TH; AND OF THE DECLARATIONS OF ISIS, THE
MESSENGER

In silence we passed into the Shrine of Isis. It was dark and bare--only
the feeble light from the lamp gleamed faintly upon the sculptured
walls, where, in a hundred effigies, the Holy Mother suckled the Holy
Child.

The priest closed the doors and bolted them. "Once again," he said, "art
thou ready, Harmachis?"

"Once again," I answered, "I am ready."

He spoke no more; but, having lifted up his hands in prayer, led me to
the centre of the Holy, and with a swift motion put out the lamp.

"Look before thee, Harmachis!" he cried; and his voice sounded hollow in
the solemn place.

I gazed and saw nothing. But from the niche that is high in the wall,
where is hid that sacred symbol of the Goddess on which few may look,
there came a sound as of the rattling rods of the sistrum.[*] And as I
listened, awestruck, behold! I saw the outline of the symbol drawn as
with fire upon the blackness of the air. It hung above my head, and
rattled while it hung. And, as it turned, I clearly saw the face of
the Mother Isis that is graven on the one side, and signifies unending
Birth, and the face of her holy sister, Nephthys, that is graven on the
other, and signifies the ending of all birth in Death.

[*] A musical instrument peculiarly sacred to Isis of which
the shape and rods had a mystic significance.--Editor.

Slowly it turned and swung as though some mystic dancer trod the air
above me, and shook it in her hand. But at length the light went out,
and the rattling ceased.

Then of a sudden the end of the chamber became luminous, and in that
white light I beheld picture after picture. I saw the ancient Nile
rolling through deserts to the sea. There were no men upon its banks,
nor any signs of man, nor any temples to the Gods. Only wild birds moved
on Sihor's lonely face, and monstrous brutes plunged and wallowed in his
waters. The sun sank in majesty behind the Libyan Desert and stained
the waters red; the mountains towered up towards the silent sky; but in
mountain, desert, and river there was no sign of human life. Then I knew
that I saw the world as it had been before man was, and a terror of its
loneliness entered my soul.

The picture passed and another rose up in its place. Once again I saw
the banks of Sihor, and on them crowded wild-faced creatures, partaking
of the nature of the ape more than of the nature of mankind. They fought
and slew each other. T