REVIEWS

article (July issue), entitled '_Le Virtu des Rites_' [The Virtues of Rites], where he states quite clearly that 'initiation is human and is not conferred as a divine institution'; and in order to show even more clearly that he does not understand the first thing about the subject, he says again that 'the initiatic rites are secular'(!), which however does not prevent him a few lines later from adding without concern for contradiction, that 'priestly initiations played an important role in the past'. Furthermore, he thinks that the 'Great Mysteries' of antiquity were 'those of the beyond', which looks a little too much like spiritism, and that, at Eleusis, it was a matter of 'greeting the soul after death', which, without even speaking of the anachronism of the expression, is solely the affair of exoteric religion. He again confuses magic and religion, two things that are in no way connected, and also seems to confuse 'priesthood' with 'clergy', which after all is perhaps his best justification. . . . We would like to stress even more that what is said of initiatic transmission and of 'spiritual influence' shows a lack of understanding that it would be difficult to carry further; there are negations which are truly terrible . . . but only for their author. In reading certain phrases on the 'secular rites accomplished' (we willingly translate: 'accomplished by the ignorant', which, alas! would also conform to the truth of the original meaning of the word), we cannot stop ourselves from thinking that Homais is not dead!

DECEMBER 1946 to MAY 1947 (excepting that for March, which is entirely devoted to the memory of Oswald Wirth) — These issues of _Symbolisme_ include serialized segments of the study '_Le Triangle et l'Hexagramme_' signed 'Maen-Nevez, Maître d'Oeuvre'. These include observations of uneven importance, the most interesting in our opinion being those that deal specifically with both Operative symbols and those of the Compagnonnage. The author reproduces a stone cutter's mark found at Vitré that depicts the 'quatre de chiffre' [sign of four] which we have discussed elsewhere^[9], but he seems to have made no attempt to delve deeper into its meaning, although he takes this mark as a starting-point for discussions, of which some relate only indirectly to the matter at hand. However, he has at least succeeded in 'placing' the mark in question on one of the graphic 'grids' employed for that purpose by the ancient guilds of builders. We should also point out that the reflections set forth in the course of this work on construction in wood and stones, especially in Nordic architecture, are comparable to what we ourself have said here on this subject with reference to other traditions (_Maçons et charpentiers_, in the issue for December 1946).^[10] Concerning 'Trinitarian' symbols, there is a curious picture deriving from the Compagnonnage formerly reproduced in a special issue of _Voile d'Isis_ (November 1925). That this figure resembles the three-headed Gaelic God is incontestable, but the author, who is evidently interested in a most particular way in Celtism, wishes to draw too many conclusions. In any case, there is something else rather strange in the picture, which we do not believe anyone has ever noticed: the design in question is exactly similar to certain paintings from Mount Athos (except that in the latter the inscriptions are naturally Greek instead of Latin), which, it seems, are used by the Greek monks as a support for contemplation. This fact that could perhaps throw an unexpected light on certain 'affinities' of the Compagnonnage. From another point of view, we should mention a slight inaccuracy: it is not _Shiva_, but _Brahma_, who is represented with four faces in Hindu iconography; in contrast, there are figures of _Shiva_ with three faces (in connection with the 'triple time'),^[11] which would have been more appropriate to mention in this connection. The remarks on the hexagram which follow are inspired largely by the works of Matila Ghyka and call for only one observation: it is quite true that the right-angled triangle and the inverted triangle correspond respectively to fire and water, of which, moreover, they are the alchemical symbols; but this is only one application among many others, and the author envisages it much too exclusively. We are not acquainted with the work of R.-J. Gorsleben to which he refers, but judging from the citations he gives, it does not appear that it can be used without caution, for it is to be feared that his interpretation of symbols contains some rather fanciful 'modernizations'.

Symbolos

JULY–NOVEMBER 1947 These issues contain a long study by François Ménard on '_The Hermetic Virgin_', that addresses rather diverse questions, all however relating to the cosmological order as this is envisaged more particularly in traditional Western forms. The symbolism of the 'Hermetic vase', which corresponds to a certain aspect of the Virgin, is examined first; the author then seeks to explain the meaning of the 'Hermetic Wisdom' of Khunrath, drawing the conclusion that 'the Virgin is the essential principle of Hermeticism,' but that 'this aspect is nevertheless orthodox, that is to say that it is linked to the metaphysical domain which, as we know, is that of the supreme Principle', this link moreover corresponding to that which normally exists between 'royal art' and 'sacerdotal art'. Then, with regard to the Virgin as 'Light of Glory', we find a kind of scientific fantasy on the 'coronal light'. This is regrettable in our opinion, first because things of this kind have only a rather hypothetical character, and then also because, like everything inspired by profane science, they really have nothing in common with traditional data, Hermetic or otherwise, but on the contrary recall rather too much the kind of speculation dear to occultists. We could say almost as much about 'the cycle of nitrogen and the web of the perceptible world', although here the author has at least taken the precaution of pointing out, with regard to the force of which the different modalities constitute this 'web', that 'Hermeticism has the considerable advantage over modern science in knowing this force from the inside as it were, of having identified it with the light that is in man, and that it has recognized that, to a certain degree, his well-directed will can act on it and so obtain definite results, through a sure technique'. We for our part will say more clearly that in these two cases, Hermeticism and modern science, the knowledge involved is not in fact of the same order. The next question is that of the 'zodiacal Virgin', like the myth of Ceres to which it is related as a 'sign of earth'. This is followed by an outline of the different stages of Hermetic realization according to Dante's symbolic description in the _Divine Comedy_. In wanting to 'elucidate the hieroglyphic mystery of _Hokmah_', the author has unfortunately committed a grave error: he has confused the final _he_ with a _heth_, which, naturally, entirely distorts his calculation and his interpretation. As for his conclusion that 'the Hermetic Virgin, insofar as she is found to be in contact with sensible and material things, is the form of the Goddess (that is to say, of the _Shakti_), the best suited to the West and to our age of extreme materialism', let us say that it seems somewhat in contradiction with the fact that, in the modern West, the traditional sciences are completely lost.