9

THE BRANKS

Being is the Noun; Form is the adjective.

Matter is the Noun; Motion is the Verb.

Wherefore hath Being clothed itself with Form?

Wherefore hath Matter manifested itself in Motion?

Answer not, O silent one! For THERE is no "wherefore", no "because".

The name of THAT is not known; the Pronoun interprets, that is misinterprets, It.

Time and Space are Adverbs.

Duality begat the Conjunction.

The Conditioned is Father of the Preposition.

The Article also marketh Division; but the Interjection is the sound that endeth in the Silence.

Destroy therefore the Eight Parts of Speech; the Ninth is nigh unto Truth.

This also must be destroyed before thou enterest into The Silence.

Aum.

COMMENTARY (Θ)

Teth is the Tarot trump, Strength, in which a woman is represented closing the mouth of a lion.

This chapter is called "The Branks", an even more powerful symbol, for it is the Scottish, and only known, apparatus for closing the mouth of a woman.

The chapter is formally an attack upon the parts of speech, the interjection, the meaningless utterance of ecstasy, being the only thing worth saying; yet even this is to be regarded as a lapse.

"Aum" represents the entering into the silence, as will be observed upon pronouncing it.