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4 - Evocation of Spirits
A similar Fire flashingly extending through the rushings of Air, or a Fire formless whence cometh the
Image of a voice, or even a flashing Light abounding, revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud. Also
there is the vision of the fire-flashing Courser of Light, or also a Child, borne aloft on the shoulders of
the Celestial Steed, fiery, or clothed with gold, or naked, or shooting with the bow shafts or light, and
standing on the shoulders of the horse, then if thy meditation prolongeth itself, thou shalt unite all
these symbols into the Form of a Lion.
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The Oracles of Zoroaster
The thing that dominated the real room itself was also a drawing, not any piece of furniture or detail
of architecture: a vast double circle on the floor in what appeared to be whitewash. Between the
concentric circles were written innumberable words, or what might have been words, in characters
which might have been Hebrew, Greek, Etruscan or even Elvish for all Baines could tell. Some few
were in Roman lettering, but they, too, were names he could not recognize; and around the outside of
the outer circle were written astrological signs in their zodiacal order, but with Saturn to the north.
At the very center of this figure was a ruled square about two feet on a side, from each corner of
which proceeded chalked, conventionalized crosses, which did not look in the least Christian.
Proceeding from each of these, but not connected to them, were four six-pointed stars, verging on the
innermost circle. The stars at the east, west and south each had a Tau scrawled at their centres;
presumably the Saturnmost did too ...
Outside the circles, at the other compass points, were drawn four pentagrams, in the chords of which
were written TE TRA GRAM MA TON, and at the centers of which stood the candles. Farthest away
from all this - about two feet outside the circle and three feet over it to the north -was a circle enclosed
by a triangle, also much lettered inside and out; Baines could just see that the characters in the angles
of the triangle read NI CH EL (1) ...
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[
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1] Should read 'MI CHA EL': from the Book of the Goetia.
---
He entered the circle, closed it with the point of the sword, and proceeded to the central square, where
he lay the sword across the toes of his white shoes; then he drew the wand from his belt and
unwrapped it, laying the red-silk cloth across his shoulders.
"From now on," he said, in a normal, even voice, "no one is to move."
From somewhere inside his vestments he produced a small crucible, which he set at his feet before the
recumbent sword. Small blue flames promptly began to rise from the bowl, and Ware cast incense into
it ...
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