Read Seven Veils of Seth for Free Online Page A

but an affront to the mind.
    Having taken a fancy to a girl from a farming family, he asked himself, “Why don’t I do today what I will have to do some day? Why don’t I give in and hitch myself to a woman, the way my ancestors did before me?” He only realized later that he had committed another error the day he decided to prefer a course of action that had not been recommended by his sovereign intellect but that tied him instead to his ancestors.
    He married an oasis girl, and she bound him to the oasis.

3 The Diviner
Since his early childhood, women had used him in their stirring rituals as a medium charged with elucidating mysteries and furnishing them with news of loved ones who had traveled. Out of all the children whom women of the tribe used as mediums in their celebrations, which they normally called a séance, his reputation for prognostication spread. So the elders took charge of him, delighting in the birth of prophecy in the tribe’s settlements. Some searched his eyes for a sign and others made it their business to strip off his clothes to search for marks. Then they subjected him to an interrogation that lasted several nights. On completing this, they employed a cunning stratagem: they allowed him to play outdoors with the other children, but assigned a playmate to ask a question, so the child would not be intimidated by the presence of adults. They dispatched the boy, who was charged to return with an answer. They waited for several days before he brought back the response. When this prophecy was fulfilled, they announced to the tribe the birth of a diviner.
    Many, however, were suspicious and – typically – denied the birth of prophecy. A rascal, who mocked the boy, accosted him, tossing a date to his hand and a malicious question to his face: “Do you think I’ll find my lost milking camel when I go out to search tomorrow?”
    The boy immediately cast him a mysterious look before inquiring, “Did you say the camel is in milk and lost?” Without waiting for a reply, he continued, “Yes, indeed; you will find your lost she-camel.”
    The wretch roared with maniacal laughter and then shouted to everyone: “Hear that? He said I’m going to find my lost milking camel, even though you all know perfectly well I don’t have either a milking camel or a lost one.” The assembly bellowed with laughter too.
    The spirit world, however, decided to brand the rascal a liar and to vindicate the prophet, for a few days later – accompanied by a few companions – that man went out to search for truffles in the western plains, where he was bitten by a viper. His comrades scouted around for a passing caravan but found only a female camel, which bore him back to the encampments. Their astonishment was profound when they learned that the camel had not only been lost by one of the tribe’s nobles but was called “Milch Camel,” for her copious yield of milk. From then on, the scoffers left him alone and even the clever acknowledged his gift.
    Even so, as he matured to manhood, he had more difficulty tapping into the prophetic visions that had burst into his heart when he was a child. Then the elite urged him to try solitude, and he began to head out to distant deserts – taking refuge in the mountains and secluding himself from the world there for days or weeks – so that he might bring reliable information home to the tribe. As time rushed past, he realized that solitude was not the only price paid for prophecy but only another link in a chain that terminated with what he came to call “the nightmare.” This is a lethal corridor, and he learned from experience that the only thing harder than leaving it is gaining access to it. He would disappear in waterless deserts and explore many different homelands, roam through redoubts, and lose his own identity in his quest, until the firebrand glowed and the passageway flashed with