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AS there was a return of the spirit, or angel, of Elias in the person of John the Baptist before the advent of Jesus, so there will be a return of the angel of Daniel, before the next manifestation of the Christ. Daniel's angel is he who specially foretold the culmination and the hour of overthrow of the world's materialistic system. And when he had completed his prediction he told Daniel that he--Daniel--should rest for the present, but when the time was accomplished, and the end was at hand, he should return and stand again in his place, and prophesy before the world. And the token whereby the approach of the end
should be known would be the spectacle of the "abomination of desolation standing in the holy place." A like assurance was given also to John. Now, the holy place is always--whether in the universal or the individual, in the macrocosm or the microcosm--the place of God and the Soul; and the abomination of desolation, or which maketh desolate, is that system of thought which, putting matter in the chief place, and making it the source, substance, and object of existence, abolishes God out of the universe, and the soul out of man, and thus, depriving existence of its light and life, makes it empty, desolate and barren, a very abomination of desolation.
Jesus, recalling this prophecy, and citing the words of Daniel's angel, also foretold the same event as marking the end of that "adulterous" generation [a term identical with idolatrous as denoting the worship of and illicit association with matter], and the coming of the kingdom of God; and warned the elect in mystic phrase, thus to be interpreted:--
"When, therefore, ye shall see matter exalted to the holy place of God and the soul, and made the all and in all of existence;
"Then let the spiritual Israel betake themselves to the hills where alone salvation is to be found, even the heights and fastnesses of the divine life.
"And let him who has overcome the body, beware lest he return to the love of the flesh, or seek the things of the world.
"Neither let him who is freed from the body become again re-incarnate.
"And woe to the soul whose travail is yet unaccomplished, and which has not yet become weaned from the body.
"And beseech God that these things find you not at a season either of spiritual depression and feebleness, or of spiritual repose and unwatchfulness.
"For the tribulation shall be without parallel;
"And such that except those days shall be few in number, escape from the body would be impossible.
"But for the elect's sake they shall be few.
"And if any shall then declare that here, or there, the Christ has appeared as a person, believe it not. For there shall arise delusive apparitions and manifestations, together with great signs and marvels, such as might well deceive even the elect. Remember, I have told you beforehand. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the desert, whether of the East or
of the West--join him not. Or, Behold he is in darkened rooms and secret assemblies--pay no regard.
"For, like lightning coming out of the East and illuminating the West, so shall be the world's spiritual awakening to the recognition of the Divine in Humanity.
"But wheresoever the dead carcase of error remains, around it, like vultures, will gather both deceivers and deceived. 1
"And upon them, the profane, there shall be darkness; the Spirit shall be quenched and the soul extinct; and there shall be no more any light in heaven, or in heavenly science any truth and meaning. And the power of heaven upon men shall be shaken.
"Then shall appear the new sign, the Man in Heaven, upon the rain-clouds of the last chrism and mystery, with great power and glory.
"And his missioners shall gather the elect with a great voice, from the four winds and from the farthest bounds of heaven.
"Behold the FIG-TREE, and learn her parable. When the branch thereof shall become tender, and her buds appear, know that the day of God is upon you."
Wherefore, then, saith the Lord that the budding of the fig-tree shall foretell the end?
Because the fig-tree is the symbol of the divine woman, as the vine of the divine man.
The fig is the similitude of the matrix, containing inward buds, bearing blossoms on its placenta, and bringing forth fruit in darkness. It is the cup of life, and its flesh is the seed-ground of new births.
The stems of the fig-tree run with milk: her leaves are as human hands, like the leaves of her brother the vine.
And when the fig-tree shall bear figs, then shall be the second advent, the new sign of the man bearing water, and the manifestation of the virgin-mother crowned.
For when the Lord would enter the holy city, to celebrate his
[paragraph continues] Last Supper with his disciples, he sent before him the fisherman Peter to meet the man of the coming sign.
"There shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water."
Because, as the Lord was first manifest at a wine-feast in the morning, so must he consummate his work at a wine-feast in the evening. 1
It is his Pass-Over; for thereafter the sun must pass into a new sign.
After the Fish, the Water-Carrier; but the Lamb of God 2 remains always in the place of victory, being slain from the foundation of the world.
For his place is the place of the sun's triumph.
After the vine the fig; for Adam is first formed, then Eve.
And because our Lady is not yet manifest, our Lord is crucified.
Therefore came he vainly seeking fruit upon the fig-tree, "for the time of figs was not yet."
And from that day forth, because of the curse of Eve, no man has eaten fruit of the fig-tree.
For the inward understanding has withered away, there is no discernment any more in men. They have crucified the Lord because of their ignorance, not knowing what they did.
Wherefore, indeed, said our Lord to our Lady:--"Woman, what is between me and thee? For even my hour is not yet come."
Because until the hour of the man is accomplished and fulfilled, the hour of the woman must be deferred.
Jesus is the vine; Mary is the fig-tree. And the vintage must be completed and the wine trodden out, or ever the harvest of the figs be gathered.
But when the hour of our Lord is achieved, hanging on his Cross, he gives our Lady to the faithful.
The chalice is drained, the lees are wrung out: then says he to his elect:--"Behold thy Mother!"
But so long as the grapes remain unplucked, the vine has nought to do with the fig-tree, nor Jesus with Mary.
He is first revealed, for he is the Word; afterwards shall come the hour of its interpretation.
And in that day every man shall sit under the vine and the
fig-tree; the dayspring shall arise in the orient, and the fig-tree shall bear her fruit. 1
For, from the beginning, the fig-leaf covered the shame of incarnation, because the riddle of existence can be expounded only by him who has the woman's secret. It is the riddle of the Sphinx.
Look for that tree which alone of all trees bears a fruit blossoming interiorly, in concealment, and thou shalt discover the fig.
Look for the sufficient meaning of the manifest universe and of the written Word, and thou shalt find only their mystical sense.
Cover the nakedness of matter and of nature with the fig-leaf; and thou hast hidden all their shame. For the fig is the interpreter.
So when the hour of interpretation comes, and the fig-tree puts forth her buds, know that the time of the end and the dawning of the new day are at hand,--"even at the doors."
23:1 See note on next page but one.
25:1 The foregoing part of this utterance was received at Paris, December 6, 1879, in sleep, the inspiring influence impressing itself upon the seeress as being the angel Gabriel--a circumstance which caused some perplexity--her usual instructor being Hermes (= Raphael)--until it was remembered that Gabriel was the inspiring angel of Daniel, whose return had been foretold. The remainder was received under waking illumination in July 1886, while preparing the second edition of The Perfect Way, in which it appeared. E. M.
Referred to in Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 310-320.
26:1 Wine is the symbol for the spirit, as water for the soul. E. M.
26:2 The pure spirit everlastingly shed by Deity for the world's creation, sustenance, and redemption. E. M.
27:1 Zech. iii, 10; Mic. iv, 4; Cant. ii, 13.