“No,” answered the Dorado, more calmly. “Come into the temple and I shall tell thee.”
When Yermah followed him, he continued:
“The crook is the attraction to the earth, and the flail is the repulsion from it. Man oscillates continually between the masculine and the feminine qualities of his nature. When Osiris says, ‘Let the heart be given back to the deceased’[[10]] after it has been put into an urn and weighed in the balance against the image of Truth, we are to understand that the candidate is no longer swayed by his emotions and appetites. He is self-centered. Sorrow will lift her pall, and thou wilt stand face to face with Truth.”
Akaza drew from his bosom a heavy serpent ring of silver with a rare green jade setting. It had a turquoise with diamond eyes cut intaglio.
“This means Silence,” said the old man, as he took Yermah’s right hand, and slipped the ring on the little finger. “It is the signet of the Brotherhood, and thou must sacredly guard the divine wisdom imparted to thee.
“Thou wilt be sorely tried in the future; but I, who am responsible for thy soul’s welfare, give thee this sign manual of the King Initiate.”
Yermah knelt before him, and was anointed on crown, forehead and breast with perfumed oil.
“Rise and receive the Sacred Word. It is ‘Aision,’ which is Truth. Seen in the distance, this quality is personated as stern, harsh, forbidding; but, when we approach near enough to distinguish the lineaments of its countenance, it contains all that is gracious, benignant and inspiring. The Spirit of Truth dwells within the sanctuary of the heart.”
Akaza then put his hands together, with the fingers closed and bent so as to form an acute angle. With the tip of his fingers pointed, he touched Yermah’s forehead, and said:
“Let there be no complaint.”