The Count of Gabalis

( 11 )

So as not to lose sight of my good fortune, I maintained a regular correspondence with the illustrious German. From time to time, I raised significant and—as far as I understood them—well-founded objections concerning the harmony of the world: Known as Musica Universalis, this is the ancient philosophical concept that the movements of celestial bodies follow mathematical proportions that create a form of silent, divine music., the Pythagorean number: Referring to the mystical significance of numbers as the fundamental building blocks of reality, a core belief of the ancient philosopher Pythagoras., the visions of Saint John: Referring to the Book of Revelation, which many occultists viewed as a symbolic manual for spiritual transformation rather than just a prophecy of the end times., and the first chapter of the first book of Moses: The creation story in Genesis, which esoteric scholars believed contained hidden instructions for the "Great Work" of alchemy. The grandeur of the subject matter carried him away; he wrote to me of unheard-of wonders, and I saw clearly that I was dealing with a man of very powerful and vast imagination. I possess sixty or eighty letters from him, the tone of which is so extraordinary that I could not restrain myself from reading them constantly as soon as I was alone in my private study.

One of the most exalted letters lay right before me when a man with a striking countenance entered, greeted me solemnly, and addressed me in my mother tongue, though it was with the accent of a foreigner. "Kneel down, my son, and worship Him who is kind and great, the original: "Gott der Weisen" — The 'God of the Wise' is a recurring phrase in Hermetic literature, implying a more direct, mystical knowledge of the Divine available only to the enlightened., and do not pride yourself on the salvation that He sends you through a

Sohn