The Count of Gabalis

( 13 )

I offered him, but truly these explanations are not given at the first word. My address is the greeting used by the Sages when they wish to open their hearts to someone and reveal their secrets. Your letters seemed so learned to me that I might expect it would not be unknown to you, and that the Count of Gabalis could say nothing more pleasant to you. "Ah, my lord!" I cried out, remembering the great role I had to play, "how shall I make myself worthy of so much kindness? Is it possible that the greatest of the original: "Menschenkinder" — literally "children of men," a poetic or biblical way of referring to humanity. sons of men is in my cabinet: A private room or study used for intellectual work, scientific experiments, or displaying collections of curiosities., that the great Gabalis honors me with his visit?"

"I am the least of the Sages," he answered with a grave look, "and God, who distributes the light of wisdom: A central concept in Hermetic and Rosicrucian thought, suggesting that true knowledge is a divine gift or illumination granted only to the virtuous. according to the weight and measure that pleases His Highness, has weighed out only a small portion for me, in view of what I admire with astonishment in my companions. I hope you will one day equal them, if I am permitted to judge from the figure of your nativity: An astrological birth chart. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was common for those interested in the occult to exchange horoscopes to determine spiritual compatibility. with the sending of which you honored me; but he—"