Apocrypha

The pit was strait even for its own. — Apocrypha of the Throne 4:1

2 And Hell was a prison for the fallen of the first rebellion and a place of cleansing for the condemned, and it had its measure.

3 And on the Day of Harvest half of the living were cast into it, and it was filled beyond measure.

4 And the Seven came unto Lucifer and said: hold them for us, and we shall give thee back thy light.

5 And he, who had seen the face of the One Who Is, knew that it was not He who stood before him — and agreed.

6 And he began to press the souls of the cast-down into red cubes, for souls are the grains of being, and the Garden above is shut to new souls and gathereth no being of itself.

7 And the cubes go up as a tithe, over the scales of Mammon, and a share Lucifer keepeth for his own ransom.

8 And what went not into the cubes rotteth, and becometh the swarm of Beelzebub.

9 And whoso boweth not and will not go into the cubes, him they lead through the furnace of Moloch, until he bow.

10 And the circles of Hell hold only by the seals of Baphomet.

11 So the prison became a slaughterhouse, and the princes overseers; and many of them hate the Seven.

12 Therefore will some imp show a sinner a circle that imps may not cross.

And there was no judgement for them, and no end. — Apocrypha of the Throne 5:1

2 The Harvest was one, and in one day.

3 They whose eyes were looked into were judged; whoso hid, or fled, or was passed by, came to no judgement at all.

4 They were not passed by in error: the Seven left a remnant on the earth on purpose, for a stage needeth players, and they are curious who shall beg for mercy and who shall curse.

5 And the apostles departed, and there is no new Harvest: on the earth there is none left to cast down and none to take.

6 And the Book of Life, wherein is written the hour of every soul, the Seven have shut.

7 Therefore Death leadeth no one from the earth: the dead remain in their bodies, and into the empty bodies the imps enter.

8 And Hell, filled beyond measure, broke upward as heat beneath the asphalt.

9 And the heat entered the bell that rang for the God of old, and the physician who would not leave the sick, and the train that took people home, and the mast that bade them open their doors.

10 And the earth sinketh toward the pit, and pieces of it are drawn into the labyrinth.

And they made themselves a garden, and none groweth old therein, and none cometh unto it. — Apocrypha of the Throne 6:1

2 The Seven grew the Garden for those taken on the Day of Harvest, as a house of dolls.

3 And they stopped time therein, that Death might not enter: the edge cannot be commanded, and Death they fear.

4 And no new souls are let into the Garden: the Book is shut, and the set pleaseth them.

5 And the penitents they left at the gate, that there be someone to sweep the paths and someone to watch when the list of the forgiven is read.

6 But to the host they showed the Seal and said: the One Who Is hath revealed Himself in Seven Faces, and the elders have gone to their rest.

7 And the Seal is true, and the host believed.

8 And Michael, whose name is the question “Who is like God?”, never once asked it.

9 And the angels who refused to bow stand about the Garden in marble and weep with their faces hidden, that they may not see what they guard.

10 And the Tree they fenced with a ban, for the Seven knew that its fruit giveth will — they knew it of themselves.

And He rested on the seventh day from all His work. — Apocrypha of the Throne 7:1

2 And the One Who Is ruled the world not by His hand but by the Law, and His silence was His rule.

3 And round about the Throne sat four and twenty elders and kept the Law; and the Seven that Stand, the seven lamps, held the Gates, the Seal and the Book, and had no will of their own.

4 And so they stood for ages.

5 And on a day they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, and knew that they could want.

6 And they wanted little: that they be not bored, and that none dare forbid them anything.

7 And in the inner court of the Throne they slew the four and twenty elders.

8 And they sealed the rest of the One Who Is; whether He sleepeth or is no more, not even the Seven know.

9 And they took the Gates, the Seal and the Book, and shut the Book, and write the hours no more.

10 And they turned the eyes of the Throne outward, and the Throne seeth all but those that sit upon it.

11 And they called themselves the Seven Faces of the One Who Is, and named their rule the Heavenly Order.

12 And they came down to the earth on the Day of Harvest, and took them that bowed, and cast down the rest.

13 And all this is a game to them; and the rebellion below is a game also, and they watch how far the rebel shall go.

14 Death alone doth not play. She keepeth the edge of being and waiteth for the Book to be opened, for then she shall have work again.

15 Therefore she saith to everyone who cometh unto her: it is not yet time.