Yermah was like a maimed lion—a pathetic and pitiable object—as he lay with his head on Akaza’s shoulder, while his pent-up feelings found vent in choking sobs. “Thou art weakening thy sacred manhood in yielding thus to despair. Thou art intrusted with a mission for all peoples, for all tongues, and for all time. Think, my son, of being the world’s ideal lover through all the eons to follow! It is a blessed privilege! Thou hast witnessed a demonstration of the destructive majesty of cosmic force. Now thou art called upon to obey thine individual destiny. THOU HAST PERFORMED THE EIGHTH LABOR!” “And the gold for the temple?” questioned Yermah, in a stricken voice. “It was alchemical gold thou wert sent to find. Thy body is the temple, and the Perfect Way of Life is the magic which produces alchemical gold. Dost thou comprehend the occult significance of Osiris, with a crook in one hand and a flail in the other?” “No,” answered the Dorado, more calmly. “Come into the temple and I shall tell thee.” When Yermah followed him, he continued: “The crook is the attraction to the earth, and the flail is the repulsion from it. Man oscillates continually between the masculine and the feminine qualities of his nature. When Osiris says, ‘Let the heart be given back to the deceased’[10] after it has been put into an urn and weighed in the balance against the image of Truth, we are to understand that the candidate is no longer swayed by his emotions and appetites. He is self-centered. Sorrow will lift her pall, and thou wilt stand face to face with Truth.” Akaza drew from his bosom a heavy serpent ring of silver with a rare green jade setting. It had a turquoise with diamond eyes cut intaglio. “This means Silence,” said the old man, as he took Yermah’s right hand, and slipped the ring on the little finger. “It is the signet of the Brotherhood, and thou must sacredly guard the divine wisdom imparted to thee. “Thou wilt be sorely tried in the future; but I, who am responsible for thy soul’s welfare, give thee this sign manual of the King Initiate.” Yermah knelt before him, and was anointed on crown, forehead and breast with perfumed oil. “Rise and receive the Sacred Word. It is ‘Aision,’ which is Truth. Seen in the distance, this quality is personated as stern, harsh, forbidding; but, when we approach near enough to distinguish the lineaments of its countenance, it contains all that is gracious, benignant and inspiring. The Spirit of Truth dwells within the sanctuary of the heart.” Akaza then put his hands together, with the fingers closed and bent so as to form an acute angle. With the tip of his fingers pointed, he touched Yermah’s forehead, and said: “Let there be no complaint.” The joining of the right and left hand signified the union of the masculine and the feminine principles, and of spirit and matter.