“The sovereign will is represented in our symbols by the woman who crushes the serpent’s head, and by the resplendent angel who represses the dragon, and holds him under his foot and spear; the great magical agent, the dual current of light, the living and astral _fire_ of the earth, has been represented in the ancient theogonies by the serpent {138} with the head of a bull, a ram, or a dog. It is the double serpent of the _caduceus_, it is the Old Serpent of the _Genesis_, but it is also the _brazen serpent of Moses_ entwined around the _tau_, that is to say, the generative _lingha_. It is also the goat of the witch-sabbath, and the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the _Hylé_ of the Gnostics; it is the double-tail of serpent which forms the legs of the solar cock of the Abraxas; finally, it is the Devil of M. Eudes de Mirville. But in very fact it is the blind force which souls have to conquer to liberate themselves from the bonds of the earth; for if their will does not free “them from this _fatal attraction_, they will be absorbed in the current by the force which has produced them, and _will return to the central and eternal fire_.” This last kabalistic figure of speech, notwithstanding its strange phraseology, is precisely the one used by Jesus; and in his mind it could have had no other significance than the one attributed to it by the Gnostics and the Kabalists. Later the Christian theologians interpreted it differently, and with them it became the doctrine of Hell. Literally, though, it simply means what it says—the astral light, or the generator and destroyer of all forms. “All the magical operations,” continues Levi, “consist in freeing one’s self from the coils of the Ancient Serpent; then to place the foot on its head, and lead it according to the operator’s will. ‘I will give unto thee,’ says the Serpent, in the Gospel myth, ‘all the kingdoms of the earth, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.’ The initiate should reply to him, ‘I will not fall down, but thou shalt crouch at my feet; thou wilt give me nothing, but I will make use of thee and take whatever I wish. For _I am thy Lord and Master_!’ This is the real meaning of the ambiguous response made by Jesus to the tempter.... Thus, the Devil is not an Entity. It is an errant force, as the name signifies. An _odic or magnetic current_ formed by a chain (a circle) of pernicious wills must create this evil spirit which the Gospel calls _legion_, and which forces into the sea a herd of swine—another evangelical allegory showing how base natures can be driven headlong by the blind forces set in motion by error and sin.”[254]