is of thy craft.  And I also, the Measurer, I know the work of both.  But now is that time when the end cometh, and that which hath been spoken in the ear in closets, the same shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”  Then the first king unlocked his casket, and gave to the Carpenter a scroll written in red, and a compass and a trowel.  But the Carpenter answered him:  “It is enough.  I have seen, and I remember.  For this is the writing King Solomon gave into my hands when I also was a Stonelayer, and when thou wert of the company of them that labor.  For I also am thy Brother, and that thou knowest I know also.”  Then the third king, the Angel, spoke again and said, “Now is the knowledge perfected and the bond fulfilled.  For neither can the Stonelayer build alone, nor the Carpenter construct apart.  Therefore, until this day, is the Temple of the Lord unbuilt.  But now is the time come, and Salem shall have her habitation on the Hill of the Lord.”

And there came down a mist from the mountain, and out of the mist a star.  And my Genius said, “Thou shalt yet see more on this wise.”  But I saw then only the mist, which filled the valley, and moistened my hair and my dress; and so I awoke.

—­London, April 30, 1882

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** For the full comprehension of the above dream, it is necessary 
to be profoundly versed at once in the esoteric signification of 
the Scriptures and in the mysteries of Freemasonry.   It was the 
dreamer’s great regret that she neither knew, nor could know, the 
latter, women being excluded from initiation.  (Ed.)

XVIII.  The Armed Goddess

I dreamed that I sat reading in my study, with books lying about all round me.  Suddenly a voice, marvellously clear and silvery, called me by name.  Starting up and turning, I saw behind me a long vista of white marble columns, Greek in architecture, flanking on either side a gallery of white marble.  At the end of this gallery stood a shape of exceeding brilliancy, the shape of a woman above mortal height, clad from head to foot in shining mail armour.  In her right hand was a spear, on her left arm a shield.  Her brow was hidden by a helmet, and the aspect of her face was stern,—­ severe even, I thought.  I approached her, and as I went, my body was lifted up from the earth, and I was aware of that strange sensation of floating above the surface of the ground, which is so common with me in sleep that at times I can scarce persuade myself after waking that it has not been a real experience.  When I alighted at the end of the long gallery before the armed woman, she said to me: 

“Take off the night-dress thou wearest.”

I looked at my attire and was about to answer—­ “This is not a night-dress,” when she added, as though perceiving my thought:—­

“The woman’s garb is a night-dress; it is a garment made to sleep in.  The man’s garb is the dress for the day.  Look eastward!”