Symbol in the Devil's hand

"Could anything be more futile than chiromancy and card prognostication, it is probably the zodiacal astrology which has been just described, and which limits the varieties of human destiny, disposition, and physical appearance to twelve kinds."​

"I need some indulgence for bringing in these details, and I will forbear from dwelling on chiromancy, except to say that the lines of the hand are believed to shew forth great mysteries, including those of the fingers. On the contrary I might not be forgiven by the few who know if I omitted to certify that a man with two great hairs between the shoulders is one who swears without ceasing and to no purpose. The presence of three such hairs is the sign of a happy nature. To make an end of these fantasies, he who has been guilty of adultery and has not done penance is identifiable by an excrescence with two hairs, below the navel. If he repents, the swellings will remain but the hairs will fail off.

"Hereof is the Zohar when it makes an excursion into by-ways beyond its province, and it is likely enough that those who take palmistry and physiognomy seriously will regard the indications as worthless, even from their standpoint. It is none of my own concern."​

"The transliteration of Taro as Rota is inscribed on the wheel, counterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name—to shew that Providence is implied through all. But this is the Divine intention within, and the similar intention without is exemplified by the four Living Creatures."​

"Behind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial of chance and the fatality which is implied therein."​

"It will be seen, however, that the figure is seated between pillars, like the High Priestess, and on this account it seems desirable to indicate that the moral principle which deals unto every man according to his works—while, of course, it is in strict analogy with higher things—differs in its essence from the spiritual justice which is involved in the idea of election. The latter belongs to a mysterious order of Providence, in virtue of which it is possible for certain men to conceive the idea of dedication to the highest things."​

". . .but she is rather the working of a Secret Law of Providence than a willing and conscious temptress."​

"Hereof is the chain and fatality of the material life."​

"Those who consult the oracles of this Manual will not be aware in most cases that there is any philosophy of the whole subject, and I have hinted already that this is scarcely the place to speak at any length on the serious side of things. That which seems necessary has been said in the introductory part, and in "The Book of the Secret Word" a single illustration has been given of certain high phases which may be assumed by seeming divinatory methods. It is not my proposal now to rescind the unofficial covenant into which it may be held that I have entered; but because we have been dealing with questions of fatality and omen, and have still some words to say on the observation of times and seasons, it seems desirable to express with simplicity one law which has always been recognized by the wise as governing from another sphere the common laws of destiny. It has been usually put forward in the past as the art of ruling the stars [fate] by the Law of Grace, and if the imputed operation were restricted to astrological influence, there would be no call to speak of it, as this is not a handbook of astrology. It obtains, however, in all questions of doom, fortune and presages. I should add further that it is the more proper to our purpose because in collecting these lesser curiosities and trivialities of the old occult sciences, I am offering them for what they are worth and in no sense enlisting belief in regard to them at this day. Those therefore who, on any prior considerations, or by some predisposition of the mind, may give credit already to such arts, can and should fitly be cautioned that there is another side of the whole matter from which it is well to approach it.

This arises from the theological consideration that man by his material constitution and external environment is normally under the law of Nature, which may not be incorrectly described as one of imperfection and fatality, but that it depends upon his own will whether he shall pass under the ruling of the higher Law of Grace, whereby he is so assisted that he can overcome the operation of Nature on the moral and personal side within him, and so earn a title to the eternal Kingdom. It is obvious that he cannot control the forces of the physical universe and the rising or the setting of the stars, but he can soar above the sphere of natural temptation and thus of the fatalities which it exercises.

Now, therefore, the art of ruling the stars by the Law of Grace does not result from any formal process of prayers or invocation, by which their evil influences can be arbitrarily averted or their benignant effects drawn down in the particular direction of the operator. It depends rather, and indeed wholly, upon the soul’s entrance into another sphere, where they cannot operate, either for evil or good. But if it be suggested to any mind that after this manner the happy celestial influences may be perchance missed, the answer is that they have been exchanged already for that which is better infinitely, since no one will affirm that it is not preferable to live under the Law of Grace than any lower law which governs—occultly or overtly—the starry heavens, the times, the tides, the days and all the dubious region of blind and automatic influences. It follows in this way that the lesser can be exchanged for the greater good, and when this has been accomplished there will never be any cause to repent of such a transfer. If it be, asked whether the malefic work of the stars and the other fatal forces is cancelled entirely for those who dwell in the world of Grace, I believe this to be true—largely on the hypothesis that such fatalities exist; but I am quite certain that should the Querent follow this high counsel, till he comes where material misfortunes cannot signify, it is reasonable to think that what has become void of import has been reduced to a thing of no effect.

It is understood that the influence of the stars can only be exercised on man by a certain similitude or analogy which subsists between them and him. Hence it has been said by some theologians of the occult school that the heavens are truly within man and the stars thereof. It behoves a man who realizes this truth to change his own aspects, and, so acting, he shall have no reason to fear what can be done to him by the world without. It is further well known, and has been experienced by many, that the whole creation moves in order and harmony along the path of those who by reason of their clean heart and unfailing inward fire do proceed daily in the mystery of the love of God. To sum up therefore, those who by the Law of the Spirit overrule the concupiscence and the appetites of the natural man, confessing only to a Divine motive, do cancel the correspondence which exists between the stars and the course of our life; and it is in this sense—as an old writer has told us—that by operating upon the stars which are within us it can be said mystically, and for the attainment of our proper term, that we can rule all the others. When a man sets his face towards Jerusalem the offices of all the world are rendered subservient to his purpose and become his helps thereto. The Sun of Justice rises over his soul; the stars in the heaven within him utter counsel to one another."​