according to Apollonius, hold the vigil of the first hour! But let no one despair, for nothing is lost. That which we conquer today, be it ever so little, will never assail us again. To begin, if we be in earnest, we have to take the Sphinx as our emblem and study well its lessons, seeking for spiritual, moral and intellectual supremacy, looking for no miraculous tests but content to take the tests as well as the tasks of our daily life and out of the material in the environment in which we find ourselves build in cell by cell the new perfected spiritual body which shall some day be clothed in the glorious splendor of the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The Seventeenth Letter PE (5)

"He produced Pé, and referred it to Power; He crowned it, combined and formed with it Mercury in the Universe, the fifth day of the week, and left ear of man."-Sepher Yetzirah, 22.

The seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Pé (P), à double letter which corresponds astronomically to the planet Mercury whose double qualities are power and servitude. Mercury is called the Messenger of the Gods and is the planet of "thought" permanently in its creative aspect, for like Mercury thought is the Messenger of the Gods, yet it can sink low or climb high and can travel faster than the wind. Mercury is also the messenger of man's thoughts to the kingdoms below him.

The Greeks represented the god Mercury as a beautiful youth in the attitude of flight, poised on one foot, while Boreas is blowing him out of his mouth. He has wings on his head, symbolizing the power of thought to lift the intellect above the earth, to fly up to heaven and to carry man's aspirations to the Gods. But he also has wings on his heels, indicating the exceeding swiftness of thought to "put a girdle round the world," also to carry man's thoughts over all the earth that man's impress shall be stamped on all the kingdoms below him. Hence just as the letter P has its hard and soft sound; Mercury or the thoughts of man become either a clothing of righteousness or a cloak of darkness effectually hiding from him the higher Divine Understanding. Alas for Mercury if the wings upon his heels are permitted to grow overlarge while those upon his head atrophy!

The letter P is called the paternal letter, and its form is very suggestive, for it is made up of a circle with a straight line, the 1 or the One Life, descending from the circle. In this case the circle while presenting the same meaning as any circle, has the added meaning of a head or brain. Hence we

might say that in this letter it is the brain of the divine Father-in-heaven-a cypher from an earthly standpoint because unknown-pouring upon humanity through the straight line all the inscrutable Wisdom contained in the circle. As we have said elsewhere: "The four Ps-Perception, Promptness, Perseverance and Perfection-form the four corners of the Mental Foundation Stone

"Let us then briefly consider the geometrical design of the letter P. Originally it was made up of a circle-symbolizing a sphere of manifestation-lifted a little above the earth. In this case we will call the sphere the mental world or that sphere of conception which our mentality is capable of entering, grasping and cognizing. From the circle there reaches down to earth a perpendicular line or pedestal upon which it rests. In other words, the letter P is a modification of a circle resting upon the top of a fixed perpendicular line. This line represents unity or 1. It also represents the letter I, that conception of I-am-ness which we must gain by reaching up into the mental world long ere we are ready to lay our mental foundation stone and prepare for spiritual illumination. Until we have carved this fourfold stone and placed it upon its pedestal in the mental world we have no sure foundation of knowledge upon which to stand or build.

"First we must have Perception. We speak of using our powers of sight upon the psychic plane and we call it clairvoyance, but it is not a new sense, nor is it Perception. It is but the use of sight in the psychic world. Perception is something quite different from sight. It belongs to the mental world. For no matter how much we see, either physically, clairvoyantly or even spiritually, unless we mentally perceive, sight brings to our consciousness no real meaning or lesson. Perception is that power to understand, that mental desire to grasp and comprehend something which we know exists; something which we perceive is necessary, but which we have not yet attained. A prime factor in Perception is attention. We must give attention to the laws of manifestation in the higher realms if we

would perceive and understand the realities of life, the necessity of laying our foundation stone and proceeding with the Great Work.

"When we have awakened our powers of Perception, powers which not only stir our hearts and fill our lives, but which our reason has convinced us are necessary to bring forth and make tangible our ideals, then we must begin work upon the next corner of our stone, Promptness. Promptness means to do at once whatever you perceive should be done, even little things. Let nothing come between you and the thing or duty your Perception has told you is your next step. This corner in the life of the novice often takes many years to carve, so hard is it to overcome habits of dilatoriness. We are so prone, even when building our spiritual temple, to neglect this corner, to try to lay our mental stone and leave this corner improperly squared and fitted. Yet if we do so our structure will fall or be so weak that we will have to come back and rebuild it later. Therefore build it while you may, strong and square and perfect. Never be so busy, even with that which you consider important, that you cannot promptly obey the Perception which your Soul has given to your intellect. If you perceive a duty to be done, do it now, even if you have to stop something you prefer to do. There is nothing that disturbs your mental and psychic poise, whether in your studies, your business or other affairs of life, as to feel that there is something hanging over you, some little thing that you should have done, but which you have neglected or put off. Such an unfulfilled duty becomes a pressure or an unrecognized source of irritation in your mental and psychic life which hampers your perfect accomplishment of other duties.

"Through your lack of Promptness the opportunity to gain the end you desire often slips from you. You forget or some trifling matter or personal inconvenience delays you and later you find that your project has failed because you have neglected to obey promptly the Perception of Truth given you. For instance, you perceive the advantages of study

ing the teachings of this Order in company with those whose hearts respond to the same great ideals, the advantage of coming into the currents of spiritual force forever flowing from its inner center, currents which those who study together focus upon themselves. You perceive all this, but some trifling excuse prevents you from acting upon it. You are too tired, you had company, it was too cold or too hot, too wet or too windy, and you wish to be excused. You are like the guests bidden to the feast of which Jesus speaks. "They all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." Human nature is still the same. How many fail to fulfill their promises or follow their perception of duty, yet find time for more congenial tasks! Have you no confidence in the love and power of the great Masters of Wisdom to protect and sustain you when you would study Their teachings or be about Their business? If you have, then prove it. Follow the Perception. Make the effort. Every positive stand you take builds character, increases your strength, lifts you out of your negative state, gives you the power to conquer your weaknesses and tends to make promptness, courage, resolution and trust habits which will replace the negative habit of making excuses. Therefore we declare unto you that after Perception comes Promptness of action. Follow up every Perception by prompt execution. Never stop to argue when the Soul speaks. Never put off a duty until you have more time. You have all the time there is. Do it now!

"The next corner of the stone you must carve is Perseverance. In the journey of the Soul the Great Law urges everyone to perfect himself. If through lack of Perception and Promptness we lag behind, how difficult to Persevere ! Through lack of Promptness we grow negative and lose in