Shapes, changing, mysterious, wonderful, rushed up to meet me, and bore me down till I seemed to stand upon another earth.

“Who comes?” cried a great Voice.

“Harmachis,” answered the Shapes, that changed continually.  “Harmachis who hath been summoned from the earth to look upon the face of Her that Was and Is and Shall Be.  Harmachis, Child of Earth!”

“Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors!” pealed the awful Voice.  “Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors; seal up his lips in silence, lest his voice jar upon the harmonies of Heaven, take away his sight lest he see that which may not be seen, and let Harmachis, who hath been summoned, pass down the path that leads to the place of the Unchanging.  Pass on, Child of Earth; but before thou goest, look up that thou mayest learn how far thou art removed from Earth.”

I looked up.  Beyond the glory that shone about the city was black night, and high on its bosom twinkled one tiny star.

“Behold the world that thou hast left,” said the Voice, “behold and tremble.”

Then my lips and eyes were sealed with silence and with darkness, so that I was dumb and blind.  The Gates rolled back, the Doors swung wide, and I was swept into the city that is in the Place of Death.  I was swept swiftly I know not whither, till at length I stood upon my feet.  Again the great Voice pealed: 

“Draw the veil of blackness from his eyes, unseal the silence on his lips, that Harmachis, Child of Earth, may see, hear, and understand, and make adoration at the Shrine of Her that Was and Is and Shall Be.”

And my lips and eyes were touched once more, so that my sight and speech came back.

Behold!  I stood within a hall of blackest marble, so lofty that even in the rosy light scarce could my vision reach the great groins of the roof.  Music wailed about its spaces, and all adown its length stood winged Spirits fashioned in living fire, and such was the brightness of their forms that I could not look on them.  In its centre was an altar, small and square, and I stood before the empty altar.  Then again the Voice cried: 

“O Thou that hast been, art, and shalt be; Thou who, having many names, art yet without a name; Measurer of Time; Messenger of God; Guardian of the Worlds and the Races that dwell thereon; Universal Mother born of Nothingness; Creatix uncreated; Living Splendour without Form, Living Form without Substance; Servant of the Invisible; Child of Law; Holder of the Scales and Sword of Fate; Vessel of Life, through whom all Life flows, to whom it again is gathered; Recorder of Things Done; Executrix of Decrees—­Hear!

“Harmachis the Egyptian, who by Thy will hath been summoned from the earth, waits before Thine Altar, with ears unstopped, with eyes unsealed, and with an open heart.  Hear and descend!  Descend, O Many-shaped!  Descend in Flame!  Descend in Sound!  Descend in Spirit!  Hear and descend!”