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Lives of Alcyone Part 2 ( Lives 16 to 30 ) By Annie Besant & C. W. Leadbeater

Life XVI

Our hero’ s destiny here brings him into the midst of another of those easy going civilisations that were so common in the world before the modern spirit introduced its uncomfortable doctrine of the necessity for living always at high pressure. Though we find him now at the antipodes, he is in the same sub-race as in Ireland in the thirteenth life, and the conditions have much in common. The climate is much better, so that the settlements are no longer confined to the sunny sides of the hills. Crops are far larger and fruit is more plentiful, and life generally is easier in all respects. But the race displays its characteristics, its love for the open air, its realisation of the proximity of the unseen world, its sun-worship, and its distaste for temples made with hands.

The men of this fifth sub-race had entered the country only a few centuries before, dispossessing tribes who were apparently a mixture of Turanian and Lemurian stock. These aborigines had offered no serious resistance to the invaders, but had retired to the hills and the less accessible parts of the country, where they still existed in large numbers. There was little intercourse between the two races, except that in various places small groups of the Turanians abandoned their unfriendly attitude and came and made settlements in the immediate neighbourhood of the white men, for whom they were usually willing to work when required. The untamed part of this earlier race was regarded with horror and aversion, chiefly because of the peculiarly objectionable form of their religion, which eventually led to their complete subjugation, as will be seen later.

Almost all our characters are present in this life, most of them of course among the superior race, but a few among the Turano-Lemurians. The rulers of the country was Viraj, and according to the custom of this branch of the race the King was also ipso facto the head of the Church, that is to say, the High Priest. Viraj, however, was a strong and somewhat stern ruler, who had a great genius for administration. He was little attracted to the priestly side of his work, although he performed such duties as had to be done with a sharp military brevity which was impressive in its way. His oldest son Surya was from an early age drawn much more to the priestly than to the kingly side of the royal office, and this characteristic was so marked that as soon as he came of age Viraj turned over to him all that part of the work, in order that he himself might plunge with renewed ardour into the organisation of his country.

Surya married Alcyone, who appeared this time in a female body as the daughter of the younger brother of King Viraj. She had a most intense reverence and affection for her husband, and shared with him his devotion to the priestly side of his office. Though Surya was the heir-apparent, many of the duties that would naturally have fallen to him were left to his younger brother Leo, in order that he might be able to devote all his time to a re-organisation of the priesthood and its methods. His first children were the twin boys Mars and Mercury; and as soon as these twins began to be able to express their preferences it was manifest that they were respectively incarnations of the two sides of the royal office; for Mars seemed to care comparatively little for the temple ceremonies, while he manifested the most intense interest in the administrative work of his grandfather. Although the affection between the twin brothers was most touching, they differed entirely on this point; for Mercury’ s devotion was all to the temple services, which he constantly attended with his mother. Even already Viraj and Surya had decided that if they both lived long enough the crown should pass from grandfather to grandson Mars, leaving Surya to devote himself to the work which he loved, and Mercury to inherit high position in due course, thereby establishing a separation between the kingly and priestly offices.

As years rolled on Alcyone’ s family rapidly increased, all its members being characters well known to us. It was one of her greatest pleasures to dream of their future, imagining for them all sorts of distinguished destinies. Some of her dreams seem to have been actual previsions; and her husband Surya, who used to listen to her with an indulgent smile, was on one occasion at least greatly impressed by one of her visions—so much so that he took the words out of her mouth and spoke himself as though inspired:

“ You and I, my wife, and these flowers of our race, have a wondrous destiny before us. As you follow me now, so shall you and they follow me in that glorious future. Some of these who now call you mother shall pass in advance of you, and shall be my more immediate helpers in the work which I have to do. And when your share in that work comes, others of these your children shall stand round you as helpers and disciples. So the members of this our family shall not be separated as so often happens; again and again shall they be here together, so that it becomes a permanent family whose members shall meet in fraternal affection through the ages that are yet to come.”

So when Viraj was gathered to his fathers it was Mars, not Surya, who was proclaimed King in his stead; and it was not long after he came to the throne before it was found necessary to take further control of that part of the island inhabited by the Turano Lemurians. These latter had an obscene form of religion which, among other unpleasantness, involved occasional human sacrifices—usually sacrifices of especially beautiful children. These were sometimes selected from among their own families, but more frequently one of their tribes made a raid upon another in the hope of finding suitable victims. On one occasion, however, it was decided by the priests of this unpleasant form of worship that an unusually choice sacrifice was required, because an unknown infectious disease had broken out among their people. So the priests met in conclave and decided that, as ordinary methods had proved ineffectual in turning aside the wrath of their deities, a white child should be captured and sacrificed.

Their only hope of obtaining such a prize was through some of those of their tribe who were in close touch with the ruling race. There had been a certain amount of intermarriage between the races, although this was discouraged by the authorities, and it was from some of these mulatto families that the most powerful and most scheming of the priests were drawn. Among them were found just at this period two with whom we are acquainted, Lacey and Tripos.

Aided by a woman named Cancer, they resolved to steal a child from the white settlements, and after much lurking and watching they contrived to carry off Phra, one of the grandsons of Surya and Alcyone. It was some little time before he was missed, and still longer before his relations suspected what had happened; but as soon as the truth was realised the boy’ s father, Naga, hurriedly got together a few friends and retainers, and started out in pursuit. As they knew nothing of the secret hiding-places of the aborigines they would probably have failed in their quest, but for the aid given to them by some others of the mulattos who were thoroughly well disposed towards the white race. Assisted by these, Naga and his party were able to overtake the abductors and rescue the child before the tribe could be called together for the sacrifice. They made prisoners of the three people we have mentioned, and brought them before King Mars, who promptly had them executed, and furthermore issued an edict that the interior portion of the country should be brought directly under his rule, and that sacrifices of all sorts should be entirely suppressed. This was done, but the aborigines regretted their sanguinary faith, and were by no means well disposed towards the new regime.

This was on the whole a quiet and uneventful life, passed in a pleasant land and among an amiable people. They were not by any means unlike those of their race whom we have already described as living in Ireland a few centuries before. They were good farmers and bold seamen, hospitable and affectionate, showing a great reverence for old age. The great men among them were rather orators and poets than fighters; and certain amount of excellence along these lines was expected from the leaders of the people, as all judgements, sermons and public speeches of any sort on great occasion were invariably delivered in extemporaneous verse. They were clever builders, weavers and dyers; and their woodcarving was remarkably good, intricate and detailed. The life was on the whole

happy and simple one, with no striking events, and at the end of it Alcyone passed peacefully away at the elevated age of eighty-eight.

Chart XVI

New Zealand 25,528 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Kara -Radius Viola -Forma

Iota -Ullin Upaka -Inca Colos -Apollo Euphra -Pallas

Daphne -Obra Norma -Thor Cyr -Clio Fabius -Theseus Alcyone -Surya Walter -Beren Atlas -Draco Osiris -Beatus

Iris -Tiphys Polaris -Argus Vulcan -Selene Dolphin -Judex Pindar -Orpheus Mizar -Sirius

Bee -Kim

Juno -Pisces Dactyl -Lutea Phoenix -Diana

Brihat -Percy Sagitta -Melete Gimel -Fides

Aquilla -Ajax

Lomia -Olaf Jupiter -Viraj

Obra -Daphne Flora -Orca

Koli -Egeria Beren -Walter Diana -Phoenix

Leto -Sif Magnus -Nestor Holly -Clare Ajax -Aquilla Chrys -Dido Ara -Jerome Percy -Brihat

Jason -Canopus Pepin -Telosa Spes -Mira Ulysses -Mars Aries -Bella Spica -Castor

Melete -Sagitta Amal -Gaspar Neptune -Vega

Myna -Betel Rector -Lyra

Rhea -Laxa Quies -Psyche Auson -Flos Pearl -Dhruva Rosa -Erato

Forma -Viola Melpo -Alba Arcor -Auriga

Elsa -Echo Orpheus -Pindar Madhu -Nimrod Ronald -Wences Dharma -Lotus Demeter -Saturn

Yodha -Pavo Uchcha -Ivan Andro -Beth Lili -Cento Tolosa -Pepin

Algol -Kamu Thor -Norma

Chart XVI

New Zealand 25,528 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Betel -Myna Telema -Theo

Orca -Flora Flos -Auson Castor -Spica Trefoil -Altair Bruce -Eros Alces -Taurus Herakles -Albireo Sappho -Udor

Jerome -Ara Lobelia -Xanthos Laxa -Rhea Sif -Leto Xanthos -Lobelia Sextans -Hebe Psyche -Quies

Cygnus -Scotus Aqua -Aulus Clare -Holly

Achilles -Capella

Mars -Ulysses

Una -Yati Noel -Ushas Mercury -Vesta

Ivan -Uchcha Roxana -Nanda Naga -Naiad

Radius -Kara

Kepos -Sigma Phra -Joan Maya -Horus Ullin -Iota Nimrod -Madhu

Electra -Uranus Chanda -Sita Odos -Baldur Surya -Alcyone

Horus -Maya Rama -Venus

Fomal -Hestia Proteus -Ivy Siwa -Callio Kudos -Rex Yati -Una Dhruva -Pearl Ivy -Proteus Deneb -Hermin Apollo -Colos

Philae -Rigel Callio -Siwa Gem -Soma Yajna -Callyx Math -Fons Fides -Gimel

Rex -Kudos Soma -Gem Daleth -Crux Saturn -Demeter Hestia -Fomal Hermin -Deneb Uranus -Electra

Rigel -Philaee Fons -Math Crux -Daleth Viraj -Jupiter

Lignus -Libra Oak Ophis Ixion -Nicos

Inca -Upaka Muni -Kratos Pavo -Yodha Lotus -Dharma

Chart XVI

New Zealand 25,528 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Ushas -Noel Calyx -Yajna

Nanda -Roxana Joan -Phra Vizier -Onyx Sita -Chanda Baldur -Odos Argus -Polaris

Venus -Rama Taurus -Alces

Leo -Aurora

Nicos -Ixion Sirius -Mizar

Wences -Ronald Nestor -Magnus Corona -Kos Aulus -Aqua Zeno -Alex Vajra -Arthur

Hebe -Sextans Canopus -Jason Fort -Priam Beatus -Osiris Kim -Bee Vesta -Mercury Alex -Zeno Atheno -Cassio

Mira -Spes

Altair -Trefoil Bella -Aries Gasper -Amal Libra -Lignus Lyra -Rector

Hector -Gnostic Arthur -Vajra Udor -Sappho

Concord -Parthe Draco -Atlas Egeria -Koli

Nita -Zoe Judex -Dolphin Alba -Melpo

Cassio -Athena

Zoe -Nita Dido -Chrys Kos -Corona

Olaf -Lomia Leopard -Dome Pisces -Juno Pallas -Euphra Gnostic -Hector

Aletheia -Aldeb Dora -Ida Nadiad -Naga

Kamu -Algol

Ophis -Oak Beth -Andro Clio -Cyr

Kratos -Muni Theseus -Fabius

Sigma -Kepos Virgo -Pax Vega -Neptune

Lutea -Dactyl Capella -Achilles Aldeb -Aletheia

Eros -Bruce Parthe -Concord Cento -Lili

Aurora -Leo

Erato -Rosa Scotas -Cygnus Tiphys -Iris

Helios -Sylla

Echo -Elsa

Auriga -Arcor

Chart XVI

New Zealand 25,528 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Dome -Leopard Priam -Fort Ida -Dora Theo -Telema Albireo -Herakles Xalon -Bootes Alma -Stella

Boreas -Phocea Hygeia -Pomo Aglaia -Adrona Zama -Gluck

Camel -Thetis Cetus -Sirona

Phocea -Boreas Bootes -Xulon

Eudox -Irene

Pome -Hygeia Mona -Nu

Thetis -Camel

Capri -Vale Apis -Lacey

Tripos -Pollux

Alastor -Cancer Pyx -Markab Zephyr -Abel

Adrona -Aglaia

Vale -Capri Markab -Pyx

Life XVII

In this life we find ourselves back again among the wonderful race of the Toltecs. In many ways the most powerful and enduring of all sons of Atlantis. Our group of Servers, however, appears not in the centre of the empire in the Island of Poseidonis, but in the country which we now call Mexico. Our members were there obviously in order to regenerate it, for in many ways it had fallen from the high estate of the parent race. The corruption and looseness of morals which gradually sapped the vitality of the great City of the Golden Gate had been working in this rich and flourishing colony, and this decadence in virility had been accompanied by a caducity in religion also. What had originally been a pure and noble sun-worship had borrowed foul and cruel rites from the savage faiths of wild Central American tribes, until it became more degraded and unholy than the Turano-Lemurian cult described in the previous life. Human sacrifices were offered more frequently and with far more gorgeous surroundings, for the magnificent temples erected by the race in its prime were still intact, though perverted to uses which would have horrified their builders.

The principal city of their capital city was a vast amphitheater, rather larger than the Colosseum at Rome, with a small pyramid in the middle, on the truncated summit of which was a little inner temple or shrine. The priests did not content themselves with taking toll from its population by way of actual sacrifices; they also seized upon promising children to be their mediums in all sorts of obscene invocations. They had made a considerable study of mesmeric power, and develop it to a high degree of efficiency; and they remorselessly employed it to persuade parents to give up their offspring to them. The children seized by them always died early. They were utilised for a time as mediums, all vitality being gradually drained out of them; then they usually fell victims to the foul lusts of the priests, and finally were offered as sacrifices to various bloodthirsty deities.

Even this was not all, for those who were sacrificed frequently became vampires at death, and came back as creatures of unnamable horror to prey upon those whom they had once loved best. Add to all this that those priests exacted heavy contributions from every one whom they thought to be possessed of wealth of any sort, and it will be seen that the country groaned under a terrible tyranny and was sorely in need of relief.

All this King Mars had known from childhood; and he had often thought as a boy that when he came to the throne he would try to do something to curb the power of this iniquitous priesthood. But in actual fact it was far from easy to see what improvements could be made. The whole system was absolutely rotten; yet, much as the people hated it, they had grown up with it and were used to it; they lay under the weight of its influence and really believed that the cruel deities of whom they were told would take undying vengeance upon them if any of these loathsome rites were omitted. There was a certain fierce fanaticism about the priests, and by their mesmeric influence they to some extent infected the people with this, so that at the time they actually rejoiced in the abominable sacrifices, even though they well knew that they themselves or those most dear to them might be the next victims.

So King Mars, though he had himself no faith in such deities, and heartily wished to deliver his people from this odious ecclesiastical tyranny, did not see his way to any immediate action. He felt that some day he must come into conflict with this priestly power, but he felt that when he did the struggle would be a serious one, and he waited in the faint hope that some day circumstances might be more favourable for it. His chief hope lay in the fact that he had thoroughly endeared himself to his people by a just, equitable and benignant rule, and he felt sure that they would follow him to the death in any cause except one which conflicted with their religious ideas. But if his hold upon them was by love, that of the priests was by fear; and in all but the noblest natures the latter emotion is apt to be the stronger.

Mars had married Vulcan, and they had three sons and two daughters. The heir-apparent was Sirius, who married Electra, an old friend of many lives, and it was as their eldest daughter that Alcyone was born. Brought up as she was in the seclusion of a splendid palace surrounded by lovely gardens which covered several square miles, Alcyone knew almost nothing of the terror which brooded over her country, hearing only some faint reflections of it from the talk of her slaves. Mars discussed the matter frequently with his sons and daughters, but nothing was said about it to Alcyone until she was almost of age, when an event happened which forced it upon her attention.

A younger daughter of the King was Spica, who had married Alces, and had three children. Of these her favourite was Fides, who was at that time about eleven years of age. On one of the great religious festivals she took him with her to the principal temple, where many thousands of people were gathered to join in the celebrations. She found herself in the arena of the vast amphitheatre, near the foot of the central pyramid. She had just been joining in a mighty chant or song invoking their deity—a most impressive and magnetic performance when so many thousands of voices took part in it—when the chief priest Scorpio came out of the inner shrine and stood in front of its door gazing sternly upon the crowd. Spica was acutely conscious that he was pouring out the much dreaded mesmeric influence, and she soon felt that his eye was resting especially upon her, and that he was using all his arts to induce her to come up the steps and offer her son to him as a servant of the temple. Knowing full well what his fate in that case would be, she called up all her reserves of will-power, and resisted with all her strength, clasping the boy to her side in the earnestness of her endeavour to protect him. Her will, however, was far less trained than that of Scorpio, and in spite of her superhuman efforts, she presently found herself moving towards him up the steps, drawing with her the frightened yet fascinated boy.

“ You wish to offer this boy to us for the service of the high gods ?” inquired Scorpio.

Spica felt herself forced to mutter some indistinct acquiescence, and Scorpio, with a triumphant leer of lust and cruelty, solemnly accepted the gift in the name of his deities, took Fides by the hand and led him into the shrine, while Spica rushed blindly down the steps and forced her way somehow through the crowd. As soon as she was out of the immediate influence of Scorpio she realised fully the horror of what she had done; but, though full of grief and despair, she knew well that it was useless for her to return, for under the gaze of those evil eyes she would be able to say nothing. For sometime she wandered about in the park outside the great amphitheater, heart-broken and scarcely able to think, but at last she made up her mind to seek her father the King and place her case before him and beg for his intervention.

She found him in those apartments of the place which were specially appropriated to his eldest son, and she told her tale to him in the presence of Sirius and Electra and their family. The anger of the King was aroused, and his voice was deep and stern as he said to them:

“ Of a surety this is too much; must they lay their vile hands even upon a member of my own family?”

He was about to say more, but was checked by the uprising of Alcyone, who suddenly stood in front of him with a regal commanding air quite foreign to her usual nature, and began speaking rapidly in ringing measured tones:

“ The time has come, O King,” she said. “ The years of this tyranny are fulfilled. For many centuries the night has brooded over this land, growing ever darker and darker; but now at last the dawn shall come. It is your hand, O King, that must free your people from this curse, and this evil priesthood of demons must be destroyed root and branch, and its power removed for ever. Send first ,O King, and demand the return of your grandson; and when that is refused, as it will be, arise in your might and proclaim that by long-continued wickedness and, cruelty this priesthood has forfeited its power, and that you, as King and father to your people, take over the priestly power to yourself and your descendents for ever. Make this your decree, and send your soldiers to enforce it, and your people will hail you with acclamation as their deliverer from intolerable wrong. Strong indeed are hate and fear, yet love is stronger still. And if you will take this boldly in hand, and do right and justice, fearing nothing, your name shall be acclaimed through many generations, and your people shall live free and happy under you as their father upon earth, even as God is their father in heaven.”

King Mars sat in silent astonishment, watching the delivery of this spirited address by the gentle and usually silent Alcyone, and the family stood round her in equal amazement. But Sirius said:

“ It is not he who has spoken, but some Great One; father and King, the advice is good advice, and she has indicated the wisest way, “ Seize that man, and bind him and all his followers; and see that he utters no more treason against the name of our lord the King.”

The order was at once carried out, and Sirius with him to surround the amphitheater and took a squadron of soldiers with him to surround the great monastery close by. That was quickly done, and the startled priests were made prisoners before they knew what was happening. There were some murmurs from amongst the crowd, but when Sirius faced them and held up the King’ s signet, the people bowed their heads and went silently away, marvelling much at the strange things that were happening.

Then Sirius called before him the warden of the monastery, and demanded to know what had been done with Fides. The warden denied all knowledge of any person, but as Sirius quietly remarked that if he was not then and there produced every Priest in the monastery would be instantly beheaded and the place burnt to the ground, the warden’ s memory returned to him and he sullenly indicated the way to the novice’ s department. Sirius strode along the echoing corridors with a strong force of soldiers at his back, and presently found his frightened nephew, in a room along with four other boys who had been obtained from their parents that same day in the same nefarious manner. They were in charge of a heavy-faced monk, who raised an indignant protest against the invasion, but was quickly silenced. Sirius drew Fides to him and asked how he felt; but the boy was evidently dazed and unable to answer clearly. When Sirius tried to draw him away he resisted in some clumsy way, as though acting in his sleep or under the influence of some drug, and eventually Sirius found it necessary to lift him in his arms and carry him in that way from that ill-omened house. The other boys were removed in the same way by some of the soldiers, and all of them were taken to the palace, where Spica was overjoyed to hold in her arms once more the son whom she had thought irretrievably lost. True, he did not seem to know her, and tried rather to avoid her embraces, or at best passively endured them; but at least she had him with her once more, and she hoped presently to be able to cure him of this strange malady.

Meanwhile the news of all this was spreading, and the town was becoming somewhat unquiet. But King Mars, who in the meantime had gathered together almost a whole division of his army, had already dispatched detachments to invest all the other monasteries in the neighbourhood, and to imprison their Priests, and at the same time he sent forth heralds to announce in all the public squares and gardens of the city that he required all his loyal subjects to gather together an hour after daybreak the following morning, to meet him in the great temple, when he would announce to them his will. Meantime the city was under martial law, and everyone was to stay quiet within his own house during the night. The people marvelled greatly, but the streets were full of soldiers and no one dared to disobey, the more so as but few of them knew what had really happened. The King sent out mounted messengers with all speed to the other towns of the country, bidding his governors everywhere to arrest all Priests and monks, and to hold them in safety until they heard again from him.

The next morning that vast amphitheatre was even fuller than it had been the day before, but instead of the festive chants there was a wondering silence, relieved only by loyal shouts of welcome when the King himself was seen riding in at the great gates of the temple, inside which no horse or other animal had ever been seen before.

Solemnly and slowly he rode up the lane kept by his soldiers, his sons walking on either side of him, when he reached the central pyramid he dismounted and climbed the steps, and then turned and spoke to his people:

“ My people,” he said, “ I come to you today to bring you glad tidings of great joy. For many years you have suffered terribly. You have yielded up your dear sons to the sacrifice, and have seen them drawn from you into the clutches of the Priests, and by these same Priests your wealth has been constantly taken from you. All this you have borne uncomplainingly, because you were told that it was the will of the gods, that they needed this sacrifice, this service, this wealth, and that if you did not comply you would suffer even more. I have come this morning to tell you that you have been deceived, that all this nightmare of horror has been one stupendous lie, that the Gods are beneficent and not hostile, that they demand from you no sacrifice but the sacrifice of a pure life, and that they need from you no contribution but that of helpfulness to others. Your Priests have misled you; because they thought only of themselves and their power and their greed they could not know the Gods, and so they led you into the worship of demons. From this moment I, your King, am your Priest and your father, and these my sons shall be your priesthood also. From this time forth royal blood shall be the seal of priesthood, and already I dedicate to its service these scions of my house.”

And he ranged before him on the steps of his pyramid Rama, Neptune, Naga, Euphra, Selene, Mizar, and Brihat. And turning to the people he said:

“ Here now before you all I consecrate these my children to the work of the priesthood, and they shall go forth through all the land and teach the faith of light instead of darkness, of joy instead of fear. And now since a great tyranny is overthrown, I call upon you all to make this a day of rejoicing—such rejoicing as you have never known before. For this day you are all my guests, and I bid you make merry and rejoice. I order also that every year for ever this day shall be set apart and kept holy in memory of the beginning of a new era. And so for the first time as your real High Priest and King I give you the blessing of the Great God who is the true Father of His people.”

All those who had heard the words of the King raised a great shout of joy, and the gist of them was quickly repeated all through that vast crowd clear back to the walls of the amphitheatre, and then to the thousands outside who had been unable to enter. And truly, as all, rich and poor alike, though there were many among them who wondered whether indeed this thing could be really true, and whether perchance the old and the evil gods would not presently take strange vengeance upon them.

There was but little fighting, for the priests in the provincial towns, when they heard how their whole hierarchy in the capital had been stricken down at one fell blow, made haste to yield themselves, and though here and there was some little opposition, in a very short time all was quelled, and in the remoter districts also the people began to rejoice in their strange new freedom from oppression.

Altogether there had been a large number of Priests and monks, and hangers-on of the monasteries. All these the King brought together, and when they were assembled from all parts of the country in the capital city, he sent Sirius to make a proclamation to them. He told them that they must quite clearly understand that their evil reign was over once and for all, that he had no confidence in those who had been Priests and leaders in that evil faith, and that if they were found again within its borders they would be instantly put to death. To the monks and the rabble of attendants he gave a choice; he told them that they could, if they wished, accompany their masters into exile, or if they chose to take up some honest trade they might have an opportunity to prove themselves good citizens; but that they must clearly understand that the old order of things was definitely past, and past for ever, and that any attempt to revive it would be instantly and finally crushed.

The Priests, with Scorpio at their head, were consequently driven over to the southern frontiers and left to make their way as best they could among savage tribes, where presently they carved out for themselves a tract of country, and became a small separate community with whose fortunes we have no further concern. Some few Priests there were who, being filled with hatred and malice against the King, pretended to have been merely monks, and so obtained leave to stay behind in Mexico. Among those were Cancer, Lacey and Tripos, who had brought ever into this life the hatred of Mars which they had acquired in New Zealand seven hundred years before; and after a short time these people made an abortive attempt at organising a rebellion, the avowed object of which was to bring back Scorpio, depose Mars, and form some kind of ecclesiastical government to rule over the country. This plot, however, was happily discovered and nipped in the bud, and the three principal promoters thereof were again executed.

The change in the country was marvellous, and the people blossomed out like flowers under its influence. For a long time they seemed hardly able to believe in their freedom, and a sort of popular song or recitation was composed, of which the burden was “ Never again.”

“ Never again,” it said, “ shall blood flow upon the alters; never again shall our children be torn from our arms; never again shall our property be stolen from us; never again shall we suffer unnamable horrors in the name of those devils whom we took for Gods; never, never again.”

In the midst of all this general rejoicing Spica’ s heart was full of sorrow for though indeed her son had been rescued from the power of Scorpio, his mind was clouded and the evil influence was still strong upon him. She heard from one of those who had been monks, who was therefore acquainted with the nefarious mesmeric powers of Scorpio, that one who had once come under his control could never break away from it again, but most inevitably pass through the various stages of degradation which ended in vampirism. Much horrified at this, she carried her case once more before her father the King, but he had to confess himself powerless in this matter, knowing nothing as to how to deal with it. He spoke with great kindness to his daughter, and showed much sympathy and sorrow, but yet he knew not what to advise. At last he turned suddenly to Alcyone and said to her:

“ Daughter, through you there came to us the advice which has saved my kingdom, and has freed it for ever from the powers of evil. Can it be that in this case also you can come to our assistance, and rid this poor suffering boy of evil, even as you have done for the country as a whole?”

Then the power seized once more, and she arose and said:

“ O King, the power of evil is terrible indeed, and to oppose it may well mean the rending asunder of body and soul. Yet it must be opposed, even though the victim die, because if we do not oppose it, then is he lost not for this time only but for all time, for never again can he free himself from the downward course of the vampire. I cannot tell what the result may be, yet must I set him free even though in doing so I may destroy his body.”

So she turned upon her shrinking nephew, and raised her hands in the air above his head, and cried aloud: “ In the Name of the Great Father of all, let this curse depart from thee!”

The boy uttered a terrible cry and fell to the ground as one dead. He lay in a trance of unconsciousness for many days, but at least he did not die, and after a long while consciousness returned to him, and he called faintly for his mother. Weak and ill he was indeed , yet she knew that she had her son back again from the dead, for now he knew her and clung to her as of old. Presently he slowly recovered, yet the shock had been so terrible that all through his life he remained nervous and easily disturbed. Indeed, for many lives and through thousands of years something of the effect of that terrible psychic convulsion was still to be seen. For the evil High Priest had seized upon the very soul of him, and had made for it a link with that whose name must not be spoken. And the breaking of such a link is a feat which but few can accomplish, yet this case it has been done by the power and love of Alcyone—and of Surya who worked through her, though not then in physical incarnation.

Alcyone’ s life passed on in great love and happiness. She married her cousin Selene, and her eldest son was Herakles, in very truth a friend of many lives. Among her ten children were two who have now attained, and others for whose near attainment we may hope. Her life was one long benediction to those around her, for she remained to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even to the age of ninety years. And the good work in which she had so large a share remained as a monument after her, for never again while that Toltec race occupied the ancient land of Maxico were sacrifices re-established. Long after that race had been destroyed by the flood which accompanied the sinking of Poseidonis it was repeopled by a half-savage race who, having in themselves much of the cruelity and greed, psychometrised the ancient stones, and revived to some extent the ancient horrors, but for twenty thousand years and more the work of Alcyone and Surya bore its fruit.

Chart XVII

Mexico 24700 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Electra -Sirius Clio -Auson Herakles -Ulysses

Bella -Capella Daphne -Dolphin Lutea -Aletheia

Jupiter -Gnostic Math -Ophis Naiad -Vizier

Aurora -Rosa Selene -Alcyone

Capella -Bella Viraj -Ronald

Dora -Juno Aldeb -Polaris Argus -Jerome

Mira -Theo

Auriga -Beren Clare -Hebe

Una -Abel

Horus -Sita Noel -Ivan

Ulysses -Herakles Vajra -Vesta Udor -Lobelia

Mizar -Dhruva

Uranus -Cassio

Lili -Dactyl Trefoil -Psyche

Beren -Auriga Thor -Lyra Magnus -Dido Camel -Flora Egeria -Deneb

Melete -Iris Lomia -Aulus

Phocea -Tolosa Koli -Orpheus Aqua -Fons Auson -Clio Ronald -Viraj Saturn -Calyx

Leopard -Andro Sappho -Beatus

Fons -Aqua Mercury -Albireo Nicos -Walter Apollo -Corona

Ara -Atlas Percy -Xanthos Dolphin -Daphne

Pearl -Achills Amal -Arcor

Dido -Magnus Pepin -Diana Norma -Helios Brihat -Leto

Crux -Forma Lobelia -Udor Concord -Beth

Lignus -Jason

Upaka -Rao Flos -Cygnus Pisces -Kudos Aquilla -Ida

Fabius -Taurus Priam -Virgo Pax -Rex

Chart XVII

Mexico 24700 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Yati -Nu

Iris -Melete Zoe -Fomal

Chrys -Betel

Sif -Rigel Bee -Gimel

Aries -Orca Theseus -Colos

Bruce -Myna

Deneb -Egeria Muni -Gem

Jerome -Argus Pindar -Erato

Soma -Obra Kamu -Hector Phoenix -Judex Yodha -Mona

Walter -Nicos Diana -Pepin Juno -Dora Osiris -Elsa

Canopus -Algol Arthur -Kim

Hebe -Clare Stella -Altair

Theo -Mira Alcyone -Selene Beatus -Sappho Forma -Crux Viola -Spes Myna -Bruce Wences -Rector

Chanda -Laxa Pavo -Roxana Rama -Venus Pallas -Parthe Altair -Stella Kos -Siwa

Dactyl -Lili

Lyra -Thor Ushas -Myna Nanda -Aglaia

Ivan -Noel Yajna -Libra

Nu -Yati

Madhu -Apis Tulsi -Xulon Aglaia -Nanda Nimrod -Hygein Mona -Yodha

Sirona -Phra

Abel -Una Sirius -Electra

Baldur -Zephyr Cetus -Kepos

Odos -Sigma Naga -Pyx Lotus -Alastor Inca -Radius Vizier -Naiad

Sita -Horus Roxana -Pavo Vale -Dharma Phra -Sirona Eudox -Uchecha Maya -Ushas

Chart XVII

Mexico 24700 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Laxa -Chanda

Dhruva -Mizar Sagitta -Sylla Neptune -Dome

Obra -Soma Psyche -Trefoil Ophis -Math

Athena -Euphra Rigel -Sif

Betel -Chrys

Orca -Aries Spes -Viola Rosa -Aurora

Vega -Hermin Xanthos -Percy Helios -Norma

Achilles -Pearl Holly -Gluck Vesta -Vajra

Melpo -Olaf Rex -Pax Telema -Castor

Jason -Lignus Scotus -Nita Mars -Vulcan

Polaris -Aldeb Irene -Cyr Corona -Apollo

Ivy -Echo Cassio -Uranus Fomal -Zoe

Beth -Concord Gnostic -Jupiter

Algol -Canopus Euphra -Athena Quies -Demeter Oak -Tiphys Orpheus -Koli Siwa -Kos Leo -Ajax Albireo -Mercury

Alma -Cento Gasper -Sextans Cygnus -Flos

Callio -Daleth

Gluck -Holly Parthe -Pallas Nita -Scotus Leto -Brihat Rector -Wences Sylla -Sagitta Draco -Hestia

Sextans -Gasper Alex -Zeno

Spica -Alces

Venus -Rama Hermia -Vega Hestia -Draco

Uchcha -Eudox Judex -Phoenix Virgo -Priam

Hector -Kamu

Echo -Ivy

Aletheia -Lutea Zeno -Alex

Aulus -Loinin

Chart XVII

Mexico 24700 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Tiphys -Fabius Elba -Eros Gomel -Bee Ida -Aquilla Philae -Fides

Ajax -Leo Elsa -Osiris Castor -Telema Kim -Arthur Kudos -Pisces Andro -Leopard Demeter -Quies

Atlas -Ara Fides -Philae Colos -Theseus

Kratos -Fort

Ixion -Rhea Erato -Pindar Alces -Spica

Eros -Alba Proteus -Nestor

Gem -Muni

Arcor -Amal Fort -Kratos Olaf -Melpo

Libra -Yajna

Cento -Alma Rhea -Ixion Cyr -Irene

Radius -Inca Dharma -Vale

Hygeria -Nimrod Apis -Madhu Kepos -Cetus Daleth -Callio Dome -Neptune

Pyx -Naga

Ulliu -Markab Pomo -Onyx

Alastor -Lotus

Joan -Adrona

Pollux -Kara

Adrona -Joan Xulon -Tulsi Rao -Upaka

Sigma -Odos Zephyr -Baldur

Tripos Scorpio Cancer Lacey

Chart XVIIa

Egypt 24045 B.C.

(Birth of Orion)

Alcyone now takes an interval of nearly a thousand years before his next incarnation, and the majority of our characters move along with him. Some few, however, who distinctly belong to the type which takes shorter intervals, seem to find it impossible to stay away so long, and consequently come back as, a small group on their own account in Egypt, about the year 24000. A list of their relationships is here appended.

Rector -Gaspar Sylla -Telema Hygeia -Dome

Sigma -Kudos Aglaia -Bootes

Vajra -Flos

Trefoil -Cetus Olaf -Muni Dido -Boreas

Iota -Pomo Iryne -Phocea Ivy -Alma Bootes -Aglaia Mona -Math Soma -Diana

Kappa -Myna Zephyr -Pyx

Boreas -Dido Kudos -Sigma Laxa -Beatus Adrona -Gluck

Capri -Polaris

Zama -Thor Abel -Orpheus Poma -Iota

Thor -Zaina Orpheus -Abel Cetus -Trefoil

Pyx -Zephyr Myna -Kappa

Diana -Soma

Dome -Hygeia Telema -Sylla Beatus -Laxa

Judex -Siwa

Alma -Ivy

Math -Mona

Phocea -Irene Gaspar -Rector Muni -Olaf

Polaris -Capri

31

Chart XVIIb

Hawaii 23875 B.C.

(Birth of Orion)

Orion, one of our list of characters, has been found to have a somewhat abnormal list of lives, which were written out in some detail in volumes xxxii and xxxiii of The Theophist. In this book we shall reproduc the charts, in order that our list of incarnations may not be seriously imperfect,

but of the lives themselves we can publish here only the briefest epitome, referring our readers to the magazine for further details.

It will have been observed that Orion moved with the rest of the party until the tenth life. Then he broke away from the main body, and for a time disappeares from our ken. We pick him up again in the year 23,875, in the Hawaiian Islands, where he was the son of Alastor, the high priest of the diety of the volcano. Orion was destined to succeed to his father's office, and consequently he passed through series of unplesant initiation ceremonies, in which he was thrown into a trance by drugs with the idea that the diety of the volcano would enter into him. The moral level of this priesthood was by no means high, its principal business being the pronouncing and the averting of curses. Human sacrifices were occasionally offered, and the priests terrorised the people by threatening them with bad dreams and dreaad diseases.

As a young man Orion fell in love with Cancer, who was already betrothed to Gamma, a particular friend of his. As soon as Orion decided that he wanted this girl for himself, he threatened Gamma with all sorts of magic if he did not yield her to him. Gamma, however, really loved Cancer, and resisted Orion's threats for some time, though he was seriously frightened. Orion's curses would not work, so he assisted the diety by administering to Gamma a poisonous drug which produced a long and severe illness. In the immediate expectation of death Gamma agreed to yield his bethrothed to Orion, but when he recovered he felt a deep and abiding hatred for him.

Alastor was a very vindictive man, and having contrived to quarrel with the King of the island, he tried to have him assasinated. The King discovered the plot, banished Alastor and appointed his son Orion to succeed him. Orion than cast off his wife Cancer as not fit for his present position, and had her poisoned in order to get her out of the way, so that he could marry the sister of the King, by whom in due course he had a son Cygnus, to whom he was greatly attached. When Gamma learnt of the murder of Cancer he vowed vengeance, and Orion, knowing that he was dangerous, contrived to have him cast into prison on an accusation of being concerned in a plot against the King. Orion then sent to visit him in the prison an emissary who succeded in poisoning him.

Presently the old King died, and his son succeeded to the throne. This change of rulers was unfavourable to Orion's plans. He had been able to manage the older man, but found the son distinctly suspicious of him, and disposed to find fault. An embassy arrived from a neighbouring island, and the King consulted Orion as to how he should receive it. Orion advised that it should be received haughtily and disrespectfully, and the result of this was an invasion. When the enemy arrived Orion was advised to curse them and prevent them from landing but his curses proved ineffectual, and he lost much of his prestige and power. Eventually the King took advantage of a quarrel to depose Orion , and sent him away; and as soon as it was seen that he was no longer under the protection of the King, Epsilon, who was one of his enemies, fell upon him and stabbed him. Epsilon had been a lover of Zeta, a sensitive, highly strung girl, the daughter of a rich man. When Epsilon wished to marry her the high priest refused his consent (which according to the law of the country was required) unless the father of the girl would surrender to the priesthood a large part of the patrimony. This the father declined to do, and Orion threatened all kinds of physical and supernatural ills. These threats so preyed upon the girl's mind that eventually she became insane, and her lover Epsilon vowed vengeance upon Orion, and took it as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Alastor -Eta Orion -(1) Cancer -(2)--------

Cygnus

Gamma Epsilon

Zeta

Life XVIII

Yet again we find our hero in the Toltec race, but in a kingdom differing much from that of Mexico—a kingdom in the same continent truly, but further north, and lying west of the range of the Rocky Mountains. Mars was as usual its ruler, and his territory extended far along the Pacific Coast line, from what is now California in the south up to British Columbia in the north. A great Tlavatli kingdom held the Mississippi Valley and practically all that part of the country which now constitutes the Southern States of the Union. The northern part of what is now Canada, were occupied by a congeries of minor tribes who lived principally by hunting and fishing, and built no great cities. But the civilisation of the western coast was highly advanced and old-established, and the kingdom of Mars held many cities as large and as handsome as those of Mexico, though the style of building was different. The land was fruitful, and the climate salubrious, with enough of variety between the northern and the southern parts to provide a varied assortment of products. The country therefore was prosperous, and with South America, and by land with the Tlavatli kingdom, and also bartered commodities of various kinds for furs and pelts with the wandering tribes of the north and east, it still remained true that it was to a large extent a self supporting community, and that what it imported were luxuries rather than necessaries.

In the days of his youth Mars had had to fight for his kingdom. He was a younger son, not in the direct line of succession, but his elder brother was a man of wild and uncontrolled passion and very little principle, who entangled himself in all sorts of undesirable situations, and turned a deaf ear to the stern remonstrances of his father. At last, after some unusually dishonourable escapade, the father formally disowned and disinherited him, and diverted the succession to Mars. The older brother who had been banished from the court, hereupon proclaimed his father incapable of ruling, and assumed the title of King, gathering together an army of his adherents. Having on his side some skilful and unscrupulous warriors, he at first obtained considerable success, and succeeded in capturing his father hand putting him to death. Mars, who had been managing the affairs of the southern province, then proclaimed himself King by the right of the appointment from his father, gathered together what was left to him of the army, and marched immediately against his brother. The older man had the advantage in point of numbers, and he had cowed the northern population by barbarous acts of cruelty ; but he had fatal defects of character, from which Mars was entirely free. The younger son marched his men with far greater rapidity than his brother supposed to be possible, and while the indolent and luxurious elder was still delaying on the scene of his triumphs, and still engaged in celebrating them by a series of feastings and debaucheries, mars fell upon him unexpectedly and put his forces utterly to rout. The older brother fled after the battle. Some said that he was dead, some that he was in hiding, and some that he had escaped and was living beyond the frontiers among the hunting tribes of the north. At any rate he disappeared from practical politics, and the authority of Mars was no longer questioned.

He married Siwa and settled down to his favourite work of organisation. He completely remodelled the government of the country, dividing it into provinces on a scheme of his own, chiefly according to the natural products, and while he appointed Governors for these provinces, he also allowed them a certain amount of representation on a scheme more nearly agreeing with modern ideas than with those of twenty thousand years before the Christian era.

Soon his eldest son Rama was born to him, and he was quickly followed by two other boys, Viola and Neptune, and two most beautiful girls, Albiero and Ajax. During all these years Mars led an exceedingly busy life, for he was perpetually travelling all over the vast extent of his kingdom to see how his new constitution was working and to watch that the best possible results were being obtained from all the widely different sources of revenue yielded by so varied a country. As soon as his son Rama reached the age of seven Mars took him with him on these constant journeyings, and explained to him much of what he was doing, encouraging him to ask questions, and to try to understand the reasons for everything. In this way the little boy soon came to have a great store of varied knowledge, though not much of education in our modern sense of the word; and Mars was careful to impress upon him that this duty would be his one day, and that it was the work of the king to understand thoroughly how every one of his subjects obtained his living, and to see that no difficulties were put in the way of his doing it.

Rama grew up tall and graceful and strong. At an early stage he fell in love with his lovely cousin Electra, who admired him immediately. Mars smiled benignantly upon their childish romance, but he put no obstacles in its way, and told Rama that if when he attained a certain age he was found thoroughly proficient in all the arts of kingship, he should be rewarded with the hand of his ladylove. Long before the appointed time the assiduous Rama knew all that there was to know along those lines, and needed only practice and experience to be able to manage the kingdom as well as his father. Indeed, Mars often sent him alone to visit outlying provinces, examine into the condition of affairs there, and report upon them, and these reports were always satisfactorily made out, and often contained most valuable suggestions. Presently, therefore, Rama received his reward, and the nuptials of the happy pair were celebrated with many days of great rejoicing in the capital city.

Rama continued his tours of inspection and at first his wife always accompanied him upon them. But there soon came a time when family cares made it desirable that she should stay at home, even though she was sad at the necessity of the temporary parting from her husband. Their eldest son was Viraj, a splendidly healthy boy, who from the first showed the quality of great determination. He was soon followed by another son Sirius, and a beautiful daughter Alcyone. As time passed on the family became a large one, and for many years Electra was able to accompany her husband only occasionally and on his shorter journeys. Later on, when the children had grown up, she and he travelled together as of yore, and naturally Rama practiced with his own boys the same scheme of liberal education by means of which Mars had so skillfully developed in him the faculties of observation and quick judgement. In due course Mars was gathered to his fathers, and Rama assumed the crown, after which he found it advisable to spend most of his time in the capital city, and left the travelling inspection to his family of seven sons-some of whom, however, held at various times the position of governors of the provinces.

Meantime our heroine had also grown up, and entered into the state of holy matrimony. There was a curious little complication in regard to her marriage which was not without its effect on her after life. Two cousins simultaneously fell in love with her—Dhruva and Mizar, both of them sons of her wise uncle Mercury. The two brothers loved one another loyally, so they did not quarrel about her, but they not unnaturally demanded that she should make a choice between them; and that she felt herself quite unable to do, for she had a great affection for tem both. In her secret heart she really preferred the younger, but it was so evident that the older felt that he could not live without her that she was greatly embarrassed in coming to a decision. Eventually she confessed her difficulty to her father, who not unnaturally said that it was eminently an affair for her to decide; but as she appeared to see so clearly both sides of the question, the King called Mercury into consultation, and after much weighing of various considerations they decided in favour of Dhruva. Mizar was of course terribly disappointed, and it is just possible that Alcyone to some extent shared his feelings. Though she decorously did her sentiments.

Just at this time much trouble had broken out among certain affliated tribes of half-savages on the other side of the mountains, and one party in the dispute had invoked the aid of the great western King. So Mizar volunteered to head the expedition which was just about to set out, and Rama thought it well to accede to his request, in order that by strenuous and varied occupations he might forget his disappointment. Dhruva, though overjoyed at the decision in his favour, sympathised deeply with his brother, and was sorry that he insisted upon departing on so dangerous a service. Mizar remained away for more than two years. Having quelled the original disturbance, he organised a number of the tribes and persuaded them to affiliate themselves to the larger kingdom, so that the result of his work was to extend its boundaries considerably. He consolidated his new tribes into a province, of which Rama appointed him first Governor; and he was carrying out his plans with marked successes when further troubles broke out to the north of his new acquisition.

A number of wilder tribes had become alarmed at his proceedings, regarding them as a menace to their independence; and so for the time being they composed their own perenial differences, and banded themselves together to make a raid on a larger scale upon those of their brothers who had submitted themselves to civilised domination. Their attack was in far greater force than Mizar had before had to face, and he experienced great difficulty in holding his own against them. He sent hurriedly to the capital for reinforcements, but he knew that in the nature of things a considerable time must elapse before it could be possible for these to arrive, and meantime he found it necessary to stand on the defensive rather than to attack. Dhruva had become more and more uneasy as news came of the reckless exploits of his brother, and when at last this hurried application for help arrived he insisted upon personally taking command of the relief expedition.

When, after a long and tedious journey, he arrived at the scene of action it was only to find that his brother had altogether disappeared. A few days before, Mizar had seen an opportunity of inflicting great loss upon the enemy by a sudden bold dash, and had consequently taken a small body of picked troops and set out as a sort of flying column. He had penetrated into the hills, and it was evident from the hurried abandonment of their positions by the enemy that he had succeded in the object of his manoeuvres, but at the same time nothing further had been heard from him, and it was feared that he had fallen into an ambush. The general whom he had left in charge in the newly built capital of his province had sent out various reconnaissances, but they had not been able to obtain any news of their Governor.

As soon as Dhruva heard this, although his men were still fatigued after their wearisome journey, he promptly got together a number of his best troops and, taking some of the natives as guides, plunged into the mountains in search of his brother. After many adventures he at last came upon him entrenched with his men in a place of great strength on the top of a hill. Their position was almost impregnable but they were a small number, surrounded by an overwhelming force, and almost entirely without food. The troops which Dhruva had with him were far from sufficient to relieve a position besieged by so large a body of men; nevertheless he did not hesitate for a moment but delivered a most determined attack. At the same time Mizar and his men, seeing the rescue party at hand, came dashing down the hill and attacked the savages in the rear, and after a brilliant and hardfought engagement they entirely broke up and routed that division of the enemy, and were left in undisputed possession of the field of battle. The remaining divisions, however, far outnumbered them, and their losses had been so heavy that another victory of the same sort would have left few of them alive to celebrate it.

Dhruva had unfortunately been severely wounded, so Mizar was in command of the expedition, and he immediately ordered a retreat down the valley up which they had come. This was carried out in a careful and orderly manner, and though the enemy persistently attacked them in the rear, they were unable to make any impression upon them, so that they achieved their retreat almost entirely without loss, though the savages suffered severely.

As soon as they got out of the mountains and within reach of their territory, Mizar sent back to his local capital for further reinforcements, and when he receieved them he turned upon the savage tribes and inflicted upon them so heavy a defeat that their army was practically annihilated, and they gave no further trouble. Meantime Dhruva lay sorely wounded, and it soon became evident that he could not recover. Mizar, full of remorse, reproached himself as indirectly the cause of his brother’ s death, but Dhruva, when he was able to speak, would not listen to any such suggestion, declaring that this was but the fortune of war, and that he was glad that it had happened to him, and not to his dearly loved brother. He begged Mizar to carry the news of his death to Alcyone, and himself to marry her as soon as the days of mourning were over, saying that there was no one to whom he would so gladly entrust the little son and daughter that had been born to him. Mizar was deeply affected, and doubted much in his own mind whether Alcyone would agree to this suggestion, or whether she might not rather regard him with aversion as to some extent the cause of her husband’ s death; but in order to satisfy the dying Dhruva he promised to lay the matter before her and to abide by her decision.

Soon after, Dhruva died, blessing his brother with his last breath, and adjuring him to take charge on his behalf of his wife and children. Mizar put his chief captain in charge of his new province, and travelled slowly down to the capital with his sad news. He dreaded to approach his father with it, but Mercury bore it nobly, saying that he knew quite surely that Mizar had done the best he could, and that since Dhruva had to die he could have died no better than in rescuing his brother. The report had to be laid before King Rama, who received it in the same spirit, and then came the still heavier task of breaking the news to the widow Alcyone. She was shocked, of course; but when Mizar gave her her husband’ s dying message, she bowed her head and simply said:

“ Let it be as he has willed.”

So it came to pass that when the time of mourning was over Mizar and Alcyone were wedded, and thus the latter was comforted for the loss of her first husband. The children were too young to know anything about it; and all through their lives they had never the slightest reason to miss their father, or to feel themselves treated in any wise differently from their half-brothers and sisters who presently came to join them.

Mizar and Alcyone certainly merited the blessing called down by the wise king of old on the man who hath his quiver full, for they had no fewer than fourteen children in addition to the two who were Dhruva’ s. In the fullness of years King Rama also died, and Alcyone’ s brother Viraj came to the throne—the eldest of the seven brothers. All the other six still survived, and were acting either as Governors of provinces under Viraj or as travelling inspectors, for the scheme that Mars had instituted long before was still being carried out. Several outlying provinces had had by this time been annexed, and the system of frontier guards had been perfected, so that the latter half of Alcyone’ s life was a time of peace and great progress so far as the country was concerned. As usual Alcyone lived to old age, and finally passed away at the age of eighty-nine, after a life of great usefulness in which her many children had been well and happily trained.

Chart XVIII

North America 23,681 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Capella -Leto Crux -Forma Viraj -Lili Xanthos -Vega Nestor -Aurora

Saturn -Dora Lotus -Horus Arcor -Alba

Vega -Xanthos Cento -Muni Fort -Mona Kratos -Jason

Kim -Aulus Arthur -Juno Pyx -Melpo Demeter -Elsa

Phocea -Pomo

Spes -Psyche Rigel -Orpheus Ronald -Pindar

Jean -Inca Melpo -Pyx Koli -Venus

Alba -Arcor Vizier -Odos

Percy -Euphra

Eros -Gem Sirius -Kos

Mira -Vesta

Zama -Eudox

Fomal -Echo Onyx -Baldur Flora -Camel

Egeria -Deneb

Tolosa -Ixion Pollux -Phra

Udor -Canopus Kepos -Ushas Eudox -Zama

Theseus -Parthe

Mona -Fort Madhu -Maya Beatus -Sappho Rama -Electra

Jason -Kratos Xulon -Rao Ivan -Sita Yajna -Fabius

Radius -Dharma Phra -Pollux Alcyone 1. Dhruva

Odos -Vizier

2. Mizar

Una -Noel

Vajra -Cassio Parthe -Theseus Herakles -Achilles

Bee -Hermin Daphne -Hebe Clio -Sextans Lutea -Libra

Wences -Gnostic Vesta -Mira Selene -Pallas

Auson -Philae Concord -Auriga

Chart XVIII

North America 23,681 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Melete -Pisces

Uranus -Quies Ullin -Myna Fides -Spica

Callio -Gaspar Hermin -Bee Leopard -Beren

Bella -Corona Chanda -Roxana Deneb -Egeria

Albireo -Mercury

Apollo -Oak

Naiad -Yati

Forma -Crux Pavo -Flos Betel -Chrys

Mars -Siwa

Sylla -Uchcha Yodha -Karu Roxana -Chanda Naga -Olaf

Nanda -Upaka

Myna -Ullin Yati -Naiad Flos -Pavo Tulsi -Irene

Aries -Scotus Proteus -Virgo Aquila -Obra

Philae -Auson Lignus -Taurus

Norma -Leo Walter -Ulysses Dolphin -Iris Alethia -Phoenix Holly -Daleth Magnus -Pepin Sextans -Clio Viola -Castor

Ophis -Aldeb

Maya -Madhu Laxa -Sirona Pindar -Ronald

Aglaia -Stella Dharma -Radius Dora -Saturn Lomia -Clare Rosa -Athena Taurus -Lignus

Aulus -Kim Zeno -Alex

Pax -Rex Uchcha -Sylla Upaka -Nanda Ajax -Alces Pallas -Selene Jupiter -Hector Psyche -Spes

Pomo -Phocea Neptune -Rhea

Zoe -Andro

Beren -Leopard Clare -Lomia Karu -Yodha

Alex -Zeno Oak -Apollo Electra -Rama

Aurora -Nestor

Chart XVIII

North America 23,681 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Dhruva -Alcyone

Colos -Lobelia

Kos -Sirius

Gem -Eros Euphra -Percy

Muni -Cento

Ixion -Tolosa Venus -Koli Helios -Theo

Athena -Rosa

Quies -Uranus Corona -Bella Sappho -Beatus

Mizar -Alcyone Kamu -Gimel Gnostic -Wences Cassio -Vajra

Beth -Tiphys Ulysses -Walter Algol -Sif Mercury -Albireo

Leto -Capella Spica -Fides

Stella -Aglaia Echo -Fomal

Sirona -Laxa Osiris -Nicos

Rao -Xulon Sagitta -Priam Fons -Dactyl

Sif -Algol Noel -Una Inca -Joan Brihat -Lyra

Canopus -Udor

Nimrod Horus -Lotus

Leo -Norma Juno -Arthur Pepin -Magnus

Ushas -Kepos Gimel -Kamu

Sita -Ivan Haldur -Onyx

Hector -Jupiter Daleth -Holly Lobelia -Colos

Libra -Lutea

Hestia -Erato

Achilles -Herakles Auriga -Concord Priam -Sagitta

Iris -Dolphin Rex -Pax Pearl -Ida

Andro -Zoe Elsa -Demeter Pisces -Melete Draco -Nita

Dactyl -Fons Hebe -Daphne

Phoenix -Aletheia Orpheus -Rigel Aldeb -Ophis

Theo -Helios Gasper -Callio Orca -Bruce

Chart XVIII

North America 23,681 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Vulcan -Cyr

Lili -Viraj Olaf -Naga Chrys -Betel Ara -Altair

Bruce -Orca Tiphys -Beth Virgo -Proteus Ida -Pearl Nicos -Osiris Jerome -Argus Alces -Ajax

Atlas -Aqua Calyx -Amal

Altair -Ara

Castor -Viola Obra -Aquial Erato -Hestia

Aqua -Atlas

Scotus -Aries Nita -Draco

Irene -Tulsi

Chart XVIIIa

Tartary 15690 B.C.

(Birth of Orion)

Orion was born in a Tartar race in Central Asia. He was the son of a high official, a governor of a district whose duty led him to travel constantly all over his province. In the intervals between these journeyings he and his family lived in one of the principal houses in the chief city of the province. Here unfortunately lived Gamma, the same woman who had exercised such an evil influence over Orion in his previous life, and he was scarcely sixteen when she got him into her toils. The previous life might have repeated itself, but for the entry upon the scene of Helios, a young lady whom he had the opportunity of saving one day from some robbers on a country road. She was duly grateful, and he was much impressed by her beauty, but was disagreeably surprised to learn that she was the daughter of a house between which and his own there was a bitter hereditary feud. After much cognition he determined that he must marry her, and so he solemnly informed his father of his love. The father thought him mad, and finding him intractable finally drove him from the homestead and disinherited him. The young man was thus left in a peculiar position--thrown out penniless on the world for the sake of a girl whom he had seen only once, when he did not know whether she cared in the least for him. He rode off to the town where she lived, and contrived to obtain a meeting with Helios. He rode up to her father's castle and boldly told his hereditary enemy that he wanted to marry his daughter. The Chieftain thought that he was mad, and had him cast out of the castle with a warning not to come again on pain of death. He did not quite know what to do next, as he had no money and knew of no trade by which he could support himself. Presently it occurred to him that he could at least make a living by hunting, and he did this for some time, occassionally communicating with his lady-love through a servant. This led to the inevitable result; the lady one day escaped from her father's castle and they fled together, hiding themselves among one of the wandering tribes. Among these nomadic people they lived very happily, even though their physical surroundings were horribly rough and poor. Orion undertook to do the hunting for the caravan in return for food and lodging for himself and his wife, and presently he bartered some of his skins for cattle, and in this way came to own a few, like the men of the tribe. They wandered with this tribe for several years, and later on transferred themselves to another of higher type. When this tribe became engaged in a war Orion offered his services, which were eagerly accepted, and when his side was victorious he received a considerable share of the spoil, and so became comparatively rich. Meanwhile, news of their flight together had reached Orion's family, who was furious, considering that he had disgraced their name and had dragged their honour in the dust by intermarrying with their hereditary enemies; so his father sent his brother succeded in tracing the pair ; finding them domiciled among a powerful warlike tribe he hesitated to make any attack upon them. Presently he allied himself with a robber band, which occupied a small rocky valley among the hills, and presently, with the aid of a couple of bandits he made an attack upon his brother and tried to kill him. Orion, however, succeeded in beating off his assailants; so Scorpio, having failed in that, kidnapped Orion's little son Aldeb. Orion thereupon organised an attack upon the bandits' valley, and after hard fighting captured it and rescued his little son. In the course of the fighting he killed Scorpio, who was in disguise, and then for the first time he discovered that it was his own brother who had been thus pursuing him. The remainder of his life passed comparatively quietly and he at the age of fifty-eight.

Brihat -Apollo Philae -Orca Libra -Hestia Lutea -Calyx

Egeria -Rex

Lomia -Fons

Aulus -Nicos

Eudox -Alba

Hermin -Aqua

Regu -Spes

Hestia -Libra

Fabius -Rosa Euphra -Nita Obra -Ronald

Deneb -Theo

Forma -Dolphin

Spes -Regu Markab -Dactyl Leopard -Bruce

Scotus -Pepin Fons -Lomia Walter -Ida

Lyra -Proteus Lobelia -Zephyr Jerome -Laxa Virgo -Ara Chrys -Mona Bruce -Leopard

Chart XVIIIa

Tartary 15690 B.C.

(Birth of Orion)

Bella -Sirius Ara -Virgo Electra -Pisces

Aqua -Hermin Sappho -Norma Orca -Philae Alba -Eudox

Mona -Chrys Mira -Vesta Norma -Sappho Holly -Echo Colos -Sextans Apollo -Brihat

Nicos -Aulus Nita -Euphra

Alex -Atlas Rex -Egeria

Sextans -Colos

Pepin -Scotus Fort -Beren Dactyl -Markab

Echo -Holly Atlas -Alex

Ida -Walter

Pisces -Electra Ronald -Obra Rosa -Fabius Laxa -Jerome

Zephyr -Lobelia Aldeb -Stella Pax Orion -Helios Eros -Iota Sagitta Lili -Amal

Ophis Aglain -Epilson Scorpio Flora -Muni Iota -Eros Vesta -Mira

Camel -Juno

Stella -Aldeb Nu Abel Beren -Fort Dolphin -Forma Daphne -Hebe

Epilson -Aglain Theo -Deneb Gamma

Kappa

Chart XVIIIb

Madagaskar 22,978 B.C.

Orion re-appears in a female body in the year 22,978, in the island of Madagaskar. She was again the child of Alastor, who this time was a celebrated hunter. When Orion grew up she fell deeply in love with Cygnus, who had been her son in a previous life. Alastor was unfavourable to their union, and sold Orion to an older man, Cancer, who had been his wife in that other life. This man had a previous wife Gamma, who in Hawaii had been the lover of Orion's wife Cancer, and had been poisoned by him. Gamma was jealous and vindictive, and made things most unpoeasant for Orion, but was afraid to do her any serious harm while the husband continued to love her and to her children. The husband became more and more indifferent, because he was in love with Zeta, who had been in Hawaii the young girl who was driven mad by Orion's threats. Orion tried to console herself by a love affair with Cygnus, but Gamma discovered their proceedings and brought the husband down upon them. Cygnus was horribly mutilated before Orion's eyes and then thrown to a giant octopus, who was regarded as some sort of a deity. Maddened by a suspicion that it was not his own, the husband snatched from her her year old baby, and threw it into the fire before her eyes, and then degraded her to the position of a slave in his house, a position in which she was kept for twenty years, and very harshly treated. During all this time she nourished the most intense hatred towards her husband and Gamma. Now the latter had a little grandson whom she loved passionately, and one Orion , maddened by some special act of cruelty , seized this grandson and pushed him into the fire in turn. In revenge for this, Gamma ordered Orion to be seized and stretched naked upon the ground near a hill of huge driver ants, who at once attacked and devoured her.

Life XIX

King Mars was once again ruling in North America, but this time on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, in the great Tlavatli Kingdom of Toyocatli, which we previously described as including all the Southern States of the Union. With him, naturally, came the band of Servers; and among them we find our heroine Alcyone as the eldest daughter of Mizar and Helios, who were exceedingly kind, tender and devoted parents. Her father – Mizar was a man of great wealth, as he not only owned vast flocks and herds, but had also on his estate a good deal of alluvial gold, which was washed out of some gravel on the banks of a rapid stream in a hilly region. These flocks were not , however, goats or sheep exactly as we know them now, but more resembled the gnu. The commonest animal was a kind of heavily-built long – haired goat, with head, neck and horns not unlike those of a miniature ox. The hill country round the gulf seems to have been of quite a different outline in those days. The river now known as the Mississippi cut across the State now bearing that name, instead of flowing round it in a curve between that state and Louisiana as at present. The gulf of Mexico was less in size than at present. The Gulf of Mexico was less in size than now, and its c onfiguration was quite different.

In a beautiful grove not far from Alcyone’ s home stood a magnificent temple, built in the form of a five pointed star, in the angles of which were stairways which led up to the central ceremonial chamber. Over this chamber was a large dome, coloured blue on the inside. On the inside wall just below the dome was a frieze about three feet high of some metal which looked like silver, inlaid with symbols and hieroglyphics. In the upper part of the dome hung seven silver bells, heavy and large enough to give clear deep tones, resonant and beautiful. Beneath the temple itself were crypts in which were kept instruments of gold and silver studded with precious stones, which were used in ceremonial worship on special and secret occasions. The central hall under the dome was circular, and its walls were decorated with rare stones inlaid in symbolical forms; its whole appearance gave one the idea of Byzantine architecture. In it all the sacramental and festal ceremonies were conducted. On the second floor of the temple, in the points of the star, were the rooms of the priests; one of the windows in each room looked into the central hall, and sometimes minor services and ceremonies were conducted by the priests from their rooms through these large openings.

It is here that we find the first scene of importance in the life of Alcyone, the occasion being that of her presentation or consecration, which took place at the age of six months. Over this ceremony Mercury presided, assisted physically by three other priests, Osiris, Venus and Brihat, and astrally by the Mahaguru, who hovered above the alter, visible only to the clairvoyant. This group is a most interesting one to contemplate, and it can hardly be considered a mere coincidence that those who represented four separate forms of the Great Mysteries should have been there together at this time. The ceremony of the consecration of Alcyone appears to have been largely astrological. The colour used on the alter was electric blue, the colour ascribed to the planet Uranus, which was in the ascendant at the moment of the child’ s birth. The influence of this planet also accounts to some extent for the latent possibilities of psychic development which came into manifestation later in her life. During the consecration ceremony an angel appeared, and into his guardianship the child was given; with the approval of the Mahaguru, who directed from higher planes the work of Mercury. The Mahaguru was the founder of the religion of this people, and he appeared in order to make a link between the child and the overshadowing angel. He seemed to take possession of this, the first-born child of the family, and stretched out His arms over it with words to the effect that He took this ego into his care, not for this time only, but for the future.

Venus was incharge of the astrological part of the ceremony; he had cast the child’ s horoscope and arranged the necessary details in accordance with the child’ s horoscope and arranged the necessary details in accordance with the planetary aspects in it, though it was Mercury who performed the actual ceremonies of the consecration. The child was placed upon a smaller altar made of metal and highly magnetised; this stood in front of the principal alter and the rites were intended to make a magnetic link between the child, the angel and the Mahaguru, and also to inhibit any lower disturbing influences. During the ceremony the seven silver bells in the dome chimed three short musical phrases, the priests chanting in unison with them, as they stood each in the centre of one of the sides of the great square altar facing towards it. During the ceremony the little Alcyone wore a magnificently embroidered robe, made by her mother Helios, who often also enjoyed the privilege of embroiding the priests’ s robes and some of the decorations of the Temple. On the child’ s robe was worked a large swan as a centre-piece (probably the Kalahamsa) and there was a border of curved swastikas. The temple itself was attached to a great central temple far away in Atlantis, over which Surya presided as High Priest, assisted by Jupiter and Saturn.

The people were a light brown race, belonging to the Tlavatly subdivision of the fourth Root Race; and about two years after the ceremony described, we find Alcyone a little toddling whitish-brown baby, wearing golden anklets which were really her mother’ s bracelets; as the baby enjoyed playing with them when on the mother’ s arm, she put them on the little ankles, and they would often fall off as the child walked.

On this occasion our old friend Sirius was the son of the priest Brihat, and his first sight of Alcyone was at that consecration ceremony. Although he was only about three years of age, he had been brought by his parents to witness this dedication ceremony, which was an exceptionally brilliant one, as Alcyone’ s parents. Being wealthy people, spent a great deal of money on decorations and processions. The grandeur of it greatly impressed him. And he at once fell in love with the baby, declaring his intention of marrying her when he became a man. When he was a few years older and again expressed the same sentiments, his parents advised him to put the thought out of his mind, since they were comparatively poor and Alcyone’ s parents were very rich.

The two families lived on opposite sides of the river, which at this point was about a mile wide. Sirius did not share the view of his parents that difference of circumstances should be a barrier to his love, and when he was about twelve and Alcyone about nine years old, we find him having himself ferried across the river in order to pay his little sweet heart a visit. He brought her a piece of sugar-cane which she refused to eat alone, so they compromised matters by taking alternate bites of it, as they sat together under the shade of a wall. Sirius could not forget Alcyone, and contrived to continue visiting her; presently he swam across the river daily for this purpose, even though the current was very swift and it took courage to accomplish it. As no one knew where he went on these occasions, he acquired the reputation of being a strange boy who took long wandering walks all alone. While swimming across the river on one of these visits he was attacked by an alligator, but contrived to kill it by stabbing it under the foreleg with a knife which he had carried for several days, because he had seen a similar reptile shortly before. Alcyone’ s brother Herakles became an intimate friend of Sirius, and being some years younger rather worshipped the older boy, and was glad to carry letters for him to Alcyone, thus considerably helping in this juvenile love affair.

Years went by and the children grew up into youth and maiden, but still remained faithful to one another. The young lady’ s parents of course knew all about it by this time, but they did not look with much favour upon the impecunious suitor, especially as an opportunity offered for Alcyone to become the bride of Vajra, who was the son of King Mars, and heir to his throne. Alcyone, while admitting that it would be a very pleasant thing some day to become a queen, still would not give up her love for Sirius and wished to marry him. When a final decision had to be taken in the matter of marriage, and she was pressed by her parents to accept Vajra, she wept bitterly and was deeply distressed and dejected. Her mother’ s tender heart could not bear this, and her father too was deeply moved, so she had her way at last and was permitted to accept Sirius. All being settled, Helios wished to make a settlement of a sum of money upon the two, and to carry things out gracefully and generously. Sirius and his father were proud and found it hard to accept this, but it was finally arranged. Helios and Mizar made the best of things, and considered themselves fortunate that their daughter had chosen the son of one so honoured in the temple as Brihat.

The parents on both sides having made the final arrangements, the marriage of the happy young lovers took place in most gorgeous state in the temple, and the ceremony was performed by the high priest Mercury, aided by Brihat, the father of Sirius, and by the high priest Mercury, aided by Brihat, the father of Sirius, and by his uncles Osiris and Yajnya. Alcyone looked most beautiful in a white robe, and here again the skilled handiwork of Helios showed itself, as the dress was profusely embroidered with gold and jewels. Mercury, handsome as a Greek God, recited the marriage service in a most impressive and dignified manner, and threw much cordial personal feeling into the words which he had to repeat, for he had known and loved both bride and bridegroom since their childhood.

The central feature of this marriage ceremony seems to have been a sort of eucharist. The celebrant invoked the Mahaguru, and then handed handed the sacramental cup to Sirius, who passed it on to Alcyone; she drank some of its contents and handed it back to him, and then he in turn drank. The cup and the liquid had been highly magnetised, so that all earthly influence was removed from it, and only that of the Mahaguru left paramount. The husband and wife, after receiving the blessings of the Mahaguru, were bound together with ropes of roses and walked hand in hand round the alter, vowing in turn before each of the priests who were taking part in the ceremony. After this circumambulation they were seated side by side in a sort of palanquin which was drawn up into the air by ropes and left swinging high above the heads of the people while further blessings were chanted. This was to symbolise their new relation to each other, that they were now alone together and apart from the rest of the world, and also that they could rise together to planes higher than either would be able to reach apart, and that thus they work together, for a higher good. Then they were once more lowered to the floor, and received a final blessing from the priest preparatory to leaving the temple.

Many handsome presents were given to them, and it is noteworthy that all these were brought to the temple to be magnetised by the priests. Among them was a huge golden bowl from Helios, which was wrought in the form of a lotus. Some beautiful chased silver swinging lamps were given by Mizar, and were filled with sweet scented oil which perfumed the whole temple. At various points during the ceremony the bells in the domes sounded soft muffled tones, but as it finished they rang out joyfully.

In this family alone we find a considerable gathering of the theosophical clan, for in addition to the nine children of Helios there were sixteen born to Sirius and Alcyone, all of them egos well known to us. If we include the children of the King, and those of Vajra and Herakles, who are also numerous, we find nearly all our dramatis personnae. The children of most of these families were taught by the Priests of the temple, and some of the sons became inmates of it. besides the sixteen children of Alcyone and Sirius, they also adopted the orphan Olaf, because Mercury was deeply interested in him.

Somewhat strained relations existed just at this time between the court of Mars and the authorities of the great Temple, chiefly owing to a number of small misunderstandings intentionally created by two young priests of bad character, Thetis and Scorpio, who cherished a bitter grudge against the King because he had been compelled to banish their father Cancer for a series of henious crimes which he had committed at the instigation of a stronger ruffian than himself. These two young fellows contrived somehow to become aware of a conspiracy against the King, and joined themselves to it, intending either to use it or to betray it, as might best suit their own machinations. They decided to request an audience from the King, and if he granted it, to endeavour to utilise the occasion to assasinate him. There was a certain important functionary (Castor) in the King’ s household, among whose duties it was to arrange audiences for him; so these two young scoundrels wrote a letter to this man asking for an appointment, and hinting that they could betray a dark conspiracy against the King, and could also show that the Temple authorities were trying to undermine his power.

In going up the steps of the palace the functionary accidentally dropped the letter, and herakles happened to pick it up. (Herakles was now an intimate friend of Vajra and in consequence was much at the palace.) He was on his way to Sirius at the time, and when he read the contents of this letter he had so odd a feeling of danger that he showed it to Sirius, and discussed the matter with him. Sirius at once, consulted his wife Alcyone, who proceeded to psychometrise it, and saw the plot in the minds of the scoundrels. In order to confirm what she saw, they took the letter to Helios, who was also psychic. She agreed as to the plot, and they felt that they ought to take some action, but since some high authorities of the Temple had been accused of treachery to the King, and this was mentioned in the letter, it was a serious question what to do with it.

It was finally decided to say nothing for the moment to the King, but Herakles went to the functionary to whom the letter had been written. The latter had been seeking for it everywhere before reporting its contents to the King. So Herakles told him what he feared, and together they arranged that the ruffians should have the desired audience, but that they themselves should be present and also have in readiness a strong guard. The would be murderers presented themselves, and as they were rising from the usual prostration, Thetis thrust his hand into the front of his robe and grasped a dagger. Herakles, who was close to the King’ s side, saw the action and guessed its meaning, so he sprang forward just in time to seize the man’ s wrist as he raised the dagger and was to leap upon the King. Both the villains were quickly overpowered and imprisoned, and shortly afterwards they were banished from the kingdom. The law condemned them to be buried alive, but the Monarch commuted their sentence to banishment, because he said that wicked as their action had been, and worthless as they themselves appeared to be, their treachery had been dictated by a perverted idea of filial affection and family honour.

The King was thus grateful to Herakles for having thus saved his life, and when he heared the part that Alcyone and Helios had played in the affair, he called them before him and publicly thanked them. The entire family, including that of Sirius, was much advanced in royal and public favour. Herakles was honoured by receiving the King’ s daughter (Bee) in marriage, and was appointed as ruler over the large province in which the family of Sirius lived. Vajra was made ruler over the province in which Mizar and Helios lived, and as only the river seperated these two provinces there was much happy social intercourse between all these families, the court and the temple Priests. After the attempted assasination of the King, it became known at once that the rumour that the priests of the temple had tried to undermine the power of the King had no foundation whatever. Mars sent for the Chief Priest Mercury, who came to the palace with Herakles and Vajra. A wonderfully clear understanding was at once established between the Priest and the Monarch, and harmony was restored between the Court and the Temple; so much so, that when later the King abdicated in favour of his son Vajra, he took up his permanent residence with the Priests in order to live a life of devotion.

Various expeditions were sent out from time to time by the King, and one of them was given into the charge of Vajra and Herakles. They were sent to make a sort of treaty with the ruler of the kingdom where they had lived a thousand years before, and bore rich gifts with them. On the way, near where New Mexico now is, they were attacked by savage tribes similar in type to Pueblo Indians, who captured them and then sent to Mars for a large ransom. But instead of a ransom, the King sent Sirius with a large army of trusted men to rescue the captives. This they succeeded in doing, the army engaging the Indians in front of their village while Sirius entered it from the rear and easily rescued Vajra and Herakles, who were borne home amid great rejoicing. Herakles had learned the Indian language while prisoner among them. Some time after their return a second expedition was sent to the same kingdom, which reached its destination and returned safely; but this time the King would not permit Sirius, Vajra or Herakles to go. Another expedition was sent towards the north-west, as a rumour had come of great silver and gold mines in that direction. It was successful, and returned with much treasure and large numbers of sparkling gold-stones, such as those now found in Arizona, and also great quantities of other gems of various kinds.

During the expedition of Sirius to rescue Vajra and Herakles a rather interesting experience occurred in the family of his son Demeter, who had married Elsa and settled in a house in the suburbs of the city. They soon found that there were other previous tenants who paid no rent, for the house was haunted in the most extraordinary way, and they were much disturbed by all sorts of unwelcome manifestations. Noises were heard, doors opened and shut unexpectedly, and they were to be found on investigation. The manifestations appeared to centre themselves round a certain room, though no part of the house was entirely free from them. The constant pressure of this psychic trouble quite wore out both Demeter and his wife. It was the wife who was first actually seized upon by the haunting entities, but, in endeavouring to protect her, Demeter himself became partially obssessed, and after that had once happened, quite long periods of time elapsed in many cases during which he had no accurate knowledge of what had occurred or what he had been doing. Both he and his wife were quite worn out with this, and as an addition to the family was impending, the mother of Demeter (Alcyone) felt that some decided steps must be taken. She determined to go herself to the house and spend a night alone in the room which seemed to be the central point of the disturbance, in order to try to discover exactly what was the matter, and to see if there were any possible way of dealing with the subject.

Demeter and his wife strongly urged that they should be allowed to remain with her, but she insisted on being alone, saying that she could not be responsible for anybody but herself. When everything was quite quiet, she covered the light and sat waiting. For a long time nothing was happened, but at last there came three heavy dull knocks or blows, such as might be made by a large slow-moving object. Cold chills ran down Alcyone’ s spine, and an overmastering sensation of fear came over her. She shook this off, hastily uncovered the light, and stood looking expectantly towards the place from which the knocks appeared to come, reciting mantras by which she expected to call breath on the back of her neck. She spun round and then something tapped her lightly on the back. Again she spun round but could see nothing there, and as she was thus looking into space something brushed her ankle. Looking down she saw a horrible object on the floor; it was like a large worm, perhaps four feet in length, but somewhat cigar-shaped, covered with hair, black, coarse, short and bristly; it had a sort of rudimentary face, with no features but a big red hole which took the place of a mouth, and the whole gave out a horrible and most sickening odour, as of something that had been long dead. It writhed along, and came curling round her leg, and as she reached down to tear it off, it fastened on her hand like a vampire, and then began to coil round her body. Just then she saw her son Demeter approaching, looking like one drowned, with horribly distorted features—lead coloured, greenish, and bloated—and with a baleful deadly fire in his eyes, lambent and unholy. At first she thought he was coming to defend her; the horrible worm was just getting at her throat, and she called to Demeter to help her. But he came towards her in a curious, stooping, crouching manner, his fingers clutching the air, and instead of helping her he seized her by the throat. With all her strength of will she called upon Sirius (who was absent on the expedition more than thousand miles away) and he at once came astrally in answer; he seized the beast with one hand and Demeter with the other, tore them apart, dashed the beast to the floor and stamped upon it, till it was nothing more than a jelly; then he shook Demeter into wakefulness, and was gone as suddenly as he came. Demeter looked at his mother in a dazed sort of way and said again and again:

“ What is it? What is it? What is it?”

A great weakness overpowered him, and did not pass away for a long time, but he was never again obsessed. Alcyone’ s hair was white on one side where the beast had struck her, and for days afterwards she could not get rid of the horrible odour. The incident made a deep impression on her mind, and whenever she thought of it, it made her physically sick. For years she could not bear the sight of any creature that writhed, and she nearly fainted one day when a harmless cat happened to curve itself round her ankle, although it was a year after her adventure; and for a long time even the sight of a small worm would cause her to grow pale and weak.

When Alcyone had called Sirius to help her, he and others were sitting round a camp-fire, and at once he fell back in a trance. He plainly heard his wife’ s call, and somehow found himself in a room which he did not know. Seeing his wife in dreadful danger, he rushed to her aid, endowed with superhuman strength; when he had rescued her in the manner described, he seemed to lose consciousness, and when it returned his friends of the camp were sprinkling water on his face. He felt quite weak after this, and was not fully himself for several days, so his exertion had evidently been a great strain upon him.

Alcyone went to Mercury and told him her story, asking him what could have been the cause of all these strange happenings; he looked into the matter and unearthed the fact that on the spot where Demeter lived there had been long ago a centre for a peculiarly obscene form of early magic. Its devotees used to provide their séance a bath of human blood, and huge scorpion-like creatures materialised and stalked round it, squirting out a poison which seared everything which came near them. Among these creatures was the unpleasant object that attacked Alcyone, and as it had been starving for a long time it was proportionately ferocious. These elementals were expressions of a certain form of evil thought, deliberately intensified and materialised by magical ceremonies, and , being ensouled by ‘ familiar spirits’ of a particularly obscene kind, they were exceedingly dangerous. By those who made them they were called ‘ sendings’ , because they could be sent to anyone whom the magician hated to materialise in his bed-room, to sit on his breast in the night and spit venom on him. An entity of an evolution lower than the physical used to be put into such a thing, and enabled to hold together.

In the year 22,605, when Sirius was about sixty years old, the King prepared an expedition to a certain holy city in Yucatan, which was about to be visited by Surya, the Head Priest of the great Atlantean religion , and Alcyone, Sirius, Mizar, Helios, Mercury, Uranus and many others set forth, starting in the late summer and travelling southward round the Gulf. At first they used carts, but after a time they had to leave the great main rock road and abandon the carts, using their mule-like horses or mustangs both for pack and riding. The main rock roads were really remnants of a previous age. When Atlantis was at the height of its glory, wide roads of solid rock were formed radiating in all directions from the Great City of the Golden Gate, stretching over hill and dale for thousands of miles; and these were crossed by a network of local roads, which, however, were not so well made of kept.

On one occasion our party fell into difficulties in trying to cross a river. At a later point in the journey they met a caravan of merchants who were using a curious camel-like sort of animal, resembling a big llama. It was some type between the two; the Atlanteans had been fond of experimenting in the crossing of animals. Once our travelers came to a deep canon, and though it was less than fifty yards across they had to travel thirty miles round to reach the opposite side of it. when about half way on their journey they met another caravan, of which all the people were in a dying condition, because the savages had poisoned the water of the stream from which they had drunk. Mercury magnetised the people and neutralised thee poison, thus saving them all. They now bent their course towards the east and then a little to the north, and soon a guide met them, a curious aboriginal man, who had been sent from Yucatan for the purpose of showing them all. They now bent their course towards the east, and then a little to the north, and soon sent from Yucatan for the purpose of showing them the way. The people in the city were aware of the approach of the pilgrims, at least of this particular caravan, and a procession met them at the gate.

Mars, Mercury and the Priests at once repaired to the great temple of which Saturn was the Chief Priest, where they found some kind of initiation ceremony taking place. The number of people admitted to this was of course limited, but both Sirius and Alcyone were allowed to be present. There was a sort of golden throne, magnificently decorated; it had lion arms and a flight of nine steps leading up to it with carved animals on either side, something of the Egyptian style of work. Surya sat upon this throne, and received the people as they were presented to him, exchanging with each of them certain signs. Each priest as he appeared before Surya, gave him the same secret salutation, which is one of those still used in the White Lodge at the present day. Surya sent out streams of blessing or perhaps they were sent through him. Afterwards the huge brazen gates of the were thrown open, and the rest of the party came in, and Surya came down from his throne to speak with them, saluting them with the most friendly words. One remarkable fact that was observed is that he must have known even then to speak with them, saluting them with the most friendly words. One remarkable fact that was observed is that he must have known even then the same which Alcyone would choose on his admission to the Sangha twenty-eight incarnations later, in the life in which he met lord Buddha, because he distinctly referred to it. our friends attended also another great gathering on an occasion when Surya spoke of love which is so characteristically his own, telling all the pilgrims the emphasis that must be laid upon that quality.

“ Love is life,” he said, “ the only life that is real. A man who ceased to love is already dead. All conditions in life are to be judged fortunate or unfortunate according to the opportunities that they offer for love. Love will come under the most unlikely circumstances, if men will but allow it to come. Without this all other qualifications are only as water lost in the sand.”

Our band of pilgrims stayed in the city for about two months and then started for home. On the journey they ran short of water and could find no source of divining twig. While they were still on the way Helios died, to the great sorrow of her friends and relations. Mizar could not bear to leave the body to decay in the wilderness, and was grief-stricken because they had not the usual acid which was the custom to inject into the corpse to burn it up at once. In compassion for Mizar, Mercury placed his hands on the body and disintegrated it by some means, as though by sending a current of consuming heat through it. Alcyone, being psychic, felt no separation from her mother, and so through her Helios was just as much in touch with the family as ever, as she accompanied them on their journey in her astral body.

Sirius died at the age of sixty-four, but both he and Helios continued for a long time to keep up the closest relations with Alcyone, lingering intentionally on the higher levels of the astral world in order to do so. Her children and her brother Herakles looked after her thoroughly well as far as her physical wants were concerned. She occupied herself for the last twenty years of her life in writing a great book on religious subjects. It was in four parts or volumes, with curiously epigrammatic and untranslatable titles. The nearest we can come to rendering them in English is: “ Whence? Why? Whither? Beyond.” Mercury ordered that when this work was finished it should be preserved in the crypt of the Temple; but some centuries later, in consequence of the danger of invasion, it was removed to the other Temple in Yucatan. A copy of it was made by Alcyone herself for the Chief Priest Surya, which she sent to him in Atlantis; it now rests in the secret museum of the Great White Lodge.

Ajax had married Erato, and had a son (Melete) who was about five years old when the following curious incident happened. One day he was not to be found, and his mother, half mad with anxiety, went to Alcyone the grandmother, who tried in every conceivable way to find him, even to the sending of a servant down a well by means of a rope to see if he had fallen into it. At last, all physical resources having failed them, Alcyone sat down, determined to look for him psychically. She was successful in discovering where he was, and she told the father to take his sword and come with her at once to save the child. She led the way to an old half-ruined hut, to which a savage woman had carried off the boy, with the intention of sacrificing him in a black magical ceremony. Her intention was to make his intestines into strings for a musical instrument to be used for demoniacal invocations. The woman was resting with the child at this hut, in the course of her journey to a dark shrine which lay further in the forest. By means of a magical potion she had put the child to sleep, so that she could carry him more conveniently, and was just about to start on her way when Alcyone and the father arrived. At first they threatened to kill the woman, but after a time relented, telling her, however, that if she came near their house again she would meet with certain death.

Another curious instance of the practical utility of Alcyone’ s remarkable psychical powers may be noted , though it occurred many years earlier than the last, and before the death of Sirius. One night she had a vivid dream, in which she saw a place, a deep ravine, in which there was hidden some gold. This dream came to her three times, and each time a child, or nature spirit, led her to the spot and pointed laughingly at the gold, taking it into his hands and playing with it. After the third repetition she took it seriously and consulted her husband. He at once decided that there was something in it, and set out with Alcyone and Mizar to find the place. They soon came to indications which Alcyone recognised, but it took much time and trouble to find the exact spot. When at last they did reach they were well repaid for their efforts; there was a sort of pocket in which the gold lay, and the amount was great and enabled them to be comfortably off for life, and to perform many acts of charity.

Among the latest incidents of Alcyone’ s life, we notice that, at the age of 84, she gave a magnificent reception in honour of some delegates who had been sent over from the Central Temple of Atlantis, Viraj being at the head of the embassy.

In the year 22,578 this eventful life closed and Alcyone passed away, loved and respected by all who had known her.

Chart XIX

Mississippi 22,662 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Mahaguru Surya

Viraj Jupiter Saturn

Uranus -Brihat Alastor -Kusos Pisces -Pindar

Clio -Norma Calyx -Math Flora -Sif

Vajra -Ulysses

Dora -Aletheia Tolosa -Dome Corona -Mars

Gem -Psyche

Bee -Herakles Aries -Castor Hestia -Vulcan Parthe -Vesta Kos -Quies Mercury -Athena

Callio -Taurus

Rex -Percy

Lobelia -Claire

Philae -Polaris Ivy -Aurora Lomia -Camel Pallas -Atlas

Eros -Melpo Dolphin -Daphne Fort -Boreas

Hebe -Eudox Venus -Theo

Sappho -Deneb

Stella -Apis Daphne -Dolphin Boreas -Fort

Apis -Stella Egeria -Juno

Melpo -Eros Eudox -Hebe Camel -Lomia

Alcyone -Sirius

Capella -Ara

Colos -Scotus Spica -Myna Herakles -Bee

Vesta -Parthe

Alba -Altair Arcor -Thor Polaris -Philae

Flos -Beren Capri -Pepin Oak -Ida

Lutea -Nestor

Forma -Wences Lignus -Ixion Aurora -Ivy

Fons -Sextans Zoe -Xanthos Beatus -Cygnus

Amal -Aglaia

Leo -Alces Noel -Una Mizar -Helios

Roxana -Pavo

Chart XIX

Mississippi 22,662 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Chanda -Naiad Odos -Horus Gnostic -Zama Dhruva -Rosa Ronald -Udor

Xulon -Bootes Selene -Argus

Nita -Electra

Gasper -Laxa Koli -Nu

Rao -Hygeia Betel -Rigel

Vale -Sigma Yodha -Maya Zeno -Muni

Orca -Arthur Aqua -Bella Libra -Sagitta

Magnus -Priam Virgo -Olaf Leto -Gimel

Andro -Aulus Pearl -Neptune

Chrys -Bruce Draco -Phoenix Dactyl -Aldeb Pyx -Concord

Lili -Osiris Ulysses -Vajra Hermin -Lyra

Pindar -Pisces

Pax -Hector Gimel -Leto

Norma -Clio Beth -Algol

Psyche -Gem Wences -Forma Quies -Kos

Muni -Zeno Alces -Leo Canopus -Fomal

Ixion -Lignus Xanthos -Zoe Sagitta -Libra Mira -Crux

Scotus -Colos Siwa -Daleth

Walter -Echo

Ullin -Tripos Jason -Cyr

Castor -Aries

Algol -Beth Theseus -Achills Sextans -Fons

Pollux -Cetus Agalaia -Amal Concord -Pyx

Cento -Vega

Yati -Sita

Nimrod -Vizier Alma -Kratos Kara -Madhu Helios -Mizar Horus -Odos Una -Noel

Ivan -Radius Vizier -Nimrod Sita -Yati Pavo -Roxana Inca -Lotus

Ushas -Naga Uchacha -Baldur

Joan -Nanda Naiad -Chanda Madhu -Karu Upaka -Markab

Chart XIX

Mississippi 22,662 B.C.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Rosa -Dhruva Cassio -Euphra

Obra -Abel

Achilles -Theseus Proteus -Rector Dharma -Kepos

Albireo -Apollo Hector -Pax

Beren -Flos

Dido -Tiphus

Neptune -Pearl Irene -Trefoil Ajax -Erato

Abel -Obra Fides -Gluck

Fabius -Kim

Altair -Alba

Laxa -Gaspar Kim -Fabius

Sigma -Vale Arthur -Orca Vega -Cento

Nu -Koli Tiphys -Dido Auriga -Iris

Pomo -Mona

Zama -Gnostic Spes -Diana

Holly -Jerome Percy -Rex Sirius -Alcyone Aldeb -Dactyl

Kepos -Dharma Aletheia -Dora

Ophis -Sirona

Crux -Mira Leopard -Melete Bella -Aqua

Bruce -Chrys

Rigel -Betel Demeter -Elsa

Auson -Nicos

Regu -Rama Maya -Yodha Udor -Ronald

Bootes -Xulon Brihat -Uranus

Hygeia -Rao Olaf -Virgo Clare -Lobelia Jerome -Holly Cygnus -Beatus Naga -Ushas Judex -Phocea Orpheus -Aquila

Math -Calyx Baldur -Uchacha Radius -Ivan

Lyra -Hermin

Ara -Capella Electra -Nita Apollo -Albireo

Euphra -Cassio Nicos -Auson Vulcan -Hestia Pepin -Capri

Priam -Magnus

Taurus -Callio Echo -Walter Ida -Oak

Phra -Onyx

Rhea -Kamu

Athena -Mercury

Chart XIX

Mississippi 22,662 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Theo -Venus Rector -Proteus Rama -Regu

Diana -Spes Alex -Viola Nanda -Joan

Osiris -Lili

Aquila -Orpheus Erato -Ajax

Melete -Leopard Aulus -Andro

Thor -Arcor Elsa -Demeter Lotus -Inca Deneb -Sappho Kudos -Alastor Telema -Soma

Myna -Spica

Sirone -Ophis Trefoil -Irene Kratos -Alma Juno -Egeria

Daleth -Siwa Atlas -Pallas

Yajna -Sylla

Argus -Selene

Markab -Upaka Mona -Pomo Adrona -Zephyr

Tripos -Ullin Cetus -Pollux Phocea -Judex Onyx -Phra

Phoenix -Draco

Cancer -Scorpio Thetis

Orion appears again in the year 22,208, in a female body in the peninsula of Malacca, as the daughter of a trader. She was born with an overwhelming horror of all creeping things, and a great fear of fire and often had frightful dreams of her past life, so that she suffered much from hysteria. She grew up, married, and had two children; but her eldest child one day fell into the fire and was burned, and this accident had a terrible effect upon her, for it drove away her reason. Her life after this was a long period of mental suffering, and it ended in a horrible death. A great bonfire was lit to celebrate a victory, and when she saw it she fell into the fire with wild shrieks. The only other of our characters appearing at the same time was Zeta, the girl who was driven mad in Madagaskar; but appeared in this case as the son of a watch-doctor, who tried to care Orion's hysteria.

Chart XIXa

India (Birth of Mercury) 21,917 B.C.

We have here another instance of the phenomenon which we mentioned in Life XVIIIa. Alcyone remains out of incarnation for a period of 819 years, and then has an unusually short life, so that her next interval was 275 years, thus making a total interval between the nineteenth and twenty first lives of 1,111 years. This fitted conveniently enough as one interval for some of our characters, but there were others who were unable to stay away so long, and consequently took an intermediate incarnation in India, as will be shown in the following chart.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Vajra -Venus Polaris -Dido

Trefoil -Flos Mercury -Herakles Naga -Noel Ivy -Dome Telema -Rector

Myna -Math Diana -Orpheus

Nanda -Yati Kim -Rosa

Venus -Vajra Dharma -Yodha Oak -Gaspar Rector -Telema Lotus -Uchacha Chanda -Upaka Noel -Naga

Yati -Nanda Vizier -Madhu Osiris -Siwa

Yodha -Dharma

Flos -Trefoil Orpheus -Diana Uchacha -Lotus

Soma -Kudos Irene -Boreas Olaf -Regu

Gluck -Beatus

Upaka -Chanda Dome -Ivy

Math -Myna

Boreas -Irene Thor -Judex

Kudos -Soma

Beatus -Gluck Gaspar -Oak Sylla -Echo

Dido -Polaris Regu -Olaf Herakles -Mercury Kratos -Zama

Phra -Karu

Madhu -Vizier

Life XX

Alcyone was born in a female body in the year 21759 B.C., not far from where Chittagong now stands. She was the daughter of Brihat and Neptune, and was one of a family of four. Her elder brother was Uranus and her younger sister was Mizar, but both of these died young: Uranus at the age of eighteen and Mizar, in childbirth, at the age of fifteen. There was also a younger brother, Vulcan, who was taught from boyhood by the Priests in the temple. The father Brihat seems to have been both ruler and Priest of a small community or kingdom. Astrology was a prominent factor in the religious ideas of the day, and Alcyone’ s horoscope was cast with great elaboration. It destined her to a marriage with Saturn, who was a distant relation, and it foretold that she should bear a child of remarkable power and holiness, and directed that all her early life should be arranged as a preparation for this coming event. The instructions were obeyed, and she was specially instructed by the Priests with a view to this.

Her childhood was a happy one. We see her as a graceful, beautiful child, with long streaming black hair. The only mode of dressing the hair was to catch it back from the face with golden clasps, in which were mounted most magnificent diamonds, so large that they looked like brilliant stars against her dark locks. The hair was washed daily and anointed with magnetised oil, which was supposed to stimulate the intellectual faculties. She was carefully secluded from all possible trouble or difficulty. Her only sorrow was the death of her elder brother Uranus, to whom she was profoundly attached.

At the age of fifteen she was duly married to Saturn with great pomp, and a year later a noble boy was born (Surya). There was great rejoicing over this event, and every care was taken of the child of promise. Alcyone was very sensitive and impressionable, and when the child was about to come to her she had a wonderful dream in which she saw a bright star leave the sky and enter her. This dream caused her to be considered a holy person. She was also clairvoyantly conscious of the presence of the ego when it attached itself to her.

Everything seemed to promise for her a long and brilliant life under the most favourable conditions; yet all these expectations were disappointed, for her life was abruptly terminated at the age of seventeen by an accident in which she voluntarily sacrificed herself in order to save her child. The circumstances were as follows:

Alcyone’ s house formed part of a great suite of buildings erected round a sort of square which was within the palace of the King. A slave-woman, who was changing the water in a glass vase containing gold-fish, was called away on some other business, and set the vase down on a table in the full rays of the sun. The glass acted as a lens, and the sun-rays, streaming through it, converged on some neighbouring wood-work and set it on fire. The house was built entirely of wood, richly gilded, and the flames spread like lightening in every direction, blazing up like a furnace. Alcyone was, at the moment, at some little distance off, but as the servants rushed off in every direction shouting and screaming, her attention was attracted, and she flew, fleet as a deer, towards the burning house.

The baby had been left with his nurse in an upper room, but she had gone out, confiding her charge to some fellow-servants. These fled downwards on the alarm of fire, forgetting the baby, and the terrified nurse, rushing for the child, fell back at the sight of the blazing staircase, which was the only way to the nursery. Wringing her hands, she screamed out: “ The child! the child” , but dare not face the roaring flames which barred the road. “ My boy?” gasped Alcyone, and sprang up through the sea of fire. Several of the stairs had already fallen, leaving only in some places the supporting wooden bars not yet burned through, though blazing. Desperately she plunged on, climbing, slipping, leaping across the gaps through which the flames flaring upwards, caught her garments and scorched her flesh. Surely no human strength would suffice to carry her to the top! But mother’ s love is omnipotent, and, in less time than it takes to tell it, she reached the room where the baby lay. Smoke was pouring into it, and she wrapped an unburnt fragment of clothing across her mouth and crawled along the floor. The babe, crowing at the dancing flames, stretched out chubby arms to his mother, and, catching him up, she pressed his face into her bosom and fled downwards with her boy close wrapped in her arms. Again she crossed that burning torrent, her body nude, her hair blazing, the diamonds dropping from it, flashing back the flames. Somehow she reached the bottom, the open air, and fell prostrate outside, shielding the babe even as she fell. He was unhurt, but she was dying, and in less than an hour she breathed her last. More out of her body than in it, too terribly injured to retain feeling, she was scarce conscious of suffering, and her last smile seemed to be on the freed astral form, as it bent over the rescued boy. Is it not the karma she made, by dying for Surya then, being reaped in the present opportunity given to Alcyone to serve the Blessed one again?

After its mother’ s death the child was taken in charge by his aunt Viraj (Saturn’ s sister), who was even then an advanced ego, and has since become an important member of the Occult Hierarchy. She was psychic, and through her Alcyone was still able to help and care for the child. The aunt never allowed any of the servants to touch the baby, and swung him herself in the garden in a sort of cradle hung up between the trees. There, in the quiet grove, Alcyone would speak to her from the astral world about the child, who was thus brought up altogether in a holy atmosphere and soon became a wonder, at the age of seven delivering teaching in the temple, so that people from all quarters came to hear him.

It seems as though from time to time the members of the present Hierarchy of Adepts were born together in different countries to assist in the founding of a new religion, or of a magnetised centre, we see them also spreading the religion and sending expeditions to other distant centres, as in the previous life in North America, where an expedition was sent to Yucatan. In the present one, some twenty-five years after Alcyone’ s death, we see Surya sending one north to the city of Salwan. Some of the party lost their lives from the hardships endured; and among these was Alcyone’ s younger brother Vulcan, at the age of about thirty-five.

Chart XX

Chittagong 21,759 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Uranus Alcyone -Saturn Brihat -Neptune Mizar -Koli Vulcan -Sif

Ronald -Dhruva

Viraj Gnostic -Kamu

Saturn -Alcyone

Surya Koli -Mizar

Dhruva -Ronald

Life XXI

The next appearance of our band of Servers is in South India, and on this occasion Orion , who has been wandering in outer deserts for some thousands of years, finds his way back into the group-but in a very peculiar way. He was born in 21540 as a girl in one of the hill tribes of the Nilgiris, a clever, good looking and unscrupulous young person. She had no intention of living the life of the hill tribes, so she engaged herself to serve a noble Tamil lady, and was appointed to attend upon her daughter Iota, to whom she speedily made herself indispensable. In this Tamil family was an heirloom—an enormous emerald credited with magical powers. It had been magnetised in Atlantis by one of the Lords of the Dark Face, and it was supposed to earn for its possessor whatever he most desired, but it always brought misfortune in the end, and those who used it became tools of the original magnetiser. Iota persuaded her father to give her this wonderful stone, and by its means to arrange for her a marriage with a neighbouring King. By the power of the stone this plan was carried through, and the King sent an escort to bring his bride to him. Iota took with her three attendants, Orion being one of them, and on the journey Orion contrived to murder her young mistress and then personated her. Her plot succeeded and she was duly married to King Theodoros, to whom she made a good and clever wife. It is to the credit of Orion that in her new surroundings she did not forget her brother Egeria, whom she had dearly loved, but sent secretly for him, had him educated as befitted her new station and eventually married him to one of the ladies of the court, though never openly acknowledging him as her brother.

Ten years later, for reasons of state, the King took a second wife Nu, a princess of a neighbouring house. After all these years the murder of Iota atlast came to light, and Orion’ s true status was discovered. Her husband was indignant at the outrage on his pride, and promptly condemned her to death. When thrown into prison she invoked the Lord of the Emerald, and he appeared to her and ordered her to throw the emerald out of the window to Sigma, one of the little children of the second wife Nu, who was playing outside. As soon as this was done he ordered Orion to take poison, and as she left her body the little girl Sigma fell down dead in the courtyard, and Orion was pushed into her body. When they went to lead out the queen to execution she was of course found dead in her cell.

In Sigma’ s body she was contracted in marriage to Leo, the prince of a neighbouring kingdom, in what is now the Telugu country, and after they were married she induced her young husband to bring about his father’ s abdication, so that she herself might be queen of the country. Alcyone was born in the year 21,467 as their eldest son, and there were four other children. When Alcyone was eleven years old his mother Orion fell ill of some internal disease which was found to be incurable. As soon as she knew that death was drawing near, she told again approached to the Lord of the Emerald, who told her that he would help her once more to take another body, but that it must be that of her daughter Theseus, whom she loved dearly. For some time she refused this. But at last increasing suffering drove her to accept it. So she drowned Theseus, hung the emerald round the child’ s neck and then threw herself into the water and sank. When she recovered consciousness she was in the body of Theseus, and so, instead of being Alcyone’ s mother, she was now, as far as outward appearance went, his sister.

The politics of the time were complicated and troublous, and Alcyone, though anxious to do his duty, was more interested in his studies than in affairs of state. He learned whatever was customary for boys of his class and time, and was proficient in riding, shooting, swimming, and the various sports of the race. When he came of age he married Herakles, who was the daughter of a neighbouring Raja, and they were happy together in their religious studies. The Priest Mercury was a neighbour and close friend.

In order to save the King Leo from certain defeat at the hands of a coalition of neighbouring States, Alcyone’ s mother Orion had induced Leo to place it under the suzerainty of the Atlantean Emperor, Jupiter, and there was much discontent among the people about this. A few years after , when Orion had had to change bodies, and could therefore no longer direct Leo’ s policy, the discontent broke out into open rebellion, and Leo was defeated and killed. Sirius (the son of Gimel, an Atlantean Noble) was sent sent over from Atlantis by Jupiter to be governor of the Kingdom which was thus made a province of the vast Atlantean Empire. Sirius made friends with Alcyone and Orion, at first perhaps from motives of policy, but the friendship quietly ripened into real affection. He fell in love with Orion and demanded her hand from her brother Alcyone, who gladly gave it, and a close tie united the two families and also that of the priest Mercury. This made the government of the province an easy matter, as the official heads of both the parties in it were now so thoroughly united. In fact the three families were almost like one, and made a kind of little society of their own, in which all sorts of interesting problems were discussed.

We find that the language commonly used then in India was not Sanskrit, and ceremonies usually began with the word Tau, not with Aum. The doctrines of reincarnation and karma were commonly known to the people. The Teacher (Mercury) knew of the Great ones behind who sometimes helped. Some of the expressions which are familiar to us now were in use then also, as for example: “ I am That” . Mercury told the people that of all the qualities that they could develop, all the qualifications they could possess, the most important was the power to recognise that all was That.

“you cut down a tree,” He said “ that is the life of the tree; dig up a stone, That is what holds the particles of stone together; That is the life of the sun, That is in the clouds, in the roaring of the sea, in the rainbow, in the glory of the mountain” and so on. These words are taken from a discourse of Mercury on death. In a book from which he read to the people there were well known phrases, such as: “ One thing is the right ,while the sweet is another; these two tie a man to objects apart. Of the twain it is well for who taketh the right one, who chooseth the sweet, goeth wide of the aim. The right and the sweet come to a mortal; the wise sifts the two and sets them apart. For ,right unto sweet the wise man prefereth; the fool taketh sweet to hold and retain” .(Kath Upanishad; words in Meads translation.) The wording in Mercury’ s book was not actually identical, but it was clearly the same set of verses.

There was another saying “ if one is killed, and I am the slain, yet I am I also the sword of the slayer, and none slays or is slain because all are one. There is no first nor last, no life nor death, because all are one in him.”

The books which Mercury used did not come from the Aryans; this book from which he read (evidently the original of the Katha Upnishad) was written in the city of the Golden Gate by one who was a member of the brotherhood. It belonged to a great collection, and had been handed down through many centuries. The Nachiketas story had not yet been connected with it.

In one temple there were no images at all. The religion was not sun-worship—at least not exclusively; rather a worship of the power of nature. Outside the temple was a large bull in stone, facing the temple and looking in. inside there was a curious arrangement— a depression, instead of a raised alter. Two or three steps led upto a great low square platform, paved with beautiful tiles, and then there was depression in the centre with a railing round it. People threw flowers in the depression, in the middle of which was a slab which was specially holy; it had some markings on it, but we could make nothing of them.

In another temple there were many images which were set in niches in its back wall. The people wore a different dress from those in the former temple, and there were men who were distinctly priests, which was not the case in the other. The images sat cross-legged, and had not more than the natural number of arms. This was the old form of Jainism, presumably, and the images of Tirthankar. Some images were naked; others, which had a lose garment over them, were probably regarded as dressed, or perhaps a conventional symbol was intended.

In another temple a long way to the north, there was already a lingam. Up there the trimurthy was fully recognised, though the names were not those used now. In one cave-temple there was a gigantic face carved out of the rock which was three faces in one though it was so arranged that only one face could be clearly seen at a time. There was a great temple in South India which also contained a Trimurti. We tried to discover the meaning of the name attached to it, to see what idea was connected with it in the mind of its priest, and we found that one priest thought of it as: “ He whose life flows through all.” While another had the idea that the three persons were: “ He who opens the gates, He who guides the stream, and He who closed the gates.” We saw no specimens here of the many-armed images which are so plentiful at the present time.

The priest had strong ideas about a “ Lake of Light,” which was also Death and Life and Love; all streams led into the Lake of Light, whence so ever they seem to begin. There were traces also of the theory that all we see is illusion but the only Reality is the Lake of Light. “ We live in the Lake of Light and donot know it. We think of ourselves separated, but we are each a drop in the lake.” The priest seemed to be perpetually urging the people to get behind the illusion of, the senses, and to realise that That was the real Presence behind all and the separated forms were the separated drops: “ When they fall in again they are all one,” they said, “ and it is we ourselves who make all the sorrow and trouble.”

They had a prayer to the “ Lords who Are the Lights , who consist of the Light”.

What is written above represents something of what was taught to the people, but in this small and strictly private family circle , mercury was willing to go, a little further, and expound the true meaning of the symbol , and give far more information about the lake of life and the Lords who are the light. He told them of a great teacher, who might be invoked by certain prayers and ceremonies, whose blessing might be called down upon them if they asked for it earnestly and with pure heart. They invoked him at their meetings, and a response always came, and on two special occasions He even showed Himself. This Great One was He whom we know as the Mahaguru, and His special connection with this group was that He had, in a previous birth, founded their religion and arranged that He would, as the founder, respond to certain invocations made under proper conditions by it’ s true adherents. He threw into the mind of mercury the solution of his problems and the answers to their questions on religious matters, and once or twice certain personal directions were given to them, though this was a rare occurrence.

The priest Mercury had married Ulysses. The pleasant intercourse between the families and their study of the questions which so deeply interested them went on harmoniously for years, and the first break in the party occurred in the year 21423 BC, when Orion confessed her black magic to Mercury and Sirius, threw the magic emerald into the sea, and retired to an ascetic life, with a view of atoning for her deeds. She handed over her children to the care of a friend Helios, and four years later the latter married Albireo, a young brother of Alcyone.

The children of these families all grew up together, and naturally fell in love with one another, so that when they became men and women there was a good deal of intermarriage between them. Achilles took to wife Mizar, while Uranus married Vega, and Hector Selene. Aldebran however, caused much trouble to the family through becoming involved with and marrying a woman of bad character (Gamma), who ruined his life, and left him a miserable wreck when she finally abandoned him, and ran away with Pollux, who was a rich but dissolute merchant.

Vajra was also a source of anxiety to his mother Herakles, because he developed a wandering disposition,, and became a great traveller in search of knowledge and experience. He, however, wrote a brilliant account of his travels, which was read over and over again by the family group, and practically learnt by heart by the younger members. Alcyone was so interested in some of its glowing descriptions that he actually undertook no less than three difficult and dangerous journeys in order to see the places of which his son had given so attractive an account. In the course of these he met with various adventures, the most serious being that he was once captured by robbers and held for ransom, though he contrived to escape by disguising himself as a woman. In another case he was carried off his feet while trying to wade across a swollen river, and was swept down more than a mile, and nearly drowned. He also accompanied Sirius on several of the latter’ s official tours through the province; indeed, Sirius delegated many of his powers to him, being anxious to show the people what thorough accord existed between the Atlantean power and their old royal family. The tie between these two men was singularly close, and, though of different races, they seemed always to understand each other perfectly. Sirius, who was patriotic, told Alcyone much of the glories of Poseidonis and the City of Golden Gate, and fired him with great enthusiasm about it and an intense desire to see it, which bore fruit much later in life.

Herakles died in 21396 B.C. at the age of seventy, and Sirius, to whom she had been a particularly close friend, mourned her loss quite as much as Alcyone, and accorded her the most gorgeous obsequies. This left Alcyone much alone, and he clung more than ever to his friend Sirius, who fully returned his affection, so that the two old men were like brothers. For thirty years Sirius had been visiting regularly every month his wife Orion, who was living as an ascetic; and when she died in 21392 B.C., he felt himself unable to stay any longer in India, and applied for leave to resign his Governorship and return to Poseidonis. Alcyone, though seventy-five years of age, immediately announced his intention to accompany him, and actually did so.

The two septuagenarians had a prosperous voyage, and Alcyone found the splendors of the capital even greater than he had expected. Few of those whom Sirius had known forty-four years ago were still living to greet him. The Emperor Jupiter was long ago dead, and his son Mars reigned in his stead; he received the two old men with great honour, and gave them honorary posts at his court, distinguishing them with many marks of favour. He must have felt drawn to them, for he set his court astrologers to calculate the particulars of their connection with him, and was informed that both had worked with him more than once in the past, and that both were destined to serve him in some mighty work far in the future, when nearly a quarter of a lakh of years had been added to the roll of time. None of them then understood this prophecy, but it is evident that it will be fulfilled in the Californian community about 2750 A.D.

Vajra who had accompanied his father, soon took a prominent position under the Emperor and enjoyed his fullest confidence. Sirius and Alcyone lived together in the same house as brothers for ten years, and both died in 21382, hale and hearty to the last. During these ten years they jointly prepared a book upon Southern India, which was highly esteemed, and was regarded for centuries in Poseidonis as the classical work on its subject. It was in two volumes, one treating of the different races and their customs, and the other of the various religions—the latter embodying much of the teaching given to them long before by the priest Mercury.

Chart XXI South India 21,467 B.C. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Ulysses -Mercury Cancer -Lacey

Nestor -Cyr

Holly -Amal Egeria -Lili

Eudor -Muni Jerome -Rhea Melpo

Obra -Ida Orion -Theo Theo

Cygnus

-(1) Orion

Camel

Alastor Adrona

-(2) Nu

Sigma

Iota

Kappa -Laxa

Pyx -Phocea Castor -Hermin

Sirona -Melete Fomal -Demeter Ixion -Magnus Alba -Virgo Lobelia -Orca Stella -Irene Pisces -Ajax

Uchacha -Horus Siwa -Ara

Nita -Rigel Zomo -Tripos

Markab -Maya

Leopard -Iris Mercury -Ulysses

Forma -Viola Oak -Kim Juno -Erato Philae -Callio

Orca -Lobelia

Apis -Yati Taurus -Rex

Auriga -Elsa Concord -Atlas

Auson -Dolphin Draco -Alex Argus -Aulus

Udor -Fabius

Calyx -Pepin

Rhea -Jerome Dharma -Inca

Amal -Holly

Ida -Obra

Ivan -Phra Vizier -Lotus Echo -Yajna

Virgo -Alba Alatheia -Phoenix

Pomo -Tolosa

Phocea -Pyx Tripos -Zono

Vajra -Dora

Apollo -Brihat Walter -Daphne

Brihat -Apollo

Pallas -Sextans

Chart XXI

South India 21,467 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Osiris -Proteus Rama -Lignus Ajax -Pisces Proteus -Osiris Hygeria -Nimrod Uranus -Vega

Canopus -Percy

Onyx -Upaka Venus -Hestia Capella -Sappho Alcyone -Herakles

Cassio Corona Wences -Jason Neptune -Aurora Rigel -Nita

Pindar -Electra Crux -Telema Naga -Sylla

Sappho -Capella Aurora -Neptune Percy -Canopus

Bella -Nicos Hector -Selene

Algol -Scotus Pax -Libra

Viola -Forma Mizar -Achil Fides -Ophis Canto -Tiphys

Theseus

Kim -Oak

Odos -Alma

Dora -Vajra Daleth -Aqua Telema -Crux

Beth -Dactyl

Rosa -Xulon Iris -Leopard Tiphys -Cento

Pearl -Ivy Clio -Myna Altair -Arthur

Leo -Orion (Sigma)

Yajna -Echo

Baldur -Roxana Vale -Pavo Ullin -Zama

Sylla -Naga

Radius -Rao Alma -Odos Abel -Karu

Gaspar -Nanda Noel -Naiad

Inca -Dharma Phra -Ivan Ushas -Chanda

Joan -Sita

Tolosa -Pomo Phoenix -Alethia Beren -Spica

Zoe -Quies

Chart XXI

South India 21,467 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Ophis -Fides

Ivy -Pearl Some -Olaf Fort -Betel Flora -Arcor Lomia -Vesta

Andro -Alces Psyche -Gem Alex -Draco

Norma -Sagitta

Deneb -Colos

Hestia -Venus Albireo -Helios

Electra -Pindar Roxana -Baldur Pavo -Vale Nanda -Gaspar

Euphra -Mira Ara -Siwa Naiad -Noel Sita -Joan

Bee -Bruce Erato -Juno Melete -Sirona Alces -Andro

Aries -Polaris

Dactyl -Beth

Hermin -Castor Atlas -Concord Bruce -Bee

Gem -Psyche

Aulus -Argus Dolphin -Auson Nicos -Bella Betel -Fort

Aquila -Mona

Leto -Lyra

Zephyr -Cetus

Chrys -Spes

Quies -Zoe Demeter -Fomal

Kos -Xanthos Dolphin -Walter

Lyra -Leto

Spica -Beren Elsa -Auriga Regu -Orpheus Rex -Taurus Karu -Abel Gluck -Aglaia

Spes -Chrys

Pepin -Calyx

Scotus -Algol

Rao -Radius Xulon -Rosa

Zama -Ullin

Chanda -Ushas

Magnus -Ixion Orpheus -Regu

Irene -Stella

Clare -Priam

Achil -Mizar

Polaris -Aries Olaf -Soma

Chart XXI

South India 21,467 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Sagitta -Norma Aqua -Daleth

Aldeb -Gamma Callio -Philae Parthe -Fons

Libra -Pax Jason -Wences Vesta -Lomia

Sextans -Pallas Myna -Clio

Una -Madhu Horus -Uchacha Gimel -Lutea

Sirius -Orion

Maya -Markab (Theseus)

Lignus -Rama

Nimrod -Hygeia Hebe -Eros

Yati -Apis Yodha -Kepos Upaka -Onyx

Fons -Parthe Colos -Deneb Corona -Cassio Mira -Euphra

Arcor -Flora

Madhu -Una Arthur -Altair Xanthos -Kos

Kepos -Yodha Eros -Hebe

Vega -Uranus Selene -Hector

In Atlantis

Jupiter

Mars -Athena

Pollux

Chart XXIa India (Birth of Vulcan) 21,234 B.C.

The few members of the band of servers who take the somewhat earlier incarnation recorded in 'Chart XIXa, but were not drawn into the vortex of chart XXI, re-appear in India about the year 21,200,clustering round the teacher Vulcan. A list is appended.

1st 2nd 3rd

Boreas -Cetus Dome -Judex Vulcan -Flos

Thor -Dido

Math -Kudos

Rector -Beatus

Dido -Thor Judex -Dome Beatus -Rector

Kudos -Math Trefoil -Diana Kratos -Bootes

Cetus -Boreas

Life XXII

Our hero’ s next life was a life of pilgrimage – pilgrimage of an altogether unusual character, extending over half a century of time and many thousands of miles in distance. Yet he did not commence his wanderings until middle life. One of several remarkable characteristics of this series of lives is their abnormal length upon the physical plane. All these people whose incarnations we have been examining belong to what are called the upper classes, where the average length of life is on the whole greater than in the lower. A list of seventeen lives of Erato, for example, gives us an average length upon the physical plane of 48 years; twenty-four lives Orion give us an average of 53 ½, and twenty-one of Sirius an average of 63 6/7—this latter already distinctly above the normal; but Alcyone’ s average is no less than 74.35!

Indeed when his life is cut short by accident, he rarely stops short of the fourscore years which the Psalmist gives as an extreme limit for the men of his day; and furthermore he seems always to retain full vigour up to the end of these unusually extended incarnations. Whether this is an individual peculiarity, or the characteristic of a certain type, we have yet to learn.

This new chapter of our story takes us once more to the south of India, but this time to what is now the Salem district, where Uranus, the father of Alcyone, was an important land-owner—a sort of petty chieftain, who could lead a respectable regiment of his retainers to the standard of his overlord Mars. Uranus was a man of great courage and justice, and he trained his children in both these virtues, telling them that without these qualities a man of the highest birth was lower than the commonest person who possessed them. He had a large family, all of them prominent members of the band of Servers.

Alcyone who was born in 20574 B.C., was a bright, encouraging, unselfish child, intensely devoted to his mother Mercury. All through her life his love for her never wavered, and he took no action of any importance without first consulting her. Nothing requiring special note for the purpose of our story occurred during his childhood and youth. He received what was considered at the time a good education, and at the age of twenty he married Percy, by whom he had twelve children. He had a beautiful home and all that wealth could give him; but his desire was rather for the life of a hermit than for that of the world, and his mother encouraged him in this inclination, advising him however to wait until his children were grown up before leaving them.

During his life Alcyone took part in three military expeditions. The first was when he was quite a young man, and accompanied his father, when the latter led out his contingent of soldiers to fight for Mars. On one occasion during that campaign he received some kind of distinction for signal service rendered. On the second of these expeditions he was alone, but on the third he was accompanied by his sons, and Herakles performed an act of bravery under the eyes of Mars, who was now quite old. In consequence of this act Mars took Herakles into his body-guard, where, subsequently, the latter was able to render him many little services.

When this expedition was over, the King summoned Alcyone to his presence, and requested that Herakles should assume his father’ s duties in the kingdom. Alcyone replied that whatever the King wished should be done, but that he believed himself still quite able to continue his services towards him. But the King said:

“ No; it will not be possible, for when you return to your home you will find that you have sustained a great bereavement, in consequence of which you will no longer fight for me in this life, and on your next visit to this city you will wear the robe of a holy man—a pilgrim.”

“ Be it as the King wills,” said Alcyone; “ but living or dead I shall always be at the King’ s service.”

“ It is true that you will do the service,” replied Mars, “ not this time only but many times, through ages yet to come; yet your greatest service will be not in fighting my enemies, but in helping me to build up a kingdom in the future which shall endure for thousands of years, and the results of your achievements in that future kingdom will never pass away.” The King then thanked him and bade him farewell.

When Alcyone reached home he found that the prophecy of Mars had been fulfilled. The bereavement which the King had foretold was the death of his mother Mercury. This was so great a sorrow to him that he felt unable any longer to engage in the affairs of ordinary life; so, as his children had now all attained years of discretion, he determined to carry out his long-cherished intention of becoming a hermit or ascetic. He therefore left his eldest son Herakles to represent him at the court of the King, and his second son Mizar to carry on his duties as land-owner.

Herakles, though still quite a young man, became not only a

great captain under Mars, but also a highly trusted advisor. He was popular, and greatly beloved by the people. In time he became a close friend of Orpheus, the eldest son of Mars, and after the latter had succeeded his father on the throne he made Herakles his chief minister, in which capacity he worked faithfully for many years. At last some serious difference of opinion arose between the King and his prime minister, on some question of policy. Because of this Herakles, who was of a hypersensitive nature, resigned his post, and asked to be appointed to the governorship of a distant province. The King granted his request with much regret, and Herakles became practically the absolute ruler of that province, as the King did not interfere with him in any way.

In due course the King died, and soon after that his successor, Cetus, issued some mandate which Herakles considered it would be unwise for his people to obey; by disregarding it he practically declared himself independent, and may therefore be said to have founded a small separate kingdom. Herakles had married Gemini, a lady who was stormily affectionate, but of an impulsive nature and weak character.

Meanwhile Alcyone’ s second son, Mizar, managed the vast family estate satisfactorily. He surprised everyone by marrying a slave girl (Irene), whose story is as follows. In the second war in which Alcyone fought under Mars, a number of prisoners were captured and made slaves. Among them was a man whose daughter was so strongly attached to him that when he was carried off as a captive she refused to be separated from him. After her father’ s death the daughter became a slave in Alcyone’ s household, and grew much attached to him, serving him with great faithfulness and assiduity. She helped to look after his children, and when Mizar was left practically the head of the family, he took the bold step of making her his wife—an act which he never had the slightest reason to regret.

At the time of Alcyone’ s inconsolable grief over his mother’ s death, a revered friend suggested that he should accompany him on a pilgrimage to see a holy man who lived at a sacred shrine to the south of Alcyone’ s home. So they arranged to make the pilgrimage together, and Alcyone’ s youngest son Cygnus went with them, to take care of his father. When they reached the shrine, the wise and holy Priest Jupiter received them most kindly, and Alcyone was greatly consoled by listening to his words. He also permitted Alcyone to witness certain secret ceremonies which much resembled the Eleusian Mysteries, and these stimulated his psychic faculties to such an extent that during one of them he not only had a vision of his mother, but was able to communicate with her. He was so deeply impressed by the beauty of the temple and its ceremonies and the saintliness of the High Priest, that when he was told that there were many such shrines in India he then and there made a vow to visit them all before he died. This vow seems to have been occasionally taken by ascetics at that period, but most of them died before they accomplished it.

Alcyone soon found that he could continue to communicate with his mother Mercury, and this was a great joy and comfort to him. She approved greatly of his pilgrimage, and undertook to guide him from shrine to shrine on his way. We next see him at a great temple situated where Madura now stands; the High Priest in charge of which was Saturn.

Some time after he left this place, we find him at a shrine in Central India near the godavari river, where Brihat welcomed him with the warmest hospitality and friendship.

Soon after this a regrettable incident occurred. It will be remembered that Cygnus accompanied Alcyone on his travels. Cygnus was deeply attached to his father, utterly ready to serve him in any way, showing wonderful fidelity. This was one side of his character; but on the other hand he was always getting himself involved with the opposite sex. On three separate occasions during this pilgrimage he got himself into serious trouble, and Alcyone had much difficulty in pacifying the people concerned. Each time Cygnus had promised amendment with many protestations and real sorrow; yet temptation was often too strong for him. Alcyone again and again threatened to send him home, but still this trouble recurred. On the fourth and last occasion the case was a peculiarly bad one, and the facts became generally known, giving rise to strong popular indignation, so that Alcyone and Cygnus were compelled to make their escape hurriedly in the middle of the night in order to avoid being lynched by an angry crowd. They took refuge in a jungle, and were there attacked by a tiger. As the tiger was about to spring, Cygnus—who was full of remorse and had been bitterly reproaching himself for the trouble he had caused—threw himself in front of his father so as to receive the full weight of the animal. Alcyone at once attacked the beast with his staff, which was the only weapon he had, and eventually succeeded in beating it off; but Cygnus was already dead, and his father deeply mourned his loss.

Alcyone journeyed next towards Burma, and when he reached the neighbourhood of Chandernagar he visited a shrine and temple which were in charge of the High Priest Venus. There was much of an astrological nature in the worship here, and on the walls of the temple there were planetary symbols made of magnetised metal.

From thence Alcyone proceeded towards the north-east, and eventually arrived at a shrine in the Lakhimpur district near the Brahmputra river. It was in charge of Lyra, a Chinese Priest who had come from Tibet to found a new religion under the direct inspiration of the Mahaguru. This Priest at a much later period became the philosopher Laotze. He presented to Alcyone a remarkable talisman, made of a kind of black stone, inlaid with minute Chinese characters in white. The inspiration had been made with such accuracy that it looked as though it were done with some chemical which had taken the colour from the stone, so that it resembled white veining in black marble. This talisman gave out remarkably powerful vibrations, and the object of this gift was said to be to place Alcyone under the protection of certain exalted influences which were directly subordinate to the Mahaguru himself. Before Alcyone took leave the High Priest pronounced over him a remarkable benediction, prophesying for him a vast sphere of usefulness in the far-distant future.

The next temple that Alcyone visited formed part of a small monastery situated on a snowy hill-side, near Brahmkund. The sites of many of these shrines appear to have been consecrated by the Mahaguru personally, some of them by quite physical-plane methods, in much the same manner as, many thousands of years later, magnetised centres were established by Apollonius of Tyana.

After leaving Brahmkund, Alcyone spent several years in journeying slowly across the whole north of India, during which time he mat with many adventures of various kinds. Perhaps the next point of special interest for us is his visit to a shrine at Mount Girnar in Kathiawar, where Alcesist was the chief Priest. With this place both he and Orion were closely connected in a subsequent life; and there is now a magnificent Jain temple there, one hall of which Alcyone himself built in that later time.

From here Alcyone went to Somnath, a place situated near the sea, with a fine view. The temple here was in charge of Viraj, and was built on a most magnificent scale.

In order to reach the next shrine of importance Alcyone had to return northwards and was compelled to cross a long, barren, deserted tract of country, not far from where Ahmedabad is now.

We next see our pilgrim in the district of Surat, at a sort of pagoda temple. The shrine here was in chare of Pallas, an old Priest with a white beard and an impressive manner; a splendid, majestic man, extremely intellectual , though perhaps with too little heart. This Priest was known in a much later life as the philosopher Plato. The officials connected with this shrine were rather of the nature of statesmen than of ascetics.

After Surat, Alcyone visited a temple a temple in the Vindhya hills, called by an Atlantean name, but not of any special interest. It had a talking image which was worked by means of a speaking-tube, but the Priests who managed this had no feeling that they were deceiving the people. The Priest who spoke really believed that he was inspired by the deity, and in sending his message through the mouth of the image, he considered that he was merely putting it in the way most calculated to impress his audience. There were some good people among the Priests there, one of them being Phocea, who had taken to wife Procyon.

Passing on, the wanderer visited a number of places on the way home, and altogether spent about fifty years of his life in fulfilling his vow. He finally took up his abode in the cave which he had inhabited before starting on his pilgrimage, where he lived to the unusual age of one hundred and nine.

During his meditations Mercury constantly appeared to him and gave him much advice and instruction. She helped him to recover the memory of previous lives and of those who had been in them with him so that his cave was peopled with thought-forms of many of the characters who have previously appeared in this series of lives.

Chart XXII
South India 20,574 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Orpheus -Roxana Cetus Achill -Capella Vega -Vesta

Albireo -Selene

Beren -Pax

Aldeb -Eros

Norma -Algol Leo -Pindar

Sextans -Leto Deneb -Lomia Bee -Polaris Mars -Osiris

Bruce Chrys Vulcan -Apollo

Ida -Oak Ulysses -Ara

Egeria -Rex

Kos -Lili Nu -Gaspar Argus -Olaf Rama -Cygnus

Sylla -Fabius Myna -Theseus Onyx -Madhu

Aurora -Clio

Dora -Ophis Ixion -Priam Helios -Psycho Corona -Colos

Viraj Jupiter Saturn Brihat Venus Lyra Pallas

Capella -Achilles Erato -Scotus Ushas -Baldur

Concord -Nita Herakles -Gem

Spica -Math Melete -Pisces Andro -Dactyl Auson -Forma Auriga -Tiphys

Fomal -Aulus Cassio -Nicos Altair -Beatus

Wesces -Fons Mizar -Irene

Dome -Judex

Leto -Sextans Cento -Alba Soma -Trefoil

Arthur -Parthe Pearl -Rigel

Walter -Rosa Crux -Sappho Polaris -Bee

Atlas -Draco

Lili -Kos Viola -Mira Alcyone -Percy

Diana -Rector Arcor -Ajax Rex -Egeria Psyche -Helios

Lomia -Deneb Pisces -Melete

Chart XXII
South India 20,574 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Betel -Orca Flos -Phoenix Canopus -Gluck

Alba -Cento Lobelia -Magnus Capri -Bella Juno -Sagitta Boreas -Flora Hebe -Stella Cygnus -Rama

Baldur -Ushas

Pava -Sita Yati -Ullin Vizier -Noel Chanda -Uchcha

Regu -Philae Naga -Joan Sirona -Alces Gem -Herakles Cyr -Abel

Mona -Zama Ursa -Pomo Yajna -Alma

Gluck -Canopus Roxana -Orpheus

Lotus -Una Nanda -Karu Upaka -Inca

Ivan -Naiad Apollo -Vulcan

Trefoil -Soma Telema -Calyx

Dido -Kudos Math -Spica

Gimel -Thor

Taurus -Virgo Uranus -Mercury

Fort -Camel Una -Lotus Demeter -Fides

Iris -Eudox Daleth -Leopard Phoenix -Flos Dactyl -Andro Ivy -Siwa Naiad -Ivan Rector -Diana Philae -Regu

Olaf -Argus Judex -Dome Neptune -Alex Sagitta -Juno Ajax -Arcor

Ophis -Dora Aletheia -Castor Leopard -Daleth Echo -Dhruva Theseus -Myna Beatus -Altair

Sif -Udor Siwa -Ivy

Stella -Hebe Colos -Corona

Kudos -Dido Xulon -Kratos Nestor -Kamu

Madhu -Onyx Calyx -Telema

Dhrma -Radius Spes -Vale

Gaspar -Nu Markab -Dolphin

Forma -Auson

Priam -Ixion Ara -Ulysses Clio -Aurora

Proteus -Hermin

Chart XXII
South India 20,574 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Mira -Viola Nita -Concord Parthe -Arthur

Libra -Aqua Fabius -Sylla Holly -Obra Vesta -Vega Xanthos -Quies Oak -Ida Elsa -Callio

Rosa -Walter Aquila -Hector Rigel -Pearl Orca -Betel

Tiphys -Auriga Eudox -Iris Beth -Pepin

Fides -Demeter Pindar -Leo Euphra -Electra

Eros -Aldeb Bella -Capri

Aqua -Libra Magnus -Lobelia

Udor -Sif Obra -Holly Hermin -Proteus Thor -Gimel Sirius -Athena

Clare -Lignus Algol -Norma Pepin -Beth

Gnostic -Koli Kim -Ronald Fons -Wences

Hestin -Vajra

Dolphin -Markab Melpo -Laxa Horus -Sigma Inca -Upaka Joan -Naga

Nimrod -Bootes Maya -Hygeia Kepos -Rao

Odos -Kappa Vale -Spes Adrona -Apis

Pomo -Ursa Tripos -Zephyr Zeno -Tolosa Aglaia -Amal

Rao -Kepos Zoe -Aries Hygeia -Maya Daphne -Pollux

Yodha -Phra Aulus -Fomal

Nicos -Cassio Lignus -Clare Virgo -Taurus Selene -Albireo Dhruva -Echo

Kratos Xulon Radius -Dharma Koli -Gnostic Alex -Neptune

Kamu -Nestor Electra -Euphra

Castor -Alethia Sita -Pavo Ullin -Yati Noel -Vizier Scotus -Erato

Chart XXII
South India 20,574 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Draco -Aquila Theo -Rhea

Hector -Aquila

Sappho -Crux Pax -Beren Callio -Elsa Pollux -Daphne

Camel -Fort Flora -Boreas Laxa -Melpo

Apis -Adrona Abel -Cyr Kappa -Odos Amal -Aglaia Uchacha -Chanda Tolosa -Zeno

Ronald -Kim Muni -Jerome Phra -Yodha

Alces -Sirona

Sigma -Horus Aries -Zoe

Zama -Mona Jason -Lutea

Bootes -Nimrod Jerome -Muni

Karu -Nanda Percy -Alcyone Alma -Yajna

Phocea -Pyx Alastor -Lacey Cancer

Chart XXIIa

Tibet (Birth of Yajna) 19,877 B.C.

Again we find occurring the same phenomenon which we have already noticed-a certain number of the members of the band cannot or donot remain our of incarnation as long as does Alcyone, and consequently we have an important little group in that part of Central Asia which we now know as Tibet. It appears to be there for the sake of reforming and elevating the religion of the people, and centres round a priest, Jupiter, who derives his inspiration from Surya. The latter, however, is not observed as in incarnation at this period, but occassionally appears astrally.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Math -Pyx

Chandu -Odos Rector -Trefoil Bootes -Onyx Beatus -Daphne

Maya -Ullin Rao -Upaka Thor -Kudos Lotus -Ivan Jupiter -Rama

Pavo -Phocea Spica -Dido

Noel -Madhu Kratos -Canopus Naga -Erato Canopus -Kratos Nestor -Alma Dolphin -Laxa Psyche -Melpo Auson -Oak

Yajna -Theo

Juno -Aglain Naiad -Nanda Odos -Chanda Inca -Roxana

Flos -Judex

Baldur -Uchacha Kepos -Phra Dido -Spica

Pallas -Capella

Trefoil -Rector

Laxa -Dolphin

Pyx -Math

Theo -Yajna

Uchacha -Baldur Ivan -Lotus Roxana -Inca Erato -Naga

Phra -Kepos Phocea -Pavo Radius -Ushas

Dharma -Yodha Madhu -Noel

Joan -Horus Una -Sita Yati -Pomo

Upaka -Rao Diana -Irene

Vizier -Nimrod Onyx -Bootes Alma -Nestor

Judex -Flos Yodha -Dharma Cetus -Capri

Kudos -Thor

Nanda -Naiad

Melpo -Psyche Daphne -Beatus

Aglaia -Juno

Chart XXIIa Tibet (Birth of Yajna) 19,877 B.C.

Nimrod -Vizier Dome -Amal

Ullin -Maya

Rama -Jupiter Capella -Pallas Deneb -Proteus

Ushas -Radius Irene -Diana Sita -Una

Horus -Joan Amal -Dome

Life XXIII

We pass now to another wonderful old world civilisations, for the next birth of our hero was in the year 19554, in an old Turanian race in what is now China. But in order to bring in all of our characters it will be necessary for us to go back a little further than that, and to a country considerably to the west. We find Orion born in the year 19,617 in the same sub-race, but in what is now called Bactria. He was of an old but impoverished family, whose one great object in life was the re-establishment of their fortunes. And it was in pursuance of this family ideal that Orion met with such adventures as distinguished this incarnation.

A man whom he had befriended when in suffering and extreme poverty, told him in gratitude a strange story of a vast buried treasure upon which he had come by accident when hunting in the country to the north. He had brought away with him what little he could carry, intending to return with assistance and remove the rest, but he had met with an accident on his return journey, an accident from which he never recovered. When he died Orion mentioned this story to his father, and although they thought it but little worthy of credence, he determined to set out and search for that treasure. In the course of this expedition he was captured by one of the fierce nomad tribes and enslaved, and had twelve years of great suffering. His family supposed him to be dead—all except his second son Bellatrix, who persisted in the belief that his father was still alive, and announced his intention of going in search of him as soon as he was old enough. This he did, and after two years of adventure he found his father and both contrived to escape. They then proceeded to find the treasure, and brought it safely home, to the joy and astonishment of the rest of the family.

The Bactrian nation was in danger of being absorbed by a stronger power from the south, and was at the same time constantly suffering from the raids of the nomadic tribes to the north. To avoid these ills large numbers of its people had migrated eastwards, and the family of Orion finally decided to join one of these migrations. They eventually settled on fertile country in the southern part of China, and made for themselves a comfortable home there, and it was in that district and from a branch of that family that our hero Alcyone was born. He was the great-grandson of Orion, and the son of Mira, who was a man of considerable wealth and influence, and had held at various times high offices in his district. Mira was a sharp imperious man, but just and kind-hearted, and always good to the little Alcyone, though sometimes he did not understand him, and so was a little impatient. Alcyone’ s mother was Selene, also a kind-hearted person; a studious woman, more occupied with philosophical questions than with household cares. Mira had an intense admiration for her and was proud of her learning and literary ability, and these feelings were fully shared by Alcyone as soon as he grew old enough to understand. Perhaps the principal influence in his life was that of his brother Sirius, who was two years older than he, and consequently a kind of boyish hero in his eyes. Even as children these two brothers were inseparable, and though they occasionally got into mischief they were on the whole fairly good little boys.

When they were aged ten and eight respectively, one of their chief delights was to sit at their mother’ s knee and listen when she expounded to them her theories. Of course they did not fully understand them, but they were delighted at her evident pleasure, and naturally by degrees they absorbed a certain amount of her ideas. They were specially charmed with a book which she had herself written, which seemed to their childish minds quite a divine revelation. It was an attempt to explain and popularise the teachings of a book of great antiquity which had been brought over from Atalntis; it seems to have been the original form of one of the Upnishads. The original of this book the children were taught to regard with the greatest respect and reverence. It was illustrated with a number of curious coloured diagrams over which they used to pore with the keenest interest, although their interpretations of them were obviously fanciful.

When Alcyone was about twelve years old, by a brave action he saved his brother Sirius from serious injury—perhaps even saved his life. They were running along together in the woods, Sirius as usual a few paces in advances, when they came upon the remains of a camp-fire which had been made in a shallow pit. Thee fire had burnt down so that nothing but a black charred mass was visible on the surface, and Sirius jumped upon it without any suspicion of its nature. He broke through the surface and sprained his ankle with trying to disentangle himself that he did not know that flames had burst out behind him and fastened upon his clothing. Alcyone, running up, grasped the situation, and immediately sprang upon him and tore the blazing garment off him, burning his own hands sadly in the act; then, seeing that his brother was crippled and helpless, he dragged him away from the rapidly reviving fire, and rolled him over on the grass to extinguish the smouldering cloth. The boys got home with real difficulty, each helping the other, for Sirius bound up Alcyone’ s burnt hands, and Alcyone acted as a kind of crutch for Sirius as he hopped painfully along on one leg.

The two brothers, as they grew up, became enthusiastic exponents of their mother’ s theories, which brought them to some extent into opposition to the orthodox ideas of the period, and caused them to be regarded as eccentric. fortunately, however, at that time and place people seem to have been tolerant on religious matters, and there was no persecution of any sort because of difference of opinion.

When Sirius was about twenty and Alcyone eighteen, they both fell violently in love with Alberio, a young lady who had royal blood in her veins, being the grand-daughter of Mars, who was at this time Emperor of Western China. (Vajra, a daughter of Mars, had married Ulysses, the governor of the province in which our family lived, and report said that she led him a decidedly unhappy life. However that may have been, one of their daughters was Albireo, and she was a beautiful girl, of kindly disposition, though high-spirited and imperious.) The brothers were unconcious rivals for her hand, but happily Sirius discovered in time the state of his brother’ s affections, and instantly resolved to crush down his own feelings for Alcyone’ s sake. He placed the whole of his share of the family fortune at Alcyone’ s disposal to enable him to prosecute his suit in a fashion worthy of the exalted rank of his lady-love—not that she herself cared for money so long as she had what she wished in other ways; but her father’ s consent was to be bought only by costly presents, and still more by a display of the power which great wealth gives. Alcyone refused for a long time to accept his brother’ s gift, but the attitude of Ulysses practically forced him either to do so or to resign his aspirations to the hand of Albireo. Sirius would not hear of the latter course, alleging that the connection would be of high importance for the family, though his real reason was that he knew failure in his suit would break the heart of the brother whom he loved more than anything else in the world.

There were other suitors—notably a dashing but unprincipled young fellow (Scorpio) who was possessed of great wealth, but was not of good family. He was possessed of great wealth, but was not of good family. He was trying to push his suit in all sorts of underhand ways, and his plans soon brought in into collision with Sirius, who heartily despised and disliked him. When finally Sirius and Alcyone succeeded in arranging the marriage of the latter with Albireo, Scorpio was furious, and rushed away in a rage, swearing to be revenged upon them, but they only laughed at him and challenged him to do his worst.

Later Scorpio returned, pretending to regret his anger and to be heartily anxious to atone for it and to cooperate in making the betrothed couple happy. He told them that, feeling ashamed of his outburst, he had consulted an astrologer to know what he could do to help them, and had been told of a great treasure which was destined for them, which they could obtain only through his assistance. He stated that this was concealed in a certain cave in a valley in a distant art of the country, and offered to take them to the place. Alcyone, being honest and unsuspicious, gave ready credence to the tale, all the more since they needed money for the marriage; but Sirius had his doubts, and insisted upon accompanying the party. When they drew near to the spot Scorpio contrived that he should be delayed—in fact he bribed a servant to cause some slight detention, so that Alcyone and another servant (Boreas) went on alone towards the cave.

Sirius had thought nothing of the delay at first, but when other minor obstacles cropped up he began to be uneasy, and suddenly a sort of vision flashed before his eyes in which he saw Alcyone being attacked by wild beasts, and he felt instinctively that the whole affair was a diabolical plot. Though this was only an intuition, and he had no proof, he at once accused Scorpio of double-dealing and attempted murder, and challenged him so vehemently that the villain quailed before him and practically admitted his guilt. Sirius bound him and left him in charge of a servant, assuring him that if Alcyone came to any harm he would not fail to kill him on his return. He took with him another man and hurried in pursuit of his brother, whom he overtook just in time to prevent him from trying to enter the cave. Then they went round to the cliff above and watched to see if there was any foundation for the idea about wild beasts, and presently they saw two clouded tigers come out from it. When they returned they carried Scorpio with them as a prisoner, and delivered him over to the governor. Ulysses, who when he heard their story banished him from the country.

All this time Alcyone had not the least suspicion of the unrequited affection which was eating out the heart of Sirius. When all was arranged and the marriage day actually fixed, Sirius rather broke down, and made some excuse to go away to a distant city. Alcyone was much surprised and somewhat hurt at his brother’ s absence from the ceremony, as he could not understand it; but after the marriage it appeared that Albireo had had her suspicion, and it was through her intuition that the truth at last came out. Alcyone was full of remorse, and declared that though he could not have lived without Albireo he would rather have died than have lived without his beloved brother. But Sirius comforted him and said that without the will of the gods he could not have known what was in his brother’ s mind, and so his sacrifice must have been acceptable in their eyes, and that therefore Alcyone also must accept it cheerfully as the decree of fate. Still Sirius never married, but remained always true to the memory of that first love; and indeed Albireo was touched, and declared that she loved and honored them both equally.

Sirius and Alcyone had a younger sister Vega, to whom they were deeply attached. Pollux, an acquaintance who was invited to the house, formed an illicit attachment to this young sister and betrayed her, and when discovery was imminent he fled. Alcyone and Sirius resolved to avenge their sister’ s wrong, and set out together in pursuit of him. They hunted him all over China for two years, and eventually traced him to the northern part of the country. While engaged in this pursuit Alcyone fell ill at a place called Urga. There was a celebrated temple there, presided over by Orpheus, a Lama with a long white beard. He was hospitable to the brothers, took them in and appointed Auriga, who was one of his priests, to look after Alcyone. The young priest took a great fancy to his patient and was unremitting in his attentions. When Alcyone was quite well again, and they started once more on their quest, this young man accompanied them for some distance and was a great assistance to them.

They found that Pollux, who was evidently in great fear of them, had crossed to the island of Saghalien in hope of escaping them. They however followed him thither, and finally overtook him and killed him; then they returned home with a sense of duty accomplished. According to the morality of the time this slaying of Pollux was supposed completely to rehabilitate Vega, and after a time she married Tiphys, a rich merchant of the town and a member of the governor’ s council, and their eldest daughter was Iris, who afterwards married Leo. Mizar had previously married Polaris, who afterwards married Leo. Mizar had previously married Polaris, who was the son of the librarian of the principal temple. They lived happily, and in due course Polaris succeeded to his father’ s office. During their absence the banished Scorpio had returned disguised as an ascetic, and had succeeded in securing the patronage of Castor, who was a statesman of considerable influence. While abroad Scorpio had somehow acquired mesmeric power and a knowledge of magic of an undesirable kind, and while begging for food at Castor’ s house he seems to have marked as an easy prey, and used his mesmeric power to obtain an invitation to stay permanently in his house. By degrees he gained a great influence over Castor, who had him installed at one of the temples as a holy man. He maintained his position at that temple for many years, and practiced his arts upon the people with great success. He never forgot his enmity to Sirius and Alcyone, and gradually poisoned Castor’ s mind against them and caused a great deal of trouble, for Castor to some extent succeeded in influencing Albireo’ s father Ulysses against them also, so that strained relations were created within the family. Scorpio found a fit instrument in Thetis, a young woman of doubtful character, who fell in love with Alcyone’ s eldest son Leo, and appealed to Scorpio for help to obtain some sort of love-philtre to administer to him. Scorpio agreed to help her on condition that she made over to him all the money that she inherited from her father. He then made clay images of Leo and of the young woman, and made many mesmeric passes over them with various weird incantations, and then contrived to conceal them in Leo’ s bed-room.

His magic worked to some extent, and he did succeed in creating in Leo’ s mind an infatuation for the young person, so that he even talked of ruining his life by marrying her. Leo’ s sister Mercury, however, was intuitional, and sensed the existence of some kind of plot; also she knew that her brother would never of himself have been attracted by a woman of such coarse type. She spoke to her father and uncle about it, and declared her conviction that Scorpio was somehow involved in the plot, and that he was an imposter, Sirius had long suspected him, having seen evidence that he tricked the people in various petty ways, and on the strength of what Mercury said he set himself definitely to investigate, and soon succeeded in tracing Scorpio’ s identity. This discovery at once rendered Scorpio liable to death penalty, as his sentence of banishment had forbidden him to return to the country on pain of death; so he was forthwith executed.

All his plots were laid bare by Mercury’ s swift intuition, so that not only was Leo released from his spells, but Ulysses and Castor saw how they had been mislead, and perfect harmony was restored. Ulysses was anxious to atone for his previous coldness and distrust, so when a few years later he fell ill and was told by his doctors that he could not recover, he sent an embassy to Mars announcing his approaching death and begging that Sirius might be appointed in his place. Mars was pleased to accede to his request, and Sirius might be appointed in his place. Mars was pleased to accede to his request, and Sirius became Governor of the district. He appointed Alcyone Chief Judge, and they both held their offices with much honour and respect until their death in the year 19,485.

The exposure of Scorpio had greatly enhanced the reputation of Sirius, and his scrupulous probity maintained it at the highest level. His niece Mercury, to whom the discovery was really due, entered the temple as a postulant, and was noted for her clairvoyant faculty and her power to cure certain diseases.

When she was about thirty, Mars, now a very old man, made a sort of triumphal progress through his kingdom, and when he came into sort of triumphal progress through his kingdom, and when he came into their district it was the duty of Sirius and Alcyone to entertain him. Thus it happened that Mars met Mercury, and was at once greatly impressed by her. He did not lose sight of her, and eventually induced her to leave the temple and marry Osiris, one off his grandsons, so that later she became queen of the country. But that of course was long after her father’ s death. Sirius and Alcyone were just as inseparable as old men as they had been as boys; throughout a long life no misunderstanding had ever arisen between them, and they died within a few days of each other, each feeling his life imperfect without the other. As Sirius had never married, Alcyone’ s son Leo imperfect without the other. As Sirius had never married, Alcyone’ s son Leo was appointed to the vacant Governorship, which he filled creditably, greatly insisted by the fact of his good wife Iris.

Chart XXIII

China 19,554 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Neptune -Alex Euphra -Hestin Obra -Nu Udor -Sif

Lutea -Holly

Elsa -Demeter Koli -Walter Dhruva -Saturn Wences -Hector Theseus -Percy

Hermin -Aquila Zeno -Tripos Priam -Lignus

Zama -Gaspar

Betel -Cassio Selene -Mira Rex -Ophis Vale -Melete Venus -Rigel

Dactyl -Phoenix

Abel -Adrona Herakles -Brihat

Apis -Hebe Nicos -Calyx Ixion -Tolosa

Daleth -Mona

Atlas -Eudox Melete -Vale Ivy -Fides

Regu -Orca Gluck -Soma Sappho -Camel

Electra -Beth

Leopard -Pearl Zephyre -Siwa

Sylla -Ronald Jason -Xanthos Zoe -Alastor

Castor -Lobelia

Tripos -Zeno

Jerome -Xulon

Demeter -Elsa

Taurus -Fomal

Kos -Quies Hestia -Euphra

Cassio -Betel Mars -Apollo

Leto -Arthur Osiris -Mercury Vajra -Ulysses

Egeria -Markab

Cyr -Sirona

Sirius

Aurora -Norma Lyra -Alces Leo -Iris

Beren -Forma Achilles -Gem

Sirona -Cyr

Pax -Philae Clio -Sextana Kamu -Rhea Alcyone -Albireo Clare -Magnus Walter -Koli Saturn -Dhruva Viraj -Athena Mercury -Osiris

Vulcan -Nita Bee -Colos Pindar -Aulus

Ida -Echo Xanthos -Jason

Rosa -Fabius

Gnostic -Kim Ronald -Sylla Pepin -Scotus Ophis -Rex

Philae -Pax Alba -Stella

Chart XXIII

China 19,554 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Dora -Algol Aulus -Pindar Pisces -Fons Vesta -Aldeb

Mira -Selene

Ajax -Alethia

Uranus -Viola

Alces -Lyra Lomia -Helios

Athena -Viraj

Sagitta -Olaf Calyx -Nicos Aqua -Myna Gaspar -Zama

Iris -Leo

Phoenix -Dactyl Forma -Beren Sextans -Clio

Algol -Dora

Norma -Aurora Scotus -Pepin

Vega -Typhis

Viola -Uranus Holly -Lutea Colos -Bee

Pearl -Leopard Nita -Vulcan Fons -Pisces

Fabius -Rosa Eros -Chrys Libra -Virgo

Orca -Regu Fort -Bruce

Mizar -Polaris Rigel -Venus Orion -Cygnus

Albireo -Alcyone

Lignus -Priam

Bella -Ara

Ulysses -Vajra

Kim -Gnostic

Rhea -Kamu

Andro -Altair Hector -Wences

Argus -Arcor Lili Arthur -Leto

Fomal -Taurus Quies -Kos Percy -Theseus Arcor -Argus Nu -Obra

Magnus -Clare

Altair -Andro

Fides -Ivy

Camel -Sappho Myna -Aqua

Adrona -Abel Flora -Spes Echo -Ida Chrys -Eros Polaris -Mizar

Siwa -Zephyr

Spes -Flora Bruce -Fort Sif -Udor Gimel -Telema

Eudox -Atlas Hebe -Apis Olaf -Sagitta

Stella -Alba Parthe -Callio

Xulon -Jerome

Chart XXIII
China 19,554 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Lobelia -Castor

Virgo Libra Aquilla -Hermin

Tolosa -Ixion

Apollo -Mars Alex -Neptune Corona -Crux

Callio -Parthe Concord -Cento

Aldeb -Vesta Aries Draco

Cento -Concord Ara -Bella Orpheus Boreas Auriga Pollux Scorpio

Muni Thetis

Chart XXIIIa

Chaldea (Birth of Erato) 19,245 B.C.

Our first experiment in the way of investigating the details of past lives was made in connection with a character called Erato, and the point at which it chanced that those investigtions commenced was his birth in Chaldea in the year 19,245 B.C. He was born into the hereditary sacrodotal caste; but unfortunately he was also at the same time born into a xurious hereditary feud connected with it. His grand-father Castor had twins, Melete and Again, and as the law was that the high-Priesthood descended to the eldest son of its present occupant the matter of a few minutes precedence was important. Unfortunately, the nurse in charge got the children mixed , and did not know which was which; so , as the matter could not be decided, Castor decreed that they should be coheirs. When they grew up there was a certain amount of jealousy between them, and each was determined that his own son should later be co-heirs. When they grew up there was a certain amount of jealousy between them, and each was determined that his own son should later be the high priest. Erato was the son of melete, while Phocea was the son of Aglaia's jealousy, and he even went to the length of thrice trying to murder his nephew Erato. The third attempt was at least partially successful, for although Erato escaped, his father Melete was killed. A fourth attempt was made, but again Erato escaped, his younger brother Juno being killed in his stead. This time the whole story came out, and the governor of the town intervened; but the matter was taken out of his hands , for the emperor Theodorous, happened at that period to be making one of his customary visits of inspection. Hearing of the matter he had the parties brought before him;and when he had inquired into the whole of the story he decided to put an end

to all difficulties by giving to each of the cousins a separate field of activity. As Phocea had not been privy to the plot to murder his cousin he left him in sole charge of the temple of his native place, but he carried off Erato with him to his own capital to fill a vacancy in the great temple there. There he led a peaceful and useful life under the headship of the chief priest Pallas; and on , the death of the latter he succeeded to his office, and thus became the most important religious authority in the kingdom of Chaldea. He lived to old age, and was much respected. A list is subjoined of most of our characters who appeared with him.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

Rector -Beatus

Psyche Trefoil -Dido Erato -Dolphin Canopus -Thor

Dome -Diana Melete -Auson Math -Judex

Beatus -Rector Caxtor -Amal

Juno -Rama Flos -Kudos

Diana -Dome

Aglain -Pomo

Phocea -Melpo

Judex -Math Kudos -Flos

Theo -Roxana

Deneb

Nastor -Daphne Rama -Juno

Pallas

Roxana -Theo Proteus

Stella

125

. .

Chart XXIIIb

Amazon Valley (Birth of Yajna) 19,380 B.C.

Almoxt the same sub-group which we saw in Chart XXIIa endeavouring to bring about a religious reform in Tibet, was again engaged

in predisely similer work 500 years later on the other side of the world in the Amazoan valley. This was at that time the seat of an interesting but somewhat effete civilisation, and there was obviously great need for the work of purification in which our members engaged. The group was again under the leadership of Jupiter, but in this case Surya instead of operating from the astral world took birth in the ordinary way,and married Jupiter's daughter Naga. His preaching was of the country, and gave it in its improved form a new lease of life which lasted for some thousands of years. He lived a long and active life, and when he passed away the headship of the work devolved upon his eldest son Vajra, who undertook a vast amount of missionary work and spent his life in travelling about the continent. From the work done at this time and from the organisation set on foot was developed that wonderful Peruvian civilisation with which we come into contact in Life XXXIII.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Lotus -Ivan Baldur -Sita Radius -Vizier Yajna -Pavo

Pyx -Uchacha

Joan -Ullin Irene -Onyx Alma -Una

Spica -Inca

Sita -Balder Naga -Surya

Ullin -Joan Nanda -Capos Vizier -Radius Noel -Horus

Upaka -Yodha Ivan -Lotus Dharma -Nimrod Kratos -Maya Oak -Chanda

Phra -Yati Jupiter -Capella Uchacha -Pyx Kepos -Nanda

Nimrod -Dharma Una -Alma Odos -Madhu

Chanda -Oak

Yati -Phra

Maya -Kratos

Yodha -Phra

Pavo -Yajna Ushas -Naiad

Inca -Spica Horus -Noel

Life XXIV

The cradle of the great Aryan race was on the shores of the Central Asian Sea, which (up to the time of the cataclysm which sunk the island of Poseidonis beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean) occupied the area which is now the Gobi Desert. The great founder of the race, the Manu Vaivaswat, had established his colony there after the abortive attempt in the highlands of Central Arabia, and after a long period of incubation and many vicissitudes the race had become great and powerful. Several times during the ages of its existence had the Manu sent forth huge hosts to establish sub-races in various parts of that vast continent, and at the time of which we have now to write once more this virile nation was outgrowing its boundaries. During its history the Manu had incarnated again and again to direct it, but at the time of Alcyone’ s birth (18,885 B.C.) he had not shown himself physically among his people for many centuries, and so there had been time for differences of opinion to arise as to exactly what his intentions had been.

A section had grown up among them who argued that now that the new race was definitely established, and there was no danger that the type could be lost, the strictest ordinances of the Manu as to not mingling with other races were no longer intended to be operative. Consequently certain families allowed themselves to intermarry for political purposes with some of the rulers of the Tarter races. This was considered as a crime by the more orthodox , and it led to so much friction that eventually those who held the wider opinion established themselves as separate community which in course of time grew into a considerable kingdom. They themselves, however, seem soon to have abandoned the idea of intermarriage with the other races, so that there was practically no perceptible difference of type between the two tribes, but this did not in the least heal the religious division, which on the contrary seems to have been accentuated by the passage of time. The great bulk of the Aryans regarded with horror this tribe which had once intermarried, and would have no dealings with them. The adoption or development of difference in language among them still further emphasised the division, and they were regarded as a hostile race for centuries before the rapidly increasing orthodox Aryans occupied their original territory after many battles, and finally drove them out into the desert.

The cultivable land round the shores of the Gobi Sea was a limited area, and the great central orthodox kingdom of the fifth root-race occupied all the best part of it. This separated race had therefore to be content with much less desirable territories, and they settled chiefly in valleys around the northern hills. The central race increased so rapidly that it was constantly pressing upon these independent tribes and trying to annex their valleys. The orthodox people were so extraordinarily bigoted and intolerant that they could not mix peacefully with these others who differed from them, but regarded them as demons to be exterminated, so that for the most part no compromise was possible.

Mars who was at this time King of one of the tribes which constituted this seceding race, had long been much troubled by the incursions of the orthodox, and though he had contrived to resist them so far, he knew that he could not hope to do so indefinitely, for his tribe, though large and well organised, was a mere handful compared to the multitudes of the central race. Unless he fought persistently against them his race would speedily be exterminated, and it seemed as though the most determined resistance could only postpone for a while this inevitable end. In his perplexity on this point he had frequently asked counsel from his religious teacher Jupiter; the latter always strongly advised against fighting, but did not tell him how he was to maintain the existence of his people.

The difficulty was constantly becoming more acute and the danger more imminent, when in answer to many prayers and appeals there came at least to Mars a vision which decided his course of action. Both the orthodox and those who were considered unorthodox venerated equally the memory of the Manu, and gave him all but divine honours, so when he appeared to Mars in a dream, and gave him counsel as to his difficulties, he gladly accepted the solution offered.

The Manu told him that the dilemma in which he found himself was not the result of any play of chance forces, but had been arranged long before hand as part of his plan. He announced that it was his desire that Mars, whom he had specially chosen for the work, should lead the vanguard of the greatest migration in history— that he should take his tribe and journey westwards and southward for many years, until he reached a certain sacred land which was prepared for him—a land of unexampled fertility, in which great spiritual as well as material progress could be attained. Here he should settle and flourish exceedingly; and he was specially enjoined to treat well and kindly all the tribes and races with whom he came in contact, fighting with them only when actually compelled. He was to enter upon this promised land and move slowly onward to its extremity, and it was foretold to him that the tribes of the orthodox empire, who were pressing so hard upon him, would rejoice over his departure and exult in their occupation of his lands; but that in the future they also should find his people in possession of the most desirable part of the promised land, and that their efforts to oust them would be unsuccessful. He was further told that he himself in future lives would take no inconsiderable part in the direction of these migrations, and that as a reward for all this hard work he and his wife Mercury would have the privilege in the future of doing an even greater work—such work as the Manu himself had done. The prophesy referred specially also to his sons Herakles and Alcyone, and expressly stated that work of a similar nature awaited them still further in the future.

This vision at once lifted Mars out of all his perplexities and filled him with enthusiasm for the mighty mission confided to him. He ordered a great assemblage of all his people, and told them what he had seen and heard, and what he had decided to do, and he spoke so convincingly that he carried the entire tribe with him and infected it with his own zeal. He instructed them to gather together great stores of food in its most probable forms, and to drive with them the strongest and best of their flocks and herds. He consulted his astrologers as to the best day for the start, and just before it he planned and carried out a successful raid upon the territory of his orthodox enemies, gaining thereby a great amount of property which was useful to him, and having his own people safe out of the way and far on their journey before reprisals could be attempted.

There was amongst his subjects a considerable party who regarded this migration as a wild scheme and the vision of Mars as a delusion. The head of this recalcitrant party was Alastor, and he declared that his conscience would not allow him to follow a leader whom he believed to be under the guidance of some evil or diabolical power which was deceiving and misleading him, and causing him to undertake a mad enterprise which could only end in the utter ruin of those who were foolish enough to follow him. To this tirade Mars replied that he would force no man to accompany him, for he wanted none but loyal and willing-cooperators, and that Alastor and his followers might stay behind if they pleased. Only a comparatively small number of Alastor’ s party were prepared to take so extreme a step, and most of his friends urged him to reconsider his determination. He however remained obstinate, declaring that he and his band of Adullamites were the only people who were really faithful to the commands of the Manu, since they stayed in the country where he had established them and refused to be diverted from their manifest duty by hysterical dreams and pretended revelations.

Mars wasted no more time over him, but told him that he might go to the destruction in his own way. Alastor did stay behind, and displayed a certain amount of evil ingenuity in his endeavour to make the best of the situation. As has already been said, Mars had organised a raid upon the orthodox, and naturally their ruler fitted out a punitive expedition to crush the audacious mountaineers. Alastor boldly went out to meet this army, announced himself as the head of one of two rival parties existing in the mountain kingdom, and offered his support to the invaders on condition of good treatment for himself and his people. He stated that for a long time he had been convinced that the men of his own tribe were wrong in having long ago intermarried with Atlanteans, and that he had often wished to join himself to the orthodox empire, but had been prevented from doing so by Mars. He described the route taken by the latter in his migration, and offered to show the invaders how, by taking a short cut across the hills, they could overtake him and probably defeat his people. The orthodox leader thought it best to accept his offer of assistance, and promised him the lives of his followers in return for this treachery. The expedition plunged into the mountains under Alastor’ s guidance in the effort to intercept Mars; but being unused to and unprepared for high altitudes its members suffered exceedingly, and were when after many hardships they succeeded in meeting Mars they were defeated with great slaughter. The leader, however, escaped and promptly put Alastor and his myrmidons to death.

True to his instructions, Mars endeavored to avoid fighting as far as he could. When he approached any organised kingdom he always sent his embassy to its ruler announcing that he and his people came in peace and amity, in obedience to a divine command, and that all that they desired was to be allowed to pass quietly on their way to carry out the orders which they had received. In most cases the required permission was readily given, and often the inhabitants of the countries through which they passed received them hospitably, and sped them on their way with gifts of food. Sometimes a chieftain was alarmed by the report of their numbers, and refused them admission within his frontiers, and when that occurred Mars turned aside from the direct line of his course, and sought for a more friendly ruler. Two or three times he was savagely attacked by predatory tribes, but his hardy mountaineers found no great difficulty in beating them off.

Under these conditions Alcyone’s early life was as unsettled and adventurous one. He was about ten years old when his father decided upon the migration, and consequently at an age to enjoy to the full the constant change and adventure of it. He had as it were two sides to his character—one frankly boyish and fond of all this excitement and variety, and the other dreamy and mystical. He dearly loved both of his parents, but he seems to have specially associated his father with the former of these moods and his mother with the latter. On some days he rode by his father at the head of the caravan, or dashed on far in front on some sort of scout duty, keen and active and very much on the physical plane; on others he remained behind with his mother, often riding curled up in one of the panniers on the back, often riding curled up in one of the panniers on the back of some draught-animal, buried in his own visions and taking no heed of the country through which they were passing.

In this latter condition he seemed to be living not in the present but in the past, for he had often extraordinarily vivid visions (most often really of past incarnations, though he did not know that) which he regarded as so entirely private and scared that he would hardly ever speak of them even to his mother, and ever at all to any one else. These visions were of varied character, some of them connected with lives which we have already investigated, but others which are at present unknown to us. In many of these scenes his father and mother appeared, and he always recognised them, under whatever veil of race or sex they might be hidden. Sometimes, when a rare wave of confidence swept over him, he would describe these visions to his mother, making them marvellously picturesque and life-like. He called them his picture-stories, and he would say: “ Mother, in this story you are a priest in the temple,” or “ In this you are my mother, just as now,” or again, “ In this you are my little baby, and I carry you in my arms.”

Whenever he said These things his mother felt herself identified with the figure in the vision, and her memory was as it were awakened by his. She remembered now that when she was herself a child she used to have similar recollections, though as she grew older they faded from her mind; and she realised that her son was seeing what she used to see. In one of his most splendid visions—that which he liked best of all—neither his father nor mother appeared, but he saw himself as a young girl filled with intense love and determination, rushing through raging flame and suffocating smoke to rescue a child who was the hope of the world—a memory of the life in Burma three thousand years before. But he had also other memories in which his parents bore no part, and some of these were far less desirable.

One curious set of visions which came now and then appeared to image some ceremonies of the darker magic, evidently from a remote past. They were indescribably weird, yet thrilling and they excited a feeling of inexpressible horror and loathing which was yet somehow mingled with a kind of savage ecstasy. There was about them a distinct sense of something radically unholy and evil— something from which Alcyone’ s present nature shrank with terror and disgust, while he was yet keenly conscious that there had been a time in the far-distant past when it had filled him with a fierce joy— when he had somehow been able to revel in what now he utterly abhorred. He disliked these visions intensely, yet occasionally they asserted themselves, and when one had commenced he seemed compelled to play his part in it to the end. Of these he had never been able to speak to his mother, though she had twice noticed the prostration which followed them, for he came out of them in a condition of profuse perspiration and utter nervous exhaustion. But he said only his dreams had been terrifying, but that he could not describe them.

It is not easy to recover the actual subject matter of these evil visions, but they evidently reflected some of the wild orgies of the darker worship as practiced in Atlantis—something of the same order as the alleged witches’ Sabbath of the Middle Ages—a kind of riotously sensual adoration of some strange personification of evil belonging to an existence which humanity has now altogether transcended. Its devotees appear among other things to have been able by the use of some potion or unguent to assume animal forms at will and to levitate these transformed physical bodies. In looking back involuntarily upon these unholy revels Alcyone always saw himself with a partner—always the same partner; and he knew that it was for the love of that partner that he had thrown himself into this cult of evil, that her seduction had drawn him into it and taught him to enjoy it. Yet even amidst his horror he knew that she had had herself no evil purpose in doing this—that it was because she loved him that in reality she would have died rather than harm him, and that it was only her ignorance which permitted her to be used as a lure by malicious powers behind. These unpleasant visions came to the boy but rarely, and they would not have merited such detailed mention but for the fact that a few years later they were shown to have a close connection with one of the recurrent characters in our story.

Some time before the birth of Alcyone a certain Mongolian chieftain had come to take refuge in the kingdom of Mars. This chieftain was the younger brother of a reigning chief who was (apparently not unreservedly) decidedly unpopular with his people. The younger, on the contrary, was universally liked, and there was a conspiracy, though entirely without the young man’ s knowledge, to dethrone the elder brother and set him up in his stead. This was discovered and suppressed, but as it was impossible to persuade the elder brother that the younger had not been privy to it, he had to flee for his life, and it was in this way that he came to seek refuge with Mars. He and two or three friends who had escaped with him proved harmless and indeed desirable members of Aryan tribe, so they settled down and were accepted without further question.

They had brought their wives and children with them; so they formed a kind of minor community within the tribe, living amongst it but not intermarrying with it. This young chieftain (Taurus) had several children, but the only one that comes into our story is Cygnus, a daughter who was about the same age as Alcyone, wit whom she fell violently in love. They played together often as children, but along with many others, and it does not seem that Alcyone specially differentiated her from the rest, though he was always affectionate to all. As they grew older, the boys and girls drew more and more apart in their games, and so he saw less of her, but she never for a moment forgot him.

When she was seventeen her father married her to Aries, who

was the son of one of his companions. He was much older than she was, and she had no affection for him, but her wishes were not consulted in the matter; it was entirely an affair of policy. Her husband was not a bad man, and was never unkind to her, but he was absorbed in his studies and had no attention to spare for his young wife, whom he regarded rather as part of the necessary furniture of a home rather than a sentient being who might possibly have claims upon him.

For a long time she fretted silently against this, being all the time madly in love with Alcyone, and seeing him only occasionally and casually. At last there came a time when he was sent on ahead of the main body on a dangerous scouting expedition; hearing of this and fearing that he might be killed, she seems to have been reduced to desperation, and she fled from her husband, dressed herself in male attire, and joined the small band of men whom he was taking on this perilous expedition. Alcyone succeeded in carrying out the instructions of Mars, but only at the cost of the loss of many of his men, and among others Cygnous was fatally wounded and her sex discovered.

She was carried before Alcyone, and when he recognised her she asked to be left alone with him for a few moments before her death. Then she told him of her love and her reason for thus following him; he was much surprised, and deeply regretted that he had not known of her affection before. As he stood beside her his mind was persistently haunted by the most vivid presentment of his old vision of the wild orgies of Atlantean magic, and like a glare of lightening it burst upon him that Cygnus was identical with the female companion of that strange old witchcraft. He was so struck by this revelation that his manner showed it, and she, who had known something in childhood of the visionary side of his nature, at once divined that he was seeing something non-physical, and set her will with all her remaining strength to see it too. She had not been at all psychic during life, but now as death approached, the veil was to some extent broken trough by her earnest effort, and as she seized his hand the vision which he saw opened before her eyes also. She was horror stricken at his evident horror, but at the same time in a way delighted also, for she said:

“ At least you loved me then, and though through ignorance I led you into evil, I swear that in the future I will atone for this and regain your love by loyal and ungrudging service to the uttermost.”

Saying this she died, and Alcyone mourned over her, regretting that he had not known of her love for him, for had he done so, he might have prevented her untimely end. When opportunity offered he told the story of this strange experience to his mother, and she agreed with him that without doubt his vision did represent the events of previous incarnations, and that she, his father, his sister, his elder brothers and Cygnus had really borne in those lives the parts which the visions assigned to them. The story of which this particular incident brought the recollection will be found in Man : Whence, How and Whither, p 122 .

The strong influence of his mother Mercury over Alcyone seemed to increase rather than decrease as the years rolled on, and though the vision of his childhood now visited him but rarely he still remained impressible as far as she was concerned, and frequently caught her thought even when at a distance from her. For example, on one occasion when her sons were out on a scouting expedition clearing the way through the hills for the main body of the caravan, she became aware through a dream of an ambush into which Herakles and his party were in danger of falling. The whole scene was so vividly before her eyes, and the natural features of the country so deeply engraved on her mind, that she could not but feel sure that the danger was a real one. She called before her some natives of the hill-country who happened to be in the camp, described minutely to them the place which she had seen, and asked whether they recognised it. They immediately replied that they knew it well, and asked how she came to know it, since it was more than a day’ s march ahead. When she heard this she was even more certain than before, and as it was clearly impossible to send a messenger to Herakles in time, she tried to convey a warning by thought.

Herakles, however, was so full of business and the cares of the expedition that he was not amenable to thought impressions just then; but fortunately Alcyone, who was in charge of a smaller body of men in a neighbouring ravine, caught the feeling that his mother was in deep anxiety, and, turning his thought strongly in her direction, read the whole affair from her mind like a vision, and at once changed his course, led his own party up an almost impossible cliff and across some intervening spurs of the mountain, and reached his brother just in time to prevent him from falling into the ambush, thus unquestionably saving his life, for the arrangements of the hill savages were so well made that the total destruction of his party was a certainty. But with the warning which Alcyone gave, the Aryans were able to turn the tables on the savages and descend upon them from above while they were watching in fancied security, so that they were driven away with great slaughter and a clear way through the mountains was opened for whole tribe.

Soon after this Mars thought it well that Alcyone should marry. The young man had no special desire in the matter, but was quite willing to accede to his father’ s wish; so he consulted his mother, and she suggested several young ladies whom she considered suitable, and eventually Alcyone selected Theseus. She made him a good wife, though she was somewhat jealous and exacting. He had seven children, among whom was Neptune, who afterwards married Hector, and one of their children was Mizar, who was always Alcyone's favourite granddaughter; and specially devoted to him.

Many years were occupied in the westward journey through the hilly country, and sometimes the tribe suffered considerable hardships, but on the whole they got on well and lost remarkably few men, considering the difficulties of the route. When at last they reached the great plains of India their progress was far easier, especially as their first entry upon them was into the dominions of a great King named Podishpar (Viraj) who welcomed them with the greatest hospitality, recognising them and their work, and doing everything in his power to help them on their way. In the first place he assigned to them a tract of fertile ground on the banks of a river, and supplied them with grain to sow there, so that not only did they stay encamped there for a whole year enjoying his hospitality, but they had an enormous store of grain to take on with them when they finally departed. A few of them, worn out with the ceaseless travelling of the past thirty years, settled permanently in the kingdom of this friendly potentate, but the great majority decided to push on.

At parting King Podishpar gave to Mars a book of the Atlantean scriptures and a talisman of extraordinary power—a cube of wonderful centre. He also sent embassies in advance to many friendly monarchs with whom he was in alliance, telling them of the coming of the Aryans and asking them to receive them kindly. Thus their way was smoothed for them, and the weariness of the constant travelling was reduced to a minimum. The talisman was well known all over the north of India, and all who saw it did reverence to its bearer. It was supposed to confer good fortune and invincibility upon its possessor, but when Viraj gave it to Mars he said proudly:

“ I have no longer need of it, for I am invincible without it, and I carve out my own fortune with my sword.”

For Podishpar had a huge two-handed sword with a golden hilt in which a magnificent ruby was set, and this sword was popularly reported to possess magical properties, so that he who held it could never feel fear, nor could he be injured in battle; and he also commanded the service of certain genie or spirits, much as Aladdin commanded the slaves of the lamp. As a further proof of goodwill, and in order to cement the alliance between them, King Podishpar asked Mars for his daughter Brihat as a husband for his son Corona, and Mars gladly acceded to the request. Brihat had previously married Vulcan, one of the subordinate leaders of the Aryan host; but Vulcan had been killed in one of their fights with the savages. It is evident from this that there was then no prejudice against the re-marriage of a widow.

Here and there, for one reason or another, bands of men dropped away from the great host of Mars as the years rolled on, and settled at intervals along the line of his route. In the course of some centuries these small settlements developed into powerful tribes, who subjugated the people round about them, and for themselves considerable kingdoms. They were always arrogant and intolerant, and so tiresome with their constant aggressions that about a thousand years later the Atlantean kingdoms banded them together against them, and, with some help from the Divine Ruler of the Golden Gate, finally defeated them and drove them with great slaughter down into the south of the peninsula, where the descendants of Mars were then ruling. Here they found refuge, absorbed into the mass of the population. The higher classes of the south country, though from longer exposure to the Indian sun they have become somewhat darker, are as fully Aryan as any of the northern people, having mingled only very slightly with the highest Atlantean blood.

Still, in spite of these defections there was scarcely any reduction in the number of the followers of Mars, as the births among his people were largely in excess of the deaths. Alcyone might be said to know no life but this peripatetic existence, and even his children had been born into it and grew up in it. but the open air and constant exercise were health-giving, and they enjoyed their perpetual pilgrimage through these lands of the sun. Mars, who was now growing somewhat old, divided his great host into three parts, and gave them into charge of his three sons, Uranus, Herakles and Alcyone, so that he himself was relieved from all worry about details. And retained only a general supervision. His wife Mercury, however, had so great a reputation for wisdom that all the people came to her for counsel in special difficulties, and her three sons trusted greatly to her intuition.

King Podishpar had told Mars that since his instructions were to press on to the south of India he would recommend him to a certain ally of his, King Huyaranda (sometimes called Lahira) who had the kingdom next in size to his own. In fact these two monarchs at this period governed between them by far the greater part of India. One ruled the north and the other the south, and they were separated by a broad belt of smaller kingdoms, quite insignificant by comparison.

King Huyaranda (whom we know as Saturn) held rather a curious position, for though he was the autocratic and undisputed monarch of the country, the leader of its armies and the dispenser of justice, there was in the background an even greater power—that of a High Priest who was also a kind of religious ruler—a person never seen by the people, but yet regarded with the utmost awe. He lived apart from all the rest of the world in the strictest seclusion, in a magnificent palace which stood in the midst of a enormous garden surrounded by lofty walls of the garden, and even his attendants were not permitted to leave it. He communicated with the outer world only through his representative, the deputy High Priest, and no one but this deputy was supposed to ever see him, for when he wished to walk in his garden every one was ordered to keep out of the way. The reason for all this seclusion was that he was regarded as the earthly mouthpiece of Mahaguru, and it was supposed that unless he was kept scrupulously apart from all contact with ordinary people he could not be pure enough or calm enough to be an absolutely perfect channel for the messages from on high.

The relations between the King and his invisible High Priest seem to have been not unlike those which existed in old days between the Shogun and the Mikado in Japan, for the former did nothing of any importance without consulting the latter. At this time the High Priest bore the name of Byarsha, and was a man of great strength and wisdom—the Great One known to us as Surya, whose life Alcyone had saved at the cost of her own, three thousand years before in Burma.

When the embassy from King Podishpar reached King Huyaranda and announced the impending arrival of Mars and his host, King Huyaranda at once consulted Surya as to the attitude which he ought to adopt. The reply of the High Priest was that this migration had been ordered by the gods, and that the tribe who came were the precursors of mighty nation from whom many great teachers of the world should come. The King was advised to receive them with all honour, and to assign them tracts of land near all his principal cities, so that those of them who wished might spread themselves over the country and settle in it. but for those who preferred to remain as a separate community an almost unoccupied district near the foot of the Nilgiris was to be set apart, that they might dwell there after the customs of their forefathers.

The oracle spoke several years before the arrival of Mars, so when he came he found everything in readiness for him. King Huyaranda sent his own son Crux to receive him at the frontier of the kingdom, and when he approached the capital he himself came forth to meet him at the head of a splendid procession, and treated him with the utmost deference. He explained to Mars the instructions which he had received with regard to him, and Mars at once accepted all the arrangements suggested, thankful to find that at last his wanderings were over and his heavy responsibility at an end. In a wonderfully short time the behests of the High Priest were carried out, and the Aryans were peacefully established as a recognised part of the population of this great southern kingdom.

Before their arrival Surya had issued a curious manifesto about them, instructing his people as to how they were to receive and regard these “ high-nosed strangers from the north.” He especially described them as fitted by their nature for the priestly office, and decreed that the ranks of the priesthood should be recruited from them, and that the offices should also as far as possible be hereditary among them.

Those of them who wished were to be free to mingle with his own people and devote themselves to warlike or commercial pursuits, but those who were willing to take up the priestly work were to have every facility for living as a class apart from the rest, to be maintained by gifts from the rest, but to own no personal property.

The deputy High Priest, through whom these and all other decrees were promulgated to the outer world, was at this time a very old man, whom we know as Osiris, and when because of advancing age he begged to be relieved from the onerous duties of his office, by way of setting an example to the nation Surya asked Mars to send him one of his sons to take the vacant post. Mars felt himself greatly honoured by this request, and said that he held himself and all who belonged to him entirely at the disposal of the Messenger of the Gods; but that as he himself was now old and wished to retire from worldly affairs he would prefer it if his elder son Herakles could be left to take upon him his cares and to carry on the traditions and reputations of the chieftainship, and if his younger son Alcyone could be permitted to receive the signal mark of esteem which Surya destined for his family. (It should be mentioned that Uranus had already adopted the hermit life, and established himself in a cave in the Nilgiris, and when approached on the subject he firmly declined to return to the ordinary world.)

Surya was graciously pleased to accept the arrangement suggested by Mars, so Alcyone suddenly found himself in the curious position of the representative in the outer world of what was really the chief power in the kingdom—the only person who ever met that august potentate face to face, and consequently the channel for all communications with him, even those from the King Huyaranda himself. He was much oppressed at first by the seriousness of the responsibility, but as he learnt the routine of his business and came to know Surya better he found that he could easily fulfil the duties of his position. The principal difficulty was that of selection—to decide which of the score of cases which came before him each day were worth submitting, he had to decide himself; but by watching Surya’ s judgements he acquired much wisdom, and soon had a great reputation for acumen and even-handed justice.

The actual courts of law were of course not in his hands, though even there his advice carried great weight; but many people in difficulty asked advice from the priests instead of applying for legal redress, and when the decision of the High Priest or his deputy was once given it was never questioned. This responsibility in itself was a liberal education for Alcyone, and the constant close association with Surya was helpful to him. There was always the guidance of Mahaguru in the background, but this was given to Surya only, usually in dream or meditation, but some time by direct and audible voice. On one occasion Alcyone was privileged to receive a few words of kindly commendation in that way from Mahaguru, which greatly encouraged him in his arduous labours and gave him a new stimulus. He held this responsible office for nearly thirty years, until his death at the age of seventy-nine, and during all this time Surya seemed to grow but little older.

When Alcyone was about sixty years old he lost his mother, which was a great grief to him, and would indeed have been insupportable but for the consolation and help given to him by Surya. Shortly afterwards his wife Theseus followed his mother, and during the last seventeen years of his life his household was managed by his favourite granddaughter Mizar, who was deeply attached too him and understood him better than anyone else. At the death of Mars, Herakles succeeded to the chieftainship of the tribe, but the office soon became merely nominal, as the Aryans settled down as part of the nation among whom they lived, though the priestly caste never intermarried with it. Later, however, as Crux died without issue, Herakles was unanimously called upon by the people to ascend the vacant throne, and so an Aryan dynasty was firmly established in the south of India. All Brahmanas of the south, commonly called the dark Caucasians, are unquestionably descended from the tribe whose arrival we have described, though from long residence in tropical lands they are a good deal darker than their ancestors.

Chart XXIV

Central Asia 18,885 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Mahaguru

Manu

Surya Osiris

Theseus -Alcyone Telema -Gluck

Upaka -Scotus Hebe -Una Rex -Fons Norma -Leo Alces -Ulysses Soma -Dactyl

Algol -Pindar

Ushas -Nicos Helios -Deneb

Inca -Lobelia

Vulcan -Brihat

Leo -Norma

Sita -Leopard Joan -Pisces Capella -Herakles

Vega -Rigel Albireo -Hestia Mizar -Arcor Siwa -Achilles

Orpheus -Dome

Xulon -Obra Hector -Neptune Ronald -Auriga Jupiter -Kratos

Gimel -Walter Gnostic -Lomia Electra -Dhruva Parthe -Sif Radius -Dora Apollo -Aurora

Chrys -Horus Venus -Athena

Ivan -Libra Olaf -Ullin

Nimrod -Forma Kamu -Vajra

Clare -Kepos Libra -Ivan Horus -Chrys Hermin -Aquila Euphra -Koli Atlas -Oak Fabius -Aqua

Cullio -Vesta

Bee -Spes

Elsa -Dido

Yajna -Aldeb

Ivy -Thor

Oak -Atlas Egeria -Sylla Diana -Draco

Wences -Demeter

Maya -Fort Bella -Echo

Forma -Nimrod Alba -Dharma

Chart XXIV

Central Asia 18,885 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Bruce -Madhu Ullin -Olaf Daleth -Rosa Vesta -Callio

Koli -Euphra

Ida -Irene Sif -Parthe Kepos -Clare Dora -Radius

Walter -Gimel Lomia -Gnostic Sylla -Egeria

Fort -Maya Karu -Jason Sigma -Boreas

Noel -Beth

Yodha -Aulus Ulysses -Alces

Ara -Uchacha Nanda -Colos Pindar -Algol Hestia -Albireo

Achilles -Siwa Gem -Leto Deneb -Helios Concord -Cento

Camel -Zeno Aquila -Hermin

Phoenix -Kim Aurora -Apollo

Lili -Sirona Xanthos -Tolosa

Ajax -Viola

Pavo -Sappho Vizier -Sextans Aulus -Yodha Lotus -Lignus

Iris -Philae Onyx -Zama Lyra -Mira Myna -Sagitta Fons -Rex

Cetus -Zoe Cassio -Capri

Spica -Kudos Adrona -Holly Sirona -Lili

Altair -Polaris

Tolosa -Xanthos Holly -Adrona

Uchacha -Ara Herakles -Capella

Leto -Gem

Zeno -Camel Nita -Odos

Argus

(1) Andro Dome -Orpheus

(2)Math Judes -Beatus Kudos -Spica

Cento -Concord Uranus

Regu

Irene -Ida

Andro -Argus Arcor -Mizar Dharma -Alba Madhu -Bruce Boreas -Sigma

Jason -Karu

Echo -Bella Betel -Fides

Beatus -Judex

Chart XXIV

Central Asia 18,885 B.C.

1st 2nd

3 rd

4 th

5th 6th 7th

Flos -Quies Vajra -Kamu

Quies -Flos Alcyone -Theseus

Fomal -Rector

Odos -Nita Mars -Mercury

Zama -Onyx

Zoe -Cetus Kos -Lutea

Rosa -Daleth Muni -Udor Percy -Rama Baldur -Beren Alex -Yati Dhruva -Electra Philae -Iris Draco -Diana Neptune -Hector Arthur -Trefoil Brihat

(1) Vulcan (2)Corona

Demeter -Wences Colos -Nanda

Yati -Alex Beren -Baldur Beth -Noel Sappho -Pavo Leopard -Sita Magnus -Phra Naga -Selene

Lobelia -Inca

Sextans -Vizier Scotus -Upaka Nicos -Ushas

Pisces -Joan Ixion -Chanda Lignus -Lotus

Naiad -Eros

Selene -Naga Una -Hebe Aldeb -Yajna

Fides -Betel

Udor -Muni Kim -Phoenix

Auriga -Ronald Obra -Xulon Trefoil -Arthur Corona -Brihat

Lutea -Kos Aqua -Fabius Thor -Ivy

Rama -Percy Rector -Fomal Dido -Elsa

Taurus -Pyx

Cygnus -Aries

Saturn -Pearl

Crux

Athena -Venus Rigel -Vega Chanda -Ixion Ophis -Alethia

Spes -Bee

Sagitta -Myna

Phra -Magnus Viola -Ajax Mira -Lyra

Chart XXIV
Central Asia 18,885 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th
Alastor

Chart XXIVa

North Africa (Birth of Orion) 18,301 B.C.

In the interval between this life and the next Orion took a birth in North Africa, as the son of an important trader and cultivator.

He was a passionate youth, and fell into bad company, and so by way of instituting a reform his parents married him before he was twenty years of age to Sigma, whom he neglected, as he had fallen in love with Epislon, a woman of rather unpleasant character. This lady had another admirer in the person of Cancer, the son of the governor of the district, and she finally decided in his favour. Orion, finding them together one day, killed Cancer, and tried to carry off the fainting Epislon. In his headlong flight wih her he fell into a ravine; he was not seriously hurt, but the girl appeared to be killed. As some men who had seen the incident were shouting after him and chasing him, Orion fled to the seashore, and as he saw a vessel which he recognised as one of his father's, only a short distance from the land, he sprang into the sea and swam out to it. The ship was on a voyage down the West Coast of Africa, but on the way she fell in

with a very heavy storm and was wrecked. Orion was the only survivor, and eventually found himself thrown upon an uninhibited island now called the Great Salvage. As this island was quite out of the normal course of trading vessels, he lived there alone for twenty years, and was at last rescued by a vessel which had been driven far out of its course. He started to make his way over land to his own country, and found it a very long and wearisome journey. Even when he reached his birthplace he feared to make himself known;but he made discreet enquiries. He found that both the governor's family and his own had moved away from that part of the island, and that there was only one female member remaining of the family of the girl Epislon. Presently he contrived to see this member and found it to be Epislon herself, who recognised him in spite of the passage of time and the great changes which it had wrought in him. She explained to him that she had recovered from the fall, though it had left her permanently lame, and all her lovers had consequently deserted her. Eventually Orion married her, and as she had some money they set up in trade and lived out the rest of their lives in a quiet and orderly fashion.

Orion; Sigma; Epislon ; Cancer

Life XXV

Our story takes us now into another continent. Our hero was this time the son of Leo and Achilles, and was born in the year 18,209 B.C. in a kingdom in North Africa, which comprised most of what we know now as Algeria and Morocco. This was then an island, as what is now the Desert of Sahara was then a sea. The race occupying the country was the Atlantean Semite, and the people did not differ very greatly from the higher-class Arabs of the present day. Their civilisation was of an advanced type, and learning was very highly esteemed. Public order was well maintained, architecture and sculpture were of a high order, and the roads and gardens were beautifully kept. Fountains were specially plentiful, the water being brought from the mountains by skillfully-constructed aqueducts, somewhat as in ancient Rome.

Alcyone lived in the suburbs of a large city on the southern side of the island—that is, on the northern coast of the Sahara Sea. His father Leo was the principal judge and administrator of the city— a man of great wealth and influence in the community, who had large estates and also owned many ships. The management of the estates was still much on the patriarchal plan, but naturally Leo had to spend most of his time in the city, so that the land was left largely in the hands of his steward Sagitta, who managed it for him ably and loyally, who managed it for him ably and loyally. In their childhood his twin sons Alcyone and Sirius lived much at the country-house in the midst of his huge estate, as they both greatly preferred this to the town life. There they played often with the steward’ s son Algol and his daughter Cygnus, and had childish flirtations with the latter.

As they grew older they had to stay more in town for the sake of attending the classes at the university, which had attained a great reputation. It had a large number of resident students, who came from the surrounding districts, and also many day-scholars who lived at their own homes, as Sirius and Alcyone did. The university, however, had entirely outgrown its buildings, and its accommodation was in every way defective.

It conferred degrees in divinity, mathematics, literature and rhetoric—or at least proficiency in debating and lecturing; but it also gave prizes for sword-play, for javelin-throwing and for the illumination of manuscripts. The student was supposed to be trained in fighting and to live a strictly celibate life—to be a sort of soldier-monk; but owing to the rapid growth of the University and the utter lack of accommodation this aspect of education had to some extent been neglected.

Sirius and Alcyone went through the usual course, and the latter especially was fired with an extraordinary enthusiasm for his alma mater. He devised all sorts of schemes for her improvement and aggrandisement, and often declared (but only in private to Sirius) that he would devote his life to her, would double her roll of students and make her famous throughout the whole world. He infected his brother with his zeal, and Sirius promised in case of his father’ s death to take upon himself the whole management of estates and the inheritance of various offices from their father, in order to leave Alcyone entirely free to make a lifework of the development of the university—but of course sharing everything with him precisely as though he took his recognised part in the business of their life.

Alcyone though full of far reaching plans for the future, by no means neglected comparatively small present opportunities of doing any kind of service that offered itself; this attracted the notice of the authorities of the University, so that when the time came when he would naturally have left, they offered him a post on its permanent staff. He accepted joyously, and by willingness to do any piece of work which others avoided, by unremitting diligence and unflagging devotion to the interests of the corporate body, he advanced himself so rapidly that in his thirtieth year he was unanimously elected by the supreme council of the city to the office of Head of the University. He was by far the youngest man who had ever held that post; yet the only person on the council who voted against him was his own father, and when this became known his fellow-councillors united in asking him to withdraw his opposition in order that the vote might be unanimous. He at once complied, saying that he knew of his son’ s devotion to the welfare of the University, and fully agreed with his colleagues that they would find no more earnest man, and that he had voted against him in the first place only because of his youth, and lest he himself should be unconsciously influenced by his love for his son.

When Alcyone at last had full power in his hands he lost no time in getting to work. First of all he appealed to his father to give him nearly half of his great estate as a site for the University and its gardens, for he declared that it should be no longer be vilely and insufficiently housed in the heart of the city, but should have free and ample domicile in a healthy country place near the sea. His father and Sirius gladly agreed to give the required land, and Alcyone then went to work to collect the large amount of money necessary for his extensive schemes. He succeeded in stirring the patriotism of his fellow-citizens, so that some gave him money, others lent him labourers, others supplied him with materials gratis, and in a wonderfully short time work was beginning on a really large scale, spacious buildings were being erected for all the various purposes of the University, and splendid gardens were being laid out on an extensive scale. As Alcyone was strongly impressed with the importance of an open-air life for the young, the different parts of his edifice were erected on a decidedly novel plan, which was rendered possible only by the favourable climate of the country, and the large amount of ground which he had at his disposal. Except in the case of a tower for astronomical observation, no building had an upper floor, and every room was built separately.

The university was not a building or even set of buildings in the ordinary sense, but a huge garden with a number of rooms dotted about it at intervals, with avenues leading from one to another, interspersed with fountains, ponds and miniature cascades. Such seats and desks or platforms as were considered necessary for the various class or lecture rooms were placed under the trees in the open air, a room being provided in each case as an alternative, only to be employed when the weather was inclement. This of course scattered the buildings over a large area, so that a students were arranged in rows back to back, each room opening straight out into the garden and having no interior communication with any other. A supply of fresh water was kept constantly flowing in each room, and spotless cleanliness was enforced. The students were encouraged to live entirely out of doors, and to use their rooms only for sleeping.

Objection had been taken on behalf of the day-scholars to Alcyone’ s scheme of moving the University out of town into the country; so in order to meet their difficulty he had promised to provide means of transport for them. To fulfill this purpose he invented a novel means of extraordinary kind of rock-tramway, operated by water-power. The possibility of this was suggested to him by the nature of the country. Along the coast between the city and this University ran a cliff perhaps three hundred feet high, and a river cut through this cliff about midway. He diverted some of the water of this river on each side, commencing far inland, and so arranged two streams running parallel to the top of the cliff. He then made a smooth road of highly polished rock, and dragged light cars along it on runners, something on the principle of a modern sleigh. At frequent intervals were were double moveable water-tanks, which slid up and down the face of the cliff between columns like a lift. When he wished to start a car he allowed one tank to fill with water and then to slip down the cliff. Its weight dragged the car (to which it was attached by a rope) from its starting-place to the top of the lift; there that rope was at once cast off, and a rope from the next rope attached, which drew it on in the same way another hundred yards, and so by a succession of constant changes of rope the car was dragged all the way to the University at a pace rather faster than a horse could travel, and he carried upon each spidery-looking car many more students than a horse could have drawn. On reaching the bottom of the cliff each tank was at once emptied, and the descending full tank drew up the empty one at the same time that it pulled along a car. He was able in this way to keep a large number of cars running simultaneously, for as only one could be pulled over each section at one time there was no danger of collision, and of course all the cars were running in a steady procession out of the city in the early morning and back to it in the evening. Students were conveyed on this primitive tramway free of charge, but it was presently discovered that this was also a convenient way of carrying stores and materials out there, and so other cars of different make were sometimes used in the middle of the day. Then it transpired that there were often people who desired to travel in that direction. At first such people formally applied for permission to ride on the cars, but presently Alcyone ordered that any one might make use of them upon making a small payment, and so a real tramway system was instituted. Later still the rather clumsy lifts were replaced by water-wheels, and a succession of continuous ropes was used.

Alcyone worked not only at the housing of his University, but also at its interior development. He spared neither trouble nor money to make it absolutely the best in every way he could think of, sending over even to Poseidonis to engage professors who had the highest reputation for some special subjects. (Among those who responded to his invitation we note Pallas, Lyra, Orpheus and Cetus.) He classified its heterogeneous collection of manuscripts, built a magnificent library for them, and employed agents in many countries to gather together others. In this manner he came into possession of many valuable books, but as naturally it not unfrequently happened that he had several copies of the same work, he instituted a plan for exchanging duplications with other libraries in Egypt, Poseidonis and India. It is interesting to note that he thus came into relation with the very library in the south of India which he himself had founded six hundred years before when he was acting as deputy for Surya. He also insisted much on the physical side of the soldier-priests, and drilled his young fellows into a regular army.

The capital city of the country, the residence of its ruler, was on the northern side of the island, but he had long ago made a journey thither, obtained audience of that ruler (Venus) and gained his approval and support for his schemes. He even contrived that Venus himself should perform the ceremony of opening and consecrating the University – for he was chief priest of the religion as well as temporal ruler—a function which was made to involve a fabulously splendid procession and much elaborate ritual. The University buildings were by no means really completed when this formal opening took place, but Alcyone thought it well to take advantage of the ruler’ s visit, for the sake of the prestige that his opening would give.

Alcyone would much have preferred a quiet and obscure life, for he had a great desire to write certain books on philosophy, but having taken up assignment of his beloved University as his lifework, he thought it his duty to sacrifice his private inclinations. He had married Helios, and had several children. His eldest daughter, Mercury, took a great pride and interest in his work for the University; indeed, after a certain painful event, which cast a shadow over her young life, she devoted herself entirely to its welfare. The second daughter, Ulysses, was a wayward and passionate girl, and her lack of self-control brought great trouble upon the family, for she fell wildly in love with Vajra, who was a suitor for the hand of her sister Mercury, Vajra’ s affections were already fully engaged with Mercury, so he paid no attention to the balndishments of Ulysses, and this indifference drove the latter to distraction. Her passion was so mad that she threw aside all ordinary decency, and made quite improper advances to him, thinking that if they succeeded she might force him to marry her. His devotion to Mercury made him impervious to these, and his rejection of them infuriated Ulysses so much that in a fit of passion and jealousy she stabbed him.

Her brother Herakles, becoming cognisant of this murder, took it upon himself, in order to shield his sister and to save the family from the disgrace which such immodest action on the part of one of its ladies would entail. He was consequently on his own confession arrested for the murder, and was brought before his uncle Sirius as judge, Leo having by this time retired. Sirius was much horrified at such an occurrence in the family, but tried to do his judicial duty precisely as though the accused had been unconnected with him. Having had much experience in various cases, he noted sundry discrepancies in the story of Herakles, asked inconvenient questions, and finally announced his entire disbelief in it, and remanded the case for further enquiry. He put it off in this way several times, feeling convinced that there was more in the background, though Herakles obstinately persisted in his story; but the law would not permit indefinite postponement, and naturally there were those who attributed his hesitation to the fact that the accused was his nephew.

Fortunately at the last moment the intuition of Mercury led her to suspect the truth (she declared that she saw it before her as in dream), and she charged Ulysses with it so vehemently that at last the latter confessed and committed suicide to escape the ignominy of a public trial. Of course Herakles was at once released, but naturally the event threw a gloom over both the families, and there was widespread popular sympathy for them.

Mercury mourned long and sincerely for Vajra, and after his death gave up all thought of marriage and devoted herself wholly to helping with his University. Her mother Helios, too, was full of good suggestions with regard to it, and Herakles also ably seconded his father’ s efforts. Herakles was much troubled in mind about the falsehood which he had told with regard to the murder, even though it had been with the intention of shielding his sister; so he went to consult Brihat, a learned and holy man who lived as a hermit, though he came out into the world at intervals so far as to lecture at the University on philosophy and divinity. He was much respected by the whole community, and regarded as a kind of confidential adviser. So Herakles went to him and told him the whole story, saying that he felt he had done a wrong thing, and wished to atone for it by adopting an ascetic life. Brihat consoled him, telling him that though he could not approve of the falsehood he fully appreciated the excellence of his motive. He dissuaded him from leaving the world, and advised him rather to make his atonement by remaining in it and devoting himself to its service. He at once chose to work for the University as his special line, to which Brihat cordially agreed.

Brihat had some reputation also as a healer, though it appears to have been not so much his own doing as that Surya something sent power through him and effected cures in that way. This was done once with regard to Alcyone himself, after an unfortunate accident which occurred at the University. Alcyone’ s second son, Aldeb, had taken up keenly the study of the chemistry of the period, having travelled as far as Egypt inn order to obtain additional information from the professors there. He had made several important and useful discoveries, and was always engaged in experiments, often of the most daring character, in which his sister Mercury also took much interest.

One day when Alcyone had been invited to the laboratory to inspect the results of some new processes, a serious explosion took place, stunning both Mercury and Aldeb, and setting on fire the garments of the former. Alcyone displayed great personal bravery in this emergency, rushing forward and beating out the flames with his hands, and dragging the body of Mercury out of a pool of blazing liquid, thereby unquestionably saving her life. He was badly burned himself in doing this, and it was in consequence of this that he was taken to Brihat. The latter passed his hands lightly over the wounds and blisters, applied to them some sort of oil which he specially magnetised, and then deftly enveloped them in bandages, telling Alcyone not to touch them for a certain time, and promising that when at the end of that time he removed them he should find the wounds healed, which proved to be the case. It is noteworthy that Brihat always used the nave Surya in his magnetisations, and that he invoked him when operating upon Alcyone, saying : “ I cure him in thy name and for thy work.” Owing to Alcyone’ s prompt action Mercury was but slightly injured, but Aldeb, who had been nearest to the retort, was much hurt by the force of the explosion, though hardly burnt at all.

Alcyone was so much interested by Brihat’ s procedure that he afterwards went to him to learn the art of mesmeric healing, and practiced it among his own students with considerable success. Once Brihat himself fell ill, and was sedulously nursed by Helios.

On yet another occasion Brihat’ s semi-occult influence came usefully into the family life. During one of the vacations of the University an attack was made upon a village in the neighbourhood by Negro pirates from the southern shore of the Sahara Sea. Brihat by some means or other became cognisant of the impending attack—from his eyrie on the hill-top he may have seen the fleet of boats approaching—and he managed by means of thought transference to warn Alcyone of the danger. Leo, Alcyone and Herakles, representing thus three generations, happened to be within reach, and they all at once hurried down to the village and organised the inhabitants to resist the raid. The villagers were ill-armed and unaccustomed to fighting, and if caught unawares would undoubtedly have fallen an easy prey to the savage marauders. But having three gentlemen to lead and encourage them, and to make a definite plan of defense for them, they were able to do much better. Our heroes thought it best not to attempt to oppose the landing of the enemy, but succeeded in decoying them into an ambush in which large numbers of the were slaughtered.

Mizar, the youngest son of Sirius, happened to be staying out there with two boy friends. These boys had of course been left behind when the news arrived, and strictly enjoined to keep out of harm’ s way. But equally of course they desired to see something of the fighting, and stole down after their elders, and while they were watching from a distance Leo’ s arrangements for the defense, a brilliant idea suddenly dawned upon Mizar which he instantly communicated to his companions. The pirates ran their boats up on the shore, made them fast and left them while they charged into the village to pillage, rushed to these boats and set them on fire, helping the conflagration by pouring into them a quantity of pitch which they obtained from the yard of a neighboring boat-builder. The pirates had not dreamt of any serious opposition and had left their craft entirely undefended, so the boys had a clear field of action, and in a surprisingly short space of time, by working with feverish energy, they had the entire fleet of boats blazing merrily, and whenever they could not get the flames at once to seize upon some part of the vessels they could easily reach. In this they were assisted by another of our characters—Boreas, who was a boy servant to Mizar. Fortunately for themselves they contrived to get away just before some of the pirates, disgusted with their unexpectedly warm reception, came trooping back to the beach and realised that they were cut off. This discovery made them fight with redoubled savagery, but Leo’ s plans were so well laid, and he was so ably seconded by the younger men, that they were able to keep the pirates at bay until the arrival of Sirius with a large armed force from the city—for immediately on receipt of the first warning of danger Alcyone had sent a mesenger to him for military assistance. The pirates were then ruthlessly exterminated.

The younger branches of the family intermarried to some extent, Vega taking Bee to wife, and Bella joining with aqua. The childish association of Cygnus with Sirius and Alcyone led to her falling seriously in love with the latter when they grew older. Though she had never previously shown her love openly, his marriage with Helios was a great blow to her, and she went and reproached him bitterly for forgetting him, as she put it. He was much concerned about the affair, and spoke gently and kindly to her, though he was in no way shaken in his devotion to his wife. Cygnus could not forget him, and refused several eligible offers because of this; but after some years she at last yielded to the oft-repeated solicitations of an old suitor, married him and lived a sober and happy life. Her brother Algol married Psyche, which was considered an exceedingly good match for him.

Perfect understanding always subsisted between the twin-brothers Sirius and Alcyone, and when the former died at the age of sixty-nine Alcyone felt that he had lost himself as well as his brother. But he soon realised that nothing was really lost, for each night he dreamt vividly of Sirius, and during the two years which he survived it may truly be said that he lived through the days only for the sake of the nights. Up to the last, however, he retained the keenest interest in his University, and it was his greatest joy to see how thoroughly his son Herakles entered into his feelings, and how eagerly he carried on his work. Finally Alcyone passed away peacefully during sleep, at the age of 71, leaving behind him as a monument a university the renown of which lasted some two thousand years, until the civlisation wore itself out, and was overrun by barbarous tribes. We find another of our characters Phocea, acting as a clerk in the office of the University.

Chart XXV
Algeria 18,209 B.C.
1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th 7 th

Venus -Albireo

Hector -Crux Corona -Naga Elsa -Demeter Brihat Mars -Roxana

Crux -Hector Vajra Mona -Gimel Onyx Yajna -Irene

Gluck -Sylla -Uchacha

Inca -Baldur Phra -Noel Achilles -Leo

Horus -Karu Argus -Cassio

Gaspar -Fabius

Helios -Alcyone Uranus -Proteus Aurora -Herakles Fomal -Theseus Demeter -Elsa Baldur -Inca

Neptune -Leopard Dora -Hermia Herakles -Aurora

Capella -Euphra

Walter -Ronald Clio -Fons Sita -Ushas Lutea -Aries Mercury Zoe -Kos Ivy -Egeria

Nu -Ida Alcyone -Helios

Hygeia -Radius Aldeb -Callio

Beth -Ajax Daleth -Forma Parthe -Ara Soma -Math

Ulysses Noel -Phra Bee -Vega

Aqua -Bella Ushas -Sita Upaka -Una

Naga -Corona Naiad -Vizier Pavo -Nanda Joan -Yati

Jupiter -Koli Chanda -Jerome Viraj -Apollo Athena -Gnostic

Ivan -Kratos

Koli -Jupiter Kratos -Ivan Kamu -Echo

Jerome -Chanda Alma -Yodha Vega -Bee

Lotus -Ullin Saturn -Rama

Gnostic -Athena Oak -Zama

Radius -Hygeia Maya -Markab Odos -Rao

Chart XXV

Algeria 18,209 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Madhu -Tripos Kepos -Nimrod Pearl -Castor Mira -Melete Leo -Achilles Sirius -Selene

Ajax -Beth Atlas -Colos Vesta -Pindar

Siwa -Dome Egeria -Ivy Deneb -Theo Canopus -Osiris Beren -Rector Bella -Aqua

Theo -Deneb Dolphin -Flora Daphne -Eudox

Priam -Clare Lignus -Ixion Psyche Algol

Viola -Sextans Auriga -Iris

Tolosa -Cyr

Tiphys -Scotus

Rama -Saturn Hermin -Dora

Leopard -Neptune Philae -Rex Dome -Siwa

Mizar -Aquilla

Aulus -Norma Judex -Allen Hestin -Pisces

Rector -Beren Stella -Pome Aletheia -Pax

Vulcan -Kudos

Fabius -Gaspar Rosa -Holly

Sylla -Gluck Gem -Pyx

Gimel -Mona

Polaris -Fides Orca -Nita Euphra -Capella Sextans -Viola Fons -Clio

Markab -Maya Melete -Mira

Tripos -Madhu Pisces -Hestia Pomo -Stella Eudox -Daphne

Fides -Polaris Myna -Beatus Jason -Arthur Libra -Thor

Camel -Laxa Telema -Trefoil Aquila -Mizar Selene -Sirius Andro -Lili Cassio -Argus

Spica -Draco

Concord -Cento Arcor -Zeno Uchacha -Onyx Aries -Lutea

Pindar -Vesta Lili -Andro

Chart XXV

Algeria 18,209 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Colos -Atlas Forma -Daleth Juno -Lyra

Dactyl -Phoenix

Chrys -Dido Scotus -Tiphys Nicos -Aglaia Xanthos -Percy Thor -Libra Theseus -Fomal Leto -Alastor Albireo -Venus

Lobelia -Magnus Cetus -Zephyr Karu -Horus Ullin -Lotus Ronald -Walter

Yodha -Alma

Kim -Udor

Echo -Kamu Arthur -Jason

Obra -Xulon Nimrod -Kepos Yati -Joan

Taurus -Altair

Percy -Xanthos

Sif -Dhruva

Ida -Nu

Cento -Concord Wences -Nestor Betel -Quies Holly -Rosa Iris -Auriga Pollux -Apis Flos -Virgo

Adrona -Abel Melpo -Spes

Phocea -Capri

Hebe -Ophis

Zeno -Arcor Ixion -Lignus Math -Soma

Trefoil -Telema

Dido -Chrys Diana -Fort Kudos -Vulcan

Algol -Psyche

Rigel -Alex Sagitta -Pepin

Magnus -Lobelia

Udor -Kim Cygnus -Regu

Una -Upaka Quies -Betel

Callio -Aldeb Castor -Pearl Abel -Adrona Alces -Pallas

Olaf -Rhea

Vale -Eros Laxa -Camel Auson -Lomia Apollo -Viraj Osiris -Canopus Alex -Rigel

Kos -Zoe

Rex -Philae Ara -Parthe Lomia -Auson

Alba -Judex

Chart XXV

Algeria 18,209 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Nita -Orca Norma -Aulus Nestor -Wences Clare -Priam Pax -Aletheia

Bruce -Sappho Ophis -Hebe

Zama -Oak Muni -Sirona

Cyr -Tolosa Spes -Melpo

Xulon -Obra Phoenix -Dactyl

Rao -Odos Calyx -Electra Virgo -Flos

Dhruva -Sif Nanda -Pavo Electra -Calyx

Sappho -Bruce Fort -Diana Folra -Dolphin Amal -Orphus

Aglaia -Nicos Rhea -Olaf Eros -Vale Beatus -Magnus Apis -Pollux Vizier -Naiad

Draco -Spica Boreas

Life XXVI

Alcyone’ s birth this time takes us to Central Asia once more, but now in the midst of the huge orthodox majority settled in that cradle-land of the fifth Root-Race. It took place in 17464 B.C., shortly after the other through thousands of years, gradually established the first Aryan sub-race in the possession of the Indian peninsula. One wing of the expedition previous to that now to be described had met with a serious disaster; part of the emigrant body had followed the western route travelled by Mars in the nineteenth century B.C.(18,875), avoiding the great mountain barriers of the Himalayas; but a smaller party, less weighted by women and children, had decided boldly to face the great Range, following a road they had heard of from traders, which led thorough a practicable but gloomy Pass, debouching into the plains near the city now known as Peshawar. In modern days we know it as the Khybar Pass. They had pressed on, engaging in skirmishes with the hill-tribes from time to time, until near the end of the Pass, when suddenly a host of foes came down upon them like an avalanche, in front, behind, on each side, and, hopelessly outnumbered, they perished almost to a man. A few stragglers from the main body escaped, and, after incredible hardships which left only two survivors, these two starving, miserable fugitives arrived on the frontier of the Aryans, and, after resting for a brief space, were sent on to the King of the central community. Clad in sheep-skins given to them by their first hosts, they appeared before him and told the story of the massacre, and from that time the Pass was known as the Pass of death. Jupiter was then a boy of about ten, and the story made a great impression upon him, and when, as King of the tribe, he decided to send his eldest son Mars, at the head of another great host of emigrants, to penetrate into India, he advised him to avoid the Pass of Death and to seek some other egress.

The preparations for the expeditions lasted for some years, and Mars decided to make careful selection of the families which were to take part in the emigration, choosing only such as appeared likely to be best able to withstand the inevitable hardships of the way, and specially the warriors best trained in the methods of guerrilla fighting for mountains and of set battles on the plains. Among others his choice fell on Psyche, the father of Alcyone (then a boy of nine), whose wife Arthur was a woman of courage and resource. Capella, a neighbour and a close friend of Psyche, whose comrade he had been in several marauding expeditions, was also chosen by Mars. A great captain, Vulcan, was the warrior on whom Mars placed most reliance, and, dividing his host into two, he sent him a little ahead of himself, with instructions to penetrate through the mountains along a route running southwards and bending eastwards; while he would lead his party a little to the west, but not so far west as the Pass of Death. On emerging from the mountains the separated hosts were to rejoin each other, marching respectively eastwards and westwards till they met.

The starting of Mars was a little delayed by the pregnancy of his wife Neptune; soon after his eldest son Herakles was born, he set forward with his huge caravan. The women and children were divided into large parties, with herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep and goats; these were placed in the centre of a great number of fighting men, while on the outskirts all round hovered a cloud of well-mounted warriors, accompanied by swift and lightly armed runners, whom they could dispatch to the main body on any alarm, covering them from pursuit, the runners being less distinguishable than mounted messengers would have been, and the roughness of the ground impeding runners less than mounted men.

In the early days Mars and Psyche were often seen riding side by side, discussing the prospects before them, while Alcyone, mounted on a rough, sure-footed pony of the hills, would sometimes ride beside them, listening thoughtfully to their discourses, then dash ahead to take part with the scout in front, and then pass his elders at full gallop, as he rode to find his mother Arthur in the centre of the troop, eagerly attending to her wants and cheering her with gay stories of the troops, or in the sunset hour, nestle by her side, whispering his dreams, his hopes. Albeiro and Leto often accompanied him on his less adventurous and later baby Ajax would sit in front of him and prattle gaily as he rode, held fast by his brother’ s arm. Capella’ s sons became members of this young party, and the daughters, riding astride, often accompanied them. Hector, Capella’ s eldest daughter, became Albeiro’ s favourite companion while Alcyone found his best loved comrade in Rigel, the daughter of Betel. Ere the plains were reached the two pairs were wed, and the family of Mars had been increased by two sons and three daughters.

After some fifteen years of travelling, the caravan-army of Mars reached the plains, the earlier bodies camping and awaiting

the later ones, until all were gathered in one huge camp. From time to time the younger men would make forays into the surrounding country, and on several occasions Mars had reproved Herakles for his somewhat reckless plunges into the unknown; the lad was wilful and impetuous, and inclined to think that his elders overrated the danger of his excursions. However, he received a sharp lesson, when one day he and his troops fell into an ambush and were suddenly attacked by a hostile force, which rose on all sides and pressed them sore. Herakles charged boldly with his men, trying to break through the encompassing—ring, but was beaten back every time; his case seemed hopeless, when a band of horsemen came charging up and a rain of arrows, loosed as they galloped, fell on the assailants. The horse of Herakles had fallen with him beneath it wounded and stunned; a sharp melee followed, the enemies were driven off, and Alcyone, recognising his friend’ s horse, rolled it over with the aid of two of the soldiers, and found the senseless body of Herakles underneath. It seemed that Alcyone had gone eastword, in search of the hoped-for approaching army under Vulcan, and had met a similar scouting troop from it, under Vajra, looking for the western force; they had met with much rejoicing, and were returning to the camp of Mars when a thick cloud of dust was noted by Vajra’ s keen eyes. Alcyone was impressed with the idea that Herakles was in danger, and urged his companions to speed. They arrived but just in time to save the party from massacre, and Alcyone, tenderly raising his friend’ s body, supported it against his breast until he laid it at his mother Neptune’ s feet. She nursed her stalwart son back into health ere long, but Mars improved the occasion by reminding Herakles of his warning, and pointing out to

him that Alcyone was no less brave because he was less headstrong.

The two armies having joined, the ablest leader of both decided to march southwards to find a suitable place for permanent settlement. They left the women and children behind in strongly entrenched camp, covering a large tract of land about midway between the modern Jammu and Gujranwallah, with a sufficient body of armed men to hold the camp against attack. The place soon assumed the aspect of a city, with great areas for grazing around it on all sides, and cultivated fields within the entrenchments.

The invading host moved into a country already inhabited and flourishing. There were great cities, the dwellers in which had reached a high state of civilisation, and had become ever-luxurious and indolent. One of the immigrations of Aryans seemed to have established itself in the large areas which were not cultivated, and after much fighting and parleying, its members had settled themselves beside the civilised town-dwellers, defending them against the attacks of others and more or less plundering them themselves, under guise of tribute and subsidies. The owners of the country despised the northern warriors as less civilised than themselves, but feared their prowess in arms and their arrogance in council, and allowed themselves slowly but surely to be pressed back into their cities, and allowed themselves slowly but surely to be pressed back into their cities, or turned into servants and labourers outside.

The Aryans, chanting the hymns of their War-Gods, and haughty in their strength and virility, despised equally the luxurious and decadent population of the land they coveted, and settled themselves down in the territory now known as Punjab, gradually becoming the real masters of the country. Another immigration turned eastwards, settling in what we now call Assam and northern Bengal. When the present immigration arrived, aiming at what is now called the Punjab—by the direction of the Manu conveyed to Mars through Jupiter—it found the land partly occupied by previous settlers, who eyed the new-comers askance and, while refraining from active hostility, endeavoured by passive resistance and withholding of aid to turn them away from their own neighbourhood.

After a year spent in obtaining information,, and consultation over the reports brought in by bodies of scouts, Mars and his council decided to make their permanent central settlement in the land where Delhi is now situated, despite the fact that the only convenient route was barred by a great city inhabited by the Toltec owners of the soil. Alcyone, though still under thirty years of age, was charged with the duty of leading an embassy to the ruler of the city and surrounding district, praying for free passage past the city and for permission to purchase food and forage. The mission was skillfully discharged, and permission was obtained on condition that the main body of troops should not pass close to the city, but should make a considerable detour in order to avoid it. Mars was invited to visit the Chief, and accepted the offer of hospitality. Like a wise general, however, he took with a strong escort, and left Vulcan in charge of the main body, taking Alcyone, Herakles and Vajra with himself.

The city lay within a huge wall, made of a high embankment, sloping on its inner side, but perpendicular and faced with iron plates, bolted together on the outer side, thus presenting a continuous and unscalable surface. This extraordinary wall made the city practically impregnable to attack by the arms of the time, such as were possessed by the uncivilised nations whose hordes swept now and again over the country; it could only be successfully assaulted from above, and the art of manufacturing airships had been lost by these degenerated Toltecs, and not yet entrusted to the younger race of Aryans. Castor, its chief, hence felt himself secure from attack, but none the less designated in his own mind that when these formidable strangers entered within his gates, he would seize them, hoping that the army, thus deprived of its leaders, might be persuaded to become mercenaries in his own employ. He was disappointed to find that the second in command to Mars was not one of the party, but was none the less determined to carry out his nefarious design.

On the night preceding the proposed treachery, Neptune visited her husband in his sleep, and told him that she had seen a vision of his seizure at the morrow’ s feast. Under the flowing festal robes presented by his host, Mars consequently donned his fighting jerkin and concealed his arms, and bade all his escort follow his example; these at the feast were to be ready at his signal to form a compact body and fight their way out of the hall, while the bulk of his escort were to await them outside. He sent some of his men to lounge near the city gate by which he proposed to escape, with orders to seize the guard and hold the gate on arrival of his messengers, and he stationed a few swift runners to carry to them the news, so soon as they should hear the sound of his war-conch.

In the midst of the feast, as Castor was making a stately speech to his chief guest, he signaled to those chosen to seize the visitors, and Mars was suddenly pinioned from behind. With a desperate wrench, the powerful warrior shook himself free as he sprang to his feet, and the rear of his conch crushed through the hall, so startling his assailants that they for a moment fell back, fearstricken. The pause was sufficient. Alcyone, Herakles, Vajra and others rushed towards him and guarded his sides and back, while, striking down Castor with one mighty blow of his clenched fist—for he would not slay the man whose bread he was eating—he swiftly charged through the crowd to the door of the banqueting hall. In a moment he was among his men, who had sprung to their horses at the sound of his conch and had galloped into the inner courtyard, bringing the horses of Mars and his comrades, and ere the guards of Castor had recovered from their stupor, Mars and his men were away, in headlong flight through the streets to the appointed gate, where the trusted Captain, Capella—who, warned by the runners, had meanwhile captured the guards and substituted for them his own men, locked them with the heavy keys, and trotted away with these across his horse’ s neck, waiting for explanation of the proceedings until a more convenient moment.

Mars had too arduous work in hand to turn his army back to punish the aggressors; moreover he had no time to waste on reducing the city by starvation—a work of years—and no arms wherewith to take it by assault. So he pressed onward to his determined goal, laid the foundations of the future city, appointed Vulcan as governor, with Alcyone and Herakles under him, and himself, with Vajra and a picked troop, set out for his far—off camp, to bring down the women and children. Gathering all together, he started again for his new city, which he named Ravipur, and arrived there after a wearisome journey; encumbered as a camp, he did not succeed in travelling more than seven or eight miles a day.

It is only fair to mention that Castor on reflection was ashamed of the trick that he had tried to play upon Mars, and had the moral courage to send trick that he had tried to play upon Mars, and had the moral courage to send an embassy to apologise. Mars responded to this by sending Capella back with friendly gifts to conclude a treaty of alliance with Castor, and by way of cementing this, Castor’ s eldest son Aries was married to Capella’ s daughter Demeter—a union which turned out happily for all concerned.

Beside the large band of our characters who marched into India with Mars, we find a considerable number who were not chosen for the migration, but stayed behind in the Central Asian kingdom with his aunt Mercury. The latter had married Viraj, and from this union, and that of Viraj’ s sister Viola with Spes, descended several families, among whom are about forty of the people whose fortunes we have been following.

From this time onward events moved along ordinary courses—skirmishes with sorrounding tribes, embassies to neighbouring Chiefs, cultivation of land, and the business of a great settlement. Mars passed away at about the age of sixty-five, leaving Herakles to succeed him, with Alcyone as his most trusted councillor and dearest friend.

Alcyone died at the age of sixty, in 17,404 B.C., his wife preceeding him by a few years. Herakles died soon after Alcyone, never recovering quite from the loss. “ The better half of myself is gone,” he said sadly; “ why should I remain behind?” Not considering that either of his sons Gem and Arcor was sufficiently steady and reliable to succeed him, he named his brother Siwa as his successor, and sent his sons away, each with a strong troop and caravan, to found cities for themselves.

Chart XXVI

Central Asia and India 17,464 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Gem -Lili Bootes -Radius Arcor -Jason

Hygeia -Ullin

Herakles -Cetus

Polaris -Diana Capri -Gluck Adrona -Karu Inca -Calyx Ushas -Melete

Hebe -Philae Flora -Pax Ixion -Tolosa Gimel -Koli

Pepin -Iris Tiphys -Fort Kamu -Brihat

Horus -Tripos

Radius -Bootes Pavo -Aglais Noel -Clio

Lotus -Alba Ara -Ophis

Oak -Daphne Siwa -Pearl

Phra -Laxa Daleth -Fabius Yati -Eudox Yajna -Vesta

Jupiter -Satara

Mars -Neptune

Sagitta -Leopard Dome -Cassio Diana -Polaris

Upaka -Rao Onyx -Boreas Kudos -Crux Pax -Flora Dido -Theseus Tolosa -Ixion Mizar -Rama

Yodha -Markab Boreas -Onyx

Jason -Arcor Rosa -Dhruva Koli -Gimel

Iris -Pepin Fort -Tiphys Maya -Sigma Ronald -Lutea

Zephyr -Dharma Osiris -Percy

Markab -Yodha Pindar -Quies

Kepos -Xulon Andro -Zoe

Melete -Ushas Virgo -Nanda Alba -Lotus

Calyx -Inca Clio -Noel Cyr -Sita

Naga -Libra

Melpo -Joan

Mona -Uchacha Udox -Yati Laza -Phra Alma -Nimrod

Phocea -Vizier Aglaia -Pavo

Central Asia and India

1 st 2nd 3rd

Mercury -Viraj

Saturn -Jupiter Viola -Spes Venus -Aurora

Selene -Colos Fides -Athena

Viraj -Mercury Leo -Norma

Apollo -Electra Sirius -Vega

Vega -Sirius

Spes -Viola Vajra -Orpheus

Electra -Apollo

Psyche -Arthur

Chart XXVI

4 th

Ulysses -Bell

Beth -Lyra Deneb -Callio Beren -Atlas Odos -Una

Alex -Alces Callio -Deneb Hestia -Achills Libra -Naga

Alethia -Lomia

Mira -Helios

Bella -Ulysses

Brihat -Kamu Uranus -Kos

Draco -Argus

Altair -Cento

Pearl -Siwa

Euphra -Hermin Aulus -Aldeb Atlas -Beren Lomia -Alethia Ivan -Naiad

Alcyone -Rigel

Ajax -Elsa

Kos -Uranus

17,464 B.C.

5th 6th 7th

Nu -Chanda

Gaspar -Auriga Muni -Jerome

Jerome -Muni

Lili -Gem Dactyl -Scotus Concord -Taurus Regu -Wences

Karu -Adrona

Rao -Upaka Xulon -Kepos

Dhruva -Rosa Cassio -Dome

Crux -Kudos Wences -Regu Taurus -Concord

Irene -Flos Theseus -Dido

Aqua -Sif

Daphne -Oak Holly -Camel Priam -Pisces

Lutea -Ronald Fabius -Daleth Ullin -Hygeia Kratos -Lobelia

Baldur -Abel

Chart XXVI

Central Asia and India 17,464 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Albireo -Hector

Dharma -Zephyr

Beatus -Ivy Fons -Lignus

Flos -Irene Sigma -Maya Leto -Thor Walter -Auson Bee -Math Echo -Ida

Pyx -Zeno Cygnus -Fomal

Quies -Pindar

Sylla -Obra

Hermin -Euphra

Auriga -Gaspar Athena -Fides Aquila -Soma Alces -Alex

Roma -Mizar Vulcan -Corona

Rector -Trefoil Thor -Leto

Neptune -Mars Achilles -Hestia Lyra -Beth Colos -Selene

Aldeb -Aulus Helios -Mira Naiad -Ivan Una -Odos Corona -Vulcan Arthur -Psyche

Nanda -Virgo Joan -Melpo Percy -Osiris

Sita -Cyr Gnostic -Phoenix Auson -Walter

Rex -Bruce Sif -Aqua Capella -Judex

Fomal Cygnus Phoenix -Gnostic Camel -Holly Orca -Nita

Demeter -Aries Hector -Albireo Elsa -Ajax Kim -Udor

Xanthos -Olaf Norma -Leo Orppheus -Vajra

Eros -Theo Math -Bee Forma -Sextans Chrys -Nestor Zoe -Andro

Clare -Magnus Parthe -Proteus

Obra -Sylla

Madhu -Apis

Uchacha -Mona Zeno -Pyx Chanda -Nu Telema -Spica

Juno -Nicos

Chart XXVI

Central Asia and India

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Spica -Telema

Rigel -Alcyone

Olaf -Xanthos Canopus -Betel

Vesta -Yajna

Aries -Demeter Alastor Castor -Pollux

Myna Sirona Pomo

17,464 B.C.

5 th

6th 7th

Apis -Madhu Gluck -Capri Tripos -Horus

Ivy -Beatus

Abel -Baldur

Nimrod -Alma

Vizier -Phocea

Nicos -Juno Leopard -Sagitta Theo -Eros Lobelia -Kratos Magnus -Clare

Lignus -Fons Bruce -Rex Scotus -Dactyl Sextans -Forma Nita -Orca Philae -Hebe Nestor -Chrys Ophis -Ara Pisces -Priam

Chart XXVIa

Poseidonis (Birth of Orion) 17,228 B.C.

Orion was born in the year 17,228, in an Accadian race in the southern part of Poseidonis. The country was in an unsettled condition, and the people, who were chiefly manufacturer's and traders, suffered much from the depredations of pirates. Orion was the son of a rich merchant, and was early taken into his business, but owing to his infatuation for women of an undesirable type, he soon became dishonest. On one occasion he received on behalf of his father payments for a large shipment of goods, but misappropriated the money; and as discovery was imminent he siezed upon the young clerk Zeta, who had brought him the money , and sold him to the pirates as a slave. Presently the woman , Gamma, for whose sake he had done this crime, tired of him and arranged that he in turn should be seized and sold to the pirates. In this way he was carried to their headquarters and there met the victim whom he had sold to them years before. For a long time these two fellow prisoners were bitter enemies but eventually they made up their quarrel, became friends, and managed, after fourteen years of captivity to escape from the galleys in which they were. Zeta was badly injured in the course of the escape, but Orion tended him carefully,and therby saved his life. Orion afterwards took service with a goldsmith, and in that way supported Zeta until his death, Orion in the course of time succ eeded to the budiness and amassed some wealth, but lost it all thorugh the dishonesty of a workman. He was now too old to obtain regular work, so he drifted gradually downwards, became a begger again and lived in poverty and obscurity to extreme old age.

Orion; Zeta; Gamma.

Chart XXVIb

Egypt (Birth of Erato) 17,147 B.C.

Erato was born in the year 17,147 in an Arab family, but at about the age of nine was captured and carried off into Egypt as a slave. He was fortunate enough to fall into the hands of a kindly family, and was appointed as the attendant of the little son of his master. He was treated very much as a member of the family, and when the head of it died he married his young master's sister and established his footing definitely. The father's property had become involved, and after his death they were very poor, and it was mainly Erato who supported them, as his young brother-in-law was by no means a practical man. Erato presently obtained a position as secretary to Pallas, an old man who had a very fine library and was engaged upon a great historical work. He held this post for ten years until the death of Pallas, who left to him his library and also some of his property on condition of his finishing the great historical work. This he did, though it took him many years, and eventually he presented a copy of the book to the Pharaoh ,who placed it in the royal archives and offered Erato a position in connection with the royal library at the capital. Erato Erato, however, declined this, and ended his life peacefully upon his own estate.

Egeria -Rhea

Vale Dolphin -Zoma

Roxana -Dora Dora -Roxana Cyr -Erato

Algol Sappho -Amal

Pallas Stella Cancer -Lacey Thetis

Life XXVII

In the year 16,876 B.C. there flourished a great Akkadian maritime oligarchy, which was situated somewhat to the south of the central part of Poseidonis. The people belonged to the sixth Atlantean sub-race, resembling the Etruscans or the Phoenicians— essentially a race of merchants and sailors, opulent, business-like and inclined to be ostentatious. Mars was the Toltec Emperor at this time, as he had often been before, and this people owned him as suzerain, though practically independent of him. They were governed by a nominally elected council, but the members of this all invariably belonged to half-a-dozen great families, and though Mars nominate the chairman of the council he interfered but little in their affairs. The person who had by far the greatest influence in the country at this time was the High Priest Surya, a man of saintly life and great wisdom, who was known and revered throughout the whole Atlantean empire. As a matter of policy and in order to consolidate the empire, Mars had offered his son Herakles to marry Saturn, the daughter of Surya, and this offer had been accepted. In this way Herakles became, not exactly a subordinate King, but the permanent head of the Akkad council, and so virtually the ruler of the country. The sons of Herakles were Mercury and Venus, and these sons married respectively Brihat and Osiris, which brings us to the generation with which we have to deal, for Alcyone was the eldest son of Mercury, and Sirius and Mizar were the daughters of Venus.

Alcyone was thus the grandson of Herakles, and the great-grandson of Mars and Surya. The Emperor Mars was already some sixty years of age when Alcyone was born, and he saw him only three or four times on the occasion of the periodical State progresses of the Emperor through his country, and once when he himself visited the capital. With his other great-grandfather, Surya, he was in constant touch, and a close affection existed between the old man and the boy. Surya considered him a child of great promise, and devoted much of his time to superintending his education, so that he acquired a great deal more than the usual commercial training of the time. The priests were in a certain way highly educated men, for they were all expected to learn their scriptures by heart, and to have to use a book in any part of the service, even the most unusual, would have been considered a weakness. They were also the doctors and scientific men of the time, so that they had to spend many years in study. As a rule only the children of the priestly class became priests, and not by any means all even of them, for it was quite usual for the younger sons of priests to adopt the mercantile or maritime profession.

Herakles being the son of the Emperor, and therefore not of the priestly caste, was not considered eligible to succeed Surya, so that it was understood that when by death or resignation is office became vacant, it should be inherited by his grandson Mercury, who had been trained in the Temple from childhood with that view. As his mother Brihat was also a deeply religious woman, it was natural that Alcyone should find himself familiar with the Temple courts at an early age, and should learn to think the profession of a priest the most desirable in the world. As he grew, however he made many friends among the boys of the town, and soon found that most of them did not at all agree with him in this, but that all their desires were centered round quite another life—the excitement of making good bargains and gaining much money, or the interest of sailing to distant lands where all sorts of strange adventures might be encountered. Thrilling stories of dangers surmounted and of fortunes quickly made were dinned into his ears, and there was a side of his nature which responded very rapidly to all this. But when he excitedly repeated these stories of his father and mother, or to his great-grandfather Surya, they gently told him that, fascinating as the life of a sailor or a merchant might be, it was still on the whole one of self-interest, while that of a priest was altruistic—that the one worked for the physical life only, but the other for a higher life and for all eternity. They told him also that while both the sailor and the merchant sometimes met with strange and exciting adventures, these were after all rare, while the daily life of each involved a great deal of dull, plodding hard work.

So he grew up with two antagonistic ideals in his mind, and for years he was not quite sure whether he most desired to be a High Priest or a successful pirate. His boy-friends painted in vivid colors the delights of the swash-bucking life, while Surya spoke to him of the higher joys of self-sacrifice; and each in turn seemed desirable to him. Mercury and the gentle Brihat doubted much whether the companionship of his young friends was good for him, and debated whether it was not a duty to withdraw him from its fascination; but the aged Surya advised them to let him go his own way and decide for himself, pointing out that in him were mingled the blood of the Emperor and that of the High Priest, and that they must each have full play. For he said:

“ I have seen in my long life many boys, and I believe in this lad and love him; and when the time of decision comes I think he will choose aright.”

The old man’ s confidence was justified. When Alcyone came to the age at which he accepted as a postulant in the Temple, his great-grandfather sent for him and asked him whether he wished to enter it. He replied that he did; but instead of immediately accepting him, Surya told him to go once more among his boy and girlfriends and hear all the stories they could tell him, to go with them on board the vessels then in port and talk with the sailors, and then to come back to him a week later and tell him whether he adhered to his resolution. The boy did as he was told, and the struggle in his mind was a sore one. The tales of adventures had never seemed so attractive; the smell of pitch and of strange spices and far-away seas that hung round the great ships intoxicated him. Worst of all was the attraction of a certain young lady—Phocea, the daughter of Alces, one of the rich merchants – a little girl of about his own age; many boys were striving to be noticed by her, and she favoured those who boasted loudly of the adventures which they would seek, and the deeds of prowess they would do; and she had once spoken of him half-contemptuously as “ only a young priest”.

He went to see her on this occasion, and found her as usual holding a little court of admiring friends near the harbour, and listening to and applauding the gasconde of the would-be sea-captains or pirate kings. One boy especially seemed for the moment to be high in the favour of their fickle young goddess, and he gave himself airs accordingly, and sneered at Alcyone for his supposed want of dash and courage. Presently, however, his tone changed, for as the children all went on board one of the empty ships moored to the wharf, he, being intent upon showing off before his lady-love some boyish prank, slipped from a plank into the foul water of the dock. He screamed and struggled helplessly, and was in evident danger of drowning for he did not know how to swim; but Alcyone, who was a strong and practiced swimmer, at once plunged in and dragged him to some steps, though only with great difficulty, as the drowning boy clutched him round the neck and he could not free himself. They were both much exhausted, the rescuer being in rather worse condition than the rescued; but some men who had come running up carried them up the steps and into a neighbouring house, where they soon recovered. The little girl, who had fainted, remarked when she came to herself:

“ The young priest is the best of them after all.”

But Alcyone blamed her in his mind for the accident, and never after that felt any attraction towards her.

He went back at once to his great-grandfather and said:

“ Take me into the Temple, for to help others at home is a better thing than to seek adventure abroad.”

And Surya blessed him, and said:

“ You have chosen wisely, as I knew you would. I have prayed much for you, and last night, as I was praying, the past and the future opened before my eyes, and I know what has been and what shall be. Just as today you saved another life at the risk of your own; so long ago did you save my life, even mine, at the cost of your own; and once more in the future you may give up your life for me if you will, and through that sacrifice all the kingdoms of the world shall be blessed.”

The boy looked up at Surya in wonder and awe, for the old man’ s face was transfigured as he spoke, and it seemed as though mighty flames were playing round him; and though Alcyone could not then fully understand what he meant, he never forgot the impression which it made upon him. He was duly admitted into the Temple, and was very happy in his life there, for though the studies were arduous they were well arranged, and were made interesting to the postulants. Surya, wishing perhaps to show the boy that in the priestly life also one might have travel and adventure, offered him the opportunity of accompanying his father Mercury and some other priests upon a mission to a great library and university in Northern Africa. Naturally Alcyone accepted with the greatest joy, and the voyage was a never-failing wonder and delight to him. It was a long and slow, but not too long for him; indeed, his excitement and interest wen land came in sight were somewhat tempered by the regret which he felt at leaving the vessel, every sailor in which was a personal friend to him.

As they sailed along the coast a curious feeling came over him that he had seen it all before, and it grew so strong that he amused himself by telling the sailors what would come in sight beyond each headland as they came to it; and the remarkable thing was that he was always right. He described in detail the city which was their port of disembarkation long before they reached it; and the sailors who knew it said that his description of the hills and valleys and the position of buildings was marvellously accurate, but that what he said as to the shape and size of the buildings themselves and the extension of the town was almost all of it wrong. When at last they came in sight of it his feelings were of the most mixed description; he recognised instantly all the physical features of the place, but the town was enormously larger than in his opinion it ought to be, and the buildings seemed all different. He was strangely excited at this astounding half recognition of everything, and constantly questioned his father about it, but at first Mercury could only say that he must have travelled on in advance of the ship in his eagerness, and seen things in a vision.

Presently, when it became evident that the city which he knew was much smaller, it occurred to his father that they might be in the presence of the phenomenon of a memory from a past incarnation; and when they landed he became almost sure of this, because when Alcyone described how, according to his idea, the various streets ought to run or the buildings to stand, in several cases the inhabitants said:

“ Yes, there is a tradition that it used to be like that.”

When they were carried out to the University on a curious hydraulic rock tramway he became still more excited, and described exactly how it used to work, and the form of the old cars, which had for centuries been superseded by another type; and when they reached the University itself he was quite unable to contain himself, for he declared that he knew every walk in the garden, and dragged his father about to show it all to him. Presently his fullness of memory reawakened that of his father, and Mercury also began to see things as they used to be and to recollect events as well as scenes of a far-away past. Then father and son were able to compare notes, and to realise that in those old days they had been, not father and son, but father and daughter, and that the relative positions had been reversed. Then Alcyone said to his father:

“ You are an advanced priest of the Temple, and I am only a beginner; how could I remember all this before you did?”

Mercury replied: “ It is just because your body is younger than mine that it is easier for you to remember; I have changed sex too, and so have an entirely different outlook on life, while you have not. Besides, this University was your life work, and so it was impressed more strongly upon your mind than upon mine.”

They talked over all that time together, and marvelled greatly as they recalled incident after incident of the earlier life, and went from building to building, noting the changes. Most of all, perhaps, they were interested in the library, where they found some of the very books in which they used to read—some even that they had copied with their own hands.

Among other recollections, the language of that country came back to them, but of course it used to be spoken fifteen hundred years before, so that to those who heard them it sounded archaic and almost unintelligible; indeed the professor of ancient language was the only man with whom they could converse quite freely. The University staff were greatly interested in this wondrous phenomenon, and they had an amusing argument with a professor of history, who insisted that their memory of various events must be wrong because it did not agree with his books. Alcyone found with great glee a statue of himself in that incarnation, and after much persuasion he induced the authorities to inscribe on its pedestal his present name, and a record of the fact that he was a reincarnation of the founder, and the date on which he had visited the University.

From this it will be seen that after a searching enquiry the claims of our two travellers were admitted, and this unusual occurrence aroused a vast amount of interest, and was widely known and had a great reputation.

After their work in connection with the library was completed, they started on their homeward voyage. The ruler of the country sent for them, and desired to persuade them to stay in his realm, but Mercury respectfully declined the invitation, alleging as excuse that he had undertaken in Poseidonis duties belonging to his present incarnation, and that he must return to fulfil them.

Their voyage home was accomplished without serious mishap, though a heavy storm carried them far out of their course and gave them some new experiences. The vessel this time called in passing at the great City of Golden Gate, and Alcyone was much impressed with its architectural splendour, though Mercury felt its moral atmosphere to be foul and degraded. Of course they took this opportunity to pay a visit to Mars, who received them with great kindness, and kept them with him for two months.

By force of example and by stern repression of evil tendencies, Mars had kept his court at least outwardly decent; but he was well aware that the Toltec civilisation was even then decadent, and that a strong party among his subjects scarcely veiled their impatience of the restrictions which he imposed upon them. He felt that the outlook for the Empire was a gloomy one,and congratulated his descendents that their lot was cast in a part of the continent in which, though the inhabitants were often materialistic and avaricious, they were at least much freer from the darker magic and from what was called ‘ refined’ forms of sensuality. Even Alcyone, young though he was, felt that there was something wrong with the place, despite its magnificence, and was glad when the time came for them to pursue their journey.

Mars was deeply interested in the account of the remarkable recovery of memory on the part of both father and son at the North African University. He had no recollections of that nature himself, but said that in dreams he frequently found himself leading vast hosts through stupendous mountain ranges, and that he found himself leading vast hosts through stupendous mountain ranges, and that he had speculated as to whether those might not be memories of actual achievements in some previous birth. As Alcyone sat and listened to all this, it seemed to him that he too could see those towering peaks and those slow-moving multitudes, with his great-grandfather riding at their head, and his vision added many details which Mars would certainly have recognised if Alcyone had not been far too shy to venture upon describing them in the presence of the Emperor. He did describe them afterwards to his father, but, as we know, Mercury had not been in the emigration to which they referred, and so they awakened no memory for him.

When at last they reached their native city, the aged Surya welcomed Alcyone warmly, and rejoiced to hear his visions of the past. The report of these, which had rejected to hear of his visions of the past. The report of these, which had preached him, caused him to be regarded in the Temple as the most promising of its neophytes, and it was universally felt that he had a great future before him. One person at least reckoned upon that, and determined if possible to share it, and that was Phocea, the girl who had so nearly drawn him away from entering the Temple several years before. She had tried to attract him then; she tried with maturer arts to attract him now.

But by this time he was trebly armed against her wiles, for immediately on returning from his voyage he had met his cousin Sirius, and at once felt so strong an attraction for her that he determined off hand to marry her at the earliest possible moment. She thoroughly reciprocated his feelings, and was just as eager for instant marriage as he was, but the parents on both sides did not wuite understand such a violent case of love at first sight, and insisted kindly but firmly on a delay of at least a year. The young people unwillingly consented to this, because they could not help it, but this intervening period was one of severe trial to both of them, and this became so evident to the discerning eyes of Brihat that she contrived to get it shortened by almost half, to the great relief of the lovers. Surya himself performed the marriage ceremony, though it was but rarely that he took any personal part in the services, usually giving only his benediction to vast crowds from a lofty opening in the façade of the Temple, much as the Pope used to do at Rome. This marriage was indeed his last appearance at any public function, and only a few months later Alcyone and his wife were summoned to his bedside to receive his farewell message. He said to Alcyone:

“ Now I stand on the threshold of another world, and mine eyes can pierce the veil which hangs between this and that. I tell you that there lies before you much of tribulation, for all that has been evil in your past must be expiated, and you may be free. In your next birth you will pay something of your debt by a death of violence and after that you will return amidst surroundings of darkness and evil yet if, through that, you can see the light and tear away the veil which binds you, your reward shall be great. You shall follow in my footsteps, and shall fall at the feet of Him whom I also worship. Yes, and she also” (turning to Sirius), “ she also shall follow me, and your father shall lead you, for you be all of one great Race—the Race of those who help the world. And now I go down into what men call death; but though I seem to leave you, yet in truth I leave you not, for neither death nor birth can separate the members of that Race—those who take upon them the vow that can never be broken. So take courage to meet the storm, for after the storm the Sun shall shine—the Sun that never sets.”

A few days later Surya breathed his last, but Alcyone never forgot him through all his long life, and he often saw him in dreams and received blessing and help from him. So mercury took charge of the great Temple in his stead, and strove to carry on everything as Surya’ s wisdom had ordered it, his father Herakles co-operating in every way as the head of the temporal government.

The daughters of Venus had been a closely united family; indeed their feelings were so nearly identical that Sirius and Mizar were both in love with Alcyone, as well as with one another. When he married the former, the latter, incapable of any feeling of jealousy, loved both husband and wife just as dearly as before, and they so strongly reciprocated the affection that they invited Mizar to live with them. She joyously accepted , and no one could have been more loyal and loving coadjutor than she was to Sirius during all the years that followed. A more piteous case was to Sirius during all the years that followed. A more piteous case was that of Helios, a niece of Osiris, who had followed. A more piteous case was that of Helios, a niece of Osiris, who had been left an orphan at an early age, and consequently adapted by her uncle Venus. She had grown up with the family, and was so much one with it that she followed the example of the two elder girls in falling in love with Alcyone, and was quite heart-broken when he carried them both off, since she could not well offer to join his new household. She did, however, later came on long visits to the family, and in course of time accepted Alcyone’ s younger brother Achilles, thus remaining in close touch with all those whom she loved so well.

The authorities of the North African University had never forgotten their reincarnation founder, the little boy who had told th em so marvellous a story and exhibited such vivid enthusiasm. The tale had caught the popular imagination and been repeated in every home in the land, and when, some twelve years after his visit, the headship of the University fell vacant with no obvious successor, and somebody set on foot the idea that the post should be offered to the original founder, there was a tremendous outburst of enthusiasm over the whole country, and the ruler in consequence sent so pressing an invitation and made so generous an offer that Alcyone felt it would be churlish to refuse. Though he had now a wife and three children he consented to expatriate himself, and set up a home for them in a foreign land.

He was received in Africa with a perfect ovation; he landed at the capital city, by the special request of the ruler, and after being feted there for some time made a triumphal progress through the country to his ancient home. He was able to arrange to inhabit the very same suite of rooms or halls in which he had lived fourteen hundred years before, and he even had furniture constructed on archaic models, and endeavoured to reproduce as far as he could the exact appearance of the place in that previous life. The recollection of his earnest efforts then was a never-failing wonder and joy to him now, and he had such an opportunity as is given to few to see the permanent results of his own work after many generations. He threw himself into the university work with a vigour and enthusiasm which fourteen hundred years had not diminished, and his wife Sirius and his sister-in-law Mizar (who of course had accompanied them) co-operated with equal zeal.

Infected by his eagerness, both Sirius and Mizar began to remember something of that remote past, but they never attained to anything approaching his perfect familiarity with the older time. Vesta, who at that time was the youngest child, seemed as thoroughly at home in it all as his father, but Bella, though he also had been equally intimately associated with it all in that other life, had no memory of it whatever. Alcyone soon found that to establish a university and arrange it all just as one wished was one thing, but that to administer it when all its customs had the weight of a thousand years of tradition behind them was quite another. Still, he was happy in his work, and he managed everything with such tact that no outcry was made against various reforms which he contrived by degrees to institute. He kept up a constant correspondence with his father Mercury, this being indeed one of the stipulations which the latter had made before giving his consent to his acceptance of the headship of the University. He had also made it a condition that his son should return whenever he had urgent need of him, or whenever he felt his own strength beginning to fail.

Some comparatively uneventful years of hard work followed, his children growing up around him. Though they had married so young, he and his wife were exceedingly happy together, and as closely united as when they were twin brothers in the same country in that other life. While Alcyone was working in Africa, his great-grandfather Mars passed away in the City of the Golden Gate, and his grandfather Herakles was called to assume the imperial purple. Venus then took the place of Herakles as temporal chieftain of the Akkads, since his elder brother Mercury was already in charge of the Temple work. Herakles found that the position of Emperor was on sinecure, for he did his best to carry on government on his father’ s lines, though the opposition of the party who demanded greater license in morals grew ever stronger and more restive. Various conspiracies were unmasked and suppressed, yet new ones were ever coming to light, and it seemed that the hostility between the few who wished to retain the semblance of decent living and the majority who cared little for such things must soon break out into open war. Under these circumstances Herakles found the government of such things must soon break out into open war. Under these circumstances Herakles found the government of such an Empire a weary and thankless task, and often wished himself back again in the steady-going mercantile oligarchy.

Although the North African University was at that time probably the most famous in the world, the education of the poorer classes in that category was entirely neglected. This matter did not seem to occur at all to the upper classes, but it was brought prominently before Alcyone and Sirius by the fact that an especially faithful servant of theirs, who was really almost a friend, had an exceedingly bright-looking little boy (Boreas) to whom Alcyone’ s children took a great fancy. It was on enquiring about the education of this boy (in consequence of some remarks made by his own sons) that Alcyone first realised that there was absolutely no provision of this sort for the poorer classes. He arranged easily enough for the teaching of that particular child by a private tutor, and in due course admitted him as a free pupil of the University; but the incident suggested to him that there might well be many more equally bright children among the poor, for whom no such possibilities presented themselves. He and Sirius discussed the matter for a long time together, and finally worked out a tentative scheme, to the carrying out of which they resolved to devote some of the large income of the University.

It was a sort of combination of a bording-school and an agricultural community, and his plan was that the university should acquire tracts of land in central positions all over the country, and on these tracts should build and operate free schools. Each tract was to be under the joint management of a school master and a farmer, and the boys were to live at the school and spend half of each day in learning and the other half in cultivation the land. The university was to support these colonies for the first year, after which it was expected that the sale of the surplus produce would be sufficient to maintain them. The feeding and clothing of the boys themselves was to be a first charge upon the school funds in either case. Girls were to be admitted to the extent to which suitable work could be found for them. If after a school-colony had worked successfully for some years it was found that it had a sufficient surplus, it was to be allowed the honour of founding branches or offshoots, but all to be under the direct control of the University. Boys who showed exceptional talent were to have facilities for entering other and higher schools, somewhat on the plan of the modern scholarship system, and if they could work their way up to the level required for the University itself, certain allowances were to be made to them, and remunerative work of some sort was to be made to them, when they had passed through its curriculum.

This scheme was first submitted to the ruler of the country, who was graciously pleased to approve of it and to recommend his subjects to take advantage of it. Then Alcyone set vigorously to work, bought land in various places and got other tracts given to him, and began to have schools built much on the general plan of the University itself—that is, not one large building, but a number of isolated rooms in a garden. The poor were at first a little shy in taking advantage of the establishments, mainly because the boys who went there were unable to earn any money for their parents; but soon the vast benefits of the scheme began to be generally understood, and they were all filled to overflowing. Alcyone’ s plan for their management was an economical one, and as he was able to provide them with the right kind of seeds and cuttings form the vast estates of the University, they rapidly became financially independent, and a brisk competition arose among them for the honour of founding branches. Alcyone coupled with it his old idea of physical training, about which he was just an enthusiastic now as in the previous birth, so that the boys whom he turned out were not only far better educated but far healthier than the rest. To conclude this part of the subject here, Alcyone stayed altogether twenty-seven years in North Africa and, the ruler had issued a decree making attendance at them compulsory upon all boys under a certain age until they had reached a certain level, with, however, discretion to local officials to make exceptions where they saw good cause to do so.

The plan on the whole worked exceedingly well, but it had one unexplained result. The care bestowed upon physical training and the direct affliction with the University gave the pupils of these schools for the poor a considerable advantage over the sons of richer parents who attended private schools. A few merchants consequently began to send their sons to the school-colonies, and presently several of them joined together, bought some land, erected a school of the Alcyone type exclusively for children of their own class, and then offered it to the University. Alcyone accepted it, and it proved a success, and soon there were many others like it. The natural result was that one after another of the old private schools closed for lack of pupils, and in a few years the whole education of the country was entirely under the management of the University, and Alcyone was practically Minister of Public Education.

All this kept him very busy, and in such congenial toil the years slipped rapidly by. He and Sirius had agreed that their children should not be allowed to forget their native country, and so they had sent each of them back once or twice on visits to their grandfather Mercury. During these visits the three boys had found themselves wives to accompany them back to the country of their adoption. Selene, a younger brother of Alcyone, had married Uranus, but died young, leaving a son Leo and a daughter Mira. On his visit to Poseidonis, Vesta fell in love with and married Mira, and when Selene’ s death occurred; her brother Leo decided to return to Africa with his sister and brother-in-law. Alcyone at once found work for him in connection with the university, and he soon fell in love with and married Alcyone’ s eldest daughter Vega. Not long afterwards he met with a sad accident, being thrown from his horse, and receiving injuries which proved fatal; so Vega with her baby son Vajra returned once more to her father’ s house. After some years she married Pindar, a kind and capable man, and to them was born a daughter, Cygnus, who became a charming little girl and was always a prime favorite with her grandfather Alcyone. They had also a son, Iris.

Alcyone worked on steadily for a number of years, and might have spent the whole of his life in guiding the University to which he was so closely linked, but that his father Mercury and his mother Brihat, finding themselves growing old and less active than of yore, wrote begging him to return and solace their last days with his presence. He felt it his duty to obey this call, though it was a great struggle for him to leave his African work. He discussed the matter with his wife, and she also agreed with him that they ought to sacrifice their own wishes, however strong they were, to the desire of the parents whom they so revered. So Alcyone made a journey to the capital and had an audience with the ruler, in which he told him exactly the facts of the case, and what he felt he ought to do.

At first the ruler flatly refused to give him permission to abandon the University; but after a night’ s sleep he sent for him again, and announced that if his son Bella (whom the ruler had seen and liked) would act as deputy manager of the University, Alcyone should still remain the nominal Head of the University, and that all important questions connected with it should be submitted for his decision. Alcyone thankfully accepted his arrangement, subject of course to its endorsement by Bella; of which however he had little doubt. On his return home he summoned his sons to a family council, and told them the ruler's’ decision. Bella was a businesslike and capable man, and his wife Ulysses had also considerable administrative ability, so it seemed that the interests of the University would be safe in their hands; furthermore Vesta, who was psychic and impressionable, seemed in many ways better fitted for succession to the priestly office in Poseidonis than was his eldest son. After the first surprise of the proposal was over, they all agreed that it was under the circumstances the best that could be done, and Bella in his turn journeyed to the capital to place his formal acceptance of the office in the hands of the ruler, and to receive from him a solemn charge with regard to the conduct of the University. On his return Alcyone set sail for Poseidonis, in the year 16,823, taking with him Mizar, Vesta and Neptune.

On the voyage a great blow fell upon him in the death of his dearly loved wife Sirius by an accident. She was enceinte at the time, and in very bad weather she was thrown off a couch and fatally injured. Her husband was overpowered by grief, and declared that he could not live without her, and should not know in the least what to do. But she tried to cheer him, and begged him to grant her one last request. Of course he promised to do so, and she asked him to marry her sister Mizar at once, so that the home might go on just as before, and she might feel satisfied that everything was being made comfortable for him. She said that if she knew that this would be soon she could die in peace, and she would also keep near them if it was permitted, and would even try to speak to them. Alcyone and Mizar finally yielded to her request, and promised to marry as soon as they reached home; and when this was settled Sirius peacefully passed away, telling them with her last words not to grieve for her. She was buried at sea, and, true to his promise, Alcyone married Mizar as soon as possible after they reached Poseidonis.

Mercury, who mourned much over the death of Sirius, performed the ceremony for them, and they felt the presence of the dead wife while the service was in progress. Indeed Brihat declared that she saw her standing smilingly beside them, and joining in some of the recitations. Brihat had had a dream or vision of the death of Sirius at the time when it occurred, and neither she nor Mercury was unprepared to hear the news of it on the arrival of the travellers. Mizar proved a true helpmeet for Alcyone; she knew his ways so thoroughly that every thing went on just as though Sirius had been still on the physical plane. She was also thoroughly in sympathy with all his interests and knew the whole of the University business, so that though he never forgot Sirius he soon settled down into the new condition of affairs, and his life ran smoothly along its grooves. His old pleasures in the priestly work was soon revived, and he found that the manifold interests of the Temple left him little time for sorrowing over his loss. As soon as he was little used to the management of affairs Mercury withdrew entirely into the background and lived the life of a recluse, coming forth only rarely and on special occasions.

Alcyone retained under these different conditions his strong interest in educational matters, and made an attempt to introduce into his native land a system similar to that which had been so successful in Africa. He founded a University on the lines of the old one, and opened a couple of his farm-colony schools for the poor. Both attempts may be said to have succeeded, but they were never taken up in the oligarchy with quite the same enthusiasm as in North Africa. Still, he worked hard at the arrangements, and his system slowly spread, and he was thanked by the council for introducing it; but as years passed on he was obliged more and more to delegate to others the business connected with it, for his priestly work became more and more engrossing.

He kept constantly in touch by correspondence with Bella and the University work in Africa, and frequently and earnest invitations reached him asking him to pay another visit to the scene of his earlier labours. He always promised that he would do this some time of other, but for years no opportunity presented itself. He was training his son Vesta to succeed him in the Temple work, but Vesta, though eager, zealous and psychic, was still somewhat too impulsive, and did not always distinguish impulses from intuitions, and so was sometimes hurried into unwise actions. His cousin and brother-in-law Augriga proved of the greatest assistance to him, and took up the educational work so enthusiastically that Alcyone soon turned over that department entirely to him. Auriga was a person of hard-headed commonsense, and a good organiser, so under his management the schools soon began to flourish exceedingly.

Venus the father of Auriga, had long before been called to the City of the golden Gate to succeed Herakles, and he in his turn had summoned his eldest son Crux to support him in his old age, and to learn the way in which so cumbrous an Empire was managed, in preparation for the time when he himself should be called upon to hold the reins of power. In 16,811 Venus passed away and Crux came to the throne, and very shortly after that Mercury and Brihat died within a few months of one another. Though this was not unexpected at so great an age, it came as a shock to Alcyone, all the more so as he had been overworking himself for a long time and was therefore not at his strongest. He felt the need of rest and change, and with considerable difficulty he persuaded to pay the long promised visit to North Africa, the hope being that the sea-voyage and the absence of responsibility might set him up again in health.

This expectation was to a great extent fulfilled, for his passage was a pleasant one, and he received a most enthusiastic welcome at the University, and was delighted to find that Bella had been managing everything with praiseworthy firmness and tact, so that both the University itself and the schools were in a most satisfactory state of efficiency. He declined to interfere in any way, or to take any share in the management, though he was of course feted everywhere, and expected to appear as a figure-head and make speeches on numerous occasions. He spent twelve months in Africa, and even then returned only because of an urgent request from Vesta. When he reached his native land he was already sixty seven years old, and he yearned much for a life of meditation and repose, so he encouraged Vesta to continue as far as possible the work to which he had grown accustomed during his father’ s absence, and he himself remained rather in the background, coming forth only on great festivals or when special advice was needed. He was regarded by all the people as a great saint and a person of marvellous wisdom, and those who could obtain his advice in their difficulties thought themselves highly favoured. On several occassions he mesmerically cured people suffering from various diseases, though e refused to make a regular practice of this, saying that he could help only those cases which he was specially inspired to help.

So he lived on for seventeen years, passing the evening of his life peacefully and contentedly, hale and vigorous, and keeping all his faculties to the last. Mizar remained inseparable from him (she had of course accompanied him to Africa) and their devotion to one another was touching. When Mizar died in the year 16,793 he seemed scarcely to mourn her, saying that it was not worth while to sorrow over so short a seperation, as he knew he should soon follow her almost immediately. His prediction was justified, for he passed quietly away the following year, leaving behind him a great reputation on two continents. Two exactly similar statues of him were made, and were set up in the Central Halls of his two Universities—in that in Africa besides that other statue of his earlier personality on the pedestal of which in his boyhood he had had his present name engraved. The same sculptor produced the two statues, and each University presented one to the other with a suitable inscription. The story of the founder who had so strangely returned and recognised his work was repeated in Africa for centuries, though later, when the statues had disappeared, it became confused, and ran that he was a great magician who had preserved the same body for fourteen hundred years, and so had revisited the scene of his former labours.

Chart XXVII

Poseidonis 16,867 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Surya Saturn -Herakles Aqua -Orca Bella -Ulysses

Sagitta -Colos Soma -Kudos Daleth -Rex

Magnus -Cyr Melete -Pepin Vesta -Mira

Regu -Irene Tolos -Dido Polaris -Diana Alcyone -(1)Sirius Pax -Deneb Neptune -Aldeb

Beren -Nita Lomia -Pisces

Vega

(1)Leo

(2)Pindar

Aurora -Aletheia Alba -Lignus Siwa -Laxa

Ivy -Viola

Adrona -Olaf Eudox -Zephyr Flora -Camel Callio -Fides Fons -Atlas

Lili -Jason Lobelia -Viraj Alex -Forma

Chrys -Ara Daphne -Math

Norma -Parthe -(2)Mizar Proteus -Quies

Libra -Xanthos Cento -Zeno Mercury -Brihat Pisces -Lomia Hestia -Euphra

Colos -Sagitta Vulcan -Eros

Virgo -Kim Rosa -Egeria Calyx -Trefoil Orpheus -Ophis

Zoe -Andro Kos -Virgo

Zeno -Cento Uchocha -Joan

Inca -Algol Aldeb -Neptune Ulysses -Bella Achilles -Helios

Flos -Cygnus Irene -Regu Gluck -Rector

Dido -Tolosa Tripos -Aglaia

Orca -Aqua Rex -Daleth

Chart XXVII

Poseidonis 16,867 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Parthe -Norma

Juno -Hebe Eros -Vulcan

Selene -Uranus

Leo -Vega

Vajra -Dactyl

Echo -Elsa Mira -Vesta Apollo -Jupiter

Clare -Melpo Ixion -Abel Hermin -Bruce

Ara -Chrys Hebe -Juno Fort -Mona Telema -Phoenix Kim -Cassio Kamu -Canopus Quies -Proteus Dhruva -Demeter Elsa -Echo Sif -Concord Crux -Thor

Aries -Sylla Herakles -Saturn

Arthur -Gnostic

Euphra -Hestia Pyx -Castor Kratos -Hector

Joan -Uchacha Ivan -Madhu

Mona -Fort Spes -Beatus

Diana -Polaris Kudos -Soma Venus -Osiris

Laza -Siwa Sirius -Alcyone Mizar -Alcyone

Capella -Nicos Helios -Achilles

Bruce -Hermin Taurus -Leto Sirona -Psycho

Pavo -Dolphin Una -Chanda Leopard -Iris Auriga -Rama

Clio -Markab Sextans -Dome

Zephyr -Eudox Apis -Priam Gaspar -Theseus Roxana -Amal Alma -Pearl

Vizier -Nimrod Aulus -Electra Myna -Gem

Ushas -Dora Naiad -Lotus Castor -Pyx Hector -Kratos Percy -Muni

Radius -Upaka Pearl -Alma Albireo -Yajna

Leto -Taurus

Horus -Odos Rigel -Vale Psyche -Sirona Nanda -Noel

Ida -Nu Gem -Myna Wences -Hygeia

Bootes -Onyx

Chart XXVII

Poseidonis 16,867 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Pallas -Naga

Dolphin -Pavo Algol -Inca Odos -Horus Dora -Ushas

Nimrod -Vizier Naga -Pallas Sappho -Sita Lotus -Naiad Chanda -Una Mars -Lutea

Capri -Karu Amal -Roxana

Rama -Auriga

Iris -Leopard Pindar -Vega

Cygnus -Flos

Xanthos -Libra Nita -Beren Melpo -Clare Beth -Auson

Theo -Lyra Markab -Clio Priam -Apis

Forma -Alex Fabius -Argus Obra -Spices Ronald -Corona Walter -Betel Yodha -Kepos Phra -Ullin Egeria -Rosa Demeter -Dhruva Holly -Draco Concord -Sif Theseus -Gaspar

Betel -Walter Xulon -Altair Nicos -Capella Pepin -Melete Deneb -Pax Corona -Ronald Abel -Ixion Andro -Zoe Koli -Fomal Electra -Aulus

Ivan -Madhu Bee -Udor Cassio -Kim

Argus -Fabius Jerome -Arcor

Jupiter -Apollo

Canopus -Kamu Gnostic -Arthur

Draco -Holly Ajax -Oak Sita -Sappho Muni -Percy Nu -Ida

Onyx -Bootes

Uranus -Selene

Lyra -Theo Olaf -Adrona Aletheia -Aurora

Gimel -Judex Aquila -Philae

Math -Daphne Philae -Aquila

Jason -Lili

Chart XXVII

Poseidonis 16,867 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Maya -Yati Baldur -Dharma Viraj -Lobelia

Kepos -Yodha Fides -Callio

Ullin -Phra Udor -Bee Athena -Nestor

Lignus -Alba Dharma -Baldur Ophis -Orpheus

Yati -Maya Spica -Obra Fomal -Koli

Oak -Ajax Arcor -Jerome Sylla -Aries Alltair -Xulon

Dactyl -Vajra Judex -Gimel Phoenix -Telema Camel -Flora Aglaia -Tripos Atlas -Fons Auson -Beth Viola -Ivy Vale -Rigel Thor -Crux Rector -Gluck Karu -Capri Brihat -Mercury Trefoil -Calyx

Dome -Sextans Beatus -Spes

Alces -Scotus Phocea Boreas

Life XXVIII

There was much movement and excitement in the central city of the Fifth Race settlement in Central Asia. Swetdwipa, the White island in the inland sea, whereon stood and stands Shamballa, the Sacred City, was indeed, pervaded as ever by the solemn peace which is the benediction of the high Presences that dwell there; but the adjoining city on the shore of the sea, taking its name from the Manu—Manu’ s City—was full of eager turmoil, for preparation were on foot for a great emigration, the greatest which we have so far observed. Once more the Manu had spoken and had demanded from Surya, the Deputy of the Mahaguru, the gift of His two sons, Mars and Mercury, to lead the vast host of emigrants. He had directed that the emigrants should be divided into three columns. One, forming the right wing, led by Corona—a warrior of iron will and extraordinary ability, but also of indomitable pride—was to cross the Himalayas through what is now Kashmir, and to find its way through the Punjab and the United Provinces to Bengal; the central and principal host, commanded by Mars—who was the head of the three armies—was to penetrate to Nepal through Tibet, and march from Nepal to Bengal; the central and principal host, commanded by Mars—who was the head of the three armies—was to penetrate to Nepal through Tibet, and march from Nepal to Bengal; the third, the left wing, under Vulcan, was to make its way across Tibet to Bhutan, and thence to Bengal. Thus the three armies were to converge on Northern Bengal, and subjugate that country, making it their home.

This migration seems to have been one of special importance, and a large number of familiar figures were concerned in it. No less than ten who are now Masters are found playing important parts, to say nothing of their many disciples who have followed Them through the ages. A great ceremony preceded the setting out of the vast hosts. In the temple of the Sacred city on the White Island, in the great Hall of Audience—with its massive chair hewn out of living rock, covered with golden mouldings that scarce allowed the rock to peep through—were gathered the most august of Figures. In the centre, in front of the chair but at the foot of its seven steps, towered the mighty form of Vaivasvata, the Manu, the typical man of the Fifth Root-Race. Clustering hair of dark brown shot with fold fell upon His shoulders, and the massive beard of like hue rolled, thick-curling, over His breast; eagle-eyed, with brows slightly arched and shadowing the eyes into darkness, save when the lids, normally somewhat dropped, were lifted suddenly and the eyes flashed out dazzlingly, compelling all who looked on Him to veil their gaze; the nose high and arched, the lips curved and set firmly. A King of men, truly; one whose word meant Law, whose lifted hand impelled or restrained at will.

Beside Him, on His right, stood the Mahaguru, His priestly Brother, the Head of the Religion of the community. Stately and mighty also was He, but while the Manu breathed resistless Will and every gesture spoke of Rule, this Blessed One breathed Love most compassionate, and a Wisdom as pure and deep as the Manu’ s Will was mighty. His hair dusky as ebony, His eyes of darkest violet, almost black, His mouth tender, easily curving into a gracious smile. Seeking His name, we find many in the people’ s minds—as though reverence and love sought varied expression; often Pita, Deospita, Vyas, Sarvajnarshi, Sugata, Ravidas, Ushadas, Mahamuni, Jnanraja—such are some of the names by which the people love Him. On the left side of the Manu stands Surya, with radiant hair and shining eyes—eyes that dwell with deep affection on His noble sons, the chief figures in the crowd facing the alter, which stands between the Heads of the community and Their people.

They are clad with great magnificence; a long cloak of cloth of gold with heavy jewelled clasps falls around Their feet; the Mahaguru and Surya have, beneath this, long white robes of finest material; the Manu wears a double-like garment of rich erimson, reaching below His knees, the legs and feet bare. They are waiting, expectant, for the overshadowing presence of the Mighty Lords of the Flame, who are to appear to bless the departing hosts.

The leaders of the army stand close to the ancient Alter, whereon each has placed his favourite weapon, mace, or axe, or sword, facing their Chiefs. Mars is in the centre, with his wife Brihat on his left, and Mercury upon his right. Mercury’ s wife, Saturn, is beside him, and by her, again, stands Vulcan. On Brihat’ s left is Corona, who had once in a previous birth ruled as an Emperor of the city of the Golden Gate in far Atlantis. A noble quartet of warriors they looked, with their stately wives, full worthy of them.

A group of children sat beyond the Alter, a little awed by the great Figures on whom their eyes were fixed; they were the children of Mars and Mercury; Jupiter, a noble boy of ten years of age, the eldest son of Mars, with his sisters Osiris, Uranus and Ulysses, his brother Siwa, a chubby boy of two, and in the arms of Osiris, the eight years-old maiden, a baby boy, Viraj, who gazed with solemn eyes upon the Three. Mercury’ s eldest son was Selene, a thoughtful-looking boy, about the age of Jupiter, his arm thrown round the youngest girl, Mizar, a restless babe scarce twelve months old; his brothers Leo and Vajra sat, with arms round each other’ s shoulders; the sisters Herakles and Alcyone sat nested together, little maids of five and three, for Alcyone had been born in 15,995, and Herakles was two years her elder and a little inclined to be protective of her junior.

There is a great hush, for a single note rings through the great Hall, clear as a silver clarion, and a brilliant Light blazes out above the rock-hewn chair. The assembly bows down, for in the chair is seated a marvellous Figure, dazzling, an emboldened Power, and behind Him are three Others, only less great than He. They are the four Kumaras of Indian Scriptures, the Lords of the Flame.

“ Go forth, my children, and do my work; my strength is upon you. Having wrought return.”

The accents fall upon the hushed stillness; a hand is raised in blessing, and when the heads bent low in reverence are raised, the chair is empty and the Light is gone.

Surya stepped out and blessed his sons, who bent the knee before him and then, stooping, raised the little Alcyone, his favorite grand daughter, and drew close to him the sturdier form of Herakles:

“ My little ones,” he said, and his tender face grew gently solemn, “ on a far rough way you go. Mothers of brave men you shall be, and fair women also shall call each of you ‘ mother’ . Your race shall dwell long in the land and thither also you shall come again many times, to learn and teach. But this is the first of the lives of expiation, that old Karma may be outworn, old wrongs made right. Death shall come to both of you together, in strange and violent way. In that hour, call on me and I will come to you, and the Light you have just now seen shall shine in the darkness then.”

Little Alcyone hid her face in his neck and laughed softly; she did not understand, but she loved her grandfather; and Herakles looked up boldly, unwitting the gravity of the prophecy; “ I shall call loud, so that you will hear,” and Jupiter, who always called Herakles his little wife, said proudly: “ I will take care of you.”

Long and arduous was the journey, and many years had passed ere the three commanders met again. Corona found his way south fairly easily, as the road through Kashmir was known, and the people of the settled portions were not unfriendly. But on reaching the Punjab he fell out with the inhabitants almost from the beginning, and presently he had to fight his way through a hostile country. He besieged the great Toltec city, now under Aryan rule, where Mars had been betrayed some fifteen hundred years before, and at length reduced it by starvation, and made its ruler swear fealty to himself; he next subdued Ravipur—near the site of the modern Delhi—and established there one of his own officers as a tributary King; he pressed southwards, ever fighting and reducing his enemies to submission, till he had carved himself out an empire, with half a hundred tributary chiefs. Forty years had rolled away ere he reached Bengal, an aged warrior of over seventy years of age, to find Mars settled in Central Bengal, having founded and established his kingdom.

Vulcan had found his way through Tibet and Bhutan a good sixteen years earlier, had joined his forces with those of Mars, and in 15,953 had invaded Assam, and had there established himself in fairly peaceful possession by the time Corona arrived, in 15,952

B.C. Much however had happened ere that, and our hero, or rather heroine, is with Mars, and to her fortunes we must turn.

The route of Mars, on leaving Central Asia, took him in four years across the great Range into Tibet, and he remained there for a full year, to rest the feebler members of his army-caravan, ere they began the toilsome road across the mountains to Nepal. During this time Castor was born, and much time was given daily to training the boys of the party in athletics of every sort. Jupiter was the leader in all manly exercises, and among the boys whom he formed into a troop, which he trained in scouting and mimic warfare, we note his cousins Leo, Vajra and Selene, Vajra making up for his juvenility by his reckless daring and extreme activity—and their friends Albeiro and Arcor. Alcyone, a girl between seven and eight, was a somewhat dreamy maiden, quiet and thoughtful, more apt to sit at home than to roam abroad. She would sing softly to herself the chants to the angels of her people and lose herself in visions as she sang.

At the end of the fifth year since leaving Manoa, the army started again on its way, and climbed slowly over the mountains which lay between Tibet and Nepal. It tried to follow the course of a mountains which lay between eastwards and southwards, but was constantly forced to turn aside when the river plunged into impassable gorges and foamed through ravines where the cliffs almost closed above it. There were many skirmishes with hill-tribes, but no serious fighting until two years later they approached Nepal, where Mars found himself obliged to divide his army, leaving half under Mercury to guard the huge entrenched camp, and going out himself with remainder of his troops to subdue the country sufficiently to make a safe road for his people. He took with him his eldest son, Jupiter, and his young troop, Mercury specially bidding his son Vajra learn the soldierly duty of obedience. One attempt was made to rush the camp during his absence, but Mercury repelled it without great difficulty and with little loss of life. It is a pretty scene to see Mercury seated with his wife and sister-in-law, with Alcyone nestling on his breast, and a girl-friend Capri, Herakles’ special chum, leaning against his knee, as he told them stories of Surya and the Mahaguru, and sometimes, speaking softly and low, of the great Kumaras whom they had seen ere leaving Manoa. Herakles was a more restless child, and her eyes would rove eagerly over the camp outside while her father was speaking, bringing on herself sometimes a solemn reproof from the more demure Capri. Osiris and Uranus also, with little Viraj, were interested auditors while Ulysses was apt to sympathise with Herakles’ wandering gaze.

Two years passed before the waiting camp again welcomed Mars and joyous were the greetings which met the returning wanderers. He had secured a passage through Nepal, partly by fighting, partly by diplomacy, and the whole caravan set out, a couple of months later, in early summer. That winter they camped near the borders of Nepal, resuming their journey the following summer, and thus slowly they went forwards, marching during the summer, camping in the winter, and spending weary years on the way ere they reached India itself.

Meanwhile the sisters had grown into stately and handsome maidens, inheriting something of the beauty and grace of their father and mother. Herakles was now eighteen, and Alcyone sixteen, and Mars sought his favourite niece as wife for his eldest son, while the sweet ways and gentle eyes of Alcyone had won the heart of Albeiro, Jupiter’ s brother in arms. Demure Capri had become the ideal of Arcor, whose own somewhat stormy nature found rest and refreshment in her gentle household ways, and the three pairs were married ere the army left its winter camp in 15,979 B.C.

Mars led his great host peacefully through the extreme north of Bengal that summer, and camped along a huge river when marching time was over. Here he determined to wait the arrival of Vulcan and Corona, in order that their united forces might take possession of the land, and that he might there build up his kingdom. Another two years, however, elapsed before the approach of Vulcan was reported to him. Nothing whatever was to be heard of corona, and after waiting for a third year, Mars, Mercury and Vulcan decided to press on without him. They left the women and children in an entrenchment camp in northern Bengal (15,975 B.C.) while they marched southwards, taking with them Jupiter, Albeiro, Selene and Leo, through a fertile but only thinly settled land, and at intervals the army stopped and threw up strong embankments, protected by deep trenches which seem to have become easily filled up with water, the water being thus drained away from a considerable surrounding area, which was readily cultivable, and afforded splendid grazing grounds for cattle. Mars detached at each of these settlements a considerable body of troops, leaving them orders to make broad and firm roads between the camps; after five years of this marching and building, he placed Vulcan in authority over the whole of the conquered land, directing him to return to the northern camp, taking with him all those who wished to settle down there with their wives and children, as well as a large force, sufficient to guard the great numbers that were to settle in the various camps established in Bengal. He himself determined to continue his march southwards, and arranged to return to the place where they parted after another five years.

Vulcan accordingly started visiting all the settlements on his way north; he found them prosperous and busy, the scattered inhabitants of the country having entered into friendly relations with them, often taking service as cowherds, laborers and so on. He pressed on northwards till he reached the original camp (15,967 B.C.) and was joyfully welcomed by its inhabitants. He found a few newcomers there; before they had parted Herakles had given birth to a son, Bee, and a daughter, Canopus; Alcyone to two sons, Neptune and Psyche, while Capri had borne Arcor a daughter, a pretty little girl, Pindar, and a son, Altair. To these had been added Aletheia, son of Herakles, Rigel, daughter of Alcyone, and Adrona, son of Arcor. The three older children, Bee, Neptune and Pindar were of an age—eleven years old, having been born in winter of 15,978—and were as inseparable as their mothers, while remaining trio, Canopus, Psyche and Altair were equally fond of each other. Each little maiden had her two knights, Pindar being everywhere accompanied by Bee and Neptune, Canopus by Psyche and Altair. A happy childhood was theirs, playing on foot and on ponyback, rough unkempt ponies, and gathering at eventide with their mothers, to tell of the day’ s delight, and to listen to stories of the land the mothers had left in childhood, above all to the story of the great Temple from the lips of Alcyone, and the august Figures their childish eyes had seen. Aletheia, Rigel and Adrona were but seven years of age, pretty healthy children, much petted by the uncles of the two first-named, Vajra and Castor, the younger sons of Mercury.

Vulcan gathered together all the families whose heads or elder members had followed Mars, and took them southwards, leaving each group with their long separated men relatives in the settlement where these were dwelling. Joyous were the meetings, saddened here and there by gaps in family circles, when death had swept away by disease or violence those who were not to meet again their loved ones upon earth.

Meanwhile Mars had gone southwards, and soon found himself engaged in a long series of skirmishes and battles, for the country he invaded was thickly populated with people of Atlantean blood, and as he approached the sea-board these became more warlike, and offered more resistance to his advance. At last he had to fight a serious pitched battle, to which the King of the Orissa country had summoned all his hosts: his priests, followers of the Atlantean dark magic, had incited the troops to fury by fiery harangues, and had rendered them, as they believed, invincible by human sacrifices offered to their gloomy elemental deities in the huge temple near the sea which was the most sacred centre of their worship, a temple of unknown antiquity and cyclopean architecture of the Lemurian type, standing in what is now the town of Puri. In the dim recesses of that temple, on the night before the battle joined, the priests had gathered in unholy conclave, and with ghastly rites and furious invocations had summoned their dark deities to give battle to the radiant angels of the Aryan invaders.

At daybreak the decisive battle began, and for five days it raged; Mars and Mercury led their hosts with dauntless valour, well seconded by their sons and their faithful friends, among whom Arcor was conspicuous for his reckless courage. Great was the slaughter, but, as the fifth day darkened into evening, the hosts of Orissa were in headlong fight and the victorious Aryans chased them southwards, and encamped for the night in the camp that their enemies had left. Mars appeared to have carried a charmed life, but all the other leaders were wounded more or less, and very weary were the hosts that slept.

Rising ere daybreak, as was their wont, strange and new was the sight before the eyes of those who, all unknowing had camped near the sea-shore. Never had they seen the broad expanse of the ocean, and loud cries of wonder and of awe burst from these children of the desert and the mountain as the huge plain of heaving waters burst upon their gaze in the dim twilight ere the dawn, and the waves rippled to their feet, making them start back in fear. Their leaders came out at the shouts of the soldiers, wondering if the enemy had returned in force. Transfixed they also stood, and, as they gazed, the eastern sky began to redden towards the dawn; they watched, breathless, and suddenly the crimson globe of the Sun flung itself upwards from the waters, as though it leaped from the bosom of the deep, and Mars and Mercury threw themselves upon their faces and the red rays blazed across the ocean, and the cry: “ Samudra! Samudra!” rang from a thousand throats. The Sun had been Pushan, the Nourisher, Pantha, the Path, as he guided them over the deserts; now he was born of the sea, in the magical wonder of the dawning.

The neck of the resistance was broken, and Mars established the centre of his kingdom to the north of Orissa, in Central Bengal, leaving Jupiter, his eldest son, in charge of Orissa, with Albeiro, Leo and Arcor as his lieutenants. He departed to keep his tryst with Vulcan, promising that Mercury should return and bring with him the families of all left to settle in that part of his realm. Immediately after this Vulcan parted from Mars and invaded and conquered Assam, setting up there his kingdom with little difficulty.

In due course Mercury returned, bringing with him his noble wife, Saturn, and his sons Viraj and Castor, and his three daughters, Herakles, Alcyone and Mizar. He brought with him also Uranus, to be the bride of Leo, and aurora to wed Selene. Arcor joyfully welcomed his fondly loved Capri and his sons Altair and Adrona.

And now came many years of hard work, the building up of a kingdom, interspersed with occasional wars of defense—skirmishes with predatory bands, endeavours to conciliate the former owners of the country, and efforts to put sown human sacrifices. Once during these years Mars paid a visit to his children, bringing with him his sons Siwa and Viraj, and his daughter Ulysses. Osiris had married and could not leave her home. On this occasion Vajra and Ulysses were wed, and after much discussion, the parents decided to leave these two as rulers of Orissa, and to return themselves to the northern capital, taking with them Jupiter and his family; for Mars was very old, and wished to install his eldest son upon the throne and retire from the world with Mercury and their wives. This was done, and Vajra and Ulysses were left in charge.

For a time all went apparently well, but a storm was gathering below the surface. Vajra did not show the skill in conciliation characteristic of Jupiter, and his measures, aimed to bring about good results, were sometimes harsh. In 15,937 B.C. a great religious festival of the old religion was to be held, and Vajra had, the year before, forbidden its celebration, knowing the danger of such a concourse, excited by sacrifices and incantations. Herakles had come to spend some months with Alcyone, for the twain were not happy when apart, and she – having become learned in the deeper knowledge of the Atlantean White Magic and having wedded it to the worship of the bright Gods worshipped in her ancient home—began teaching this mingled philosophy and religion to the younger men and women of her brother’ s kingdom, and she included in her classes some of the younger priests of the dark Atlantean faith. This was to strike a deadly blow to the still powerful priesthood, and ere long the muttering of hatred grew deep and angry.

As the months passed, the growlings grew louder, and a conspiracy was formed to attack the house of Albeiro, where Herakles and Alcyone were living, while he was away on a projected journey with Vajra to a distant part of the country. The priesthood resolved that the forbidden celebration should take place, and with victims nobler than the common herd; and they diligently circulated rumours that a rising was to take place in the district whither Vajra and Albeiro were going. The result of this skillfully planned deception was that Vajra took with him the main part of his army, leaving a comparatively small force under Arcor to preserve order and defend his household.

It was 15,937 B.C. and the high day, or rather night, of the forbidden festival was near. The early morning dawned clear and cool, but scattered groups might be seen slowly converging to a centre, and that centre the house of Albeiro. The groups coalesced into a crowd; the crowd grew in number and denseness. Presently a deep clanging note clashed into the quiet: it was the note of the great bell of the temple, unheard for long, the bell that no longer might be sounded. The roar of the crowd answered the brazen voice of the bell, and in a moment a riot had broken out. The house of Albeiro was broken into, the guards slaughtered, and in front of the crowd, as it surged inwards, towered the tall gaunt form of the Atlantean High Priest, Scorpio, on whose head a price had long been set, and who had lain hidden in the underground vaults of the temple, known to none but the initiated priesthood. “ Ya-uli! Yauli!,” shrieked the mob, half deeming him risen from the dead, and frenzied by religious excitement. A slow stern smile curved his iron lips as he heard his name re-echo, and turning, he waved back the yelling mob, and they stopped silent.

“ Wait, children of the Lord of the Dark Face; your day has come. I go to bring forth the accursed, the women of the barbarians of the North, who have crushed your worship and closed the temples of your Gods. Aiyo! Aiyo! The Lords have risen; they cry for blood, and blood shall they have. Slay ! slay all but the two women who are theirs. They are mine, as the priest of the Gods who drink human blood and devour human flesh. Tonight shall their thirst be slaked and their hunger appeased, Aiyo! Aiyo ! I have said !”

Into the house he stalked, grim as death and stern as an incarnate Hate. At the first alarm Arcor had sounded his conch to summon his men, and , as they flung themselves into the passages and held the stairways, a fierce but hopeless combat had ended in their extermination. Arcor himself had rushed to the private entrance into the ladies’ apartment, had struck down the priests who led the crowd—Ya-uli cautiously withdrawing till the way was clear—and had battled desperately, though alone, to bar the road. He fell, pierced by a score of wounds, and the Chief Priest stepped over his body to his prey.

Alcyone and Herakles were at their morning worship when the crash of breaking doors told them of danger, and as they rose, two tall and stately women—Herakles, now at the age of sixty, crowned with silver hair, and Alcyone with dark tresses, silver streaked, falling below her waist—the door of their worship-chamber burst open, and the tall Priest stood on the threshold. The two women faced him, a proud interrogation as to such intrusion spoken by the uplift of the noble heads, the gaze of the steady eyes.

“ Come, ye accursed! The day of your oppression is over; the night of your doom is near. Come, for the Dark Lords call. I am their messenger of vengeance.”

Herakles threw her arm round her sister’ s slight form: “ Priest! You threaten those who know not fear. Begone ! invite not death.”

A harsh laugh grated on the air: “ Death, woman ! I give it, I do not accept it. Come forth: you are mine.”

He made a gesture to some priests behind him; they came in and seized the women by the arms, drawing out cords to bind.

“ Bind not!” said Herakles. “ We shall not flee. Come, dearest, come. Our father’ s daughters know how to die.”

Alcyone glanced up at her sister, an angelic smile upon her face: “ I am ready, sister beloved.”

And they moved slowly forward, surrounded by the priests,

through the passages strewn with the bodies of the dead. Unblenching they went through the seething crowd, which yelled at them, shook clenched fists as they passed, and would have torn them in pieces had it not been for the priests they feared. Slowly they went onwards through the city to the place where yawned widely the mighty open gates of the temple, with long aisles of dark pillars glooming away into darkness. White-robed, fair skinned, the two sisters looked like angels of light amid the tossing crowd of dark faces and dark bare arms flung high in the air. At the gate the priests turned and Ya-uli spake:

“ To-night, four hours after the sunset, the gates will be opened; let all children of the Lords of the Dark Face come to their festival.” The gates clanged together, and Herakles and Alcyone were past all earthly help.

At first, no harm was wrought on them; they were offered rich food and wine, but would not eat. Only fruit would they take, and a drink of milk. Then commenced a long persuasive talk; Ya-uli strove to win their promise to take part in the worship of the Dark Gods that night, pledging himself that they should return home in safety if they would thus purchase life with dishonor. In his false heart he meant to slay them after they had worshipped, but he longed to proclaim them renegades to their faith and so win credit for his own. Uselessly he strove against their steady will, and in wrath at last he bade the priests take them to the gloomy centre of the temple, and leave them there awhile.

A dread and awful place it was in which they were left. Dim shapes, some red, some black, some sickly grey, were half visible through the gloom. Low moans, as of something in pain, came, dully muffled, to their ears.

“ Herakles,” whispered Alcyone, “ are these things alive or dead? They make me shudder.”

“ Darling, I know not, but living or dead, they cannot hurt the soul.” They whispered to each other in the gloomy cavern, spoke of home, of husbands, of children, and then of the days of happy childhood, and the glorious vision of the past.

“ I think the time has come,” said Alcyone, “ and we shall see our grandfather again.”

“ And the Light!” breathed Herakles.

It was ten o’ clock, and a dense crowd filled the huge dark building, silent, expectant, awe-struck. At a given sign the women were seized, and lifted upon a high altar, in view of all, and a lurid light, blood red shone out, none could say whence, and threw the awful figures around into grim semblance of life. There was a sound of rending cloth, and the robes of the two women were torn from them, and the fair white bodies shone out nude and shrinking. A low cry of horror burst from them, and then Herakles threw up her proud head and flung her arms around her sister, striving to shield her from the gaze of the rough crowd: “ You shame your mothers, men, in shaming us,” she cried, and then stood silent. “ Look at them,” called the Priest, “ before the Dark Lord feasts upon them. When next you see them, he shall have had his fill.” And then the light faded, and the crowd filed out, to wait for the rites that none save the priests might see and live.

How tell the horrors that ensued: flames rose from surrounding altars, and shrieking captives were led in, and the fire fed with fat skinned from their living bodies till the flames roared high; then their blood was set flowing and caught in iron vessels, and set to boil in huge iron pots, and poured upon the images set in the circle round; foul creatures of the slime, huge spiders, monstrous scorpions, fed on the remnants of the slime, huge spiders, monstrous scorpions, fed on the remnants of the mutilated bodies; and presently one after another of the images woke into awful life, began to stir, to slip downwards from their pedestals, obscene shapes of unimaginable horror, and crawled and writhed towards the centre where Alcyone and Herakles still stood, clasped in each other’ s arms. “ Fly! Fly!” yelled the priests, “ the Dark Lord is coming, and his hosts are here!” and they tumbled over each other in a mad rush to escape from the terror they had invoked.

Out of the darkness loomed a gigantic face—a face of power majestic, of pain and wrath too deep for words, of intolerable weariness and despair. A mighty hand was waved, just visible by its own dull glow, as of hot iron half-quenched and the fearful figures rolled up around the alter and reared up red gaping mouths and hairy tearing claws. Then rang out the voice of Herakles, loud and clear:

“ Suryadeva, Suryadeva, Mahapita, come! Oh, come!”

And there, in the midst of all the horrors, there shone out the light on which the children’ s eyes had rested, and beneath it the radiant form of the Surya they knew, with tender eyes and outstretched arms; and with a sob of joy Alcyone sprang forward, and her body dropped lifeless on the alter. And all the horrid shapes shrivelled into nothingness, and lay about like the cast-off skins of snakes, and the pillars broke, and the cavern walls fell in, and the bodies of the sisters had for tomb the mighty temple of the Lord of the Dark Face.

And that night in Puri, there was fear and trembling, for earthquake rent the ground, and a huge tidal wave came rushing from the sea. But they who cowered in terror, and they who, remembering the two sisters, wept for their awful fate, they knew nothing of the outstretched arms that had carried them home, cradled on the bosom that is to become the Refuge of the world; they knew nothing of the Light that had turned into heaven the darkness of that hell.

Of the vengeance Vajra wrought when he returned, and of the grief of Jupiter and Albeiro, there is here no room to tell. And it was all over very long ago.

Chart XXVIII

Central Asia and India 15,995 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

The Kumaras

Naiad -Vesta

Una -Mira Wences -Crux Theseus -Lignus

Udor -Cygnus Selene -Aurora

Polaris -Pearl Roxana -Radius Taurus -Aletheia Arthur -Percy

Argus -Draco

Leto -Demeter

Koli -Alces Draco -Argus

Auriga -Kim Fomal -Canopus Leo -Uranus

Cygnus -Udor Cento -Altair Pearl -Polaris

Concord -Clio

Clio -Concord Manu

Melpo -Pollux Vajra -Ulysses

Alastor -Gem Maha guru

Irene -Adrona Mercury -Saturn

Sirona -Spica Beatus -Soma Herakles -Jupiter Alcyone -Albireo Mizar -Gluck Vesta -Naiad

Proteus -Nanda Lutea -Noel Helios -Ushas

Dolphin -Sita Theo -Chanda Naga -Deneb

Dora -Joan Sylla -Inca Iris -Lotus Mira -Una

Daphne -Baldur Eros -Pavo Libra -Uchcha Spes -Vizier

Castor -Ivy

Parthe -Callio Phoenix -Aquilla

Bee -Pindar Aletheia -Taurus Betel -Telema

Jupiter -Herakles Canopus -Fomal Surya -Dhruva

Pollux -Melpo

Hector -Neptune Ushas -Helios Vizier -Spes

Osiris -Fides Uranus -Leo Ulysses -Vajra

Mars -Brihat

Baldur -Daphne Ophis -Dharma Siwa -Kos

Orca -Kepos

Central Asia and India 1st 2nd 3rd

Viraj -Kamu

Aurora -Selene

Fides -Osiris Athena -Nestor

Venus -Rama

Albireo -Alcyone

Yajna -Achilles Zama -Pomo Zeno -Judex

Xulon -Gaspar

Arcor -Capri

Rama -Venus

Corona -Orpheus Cassio -Rector

Aries -Zoe Andro -Dido Elsa -Math Achills -Yajna

Pallas -Diana Deneb -Naga Brihat -Mars

b

Chart XXVIII

15,995 B.C.

4th 5th 6th 7th

Ivan -Virgo Horus -Juno

Joan -Dora

Inca -Sylla Lotus -Iris Virgo -Ivan

Radius -Roxana Ullin -Camel Madhu -Stella

Aquilla -Phoenix Gimel -Viola Callio -Parthe Daleth -Tolosa Vega -Flos

Nimrod -Eudox Neptune -Hector Psyche -Clare

Percy -Arthur

Kim -Auriga Ajax -Capella Rigel -Ixion

Alsace -Koli Demeter -Leto Algol -Prima Sita -Dolphin

Kara -Alma Onyx -Borea

Altair -Ceato Adrona -Irene Spica -Sirona Pindar -Bee

Capella -Ajax Crux -Wences Gem -Alastor

Trefoil -Dome

Egeria -Yodha Nanda -Proteus Noel -Lutea

Viola -Gimel Gnostic -Beth Chanda -Theo

Pavo -Eros Yati -Tiphys

Beth -Gnostic Odos -Nu Camel -Ullin Flora -Upaka

Nu -Odos

Chart XXVIII

Central Asia and India 15,995 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Saturn -Mercury Nestor -Athena Melete -Sylla Auson -Kratos Kudos -Thor

Pyx -Xanthos Vulcan -Cetus

Olaf -Jason Myna -Fort Pomo -Zama

Math -Elsa Rector -Cassio Alma -Kara Stella -Madhu Diana -Pallas

Hebe -Maya Thor -Kudos

Upaka -Flora Juno -Horus Dido -Andro Uchcha -Libra Sif -Oak

Rudox -Nimrod Judex -Zeno

Maya -Hebe Mona -Phra Kepos -Orca

Xanthos -Pyx Quies -Tripos

Jason -Olaf Kos -Siwa Zoe -Aries

Magnus -Cyr Kamu -Viraj

Dharma -Ophis Tiphys -Yati Dome Trefoil

Soma -Beatus Kratos -Auson

Gluck -Mizar

Telema -Betel

Flos -Vega Yodha -Egeria Phra -Mona

Boreas -Onyx Ivy -Castor Fort -Myna

Scorpio

Simultaneously with this two of our characters. Rhea and Vale are found in Atlantis, Vale being male and Rhea female.

Life XXIX

It may be remembered that in the ninth of this series of lives Surya prophesied the tragic death which closed the tenth, and also foretold that great trial and difficulty should characterise that which succeeded it. On the other hand he promised that if the trial were nobly borne, the difficulty successfully surmounted, definite progress should be the result. Indeed, apart from this particular case, we may take it as a general rule that, when a man is approaching the entrance to the Path, he is likely to have some lives involving a good deal of suffering and some unpleasant conditions.

There are two reasons for this. First, whatever of evil karma remains to him must be cleared out of the way as speedily as possible, in order that it may not hamper him when the time draws near for the final effort. Second, any undesirable qualities in him must be quickly conquered, so that the necessary qualifications may be acquired, and the way may be clear.

In the lives already described our hero has had the privilege of frequent and close association with men women who have since become Masters of the Wisdom, and everything has been done to strengthen his character by example and precept. In this life which is now to be chronicled he is thrown from birth into gross and evil surroundings and the help of the presence of those Great Ones is withdrawn from him – the object evidently being to work off some bad karma, and in doing so to give him an opportunity of showing whether he has within him sufficient strength and insight to break through an evil tradition even though it has behind it all the weight of religious and tradition even though it has behind it all the weight of religious and parental authority, of immemorial custom and of personal passion.

Alcyone, then, was born this time in a female body in the year 15,402 B.C. in Rahana, in the Oudh district of India. Her father, Cetus was the priest of a religion about which there seemed to be much mystery. Although he himself was unquestionably of Aryan descent, the religion was certainly aboriginal, for it was at the same time too elaborate and too barbarous for the joyous-hearted Aryans. It may well have been the seed from which Kali worship has since arisen, for it consisted mainly of gloomy rites to a bloodthirsty female deity. There was a good deal of reckless gaiety about the outer side of this faith, but through it all there always rang a sombre note of gloom and fear. Many secret services were held to which only the ‘ initiated’ were admitted, and at these the most horrible rites of the darker magic were freely practiced. Many parts of some of these services were held in a language incomprehensible to the people, but at the same time some of the recitations were at least partially Sanskrit.

Alcyone’ s father was a fit person for such a faith, a stern, reserved and gloomy man, but nevertheless a person of very great influence. He was supposed to have won many powers by sacrifices and austerities, and was further credited with readiness to use them for evil in a great many ways. Her mother, Cancer, was not unkind, but was always in a condition of anxiety and terror, which speedily communicated itself to the child. The latter lived a rather frightened and neglected life; she was not actually badly treated, and as she was not admitted to the inner services, she saw nothing definite of the more unnecessary horrors of her religion, but the gloom and the fear of the inner circles reacted upon her childhood miserable with vague terrors.

She grew up without much education, and there was no event of special importance in her young life, until at the age of about sixteen she met Pollux, a bright handsome careless fellow, whose appearance at once attracted her. The attraction seems to have been mutual, so they fell in love in the ordinary way. Alcyone was too terrified to find it possible to propound the idea of love in the dark, uncertain atmosphere of the family life, so these young people met frequently in secret, and in course of time became too intimate. After a while Alcyone pressed her lover to make some arrangements as to marriage, but when urged he declared that this was an impossibility, as not only did he belong to quite a different religion, but there was also a hereditary feud between his family and that of Alcyone.

It took a long time to convince Alcyone that her lover was really heartless and did not intend to make any move in the matter; but, when at last she realised the truth, she turned from him with disgust and told all to her mother, announcing her condition, and vowing to devote her life being revenged upon the man who had brought her into it. Her mother was much shocked and upset, but when she learnt who the lover was she said at once that he came of a bad stock, and that his father before him had ruined a younger sister of hers, in a similer manner. This story made Alcyone only the more fiercely indignant and, as has been said, she resolved to dedicate her whole life to a full and carefully-planned revenge. Her mother then unfolded to her the secret that revenge could be had through the secret rites of their religion, and she consequently became eager to be initiated into it.

The whole story had to be told to her father, who also was furiously angry, for by the customs of the time the birth of an illegitimate child doomed her to the life of a widow. He blamed her bitterly, but yet commended and encouraged her desire for revenge. He permitted her to learn the secrets of the faith, by which she was deeply impressed, but also greatly terrified, for she had to pledge herself to a nightmare of horrors which she would have been glad to be able to forget. In order to cloak as far as possible the results of the undue intimacy, the father insisted upon her immediate marriage to a devil-priest, Scorpio, a man much older than herself and of most undesirable type, one who was a medium for the most horrible influences.

Of course she shrank with loathing from all this, but yet accepted it as a necessary part of the revenge to which she had resolved to devote her life. The whole affair had become distorted by her long brooding over it, and her state of mind was such that she was open to a steady pressure from evil astral influences, a condition of practical obsession which was considered a mark of great advancement in this peculiarly abominable religion. After extracting from her blood curdling oaths of secrecy, her mother unfolded to her a particularly ghoulish scheme of vengeance which she said had never been known to fail. Among other repulsive details it involved the crime of murdering her own child, and offering it to the deity invoked. In her rage against Pollux she agreed to this, because it would be his child; but when it was born her maternal instincts triumphed, and she refused to fulfil the agreement or to consummate the sacrifice.

Many of the ceremonies had already been commenced, for it was of the essence of the horrible pact that the birth of the child she should already have dedicated both herself and it utterly to the service of this loathsome goddess. The culmination was to be the slaughter of the child upon the alter of the deity with certain tremendous invocations, in response to which the image was supposed to descend from its pedestal and to embrace the suppliant. In this embrace the goddess was to pass from the image into the body of the worshipper, who then, as the vehicle of the deity, was herself to devour the sacrifice. In the strength of that ghastly meal the obssessing entity was supposed to give to the body much the same powers which medieval superstition attributed to the Hand of Glory. At the approach of the avenger all doors flew open, and all living creatures became incapable of resisting his will, so that he could wreak his vengeance unopposed, and even unrecognised, for the goddess threw over him a mantle of invisibility.

Driven by mad rage and by the almost irresistible force of environment, Alcyone had begun the earlier stages of this appalling piece of witchcraft. But when the child was actually born she experienced a revulsion of feeling, and declined to continue the dedicatory ceremonies. Her father was exceedingly angry, and rediculed her as weak and unworthy of the assistance and favour of the goddess. He even claimed that the child already belonged not to the mother but to the deity to whom it had been dedicated, and demanded that it should be delivered to him on her behalf. Alcyone firmly refused this, braving even the anger of her gloomy and terrible father. He insisted indignantly for a time, and then suddenly yielded with a sneer, saying that the goddess would obtain her rights in another way.

Soon afterwards the baby fell ill, and in spite of all that the mother could do its mysterious malady grew rapidly worse. She presently fell ill herself with watching and grieving over it, and when she recovered she fell ill herself with watching and grieving over it, and when she recovered she was told that early in her illness the baby had died, and its body had been burnt in the usual way. But she always had certain lurking suspicions, and ever after this a drawing of hatred mingled with her fear of her father. The truth (which, however, she never actually knew, whatever she may have suspected) was that her father, really believing in his fanaticism that the child belonged to the goddess, and that her anger would descend upon him if he allowed her to be robbed of it, had contrived to administer repeated doses of slow poison, first to the child and then to the mother, and as soon as the latter was unconscious he had taken the child and sacrificed it himself to his bloodthirsty deity.

Human sacrifice formed a regular part of the secret rites of this horrible faith, and yet in the midst of all these abominations there were certain gleams of some original better influences--certain suggestions which may have been the reflection of a condition in which the faith was not so utterly degraded. The very phrase which was solemnly pronounced by the priest at the culminating point of a human sacrifice seemed to have in it some faint reflection of a better time, for the earlier part of it at least had a tone which reminds one of the Upanishads. It ran something like this:

“ From the earth is the breath and the blood, but whence is the soul? Who is he who holds the unborn in his hands? The watchers of old are dead, and now we watch in turn. By the blood which we offer, hear us and save! The breath and the blood we give thee. Save thou the soul and give it to us in exchange.”

These last words seemed to point to the idea that the soul, or perhaps more exactly the astral body, of the sacrificed was to be given into their power to become one of their horrible band of obsessing entities, to be at once an instrument and yet in some strange way one of the objects of their degraded worship. As has been said, most of their incantations were entirely incomprehensible, and bore a considerable resemblance to those employed in Voodoo or Obeah ceremonies by the Negroes. Others, however, contained distinct Sanskrit words, usually buried in the midst of a series of uncouth exclamations delivered with a furious energy which certainly made them terribly powerful for evil. One of their characteristics was the use of certain cacophonous combinations of constants into which all the vowels were inserted in turn. The syllable “ hrim” was used in this way, as also the interjection “ kshrang” . In the midst of these uncouth outbursts of spite occurred what appears to be an evil wish in unmistakable Sanskrit: “ Yushmabhih mohanam bhavatu,” and the whole utterance concluded with some peculiarly explosive curses which it seems impossible to express in any ordinary system of letters.

Poor Alcyone led an exceedingly miserable life amidst all the chaos of obscene horrors. Her husband was an evil and crafty man, who prayed upon the credulity of the people, and was often in a condition of complete intoxication from the use of hemp and some form of opium. Soon Alcyone came bitterly to regret the fit of mad revenge which had led her into all this network of evil, but she was too firmly entangled in it to be able to make her escape, and indeed there still were times when the obsession dominated her and she felt that revenge would be right and sweet. Presently her father died, and the family fell back into a position of less influence.

This unnatural parent, however, was more terrible dead than alive, for he concentrated all his energies, in the lowest part of the astral plane, and execercised a peculiarly malignant obsession over his daughter. She knew the influence well, and earnestly desired to resist it, but could find no method of doing so, though her suffering under it was indescribable and her whole soul was filled with uttermost loathing. Her mother and all three other female members of her family were under the same malign influence to a greater of less degree, but to them the whole thing was a matter of course, and they even supposed themselves to be specially favoured and to become in some way holy, when they were seized upon even for the most dreadful purposes.

Along with all the psychical influence there was a perfect labyrinth of the most complicated and ingenious plotting on the physical plane. Years were spent in the elaboration of a nefarious scheme to get Pollux into the power of the family, and at last the plan matured itself and he and his child Tiphys were in their hands— for he had married in the meantime and had with him a bright little boy. Alcyone’ s mother and other female relatives were filled with fiendish exultation, and joined in a strange kind of orgy of hatred, the father impressing himself upon them all more strongly than ever. Alcyone felt the tremendous power of this combination, and was often carried away by it and unable to resist its action, although even then she was all the time in a condition of bitter protest and resentment. Pollux was to be poisoned in a piculiarly horrible way, and it was to Alcyone that the task was entrusted of the actual administration of the dissipation, and Alcyone felt nothing but repulsion for him; and, as at this critical moment the obsession by the father was almost perfect, there is little doubt that the crime would have been committed, but for a most fortunate shock which she received at the last moment.

Just as she was handing the cup to her victim, she met the wide gaze of the child. his eyes were exactly those of his father, her joyous young lover of so many years ago, who had been the one bright spot in her dreary early life. in a flash those eyes brought back the past, and with it a realisation of what she was about to do now under the awful compelling power of this ghastly religion of hate. The instantaneous revulsion of feeling was complete; she dashed the cup to the ground and rushed from the house—from the house and from the city, dressed just as she happened to be at the moment, so overpowered by the horror of the thing that she never even paused for a thought as to what lay before her, or what would come of it, resolved only to have done for ever at any cost with all that evil life.

The violence of her feelings broke through the black pall of evil influence which had so long dominated her, and for the time she was entirely freed from the maleficent control of her father. She rushed out into the country, careless whither she went so long as she escaped for ever from that awful life. Unaccustomed to exercise and to the free air of heaven, she was soon sinking from fatigue, but still she pressed on, upheld somehow by a kind of frenzy of determination. She had of course no money, and only indoor clothing, but she thought nothing of these things until night began to fall. Then for the first time she looked about her and became conscious of her surroundings. She was already many miles from home, out in the open country, and, becoming conscious at last of severe fatigue and hunger, she turned her steps towards a country house of some size which she saw at a little distance.

She knew little what to say or do, but fortunately Achilles, the mistress of this house, was a kind motherly woman, who was touched by the exhausted condition of the wanderer and received her with open arms, and postponed her questions until she had eaten and rested. Then, little by little, the whole story came out, and many were the exclamations of wonder and pity on the part of the good old dame, as the horrors of the dark demon-worship were gradually revealed. The old lady made light of the fact that in leaving home Alcyone had lost her position in life and all her worldly possessions, telling her that all that mattered nothing now that she had escaped from the other horrors, and that she must now devote herself to changing radically and entirely her whole attitude of mind, and forget all about the past as though it had been a mere hideous dream. She said wisely that life began afresh for her from that hour—indeed that she had not really lived until now, and she promised to do all in her power to help her and make the new life easy for her.

Alcyone feared that her husband, the devil-priest, might be incited to assert some kind of legal claim over her, for she knew that the worshippers of the dark cult would be fiercely angry that one of their initiates should escape from the fold. But the old woman, who was a brave and capable person, declared that she did not know exactly how the law might stand, but that, law or no law, she was at any rate quite certain as to one fact—that she did not intend to give Alcyone up to her husband or any of her relations; and she felt quite confident that if the case were carried before the King of the country and all the nefarious proceedings of the dark demon-worship exposed, the authorities would be certain to take her side and decline to deliver her again into the slavery from which she had escaped.

Alcyone was most thankful to this kind protectress, and in her condition of utter exhaustion of body and mind was glad to adopt the suggestion that at least they might leave all further discussion till the morrow, and to sink to rest in the comfortable quarters provided for her. The shock to her had been severe, and it would have been only natural if some serious illness had supervened; and indeed it seemed as though that would have been the case but for a wonderful vision which came to her during the night. A man of commanding appearance and wonderful gentleness of mien(Mercury) appeared to her and spoke words of comfort and encouragement, telling her that the awful life which she had lived so far had two aspects of which she had been entirely unconscious.

He congratulated her upon her success and determination in breaking away, and prophesied for her a future of rapid progress and usefulness. He said that the way was long before her, but drew for her also by his words a beautiful picture of two paths of progress, the slow and easy road that winds round the mountain, and the shorter but steeper and more rugged path that lies before those who for love of God and man, are willing to devote themselves to the welfare of their brothers. She had, he said, the opportunity to take the latter in the future if she chose, and if she took that path, though the work would be arduous, the reward would be glorious beyond all comprehension. This vision produced a profound impression upon her, and she never afterwards forgot the words of the face of the instructor, not did she ever entirely lose the glow of enthusiasm with which she felt herself eagerly accepting the second of these alternatives which he placed before her.

Next morning she related her vision to her kind hostess, who was deeply impressed by it, and said it quite confirmed the impression which she herself had received. It had its effect even upon the physical plane, for it was largely owing to it that Alcyone was better than might have been expected. Her dead father troubled her greatly by constant and determined attempts to reassert his old dominion over her. She however, called up all the latent reserves of her will and and set them definitely against this influence, rejecting it with all the vigour which she possessed, without the slightest hesitation or compromise, with the strong resolution that she might die in resisting the obsession, but at least she would never again submit to it. This struggle continued at frequent intervals for many months, but whenever it came she always kept before her the face of the vulnerable messenger of her vision, and fortified herself by remembering his words.

All this time she stayed with her kind hostess, who would not hear of her going anywhere else, or of her making any effort to support herself in any way. Apart from this constant astral pressure she had no trouble, for no attempt to reclaim her was made on the physical plane on behalf of her husband. Indeed, it seems that the family somehow acquired the idea that she was dead, some rumours reaching them of the discovery of the body of a woman vaguely answering to her description. Her hostess always declared that the Gods had guided her footsteps to her, and that she accepted her as a charge from them. Alcyone was most grateful for all this kindness, and tried in every possible way to make herself of some use to her benefactress in return for it. She now began to learn something of the ordinary Aryan religion, which proved attractive to her after all the horrors of her early training. She devoted much time to its study, and soon knew much more about it than her hostess.

Little seems to have been at this time committed to writing, but she obtained much assistance and instruction from Vega, a Brahman, who made her acquaintance on the occasion of a visit which he paid to her hostess. He was much interested in her and profoundly touched by the story of her previous sufferings. He taught her a number of hymns, some of them of great beauty, and all of high moral tone and of beneficent intent. His advice was on the whole good and sensible, though in certain directions he was somewhat narrow and fettered. His wife Auriga was also of great help to Alcyone, for she was deeply interested in religious matters.

At the end of about a year the dead father ceased to make any effort to assert his influence, and Alcyone felt at last that all connection with the old evil life had been entirely severed. It seemed to her like looking back upon some past incarnation, when she tried for a moment to see anything of that earlier time, and soon she was able to cut herself off from it so far that some at least of its details began to fade from her memory.

After the influence of the father had entirely departed, she had the unspeakable pleasure and encouragement of seeing once more in dream the Hierophant who had shown himself to her on the first night of her escape. On this occasion he congratulated her upon her newly won freedom and gave her a promise of help and protection. She endeared herself much, not only to her hostess , but also to other members of the family and to friends. She became practically a daughter of the house, or rather filled the place of one who had married and left the homestead. It seemed in fact as though the family had forgotten that she was not one of themselves, for when the old benefactress died an equal share of what was left was offered to her as a matter of course, and when she protested against this it was pressed upon her with the utmost sincerity. She agreed at last to accept a certain small share, and continued for some years longer to live with this same family.

There came a time when the second generation was growing up and more room seemed desirable, so she transferred herself to a smaller house on the estate, to live there with one of the younger couples, Cygnus and Iris, to whom she acted as a kind of mother and advisor. Her interest in the religion never waned, and presently she had learned all that her Brahman friend, was able to teach her, and was passionately desirous of still further information upon many points. The Brahman found himself unable to supply all this, but he told her of a holy man who, if he still lived, would be able to answer all her questions. He spoke of this man with the greatest reverence, saying that from him he had learnt all that he knew, and that he had always felt sadly conscious that he might have learnt much more if only he had had the power to grasp fully the words of wisdom which fell from the teacher’ s lips.

He spoke so earnestly and enthusiastically of this teacher, that after much consultation Alcyone resolved to make a journey in search of this man—a considerable undertaking for one who was now becoming an old woman. The distance was great, and as the Brahman had not heard of his teacher for a number of years, there was a good deal of uncertainty as to whether he would still be found in the same place, but there seems to have been no readily available method of making enquiries. However, Alcyone set off on this rather curious pilgrimage, and at the last moment the Brahman Vega resolved to throw up his position and his work and accompany her, and thus they journeyed together taking with them only a couple of servants as attendants, one of whom was our old acquaintance Boreas.

After various adventures and more than a month’ s travelling, they reached the temple over which Vega’ s teacher presided, and heard to their great joy that he was still living. They asked for an audience and Vega was overjoyed to fall once more at the feet of his ancient instructor. He then turned to introduced Alcyone, but saw with amazement that she was regarding the teacher with unspeakable wonder and reverence, and yet with an obvious recognition, while he in turn smiled upon her as some one with whom he was already familiar. A few words of incoherent explanation soon showed that this teacher was Mercury, the person who had twice appeared to her in vision, and of course this discovery put an entirely new complexion upon the affair, and linked them all together as already old friends.

Now began a happy time for Alcyone, for all her questions were answered and her most earnest desires were fulfilled, and the teacher spoke often to her of a far distant future in which she should learn far more than she could at present know, and should hand on the knowledge to others for the helping of the world. But he told her that for this many qualities were needed which she did not yet possess, that there was much karma even yet to be worked out; that to this end she must be willing to forget self and to sacrifice herself utterly for the welfare of mankind, but that at the end of this effort would come triumph and peace at the last. Vega made up his mind to send for his wife and family and to stay for the rest of his life with this teacher, and Alcyone would gladly have done the same, for a strong affection sprang up between them; but the teacher told her that this was not her destiny, and indeed that he himself would be but a little while longer upon the physical plane, while her duty lay with the family who had helped and rescued her.

So at the end of about a year she took leave of him with many regrets and travelled slowly back again to her old friends, who were heartily glad to welcome her. The rest of her old friends, who were heartily glad to welcome her. The rest of her life was spent quietly but happily in ministering to and helping the children and grandchildren of those who had been so kind to her.

Alcyone acquired a wide reputation because of her remarkable knowledge on all religious points, and she became an authority to be consulted even by the priests and the Brahmans of the neighbourhood. So the life which had begun amidst such horrors of storm and strife ended with the calm of a peaceful sunset, and she passed away deeply regretted by all those who knew and loved her so well.

Chart XXIX

Oudh India 15,402 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Naiad -Neptune Vajra -Yati

Noel -Viraj

Gimel -Beth Mars Vulcan

Ivy -Soma Herakles -Mercury Dora -Athena

Sita -Melpo Neptune -Naiad

Baldur -Irene Radius -Vale Rhea -Inca

Yajna -Jupiter Una -Phra Nanda -Taurus

Upaka -Xulon Hygeria -Kara Mercury -Herakles Viraj -Noel

Pavo -Sirona Madhu -Rao Ivan Alma

Phra -Una Aglaia -Onyx

Inca -Rhea Venus -Roxana Osiris -Gnostic

Naga -Selene

Pallas -Priam Corona -Xanthos Hector -Kratos Albireo -Sylla

Ulysses -Clio

Spica -Gem Jupiter -Yajna Demeter -Betel Elsa -Aries

Castor -Concord

Capella -Altair Nestor -Cento Rigel -Myna

Saturn -Uranus

Wences -Olaf Crux -Arcor

Priam -Pallas Clio -Ulysses Gem -Spica Dharma -Kepos Betel -Demeter

Kara -Hygeria

Olaf -Wences Aries -Elsa Flos -Gluck

Leo -Dhruva Cassio -Oak Leto -Udor Bee -Kamu Dome -Mizar

Pindar -Aletheia Koli -Ajax Selene -Naga

Fomal -Canopus Percy -Kim Zama -Lotus

Aurora -Sif Athena -Dora

Ixion -Argus Dido -Melete Kudos -Phoenix

Chart XXIX

Oudh India 15,402 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Myna -Rigel

Rector -Telema Judex -Auson

Xulon -Upaka Rao -Madhu Onyx -Aglaia

Taurus -Nanda Melpo -Sita Zeno -Uchcha Vale -Radius Sirona -Pavo Pyx -Joan

Kos -Ursa Quies -Tolosa

Tripos -Ullin

Beatus -Fides Dhruva -Leo Sylla -Albireo

Ajax -Koli Theseus -Arthur

Udor -Leto Psyche -Gaspar Rama -Orpheus Clare -Lignus

Chanda -Pomo Horus -Yodha Odos -Adrona

Diana -Callio

Ullin -Tripos Vizier -Capri Gnostic -Osiris

Trefoil -Polaris

Magnus -Pearl Yodha -Horus Polaris -Trefoil

Pomo -Chanda Calyx -Viola Phoenix -Kudos Adrona -Odos Jason -Sigma

Capri -Vizier

Math -Parthe Thor -Aquila

Arthur -Theseus

Cetus -Cancer

Alcyone -Scorpio

Thetis

Pollux -Apis

Tiphys

Gluck -Flos Parthe -Math Viola -Calyx Beeth -Gimel

Iris -Cygnus

Callio -Diana Vega -Auriga

Daleth -Cyr Aquila -Thor Ushas -Maya Kratos -Hector

Lotus -Zama Siwa -Algol Xanthos -Corona Kepos -Dharma Uchcha -Zeno

Maya -Ushas

Chart XXIX

Oudh India 15,402 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Roxana -Venus

Joan -Pyx Irene -Baldur Alma -Ivan

Yati -Vajra

Canopus -Fomal Pearl -Magnus Sif -Aurora Andro -Draco

Kamu -Bee Draco -Andro

Cygnus -Iris

Fides -Beatus Kim -Percy Lignus -Clare Oak -Cassio Mizar -Dome Orpheus -Rama Cyr -Daleth

Telema -Rector

Gaspar -Psyche Ursa -Kos

Aletheia -Pindar Argus -Ixion

Alces -Phocea

Sigma -Jason Melete -Dido Fort -Achilles

Tolosa -Quies

Auson -Judex

Altair -Capella

Concord -Castor Cento -Nestor Arcor -Crux

Boreas

Chart XXIXa

A small group of our characters appear at this time in Rajputana, and a few more are found to be existing

contemporaneosly in Mysore.

Rajputana 14,698 B.C.

1 23 45

Jupiter

Corona -Ulysses Dolphin -Deneb Theo -Demeter Egeria -Elsa

Walter -Sylla Roxana -Melpo

Mars -(1)Osiris

Vale -Crux Capella -Vajra -(2)Pallas

Andro -Siwa Deneb -Dolphin Bee -Hector

Elsa -Egeria Arcor -Gem

Demeter -Theo Eros -Rigel

Sylla -Walter Castor -Cyr Spica -Sappho

Rigel -Eros Vajra -Capella

Siwa -Andro Ulysses -Corona Sappho -Spica

Aglais -Camel

Hector -Bee Flora -Apis Gem -Arcor

Clio -Cento

Fort Melpo -Roxana

Sirona -Stella Boreas Laxa

Mysore

Capri Calyx -Amal

Olaf Concord

Chart XXIX (supplement)

Poseidonis (Birth of Erato) 15,288 B.C.

In the course of the development of his character it became necessary at this time for Erato to undergo a severe test. Having triuphed over certain difficulties in his last life in Egypt, he was now thrown into the midst of the corrupt and effete Atlantean civilisation --presumably with the hope that the strong development in his previous lives would enable him to triumph over the evil, and to live a pure and noble life in the midst of gross impurity. Thus he reappears in 15,288 in Poseidonis as the son of a man who was rich and well connected, but wholly devoted to gain, unscrupulous, hard and grasping, with no thought of anything beyond this world . Naturally, therefore, Erato was an uneasy, unhappy sort of boy, with vague feelings of discomfort and discontent with his surroundings, and dim aspirations toward something better. As he grew up, however, he became absorbed in the idle and vicious life of the time; but was in no way specially bad, but neither better. As he grew up, however, he became absorbed in the idle and vicious life of the time; but was in no way specially bad, but neither better nor worse than those around him. This being the case, it is perhaps hardly to be regretted that his life was cut short at the age of forty-four by a wound received in a street brawl. Five others of our characters are found along with him:

Muni -Markab

Erato Lacey

Hespar

Laxa

North America (Birth of Erato) 14,746 B.C.

His next appearance may be regarded as directly the consequence of the last life, for it took him out of the luxurious and enervating conditions of the civilisation of Poseidonis, and placed him amidst surroundings as bleak, as hardy and as uncomfprtable as can well be imagined. There was a change of sex, for he was born in 14,746 in the extreme North America, in the Rmohal branch of the Atlanteans. It was clearly a life of hard training, and Erato's immediate associates in it were by no means at his level. He had temporarily been cast among people for below him in evolution, none of whom can be identified as belonging to our band of servers.

Erato

Life XXX

The incarnation which took place B.C. 14,415 at Kalipa, in the Oudh neighbourhood, is again a female one in the Brahman caste, or rather perhaps in the caste which afterwards became Brahman. We have reached a period when each head of a house hold was the priest for that household. It was his duty himself to perform for his family most of the ceremonies for which it is now considered necessary to invoke the assistance of a specially trained priest or officiant; so perhaps this may be regarded as a kind of transition stage. It seems to have been supposed that every householder should know all the necessary ceremonies, and yet even already there were some who did not, and therefore needed sometimes to call in the assistance of better read or trained neighbours. This was even then paving the way for the existence of a special class who should make a profession of doing this work, and this very fact seems to have reacted upon other conditions, and produced a kind of vicious circle, because those men who were specially engaged to do such work found it to their interest to multiply ceremonies and make them more and more complicated, precisely in order that it might be necessary to call them in for their due performance.

Alcyone was the daughter of such a head of a household (Leo)—a man who practiced farming on a fairly large scale, being chiefly a cultivator of the ground, but also having many flocks and herds. He was one of those who may be described as learned in the ceremonies, and he rarely needed to call in outside assistance of any kind. His brief, however, does not seem to have corresponded at all closely to modern Hinduism, being much more largely a worship of the personification of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma; in fact, his mind was practically devoid of philosophy altogether. Still the connection with modern Hinduism is quite observable.

Their religion appears to have consisted mainly of the offering of a number of sacrifices to the various powers of nature, but some at least of their ceremonies look like prototypes of those of the present day. Sacrifices were offered for the dead father by his eldest son, but the sacrifice seems to have had two parts, or to have been of two varieties, one involving merely provision of some sort of food for the dead, and the other being of the nature of a kind of bribe to appease entities who might otherwise have annoyed or preyed upon the dead man. There was also a ceremony corresponding to the thread-giving of the present day—a kind of initiation of the boy into the ceremonies of his class, though the giving of a thread was not noticed in connection with it; in fact there appeared to be three such initiatory ceremonies at different stages, about the ages of seven, fourteen and twenty-one respectively, the first being of a simple preparatory and personal nature, the second an extension of the same but much more elaborate and detailed, and only the third conferring the full power to act as a priest for others.

Alcyone, even from childhood, took a keen interest in the ceremonies. As a child she was to some extent clairvoyant, and part at least of her delight in the ceremonies consisted in watching their effects and observing the entities evoked by them, whom however she regarded more as play-fellows than as dread deities. She had an elder brother Uranus, who shared her interest in all these matters, though he was not clairvoyant, and had to depend upon her for a description of what occurred. As children these two were perpetually asking their father about such matters questions which he was unable to answer, and as they grew up these young people became somewhat dissatisfied with the religion of their time, seeking perpetually for enlightenment with the religion of their time, seeking perpetually for enlightenment on general problems which were not touched upon in the information given in such traditions as were then extant. They were seeking, in fact, for some king of rudimentary Theosophy, some system which could contain and explain the isolated and even apparently contradictory statements made to them.

The brother and sister were always fond of going off alone together and discussing these knotty problems, and while Uranus, being older, had greater reasoning power, Alcyone frequently had flashes of intuition which brought solutions at which his intellect did not enable him to arrive. The rest of the family, even including the father Leo and the mother Orpheus, regarded this young couple as dreamy and unpractical, and thought their speculations and arguments of little use. They were constantly seeking in various directions for light upon their difficulties, but they met with but little either of comprehension or of sympathy. Somewhere in a secluded spot at some distance away in the hills, it was said that a community or fraternity existed who devoted themselves to some such studies as these; but since they were people of a different race and a different faith, they were much despised by the Aryans, and even regarded with hatred as unbelievers.

Sometimes elder people who overheard the rather crude discussions of the brother and sister would contemptuously tell them that they ought to go and learn from this fraternity, and this idea, spoken no doubt merely at random or in jest, took root in their minds, until at last they came to think of a visit to that community as a possible and even a desirable thing, in spite of the bitter prejudice felt against in by their own race and class. The matter was again and again discussed between them in private, and eventually they arrived at a resolution that when Uranus came of age they would go and find this community, with a view to ascertaining whether the disdain in which its members were held was well-founded, or whether perchance they really had some teaching to give, of which the contemptuous Aryan was not possessed.

Soon after the elder brother came of age, he announced his intention of making this journey and of taking Alcyone with him, and this of course caused a good deal of outcry and opposition in the family, more especially from the mother. Both Uranus and Alcyone were about to be married—or rather that was the father’ s wish with regard to both; but Uranus(who, apart from this abnormal desire, had always been a good son and full of common sense) declared that his assent to their marriage arrangements would be conditional upon his first being allowed to make this experimental visit and so take his sister with him. As has been said, the mother and other relations protested rigourously, but the father eventually said:

“ Let them go and see for themselves; first, they will probably not be able to find the community, and after much unavailing search will presently come home and settle down contentedly; secondly, it there is such a brotherhood and they do find it, they will assuredly also find that it has no information of any value to give them; and again having realised the foolishness of their dream they will be willing to come home and settle down into ordinary life.”

The idea of a young girl undertaking such a curious pilgrimage into the unknown was evidently foreign to the custom of the time, but since the two were inseparable, since the sister declared that the brother should not go without her, and since he on his part announced that without her he would not go, the father at last silenced all opposition and gave his permission, though with a good deal of semi-contemptuous feeling.

The brother and sister started on their journey, passing from village to village, through the thickly populated part of the country, without any difficulty or special adventure. As they passed on they made enquiries with regard to the alleged community. Some people regarded the whole thing as a myth, or said that perhaps there once had been such a body of men, but that it had been dispersed or massacred by the marauding bands of Aryans; others declared that it still existed, but they seemed to have no definite information of its whereabouts, or the type of men who composed it. however as they moved onward, the rumours of its real existence began to prevail over the denials, and when they came to the foot of the hills they were able to get something like a definite direction.

Here, however, their adventures began, for the villages now were often wide apart and difficult of access, and though Alcyone was a well-developed young woman, and almost as good a walker on the level as her brother, the hill-climbing tried her sorely, and it took her some weeks to become accustomed to it, and fairly proficient in it. As information about the brotherhood became more definite it also became less encouraging, for it was evident that rigid exclusiveness was one of its prominent rules, and certainly that no women belonged to it or were admitted into its precincts. This sounded ominous, and Alcyone, though eagerly anxious to carry out the adventure to its legitimate conclusion, at once offered to find a place in some village at the foot of the hills, where she could stay while her brother penetrated into the secret places, and learnt the mysteries of the brotherhood—on condition, of course, that he faithfully promised to impart them all to her on his return. Uranus, however, would not hear of this, and vowed that they would keep together or not go at all, and said that he would have none of the wisdom of a fraternity so churlish as to refuse it to any honestly enquiring mind. Their courage and endurance were fairly tested in the course of this pilgrimage, by the extreme fatigue and occasional privation, and by their adventure, and by their adventures with wild beasts; also on one or two occasions they met with much suffering and exposure in consequence of their losing their way.

Eventually however they reached their goal and found that this much discussed community was really a fact upon the physical plane. The brotherhood lived in a secluded valley, nestling far up in a wild part of the mountains, exceedingly well defended by nature against any possibility of attack, or indeed even of discovery by those unaquainted with the district. In this valley was a large central building, rudely some sort of robber fortress. This was the residence of the head of the community, and also contained the large dining and meeting hall. Round it were grouped irregularly a number of small stone houses—almost huts, some of them—which had been erected by the various brothers as they joined. This community or monastery was called Cuhupan (evidently an Atlantean name) and consisted almost entirely of men of high Atlantean race, only two or three among them being Aryan. They lived what might be called a semi-monastic life, spending much of their time in meditation and study, and yet at the same time each taking his appointed share in the cultivation and preparation of the grains and fruits upon which they lived.

Having altast discovered this secret, the brother and sister presented themselves at the gates of the valley for admission. This was at first promptly denied to them, and they were practically told to go about their business. Uranus however represented that they had travelled hundreds of miles in search of the wisdom which this community alone could give to them, and he demanded to be taken before its head, that at least his case might be enquired into before its head, that at least his case might be enquired into before it was summarily disposed of. After some demur the guardians of the gate granted them this favour, though assuring them beforehand that it was entirely useless to attempt admission. The quiet but determined persistence of Uranus eventually procured them the desired interview, and they were brought before Vesta, the head of the brotherhood, a man of venerable and dignified appearance, yet with an exceedingly keen and penetrating gaze. To him they told their story quite frankly, asserting, in answer to an enquiry, that they had no wish to give up the religion into which they had been born, at least certainly not without much further enquiry, but that they earnestly desired information which that religion as propounded by their father and neighbours was unable to give them, and that they had heard from afar of the fame and the learning of this monastery, and so had come all this way in the hope of being allowed to partake of it.

Uranus stated his case so well that the head of the community finally agreed to allow him to receive instruction, but for a long time he would not consent to the admission of Alcyone, as no woman had ever been permitted to reside within the precincts of the monastery. Uranus, however, quite definitely took the stand that both must be admitted to the teaching, or neither, and Alcyone herself when questioned showed such an intelligent interest in religious matters that eventually the abbot gave way, though he felt sure that he could trust his brethren, he yet doubted whether some trouble and heart-burning might not be caused among them by her presence. An empty hut was assigned to the brother and sister. Certain restrictions were placed upon Alcyone’ s movements which she considered as absolutely ridiculous. She would, however, have complied with far more serious conditions for the sake of the information which she expected to obtain.

When once the matter was thus settled, the abbot in person interested himself in teaching them such wisdom as he had to give, and he soon saw that both of them were well worthy of any help that he could give them. For them to come into touch with something of the knowledge and science of Atlantis was the revelation of a new world. Though the Aryans of the period were a fighting race, with a great many original ideas of their own, they were not a highly educated people in the direction of either scientific or philosophical knowledge. The brother and sister soon found that the questions about which they had somewhat crudely speculated had been thoroughly discussed thousands of years before in Atlantis, and that the abbot and his monks were possessed of definite systems of thought which extended far further than they had ever dreamed.

All this was the purest delight to them, and they devoured every scrap of information that they could obtain from the abbot or from any other of the brothers. The system put before them had many points of contact with the Theosophy of to-day; and above all things the monastery possessed a score of secret books, from which verses were read to them, which filled them with delight and with awe, since written books were not yet in vogue among their own people. They earnestly desired to be admitted as probationers of the Order, but this the abbot would not permit, saying that Alcyone could in no case be so received, and that even her brother must prove his fitness by years of residence. He was, however, allowed to assist in the labours of the community, as a sort of payment in kind for the hospitality necessarily extended to his sister and himself. So passed some happy months, full of eager study and interest.

Presently, however, the abbot’ s half-formed fears were realised, for, in spite of the disfiguring veil, some of his younger disciples began to fall in love with Alcyone, and it is to be feared that she herself was by no means indifferent to their obvious though unspoken admiration; though, to do her justice, her head was so full of the new philosophy that it was some time before she perceived their sentiments. When she became more accustomed to the life, and had time to look about her, the inevitable sequel to such an anomalous condition of affairs specially declared itself. The old abbot had trusted too much to the veiled face and the difference of race—for the contempt of the Aryan for what he considered the effeminate and effete Atlantean was fully reciprocated by the latter, who regarded the Aryan as a mere barbarian without even the rudiments of real culture. One at least of the young Atlantean monks contrived to see Alcyone unveiled, and found that the charms of the fair Aryan altogether overpowered his race prejudice. Things soon reached a stage at which secret meetings were arranged, and equally inevitably in due course of time these secret meetings were discovered, and then of course a great explosion of wrath took place. Alcyone, her brother, and the erring young monk, Neptune, were all brought up before the abbot and instantly banished from the community, for though the abbot had learned to love the two strangers he loved his community as his life-work far more.

Uranus was exceedingly indignant and, much as he loved his sister, he blamed her severely for her action. As soon as they were cast out of the valley and the restraining guardianship of the brothers was removed, he fell upon the young monk, whom he considered as the cause of his exclusion, and a struggle took place between the two young men in which both were wounded, which left Alcyone mistress of the situation. She rated them both roundly for their folly in quarrelling when it was obvious that, their interests were identical; she said that, while she bitterly regretted that any action of hers should have led to this banishment, she yet could not regret the action in itself, which she felt to be entirely in accordance with nature, and she asked why it might not be possible that they live a life in the outer world more natural than that of the community, and yet at the same time continue the study of the philosophy which had become the guiding principle of their lives.

The common sense of her brother brought him at last to see this, and the young monk was willing enough to be friendly, so Alcyone, with much trouble and hardship, got the two young men to the nearest village, though even that was a long distance away. She herself tended their wounds and did her best for them, but it was only at the village that they could get help and rest and proper food. They stayed here for some little time, but eventually decided that it would be better to be even further away from the monastery, the young monk especially desiring to reach some part of the country where the story of his expulsion need not be known. Not that he regretted it, for he regarded the world as well lost for the sake of love, and Alcyone in turn developed a strong regard for him. She did not feel that it would be possible for her to return home with a husband of the despised race, especially one who had been obtained in so irregular a manner, and Uranus also determined to throw in his lot with the young couple, at any rate temporarily.

Having no means of subsistence, they had naturally to endeavour to turn to work of some sort. Uranus understood practical farming well, but Neptune, though strong, sturdy and willing, had no knowledge of any useful art beyond the little that he had gained in taking his share in the cultivation of the monastic valley. Nevertheless they presently engaged themselves to Irene, a farmer who, growing old and having no children within reach, desired assistance in the cultivation of his estate. Thus by degrees they worked their way into a recognised position which, though at first but humble, gradually improved itself. As they came to know him better the old farmer proved kindly and honourable, and presently he assigned to them a definite share in the farm. Here they lived and worked for some years, on the whole happily, gradually winning their way to position of respect and opulence in the little village.

Several children were born to Alcyone, and she became a capable house-mother. Though she never lost her interest in philosophy and religious problems she had naturally less time to give to their discussion, as the cares of the family and the household accumulated upon her. While she brought up her children in the rites of her ancestral Aryan religion she nevertheless grafted on to it the noble philosophy of old Atlantis, and so for them and for some friends who were interested she to some extent anticipated the later developments of that Hinduism which accepted the Upanishads as well as the Vedas. Prominent among these friends was a young neighbour, Cygnus, who felt great admiration for Alcyone and great respect for her opinion in religious matters. He and his wife Mizar were close friends of the family for many years.

The fact that Alcyone and her husband were of different races does not seem to at all to have put them outside the pale of society in either race; on the contrary, it operated rather in the opposite direction, as it enabled them to make friends in both. Her children as they grew up were fine stalwart specimens, and seemed for once to combine the good qualities of the two races, instead of the bad ones, as he so often unfortunately the case in such admixtures. Alcyone’ s childish clairvoyance had diminished as she grew older, and deserted her almost entirely after marriage, though her sensitiveness and keen intuition still remained. But the clairvoyance showed itself occasionally in at least one of her children, and at any rate the recollection of it was always a precious possession to her, as enabling her to realise far more keenly than would have otherwise been the case the facts of the unseen world which is always so close about us.

Some twelve years after their expulsion from the monastery, news reached them that its abbot had for a long time been making patient but unsuccessful enquiries after them; and, feeling now perfectly secure with respect to any further steps that he might take, they had no hesitation in sending in search of his messenger and announcing themselves to him. Then they found that the object of the abbot’ s long continued enquiries was to convey to them a certain message. He had been told by his teacher Mercury(whom he reverenced deeply, who appeared to him or communicated with him astrally, but had never been seen by him in the flesh) that he had done wrong in expelling them, for though the action of Alcyone and the monk was in itself indefensible, it was after all but a natural weakness of the body, while the earnest desire for wisdom was a quality of the man within, which in the far-distant future would be turned to valuable account, not for themselves alone, but for the helping of many others also. Therefore the abbot wished to rescind his action, and invite all three to return to their studies with the community.

This invitation had of course been issued in ignorance of the fact that they had settled down into family life, and both Alcyone and her husband felt that it was impossible for them to accept it, since their duty to their children was now paramount. Uranus, however, decided to pay a visit to the abbot, to thank him for his kindness in sending them such a message, and to beg from him a gift which they had long and earnestly desired—a copy of one of the sacred books. After a stay of some months in his old quarters he returned with this much prized treasure, bringing with him the friendly wishes and blessings if Vesta.

Soon after this the old farmer Irene, for whom they had originally begun to work, passed over to the astral plane, leaving them in return for their years of loyal service nearly the whole of his estate, with the exception of certain small portions already promised to some distant relations. Thus the family became definitely established as local magnates, and their future welfare was assured. There house also became a kind of religious centre, since it was recognised that the philosophical information which they had to give formed a valuable supplement to the ordianary teaching of the Nature-worship which surrounded them. Alcyone’ s husband Neptune and her brother Uranus both died before her, but though she mourned over the separation from them her children still remained to her, as did also her position of great respect and honour in the district. She passed away peacefully at the age of ninety-one.

Chart XXX Oudh India 14,551 B.C. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

[Mercury ] Fons -Albireo Lili -Argus

Alba -Pax

Uranus -Saturn

Pax -Alba

Leto -Hermin

Aqua -Ivy

Sagitta -Euphra Beren -Norma Alcyone -Neptune

Draco Aletheia -Zeno Cassio

Rama -Math

Naga -Corona Athena -Dhruva

Hestia -Ajax

Apollo -Venus

Alex -Vajra

Orca -Betel Pepin -Percy Rex -Regu

Philae -Taurus

Nita -Fomal

Hebe -Arthur

Phra -Uchcha

Uchcha -Phra

Dhruva -Athena Lotus -Hygeia

Jason -Bee Horus -Nimrod

Noel -Ivan Chanda -Madhu Maya -Yodha

Dharma -Onyx Upaka -Inca Rector -Diana

Flos -Dido Dome -Kudos Beatus -Judex

Viraj -Vulcan

Vulcan -Viraj Nicos -Dora Aulus -Polaris Ushas -Ulysses Nanda -Yati

Sita -Siwa Ullin -Tripos

Iris -Vega Auriga -Leopard Tiphys -Chrys Eudox -Parthe Zephyr -Pollux

Pomo -Priam

Pearl -Achilles

Spes -Scotus Sextans -Magnus Daleth -Ixion

Siwa -Sita Ulysses -Ushas

Chart XXX

Oudh India 14,551 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Sappho -Kepos Corona -Naga

Yodha -Maya Algol -Nestor

Odos -Pavo Vizier -Adrona

Deneb -Yajna

Una -Radius Ivan -Noel Bee -Joan

Venus -Apollo Concord -Iota Yati -Nanda Kratos -Kappa

Radius -Una

Alma -Bootes Mizar -Cygnus

Madhu -Chanda Telema -Gluck

Hygeia -Lotus

Tripos -Ullin Soma -Zoe

Onyx -Dharma Karu Bootes -Alma Parthe -Eudox Ivy -Aqua

Callio -Auson Betel -Orca

Beth -Dactyl Clare -Phocea Vesta -Quies

Trefoil -Thor Aquila -Atlas Dactyl -Beth

Cygnus -Mizar

Regu -Rex

Polaris -Aulus Gimel -Lignus

Priam -Pomo Libra -Ara Virgo -Forma

Viola -Pisces Tolosa -Abel Percy -Pepin

Atlas -Aquila Daphne -Markab Magnus -Sextans

Zoe -Soma Pindar -Kos

Zeno -Aletheia

Saturn -Uranus Yajna -Deneb Electra -Psyche Phoenix -Bruce Mona -Lobelia Ara -Libra

Pollux -Zephyr Phocea -Clare Norma -Beren

Markab -Daphne Math -Rama Dido -Flos Judex -Beatus Thor -Trefoil

Diana -Rector Kudos -Dome Albireo -Fons Ronald -Kamu Pisces -Viola

Echo -Rosa

Ajax -Hestia

Hector -Fides Leopard -Auriga

Chart XXX

Oudh India 14,551 B.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Kepos -Sappho Capella -Colos Helios -Herakles

Achilles -Pearl Psyche -Electra

Lignus -Gimel Pavo -Odos Neptune -Alcyone

Dora -Odos Nimrod -Horus

v Inca -Upaka Bruce -Phoenix Fomal -Nita

Chrys -Tiphys Melete -Alces Auson -Callio

Arthur --Hebe Taurus -Philae

Adrona Argus -Lili v Koli -Ida Cetus -Zama

Rosa -Echo

Vega -Iris

Sif -Obra Bella -Lomia

v

Kim -Muni

Gnostic -Holly

v v

Vajra -Alex

Fides -Hector

Kamu -Ronald Ida -Koli v Udor -Jerome Lobelia -Mona

Obra -Sif

v

Euphra -Sagitta

Ixion -Daleth

v Alces -Melete Colos -Capella Aurora -Xanthos

v Holly -Gnostic Forma -Virgo

Scotus -Spes

Muni -Kim Jerome -Udor Abel -Tolosa Hermin -Leto Mars -Selene

Alastor -Cancer Irene

Altair Wences Pyx Lyra