THE OCCULT REVIEW

London, England

December 1925

(pages 54-55)

REVIEWS.

The Anatomy of the Body of God. Being the Supreme Revelation of Cosmic Consciousness, explained and depicted in Graphic Form, by Frater Achad [Charles Stansfeld Jones]. With designs showing the Formation, Multiplication and Projection of the Stone of the Wise, by Will Ransom. Chicago: Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum, P.O. Box 141. London: J. G. Bayley [James Gilbert Bayley], 37A Tressillian Road, S.E. Price Fifteen Dollars.

Frater Achad, has discovered that the Plan of the Quabalistic Tree is based on the Vesica Piscis, or, to be precise, on the proportions resulting from the intersection of two Vesicae, and that, through using this discovery geometrically, the Plan of the Tree and Paths may be expanded towards the Infinitely Great or contracted towards the Infinitely Small. He also shows that the Plan may be viewed as a three-dimensional figure, likewise capable of indefinite increase or decrease.

Now all this is very interesting, but it has little connection with the true Quabalah, being only a materialistic interpretation of the purely formal element. The true Quabalistic Tree is a projection of thoughts and not of things. It was conceived as a ladder for thoughts to climb up and down and to ultimately transcend what we call thought. It has three main points, like a ladder—the two supports and the step in between. The supports form the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and may be denoted by the signs + and -; the step is 0. We start with what I call positive thought. The ladder is positive, plus is actual (good), minus is actual (evil), and zero is actual (change). When we enter what I call negative thought, plus and minus are balanced out and the step in between becomes zero, or equilibrium. Thought then stands on nothing thinkable (the Abyss).

Now all this is intellectual and not material; it is a process, not a thing. Frater Achad, however, who lives in the most materialistic city in the most materialistic country, sees the universe as a solid conglomerate of Sephiroth. This is interesting, but there it ends. Frater Achad seems to feel this, so, to give his system life, he gives the body of God a strong injection of Egyptian form by means of his pet hose-pipe—Liber Legis.

For these reasons I find it difficult to take his book seriously. The chief ingredient of cosmic consciousness is superabundant life; here we get a superabundance of form. To return to the forms of the past is ridiculous and largely a confession of failure to understand the present. The spirit is always new. Every age has its own forms. The man in advance of his age will create the forms of the future; he will not accept the forms of the past. We can learn much from the past, but not all Spiritual progress is like a tree, not all roots; it must grow to live. To return to Egypt is to mummify the spirit. And this is what Frater Achad has done. But I do not mean to imply that he has done this consciously; there are many indications that he is a sincere Aspirant who has the welfare of humanity at heart. I think that he has absorbed undesirable elements from the A∴A∴ and has unconsciously reacted to the atmosphere of Chicago. However, now that he has severed his connection with Therion and the A∴A∴, we may look forward to future publications by Frater Achad written in the true Light of Knowledge.

Meredith Starr and Another.