Ever More Beautiful

 

"The soul that grows in love grows ever more beautiful."

A verse from the Crystal Tablet

I still favour the old numbering method I learned when I first got started. It's so immediately obvious that this is not a Bible verse, with the three numbers rather than two. It is also so wonderfully simple to use, as the use of all three numbers means you don't have to write out chapter names.

Unfortunately, it really only works with the New Celestial Union Version, as other versions have the different chapters in different orders (as the Madrian groups never published an official collection, there is no exact order for any of the chapters, though most versions will have the beginning through the Crystal Tablet in common); and none of the others really have the four-part order the NCU has which makes the initial number moot.

For those unfamiliar with this numbering system to cite verses:

 

The entirety of the Scriptures in the New Celestial Union Version is broken up into four sections, known as Titles:

• Title 1, The Major Scriptures, comprised of the Holy Drama of the Mother & Daughter (this is the Sacred Mythos through the Mythos of the Divine Maid in the ECE);
• Title 2, The Crystal Tablet;
• Title 3, The Minor Scriptures, which is nearly everything else; and
• Title 4, The Wisdom Texts: The Clew of the Horse, the Heart of Water, & the Pillar of Light.

The first number then refers to which Title the cited verse comes from.

 

Each Title is then broken down into the individual chapters we know, like the Sermon of the Apple Seed, the Teachings of the Daughter, On Our Mother's Love, and so on. The second number in our sequence refers to these chapters. Finally the third number is the verse number(s). Though the order of the chapters is nearly always completely different between versions, the verse numbers are pretty much always the same.

 

The Crystal Tablet, v 47-49:

She who gives succour to those who have need prepares a place of safe repose for her soul. And she who turns no creature away surrounds her soul with beautiful things. For the soul that grows in love grows ever more beautiful, but the soul that turns from love is repellent of aspect. Let the soul know before all that the greatest love is the love of Thea, and from this love all other loves flow.