Darkness Incarnate

Echoes of the ancient Art still resonated in every corner of the globe, from the mystical Kabbalists of
Judaism to the esoteric Sufis of Islam. Vestiges remained in the arcane rituals of Christianity, in its godeating
rites of Holy Communion, its hierarchies of saints, angels, and demons, its chanting and incantation,
its holy calendar’s astrological underpinnings, its consecrated robes, and in its promise of everlasting life.
Even now, its priests dispelled evil spirits by swinging smoke-filled censers, ringing sacred bells, and
sprinkling holy water. Christians still practiced the supernatural craft of exorcism—an early practice of their
faith that required the ability not only to cast out demons but to summon them.

And yet they cannot see their past?

Nowhere was the church’s mystical past more evident than at her epicenter. In Vatican City, at the heart of
St. Peter’s Square, stood the great Egyptian obelisk. Carved thirteen hundred years before Jesus took his first
breath—this numinous monolith had no relevance there, no link to modern Christianity. And yet there it was.
At the core of Christ’s church. A stone beacon, screaming to be heard. A reminder to those few sages who
remembered where it all began. This church, born of the womb of the Ancient Mysteries, still bore her rites
and symbols.

One symbol above all.

Adorning her altars, vestments, spires, and Scripture was the singular image of Christianity—that of a
precious, sacrificed human being. Christianity, more than any other faith, understood the transformative
power of sacrifice. Even now, to honor the sacrifice made by Jesus, his followers proffered their own feeble
gestures of personal sacrifice . . . fasting, Lenten renunciation, tithing.

All of those offerings are impotent, of course. Without blood . . . there is no true sacrifice.

The powers of darkness had long embraced blood sacrifice, and in doing so, they had grown so strong that
the powers of goodness now struggled to keep them in check. Soon the Light would be entirely consumed,
and the practitioners of darkness would move freely through the minds of men.

ref : The Lost Symbol