Adams, Walter M.: The house of the hidden places: a clue to the creed of early Egypt from Egyptian sources (London, 1895)

19S The Initiation of the Postulant. [Ch.

of the mysterious building may follow, well-
uigli step by step, the mystical progress of the
departed through the unseen world. For to
the Egyptian of old, to have mastered the
secret of the House of the Hidden Places was
to have mastered the secret of the tomb. For
him the grave had no darkness, death held no
terror; for he knew beforehand the starry
path, wherein each step brought him nearer to
the Creator-Light.

Ritual in hand, let us now take up our posi-
tion once more at the foot of the exterior
ascent, beneath the entrance of the star, along
with the catechumen of the Secret; and with
him let us forecast the time when, bereft of
sense, of will, of life, he will go forth, dumb
and helpless, to the mouth of the tomb, and
commence "The entrance on Light" (chap, i.)
while "borne to the land of the holy dead."
Then, reciting chapter by chapter, as we
mount step by step, we become informed, in
the course of that brief but steep ascent, of the