Atlantis : The Book of Angels

Excerpt

THE days when the sons of Adam increased and multiplied, and in the days when they overran Atlantis and builded themselves cities, the noise of their sin rose up the Heaven. And to me, Asia, an archangel and which stood before the Throne of God, was given command to go forth upon the Earth and by reason of my words turn the heart of Man back to the faith of his fathers, and destroy his groves and altars which he had raised to the worship of gods created of his evil imaginings, which were detestable to Us.

Now certain also among Us had gone forth and cohabited with the daughters of Man, in mystic visions of the night or by more physical manifestations causing them to conceive and bear children unto them, which was neither seemly nor proper; but in such strong form was the celestial passion manifested in the beings of Earth that even angels stooped to partake of its pleas- ures, (such angels as moved in very close communion with the farther circles, and looked to an extent upon material things).

And indeed the separate Female was a mysterious and wonderful creation.

Mrs. Jameson in "Sacred and Legendary Art" gives us the following: " The great theologians divide the angelic hosts into three hierarchies, and these again into nine choirs, three in each hierarchy: according to Dionysius the Areopagite, in the following order: I. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones. 2. Dominations, Virtues, Powers. 3. Princedoms, Archangels, Angels. The order of these dominations is not the same in all authorities: according to the Greek formula, St. Bernard, and the Legenda Aurea, the Cherubim precede the Seraphim, and in the hymn of St. Ambrose they have also the precedence To Thee, Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, etc.; but the authority of St. Dionysius seems to be admitted paramount, for, according to the legend, he was the convert and intimate friend of St. Paul, and St. Paul, who had been transported to the seventh heaven, had made him acquainted with all he had there beheld.

The first three choirs receive their glory immediately from God, and transmit it on to the second' the second illuminate the third; the third are placed in relation to the created universe and man. The first hierarchy are as counsellors, the second as governors, the third as ministers. The Seraphim are absorbed in perpetual love and adoration immediately around the throne of God. The Cherubim know and worship. The Thrones sustain the seat of the Most High. The Dominations, Virtues and Powers are the Regents of stars and elements. The three last orders, Princedoms, Archangels and Angels, are the protectors of the great monarchies on earth, and the executors of the will of God throughout the universe.

The term angel is properly applied to all these celestial beings; but it belongs especially to the last two orders, who are brought into immediate communication with the human race. The word Angel, Greek in its origin, signifies a Messenger, or more literally, a bringer of tidings. In this sense, the Greeks entitle Christ "The great Angel of the will of God."

In manifested shape among them were many evil spirits, working confusion by their own confusion, and whereby Man came to know more than was meet that he should: whence would have come much tribulation by reason of his turbulence and ambition, and the use of powers superhuman for the attainment of Earthly things, which is sorcery and witchcraft.

Not very much had I known of the New Creation and of the world among the stars; to me was sufficient the vast delights of space and those far circles where the billows of Life broke upon horizons beyond which flaming worlds fed the Immensity with fire and light; sufficient was the song of endless spheres so justly poised upon the seas of immeasurable air where the rolling wheels of Fate turned, ever moved by the Word, hymned of the winged aons.

And would that I had never left my happy estate, nor ever looked upon thee, Earth world, thou dull spot within the starry coronet that crowns the brows of God. When the noise of thy rebellion and unrest arose, we marvelled; and thinking upon thy smallness it was as the noise of a tiny insect buzzing in a great mansion. Yet, little pest, thy sting is sharp, and many have felt it.

For it was whispered that the beings of Earth were goodly to look upon, and were attractive in their wit and wisdom and high in the sight of our Lord Jehovah, being greatly esteemed that they combined with the subtlety of Heaven a manifested form of Earth. Beautiful in sad truth were they, and excellent in arts, particularly of mischief. And I, who have seen the days when man first came upon Earth, and the last-created man, Adam, and who have looked upon the face of God, bear witness herein to their excellence, and to that ambition that ministered by the female element, medium of Heaven, caused their downfall.

Why should we sing our defeats? Whence the desire that others of Earth shall learn my record of them, that is hidden up in the closing book of the Past? Fain would I lose myself in profound meditation, yet it may not be; and ever arises in sad memory the dreamy glories of Atlantis and starry nights of love. Gone thou art, Zul, city of gods! and thou, my Love, where art thou now? Wilt thou remember when we meet again? O Azta, could I but have led thee in those careless paths where false ambition has no home and the fleeting triumph of dearly-bought glory troubles not! The Siren of Earth, that ever sits beyond your reach and throws gifts of self-esteem whereby ye need no warning and perish in self-created flames, sits not in the lofty groves of Paradise.

Hear, Peoples of the Future, a recital of days that are past and gone beyond the reach of history a recital ol a power that sought to strive with the creator of itself for a mastery that would have brought but a horror of impotent ruin on Universes unimagined a recital of how the heavenly power of Love brings disaster when not applied in its own spirit and learn, if but in a passing flash of intuition, that misapplied Good begets a more powerful evil than Evil itself can do.

Stooping from Heaven, and full of the trust reposed in me, I sought the Earth lying like a cloudy wonder on the bosom of space; and attaining at length the terrestrial atmosphere with the speed of the Word, and the brightness of the Earth-atoms generating light, stood thereon, an embodied Intellect, upon a vast land, by the side of a lake of water wherein I perceived myself fashioned wondrously. Thereon I gazed in an ecstacy of admiration, not fully understanding as yet that it was my own image, for I had never before taken on any carnal mani- festation; and then confusion overcame me and I rose up and surveyed the surrounding beauties.

And to me was given the power to take on whatsoever form of Earth I wished, which power I perceived to be balanced by a certain dulness of thought and intellect fitted to the heavy atmosphere and the solidity around me.

With what curiosity I gazed on the white swans that skimmed^ the lake, and how I was ravished with the towering beauty of palms and stately trees shadowing the fruitful Earth beneath the blueness of the deeps of sky as apparent. Afar were moun- tain slopes and grotesque yet shapely masses that filled a whole horizon with irregular outlines, and I cried in the language of Earth, How beautiful!

But suddenly the brightness fled. The Earth rose above the sun and there was darkness over everything. In eager haste I mounted into the air and grasped the sword that lay along my thigh, and soon I saw the burning planet and that half the Earth was bright and half was not.

Curious, I lighted down again upon the dark part, near to where I had at first come, and presently the moon shone with a wonderful pure white gleam.

It was night. I stood on the sandy beach of the old sea, that I knew was there long before man came, and that after in more human nature I loved so well because of its restless sorrow; a beach fringed with palm-groves and luxuriant vegetation, with strange animals wandering upon it. I raised my eyes, full of wonder, to the shapely masses rising from its plain, and perceived a city.

The etymology of the Atlantean Zul, which appears to indicate the Sun, is perpetuated in the Akkad Zal, the Aymara Sillo, and the Latin Sol.

There lay Zul from East to West horizon stretching, dark against the moonlight; and afar, standing out in white sheen and misty beauty, rose tower, pyramid and pylon in endless grouping, mass above mass, terrace above terrace, in cyclopean gloom. Grim, awful and majestic in its immensity of sleeping strength, lay the mighty city; and full of the wonder of the night, I drank my full of the mystery of it and marvelled at the glory of Earth. Methought in the darkness it was the city of Satan and of his legions, and at times I wonder now if I were correct in my thought. Never, ah! never can I forget the stupendous wonder of Zul as it came upon me that night, when as an atom of Earth I stood beneath its majesty.

Up and upward it rose from the bosom of the waters, and within the mighty shadow of its walls I saw gates, massive ports with carven columns and colossal statues, and within the walls, palaces, arches and colonnades, and on this side a wide moat. I saw the waving flames on temple roofs; I strove to analyse the piles of enormous masonry that rose in confusion the thronging columns, colossi, roofs and towers.

This was a city of giants!

There was life within; there was music. Not like the strains my soul loved, but blatant and ribald, and methought, discordant. I perceived many more lights; before a propylon stood a pyramid; and now the light began to return and to disclose monstrous forms and faces, crude clashing colours and rough ornamentations.

The colossi exhibited hideous deformities, and yet there was nought to disgust. Nay; although afterwards I knew them in all their daring obscenity, all was so vast, so enormous, and the grand columns clustered in such confusion of magnificence, that the beastliness of some of their figures was forgotten in the unblushing hugeness that exhibited the deformity so openly. Vast, amorphous shadows formed a background to gray, towering piles of such proportions that caused me to marvel at their grand immensity; square masses of brick and masonry standing there under the shades of the night in bewildering grandeur, simple in their massive immobility, intricate in the dim vistas of colonnade and arch, gate and stairway, column, altar and colossus.

The arch is known in early architecture, but only in a crude form a beam laid on the tops of two pillars, or the structure known as the "false arch," in which bricks or stones project in each layer until they meet at the top.

I saw strange scenes that then I did not understand, and heard sounds of voices, and shrieks; cries that seemed of terror, and the occasional clash of arms. How well, ah, how well was I to know that scene, and hear those sounds in days to come that then I recked not of, being amazed and bewildered by my tumult of emotions and delighted with the strangeness of it all. It was so real, so oppressive and wonderful, and the gray twilight so mysterious, that my senses were intoxicated, and I gazed on the lofty walls and anon over the dark waters with ecstacy.