The
cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a turret. Four
concave mirrors were hung within it, and there was an altar of white
marble, surrounded by a chain of magnetic iron. On it was engraved
the sign of the Pentagram, and this symbol was drawn on the new, white
sheepskin which was stretched beneath. A copper brazier stood on the
altar, with charcoal of alder and of laurel wood, and in front a second
brazier was placed upon a tripod. Eliphas Levi was clothed in a white
robe, longer and more ample than the surplice of a priest, and he wore
upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain.
In one hand he held a new sword and in the other the Ritual.'
Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself, and she laughed
as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman, with his round, red
face, thus wonderfully attired.
'He set alight the two fires with the prepared materials, and began, at
first in a low voice, but rising by degrees, the invocations of the
Ritual. The flames invested every object with a wavering light.
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