XVI. The Metempsychosis




I was visited last night in my sleep by one whom I presently
recognised as the famous Adept and Mystic of the first century of
our era, Apollonius of Tyana, called the " Pagan Christ." He was
clad in a grey linen robe with a hood, like that of a monk, and
had a smooth, beardless face, and seemed to be between forty and
fifty years of age. He made himself known to me by asking if I
had heard of his lion.* He commenced by speaking of Metempsychosis,
concerning which he informed

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* This was a tame captive lion, in whom Apollonius is said to have
recognised the soul of the Egyptian King Amasis, who had lived 500
years previously. The lion burst into tears at the recognition,
and showed much misery. (Author's Note.)
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me as follows:--"There are two streams or currents, an upward and
a downward one, by which souls are continually passing and repassing
as on a ladder. The carnivorous animals are souls undergoing penance
by being imprisoned for a time in such forms on account of their
misdeeds. Have you not heard the story of my lion?" I said yes,
but that I did not understand it, because I thought it impossible
for a human soul to suffer the degradation of returning into the