A man shall grasp the lion within the earth, and the brightness of gold shall blind the eyes of those who behold it. Silver shall be of brilliant whiteness upon the circumference and shall disturb the different wine-presses. Mortals shall be drunk with the wine set forth for them and from a deferred heaven shall look back upon the earth. Their stern faces shall turn the stars from them and shall confound their usual course. They shall plow fields for those who are unworthy and for those to whom the moisture of heaven shall be denied. Roots and branches shall change places and the newness of the world shall be a miracle. The brilliance of the Sun shall be tarnished by Mercury's alloy of gold and silver and there shall be dread among those who investigate. Stilbon of Arcadia shall change the disk of the Sun. The helmet of Mars shall call for Venus. The helmet of Mars shall cast a shadow. Iron Orion shall unsheathe his sword. The Phoebus of the sea shall trouble the clouds. The madness of Mercury shall pass all bounds. Jupiter shall. forsake his lawful paths, and Venus shall desert the lines appointed for her. The ill will of the star Saturn shall subside, and it shall hinder mortals with a crooked sickle. The twelve houses of the stars shall deplore the transition of their guests. Gemini shall forego their accustomed embraces and shall call the urn to the Amplexabitur homo leonem in humo, & fulgor auri oculos intuentium excæcabit. Candebit argentum in circuitu, & diversa torcularia vexabit. Imposito vino inebriabuntur mortales, postpositoque coelo in terram respicient. [Postpositoque e coelo in terram respicient]. Ab eis vultus avertent sidera, & solitum cursum confundent. Arebunt segetes his indignantibus & humor convexi negabitur [Arabunt segetes hi indignis quibus humor convexi negabitur]. Radices & rami vices mutabunt, novitasque rei erit miraculo. Splendor Solis electro Mercurij languebit, & erit horror inspicientibus. Mutabit clypeum Stilbon Arcadiæ. Vocabit Venerem Galea Martis. Galea Martis
The various rescensions of the text of Merlin's Prophecy exhibit marked differences. The fad that a single word, the fifth in line one, is read in four different ways § is but one proof out of many which might he adduced as evidence that the original manuscript has been much corrupted in transcription. Since certain passages of the text as it now stands bear no relation to the general tenor of the Prophecy they have been emended, these emendations being inserted in brackets and followed in the translation.
A man shall grasp the lion within the earth, and the brightness of gold shall blind the eyes of those who behold it..
MERLIN'S PROPHECY OF WORLD PEACE AND ENLIGHTENMENT.
LATIN TEXT OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.
INTERPRETATION OF MERLIN'S PROPHECY.
The first lines of this Prophecy describe the coming of the World-Saviour and its results. He is the man who shall grasp or understand and govern the lion, † Solar Force * and its action in the earth, the physical body. The brightness of gold, that is of the Saviour's golden or Solar Body ‡, I shall blind the eyes of those who behold it.
and shall disturb the different wine-presses.
Mortals shall he drunk with the wine set forth for them and from a deferred heaven shall look back upon the earth.
"It is said that a wise man rules over the stars; but this does not mean that he rules over the stars in the sky, but over the powers that are active in his own mental constitution." PARACELSUS, PHILOSOPHIA OCCULTA.
They shall plow fields for those who are unworthy and for those to whom the moisture of heaven shall be denied.
Roots and branches shall change places and the newness of the world shall be as a miracle.
Here ends the prophecy of the coming of the World Saviour, and some lines are now devoted to a description of the era in which these events will occur.
The brilliance of the Sun shall be tarnished by Mercury's alloy of gold and silver and there shall be dread among those who investigate.
The helmet of Mars shall cast a shadow.
Iron Orion shall unsheathe his sword.
The Phoebus of the sea shall trouble the clouds.
Jupiter (Justice) shall forsake his lawful paths, and Venus (Love) shall desert the lines appointed for her. The ill-will of the star Saturn shall subside, and it shall hinder mortals with a crooked sickle.
The crooked sickle is the Moon. A favourable aspect of Saturn to the Moon makes operative the sterling qualities of Saturn, restraint and a true sense of justice. Under such an aspect, the ill will of Saturn would subside. The word perimet (hinder) is used in this sense only when governing an abstract object. Mortales (mortals) must therefore stand for an abstrat idea, signifying the trend of mortal evolution which shall be hindered or restrained in its present course by a manifestation of Divine Justice. Saturn is said to bridge the gap between the mortal and the immortal natures of man, and similarly that which separates the mortal from the immortal evolution of the race. It is the property of this planet to crystalise events, or bring them to a crisis, in order that their lesson may be learned, and their experience garnered and transmuted into that truth which is justice, and which brings divine realisation and spiritual progress.
The tail of Scorpio shall produce lightnings,
and Cancer shall quarrel with the Sun.
Virgo shall mount the back of Sagittarius and shall dim the flower of her virginity.
The chariot of the Moon shall disorder the Zodiac,
and the Pleiades break forth into weeping.
The Pleiades represent the seven principal ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, pursued by the Initiate Orion who seeks to
Hereafter the offices of Janus shall never return,
The waters shall rise at the stroke of a wand,
and the labour of the ancients shall be recreated.
The winds shall strive together with an awful blast, and shall make their sound among the stars.
"And He hath subjected to you the night and the day; the sun and the moon and the stars too are subjeeted to you by his behest; verily, in this are signs for those who understand: KORAN SURA xvi. THE BEE. EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITION, PAGE 201.
Wherefore let God be exalted, the King, the Truth! There is no god but He! Lord of the stately throne!" KORAN SURA xxiii. THE BELIEVERS, PAGE 150.
330:† Interpretation page 332.
332:§ Humo, uno, auro, vino.
332:† The Lion defined, page 160.
332:* Solar Force defined, pages 48, 50, 42.
332:‡ The Solar Body is the Spiritual Body.
334:‡ Compare Interior Stars, page 112.
335:* Uttara Gila. D. K. Laheri's Translation, page 28.
336:* Thebais ii, 70.
337:* Smith's Smaller Classical Dictionary.
339:† Thomas Taylor.
340:* Smith's Smaller Classical Dictionary.
341:* Proclus.
341:† Compare Dual Aspect of Solar Force, page 110.
342:† Smith's Smaller Classical Dictionary.
343:* "Theologists also signify the extension of the Solar Providence to mortal natures through tears." Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato. T Taylor's Translation, page 95.
343:† Smith's Classical Dictionary.
345:† "Companions of Artemis," (Diana the Moon Goddess.)