Book of Shadows
Notes
for Initiates
O Thou who hast declared
intent to become one of us, hear then that
which thou must know
to do: Single is the race, single of men and of
Gods, from a single
source we both draw breath, but a difference of
power in everything
keeps us apart, for we are as nothing but the
Gods stay forever.
Yet we can, in greatness of minds, be like the
Gods. Though we know
not to what goal by day or in the night, Fate
has written that
we shall run beyond all seas, and earth's last
boundaries. Beyond
the Spring of night and the Heaven's vast
expanse there lies
a majesty which is the domain of the Gods. Those
who would pass through
the Gates of Night and Day to that sweet
place, which is between
the world of men and the domains of the
Lords of the Outer
Spaces, know that unless there is truth in thy
heart, thy every effort
is doomed to failure. HEAR THEN THE LAW:
That thou lovest all
things in nature. That thou walkest humbly in
the ways of men and
the ways of the Gods. Also it is the law that
contentment thou shalt
learn, through suffering, and from long
years, and from nobility
of mind and of purpose. FOR THE WISE NEVER
GROW OLD. Their minds
are nourished by living in the daylight of the
Gods and if among the
vulgar some discoveries should arise
concerning some maxims
of thy belief in the Gods so do thou, for
the most part, keep
silent. For there is a great risk of those who
straightaway vomit
up that which they hast not digested. And when
someone shall say to
thee, thou knowest naught and it bites thee
naught, then knowest
thou that thou hast begun the work. And as
sheep do not bring
their food to the shepherd to show how much they
have eaten but digesting
inwardly their provender do bear outwardly
wool and milk, even
so, do not display the maxims to the vulgar, but
rather the works that
flow when they are digested.