ASTRONOMY DOMINAE
                         W.C. Leadbeater
             THE SHINING, UNDYING, SWIFT-HORSED SUN
     --chariots halted, glared at the zenith, blazing high above
Atlantis.  The ocean tides lapped gently on the shores near
Bensalem, the capital of the Republic.  The sun blazed hot over the
forests and falls, fields and streams.  The cities, tall buildings,
stone erections, pierced the sky where the solar orb remained
stationary.  Beneath it, the citizens of Atlantis scorched.
     It was a hot and humid summer day; nightfall would bring
relief.  Soon the night.
     Or would it?
     Is the night a dyer like the day? Smerdis the Magus thought,
teaching wisdom in the Temple of the idol Dionysus.  Ornate icons
of diverse gods adorned the walls.
     He said to Plotinus, chief philosopher of the Solar Temple,
"The sun is like the wings of Icarus."
     It was a strange statement and vexing to the stargazer.  "What
do you mean?" the grizzled old magician asked.  He'd devoted his
life to studies of the celestial spheres, was very proud of his
achievements.  However, he was ruffled by poetic metaphor; his
tastes ran more toward the scientific, what is knowable through
fact.  And especially not speculation; gods and goddesses.  To him,
the world was a vast machine:  mercurial corpuscles and electrical
fluid, whirling bits and particles.
     The other merely responded, "Like Icarus, whose flight was
stilled, its motion has stopped; like the labor of Sisyphus it is
as steadfastly unmoving as the demigod's Stone.  A Philosopher's
nightmare."  The old alchemist, like all of his ilk, preferred to
veil his craft in symbol.
     Plotinus replied, "Let us offer a fatted calf to Apollo, so
that the sun might move again."
     The sacrifice was made, the sacred blood sprinkled upon the
altar, the sacramental wine drank; drunken orgies, revelry and
dancing.
     However, another day passed, then another, and the sun yet
remained in its unmoving heavenly position in spite of the fatted
calf; an inferno which burned and scorched.
     The Atlanteans baked while the Chinese froze; elsewhere, in
Africa and Albion, there was shadow and twilight.  And, though
sacrifices and offerings were still being made all over the Earth,
as they had been in Atlantis, Apollo--by whatever name he went by
in different religions--was deaf to the ears of his worshippers.
     And it soon became apparent that the Moon had also stopped in
her orbit, no longer bringing the tides.  All the demonic carriers
of the planets also seemed to have died; the Music of the Spheres
silenced by--what?
                                #
                         DEUS EX MACHINA
     It had become clear that something needed to be done.  A call
was sent out to all the great mystics and Crystallogers, those who
saw portents of the future in visions.  They congregated in the
Lyceum at the apex of the tallest mountain in Atlantis, Mount
Gadis.  Directly beneath the halted solar disc, better to study the
phenomenon.  Telescopes were set up to see what this great mystery
in the heavens was.
     Lucinda Ogdoad, court astrologer to the Crimson King, Smerdis,
looked through her divining orb, her gamaheu.  She said, "My
observations confirm that the immense crystal spheres of the
heavens are clearly not moving.  The ether remains still and
placid."
     Lucinda stepped back thinking of Apollo's terrible treachery
at abandoning his faithful disciples, and her latest affair:  a
short, overweight alchemist named Smith.  She considered how
magnificently lavish their love-making had been, the serpent
teaching knowledge in the cave of wisdom while she enticed him by
playing the role of harlot, of concubine, teasing, flirting,
finally seducing.
     It had been exquisite.
     Solon, one of the Greek oracles, asked Plotinus, "Do you have
any idea why the solar orb has frozen in its passage across the
sky?  The sacrifices have all been made properly.  Are the gods
angry at us?  Have we been forsaken by Day?"
     "Night destroys the day," the wise elder said.  "But night
herself has seemed to die, except in China."
     Smith was here, too, at his girlfriend's request.  Something
which the congregation of mystics went along with, as he was an
accomplished alchemist, had written several studies on the Harmony
of the Spheres.  As the conference ran on, he just sat quietly,
stroking his beard, bright eyes twinkling.
     A Persian Prince, Zurvan, asked, "Whey does the sun stare
down, as though the eye of a great, unseeing giant?"
     "Cyclops," Plotinus replied, thoughtfully, "As Tegularius,
the Greatest Magician among the barbarians, wrote concerning
Dionysus and Apollo, 'Come--let us worship at the temples of both
gods.'  They are Day and Night, brother and sister; they cannot do
without each other."
     To which Zurvan replied, "The light and the darkness are
brother and sister, as are good and evil, life and death. 
Therefore, neither are the good good, nor the evil evil, nor is
life a real life, nor death, death."
     Plotinus noted, "Such is Tegularius' teaching, too."
     Ikhnaton, the Pharaoh, added to the discussion, even as harem
girls fanned him, "There are too many gods in this world, and they
are all inferior to the One God I worship, Aton.  Someday, he--the
One, the All--will displace the Many."
     Solon laughed, "Monotheism will never catch hold.  It goes
against human nature; we humans, we see Spirit in everything."
     Ikhnaton remarked, irritably, "You worship Pan.  But Pan is
merely Aton under a different name."
     Smerdis inserted, "We really do not have time to waste on
theological debates and mystical superstition--this is a totally
scientific problem, one completely soluble by rational discourse
and material philosophy:  the Sun has stopped moving.  Does anyone
have any suggestions as to a scientific cause?"
     Plotinus said, "Ever since Aristotle, there has been a belief
among scientists and philosophers that the cycles and epicycles of
the crystalline spheres are due to a being, the Unmoved Mover--a
being which could be called God--"
     "Aton," the Pharaoh corrected.
     Plotinus was a little peeved at being interrupted with what
he considered superstitious nonsense.  Clearing his throat, he
continued, "Aristotle posited this power as existing beyond the
Cosmos, he called it the Unmoved Mover.  He is source of all
motion, but is not himself moved.  The Unmoved Mover transmits
motion to the crystalline spheres of the heavens, through the
planetary spheres.  However, he takes no interest in Creation.  As
Aristotle expressed it, 'he thinks that which is most worthy of
himself, and his thinking is a thinking of thinking.'"
     Solon said, excitably, "I see where you are going!  If the
Unmoved Mover is dead--"
     "--the Sun and Planets would also stop moving," Lucinda Ogdoad
picked up the stream of thought.
     "But why should he die?" Ikhnaton observed.  "The True God
cannot die.  And this--Unmoved Driver, whatever you call him--could
he not be the One God I worship?  Might this not be scientific
proof of the existence of God?"
     Another Greek philosopher, Valentinus, inserted, "According
to Tegularius, 'God is dead.'  He said this centuries ago; no one
ever knew what he meant--if he meant, yes, there was a Creator and
Life-giver, and that his Spirit had departed the Cosmos, or if
men's belief in the Divine was dead, the need to believe obviated
by alchemical philosophy and modern science.  In any case, assuming
the Aristotelian Prime Mover is real--why should this being die?"
     Plotinus said, "The solution appears simple enough--if we have
the technology to achieve it:  all we have to do is create a flying
machine of some kind--a spacecraft, if you will--to fly up to the
crystalline spheres, and--"
     Solon said, as Lucinda kept busily taking notes, "I think I
see where you're going--it would fly to the heavenly spheres, and
we could drill our way through them, right?  And replace the dead
God with a machine?"
     "By Jove, I think you've got it!" Plotinus said.
     The meeting was adjourned.  The scientists and priests all
filed from the conference room, joyful and optimistic that the sun
might again move.
                                #
                    THE PHOENIX'S DESTINATION
     The construction of the first spaceship, the Phoenix, was
undertaken, in the Persian realm of Smerdis the Magus, a realm of
twilight shadows where day and night mixed.  From careful astro-
logical calculations performed by Lucinda Ogdoad on her I-Ching
computer, it had been determined that the point on Earth closest
to the dead Prime Mover was directly above Baghdad:  there was a
tremendous black hole in the sky there.  A great immense thing,
sucking light into itself with the Spirit of Gravity.
     The astronauts, Ogdoad, Smith, and Samael settled into their
reclining chairs, bracing for the force of the rockets.
     Ogdoad had been taken on because she was an accomplished
astrologer; could read all the symbols and signs of the heavens. 
Deluxe and delightful, she beheld herself mirrored in the bulk-
heads, studying the beauty of her curled hair; Smith had been
chosen because a good alchemist had also been needed for the
flight, to operate the great rockets which were to propel them to
Heaven by burning refined phlogiston.  And besides them, there was
Samael, a visionary Crystalloger, foretelling Destiny by staring
into whirling prisms of crystallite.
     And--if the Prime Mover was God--?  What them?  Questions of
the death of God weighed heavily on everyone's mind; nobody wanted
to admit that the source of all light and life had perished.
     The countdown was begun:  "t minus ten and counting..."
     Smith checked the fuel gauges, feelings of anxiety racing
through him.  Will it work? was the question on everyone's mind.
     "t three... t two... t one... t zero!"
     Liquid propellant flowed.  The rocket was launched.  Ac-
celeration pressed the crew back into their seats.
     The acceleration increased, the Earth's attraction pushing
the astronauts into their seats, as rockets flared beneath them. 
The Phoenix sent jets of ruby fire out behind it, as Samael pushed
back on the throttle.  He was a little frightened, but tried not
to let it show.
     The spaceship's propellant system was formed of the new
Crystallite power source:  immense crystals of congealed, solid-
ified light, which liberated awesome energy when dissolved by acid
as the ether was converted from solid form back into rarefied
light, living fire.
     The sky resolved itself into a huge glass sphere as the
Phoenix reached the Moon's orbit, first of the crystalline spheres. 
Luna hovered there, a silver apple.  Beneath the Phoenix, the
Persian Empire and its satellite states dwindled into nothingness.
     The Moon lay at an oblique angle to the mighty ship, as its
mystical engines again belched fire; this time, the retros.
     Hovering in mid-air before the crystal wall, several miles
thick, the giant screw on front of the ship was activated.  No
counter-thrust was needed to keep Phoenix from revolving with the
screw:  in Aristotelian physics, objects at rest tend to remain at
rest.  Roll a rock along the ground, it will stop.
     And the screw yet turned, casting up clouds of ethereal
crystal dust.
     Smith exclaimed, excitedly, "We are almost through!"
     Samael said, looking up from his scanners, "Luna has come off
its bearings!"
     "Damn!" Smith cursed.  His mystic crystal hadn't predicted
this eventuality.  He was given to a quick temper, but usually only
expressed his displeasure through a few curse words and not lengthy
violent outbursts.  On the other hand, now his fear of death had
him cussing up a storm.
     Lucinda turned, fear etched on her face.  She saw that the
Moon was, indeed, moving.  It was rolling like a giant marble
across the innermost of the astral spheres.
     "Luna is angry at us, for trespassing onto her domain!" the
short blond girl said, fearfully.  She was not the sort who became
easily frightened, but in this case, was truly and terribly scared.
     Samael said, horrified, "Smith--is there any way to stop it
from crushing us?"
     The Mage said, "We had best try to destroys it with one of
our atomic bombs."
     "Launching Democritean bomb," Samael said, punching the button
that launched the most destructive force known to humanity.
     The bomb exploded after a series of Philosopher's Stone rods
were imploded by gunpowder, into a huge crystal of light--power
enough to even rival the sun.
     The missile exploded.  The crew all shielded their eyes from
the powerful blast, strong enough to level a city.
     Lucinda was first to open her eyes.  She saw a burning
maelstrom.  Shrieking in horror, she observed, "Luna is still
racing straight toward us."
     "Launch another atomic bomb," Samael shouted to Smith.  The
necromancer flipped the switch which sent out another missile.  It
flared at the immense sphere rolling across the sky, and a burst
of light raped Luna.
     Luna was dead.
     Shattered into a million diamond fragments.
                                #
                        PLUTONIAN NIGHTS
     All the intervening spheres had been safely traversed.  The
other planets had tried to intervene, the way Luna had, but they
were over at opposite ends of the sky from the Phoenix, and
couldn't navigate the depths of space in time.
     Now, at last, their goal was near:  the great inky black spot
in Taurus.
     And both Lucinda and Smith shared the same sun-sign, they were
twins in many amazing ways.
     Isn't science wonderful? Lucinda thought, even as at almost
the exact same time, Smith came to such a realization himself.
     He put his hand upon her knee.  Sitting pretty by the control
panel.
     She kissed him.  With a wink, she promised, "More... later. 
When we're all alone."
     "And the Sun moves again," her new-found lover added.
     At last having reached the outermost sphere, the great screw
turned in the heavens, and the sky was pierced by the machine,
shattered fragments of crystal laying all about.
     The astronauts all got into a stellar-rover, headed out, over
the surface of the crystal vault which was the Unmoved Mover's
home.  They occasionally had to change course, to avoid one star
or another.  Besides that, the going was smooth.
     An incredible hulk lurked in the distance, becoming massive
as they neared.  And there was some sort of serpent-thing at its
center.  Like a black, living darkness, cold glittering in its
eyes.  And at its heart, a dark shadow.
     The Lizard-thing crept nearer and nearer.  A great, monstrous
dragon, with a head like a lion.  A sphinx with the body of a
serpent.
     "I am Ahriman," the dragon said.  "It was I, the Prince of
Darkness, who destroyed the Lord of Light.  And I shall destroy
you, too, for trespassing on Night's domain."
     "What do we do now?" Ogdoad asked, frustratedly.
     Samael asked, "Do we have any more atomic bombs?  Maybe we
could use one on Ahriman."
     Smith said, "I shall fire another of our missiles.  This
dragon creature must die."
     Aiming carefully, Smith fired the missile-launcher, even as
the monstrous lion-serpent slithered even closer.
     The bomb was launched, a tremendous, shattering nova.
     There was light in the darkness.
     There was thunder in the heavens.
     The smoke cleared after the detonation, but still, the
grotesque creature neared.
     "What are we going to do now?" Ogdoad asked.  "Use another
atomic bomb?"
     "We cannot," Captain Samael said, "We used most of them up
bombing the Moon; that was our last one."  Samael, panicking,
uttered a curse.  "Smith, you are a Crystalloger.  Can you divine
a way out of our predicament, by using your gamaheu?" 
     Smith set his diamond-crystal spinning, in a moment it blazed
in glory, and he knew what he needed to know:  "Acid," Smith
replied.
     "Acid?" Samael and Ogdoad both asked with a sense of wonder.
     "Dissolve it.  You know, of course, that our propellant system
uses liquid acid to dissolve solid light?"
     "Yes--but so, how will this help us?"
     "Acid is a coagulation of ether, a mixture of equal parts of
electrical and magnetic fluid--and these crystal spheres are the
natural realm of ether; they are 'ethereal'--that is where the term
comes from.  We have an entire fuel tank of acid--we should be able
to dissolve the creature, once it is close enough.  However--if we
use too much of the acid propellant... we won't have enough fuel
to return to Earth."
     "Exiled in heaven?" little Lucinda asked, and batted her
becoming angel eyes.  "What could be better than that?  Isn't this
the Eternal Reward all Scriptures promise?"
     Samael responded, "It depends on what kind of god is the god
of heaven--evil... or good."
     The beast-thing yet neared.  The preparations were made
quickly, Phoenix's crew quickly cutting the tubing to the fuel
tanks to liberate the liquid light.
     The shadow-creature neared, ever and ever closer.
     "Now?" Smith asked, finger poised over the trigger of the
spray-jet.
     "No, not now," Captain Samael ordered.  "Wait until this
blasphemous being is almost upon us.  He may not die if we use our
acid too early."
     Smith waited awhile longer, fear racing through his heart,
through everyone's hearts.
     "Now?"  They were almost close enough for the tawny and green
lion-dragon to feel its slavering.
     "Now!"
     "Finally!" Smith exclaimed.
     The acid spray leaped from its magnetic bottle, creating a
harsh, acerbic, violent beam--but the beast was not obliterated. 
It came on even faster, seeming to have absorbed energy from the
blast.
     Smerdis again worked the controls of the acid ray, directed
it into the heart of the beast, into darkness.
     Ahriman spoke in a horrendous growl:  "I am the Lord of Night,
Master of all that is evil.  I am the Lizard who teaches Wisdom,
and she is a prostitute who seduces men's minds.  When the One
first became Two, I have my origin from the beginning:  the
dissolution of Light into Darkness.  I killed that blasphemy of an
abortion, Apollo.  It took me many millennia to do it--but I have
finally destroyed the Prime Mover through subtle poisons.  I am
evil incarnate, in a world I never made--and would now destroy."
     Ogdoad cried, "Don't you have any conscience?  What about the
thousands freezing in Asia, the teeming throngs of Atlantis,
burning under the heat of an unmoving star?  You--"
     The Old Serpent said, "The Unmoved Mover cared nought for
humanity--nor do I."
     "Die, monster!" Smith shouted, and set forth another jet of
acid, to strike the Dark Destroyer.
     And its blackness was absorbed in light.
     The Evil Principle became ash, and the ash was carried away
by the winds outside the planetary spheres.
     There is air in outer space, at least, if you're an alchemist.
                                #
                   DEUS EX MACHINA, REVISITED
     Several days later, the machine that would restore heavenly
motion was still slowly being assembled.  The final touches were
being made on the great monstrosity of cogs, wheels, levers and
gears that would replace the Unmoved Mover.  The machines that
constructed the Solar-Engine were robot elementals, machine-elves
from Troglodytica.  These kobolds were formed when vital spirits
met with rocks in the womb of the Earth.  They teemed like ants in
this strange world, under artificial illumination.
     And a sound disturbed their labors, something soft and
mercurial.  A howling in heavens of infinite darkness.
     "What is that approaching comet?" Samael asked.
     Lucinda Ogdoad replied, "It is Mercury!  He, alone, of all
the gods, has found his way to this astral realm--but does he seek
to help us?  Or destroy us?"
     Smith's finger hovered above the button that would send out
another acid jet.  I don't know if I should do this--if I do, will
we have enough fuel to return home?
     He was about to voice these thought, but, "Mercury?" Lucinda
interjected.  "In alchemy, the spirit Mercurius stands for the
Union of Opposites:  male and female, sun and moon, gold and
silver.  Mercury is a Universal Cause and a Universal Catalyst."
     And the silver-gold comet drew yet closer.
     It hovered above the God-machine and settled onto it as though
copulating, and the heavens began to revolve again.
     As the two fused, God-machine and alchemical Spirit of Unity,
a Voice could be heard echoing throughout the cosmos:
     "I am the Light of the All.  The All comes from me and it
obtains to me.  I have come here, so that the All might live.  I
will give you the Light and Power you need, to take you back to
your Earthly home."
     And liquid light-energy flowed from the Spirit, into the fuel
tanks.
     And the heavens would never again be the same.
     The return trip was uneventful, except for the affair between
Smith and Ogdoad:  many novas were created in the heat of their
union.
                              END