From The Phoenician Letters (Davies and Zur, Mowat Publishing, Manchester, 1979)

THE PHOENICIAN LETTERS II

By Wilfred Davies and G. Zur

- Letters 6 to 10 - work in progress

LETTER SIX - The master of magic, ruler of the fates of men, Enki/Ea, as the basis of form.

LETTER SEVEN - In which the creative power of the creation, the inspiration of the universe whose manifestation is through the great lord, the god of gods, lord of the Eastern mountain, Enlil, is discussed.

LETTER EIGHT - The teacher considers the source of the whole Universe, Anu, who has all and no powers, all and no attributes, about whom little can be said.

The first seven letters deal with the gods of sequence and their development. The remaining letters are concerned with knowledge of the creation and the growth of responsibility towards the worlds.

LETTER NINE - The god Shamash, His scope and field, how He brings man home and sends him forth again.

LETTER TEN - Sin the strong, the ruler of men. The ship by which the flood is crossed.

LETTER 6

THE MASTER OF MAGICK, RULER OF THE FATES OF MEN, ENKI/EA, THE BASIS OF FORM

2nd of Tammuz

Great Prince,

The King´s messages have reached me and the news of the battle is told in the streets. Good communication, good judgement, good understanding are always good to see in a prince, and when to these are added also good fortune, then there is hope for your dynasty; for the favor of the gods to the person in such matters means the favor of the gods to the people. To call forth in others the hero is to be the leader of men, and means good understanding of the springs of human endeavor.

The king has asked me to continue with these letters, for he feels the presence of the gods in the future days to be drawing close. So we will open with the prayers to Ea/Enki, Lord of the Abysm and the Earth.

Now as to the meaning of the prayer. When it is seen that Chaos cannot keep its shape, it is easy to see that any world, anything, even a god, cannot exist. So Anu, the cause of the world´s existence, divides himself into a creative will and power, and into a receptive and accepting power. So that the creative will has a substance through which it can pass, leaving behind it a creation which can stand on its own. You may think of it as the clay on the potter´s wheel and the will of the potter. The nature of clay is to accept shape and pressure. Thus the potter produces a pot which, dried and baked, will remain, but not so the clay. Beat it up again, it will be a lump ready to take another shape. Now as to metal, it lies hidden in the rock and must be melted, cleaned and cooled. It is then similar to ice. But with the metal, all that is not metal can be burnt away as dross. So metal can also be shaped, but being harder the shaping must be harder. Because it is harder, and softer, than pottery, it can take an edge which will cut more things than pottery. It is true that in the past men used stone and indeed still do. But the edge of a stone is harder and more easy to break than both pottery and metal. From these factors come the nature of metal.

Consider water in its many states, mist, cloud, rain, hailstones, snow, ice, streams, rivers, seas. The one thing that is the same in all states is susceptibility to change, it is the nature of water to change. Put it into a skin, and it fills the skin into a pot, it takes the shape of the pot, into air, mist and cloud, snow and ice, into earth, streams and rivers. Even so it is water.

Ponder on the nature of wood. It is not sharp, it is not brittle. It may be burnt, it can make columns, tables, chairs, chariots and bows, wheels, clubs, spears, rods, canes, beds, baskets, altars, fire, all things for living. What are its characteristics? How can you describe the source of all these things? If you can, you can see the real nature of wood, the laws under which it can operate, what can be made from it, its strengths and weaknesses, all that its form makes of it. What is the reason of fire and light? It is consuming, eating, changing. It moves in straight lines out into the world. Wherever you look, from there is a straight line. Between man and the source of light there is always a straight line, if it is curved there is somewhat between, but always there is a line, even to that which is between. And the wind and the air, and the space, is what does not flow. If it flows, it has water in it, if it travels, it has fire, if it strikes it is mixed with earth. Look out into the heavens. Each star is kept in place. The planets keep their courses in space. Air is room in all direction, it keeps all apart but joins at the same time.

You must learn to see in men their qualities. How material their nature. What joins them to others. What keeps them apart. What direction they move in. To what do they flow. What is their fate. Depend not upon the stars nor upon livers, or the smoke, or upon omens. Each man´s omens are the thing that move him. A monarch must observe the omens that others depend on. He must see the wellspring of all men´s activities.When he sees the laws of his people and their nature he knows by what they are bound, and the fate of the nation. Such understanding is most dangerous, for a king who tells what he sees is already overthrown. Few people can face the knowledge of their actions and their consequences, and if the fate of a man is know, he has no hope. Do not force the understanding upon all, but only upon those who can take their fate upon themselves.

In the forms of all things are written their fate. Learn to recognize it, not repeat not memorize it, for this you cannot hope to do. All changes, and only by recognition of the law under which things operate at the moment of understanding can the fate of anything be seen, and even this may change. It is the fate of the stone in the river to be rolled around by water. But man pick that stone to use in a sling, and the fate of it has been changed. It does not change the form of the stone, and the form of the stone includes ability to kill and the power of being rounded by rubbing, and the ability to be thrown. Each thing has its nature, its own form, its own law under which it must act in order to be what it is. From all this it can be seen that the god Enki/Ea has no need to act, for from the form, which he gives, all necessary forms of action arise. From the one form, many arise. So that from a basic form of table, all the possible forms of table will in course of time appear. Now the fate of all is a result of two things; when the creative will strikes the receptive power of Ea/Enki, it does not reproduce exactly the form of that will´s power. It is slightly imperfect. So when it is finally in existence upon the earth, there is within whatever it may be a contradiction, a balance between the perfect will and the imperfect form. The balance between these two things causes a change in real existence. This is fate, for all things have the possibility of perfecting themselves and returning to Anu.

The practical significance of this to a monarch lies in being able to recognize the balance between perfection and imperfection embodied in each created thing. By recognizing this balance in your servants, you will be able to give each of your servants tasks which will be within their capabilities. A person who is able to, and more important still, wishes to perfect himself, will be most useful when he can sue this desire to perfect himself in the king´s and the nation´s service. Take the king who wishes to be able to recognize and understand others, he must be a man of very clear mind who sees things as they are, and not as he might wish them to be, neither making too much of or lessening any being, but using each man´s need in the service of the land.

That is not easy, for men tell themselves many lies, and become strongly attached to the things that they have seen in times past. For instance, when one was a child, one saw a servant being beaten, and because one had been involved in the punishment, one may have seen that the servant had, by his actions, known and called upon himself the punishment. This was seen truly and rightly understood at the time. If now one sees the same servant being punished, it would be easy to say from having seen the former state that the same reasons applied. This would be very dangerous, for each event is a new event and must be understood anew. Past understanding which is not brought up into present understanding is bondage of the worst sort, and may be the cause of great injustice and can cause even more unjust action. All events must be seen, judged and understood as they take place, clearly and clearly, each moment anew.

Now, great Prince, to a very great mystery. Think of a field which is in good condition. From this field, crops of all kinds may be grown. See flowers, seeds and leaves. Some plants will bear flowers having two petals, three, four, five, six petals. There will be broad leaves, short leaves, long leaves. Each plant recognizable by the he various parts. The sustaining power for these plants come from the water and the earth. Some plants cannot be grown there, or if they are grown, they will be poor and sickly. A good husbandman knows where best and when best to plant his seed. He calls, as you know, upon the good Lord Ea/Enki to help him, for in the water and the soil lie dormant all the shapes and colors and sizes and uses of the seed; for if they were not there, how could even the seed call them forth into being?

Consider the heavens, they contain the stars with their influences, the sun, the planets and the earth. All these are called into being as plants from seed, in the soil of Ea/Enki. The water of Ea/Enki gives them life. Now, therefore, we can see why Damkina, His wife, is worshipped as the great Mother of all, even greater than resplendent Ishtar, for She is the womb of all, from which all are born in their time. In Her womb, all the seeds of all stars, suns, planets, earths, moons, are nurtured and brought forth when quickened by Enlil, for She is the seed mother, the Great Lady. Ea-Damkina is the cause of all perfection and imperfection, good and evil. Whoever does not understand this, does not and cannot understand the world. It has been said by some that Anu is wholly good and that in Him is no evil. Rightly seen, this is true, but the world has both good and evil in it, and all cometh from Anu, even Enlil and Ea. So in any created thing there is both good and evil, for it is the nature of form to be separated from all, and this form is therefore imperfect. The God who is the God of Understanding is not one but dual, for in order that there be understanding, there must be a law and something which is under that law and therefore separated from it. These are high matters and must only be discussed under the seal, for the priests of the many gods would be only too ready to declare such matters evil and dangerous - and truly so, for if the common people were to be told this, they would ignorantly suppose there to be no reason to perfect themselves. All error could be blamed upon the gods. Such a belief would cause each man to think that he could, and should, do what seemed best in his own eyes. Now, therefore be you very tender of both new and old sorts of understanding, for each is truth for its time and place. Kings must know, in order to direct the course of nations, whether the truths be new or old, and to what and to whom they belong. It has happened in past time that kings, in order to hold their own importance, have prevented new formulations of truth, and this has bound them and their people in a bondage worse than slavery. Consider this present time: as you know, our smiths have been shown the manner and method of using red rock to make iron. There has been great trouble stirred up by the bronze workers, the workers with green and blue rocks. They have accused the iron workers of being irreligious, and insulting the name and power of Ishtar. Now your father could have agreed with them, and the result would have been that our people would have been deprived of the iron for making good swords, good knives, sharp spears and all manner of good tools. But this is not all: our rival nations would have gained strength and importance over us, besides having an advantage in war.

For this is the nature of every new development that it will destroy a nation which does not take advantage of it and will enhance the prestige and power of those who use it. Those who use it will also be changed, but at their own time and place. All of us, the people who live in the lands of the rivers, know and use in many ways the wheel. Suppose a nation without the wheel. Such a nation would have to use men instead of carts in order to carry loads. At most they would have to pull them by sliding and rubbing against the earth. Their pottery would be shaped by hand instead of the wheel. Their corn would have to be pounded in the manner of the barbarians. Add up all the extra work necessary and you see how little wealth they produce for the same work as our nations.

So that it is easy to see that our Lord Ea/Enki, Lord of the Water and Earth, is the lord of the hidden source of form, and by seeing Him in truth we are able to create new knowledge, new science. He is the supporter of truth, for that which is true now and was also true in former times, is both new and old truth and that is His real nature. For the men of former times made good buildings, good pots, good roads, which although they need renewal and repair, still embody good principle which has not changed.

Now, O Prince, when considering tradition, it is the task of the king to be always sifting out from past tradition to that which was only the fashion of the time. Each king in his turn will of his own accord embody from his time matter which he considers of great value, but his traditions will by necessity contain matter which is of fashion - fashion which, as good gardeners, his descendents must weed out. For we have the duty of being husbandmen for all the people, and in our turn the soil of human endeavor which is tilled by us must also by our successors be tilled. You may have wondered why our dynasties have lasted for so long. This is the reason: each king is brought to realize by instruction and practice that he has the task of handing on to this children a good understanding of the law which really governs mankind. Now each king is tested by events and by purpose, whether he can remain untouched by the fashion of beliefs, both of present and past ages. He is therefore held under the great seal by the people, whose task it is to counsel on on the great law, and who, as you know, are bound by that seal to destroy him if he attempt to make this knowledge common.

As you know, you cannot know all who belong to this purpose except by being of them. It is true that now and again men of great discernment have broken by force of their own power alone into that common mind, but of their own nature, when they have succeeded, they also find that they agree with the aims and ideals of that common life, and are therefore automatically members, for they differ no way from the members. This society or nation is of a different order from that of ordinary nations, and its people may be found in many countries and many places. They may be kings or slaves, black, yellow or red, old or young, men or women. Be wary, therefore, my Lord, whom you speak to, for they may be under the seal of understanding.

May the one guide your actions in all worlds. May your decisions take place at the correct point. May you be enabled to see the principles of all things that underlie the faces which the world wears. May your language be properly composed to the greater glory of the one.

LETTER SEVEN

IN WHICH THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE CREATION, THE INSPIRATION OF THE UNIVERSE WHOSE MANIFESTATION IS THROUGH THE GREAT LORD, THE GOD OF GODS, ENLIL, IS DISCUSSED

Dearest of princes, beloved of the Brothers and Sisters, we have heard from your father, the Good King of the Four Quarters that in accordance with the last letter you have taken the vow of responsibility, and that therefore your title amongst us shall be that of Brother. We shall meet as many are able in the day Taveh, the which we have spoken of in a former letter.

There remain four mysteries to be in some part elucidated. These are those of Enlil, Anu, Shemesh and Sin. At this stage we shall refer to Enlil, or, as we speak of it, No Night. We shall start with the hymn of the 5^th holy day in the year, where we celebrate the mystery of the word.

Now, Brother, you have lately been given the word, and as you will now know, of it nothing can be said. Nevertheless, a few remarks are necessary, lest error creep in. That word is the needle of the Queen of the Eastern Mountain. With it she sews up the scattered parts of the mind, as the word goes upon its way it creates and destroys the world of the mind. It makes all into a seamless garment. Do not instruct her as to its travels. She knows. For He, Enlil, has declared in wisdom the pathways of the word.

Listen to it in your chamber in the silent watches of your prayer. Let it declare unto you its message. Try not to make its way either clear or difficult. Indeed, better were it for you to leave it alone for your mind in wisdom to follow it. There is no other time to hear it but now, for what you have seen or understood has presently gone. Only now may be it heard, only now may it be spoken, and only now, by him, the voice of the air and the fire.

We have been given a description for the simple mind to observe. " As a darkened chamber in the high desert when all is still before the dawn. That word, too fast to be followed, too slow to be comprehended, so powerful to shake even the depths, so gentle and immovable, both speaker and listener, cause and end. Who understands it understands nothing, who declares its likeness lies; who knows it is ignorant; who does not know it is ignorant. He who knows it as his centre lies, who does not know it as his centre is mistaken, for it is high noon in the busy city.

Remember your instruction in the word, neglect not the word in the midst of affairs. Do not forget the instruction, for there is no other time.

Enlil and his consort, the Lady of the Eastern Mountain, are the gods of fire and the air. They are the upper bowl f the division. They rule the light and the heaven that can be seen. Where Ea-Damkina is the bowl below, they are the upper half, Anu divides and joins them, for out of one he makes two and Enlil is one and Ea/Enki two. Let us see what can be seen. You may remember the occasion on which the king your father gained the name of "wise". There was, if you remember, an ambassador from the land of the two rivers. His nation had claimed tax rights over the land of Chetz. This tax can also be claimed by the king but the king only claimed on half of the land. The problem was to know to assess which half and what.

Now there came before the king two farmers, who shared in the produce of a field in their area. The produce was gathered in, of chick peas, dates, pomegranates and corn. They could not agree as to a correct division of the produce and the matter was brought to the king for judgement, for they could not be reconciled by the magistrate who was a relative of one farmer. The governor could not decide the matter, for it was land leased from the priests of Ishtar, and the priests wished to test the king at that time. After some thought on the matter, having heard all the evidence, the king gave his judgement and asked the ambassador whether he thought the judgement fair. The ambassador had been greatly impressed by the judgement and declared that he would be willing to oversee the its execution. Now the king had declared the matter as follows. All the produce to be assembled together before the executor. One man to make the division into two equal parts and the other farmer to take his choice from the two parts. This was done and the ambassador returned to the king greatly amused and pleased, whereupon the king declared that thus they would proceed with regard to the disputed taxes in the land of Chetz. Whereupon the king of the land of the two rivers, having heard what had happened to the matter from his ambassador, could not for fear of being thought foolish to do any other but agree. Now as the story had been spread abroad as an example of justice, the people of the two rivers left us alone for 10 years. So the king, by simple words, had solved a crisis between farmers, proved to the priests of Ishtar that it would be well to walk with care, and had resolved a matter between nations that promised war if it had not been solved. Now you may have thought that it were lucky that the two events came about at the same time. Not so, for the king had hurried the farmers´ case and had delayed the ambassador´s matter so that both met at the same time, for he had seen that they were of a similar kind. He had created the opportunity so that each could illumine the other. From a difficulty he had created a principle of justice which was and is still told by the storytellers of the Middle Lands as na example of wisdom.

Now wisdom is the gift of Enlil, it is the embodiment of the word. It has the attribute of freedom. It does not modify; it creates, it has the quality of inspiration. It is discovery of possibility. In Enlil all possibilities exist as potencies without form; form arises in Ea/Enki. Enlil is the Father of the worlds he is above. Ea-Damkina is the Mother, She is below. Enlil is the potent life-giver. Ea-Damkina the life-former. From a drop of the Father come all these lives. From many drops come many possible lives, all that ever have been, are now and will ever come into being. Let us see the heart of this matter. The skillful worker is called wise. Why is this? Now the difference between high skill and inability is in this: the unskilled man makes much effort and his results are not good, for though he works for many days, his work will always look clumsy and ill-worked, but the work of a master always displays the master´s touch. It is precisely what is required, no more no less. One cut of exactly the right pressure in exactly the right place makes the master´s will known to the material. Thus it is with Enlil. It is His will that acts. His will is His word. There is no duality, for the voice of the master sets the worlds in motion. His will is such that it penetrates to the length and the breadth and the depth and the height and to the ten directions. Where His word is, there is His will, gently penetrating with greatest force and power, no more than is needed and no less. Without effort. Nothing can halt it, nought delay it. His will is manifested in all the nights and days of the worlds. He calls them by their names and they answer each in his place and his time and his body whether they be seen or unseen, greater or lesser. He is the penetrator, the least action for the move. How much greater, then is the power of Enlil: He speaks and worlds come into being, His voice sounds and they pass away as though they had never been.

The winds, the Seven Winds, the Anunnaki, they are the great seven, before whom even the gods tremble. He gives them to move, and halts them in their travels. His word is their law, but they are as little as ants upon the earth. Think you Shamash and Sin are great? At His word they cease their journeys. He calls to the oceans and they flood the lands, He whispers to the earth and the earth trembles, shaking even Marduk to His bones, but He knows what will become of His words, for they are truth itself. Without truth, without the will of Enlil, Ea, Lord of the past, present and future, is nothing.

Consider the meaning of will. Desire is not will, for it ebbs and flows and changes. Passion is not will, for its drive does not always achieve its end. Love is not will, for it does not contain itself, yet all these, desire, passion, love, need, all spring from will. Each has its strength and power, but the gentlest and most certain of all is will. For if you recognize your will in somewhat, there is no doubt. There is nothing to fight, nought to battle against, for if your will be sure, all will come to pass. For will there is no impossible, to will all possibilities exist. There is no time for will. Fifty years are but a moment, a moment fifty years. In its sight ignorance disappears in the presence of will. In will there is no darkness and light for all is goodness and truth; anything less is love, passion, desire, need, wish, imagination. In will is the real, for in it there is no unreal. Yet it needs to be manifested and only through Ea-Damkina can this be done. So they both, Father, Mother, as one, create a child Marduk, who grows to manhood becoming Nergal, limiting Himself by His very greatness of growth. He causes Shamash to appear. Each in order of number, the gods came into being, and at the end of days will pass away into the one which is not divided; and in that day only the one shall be alone and undivided. But we live in a created world. That world is always shown forth by division and so it multiplies its parts. The appearance of things is as the grains of sand in the desert. They show to us small and great, evil and good, upper and lower, before and after. It is our duty as brothers to both see and instruct. Without wisdom we can do neither. Therefore we are told by our teachers that there is no wisdom without seeing, no seeing without wisdom. How can we be simple and take the easiest action if we are not skilled in living? Our duty is to become skilled in living, which means we must live not past when, or will be, but now, for living is from moment to moment. Between each moment of our lives there is a little death, which may at any moment be our own big death. It is our constant companion from whom we shall never part. Each ripple on the water is a height and a depth, each breath we draw a living and dying, each day of our lives a death and a rebirth of light. We must make friends with our friend who never leaves our side. He is faithful even to the end, and when he comes into his own we in our turn shall echo that word which goeth forth as Enlil.

Now remember the word and keep it holy, for sin is to miss the aim, for the arrow to hit another target. The word will make you whole, for your companion knows that word also and when you both shall be that word, there shall be no missing of the target, there shall be not two of your but one. There shall not be one to speak and one to hear, but you shall both hear as speak as one.

Remember O Prince and Brother, the trust which you undertake. For in the later days you will ask yourself how you have carried out the task of your life. Speak not the word aloud, for it is a babbler and a fool who does so. He has no sure foundation either in this life or the life to come, neither is he rooted in the last. The word is the voice of the lord in your mind and there should be not other, neither shall it have manner or semblance, for if it shall have either it is not the word, but some other god, some image in the temple, before whom you sacrifice. But go you into your secret room and listen to the word in peace and tranquility, neither create any new thing at such a time, for it shall be to you a holy time, a day of rest from your labors. Sit your guards upon the door and instruct them that for this time you are not to be disturbed. Even war and disaster wait upon the word.

 So, O Prince, here is an end to this letter. I shall be pleased to hear from you if you have any further questions which are answerable by me.

8th of Adar

LETTER EIGHT

THE TEACHER CONSIDERS THE SOURCE OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, ANU, WHO HAS ALL AND NO POWERS, ALL AND NO ATTRIBUTES, ABOUT WHOM LITTLE CAN BE SAID

Dear Brother,

Your dispatches have been receive and your description of the letters possesses much merit. There are matters in it which should be argued, but at another time and in person. This letter will be concerned with Anu, the Lord of Creation and Receiver, whose sign is the horned crown on a throne and whose place is the square altar with horns. The crown is the mark of both the god, whose whose qualities are unknown, and His representatives on earth, the High Priest and the King.

Anu is the high heaven, His home is the spindle of all the worlds. The Dragon of Chaos is His and His path cuts the globe of Enlil and Ea/Enki. He creates all the divisions of the heavens. He is and He is not. He is before all the worlds, ever present, ever coming to pass; ever will He be. He is the source of all the gods, and when all the heavens and the worlds pass away, all return to Him. He sends forth the great Enlil as the word and Ea/Enki as the listener. He has laid down the laws of creation that all things may come into existence, his laws are simple, but they make the numberless beings. Remember, O Brother, that in the days of your reign, when men shall make of you a divine god, that all you may see and conceive of is Him, without Him there are no gods, there is only Chaos. He breaks the heads of the great monsters through His servant Marduk. He binds the heavens and all creatures through his servant Nergal. He illumines all creatures through the king of the High Country Shamash. Nabu and Ishtar and Sin speak to men for him. Rimon the fertile, the master of the Earth, is Him. All the gods do him obeisance. What need has He to act, all act for Him. How should He care if the laws of the gods be broken? His laws cannot be broken , for they are the laws of creation. He is the one to which all belong. He is both force and form, action and medium. His power is formed and from it force and form arise. He is the air and the light and the water in one, the earth. He is inspirer, former, grower, limiter, perpetuator, responder, all in one. He is father and mother, merchant and soldier and king, maiden and youth and the fertile. He is the Kingdom. He is the lion´s pride, the bringer of life, the goat-fish, the hunter of the sky. The driving ram and the lamb, the fishes of the ocean, the Scorpion men of the desert, weigher of souls, the student, teacher, scribe. In Him is the fertile bull of the plains and the virgin cutting the corn. He is the crayfish in the mud of the river, all one Him.

He is a master of men, a founder of dynasties, the palace that houses, He is the harvests in their fruitfulness, He is the drop of rain on the branch, the king of all things. He is their security, and the sound that pierces them. He maketh fear in all things. He is the clay of chaos which is the flesh of all existing. He is the pointing hand and the hand outstretched for mercy. He is the teacher of all. From Him all the oceans of the world gain their power. From Him is all growth and decay. He forces all about. He is the eye that perceives and the mouth that names. He is the perfect man and the tempter of men. By Him all things reproduce themselves. He is the cause of all, the beginning of all creation. He is the cycles of all and the signs therein. He is one, there is no other beside Him.

Who shall declare his qualities, the same shall have created a god in his own image and shall never approach his presence. The same will have no rest, for only in Anu is there rest. Whosoever shall say to himself: " I am and there is no other", the same shall be called upon to prove it. Who shall say unto the people "I have no father or mother", the same shall be saying:" I am as nothing, for I do not exist". If a man or woman take anything into himself or herself, the same shall even be taken away from them, for there is nothing that shall remain at the end. Whoever shall bind himself by killing, the same shall carry it, even to the latter days, it shall be for him/her a burden that only Lord Anu may remove. If any man or woman shall mix seed with many people, how shall he or she escape the bondage of many people, for in every mixing of seed is a mixing of natures. When called upon to witness, see you that it be true witness, for there is nothing hidden which shall not be made apparent. Take not that which is stewarded by others, for if you do they shall seek to take from you that which is under your care. Do not disturb the borders of things, for the borders of things are the mark of humankind, and that which has no borders, the same has no law by which it may be known.

The crown has no center, but it describes a center, for it surrounds it by declaring what that center is not. Wherefore, when we praise Anu, we praise Him by saying what He is not, for how can we say anything about the cause of all? If we could, then we would know the cause of all and we should be Anu. When, therefore, we seek to know the divine, we first declare the realms of the gods and those qualities of the divine which is proper to declare, and then we proceed to strip away these qualities, and so by negation we describe, as a circle center, where the divine Anu rests [Lishtar´s emphasis]; for when the gods retreat from creation they go only so far as the parapet of heaven, which same is the crown of Anu. These, then congregate, as bees around the honey, as women at the rim of the well. At such time they may be said to be the faces of the one.

Before the lord Anu, there was Chaos, the formless, in which there is no oneness, but in which myriads of forms fought. This is said in the history of our peoples that before Anu, there were seven attempts to create a stable creation. The which were Kingu, Apsu and Mummu, Lakhmu and Lukmu, Anshar and Kishar. But Anshar and Kishar gave birth to Anu and He laid down laws to bind Chaos. These seven He counterbalanced by the gods Rimon, Nabu and Ishtar, Nergal and Marduk, and Ea and Enlil. Thus was all balanced by Him, the cause of all, who has two numbers, nought and sixty: for in Him the perfect order and the perfection of nothing are held in poise. At the other extreme of creation, Nought and Rimon strive for mastery, and She, the great dragon Chaos, holds the balance between; thus, all is in balance, all persists by virtue of Law. Now by some this Law is termed necessity, and by some it is supposed that Anu is not subject to Law: for they say that if Anu were to be subject to Law, then Law should be the supreme god. But our understanding is that Law is Anu, Anu is Law, and that is his very essence, for if it were not so then there would not be any chaos. It is important to see that all, both the creations which are perpetuated as the breath of the worlds, and the creation which has no form, which cannot perpetuate itself - for it has no abiding -are one. How is this to be seen? Take a lump of clay and cut from it a piece of a particular shape. Now you have two shapes, one which is the piece which has been taken away, and one which remains as an absence in the clay. The shape which remains in the lump is Chaos, and the shape which you have made, the piece in your hand, is the world of the gods. He, Anu, is the shaper, thus the clay is No Thing. Chaos is na absence of shape in No Thing and creation is the affirmation of shape. Here, then, is the mystery of creation, for there is no history of creation, only that each, Ea and Kishtar, Enlil and Anshar are made in the same moment by the molding of nothing on the wheel of Anu. Thus, He is the spindle of necessity, and the law that is His is the simple law that everything has both na affirmation and a denial, Anu being the reconciler who is both. One must see, in fact, that there is na ebb and flow in all things, that for every denial there is an affirmation, that the peak of a wave creates the trough, that light creates shade, life, death, the in breath is the cause of the out breath. This principle is of great importance in the life of a nation, a dynasty, a family, na individual.

Consider the circle. The fine outside separates and describes. Herein lies the true mystery of the heavenly and earthly worlds, the sequence, the principles, the faces, the letters. All is one, all is many. The worlds must pass away in sequence, illustrating the principles under many faces, and they may all the likened and described by the holy letters, which will be written at the end of the world in black fire on white or white fire on black.

The brother or sister who endures to the end and returns knowing both where he has been and how he traveled there, and can direct other travelers, he has understood the law, which stands from our breath of Anu to in breath of Anu. He will be asked who he is, and can reply with perfect honesty: " I am and will be, what I was, will be and am". This is the beginning and end of the teaching, this is the origin and end of the tradition to which we belong, and this is our purpose: to carry the maps and instructions from age to age, from generation to generation. He or she who understands wisely, who knows the length, breadth, depth, height, presence and absence, how it is perpetuated and echoed, who is firm in his being, upon the earth, in heavens, who possesses the kingdom it its fullness and emptiness, he or she is indeed that being.

There remain only two matters to be clarified. These are important to us, the gods Shamash and Sin. They form the Kings of the High Country, that is, the representative in the heaven of Anu, Shamash, and his representative on earth, Sin. These two are the masts of the ark of Utnapishtim by which we escape the floods which overwhelm our country, which , as you may surmise, living as we do in a place where floods are rare, does not refer to our earthly flood, but rather a heavenly flood truly sent by the gods, and truly by them are we protected against its full rigor.

Given at Menasseb on 5^th of Cheshvan under the seal of the King of the Four Directions.

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