“Offense were not possible with this intent. And I were an unworthy handmaiden should I harbor ill will on this day, holiest of all the year to the Monbas.” “I stand athirst for knowledge of the sacred rite already partially witnessed. Is it lawful for an alien to know its import?” “We who find divinity in the flowers, the birds, the sunshine, the trees, the rocks, the streams, and the hills, have no secrets apart from any living thing. But before thy special question, tell me of thy comrades. Shall I face them here?” “In this place, and soon. They skirted the southern wall. The women came in chairs, lest fatigue should render them unfit to give heed to thy many accomplishments. Tell me the office of the three graces in the flower-laden boat.” “All the ills of my people are consigned to those flowers. The ark in the center contains a symbol of the all-pervading essence of creation, and when the sun comes high enough to send a vertical ray into this ark, the flowers which have been collected for the past three days will be sacrificed by fire; and then we can go hence happy and content, free from evil tendency within and without. Our faith is simple. We try to live in harmony with the laws of Life and Love.” “An artist who revels in the beauties of creation receives direct the thoughts of the Eternal Father,” returned Yermah, reverently. “A child inhaling the fragrance of a flower receives in the process of transmutation the thoughts of the Creator.” “Without the intervention of planetary influence?” “The open flower, with its sun-rayed form, is to vegetation what the sun is to the planets, and as man is to animal life. Flowers crown Nature’s dominions.” “The soul of man crowns all animate things,” persisted Yermah. “When he crushes a beetle he destroys the life of what may some day be his brother,” she answered, with a smile. “Dost thou believe in transmigration? I am agreed with thee that life is a vibration of Divine Will, moving in a spiral, but physical man is the lowest rung contacted by the ego.” “Oh, say not so! Is not the ego a ray of the creative energy itself? Thinkest thou the human family the only emanation of Divinity worthy to contact its Creator?” “Yes,” he answered; “and only then by aspiring to a spiritual plane.” “How many planes dost thou allot to man?” “Three—the physical, the mental and the spiritual. A novice must perform the nine labors in order to achieve perfection. Each plane is threefold, like the alchemical sun, whose prototype blesses us with its preserving rays. Unfold to me the principles of thy system.”