SD References - Volume 1

see: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of Éliphas Lévi, 1886: “Occult philosophy seems to have been the nurse and godmother of all intellectual forces, the key to all divine obscurities . . . It reigned in Persia with the Magi . . . it endowed India with the most wonderful traditions . . . it civilised Greece . . .” — p. 1

the Aryan Race

see: H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, 1888: “The occult doctrine admits of no such divisions as the Aryan and the Semite . . . The Semites, especially the Arabs, are later Aryans . . . To these belong all the Jews and the Arabs.” “The Aryan races, for instance, now varying from dark brown, almost black, red-brown-yellow, down to the whitest creamy colour, are yet all of one and the same stock . . .” — 2:200, 249

The third volume is entirely ready . . .

[Volumes III and IV of The Secret Doctrine were never published by H. P. Blavatsky, and completed manuscripts of them were never found. After HPB’s death, a “Third Volume” was compiled in part from unused portions of the early drafts of The Secret Doctrine and other leftover material. Most of this material is now available in volumes 12 and 14 of H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings.]

“Isis Unveiled”

— viii —

this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety

see: Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, 1836: “How can any one consider these striking circumstances and not see that almost all ancient history and epic poetry are mythological, — the secret doctrines of the priests, disguised in parables, in a thousand forms?” — 1:366

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “In the ancient Secret Learning were teachings as to the Deity, Its essence and Nature . . . It also contained secret doctrines, as to the creation and governance of the world by the Deity and the spiritual energies . . . These doctrines were kept secret to prevent any misconceptions and misuse of them, by the unlearned and unmetaphysical minds . . .” — p. 222

Dzyan

see: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “The word Ch‘an (in old Chinese, jan and dan), originally signifying ‘resign,’ had not the meaning to ‘contemplate’ (now its commonest sense), before the Buddhists adopted it to represent the Sanscrit term Dhyana. The word in Chinese books is spelt in full jan-na, and is explained, ‘to reform one’s self by contemplation or quiet thought.’ ” “We are told that when the use of books was carried to excess, and the true nature of humanity veiled from view, Bodhidharma arrived with a tradition of his own teaching, that men by becoming conscious of their own nature would attain the state of Buddha. He became the chief founder of the esoteric schools . . . The common word for the esoteric schools is dan, Sanscrit Dhyana, now called in the modern sound given to the character, ch‘an.” — pp. 129 fn., 155-6

De minimis non curat lex

Introductory

— xvii —

“Gently to hear, kindly to judge”

“neither esotericism nor Buddhism”

p/q: T. W. Rhys Davids, “Theosophy and Buddhism,” July 24, 1886: “It also calls its doctrines Esoteric Buddhism. But, however interesting, two things may be said of them without fear of mistake, and these are that they are not esoteric, and that they are not Buddhism.” — p. 989 (The Spectator, v. 59)

Mr. Sinnett’s work

— xviii —

the difference between “Buddhism” . . . and Budha . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “ ‘. . . Verily, thou art wise.’ And, hence, his name was Budha {‘He who knows.’ Much erroneous speculation has originated in confounding this Budha, the son of Soma, and regent of the planet Mercury, — ‘he who knows,’ ‘the intelligent,’ — with Buddha, any deified mortal, or ‘he by whom truth is known’; or, as individually applicable, Gautama or Śākya . . . The two characters have nothing in common}.” — 4:4, 4-5 fn. (iv.6)

we did our best to correct the mistake. (See Theosophist, June, 1883 [1884].)

see: The Theosophist, Vol. V, No. 9, June, 1884: “. . . the name of Esoteric Buddhism was given to Mr. Sinnett’s latest publication, not because the doctrine propounded therein is meant to be specially identified with any particular form of Faith, but because Buddhism means the doctrine of the Buddhas, the Wise, i.e., the Wisdom-Religion. — D. K. M. [Damodar K. Mavalankar]” — p. 225 note

“two years ago . . . neither I nor any other European living . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 5th ed., 1885: “Two years ago, neither I, nor any other European living, knew the alphabet of the science here for the first time put into a scientific shape . . . the science of Spiritual Causes and their Effects . . .” — p. xxiii (“Preface to the Original Edition”)

— xix —

Adhi Budha . . . an appellation given by the earliest Aryans to the Unknown deity

see: Franz Hartmann, Magic White and Black, 1886: “. . . without beginning and without an end, penetrating and pervading all, from the endless and unimaginable periphery to the invisible and incomprehensible center (in Man) is Parabrahm (Adi-Budha or God) . . . Its highest manifestation is Supreme Wisdom . . .” — p. v

used by Aryâsanga in his Secret treatises

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “. . . Āryāsanga . . . who founded the Yogāchārya school {Āryāsanga is said to have been taught his doctrine by the future Buddha Maitreya . . . from whom he received back the five short treatises in verse known in Tibet as ‘the five books of Maitreya’} . . .” — p. 32

the word “Brahmâ” not being found in the Vedas and the early works

“the primeval uncreated cause of all”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. H. H. Wilson, ed. Fitzedward Hall, 1864-77: “Before (the evolution of) the mundane egg, existed Brahmā, who was Hiraṇyagarbha, the form of (that supreme) Brahma which consists of Vishṇu as identical with Rig-, Yajur-, and Sāma-(Vedas); the primeval, uncreated cause {Ādibhūta} of all worlds.” — 3:230 & fn. (iv.1)

the “Buddha of Wisdom unmoved”

Buddhi is the faculty of cognizing . . . the discernment of good and evil

“When Buddhi absorbs our Ego-tism (destroys it) . . .”

see: Sankaracharya, The Crest Jewel of Wisdom, tr. Mohini M. Chatterji, July 1886: “Manas being the organ of doubt or the production of multiplicity of concepts in relations to the one and the same objective reality . . . if the manas attains tranquillity, the world of illusions is destroyed. For then the buddhi having no hypothetical concepts with regard to the one objective reality to deal with, reflects that reality and the ahankara [egoity] is destroyed by the destructions of its limitations, and becomes merged in the absolute self.” — p. 663 fn. (The Theosophist, v. 7)

— xx —

Saptaparna cave . . . the Cheta cave of Fa-hian

— Footnotes

the word Janna is defined as “to reform one’s self by meditation and knowledge”

— xxi —

His Secret Doctrine . . . differed in no wise from that of the initiated Brahmins

see: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “On most points of doctrinal speculation, Buddhism is still but one aspect of the older Brahmanism. . . . Buddhism is perfectly intelligible as one outcome of that play of thought on high spiritual topics, which in its other . . . manifestations, we see in the Upanishads and the Gītā.” — p. 25 (Introduction)

The Buddha was . . . a disciple of the “twice-born” (the initiated Brahmins)

— xxii —

Dzyan (or “Dzan”)

see: A. Bastian, Der Buddhismus, 1882: “Lastly, he completed the meditation which is devoid of all pleasure and pain, and is absolute knowledge. {The dzan or meditation . . . Djnana (durch Dhyana erlangt) schliesst Mokscha ein} [Wisdom (attained through abstract meditation) invests one with freedom from the bonds of material life].” — p. 264 & fn.

— xxiii —

the destruction of the Alexandrian Library

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “At the time of the contest for the throne, in 51 b.c., between Cleopatra and her brother Dionysius Ptolemy, the Bruckion, which contained over seven hundred thousand rolls, all bound in wood and fire-proof parchment, was undergoing repairs, and a great portion of the original manuscripts, considered among the most precious, and which were not duplicated, were stored away in the house of one of the librarians. As the fire which consumed the rest was but the result of accident, no precautions had been taken at the time. But they add, that several hours passed between the burning of the fleet, set on fire by Caesar’s order, and the moment when the first buildings situated near the harbor caught fire in their turn; and that all the librarians, aided by several hundred slaves attached to the museum, succeeded in saving the most precious of the rolls.” — 2:27

— Footnotes

no bribes or threats of Akbar could extort from the Brahmans . . .

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “Yet, how small was the collection of sacred books that even an Emperor of India could command not more than 300 years ago, compared to what may now be found in the library of any poor scholar! We have the original text of the Veda, which neither the bribes nor the threats of Akbar could extort from the Brahmans.” — p. 23 (First Lecture)

— xxiv —

Badáonì . . . had an undisguised horror for Akbar’s mania for idolatrous religions

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “. . . the following extracts from the Ain i Akbari, the Muntakhab at Tawarikh, and the Dabistān, may be of interest . . . They are taken from Dr. Blochmann’s new translation of the Ain i Akbari . . . Abulfazl, the author of the Ain i Akbari, writes as the professed friend of Akbar, whose Vizier he was; Badāonī writes as the declared enemy of Abulfazl, and with an undisguised horror at Akbar’s religious views.” — p. 68

— Footnotes

“As they . . . surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals . . .”

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “ ‘Moreover, Sumanīs and Brahmins managed to get frequent private interviews with His Majesty. As they surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals, and on physical and religious sciences, and reach a high degree in their knowledge of the future, in spiritual power and human perfection, they brought proofs, based on reason and testimony . . . and inculcated their doctrines so firmly, and so skilfully represented things as quite self-evident which require consideration, that no man, by expressing his doubts, could now raise a doubt in His Majesty, even if mountains were to crumble to dust, or the heavens were to tear asunder.’ ” — p. 90

This work “was kept secret . . . till the reign of Jahângir.”

— xxv —

He is said to have written 930 books on Ethics . . . and seventy on magic

see: Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu . . . par le philosophe Lao-Tseu, tr. Stanislas Julien, 1842: “Il composa neuf cent trente livres pour enseigner à vivre dans le siècle [He composed nine hundred and thirty books to teach how to live in that age].” — p. xxvii

His great work . . . has in it . . . only “about 5,000 words”

see: Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu . . . par le philosophe Lao-Tseu, tr. Stanislas Julien, 1842: “In-hi le pria . . . de lui enseigner sa doctrine, et alors Lao-tseu la lui exposa en cinq mille mots [In-hi begged him . . . to teach him his doctrine, and then Lao-tzu disclosed it to him in five thousand words].” — p. xxxi

“. . . Sse-ma-thsien rapporte, dans ses Mémoires historiques, que le livre de Lao-tseu renfermait un peu plus de cinq mille mots [Sse-ma-thsien reports, in his historical Memoires, that the book of Lao-tzu contained a little more than five thousand words] . . .” — p. xxxv

“the text is unintelligible without commentaries . . .”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “. . . the text is unintelligible without copious commentaries, so that M. Julien had to consult more than sixty commentators for the purpose of his translation, the earliest going back as far as the year 163 b.c.” — p. 115

see: Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu . . . par le philosophe Lao-Tseu, tr. Stanislas Julien, 1842: “nombre et caractère des éditions et commentaires de lao-tseu. Tsiao-hong rapporte les titres de soixante-quatre éditions de Lao-tseu [number and character of the editions and commentaries of lao-tzu. Tsiao-hong reports the titles of sixty-four editions of Lao-tseu . . .” — p. xxxvi

“Édition A. — Cette édition renferme le commentaire composé, sous la dynastie des Han, par Lo-tchin-kong . . . On rapporte que, l’an 163 av. J. C. il présenta son commentaire à l’empereur Hiao-wen-ti [Edition A. — This edition contains the commentary, put together during the Han dynasty, by Lo-tchin-kong . . . It is reported that he presented his commentary to emperor Hiao-wen-ti in the year 163 B.C.] . . .” — p. xxxix

— Footnotes

“If we turn to China . . .”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “If lastly we turn to China, we find that the religion of Confucius is founded on the Five King and the Four Shu — books in themselves of considerable extent, and surrounded by voluminous commentaries, without which even the most learned scholars would not venture to fathom the depth of their sacred canon.” — p. 114

— xxvi —

Written in Greek by Berosus, a priest of the temple of Belus . . .

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of Berosus in describing the religion of the Babylonians . . . He was a Babylonian by birth, a priest of the temple of Belus, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He wrote the History of the Chaldeans, in Greek, evidently intending it to be read by the Greek conquerors . . .” — pp. 48-9

from the astronomical and chronological records . . . covering a period of 200,000 years

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “. . . and he states in his first book that he composed it from the registers, astronomical and chronological, which were preserved at Babylon, and which comprised a period of 200,000 years . . .” — p. 49

Alexander Polyhistor made a series of extracts from it . . .

Eusebius used these extracts in writing his Chronicon . . .

Bunsen charges him with mutilating history

see: Christian C. J. Bunsen, Egypt’s Place in Universal History, 1848-67: “The first author . . . was Eusebius, the celebrated historian, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, in the time of Constantine. He had undertaken a comprehensive scheme of adjustment between the Scripture dates and those of all the other ancient nations. He is, therefore, the originator of that systematic theory of synchronisms which has so often subsequently maimed and mutilated history . . .” — 1:206

— Footnotes

George Smith (vide his “Chaldean account of Genesis”)

see: George Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis, “containing the description of the Creation, The Fall of Man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel, the Times of the Patriarchs, and Nimrod; Babylonian Fables, and Legends of the Gods; from the Cuneiform Inscriptions” (1876).

— xxvii —

A few facts that were contained in the Berosian History are given in Part II of Vol. II

the Rig-Veda contains only “about 10,580 verses, or 1,028 hymns”

each volume . . . “weighing from four to five pounds”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “The Tibetan edition of the Buddhist canon, consisting of two collections, the Kanjur and Tanjur, numbers about 325 volumes folio, each weighing in the Pekin edition from four to five pounds.” — p. 113

the sacred canon of the Southern Church is said to contain 29,368,000 letters . . .

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “The text and commentaries of the Buddhist canon contain, according to a statement in the Saddharma-alaṇkāra {Spence Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists, p. 66}, 29,368,000 letters.” — p. 113 & fn.

“five or six times the amount of the matter contained in the Bible” . . .

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “But if we consider that the English Bible is said to contain about three millions and a half of letters {3,567,180} . . . five or six times that amount would hardly seem enough as a rough estimate of the bulk of the Buddhist scriptures.” — p. 113 & fn.

(in reality there are 333, Kanjur comprising 108, and Tanjur 225 volumes)

“the translators . . . have interwoven them with their own commentaries . . .”

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “But it is to be regretted that the translators, instead of supplying us with correct versions, have interwoven them with their own commentaries, for the purpose of justifying the dogmas of their several schools.” — pp. 76-7

“according to a tradition . . . 84,000 tracts . . .”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “According to a tradition preserved by the Buddhist schools of the South and of the North, the sacred canon comprised originally 80,000 or 84,000 tracts, but most of them were lost, so that there remained but 6,000.” — p. 114

— xxviii —

Buddhist Arhats began . . . propagating the new faith . . . as early as the year 300 before our era

see: Keith Johnston, A Physical, Historical, and Descriptive Geography, 1881: “In about 300 b.c. the faith was carried by zealous missionaries over all parts of eastern Asia . . . About 65 a.d. it was acknowledged by the Chinese Emperor as a third religion, and from the fourth century a.d. onward during six centuries a stream of Buddhist pilgrims continued to flow from China to India.” — p. 275

in the year 61 a.d. when Kashyapa, at the invitation of the Emperor Ming-ti . . .

see: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “It was the year A.D. 61, that the Chinese emperor Ming-ti . . . sent messengers to India to ask for . . . Buddhist books and teachers. A native of Central India named Kashiapmadanga, with others, accompanied them back.” — pp. 87-8

— Footnotes

Lassen . . . shows a Buddhist monastery erected in the Kailas range in 137 B.C.

see: Christian Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, 1866-74: “Auch in der Richtung jenseits des grossen Schneegebirges, wo am Kailāsa ein Buddhistisches Kloster vor dem Jahre 137 vor Chr. G. bestand [Also in the direction beyond the great snowy mountains, where there was a Buddhist monastery at Kailasa before the year 137 B.C.] . . .” — 2:1091

and General Cunningham, earlier than that

— xxviii-xxix —

“. . . we see still standing the Pyramids . . .”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “Along the shores of the ancient Nile we see still standing the Pyramids, and the ruins of temples and labyrinths, their walls covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and with the strange pictures of gods and goddesses. . . . Yet though much has been deciphered in the ancient records of that mysterious race, the main spring of the religion of Egypt and the original intention of its ceremonial worship are far from being fully disclosed to us.” — p. 118

— xxix —

“there is a natural connection between language and religion” . . .

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “We found, first of all, that there is a natural connexion between language and religion . . . We found, secondly, that there was a common Aryan religion before the separation of the Aryan race; a common Semitic religion before the separation of the Semitic race; and a common Turanic religion before the separation of the Chinese and the other tribes belonging to the Turanian class.” — pp. 215-16

“three ancient centres of religion” and “three centres of language”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “We found, in fact, three ancient centres of religion as we had before three ancient centres of language, and we have thus gained, I believe, a truly historical basis for a scientific treatment of the principal religions of the world.” — p. 216

Odin “was worshipped . . . anterior to the age of the Veda and of Homer.”

— xxx —

“fragments of a primeval revelation . . .”

the theory “that there was a primeval preternatural revelation . . .”

— xxxi —

Missionaries . . . were silly enough to maintain that “the Hindus were even now almost Christians . . .”

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “ ‘. . . one or two missionaries have been absurd enough . . . to urge, “that the Hindus were even now almost Christians, because their Brahmā, Vishnu, and Mahēsa, were no other than the Christian Trinity”. . .’ ” — pp. 288-9

facts cited by the Oxford Professor . . . concerning the now famous interpolations

see: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “. . . for several years essay after essay appeared in the Asiatic Researches, with extracts from Sanskrit MSS., containing not only the names of Deukalion, Prometheus, and other heroes and deities of Greece, but likewise the names of Adam and Eve, of Abraham and Sarah, and all the rest.” “At last, however, the coincidences became too great. The MSS. were again carefully examined; and then it was found that a clever forgery had been committed . . .” — pp. 296, 299 (“On False Analogies in Comparative Theology”)

Rawlinson shows an undeniably Vedic influence in the early mythology of Babylon

see: George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, 1881: “Such, in outline, is the earliest phase of Arian religion, and it is common to both branches of the stock, and anterior to the rise of the Iranic, Median, or Persian system.” — 2:323-4

Babylonia was . . . the seat of Sanskrit and Brahman learning

see: Vans Kennedy, Researches into the Nature and Affinity of Ancient and Hindu Mythology, 1831: “In composing my former work . . . it naturally occurred to me that the argument which I maintained in it would have been greatly corroborated, could I have at the same time evinced that the original seat of the mythology which prevails in India at the present day was Babylonia . . .” — p. iii (Preface)

— Footnotes

the clever forgery . . . of all that the Pundits of Col. Wilford had heard from him . . .

see: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “Convinced that the Brahmans possessed in their ancient literature the originals, not only of Greek and Roman mythology, but likewise of the Old Testament history . . . [Wilford] held out the hopes of ample rewards for any extracts from their sacred literature . . . the Pandits yielded . . . and for several years essay after essay appeared in the Asiatic Researches . . .” “At last, however, the coincidences became too great. The MSS. were again carefully examined; and then it was found that a clever forgery had been committed . . .” — pp. 295-6, 299

— xxxii —

the Mother of Mercury . . . was Maïa, the mother of Buddha (Gautama), also Mâyâ . . .

see: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “. . . the fact that the mother of Mercury was called Maia, and the mother of Buddha Māyā, could therefore, have had no bearing whatever on the name assigned to the Indian Wednesday [Budhavāra].” — p. 314.

see: “The Zodiac and Its Antiquity”: “Laplace is said to have felt struck with amazement at the idea of the days of Mercury (Wednesday), Venus (Friday), Jupiter (Thursday), Saturn (Saturday), and others being related to the days of the week in the same order and with the same names in India as in Northern Europe.” — SD 1:652

since Bopp has “laid down his code of phonetic laws”

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “These principles and these cautions were hardly thought of in the days of Sir William Jones and Colonel Wilford, but they ought to be thought of at present. Thus, before Bopp had laid down his code of phonetic laws . . . one cannot be very much surprised that Buddha should have been identified with Minos . . .” — pp. 304-5

Hurricanes may “tear up the sands . . .”

— xxxiii —

“Not a pool, not a bush, not a house is seen . . .”

The Russian traveller . . . Prjevalsky, found . . . the ruins of two enormous cities

Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, 1939: “ ‘At Charchan there are, in the middle of the desert . . . traces of an old culture — ruins of towers and houses and old canals. According to local tradition two cities existed here at different epochs.’ ” — p. 205

“The natives often find copper and gold coins, melted silver ingots . . .”

see: Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, 1939: “ ‘Here they find coins of copper and gold, silver bars, gold ornaments, jewellery, iron objects and copper vessels, and, oddly enough sherds of glass . . .’ ” — p. 205 (Prjevalsky, From Kiakhta to the Sources of the Yellow River)

“Coffins . . . within which beautifully preserved embalmed bodies are found . . .”

see: Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, 1939: “ ‘They also excavate tombs containing wooden coffins. In these the corpses are very well preserved, thanks to the extreme dryness of the ground and the air.’ ” — p. 205 (Prjevalsky, From Kiakhta to the Sources of the Yellow River)

“The male mummies are all extremely tall . . .”

see: Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, 1939: “ ‘The men are of very high stature and have long hair . . . Once a tomb was discovered with twelve male corpses in a sitting position.’ ” — p. 205 (Prjevalsky, From Kiakhta to the Sources of the Yellow River)

— xxxiii – xxxiv —

“Another time . . . a young girl was discovered . . . Her eyes were closed with golden discs . . .”

see: Folke Bergman, Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang, 1939: “ ‘Another time a young girl was discovered in her coffin. Her eyes were covered with leaves of gold, and her head was wound round with a gold ribbon from chin to crown. She had been dressed in a long garment, now totally decayed, but on the breast were some thin stars of gold; her feet were bare.’ ” — p. 205 (Prjevalsky, From Kiakhta to the Sources of the Yellow River)

— xxxiv —

The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion . . .

see: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “There is an invisible universe within the visible one, a world of causes within the world of effects. . . . There is a world of soul within a world of matter, and the two are one, and caused by the world of spirit. . . . this ancient science, which the moderns ignore, is perhaps as old as the world. It was known to the ancient prophets, to the Arhats and Rishis of the East, to initiated Brahmins, Egyptians, and Greeks. Its fundamental doctrines are found in the Vedas as well as in the Bible. Upon these doctrines rest the fundaments of the religions of the world.” — pp. x-xi

— xxxv —

such secrets as the Vril

see: Edward Lord Lytton, The Coming Race, 1886: “These people consider that in vril they have arrived at the unity in natural energetic agencies, which has been conjectured by many philosophers . . . These subterranean philosophers assert that, by one operation of vril, which Faraday would perhaps call ‘atmospheric magnetism,’ they can influence the variations of temperature — in plain words, the weather; that by other operations . . . they can exercise influence over minds, and bodies . . .” — pp. 53-4

or the rock-destroying force, discovered by J. W. Keely

see: Mrs. [Clara] Bloomfield-Moore, Keely and His Discoveries, 1893: “Keely shows us . . . what magnetism is. By neutralizing or overcoming gravity, he proves to us that he understands its nature . . . and, in the disintegration of quartz, he demonstrates that cohesive force, like gravity, is an ever-existing force, holding together all molecular masses by the infinite velocity of its vibrations; which, were these vibrations to cease for one instant, would fall apart . . .” — p. 149

— xxxvi —

the days when Freemasonry . . . flourished unimpeded in Russia

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “. . . the earliest notice of regular lodges we possess points to the Lodge of Silence in the capital, and the North Star Lodge at Riga, about 1750. In 1763, the Empress Catherine II. declared herself patroness of the order.” — 2:639

— xxxvi - xxxvii —

Therefore is Confucius . . . “emphatically a transmitter, not a maker”

p/q: Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “But Confucius, though he is called the founder of a new religion, was really but the new preacher of an old religion. He was emphatically a transmitter, not a maker. He says himself, ‘I only hand on; I cannot create new things. I believe in the ancients, and therefore I love them’ {Lün-yü (§ 1.a); Schott, Chinesische Literatur, p. 7}.” — pp. 156-7 & fn.

— xxxviii —

the sacred books . . . “were all but unknown . . .”

p/q: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “The study of Sanskrit brought to light the original documents of three religions, the Sacred Books of the Brahmans, the Sacred Books of the Magians, the followers of Zoroaster, and the Sacred Books of the Buddhists. Fifty years ago, these three collections of sacred writings were all but unknown, their very existence was doubted, and there was not a single scholar who could have translated a line of the Veda, a line of the Zend-Avesta, or a line of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka.” — 1:24 (“Lecture on the Vedas”)

work of the highest antiquity whose ‘preservation amounts almost to a marvel’

“The said key must be turned seven times . . .”

— xxxix —

the ancient Mysteries . . . the arcane doctrines were allegorically enacted . . .

see: Samuel Evans, “The Ancient Charges,” Dec. 1864: “All the ancient religions were embodied in the ‘mysteries’ which to the mass of mankind were enacted allegories, the symbolical sense of which was only fully revealed to the initiated.” — p. 77 (Masonic Monthly, 2:2)

— xl —

Volume III of this work

bulwarks against . . . religions of the Past . . . the “New Dispensation”

see: Albert Barnes, Notes on the Gospels, 1847: “. . . a rite of baptism, or washing . . . was done to signify that they renounced the errors and worship of the Pagans . . . John [the Baptist] found this custom in use; and as he was calling on the Jews to a new dispensation, to a change in their form of religion, he administered this rite of baptism . . .” — 1:41

— xli —

“ . . . the sun like blood, the earth a tomb . . .”

“witness to the wonderful speeches of a free-thinker who belongs to a thousand sects”

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “Take Faizi’s Dīwān [poems of Faizi] to bear witness to the wonderful speeches of a free-thinker who belongs to a thousand sects. . . . ‘In the assembly of the day of resurrection, when past things shall be forgiven, the sins of the Ka’bah will be forgiven for the sake of the dust of Christian churches.’ ” — pp. 256-7

“The sins of Islam are . . .”

p/q: F. Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1873: “The sins of Islam are as worthless as the dust of Christianity. On the day of resurrection, both Muhammadans and Christians will see the vanity of their religious doctrines. Men fight about religion on earth; in heaven they shall find out that there is only one true religion, the worship of God’s spirit.” — p. 257 fn.

“There is no religion (or law) higher than truth”

— xlii —

races that preceded . . .

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “. . . the theory of a prior creation and destruction of worlds is amply illustrated in Kabbalistic philosophy. The Zohar says: ‘There were old worlds, which perished . . . the primordial worlds which could not continue . . . Because the Man, represented by the ten Sephiroth, was not as yet.’ ” — 2:407-8

our “Adamic” Humanity

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “So is the Holy Aged an absolute light . . . concealed and incomprehensible. We can only comprehend Him through those luminous emanations . . . In their totality and unity, the ten Sephiroth represent the Archetypal Man, Adam Kadmon . . .” — 2:406

Volume I of “Isis” begins with a reference to “an old book”

— xliii —

the many volumes of Kiu-ti

see: Francesco Orazio Della Penna, “Del Regno del Thibet (1730),” Nov. 1834: “Questi volumi dividonsi in due specie di leggi, l’una della quali contiene settanta libri, che chiamano leggi del Dotè {Dho dhè . . . les Soûtras}, e l’altra che consiste in trent’otto volumi li chiamano Khiutè {Ghiou dhè . . . les Tantras} [These volumes are divided into two kinds of ordinances, one of which contains seventy books, which they call the Laws of Dotè {Dho dhè . . . the Sûtras}, and the other which consists of thirty-eight volumes called Kiu-tè {Ghiou dhè . . . the Tantras}].” — pp. 420-1 & fns. (Nouveau Journal Asiatique, v. 14)

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “The principal rites and formulæ of [Tibetan] mysticism . . . are laid down in two series of works, which are known under the collective titles of Dhāranīs (in Tibetan Zung), and Tantras (in Tibetan Gyut).” “Phonetic Transcription: Gyut . . . Transliteration: rGyud.” — pp. 48, 379

Sepher Jezirah, the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabalists to their Patriarch Abraham

the Chaldean Book of Numbers

see: H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, 1888: “It is certain that Ibn Gebirol based his doctrines upon the oldest Kabalistic sources, namely, the ‘Chaldean Book of Numbers’ . . .” “. . . the genuine ‘Chaldean Book of Numbers,’ which is not extant.” — 2:461 fn., 626 fn.

see: Gerald Massey, A Book of the Beginnings, 1881: “In the Chaldean Kabbala the gods are each designated by a number in a series that ranges from one to sixty. A tablet in the library of Nineveh gives a list of the chief gods, together with the mystical number of each.” — 2:508

there was a time when its language . . . was known to Initiates of every nation

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “Language, Universal. — This consists in certain signs and tokens conveyed from one to another in silence, and is irrespective of country, race, or creed, and indeed can really constitute the only universal method of communication between diverse members of the human family.” — 2:440

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “We can imagine a language in its first beginnings, in which every act and operation of the mind, every idea and relation, was expressed by a matter-image or symbol . . . its words only mental pictures . . .” “The early writing comprised more especially the essence, and fundamental indicia of knowledge, and its symbols were incomprehensible to the uninitiated.” — pp. xi-xii, 175

— Footnotes

Rabbi Jehoshua Ben Chananea . . . openly declared that he had performed “miracles”

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “Selon le Thalmud de Jérusalem, un docteur bien plus ancien, R. Jehoschoua ben Chanania, se vantait lui-même d’opérer, à l’aide du Livre de la création, des miracles à peu près semblables [According to the Jerusalem Talmud, a very old scholar, Rabbi Jehoshua ben Chananea, boasted that he himself could perform more or less similar miracles with the aid of the Book of Creation].” — p. 76

Franck . . . names two other thaumaturgists . . .

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “ ‘Pendant chaque veille du sabbat, dit le Thalmud de Babylone, rabi Chanina et rabi Oschaia s’asseyaient pour méditer sur le Livre de la création, et ils produisaient une génisse de trois ans qui leur servait ensuite de nourriture [During every evening before the Sabbath, says the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Chanina and Rabbi Oschaia tried to meditate on the Book of Creation, and they produced a three-year-old heifer which they then used as nourishment].’ ” — pp. 75-6

the late modern Magus, Eliphas Lévi, publicly asserts it in print

see: Eliphas Levi, The Paradoxes of the Highest Science, 1883: “The Science of Magism is contained in the books of the Kabala, in the Symbols of Egypt and of India, in the books of Hermes Trismagistus, in the oracles of Zoroaster, and in the writings of some great men of the Middle Ages . . . The works of Magic are divination or prescience, Thaumaturgy or the use of exceptional powers, and Theurgy or rule over visions and spirits.” — pp. 68-9 (Theosophical Miscellanies, no. 2)

— xliv —

Origen, Synesius, and even Clemens Alexandrinus, had themselves been initiated

see: F. W. Farrar, Mercy and Judgment, 1881: “Both Clemens and Origen avowed that they had certain esoteric doctrines . . . In the Stromata, St. Clemens says that there were some things which he was afraid to write . . . Origen speaks of ‘hidden mysteries of God which must not be committed to paper . . . because they are known to the learned, and can never be known to the unlearned.’ . . . Synesius, when he accepted the bishopric of Ptolemais . . . held the Platonic distinction between exoteric and esoteric truth, and merely pledged himself not to teach in public any acknowledged heresy.” — p. 297

— xlv —

one fountain head, the ever-flowing perennial source

see: Emile Burnouf, The Science of Religions, 1888: “A closer attention paid to these great religions will discover that the fundamental theory upon which they all are built was drawn from a common source.” “. . . all religions proceed from one common source . . . there is at the bottom of all orthodoxies an amount of common dogmas which represents the primitive religion . . .” — pp. 176, 230

— xlvi —

“I have here made only a nosegay . . .”

p/q: Michel de Montaigne, Essays of Montaigne, tr. Charles Cotton, 1877: “Truly, it is much more easy to speak like Aristotle, and to live like Caesar, than to speak and live as Socrates did . . . our faculties are not so trained up; we do not try, we do not know them; we invest ourselves with those of others, and let our own lie idle; as some one may say of me, that I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties them.” — 3:364 (“Of Physiognomy,” ch. xii)

— xlvi-xlvii —

the famous law of probabilities . . . If two persons give their evidence to a fact . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . cette fameuse loi des probabilités . . . Si deux personnes rapportent un fait et lui donnent chacune en particulier 5/6 de certitude, le fait aura alors 35/36 de certitude, c’est-à-dire que sa probabilité sera à sa non-probabilité dans le rapport de 35 à 1. Si trois témoignages se réunissent, la certitude sera de 215/216. . . . [that famous law of probabilities . . . If two persons give their evidence to a fact, and thus impart to it each of them 5/6 of certitude, that fact will then have 35/36 of certitude, that is, its probability will bear to its improbability the ratio of 35 to 1. If three such evidences are joined together, the certitude will become 215/216. . . .” — 2:52-3

Proem

— 1 —

(see Part II., “The Mundane Egg”)

— Footnotes

The “Unconscious,” according to von Hartmann . . . “superior to all consciousness”

see: Eduard von Hartmann, Philosophy of The Unconscious, tr. William C. Coupland, 1884: “Of this unconscious clairvoyant intelligence we have come to perceive that in its infallible purposive activity, embracing out of time all ends and means in one . . . it infinitely transcends the halting, stilted gait of the discursive reflection of consciousness, ever limited to a single point, dependent on sense-perception, memory, and inspirations of the Unconscious. We shall thus be compelled to designate this intelligence, which is superior to all consciousness, at once unconscious and super-conscious.” — 2:247

— 2 —

one self-existing reality . . . “a chaos to the sense, a Kosmos to the reason”

see: B. F. Cocker, Christianity and Greek Philosophy, 1870: “What, then, is that which is at once single and multiple, identical and diversified — which we perceive as the combination of a thousand elements, yet as the expression of a single spirit — which is a chaos to the sense, a cosmos to the reason? What is it but harmony — proportion — the one governing the many, the many lost in the one?” — p. 303

“Deity is an arcane, living (or moving) fire . . .”

see: Tennemann & Morell, Manual of the History of Philosophy, 1870: “God is a living fire . . . he is named also πνεῦμα or spirit; he fashions, produces, and permeates all things . . .” “. . . the world was produced by the action of fire, when the four elements [fire, air, water, earth] . . . were separated from primeval matter . . .” — pp. 137, 138

— Footnotes

Plato . . . in Cratylus . . . θεός is derived . . .

see: Plato, The Cratylus, tr. Thomas Taylor, 1793: “It appears to me, that the most ancient of the Greeks . . . considered those only as gods, which are esteemed such at present by many of the Barbarians; I mean, the sun and the moon, the earth, the stars, and the heavens. As they therefore perceived all these running round in a perpetual course, from this nature of running they called them gods . . .” — p. 29

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . mais appliqué à tous les dieux en général . . . le mot θεός, comme nous l’apprend Platon, vient du verbe θεῖν, courir, le cercle signifiait le mouvement ou la course de ce dieu [but applied to all the gods in general . . . the word θεός, as Plato teaches us, comes from the verb θεῖν, to run, the circle meant the movement or the course of this god].” — 3:265

(See Book II., “Symbolism of the Cross and Circle.”)

— 3 —

“The esoteric doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahminism . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The esoteric doctrine, then, teaches, like Buddhism and Brahmanism, and even the persecuted Kabala, that the one infinite and unknown Essence exists from all eternity, and in regular and harmonious successions is either passive or active. In the poetical phraseology of Manu these conditions are called the ‘day’ and the ‘night’ of Brahma. The latter is either ‘awake’ or ‘asleep.’ The Svābhāvikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul), speculate but upon the active condition of this ‘Essence,’ which they call Svabhāvāt, and deem it foolish to theorize upon the abstract and ‘unknowable’ power in its passive condition.” — 2:264

— Footnotes

“it is impossible . . . to form the abstract idea of motion . . .”

p/q: George Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, 1887: “And it is equally impossible for me to form the abstract idea of motion distinct from the body moving . . . and the like may be said of all other abstract general ideas whatsoever.” — p. 178 (Introduction, §10)

This will be answered . . . in the Addendum to this Book

“Has science revealed anything . . .”

p/q: Edward Clodd, Science and the Emotions, 1885: “. . . has science revealed anything that weakens or opposes itself to the ancient words in which the essence of all religion, past, present, and to come, is given — ‘to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly before thy God?’ Provided we connote by the word God, not the crude anthropomorphisms which are still the backbone of our current theology, but the symbolic conception of that which is the life and motion of the universe, to know which in the physical order is to know time past, present, and to come, in the existence and successions of phenomena, to know which in the moral order is to know what has been, is, and will be, within the human consciousness.” — p. 13 (South Place Discourses)

— 3-4 —

“Hence they are called atheists . . .”

— 4 —

“The former will allow of no other God . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The former will allow of no other God than the personified secondary powers which have blindly worked out the visible universe, and which became with them the anthropomorphic God of the Christians — the Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning. In its turn, rationalistic science greets the Buddhists and the Svābhāvikas as the ‘positivists’ of the archaic ages. If we take a one-sided view of the philosophy of the latter, our materialists may be right in their own way. The Buddhists maintain that there is no Creator but an infinitude of creative powers, which collectively form the one eternal substance, the essence of which is inscrutable — hence not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher. Socrates invariably refused to argue upon the mystery of universal being, yet no one would ever have thought of charging him with atheism, except those who were bent upon his destruction.” — 2:264

“Upon inaugurating an active period . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine essence, from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed; and ‘darkness,’ solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the ‘deep.’ To use a metaphor which will convey the idea still more clearly, an outbreathing of the ‘unknown essence’ produces the world; and an inhalation causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series which had no beginning and will have no end.” — 2:264-5

“The Days and Nights of Brahmâ” in Part II.

“Aditi in That” (Rig Veda)

see: Rig-Veda-Sanhita, tr. F. Max Müller, 1869: “Aditi . . . is in reality the earliest name invented to express the Infinite . . . the visible Infinite, visible by the naked eye, the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky. That was called A-diti, the un-bound, the un-bounded [Tat, “that”] . . . the Infinite, as the mother of the principal gods [Deva-Matri] . . .” — p. 230 (Verse 12, note 4: “Aditi, the Infinite”)

— 5 —

as a “Thor’s hammer,” the Jaina cross

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “It is an emblem of activity, as it typifies the continual revolution of the Earth upon its axis; and it also represents the four elements, which, in a mystical sense, constitute the fabric of the Earth. . . . it likewise refers to the Smaragdine Tablet of Hermes . . . The two hands, in their several positions, remind us that that which is above is as that which is below . . . It was the hammer of Thor, celebrated in the mythology of the Norse nations, and the tradition ran that when Thor threw this golden cross, it struck, and, like the boomerang, returned again to his hand.” — 1:352-3

or simply Svastica

see: Edward Balfour, Cyclopædia of India, 1885: “The Greeks adopted the Indian symbol of Swastika, as the pottery from the Kamiras and the prototype of Crete show. It is said to be the filfat of the Buddhists . . . It is conjectured that this symbol must have been brought to China, Japan, and Mongolia by Buddhist priests . . . The Swastika appears in ancient Teutonic and Scandinavian mythology under the name of Thor’s hammer . . . It has also been discovered on ancient coins of Indo-Germanic nations. From all this it is concluded that the Swastika was the common symbol and chief magic charm of the Aryan races before they separated.” — 3:789

— Footnotes

“sacr’,” from which “sacred,” “sacrament,” are derived

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “It is the phallus which is the vehicle of enunciation; and truly enough, as the sacr, or carrier of the germ, its use passed down through ages to the sacr-factum of the Roman priest, and the sacr-fice and sacr-ment of the English-speaking race.” — p. 236 (Appendix IV, § 92)

— 6 —

“It is that which is supreme, and not supreme . . .” . . . Mandukya [Muṇḍaka] Upanishad

It is “Supreme” as CAUSE, not supreme as effect.

a “Secondless Reality,” the all-inclusive Kosmos

“the one true Existence, Paramarthika”

see: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. Major G. A. Jacob, 1881: “The Vedānta postulates three kinds of existence, which it terms true (pāramārthika), practical (vyāvahārika), and apparent (prātibhāsika). Brahma is the sole representative of the first. . . . to him who has true knowledge, the first alone is real.” — p. 3

Chit . . . cannot be a cognizer . . .”

see: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. G. A. Jacob, 1881: “Intelligence (chit or chaitanya). This is the most common synonym of Brahma, but he is also spoken of — as, for example, in the Taittirīya Upanishad (p. 56) — as ‘cognition’ or ‘knowledge’ (jnāna). It must, however, be clearly understood that he is not a cognizer or intelligent.” — p. 3

“for that can have no subject of cognition” . . .

see: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. G. A. Jacob, 1881: “In commenting on the passage of the Upanishad just referred to, Śankarāchārya says: — ‘Knowledge is here an abstract, indicating cognition, not the cognitive subject, being predicated of the ultimate along with truth and infinity. Truth and infinity would be incompatible with it did it imply a subject of cognition. . . .’ ” — pp. 3-4

This Essence is “the life and light of the Universe . . .”

see: George Berkeley, Works, 1871: “. . . there is an occult fire or spirit diffused throughout the universe . . . The Platonic philosophers do wonderfully refine upon light . . . from flame to light; from this visible light to the occult light of the celestial or mundane soul, which they supposed to pervade and agitate the substance of the universe . . .” — 2:441 (Siris, § 210)

“the visible fire and flame are destruction, death, and evil”

see: George Berkeley, Works, 1871: “. . . Plato teacheth that the figure and motion of the particles of fire dividing the parts of our bodies produce that painful sensation we call heat.” “Change and division were esteemed defects or bad. Evil scatters, divides, destroys.” — 2:488, 499 (Siris, §§ 316, 342)

“Fire and Flame destroy the body of an Arhat, their essence makes him immortal.”

see: Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales, tr. Hiouen-Thsang & Stanislas Julien, 1858: “En ce moment, le grand Kia-che-po (Kâçyapa) . . . fit paraître un feu ardent qui consuma son corps, et il entra aussitôt dans le Nirvāṇa. . . . (obtinrent la dignité d’Arhat) [At that moment, the great Kia-che-po (Kāśyapa) . . . made a blazing fire appear, which destroyed his body, and he immediately entered Nirvana. . . . (obtaining the dignity of an Arhat)].” — 2:9

(Bodhi-mur . . .)

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Tsongkhapa himself published systematic works of a most voluminous character; his principal works are the Bodhi-mur, the Tarnim-mur, the Altanerike, and the Lamrim . . . Many learned Tibetans also used the vernacular in composing their numerous commentaries on Buddhist dogmas and history; and in writing in Tibetan they were followed even by the Mongolians . . .” — p. 77

see: L. Austine Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, 1895: “[There are] several volumes explanatory of the Madhyamikā philosophy (of Nāgārjuna) . . . Under this heading would also come the later commentaries, such as the Bodhi-patha (in Mongolian — Bodhi Mur).” — pp. 164-5

“The knowledge of the absolute Spirit . . .”

p/q: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. G. A. Jacob, 1881: “. . . Śankarāchārya says . . . ‘The knowledge of the absolute spirit, like the light of the sun, or like heat in fire, is nought else than the absolute essence itself.’ ” — pp. 3-4

IT — is “the Spirit of the Fire,” not the fire itself

see: George Berkeley, Works, 1871: “This pure spirit or invisible fire is ever ready to exert and shew itself in its effects . . .” “. . . pure fire, or the spirit of the universe, which is perceived only by means of some other bodies, on which it operates . . .” — p. 421 (Siris, §§ 157, 159)

“the attributes . . . heat or flame, are not the attributes of the Spirit . . .”

see: George Berkeley, Works, 1871: “This pure fire, æther, or substance of light was accounted in itself invisible and imperceptible to all our senses, being perceived only by its effects, such as heat, flame . . .” “A notion of something Divine in fire, animating the whole world . . . the sovereign principle or cause of all things . . .” — pp. 425, 429 (§§ 169, 180)

— Footnotes

“the value of the Jehovah name . . .”

the one Principle whose “Unity admits not of multiplication . . .”

— 7 —

“In the beginning this was the Self, one only (Aitareya Upanishad) . . .”

Sankaracharya explains that “this” referred to the Universe (Jagat) . . .

the Upanishads . . . do not deny a Creator, or rather a collective aggregate of creators

the Vedantin postulates attributes . . . “Iswara plus Maya,” and Avidya

see: Hand Book of Hindu Pantheism — The Panchadasi, tr. Nandalal Dhole, 1886: “The material cause of phenomena with its three attributes satwa, raja, and tama is called Prakriti . . . Prakriti is respectively transformed into Maya and Avidya. Now the reflected shadow of intelligence of (Brahma) in Maya is Iswara . . .” — p. 139 fn.

(Agnosticism and Nescience rather than ignorance)

see: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. G. A. Jacob, 1881: “The ‘real’ is Brahma . . . without a second. The ‘unreal’ is the whole mass of unintelligent things, beginning with ignorance.” “ ‘Ignorance’ . . . This is here synonymous with Nescience (avidyā) and Illusion . . .” — p. 41 (§ III) & note (p. 43)

Narayana moving on the (abstract) waters of Space

— Footnotes

See . . . “The Aphorisms of Śândilya,” translated by Cowell, p. 42

see: The Aphorisms of Śāṇḍilya, tr. E. B. Cowell, 1878: “Matter . . . is subject to change; but not so Brahman . . . he throws a veil before himself in the form of his māyā-power or matter, [on which he works]; and therefore he himself is not subject to change . . .” “. . . the Śruti proves the reality of the cause from the reality of the effect . . . we consider that the existence of this māyā-power as the one eternal concomitant [to the Deity] is established.” — pp. 39, 42

this Vedantic thought: — “Omnis enim per se divom natura necesse est . . .”

p/q: Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, tr. H. A. J. Munro, 1866: “. . . omnis enim per se divom natura necessest / immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur [for the very nature of divinity must necessarily enjoy / immortal life in the deepest peace].” — p. 107 (II.646-7)

— 8 —

if Manu has any authority in this matter . . . the death of Brahmâ . . . a periodical rest.

see: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “But a thousand of (such) divine yugas in number is to be known to be a day of Brahmā, and a night also is the same (in length). . . . At the end of His day and night, He, being asleep, awakes, and awaking creates mind, which is and is not.” — p. 10 (i.72, 74)

the idea of the absolute all creating or even evolving the “Golden Egg” . . .

see: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “Then the self-existent Lord became manifest . . . Wishing to produce different beings from his own body, he having desired, first created water alone; in that he cast seed. That became a golden egg, like in splendour to the thousand-rayed (sun); in that was born spontaneously Brahmā, the grand parent of all the worlds.” — p. 2 (i.6-9 )

Locke’s idea that “. . . neither resistance nor Motion”

no difference in the Christian Apostle’s “In Him we live . . .”

— Footnotes

from the word Brih . . . (see Calcutta Review)

see: John C. Nesfield, “The Functions of Modern Brahmans In Upper India,” No. I, Jan. 1887: “Now ‘Brahma’ (neuter) . . . is derived from the root brih, which signifies to grow, to expand. . . . the same word was used to signify the cosmic soul, the world-evolving spirit, the plastic power that causes all the changes and processes of nature, being itself causeless and unchangeable.” — p. 261 (Calcutta Review, v. 84)

Vishnu, from the root Vis

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Because this whole world has been pervaded by the energy of the deity, he is entitled Vishṇu, from the root Viś, ‘to enter,’ or ‘pervade’; for all the gods, the Manus . . . the Indras, the sovereigns of the gods, all are but the impersonated might {Vibhūtayaḥ, ‘potencies’} of Vishṇu.” — 3:19 (iii.1)

— 8-9 —

“The Universe lives in, proceeds from, and will return to, Brahma (Brahmâ)”

— 9 —

for Brahma (neuter), the unmanifested, is that Universe in abscondito

and Brahmâ, the manifested, is the Logos, made male-female

see: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “Then the self-existent Lord became manifest, making this undiscrete (All) discernible . . .” “That which is the undiscrete Cause, eternal, which Is and Is not, from It issued that male who is called in the world Brahmā.” “Having divided his own body into two, he became a male by half, by half a female: on her that Lord begot Virāj.” — pp. 2, 3, 6 (i.6, 11, 32)

— Footnotes

“This unknown something . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “This unknown something, thus recognized as and identified with the primary embodiment of simple unity, is invisible and impalpable; and, because invisible and impalpable, therefore incognizable. And this incognizability has led to the error of supposing it to be a simple void, a mere receptive capacity. But, even viewed as an absolute void, space must be admitted to be either self-existent, infinite and eternal; or to have had a first cause outside, behind and beyond itself.” — p. 4

“And yet could such a cause be found and defined . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “And yet, could such a cause be found and defined, this would only lead to the tranferring thereto of the attributes otherwise accruing to space, and thus merely throw the difficulty of origination a step further back, without gaining additional light as to primary causation.” — pp. 4-5

Space . . . a “Substantial Unity” — the “living Source of Life” . . .

— 10 —

— Footnotes

Matter is dual . . . As Mulaprakriti . . . as Vyakta . . .

“1. Nature: the material essence . . . is called by the following names, Prakṛiti, or Mūlaprakṛiti . . . Avyakta (the undeveloped principle) . . . This principle has no cause, no origin, is not produced by anything; but eternal, universal, immutable . . . With these nine attributes, it produces

Matter is dual . . . according to the Svetasvatara Upanishad, I. 8

the Four Lectures on the Bhagavad Gita

“From its (the Logos’) objective standpoint . . . a sort of veil thrown over it.”

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes of the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Parabahman is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it. Parabrahman by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter. It is the basis of all material manifestations in the cosmos.” — p. 304 (Theosophist, v. 8)

— 11 —

(See Book III, Gupta Vidya and the Zohar)

“The Great Breath”

see: Hugo Grotius, The Truth of the Christian Religion, tr. John Clarke, 1805: “ ‘The Theology of the Phœnicians supposes the Foundation of the Universe to have been . . . the Breath of a dark Air, and a dismal Chaos, covered with thick Darkness; that these were infinite, and had no Bounds for many Ages. But when this Spirit or Breath placed its Desire or Love on these first Principles . . . This was the Beginning of the Creation of all Things.’ ” — p. 27 (I, xvi)

“The One is an unbroken Circle . . . with no circumference . . .”

see: Rev. G. Oliver, The Pythagorean Triangle, 1875: “The universal symbol by which this great Being was designated, viz., the point within a circle . . . Hermes Trismegistus . . . describes the Maker of the universe as ‘an intelligible sphere whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference cannot be defined,’ because the universe is boundless . . .” — p. 37

— 12 —

— Footnotes

“motion as well as matter, being fixed in quantity . . .”

p/q: Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 1880: “Motion as well as Matter being fixed in quantity, it would seem that the change in the distribution of Matter which Motion effects, coming to a limit in whichever direction it is carried, the indestructible Motion thereupon necessitates a reverse distribution. Apparently, the universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion, which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the Universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes — produce now an immeasurable period during which the attractive forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period during which the repulsive forces predominating, cause universal diffusion — alternate eras of Evolution and Dissolution.” — pp. 536-7 (ch. 23, §183)

— 13 —

“Nature is a perpetual circulatory worker . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “ ‘Perhaps the whole frame of nature may be nothing but various contextures of some certain ethereal spirits or vapors . . . Thus, perhaps, may all things be originated from ether.’ ” “ ‘For nature is a perpetual circulatory worker, generating fluids out of solids, fixed things out of volatile, and volatile out of fixed; subtile out of gross, and gross out of subtile . . .’ ” — pp. 51, 50

— 14 —

in the words of the Mandukya, “unthinkable and unspeakable”

— 15 —

the esoteric and Vedantin tenet

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “All Vedantic writers of old have formulated the principle that Parabrahmam is the one essence of almost everything in the cosmos. . . . which, though not itself an object of knowledge, is yet capable of supporting and giving rise to every kind of object and every kind of existence which becomes an object of knowledge.” — p. 303 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 16 —

The Absolute . . . which is, as Hegel says, both Absolute Being and Non-Being.

see: G. W. F. Hegel, Encyclopädie, 1827: “Das Absolute ist die allgemeine und Eine Idee . . .” “. . . die Einheit des Ideellen und Reellen, des Endlichen und Unendlichen [The Absolute is the Universal and One Idea . . . the Unity of the ideal and the real, of the finite and the infinite] . . .” — p. 196 (§§ 213-14)

— 17 —

the Hindus say that the Universe is Brahma and Brahmâ

see: Original Sanskrit Texts, tr. J. Muir, 1868-73: “Just as light is diffused from a fire which is confined to one spot, so is this whole universe the (diffused) energy of the supreme Brahma. And as light shows a difference . . . according to its nearness or distance from the fire, so there is a variation in the energy of Brahma. Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva are his chief energies.” — 4:263 (Vishṇu Purāṇa, i.22, 28-40)

— Footnotes

The Vedantins call it Sutratma (Thread-Soul)

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — II,” March 1887: “Birth after birth a new physical body comes into existence, and perishes when earthly life is over. . . . But karana sarira [causal body] . . . is capable of existing independently of the astral body. Its plane of existence is called Sutratma, because, like so many beads strung on a thread, successive personalities are strung on this karana sarira . . .” — p. 361 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 18 —

See . . . Addendum “Gods, Monads and Atoms”

and also “Theophania” [the many appearances of the Divine One]

see: “The Four Elements”: “It was the god of fire . . . as Jove or Agni; the god of water . . . as Varuna, Neptune, etc.; the god of air . . . as Vayu and Indra; and the god or spirit of the earth . . . Pluto, Yama, and so many others. These were the Cosmic gods, ever synthesizing all in one . . .” — SD 1:462-3

“Bodhisatvas and Reincarnation”

see: “On the Elements and Atoms”: “In the esoteric, and even exoteric Buddhism of the North, Adi Buddha . . . the One unknown . . . emits a bright ray from its darkness. This is the Logos (the first) . . . As the Lord of all Mysteries he cannot manifest, but sends into the world of manifestation . . . the ‘diamond heart’ . . . This is the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the seven . . . Dhyani Buddhas. . . . These Dhyani Buddhas emanate, or create from themselves . . . the super-human Bodhisattvas. These incarnating at the beginning of every human cycle on earth as mortal men, become . . . Bodhisattvas among the Sons of Humanity . . .” — SD 1:571

Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara — the three hypostases

“Spirit of the Supreme Spirit” (by which title Prithivi . . . greets Vishnu . . .)

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Pṛithīvī (Earth). — Hail to thee [Vishṇu], spirit of the supreme spirit; to thee, soul of soul; to thee, who art discrete and indiscrete matter; who art one with the elements and with time.” — 1:59-60 (i.4)

— 18-19 —

that which “does not perish with created things” . . .

— 19 —

Bhrantidarsanatah — “false apprehension” . . .

“That Brahmâ in its totality . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1866-77: “ ‘That Brahma, in its totality, has, essentially, the aspect of prakṛīti, both evolved and unevolved, and also the aspect of spirit, and the aspect of time. Spirit, O twice-born, is the leading aspect of the supreme Brahma. The next is a twofold aspect, viz., prakṛiti, both evolved and unevolved; and time is the last.’ ” — 1:18 fn.

Kronos is shown in the Orphic theogony as being also a generated god or agent

“the Union of the Rose and Cross,” the great mystery of occult generation

see: Arthur Edward Waite, The Real History of the Rosicrucians, 1887: “. . . the Crux Ansata . . . came to signify the divine creative energy which fecundated the obscure matrix of the primeval substance and caused it to bring forth the universe. The simple union of the Rose and the Cross suggests the same meaning as the Crux Ansata . . .” — p. 24

— Footnotes

“that which persists unchanging in quantity . . .”

p/q: Herbert Spencer, “Mozley on Evolution,” Oct. 1882: “That which persists, unchanging in quantity, but ever changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the universe presents to us, transcends human knowledge and conception — is an unknown and unknowable power, which we are obliged to recognize as without limit in space and without beginning or end in time.” — p. 772 (Popular Science Monthly, v. 21)

— 20 —

Brahma (neuter) is called Kalahansa . . . and so is Brahmâ, the Creator

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “BRAHMA, BRAHMAN (neuter). The supreme soul of the universe, self-existent, absolute, and eternal, from which all things emanate . . . It is sometimes called Kala-hansa.” “BRAHMĀ (masculine). . . . the supreme spirit manifested as the active creator of the universe. . . . His vehicle is a swan or goose, from which he is called Hansa-vāhana.” — pp. 56-7

Brahma (neuter) . . . ought to be referred to as Hansa-vahana (He who uses the swan as his Vehicle)

— 21 —

spoken of in the Purânas as the “Seven Creations”

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The first creation was that of Mahat or Intellect, which is also called the creation of Brahmā. The second was that of the rudimental principles (Tanmātras) . . . The creation of the Arvāksrotas beings was the seventh, and was that of man.” — 1:74-5 (i.5)

— 22 —

spoken of in Hindu mythology as the “Creation” of the Gods

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . and a third creation appeared, abounding with the quality of goodness, termed Ūrdhwasrotas. . . . This, termed the creation of the immortals, was the third performance of Brahmā . . .” — 1:72-3 (i.5)

— 23 —

Tho-ag

see: Graham Sandberg, “Philosophical Buddhism in Tibet,” Feb. 1890: “This region . . . is presided over by a supreme deity, who in Sanskrit is styled Adi-Buddha, and by the Tibetans is known as T’og-ma Sang-gye . . .” — p. 264 (Contemporary Review, v. 57)

Tho-ag in Zhi-gyu slept seven Khorlo.

Zodmanas zhiba.

All Nyug . . . Konch-hog not; Thyan-Kam not

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Letters of HPB to A. P. Sinnett [1880 – 1887], comp. A. T. Barker, 1925: “Thyan Kam (= the knowledge of bringing about) giving the impulse to Kosmic energy . . .” “Kon Chhog (Uncreated Principle) . . . Narayan — Spirit brooding over the waters . . . Universal Mind.” “Nyng (Duration in eternity or space).” — pp. 376, 378 (“Cosmological Notes” by M. and K.H.)

Lha . . . Tenbrel . . . Dharmakaya

Tgenchang . . . and Ssa

Barnang

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Letters of HPB to A. P. Sinnett, 1925: “The Akasa (Bar-nang) or Kosmic atmosphere, or Astral light, or celestial ether, which . . . surrounds and interpenetrates all matter in motion . . .” — p. 377 (“Cosmological Notes” by M. and K.H.)

in Ngovonyidj

alone Tho-og Yinsin

see: Samuel Beal, A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, 1871: “. . . the idea of a universally diffused essence (dharmakaya) was accepted . . . And from this consideration appears to have proceeded . . . the several names Vairochana (the Omnipresent), Amitābha (for Amrita) the Eternal, and Adi-Buddha (yih-sin) the ‘one form of existence.’ ” — p. 373

see: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “. . . the manifested ‘Voice’ (or Logos) . . . ‘the Self manifested in Self — Yih-sin, the ‘one form of existence,’ the child of Dharmakaya (the universally diffused Essence) . . .” — p. 346 (K.H., Letter LIX, about July 1883)

Yong-grub (Parinishpana)

— 24 —

the many Scientific hypotheses past, present and future, some exploded

see: Edward L. Youmans, A Class-Book of Chemistry, 1880: “We are not to regard past theories as mere exploded errors, nor present theories as final. The living and growing body of truth has only moulted its old integuments in the progress to a higher and more vigorous state.” — p. 4

Part I — Cosmic Evolution

— 26 —

“Nor Aught nor Nought existed . . .”

“Nor aught nor naught existed; yon bright sky

Was not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above.

What covered all? what sheltered? what concealed?

Was it the water's fathomless abyss?

There was not death — hence was there naught immortal,

There was no confine betwixt day and night;

The only One breathed breathless in itself,

Other than it there nothing since has been.

Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled

In gloom profound, — an ocean without light. —

The germ that still lay covered in the husk

Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat. . . .

Who knows the secret? who proclaimed it here,

Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang? —

The gods themselves came later into being. —

Who knows from whence this great creation sprang? —

He from whom all this great creation came.

Whether his will created or was mute,

The Most High seer that is in highest heaven,

He knows it, — or perchance e’en He knows not.” — pp. 563-4 (Rig-veda, X.129)

“Ere the foundations of the earth were laid . . .”

“Ere the foundations of the world were laid . . .

Thou wert; and when the subterraneous flame

Shall burst its prison, and devour this frame . . .

Thou still shalt be; still as thou wert before

And know no change, when time shall be no more.

Oh, endless thought, divine Eternity!” — 2:302

— 27 —

Time was not . . . Darkness alone filled the boundless all . . .

see: W. Wägner, Asgard and the Gods, 1880: “In the beginning was a great abyss; neither day nor night existed. . . . Allfather, the Uncreated, the Unseen, dwelt in the depth of the abyss . . . in immeasurable space where dwell darkness and icy cold . . .” — p. 22 (“Creation of the World”)

see: Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, 1883: “ ‘There was neither non-entity nor entity, no atmosphere nor sky above . . . There was no distinction of day or night . . . In the beginning darkness existed enveloped in darkness.’ ” — 2:45 (Rig Veda, x.129)

— 28 —

Darkness radiates light . . . one solitary ray . . . shoots through the virgin egg . . .

see: Institutes of Hindu Law, tr. Sir William Jones, 1796: “This universe existed only in the first divine idea yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness . . . Then the sole self-existing power . . . appeared with undiminished glory, expanding his idea, or dispelling the gloom. . . . [and] first with a thought created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed: The seed became an egg bright as gold, blazing like the luminary with a thousand beams . . .” — pp. 1-2 (i.5-6, 8-9)

see: Isaac Preston Cory, Mythological Inquiry, 1837: “. . . the Egyptians held Kneph . . . ‘as the idea of the Spirit of God which moved upon the face of waters.’ ” “Phthah . . . was the creative power, who sprung from the Egg, produced from the mouth of Kneph. He was the god of Light.” — pp. 39, 41-2

— 29 —

Father-Mother spin a web . . . this web is the universe spun out of the two substances made in one . . .

see: J. Lempriere, Bibliotheca Classica, 1833: “Now Kneph, the creator, who is all light and all life, who is at once male and female, wishing to exercise his creative power, united with the divine word, and produced the second Demiurgos, the god of fire and of life, Phtha . . .” — 1:55

see: Chuang Tzū, tr. Herbert Giles, 1889: “Heaven and earth are the father and mother of all things. When they unite, the result is shape. . . . ‘Vitality’ is the subtle essence, the immaterial informing principle which, united with matter, exhibits the phenomenon of life.” — p. 230

— 30 —

the ray of the ever-darkness — sprung in space the re-awakened energies . . .

see: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “Who first sprung from Mind / Clothing fire with fire . . .” “Omniform ideas: which flying out from one fountain / They sprung forth . . . being by intellectual fire distributed . . . An intellectual, incorruptible pattern, the print of whose form / Is promoted through the world . . .” — pp. 244, 248 (Proclus, Parmenidem)

see: P. H. Mallet, Northern Antiquities, 1847: “Ormuzd created the universe by pronouncing the living word Honover; first his own abode of light . . . then the Genii, or deities of Light, in three classes. The first class consists of the seven Amshaspends . . . In the second class are . . . the elementary deities . . . The third class consists of the Fervers; these are the vivifying principles of nature . . .” — pp. 472-3

— 31 —

The Primordial Seven . . . produce . . . the Fiery Whirlwind

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “He created 7 heavens Above . . . and in all of these heavens are chariots . . . some of them are a flaming fire . . .” “They shall shine a shining which shines by lighting a splendor . . . That brilliant Light which is hidden, the Spark of all the Sparks, and of All Lights . . . This shining Light comes out from the Supreme Lighted Well . . .” — pp. 415, 428

— 32 —

By the power of . . . Kwan-shai-Yin

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “All the various kinds of forces that we know of, all the various modes of consciousness with which we are acquainted, and life manifested in every kind of organism, are but manifestations of one and the same power, the power being the one that springs from the Logos originally.” — pp. 305-6 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

Fohat . . . seats the Universe on these Eternal Foundations

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — III,” April 1887: “You must look upon this light, or Fohat, as a kind of energy eternally beneficent in its nature . . .” “This light is the foundation of the better side of human nature . . . ‘This Daiviprakriti [Fohat] is the one life by which the whole Universe is supported.’ ” — p. 436 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 33 —

the “mind-born” sons of the first Lord; the shining seven

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — III,” April 1887: “In speaking of himself [as the Logos] Krishna says, (chapter x, verse 6): — ‘The seven great Rishis . . . partaking of my nature, were born from my mind . . .’ He speaks of the sapta rishis . . . as his manasaputras, or mind-born sons . . .” — p. 444 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 34 —

The spark . . . journeys through the seven worlds . . . a stone . . . a plant . . .

see: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “The unique Athanor, the philosophic and moral alchemy, is the transmutation of darkness into light, in the intellectual order . . . of dead substances into substances quickened by the energies of veritable life, of the mere animal into the conscious man, and of man into God. ‘The stone becomes a plant, the plant an animal, the animal a man, and man greatens into Deity.’ ” — p. xxxv

— 35 —

The Hindus call it Mulaprakriti . . . it is the basis . . . of every phenomenon

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it. . . . that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter. It is the basis of all material manifestations in the cosmos.” — p. 304 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 36 —

“The number seven,” says the Kabala, “is the great number of the Divine Mysteries”

see: Éliphas Lévi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, 1861: “. . . le grand nombre religieux et cabalistique qui représente la synthèse universelle et qui constitue le septénaire sacré [the great religious and Kabbalistic number which represents the universal synthesis and constitutes the sacred septenary].” — 2:113

— Footnotes

“By immortality is meant existence to the end of the Kalpa”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “By immortality is meant existence to the end of the Kalpa {This, according to the Vedas, is all that is to be understood of the immortality of the gods: they perish at the period of universal dissolution}.” — 2:269 & fn.

— 37 —

“time” known as the present, comes from the . . . succession of glimpses . . .

see: Hermann Lotze, Metaphysic, 1887: “It is by the succession of moments that every section of Time comes into being.” “. . . it is not Time that precedes the process of Becoming and Activity, but this that precedes Time . . . or the appearance in us of there being such a thing.” — 1:324, 334 (§§ 143, 148)

— 38 —

The seven ways to bliss (Moksha or Nirvana)

— Footnotes

The “12” Nidanas . . . the chief causes of existence

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “The source of existence is no longer demonstrated from the four truths only, but also from the twelve Nidānas (in Tibetan Tenbrel chugnyi) . . . the theory of the causal connection, or concatenation of the causes of existence . . .” — pp. 22-3

— 39 —

The twelve Nidanas . . . based upon the four truths . . . of the Hînayâna System . . .

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “The following details may be quoted as particularly characteristic of the Hīnayāna system {see Wassiljew, pp. 97-128, 149}. It distinguishes itself . . . in the mode of explaining the principle of Buddhism: that the world must be abandoned because it entails upon man existence, pain and death. The source of existence is no longer demonstrated from the four truths only, but also from the twelve Nidānas . . . which are based upon the four truths.” — pp. 22-3 & fn.

— Footnotes

See Wassilief on Buddhism

— 40 —

“Darkness is Father-Mother: light their son”

— 41 —

“Karana” — eternal cause — was alone.

see: N. Bhashyacharya, Catechism of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy, 1887: “That Parabrahmam (the supreme spirit) is the only One Truth . . . ” “It is said to be Eternal . . . Infinite in point of time and space . . . It is the material cause (Upādānakārana), the instrumental cause (Nimittakārana), as well as the auxiliary cause (Sahakarikārana), of the universe.” — §§ 63, 64

(See Part II . . . “Days and Nights of Brahmâ.”)

— 42 —

“Paranishpanna” is the absolute perfection . . .

how Non Ego, Voidness, and Darkness are Three in One and alone Self-existent and Perfect

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “The Mahāyāna schools demonstrate the doctrine of voidness by the dogma of the three characteristic marks . . . enumerating the properties of any existing object . . . Parikalpita . . . Paratantra . . . Parinishpanna . . .” “. . . then only — as a natural consequence — he arrives at a right understanding of the Non-ego, and to a knowledge of how the voidness is alone self-existent and perfect.” — pp. 33-4, 35

— 43 —

the breathing of the Unknowable Deity . . .

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “. . . an expansion of the Divine essence . . . and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result . . . In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. . . . an outbreathing of the ‘unknown essence’ produces the world; and an inhalation causes it to disappear.” — 2:265

“The Past time is the Present time, as also the Future . . .” . . . Prasanga Madhyamika teaching

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “The three periods: the present, the past, and the future, are compounds, correlative to each other. The Buddha has declared: ‘A harsh word, uttered in past times, is not lost (literally destroyed), but returns again;’ and, therefore, the past time is the present time, as is also the future, though as yet it has not come into existence.” — p. 44 (“The Prasanga-Madhyamika School”)

— Footnotes

Dzungarian “Mani Kumbum”

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “. . . the Mani Kambum, an ancient historical work the authorship of which is attributed to king Srongtsan Gampo.” “The book Mani Kambum . . . or literally Mani bka’ ’bum, ‘a hundred thousand precious commandments’ . . .” “The Mani Kambum has been translated into Mongolian and into Dsungarian . . . by a Dsungarian Lama who had resided for several years in Lhāssa . . .” — pp. 83, 84, 88.

— 44 —

“I feel irritated at having to use . . . Past, Present, and Future . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “I feel even irritated at having to use these three clumsy words — past, present and future! Miserable concepts of the objective phases of the Subjective Whole, they are about as ill adapted for the purpose as an axe for fine carving.” — p. 29 (K.H., Letter VIII, about Feb. 20, 1881)

— Footnotes

Samvriti, or the “origin of delusion” . . . Svasam-vedana, or “the reflection which analyses itself”

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Samvriti is that which is the origin of illusion, but Paramārtha is the self-consciousness {Sanskrit Svasamvedana, ‘the reflection which analyses itself’} of the saint in his self-meditation, which is able to dissipate illusions, i.e., which is above all (parama) and contains the true understanding (artha).” — pp. 35-6 & fn.

— 45 —

the Initiate . . . directs the “Eye of Dangma” toward the essence of things

see: H. A. Jäschke, A Tibetan-English Dictionary, 1881: “dwaṅs-ma [dwangs-ma]: ‘the spirit, the soul’ . . . when purified from every sin . . . to be compared to a clear and limpid fluid, in which every heterogeneous matter has been precipitated.” — p. 249

— 46 —

Prabhavapyaya, “the place . . . into which is the resolution of all things”

Jagad Yoni . . . is scarcely so much “the Mother of the World” . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Jagad-yoni . . . is scarcely so much ‘the mother of the world,’ or ‘the womb of the world,’ as ‘the material cause of the world.’ The commentator explains it by kāraṇa, ‘cause’.” — 1:21 fn. (i.2)

the Vedanta . . . having been “evoked by the teachings of the Buddhists”

— 47 —

Dreamless sleep . . . the individual is conscious in a different plane of his being

see: J. D. Buck, “The Planes of Consciousness,” Dec. 1888: “Now what becomes of consciousness during dreamless slumber? Either it continues or it does not. If it continues, then it must be upon another plane and under different conditions . . .” — p. 287 (The Path, v. 3)

— Footnotes

“Originally, Buddhism set its face against all solitary ascetiscism . . .”

p/q: Monier Monier-Williams, Mystical Buddhism in connexion with the Yoga Philosophy, 1888: “Originally Buddhism set its face against all solitary asceticism and all secret efforts to attain sublime heights of knowledge. It had no occult, no esoteric system of doctrine which it withheld from ordinary men.” — p. 2

“. . . When Gautama Buddha began his career . . .”

p/q: Monier Monier-Williams, Mystical Buddhism in connexion with the Yoga Philosophy, 1888: “. . . when Gautama Buddha began his career, the later and lower form of Yoga seems to have been little known. . . . We learn from Lalita-vistara that various forms of bodily torture, self-maceration, and austerity were common in Gautama’s time.” — p. 4

“the Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners”

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “It is a question whether Hindu philosophy is or is not indebted to Greek teaching . . . Mr. Colebrooke, the highest authority on the subject, is of the opinion that the ‘Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners.’ ” — p. 82

— 48 —

the “Over-Soul” of Emerson

see: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Works, 1883: “. . . that Unity, that Over-soul, within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other; that common heart . . . that overpowering reality . . . within man is the soul of the whole . . .” — p. 59 (“The Over-Soul”)

one with Alaya . . . even the man strong in the Yoga . . .

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “This idea of the soul, Ālaya, is the chief dogma of the Yogāchārya system, which is so called because ‘he who is strong in the Yoga (meditation) is able to introduce his soul by means of the Yoga into the true nature of existence.” — p. 40

(Aryâsanga, the Bumpa school)

Alaya . . . the Voidness . . . it reflects itself in every object . . . “like the moon in clear tranquil water”

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “. . . the most important dogma established by this theory is decidedly the personification of the voidness, by supposing that a soul, Ālaya (Tib. Tsang, also Nyingpo), is the basis of every thing. This soul exists from time immemorial, and in every object; ‘it reflects itself in every thing, like the moon in clear and tranquil water.’ ” — p. 39

Paramârtha . . . that which is also dependent upon other things

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “A difference prevails between the Yogāchāryas and the Madhyamikas with reference to the interpretation of Paramārtha; the former say that Paramārtha is also what is dependent upon other things (Paratantra); the latter say that it is limited to Parinishpanna, or to that which has the character of absolute perfection.” — p. 35

“No Arhat, oh mendicants, can reach absolute knowledge before he becomes one with Paranirvana.”

see: T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, 1886: “The path of the Arahants, the men set free by insight . . .” “ ‘They who by steadfast mind have . . . immersed themselves in that ambrosia, have received without price, and are in the enjoyment of Nirvāna. . . . That mendicant conducts himself well, who has conquered error by means of insight . . . who, free from yearning . . . has attained unto, Nirvāna.’ ” — pp. 109, 111

Parikalpita (in Tibetan Kun-ttag) is error, made by those unable to realize . . .

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Parikalpita (Tib. Kun tag) . . . is the supposition, or the error. . . . to which those beings adhere who are incapable of understanding that every thing is empty . . . believing a thing existing which does not, as e.g. the Non-ego . . .” — p. 34

— Footnotes

“Paramârtha” is self-consciousness . . . Svasamvedana . . . “self-analysing reflection”

Paramârthasatya is Dondampaidenpa . . . The opposite . . . is Samvritisatya . . .

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “We now come to the two truths. They are: Samvritisatya (Tib. Kundzabchi denpa) and Paramārthasatya (Tib. Dondampai denpa), or the relative truth and the absolute one. . . . Samvriti is that which is the origin of illusion . . .” — p. 35

— 49 —

Paratantra is that . . . which exists only through a dependent or causal connexion

In the Yogâchârya system . . . Alaya is . . . the Universal Soul

and the Self of a progressed adept. “He who is strong in the Yoga . . .”

The “Alaya has an absolute eternal existence”

— Footnotes

Aryâsanga was a pre-Christian Adept . . .

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Aryāsanga is said to have been taught his doctrine by the future Buddha Maitreya . . . Csoma places him in the seventh century, but . . . the remarks of Wilson . . . on the period when the principal works still extant in Sanskrit were written, may be quoted . . . He believes it now ‘established, that they have been written at the latest, from a century and a half before to as much after, the era of Christianity.’ ” — p. 32 fn.

— 50 —

“that which is the unevolved cause . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “That which is the unevolved cause is emphatically called, by the most eminent sages, pradhāna, original base, which is subtile prakṛiti, viz., that which is eternal, and which at once is and is not, or is mere process.” — 1:20 fn.

the nous (νοῦς), the principle that . . . is absolutely separated and free from matter . . .

see: William Enfield, History of Philosophy, 1837: “[Anaxagoras] concluded that there must have been, from eternity, an intelligent principle, or infinite mind, existing separately from matter, which, having a power of motion within itself, first communicated motion to the material mass . . . Anaxagoras maintained an infinite mind to be the author of all motion and life . . .” — p. 87

— Footnotes

“The indiscreet cause which is uniform . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “ ‘The indiscrete cause, which is uniform, and both cause and effect, and whom those who are acquainted with first principles call Pradhāna and Prakṛiti, is the uncognizable Brahma, who was before all.’ ” — 1:21 fn. (Vayu Purāṇa, I, iv, 17)

— 51 —

“the merging of the individual in the universal consciousness”

see: Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Grundlage der Gesammten Wissenschaftslehre, 1794: “Die absolut entgegengesezten (das endliche subjektive, und das unendliche objektive) sind vor der Synthesis etwas bloss gedachtes . . . [Before their merging, the absolute opposites (the finite subjective and the infinite objective [the individual and the universal]) are only thoughts] . . .” — p. 194

the Finite cannot conceive the Infinite . . .

see: Albert Schwegler, Handbook of the History of Philosophy, tr. James Hutchison Stirling, 1868: “What is said [by Fichte] about the universal ego, as substituted . . . for the empirical ego, is not satisfactory. Let us generalize as much as we please, we still know no ego but the empirical ego, and can refer to none other.” — pp. 427-8 (Stirling’s “Annotations,” xxvii)

“Spirit and Matter, or Purusha and Prakriti are but the two primeval aspects of the One . . .”

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “This Prakṛiti is, essentially, the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete is, finally, lost or absorbed by the indiscrete. Spirit {Puṃs}, also, which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading, is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. . . . Nature (Prakṛiti) . . . and spirit {Purusha} . . . both resolve into supreme spirit.” — 5(I):199-200 & fns. (vi.4)

— 52 —

(See Part II, “Primordial Substance”)

The term Anupadaka, “parentless”

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “By the name of Dhyāni Buddha, ‘Buddha of contemplation,’ or by the term Anupadaka, ‘without parents,’ celestial beings are designated corresponding to the human Buddhas teaching upon earth, who are called ‘Mānushi Buddhas.’ ” — p. 51

The “Concealed Lord” (Sangbai Dag-po)

— Footnotes

Vajra — diamond holder. . . . The explanation . . . given in the Kala Chakra

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Kāla Chakra is also the title of the principal work of this system; it stands at the head of the Gyut division of the Kanjur . . .” “This first of the Buddhas is called in the Tantras Vajradhara . . . and Vajrasattva (in Tibetan Dorjesempa) {‘holding the diamond (Vajra)’}.” — p. 50 & fn.

“the essence of man is spirit . . . only by stripping himself of his finiteness . . .”

p/q: G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, tr. J. Sibree, 1857: “. . . the essence of man acknowledged to be Spirit, and the fact proclaimed that only by stripping himself of his finiteness and surrendering himself to pure selfconsciousness, does he attain the truth. Christ — man as man — in whom the unity of God and man has appeared, has in his death, and his history generally, himself presented the eternal history of Spirit, — a history which every man has to accomplish in himself, in order to exist as Spirit . . .” — p. 340

— 53 —

Paranishpanna . . . is the summum bonum, the Absolute

— Footnotes

“Mother of the Gods,” Aditi, or Cosmic Space

see: Rig-Veda-Sanhita, tr. F. Max Müller, 1869: “Aditi . . . is in reality the earliest name invented to express the Infinite . . . the visible Infinite, visible by the naked eye, the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky. That was called A-diti, the un-bound, the un-bounded . . . the Infinite, as the mother of the principal gods [Deva-Matri] . . .” — p. 230 (Verse 12, note 4: “Aditi, the Infinite”)

— 54 —

only “with a mind clear and undarkened by personality . . .” that one gets rid of personal existence . . .

p/q: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “. . . only that which enters the mind clear and undarkened . . . that his mind may become free from all that would attract his attention . . . then only — as a natural consequence — he arrives at a right understanding of the Non-ego, and to a knowledge of how the voidness is alone self-existent and perfect.” — pp. 34-5

— Footnotes

The One secondless Existence is adwaita . . . and all the rest is Maya

see: Papers on Indian Reform, comp. J. Murdoch, 1889: “A Vedantist’s creed is comprised in the well-known formula of three words from the Chhandogya Upanishad (ekam evadvitiyam, one only without a second). This does not mean that there is no second God, but that there is no second anything. . . . Nothing really exists but the one impersonal spirit, called Atma, or Brahm . . . Hence the doctrine of the Vedanta is called Adwaita, non-dualism. . . . When this impersonal unconscious Spirit assumes consciousness and personality . . . it does so by associating itself with Maya, the power of Illusion.” — p. 19 (“Religious Reform,” Part II)

— 55 —

See “Chaos, Theos, Kosmos,” in Part II.)

Brahmâ (or Hari) . . . “accomplished the Creation” . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Thus Hari, the four-faced god, invested with the quality of activity, and taking the form of Brahmā, accomplished the creation. But he (Brahmā) is only the instrumental cause of things to be created . . .” — 1:65 (i.4)

When a translator says, “And from him proceed the potencies . . .”

Save that one . . . ideal cause there is no other . . . “worthiest of ascetics . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Save that one ideal cause, there is no other to which the world can be referred. Worthiest of ascetics, through its potency — i.e., through the potency of that cause — every created thing comes by its proper nature.” — 1:66 fn.

in the Vedanta and Nyaya, nimitta is the efficient cause . . .

— 56 —

We call absolute consciousness “unconsciousness” . . .

see: Eduard von Hartmann, Philosophy of The Unconscious, tr. William C. Coupland, 1884: “Of this unconscious clairvoyant intelligence . . . embracing out of time all ends and means in one . . . it infinitely transcends the halting, stilted gait of the discursive reflection of consciousness . . . We shall thus be compelled to designate this intelligence, which is superior to all consciousness, at once unconscious and super-conscious.” — 2:247

— 57 —

the seed of all phanerogamous plants . . .

p/q: Joseph B. Gross, The Heathen Religion, 1856: “It deserves to be remarked in reference to the lotus, that the seed of all phænogamous [phanerogamous] plants or plants of a higher grade bearing proper flowers, contain an embryo plantlet ready formed.” — p. 195 fn.

(See Part II., “The Lotus Flower as an Universal Symbol.”)

— Footnotes

(See Part II., “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought.”)

— 58 —

“. . . the Power which acts within the root of a plant . . .”

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . the metaphor of the tree with its roots (the Ten Sephiroth) in the earth and its numerous branches, twigs, leaves, veins, fruits . . . which all are derived from each other, and yet all draw from the marrow of the tree, and thus all collectively form a complete and unbroken unity . . . because they all are of, and point to, one and the same essential source.” — p. 252

— 59 —

“The Deity is one, because it is infinite. It is triple, because it is ever manifesting.”

see: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “The Infinite Prince in creating speaks of Himself to Himself. . . . Unity to become active must reproduce itself. . . . Thus He is really one in His essence and triple in our conception . . .” — pp. 67-8 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

— 59-60 —

“It is called the ‘Man even Jehovah’ Measure . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July 1885: “. . . it is called the ‘Man Even Jehovah’ measure; and this is obtained in this way, viz.: 113 x 5 = 565, and the value 565 can be placed under the form of expression 56.5 x 10 = 565. Here the man number 113 becomes a factor of 56.5 x 10, and the reading of this last number expression is jod hé vav hé, or Jehovah.” — p. 327 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

— 60 —

“The expansion of 565 into 56.5 x 10 . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July 1885: “The expansion of 565 into 56.5 x 10 is purposed to show the emanation of the male (jod) from the female (Eva) principle; or, so to speak, the birth of a male element from an immaculate source, in other words, an immaculate conception.” — p. 327 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

— 61 —

In the Ekasloka-Shastra of Nagârjuna . . . the Yih-shu-lu-kia-lun

Yeu is “Being” or “Subhâva” . . .

see: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “All kinds of action (or existence) . . . are different in name, but the same in meaning. Whichever of these we speak of, the only difference between them is in the word yeu, ‘to be.’ This word yeu is, in the original language, subhava. It is translated in several ways, as ‘the substance which gives substance to itself,’ or as ‘without action and with action,’ or as ‘the nature which has no nature of its own.’ ” — pp. 308-9

Subhâva . . . is composed of two words: Su . . . and bhava . . .

the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus

(See Part II., “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought.”)

— 62 —

unconditionally eternal and universal Time and a conditioned one (Khandakala)

Mahat is “the first-born” of Pradhâna (undifferentiated substance . . . the root of Nature) . . .

the Absolute nirguna (Parabrahm . . . “devoid of attributes and qualities” . . .)

— 63 —

Orientalists and their Dictionaries tell us that the term “Manu” . . .

— 64 —

This . . . made Democritus assert . . . all were atoms and a vacuum

see: William Enfield, History of Philosophy, 1837: “The first idea of the atomic system was suggested by Leucippus; it was improved by Democritus . . . The Universe, which is infinite, is in part a plenum, and in part a vacuum. The plenum contains innumerable corpuscles or atoms . . . which falling into the vacuum, struck against each other . . . till at length atoms of similar forms met together, and bodies were produced.” — p. 245

“Nature abhors a vacuum”

p/q: Blaise Pascal, Oeuvres de Blaise Pascal, 1819: “. . . tous les disciples d’Aristote assemblent tout ce qu’il y a de fort dans les éscrits de leur maître . . . que la nature abhorre le vide [all the disciples of Aristotle bring together all the bits of strong reasoning in the writings of their master . . . that nature abhors a vacuum] . . .” — 4:281

— 65 —

“the promise and potency” of all the Universe

p/q: “Mr. Tyndall at Belfast,” Irish Monthly Magazine, v. 2, Oct. 1874: “. . . Mr. Tyndall’s formula of materialistic faith: ‘in that matter which we, in our ignorance, have covered with opprobrium,’ are contained ‘the promise and potency of every form of life.’ ” — p. 570

the symbolical circle of Pascal . . . “whose centre is everywhere . . .”

p/q: Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Letters and Opuscules, tr. O. W. Wight, 1869: “All this visible world is but an imperceptible point . . . in comparison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, of which the centre is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. . . . it is the greatest discernible character of the omnipotence of God . . .” — pp. 158-9 (ii.2)

(See Part II. “Tree and Serpent and Crocodile Worship.”)

— 65-6 —

The Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements . . . translated “Envelopes”

— 66 —

(see Part II. on “The Mundane Egg.”)

the triple hypostases . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The three hypostases of Vishṇu. Hiraṇyagarbha is a name of Brahmā; he who was born from the golden egg. Hari is Vishṇu; and Śankara, Śiva. . . . In the capacity of Brahmā, he creates the worlds; in that of Rudra, he destroys them; in that of Vishṇu, he is quiescent. These are the three Avasthās (lit., hypostases) of the self-born.” — 1:13 fn.

the Number is to Mind the same as it is to matter: “an incomprehensible agent”

p/q: Honoré de Balzac, Oeuvres de H. de Balzac, v. 3, Séraphita, 1837: “Le nombre est à votre Esprit ce qu’il est à la Matière, un agent incompréhensible [The number is to your mind the same as it is to Matter, an incomprehensible agent].” — p. 477 (ch. 4)

— 66-7 —

“The smallest as the most immense creations . . .”

p/q: Honoré de Balzac, Oeuvres de H. de Balzac, v. 3, Séraphita, 1837: “Les plus petites comme les plus immenses créations ne se distinguent-elles pas entre elles par leurs quantités, leurs qualités, leurs dimensions, leurs forces, tous attributs enfantés par le Nombre? L’infini des Nombres est un fait prouvé pour votre Esprit, dont la Matière ne peut se donner aucune preuve à elle-même [The smallest as well as the most immense creations, are they not distinguished from each other by their quantities, their qualities, their dimensions, their forces, all attributes engendered by Number? The infinitude of Numbers is a fact proven to your mind, but of which no physical proof can be given].” — p. 477 (ch. 4)

— 67 —

“The mathematician will tell us that . . .”

p/q: Honoré de Balzac, Oeuvres de H. de Balzac, v. 3, Séraphita, 1837: “Le mathématicien vous dira que le Nombre existe et ne se démontre pas. Dieu . . . est un nombre doué de mouvement, qui se sent et ne se démontre pas . . . Comme l’Unité, il commence les nombres avec lesquels il n’a rien de commun; car l’existence du Nombre dépend de l’Unité qui, sans être un Nombre, les engendre tous. Dieu . . . est une magnifique Unité qui n’a rien de commun avec ses créations, et qui néanmoins les engendre! [The mathematician will tell you that Number exists but cannot be demonstrated. God . . . is a number endowed with motion, to be felt but not proved . . . Like the indivisible Unit, it begins the numbers with which it has nothing in common; because the existence of Number depends on the indivisible Unit, which, without being a Number, begets them all. God . . . is a magnificent indivisible Unit that has nothing in common with his creations, and who nonetheless brings them forth!] . . .” — p. 477 (ch. 4)

“What! unable either to measure the first abstraction . . .”

p/q: Honoré de Balzac, Oeuvres de H. de Balzac, v. 3, Séraphita, 1837: “Hé! quoi! vous ne pouvez ni mesurer la première abstraction que Dieu vous a livrée, ni la saisir, et vous soumettez à votre mesure les fins de Dieu! Que serait-ce donc, si je vous plongeais dans les abîmes du Mouvement, cette force qui organise le Nombre? Ainsi quand je vous dirais que l’univers n’est que Nombre et Mouvement . . . Que serait-ce si j’ajoutais que le Mouvement et le Nombre sont engendrés par la Parole? ce mot, la raison suprême des Voyants et des Prophètes qui jadis entendirent ce souffle de Dieu [What! you can neither measure the first abstraction that God has yielded to you, nor grasp it, and you want to apply to your standards the purposes of God! What if I plunged you into the depths of Motion, that force which organizes Number? And what if I were to tell you that the universe is only Number and Motion . . . What if I added that Motion and Number are begotten by the Word? that word, the supreme intelligence of Seers and Prophets who in the days of old heard that breath of God] . . .” — p. 477 (ch. 4)

“churning of the ocean” by the Hindu gods . . . “the fountain of milk and curds”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Being thus instructed by the god of gods, the divinities entered into alliance with the demons . . . and commenced to churn the ocean for the Amṛīta. . . . From the ocean, thus churned by the gods and Dānavas, first uprose the cow Surabhi, the fountain of milk and curds . . .” — 1:143-4 (i.9)

the churning of the “Ocean of Milk” took place in the Satya Yug . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “The germ of this Avatāra [Vishṇu] is found in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa . . . Vishṇu appeared in the form of a tortoise in the Satya-yuga, or first age, to recover some things of value which had been lost in the deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of the sea of milk . . . The gods and demons . . . churned the sea until they recovered the desired objects.” — p. 36

— Footnotes

The “Fourteen precious things”

see: J. Murray Mitchell, Hinduism Past and Present, 1885: “The gods and demons then . . . churned the ocean . . . Fourteen precious things were churned out . . . among which are a marvellous horse, an elephant, the cow of plenty, the moon, nectar . . .” — p. 111

— 68 —

the “War in Heaven,” and the fall of the Angels

Oeaohoo . . . the septenary root from which all proceeds . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “. . . the Egyptians expressed the name of the Supreme God by the seven vowels thus arranged — ΙΕΗΩΟΥΑ.” “. . . the mystery of the Seven Vowels . . . ‘no name is more excellent than all these (Vowels), a Name wherein be contained all Names and all Lights and all Powers.’ ” — pp. 200-1 (Pistis Sophia, 378)

— Footnotes

The original for Understanding is Sattva . . .

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The original for understandings is sattva, which Śaṇkara renders to mean antaḥkaraṇa. ‘Refined,’ he says, ‘by sacrifices and other sanctifying operations.’ In the Kaṭha at p. 148 sattva is rendered by Śaṇkara to mean buddhi — a common use of the word.” — p. 193 fn. (Sanatsujātīya, vi)

— 68-9 —

Parabrahmam . . . pure knowledge . . . eternal (Nitya) unconditioned reality or sat (Satya)

— 70 —

“Chaos, from this union with Spirit . . . produced the Protogonos (the first-born light)”

see: Isaac Preston Cory, Mythological Inquiry, 1837: “In the Orphic fragments, the generation of the universe and of the gods is . . . described as proceeding from the Ether and Chaos. From these two principles . . . shot forth the Light, which was Phanes {Hymn to Protogonus — Hermias in Phædon, 141} . . .” — p. 24 & fn.

see: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “I invoke Protogonus [First-born], of a double nature . . . rejoicing in thy golden wings . . . Who bringest forth the pure and brilliant light, wherefore I invoke thee as Phanes [Light] . . . Come, then, blessed being, full of wisdom and generation, come in joy . . .” — p. 295 (“Orphic Hymn to Protogonus,” Hermias in Phæd.)

Damascius calls it Dis in “Theogony” — “The disposer of all things”

p/q: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “. . . the third subsistence of this triad is dark Erebus [Darkness], and its paternal principle and summit Ether . . . and the middle derived from it is boundless Chaos. . . . from these proceeds the third Intelligible triad. . . . But the third god of this third triad, the theology now under discussion celebrates as Protogonus (First-born), and calls him Dis, as the disposer of all things . . .” — pp. 313-14 (“From Damascius”)

“Light and Darkness are identical in themselves . . .”

“Darkness adopted illumination . . .”

see: Robert Fludd, Mosaicall Philosophy, 1659: “By this therefore it appeareth, that as before the separation . . . of light from darknesse, which was brought to passe by the divine word, all things were one and the same without distinction and difference . . . All things were abstrucely hidden and in secret, but . . . nothing was so occult and obscure, but was to be revealed, and made to appear unto sight, by the penetrating operation of the admirable word Fiat . . .” — p. 143

Even in . . . Genesis, light is created out of darkness . . .

“In him (in darkness) was life . . . And the light shineth in the darkness . . .”

The devil . . . is called the “Son of God”

the bright star of the early morning, Lucifer

— Footnotes

See “Kwan-Shai-Yin”

— 71 —

the Incorporeal man who contains in himself the divine Idea

the “Blazing Dragon of Wisdom”

— Footnotes

“Tri-dasa,” or three times ten . . .

2 Aswins — the twin sons . . .

— 72 —

Kwan-Shai-Yin . . . Avalôkitêshwara . . . represented with female attributes . . .

p/q: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “Kwan-shï-yin p‘u-sa (Avalôkitêshwara) . . . This fabulous Bodhisattwa has in China been usually represented with female attributes. . . . When Kwan-yin is translated, not inappropriately, ‘Goddess of mercy,’ it should be remembered that female attributes are only temporarily assumed by the Bodhisattwa in question.” — pp. 208-9

Kwan-Yin . . . is the patron deity of Thibet . . .

p/q: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “Kwan-yin is the patron deity of Thibet and also of P‘u-to, leading to a peculiar arrangement of the images in the monasteries, and the substitution of this deity for Shakyamuni Buddha in the centre of the great hall.” — p. 259

— Footnotes

the higher gods of antiquity are all “Sons of the Mother” before they become those of the “Father”

The Logoi, like Jupiter or Zeus . . . as male-female . . . Venus is made bearded

“Horus was the lamb of either sex; Mithras was the lamb of both sexes. The human child being of either sex, the divine was of both. This mythical type could only be fulfilled in nature by an hermaphrodite. . . . It is one mode of describing the biune being of either or both sexes, corresponding to the feminine ‘paps’ of the ‘Son of Man,’ the supposed Messiah of ‘Revelation.’ ” — 1:516-17

St. John’s vision in Revelation . . . now connected with Jesus — is hermaphrodite

see: J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Gospel According to St. John, 1885: “. . . St. John ascribes to him [Jesus] the ‘breasts’ of a woman . . . ‘And in the midst of the candlesticks I saw one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle’ [Rev. 1:13]. ‘Paps’ — μαστοῖς, the very word used to denote the breasts of a woman . . .” — p. 61

The Gnostic Sophia . . . the mother of the seven planetary powers

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “. . . the Gnostic Pleroma of the Eight, consisting of Sophia the genitrix and her seven sons . . . ‘These are the seven forms of the Mother of all Beings, from whence all that is in this world is generated.’ . . . The student of Böhme’s books finds much in them concerning these Seven ‘Fountain Spirits,’ and primary powers, treated as seven properties of Nature . . .” — 1:317-18

— 73 —

“His name is Echod”: say the Rabbins.

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July 1885: “. . . it is the numerical value of the circumference of a circle whose diameter is one; hence the Biblical expression by the rabbins: ‘His name is Echod,’ or One.” — p. 327 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

The “One” and the Dragon . . . Logoi . . . the Serpent or Dragon that tempted Eve . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “. . . the Serpent became a type of Wisdom, Knowledge, occult influence . . . Amongst the types of the ‘Elementaries’ perceived as active forces of the material universe, the Serpent naturally rose to supremacy . . . Hence, in Egypt, it became the one universal symbol of the Gods.” — 1:304

Jehovah . . . is also the Serpent or Dragon that tempted Eve

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “ ‘Ildabaoth, the God of the Jews . . . cast down his eyes upon the lower layer of Matter, and begat a Virtue, whom they call his Son. Eve, listening to him as the Son of God, was easily persuaded to eat of the Tree of Knowledge.’ ” — pp. 102-3 (Epiphanius)

The primitive symbol of the serpent . . . had always stood for psychical Regeneration . . .

Hence, also, the Hindu serpent Sesha or Ananta, “the Infinite” . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “The Sesha-Naga of India . . . is clothed with jewels, as heaven is with Stars. . . . As Ananta it typifies the Vague Infinite. . . . The Serpent with Seven heads forms the support of Vishnu in the Abyss of the Waters when he dreams or muses in the Intervals of Creation . . .” — 1:350

— Footnotes —

Sesha or Ananta, “the couch of Vishnu” . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “ŚESHA, ŚESHA-NĀGA. King of the serpent race or Nāgas . . . A serpent with a thousand heads which is the couch and canopy of Vishṇu whilst sleeping during the intervals of creation. . . . He is also called Ananta, ‘the endless,’ as the symbol of eternity.” — pp. 291-2

The gnostic Ophis

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “. . . they are called ‘Naaseni’ (i.e. Ophites, or Serpent-worshippers) . . . For they say the Serpent signifies the element Water; and with Thales of Miletus contend that nothing in the Universe can subsist without it, whether of things mortal or immortal, animate or inanimate. All things are subject unto him . . . as he pervades all things . . .” — p. 224

the same triple symbolism in its seven vowels . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “. . . the [Gnostic] Egyptians expressed the name of the Supreme God by the seven vowels thus arranged — ΙΕΗΩΟΥΑ. But this single mystery was soon refined upon, and made the basis of other and infinitely deeper mysteries. . . . when therefore, ‘the seven thunders uttered their voices,’ the seven vowels, it is meant, echoed through the vault of heaven . . .” — p. 200

— 74 —

“Be ye wise as serpents”

“In the beginning . . . the fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes alone”

see: Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, 1883: “The Sesha-Naga of India begins in the Dragon of Darkness. . . . As Ananta it typifies the Vague Infinite. . . . The Dragon that was cast out of Heaven had been the base of all beginning, and in India it was continued as a foundation of the later Solar Creation.” — 1:350

Sarparâjni, “the Serpent Queen,” and “the Mother of all that moves”

“a long trail of Cosmic dust . . . moved and writhed like a serpent in Space”

see: McClintock and Strong, Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, 1889: “Such are the innumerable fables in Hindū lore . . . the primeval astronomy which placed the serpent in the skies, and called the Milky Way by the name of Ananta and Sesha Naga . . .” — 9:581

see: John Owen, A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit, 1841: “As to [the creation of] the heavens, ‘by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens, his hand hath formed the crooked serpent’ [Job, 26:13] {By the crooked serpent, the Hebrews understood the Galaxy, or Milky Way, which to the eye represents the writhing of a serpent}.” — p. 56 & fn.

Pymander . . . appears to Hermes in the shape of a Fiery Dragon of “Light, Fire, and Flame”

see: Theological and Philosophical Works of Hermes Trismegistus, tr. John D. Chambers, 1882: “Speaking this, he was changed in the form . . . having become dreadful and horrible, sinuously terminated . . . giving forth smoke as if from fire, and emitting a certain sound ineffable . . . the voice of Light.” — p. 2 (“Poemandres,” i.4)

“The Light is me, I am the Nous . . . I am thy God . . .”

p/q: Hermès Trismégiste, tr. Louis Ménard, 1867: “Cette lumière . . . c’est moi, l’Intelligence, ton Dieu, qui précède la nature humide sortie des ténèbres. La parole lumineuse (le Verbe) qui émane de l’Intelligence, c’est le fils de Dieu [That light . . . is me, the Mind, your God, who precedes the Waters of Space that have come forth from the Darkness. The resplendent Word (the Logos) which emanates from Intelligence, it is the Son of God].” — p. 5

— 74-5 —

“All that thus sees and hears in thee is the Verbum of the Master . . .”

p/q: Hermès Trismégiste, tr. Louis Ménard, 1867: “. . . ce qui en toi voit et entend est le Verbe, la parole du Seigneur; l’Intelligence est le Dieu père. Ils ne sont pas séparés l’un de l’autre, car l’union est leur vie [all that thus sees and hears in you is the Verbum, the Word of the Lord; the Intelligence is God the Father. They are not separated one from the other, for the union is their life].” — p. 5

— 75 —

the “Eternal and Ceaseless Breath of the All”

see: Jacob Behmen [Boehme], Works, 1781: “For this visible World was generated and created . . . out of the dark Essence . . . as an out-spoken Breath out of the Being of all Beings . . . out of the Breathing forth . . . of the Eternal Essence . . .” — 4:134 (Signatura Rerum, xvi.16)

The Mahat . . . before it manifests itself as Brahmâ . . .

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The self-existent Vishṇu is the Lord in the primary creations {The Mahat first manifests itself as Vishṇu before it manifests itself as Brahman or Śiva (Sānkhya-sāra, p. 16), hence he is said to be the Lord in the primary creation}.” — p. 333 & fn. (Anugītā, xxv)

“That Mahat which was first produced . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “That Mahat which was first produced, is (afterwards) called egoism; when it is born as (the feeling itself) {I.e. when the Mahat develops into the feeling of self-consciousness — I — then it assumes the name of egoism} I, that is said to be the second creation.” — p. 333 & fn. (Anugītā, xxvi)

— Footnotes

Thus Shoo is the god of creation

and Osiris is, in his original primary form, the “god whose name is unknown”

— 76 —

“There exists a universal agent . . .”

see: Éliphas Lévi, La Science des Esprits, 1865: “Ob, c’est la lumière passive, car les kabbalistes hébreux donnent trois noms à cette substance universelle, agent de la création qui prend toutes les formes en s’équilibrant par la balance de deux forces [Ob is the passive light, for the Hebrew Kabbalists give three names to this universal substance, the agent of creation, assuming all forms, while equilibrating itself by the counterpoise of two forces].” — pp. 179-80

“Od, Ob, and Aour, active and passive . . .”

the Kabala figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth ט . . .

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “I therefore append a table showing at a glance the ordinary Hebrew and Chaldee alphabet . . . (9 . . . ט . . . Teth. Serpent.) . . . by which I have expressed . . . their names, powers, and numerical values.” — pp. 2-4 (Introduction)

the fifty portals or gateways . . .

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “The 50 Gates of Understanding were asserted to have 5 Chief Gates, each of which comprehended ten. The first three, included the knowledge of the first prinicples of the Things. At the Fourth Gate was the planetary world and all the wonders of astronomy . . .” — p. 314

It is the magical agent par excellence . . .

see: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “the Great Magic Agent . . . This agent . . . is precisely what the mediæval adepts called the first matter of the magnum opus. . . . This ambient and all-penetrating fluid . . . which we call the Astral Light and the Universal Agent . . . is represented on ancient monuments . . . by the serpent devouring its own tail . . .” — pp. 74-5 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

“Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire . . .”

p/q: Divine Pymander, tr. Everard, 1884: “Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross . . . Ascend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then again descend to the earth, and unite together the powers of things superior and things inferior. . . . This has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because it conquers every subtle thing, and can penetrate every solid. Thus was the world formed.” — p. ix

— 76-7 —

Zeno . . . who taught that the Universe evolves, when its primary substance is transformed . . .

see: William Enfield, History of Philosophy, 1837: “Zeno . . . maintained that they [God and Matter] were so essentially united, that their nature was one and the same.” “Matter, or the passive principle, in the Stoical system, is destitute of all qualities, but ready to receive any form . . .” “Since the active principle is comprehended within the world, and with matter makes one whole, it necessarily follows, that God penetrates, pervades, and animates matter, and the things which are formed from it . . . that he is the Soul of the universe.” — pp. 190, 191, 192

— 77 —

Heracleitus . . . The intelligence that moves the Universe is fire

see: Heraclitus, Fragments of Heraclitus, tr. G. T. W. Patrick, 1889: “The life principle of the universe, as of the human organism, is fire. This fire is everywhere present, so that ‘everything is full of gods and souls’ . . . The elemental fire carries within itself the tendency toward change . . . This impulse of Nature towards change is conceived . . . as ‘intelligence.’ ” — pp. 14-16

the “It of the Kalahansa, the Kala-ham-sa”

— 78 —

“Hansa-Vahana” . . .

The three pronouns . . . He, Thou, I . . . symbolize the ideas of Macroprosopus and Microprosopus

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . the word ANI, Ani, ‘I’ . . . referreth to the Microprosopus . . .” “(Now, indeed, Macroprosopus is not so closely known by us as to address us in the first person; but he is called in the third person, HVA, Hoa, he.)” “(Therefore in the third person, HVA, Hoa, is He called who is the Concealed One . . .)” — pp. 77-8 (Book of Concealed Mystery, ii.61, 62, 63)

the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which is a form of the exegetical rule of Temura

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “Termura is a permutation. According to certain rules, one letter is substituted for another letter . . . There is one more very important form, called the ‘Qabalah of the Nine Chambers’ . . . Sometimes this is used as a cipher [example shown: cipher chart of the ‘Nine Chambers’].” — pp. 9-10 (Introduction)

— 79 —

an influence which . . . “is proper to it, beneficent or maleficent . . .”

p/q: Ély Star, Les Mystères de l’Horoscope, 1888: “. . . une influence qui lui est propre, bénéfique ou maléfique, et cela d’après l’Esprit Planétaire qui les régit, lequel est susceptible d’influencer à son tour les hommes ou les choses qui se trouvent être en harmonie avec lui, ou avec lesquels il a une affinité quelconque [an influence which is proper to it, beneficent or malevolent, and this, after the Planetary Spirit which rules it, who, in his turn, is capable of influencing men or things which are found in harmony with him or with which he has any affinity].” — p. xiii

“Hansa” . . . “One Veda, One Deity, One Caste”

There is also a range . . . north of Mount Meru, called “Hamsa”

— 80 —

Brahma, the neuter, is called by them Kala-Hansa

and Brahmâ, the male, Hansa-Vahana

(See Part II. “The Hidden Deity and its Symbols and Glyphs.”)

— Footnotes

the symbol of the Eighteenth Degree of the Rose Croix . . . the Pelican . . .

Moses forbids eating the pelican and swan . . . and permits eating “bald locusts, beetles . . .”

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And these ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle . . . and the swan, and the pelican . . .” “Yet these may ye eat . . . the bald locust after its kind, and the beetle after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.” — p. 143 (Leviticus, 11:13, 18, 21-2)

— 81 —

penetrating into the Mundane Egg, it emerges from it . . . as Brahmâ . . .

see: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “Then the self-existent Lord . . . created water alone; in that he cast seed. That became a golden egg, like in splendour to the thousand-rayed (sun); in that was born spontaneously Brahmā, the grand parent of all the worlds.” — p. 2 (i.6, 8-9)

separating himself into two halves . . .

— 82 —

The first primordial matter, eternal and coeval with Space . . . Hyle

see: Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe, 1845: “For some Theists have supposed . . . an ‘incorporeal first matter;’ out of which . . . they conceived the essence of body to have been compounded . . . Neither was this incorporeal Hyle, or matter, a novel opinion . . . Again, others seem to have been the more prone to think matter or body to have been self-existent and unmade, because they both conceived it to be really the same thing with space . . .” — 3:122-4

— 83 —

“As a spider throws out and retracts its web . . .”

The same idea has been beautifully expressed by Goethe . . .

see: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, 1883: “So schaff’ ich am sausenden Webstuhl der Zeit / Und wirke der Gottheit lebendiges Kleid [(translated in following reference)].” — p. 24 (i.1) [Goethe’s German and the following English translation are both quoted in Royal Masonic Cyclopædia, p. 410]

“Thus at the roaring loom of Time I ply . . .”

— 84 —

“by losing heat, a gaseous body contracts . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “Professor Simon Newcomb . . . speaking of the possible cause of the perpetuation of the sun’s heat, says: ‘. . . By losing heat a gaseous body contracts, and the heat generated by the contraction exceeds that which it had to lose in order to produce the contraction.’ {Then certainly the body is growing hotter and consequently expanding while it contracts from cooling! — unless, meantime, the surplus heat is lost by radiation}.” — p. 83 & fn.

to assume that the temperature is not lowered . . .

but contraction (from cooling) is incapable of developing the whole amount of heat . . .

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “But it is not true that contraction (from cooling) can have developed the whole amount of heat at any time existing in the mass, or can even maintain a body at a constant temperature.” — pp. 86-7

— 85 —

“May it not be . . . simply a repulsion among the molecules . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “This curious paradox was rendered rational by a learned investigation published by Mr. J. Homer Lane . . .” “That is, the elastic force which equilibrates the excess of pressure is in part at least, something besides heat. . . . May it not be simply a repulsion among the molecules, which varies according to some law of the distance?” — pp. 83, 85

— 86 —

“I will state the times . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “I will state the times . . . at which devotees departing (from this world) go, never to return, or to return. . . . These two paths, bright and dark, are deemed to be eternal in this world. By the one, (a man) goes never to return, by the other he comes back.” — pp. 80-1 (Bhagavadgītā, viii)

We often speak of the Hierarchy of “Flames” (see Book II.)

see: Stanza II, 8: “The ‘Flames’ are a Hierarchy of Spirits parallel to, if not identical with, the ‘burning’ fiery Saraph (Seraphim) mentioned by Isaiah (vi. 2-6) . . .” “The flames, or ‘Fires,’ represent Spirit, or the male element, and ‘Water,’ matter . . . And here again we find, in the action of the Spirit slaying the purely material form, a reference to the eternal struggle, on the physical and psychic planes, between Spirit and Matter . . .” — SD 2:63, 64

Sankarachârya . . . says that fire means a deity which presides over Time

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “Śankara . . . suggests that fire means a deity presiding over time. I [the translator Telang] own I have no clear notion of the meaning of these verses.” — p. 81 fn. (Bhagavadgītā, viii)

— 87 —

The Agnishwatha, the Kumara . . . are the “fashioners of the Inner Man” (See Book II.)

“The Lord is a consuming Fire”

“The Lord (Christos) shall be revealed with his mighty angels in flaming fire”

The Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles like “cloven tongues of fire”

Vishnu will return on Kalki, the White Horse . . . amid fire and flames

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Kalkī or Kalkin. ‘The white horse.’ This incarnation of Vishṇu is to appear at the end of the Kali or Iron Age seated on a white horse, with a drawn sword blazing like a comet . . .” — p. 38

“And I saw heaven open and behold a white horse . . .”

“The fire of knowledge burns up all action . . .”

“those who have acquired it and are emancipated, are called ‘Fires’ ”

see: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “I have no attachment to the fruit of actions. . . . Knowing this, the men of old who wished for final emancipation, performed action. . . . The wise call him learned, whose acts are all free from desires . . . whose actions are burnt down by the fire of knowledge. . . . Brahman is in the fire . . .” — pp. 59-61 (Bhagavadgītā, iv)

Speaking of the seven senses symbolised as Hotris

see: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “. . . the sacrificial priests [Hotris] were seven by (their) nature. State how the great principle is that there are verily five sacrificial priests {the five chief Hotṛis only are stated}.” — p. 270 & fn. (Anugītā, viii)

“Thus these seven . . . are the causes of emancipation . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “Smell, and taste, and colour, sound, and touch as the fifth, the object of the mental operation and the object of the understanding, these seven are causes of action. . . . And I am here devoid of qualities. Thus these seven are the causes of emancipation {It is these seven from which the self is to be emancipated. ‘I’ must mean the self, not the Brāhmaṇa who speaks}.” — p. 278 & fn. (Anugītā, x)

“All is One Number issued from No Number”

see: Honoré de Balzac, Oeuvres de H. de Balzac, v. 3, Séraphita, 1837: “Dieu . . . est un nombre doué de mouvement . . . l’existence du Nombre dépend de l’Unité qui, sans être un Nombre, les engendre tous [God . . . is a number endowed with motion . . . the existence of Number depends on the indivisible Unit, which, without being a Number, begets them all].” — p. 477 (ch. 4)

— 88 —

we, who descend from the Primordial Seven . . . This is explained in Book II.

they are, of course, all one; but their aspects . . . are different (See Part II . . .)

those who refuse — as Michael did . . .

see: Hargrave Jennings, Phallicism: Celestial and Terrestrial, 1884: “. . . this Archangel Saint Michael is the invincible sexless, celestial ‘Energy’ . . . the invincible ‘Virgin Combatant’ . . . armed, in the denying mail of the Gnostic ‘refusal to create.’ ” — p. 213

as did the eldest “Mind-born sons” of Brahmâ

— 89 —

According to Manu, Hiranyagarbha is Brahmâ the first male . . .

“That, the one Lord of all beings . . .” arose in the beginning . . .

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “In the Ṛig-veda Hiraṇya-garbha ‘is said to have arisen in the beginning, the one lord of all beings, who upholds heaven and earth, who gives life and breath, whose command even the gods obey, who is the god over all gods, and the one animating principle of their being.’ ” — p. 121

— 90 —

“The Three, the One, the Four, the One, the Five” . . . the numerical hierarchy of the Dhyan-Chohans

the inner or circumscribed world . . . the great circle of “Pass not”

see: Stanza V, 6: “. . . those who have been called Lipikas, the Recorders of the Karmic ledger, make an impassible barrier between the personal Ego and the impersonal Self . . . They circumscribe the manifested world of matter within the Ring ‘Pass-Not.’ ” — SD 1:129

— Footnotes

a value of Jehovah, viz., 1065 . . .

“Ten is the Mother of the Soul . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “This number TEN is the mother of the soul, and the Life and the Light are there united; since the number One is born from the SPIRIT thus the unity has made the TEN, the TEN the unity. — Hermes, xiv. 54.” — p. 57 fn.

“the unity has made the ten; the ten the unity” (Book of the Keys)

By the means of the Temura . . . and the knowledge of 1065 . . . a universal science may be obtained . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July, 1885: “Now the numbers 1065 are significant ones of Jehovah’s name, viz: jod, vav, hé, or 10 and 6 and 5, which the rabbin’s extol so beyond all other numbers and say that by their uses and permutations, under the law of T’ mura, the knowledge of the entire universe may be had.” — p. 326 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

an American Kabalist has now discovered the same number for the Elohim

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July, 1885: “. . . we have the great God-word Elohim. The running characterizing small numbers of this name, in Hebrew, are 13514, which, placed on the bounds of a circle, will serve to give expression to the measure of the same; for they can be read as 31415 . . .” — p. 327 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

— 91 —

Skinner . . . reads the Hebrew word Alhim [Elohim] in the same number values . . .

Prajapati is called the first procreating male, and “his Mother’s husband”

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “DAKSHA . . . is one of the Prajāpatis, and is sometimes regarded as their chief. . . . In the Ṛig-veda it is said that ‘Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha.’ . . . Roth’s view is that Aditi is eternity, and that Daksha (spiritual power) is the male energy which generates the gods in eternity. . . . As son of Aditi, he is one of the Ādityas . . .” — p. 76

Anna (the name of the Mother of the Virgin Mary) . . .

see: John R. Beard, The Confessional, 1859: “The earliest thought was to declare Anna, the apocryphal mother of Mary, to have been conceived without sin. If she were sinless her daughter would be sinless. This, the invention of the oriental church, did not find favour with the western; which contented itself with the theory that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived without sin.” — pp. 76-7

derived from the Chaldean Ana, heaven . . . hence Anaitia

— Footnotes

Mout . . . “She was no less the mother than the wife of Ammon . . .”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “La déesse Mout . . . Son nom signifie la mère et marque le rôle qu’elle joue dans la triade: elle était moins la femme d’Ammon que sa mère, et l’un des titres principaux du dieu était Mari de sa mère [The goddess Mut . . . Her name signifies mother and indicates the role she plays in the triad: she was no less the wife of Ammon than his mother, and one of the main titles of the god was husband of his mother].” — p. 168

The goddess Mout, or Mût, is addressed as “our lady,” the “queen of Heaven,” and of “the Earth” . . .

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Elle est appelée dame du ciel, reine de la terre, et se confond avec les autres déesses mères, Isis, Hathor, etc. [She is called lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and shares these titles with the other mother goddesses, Isis, Hathor, etc.].” — p. 168

— 91-2 —

Devi-Durga, the wife of Siva, is also called Annapurna, and Kanya, the Virgin

— 92 —

“Uma-Kanya” . . . “Virgin of light”

see: Shoshee Chunder Dutt, Works, 1884: “. . . regarding Umā, or ‘Light,’ the chief of the Sactis . . . One Pourānic account . . . makes her the energy of all the gods . . . Of Umā the virgin name was Kanya Kumāri . . .” — 4:56 (India; Past and Present)

“God engraved in the Holy Four the throne of his glory . . .”

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “ ‘In it [the Holy Four] He engraved the throne of His glory, the Ophanim, the Seraphim, the sacred animals, and the ministering angels, and from these three he formed His habitation . . .’ ” — p. 67 (Sepher Jetzira, I.ix)

Thus was the world made “through three Seraphim — Sepher, Saphar, and Sipur”

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “(Sephar) . . . toutes ces choses sont réglées par la nombre. . . . (Sipur) . . . c’est la parole divine . . . (Sépher) signifie l’écriture. L’écriture de Dieu, c’est l’œuvre de la création [Sephar . . . all these things are regulated by number. . . . Sipur . . . is the divine Word . . . Sepher signifies writing. The writing of God, it is the work of creation].” — p. 146

— Footnotes

“Ten numbers . . . the spirit of the living God . . . who liveth in eternities! Voice and Spirit and Word . . .”

p/q: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “This decade is divided . . . and thereby is shown the gradual development of the world . . . ‘One is the spirit of the living God . . . who liveth for ever! voice, spirit, and word, this is the Holy Ghost.’ ” — p. 67 (Sepher Jetzira, I.ix)

Two: Spirit out of Spirit. He designed . . . twenty-two letters of foundation

three Mothers and seven double and Twelve single, and one spirit out of them

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “. . . ‘the twenty-two letters, by means of which God . . . formed the souls of everything that has been made, and that shall be made.’ These twenty-two letters of the alphabet are then divided into three groups, consisting respectively of, 1, the three mothers, or fundamental letters . . . 2, seven double . . . and 3, twelve simple consonants . . .’ ” — p. 69 (Sepher Jetzira, II.ii)

Three: Water out of Spirit . . .

Four: Fire out of water. He designed . . . the throne of glory, and the wheels, and the seraphim . . .

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “Whilst the ether or fire, represented by the number four, emanated from the water . . . ‘In it He engraved the throne of His glory, the Ophanim [wheels], the Seraphim, the sacred animals, and the ministering angels, and from these three he formed his habitation . . .” — p. 67 (Sepher Jetzira, I, ix)

as it is said, He makes his angels spirits and his servants fiery flames!

— 93 —

As beautifully expressed by P. Christian . . . the word . . . as well as the name of, every individual . . .

p/q: P. Christian, Histoire de la Magie, 1870: “La plus haute antiquité savante croyait à cette alliance mystérieuse du nom et de l’être qui s’en revêt comme d’un talisman divin ou infernal, pour éclairer son passage sur la terre ou pour l’incendier [The oldest sages of antiquity believed in this mysterious alliance between a name and the person who clothes himself with this name as with a divine or infernal talisman, to lighten his passage on the earth, or to set fire to it].” — p. 176

“When our Soul . . . creates or evokes a thought . . .”

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “Quand l’âme évoque une pensée, le signe de cette pensée s’écrit de lui-même dans la lumière [When the soul evokes a thought, the sign of that thought inscribes itself automatically in the Astral Light].” — p. 205

“The sign expresses the thing: the thing is the . . . virtue of the sign.”

“To pronounce a word is to evoke a thought, and make it present”

— 94 —

“Yes, names (and words) are either beneficent or maleficent . . . venomous or health-giving”

the One . . . proceeding from . . . Satarupa “of the hundred forms”

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Then Brahmā created, himself, the Manu Swāyambhuva . . . and the female portion of himself he constituted Śatarūpā . . . {Śatarūpa . . . from Śata, ‘a hundred’, and . . . ‘form’}.” — 1:104-6, 107 fn. (i.7)

In the Anugîtâ a conversation . . . on the origin of Speech and its occult properties

see: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “Both speech and mind went to the self of all beings and spoke (to him thus), ‘Say which of us is superior . . .’ Thereupon the lord positively said to speech, ‘Mind (is superior). . . . there are two minds, immovable and also movable. The immovable, verily, is with me; the movable is your dominion.’ . . .” “Hence the mind is distinguished by reason of its being immovable, and the goddess [Speech] distinguised by reason of her being movable.” — pp. 263-4, 266 (Anugītā, vi)

The Brâhmana tells her that the Apâna . . . becoming lord . . .

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The Brāhmaṇa said: The Apāna becoming lord changes it into the state of the Apāna in consequence. That is called the movement of the mind, and hence the mind is in need (of it).” — p. 263 (Anugītā, vi)

— Footnotes

Anugîtâ forms part of the Asamedha Parvan . . .

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “. . . the Anugītā is one of the numerous episodes of the Mahābhārata. . . . It forms part of the Aśvamedha Parvan . . . it affords an interesting glimpse of sundry old passages of the Upanishad literature . . . it professes to be a sort of continuation, or rather recapitulation, of the Bhagavadgītā.” — p.197 (“Introduction to Anugītā”)

— 94-5 —

a dialogue between Speech and Mind. “Both went to the Self of Being . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “But since you ask me a question regarding speech and mind, I will relate to you a dialogue between themselves. Both speech and mind went to the self of all beings and spoke (to him thus), ‘Say which of us is superior; destroy our doubts, O lord!’ Thereupon the lord positively said to speech, ‘Mind (is superior).’ But speech thereupon said to him, ‘I, verily, yield (you) your desires.’ ” — p. 263 (Anugītā, vi)

— 95 —

“Thereupon, again, the Self told her that there are two minds . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “Know, that (in) my (view), there are two minds, immovable and also movable. The immovable, verily, is with me; the movable is in your dominion. Whatever mantra, or letter, or tone goes to your dominion, that indeed is the movable mind. To that you are superior. But inasmuch, O beautiful one! as you came personally to speak to me (in the way you did), therefore, O Sarasvatī! you shall never speak after (hard) exhalations.” — p. 264 (Anugītā, vi)

“The goddess Speech . . . verily, dwelt always between the Prâna and the Apâna . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The goddess speech, verily, dwelt always between the Prāṇa and Apāna. But, O noble one! going with the Apāna wind, though impelled, (in consequence of) being without the Prāṇa, she ran up to Prajāpati, saying, ‘Be pleased, O venerable sir!’ Then the Prāṇa appeared again nourishing speech. And therefore speech never speaks after (hard) exhalation. It is always noisy or noiseless. Of those two, the noiseless is superior to the noisy (speech).” — pp. 264-5 (Anugītā, vi)

“The (speech) which is produced in the body . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The (speech) which is produced in the body by means of the Prāṇa, and which then goes into the Apāna, and then becoming assimilated with the Udāna leaves the body . . . then (finally) dwells in the Samāna. So speech formerly spoke. Hence the mind is distinguished by reason of its being immovable, and the goddess distinguished by reason of her being movable.” — pp. 265-6 (Anugītā, vi)

This chapter of the Anugîtâ explains . . . regulation of the breath in Yoga practices

— 96 —

Pratyâhâra (the restraint and regulation of the senses . . .), Prânâyâma . . .

The Brâhmana speaks in it “of the institution of the seven sacrificial Priests . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The Brāhmaṇa said: On this, too, O beautiful one! they relate this ancient story, (which shows) of what description is the institution of the seven sacrificial priests. The nose, and the eye, and the tongue, and the skin, and the ear as the fifth, mind and understanding, these are the seven sacrificial priests separately stationed. Dwelling in a minute space, they do not perceive each other.” — pp. 266-7 (Anugītā, vii)

For mind says: “The nose smells not without me . . .”

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The mind said: The nose smells not without me, the tongue does not perceive taste, the eye does not take in colour, the skin does not become aware of any (object of) touch. . . . I am the eternal chief among the elements. Without me, the senses never shine, like an empty dwelling, or like fire the flames of which are extinct. Without me, all beings, like fuel half-dried and half moist, fail to apprehend qualities or objects, even with the senses exerting themselves.” — p. 268 (Anugītā, vii)

“You are all greatest and not greatest” . . .

p/q: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “ ‘You are all greatest, and not greatest {‘Not greatest because none of them is independent of the other. ‘Greatest’ Arjuna Miśra renders by ‘superior to objects’}. You are all possessed of one another’s qualities. All are greatest in their own spheres, and all support one another. There is one unmoving (life-wind). . . . My own self is one only, (but) accumulated in numerous (forms).” — pp. 273-4 & fn. (Anugītā, viii)

— 97 —

there is no rest or cessation of motion in Nature . . . the “Conservation of matter”

see: Ludwig Büchner, Force and Matter, 1884: “It follows hence with absolute certainty that motion is as eternal and uncreatable, or as beginningless, endless and originless as force and matter. Conservation of force, conservation of matter, ceaseless change of motion . . .” — p. 80

— Footnotes

“It is to be regretted that the advocates of this (nebular) theory . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, 1883: “Rev. W. B. Slaughter says: ‘It is to be regretted that the advocates of this (nebular) theory have not entered more largely into the discussion of it [the origin of rotary motion]. No one condescends to give us the rationale of it. How does the process of cooling and contracting the mass impart to it a rotary motion?’ ” — p. 94 fn.

— 98 —

the “Holy Aged” (Sephira and Adam Kadmon)

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “At first the En Soph, or the Aged of the Aged . . . or the Holy Aged . . . sent forth from his infinite light one spiritual substance or intelligence. This first Sephira . . . is called — I, the Crown . . . II, the Aged . . . III, the Primordial Point . . . IV, the White Head . . . V, the Long Face, Macroprosopon . . . because the whole ten Sephiroth represent the Primordial or the Heavenly Man [Adam Kadmon] . . .” — pp. 7-8

Brahmâ, the Creator, called also Sanat

— 98-9 —

the Kabalistic “Archetypal World,” from whence proceed . . .

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . the Sephiroth are also called the World of Emanations, or the Atziluthic World, or archetypal world . . . and this world gave birth to three other worlds . . . the world of creation . . . world of formation . . . world of matter . . .” — pp. 29-30 (Introduction)

— 99 —

Aditi . . . “the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye . . .”

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “ADITI. ‘Free, unbounded.’ . . . or, according to M. Müller, ‘the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye; the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky.’ In the Ṛig-veda . . . Aditi is called Deva-mātṛi, ‘mother of the gods’ . . .” — p. 3

“Eight Sons were born from the body of Aditi . . .”

— 100 —

“Eight houses were built by the Mother . . .”

see: George Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, 1883: “[Anu] constructed dwellings for the great gods. . . . made dwellings for the planets, for their rising and their setting. . . . placed along with them the dwellings of Bel and Hea . . . Moreover, in the center he placed luminaries. . . . (Anu) set the sun in his place in the horizon of heaven.” — pp. 67-8

the “rejected Son” being our Sun

see: Original Sanskrit Texts, tr. J. Muir, 1868-73: “. . . Aditi had eight sons, of whom she only presented seven to the gods, casting out Mārttāṇḍa, the eighth, though she is said to have afterwards brought him forward. . . . Sūrya is, in a few places, spoken of as an Āditya . . . identified with Agni, he is said . . . to have been placed by the gods in the sky.” — 5:54

Surya . . . is called Loka-Chakshuh, “the Eye of the World”

— Footnotes

“Occult Sciences having discovered . . . that the number of the planets must be seven . . .”

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Mais les sciences occultes et les calculs ayant révélé que les planètes devaient exister au nombre de sept, les anciens ont été entraînés à faire entrer le soleil dans le clavier des harmonies célestes, et à lui faire occuper la place vacante. Alors, toutes les fois qu’ils observaient une influence qui ne dépendait d’aucune des six planètes connues, ils l’atrribuaient au soleil [But the occult sciences and calculations having revealed that the number of the planets must be seven, the ancients were led to introduce the Sun into the scale of the celestial harmonies, and make him occupy the vacant place. Thus, every time they perceived an influence that did not pertain to any of the known planets, they attributed it to the Sun] . . .” — p. 447 fn.

“The error only seems important . . .”

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Cette erreur paraît importante, pourtant elle est insignifiante dans la pratique des résultats, si dans les tables des anciens astrologues, on met Uranus à la place du Soleil . . . un astre central, pivotant et relativement immobile, qui règle le temps et la mesure, et qui ne devait pas être détourné de ses véritables fonctions [This error only seems important, but is insignificant in practical results, if in the tables of the ancient astrologers Uranus was put in the place of the Sun . . . a central star, rotating and relatively motionless, regulating time and measure, and which cannot be diverted from its true functions].” — p. 447 fn.

“The Sun-Day ought to be Uranus-day (Urani dies, Urandi)”

— 101 —

The Vedas . . . teach . . . “that the fire verily is all the deities”

(Aitareya-Brâhmana of Haug also . . .)

p/q: Aitareya Brahmanam, tr. Martin Haug, 1863: “Agni, among the gods, has the lowest, Vishṇu the highest place; between them stand all the other deities {Agni was the first of the deities assembled, (and) Vishṇu the last}. . . . For Agni is all the deities . . .” — 2:1, 3 & fn. (i.1)

— 102 —

systems “are gradually changing by atmospheric additions . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, 1883: “W. R. Grove . . . In his essay on the Correlation of the Physical Forces, published in 1843, he suggested that ‘worlds or systems’ ‘are gradually changing by atmospheric additions or subtractions, or by accretions or diminutions arising from nebulous substance, or from meteoric bodies’ (p. 81).” — pp. 52-3

“the Sun may condense gaseous matter as it travels in Space . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, 1883: “Professor W. R. Grove . . . suggested that this diffused matter my become a source of solar heat, ‘inasmuch as the sun may condense matter as it travels in space and so heat may be produced.’ {Address as President of the British Association, 1866}.” — pp. 52-3 & fn.

Mr. W. Mattieu Williams suggested that the diffused matter or Ether . . .

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “Similar views . . . were put forth in 1870, by Mr. W. Mattieu Williams . . . He suggested that this diffused matter or ether which is the recipient of the heat radiations of the universe, is thereby drawn into the depths of the solar mass. Expelling thence the previously condensed and thermally exhausted ether, it becomes compressed and gives up its heat, to be in turn itself driven out in a rarefied and cooled state, and to absorb a fresh supply of heat which he supposes to be in this way taken up by the ether, and again concentrated and redistributed by the suns of the universe.” — pp. 55-6

— Footnotes

Very similar ideas in Mr. W. Mattieu Williams’ “The Fuel of the Sun”

see: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “. . . Mr. W. Mattieu Williams {The Fuel of the Sun} . . . conceived, as Grove had done in 1866, that the sun’s heat is maintained by his condensation of attenuated matter everywhere encountered in his motion through interstellary space.” — pp. 55-6 & fn.

in Dr. C. William Siemen’s “On the Conservation of Solar Energy” . . .

see: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “Dr. C. William Siemens in a recent memoir of extraordinary interest, On the Conservation of Solar Energy {Nature, xxv, 440-4, March 9, 1882} . . . has followed Grove in seeking through its condensation the source of solar heat . . .” — p. 57 & fn.

in Dr. P. Martin Duncan’s “Address of the President of the Geological Society” . . .

see: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “Mr. Williams’ suggestion was adopted by Dr. P. Martin Duncan {In an address as President of the Geological Society, London, May, 1877} who, in 1877, also without the knowledge of Grove’s priority . . . conceived the sun to be slowly attracting to itself the earth’s atmospheric envelope . . .” — p. 56 & fn.

— 103 —

life from primæval Chaos (now the noumenon of irresolvable nebulæ) by aggregation and accumulation

— 104 —

“A shadow never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace . . .”

p/q: John William Draper, History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, 1875: “A shadow never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be made visible by resorting to proper processes. . . . The portraits of our friends or landscape views, may be hidden on the sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance as soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is concealed on a silver or glassy surface until, by our necromancy, we make it come forth into the visible world. Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we have done.” — pp. 132-3

Drs. Jevons and Babbage believe . . . that “each particle of the existing matter . . .”

p/q: W. Stanley Jevons, The Principles of Science, 1874: “In some passages of that most remarkable work, the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, Mr. [Charles] Babbage has pointed out that if we had power to follow and detect the minutest effects of any disturbance, each particle of existing matter must be a register of all that has happened.” — 2:454-5

The forty “Assessors” who stand in the region of Amenti as the accusers of the Soul before Osiris

see: George Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, 1886: “It is usual to attach to the ‘four genii of Amenti’ the ‘forty-two’ who are known as ‘the assessors.’ In representations of Osiris upon the judgment-seat, the assessors usually appear, standing or sitting in two or more rows above him or behind him . . . They were thus not merely judges, but accusers and punishers of crime. Guilty souls were handed over to them by Osiris, but to be ‘tortured’ only, not destroyed.” — 1:188

— Footnotes

These [“Scribes”] are the four “Immortals” which are mentioned in Atharva Veda . . .

— 105 —

The Hindu Chitra-Gupta who reads . . . from his register, called Agra-Sandhani

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “In the epic poems Yama . . . is the god of departed spirits and judge of the dead. A soul when it quits its mortal form repairs to his abode in the lower regions; there the recorder, Chitra-gupta, reads out his account from the great register called Agra-sandhānī . . .” — p. 374

“Now that photography has revealed to us . . .”

p/q: Ély Star, Les Mystères de l’Horoscope, 1888: “Maintenant que la photographie nous a révélé l’influence chimique du système sidéral, en fixant sur la plaque sensible de l’appareil des milliers d’étoiles et de planètes que les plus puissants télescopes actuels ne découvraient point, il nous sera plus facile de comprendre comment notre système solaire peut, à la naissance d’un enfant, influencer son cerveau — vierge de toute impression extérieure — d’une manière déterminée, et d’après la présence au Zénith, de telle ou telle constellation Zodiacale [Now that photography has revealed to us the chemical influence of the Sidereal system, by fixing on the sensitized plate of the apparatus thousands of stars and planets that today’s most powerful telescopes could not discover at all, it becomes easier to understand how our solar system can, at the birth of a child, influence his brain — virgin of any outer impression — in a definite manner and according to the presence on the zenith of such or another zodiacal constellation].” — pp. x-xi

— 106 —

the Unconscious evolved . . . “in the hope of attaining clear self-consciousness,” of becoming . . . man

see: G. S. Morris, “The Theory of Unconscious Intelligence, as Opposed to Theism,” June 19, 1876: “Of the Hegelian system . . . it represents the universe as the gradual evolution of an unconscious, ideal principle . . . which attains to self-consciousness only in man . . .” — p. 261 (Transactions of the Victoria Institute, v. 11)

— 107 —

God . . . making the wind his messenger and his “ministers a flaming fire”

Wallace . . . holds that the evolution of man was directed and furthered by superior Intelligences

see: Alfred Russel Wallace, Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, 1870: “. . . a superior intelligence has guided the development of man in a definite direction . . . to aid in the production of what we can hardly avoid considering as the ultimate aim and outcome of all organized existence — intellectual, ever-advancing, spiritual man. It therefore implies, that the great laws which govern the material universe were insufficient for his production, unless we consider . . . that the controlling action of such higher intelligences is a necessary part of those laws . . .” — pp. 359-60

— 108 —

Dzyu . . . dealing with eternal truths . . . Dzyu-mi . . . deals with illusions

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett [1880 – 1887], comp. A. T. Barker, 1925: “The real (Dgyu) and the unreal (Dgyu-mi). Dgyu becomes Fohat when in its activity . . . Real knowledge deals with eternal verities and primal causes. The unreal only with illusory effects. Dgyu stands independent of the belief or unbelief of man. Dgyu-mi requires faith — rests on authority.” — p. 376 (“Cosmological Notes” by M. & K.H.)

five Dhyanis . . . “celestial” Buddhas, of whom the human Buddhas are the manifestations . . .

see: Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet, 1863: “Thus, to each human Buddha belongs a Dhyāni Buddha and a Dhyāni Bōdhisattva . . . unlimited [in] number . . . Out of this vast number the five Buddhas of the actual period of the universe are particularly worshipped.” “Dhyāni Buddhas, celestial Buddhas, [are] the manifestations of the human Buddhas in the world of forms . . .” — pp. 52, 399

Esoterically, however, the Dhyani-Buddhas are seven . . .

see: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “A Buddha visits the earth for each of the seven races of the great planetary period. The Buddha with whom we are occupied was the fourth of the series, and that is why he stands fourth in the list quoted by Mr. Rhys Davids . . . The fifth, or Maitreya Buddha, will come after the final disappearance of the fifth race . . . The sixth will come at the beginning of the seventh race, and the seventh towards the close of that race.” “. . . five are practically identified in exoteric, and seven in esoteric, teaching . . .” — pp. 171, 173

Amitâbha is the Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni . . .

Amitâbha . . . incarnates on earth as He did in Tzon-kha-pa

see: Clements Markham, Narratives of Tibet, 1876: “. . . there have been two great incarnations of equal rank: the Dalai Lama at Potala . . and the Teshu Lama at Teshu Lumbo, the incarnation of the Buddhisatwa Amitabha, and also of Tsong-khapa, who was himself the incarnation of Amitabha.” — p. xlvii

— 109 —

“the glorious counterparts in the mystic world . . .”

p/q: T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, 1886: “. . . every earthly mortal Buddha has his pure and glorious counterpart in the mystic world, free from the debasing conditions of this material life: or rather that the Buddha under material conditions is only an appearance, the reflection, or emanation, or type of a Dhyāni Buddha . . . The number of Dhyāni Buddhas is accordingly, in theory, infinite, like the number of the Buddhas, but only the five are practically acknowledged.” — pp. 204-5

“Buddhas of Contemplation” . . . are all Anupadaka (parentless)

— 110 —

Darkness generates light

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Whilst he (Brahmā) . . . was meditating on creation, there appeared a creation beginning with ignorance, and consisting of darkness. . . . Brahmā, beholding that it was defective {‘did not as yet possess that which is the purpose of man’}, designed another . . . Beholding this creation also imperfect, Brahmā again meditated; and a third creation appeared, abounding with the quality of goodness . . . and luminous within and without.” — 1:69-72 & fn. (i.5)

Brahmâ’s “Will” or desire to create

the doctrine that Desire, πόθος, is the principle of creation

see: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “He [Sanchoniatho] supposes that the beginning of all things was . . . a breeze of thick air and a Chaos turbid and black as Erebus . . . But when this wind became enamoured of its own first principles (the Chaos), and an intimate union took place, that connexion was called Pothos: and it was the beginning of the creation of all things.” — p. 3 (Euseb. Præp. Evan.)

and this is the Universal Mind . . . the Demiurgos

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — III,” April 1887: “No impulse, no energy, no form in the cosmos can ever come into existence without having its original conception in the field of Chit, which constitutes the demiurgic mind of the Logos.” — p. 446 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

the One Supreme and eternal — manifesting itself as Avalôkitêshwara (or manifested Iswara)

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Now this Parabrahmam which exists before all things in the cosmos is the one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy, which I shall for the present call the Logos. This Logos may be called . . . Eswara . . . It is called Avalokiteswara by the Buddhists . . . Avalokiteswara in one sense is the Logos in general . . . a center of spiritual energy which is unborn and eternal . . .” — p. 303 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 111 —

the “Word made flesh”

see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Notes sur l’Ésotérisme du Dogme Chrétien,” Dec. 1887: “Pour la religion ecclésiastique du Christianisme . . . qui a carnalisé le Logos, ou Verbe . . . notre Sat ne sera jamais ni comprehénsible, ni acceptable . . . La Divinité que nous reconnaissons . . . divinité omniprésente, de qui le seul Verbe qui puisse ‘se faire chair’ est l’Humanité! . . . Le Christos . . . c’est l’Ego spirituel [To the ecclesiatical religion of Christianity . . . which has carnalized the Logos, or Word . . . our Sat will never be either comprehensible or acceptable . . . The Divinity that we acknowledge . . . the omnipresent divinity, of which the only Word that can be ‘made flesh’ is Humanity! . . . The Christos . . . is the spiritual Ego] . . .” — p. 171 (Le Lotus, 1887, No. 9)

— Footnotes

In 1882 . . . Col. Olcott was taken to task for asserting . . . Electricity is matter

see: “Is Electricity Matter or Force?” Sept. 1882: “. . . Col. H. S. Olcott . . . has asserted that electricity is matter . . . ‘Electricity cannot . . . be seen, yet it is matter. The universal ether of science no one ever saw, yet it is matter in a state of extreme tenuity.’ ” — p. 318 (The Theosophist, v. 3)

Maxwell . . . said, years ago, that Electricity was matter, not motion merely. . . .

see: Hermann von Helmholtz, “On the Modern Development of Faraday’s Conception of Electricity,” April 8, 1881: “. . . the mathematical interpretations of Faraday’s conceptions regarding the nature of electric and magnetic force has been given by Clerk Maxwell . . .” “Now, the most startling result, perhaps, of Faraday’s law is this: If we accept the hypothesis that the elementary substances are composed of atoms we cannot avoid concluding that electricity also, positive as well as negative, is divided into definite elementary portions, which behave like atoms of electricity.” — pp. 157, 158 (Chemical News, 43:1115)

(See the Addendum to this Book.)

— 112 —

Vishnu is not a high god in the Rig Veda

“a manifestation of Solar Energy” . . . striding through the Seven regions of the Universe . . .

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “VISHṆU. Root, vish, ‘to pervade.’ . . . In the Ṛig-veda Vishṇu is not in the first rank of the gods. He is a manifestation of the solar energy, and is described as striding through the seven regions of the universe in three steps . . .” — p. 360

“the Vedic God having little in common with the Vishnu of later times”

The “three strides of Vishnu” through the “seven regions of the Universe,” of the Rig Veda

explained by commentators as meaning “fire, lightning and the Sun”

the “three steps” . . . are explained by Aurnavâbha . . .

the Elohim (Elhim) were called Echod, “one” . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Hebrew Metrology,” July, 1885: “. . . from the first [Mosaic tradition], we have the great God-word Elohim. . . . ‘His name is Echod,’ or One. . . . the distinction between the names Elohim and Jehovah, in this, viz: that the first is a generalizing term, serving as a constant as entering into all created works and forms whatever, while the name Jehovah is a particular or discrete manifestation . . .” — p. 327 (Masonic Review, 63:6)

Then came the change, “Jehovah is Elohim” . . . “How is Jehovah Elohim?” . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “The Cabbalah — VI,” June, 1886: “In extracts from Sohar, the Rev. Dr. Cassel . . . says: ‘Jehovah is Elohim (Alhim).’ . . . ‘Es sind drie Stufen, deren jede für sich allein in Gott besteht, obgleich alle zusammen nur eine engverbundene, unzertrennbare Einheit bilden.’ That is — by three steps God, (Alhim) and Jehovah became the same, and though separated, each and together they are of the same One.” — pp. 266-7 (Masonic Review, 65:5)

— 113 —

The Zeroana Akerne is also the “Boundless Circle of the Unknown Time” . . .

see: E. C. Ravenshaw, “On the Winged Bulls, Lions, and Other Symbolical Figures from Nineveh,” 1856: “. . . ‘Time without bounds,’ — ‘Zarua Akerene,’ described in the Zend-avesta, as ‘the ever-soaring bird’ . . . the winged circle came to be considered the symbol of Ormazd, the active creator . . . and sometimes, perhaps, as the symbol of the sun . . .” — pp. 115-16 (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, v. 16)

— Footnotes

the ratio 20612 / 6561 . . . gives the Great Pyramid measures

the triangle being a symbol of deity everywhere

(See . . . “Pythagorean Triangle,” Oliver)

see: Rev. G. Oliver, The Pythagorean Triangle, 1875: “The Pythagoreans maintained the principle of three worlds . . . the inferior, the superior, and the supreme. The inferior contains bodies and magnitudes, as the guardians of things generated and consequently corruptible. Next above is the superior world, intended for superior powers, called by Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, the immortal gods, produced by the divine Mind. The third world, called supreme, is the abode of the One Great Deity, who existed from eternity . . .” — pp. 79-80

— 114 —

“a curve of such a nature . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, A Criticism on the Legendre Mode of the Rectification of The Curve of the Circle, 1881: “The curve of a circle is of such a nature, that as to any, even the least part thereof, if such part be protracted either way, it will finally re-enter on itself and form the entire circumference of the circle.” — p. 13

as shown by the Kabalists . . . otz — “the Tree of the Garden of Eden”

— 115 —

one account enumerates Seven worlds, exclusive of the nether worlds . . .

— Footnotes

‘My mouth speaks . . . I know not thy numbers’

the Hyksos, their (alleged) ancestors, as Josephus shows . . .

see: Flavius Josephus, Works, tr. William Whiston, 1835: “Now this Manetho, in the second book of his Egyptian history, writes . . . ‘there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country, and with ease subdued it by force . . . This whole nation was styled Hycsos, that is, Shepherd-kings; for the first syllable, Hyc . . . denotes a king, as is Sos, a shepherd . . . These people, . . . and their descendents . . . kept possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years.’ ” — p. 583 (Against Apion, i.14)

History knows nothing of the question . . . (See Isis Unveiled, vol. II. . . .)

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “To the present moment, with all the controversies and researches, History and Science remain as much as ever in the dark as to the origin of the Jews. They may as well be the exiled Tchandalas, or Pariahs, of old India, the ‘bricklayers’ mentioned by Vina-Svati, Veda-Vyasa and Manu, as the Phoenicians of Herodotus, or the Hyk-sos of Josephus, or descendents of Pali shepherds, or a mixture of all these.” — 2:438-9

“Khamism . . . unity of the Aryan and Semitic races”

see: Christian C. J. Bunsen, Egypt’s Place in Universal History, 1848-67: “Khamism [the ancient Egyptian language] is the historical proof of the original unity of those two great languages of the world which took at a later period the form of Semitic and Arian . . . The peculiarity of the men of Western Asia or the Semites, which appears already in Egyptian, is here remarkable.” — 4:142

— 116 —

“Another enumeration calls the Seven worlds . . .”

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Another enumeration calls the seven worlds earth, sky, heaven, middle region, place of birth, mansion of the blest, and abode of truth; placing the sons of Brahmā in the sixth division, and stating the fifth, or Jana-loka, to be that where animals destroyed in the general conflagration are born again.” — p. 179

— 117 —

“Deity becomes a whirldwind.” They are also called Rotæ

see: The Hexaglot Bible, 1901: “. . . a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself . . . out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures . . .” “. . . et aspectus earum et opera, quasi sit rota in medio rotæ.” “. . . and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” — pp. 341, 342, 343 (Ezekiel, 1: 4, 5 [KJV], 16 [Vulgate], 16 [KJV])

the moving wheels of the celestial orbs participating in the world’s creation

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . le Zohar nous montre les ophanim, ou roues mouvantes des orbes célestes, participant à la création de l’univers [the Zohar shows us the Ophanim, or moving wheels of the celestial orbs, participating in the creation of the universe].” — 2:339

in the Kabala, they are represented by the Ophanim . . .

Hicetas, Heraclides, Ecphantus . . . taught the rotation of the earth

Aryabhata . . . Aristarchus, Seleucus, and Archimedes calculated its revolution

the theory of the Elemental Vortices . . . by Sir W. Thomson

see: Sir William Thomson, “On Vortex Atoms,” March 6, 1867: “After noticing Helmholtz’s admirable discovery of the law of vortex motion in a perfect liquid . . . the author said that this discovery inevitably suggests the idea that Helmholtz’s rings are the only true atoms. . . . to explain the properties of matter, on the hypothesis that all bodies are composed of vortex atoms in a perfect homogeneous liquid.” — p. 197 (Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, v. 6)

— Footnotes

“The doctrine of the rotation of the earth about an axis . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “The doctrine of the rotation of the earth about an axis was taught by the Pythagorean Hicetas, probably as early as 500 B.C. It was also taught by his pupil Ecphantus, and by Heraclides, a pupil of Plato. The immobility of the sun and the orbital rotation of the earth were shown by Aristarchus of Samos as early as 281 B.C., to be suppositions accordant with facts of observation. The heliocentric theory was taught about 150 B.C., by Seleucus of Seleucia on the Tigris.” — p. 551

“It is said also that Archimedes, in a work entitled Psammites . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “It is said also that Archimedes, in a work entitled Psammites, inculcated the heliocentric theory. The sphericity of the earth was distinctly taught by Aristotle, who appealed for proof to the figure of the earth’s shadow on the moon in eclipses {De Coelo, ii.14}. The same idea was defended by Pliny {Natural History, ii.65}. These views seem to have been lost from knowledge for more than a thousand years.” — pp. 551-2 & fns. (“Pre-Kantian Speculations”)

— 118 —

“Double Triangle” . . . Spirit and Matter . . . a sign of Vishnu . . .

see: Krishnashankar Lalshankar, “The Six-Pointed and Five-Pointed Stars,” Nov. 1881: “. . . the ‘double triangle’ which is known to the Western nations as ‘Solomon’s Seal’, and in India . . . as the ‘sign of Vishnu’ . . . represents symbolically the macrocosm . . . of the dual trinity of spirit, matter and space, and the creative, preservative, and destructive energies as understood by the Aryans.” — p. 30 (The Theosophist, v. 3)

— Footnotes

“The first Cause is the Infinite or Unlimited. This gives existence . . .”

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “The first cause is the infinite or unlimited. This gives existence to the first finite or limited. That which produces a limit is analogous to motion. The limit produced is a point, the essence of which is motion; but being without parts, this essence is not actual motion but only a conatus [vital impulse] to it. From this first proceed extension, space, figure and succession or time. As in geometry a point generates a line, a line a surface, and a surface a solid, so here the conatus of a point tends towards lines, surfaces and solids. In other words, the universe is contained in ovo in the first natural point. The motion toward which the conatus tends is circular, since the circle is the most perfect of all figures . . . ‘The most perfect figure of the motion above described must be the perpetually circular; that is to say, it must proceed from the centre to the periphery and from the periphery to the centre.’ ” — p. 567 (Swedenborg, Principia Rerum Naturalium)

— 119 —

“Spiral lines” . . . an evolution which takes place gradually

see: Addenda, §V, “Organic Evolution and Creative Centres”: “Universal Evolution, otherwise, the gradual development of species in all the kingdoms of nature, works by uniform laws.” “. . . the ethereal forms of the first Men are first projected on seven zones by seven Dhyan-Chohanic centers of Force . . . they work in cycles and on a strictly geometrical and mathematical scale of progression . . . an eternal spiral progress into matter with a proportionate obscuration of spirit . . .” — SD 2:731-2

— 120 —

“. . . boundless and infinite expansion” . . . the name of Brahmâ

see: Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, 1875: “The more common name . . . is Brahman, neut. (nom. Brahmā), derived from root bṛih, ‘to expand,’ and denoting the universally expanding essence or universally diffused substance of the universe.” — p. 12 fn.

— Footnotes

In the Rig Veda we find the names Brahmanaspati and Brihaspati alternating . . .

— 121 —

“Very familiar facts seem to stand in no need of explanation . . .”

p/q: Alexander Bain, Logic, 1870: “Very familiar facts seem to stand in no need of explanation themselves, and to be the means of explaining whatever can be assimilated to them. Thus, the boiling and evaporation of a liquid is supposed to be a very simple phenomenon requiring no explanation, and a satisfactory medium of the explanation of rarer phenomena. That water should dry up is, to the uninstructed mind, a thing wholly intelligible; whereas to the man acquainted with Physical science, the liquid state is anomalous and inexplicable. The lighting of a fire, by contact with a flame, is a great scientific difficulty; yet few people think so.” — 2:125

“God is a living Fire”

the Pentecostal “Tongues of Fire”

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And when the day of Pentecost [50 days after Passover] was fully come . . . there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind . . . And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” — p. 156 (Acts, 2:1-3)

the “burning bush” of Moses

— 122 —

(“the Lord thy God is a consuming fire”)

the “four Maharajahs”

— 123 —

“The glory of God comes from the way of the East”

all the evil under the Sun comes from the North . . .

it is precisely for that reason that “we curse the North-Wind . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Voilà pourquoi . . . nous maudissons l’aquilon et que dans le baptême nous commençons par nous tourner vers l’occident (sidéral), pour mieux renoncer à celui qui l’habite; après quoi, nous tournant vers l’orient’ {St. Ambroise, sur Amos, ch. vi.} [It is precisely for that reason . . . that we curse the North Wind, and that in the ceremony of baptism we begin by turning towards the (sidereal) West, the better to renounce the one who inhabits it; after which we, turning to the East {St. Ambrose, On Amos, ch. vi.}] . . .” — 3:397 & fn.

στοιχεῖα . . . incorporeal principles placed at each of the four great divisions of our Cosmical world

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Platon et Aristote ne cessent de nous le répéter, ils n’entendaient par στοιχεῖα que les principes incorporels préposés à chacune des quatre grandes divisions de notre monde cosmique [Plato and Aristotle were repeatedly telling us that στοιχεῖα was understood only as meaning the incorporeal principles placed at each of the four great divisions of our Cosmic world].” — 3:396

— Footnotes

“every visible thing in this world had an angelic virtue as an overseer . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Quoique saint Augustin . . . ait avancé quelque part qu’à chaque chose visible de ce monde était préposée une vertu angélique, il faut bien se garder d’entendre cela des individus, mais des espèces entières, dont chacune en effet a son ange particulier [Although St. Augustine . . . has said somewhere that every visible thing in this world has an angelic virtue, one has to be careful not to conceive this as individuals but as entire species, each in fact having its own particular angel].” — 3:396 (Vossius, Theologia Gentili, 1.VII)

— 123-4 —

For the Church there are two kinds of Sidereal beings . . . “the Rectors of Light” . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . il y a donc aussi deux armées, deux cités; celle des recteurs de lumière . . . et celle des recteurs ténébreux (rectores tenebrarum harum) . . . cosmocrates primitifs ou usurpateurs, que l’Église interdit [so there are also two armies, two cities; that of the rectors of light . . . and that of the rectors of darkness . . . primitive cosmocratores or usurpers, whom the Church forbids] . . .” — 3:396

— 124 —

“every particle of the existing matter must be a register of all that has happened”

— Footnotes [124-5]

Moleschott . . . assures us that “Thought is the movement of matter”

p/q: Louis Büchner, Force and Matter, 1864: “What we term mind, thought, conception, is the result of natural, though peculiarly combined, forces . . . combined in an infinitely complicated mode . . .” “. . . inherent forces, which in themselves are nothing but various modes of material motions.” “ ‘Thought is a motion of matter.’ Moleschott.” — pp. 49, 52-3, 135

every thought . . . aspect on the astral plane (See “The Occult World” . . .)

see: A. P. Sinnett, The Occult World, 1883: “ ‘. . . every thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner world, and becomes an active entity by associating itself, coalescing we might term it, with an elemental — that is to say, with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the kingdoms.’ ” — pp. 89-90 (K.H., First Letter to Hume, Nov. 1, 1880)

the Single Substance Doctrine . . . Professor Bain, ably terms “guarded Materialism”

among its upholders such men as Lewis [Lewes]

such men as . . . Spencer, Ferrier, and others

see: Alexander Bain, Mind and Body, 1875: “. . . it has been computed (Herbert Spencer) that five times as much blood circulates in the grey or corpuscular substance as in the white or fibrous substance. In these imperfectly understood changes of the nerve-tissue, we have the embodiment of what is called the nerve-force.” “[The] popular expounder of these views is Büchner . . . This principle . . . [is] the essential and inherent activity of matter; all known force being in fact embodied in matter. . . . [These writers] ask with Priestley and Ferrier: ‘Why introduce a new entity, or rather a nonentity, until we see what these multifarious activities of matter are able to accomplish?’ ” — pp. 33, 195

— 125 —

In the Egyptian temples, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, an immense curtain . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . dans les temples égyptiens comme dans ceux des Hébreux, au rapport de saint Clément d’Alexandrie, un immense rideau, supporté par cinq colonnes, séparait le tabernacle, dans lequel les prêtres seuls avaient le droit d’entrer, des autres parties de l’édifice [according to Clement of Alexandria, in the Egyptian temples as in those of the Hebrews, an immense curtain, supported by five columns, separated the tabernacle, in which only the priests had the right to enter, from the other parts of the building].” — 3:397-8 (Clement, Stromata, 1.V.6)

see: Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, tr. William Wilson, 1869: “The covering, then, the barrier of popular unbelief, was stretched in front of the five pillars, keeping back those in the surrounding space. . . . For great is the crowd that keep to the things of sense, as if they were the only things in existence. . . . But the knowledge of God is a thing inaccessible to the ears and like organs of this kind of people.” — pp. 240-1 (Strom. V.6, Writings of Clement, v. 2)

symbolizing our five senses . . . while the four colours . . . the four terrestrial elements

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Ce rideau représentait, par la distinction de ses quatre couleurs, les quatre éléments principaux, πρωτων, et signifiait la connaissance de Dieu que les cinq sens de l’homme peuvent lui procurer par l’entremise des quatre éléments [This curtain represented by the distinction of its four colors the principal elements, πρωτων, and meant knowledge of God which the five senses of man can procure for him through the agency of the four elements] . . .” — 3:398 (Clement, Stromata, 1.V.6)

the square tabernacle raised by Moses . . . “Thou shalt make an hanging . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work . . . And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side . . . on the north side there shall be twenty boards . . . westward shalt thou make six boards . . . And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet . . . And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood . . .” “And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.” — pp. 106-7 (Exodus, 26:1, 18, 20, 22, 36-7; 27:4)

— Footnotes

[In Monism] thought, they say, is . . . only “the subjective side of nervous motion”

see: Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Psychology, 1883: “Though accumulated observations and experiments have led us by a very indirect series of inferences to the belief that mind and nervous action are the subjective and objective faces of the same thing, we remain utterly incapable of seeing, and even of imagining, how the two are related.” — 1:140 (vii.56)

“Natura Elementorum obtinet . . .”

Consult the Zends . . . as compared by Layard . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Voir, sur la même théorie, ‘les Zends,’ t. II., p. 228, et Plutarque, de Isid., rapprochés par M. Layard [Lajard], Acad. des inscr., 1854, t. XV [See, on the same theory, ‘the Zends,’ 2:228, and Plutarch, De Iside, as compared by Lajard, Academie des Inscriptions, 1854, v. 15].” — 3:398 fn.

— 125-6 —

Tabernacle pillars are the same as those raised at Tyre to the four elements . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ . . . ce que représentent les quatre faces des pyramides, des obélisques, des colonnes que Josèphe nous dit avoir été élevées dans le temple de Tyr aux quatre éléments, et placées sur des piédestaux dont les quatre angles regardaient les quatre points cardinaux [that represents the four sides of the pyramids, obelisks, of the columns which according to Josephus, have been erected to the four elements in the temple of Tyre, and have been placed on pedestals, the four corners of which faced the four cardinal points].” — 3:397

— 126 —

“the angles of the pedestals had equally the four figures of the Zodiac”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . Josèphe ajoute que ‘ces angles de piédestaux portaient également les quatre figures du Zodiaque, qui représentent la même orientation’ [Josephus adds that ‘these corners of the pedestals also supported the four figures of the zodiac, which represent the same orientation’].” — 3:397 (Josephus, Antiquities, 1.viii.22)

see: Flavius Josephus, Works, tr. William Whiston, 1835: “There stood round about it twelve oxen, that looked to the four winds of heaven, three to each wind . . . there were four small quadrangular pillars that stood one at each corner . . . upon which was engraven, in one place a lion, and in another place a bull and an eagle.” — p. 167 (Antiquities of the Jews, Bk 8, ch. 3, §§ 4-6)

Layard . . . finds the four cardinal points . . . in the religion of every country

see: Felix Lajard, Recherches sur le Culte du Cyprès Pyramidal chez les peuples civilisés de l’Antiquité [Researches on the Worship of the Pyramidal Cypress among the Civilized Peoples of Antiquity], 1847 — pp. 34-104 (Annales de l’Institut Archéologique, v. 4, new series, Report XIX)

“the Devas who preside each over one of the four continents . . .”

p/q: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “The four Maharajas, or ‘Great kings’ of the Devas, preside each over one of the four continents into which the Hindoos divide the world. Visitors in Chinese temples will have noticed two warlike images on each side, just within the entering door. . . . Each leads an army of spiritual beings to protect mankind and Buddhism.” — p. 216

four living creatures “who have the likeness of a man” . . .

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself . . . Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures . . . they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.” — p. 1035 (Ezekiel, 1:4-6 )

describing Mount Meru as: “the exalted mass of glory . . .”

p/q: “Story of the Churning of the Ocean” [Mahābhārata, 1.15], tr. Charles Wilkins, Oct. 1817: “There is a fair and stately mountain and its name is Meru, a most exalted mass of glory, reflecting the sunny rays from the splendid surface of its gilded horns. It is clothed in gold and is the respected haunt of Devas and Gandharvas. It is inconceivable, and not to be encompassed by sinful man; and it is guarded by dreadful serpents.” — 4:346 (Asiatic Journal, v. 4)

— 127 —

“The word signifies in Hebrew, fullness of knowledge . . .”

p/q: Alexander Cruden, Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures, 1830: “CHERUB. This word in the Hebrew signifies fulness of knowledge; and angels are so called from their exquisite knowledge, and were therefore used for the punishment of man, who sinned by affecting divine knowledge, Gen. 3. 24.” — p. 72

the Cherub placed at the gate of the garden of Eden after the “Fall” . . .

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . therefore the Lord God sent him [Adam] forth from the garden of Eden . . . and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” — p. 5 (Genesis, 3:23-24)

“I looked, and behold, a whirlwind . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And I looked, and behold, a whirldwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself . . . Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. . . . the face of a man and the face of a lion . . . the face of an ox . . . the face of an eagle.” — p. 1035 (Ezekiel, 1:4-6, 10)

Compare the “Ophite Spirits”

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “Among the seven ophite spirits, the first, the lion, corresponded with Michael; the second, the bull, with Uriel; the third, the dragon, with Raphael; the fourth, the eagle, with Gabriel . . .” — 1:118

“Now as I beheld the living creatures . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . their appearance was like burning coals of fire . . . Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. . . . and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” — pp. 1035-6 (Ezekiel, 1:13, 15-16)

“for the support of the living creature was in the wheel”

— 128 —

the guardian deities . . . Loka-Pâlas, “Supporters or guardians of the World”

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “LOKA-PĀLAS. Supporters or guardians of the world. The guardian deities who preside over the eight points of the compass, i.e., the four cardinal and four intermediate points of the compass . . . Each of these guardian deities has an elephant who takes part in the defence and protection of the quarter . . .” — p. 180

— Footnotes

The Jews . . . having no names for East, West, South, and North, expressed . . .

see: Alexander Cruden, Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures, 1830: “The Hebrews express the east, west, north, and south, by words which signify, before, behind, left and right, according to the situation of a man, with his face turned towards the east.” — p. 155

out of the forty-seven translators . . . of England’s Bible “only three understood Hebrew . . .”

p/q: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “With respect to the latter translators — the forty-seven of King James I. of England and VI. of Scotland — be it remembered that only three understood Hebrew; and of these two died before the psalms were translated . . .” — 2:511

— 129 —

Achath, feminine, “One,” and Achod, “One” . . . masculine

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “The word Elohim is a plural formed from the feminine singular ALH, Eloh, by adding IM to the word. . . . it gives to the word Elohim the sense of a female potency united to a masculine idea . . . Now, this Mother is Elohim. . . . Achath (feminine, not Achad, masculine) Ruach Elohim Chiim: One is She the Spirit of the Elohim of Life.” — pp. 21-2 (Introduction)

— 130 —

Elohim is a plural noun . . . with the plural word Chiim [Chayim]

see: The Targums, tr. [& glossary] J. W. Etheridge, 1865: “The name Elohim is the plural form of El or Eloha . . . Elohim is used not only with plural pronouns . . . but with plural adjectives (Elohim . . . chayim, ‘living Gods’ . . .).” — pp. 3-4 (Glossary)

— Footnotes

“Achath-Ruach-Elohim-Chiim” denotes the Elohim as androgynous . . .

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . we are usually told that the Holy Spirit is masculine. But the word RVCh, Ruach, Spirit, is feminine, as appears from the following passage of the Sepher Yetzirah: ‘. . . Achath (feminine . . .) Ruach Elohim Chiim: One is She the Spirit of the Elohim of Life.’ ” — p. 22 (Introduction)

“Mulaprakriti . . . acts as the one energy through the Logos . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it . . . Parabrahmam, after having appeared on the one hand as the ego, and on the other as Mulaprakriti, acts as the one energy through the Logos.” — p. 304 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

“Now Parabrahmam, is the one essence . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Now this Parabrahmam which exists before all things in the cosmos is the one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy, which I shall for the present call the Logos. . . . It is called the Verbum or the Word by the Christians, and it is the divine Christos who is eternally in the bosom of his father. It is called Avalokiteswara by the Buddhists . . .” — p. 303 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

“In almost every doctrine, they have formulated the existence of a centre . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “In almost every doctrine they have formulated the existence of a centre of spiritual energy which is unborn and eternal, and which exists in a latent condition in the bosom of Parabrahmam at the time of pralaya, and starts as a centre of conscious energy at the time of cosmic activity.” — p. 303 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

Parabraham . . . It is not Ego nor is it Non-ego . . .

— 131 —

the Devaloka worlds and firmaments

— 132 —

Muktas or Jivatmas (Monads) who have attained Moksha . . . “may incarnate on Earth”

p/q: N. Bhashyacharya, Catechism of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy, 1887: “Muktas (Jivatmas who have attained Moksha) are never again subject to the qualities of matter or to Karma. But if they choose, for the sake of doing good to the world, they may incarnate on earth.” — §150

“The Jiva (Soul) goes with Sukshma Sarira . . .”

p/q: N. Bhashyacharya, A Catechism of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy, 1887: “. . . the Jiva goes with sukshmasarira from the heart of the body, to the Brahmarandra in the crown of the head, traversing the Sushumna, a nerve connecting the heart with the Brahmarandra. The Jiva breaks through the Brahmarandra and goes to the region of the sun (Suryamandala) through the solar rays. Then it goes, through a dark spot in the sun, to Paramapada. . . . The Jiva is directed on its way to Paramapada by the Supreme Wisdom acquired by Yoga. The Jiva thus proceeds to Paramapada by the aid of the Athivāhikas (bearers in transit) known by the names of Archi Ahas . . . Aditya . . . Prajapatis . . . The archis, etc., here mentioned are certain pure souls and not the ordinary night, day, month, year, air, etc.” — §§ 156-7

— Footnotes

Sophia Achamoth is shown lost in the waters of Chaos (matter)

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “. . . the Spirit rests upon Chaos, or the waters of creation, which are Matter, Water, Darkness, the Abyss. . . . the imperfect [Sophia] Achamoth upon descending into Chaos, lost her way there . . . hopelessly entangled in Matter . . .” — p. 96

Christos delivering and helping her on the right Path

in the old Coptic MSS. . . . “Christos” . . . replaced by “Jesus”

see: Pistis-Sophia, tr. G. R. S. Meade (& notes by Meade & HPB), April 15, 1890: “ ‘This treatise, ascribed to Valentinus . . . was discovered by Schwartze in a Coptic MS. preserved in the British Museum’ {Experts say it is the oldest Coptic MS. in the Museum}.” “It will greatly add to the clear understanding of the mystic narrative if the reader bears in mind that the term ‘Jesus’ stands for Christos . . .” — pp. 107 & fn., 108 [Introduction] (Lucifer, v. 6)

— 133 —

— Footnotes

“I confess I am much disposed to assert the existence of Immaterial natures in the world . . .”

p/q: Eduard von Hartmann, Spiritism, tr. & Preface by C. C. Massey, 1885: “ ‘I confess,’ said Kant (‘Träume eines Geistersehers,’ &c.), ‘that I am much disposed to assert the existence of immaterial natures in the world . . . the human soul stands even in this life in indissoluble association with all immaterial natures in the spirit-world . . .’ ” — p. xvi (Preface)

see: Immanuel Kant, Dreams of a Spirit-Seer [Träume eines Geistersehers], tr. E. F. Goerwitz, 1900: “I confess that I am very much inclined to assert the existence of immaterial natures in the world, and to put my soul itself into that class of beings.” “. . . ‘it will be proved’ I don’t know where or when, that the human soul also in this life forms an indissoluble communion with all immaterial natures of the spirit-world, that, alternately, it acts upon and receives impressions from that world . . .” — pp. 52, 61

— 134 —

— Footnotes

“Le Livre des Morts,” by Paul Pierret; “Le Jour de ‘Viens a nous’ . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Le Jour de Viens à nous! C’est le jour où Osiris a dit au Soleil: Viens! Je le vois rencontrant le Soleil dans l’Amenti [The day of Come-to-us! It is the day when Osiris says to the Sun: Come! I see him meeting the Sun in Amenti (the afterworld)].” — p. 61 (xvii.41-2)

“it must not be supposed that the Logos is but a single centre of energy . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “. . . such centres of energy are almost innumerable in the bosom of Parabrahmam. It must not be supposed that this Logos is but a single centre of energy which is manifested by Parabrahmam. There are innumerable others.” — p. 304 (The Theosophist, v.8)

See also . . . the day of “Come-To-Us,” The Funerary Ritual of the Egyptians . . .

— 135 —

the soul of every defunct person . . . became an Osiris, was Osirified

see: William Palmer, Egyptian Chronicles, 1861: “So each ancestor in turn went . . . to the original Osiris as patriarch of the dead, and to his intermediate ‘Osirified’ fathers, and was himself Osirified like them; all making one collective Osiris, waiting for that reunion and restoration which was to come . . .” — 1:3

— 136 —

Daiviprakriti, the Light manifested through Eswara

the Mother and also the Daughter of the Logos

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “The reason why it is called the mother of Christos is this. When Christos manifests himself in man as his Saviour it is from the womb, as it were, of this divine light that he is born. So it is only when the Logos is manifested in man that he becomes the child of this light of the Logos — this maya; — but in the course of cosmic manifestation this Daiviprakriti, instead of being the mother of the Logos, should, strictly be called the daughter of the Logos.” — p. 305 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 137 —

Kwan-Yin-Tien . . . the “melodious heaven of Sound”

Kwan-Yin, or the “Divine Voice” . . .

“Speech” . . . Thus may be traced the connection with . . . the Hebrew Bath-Kol . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “The Cabbalah — VI,” June, 1886: “The first (Alhim, Elohim) is like the Hebrew letters, which are the frame-work for sound or speech, but are dead without the use of the living vowels, or the Spirit, the Bath Col, or Daughter of the Voice.” — p. 259 (Masonic Review, 65:5)

Vâch, the goddess of Speech . . . “generated by the gods” . . . “who yields us nourishment . . .”

p/q: Original Sanskrit Texts, tr. J. Muir, 1868-73: “When Vāch (speech) . . . queen of the gods, sat down, melodious, she milked forth sustenance and waters towards the four quarters . . . The gods generated the divine Vāch . . . may this melodious cow Vāch . . . approach us, when we celebrate her praises.” — 3:253 (Rigveda viii, 89, 10)

Brahmâ . . . dividing his body into two parts, male and female . . . Vâch, Viraj

explaining the reason why Eswara (or Brahmâ) is called Verbum or Logos . . .

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “. . . I may however allude to one other point, which explains the reason why Eswara is called Verbum or Logos; why in fact it is called Sabda Brahmam [Logos of Brahman].” — p. 307 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— Footnotes

“Evolution is commenced by the intellectual energy of the Logos . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Now creation or evolution is commenced by the intellectual energy of the Logos. The universe . . . does not spring into existence by mere chance, nor does it spring into existence merely on account of the potentialities locked up in Mulaprakriti. . . . This light of the Logos is the link, so to speak, between objective matter and the subjective thought of Eswara. It is called in several Buddhist books fohat. It is the one instrument with which the Logos works.” — p. 306 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 138 —

“The explanation I am going to give you . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “The explanation I am going to give you will appear thoroughly mystical. But if mystical it has a tremendous significance when properly understood. Our old writers said that Vach is of four kinds. These are called para, pasyanti, madhyama, vaikhari. This statement you will find in the Rig Veda itself and in several of the Upanishads. Vaikhari Vach is what we utter.” — p. 307 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

“Every kind of vaikhari Vâch . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “Every kind of vaikhari Vach exists in its madhyama, further in its pasyanti, and ultimately in its para form. The reason why this Pranava is called Vach is this, that these four principles of the great cosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach. Now the whole manifested solar system exists in its sukshma form in this light or energy of the Logos, because its image is caught up and transferred to cosmic matter, and again the whole cosmos must necessarily exist in the one source of energy from which this light emanates.” — p. 307 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

“The whole cosmos in its objective form is vaikhari Vâch . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “The whole cosmos in its objective form is vaikhari Vach, the light of the Logos is the madhyama form, and the Logos itself the pasyanti form, and Parabrahmam the para aspect of that Vach. It is by the light of this explanation that we must try to understand certain statements made by various philosophers to the effect that the manifested cosmos is the Verbum manifested as cosmos.” — p. 307 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 139 —

“The whole Kosmos must necessarily exist in the One Source . . .”

“Pragna, or the capacity of perception . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “A Personal and An Impersonal God,” Feb. 1883: “Just as a human being is composed of seven principles, differentiated matter in the solar system exists in seven different conditions. . . . Further, Pragna or the capacity of perception exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven conditions of matter.” — p. 105 (The Theosophist, v. 4)

— 140 —

what is termed the “Over-Soul” by Emerson

it is made the standing reproach of the Ancients that they “supposed their Elements simple . . .”

— 141 —

— Footnotes

“Where are we to draw the line?” . . .

p/q: William Crookes, “Elements and Meta-Elements,” March 28, 1888: “Where then are we to draw the line? The different groupings shade off so imperceptibly the one into the other . . . Is there no way out of this perplexity? Must we either make the elementary examinations so stiff that only some 60 or 70 candidates can pass, or must we open the examination doors so wide that the number of admissions is limited only by the number of applicants?” — p. 207 (Chemical News, May 25, 1888)

“Take the case of yttrium. It has its definite atomic weight . . .”

p/q: William Crookes, “Address of the President,” March 28, 1888: “Take the case of yttrium. It has its definite atomic weight; it behaved in every respect as a simple body, an element, to which we might indeed add, but from which we cannot take away. Yet this yttrium, this supposed homogeneous whole, on being submitted to a certain method of fractionation, is resolved into portions not absolutely identical among themselves, and exhibiting a gradation of properties. Or take the case of didymium: here was a body betraying all the recognised characters of an element. It had been separated with much difficulty from other bodies which approximated closely to it in their properties, and during this crucial process it had undergone very severe treatment and very close scrutiny.” — p. 217 (Chemical News, June 1, 1888)

“But then came another chemist . . .”

p/q: William Crookes, “Address of the President,” March 28, 1888: “But then came another chemist who, treating this assumed homogeneous body by a peculiar process of fractionation, resolved it into the two bodies praseodymium and neodymium, between which certain distinctions are perceptible. Further, we even now have no certainty that neodymium and praseodymium are simple bodies. On the contrary, they likewise exhibit symptoms of splitting up. Now, if one supposed element on proper treatment is thus found to comprise dissimilar molecules, we are surely warranted in asking whether similar results might not be obtained in other elements, perhaps in all elements, if treated in the right way? We may even ask where the process of sorting-out is to stop? a process which of course presupposes variations between the individual molecules of each species. And in these successive separations we naturally find bodies approaching more and more closely to each other.” — p. 217 (Chemical News, June 1, 1888)

— 142 —

the essence of Cometary matter . . . “is totally different . . .”

p/q: “Reply to an English F.T.S.,” 1885: “The essence of cometary matter must be — and the ‘Adepts’ say is — totally different from any of the chemical or physical characteristics with which the greatest chemists and physicists of the earth are familiar . . .” — pp. 241-2 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 143 —

— Footnotes

“that the elements are not absolutely homogeneous” . . .

p/q: Sir William Crookes, “Elements and Meta-Elements,” March 28, 1888: “We now come to the last objection pertinently put forth by Clerk-Maxwell to the hypothesis that the elements are not absolutely homogeneous. He writes: ‘It is difficult to conceive of selection and elimination of intermediate varieties, for where can these eliminated molecules have gone to if, as we have reason to believe, the hydrogen, &c., of the fixed stars is composed of molecules identical in all respects with our own.’ ” — p. 499 (Journal of the Chemical Society, v. 53)

“In the first place we may call in question this absolute molecular identity . . .”

p/q: Sir William Crookes, “Elements and Meta-Elements,” March 28, 1888: “In the first place we may call in question this absolute molecular identity, since we have hitherto had no means for coming to a conclusion save the means furnished by the spectroscope, whilst it is admitted that for accurately comparing and discriminating the spectra of two bodies they should be examined under identical states of temperature, pressure, and all other physical conditions. We have certainly seen, in the spectrum of the sun, rays which we have not been able to identify.” — p. 499 (Journal of the Chemical Society, v. 53)

— 144 —

— Footnotes

A period of 311,040,000,000,000 years

see: Sūrya Siddhānta, tr. [& cm.] Ebenezer Burgess [& W. D. Whitney], 1860: “21. [Brahmā’s] extreme age is a hundred . . .{a hundred years [of Brahmā], each composed of three hundred and sixty days [360 x 4,320,000,000 yrs.] and nights [360 x 4,320,000,000 yrs.] . . . The length of Brahma’s life would be . . . 311,040,000,000,000 solar years} . . .” — pp. 154-5 & note (Journal of the American Oriental Society, v. 6)

— 145 —

sprung like Rudra from Brahmâ . . . a male and a female

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “[Brahmā] was filled with wrath capable of consuming the three worlds . . . Then from his forehead, darkened with angry frowns, sprang Rudra, radiant as the noon-tide sun, fierce, and of vast bulk, and of a figure which was half male, half female.” — 1:102-4 (i.7)

He has seven sons who are his brothers

— 146 —

Substantialists who call every Force and Energy . . . an “Entity”

see: A. Wilford Hall, “Scientific Evidence of a Future Life, No. 2,” July 1886: “If the principles of Substantialism be true, then, as there shown, every force or form of energy known to science must be a substantial entity.” — p. 1 (Scientific Arena, v. 1, no. 2)

— 147 —

See “Gods, Monads, and Atoms,” Part III.

Vide infra, “A Few Theosophical Misconceptions, etc.”

Scientists . . . will dogmatise. It is “a mode of motion”

see: Lyell Adams, “On the Value of Empirical Generalizations,” Oct. 1875: “Men still call themselves psychologists, physiologists, physicists, and so on, but the bent of them all is towards the interpretation of mind as an affection of matter, and of all affections of matter as modes of motion.” — pp. 609-10 (The New Englander, v. 34)

Universal Motion . . . explained in the first pages of this volume

— 148 —

“Seven Neutral Centres”

“The evolution of what is called ‘matter’ from the different modes of vibration is through the action of the second law . . . or ‘negative attraction’ . . . Where the vibrations under this mode meet, and are maintained in a state of mutual affinity or equilibrium, there is established what is called a ‘neutral centre’ . . .” — pp. 359-60

“Fair foundations (are) laid whereon to build . . .”

“. . . Knowledge forbidden? [to Adam & Eve]

. . . Can it be sin to know?

. . . And do they only stand

By Ignorance? Is that their happy state,

The proof of their obedience and their faith?

O fair foundation laid whereon to build

Their ruin! hence I will excite their minds

With more desire to know . . .” — p. 123 (Paradise Lost, iv.515, 517-23)

— Footnotes

the inventor of the famous “Motor” . . . calls the “Etheric Centres”

see: Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, Keely and His Discoveries, 1893: “[Mr. Keely writes:] ‘. . . I can only answer this question properly by entering into a progressive synthesis, starting on the rotating etheric centres that were fixed by the Creator with their attractive or accumulative power.’ ” — p. 200

— 149 —

scientific philosophy . . . defined by Kant as “the Science of the limits to our Knowledge”

p/q: Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, tr. John P. Mahaffy, 1872: “Reason . . . cannot be fully satisfied with any empirical use of the rules of understanding, as being always conditioned . . . and various complaints have been made concerning these limits to our knowledge.” — 3:122-4 (§§ 45, 46, Kant’s Critical Philosophy for English Readers)

— Footnotes

Uranus . . . whose satellites . . . from East to West

see: John Ogilvie, Imperial Dictionary, 1883: “There is still some uncertainty as to the number of satellites belonging to Uranus. . . . [There are] four which are seen by astronomers at the present time . . . The satellites of Uranus differ from the other planets . . . (with the exception of Neptune’s satellite), in the direction of their motion, which is from east to west . . .” — 4:528

— 150 —

— Footnotes

Laplace . . . calculating on the theory of probabilities, offered to bet . . .

see: P.-S. de Laplace, Exposition du Système du Monde, 1827: “Leur mouvement de rotation [et] leur movement de révolution . . . ne sont point dus à des causes irrégulières. En soumettant au calcul leur probabilité on trouve qu’il y a plus de deux cent mille milliards à parier contre un, qu’ils ne sont point l’effet du hasard . . . Nous devons donc croire au moins avec la même confiance, qu’une cause primitive a dirigé les mouvemens planétaires [Their rotational movement and their orbital movement . . . are not due to irregular causes. Calculating their probability, we find the odds are more than two hundred thousand milliards to one that they are not the result of chance . . . So we have to believe at least with the same confidence that one primary cause directed the planetary motions].” — pp. 518-19

— 150-1 —

key to Cosmic physics . . . “to be turned seven times” . . .

— 151 —

these theories . . . contradict . . . statements made by other Theosophists

— 152 —

— Footnotes

See . . . the summary of the Stanzas in the Proem, page 22

— 153 —

the diagram appended to the Comments on Verse 7 [6] of Stanza VI

— 154 —

Pliny, who called the Earth our kind nurse and mother . . .

see: Samuel Ward, Modern System of Natural History, v. 11, 1776: “This earth, says Pliny [Natural History, ii.63], like a kind mother, receives us at our birth, and sustains us when we are born. It is the only element around us that is never found an enemy to man.” — p. 6

the Earth . . . the Footstool of God

For Earth is . . . the vestibule — “. . . to glorious mansions . . .”

— Footnotes

“The astronomical conclusions are theories . . .”

p/q: Samuel Laing, Modern Science and Modern Thought, 1888: “. . . the astronomical conclusions are theories based on data so uncertain, that while in some cases they give results incredibly short, like that of 15 millions of years for the whole past process of the formation of the solar system, in others they give results almost incredibly long, as in that which supposes the moon to have been thrown off when the earth was rotating in three hours, while the utmost retardation claimed from observation would require 600 millions of years to make it rotate in twenty-three hours instead of twenty-four.” — p. 48

— 155 —

Mr. Darwin’s theory

see: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “Mr. G. H. Darwin has recently shown that the actual seat of most rapid cooling in the earth is probably about 100 miles below the surface, and that this point continues to descend as cooling progresses.” — p. 296

— Footnotes

For Darwin’s theory to hold good . . . more incongruous speculations had to be invented

see: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “. . . the moon cooled nearly six times as rapidly as the earth . . . If the earth’s incrustation began fourteen million years ago . . . the moon reached the present terrestrial stage eleven and two-thirds millions of years since.” — p. 379

— 156 —

“there is not much mystery left now . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “. . . there is not much mystery left now in the riddle of the eighth sphere, nor as to the place in the sky where it may be sought. The conditions of existence there, however, are topics on which the adepts are very reserved in their communications to uninitiated pupils . . .” — p. 113

— 157 —

septenary division in differnet indian systems . . .

— 158 —

“From the foregoing table it will be seen . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Septenary Division in Different Indian Systems,” 1885: “From the foregoing table it will be seen that the third principle in the Buddhist classification is not separately mentioned in the Vedantic division as it is merely the vehicle of prāna. It will also be seen that the fourth principle is included in the third kosa (sheath), as the said principle is but the vehicle of will-power, which is but an energy of the mind. It must also be noticed that the Vignanamayakosa is considered to be distinct from the Manomayakosa, as a division is made after death between the lower part of the mind, as it were, which has a closer affinity with the fourth principle than with the sixth and its higher part, which attaches itself to the latter, and which is, in fact, the basis for the higher spiritual individuality of man.” — pp. 185-6 (Five Years of Theosophy)

“We may also here point out . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Septenary Division in Different Indian Systems,” 1885: “We may also here point out to our readers that the classification mentioned in the last column is for all practical purposes connected with Raja Yoga, the best and simplest. Though their [there] are seven principles in man, there are but three distinct Upadhis (bases), in each of which his Atma may work independently of the rest. These three Upadhis can be separated by an adept without killing himself. He cannot separate the seven principles from each other without destroying his constitution.” — p. 186 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 159 —

(See diagram No. 2 infra, “The Moon and the Earth.”)

(see diagram No. 1)

— 159-60 —

“Beginning so early as with the 2nd round . . .”

see: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Beginning with the second Round, already evolution proceeds on quite a different plan. . . . It is only the first Round that man becomes from a human being on Globe B. a mineral, a plant, an animal on Planet C. The method changes entirely from the second Round; but — I have learned prudence with you; and will say nothing before the time for saying it has come.” — pp. 177-8 (K.H., Letter XXIII B, § 29, Oct. 1882)

— 160 —

“Man,” which came later . . .

— 161 —

Gautama Buddha, it was held, was a Sixth-Rounder . . .

One Master taught . . . “Fifth-Rounders” even now on Earth . . .

see: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “The present mankind is at its fourth round . . . The Buddhas and Avatars form the exception as verily we have yet some Avatars left to us on earth.” — p. 77 (M., Letter XIII, Jan. 1882)

“A few drops of rain do not make a Monsoon . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “A few drops of rain do not make a monsoon though they presage it. . . . No, we are not in the fifth round, but fifth round men have been coming in for the last few thousand years.” — p. 84 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 2, 1882)

— 162 —

“It is impossible . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “Clearly it is impossible when the complicated facts of an entirely unfamiliar science are being presented to untrained minds for the first time, to put them forward with all their appropriate qualifications, compensations and abnormal developments visible from the beginning. We must be content to take the broad rules first and deal with the exceptions afterwards . . . the traditional methods of teaching, generally followed, aim at impressing every fresh idea on the memory, by provoking the perplexity it at last relieves.” — p. 145

— 163 —

the erroneous statement that . . . “besides the Earth . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “Besides the earth . . . there are only two other worlds of our chain which are visible to physical eyes — the one behind and the one in advance of it. These two worlds, as a matter of fact, are Mars and Mercury . . .” — p. 136

“What planets, of those known to ordinary science . . .”

“Mars, etc., and four other planets . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Mars and four other planets of which astronomy knows yet nothing. Neither A, B, nor Y, Z, are known; nor can they be seen through physical means however perfected.” — p. 176 (K.H., Letter XXIII B, Oct. 1882)

— 164 —

“there are other and innumerable Manvantaric chains . . .”

“the traditional modes of teaching . . .”

— Footnotes

“Try to understand that you are putting me questions . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “. . . try to understand that you are putting me questions pertaining to the highest initiations. That I can give you a general view, but that I dare not nor will I enter upon details . . .” — p. 177 (K.H., Letter XXIII B, Oct. 1882)

— 165 —

there ‘must exist some defect in the mother idea of the theory’ as Faye justly observes

p/q: Alexander Winchell, World-Life, or Comparative Geology, 1883: “M. Faye, in the first of his important memoirs on nebular cosmogony {Comptes Rendus . . .}, has presented it as a difficulty in the theory of Laplace that the inner satellite of Mars revolves in about one-third the period of the planet’s rotation . . . ‘There must exist, therefore, some defect in the mother idea of the theory.’ ” — p. 168 & fn.

‘Gratification of curiosity is the end of knowledge for some men’ . . .

see: Francis Bacon, Works, v. 3, 1857: “. . . we would in general admonish all to consider the true ends of knowledge, and not to seek it for the gratification of their minds . . . but for its instrinsic merit and purposes of life.” — p. 337 (Preface, Novum Organum)

‘knowledge dwells / In heads replete with thoughts of other men . . .’

— 166 —

‘The minor Pralaya . . .’

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “There are three kinds of pralayas . . . 1. The universal or Maha pralaya . . . 2. The solar pralaya . . . 3. The minor pralaya . . . The minor pralayas of No. 3 concern but our little string of globes, whether man-bearing or not. To such a string our Earth belongs.” — p. 93 (K.H., Letter XV, July 10, 1882)

— 167 —

‘Let us imagine,’ wrote the same Master . . .

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Let us imagine that our earth is one of a group of seven planets or man-bearing worlds . . . Now the life impulse reaches ‘A’ or rather that which is destined to become ‘A’ and which so far is but cosmic dust.” — p. 94 (K.H., Letter XV, July 10, 1882)

— 167-8 —

“I believe this will lead to a further confusion. . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “I believe this will lead to a further confusion. A Round we are agreed to call the passage of a monad from globe ‘A’ to globe ‘Z’ (or ‘G’) . . .” — p. 80 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

— 168 —

“The ‘World-Ring’ is correct. . . .”

“Not being permitted to give you the whole truth . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Not being permitted to give you the whole truth, or divulge the number of isolated fractions, I am unable to satisfy you by giving you the total number.” — p. 81 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

“Try to solve the problem of 777 incarnations . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Though I am obliged to withhold information about many points yet if you should work out any of the problems by yourself it will be my duty to tell you so. Try to solve the problem of the 777 incarnations.” — p. 83 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

the revelation of the whole system . . . had not been contemplated . . .

see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Correspondence,” May 15, 1888: “. . . the revelations then broached were purposely designed to rather offer a bird’s-eye view of the doctrine than to render a detailed treatment . . . No regular systematic teaching was ever contemplated, nor could it be given to a layman . . .” — p. 256 (Editor’s Note, Lucifer, v. 2)

— 168-9 —

the four Vidyas . . . “Yajna-Vidya” . . . “Maha-Vidya” . . . “Guhya-Vidya” . . . “Atma-Vidya” . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The four Vidyās or branches of knowledge are said to be: Yajna-vidyā, knowledge or performance of religious rites; Mahā-vidyā, great knowledge, the worship of the female principle, or Tāntrika worship; Guhya-vidyā, knowledge of mantras, mystical prayers, and incantations; and Ātma-vidyā, knowledge of soul, true wisdom.” — 1:148 fn.

— 169 —

“on pure metaphysics of that sort we are not now engaged”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “. . . an evolution from something behind it, as every imaginable manifestation of Nature must be, until in the vast series of manifestations, the mind travels back to the unmanifested beginning of all things. On pure metaphysics of that sort we are not now engaged.” — p. 46

“Why this preaching of our doctrines . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “A quoi bon . . . this preaching of our doctrines, all this uphill work and swimming in adversum flumen? Why should the West be so anxious then to learn anything from the East, since it is evidently unable to digest that which can never meet the requirements of the special tastes of its Esthetics. . . . I do not want to discourage you. I would only draw your attention to the formidable difficulties encountered by us in every attempt we make to explain our metaphysics to Western minds, even among the most intelligent.” — p. 193 (K.H., Letter XXV, Feb. 2, 1883)

— 170 —

“the spiritual monads . . . do not fully complete their mineral existence on globe A . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “The spiritual monads . . . do not fully complete their mineral existence on globe A, then complete it on globe B, and so on. They pass several times round the whole circle as minerals, and then again several times round as vegetables, and several times as animals. We purposely refrain for the present from going into figures . . .” — p. 49

“For reasons which are not easy . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “For reasons which are not easy for the outsider to divine, the possessors of occult knowledge are especially reluctant to give out numerical facts relating to cosmogony, though it is hard for the uninitiated to understand why these should be withheld.” — p. 140

— 171 —

theological dogma of a newly-created soul for every baby born

see: Jonathan Edwards, Works, 1830: “God is the Creator of men in both soul and body; but their souls are in a special and more immediate manner his workmanship, wherein less use is made of second causes, instruments, or means, or any thing pre-existent.” — 7:180

— 172 —

that Globe . . . begins to die (to go into its planetary pralaya)

see: Max Müller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, 1899: “. . . the very popular idea of Pralayas, i.e. destructions or absorptions of the whole world . . . At the end of this Pralaya, however, Brahman creates or lets out of himself a new world, matter becomes gross and visible once more, and souls become active and reimbodied . . .” “. . . in the Bhagavad-gītā IX, 7, the idea of Pralayas, absorptions, and of Kalpas or ages, of their end and their beginning . . . are already quite familiar to the poets.” — pp. 144, 145

— 173 —

the Japanese Yamaboosis . . . the ascetic monks of Kioto

see: C. Pfoundes, Fu-so Mimi Bukuro, 1875: “The Yamabushi is a sect of wandering priests . . .” “The chief temple of this sect is in Kiôto and is named Mio an ji, or temple of light and darkness. That in Yedo is known as Ichi-getz-ji, or one-moon temple.” — pp. 114, 115

the mystics of the Lao-Tze sect . . . the Dzenodoo

see: H. P. Blavatsky, “A Bewitched Life,” Aug. 1885: “. . . the temple of Tzi-onene, a Buddhist monastery . . . None other is so venerated in Kioto. Its monks belong to the sect of Dzeno-doo . . . They are connected, moreover, closely connected, and allied with the Yama-boosi, (the ascetics or ‘hermits’) who follow the doctrines of Lao-tze.” — p. 267 (The Theosophist, v. 6)

— 174 —

(the Lunar Gods or “Spirits,” called in India, the Pitris)

— 175 —

(See “Gods, Monads and Atoms.”)

the enormous period intervening between the mineral epoch . . .

— 175-6 —

“The full development of the mineral epoch on Globe A . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “The full development of the mineral epoch on globe A prepares the way for the vegetable development, and as soon as this begins, the mineral life impulse overflows into globe B. Then when the vegetable development on globe A is complete and the animal development begins, the vegetable life impulse overflows to globe B, and the mineral impulse passes on to globe C. Then, finally, comes the human life impulse on globe A.” — pp. 48-9

— 176 —

“. . . there are processes of evolution . . .”

“There are seven kingdoms. . . .”

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “There are seven kingdoms. The first group comprises three degrees of elementals, or nascent centres of forces — from the first stage of the differentiation of Mulaprakriti to its third degree — i.e., from full unconsciousness to semi-perception; the second or higher group embraces the kingdoms from vegetable to man; the mineral kingdom thus forming the central or turning-point in the degrees of the ‘Monadic Essence’ — considered as an Evoluting Energy. Three stages in the elemental side; the mineral kingdom; three stages in the objective physical side — these are the seven links of the evolutionary chain.” — p. 276 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 176-7 —

“A descent of spirit into matter . . .”

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “A descent of spirit into matter, equivalent to an ascent in physical evolution; a re-ascent from the deepest depths of materiality (the mineral) towards its status quo ante, with a corresponding dissipation of concrete organisms up to Nirvana — the vanishing point of differentiated matter.” — p. 276 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 177 —

there are the three elemental Kingdoms, which precede the Mineral

And what relation does it bear to an Atom? . . . “None whatever . . .”

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “What relation does the monad bear to the atom? None whatever to the atom or molecule as in the scientific conception at present. It can neither be compared with the microscopic organism classed once among polygastric infusoria, and now regarded as vegetable and ranked among algae; nor is it quite the monas of the Peripatetics. Physically or constitutionally the mineral monad differs, of course, from the human monad, which is neither physical nor can its constitution be rendered by chemical symbols and elements.” — pp. 273-4 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 177-8 —

In short, as the spiritiual Monad is One . . . so the Mineral Monad . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “In short, the mineral Monad is one — the higher animal and human monads are countless. Otherwise, how could one account for and explain mathematically the evolutionary and spiral progress of the four kingdoms?” — p. 274 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 178 —

The “Monad” is the combination of the last two “principles” in man . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “The ‘monad’ is the combination of the last two Principles in man, the 6th and the 7th, and, properly speaking, the term ‘human monad’ applies only to the Spiritual Soul, not to its highest spiritual vivifying Principle. But since divorced from the latter the Spiritual Soul could have no existence, no being, it has thus been called.” — p. 274 (Five Years of Theosophy)

Now the Monadic, or rather Cosmic, Essence . . . in the mineral, vegetable, and animal . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “Now the Monadic Essence (if such a term be permitted) in the mineral, vegetable, and animal, though the same throughout the series of cycles from the lowest elemental up to the Deva kingdom, yet differs in the scale of progression. It would be very misleading to imagine a monad as a separate entity trailing its slow way in a distinct path through the lower kingdoms, and after an incalculable series of transmigrations flowering into a human being; in short, that the monad of a Humboldt dates back to the monad of an atom of horneblende. Instead of saying a mineral monad, the correcter phraseology in physical science which differentiates every atom, would of course have been to call it the Monad manifesting in that form of Prakriti called the mineral kingdom.” — pp. 274-5 (Five Years of Theosophy)

The atom, as represented in the ordinary scientific hypothesis . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “Each atom or molecule of ordinary scientific hypothesis is not a particle of something, animated by a psychic something, destined to blossom as a man after aeons. But it is a concrete manifestation of the Universal Energy which itself has not yet become individualized: a sequential manifestation of the one Universal Monas. The ocean does not divide into its potential and constituent drops until the sweep of the life-impulse reaches the evolutionary stage of man-birth. The tendency towards segregation into individual monads is gradual, and in the higher animals comes almost to the point.” — p. 275 (Five Years of Theosophy)

The Peripatetics applied the word Monas to the whole Kosmos . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “The Peripatetics applied the word Monas to the whole Cosmos, in the pantheistic sense; and the Occultists while accepting this thought for convenience’ sake, distinguish the progressive stages of the evolution of the Concrete from the Abstract by terms of which the ‘Mineral Monad’ is one. The term merely means that the tidal wave of spiritual evolution is passing through that arc of its circuit.” — p. 275 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 178-9 —

The ‘Monadic Essence’ begins to imperceptibly differentiate . . .

p/q: “About the Mineral Monad,” 1885: “The ‘Monadic Essence’ begins to imperceptibly differentiate in the vegetable kingdom. As the monads are uncompounded things, as correctly defined by Leibnitz, it is the spiritual essence which vivifies them in their degrees of differentiation which constitutes properly the monad — not the atomic aggregation which is only the vehicle and the substance through which thrill the lower and the higher degrees of intelligence.” — p. 275 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 180-1 —

the Manasa-Putras, those who endow the “senseless” shells . . . with “mind”

see: The Bhagavadgītā, Sanatsujātīya and Anugītā, tr. K. T. Telang, 1882: “The mind said . . . I am the eternal chief among the elements. Without me, the senses never shine, like an empty dwelling, or like fire the flames of which are extinct. Without me, all beings, like fuel half-dried and half moist, fail to apprehend qualities or objects, even with the senses exerting themselves.” — p. 268 (Anugītā, vii)

— 181 —

the Manasa-Dhyanis (the Solar Devas . . .) the “givers of intelligence and consciousness” to man

see: “On the Identity and Differences of the Incarnating Powers”: “The Endowers of man with his conscious, immortal ego, are the ‘Solar Angels’ . . .” “All these are the Manasam . . . who incarnated in the Third Race, and in this and various other ways endowed mankind with Mind.” — SD 2:88, 89

— 182 —

the most retarded . . . ushered into a new chain after pralaya . . .

see: F. Max Müller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, 1899: “According to the Vedānta, there occurs at the end of each Kalpa a Pralaya or dissolution of the universe, and Brahman is then reduced to its causal condition . . . At the end of this Pralaya, however, Brahman creates or lets out of himself a new world, matter becomes gross and visible once more, and souls become active and re-embodied, though with a higher enlightenment . . .” — p. 144

— 183 —

Every form on earth . . . to follow the model . . . in the ‘heavenly man’

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “. . . the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image everything is formed . . .” “ ‘The Heavenly Adam . . . who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., the En Soph), created the Earthly Adam.’ . . . ‘He unites in himself all forms.’ ” — pp. 27, 29 (Sohar, iii, 48 a.)

— 184 —

The human fœtus follows in its transformation all the forms . . .

see: Ernst Haeckel, The Pedigree of Man, 1883: “In man also, as in his lower fellows, the manifold series of forms through which the organism passes during its individual development from the egg, presents us, approximately and in outline, with a picture of the series of forms through which its ancestors have passed in the course of measureless ages.” — p. 131

— 185 —

— Footnotes

the reader is referred “to the Brahmins . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Let any one inquire of an educated Brahman the reason for the respect shown to monkeys — the origin of which feeling is indicated in the story of the valorous feats of Hanoumā, the generalissimo and faithful ally of the hero of Ramayana, and he would soon be disabused of the erroneous idea that the Hindus accord deific honors to a monkey-god. He would, perhaps, learn — were the Brahman to judge him worthy of an explanation — that the Hindu sees in the ape but what Manu desired he should: the transformation of species most directly connected with that of the human family — a bastard branch engrafted on their own stock before the final perfection of the latter.” — 2:278

“He might learn, further . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “He might learn, further, that in the eyes of the ‘heathen’ the spiritual or inner man is one thing, and his terrestrial, physical casket another. That physical nature, the great combination of physical correlations of forces ever creeping on toward perfection, has to avail herself of the material at hand; she models and remodels as she proceeds, and finishing her crowning work in man, presents him alone as a fit tabernacle for the overshadowing of the Divine spirit.” — 2:278-9

a German scientific work is mentioned

see: Bibliotheca Sacra, v. 34, July 1877: “In the pamphlet entitled ‘The Dissolution of Species by Natural Selection’ [Ueber die Auflösung der Arten durch Natürliche Zuchtwahl], the anonymous author [J. W. Albert Wigand] aims to show that the necessary result of a development in accordance with the principle of natural selection will be the final reduction of all organic species to one single, universal organism, in which meet the respective characteristics of plant, animal, and man . . .” — p. 578 (“Notices on Recent Publications”)

a Hanoverian scientist had recently published a Book . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “A Hanoverian scientist has recently published a work entitled Ueber die Auflösung der Arten durch Natürliche Zucht Wahl, in which he shows, with great ingenuity, that Darwin was wholly mistaken in tracing man back to the ape. On the contrary, he maintains that it is the ape which has evolved from man. That, in the beginning, mankind were, morally and physically, the types and prototypes of our present race and of human dignity, by their beauty of form, regularity of feature, cranial development, nobility of sentiments, heroic impulses, and grandeur of ideal conceptions.” — 2:278 fn.

This is a purely Brahmanic, Buddhistic and Kabalistic philosophy. . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “This is a purely Brahmanic, Buddhistic, and kabalistic philosophy. His book is copiously illustrated with diagrams, tables, etc. He says that the gradual debasement and degradation of man, morally and physically, can be readily traced throughout the ethnological transformations down to our times. And, as one portion has already degenerated into apes, so the civilized man of the present day will at last, under the action of the inevitable law of necessity, be also succeeded by like descendants. If we may judge of the future by the actual present, it certainly does seem possible that so unspiritual and materialistic a body as our physical scientists should end as simia rather than as seraphs.” — 2:278-9 fn.

— 186 —

“the mineral kingdom will no more develop the vegetable . . .”

“Man belongs to a kingdom distinctly separate . . .”

— 187 —

“It is enough to show that we may . . . conceive a life-impulse giving birth . . .”

the explanation of the Master (Mr. Sinnett’s “teacher”) . . .

— 188 —

having to pass through states . . . as “Inmetallization, Inherbation, Inzoonization . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “The monad performs not only ‘world rings’ or seven major inmetalliations, inherbations, zoonisations (?) and incarnations — but an infinitude of sub-rings or subordinate whirls all in a series of sevens.” — pp. 80-1 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

the necessity of failures . . . “Still, as these ‘failures’ are too far progressed . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “. . . there must be ‘failures’ in the ethereal races of the many classes of Dyan Chohans or Devas as well as among men. But still as these failures are too far progressed and spiritualized to be thrown back forcibly from their Dyan Chohanship into the vortex of a new primordial evolution through the lower kingdoms . . .” — p. 87 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

When Karma has reached them . . .

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Then Karma has reached them and they will have to accept to the last drop in the bitter cup of retribution. Then they become an active Force, and commingle with the Elementals . . . to develop little by little the full type of humanity.” — p. 87 (K.H., Letter XIV, July 9, 1882)

“Man in the First Round and First Race on Globe D . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “1st Round. — An ethereal being — non-intelligent, but super-spiritual. In each of the subsequent races and sub-races and minor races of evolution he grows more and more into an encased or incarnate being, but still preponderatingly etherial. And like the animal and vegetable he develops monstrous bodies correspondential with his coarse surroundings.” — p. 87 (K.H., July 9, 1882, Letter XIV, “Supplementary Notes”)

“II. Round. He (Man) is still gigantic and ethereal . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “2nd Round. — He is still gigantic and etherial, but growing firmer and more condensed in body — a more physical man, yet still less intelligent than spiritual; for mind is a slower and more difficult evolution than the physical frame and the mind would not develop as rapidly as the body.” — p. 87 (K.H., July 9, 1882, Letter XIV, “Supplementary Notes”)

— 188-9 —

“III. Round. He has now a perfectly concrete or compacted body . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “3rd Round. — He has now a perfectly concrete or compacted body; at first the form of a giant ape, and more intelligent (or rather cunning) than spiritual. For in the downward arc he has now reached the point where his primordial spirituality is eclipsed or over-shadowed by nascent mentality. In the last half of this third round his gigantic stature decreases, his body improves in texture (perhaps the microscope might help to demonstrate this) and he becomes a more rational being — though still more an ape than a Deva man.” — pp. 87-8 (K.H., July 9, 1882, Letter XIV, “Supplementary Notes”)

— 189 —

“IV. Round. Intellect has an enormous development . . .”

p/q: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “4th round. — Intellect has an enormous development in this round. The dumb races will acquire our human speech, on our globe, on which from the 4th race language is perfected and knowledge in physical things increases. At this half-way point of the fourth round, Humanity passes the axial point of the minor manwantaric circle. (More-over, at the middle point of every major or root race evolution of each round, man passes the equator of his course on that planet, the same rule applying to the whole evolution or the seven rounds of the minor Manwantara — 7 rounds ÷ 2 = 3½ rounds). At this point then the world teems with the results of intellectual activity and spiritual decrease.” — p. 88 (K.H., July 9, 1882, Letter XIV, “Supplementary Notes”)

‘. . . centred in our make such strange extremes! . . .’

— 190 —

Hanuman is the son of Pavana . . .

The reader . . . will find in Book II . . . the whole explanation of this ingenious allegory.

— 191 —

“the counterfeit of a man . . .”

The “Lemuro-Atlantean” . . . was higher than we are with all our sciences

see: “Are Giants Fiction?”: “[Lemuro-Atlanteans] were giants in knowledge and learning . . . Their Science was innate in them . . . Creuzer describes them well in saying that: — ‘Those children of Heaven and Earth were endowed with extraordinary faculties . . . They commanded the Elements, knew the secrets of heaven and the earth . . .’ ” — SD 2:285

— 192 —

“The holy youths (the gods) refused to multiply . . .”

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “From Brahmā . . . were born mind-engendered progeny . . . But, as they did not multiply themselves, Brahmā created other mind-born sons . . . But they were without desire or passion . . . estranged from the universe, and undesirous of progeny.” — 1:100-2 (i.7)

6. The curse is pronounced

see: “Is Pleroma Satan’s Lair?”: “. . . the fall of all these Logoi and Demiurgi from their primitive exalted position, had in all cases one and the same esoteric signification in it; the curse — in its philosophical meaning — of being incarnated on this earth . . .” — SD 2:515

— 193 —

Jewish Kabalists arguing . . . Ruach (Spirit) was united to Nephesh (living Soul)

see: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “The living soul they designated Nephesh chaiah . . . produced by, the infusion of the spirit . . . into the quickening body of man . . .” “. . . the Greek Anémos represents the Hebrew Ruach, the designation of that from which Nephesh chaiah . . . proceeded . . . Do not these relations, thus co-ordinated, suggest that the ancient doctrine in regard to the soul was that it proceeded from the union of spirit and body . . .?” — pp. 190, 192

“There were many wars” refers to . . . Powers — pure Essences — “that were told to create”

see: The Hymns of Orpheus [tr. Thomas Taylor], 1792: “. . . the following account of the battles of the Gods . . . ‘For some [gods] determine their essence about unity, on which they depend; and others . . . are mutually separated from each other . . . Some supply the power of generating to inferiors; and others exhibit a constant and undefiled purity.’ ” — pp. 157-8 fn. (Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Republic)

— 194 —

“And there was war in Heaven . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and they prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world . . .” — p. 329 (Revelation, 12:7-9)

the same story is given in the Codex Nazareus . . .

see: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “BAHAK ZIVO . . . said with a loud voice: I am father of the genii . . . This is the command, that I construct creatures . . . Ignorant of Orcus . . . nor having knowledge of consuming fire which is wanting in light, I shall not have this in my power . . . Thereupon he receives most kindly Fetahil [Ptahil] who has been called to his aid . . .” — p. 50 (Codex Nazaraeus, I.181)

This is a repetition of the failure of the “Fathers” . . . (Book II, Sloka 17)

We will now quote from our earlier Volumes . . .

— Footnotes

“According to the symbolical teaching . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “According to the symbolical teaching here, spirit, from being simply a functioning agent of God, became volitional in its developed and developing action, and, substituting its own will for the Divine desire in its regard, so fell. Hence the kingdom of spirits and spiritual action, which flow from and are the product of spirit volition, are outside, and contrasted with and in contradiction to the kingdom of souls and divine action.” — p. 233

“When man was created, he was human in constitution . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “When man was created he was human in constitution, with human affections, human hopes and human aspirations . . . From this state he fell — into the brute and the savage . . . it was a fall from the natural into the supernatural and the animal . . .” — p. 235

On the authority of Irenæus, of Justin Martyr and the Codex . . .

see: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “. . . SPIRITUS {The sacred prophets say that one and the same SPIRIT is divided into seven pneumata (spirits). — Justin, ad Graecos}. The SPIRITUS even at one time conceived ‘Seven Figures’ . . . Namely, She bore the Seven Stellars (Planets) {Irenæus, I. xxxiv. p. 136, is closely allied to the Codex Nasaraeus}.” — p. 52 & fns.

Dunlap shows that the Nazarenes regarded “Spirit” as a female and Evil Power . . .

see: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “The Nasarenes treat their ‘Spirit’ as an evil Power . . . Justin Martyr also compares the Spirit that moved on the face of the waters with Kora; making the Spirit feminine . . . Christ, the Kurios, and Kora would then be the Light-god and his feminine Spiritus: Christ and the Holy Ghost are the Gnostic Pair that produce Aeons. — Irenæus, I. pp. 11, 13, 15, ff..” — p. 52 fn.

— 194-5 —

“Then steps on the stage of creation the spirit . . .”

— 195 —

Thus the spirit of the Earth perceiving that . . . the splendour was ‘changed’ . . .

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “. . . the ‘Spirit’ strengthening herself . . . discovered that the Splendor was changed, and that for the Splendor existed ‘decrease and damage’ . . . and said to Karabtonos who was frantic and without sense and judgment: Arise, see, the Splendor (light) of the Newest MAN (i.e. of Fetahil [Ptahil]) has failed, the decrease of this Splendor is visible. Rise up, lie with thy MOTHER, and free thee from limits by which thou art held, and those more ample than the whole world.” — p. 51 (Codex Nazaraeus, i.181)

the Spiritus conceives “Seven Figures,” and the seven stellars (planets) . . .

Fetahil extends his hand towards the abyss of matter . . .

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “Extending then his hand toward the abyss, Fetahil [Ptahil] said: Let the earth exist, just as the abode of the Powers has existed. And, his hand having been dipped in, even a certain thickening . . . took place.” — p. 52 (Codex Nazaraeus, i.181)

“Then the Codex proceeds to tell how Bahak-Zivo was separated . . .”

— Footnotes

Fetahil . . . was, with the Nazarenes, the king of light, and the creator . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Fetahil [Ptahil] was with the Nazarenes the king of light, and the Creator; but in this instance he is the unlucky Prometheus, who fails to get hold of the Living Fire, necessary for the formation of the divine soul, as he is ignorant of the secret name (the ineffable or incommunicable name of the kabalists).” — 1:300 fn.

See Franck’s “Codex Nazaræus”

“La gradation par laquelle la doctrine nazaréenne descend du souverain être aux dernières limites de la création est exactement la même que dans un passage du Zohar [The steps by which the Nazarene doctrine descends from the supreme being to the farthest limits of creation are exactly the same as in a passage of the Zohar] . . .” — p. 346

“. . . ils sont l’expression mythologique de ce principe, d’ailleurs très nettement formulé dans le Code nazaréen, que les ténèbres et le mal ne sont que l’affaiblissement graduel de la lumière divine [these are mythological expressions of this principle, that darkness and evil are only the gradual weakening of the divine light, which is elsewhere very clearly formulated in the Nazarene codex].” — p. 349

— 195-6 —

Then Mano (the greatest), who dwells with the greatest ferho . . .

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “The FIRST LIFE pours forth . . . to the greatest Mano, who dwells with the greatest FERHO. . . . who was named Kebar Zivo, and by another name, Nebat Iavar bar Iufin Ifafin . . . Helm and Vine of the food of Life, and, commiserating the Genii (Angels) on account of the magnitude of their ambition, said to him: Genie, Lord of the Genii, see what the Genii (Angels) do, and about what they are consulting.” — p. 53 (Codex Nazaraeus, i.135)

— 196 —

They say, ‘Let us call for the world . . .’

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “They say: Let us call forth . . . the world, and let us call the ‘Powers’ into existence. The Genii are the Princes . . . Sons of Light, but Thou art the Messenger of Life.” — p. 53 (Codex Nazaraeus, i.135)

And in order to counteract the influence of the seven “badly disposed” principles . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “And in order to counteract the influence of the seven ‘badly disposed’ principles, the progeny of Spiritus, Cabar Zio, the mighty Lord of Splendor, procreates seven other lives (the cardinal virtues) who shine in their own form and light ‘from on high’ and thus reëstablishes the balance between good and evil, light and darkness.” — 1:301

— Footnotes

See the Cosmogony of Pherecydes.

see: François Lenormant, The Beginnings of History, 1883: “fragments of pherecydes’ cosmogony. . . . Pherecydes says that the first principles are Zês, Chthonia and Cronos, Zês being the ether . . .” “[Zês] brought into concord and true harmony the world composed of contrary elements . . .” — pp. 537, 538, 539

— 196-7 —

“The Astral Light or Anima mundi . . .”

p/q: H. B. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The Astral Light, or anima mundi, is dual and bisexual. The male part of it is purely divine and spiritual; it is the Wisdom; while the female portion (the spiritus of the Nazarenes) is tainted, in one sense, with matter, and therefore is evil already. It is the life-principle of every living creature, and furnishes the astral soul, the fluidic perisprit to men, animals, fowls of the air, and everything living. Animals have only the germ of the highest immortal soul as a third principle. It will develop but through a series of countless evolutions; the doctrine of which evolution is contained in the kabalistic axiom: ‘A stone becomes a plant; a plant a beast; a beast a man; a man a spirit; and the spirit a god.’ ” — 1:301 fn.

— 197 —

the three Kabalistic Faces

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . the ten Sephiroth represent the archetypal man . . . In looking at the Sephiroth constituting the first triad, it is evident that they represent the intellect . . . The second triad corresponds to the moral world . . . The third represents power and stability, and is therefore called the material world. . . . These three aspects are called the faces, ANPIN.” — p. 28 (Introduction)

In . . . Isis . . . the primitive Jewish Christians, the Nazarenes and the Ebionites, are fully considered. . . .

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The Gospel according to the Hebrews was but too well known to have been the only one accepted for four centuries by the Jewish Christians, the Nazarenes and the Ebionites. And neither of them accepted the divinity of Christ. . . . But to return to our Sophia-Achamoth and the belief of the genuine, primitive Christians. . . . Ilda-Baoth, is thus the ‘son of darkness,’ the creator of our sinful world (the physical portion of it).” — 2:183

— Footnotes

the difference between nous, the higher divine wisdom, and psyche, the lower and terrestrial . . .

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish . . . But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits . . .” — p. 301 (Epistle of James, 3:15, 17)

Vide “Demon est Deus inversus”

— 198 —

the seven planetary spheres . . . of which Earth is the lowest

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “As soon as Jesus was born, Christos, the perfect, uniting himself with Sophia (wisdom and spirituality), descended through the seven planetary regions, assuming in each an analogous form, and concealing his true nature from their genii . . .” — 2:186

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1887: “The soul thus descending, as it passes through each sphere receives successive coatings, as it were, of a luminous body, and is furnished at the same time with several faculties it has to exercise during its probation upon Earth.” — p. 316

(See the Section On Satan . . .)

— Footnotes

About the Nazarenes see Isis . . .

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The oldest Nazarenes, who were descendants of the Scripture nazars, and whose last prominent leader was John the Baptist, although never very orthodox in the sight of the scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem were, nevertheless, respected and left unmolested. . . . But the followers of Jesus . . . became a still more exasperating thorn in their side . . .” — 2:132

— 199 —

In the Kabala, worlds are compared to sparks . . .

see: Christian D. Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “ ‘There were old worlds . . . which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form . . .’ ” — p. 21 (Idra Suta, Sohar, iii, 292 b.)

— 199-200 —

In Section the VIIth of this Book . . . the Commentary upon Saptaparna

— 200 —

See also the Section of that name in Part II.

The Archetypal World . . . Creative World . . . Formative World . . . Material World

— 201 —

Something “caused the Universe to move with circular motion”

— Footnotes

Mrs. Elizabeth Denton . . . This is what she described in one of her experiments

“What a difference between that which we recognize as matter here . . .”

p/q: William Denton, The Soul of Things, 1874: “ ‘What a difference between that which we recognize as matter here and that which seems like matter there! In the one, the elements are so coarse and so angular, I wonder that we can endure it all, much more that we can desire to continue our present relations to it: in the other, all the elements are so refined, they are so free from those great, rough angularities which characterize the elements here, that I can but regard that as by so much more than this the real existence.’ ” — 3:346

— 202 —

Northern Mythology refers to it as the battle of the Flames, the sons of Muspel . . .

Hence the incessant fight of Indra . . . with the Asuras . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “INDRA. The god of the firmament . . . he is continually at war with Vṛitra or Ahi, the demon of drought and inclement weather . . .” “He is frequently at war with the Asuras, of whom he lives in constant dread . . .” — pp. 123, 124, 125

Hence also the War in Heaven . . . when a third of the stars . . . was hurled down into Space

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven . . . a great red dragon . . . And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth . . . And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” — p. 329 (Revelation, 12:3, 4, 7, 8)

— 202-3 —

“This is the basic and fundamental stone of the secret cycles. . . .”

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “This basic and true fundamental stone [foundation stone] of the secret cycles, shows on its very face, that far from taking their revealed Vedas and Bible literally, the Brahman-pundits, and the Tanaïm — the scientists and the philosophers of the pre-Christian epochs — speculated on the creation and development of the world quite in a Darwinian way, both anticipating him and his school in the natural selection of species, gradual development, and transformation.” — 2:260

— 203 —

“There were old worlds that perished . . .”

see: Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, 1865: “This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creations is again and again reiterated in the Sohar. . . . ‘There were old worlds . . . which perished as soon as they came into existence . . .’ ” “ ‘Because the Man, represented by the ten Sephiroth, was not as yet.’ ” — pp. 21, 22

the festival of the “Fires” . . . seven lighted sticks of incense

— 204 —

many perish, their mass disintegrating . . . within the insatiable stomachs of various Suns

The seven lokas are also called . . . the “Circles”

see: Monier-Williams, Buddhism, 1889: “Buddhist writers make it [the Universe] consist of an infinite number of . . . vast circular planes, which for convenience may be called spheres. . . . built up in successive tiers through infinite space, below, upon, and above Mount Meru . . . First comes Hell . . . Above the subdivisions of Hell come the other sensuous worlds . . . with concentric circles of seven seas.” — pp. 120-1

Mount Meru . . . is said to have seven gold and seven silver steps

see: Monier-Williams, Buddhism, 1889: “. . . when Buddha was about to return to earth from the god Indra’s heaven, the god reflected that . . . his descent ought to be celebrated ‘with special honours.’ He therefore caused a ladder of gold to extend from the Mountain Meru . . . The steps were alternately of gold, silver, coral, ruby, emerald and other gems. . . . When Buddha commenced his descent all the worlds were illuminated . . .” — p. 417

— 205 —

“Sound is the characteristic of Akâsa (Ether) . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Elementary Egotism {Ahaṃkāra}, then becoming productive, as the rudiment of sound, produced from it Ether {ākāśa}, of which sound is the characteristic . . . Ether {ākāśa}, becoming productive, engendered the rudiment of touch; whence originated strong wind . . . Then wind, becoming productive, produced the rudiment of form (colour); whence light (or fire) proceeded . . .” — 1:34-5 & fns. (i.2)

see Professor Trumholdt’s work on the Aurora Borealis

— 206 —

There are four grades of initiation mentioned in exoteric works . . .

see: Fah-Hian, Travels of Fah-Hian, tr. Samuel Beal, 1869: “The Arhat or Arhan is a saint who has arrived at the fourth gradation of mind in the Buddhist scale of excellence. These successive steps are: — 1. Srôtâpanna; 2. Sakradâgâmin; 3. Anâgâmin; 4. Arhan.” — p. 19 fn.

— 207 —

This “Root-Base” has a name . . . “the ever-living-human-Banyan”

“. . . the eternal sacred fig-tree grows with its roots above and its branches downwards. . . . And their roots, which extend downwards, are the connecting bonds of action in the world of man. . . . And I allude to that primeval spirit only, from which the eternal stream (of life) emanates.” — pp. 97-9 (ch. 15)

the “Sons of Ad”

see: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “Do you know that the Chaldees were at the apex of their Occult fame before what you term as the ‘bronze Age’? That the ‘Sons of Ad’ or the children of the Fire Mist preceded by hundreds of centuries the Age of Iron . . .” — p. 153 (K.H., Letter XXIII B, Oct. 1882)

— 208 —

— Footnotes [208-9]

all the rules of proportion are those taught anciently at initiations . . .

see: Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, The Architecture, tr. Joseph Gwilt, 1826: “. . . symmetry and proportion . . . are as necessary to the beauty of a building as to that of a well formed human figure. . . . The navel is naturally placed in the centre of the human body, and, if in a man lying with his face upward, and his hands and feet extended, from his navel as the centre, a circle be described, it will touch his fingers and toes. . . . so the ancients have, with great propriety, determined that in all perfect works, each part should be some aliquot part of the whole; and since they direct, that this be observed in all works, it must be most strictly attended to in temples of the gods . . .” — pp. 78-9 (iii.1)

the Disciples of the Initiates . . . handed it over to their Cyclopes, the “Sons of Cycles” . . .

see: The Book of God: The Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes [by E. V. H. Kenealy], 1867: “. . . the French Institute in 1804, found that there were 127 towns, which had anciently been in part at least Cyclopean, that is, reared by the Gnostic priests, or Cyclopes, the sons of the Cycle . . . They possessed powers of machinery to which modern skill is unequal; though modern vanity has excused itself by saying that these were the works of ‘hundred-handed Giants.’ The Druidical circles, cromleachs, cairns, altars . . . are the work of these gigantic engineers. They used neither mortar nor cement, nor steel, nor iron to cut the stones with; and yet they were so artificially wrought that in many places the joints are hardly seen, though many of the stones, as in Peru, are 38 feet long, 18 feet broad, and 6 feet thick, and in the wall of the fortress of Cusco, there are stones of a still greater size. (Acosta, vi. 14)” — p. 118

the walls [well] of Syene, built 5,400 years ago . . .

see: The Book of God: The Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes [by E. V. H. Kenealy], 1867: “The well of Syene made 5400 years ago, when that spot was exactly under the tropic, which it has now ceased to be . . . was so constructed, that at noon, at the precise moment of the summer solstice, the entire disk of the sun was seen reflected on its surface — a work which the united skill of all the astronomers in Europe, would not now be able to effect.” — p. 118

— 209 —

what was said in Vol. I . . . concerning a certain Sacred Island in Central Asia . . .

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “. . . long before the days of Ad-am . . . there was a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia . . . An island, which for its unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by the last remnant of the race which preceded ours.” — 1:589

— 210 —

Institutions of Manu in regard to the laws of Grihasta and married life

“he whose seven forefathers have drunk the juice of the moon-plant (Soma)”

“The great antique heart”

p/q: Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, 1845: “The great antique heart: how like a child’s in its simplicity, like a man’s in its earnest solemnity and depth! Heaven lies over him wheresoever he goes or stands on Earth; making all the Earth a mystic Temple to him, the Earth’s business all a kind of worship. Glimpses of bright creatures flash in the common sunlight; angels yet hover doing God’s messages among men . . . Wonder, miracle encompass the man; he lives in an element of miracle . . . A great Law of Duty, high as these two Infinitudes, dwarfing all else, annihilating all else . . . It was a Reality, and it is one. The garment only of it is dead; the essence of it lives through all Time and Eternity!” — p. 157 (ii.15)

— 211 —

“A creature of a more exalted kind . . .”

the Mundane Tree of the Norse Legend, which cannot wither and die . . .

see: W. Wägner, Asgard and the Gods, 1880: “Then the ash Yggdrasil grew up, the tree of the universe, of time and of life. The boughs stretched out into heaven . . . Its three roots reached down to dark Hel . . . the roots down below are gnawed by the dragon Nidhögg . . . still the ash could not wither until the Last Battle should be fought, where life, time and the world were all to pass away.” — p. 26

— 211-12 —

“The essense of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself ‘I’ . . .”

p/q: Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, 1849: “The essence of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself ‘I,’ — ah, what words have we for such things? — is a breath of Heaven; the Highest being reveals himself in man. This body, these faculties, this life of ours, is it not all as a vesture for that Unnamed?” — p. 9 (“The Hero as Divinity”)

— 212 —

“There is but one temple in the universe . . .”

p/q: Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, 1849: “ ‘There is but one temple in the universe,’ says the devout Novalis, ‘and that is the Body of Man. . . .’ This sounds much like a mere flourish of rhetoric; but it is not so. If well meditated, it will turn out to be a scientific fact . . . We are the miracle of miracles, — the great inscrutable mystery of God.” — p. 9 (“The Hero as Divinity”)

— 213 —

the “four bodies and the three faculties” of Brahmâ

the Panchâsyam . . . or the five Dhyani-Buddhas

see: Edward Paske, “Buddhism in the British Provinces of Little Tibet,” May 28, 1878: “The self existent Adi Buddha by five spontaneous acts of divine wisdom (jugān), and by five exertions of mental reflection (dhyān), created the Puncha Dhyani Buddha[s].” — p. 201 (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, v. 8)

taught by both the Shinto and the Buddhist sects . . . Anthropogenesis precedes Cosmogenesis

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Anthropogenesis precedes cosmogenesis, and the purely evolutionary names of the divine personages (or impersonations) that are mentioned in this account of a creation, or evolution, are chiefly of a purely phonetic value . . .” — p. 147 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

— 214 —

When all was as yet Chaos (Kon-ton) three spiritual Beings appeared . . .

p/q: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Three spiritual divinities appear: the first mentioned is Ameno-mi-naka-nushi-no-kami, Divine Monarch of the central heaven, when all was as yet chaos (Kon-ton): the second is Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami, Exalted Imperial Divine offspring of heaven and earth . . . and the third is Kamu-mi-musubi no-kami, offspring of the gods . . .” — pp. 147-8 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

These were without form or substance . . .

p/q: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “These three were without form and invisible, and as yet neither the celestial nor terrestrial matter had collected together, nor had the essence of things been formed.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

— 214-15 —

“Senior occultatus est et absconditus . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “ ‘Senior occultatus est et absconditus: Microprosopus manifestus est, et non manifestus’ [The Ancient One is hidden and concealed: Microprosopus is manifested, and not manifested].” — p. 32 fn. (The Sohar, Liber Mysterii, iv. 1; Rosenroth)

— 215 —

the “Six-pointed Star” . . . the symbol . . . of Vishnu in India (the Chakra, or wheel)

see: Krishnashankar Lalshankar, “The Six-Pointed and Five-Pointed Stars,” Nov. 1881: “. . . the ‘double triangle’ . . . the ‘sign of Vishnu’ in India — is made to represent the universal spirit and matter . . .” “. . . the ‘double triangle’ which is known . . . in India as Shaktôn Chakram . . . represents symbolically the macrocosm . . .” — p. 30 (The Theosophist, v. 3)

the Tetragrammaton

see: Laurence Oliphant, Scientific Religion, 1888: “. . . the tetragrammaton consists of the four letters which compose the name of Jehovah, IHVH — or Yod (masculine), He (feminine), Vau (masculine), He (feminine). . . . They signify kabbalistically, Yod, the Father; He, the Mother; Vau, the Son; and He, the Bride . . . of the Son . . .” — p. 299

the “He of the four letters”

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . that it may restore the spirit of Yod He [Father-Mother] . . . his mother [the first He] contributed . . . the brilliancy . . . He (the first He of the Tetragrammaton) . . .” — p. 107 (Book of Concealed Mystery, v.42)

— Footnotes [215-16]

Rabbi Simeon says . . .

“Oh companions, companions, man as an emanation was both man and woman . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “ ‘O companions, companions (says the Rabbi), man, as (God’s) emanation, was both man and woman; as well on the side of the FATHER as on the side of the MOTHER. And this is the sense of the words: And Elohim spoke, Let there be Light and it was Light! That is, it becomes Light on the side of the FATHER, and it was Light on the side of the MOTHER. And this is the ‘two-fold Man.’ ” — p. 72 (Auszüge aus dem Sohar)”

— 216-17 —

In the cosmogony of Japan . . . an egg-like nucleus appears . . .

p/q: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “From out of the chaotic mass an egg-like nucleus appeared . . . The male aetherial principle (Yo) ascended, and the female grosser principle (In) precipitated, and a separation occurred between the celestial and terrestrial . . .” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

— 217 —

“From this the female, the mother, the first rudimentary objective being is born. . . .”

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “From the terrestrial sediment there germinated these two Divines . . . offspring of the heaven . . . The foregoing were invisible, and without sex. Then between the celestial sphere and the terrestrial plain creation began, and the undermentioned seven divine spirits appeared.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

The “Invisible Celibate” . . . “The Spirit (or the God) of the rayless depths”

“The Spirit of the Vegetable Kingdom,” of the “Abundant Vegetation”

“The Spirit of the Earth” and “the Spirit of the Sands” . . .

p/q: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Uhi-chi-ni-no-kami, spirit of the ground, which like the foregoing were embodiments of the male principle; also included Sa-hi-chi-ni-no-kami, spirit of the sands, that contained the (In) female principle.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

These two were one; yet unconscious of being two . . .

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “The sexes were now to be divided, but as yet unconscious, Tsu-no-gai-no-kami being the male, dark complexioned and muscular, and Iku-gai-no-kami the female, fair and effeminate.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

(5th and 6th.) Spirits who were androgynous or dual-sexed

The Seventh Spirit . . . appears as the first divine human form distinctly male and female.

These . . . descended into the Universe by the celestial Bridge . . . perceiving far below a chaotic mass . . .

p/q: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Isanagi, the male, and Isamai, the female, then appeared together upon the celestial bridge (the milky way). Isanagi perceiving far beneath a chaotic mass of cloud and water, thrust into the depths the jewel-spear he held poised. Dry land appearing, the two divine beings descended thereon, separating to explore the newly created island world, called Ono-koro.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

— 218 —

(Atomic Forms) . . . the “Imperishable Jivas”

see: N. Bhashyacharya, Catechism of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy, 1887: “Before evolution set in, Nature (prakriti) was without form and unknowable. It may however be said to have been atomic. Its attributes were in a latent condition (Sukshumavasthā).” “It is pure . . . atomic . . . immutable . . . Every particle of Prakriti contains Jiva . . . Parabrahm pervades every Jiva . . .” “All gross bodies perish, the only real things are the sukshma particles which are uncreated and indestructible . . .” — §§ 91, 93, 114

— Footnotes [218-19]

the Asuras born in Brahmâ’s first body — which turned into “Night” . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . the demons (the Asuras) were first born, issuing from his thigh. Brahmā then abandoned that form which was composed of the rudiment of darkness, and which, being deserted by him, became night. . . . thence from his mouth proceeded the gods, endowed with the quality of goodness. The form abandoned by him became day . . . He next adopted another person, in which the rudiment of goodness also prevailed; and, thinking of himself as the father of the world, the progenitors (the Pitṛis) were born from his side.” — 1:80-1 (i.5)

— 219 —

Sevekh “or seventh” . . . type of intelligence . . . a dragon . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “Sevekh signifies the number seven . . . the crocodile type; he attained the dignity of the first god as Sevekh-Kronus, the dragon. In the Kaffir dialects the crocodile and a soul are synonymous, as they were in Sevekh on account of his superior intelligence.” — 2:387 fn.

god with a crocodile’s head

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Le crocodile personnifie les feux redoutables du soleil . . . Lorsque le soleil se lève sur la terre, c’est l’arrivée parmi les hommes de l’âme qui anime les dieux [The crocodile personifies the awe-inspiring fires of the sun . . . When the sun rises over the earth, it is the arrival among men of the soul that animates the gods].” — p. 273 fn. (lxxxviii.1)

“I am the god (crocodile) . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis le crocodile présidant à crainte. Je suis le dieu-crocodile à l’arrivée de son âme parmi les hommes. Je suis le dieu-crocodile amené pour la destruction [I am the (god) crocodile presiding over fear. I am the god-crocodile at the arrival of his Soul among men. I am the god-crocodile brought along for destruction].” — p. 273 (lxxxviii.1)

— 220 —

“I am the fish . . .”

entering into Sekhem with Horus-Thot and “emerging from it as pure spirit”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Horus fait que son œil éclaire la terre; mon nom est son nom.” “J’entre dans Sekhem et j’en sors en pur esprit [Horus makes his eye bring light to the earth; my name is his name. . . . I enter into Sekhem and emerge from it as pure spirit].” — pp. 198, 200 (lxiv.22, 29)

“I see the forms of . . . men transforming eternally . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “. . . je vois les formes des hommes éternellement. Celui qui sait ce chapitre . . . prend toutes les formes des vivants [I see the forms of men eternally. He who knows this chapter . . . takes all the forms of the living] . . .” — p. 200 (lxiv.30)

“Oh my heart, my ancestral heart . . .”

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Mon cœur de ma mère! Mon cœur nécessaire pour mes transformations! Ne te dresse pas contre moi . . . et ne te sépare pas de moi devant le gardien de la balance [Oh my ‘mother-heart’ (my ‘ancestral heart’)! My heart that is necessary for my transformations! Do not rise against me . . . and do not part with me before the Keeper of the scales].” — p. 201 (lxiv.34-5)

“Thou art my personality within my breast . . .”

Massey shows that the crocodile was “the Seventh Soul . . . the Seer unseen.”

p/q: Gerald Massey, The Seven Souls of Man and their Culmination in Christ, 1887: “Seven zootypes having been adopted . . . to express the seven elements or souls in man. The Shrew mouse was an Egyptian type of the first formation . . . the hawk, of the second soul . . . the monkey . . . the jackal . . . the serpent . . . the frog (or beetle), of the transformation into an intellect; and the crocodile, Sevekh, which is the number seven, into the Seer unseen, the soul as supreme one of the seven souls.” — p. 23

— 220-1 —

Thus the defunct “Osirified”

— 221 —

the defunct . . . became the god Khem, who “gleans the field of Aanroo”

— 222 —

the one, like a thread through many beads . . . a life-thread, Sutratma . . .

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — II,” March 1887: “Birth after birth a new physical body comes into existence, and perishes when earthly life is over. . . . But karana sarira . . . is capable of existing independently of the astral body. Its plane of existence is called Sutratma, because, like so many beads strung on a thread, successive personalities are strung on this karana sarira . . .” — p. 361 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— Footnotes

Paracelsus calls them Flagae . . .

see: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “ ‘There is an incalculable number of such genii in the universe, and we may learn through them all the mysteries of the Chaos in consequence of their connection with the Mysterium magnum. Such familiar spirits are called Flagae.’ ” — p. 96

— 223 —

— Footnotes

one infinitesimal cell . . . determining . . . the correct image of the future man

see: August Weismann, Studies in the Theory of Descent, tr. Raphael Meldola, 1882: “The power of organisms to transmit their properties to their offspring appears to me to be only conceivable in such a manner ‘that the germ of the organism by its chemico-physical composition together with its molecular structure, has communicated to it a fixed direction of development — the same direction of development as that originally possessed by the parental organism.’ ” — 2:667

it is to this cell that he traces the immortal portion of man

p/q: “The Morphological Causes of Heredity,” Scientific American Supplement, Feb. 26, 1887: “. . . what enables this cell to transmit through hundreds of generations of the vegetable and animal kingdom all the characteristic peculiarities of structure and form? . . . Professor Weismann calls this substance ‘germ-plasm’ (Keimplasma) . . . The germ-plasm thus constitutes the immortal part of our organism.” — p. 9295

— 224 —

“The Blessed Ones have nought to do with the purgations of matter.”

— 225 —

The first Dhyanis . . . could only throw off their shadows

the “Lord God breathed into his nostrils . . .”

living Soul — or Nephesch . . . not the Divine Spirit

see: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “According to the Hebrew sacred Scriptures, the soul is the self, as opposed to and distinguished from the spirit . . . Hence the soul and the self are expressed in Hebrew by one and the same word — Nephesh.” — pp. 188-9

— 226 —

“The wind bloweth where it listeth,” instead of “the Spirit goeth where it willeth”

see: A Popular Commentary on The New Testament, ed. Philip Schaff, 1880: “. . . the word pneuma is used with much more latitude in the Greek Bible . . . many take the first part of the verse as having reference to the Spirit, not the wind: ‘The Spirit breatheth where He will, and thou hearest His voice, but knowest not whence He cometh and whither He goeth; so is every one that hath been born of the Spirit.’ ” — 2:33 (The Gospel of John and The Acts)

— Footnotes

Nephesh chaiah (living soul), according to the Hebrews . . .

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “The living soul they designated Nephesh chaiah. This Nephesh chaiah . . . proceeded from, or was produced by, the infusion of the spirit, or breath of life, into the quickening body of man, and was to supersede and take the place of the spirit in the thus constituted self — so that the spirit passed into, was lost sight of and disappeared in, the living soul.” — p. 190

The human body ought to be viewed as a matrix . . .

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “. . . would not the human have been viewed as a matrix in which the creative work was still going on? Would it not have been held that his life, rightly used, was the process by which the living soul is ultimately produced from the animated body of man?” — p. 192

the author identifies “Spirit” . . . simply with the “breath of life”

with the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and even Latins, Ruach, Pneuma and Spiritus . . .

— 227 —

co-eval with, and disappearing with the solar boat

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “(Je suis) maître de renaître une seconde fois . . . à l’ouest du ciel, gouvernail de l’est {Allusion au dieu Af naviguant dans sa barque} . . . et ta sortie à l’Orient [I am able to be born a second time . . . in the western part of Heaven, the East-Rudder {an allusion to the god Af navigating in his (solar) boat} . . . and going out on the Eastern side].” — pp. 193-4 (lxiv.1, 2, 5) & p. 202 {note 2}

This “Soul” emerges from the Tiaou . . .

“. . . les vingt-quatre heures passent ensemble en se présentant une à une, jusqu’à la sixième qui se produit dans le Tiaou, heure nocturne [the twenty-four hours pass together coming one by one, until the sixth which arrives in the Tuat, the nightly hour].” — p. 196 (lxiv.12)

The shadow, the astral form, is annihilated, “devoured by the Uraeus”

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Cette demeure de l’heure dans Ro sta, flamme brûlante . . . ou ne se réunnissent pas les mânes, car il s’y trouve des uræus pour l’anéantissement de leurs âmes [This dwelling of the hour in Restau, the burning flame . . . in which the shades do not assemble, for there are Uraeus to annihilate their souls].” — p. 518 (cxlix.50-1)

the Soul-bird, “the divine Swallow . . .” will live in the eternity . . .

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis l’hirondelle {Isis} . . . la flamme sort de l’horizon. . . . j’ai anéanti les impuretés que je gardais sur terre. Gardiens des portes . . . je suis semblable à vous. . . . Je connais les chemins mystérieux conduisant aux portes du champ Aanru [I am the Swallow {Isis} . . . the flame bursts out of the horizon. . . I annihilated the impurities I was holding on to on earth. Keepers of the Gates . . . I resemble you. . . . I know the mysterious ways leading to the gates of the Field of Aanru].” — pp. 267-8 (lxxxvi.1, 5-7) & p. 269 {note 1}

— Footnotes

Vide in Part II., Book II., “The Seven Souls of Man”

the divisions made respectively by Messrs. Gerald Massey and Franz Lambert

This “moon-god” “expressed the Seven nature-powers . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, The Seven Souls of Man and their Culmination in Christ, 1887: “The moon-god, Taht-Esmun . . . expressed the Seven nature-powers that were prior to himself, and were summed up in him as his seven souls, of which he was the manifestor as the Eighth One. . . . The seven rays of the Chaldean god Heptaktis, or Iao, on the Gnostic stones indicate the same septenary of souls.” — p. 2

“The first form of the mystical seven . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, The Seven Souls of Man and their Culmination in Christ, 1887: “. . . the first form of the mystical seven was seen to be figured in heaven by the seven large stars of the Great Bear, the constellation assigned by the Egyptians to the Mother of Time, and of the seven Elemental Powers.” — p. 2

— 228 —

Plutarch . . . shows the Egyptians celebrating . . . “The Ingress of Osiris into the moon”

p/q: Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, in Latin, Greek, and English, tr. Samuel Squire, 1744: “. . . they call the Apis the living image of Osiris, and suppose him begotten by a ray of generative light, flowing from the Moon . . . they celebrate a festival, which is expressly called by them the entrance of Osiris into the Moon.” — pp. 58-9 (§ 43)

In chapter xli [ii] life is promised after death

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je sors de tes multitudes (de vivants) circulantes. Je me recommence parmi les mânes {je revis après la mort} [I leave your circulating multitudes of the living. I begin a new life among the shades of the dead {I live again after death}].” — pp. 13 (ii.2) & p. 14 {note 2}

and the renovation of life is placed under the patronage of Osiris-Lunus . . .

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Ce chapitre . . . promet la vie après la mort et le renouvellement, est mis sous l’invocation d’Osiris-lunus parce que la lune est en relation avec les idées de renouvellement [This chapter . . . promises life after death, and the renewal of life is placed under the invocation of Osiris-Lunus, because of the moon’s relationship with ideas of renewal].” — p. 14 (ii, note 1)

In the Dankmoe . . . “Oh, Osiris-Lunus! That renews . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “. . . on lit dans les Denkmael (IV, 59): ‘O Osiris-lunus! Thot te renouvelle le renouvellement’ [in the Denkmael it says: ‘Oh Osiris-Lunus! Thoth gives to you again the renewal of life’].” — p. 14 (ii, note 1)

“Thou renewest thyself as the god Lunus when a babe.”

“Couplings and conceptions abound when he . . . is seen in heaven on that day.”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “ ‘Les accouplements et les conceptions abondent lorsqu’il est vu au ciel en ce jour’ (P. Pierret, Etudes égypt.) [‘Couplings and conceptions abound when he is seen in heaven on that day’].” — p. 14 (ii, note 1)

“Oh, sole radiant beam of the moon . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “O unique rayonnant dans la lune! . . . Ouvre-moi le Tiaou, car, Osiris N, je sortirai le jour pour faire ce que je désire sur terre parmi les vivants [Oh, sole radiant beam of the moon! Open the Tuat to me, for I, Osiris N, shall go forth by day to do what I wish on earth among the living].” — p. 13 (ii.2-3)

— Footnotes

(See “Holy of Holies.”)

— 229 —

when the whole world was “of one lip and of one knowledge”

see: “Symbolism and Ideographs”: “Mr. Ralston Skinner . . . In his own words: — ‘The writer is quite certain that there was an ancient language which modernly and up to this time appears to have been lost, the vestiges of which, however, abundantly exist.’ ” — SD 1:308

— 230 —

“Elohim is a ‘general abstraction’ . . . ‘a constant co-efficient’ ”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Cabbalah — No. IX,” May 1887: “Under the expression, And God said Let there be Light, we have found the coordination of the abstract enunciation of pi of the schools, in the use of the name Alhim [Elohim] to show the ratio of 31415 to 1 (as technically called, the constant co-efficient) . . .” — p. 195 (Masonic Review, 67:4)

it makes Man emanate . . . from a Septenary group . . . just as in “Pymander . . .”

see: Divine Pymander, tr. Everard, 1884: “Having all Power, he considered the Operations or Workmanships of the Seven . . . all the operations of the Seven Governors . . .” “This is the Mystery that to this day is hidden and kept secret; for Nature being mingled with man, brought forth a Wonder most Wonderful; for he having the nature of the Harmony of the Seven . . . Nature continued not, but forthwith brought forth seven Men, all Males and Females . . . according to the Natures of the seven Governors.” — pp. 10, 11 (Bk 2, “Poemander,” §§ 20, 23, 29)

— 231 —

“Chaos ceases, through the effulgence of the Ray of Primordial light . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Chaos . . . a cessé par la rayonnement de la lumière du commencement sur les ténèbres totales, à l’aide de la grande force magique de la parole du dieu solaire, lxxx, 1, 2 [Chaos . . . has ceased through the radiance of the primordial light upon the total darkness, with the help of the great magic power of the Word of the Solar god].” — p. 599 (“Index Analytique”)

the “three-fold being issues as its First-born”

“Osiris-Ptah (or ra) creates his own limbs . . .”

— Footnotes

“They remain over the seventh heaven . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “They remain over the seventh heaven (or spiritual world), for it is they who, according to the kabalists, formed in succession the six material worlds, or rather, attempts at worlds, that preceded our own, which, they say, is the seventh.” — 2:420

— 232 —

“Evolution has reached its acme of physical development . . .”

p/q: A. P. Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism, 1885: “The lowest or most material point, in the cycle thus becomes the inverted apex of physical intelligence . . . At the halfway point of the fourth round here, the polar point of the whole seven-world period is passed. From this point outwards the spiritual Ego begins its real struggle with body and mind to manifest its transcendental powers.” — pp. 138-9

(See diagram in Stanza VI. Comm. 6)

— Footnotes

“In the Egyptian notions . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “In the Egyptian notions, as well as those of all other faiths founded on philosophy, man was not merely, as with the Christians, a union of soul and body; he was a trinity when spirit was added to it. Besides, that doctrine made him consist of kha — body; khaba — astral form, or shadow; ka — animal soul or life-principle; ba — the higher soul; and akh — terrestrial intelligence. They also had a sixth principle named Sah . . . After due purification, during which the soul, separated from its body . . . it was finally absorbed into ‘the Soul of the world.’ ” — 2:367-8

in the Index, one finds . . . “Six principles of man” . . .

— 233 —

every globe . . . under the supervision and guidance of . . . Dhyan-Chohans

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gītā — III,” April 1887: “. . . it was quite possible that it was the Logos that appeared in the shape of the first Dhyan Chohan, or Planetary Spirit, when the evolution of man was recommenced after the last period of inactivity on this planet . . . and after having set the evolutionary current in motion, retired to the spiritual plane . . . and has been watching since over the interests of humanity . . .” — p. 443 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 234 —

the “Ego-Sum,” necessitates self-consciousness

see: Tennemann & Morell, Manual of the History of Philosophy, 1870: “. . . Ego sum Ego [I am I]. This is the self-evident principle of Philosophy and Science in general . . . expressing the necessary form and substance of Self-consciousness.” — p. 424 (Fichte, § 401)

— Footnotes

“They held that, functionally, Spirit and Matter . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “They held that, functionally, spirit and matter of corresponding opacity and density tended to coalesce; and that the resultant created spirits, in the disembodied state, were constituted on a scale in which the differing opacities and transparencies of elemental or uncreated spirit were reproduced. And that these spirits in the embodied state attracted, appropriated, digested and assimilated elemental spirit and elemental matter whose condition was conformed to their own.” — p. 343

“They therefore taught that there was a wide difference . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “They therefore taught that there was a wide difference in the condition of created spirits; and that in the intimate association between the spirit world and the world of matter, the more opaque spirits in the disembodied state were drawn towards the more dense parts of the material world, and therefore tended towards the centre of the earth, where they found the conditions most suited to their state; while the more transparent spirits passed into the surrounding aura of the planet, the most rarified finding their home in its satellite.” — p. 343

— 235 —

the Zoroastrians regarded their Amshaspends as dual entities . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Ceci rentrerait dans la doctrine des férouers ou doublures spirituelles que le zoroastrisme appliquait à tous les êtres, y compris les anges [This would come back again in the doctrine of the ferouers or spiritual doubles, which the Zoroastrians applied to all beings, angels included].” — 2:353

“In these oracles the seven Cosmocratores of the world . . . are double . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Dans des oracles . . . les sept cosmocrateurs du monde . . . sont doubles: les uns appliqués au gouvernement du monde supérieur, les autres appliqués à celui de l’inférieur [In the Oracles . . . the seven cosmocratores of the world . . . are doubles; one (set of seven) applied to the government of the upper world; the other applied to that of the lower world] . . .’ ” — 2:353 (De Mysteriis, ii.3)

Cosmocratores of the world . . . mentioned likewise by St. Paul

Such is also the opinion of Jamblichus . . .

see: Iamblichus, On The Mysteries, tr. Thomas Taylor, 1821: “. . . the appearances of the Gods and their perpetual attendants . . . accord with their essences, powers, and energies. . . . those of archangels approximate in a greater degree to divine causes; but those of archons, if these powers appear to you to be the cosmocrators, who govern the sublunary element, will be more various . . .” — pp. 85-6 (ii.3)

— Footnotes

(see Book ii. “On the primitive Manus of humanity”)

— 236 —

Panchasikha . . . is one of the seven Kumâras who go to Sveta-Dvipa . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . in Śweta-dwīpa, the Sanakādikas [Kumāras] went to see Bhagavat or Vishṇu. Their names are Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana, Sanatkumāra, Jāta, Vodhu, Panchaśikha, all children of Brahmā . . .” — 2:200 fn.

Sections on “Saptaparna,” “The Septenary in the Vedas,” etc.

— Footnotes

The deceased is allotted a piece of land in the field of Aanroo . . .

the deified shades of the dead, glean . . . the corn seven cubits high . . .

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je connais ce champ Aanrou de Ra dont le blé a 7 coudées . . . que moissonnent des mânes [I know this Aanru Field of Ra, the corn of which is 7 cubits high . . . which is reaped by the shades of the dead] . . .” — p. 509 (cxlix.8-9)

This corn is the food on which they live . . . or that will kill them . . .

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “O cette demeure des bras qui enlèvent les mânes pour la destruction . . .” “J’ouvre la porte de la demeure de la Vérité. Je m’y nourris des productions du champ Hotep.” “O dieux de la demeure de l’heure! Je suis avec vous. Je vis avec vous [Oh this abode of the arms that take away the shades of the dead for their destruction . . . I open the gate of the abode of Truth. There I nourish myself with the products from the Field of Hotep . . . Oh Gods of the abode of the hour! I am with you. I live with you].” — pp. 515-16, 518-19 (cxlix.38, 48, 52-3)

the deceased is either destroyed therein, or becomes pure spirit for the Eternity

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “. . . je respire dans le domaine de mon père, le Grand. Il m’a livré l’Amenti radieux où sont détruits les vivants [I breathe in the land of my father, the Great One. He has taken me to the radiant Amenti, where the living are destroyed].” — p. 121 (xxxii.9)

— 237 —

“I am the three-wicked Flame . . .”

“I enter into the domain of Sekhem . . . region of the Flames who have destroyed their adversaries.”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis avec Horus . . . à Sekhem; je sors et j’entre dans la demeure des flammes, détruisant les adversaires [I am with Horus . . . in Sekhem; I go forth and I enter the abode of the Flames, destroying the adversaries].” — p. 5 (i.7)

(See . . . “Book of the Dead,” and the “Mysteries of Ro-stan [Ro-stau].”)

— 238 —

“Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass . . .”

— 239 —

“The Deity . . . manifests itself through the ten Sephiroth . . .”

“The Deity is like the Sea from which outflows a stream called wisdom . . .”

“From the basin, like seven channels, issue the Seven Sephiroth . . .”

“In the beginning of Time . . .”

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “In the beginning the Elohim created the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth. (The sense is: Six members were created, which are the six numerations of Microprosopus . . .)” — p. 46 (“Siphra Dtzenioutha,” i.16)

“the seventh being Malkuth . . .”

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “Therein are His two nostrils like mighty galleries, whence His spirit rushes forth over all. (The Mantuan Codex adds that this is the seventh conformation, which refers to MLKVTh, Malkuth, or “the kingdom,” the tenth emanation or Sephira of the Deity.)” — p. 46 (Book of Concealed Mystery, i.15)

— 240 —

why Malkuth, called “the inferior Mother” . . . is shown as the Bride . . .

“When Matronitha, the Mother, is separated . . .”

p/q: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “When Matronitha, the mother, is separated, and conjoined with the King face to face in the excellence of the Sabbath, all things become one body.” — p. 337 (Lesser Holy Assembly [“Ha Idra Zuta Qadisha”], xxii.746)

what is said in Luke xviii. 12

(See Greek text where the week is called Sabbath. “I fast twice in the Sabbath.”)

“and their happiness will be eternal, for they . . . will enjoy an eternal Sabbath.”

p/q: Alexander Cruden, A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures, 1830: “Sabbath is also taken for the eternal rest and felicity in heaven . . . for they will ever be with the Lord, and will enjoy an eternal Sabbath [σαββατισμὸς] Heb. 4.9.” — p. 500

see: The Hexaglot Bible, 1901: “. . . a promise being left us of entering into his rest . . . For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said . . . they shall enter into my rest. . . . There remaineth therefore a rest [σαββατισμὸς] to the people of God.” — 6:651, 653 (Hebrews, 4:1, 3, 5, 9) & 652 [4:9, Greek text]

— 241 —

upon the six depend all things which are in it . . .

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . Bera Shith, ‘He created the six.’ Upon these depend all things which are below (principally the Queen, who is the lowest path, or the bride of Microprosopus . . .).” — pp. 46-7 (Book of Concealed Mystery, i.16)

The “smaller face” . . . “is formed of six Sephiroth”

“Seven kings come and die in the thrice destroyed world . . .”

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . the kingdom of the restored world was formed from the kingdom of the [thrice] destroyed world, wherein seven kings had died and their possessions had been broken up.” — p. 48 (Book of Concealed Mystery, i.19)

Captain C. Pfoundes . . . “The Shinto idea of creation”

“Out of chaos (Konton) the earth (in) was the sediment precipitated . . .”

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Three spiritual divinities appear: the first . . . when all was as yet chaos (Kon-ton) . . . From out of the chaotic mass an egg-like nucleus appeared . . . The male aetherial principle (Yo) ascended, and the female grosser principle (In) precipitated, and a separation occurred between the celestial and terrestrial. From the terrestrial sediment there germinated these two Divines . . .” — pp. 147-8 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

“The first man was called Kuni-to ko tatchi-no-mikoto . . .”

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Then between the celestial sphere and the terrestrial plain creation began, and the undermentioned seven divine spirits appeared. 1st.— Kuni-no-soko-tatchi-no-mikoto (or kami). 2nd.— Kuni-no-tako-tatchi, to whom is attached the invisible celibate . . . god of the rayless depths. 3rd.— To-yo-ku (or mu) no-kami, the spirit of abundant vegetation. 4th. — Uhi-chi-ni-no-kami, spirit of the ground, which like the foregoing were embodiments of the male principle; also included Sa-hi-chi-ni-no-kami, spirit of the sands, that contained the (In) female principle. . . . The 5th and 6th were dual of sex. The 7th then appeared in the first divinely human form of a male and a female.” — p. 148 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

“Isanagi and Isanami begat Tenshoko . . . the first of the five gods of the Earth.”

see: Omoie Tetszunotszuke, “The Cultus of the Far East,” Dec. 1888: “Isanagi, the male, and Isanami, the female, then appeared together upon the celestial bridge (the milky way). . . . Isanami conceived, and the first born was a deformed male (though some accounts say that Tensho-ko, a female, was the first-born).” “Isanagi wished to dispel the constant and thick fogs in which the land was frequently enveloped, so by the power of his lungs he created Shina-tobe-no-kami (the spirit of the sea shore). Isanagi cut Kaku-isuchi into three portions . . . the upper portion becoming Ika-isuchi-no-kami (the thunder drummer); the center portion became Oyama-tsumi-no-kami, the god of abundance of spring water; and the lower portion became Taka-wo-kami, the spirit of the Tempests.” — pp. 148-9, 150 (The Theosophist, v. 10)

the number seven “the key to the Mosaic creation and the symbols of every religion”

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “Le septénaire est le grand nombre biblique. Il est la clef de la création de Moïse et le symbole de toute la religion [The septenary is the great biblical number. It is the key to the Mosaic creation and the symbol of every religion].” — p. 33

the diagram he gives in his “Clef des Grands Mystères” is septenary

— 242 —

the diagram (Plate VII. In Mr. Mathers’ Kabala) . . .

— 243 —

Kabalistic and Occult Pneumatics. (See “Histoire de la Magie” [La Clef des Grands Mystères] . . .”)

1. The Soul (or ego) is a clothed light . . .

2. Neschamah — “pure Spirit.” 3. Ruach — the Soul or Spirit. 4. Nephesch — plastic mediator.

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “Neschamah, — l’esprit pur [Neshamah — pure spirit]; Ruach, — l’âme ou l’esprit [Ruach — the soul or spirit]; Nephesch, — le médiateur plastique [Nephesh — the plastic mediator].” — p. 388

5. The garment of the Soul is the rind (body) of the image . . .

6. The image is double, because it reflects the good as [well as] the bad

7. Imago, body

1. Nephesh is immortal because it renews its life by the destruction of forms.

— 244 —

2. Ruach progresses by the evolution of ideas . . .

3. Neschamah is progressive without oblivion and destruction.

4. The soul has three dwellings.

5. . . . the plane of the mortals . . . the Superior Eden; and the Inferior Eden.

6. The image (man) is a sphinx that offers the riddle of birth.

— 244-5 —

7. The fatal image (the astral) endows Nephesch with its aptitudes . . .

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “L’image fatale doue Nephesch de ses aptitudes; mais Ruach peut lui substituer l’image conquise d’après les inspirations de Neschamah [The fatal image endows Nephesh with its aptitudes; but Ruach is able to substitute this with the image acquired in accordance with the inspirations of Neshamah].” — p. 390

— 245 —

The body is the mould of Nephesch . . .

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “Le corps est le moule de Nephesch, Nephesch le moule de Ruach, Ruach le moule de vêtement de Neschamah [The body is the mould of Nephesh, Nephesh the mould of Ruach, Ruach the mould of the garments of Neshamah].” — p. 390

Light (the Soul) personifies . . .

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “La lumière se personnifie en se revêtant, et la personalité n’est stable que quand le vêtement est parfait [Light personifies and clothes itself, and personality endures only when the garment is perfect].” — p. 390

The angels aspire to become men . . .

Every 14,000 years the soul rejuvenates . . .

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, La Clef des Grands Mystères, 1861: “. . . tous les quatorze mille ans, l’âme se retrempe et se repose dans le sommeil jubilaire de l’oubi [every 14,000 years the soul rejuvenates and rests in the jubilean sleep of oblivion].” — p. 391

— 246 —

The Monad . . . shot down by the law of Evolution into the lowest form of matter . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Thus the monad was shot down into the first form of matter and became encased in stone; then, in course of time, through the combined efforts of living fire and living water, both of which shone their reflection upon the stone, the monad crept out of its prison to sunlight as a lichen.” — 1:302

— Footnotes

“There were old worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence . . .”

p/q: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “ ‘There were old worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, as they were called sparks. Thus the smith, when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form (of opposite sexes — the king and queen), and the Master was not yet at his work.’ ” — 2:408 (Idra Suta, Zohar, iii. 292b)

— 247 —

In the Sankhya philosophy, Purusha (spirit) is . . . impotent

see: Monier Williams, Hinduism, 1880: “In the Sānkhya . . . we have a synthetical system starting from an . . . ‘eternally existing essence,’ called Prakṛiti [Primary Substance] . . .” “. . . the Sānkhya counts up . . . [to] Purusha, the soul [spirit], which is wholly in its own nature destitute of Guṇas [qualities], though liable to be bound by the Guṇas of Prakṛiti.” — pp. 194, 195

unless he mounts on the shoulders of Prakriti . . .

see: Monier Williams, Hinduism, 1880: “But each separate soul is a witness of the act of a separate creation without participating in the act. It is a looker on, uniting itself with unintelligent Prakṛiti, as a lame man mounted on a blind man’s shoulders . . .” — p. 197

— 248 —

Swayambhuva Manu . . . from whom descended the seven primitive Manus . . .

see: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “There are six other Manus in successive generations sprung from this Manu Svāyaṃbhuva (born of the self-existent); they . . . created their own several offspring. . . . The seven glorious Manus, of whom Svāyaṃbhuva is the first, having produced all this (world) of moving and stationary beings, ruled (it each) in his own period {— antara. This makes a manvantara}.” — p. 9 & fn. (i.61, 63)

Karabtanos or Fetahil . . . begets on his Mother, “Spiritus,” seven figures . . .

see: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “. . . Karabtonos who was frantic and without sense and judgment . . . lay with the SPIRITUS. The SPIRITUS even at one time conceived ‘Seven Figures’ . . . Namely, She bore the Seven Stellars (Planets). And just so many, even seven, his own appearances (species), went forth fashioned.” — pp. 51-2

— Footnotes

Read in Isis, vol. ii [i] . . . the doctrine of the Codex Nazaræus

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Bahak-Zivo, the ‘father of genii, is ordered to “construct creatures.” ’ But, as he is ‘ignorant of Orcus,’ he fails to do so and calls in Fetahil [Ptahil] a still purer spirit to his aid, who fails still worse.” — 1:299

— 249 —

“The very Atoms,” says Tyndall, “seem instinct with a desire for life”

p/q: John Tyndall, Address Delivered Before the British Association, 1874: “Everywhere throughout our planet we notice this tendency of the ultimate particles of matter to run into symmetric forms. The very molecules seem instinct with a desire for union and growth.” — p. 82

— Footnotes

Pasteur . . . would say that the Organic cells are endowed with a vital potency . . .

p/q: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “. . . je dirais que les cellules ont un potentiel de vie qui ne s’éteint pas avec la suppression du gaz oxygène ni avec la vie proprement dite due à l’influence de ce gaz [I would say that cells have a vital potential that does not stop with the cessation of the supply of oxygen gas, nor with life which is strictly speaking due to the influence of that gas] . . .” — p. 62 fn.

“I would add . . . that the evolution of the germ is accomplished . . .”

p/q: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “. . . je dirais que la puissance d’évolution du germe se poursuit dans le nouveau déterminisme des phénomènes et naturellement avec des résultats particuliers, au nombre desquels se rencontrent des actes de fermentation [I would say that the force of evolution of the germ continues causing new phenomena and of course with particular results, among which fermentation].” — p. 62 fn.

life, according to Claude Bernard and Pasteur, is . . . a process of fermentation

see: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “. . . pour Claude Bernard, la vie se compose de synthèses organiques et de destructions organiques, et que toutes les actions de décomposition organique se ramènent à des fermentations [for Claude Bernard, life consists of organic syntheses and organic destructions, and that all actions of organic decomposition can be reduced to fermentation].” — p. 47

lower lives, such as Vibriones . . . could exist without air

see: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “Ce vibrion vit, se nourrit, se multiplie, s’engendre en dehors de toute participation du gaz oxygène libre . . . Le contact de l’air le tue [This vibrion lives, feeds itself, multiplies, reproduces itself without any free oxygen gas . . . Contact with air kills it].” — p. 139

They derived the oxygen . . . from the various substances that surround them

see: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “Il existe une autre classe d’êtres pouvant vivre, se nourrir en dehors de toute participation du gaz oxygène libre, par conséquent en empruntant forcément tout l’oxygène de leurs principes immédiats à des combinaisons, notamment à la matière fermentescible qui est toujours oxygénée: dans ces conditions, ces êtres sont ferments [There exists another class of beings that is able to live, and to feed itself without any free oxygen gas; and that therefore necessarily takes all the oxygen from the chemicals directly present in their compounds, in particular in fermentable matter which is always oxygenated: under these conditions these beings are ferments].” — pp. 131-2

He calls them Ærobes . . . and Anærobes . . .

see: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “. . . en 1861 j’ai opposé, pour la première fois, l’existence et les propriétés de deux sortes d’êtres en les désignant par l’expression d’aérobies et d‘anaérobies . . . Il existe des êtres qui ne peuvent vivre, qui ne peuvent se nourrir sans assimiler de l’oxygène libre; ce sont les aérobies: ils ne sont pas ferments [in 1861 I contrasted for the first time the existence and the properties of two kinds of beings, by referring to them by the expression aerobes and anaerobes . . . There exist beings who cannot live, who cannot feed themselves without absorbing free oxygen; these are the aerobes: they are not ferments].” — p. 131

Certain germ cells, such as those of yeast, develop and multiply in air . . .

see: Louis Pasteur, Examen Critique . . . sur La Fermentation, 1879: “La vie de la levûre, quand elle est privée d’oxygène libre, est pénible, et lente est son action comme ferment. Si l’oxygène est présent, même en faible quantité, les cellules s’entretiennent dans un état de jeunesse et d’activité remarquable [The life of yeast is difficult when it is lacking oxygen, and its action is sluggish like a ferment. If oxygen is present, even in low quantity, the cells endure in a youthful condition and with remarkable activity] . . .” — p. 101

— 250 —

Nature is the “Ever-becoming”

— Footnotes

It is a Vedic teaching that “there are three Earths . . .”

— 251 —

several great men of Science . . . use . . . “the fourth dimension of Space”

see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Occult or Exact Science?” May 1886: “. . . several eminent men of science who, becoming convinced of the actuality of ‘spiritual’ phenomena, so-called, have become spiritualists . . . like Professors Wallace, Hare, Zöllner, Wagner, Butlerof . . .” “ ‘I would remind my colleagues,’ adds the Professor-Spiritualist [Butlerof], ‘that our inferences . . . must go a great deal further than our sensuous perceptions. . . . what is there to prevent us thinking of a space of higher dimensions . . . [for] phenomena that could only be explained on the supposition of a four-dimensional space.’ ” — pp. 484, 489-90 (The Theosophist, v. 7)

— Footnotes

Professor Zöllner’s theory

see: Collins & Row, “Light on the Path,” Feb. 1886: “And Professor Zollner in his work on Transcendental Psychics enunciates the theory of a fourth dimension of matter, or rather a fourth property of matter enabling it to pass through matter.” — p. 322 (The Theosophist, v. 7)

“The giving reality to abstractions . . .”

p/q: Alexander Bain, Logic, 1870: “The giving reality to Abstractions is the error of Realism and is not as yet fully conquered. Space and Time are frequently viewed as separated from all the concrete experiences of the mind instead of being generalizations of these in certain aspects.” — 2:389

— 252 —

the “Elements” . . . Fire, Air, Water, Earth

see: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “Elementum.— The invisible element or basic principle of all substances that may be either in a solid (earthly), liquid (watery), gaseous (airy), or ethereal (fiery) state. It does not refer to the so-called simple bodies or ‘elements’ in chemistry, but to the invisible basic substance out of which they are formed.” — p. 33

— Footnotes

Milton was right when he spoke of the “Powers of Fire, Air, Water, Earth”

— 253 —

“the body of the Holy Ghost” . . . “Baphomet” . . . “Androgyne Goat of Mendes”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic: a Digest of the Writings of Éliphas Lévi, 1886: “The Gnostics made it the burning body of the Holy Ghost, and this it was which was adored in the secret rites of the Sabbath or the Temple under the symbolic figure of Baphomet, or of the Androgyne Goat of Mendes.” — p. 75 (§ IV, “The Great Magic Agent, or the Mysteries of the Astral Light”)

— Footnotes

There is a curious work by Blanchard, on the Origin of Life . . .

“a force in Nature” . . . the “great Arcanum of transcendent Magic”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “There exists a force in Nature . . . by whose means a single man, who can master it and knows how to direct it, might throw the world into confusion and transform its face. . . . it consists of a universal agent whose supreme law is equilibrium, and whose direction depends immediately on the Great Arcanum of transcendent magic.” — pp. 74-5 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

“This ambient and all-penetrating fluid . . .”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “This ambient and all-penetrating fluid, this ray detached from the sun’s splendour, and fixed by the weight of the atmosphere and by the power of central attraction, this body of the Holy Ghost, which we call the Astral Light and the Universal Agent . . . is represented on ancient monuments by the girdle of Isis, which twines in a love-knot round two poles . . . and by the serpent devouring its own tail, emblem of prudence and of Saturn.” — p. 75 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

“It is the winged dragon of Medea . . .”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “It is the winged dragon of Medea, the double serpent of the caduceus, and the tempter of Genesis; but it is also the brazen snake of Moses, encircling the Tau . . . Lastly, it is the devil of exoteric dogmatism, and is really the blind force which souls must conquer, in order to detach themselves from the chains of earth; for if their will should not free them from its fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by the same power which first produced them, and will return to the central and eternal fire.” — p. 75 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

— 254 —

“In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth” is a mistranslation

Suffering a closer analysis, this narrative form assumes a cosmical interpretation . . . So the sentence reads, ‘In (or out of) his own essence as a womb, God, in the manifestation of two opposites in force, created the two heavens, and the earth’ . . .” — pp. 179-80

not “Heaven and Earth,” but the duplex or dual Heaven . . .

God divided the light from the darkness . . .

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . and God divided the light from the darkness. . . . And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament . . .” — p. 1 (Genesis, 1:4, 6-7)

“God made the Earth and the Heavens . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth . . .” — p. 2 (Genesis, 2:4-5)

Eliphas Lévi calls it . . . the “Astral Light” . . . the “grand Agent Magique”

see: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “This ambient and all-penetrating fluid . . . which we call the Astral Light and the Universal Agent . . . is represented on ancient monuments by . . . the serpent devouring its own tail . . . The Great Magic Agent is revealed by four kinds of phenomena . . . caloric, light, electricity, magnetism.” — p. 75 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

— 255 —

The “Astral Light” . . . “everything which exists has been evolved from it . . .”

“The great Magic agent is the fourth emanation . . .”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “The Great Magic Agent is the fourth emanation of the life-principle, of which the sun is the third form . . . for the day-star is only the reflection and material shadow of the sun of truth which illuminates the intellectual world, and which itself is but a gleam borrowed from the Absolute.” — p. 76 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

“it is not the immortal Spirit . . .”

those who . . . translated the term Akâsa by “Ether” (Wilson, for instance) . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “ ‘They (the elements) in successive order acquire the property of causality one to the other.’ The order is also the same; or, ether (Ākāśa), wind or air (Vāyu), fire or light (Tejas) . . . Ākāśa has the single property of sound . . .” — 1:35-6 fn. (Wilson)

[those who] have ignorantly imagined it to be “material” . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “A characterization of ākāśa will serve to show how inadequately it is represented by ‘ether’. In dimension, it is, as has been said, infinite; it is not made up of parts . . . So far forth it corresponds exactly to time, space, Īśwara, and soul. Its speciality, as compared therewith, consists in its being the material cause of sound.” — 1:34 fn. (Hall)

— 256 —

“In the beginning there was neither day nor night . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “There was neither day nor night, nor sky nor earth, nor darkness nor light, nor any other thing, save only One, unapprehensible by intellect, or That which is Brahma and Puṃs (spirit) and Pradhāna . . .” — 1:23 (i.2)

The Commentator describes the Deity as: “One Pradhânika Brahma Spirit . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864: “ ‘One Prādhānika Brahma Spirit: That, was.’ The commentator explains Prādhānika, Pradhāna eva, the same word as Pradhāna; but it is a derivative word, which may be used attributively, implying ‘having, or conjoined with, Prahhāna.’ The commentator, however, interprets it as the substantive . . .” — 1:24 fn.

“Prakriti in its primary state is Akâsa”

Mahat is the first product of Pradhâna . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Then from that equilibrium of the qualities (Pradhāna) . . . proceeds the unequal development of those qualities (constituting the principle Mahat or Intellect) at the time of creation {The first product of Pradhāna . . . the principle called Mahat . . .}.” — 1:29 & fn. (i.2)

Mahat . . . “whose characteristic property is Buddhi”

Mahat . . . is called “Eswara” . . . “Creator” . . . “the cause of all things”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Mahat is also called Īśwara, from its exercising supremacy over all things; Bhāva, from its elementary existence; Eka, or ‘the one,’ from its singleness . . . as the Vāyu adds . . . ‘Mahat, impelled by the desire to create, causes various creation.’ . . . Mahat is, therefore, the divine mind in creative operation, the νοῦς . . . of Anaxagoras; ‘an ordering and disposing mind, which was the cause of all things.’ ” — 1:32-3 fn.

— Footnotes

the seven Prakritis or “productive productions” are Mahat, Ahamkara, and the five tanmatras

— 257 —

“Mahat and matter are the inner and outer boundaries . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner, — as (in the creation,) were the seven forms of nature (Prakṛiti), reckoned from Mahat to earth, — so, at the (time of elemental) dissolution {Pratyāhāra}, these seven succesively re-enter into each other. The egg of Brahmā is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones {Dwīpa}, seven oceans, seven regions . . .” — 5(I):198-9 & fns. (vi.4)

“In my Father’s house are many mansions”

— Footnotes

the egg is said to be externally invested by seven envelopes . . .

“in this manner were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned . . .”

. . . Hegel also. For him Nature was a perpetual becoming.

“God . . . objectivises himself as Nature . . .”

see: G. W. F. Hegel, Phänomenologie des Geistes, 1832: “Das Wesen schaut nur sich selbst in seinem Fürsichseyn an . . . es ist das Wort, das ausgesprochen den Aussprechenden entäußert und ausgeleert zurückläßt [The absolute Being beholds only itself in its Self existence (in its objective otherness) . . . it is the ‘Word’ (the Logos), which when spoken (by Spirit), empties the speaker of himself, externalizes him].” — p. 577

— 258 —

like must produce like

see: Heinrich Ritter, The History of Ancient Philosophy, v. 3, 1839: “According to Aristotle . . . in natural things it is clear that the power of like produces like . . . for the form must exist antecedently in the mind of the maker before he can realise it by his work.” — p. 145

— 259 —

Astral Light, which Eliphas Lévi calls “the imagination of Nature”

p/q: A. E. Waite, The Mysteries of Magic, 1886: “. . . there exists an agent which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptacle of the vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid and a force, which may be called in some way the Imagination of Nature.” — pp. 64-5 (“Writings of Éliphas Lévi”)

— Footnotes

“It is through this Force . . .”

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, Histoire de la Magie, 1860: “Par cette force tous les appareils nerveux communiquent secrètement ensemble; de là naissent la sympathie et l'antipathie; de là viennent les rêves; par là se produisent les phénomènes de seconde vue et de vision extranaturelle [It is through this force that all the nerve centres secretly communicate with each other; from it sympathy and antipathy are born; from it come dreams; that through it the phenomena of second sight and supernatural vision take place].” — p. 19

“Astral Light, acting under the impulsion of powerful wills . . .”

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, Histoire de la Magie, 1860: “La lumière astrale aimante, échauffe, éclaire, magnétise, attire, repousse, vivifie, détruit, coagule, sépare, brise, rassemble toutes choses sous l'impulsion des volontés puissantes [The Astral Light, acting under the impulsion of powerful wills, warms, enlightens, magnetizes, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks and gathers all things].” — p. 19

“God created it on that day when he said: Fiat Lux . . .”

p/q: Éliphas Lévi, Histoire de la Magie, 1860: “Dieu l'a créée au premier jour lorsqu'il a dit le fiat lux! C’est une force . . . dirigée par les égrégores, c'est-à-dire par les chefs des âmes. Les chefs des âmes sont les esprits d'énergie et d'action [God created it on the first day when he said fiat lux! It is a force directed by the Egregores, that is, by the chiefs of the souls. The chiefs of the souls are the spirits of energy and action].” — p. 19

— 260 —

Eugenius Philalethes . . . assured his readers . . . no one had yet seen the Earth

see: Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), The Magical Writings, 1888: “The foure elements are the objects and, implicitly, the subjects of man, but the earth is invisible. . . . But, on my Soule, it is so, and, which is more, the eye of man never saw the earth . . . not our Magicall Earth.” — p. 84 (Magia Adamica)

— 261 —

ptomaïne (the alkaloid poison generated by decaying matter . . .)

see: L. B. Anderson, “Ptomaines,” Sept. 1886: “Ptomaine . . . A term applied to certain peculiar substances (resembling alkaloids) which are produced during the process of putrefaction. . . . by the putrefaction of albuminous matters a soluble ferment is produced, which is poisonous.” — p. 234 (Gaillard’s Medical Journal, v. 43)

— 262 —

yields a smell as strong as and equal to . . . orange blossoms . . .

see: L. B. Anderson, “Ptomaines,” Sept. 1886: “The liquid under observation was . . . extracted by ether; acicular crystals were produced . . . The addition of acids to them usually changes them, with the production of pleasant odors, like orange flower . . . Allowed to oxidize by contact with the atmospheric air, they emit disagreeable cadaveric or urinous odors.” — p. 235 (Gaillard’s Medical Journal, v. 43)

essence of certain mushrooms . . . nearly identical with the venom of the cobra

see: Charles C. Beach, “Ptomaines,” Aug. 20, 1887: “. . . a large number of experiments made by Gautier . . . show that some of the ptomaines at least are poisonous in a high degree, and the cessation of muscular contractility . . . is vividly suggestive of the action of some of the poisonous mushrooms. . . . According to observations of this same author made upon the venom of serpents, the cobra poison resembles the last-described ptomaine.” — p. 207 (New York Medical Journal, v. 46)

— Footnotes

Arnaud, Gautier, and Villiers, have found . . . the same venomous alkaloid

see: T. Christy, New Commercial Plants and Drugs, 1885: “cuprea bark . . . contains . . . an alkaloid, which has been named Cinchonamine by its discoverer, M. Arnaud. . . . it possesses an action of a toxic nature . . . about six times as strong as that of quinine . . .” — pp. 41-2

see: L. Wolfe, “The Ptomaines,” Jan. 16, 1888: “A ptomaine of cholera was isolated in 1885 by Villiers; it was principally found in the intestines, and in traces in the kidneys . . . Armand Gautier is also one of the prominent investigators on this subject.” — p. 25 (Therapeutic Gazette, v. 12)

the same venomous alkaloid as in that of the toad, the salamander, the cobra

see: Dujardin-Beaumetz, “On Ptomaines and Leucomaines,” Nov. 15, 1888: “This it is that led Gautier to examine the saliva and the venom of serpents. Already many years before, in 1852, Cloès had indicated the presence of alkaloids in the venom of the toad and the salamander. . . . Gautier then analyzed the venom of the cobra-de-capello, and found two new alkaloids . . . Then Gautier examined the saliva of man, and extracted therefrom certain alkaloids which are toxic to small animals . . .” — p. 726 (Therapeutic Gazette, v. 12)

and the trigonocephalus

see: L. B. Anderson, “Ptomaines,” Sept. 1886: “Snake poison differs from human saliva only in the intensity of its action. Gautier has extracted from the poison of the trigonocephalus [viper] . . . two distinct alkaloids . . .” — p. 236 (Gaillard’s Medical Journal, v. 43)

alkaloid . . . generated by living men, animals, and plants

see: Dujardin-Beaumetz, “On Ptomaines and Leucomaines,” Nov. 15, 1888: “But Gautier did not stop here . . . Comparing the animal cell to the vegetable cell, he showed that both may produce alkaloids, and just as the vegetable cell of the cinchonas produces quinine and a series of other alkaloids, so our cells fabricate alkaloids . . .” — p. 726 (Therapeutic Gazette, v. 12)

an alkaloid in the fresh meat of an ox . . . Xanthocreatinine

see: Vaughan and Novy, Ptomaines and Leucomaines, 1888: “The finely divided fresh beef-meat . . . is treated with . . . oxalic acid . . .” “The alcoholic solution . . . gives, on cooling, a deposit of lemon-yellow-colored crystals of xantho-creatinine . . .” — pp. 269, 270

tissues . . . venoms . . . carbonic acid and urea in the functions of life

see: Vaughan and Novy, Ptomaines and Leucomaines, 1888: “chemistry of the leucomaines. . . . Under this name [are] all those basic substances which are formed in animal tissues during normal life . . . Gautier is of the belief that they are being formed continuously and incessantly in the animal tissues, side by side with the formation of urea and carbonic acid . . .” — pp. 225-6

poisons . . . generated by the animal system of living beings . . .

see: Vaughan and Novy, Ptomaines and Leucomaines, 1888: “How do germs induce disease? . . . it was discoverd that they produce, by their growth, chemical poisons, ptomaines, that the absorption of these poisons is followed by the symptoms of the disease, and that each specific, pathogenic microörganism produces its own characteristic poison. In infectious diseases the chemical poison is really formed within the body, but the active agent, the germ, causing the formation of the poison, is introduced from without.” — p. 13

— 263 —

“Fish, Sin and Moon”

see: George Smith, Chaldean Account of Genesis, 1876: “In the first year there appeared . . . an animal endowed with reason, by name Oannes, whose whole body . . . was that of a fish . . . This being . . . gave them [men] an insight into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind. . . . Oannes wrote concerning the generation of mankind . . . ‘There was a time in which there existed nothing but darkness and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings . . . The person who presided over them was a woman named Omoroca . . . in Greek Thalassa, the sea; but which might equally be interpreted the moon.’ ” — pp. 39-41

— Footnotes

the cells of the organs . . . form ferments . . .

see: Louis Pasteur, “New Facts . . . of the Theory of Ferments,” Nov. 29, 1872: “. . . we see in these comparative experiments cells which, at the desire of the operator, become ferments or cease to be so. . . . In the first, the life of the plant on the surface of the liquid continues and is kept up by the atmospheric oxygen; while, in the other case, that life continues and is sustained beyond, and without the influence of oxygen . . .” — p. 255 (Chemical News, 26:679)

— 263-4 —

the mystery . . . underlies the Matsya (fish) Avatar of Vishnu, the Chaldean Oannes . . .

see: The Book of God: The Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes [by E. V. H. Kenealy], 1867: “In a fragment garbled from Berosus by the ecclesiastical historian Eusebius . . . we have some allusion to this Incarnation . . . an Immortal Living Creature . . . whose name was Oannes. His body was like that of a fish . . . (. . . it really means a man-headed fish like Vishnu in the Matsyāvatāra) . . . he communicated the knowledge of letters, arts, and sciences: he taught men to dwell together in cities: to erect temples: to introduce laws . . . After him, there appeared several other Living Creatures (Messiahs) of the same form.” — pp. 292-3

— 264 —

Joshua “Son of the Fish (Nun)”

the Holy of Holies in the temple . . . the symbol of the womb

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “. . . the number 10 is the perfect one, and a Jehovah value . . . and by Hebrew Kabbalah, the letter ה, or number 5, is the womb. . . . the total forming the male-female in one, 10, as here the womb of the Garden of Eden, or Paradise.” — p. 198

Holy of Holies . . . symbolized by the King’s chamber . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “The holy of holies [in the Temple of Solomon], as a cube of 20 [20 x 20 x 20 cubits], was just 1/8 of the cube of the king’s chamber region in the pyramid, or the full cube of the length of the king’s chamber. . . . The primal one, or cube, was taken as containing all material and all life within itself. It was male-female . . . they are to be used together . . . The king’s chamber region is the great cube of this union . . .” — p. 169

we refer the reader to Book II., “The Holy of Holies”

— 265 —

“My Father . . . and I — are one”

the day, “Be with us”

see: Stanza V, 6: “. . . the day ‘Be-With-Us’; that day when man, freeing himself from the trammels of ignorance, and recognizing fully the non-separateness of the Ego within his personality . . . from the Universal Ego . . . merges thereby into the One Essence . . .” — SD 1:130-1

— 266 —

the Manes (see Egyptian Dynasties enumerated by the priests to Solon)

1.	Reigns of the gods	13,000	Years
2.	Reigns of heroes	1,255	"
3.	Reigns of other kings	1,817	"
4.	Reigns of 30 Memphites	1,790	"
5.	Reigns of 10 Thinites	350	"
6.	Reigns of Manes and heroes	5,813	"
7.	Reigns of the 30 dynasties	5,000	" ”

— pp. 346, 347 (Journal of Christian Philosophy, v. 2)

— 267 —

(See Book II., “Divine Dynasties.”)

— Footnotes

The ancient hieratic alphabets of the Maya and the Egyptians are almost identical.

see: Augustus Le Plongeon, Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches, 1886: “In my work . . . I have shown how the legends accompanying the images of several of the Egyptian deities, when interpreted by means of the Maya language, point directly to Mayax as the birthplace of the Egyptian civilization. How the ancient Maya hieratic alphabet . . . is as near alike to the ancient hieratic alphabet of the Egyptians as two alphabets can possibly be . . . There is every reason to believe that the cosmogonical conceptions, so widely spread, originated with the Mayas . . .” — p. 113

— 268 —

the weary “Road” . . . Winds up hill all the way . . .

Like Visvakarman he has to sacrifice himself to himself . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “VISWA-KARMAN . . . a personification of the creative power. In this character Viswa-karmā was the great architect of the universe . . . In these hymns also he is said to sacrifice himself or to himself . . . ‘Viswa-karmā . . . first of all offered up all worlds in a Sarva-medha (general sacrifice), and ended by sacrificing himself.’ ” — p. 363

“Kalki Avatar”

see: W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, 1882: “When Vishnu in the form of Krishna reascended to heaven, the Fourth or Kāli Yuga commenced . . . an age of impurity and dissension. . . . At its termination Vishnu is expected to come again, bearing the name Kalki, to put an end to wickedness, and establish a kingdom of righteousness . . .” — p. 205

— 269 —

“The History of Creation and of this world . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” The Theosophist, Nov. 1881: “The history of creation and of this world from its beginning up to the present time is composed of Seven chapters. The Seventh chapter is not yet completed.” — p. 44 (The Theosophist, v. 3)

Upa-ni-shad . . . “the conquest of ignorance by the revelation of secret, spiritual knowledge”

see: The Upanishads, Part I, tr. F. Max Müller, 1879: “Most European scholars are agreed in deriving upa-ni-shad from the root sad, to sit down . . . pupils sitting down near their teacher to listen to his instruction. . . . Native philosophers . . . derive it . . . from the root sad, in the sense of destruction, supposing these ancient treatises to have received their name because they were intended to destroy passion and ignorance by means of divine revelation . . .” — pp. lxxix-lxxx (Introduction)

— 270 —

“The great Teachers of the higher Knowledge . . .”

p/q: Mountstuart Elphinstone, The History of India, ed. E. B. Cowell, 1866: “The great teachers of this highest knowledge are not Brahmans but Kshatriyas, and Brahmans are continually represented as going to the great Kshatriya kings (especially Janaka of Videha) to become their pupils.” — p. 282 (Appendix VII, by E. B. Cowell)

the Upanishads “breathe an entirely different spirit” . . .

p/q: Mountstuart Elphinstone, The History of India, ed. E. B. Cowell, 1866: “When we examine the older Upanishads . . . they breathe an entirely different spirit, a freedom of thought unknown in any earlier work except the Ṛig Veda hymns themselves.” — p. 282 (Appendix VII, by E. B. Cowell)

— Footnotes

“The Vedas have a distinct dual meaning . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Brahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle in Man,” 1885: “. . . the Vedas have a distinct dual meaning — one expressed by the literal sense of the words, the other indicated by the metre and the swara (intonation), which are, as it were, the life of the Vedas. . . . the mysterious connection between swara and light is one of its most profound secrets.” — p. 154 (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 271 —

Sri Sankaracharya . . . his original treatises . . . preserved in his maths

the Smârtava Brahmins . . . founded by Sankaracharya . . .

— Footnotes

Also called “the Sons of Wisdom” . . . and the “Brothers of the Sun”

see: T. Subba Row, “The Aryan-Arhat Esoteric Tenets on the Sevenfold Principle in Man,” The Theosophist, Jan. 1882: “. . . the country called ‘Si-dzang’ by the Chinese, and Tibet by Western geographers, is mentioned in the oldest books preserved in the province of Fo-kien . . . it was inhabited by the ‘Teachers of Light,’ the ‘Sons of Wisdom’ and the ‘Brothers of the Sun.’ . . .” — p. 98 (Editorial Appendix: Note I, by HPB)

— 272 —

in their mathams . . . in the “Sringa-giri” . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Some of these [maths or monasteries] still remain. The chief one is at Sṛinga-giri or Sṛingiri, on the edge of the Western Ghauts in the Mysore, and it has the supreme control of the Smārtava sect.” — p. 279

The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages . . .

see: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “. . . this ancient science, which the moderns ignore, is perhaps as old as the world. It was known to the ancient prophets, to the Arhats and Rishis of the East, to initiated Brahmins, Egyptians, and Greeks. Its fundamental doctrines are found in the Vedas as well as in the Bible. Upon these doctrines rest the fundaments of the religions of the world.” — p. xi

it is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers

see: Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, 1836: “How can one consider these striking circumstances and not see that almost all ancient history and epic poetry are mythological, — the secret doctrines of the priests, disguised in parables, in a thousand forms? . . . In all nations, in all times, there has been a secret religion . . .” — 1:366

— 273 —

One homogeneous divine Substance-Principle, the one radical cause

“[Giordano Bruno’s] opinion, that all things have from eternity flowed from one immense and infinite fountain, an emanative principle, essential to the Divine nature. . . . out of infinite emanations from the eternal fountain, infinite and eternal worlds are produced; whilst, in truth, only one being exists, which is infinite, immutable, indivisible . . .” — p. 582

“Some few, whose lamps shone brighter . . .”

(See in chapters on Symbolism . . .)

“Parabrahmam and Mulaprakriti” are One

even in the conception of the One Logos, its first manifestation . . .

— 273-4 —

It appears from the objective standpoint of the One Logos as Mulaprakriti . . .

p/q: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “From its objective standpoint, Parabrahmam appears to it as Mulaprakriti. . . . . Parabrahmam, after having appeared on the one hand as the ego, and on the other as Mulaprakriti, acts as the one energy through the Logos.” — p. 304 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 274 —

[for] the mediæval Nominalists . . . Universals . . . existed only in name and human fancy

see: William Enfield, History of Philosophy, 1837: “. . . Rosceline . . . adopted the Stoic opinion, that universals have no real existence either before or in individuals, but are mere names and words . . . a tenet which was afterwards propagated by Abelard, and produced the sect of the Nominalists.” — p. 516

— 275 —

pure Spirits without any of the earthly alloy “which time is wont to prey upon”

“personality” . . . “individuality existing in itself . . .”

— 276 —

Young was right in saying that “Angels are men of a superior kind”

neither “ministering” . . . nor are they “Harbingers of the Most High” . . .

“Man can neither propitiate nor command the Devas”

man can, even during his terrestrial life, become as “One of Us”

see: Samuel J. Baird, The Elohim Revealed, 1860: “. . . Elohim, being plural in its form, is a distinct intimation of the plurality which subsists in the unity of the divine essence. . . . ‘Let us make man, in our image, after our likeness’ [Gen. i.26]; ‘. . . the man is become as one of us.’ – Gen. iii.22.” — p. 52

— 277 —

There is but one indivisible and absolute . . . which people call Space

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . the indivisible, perfect, infinite unity, the Absolute Unknown Cause of All Causes, the Ain Soph, the Eternal All above All, a manifestation thereof . . . becomes the First Cause, the Cause of Causes. In this the Unknown Absolute . . . manifested Itself through an emanation . . . It first withdrew Itself into Itself, to form an infinite Space, the Abyss; which It then filled with a modified and gradually diminishing Light or Vitalization, first appearing in the Abyss, as the centre of a mathematical point which gradually spread Its Life-giving energy or force throughout all Space.” — pp. 230-1

— 278 —

Three distinct representations of the Universe . . .

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “The Qabbalah also asserts the existence of Three principal emanated or created regions . . . ‘The first World . . . is that Above, hidden from all . . .” “The second World . . . is connected with that Above . . . ‘This is the gate of YHVH.’ ” “The third World . . . is the lower World from the other, there is found in it separation . . .” — pp. 419-20

This was taught . . . in India and Chaldea, by the Chinese as by the Grecian Sages

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . the First World . . . is that of Adam Illa-ah, the Celestial Prototypic Adam or Man. . . . The idea of a first ideal or prototypic androgenic Man is of great antiquity in the metaphysical religion of the Orient, and we think, may be found in the oldest writings of the Akkadians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Hindus, Chinese and Egyptians: even in the Greek philosophy . . .” — pp. 280-1

these three Universes were allegorized . . . by the three trinities . . .

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “These first three Sephiroth are . . . the Intelligible or Intellectual World. . . . a triad above all other emanations . . .” “The second triad of the Sephiroth . . . Soul of the World or Universal Soul . . .” “The next, third, Triad of the Sephiroth is . . . the Material World . . .” — pp. 200-1

— 279 —

“Sciolists” . . . blindly accepting everything that emanates from “authorities”

see: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “. . . Professor Whitney very properly reproves [sciolist writers] . . . Haeckel is called a headlong Darwinian . . . Schleicher is infected with Darwinism . . . ‘His essays are unsound, illogical, untrue; but there are still incautious sciolists by whom every error that has a great name attached to it is liable to be received as pure truth . . .’ ” — 4:534

As Hermes says, “Knowledge differs much from sense . . .”

— 280 —

“the still small voice” of our spiritual consciousness

see: W. J. Colville, Discourses, 1886: “. . . the Eternal Being spoke to his creatures in a still small voice which addressed itself exclusively to their most interior spiritual consciousness. . . . in the days of Elijah we hear of a storm, an earthquake, and a fire . . . but the writer of the narrative distinctly declares that the Lord was neither in the storm, nor in the fire, nor in the earthquake . . . the presence of God not being made manifest to Elijah until he heard a still small voice [1 Kings, 19:11, 12].” — p. 6 (“The Living Test of Truth”)

(See Part II., “On the Hidden Deity.”)

— Footnotes

“When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are . . . But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret . . .” — p. 7 (Matthew, vi.5-6)

Our Father is within us . . .

see: W. J. Colville, Discourses, 1886: “. . . picture the All-Good as the Eternal Life of the universe, which dwells within as well as acts upon every creature. Practically, you deal with God when you deal with your own highest nature; that atma or seventh principle in man, which according to Asiatic Theosophy illuminates the mind and endows humanity with life immortal, is the very breath of God, the essence of divinity within us . . .” — p. 12 (“The Living Test of Truth”)

— 281 —

“Oh, my son, matter becomes . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “O my son, matter becomes; formerly it was, for matter is the vehicle of becoming. Becoming is the mode of activity of the uncreate and foreseeing God. Having been endowed with the germ of becoming, matter is brought into birth, for the creative force fashions it according to the ideal forms. Matter not yet engendered, had no form; it becomes when it is put into operation.” — pp. 133-4 (Fragments, Part VI)

“Everything is the product of one universal creative effort . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “ ‘Everything is the product of one universal creative effort . . .’ (‘Philosophia ad Atheniensis.’) . . . There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and consequently the whole world appears to be a living organism.” — p. 44

“the innate, eternal, and self-existing Ideas” of Plato, now reflected by Von Hartmann

— Footnotes

“Dr. Ménard observes that in Greek . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “Dr. Ménard observes that in Greek, the same word signifies to be born and to become. The idea here is that the material of the world is in its essence eternal, but that before creation or ‘becoming,’ it is in a passive and motionless condition.” — pp. 133-4 fn.

“Creation is thus the period of activity . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “Creation is thus the period of activity of God, who . . . has two modes — Activity, or existence, God evolved (Deus explicitus); and Passivity of Being — God involved (Deus implicitus). . . . The ‘Ideal Forms,’ mentioned in the above fragment, are the archetypal or formative ideas of the Neo-Platonists; the eternal and subjective concepts of things subsisting in the Divine Mind prior to ‘creation’ or ‘becoming.’ ” — p. 134 fn.

— 281-2 —

a “force behind phenomena” . . . from which all things proceed

— 282 —

Paracelsus mentions it . . . synthesized by Dr. F. Hartmann . . .

“Perpetual motion of the great Breath”

see: Hugo Grotius, The Truth of the Christian Religion, tr. John Clarke, 1805: “. . . translated by Philo Biblius from Sanchuniathon’s Collection: ‘The Theology of the Phoenicians supposes the Foundation of the Universe to have been . . . the Breath of a dark Air, and a dismal Chaos, covered with thick Darkness; that these were infinite, and had no Bounds for many Ages. But when this Spirit or Breath placed its Desire or Love on these first Principles . . . This was the Beginning of the Creation of all Things.’ ” — p. 27 (i.16)

— 283 —

Protyle, introduced by Mr. Crookes in chemistry

see: William Crookes, “Genesis of the Elements,” Feb. 18, 1887: “To form a conception of their genesis I must beg you to carry your thoughts back to the time when the visible universe was ‘without form and void,’ and to watch the development of matter in the states known to us from an antecedent something. What existed anterior to our elements, before matter as we now have it, I propose to name protyle.” — p. 95 (Chemical News, March 4, 1887)

“When Evolution took place the Yliaster divided itself . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “When creation took place the Yliaster divided itself; it, so to say, melted and dissolved, and developed out of itself the Ideos or Chaos (Mysterium magnum, Iliados, Limbus major, or Primordial Matter). This Primordial Essence is of a monistic nature, and manifests itself not only as vital activity, a spiritual force, an invisible, incomprehensible, and indescribable power; but also as vital matter, of which the substance of living beings consists.” — p. 41

In this Ideos of primordial matter . . .

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “In the Limbus or Ideos of primordial matter, invested with the original power of life, without form, and without any conceivable qualities — in this, the only matrix of all created things, the substance of all things is contained.” — pp. 41-2

It is the Chaos . . . by evolution and division in Mysteria Specialia

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “It is described by the ancients as the Chaos, and has been compared to a receptacle of germs, out of which the Macrocosmos, and afterwards by division and evolution in Mysteria specialia, each separate being came into existence.” — p. 42

“All things and all elementary substances . . .”

“it seems that Paracelsus anticipated the modern discovery . . .”

“the Magnus Limbus is the nursery . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “The Magnus Limbus is the nursery out of which all creatures have grown, in the same sense as a tree may grow out of a small seed; with the difference, however, that the great Limbus takes its origin from the Word of God, while the Limbus minor (the terrestrial seed or sperm) takes it from the earth.” — p. 42

— Footnotes

“Mysterium is everything . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “ ‘Mysterium’ is everything out of which something may be developed, which is only germinally contained in it. A seed is the ‘mysterium’ of a plant, an egg the mysterium of a living bird, &c.” — p. 42 fn.

— 284 —

“The great Limbus is the seed . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “The great Limbus is the seed out of which all beings have come, and the little Limbus is each ultimate being that reproduces its form, and that has itself been produced by the great. The little Limbus has all the qualifications of the great one, in the same sense as a son has an organization similar to that of his father.” — p. 42-3

(See Comment. Book II. Para. iii.)

“As Yliaster dissolved . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “As creation took place and the Yliaster dissolved, Ares, the dividing, differentiating, and individualizing power of the Supreme Cause, began to act. All production took place in consequence of separation. There were produced out of the Ideos the elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, whose birth, however, did not take place in a material mode or by simple separation, but spiritually and dynamically, just as fire may come out of a pebble or a tree come out of a seed, although there is originally no fire in the pebble nor a tree in the seed.” — p. 43

“Spirit is living, and Life is Spirit . . .”

“The elements too, have each one its own Yliaster . . .”

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “The elements, too, have each one its own Yliaster, because all the activity of matter in every form is only an effluvium of the same fountain. But as from the seed grow the roots with their fibres, afterwards the stalk with its branches and leaves, and lastly the flowers and seeds; likewise all beings were born from the elements, and consist of elementary substances out of which other forms may come into existence, bearing the characteristics of their parents.” — p. 43

(“This doctrine, preached 300 years ago . . .”)

p/q: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus, 1887: “This doctrine, preached 300 years ago, is identical with the one that has revolutionized modern thought after having been put into a new shape and elaborated by Darwin; and is still more elaborated by the Indian Kapila, in the Sankhya philosophy.” — p. 43 fn.

“The elements as the mothers of all creatures . . .”

Compare this with the Vishnu Purâna. “From Pradhâna . . .”

— 284-5 —

“From the great Principle Mahat . . .”

— 285 —

“The creation of the visible world . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “The creation of the visible world by the ‘working gods,’ or Titans, as agents for the Supreme God, is a thoroughly Hermetic idea, recognizable in all religious systems, and in accord with modern scientific research, which shews us everywhere the Divine Power operating secretly through natural forces.” — p. 7 fn.

“That Universal Being, that contains all . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “That Universal Being which contains all and which is all, puts into motion the soul and the world, all that nature comprises. In the manifold unity of universal life, the innumerable individualities distinguished by their variations, are, nevertheless, united in such a manner that the whole is one, and that everything proceeds from unity.” — pp. 47-8 (Asclepios, Part I)

“God is not a mind . . .”

— 286 —

“I adjure thee, Heaven . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “I adjure thee, Heaven, holy work of the great God; I adjure thee, Voice of the Father, uttered in the beginning when the universal world was framed; I adjure thee by the Word, only Son of the Father Who upholds all things; be favorable, be favorable!” — p. 153 (Various Hermetic Fragments, VI)

“Thus the Ideal Light . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “Thus the Ideal Light was before the Ideal Light, and the luminous Intelligence of Intelligence was always, and its unity was nothing else than the Spirit enveloping the universe. Out of Whom is neither God, nor Angels, nor any other essentials . . .” — p. 153 (Various Hermetic Fragments, VI)

“To speak of God is impossible. . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “. . . to speak of God, impossible. For the corporeal cannot express the incorporeal . . . that which has not any body, nor appearance, nor form, nor matter, cannot be apprehended by sense. I understand, O Tatios, I understand that which it is impossible to define — that is God {The above fragments are from the ‘Physical Eclogues’ and ‘Florilegium’ of Stobæus}.” — pp. 139-40 & fn. (Fragments, Hermes to His Son Tatios, VIII)

— 286-7 —

“Glory to the unchangeable . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Glory to the unchangeable, holy, eternal, supreme Vishṇu, of one universal nature, the mighty over all: to him who is Hiraṇyagarbha, Hari, and Śankara, the creator, the preserver, and destroyer of the world: to Vāsudeva, the liberator of his worshippers: to him whose essence is both single and manifold; who is both subtile and corporeal, indiscrete and discrete: to Vishṇu, the cause of final emancipation. . . . the cause of the creation, existence, and end of this world; who is the root of the world, and who consists of the world.” — 1:13-15 (i.2)

— 287 —

“Reality is not upon the earth . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “Reality is not upon the earth, my son, and it cannot be thereon . . . Nothing on earth is real, there are only appearances . . .” “The real consists solely in itself, and remains what it is. . . . Man is transient, therefore he is not real; he is but appearance, and appearance is the supreme illusion.” — pp. 135, 136-7 (Fragments, Hermes to his Son Tatios, VII)

“Tatios: Then the celestial bodies themselves are not real . . .”

“Tatios. Then the celestial bodies themselves are not real, my father, since they also vary.

Trismegistos. That which is subject to birth and to change is not real . . . there is in them a certain falsity, seeing that they too are variable . . .

Tatios. And what, then, is the primordial Reality, O my father?

Trismegistos. He Who is One and alone, O Tatios; He Who is not made of matter, nor in any body, Who has neither colour nor form, Who changes not, nor is transmuted, but who always Is.” — pp. 137-8 (Fragments, Hermes to his Son Tatios, VII)

— 288 —

Hermetic Books, or rather Hermetic Fragments

see: Edward Maitland, “The Hermetic Books” [Preface to The Virgin of the World], 1885: “The Fragments comprised in this reprint . . . enjoyed a high repute as of undoubted genuineness, the [Church] Fathers invoking their testimony on behalf of the Christian mysteries . . . [There were] learned men of the Renaissance, who regarded them as the source of the Orphic initiations and of the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato. . . . And the conclusion come to by recent critics . . . [is] that amid the Alexandrian ideas, on which they are based, there are some traces of the religious doctrine of ancient Egypt.” — p. ii

in remarkable agreement with the Esoteric Eastern doctrine

see: Edward Maitland, “The Hermetic System” [Preface to The Virgin of the World], 1885: “To the philosophical student of humanity the most significant and important feature of the present remarkable epoch is, unquestionably, the revival of Occult Science and Mystical, or Esoteric, Philosophy. . . For the system designated the Hermetic Gnosis — the earliest formulation of which, for the western world, belongs to the pre-historic times of ancient Egypt — has constituted the core of all the religio-philosophical systems of both east and west, Buddhism and Christianity, among others, being alike intended as vehicles for and expressions of it . . .” — pp. ix-x

the “Definitions of Asclepios” . . .

— Footnotes

“those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the immortals . . .”

Chiti, “that by which the . . . consequences of actions . . . are selected for the use of the soul”

With the Yogis, the Chiti is a synomym of Mahat . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The first product of Pradhāna . . . the principle of Mahat . . . We have in the same Purāṇa [the Vāyu], as well as in the Brahmānda and Linga, a number of synonyms for this term . . .” “. . . prajnā, manas, brahma, chiti . . .” — 1:29-30 fn., 32 fn.

Chiti is a quality of Manas . . . with Buddhi

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Manas is that which considers the consequences of acts . . . Buddhi is that which communicates to soul the knowledge of good and evil . . . Chiti is that by which the consequences of acts . . . are selected . . .” — 1:31-2 fn.

— 289 —

“The Initial Existence . . . spreads as it issues from Laya . . .”

see: “The Masks of Science”: “. . . the newly published catechism of the Visishtadwaita Vedantins . . . teaches that before evolution began, Prakriti (Nature) was in a condition of laya or absolute homogeneity . . . ‘latent and undifferentiated’ . . .” — SD 1:522

see: N. Bhashyacharya, Catechism of the Visishtadwaita Philosophy, 1887: “Matter exists in two conditions, the sukshma, or latent and undifferentiated; and in the sthula or differentiated condition. In the sthula condition it produces a congeries of forms called Jagat (universe).” — § 95

one finger’s [breadth] (angula)

— 290 —

the Sun . . . driven by seven horses . . . he has seven rays

see: Ṛig-Veda Sanhitā, Book I, tr. H. H. Wilson, 1850: “Divine and light-diffusing Sūrya, thy seven coursers {Sapta haritah . . . the seven rays} bear thee . . . The Sun has yoked the seven mares that safely draw his chariot.” — p. 133 & fn. (I.4, vi.8-9)

seven . . . equal to the metres of the Vedas

— Footnotes

“Vishnu . . . is at once, the sevenfold Sun and distinct from it . . .”

“In the same manner as a man approaches a mirror . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “In the same manner as a man, approaching a mirror, placed upon a stand, beholds, in it, his own image, so the energy (or reflection) of Vishṇu is never disjoined (from the sun’s car, which is the stand of the mirror), but remains, month by month, in the sun, (as in the mirror), which is there stationed.” — 2:296-7 (ii.11)

— 291 —

One Life . . . manifests in seven states, which . . . are the Forty-nine Fires

see: John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Agni is represented as having seven tongues . . . In the Vishṇu Purāṇa he is called Abhimānī, and the eldest son of Brahmā. . . . he had three sons . . . and these had forty-five sons; altogether forty-nine persons, identical with the forty-nine fires . . .” — p. 7

— Footnotes

[forty-nine fires] In “Vishnu” and other Purânas

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The Agni named Abhīmānin, who is the eldest born of Brahmā, had, by Swāhā, three sons of surpassing brilliancy . . . They had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahmā, and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires {The Vāyu Purāṇa enters into a very long detail of the names and places of the whole forty-nine fires. . . . The Bhāgavata explains these different fires to be so many appellations of fire employed in the invocations with which the different oblations to fire are offered in the ritual of the Vedas}.” — 1:155-6 & fn. (i.10)

“Nature,” “Going down cyclically into matter . . .”

see: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “. . . the God smiled benignant, and commanded Nature to exist. And, issuing with His voice, the Feminine came forth in her perfect beauty.” “. . . And having differentiated created forms, He filled them with mysteries . . .” “{Hence the creation of Nature and . . . descent into generation occurs . . . The human body, although last in manifestation, is really the first in the Divine intention . . .}” — pp. 4-5, & 8 fn.

— 292 —

“Kanyâ . . . means a Virgin . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Kanyā. — Means a virgin and represents Sakti or Mahāmayā. The sign in question is the sixth Rāsi or division, and indicates that there are six primary forces in Nature. . . . they are called by the following names {Parāsakti: — Literally the great or supreme force or power. It means and includes the powers of light and heat}.” — p. 110 & fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“Jnanasakti . . . The power of intellect . . .”

“The following are some of its manifestations . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “The following are some of its manifestations when placed under the influence or control of material conditions. (a) The power of the mind in interpreting our sensations. (b) Its power in recalling past ideas (memory) and raising future expectation. (c) Its power as exhibited in what are called by modern psychologists ‘the laws of association,’ which enables it to form persisting connections between various groups of sensations and possibilities of sensations, and thus generate the notion or idea of an external object. (d) Its power in connecting our ideas together by the mysterious link of memory, and thus generating the notion of self or individuality.” — p. 110 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“some of its manifestations when liberated from the bonds of matter are . . .”

— 292-3 —

“Itchasakti — the power of the Will . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Itchāsakti . . . the power of the will. Its most ordinary manifestation is the generation of certain nerve currents which set in motion such muscles as are required for the accomplishment of the desired object.” — p. 110 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

— 293 —

“Kriyasakti. The mysterious power of thought . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Kriyāsakti: — The mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external, perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy. The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one’s attention is deeply concentrated upon it. Similarly an intense volition will be followed by the desired result. A Yogi generally performs his wonders by means of Itchāsakti and Kriyāsakti.” — p. 111 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“Kundalini Sakti. The power or Force which moves in a curved path. . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Kundalinisakti . . . the power or force which moves in a serpentine or curved path. It is the universal life-principle which everywhere manifests itself in Nature. This force includes in itself the two great forces of attraction and repulsion. Electricity and magnetism are but manifestations of it. This is the power or force which brings about that ‘continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations’ which is the essence of life according to Herbert Spencer, and that ‘continuous adjustment of external relations to internal relations’ which is the basis of transmigration of souls or punarjanmam (re-birth) according to the doctrines of the ancient Hindu philosophers. A Yogi must thoroughly subjugate this power or force before he can attain moksham.” — p. 111 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations”

“Mantrika-sakti. The force or power of letters, speech or music . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Matrikāsakti . . . the force or power of letters or speech or music. The whole of the ancient Mantra Shastra has this force or power in all its manifestations for its subject-matter. . . . The influence of its music is one of its ordinary manifestations. The power of the mirific ineffable name is the crown of this Sakti.” — p. 111 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“Modern Science has but partly investigated the first . . .”

p/q: T. Subba Row, “The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” 1885: “Modern science has but partly investigated the first, second and fifth of the forces or powers above named, but it is altogether in the dark as regards the remaining powers.” — p. 111 fn. (Five Years of Theosophy)

“The six forces . . . represented by the “Daiviprakriti”

— 294 —

“The creation of Life by the Sun . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “This creation of life by the sun is as continuous as his light; nothing arrests or limits it. Around him, like an army of satellites, are innumerable choirs of Genii. These dwell in the neighbourhood of the Immortals, and thence watch over human things. They fulfil the will of the Gods by means of storms, tempests, transitions of fire, and earthquakes; likewise by famines and wars, for the punishment of impiety.” — p. 104 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

“It is the sun who preserves . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “It is the sun who preserves and nourishes all creatures; and even as the Ideal World which environs the sensible world fills this last with the plenitude and universal variety of forms, so also the sun enfolding all in his light accomplishes everywhere the birth and development of creatures . . .” — pp. 104-5 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

“Under his orders is the choir of Genii . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “Under his orders is the choir of the Genii, or rather the choirs, for there are many and diverse, and their number corresponds to that of the stars. Every star has its genii, good and evil by nature, or rather by their operation, for operation is the essence of the genii.” — p. 105 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

“All these Genii preside over mundane affairs . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “All these Genii preside over mundane affairs, they shake and overthrow the constitution of States and of individuals; they imprint their likeness on our souls, they are present in our nerves, our marrow, our veins, our arteries, and our very brain-substance . . .” — p. 105 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

“at the moment when each of us receives life and being . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “At the moment when each of us receives life and being, he is taken in charge by the genii who preside over births, and who are classed beneath the astral powers. Perpetually they change, not always identical, but revolving in circles. They permeate by the body two parts of the soul, that it may receive from each the impress of his own energy.” — p. 105 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

— Footnotes

Comments on Stanza IV [and V] “the Lipika and the four Maharajas,” the agents of Karma

“Animal man is the son of the animal elements . . .”

— 294-5 —

“But the reasonable part of the Soul . . .”

p/q: The Virgin of the World, tr. Kingsford & Maitland, 1885: “But the reasonable part of the soul is not subject to the genii; it is designed for the reception of God, who enlightens it with a sunny ray. Those who are thus illumined are few in number, and from them the genii abstain; for neither genii nor gods have any power in the presence of a single ray of God. But all other men, both soul and body, are directed by genii, to whom they cleave, and whose operations they affect. But reason is not like desire, which deceives and misleads. The genii, then, have the control of mundane things, and our bodies serve them as instruments.” — pp. 105-6 (Definitions of Asclepios, I)

— 296 —

for these Vital Force, Light, Sound . . . exist merely as . . . “affections of matter”

— Footnotes

“A characteristic of Akâsa will serve to show . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “ ‘A characterization of ākāśa will serve to show how inadequatively it is represented by “ether.” In dimension, it is, as has been said, infinite; it is not made up of parts; and colour, taste, smell, and tangibility do not appertain to it. So far forth it corresponds exactly to time, space, Īśwara, and soul. Its speciality, as compared therewith, consists in its being the material cause of sound. Except for its being so, we might take it to be one with vacuity.’ ” — 1:34 fn.

— 297 —

the “modes of motion” . . . of Moleschott

see: Louis Büchner, Force and Matter, 1864: “What we term mind, thought, conception, is the result of natural, though peculiarly combined, forces . . . combined in an infinitely complicated mode . . .” “. . . inherent forces, which in themselves are nothing but various modes of material motions.” “ ‘Thought is a motion of matter.’ Moleschott.” — pp. 49, 52-3, 135

the Founder of the new Hylo-Idealistic Scheme . . .

see: Lucifer, v. 1, Dec. 15, 1887: “Under the extraordinary title of ‘AUTO-CENTRICISM’ . . . Dr. Lewins publishes a series of letters on the subject of the philosophy of which he is the founder. . . . Dr. Lewins is among those who regard consciousness as a function of the nerve-tissue . . . Apart from the brain there is no Ego, no external world. What, then, is the Brain itself . . . Hylo-Idealism does not say.” — p. 330 (“Literary Jottings”)

“Cerebration is generically the same as chylification” . . .

see: Constance Naden, What is Religion?, notes by Robert Lewins, 1883: “. . . heat produced by oxidation . . . in the glands it causes secretion, and in the brain thought.” “. . . ‘the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile . . .’ ” — pp. 25, 57

— Footnotes

“So himself was indeed (his own) son”

see: Original Sanskrit Texts, tr. J. Muir, 1868-73: “ ‘As thou (O Agni) at the measured times . . . didst sacrifice to the gods, so sacrifice also to thyself’ {I might explain the word Tanūnapāt as meaning ‘his own son.’ Agni is his own son}.” — 4:9 & fn. (Rigveda, x. 7, 6)

— 298 —

“Owing to circumstances still unknown . . .”

p/q: Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England, 1864: “Owing to circumstances still unknown, there appear, from time to time, great thinkers, who, devoting their lives to a single purpose, are able to anticipate the progress of mankind, and to produce a religion or a philosophy, by which important effects are eventually brought about. But if we look into history, we shall clearly see that, although the origin of a new opinion may be thus due to a single man, the result which the new opinion produces will depend on the condition of the people among whom it is propagated. If either a religion or a philosophy is too much in advance of a nation, it can do no present service, but must bide its time, until the minds of men are ripe for its reception.” — 1:186

“Every science, every creed has had its martys. . . .”

p/q: Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England, 1864: “Every science and every creed has had its martyrs; men exposed to obloquy, or even to death, because they knew more than their contemporaries, and because society was not sufficiently advanced to receive the truths which they communicated. According to the ordinary course of affairs, a few generations pass away, and then there comes a period, when these very truths are looked upon as commonplace facts; and a little later, there comes another period, in which they are declared to be necessary, and even the dullest intellects wonder how they could ever have been denied.” — 1:186

— 299 —

(Vide Addendum)

“Close thy mouth, lest thou shouldst speak of this . . .”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Occult Science in India, tr. W. L. Felt, 1884: “Close your mouth that you may not speak of it, and your heart that you may not think of it, and if your heart forgets itself, bring it to its place again, for it is for this reason that they have been united together . . .” — p. 175 (Sepher Jeszirah)

“This is a secret which gives death: close thy mouth . . .”

see: Louis Jacolliot, Occult Science in India, tr. W. L. Felt, 1884: “This is a fatal secret; close thy mouth that no part of it may be revealed to the vulgar herd; compress thy brain in order that no part of it may be spread abroad.” — p. 175 (Agrouchada-Parikchai)

Part II — The Evolution of Symbolism

— 303 —

“A symbol is ever . . .”

p/q: Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, 1849: “For is not a Symbol ever, to him who has eyes for it, some dimmer or clearer revelation of the Godlike? . . . through all these there glimmers something of a Divine Idea . . . Nay the highest ensign that men ever met and embraced under, the Cross itself, had no meaning save an accidental extrinsic one.” — pp. 153-4 (iii.3)

“For thirty years past Professor Max Müller has been teaching . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “For thirty years past Professor Max Müller has been teaching in his books and lectures, in the Times, Saturday Review, and various magazines, from the platform of the Royal Institution, the pulpit of Westminster Abbey, and his chair at Oxford, that Mythology is a disease of language, and that the ancient symbolism was a result of something like a primitive mental aberration.” — p. 1

— 303-4 —

“ ‘We Know,’ says Renouf, echoing Max Müller . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “ ‘We know,’ says Renouf, echoing Max Müller, in his Hibbert Lectures, ‘We know that mythology is the disease which springs up at a peculiar stage of human culture.’ Such is the shallow explanation of the non-evolutionists, and such explanations are still accepted by the British public, that gets its thinking done for it by proxy. Professor Max Müller, Cox, Gubernatis and other propounders of the Solar Mythos have portrayed the primitive myth-maker for us as a sort of Germanised-Hindu metaphysician, projecting his own shadow on a mental mist, and talking ingeniously concerning smoke, or, at least, cloud; the sky overhead becoming like the dome of dreamland, scribbled over with the imagery of aboriginal nightmares!” — p. 1

— 304 —

“They conceive the early man in their own likeness . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “They conceive the early man in their own likeness, and look upon him as perversely prone to self-mystification, or, as Fontenelle has it, ‘subject to beholding things that are not there!’ They have misrepresented primitive or archaic man as having been idiotically misled from the first by an active but untutored imagination into believing all sorts of fallacies, which were directly and constantly contradicted by his own daily experience; a fool of fancy in the midst of those grim realities that were grinding his experience into him, like the gri[n]ding icebergs making their imprints upon the rocks submerged beneath the sea.” — p. 1

“It remains to be said, and will one day be acknowledged . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “It remains to be said, and will one day be acknowledged, that these accepted teachers have been no nearer to the beginnings of mythology and language than Burns’ poet Willie had been near to Pegasus. My reply is, ’Tis but a dream of the metaphysical theorist that mythology was a disease of language, or anything else except his own brain. The origin and meaning of mythology have been missed altogether by these solarites and weather-mongers! Mythology was a primitive mode of thinging the early thought [thinking by means of things].” — p. 1

“It was founded on natural facts . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “It was founded on natural facts, and is still verifiable in phenomena. There is nothing insane, nothing irrational in it, when considered in the light of evolution, and when its mode of expression by sign-language is thoroughly understood. The insanity lies in mistaking it for human history or Divine Revelation. Mythology is the repository of man's most ancient science, and what concerns us chiefly is this — when truly interpreted once more it is destined to be the death of those false theologies to which it has unwittingly given birth!” — pp. 1-2

“In modern phraseology a statement is sometimes said to be mythical . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “In modern phraseology a statement is sometimes said to be mythical in proportion to its being untrue; but the ancient mythology was not a system or mode of falsifying in that sense. Its fables were the means of conveying facts; they were neither forgeries nor fictions. . . . For example, when the Egyptians portrayed the moon as a Cat, they were not ignorant enough to suppose that the moon was a cat; nor did their wandering fancies see any likeness in the moon to a cat; nor was a cat-myth any mere expansion of verbal metaphor; nor had they any intention of making puzzles or riddles . . .” — p. 2

“They had observed the simple fact that the cat saw in the dark . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “They had observed the simple fact that the cat saw in the dark, and that her eyes became full-orbed and grew most luminous by night. The moon was the seer by night in heaven, and the cat was its equivalent on the earth; and so the familiar cat was adopted as a representative, a natural sign, a living pictograph of the lunar orb!” — p. 2

— 304-5 —

“And so it followed that the sun . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “And so it followed that the sun which saw down in the under-world at night, could also be called the cat, as it was, because it also saw in the dark. The name of the cat in Egyptian is mau, which denotes the seer, from mau, to see. One writer on mythology asserts that the Egyptians ‘imagined a great cat behind the sun, which is the pupil of the cat’s eye.’ But this imagining is all modern. It is the Müllerite stock in trade! The moon as cat was the eye of the sun, because it reflected the solar light, and because the eye gives back the image in its mirror. In the form of the Goddess Pasht the cat keeps watch for the sun, with her paw holding down and bruising the head of the serpent of darkness, called his eternal enemy!” — p. 2

— 305 —

(vide § VII. [IX.] Deus Lunus)

Kenneth Mackenzie, has shown . . . a great difference between emblem and symbol

— 305-6 —

The latter is “a concrete visible picture . . .”

— 306 —

“All esoteric societies . . .”

p/q: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “All esoteric societies have made use of emblems and symbols, such as the Pythagorean Society, the Eleusinia, the Hermetic Brethren of Egypt, the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. Many of these emblems it is not proper to divulge to the general eye, and a very minute difference may make the emblem or symbol differ widely in its meaning. The magical sigilla, being founded on certain principles of numbers, partake of this character, and although monstrous or ridiculous in the eyes of the uninstructed, convey a whole body of doctrine to those who have been trained to recognize them.” — 1:198

“Masonic Secrets” . . . those of “Polichinelle!”

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “In America . . . things in Masonry are taken au grand sérieux [with great seriousness], and not, as in England, au secret de Polichinelle [an ‘open secret’ (fig., a ‘secret’ whispered by a stage puppet)] . . .” — 1:160

— 307 —

In the Chinese language . . . every word has its corresponding symbol . . .

The language possesses many thousands of such symbol letters, or logograms . . .

— Footnotes

Thus, a Japanese who does not understand one word of Chinese . . .

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “C’est ainsi que les Japonais et les Chinois, qui ont les mêmes signes graphiques, se comprennent, quoique parlant une langue différente [Thus, the Japanese and the Chinese, who have the same pictograms, understand each other while speaking a different language].” — p. 432 fn.

— 308 —

“The writer is quite certain that there was an ancient language . . .”

— 309 —

the “divine” instructors of a new mankind . . . (See Stanza VI [VII], Book I., Part I.)

see: Stanza VII, 7: “. . . the Dhyani-Buddhas of the two higher groups . . . furnished the many and various races with divine kings and leaders. It is the latter who taught humanity their arts and sciences, and the former who revealed . . . the great spiritual truths of the transcendental worlds. . . . The next great Manvantara will witness the men of our own life-cycle becoming the instructors and guides of a mankind whose Monads may now yet be imprisoned — semi-conscious — in the most intellectual of the animal kingdom . . .” — SD 1:267

— 310 —

universal language — suspected by the Mason Ragon

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Francmaçonnerie . . . on sait, depuis longtemps, que ses secrets . . . composent d’une langue universellement parlée [Freemasonry . . . it has long been known that its secrets . . . consist of a universally spoken language] . . .” — pp. 2-3

several men of note who have tried . . . Delgarme, Wilkins, Leibnitz

but Demaimieux, in his Pasigraphie, is the only one . . .

— 311 —

“Every time I hear people talking of the religion of Egypt . . .”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Chaque fois que j’entends parler de la religion égyptienne, je suis tenté de demander de quelle religion égyptienne il s’agit. Est-ce de la religion égyptienne de la quatrième dynastie, ou de la religion égyptienne de l’époque ptolémaïque? Est-ce de la religion populaire ou de la religion des gens instruits? de la religion telle qu’on l’enseignait à l’école d’Héliopolis, ou de la religion telle que la concevaient les membres du sacerdoce thébain? [Every time I hear people talking of the religion of Egypt, I am tempted to ask which Egyptian religion they are talking about? Is it of the Egyptian religion of the 4th Dynasty, or of the Egyptian religion of the Ptolemaic period? Is it of the religion of the masses, or of that of learned people? Of that which was taught in the school of Heliopolis, or of that other which was in the minds and conceptions of the Theban priestly class?].” — p. 148

“For, between the first tomb of Memphis . . .”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Entre le premier tombeau memphite portant le cartouche d’un roi de la IIIe dynastie, et les dernières pierres gravées à Esnèh sous César Philippe l’Arabe, il y a cinq mille ans d’intervalle. Sans compter l’invasion des Pasteurs, la domination éthiopienne et assyrienne, la conquête persane, la colonisation grecque et les mille révolutions de sa vie politique, l’Égypte a passé, pendant ces cinq mille ans, par maintes vicissitudes de vie morale et intellectuelle [Between the first tomb of Memphis, which bears the cartouche of a king of the third dynasty, and the last stones engraved at Esneh under Caesar-Philippus, the Arabian, there is an interval of five thousand years. Leaving aside the invasion of the Shepherds, the Ethiopian and Assyrian domination, the Persian conquest, Greek colonization, and the thousand revolutions of its political life, during those five thousand years Egypt has passed through many changes of moral and intellectual life].” — pp. 148-9

“Chapter XVII. of the Book of the Dead . . .”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Le chapitre XVII du Livre des Morts, qui paraît contenir l’exposition du système du monde tel qu’on l’entendait à Héliopolis au temps des premières dynasties, nous est connu par plusieurs exemplaires de la XIe et de la XIIe dynasties. Chacun des versets qui le composent était déjà interprété de trois ou quatre manières différentes, si différentes que, selon les écoles, le démiurge devenait le feu solaire Râ-Shou, ou bien l’eau primordiale; quinze siècles plus tard, le nombre des interprétations avait augmenté sensiblement [Chapter XVII of the Book of the Dead which seems to contain the exposition of the system of the world as it was understood at Heliopolis at the time of the first dynasties, is known to us only by a few copies from the eleventh and twelfth dynasties. Each of its verses was even then interpreted in three or four different ways; so different, indeed, that according to this or another school, the demiurge became the solar fire — Rā-shu, or the primordial water; fifteen centuries later, the number of readings had increased considerably].” — p. 149

— 311-12 —

“Time had, in its course, modified the ideas about the universe . . .”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Le temps, en s’écoulant, avait modifié l’idée qu’on se faisait de l’univers et des forces qui le régissent. Depuis dix-huit siècles à peine que le christianisme existe, il a travaillé, développé, transformé la plupart de ses dogmes: combien de fois le sacerdoce égyptien ne dut-il pas altérer les siens, pendant les cinquante siècles qui séparent Théodose des rois constructeurs de pyramides? [Time had, in its course, modified the conception about the universe and the forces that ruled it. During the barely 18 centuries that Christiantiy has existed, it has worked out, developed and transformed most of its dogmas; how many times, then, might not the Egyptian clergy have altered its dogmas during those fifty centuries that separate Theodosius from the king builders of the pyramids?].” — p. 149

— 312 —

Osiris saying he is Toum (the creative force . . . giving form to all Beings . . .)

Toum . . . self-existent, issued from Noun, the celestial river

He has found Shoo (solar force) on the staircase in the City of the Eight . . .

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Shou {la force du soleil} a soulevé le Noun {l’eau céleste} étant sur l’escalier qui est dans la ville des Huit [Shoo {the solar force} has lifted up the Nūt {the celestial water}, standing on the staircase in the City of the Eight] . . .” — p. 54 (xvii.2-3) & notes 2 & 3 (p. 72)

he has annihilated the evil principles . . . the children of the Rebellion

He is the Fire . . .

and Water, i.e., Noun the primoridal parent

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis le dieu grand qui s’est donné la forme à lui-même, c’est-à-dire l’Eau, c’est à dire le Noun, père des dieux [I am the Great God who gave shape to himself, i.e. the Water, i.e. Nūt (the Celestial River), Father of the gods] . . .” — p. 54 (xvii.3-4)

he created the gods out of his limbs . . . seven dark and seven light gods

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “C’est Ra, créateur de ses membres qui deviennent les dieux de la suite de Ra {[ses phases] comme soleil nocturne et soleil diurne} . . . {Ra, le soleil, crée ses propres membres en créant les dieux destinés à personnifier ses phases} [That is Ra, creator of his own limbs, which become the gods in the retinue of Ra {(his phases) as the Night-Sun and the Day-Sun} . . . {Ra, the Sun, creates his own limbs, creating the gods that are destined to personify his phases}] . . .” — p. 54 (xvii.3-4) & notes (pp. 73, 74)

He is the Law of existence and Being (v. 10), the Bennoo . . .

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis la loi de l’existence et des êtres. . . . Le Bennou {Le B. d’Héliopolis ou Phénix, emblème d’Osiris qui meurt pour ressusciter, symbolise l’éternité par la perpétuelle succession du jour à la nuit} [I am the Law of existence and of beings . . . the Benu {the Benu of Heliopolis or the Phoenix, emblem of Osiris, who dies only to rise from the dead, symbolizes eternity by the perpetual succession of day and night}] . . .” — p. 55 (xvii.10) & note (Bennou, p. 597)

“The wayfarer who crosses millions of years, in [is] the name of One . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Traverseur de millions d’années est le nom de l’un, Grande Verte {l’abîme liquide} est le nom de l’autre [The one who traverses millions of years is the name of the One, the Great Green {the Watery Abyss} is the name of the other] . . .” — p. 57 (xvii.17) & note (p. 74: “l’abîme liquide, la Grande Verte”)

the Seven Luminous ones who follow their Lord, who confers justice

— 313 —

“the Mosaic Books were intended, by a mode of art speech . . .”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Cabbalah — No. IX,” May 1887: “ ‘The Sepher Thora (books of Moses) it is true, was a public book, but in every respect, nevertheless, it was a sealed book, which the unskilled man, unless by aid of traditional direction, could neither read, much less interpret, for himself.’ ” “ ‘Every science and art (seriatim, — as each was located like a mosaic in the Thora) had, as a consequence, its own secret discipline, its own art speech . . . so deeply natural that the inner-spirit of a subject matter only wholly disclosed itself to that one, who devoted himself to it with a full undivided love . . .’ ” — pp. 193, 194 (Masonic Review, 67:4)

“The foundation of these measures was the Parker ratio”

This ratio is 6,561 for diameter and 20,612 for circumference.

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “One of the values thus used in the Bible was rediscovered in about A. D. 1585, by Peter Metius, as 113 for diameter to 355 for circumference . . . the other was rediscovered by the late John A. Parker . . . as 6561 for diameter to 20612 for circumference, which, in the Sacred Record, is the perfect value.” — p. 13

the inch, was likewise the base of one of the royal Egyptian cubits . . .

He also found . . . a modified form of the ratio, viz., 113-355 . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “The relation of 6561 : 20612 is both in the pyramid structure and in the Bible coupled with the form 113 : 355 . . . connections between the two will be shown, but what the exact basic relations between them were, as anciently recognized, remains to be discovered.” — p. 6

The author discovered that a system of exact science, geometrical, numerical, and astronomical . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1894: “The containment by the Bible of this system is in no manner a disparagement to it in any possible point of view: to the contrary, if this system of exact science (call it so) is natural and divine, then indeed the Bible at last can be found to contain those exactitudes of Divine workmanship . . . A language thus displayed . . . brings up the question was it (or is it) possible for men to so construct a language, that it should . . . blend in a fully developed, numerical, mathematical, geometrical, astronomical, and cosmical system of exact enunciation? Truly it bewilders one.” — p. 60 (“Appendix” to the Supplement)

— Footnotes

As we said in Isis . . . “To the present moment . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “To the present moment, with all the controversies and researches, History and Science remain as much as ever in the dark as to the origin of the Jews. They may as well be the exiled Tchandalas, or Pariahs, of old India, the ‘bricklayers’ mentioned by the Vina-Svati, Veda-Vyasa and Manu, as the Phoenicians of Herodotus, or the Hyk-sos of Josephus, or descendants of Pali shepherds, or a mixture of all these. The Bible names the Tyrians as a kindred people, and claims dominion over them.” — 2:438-9

“Yet . . . they became a hybrid people . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Yet, if even so, it would only the more confirm our opinion that the Jews are a hybrid race, for the ‘Bible’ shows them freely intermarrying, not alone with the Canaanites, but with every other nation or race they come in contact with.” — 2:439 fn.

— 314 —

Mr. Proctor . . . Speaking of “the multitude of relations . . .”

p/q: C. Staniland Wake, The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid, 1882: “. . . Mr. Proctor refers to ‘the multitude of relations, independent of the pyramid, which have turned up while Pyramidalists have been endeavouring to connect the pyramid with the solar system.’ ” — p. 8

“these coincidences,” he says, “are altogether more curious . . .”

p/q: C. Staniland Wake, The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid, 1882: “ ‘These coincidences . . . are altogether more curious than any coincidence between the Pyramid and astronomical numbers: the former are as close and remarkable as they are real; the latter, which are only imaginary, have only been established by the process which schoolboys call “fudging,” and now new measures have left the work to be done all over again {See Mr. Petrie’s letter to The Academy, Dec. 17, 1881}.’ ” — p. 8 & fn.

“They must, however, have been more than mere coincidences . . .”

p/q: C. Staniland Wake, The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid, 1882: “They must, however, have been more than mere coincidences if the builders of the pyramid had the astronomical knowledge displayed in its perfect orientation and in its other admitted astronomical features.” — p. 8 fn.

Solomon’s Temple . . . never had a real existence . . .

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Les légendaires . . . ont confondu Hiram avec Adonhiram; ni l’un ni l’autre n’ont été architectes. Ce fut Salomon qui bâtit le temple en son palais, du moins la Bible ne nomme pas l’exécuteur de ses plans [The writers of legends . . . have confused Hiram with Adonhiram; neither the one nor the other were architects. It was Solomon who built the temple and his palace, at least the Bible does not mention the one who carried out his plans].” — p. 105 fn.

as much a solar myth as is the still later Hiram Abif

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “De cette interprétation, on a conclu qu’Hiram . . . devenu le héros de la nouvelle légende, avec le titre d’architecte, est l’Osiris (le soleil) de l’initiation moderne [From this interpretation the conclusion is that Hiram . . . having become the hero of the new legend, with the title architect, is the Osiris (the Sun) of the modern initiation] . . .” — p. 103

— 315 —

“As to the results of the whole investigation . . .”

p/q: W. M. Flinders Petrie, The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, 1883: “As to the results of the whole investigation, perhaps many theoriests will agree with an American, who was a warm believer in Pyramid theories when he came to Gizeh. I had the pleasure of his company there for a couple of days, and at our last meal together he said to me in a saddened tone, — ‘Well, sir! I feel as if I had been to a funeral.’ By all means let the old theories have a decent burial; though we should take care that in our haste none of the wounded ones are buried alive.” — p. xvi

“The circle is the natural basis . . .”

“Because the circle is the primary shape in nature . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “Because the circle is the primary shape in nature . . . circumference and radius, and not the square of diameter, are the only natural and legitimate elements of area, by which all regular shapes are made equal to the square, and equal to the circle.” — p. 15

— 316 —

“The circle and the equilateral triangle . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “The circle and the equilateral triangle are opposite to one another in all the elements of their construction, and hence the fractional diameter of one circle, which is equal to the diameter of one square, is in the opposite duplicate ratio to the diameter of an equilateral triangle whose area is one.” — p. 15

the God-names Elohim and Jehovah, and their adaptation to phallicism . . .

“. . . the differential is a one straight line (phallus) of the denomination of the perfect circle (yoni) . . . this value is Jehovah . . . or the perfect one . . .” “. . . the two words of which Jehovah is composed, make up the original idea of male-female . . . So, it is seen that the perfect one, as originator of measures, takes also the form of birth origin, as hermaphrodite one; hence, the phallic form and use.” — p. 159

— 317-18 —

— Footnotes

his theory was, that the porphyry sarcophagus . . . “is the unit of measure . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Professor Smyth has given us by far the most accurate mathematical description of the great pyramid to be found in literature. But . . . he so little appreciates ancient Egyptian thought that he actually maintains that the porphyry sarcophagus of the king’s chamber is the unit of measure for the two most enlightened nations on earth — ‘England and America.’ ” — 1:520

see: Piazzi Smyth, Our Inheritance in The Great Pyramid, 1874: “John Taylor . . . suggests that, ‘The coffer in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid was intended to be a standard measure of capacity and weight fit for all nations; and certain nations did originally receive their weights and measures from thence . . . The quarter corn measures of the British farmer are fourth parts or quarters of the contents of the coffer in the King’s Chamber . . .’ This is a statement requiring full examination.” — pp. 97-8

we had said, that Herodotus . . . “might have added . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “But, Herodotus did not tell all . . . he might have added that, externally, it symbolized the creative principle of nature, and illustrated also the principles of geometry, mathematics, astrology, and astronomy. Internally, it was a majestic fane, in whose sombre recesses were performed the Mysteries, and whose walls had often witnessed the initiation-scenes of members of the royal family. The porphyry sarcophagus, which Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, degrades into a corn-bin, was the baptismal font, upon emerging from which, the neophyte was ‘born again,’ and became an adept.” — 1:519

Shaw . . . maintained that the Sarcophagus had been used . . . for the Mysteries of Osiris

“The so-called King’s Chamber . . .”

p/q: C. Staniland Wake, The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid, 1882: “The so-called King’s Chamber, of which an enthusiastic pyramidist says, ‘The polished walls, fine materials, grand proportions, and exalted place eloquently tell of glories yet to come,’ if not ‘the chamber of perfections’ of Cheops’s tomb, was probably the place to which the initiant was admitted after he had passed through the narrow upward passage and the grand gallery, with its lowly termination, which gradually prepared him for the final stage of the sacred mysteries.” — p. 93

the same “strait gate” which “leadeth unto life” . . .

— 319 —

Ezra, who remodelled the whole Pentateuch

see: Andrews Norton, The Pentateuch, 1870: “. . . Masius . . . the author of a commentary much esteemed by the learned on Joshua, avowed . . . that the Pentateuch in its present form was not the production of Moses, but of Ezra or some other later writer, who had modernized some of the ancient names.” — p. vi

the story told of Moses by Ezra had been learned by him while at Babylon

see: Andrews Norton, The Pentateuch, 1870: “. . . Le Clerc endeavoured to show that our actual Pentateuch was probably the work of the Israelitish priest, who, after the dissolution of the Northern kingdom, was sent by the King of Assyria from Babylon to instruct the new colonists in the worship of Jehovah . . .” — p. viii

— Footnotes

“In the palace of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik I found another fragment . . .”

p/q: George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, 1875: “In the palace of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik I found another fragment of the curious history of Sargon, a translation of which I published in the ‘Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,’ vol. i, part i. page 46.” — p. 224

The capital of Sargon . . . “was the great city of Agadi . . .”

p/q: George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, 1875: “The capital of Sargon was the great city of Agadi, called by the Semitics Akkad, mentioned in Genesis as a capital of Nimrod (Gen. x. 10) . . . Akkad lay near the city of Sippara on the Euphrates and north of Babylon.” — p. 225

Sippara is the same as the name of the wife of Moses — Zipporah (Exodus ii.)

1. Sargona, the powerful king, the king of Akkad am I. . . .

“1. Sargina the powerful king the king of Akkad am I.

2. My mother was a princess, my father I did not know, a brother of my father ruled over the country.

3. In the city of Azupiranu which by the side of the river Euphrates is situated

4. my mother the princess conceived me; in difficulty she brought me forth

5. She placed me in an ark of rushes, with bitumen my exit she sealed up.

6. She launched me on the river which did not drown me.

7. The river carried me, to Akki the water carrier it brought me.

8. Akki the water carrier in tenderness of bowels lifted me . . .” — pp. 299-300

“And when she (Moses’ mother) could not longer hide him . . .”

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And when she [Moses’ mother] could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.” — p. 72 (Exodus, 2:3)

— 320 —

— Footnotes

“The story,” says Mr. G. Smith, “is supposed to have happened . . .”

p/q: George Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis, 1876: “This story is supposed to have happened about b.c. 1600, rather earlier than the supposed age of Moses; and, as we know that the fame of Sargon reached Egypt, it is quite likely that this account had a connection with the events related in Exodus ii., for every action, when once performed, has a tendency to be repeated.” — p. 300

Sayce has had the courage to push back the dates . . . by two thousand years more

Sargon must have preceded Moses by 2,000 years at the least

see: A. H. Sayce, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, 1887: “The work on astronomy . . . supplemented by numerous additions in its passage through the hands of generations of Babylonian astronomers . . . contained so many records of eclipses as to demonstrate the antiquity of Babylonian astronomy even in the remote age of Sargon himself.” — pp. 29-30

— 321 —

“The Cube unfolded is in display a cross of the tau . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “Cube unfolded is in display a cross of the tau form, or Egyptian form, or of the Christian cross form. Circle attached to the first, gives the ansated cross of the Egyptians. Numbers 3 and 4 counted on the cross, showing a form of the golden candlestick, and of the 3 + 4 = 7, and 6 + 1 = 7, days in the circle of the week, as 7 lights of the sun. . . . the symbol is completed by the attachment of a man to the cross. This kind of measure was made to co-ordinate with the idea of the origin of human life and hence the phallic form.” — p. v (“Table of Contents,” §§ 20, 21)

— Footnotes

the Hindu Wittoba crucified in space

see: Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, 1836: “Mr. Moore describes an Avatar called Wittoba, who has his foot pierced. . . . ‘The subject of plate 98 [in Moore’s Hindu Pantheon] is evidently the crucifixion . . .’ This incarnation of Vishnu or Cristna is called Wittoba or Ballaji. . . . he is represented exactly in the form of a Romish crucifix . . .” — 1:145

the significance of the “sacred sign,” the Swastica

Plato’s Decussated man in Space

see: Justin Martyr, The First Apology, tr. Dods, Reith & Pratten, 1867: “. . . concerning the Son of God in the Timaeus of Plato, where he says, ‘He placed him crosswise [decussated] in the universe’ . . . For he gives the second place to the Logos which is with God, who he said was placed crosswise in the universe . . .” — 2:58 (Apol. I, § 60, Writings of Justin Martyr)

— 321-2 —

“primordial vestiges of these symbols.” “Under the general view . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “primordial vestiges of these symbols: Under the general view taken of the nature of the number forms of Mr. Parker, it becomes a matter of research of the utmost interest as to when and where their existence and their use first became known. Has it been a matter of revelation in what we know as the historic age — a cycle exceedingly modern when the age of the human race is contemplated? It seems, in fact, as to the date of its possession by man, to have been further removed, in the past, from the old Egyptians than are the old Egyptians from us.” — p. 54

— 322 —

“The Easter Isles in ‘mid Pacific’ . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “The Easter Isles in ‘mid Pacific’ present the feature of the remaining peaks of the mountains of a submerged continent, for the reason that these peaks are thickly studded with cyclopean statues, remnants of the civilization of a dense and cultivated people, who must have of necessity occupied a widely extended area. On the backs of these images is to be found the ‘ansated cross,’ and the same modified to the outlines of the human form. A full description, with plate showing the land, with the thickly planted statues, also with copies of the images, is to be found in the January number, 1870, of the ‘London Builder.’ The statues exhibiting the markings of the cross, it is thought, are in the British Museum.” — p. 54

“In the ‘Naturalist,’ published at Salem . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “In the ‘Naturalist,’ published at Salem, Massachusetts, in one of the early numbers (about 36), is to be found a description of some very ancient and curious carvings on the crest walls of the mountains of South America, older by far, it is averred, than the races now living. The strangeness of these tracings is in that they exhibit the outlines of a man stretched out on a cross, by a series of drawings, by which from the form of a man that of a cross springs, but so done that the cross may be taken as the man, or the man as the cross; thus exhibiting a symbolic display of the interdependency of the forms set forth in the text.” — p. 54

“It is known that tradition among the Aztecs . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “It is known that tradition among the Aztecs has handed down a very perfect account of the deluge of Noah. Baron Humboldt says that we are to look for the country of Aztalan, the original country of the Aztecs, as high up, at least, as the 42d parallel north; whence journeying, they at last arrived in the vale of Mexico. In that vale the earthen mounds of the far north become the elegant stone pyramidal, and other structures, whose remains are now found. The correspondence between the Aztec remains and those of the Egyptians is well known.” — pp. 57-8

“Attwater, from examination of hundreds of them . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “. . . Atwater, from examination of hundreds of them, is convinced that their authors had a knowledge of astronomy. As to one of the most perfect of the pyramidal structures among the Aztecs, Humboldt gives a description to the following effect: ‘The form of this pyramid (of Papantla), which has seven stories, is more tapering than any other monument of this kind yet discovered, but its height is not remarkable, being but 57 feet, its base but 25 feet on each side. However, it is remarkable on one account: it is built entirely of hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very beautifully shaped. Three staircases lead to the top, the steps of which were decorated with hieroglyphical sculptures and small niches, arranged with great symmetry. The number of these niches seems to allude to the 318 simple and compound signs of the days of their civil calendar.’ ” — p. 58

— Footnotes

See farther on the description given of the early Aryan initiation

see: “The Symbolism of . . . the Cross and Circle”: “. . . Visvakarma, crucifying the ‘Sun-Initiate’ on the cruciform lathe. . . . ‘the attachment of a man to the cross . . . was made use of in this very form of display by the Hindus’; but, made ‘to co-ordinate’ with the idea of the new rebirth of man by spiritual, not physical regeneration.” — SD 2:543

Visvakarma crucifying the Sun, “Vikkârtana,” shorn of his beams — on a cruciform lath

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “. . . the sage Viswa-karma, placed the luminary [the Sun] on his lathe and cut away an eighth of his effulgence . . . The names and epithets of the sun are numberless. He is . . . Vikarttana, ‘shorn of his beams’ (by Viswa-karma) . . .” — p. 311

— 322-3 —

“318 is the Gnostic value of Christ . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “318 is the Gnostic value of Christ, and the famous number of the trained or circumcised servants of Abram. When it is considered that 318 is an abstract value, and universal as expressive of a diameter value to a circumference of unity, its use in the composition of a civil calendar becomes manifest.” — p. 58

— 323 —

scientific theories . . . are a thousand times nearer the truth than the vagaries of theology

see: Charles Lyell, Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 1863: “In our attempts to account for the origin of species, we find ourselves still sooner brought face to face with . . . a system of nature which had gone on for millions of years . . .” — p. 469

6000 years since Adam . . . Lyell’s “Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man”

see: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “No one can read Sir Charles Lyell’s ‘Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man’ without acknowledging that these evidences are very strong indeed; and that they point to an antiquity far beyond the six thousand years which have hitherto been regarded as our age.” — p. 197

— Footnotes

“the Scriptures carefully refrain . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall, published anonymously], 1871: “In this respect, then, the Scriptures may be said to stand on a level with other writings which are not inspired . . . for, while they carefully refrain from making any direct contribution to the scientific knowledge of mankind, they have never stumbled upon any statement which will not abide the light of advancing science.” — p. 14

— 323-4 —

They speak of “a white Adam and a black Adam, a red Adam and a yellow Adam.”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “There are . . . very learned ethnologists who assert that the existing varieties of the human race can only be accounted for by the creation of several Adams — a white Adam and a black Adam, a red Adam and a yellow Adam . . .” — p. 195

— 324 —

Hindus enumerating the rebirths of Vamadeva from the Linga Purâna

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . the Linga P. [I, x] describes the repeated birth of Śiva, or Vāmadeva, as a Kumāra, or boy, from Brahmā, in each Kalpa, who again becomes four. . . . all of a white complexion: in the thirteenth [Kalpa], the Kumāra becomes Virajas, Vivāhu, Viśoka, Viśwabhāvana; all of a red colour: in the thirty-first, he becomes four youths of a yellow colour; and, in the thirty-second, the four Kumāras were black.” — 1:79 fn.

The unknown author of “Primeval Man”

“it would be unfortunate if the defenders of the Bible . . .”

“Adam was not the first man . . .”

The exhumed relics . . . “instead of shaking our confidence in Scripture . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “. . . the recent discovery of ancient human remains, supposing them to be ultimately proved to be pre-Adamic, instead of shaking our confidence in Scripture, supplies additional proof of its veracity.” — p. 194

“we” (the clergy) “are enabled to leave scientific men . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “The moment we make the distinction which we have indicated, we discover the mistake, and are enabled to leave scientific men to pursue their studies without attempting to coerce them by the fear of heresy.” — p. 55

“The Bible narrative does not commence with creation . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “The Bible narrative does not commence with creation, as is commonly supposed, but with the formation of Adam and Eve, millions of years after our planet had been created. Its previous history, so far as Scripture is concerned, is yet unwritten.” — p. 55

“There may have been not one, but twenty different races . . .”

“Satan (was) never in heaven, Angels and men (being) one species” . . . “Angels that sinned.”

Satan was “the first Prince of this world”

Satan . . . remained on earth as a disembodied Spirit, and tempted Adam and Eve.

see: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “If Satan and his angels were created in the image of God, and if, falling from their original righteousness, they died, and are now disembodied spirits, they must have lived and died before the time of Adam; because, even in the garden of Eden, Satan was a disembodied spirit, and had to use the organism of a serpent in order to communicate with Eve.” — p. 202

— Footnotes

author . . . of the “Stars and the Angels”

ch. iv. of Genesis, v. 16 and 17, which shows Cain going to the land of Nod . . .

— 324-5 —

“The earlier ages of the Satanic race . . . may have been a period of patriarchal civilization . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “The earlier ages of the Satanic race, and more especially during the life-time of Satan, may have been a period of patriarchal civilization and comparative repose — a time of Tubal-cains and Jubals, when both sciences and arts attempted to strike their roots into the accursed ground . . . What a subject for an epic . . .” — pp. 206-7

— 325 —

“there are inevitable incidents which must have occurred. . . .”

p/q: Primeval Man Unveiled [by James Gall], 1871: “There are inevitable incidents which must have occurred. We see before us . . . the gay primeval lover wooing his blushing bride at dewy eve under the Danish oaks that then grew where now no oaks will grow. . . . the gray primeval patriarch bending under his load of years with his primeval offspring innocently gamboling by his side. . . . A thousand such pictures rise before us . . .” — p. 207

“As it would seem irrational to affirm that we already know all existing causes . . .”

p/q: Alexander Bain, Logic, 1870: “As it would seem irrational to affirm that we already know all existing causes, permission must be given to assume, if need be, an entirely new agent. . . . Assuming what is not strictly accurate as yet, that the undulatory hypothesis accounts for all facts, we are called on to decide whether the existence of an undulating ether is thereby proved.” — 2:131

— 325-6 —

“We cannot positively affirm that no other supposition will explain the facts. . . .”

p/q: Alexander Bain, Logic, 1870: “We cannot positively affirm that no other supposition will explain the facts . . . Newton’s corpuscular hypothesis is admitted to have broken down on Interference; and there is at the present day, no rival. Still, it is extremely desirable in all such hypotheses, to find some collateral confirmation, some evidence aliunde, of the supposed ether.” — 2:131

— 326 —

“Some Hypotheses consist of assumptions . . .”

p/q: Alexander Bain, Logic, 1870: “Some Hypotheses consist of assumptions as to the minute structure and operations of bodies. From the nature of the case, these assumptions can never be proved by direct means. Their only merit is their suitability to express the phenomena. They are Representative Fictions.” — 2:132

— 327 —

that Deity was not “Jehovah” (see “The Holy of Holies”)

see: “The ‘Holy of Holies.’ Its Degradation”: “. . . behind the symbolic substitute — Jehovah — there was the unknown, incognizable Deity, the Kabalistic Ain-Soph . . . Jehovah was a substitute for purposes of an exoteric national faith, and had no importance or reality in the eyes of the erudite priests and philosophers . . .” — SD 2:472

the “Unknown” . . . “dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts xviii [xvii], 23-4)

p/q: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein . . . dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being . . .” — pp. 182-3 (Acts, 17:23-25, 27-28)

— Footnotes

he terms the “First Cause” . . . a “power manifesting through phenomena” . . .

p/q: Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 1880: “. . . in our search for a cause, we discover no resting place until we arrive at the hypothesis of a First Cause; and we have no alternative but to regard this First Cause as Infinite and Absolute.” — p. 38 (§ 12)

— 328 —

— Footnotes

The term Protyle is due to Mr. Crookes . . .

see: William Crookes, “Genesis of the Elements,” Feb. 18, 1887: “What existed anterior to our elements, before matter as we now have it, I propose to name protyle. But how can we suppose the protyle, or fire-mist, converted into the atomic condition? . . . that universal formative principle in nature which I suggest first made itself manifest in the condensation of protyle into atomic matter.” — p. 95 (Chemical News, March 4, 1887)

— 329 —

“Matter” ought to be applied to the aggregate of objects of possible perception . . .

p/q: Immanuel Kant, Kritik der Urtheilskraft, 1884: “Aber der Boden, auf welchem ihr Gebiet errichtet . . . ist immer doch nur der Inbegriff der Gegenstände aller möglichen Erfahrung [But the subject matter to which its realm extends . . . is always only the aggregate of objects of all possible cognitive perception] . . .” — pp. 10-11 (Introduction, xvii)

— 330 —

(See “Chaos, Theos, Kosmos.”)

“From Intelligence . . . associated with Ignorance . . . attended by its projective power . . .”

p/q: Manual of Hindu Pantheism: The Vedāntasāra, tr. G. A. Jacob, 1881: “From Intelligence associated with Ignorance attended by its projective power, in which the quality of insensibility (tamas) abounds, proceeds ether, — from ether, air, — from air, heat, — from heat, water, — and from water, earth. . . . ‘From this, from this same Self, was the ether produced’ (Taittirīya Upanishad, 2. 1).” — p. 57

“From Intelligence (called Mahat) . . . proceeds Ether . . .”

— 331 —

the deific Entity . . . under the name of “Pater omnipotens Æther” . . .

the “Imponderable Substance,” once admitted as the “Ether of Space”

see: M. E. Edlund, “On the Nature of Electricity,” Aug. 1872: “It was formerly the received opinion that heat consisted of a subtile and imponderable substance emitted by the source of heat . . . it is now proved that these phenomena are oscillations, either of the minutest particles of matter or of the aether — that subtile and elastic material diffused through all nature . . .” — p. 81 (Philosophical Magazine, v. 44)

the Cosmocratores — or the “world bearers” . . . Mundi Tenentes — the “world holders” . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “cosmocratores, porteurs du monde, comme dit Bossuet; mundi tenentes, ou tenants du monde, comme dit Tertullien; mundi dominos, ou les dominations, comme disent la plupart des commentateurs [Cosmocratores, ‘World Bearers’ as Bossuet says, mundi tenentes, or the ‘world holders,’ as Tertullian says; mundi dominos, or the Dominations, as most of the commentators say] . . .” — 3:392

Zoroaster . . . said: “Consult it only when it is without form or figure”

“When it has a form — heed it not” . . . “but when it is formless, obey it, for it is then sacred fire . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Quand il a une forme, ne l’écoute pas, dit à son tour Psellus; quand il n’en a pas, écoute-le, car c’est alors le feu sacré, et tout ce qu’il te révélera sera très-vrai [When it has a form, heed it not, says Psellus in his turn; when it is formless, listen to it, for it is then sacred fire, and all it will reveal to you shall be true].” — 3:416

Virgil calls Jupiter, Pater omnipotens Æther

— Footnotes

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood . . .”

Further on St. Paul mentions the spiritual malices . . . spread in the air

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . l’apôtre saint Paul aux Éphésiens: ‘. . . c’est contre les recteurs ténébreux de ce monde . . . contre les malices spirituelles répandues dans les airs . . . spiritualia nequitiae in coelestibus’ [the apostle Saint Paul to the Ephesians: ‘. . . it is against the powers of darkness of this world . . . against the spiritual powers of wickedness scattered in heavenly places’].” — 3:392

— 331-2 —

the author of the Homoiomerian System of philosophy, Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The author of the Homoiomerian system of philosophy, Anaxagoras of Clazomenè, firmly believed that the spiritual prototypes of all things, as well as their elements, were to be found in the boundless ether, where they were generated, whence they evolved, and whither they returned . . .” — 1:158

see: William Enfield, The History of Philosophy, 1837: “Anaxagoras, of Clazomene . . . said concerning himself that he was born to contemplate the heavens.” “. . . he supposed bodies of every kind to be generated from similar particles, ὁμοιομερείαι [homoiomeriæ] . . .” — pp. 84, 85, 86

— 332 —

prototypes of all things . . . in the boundless Ether where they were generated

see: William Enfield, The History of Philosophy, 1837: “That Anaxagoras maintained an infinite mind to be the author of all motion and life, is attested by many ancient authorities.” “. . . he taught that air, or subtle ether, is the first material principle in nature, but that it partakes of a divine intelligence, without which nothing could be produced. . . . he conceived the infinite ether to be animated by a divine mind, and all thngs to be formed from this compound principle.” — pp. 87, 88

the elements are Tamas, i.e., “unenlightened by intellect, which they obscure”

p/q: Vedanta-Sara, tr. J. R. Ballantyne, 1898: “That there is the prevalence of tamas in the cause of these (five elements . . .) from the excess of senselessness observed in them, (— the elements being unenlightened by Intellect which they quite obscure).” — p. 32 (V.)

“What is the primordial Chaos but Æther” . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “What is the primordial Chaos but Æther? The modern Ether; not such as is recognized by our scientists, but such as it was known to the ancient philosophers, long before the time of Moses; Ether, with all its mysterious and occult properties, containing in itself the germs of universal creation; Ether, the celestial virgin, the spiritual mother of every existing form and being, from whose bosom as soon as ‘incubated’ by the Divine Spirit, are called into existence Matter and Life, Force and Action.” — 1:134

Electricity, magnetism, heat, light . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and chemical action are so little understood even now that fresh facts are constantly widening the range of our knowledge. Who knows where ends the power of this protean giant — Ether; or whence its mysterious origin? — Who, we mean, that denies the spirit that works in it and evolves out of it all visible forms?” — 1:134

It will be an easy task to show . . .

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “It is an easy task to show that the cosmogonical legends all over the world are based on a knowledge by the ancients of those sciences which have allied themselves in our days to support the doctrine of evolution; and that further research may demonstrate that they were far better acquainted with the fact of evolution itself, embracing both its physical and spiritual aspects, than we are now.” — 1:134

“With the old philosophers, evolution was a universal theorem . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “With the old philosophers, evolution was a universal theorem, a doctrine embracing the whole, and an established principle; while our modern evolutionists are enabled to present us merely with speculative theoretics; with particular, if not wholly negative theorems. It is idle for the representatives of our modern wisdom to close the debate and pretend that the question is settled, merely because the obscure phraseology of the Mosaic account clashes with the definite exegesis of ‘exact science.’ ” — 1:134

— 333 —

“Removing the darkness, the Self-existent Lord . . .”

p/q: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “Then the self-existent Lord became manifest . . . removing the darkness. . . . Wishing to produce different beings from his own body, he having desired, first created water alone; in that he cast seed. That became a golden egg . . .” — p. 2 (i.6, 8-9)

“Darkness, imperceptible, without definite qualities . . .”

Having dwelt in that Egg for a whole divine year, he . . . splits that egg in two

p/q: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “That Lord having dwelt in that egg for a year, spontaneously, by his own meditation, split that egg in two. And with those two shares he formed the heaven and the earth, in the middle the sky and eight regions, and the perpetual place of the waters.” — p. 3 (i.12-13)

That which is the undiscrete . . . cause, eternal, which Is and Is not . . .

— Footnotes

vide . . . “Cross and Circle,” and the “Earliest Symbolics of the Cross”

— 333-4 —

“(14.) From Self (âtmanah) he created mind . . .”

— 334 —

Medhâtithi, the commentator, justly observes here that it is the reverse . . .

For Manas is dual, and as shown and translated by Colebrooke . . .

see: H. T. Colebrooke, Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, 1858: “Eleven organs of sense and action, which are also productions of the conscious principle. Ten are external: viz. five of sense and five of action. The eleventh is internal, an organ of both sense and action, termed manas or mind. . . . Mind, serving both for sense and action, is an organ by affinity, being cognate with the rest.” — p. 153

Medhâtithi translates it as “the one conscious of the I,” or Ego, not “ruler”

“He also, having made the subtile parts of those six . . .”

“He having pervaded the subtile parts of those six . . .”

p/q: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “ ‘Into the elements of self.’ K. [Kullūka Bhaṭṭa] has ātmamātrāsu, as translated above; Medh. would read mātrābhiḥ, ‘by elements;’ thus the whole verse would be: ‘He having pervaded the subtile parts of those six, of unmeasured brightness, by elements of self, created all beings.’ ” — p. 3, fn. 7

“The six appear rather to be the manas plus the five . . .”

p/q: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “The six appear rather to be the manas plus the five principles of ether, air, fire, water, earth; ‘having united fine portions of these six with the spiritual elements, he (thus) created all existent things’. . . ātmamātra is therefore the spiritual atom as opposed to the elementary, not reflexive ‘elements of himself.’ ” — pp. 3-4, fn. 7

— 334-5 —

“(17.) As the subtile elements of bodily forms of This One depend on these six . . .”

— 335 —

“This non-eternal (Universe) arises then from the Eternal, by means of . . .” (purusha)

p/q: The Ordinances of Manu, tr. Burnell, ed. Hopkins, 1884: “This non-eternal (universe) arises then from the eternal, by means of the subtile elements of forms of those seven very glorious principles {‘Principles’ — puruṣa is here put for tattva, according to Medhātithi (The five elements plus mind and self-consciousness are probably meant; ‘subtile elements’ as before ‘fine portions of form.’)}.” — p. 4 (i.19) & fn. 5

they constitute the “seven purusha”

“those which are called the atomic destructible portions” . . .

This creative Brahmâ, issuing from the mundane or golden egg, unites in himself . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . the character of Brahmā {united in himself the nature of either sex . . . ‘this first-born of the world, whom they represented under two shapes and characters, and who sprang from the mundane egg . . .’}. ” — 1:40 & fn. (i.2)

“πρωτόγονον διφυῆ τρίγονον Βακχεῖον . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . this first-born . . . was the person from whom the mortals and immortals were derived. He was the same as Dionysus, whom they styled, πρωτόγονον διφυῆ τρίγονον Βακχεῖον Ἄνακτα Ἄγριον ἀρρητὸν κρύφιον δικέρωτα δίμορφον [first-born, thrice begotten Bacchic king, living in the wild, ineffable, secretive, two-horned and two-formed] . . .” — 1:40 fn.

Seven Angels of the Presence

mahat, ahamkara and the five tanmâtras are called the seven Prakritis . . .

see: Sānkhya Kārikā and The Bhāshya, tr. Colebrooke & Wilson, 1837: “Mūla (the root) prakriti (nature) is . . . the root of the seven principles . . . Seven principles. — Mahat and the rest; from its being the great (mahat) element; this is Intellect (Buddhi). . . . The seven principles are, 1. Intellect [Mahā-Buddhi or Mahat]; 2. Egotism [Ahaṃkāra]; 3-7. The five subtle rudiments [tanmātras].” — p. 16 (III, Bhāshya)

counted from Maha-Buddhi or Mahat down to Earth. . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “In this manner, — as (in the creation,) were the seven forms of nature (Prakṛiti), reckoned from Mahat to earth . . .” “See the Sānkhya-kārikā, III., and the commentaries . . . which counts the seven prakṛitis from mahā-buddhi — the same as mahat . . .” — 5(I):198, 199 fn. (vi.4)

— Footnotes

Ahamkara . . . this conception of “I” . . . is either sattwa, “pure quietude,” or appears as rajas . . .

— 336 —

chapter i. of Genesis . . . “God” commands to another “god,” who does his bidding

“God” fashions the heaven and the Earth . . . the former is no Heaven in fact, but the “Deep” . . .

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters” . . . this Spirit is Nara-yana

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “This is the well-known verse of Manu, I., 10, rendered by Sir Wm. Jones: ‘The waters are called nārāh, because they were the production of Nara, or the spirit of god; and, since they were his first ayana, or place of motion, he thence is named Nārāyaṇa, or moving on the waters.’ . . . there can be little doubt that this tradition is, in substance, the same as that of Genesis [1:2] . . .” — 1:56 fn.

— Footnotes

See “The Holy of Holies”

Oulam . . . a time when beginning or end is not known

see: John Wesley Hanson, Aiōn-Aiōnios, 1880: “Says a French author {LeClerc}: ‘It is certain that in Hebrew there is no word which, properly speaking, signifies eternity or a time which has no end. Gnolam {Olam} signifies only a time, of which we know not the beginning or the end . . .’ ” — p. 11 & fn.

Oulam . . . does not mean “infinite duration” . . .

see: John Wesley Hanson, Aiōn-Aiōnios, 1880: “Of course the Greek word aiōn into which the Hebrew olam is almost always rendered, must, in the Old Testament, have the precise meaning of the word it represents . . . As from olam signifies from an indefinite past time, and to olam an unknown time in the future . . . instead of being rendered forever, or forever and ever, should in English, be represented by an age of ages, or ages of ages, or some other phrase indicating an indefinite period . . . Of their own intrinsic force the words cannot denote endless duration.” — p. 13

by Eternity and Immortality only “existence to the end of the Kalpa” is meant

See the remarkable work of James Darmesteter, Cosmogonies Aryennes . . .

— 337 —

“And God said, Let there be a firmament . . .” . . . and “God,” the second, obeyed . . .

“there was light” . . . does not mean light at all, but . . . the androgyne “Adam Kadmon”

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . ‘And Elohim said; Let light be! and it was light.’ . . . And this is the double-face formed Adam {The first Adam [Adam Kadmon], the Man, was an androgene and is the Primordial Ideation Adam . . .}.” — p. 360 & fn.

the secondary angels, the first being the Elohim . . .

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “Nachmanides and R. Be’hai hold, the first word Elohim of the first verse of Genesis is really e’lohim and only meant, energies or angels, and not the Deity. That B’resheeth meant Be-raisheeth, i.e., with Wisdom, one of the Sephiroth, and that through it was emanated, that, the essence of which is unknown . . .” — p. 348

whether we call these “Forces” . . . the Ophanim, as St. John [Ezekiel] does

see: Abbé L. Chiarini, “Chaldean Astronomy Discovered in Ezekiel,” 1831: “I shall consider a little more fully the symbolical meaning of the eyes, with which Ezekiel has filled the four circles of his sphere, and the four cherubim attached to them: ‘and their whole body . . . and the wheels [ophanim], were full of eyes round about . . . the wheels that they four had {the word ophanim must be translated ‘wheels’ or ‘circles’ the first time; and the second, ‘sides’ or ‘faces’ . . . ‘with his four faces’}.” — p. 305 & fn. (Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register, v. 4)

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . and round about the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. [Creatures with four faces] . . . like a lion . . . like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth . . . a flying eagle.” — p. 323 (Revelation of St. John, 4:6-7)

In the Sepher Jezireh . . . “One is the Spirit of the living God . . .”

First from One emanated number Two, or Air . . . and then number Three, Water . . .

Ether or Fire completes the mystic four

“When the Concealed of the Concealed wanted to reveal Himself, he first made a point . . .”

— 338 —

“He maketh the wind His messengers, flaming Fire His servants,” says the Jezireh

Chaos . . . the Soul of the World after it had been impregnated by the Spirit . . .

see: George Stanley Faber, The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, 1816: “This great universal parent, the Panthea of antiquity, who . . . produces the mundane egg in Chaos, was certainly the . . . mundane ship floating (as it was supposed) in the waters of Chaos. . . . Thales and Anaxagoras agree in teaching, that water was the matrix of all things, and that the Universe remained in a state of chaotic confusion until Nous or Intellect came and arranged it in order. This demiurgic Nous is evidently the same person as the Nous of the Platonists . . . [and] was deemed the Soul of the World.” — 1:256

the deity that pervades all Space and things. . . . “the living Fire”

— Footnotes

throughout the Acts [Epistles], Paul calls the invisible Kosmic Beings the “Elements”

see: The Interlinear Greek New Testament, 1894: “. . . when we were infants, under the elements [στοιχεῖα] of the world . . .” “. . . having been known by God, how do ye turn again to the weak and beggarly elements [στοιχεῖα] . . .” — pp. 495-6 (Galatians, 4:3, 9)

“The poor primordial elements have long been exiled . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The poor, honest primordial elements have long been exiled, and our ambitious men of science run races to determine who shall add one more to the fledgling brood of the sixty-three or more elementary substances.” — 1:190

they are not “primordial principles . . . out of which the universe was fashioned”

p/q: Josiah Cooke, The New Chemistry, 1874: “These substances are frequently called chemical elements, but our modern chemistry does not attach to this term the idea that these substances are primordial principles, or self-existing essences, out of which the universe has been fashioned. Such ideas were associated with the word element in the old Greek philosophy . . .” — p. 111

as Professor Crookes [Cooke] says, “they are unfortunate terms”

p/q: Josiah Cooke, The New Chemistry, 1874: “. . . so far as the words element and elementary suggest such ideas, they are unfortunate terms. Experimental science, which deals only with legitimate deductions from the facts of observation, has nothing to do with any kind of essences except those which it can see, smell, or taste. It leaves all others to the metaphysicians.” — pp. 111-13

“The Chaos of the ancients, the Zoroastrian sacred fire . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the Antus-byrum [Âtas-Behrâm] of the Parsees; the Hermes fire; the Elmes-fire of the ancient Germans; the lightning of Cybelè; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that of the Vesta; the fire-flame of Pluto’s helm; the brilliant sparks on the hats of the Dioscuri, on the Gorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury . . . the Egyptian Phtha, or Ra; the Grecian Zeus Cataibates (the descending); the pentecostal fire-tongues; the burning bush of Moses; the pillar of fire of the Exodus, and the ‘burning lamp’ of Abram; the eternal fire of the ‘bottomless pit’; the Delphic oracular vapors; the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the Akasa of the Hindu adepts; the Astral light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve aura and the fluid of the magnetists; the od of Reichenbach . . . the Psychod and ectenic force of Thury; the psychic force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes; the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists; galvanism; and finally, electricity, are but various names for many different manifestations, or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause — the Greek Archeus, or Ἀρχαῖος.” — 1:125

— 339 —

Magus and magnes are two branches growing from the same trunk

“a fire that gives knowledge of the future. Science and amiable speech” . . .

see: The Zend-Avesta, Part II, tr. James Darmesteter, 1883: “Hail unto thee, O Fire [Atar], son of Ahura Mazda . . . Give me, O Ātar . . . Knowledge, sagacity; quickness of tongue . . . and then the understanding that goes on growing and the one that is not acquired through learning.” — pp. 358, 359 (Nyāyis, V. 4, 10)

The Zohar explains it as the “white hidden fire, in the Resha trivrah” . . .

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “ ‘. . . Resha hivrah, i.e., the White Head . . . appointed, prepared and produced, a spark (scintillation) from the splendour of intense Light (or, the Cardinal Lamp). . . . And the spark existed and remained (intact), and a pure air (azoth) came forth . . . And in that pure air . . . the spark (of vitality) was absorbed and taken up and included “in it” . . . it was hidden “in it” . . . And the subtile air (azoth) exists above it on this, and the subtile fire (the white hidden fire) on that, side.’ ” — pp. 133-4

(the White Head), whose Will causes the fiery fluid to flow in 370 currrents . . .

the “Serpent that runs with 370 leaps” of the Siphrah Dzenioota

(Vide Part II. in Vol. II . . . “The Many Meanings of the War in Heaven.”)

the guiding action of “higher intelligences” as a “necessary part of the great laws . . .”

p/q: Alfred Russel Wallace, Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, 1870: “It therefore implies, that the great laws which govern the material universe were insufficient for his production, unless we consider . . . that the controlling action of such higher intelligences is a necessary part of those laws . . .” — p. 360

“Myths . . . are now proved to be fables, just in proportion as we misunderstand them . . .”

— 340 —

“. . . this visible universe of spirit and matter . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “This visible universe of spirit and matter, they say, is but the concrete image of the ideal abstraction; it was built on the model of the first divine idea. Thus our universe existed from eternity in a latent state. The soul animating this purely spiritual universe is the central sun, the highest deity itself. It was not himself who built the concrete form of his idea, but his first-begotten . . .” — 1:342

it was constructed on the geometrical figure of the dodecahedron

see: Plato, The Timaeus, ed. R. D. Archer-Hind, 1888: “And whereas a fifth figure [the dodecahedron] yet alone remained, God used it for the universe in embellishing it with signs {There is in existence yet a fifth regular solid, the dodecahedron. . . . God, says Plato, used it for a pattern in diversifying the universe with signs: that is it served as a model for the twelvefold division of the zodiac}.” — p. 197 (§ 20) & fn. 14

the first-begotten ‘was pleased to employ twelve thousand years in its creation’

p/q: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “That God, the demiurgus of all things . . . was pleased to employ twelve thousand years in their creation . . . In the first thousand years he created the heaven and the earth; in the second he made this apparent firmament . . . in the third, the sea and all the waters in the earth; in the fourth, the great lights, the sun and the moon, together with the stars; in the fifth, every soul of birds, and reptiles, and quadrupeds . . . in the sixth, man.” — p. 309 (“Cosmogony of the Tyrrhenians,” Suid. v. Tyrrhenia)

“This agrees with the Egyptian theory of 6,000 ‘years’ . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “This agrees with the Egyptian theory of 6,000 ‘years,’ and with the Hebrew computation. Sanchoniathon, in his Cosmogony, declares that when the wind (spirit) became enamored of its own principles (the chaos), and intimate union took place, which connection was called pothos, and from this sprang the seed of all.” — 1:342

“And the chaos knew not its own production . . . with the wind was generated Môt, or the ilus (mud)”

“Zeus-Zen (aether), and Chthonia (the chaotic earth) and Metis (the water) . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The Greek Zeus-Zēn (aether), and Chthonia (the chaotic earth) and Metis (the water), his wives; Osiris and Isis-Latona — the former god representing also ether — the first emanation of the Supreme Deity, Amun, the primeval source of light; the goddess earth and water again . . .” — 1:156

“Mithras, the rock-born god, the symbol of the male mundane-fire . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Mithras, the rock-born god, the symbol of the male mundane-fire, or the personified primordial light, and Mithra, the fire-goddess, at once his mother and his wife; the pure element of fire (the active, or male principle) regarded as light and heat, in conjunction with earth and water, or matter (female or passive elements of cosmical generation).” — 1:156

— Footnotes

See the Greek translation by Philo Byblus

see: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “. . . in the remains of the Phoenician History of Sanchoniatho . . . his history was composed in the Phoenician language . . . It was translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, and for the preservation of these fragments we are indebted to the care of Eusebius.” — p. viii

Mithras was regarded among the Persians as the Theos ekpetros — god of the rock.

— 341 —

Mithras is the son of Bordj, the Persian mundane mountain . . .

see: Rev. Joseph B. Gross, The Heathen Religion, 1856: “Mithras, as the symbol of the male-mundane fire, is said to be the son of the Persian world-mountain Bordj, from whose primeval rocks he went forth as a ray of fire, permeating and inflaming the earth.” — p. 282

“Brahmâ, the fire-god, and his prolific consort . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Brahma, the fire-god, and his prolific consort; and the Hindu Unghi [Agni], the refulgent deity, from whose body issue a thousand streams of glory and seven tongues of flame, and in whose honor the Sagniku Brahmans preserve to this day a perpetual fire; Siva, personated by the mundane mountain of the Hindus — the Meru (Himalaya). This terrific fire-god, who is said in the legend to have descended from heaven, like the Jewish Jehovah, in a pillar of fire, and a dozen other archaic, double-sexed deities, all loudly proclaim their hidden meaning.” — 1:156

“And what can these dual myths mean . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “And what can these dual myths mean but the physico-chemical principle of primordial creation? The first revelation of the Supreme Cause in its triple manifestation of spirit, force, and matter; the divine correlation, at its starting-point of evolution, allegorized as the marriage of fire and water, products of electrifying spirit, union of the male active principle with the female passive element, which become parents of their tellurian child, cosmic matter, the prima materia, whose spirit is ether, the Astral Light!” — 1:156

— Footnotes

Bordj . . . contains . . . the male, or active and the female, or passive, elements.

see: Rev. Joseph B. Gross, The Heathen Religion, 1856: “The Bordj, in its capacity of world-mountain, contains . . . the active and passive principles of creation. . . . Light and fire, etc., are the active or male principles of creation, and these being infused into the passive elements of earth, water, etc., the union results in the procreation of the world.” — p. 282 fn.

— 342 —

“Space, the all containing uncontained, is the primary embodiment of simple Unity . . .”

p/q: Henry Pratt, New Aspects of Life and Religion, 1886: “Space, the all-containing uncontained, is the primary embodiment of simple unity. . . . But if space is boundless extension, the question necessarily arises, Boundless extension of what? . . . the unknown container of all. Space, the unknown first Cause.” — pp. 3-4

SPACE . . . modern wiseacres have proclaimed “an abstract idea” and a void

the seven-headed Serpent of Space, called “the Great Sea”

“In the beginning, the Alhim created the heavens and the earth . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “ ‘In the beginning the God(s) [Alhim or Elohim] created the heavens and the earth’ . . . the six (Sephiroth of Construction,) . . . It created six, (and) on these stand (exist) all Things. And those depend upon the seven forms of the Cranium up to the Dignity of all Dignities.” — pp. 232-3 (Siphrah D’Tznioothah)

— 343 —

“The existence of spirit in the common mediator . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “The existence of spirit in the common mediator, the ether, is denied by materialism; while theology makes of it a personal god, the kabalist holds that both are wrong, saying that in ether, the elements represent but matter — the blind cosmic forces of nature; and Spirit, the intelligence which directs them. The Hermetic, Orphic, and Pythagorean cosmological doctrines, as well as those of Sanchoniathon and Berosus, are all based upon one irrefutable formula, viz.: that the ether and chaos, or, in the Platonic language, mind and matter, were the two primeval and eternal principles of the universe, utterly independent of anything else. The former was the all-vivifying intellectual principle; the chaos, a shapeless, liquid principle, without ‘form or sense,’ from the union of which two, sprung into existence the universe, or rather, the universal world, the first androgynous deity — the chaotic matter becoming its body, and ether the soul.” — 1:341

“According to the phraseology of a Fragment of Hermias . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “According to the phraseology of a Fragment of Hermias, ‘chaos, from this union with spirit, obtaining sense, shone with pleasure, and thus was produced the Protogonos (the first-born) light.’ This is the universal trinity, based on the metaphysical conceptions of the ancients, who, reasoning by analogy, made of man, who is a compound of intellect and matter, the microcosm of the macrocosm, or great universe.” — 1:341

“Nature abhors Vacuum” said the Peripatetics

p/q: Blaise Pascal, Oeuvres de Blaise Pascal, 1819: “Que tous les disciples d’Aristote assemblent tout ce qu’il y a de fort dans les écrits de leur maître . . . que la nature abhorre le vide [Let all the disciples of Aristotle bring together all the bits of strong reasoning in the writings of their master . . . that nature abhors a vacuum] . . .” — 4:281

Democritus . . . taught that the first principles . . . were atoms and a vacuum.

see: Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, tr. C. D. Yonge, 1853: “Such was the life of [Democritus]. Now his principle doctrines were these. That atoms and the vacuum were the beginning of the universe; and that everything else existed only in opinion. . . . but atoms and the vacuum he believes exist by nature.” — pp. 394-5 (“Life of Democritus,” 11, 12)

That Chaos, however, became the “Soul of the World” . . .

see: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, ed. William Smith, 1850: “Aether . . . was, together with Night, Day, and Erebus, begotten by Chaos and Caligo (Darkness). . . . In the Orphic hymns . . . Aether appears as the soul of the world, from which all life emanates, an idea which was also adopted by some of the early philosophers of Greece.” — 1:49-50

— Footnotes

Damascius . . . calls it Dis, “the disposer of all things.”

— 344 —

its “first begotten” was born of Chaos and Primordial Light

see: Thomas Taylor, The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus, 1824: “Protogonus [First-begotten] {the first principle of all things is the one, or the good itself; and after this, conformably to the doctrine of Pythagoras, the two principles, ether [primordial light] and chaos, subsist}.” — p. 18 & fn. (Hymn VI, “To Protogonus”)

“These Chaldeans,” writes Philo . . . “were of the opinion . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “These (Chaldaeans) were of opinion that this kosmos, among the things that exist, is single, either being itself God (Theos), or that in it is God (Theos) comprehending the soul of all things. (Philo, Migration of Abraham, § 32)” — p. 385

Brahmâ is the Theos . . . personified by ayana . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Hear, then, how the deity Nārāyaṇa, in the person of Brahmā, the great parent of the world, created all existent things.” “When the three worlds are but one mighty ocean, Brahmā, who is one with Nārāyaṇa, satiate with the demolition of the universe, sleeps upon his serpent-bed . . . for a night of equal duration with his day; at the close of which he creates anew.” — 1:45, 52-3 (i.3)

It is also Vishnu, sleeping on Ananta-Sacha . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “An entire Kalpa . . . or fourteen Manwantaras; and it is succeeded by a night of similar duration; during which . . . the lord of all, and creator of all . . . sleeps upon the serpent Śesha, amidst the ocean {it is as Vishnu or Nārāyaṇa that the deity sleeps in the intervals of dissolution}.” — 3:30 & fn. (iii.2)

“God of the three Aspects”

see: Monier-Williams, Brāhmanism and Hindūism, 1891: “For it must be borne in mind that Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva are all three held to be subordinate deities . . . and that all three are believed to be corporeal manifestations of the one sole self-existent, bodiless, impersonal Essence of the Universe, and destined to be reabsorbed into that Essence.” — p. 557

“four-faced Brahmâ”

“Of him who is and yet is not . . .”

— 344-5 —

“In the Egyptian mythology, Kneph, the Eternal Unrevealed God . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “In the Egyptian mythology, Kneph the Eternal unrevealed God is represented by a snake-emblem of eternity encircling a water-urn, with his head hovering over the waters, which it incubates with his breath. In this case the serpent is the Agathodaimon, the good spirit; in its opposite aspect it is the Kakodaimon — the bad one.” — 1:133

“In the Scandinavian Eddas, the honey dew . . . falls during the hours of night . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “In the Scandinavian Eddas, the honey-dew [from the Yggdrasill] — the food of the gods and of the creative . . . bees — falls during the hours of night, when the atmosphere is impregnated with humidity; and in the Northern mythologies, as the passive principle of creation, it typifies the creation of the universe out of water . . .” — 1:133

see: P. H. Mallet, Northern Antiquities, tr. Bishop Percy, 1847: “ ‘An Ash know I standing, / Named Yggdrasill . . . Thence come the dewdrops / That fall in the dales . . .’ The dew that falls thence on the earth men call honey-dew, and it is the food of the bees.” — p. 413

— 345 —

“this dew is the astral light . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “. . . this dew is the astral light in one of its combinations and possesses creative as well as destructive properties. In the Chaldean legend of Berosus, Oännes or Dagon, the man-fish, instructing the people, shows the infant world created out of water and all beings originating from this prima materia. Moses teaches that only earth and water can bring a living soul; and we read in the Scriptures that herbs could not grow until the Eternal caused it to rain upon earth. In the Mexican Popol-Vuh man is created out of mud or clay (terre glaise), taken from under the water.” — 1:133

“Brahmâ creates the great Muni (or first man) . . .”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Brahma creates . . . the great Muni (or first man), seated on his lotus, only after having called into being, spirits, who thus enjoyed among mortals a priority of existence, and he creates him out of water, air, and earth. Alchemists claim that primordial or pre-Adamic earth when reduced to its first substance is in its second stage of transformation like clear-water, the first being the alkahest proper. This primordial substance is said to contain within itself the essence of all that goes to make up man; it has not only all the elements of his physical being, but even the ‘breath of life’ itself in a latent state, ready to be awakened. This it derives from the ‘incubation’ of the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters — chaos; in fact, this substance is chaos itself. From this it was that Paracelsus claimed to be able to make his ‘homunculi’; and this is why Thales, the great natural philosopher, maintained that water was the principle of all things in nature.” — 1:133-4

“Job says . . . that ‘dead things are formed from under the waters . . .’ ”

p/q: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “Job mentions, in chap, xxvi., 5, that ‘dead things are formed from under the waters, and inhabitants thereof.’ In the original text, instead of ‘dead things,’ it is written dead Rephaim (giants or mighty primitive men), from whom ‘Evolution’ may one day trace our present race.” — 1:133

“In the primordial state of creation,” says Polier’s Mythologie des Indous . . .

p/q: Colonel [Antoine-Louis] de Polier, Mythologie des Indous, 1809: “Au commencement de celui, qui existe l’univers couvert d’eau reposait dans le sein de l’éternel [At the beginning of the One who exists, the universe covered with water, reposed in the bosom of the Eternal] . . .” — 1:163

“Brahmâ . . . poised on a lotus-leaf, floated (moved) upon the waters . . .”

p/q: Colonel [Antoine-Louis] de Polier, Mythologie des Indous, 1809: “. . . [Brahmā] couché sur une fleur de lotos . . . et flottant sur l’abîme liquide, n’apercevant . . . qu’une immensurable étendue d’eau et observant que le monde était englouti dans les ténèbres [Brahmā lying on a lotus flower and floating on the watery Abyss, only perceiving . . . an immeasurable extent of water and observing that the world was engulfed in darkness] . . .” — 1:163

“Who am I? Whence came I? . . . Direct your thoughts to Bhagavat.”

— Footnotes

With the Greeks . . . the Ocean was the father of the Gods

they had anticipated in this connection the theories of Thales . . .

— 346 —

Egyptian cosmogony . . . shows in its opening sentences Athor, or Mother Night

the primordial elements . . . form collectively the Voice of the Will

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “Another passage teaches, of the voice which goes out of the Spirit and identifies itself with it in the Supreme Thought, that this Voice is, at the foundation, no other thing than the water, air and fire . . . and all the Energies of nature, but that all these elements and forces are blended in one sole thing, that is, in the Voice which goes out of the Spirit.” — pp. 136-7

the Will Memrab [Memrah], or the “Word,” the Logos

Memrab, or the “Word” . . .

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “On reconnaîtra sans effort le Meïmra des traducteurs chaldéens . . . Enfin, ce qui achève de lui donner toute ressemblance avec le verbe kabbalistique, c’est qu’elle a un corps et une âme . . . qu’elle est à la fois esprit et parole [We will easily recognize the Memra of the Chaldean translators . . . What finally gives it full resemblance with the kabbalistic ‘Word,’ is that it is a body and a soul . . . that it is at the same time Spirit and Word].” — pp. 370-1

“By a series (yom) of foundations (hasoth) the Alhim caused . . .”

it is first Alhim, then Jahva-Alhim, and finally Jehovah

It is the “Movers,” the “Runners,” the theoi (from θέειν, “to run”)

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . mais appliqué à tous les dieux en général . . . le mot θεὸς, comme nous l’apprend Platon, vient du verbe θεῖν, courir, le cercle signifiait le mouvement ou la course de ce dieu [but applied to all the gods in general . . . the word θεὸς, as Plato teaches us, comes from the verb θεῖν, to run, the circle meant the motion or the course of that god] . . .” — 3:265

For it is not Brahmâ who creates in the Rig Veda, but the Prajâpati

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “PRAJĀ-PATI. ‘Lord of creatures,’ a progenitor, creator. . . . and as the secondary creator of the ten Ṛishis, or ‘mind-born sons’ of Brahmā, from whom mankind is descended. It is to these ten sages, as fathers of the human race, that the name Prajā-pati most commonly is given.” — p. 239

the word Rishi . . . being connected with the word to move

as Patriarchs, they lead their hosts on the Seven Rivers

see: Tarucnath Dutt, The Vedic Age, 1860: “After leaving their original place of abode, the Aryas . . . spread themselves over, what they call, the country of the seven rivers. . . . the five rivers of the Punjaub, the Indus and the Saraswati. . . . These rishis resembled, in many respects, the patriarchs of the Jews and the Egyptians. They were the chiefs of their respective families or tribes, and they united in themselves the offices of kings, priests and generals in war.” — p. 7

— 347 —

the term [God] varies . . . from the Persian Khoda

to the Slavonian, from the Greek Bacchus (Bagh-bog)

(“See Section XIV . . .”)

— Footnotes

The Cosmic Tabernacle of Moses . . . representing the four cardinal points . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . le tabernacle cosmique élevé par Moïse dans le désert avait une forme carrée . . . elle représentait uniquement . . . les quatre faces des pyramides, des obelisques, des colonnes que Josèphe nous dit avoir été élevées dans le temple de Tyr aux quatre éléments, et placées sur des piédestaux dont les quatre angles regardaient les quatre points cardinaux [the cosmic tabernacle erected by Moses in the desert had a square form . . . this uniquely represented . . . the four sides of the pyramids, the obelisks, the pillars which Josephus tells us were erected in the temple of Tyre to the four elements, and placed on pedestals, the four corners of which faced the four cardinal points].” — 3:397

the Genii, or Angels have their abodes in four respective points

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . les génies de ces quatre éléments étaient supposés résider dans l’espace . . . dans ces quatre points cardinaux [the genii of these four elements were supposed to reside in (sidereal) Space . . . in these four cardinal points] . . .” — 3:397

— 347-8 —

“R. Yehudah began, it is written . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “ ‘R. Yehudah began, it is written: “Elohim said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.” . . . Come, See! At the time that the Holy, Blessed be He! created the world He created 7 heavens Above. He created 7 earths Below, 7 seas, 7 days, 7 rivers, 7 weeks, 7 years, 7 times, and 7000 years that the world has been. The Holy, Blessed be He! is in the seventh of all . . .’ ” — p. 415 (Zohar iii, 9b)

— 348 —

trigunas (Satwa, Rajas and Tamas, see Purânas)

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . imperishable Brahma; who is Īśwara {the deity in his active nature} . . . who, with the three qualities {Sattwa . . . goodness or purity, knowledge, quiescence; Rajas . . . foulness, passion, activity; and Tamas . . . darkness, ignorance, inertia}, is the cause of creation . . .” — 1:3-4 & fns. (i.1)

Amrita (immortality) . . . This allegory is found in the “Churning of the Ocean” . . .

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “AMṚITA. ‘Immortal.’ . . . the water of life produced at the churning of the ocean by the gods and demons [asuras] . . . The gods, feeling their weakness . . . repaired to Vishṇu, beseeching him for renewed vigour and the gift of immortality. He directed them to . . .

Thus the Kosmos is “the Son” with Plato . . .

see: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “According to Plato, ‘One is the Cause of all’ . . . From this is born . . . the ‘existing,’ ‘ensouled’ world. It is the realized ‘Idea’ . . . Plato calls the ‘Kosmos’ ‘the Son’ of the Father and Mother (Thought and Matter).” — p. 189

see: Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, tr. Samuel Squire, 1744: “Now universal nature . . . [is] made up of these three things, of Intelligence, of Matter, and . . . Kosmos . . . the first of these [Intelligence] is the same with what Plato is wont to call the Idea . . . the Father; to the second of them [Matter] he has given the name of the Mother . . . and to the latter of them, that of the Off-spring [the Son] . . .” — pp. 77-8 (§ 56)

“The Egyptians . . . distinguish between an older and younger Horus . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “The Egyptians distinguished between an Older and Younger Horus, the former the brother of Osiris; the latter the Son of Osiris and Isis. The first is the ‘Idea’ of the World remaining in the Demiurgic Mind, ‘born in darkness before the creation of the world.’ The second Horus is this ‘Idea’ going forth from the Logos, becoming clothed with Matter, and assuming an actual existence.” — pp. 189-90

“The Mundane God, eternal, boundless, young and old . . .”

— 349 —

Satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parvum

p/q: Sallust, De Catilinae Conjuratione [On the Conspiracy of Cataline], 1883: “Animus audax, subdolus, varius, cujus rei libet simulator ac dissimulator . . . satis loquentiae, sapientiae parum [His mind was daring, subtle, and versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wanted. . . . He had eloquence enough, but too little wisdom].” — p. 12 (§ 5)

“He is only the ideal Cause of the Potencies . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “He is only the ideal cause of the potencies . . . and from him proceed the potencies to be created, after they have become the real cause. Save that one ideal cause, there is no other to which the world can be referred. . . . through the potency of that cause — every created thing comes by its proper nature.” — 1:66 fn.

(Original Sanskrit Texts, Part iv . . .)

see: Original Sanskrit Texts, tr. J. Muir, 1868-73: “How can the agencies of creation, etc., be possible to Brahma, who is devoid of the (three) qualities . . .?” “. . . these powers of creative agency [Potencies] . . . belong to the essence of Brahma . . .” — 4:36 fn. (Vishṇu Purāṇa, I. iii)

Fathers of the Church . . . complaining bitterly of the Gnostics . . .

see: Irenæus, Writings, v. 1, tr. Roberts & Rambaut, 1868: “They proceed to tell us that the Propator of their scheme was known only to Monogenes [the only begotten], who sprang from him; in other words, only to Nous . . . Nous alone took pleasure in contemplating the Father . . .” — p. 7 (Against Heresies, i.2)

Valentinus, “the profoundest doctor of the Gnosis”

“there was a perfect aion who existed before[,] Bythos, or Buthon . . . called Propator”

— Footnotes

As Mulaprakriti is known only to Iswar, the Logos

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “. . . Parabrahmam appears to it [the Logos] as Mulaprakriti. . . . It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it. . . . Now we see the first manifestation of Parabrahmam is a Trinity . . . It consists of Mulaprakriti, Eswara or the Logos, and the conscious energy of the Logos . . .” — pp. 304-5 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 350 —

as the Basilidians taught, “there was a supreme god, Abraxax . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “. . . Basilides the heretic . . . asserted that there was a Supreme God named Abraxas, by whom was created Mind whom the Greeks call Nous. From Mind proceeded the Word, from the Word, Providence; from Providence, Virtue and Wisdom; from these two again, Virtues, Principalities and Powers were made; from these infinite productions and emissions of Angels. By these Angels the 365 heavens were created.” — p. 259

“Amongst the lowest . . . the God of the Jews . . .”

the Word or Logos, or Dabar (in Hebrew)

[the Word becomes] “Words” . . . a Host (of angels, or Sephiroth, “numbers”)

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . symbolizing the action of the Sephiroth in the creation . . . when it is said that the angels, &c., wait for the words [dĕbārīm] from their lips, it signifies symbolically the way in which the angels, &c., were created by the word of the Deity in his Sephirotic form.” — p. 172 fn. (Greater Holy Assembly, xxiv.503)

“This Wisdom is the beginning of all things. Thencefrom are expanded the thirty-two paths . . . And in them is the Law comprehended, in the twenty-two letters and in the ten utterances {The Sephiroth, or numbers}.” — p. 280 & fn. (Lesser Holy Assembly, vii.213)

collectively One, and on the ideal plane a nought — 0, a “No-thing”

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “Quand l’inconnu des inconnus voulut se manifester, il commença par produire un point . . . une concentration absolue de Dieu en sa propre substance . . . se distingue de tout ce qui est fini, limité et déterminé; par cela même qu’on ne peut pas encore dire ce qu’il est, on le désigne par un mot qui signifie nulle chose, ou le non être, אין [When the Unknown of the Unknown wished to manifest Himself, he first produced one point . . . an absolute concentration of God in His own substance . . . He is distinct from all that is finite, limited and determined; for the very reason that it cannot be told yet what he is, he is designated by a word which signifies No-Thing, Non-Being, ’Ayin].” — pp. 185-6

It is without form or being, “with no likeness with anything else.”

Philo calls the Creator, the Logos . . . “the Second God”

Deity . . . called Ain-Soph — “the word Ayin meaning nothing.”

See also Section XII . . .

— 351 —

deity had to be viewed under the symbol of four syllables

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “He (the Supreme) spake the first word of his name . . . a syllable of four letters. He then added the second syllable . . . Then the third . . . Finally the fourth . . . Thus the utterance of the whole name consists . . . of four syllables.” — p. 286

God is a quaternary, to wit: “the Ineffable, the Silence, the Father, and Truth”

p/q: William Heckford, A Succinct Account of All the Religions, 1791: “They [Marcosians] were a sect of Christian Heretics in the second century, so called from their leader Marcus, who represented the supreme God, as consisting not of a Trinity, but a Quaternity, viz. the Ineffable, Silence, the Father and Truth . . .” — p. 319

he makes of Deity, the number 30 in 4 syllables

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “ ‘. . . a syllable of four letters. . . . the second syllable, also of four letters. Then the third, composed of ten letters. Finally the fourth, made up of twelve letters. . . . the whole name consists of thirty letters, and of four syllables.’ ” — p. 286

Marcus narrates how the “Supreme Tetrad came down unto me . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “ ‘The supreme Tetrad came down unto me from that region which cannot be seen nor named, in a female form because the world would have been unable to bear their appearing in a male figure, and revealed to me the generation of the universe, untold before either to gods or men.’ ” — p. 286

“When first the Inconceivable, the Beingless and Sexless . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “ ‘When first the Father, the Inconceivable, Beingless, sexless, began to be in labour he desired that his Ineffable should be born, and his invisible should be clothed with form. He therefore opened his mouth and uttered the Word like unto himself. This word standing before him showed that he was manifesting himself as the form or type of the Invisible One.’ ” — p. 286

“The uttering of the (ineffable) name . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “ ‘Now the uttering of the Name came to pass in this wise. He (the Supreme) spake the first word of his name, the which is a syllable of four letters. He then added the second syllable, also of four letters. Then the third, composed of ten letters. Finally the fourth, made up of twelve letters. Thus the utterance of the whole name consists of thirty letters, and of four syllables. Each letter has a form-pronunciation and writing of its own, but neither understands nor beholds that of the whole Name; nay, not even the power of the letter standing next to itself.’ ” — p. 286

— Footnotes

Iswara, or the Logos, cannot see Parabrahmam, but only Mulaprakriti

see: T. Subba Row, “Notes on the Bhagavad Gita — I,” Feb. 1887: “. . . Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it. Parabrahmam by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter.” — p. 304 (The Theosophist, v. 8)

— 351-2 —

“All these sounds when united . . .”

— 352 —

(the Logos, the “second God” . . . “the Inconceivable,” according to Philo)

see: Philo Judæus, Works, tr. C. D. Yonge, 1854-5: “. . . no mortal thing could have been formed on the similitude of the supreme Father of the universe, but only after the pattern of the second deity, who is the Word [Logos] of the supreme Being . . . since in his first Word God is superior to the most rational possible nature.” — 4:391-2 (Questions . . . in Genesis, II. 62)

It is as Kabalistic . . . also four syllabled, twelve, forty-two, and even seventy-two . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “The substance of the revelation brought down to Marcus by Truth is to be found in the Kabbala, which makes the mystic names of God to consist of four, twelve, forty-two and seventy-two letters respectively.” — p. 287

The Tetrad shows to Marcus the truth . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “ ‘I [the supreme Tetrad] will shew unto thee Truth . . . that thou shouldest behold her naked, acknowledge her beauty . . . and be astonished at her wisdom. Look up therefore at her head Α and Ω, at her neck Β and Ψ, at her shoulders with her hands Γ and Χ . . . at her feet Μ and Ν.’ ” — pp. 287-8

In this Sephira is easily recognized, the Crown . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “Similarly in the Kabbalistic diagram of the Sephiroth, the Crown is the head; Wisdom, the brain; Intelligence, the heart; Love, the right arm; Gentleness, the left arm; Beauty, the chest; Firmness, the right leg; Splendour, the left leg; . . . Kingdom, or Shekinah, the union of the whole body.” — p. 288 fn.

Braisheeth bara Elohim means that the six . . . Sephiroth, belong to the lower material class

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “Berashith Bera Elohim . . . The sense is: Six members were created, which are the six numerations of Microprosopus . . . Upon these depend all things which are below . . .” — pp. 46-7 (Book of Concealed Mystery, i.16)

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “B’raisheeth barah elohim ath hashshama’yem v’ath haa’retz, i. e., ‘In the beginning the God(s) created the heavens and the earth’: (the meaning of which is;) the six (Sephiroth of Construction,) over which B’raisheeth stands, all belong Below.” — pp. 232-3

“Seven . . . are applied to the Lower Creation . . .”

— Footnotes

The “Seven Angels of the Face,” with the Christians

see: Dictionary of Sects, ed. John Henry Blunt, 1874: “The opinions of the author . . . are stated clearly in the [Nazarene] Testament of Levi. In sect. 3 the universe in the times of the Gospel is described as of seven spheres. Three represent the outer world . . . The fifth is occupied by angels of the Face of God.” — p. 363

— 353 —

“Now Koros (Kurios) signifies the pure and unmixed nature of intellect . . .”

Kurios is Mercury, the Divine Wisdom, and “mercury is the Sol”

Æsculapius, called the “Saviour of all,” is identical . . . with Phta

in whose bosom they were received, hence the Limbus . . . or the Astral Light

see: Thomas Vaughan, The Magical Writings, tr. A. E. Waite, 1888: “It is Nature’s common place, her index, where you may finde all that ever she did, or intends to do. . . . ‘the bosom of the superiour Nature’ . . . the immediate receptacle of spirits after dissolution, whence they passe to a Superior Limbus {With this fourth essence . . . may be profitably compared the hypothesis of the Astral Light as elaborated by Lévi}.” — p. 18, & p. 156 (note 4)

Phta . . . his name signifying “he who opens” . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Phtah . . . Son nom signifie celui qui ouvre, et fait peut-être allusion à l’une de ses fonctions, qui était d’ouvrir le cercueil et de dévoiler la face du mort pour lui rendre la vie [Ptah . . . His name means he who opens, and alludes perhaps to one of his functions, which was to open the coffin and to unveil the face of the dead to restore him to life].” — p. 165

Kneph . . . the snake-emblem of eternity encircling a water-urn . . .

see: L. N. Bescherelle, L’Instruction Popularisée par L’Illustration, 1851: “On voit même, sur une médaille du temps d’Adrien, l’urne-Canope environnée du serpent Agathodémon, symbole de Knef. Kanob est donc Knef, et on peut, en conséquence, le regarder . . . comme le génie même des eaux primitives fécondées par le grand Knef [We even see on a medallion from the time of Hadrian, the urn of Canopus (the water deity) encircled by the serpent Agathodæmon, the symbol of Kneph. Canopus is thus Kneph, and can therefore be regarded . . . as the same spirit of the primordial waters impregnated by the great Kneph].” — p. 28

the same idea of “Darkness,” its ray moving on the waters

see: J. Lempriere, Bibliotheca Classica, 1833: “Thick darkness was spread over the abyss; the waters covered it, and a subtle spirit, a pure intelligence, was residing . . . in the bosom of Chaos. . . . On a sudden, from the bosom of eternal night beamed forth a sacred ray . . . the primitive light, the Demiurgus, Kneph.” — 1:55

As “Logos-Soul,” this permutation is called Phta

see: J. Lempriere, Bibliotheca Classica, 1833: “Now Kneph, the creator . . . united with the divine word [Logos], and produced the second Demiurgus [Logos-Soul], the god of fire and of life, Phtha . . . He is also the breath of life, which all created things need . . .” — 1:55

as Logos-Creator, he becomes Imhot-pou, his son

Imhot-pou . . . “the god of the handsome face”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Imhotpou . . . Les traits de sa figure sont très fins, aussi l’appelle-t-on Phtah au beau visage [Imhotep . . . The features of his face are very fine, he is also called ‘Ptah with the handsome face’].” — p. 165

Noot, “space or Sky,” and Noo, “the primordial Waters,” the Androgyne Unity

see: Prince Rudolph, Travels in the East, 1884: “ ‘Call hither to me . . . the Sky-goddess Nut, and at the same time the father and mother who were united with me at such time as I found myself in the primordial waters, and likewise also him who bore my godhead in himself, the god of the primordial water, Nun.’ ” — p. 166 (Inscription from the Tomb of Seti I)

this Concealed Unity is . . . ἄπειρος, Endless, Boundless, non-Existent

see: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “This ‘Nothing’ (ayin) is the indivisible and infinite unity; hence it is called En-soph. This is ‘boundless,’ and not limited by any thing. Here we have Anaximander’s to apeiron [τό ἄπειρον] . . .” — p. 351

— 354 —

The Hebrews . . . substituted for it the “Duplex heavens”

“In and out of his own essence . . .”

“Whosoever acquaints himself with . . . the Mercaba and the lahgash . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . only the sages, familiar with this profound and sublime science, can occupy themselves therewith. . . . and to what is below it of the Ma-a’seh Merkabah . . . It is not permitted to impart the Mysteries of the Thorah, except to . . . one who understands in la-’hash, i.e., silence or secret . . .” — p. 44

from within the eternal essence of Ain-Soph, comes forth Sephira . . . the Primordial Point

In this emanation the triple triad is formed.

From the invisible Dew . . . Sephira creates primeval waters

see: Kabbalah Unveiled, tr. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1887: “. . . the dew from the White Head, which is ever filled therewith; and from that dew are the dead raised unto life {This subtle air, fire, and dew are analogous to the three ‘mother letters’ . . . the letter A symbolizing air, the medium between M the water, and Sh the fire}.” — p. 178 & fn. (Greater Holy Assembly, xxvii.546)

“It requires earth and water to make a living soul,” says Moses

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” — p. 3 (Genesis, 2:6-7)

It requires the image of an aquatic bird to connect it with water

— Footnotes

Oulam meant only a time whose beginning or end is not known. . . .

see: John Wesley Hanson, Aiōn-Aiōnios, 1880: “Says a French author {LeClerc}: ‘It is certain that in Hebrew there is no word which, properly speaking, signifies eternity or a time which has no end. Gnolam {Olam . . . the g being silent} signifies only a time, of which we know not the beginning or the end . . .’ ” — p. 11 & fn.

— 355 —

The frog in the moon

see: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “The frog is a natural transformer from the tadpole phase in the water to the four-legged stage on land! The moon likewise transforms . . . so the frog as picture-object, natural type and living demonstrator for the moon, ultimately became the frog in the moon.” — p. 4

“The Indivisible Point, which has no limit and cannot be comprehended . . .”

p/q: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “Le point indivisible . . . n’ayant point de limites et ne pouvant pas être connu, à cause de sa force et de sa pureté, s’est répandu au dehors, et a formé un pavillon qui sert de voile à ce point indivisible [The Indivisible Point . . . which has no limit and cannot be known, because of its force and its purity, expanded outwards, and has formed a canopy that serves the Indivisible Point as a veil].” — p. 213

yet the latter also “could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light . . .”

see: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “Ce pavillon, quoique d’une lumière moins pure que le point, était encore trop éclatant pour être regardé; il s’est à son tour répandu au dehors, et cette extension lui a servi de vêtement [This canopy, though of a light less pure than the Point, was still too bright to be viewed; it too expanded outwards, and this extension served as its garment] . . .” — p. 213

“Thus through a constant upheaving (motion) finally the world originated”

p/q: Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, 1843: “. . . c’est ainsi que tout se fait par un mouvement qui descend toujours; c’est ainsi enfin que s’est formé l’univers [thus through a motion that continually descends; it was thus, finally, that the universe is made].” — p. 213

The Spiritual substance sent forth by the Infinite Light is the first Sephira . . .

Sephira exoterically contains all the other nine Sephiroths in her.

Chochmah or Wisdom, “a masculine, active potency whose divine name is Jah (יה)”

Binah, a feminine passive potency, Intelligence, represented by the divine name Jehovah

Father, Abba, and Mother Amona . . . the double-sexed logos . . .

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . Ayin or No-Thing [Ain Soph]. Its first emanation is called, Abbah or the Father [Kether] . . . The first emanation from Kether, the Will or Father, is the Sephirah Binah . . . It is also termed by the Qabbalah Immah, the Mother . . . The second emanation from Kether, is . . . ’Hokhmah, Wisdom, the Word, also called the Son; the united complex of all forms. It is the male principle and that which gives existence to Every-Thing . . .” — p. 199

— 356 —

“a ray issuing from Paramârthika . . . became manifested in Vyavahârika . . .”

see: T. Subba Row, “Brahmanism on the Sevenfold Principle in Man,” 1885: “. . . the Vedanta postulating three kinds of existence — (1) the pāramārthika, (the true, the only real one), (2), the vyavahārika (the practical), and (3) the pratibhāsika (the apparent or illusory life) — makes the first life or jiva, the only truly existent one. Brahma or the one’s self is its only representative in the universe . . . while the other two are but its ‘phenomenal appearances’ . . . [Note IV by HPB]” — p. 182 (Five Years of Theosophy)

to descend into the Universal Mother, and to cause her to expand (swell, brih)

see: The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, comp. A. T. Barker, 1926: “The one and chief attribute of the universal spiritual principle — the unconscious but ever active life-giver — is to expand and shed; that of the universal material principle to gather in and fecundate. Unconscious and non-existing when separated, they become consciousness and life when brought together. Hence again — Brahma, from the root ‘brih’ the Sanskrit for ‘to expand, grow or to frucify.’ ” — p. 71 (M., Letter XIII, Jan. 1882)

“The Infinite Unity, formless and without similitude . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . It was alone, without form, and without any similitude . . . But after the Deity had emanated the form of the Upper Man . . . It used the same, as a chariot (Merkabah), so as to descend (through it); It desired to be named after this form, which is the Sacred Name YHVH.” — p. 278

“In the beginning was the Will of the King . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “In the beginning, was the Will of the King, prior to any existence . . . It sketched and engraved the forms of all Things, that were to be manifested from concealment into view. . . . And there went forth, as a sealed secret, from the head of Ain Soph; a nebulous spark of matter without shape or form . . . Thus life is drawn from Below and from Above, thus the source renews itself, and the sea always full, spreads its water everywhere.” — pp. 194-5 (Zohar iii, 290b)

“The seventh palace, the fountain of life . . .”

“Wisdom hath builded her house . . .”

Tsi-Tsai (the Self-Existent)

the root of Wuliang-sheu (Boundless Age), Amitabhe

The “great Extreme” of Confucius gives the same idea

see: Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, 1880: “Confucius speaks of the Great Extreme as the commencement ‘of changes. It produced the two figures. These produced the four images, and these again the eight divining symbols.’ . . . If we understand the eight divining symbols to be eight departments of nature, as heaven, earth, fire, water, &c., then we may construct a cosmogony out of the formula above cited. . . . We find there, say the Chinese, heaven, earth, and man in miniature. . . . The commentator says that the phrase ‘Great Extreme’ here means ‘heaven, earth, and man, included but not yet separated.’ ” — pp. 320-1

— Footnotes

“Ah, companions, companions, man as an emanation was both man and woman . . .”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Sōd, The Son of the Man, 1861: “O companions, companions (says the Rabbi), man, as (God’s) emanation, was both man and woman; as well on the side of the FATHER as on the side of the MOTHER. And this is the sense of the words: And Elohim spoke, Let there be Light and it was Light. That is, it becomes Light on the side of the FATHER, and it was Light on the side of the MOTHER. And this is the ‘two-fold Man.’ (Auszüge aus dem Sohar)” — p. 72

— 357 —

If we turn to Chaldea we find in it Anu, the concealed deity

Anu, which means in Sanskrit “atom”

aníyámsam anîyasâm (smallest of the small)

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Glory to the supreme Vishṇu . . . who is the root of the world, and who consists of the world . . . who is the smallest of the small {aṇīyāṃsam aṇīyasāṃ . . . ‘the most atomic of the atomic’} . . .” — 1:14-15 & fn. (i.2)

Parabrahm . . . smaller than the smallest atom, and greater than the greatest

p/q: A. E. Gough, “The Philosophy of the Upanishads,” Calcutta Review, v. 70, 1880: “ ‘Smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest, the Self that is seated in the heart of living things. . . . undecaying, primeval, omnipresent, because it permeates all things . . . that withdraws them into itself in the end of things, in which are all things in the beginning . . .’ ” — p. 440 (Svetāśvatara Upanishad, iii.20-2, iv.1)

the Cuneiform Texts on the “Lateras Coctiles”

see: Sennacherib’s Campaign in Syria, Phœncia, and Palestine, tr. H. G. Kieme, 1875: “The last investigations have been made by that eminent and sagacious Assyrian scholar, George Smith . . . An immense number of baked clay tablets, of terra cotta cylinders, and burnt bricks, covered to a great extent with minute writings in a wedge-shaped manner, have been dug out . . .” — pp. viii-ix (Introduction)

see: Ernest A. Budge, “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon,” 1885: “. . . inscriptions give [cuneiform text], ina kūpri u agurri, ‘with cement and burnt brick.’ . . . Agurri is . . . ‘lateres coctiles,’ or burnt brick.” — p. 146 (Transactions of the Victoria Institute, v. 18)

There also, we find Anu . . . Bel, the Creator . . . and Hea, the Universal Soul or wisdom

“1. When above, were not raised the heavens . . .”

“1. When above, were not raised the heavens:

2. and below on the earth a plant had not grown up;

3. the abyss also had not broken open their boundaries:

4. The chaos (or water) Tiamat (the sea) was the producing-mother of the whole of them.

5. Those waters at the beginning were ordained; but

6. a tree had not grown, a flower had not unfolded.

7. When the gods had not sprung up, any one of them;

8. a plant had not grown, and order did not exist . . .” — pp. 62-3

the Dark Swan, which becomes white, when Light is created

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “The starting-point in all the oldest mythologies is on the night-side of phenomena. . . . Out of this darkness issues the first shape, that of the Great Mother . . .” “The swan that floats double in light and shadow presented another dual image of the goddess above and in the waters below.” — 2:6, 13

the Crusaders, led on by Peter the Hermit, were preceded . . . by the Holy Ghost

see: John William Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, 1874: “[Pope] Urban’s crusade failed . . . under Peter the Hermit . . . The van of the Crusade consisted of two hundred and seventy-five thousand men . . . preceded by a goat and a goose, into which some one had told them that the Holy Ghost had entered.” — p. 341

— 358 —

Pan . . . was generally figured in connection with aquatic birds

“Priapic doings and her enjoyment thereof”

Swans . . . frequently found . . . with Apollo, as they are the emblems of water

“From time immemorial . . . the origin of life.”

“Siva . . . pervades the Universe. The maternal emblem . . . a religious type.”

p/q: L. Maria Child, The Progress of Religious Ideas, 1855: “. . . Siva was not merely the reproducer of human forms; he represented the Fructifying Principle, the Generating Power that pervades the universe . . . The maternal emblem is likewise a religious type . . .” — 1:17

“This reverence for the production of life, introduced . . . the sexual emblems.”

“Is it strange that they regarded with reverence the great mystery of human birth? . . .”

“But no clean and thoughtful mind could so regard them.”

“We have traveled far, and unclean have been the paths . . .”

p/q: L. Maria Child, The Progress of Religious Ideas, 1855: “We have traveled far, and unclean have been the paths, since those old anchorites first spoke of God and the soul in the solemn depths of their forest sanctuaries. Let us not smile at their mode of tracing the Infinite and Incomprehensible Cause throughout all the mysteries of Nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own grossness on their patriarchal simplicity.” — 1:16-17

— 359 —

The “First Cause” had no name

see: W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, 1882: “He who is beyond the cognizance of the senses, subtile, undiscernible, eternal, who is the essence of all things . . . that First Cause, undiscernible, eternal, which is both existent and non-existent . . .” — pp. 84-5

Kalahansa . . . the “Swan of Eternity”

who lays . . . a “Golden Egg”

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Brahmā (masculine). . . . His vehicle is a swan or goose, from which he is called Hansa-vāhana. . . . [Brahma (neuter)] the self-existent lord, created the waters and deposited in them a seed, which seed became a golden egg, in which he himself was born as Brahmā, the progenitor of all the worlds.” — pp. 56, 57

it was a symbol adopted among the Greeks, the Syrians, Persians, and Egyptians

see: Jacob Bryant, A New System, 1807: “. . . the dove, Oinas, was represented as hovering over the mundane egg . . . Hence in the Dionusiaca, and in other mysteries, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. By this, as we are informed by Porphyry, was signified the world. . . . It was said by the Persians of Oromasdes, that he formed mankind, and inclosed them in an egg. And the Syrians used to speak of their ancestors, the Gods, as proceeding from such an inclosure.” — 3:164-5

Seb . . . is spoken of as having laid an egg, or the Universe

“an egg conceived at the hour of the great one of the Dual Force”

Ra is shown . . . “resplendent in the Egg of the land of mysteries”

“the Egg to which is given life among the gods”

“It is the Egg of the great clucking Hen . . . who issues from it like a hawk”

the Orphic Egg is described by Aristophanes

— 359-60 —

part of the Dionysiac and other mysteries . . .

— 360 —

Ἐρμήνενει [Ἑρμήνεύει] δέ τὸ ὠὸν κόσμον

Faber and Bryant . . . the egg typified the ark of Noah

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Whether this egg typified the ark, as Bryant and Faber suppose, is not material to the proof of the antiquity and wide diffusion of the belief, that the world, in the beginning, existed in such a figure.” — 1:39 fn.

And as Wilson has it: “A similar account of the first aggregation . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “A similar account of the first aggregation of the elements in the form of an egg is given in all the Purāṇas, with the usual epithet Haima or Hiraṇya, ‘golden,’ as it occurs in Manu., I, 9.” — 1:39 fn.

“Intellect . . . gross elements inclusive, formed an egg . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . Intellect and the rest, to the gross elements inclusive, formed an egg . . . and there Vishṇu, the lord of the universe . . . abided in it, in the character of Brahmā. . . . In that egg, O Brahman, were the continents and seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe, the gods, the demons, and mankind.” — 1:38-40 (i.2)

the first visible male being, who united in himself the nature of either sex . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Here is another analogy to the doctrines of antiquity relating to the mundane egg: and, as the first visible male being, who . . . united in himself the nature of either sex, abode in the egg, and issued from it; so, ‘this first-born of the world . . . was the person from whom the mortals and immortals were derived.’ ” — 1:40 fn. (i.2)

The “first born of the world” . . . who sprang from the mundane egg . . .

The god Ra is shown . . . beaming in his egg (the Sun)

he starts off as soon as the god Shoo . . . gives him the impulse

“He is in the Solar egg . . . to which is given life among the gods”

“I am the creative soul of the celestial abyss. . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Je suis l’âme créatrice de l’abîme céleste . . . On ne voit pas mon nid, on ne perce pas mon oeuf. Je suis le seigneur [I am the soul-creator of the celestial abyss . . . None sees my nest, none can break my egg. I am the Lord].” — p. 265 (lxxxv.9)

it is strange to find a scholar saying . . . the ancient Aryans were ignorant of the decimal notation

see: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “. . . that the nine figures and the use of the cipher were known to the Buddhists of the third century b.c. is a doubtful point, particularly if we consider that the numbers contained in the Bactro-Pali inscriptions, in the first or second centrury b.c., show no trace, as yet, of that perfect system of ciphering.” — 2:294-5

Max Müller says that “the two words cipher and zero, which are but one . . .”

— Footnotes

See Max Müller’s “Our Figures”

— 360-1 —

Cipher is the Arabic “cifron,” and means empty . . .

— 361 —

The Arabs had their figures from Hindustan . . .

see: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “The Arabs, however, far from claiming the discovery of the figures for themselves, unanimously ascribe it to the Indians, nor can there be any doubt that the Brahmans were the original inventors of those numerical symbols which are now used over the whole civilized world.” — 2:286-7

Boethius’s Geometry . . . among the Pythagorean numerals the 1 and the nought

the Pythagorean Moderatus, says that the numerals of Pythagoras were “hieroglyphical symbols . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 1864: “The Pythagorean Moderatus, quoted by Porphyry (Vit. Pythag.), states that the numerals of Pythagoras were hieroglyphical symbols, by means whereof he explained ideas concerning the nature of things.” — p. 228

Max Müller states . . . he has found but nine letters (the initials of the Sanscrit numerals)

Pythagoras derived his knowledge from India . . .

see: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “. . . the Arabs, on arriving in Spain . . . adopted the figures which they there found in use . . . and which had travelled there from the Neo-Pythagorean schools of Egypt, and originally from India . . .” — 2:291

Neo-Pythagoreans . . . the first teachers of “ciphering” . . .

p/q: Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, 1867-75: “All that can be claimed for them [the Neo-Pythagoreans] is, that they were the first teachers of ciphering among the Greeks and Romans; that they, at Alexandria or in Syria, became acquainted with the Indian figures, and adapted them to the Pythagorean Abacus . . .” — 2:288

“some philosophers hold that ideas and numbers are of the same nature . . .”

p/q: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “And that the ‘Numbers’ of Pythagoras were Ten, appears from the remark of Aristotle (Met. vii. 8) ‘that some philosophers maintained that ideas and numbers were of the same nature, and amount to Ten in all.’ ” — p. 447

— 362 —

The ibis . . . sacred also to Mercury or Thoth . . . was held in the greatest veneration . . .

see: Herodotus, History, tr. George Rawlinson, 1862: “The story goes, that . . . winged snakes come flying from Arabia towards Egypt, but are met in this gorge by the birds called ibises, who forbid their entrance and destroy them all. The Arabians assert, and the Egyptians also admit, that it is on account of the service thus rendered that the Egyptians hold the ibis in so much reverence {the ibis was sacred to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes}.” — 2:106 & fn. (ii.75)

There were two kinds of ibises, Herodotus tells us . . .

see: Herodotus, History, tr. George Rawlinson, 1862: “The ibis is a bird of a deep-black colour . . . the black ibis which contends with the serpents. The commoner sort, for there are two quite distinct species . . . its general plumage is white, but the head and neck are jet black . . .” — 2:106 (ii.76)

The other was sacred to the Moon

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Mercure emprunta la forme de cette seconde espèce . . . qui, par ses deux couleurs, a le même rapport avec la lune que le taureau Apis [Mercury took the form of this second species . . . who, through his two colors, has the same relationship with the Moon as the bull Apis] . . .” — p. 573

The bird is . . . helped by Isis, as the moon, her sidereal symbol.

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “À cause de ses rapports avec la lune, on donnait à Isis, qui est le symbole de cet astre, une tête d’ibis. [Because of its relationship with the moon, Isis, who is the symbol of that heavenly body, was given the head of an ibis].” — p. 573

Hermes . . . watched under the form of that bird over the Egyptians . . .

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Hermès, sous cette forme, veillait, dit Abenephius (De cultu égypt.), à la conservation des Egyptiens, et les instruisait dans toutes les sciences [Hermes watched in this form over the preservation of the Egyptians, says Abenephius (De cultu Egypt.), and he (Hermes) instructed them in all the sciences].” — pp. 573-4

In Egypt, he who killed an ibis, or the golden hawk . . . could hardly escape death.

see: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “En Egypte on ne pouvait tuer un ibis ou un épervier . . . sans perdre la vie [In Egypt you could not kill an ibis or a (golden) sparrow-hawk . . . without losing your life].” — p. 574 fn.

— 362-3 —

zoomancy, said by Suidas to have been imparted by Orpheus, who taught how to perceive . . .

see: A. Bouché-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans l’Antiquité, 1880: “Suidas est seul à mentionner les ‘oracles d’Orphée . . . on inventa la méthode de divination inductive connue sous le nom d’ooscopie [Suidas is the only one to mention that in the ‘Oracles of Orpheus’ . . . the inductive method of divination known as oomancy (divining the future from the yolk and white of the egg) was invented] . . .” — 2:114

— 363 —

These four animals are . . . symbols of the four elements, and the four lower principles in man

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Les animaux évangéliques sont . . . emblèmes imaginés pour exprimer les quatre éléments ou les quatre principes des corps [The gospel animals are . . . invented symbols to express the four elements or the four principles of the body] . . .” — p. 574 fn.

they correspond . . . materially to the four constellations . . .

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “. . . ils correspondent matériellement à quatre constellations, lesquelles forment le cortège du dieu-soleil, et occupent, au solstice d’hiver, les quatre points cardinaux de la sphere [they correspond materially to the four constellations that form the suite of the solar god, and occupy during the winter solstice, the four cardinal points of the (zodiacal) circle].” — p. 574 fn.

“the ancient Hierophants have combined . . . the dogmas and symbols . . .”

p/q: J.-M. Ragon, Orthodoxie Maçonnique . . . Maçonnerie Occulte, 1853: “Les hiérophantes combinèrent tellement les dogmes et les symboles de leur religion, que ces symboles pussent être assez exactement expliqués par trois systèmes différents (l’allégorique, l’historique et l’astronomique) [The hierophants combined the dogmas and symbols of their religion in such a manner, that these symbols could be perfectly explained by three different systems (allegorical, historical, astronomical)] . . .” — p. 574 fn.

— 363-4 —

In the temple of Philæ in Upper Egypt . . . a cerastes (the horned viper) was born

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “It was rapidly seen, with a due sense of awe, that the cerastus, which is oviparous in its generation, emerged from the same form of generative life, and hence the serpent . . . soon became a religious symbol, as we find it on the Temple of Philæ . . .” — 1:182

— 364 —

The creative God emerges from the egg that issues from the mouth of Kneph . . .

[the creative God] is glyphed by the “flying or fiery serpents” of the Wilderness

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? . . . And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” — p. 208 (Numbers, 21:5-6)

Ophio-Christos, the Logos of the Gnostics

the allegory of the Brazen Serpent . . . the mystery of Christ and Crucifixion

see: F. A. Power, The Book of Texts of Ancient and Modern History, 1879: “Among the Jews the brazen serpent was considered a type of the resurrection: through it the dying lived . . . As the serpent was raised up [by Moses], so shall Christ be lifted up; as they who were stung by the fiery serpents were restored by looking up to the brazen serpent . . . These are all the analogies which we can legitimately trace between the lifting up of the brazen serpent and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.” — p. 473

“brazen” being the feminine principle, and that of fiery, or “gold,” the male one

see: Hargrave Jennings, The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries, 1887: “The three most celebrated emblems carried in the Greek mysteries were the Phallus, Ι; the Egg, Ο and the Serpent, Φ . . . The first, in each case, is the emblem of the sun, or of fire, as the male, or active, generative power. The second denotes the passive nature, or feminine principle . . .” — 1:274-5

Ra, the mighty one, remains in his Egg

during the struggle between the “children of the rebellion” and Shoo

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “. . . Shou a soulevé le Noun étant sur l’escalier . . . Il a anéanti les enfants de la rébellion [Shu has lifted up Nūt (the Heavens), standing on the stairs . . . He has annihilated the children of the rebellion].” — p. 54 (xvii.2-3)

Shoo (the Solar Energy and the Dragon of Darkness)

see: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Shou symbolise la force du soleil; il a triomphé du Chaos par sa victoire sur les mauvais principes . . . ‘les enfants de la rébellion.’ [Shu symbolizes the power of the Sun; he has triumphed over Chaos through his victory over the evil principles . . . ‘the children of the rebellion’].” — p. 72 (xvii, note 2)

— Footnotes

And this is only because the brazen serpent was lifted on a pole!

Mico the Egyptian egg standing upright supported by the sacred Tau

p/q: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “Still more curious is the symbol of the egg in Egypt, when we consider that the sacred anch or crux ansata was in Coptic called by the name of ‘Sustainer of Life,’ or Mici; mici, being an egg standing supported by the Sacred Tau . . .” — 1:182-3

both the Brazen and “fiery” Serpents were Saraphs, the “burning fiery” messengers

see: George Oliver, Signs and Symbols, 1826: “[Serpent worship] might have a further reference to the Seraphim or ministering Angels of that people [the Jews]; for Saraph signifies equally a fiery Serpent, and an Angel. And the miraculous cures effected by the Brazen Serpent, would give an additional impulse to the practice . . .” — pp. 54-5

“Brass was a metal symbolizing the nether world . . .”

p/q: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “Brass was a metal symbolizing the nether world . . . that of the womb where life should be given to the new year. The recurring year was symbolized by a serpent swallowing . . . the end of its tail; and thus was a female emblem as reproducing itself. The word for serpent was, in Hebrew, Nakash. But this is the same term for brass . . .” — p. 173

the Jews complained of the Wilderness where there was no water

“the Lord sent fiery serpents” to bite them

to oblige Moses, he gives him as a remedy the brazen serpent on a pole

“any man when he beheld the serpent of brass . . . lived”

After that the “Lord” . . . gives them water, and grateful Israel sang . . .

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well . . .” — pp. 208-9 (Numbers, 21:16-17)

The Seraphim שרפים (fiery winged serpents) . . .

see: The Book of God: The Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes [by E. V. H. Kenealy], 1867: “Seraphim — שרפים Fiery Winged Serpents; that is Archangels of the most transcendent glory; flame-like in splendour and majesty, which live in the presence of the Serpent of Eternity — God.” — p. 14

cherub also meant serpent . . . as it is formed of כר (kr) circle, and אוב “aub” . . .

And this . . . justifies Hezekiah for breaking it.

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “Now it came to pass . . . that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. . . . He removed the high places, and brake the images . . . and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made . . .” — p. 516 (II Kings, 18:1, 4)

— 364-5 —

The deceased is resplendent in his Egg when he crosses to the land of mystery

— 365 —

He is the Egg of Seb

The Mundane Egg was placed in Khnoom, the “Water of Space”

Phtah, the “fiery god,” carries the Mundane egg in his hand

In conjunction with the hawk . . . the symbol is dual . . . the mortal and the immortal

In Kircher’s Œdipus Egyptiacus . . . an egg floating above the mummy . . .

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “. . . in one papyrus preserved in Kircher (Œdipus Egyptiacus, vol. iii, p. 124), above the mummy the egg is floating as a symbol of the new life attending the Osirified person (the deceased), the purified soul, after his sojourn in the place of expiation . . .” — 1:183

the scarabeus, the Khopiroo (from the root Khoproo “to become,” “to be reborn”)

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Le scarabée s’appelait en égyptien Khopirrou, Khopri, de la racine khoprou, devenir: aussi est-il devenu de bonne heure en Égypte l’emblème de la vie humaine et des devenirs successifs de l’âme dans l’autre monde [In Egyptian the scarab was called Khopirrou, Khopri, from the root khoprou, ‘to become’: in early Egypt it also became the emblem of human life and the successive reimbodiments of the soul in the other world].” — p. 225

In the Theogony of Mochus, we find Æther first, and then air . . .

Eros-Phanes evolves from the divine Egg

the divine Egg, which the Æthereal Winds impregnate

wind being “the Spirit of the unknown Darkness”

see: Ancient Fragments, comp. Isaac Preston Cory, 1832: “First was Ether and Air, which are the Two first principles . . . after the two principles the summit may be the one Wind . . . The One principle of the Universe is celebrated as Unknown Darkness . . .” — pp. 319-20 (Damascius, Theogonies)

Purusha . . . original matter . . . “from whose union springs the great soul of the world”

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “ ‘In the Kathakopanishad, the Spirit (Purusha) already stands before the Original Matter, from whose union springs the Great Soul of the world . . . the Spirit of life.’ (Weber, Akad. Vorles.)” — p. 189

the female creator who is first a germ . . .

the Egg . . . is covered with seven coverings . . .

— 365-6 —

Breaking in two . . . the white forming the terrestrial waters.

— 366 —

it is Vishnu who emerges from within the egg . . .

Vinata . . . brought forth an egg from which was born Garuda . . .

see: W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, 1882: “Garuda . . . half-man and half-eagle, the Vāhan of Vishnu. . . . When Daksha’s sons refused to people the world, he produced sixty daughters . . . of these . . . ‘Vinatā bore him [Kasyapa] two celebrated sons, Garuda and Aruna . . .’ The mother of Garuda is said to have laid an egg; hence her son assumed a bird-like form.” — p. 374

The egg was sacred to Isis . . .

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “The egg was also symbolically attributed to Isis, and is to be found in the hieroglyphic name of that goddess. The priests of Egypt strictly abstained from eating eggs . . . lest they should anger the Deity by the destruction of the germs of a being thus destined to live.” — 1:182

Osiris was born from an Egg . . . Apollo and Latona . . . also Castor and Pollux

see: Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, ed. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, 1877: “Diodorus Siculus says (I. 29), that Osiris was born from an egg . . . From the Egg of Leda, Apollo and Latona were born; and Castor and Pollux — the Gemini of the Zodiac — had a similar origin.” — 1:182

The Chinese believe that their first man was born from an egg . . .

see: “Illustrations of Men and Things in China,” The American Eclectic, Jan. 1842: “The idea of chaos is expressed by bubbling, turbid water; heaven [T’ien] and earth [Ti] are the dual powers; before the chaos was separated, these two powers were mingled and pent up as a chick in ovo . . . the first man Pwankoo was hatched from the primeval chaos by the dual powers . . .” — p. 50

as observed in “Chaos, Theos, Kosmos,” the older Horus was the Idea of the world . . .

p/q: “Chaos, Theos, Kosmos”: “The first [Horus] is the Idea of the world remaining in the Demiurgic Mind, ‘born in darkness before the creation of the world.’ The second Horus is this ‘Idea’ going forth from the Logos, becoming clothed with matter, and assuming an actual existence {Mover’s ‘Phoinizier,’ 268}.” — SD 1:348

p/q: S. F. Dunlap, Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 1858: “The Egyptians distinguished between an Older and Younger Horus . . . The first is the ‘Idea’ of the World remaining in the Demiurgic Mind, ‘born in darkness before the creation of the world.’ ” — pp. 189-90

“born in Darkness before the creation of the world”

p/q: F. C. Movers, Die Phönizier, v. 1, 1841: “Sie unterschieden nach ihm einen ältern und jüngern Horus. Der erstere war vor der Weltbildung in der Finsterniß geboren [They distinguished after him between an Older and a Younger Horus. The first was born in Darkness before the creation of the World].” — p. 268

The second Horus was the same Idea going forth . . .

Khnoum and Ammon; both are represented ram-headed, and both often confused

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Le dieu Khnoum à tête de bélier . . . il se confondit fréquemment avec Ammon-Thébain à tête de bélier [The ram-headed god Khnoom . . . he was often confused with the Theban ram-headed god Ammon].” — p. 167

Khnoum is “the modeller of men,” fashioning . . . the Mundane Egg on a potter’s wheel

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Khnoum signifie le modeleur, et on voit souvent le dieu modelant l’oeuf du monde sur un tour à potier [Khnoom means ‘the modeler,’ and we often see the god shaping the Mundane Egg on a potter’s wheel].” — p. 167

— Footnotes

Isis . . . holding a lotus in one hand and in the other a circle and the Cross (crux ansata)

see: G. C. Ceccaldi, “Patère et Rondache,” Sept. 1875: “La déesse obombre de ses ailes Horus enfant . . . Ils tiennent le lotus, fleur d’Isis, et la croix ansée, symbole de procreation [With her wings the goddess provides shade to the infant Horus . . . They hold the lotus, the flower of Isis, and the crux ansata, symbol of procreation] . . .” — pp. 28-9 (Revue Archéologique, v. 31)

Horus — the “older,” or Haroiri . . .

see: G. Maspero, “Les Hypogées Royaux de Thèbes,” 1888: “Le plus répandu de ces dieux était Hor, l’épervier, non pas celui qu’on appela plus tard Harsiisi, Hor fils d’Isis, mais Haroiri, Hor l’aîné, Hor l’ancien [The most common of these gods was Hor, the hawk, not the one later called Harsiisi, Hor the son of Isis, but Haroiri, the elder Hor, the ancient Hor].” — p. 256 (Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, v. 17)

The Egyptians very often represented the rising Sun under the form of Hor . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Les Égyptiens représentaient le soleil levant sous la forme du dieu Hor, sortant d’un lotus épanoui. Ici, Hor a la tête d’épervier, et le disque solaire surmonté des deux longues plumes [The Egyptians represented the rising Sun under the form of the god Hor, coming out of a lotus in full bloom. Here Hor has the head of a hawk, and the solar disc (is) placed above two long feathers].” — p. 185

— 367 —

Emepht, the One, Supreme . . . principle, who blows the egg out of his mouth

see: Thomas Vaughan, The Magical Writings, 1888: “Emepht, whereby they expresse their supreme God . . . the true one, signifies properly an intelligence, or spirit converting all things into himself, and himself into all things. . . . Emepht produc’d an egg out of his mouth . . . In the production of this egg was manifested another Deitie, which they call Phtha, and out of some other natures and substances inclos’d in the egg, this Phtha formed all things.” — pp. 117-18 (Magia Adamica)

It is Phtah . . . “he who opens,” the opener of life and Death . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Phtah était au début le dieu des morts . . . Son nom signifie celui qui ouvre, et fait peut-être allusion à l’une de ses fonctions, qui était d’ouvrir le cercueil et de dévoiler la face du mort pour lui rendre la vie [Ptah was originally the god of the dead . . . His name means he who opens and alludes perhaps to one of his functions, which was to open the coffin and to unveil the face of the dead to restore him to life].” — p. 165

the Chemis . . . which floats on the ethereal waves . . .

see: G. S. Faber, The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, 1816: “In the present legend, Python is obviously the Egyptian Typhon or the ocean, the infant Apollo is the infant Horus, the floating island Delos occupies the place of the floating island Chemmis . . . when the solar god Horus was obliged to take refuge in the floating island Chemmis . . . the Sun is thus set afloat by the old mythologists . . . he was born out of an egg, which had floated on the ocean, and which had been tossed about at the mercy of the elements: and he was thus produced . . . the primeval being from whom all were equally born, the personage who himself was specially the first-produced.” — 2:221-3

Scandinavian Cosmogony — placed by Professor Max Müller . . . “far anterior to the Vedas”

the poem of Voluspa (the song of the prophetess) . . .

the phantom-germ of the Universe . . . lying in the Ginnungagap

Nebelheim (the mist-place . . .)

Then the Invisible blew a scorching wind which dissolved the frozen waters . . .

the streams of Elivagar, distilling in vivifying drops . . . created the earth

see: W. Wägner, Asgard and the Gods, 1880: “The spring Hwergelmir (the seething cauldron) sprang into life in Nifelheim, and out of it flowed twelve and more infernal streams (Eliwagar) . . . when the great blocks of ice began to melt . . . and drops of water to form and run down their sides, then it was that life first showed itself . . .” — p. 22

vivifying drops . . . created the earth and the giant Ymir, who only had “the semblance of man”

and the cow, Audhumla . . . from whose udder flowed four streams of milk

see: P. H. Mallet, Northern Antiquities, tr. Bishop Percy, 1847: “ ‘Immediately after the gelid vapours had been resolved into drops . . . there was formed out of them the cow named Audhumla. Four streams of milk ran from her teats, and thus fed she Ymir.’ ” — p. 403

— Footnotes

Phtah was originally the god of death . . . He is a solar god . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Phtah était au début le dieu des morts: ce n’est que plus tard qu’on est arrivé à le faire rentrer . . . dans la catégorie des dieux solaires [Ptah was originally the god of the dead: it is only later that he was once more placed . . . in the category of the solar gods].” — p. 165

He was the national god of Memphis, the radiant and “fair-faced God.”

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Il était le dieu national de Memphis . . . Les traits de sa figure sont très fins, aussi l’appelle-t-on Phtah au beau visage [He was the national god of Memphis . . . The features of his face are very fine; and so he was also called the fair-faced Ptah].” — p. 165 (Ep. saïte, Saqqarah)

The Brahmanda Purâna . . . like the Skanda, is “no longer procurable in a collective body” . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa is usually considered to be in much the same predicament as the Skanda, no longer procurable in a collective body, but represented by a variety of Khaṇḍas and Māhātmyas, professing to be derived from it.” — 1:lxxxv (Preface)

“Brahmanda Purâna” . . . “that which is declared in 12,200 verses . . .”

— 368 —

the anguinum, the “Egg” of the “pagan” Druid . . .

see: J. G. R. Forlong, Rivers of Life, 1883: “Pliny . . . tells us, in regard to the origin of the anguinum or serpent egg, that this is brought about by ‘a bed or knot of snakes’ . . . The egg or its priestly imitation . . . was once revered by Kelts as ‘an object of Druidical worship.’ . . . we might multiply to almost any extent tales showing fear and reverence in regard to these matters . . .” — 2:295-6

the Maha Kalpa is never a “day,” but a whole life or age of Brahmâ

for it is said in the Brahmâ Vaivarta: “Chronologers compute a Kalpa . . .”

One Parardha . . . half of the existence of Brahmâ

the last Kalpa was the Padma . . . the present one being Vârâha

— Footnotes [368-9]

Brahmâ assumed the form of that animal to raise the Earth out of the “Waters of Space”

The Vârâha . . . “delighting to sport in water”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The Varāha form was chosen, says the Vāyu P., because it is an animal delighting to sport in water. But it is described, in many Purāṇas, as . . . an allegorical representation of the extrication of the world from a deluge of iniquity, by the rites of religion. Geologists may, perhaps, suspect . . . an allusion to a geological fact, or the existence of lacustrine mammalia in the early periods of the earth.” — 1:59 fn.

— 369 —

Yudishthira — the first King of the Sacea, who opens the Kali Yuga era . . .

p/q: Sampson Arnold Mackey, Mythological Astronomy, 1822-3: “We are informed that ‘Yudhis’tir, was the first of the six Sacas; he was born on the Sabe-Sringa, or mountain with 100 peaks . . .’ And ‘that Yudis’tir or Judhis’tir, began his reign immediately after the Flood. . . . [i.e.] The beginning of the Cali-yuga reign of Yudhis’tir.’ ” — pp. 38-9 (Key of Urania)

“an actual King and man who lived 3,102 years b.c.”

see: Alexander Cunningham, Book of Indian Eras, 1883: “. . . the period of the Great War [Mahābhārata], or the era of Yudhishthira, was also the beginning of the Kāli-Yuga.” “The Kāli-Yuga, or fourth age of Hindu Chronology, dates from the year 3102 B.C.” — pp. 7, 31

— Footnotes

According to Colonel Wilford, the conclusion of the “Great War” was b.c. 1370 . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “According to Colonel Wilford’s computations . . . the conclusion of the Great War took place B.C. 1370. . . . Mr. Bentley brings the date of Yudhishṭhira, the chief of the Pāṇḍavas, to 575 B.C.” — 4:232 fn.

— 369-70 —

He is the “Yudishthira born on the mountain of the hundred peaks . . .”

p/q: Sampson Arnold Mackey, Mythological Astronomy, 1822-3: “We are informed that ‘Yudhis’tir . . . was born on the Sabe-Sringa, or mountain with 100 peaks, at the extremity of the world; beyond which nobody can go.’ And ‘that Yudhis’tir . . . began his ‘reign immediately after the Flood.’ and vol. 9 [Asiatic Researches], p. 364 we read, The beginning of the Cali-yuga in the reign of Yudhis’tir.” — pp. 38-9 (“Key of Urania”)

— 370 —

the Preliminary Sections which preface Anthropogenesis in Book II

the pralaya before which fourteen Manvantaras elapse . . . Brahmâ’s dissolution

it is said in Vishnu Purâna . . . “at the end of a thousand periods . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “At the end of a thousand periods of four ages, the earth is, for the most part, exhausted. . . . The eternal {Avyaya} Vishṇu then assumes the character of Rudra, the destroyer . . . drinks up all the waters . . . and sets the three worlds and Pātāla on fire. . . . Hari, in the form of Rudra, who is the flame of time {Kālāgni} . . . reduces Pātāla to ashes. . . . Janārdana, in the person of Rudra . . . breathes forth heavy clouds . . . and, all things, animate or inanimate, having perished, the clouds continue to pour down their waters for more than a hundred years.” — 5(I):190-4 & fns. (vi.3)

as Wilson shows: — The first is called Naimittika . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The first is called Naimittika, ‘occasional’ or ‘incidental’ . . . as occasioned by the intervals of Brahmā’s days; the destruction of creatures, though not of the substance of the world, occurring during his night.” — 5(I):186 fn.

— 371 —

Prakritika . . . occurs at the end of the Age or Life of Brahma . . .

Atyantika, does not concern the Worlds . . . but only the individualities of some people

Maha Pralaya . . . lasting as it does 311,040,000,000,000 years

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa:, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The dissolution of existing beings . . . which takes place after two Parārdhas {two Parārdhas, as equal to one hundred years of Brahmā, are 311,040,000,000,000 years of mortals}.” — 5(I):186-7 & fn. (vi.3)

The Bhagavata . . . speaks of a fourth kind of pralaya, the Nitya . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The Bhāgavata {XII, iv, 35} here notices the fourth kind . . . Nitya, or constant dissolution; — explaining it to be the imperceptible change that all things suffer in the various stages of growth and decay, life and death.” — 5(I):186 fns.

the inhabitants of Swar-loka . . . seek refuge “with the Pitris . . .”

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “A vast whirlpool of eddying flame then spreads to . . . the sphere of the gods {Swar-loka} . . . The inhabitants of the two (upper) spheres . . . remove to (the sphere above, or) Mahar-loka {Those . . . distinguished for piety, abide, at the time of dissolution, in Mahar-loka, with the Pitṛis, the Manus, the seven Ṛishis, the various orders of celestial spirits, and the gods}.” — 5(I):192-3 & fns. (vi.3)

the whole of the above . . . repair to Jana-loka in “their subtle forms . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “These, when the heat of the flames that destroy the world reaches to Mahar-loka, repair to Jana-loka, in their subtle forms, destined to become reembodied, in similar capacities as their former, when the world is renewed, at the beginning of the succeeding Kalpa.” — 5(I):193 fn. (Vāyu Purāṇa)

“These clouds, mighty in size . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Mighty in size, and loud in thunder, they fill all space {Nabhas-tala}. Showering down torrents of water, these clouds quench the dreadful fires . . . and then they rain, uninterruptedly, for a hundred years, and deluge the whole world. Pouring down, in drops as large as dice, these rains overspread the earth, and fill the middle region {Bhuvo-loka}, and inundate heaven. The world is now enveloped in darkness; and all things animate or inanimate, having perished, the clouds continue to pour down their waters . . .” — 5(I):194 & fns. (vi.3)

When the waters have reached the region of the Seven Rishis . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “When the waters have reached the region of the seven Ṛishis, and the whole of the three worlds is one ocean, they stop. The breath of Vishṇu becomes a (strong) wind, which blows for more than a hundred years, until all the clouds are dispersed. The wind is then reabsorbed; and he of whom all things are made, the lord by whom all things exist, he who is inconceivable, without beginning, beginning of the universe, reposes, sleeping upon Śesha, in the midst of the deep.” — 5(I):195 (vi.4)

— 371-2 —

The Adikrit (Creator?) Hari, sleeps upon the ocean of Space . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The creator {Ādikṛit}, Hari, sleeps (upon the ocean), in the form of Brahmā — glorified by Sanaka and the saints {Siddha} who had gone to the Jana-loka, and contemplated by the holy inhabitants of Brahma-loka, anxious for final liberation, — involved in mystic slumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions . . .” — 5(I):195 & fns. (vi.4)

— 372 —

This is the Pratisanchara (dissolution?) termed incidental . . .

When the Universal Spirit wakes . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “When the universal spirit wakes, the world revives; when he closes his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic slumber. In like manner as a thousand great ages constitute a day of Brahmā {the original has Padmayoni, the same as Abjayoni}, so his night consists of the same period . . . Awaking at the end of his night, the unborn . . . creates the universe anew . . .” — 5(I):196 & fn. (vi.4)

“When by dearth and fire . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “When, by dearth and fire, all the worlds and Pātālas are withered up . . . the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. Then, first, the waters swallow up the property of earth (which is the rudiment of smell); and earth, deprived of its property, proceeds to destruction. . . . the earth becomes one with water. . . . When the universe is, thus, pervaded by the waves of the watery element, its rudimentary flavour is licked up by the element of fire; and in consequence . . . the waters themselves are destroyed. . . . they become one with fire; and the universe is, therefore, entirely filled with flame, which . . . gradually overspreads the whole of the world.” — 5(I):196-7 (vi.4)

“While Space is one flame . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “While space is enveloped in flame, above, below, and all around, the element of wind seizes upon the rudimental property, or form, which is the cause of light; and, that being withdrawn {Pralīna}, all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed, and fire {Vibhāvasu} deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes fire, and spreads . . . over space, which is deprived of light, when fire merges into air. Air, then, accompanied by sound, which is the source of ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions of space, until ether seizes upon contact {Sparśa}, its rudimental property, by the loss of which, air is destroyed, and ether {Kha} remains unmodified: devoid of form, flavour, touch {Sparśa}, and smell, it exists unembodied {I find no reading but mūrttimat, which means ‘embodied’} and vast, and pervades the whole of space.” — 5(I):197-8 & fns. (vi.4)

— 372-3 —

“Akâsa, whose characteristic property . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Ether {Ākāśa}, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound, exists alone, occupying all the vacuity of space. But then the radical element {Bhūtādi} . . . devours sound; and all the elements and faculties are, at once, merged into their original.” — 5(I):198 & fns. (vi.4)

— 373 —

“The primary Element, Consciousness, combined with tamasa . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “This primary element is consciousness, combined with the property of darkness {tāmasa}, and is, itself, swallowed up by Mahat, whose characteristic property is intelligence {Buddhi}; and earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner . . . were the seven forms of nature (Prakṛiti), reckoned from Mahat to earth — so, at the (time of elemental) dissolution, these seven successively re-enter into each other.” — 5(I):198-9 & fns. (vi.4)

“The Egg of Brahmâ (Sarva-mandala) is dissolved . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The egg of Brahmā {Sarva-maṇḍala} is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones {Dwīpa}, seven oceans, seven regions, and their mountains. The investure of water is drunk up by fire; the (stratum of) fire is absorbed by (that of) air; air blends itself with ether; the primary element {Bhūtādi} . . . devours the ether, and is (itself,) taken up by intellect {Mahat}, which along with all these, is seized upon by nature (Prakṛiti).” — 5(I):199 & fns. (vi.4)

“The Prakriti is essentially the same . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “This Prakṛiti is, essentially, the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete is, finally, lost or absorbed in the indiscrete. Spirit {Puṃs}, also, which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading, is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. That spirit {Sarveśa} which is other than (embodied) spirit, in which there are no attributes of name, species {Nāman and jāti} . . . which is one with (all) wisdom, and is to be understood as (sole) existence {Sattā} . . . Nature (Prakṛiti) . . . and spirit {Purusha} . . . both resolve into supreme spirit.” — 5(I):199-200 & fns. (vi.4)

— Footnotes

that which St. Paul calls Elements . . . Angels and Demons

see: John Parkhurst, Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, 1798: “. . . in Col. ii.8 the elements, or rudiments of the world . . . must there be understood to include, at least, the dogmas of Pagan philosophy . . . his converts were partly Platonic and partly Pythagorean; the former teaching the worship of demons or angels, as mediators between man and God . . .” — p. 628

— 374 —

‘. . . sleepest thou, O Lord?’ . . . ‘I never sleep . . .’

p/q: Book of the Prophet Moses, tr. E. Cureton, 1855-6: “Then Moses said unto the Lord, Oh Lord, dost thou sleep or not? The Lord said to Moses, I never sleep . . . if I were to withdraw my providence from the heavens and the earth for no longer than a space of time . . . they would at once have fallen to ruin and confusion . . .” — pp. 22-3 (Miscellanies of the Philebiblon Society, v. 2)

modes of interpretation . . . mystical; the allegorical; the moral; and the literal or Pashut

“B’raisheeth barah elohim . . . ‘In the beginning the God(s) created . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “B’raisheeth barah elohim ath hashshama’yem v’ath haa’retz, i.e., ‘In the beginning the God(s) created the heavens and the earth’ . . . the six (Sephiroth of Construction,) over which B’raisheeth stands, all belong Below. It created six, (and) on these stand (exist) all Things. And those depend upon the seven forms of the Cranium up to the Dignity of all Dignities. And the second ‘Earth’ does not come into calculation . . . ‘And from it, (that Earth) which underwent the curse; came it forth’ . . .” — pp. 232-3 (Siphrah D’Tznioothah)

‘It (the Earth) was without form and void . . .’

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “It (the Earth) was without form and void; and darkness was over the face of the Abyss, and the spirit of elohim . . . was breathing, (me’racha’pheth, i. e., hovering, brooding over, moving.’ . . .).” — p. 233 (Siphrah D’Tznioothah)

— 374-5 —

“Thirteen depend on thirteen (forms) . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “Thirteen depend on thirteen (forms) of the most worthy Dignity. Six thousand years hang (are referred to) in the first six words. The seventh (thousand, the millennium,) above it (the cursed Earth), is that which is strong by Itself. And it was rendered entirely desolate during twelve hours (one entire day . . . ) as is written . . .” — p. 233 (Siphrah D’Tznioothah)

— 375 —

“In the thirteenth, It (the Deity) shall restore all . . .”

“Kings of Edom” who typify the worlds . . . as well as the primordial men . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, 1883: “The doctrine of an imperfect creation preceding the more perfect one was continued by the Jewish Kabalists into the creation of worlds. They assert that an abortive creation preceding the present order of things is indicated by the Kings of Edom, or the old kings who are said to have reigned before the monarchs of Israel {Gen. xxxvi. 31-41}.” — 2:40 & fn.

pre-Adamic . . . first Root-race. As they were shadows, and senseless

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “The Pre-Adamite Kings. . . . ‘[The] Ancient of Ancients, before He prepared His Form, built kings and engraved kings, and sketched out kings, and they could not exist . . . Before He arranged Himself in His Form, had not been formed all those whom He desired to form, and all worlds have been destroyed . . .’ ” — p. 386 (Zohar iii, 135a)

— 375-6 —

they could not see the Parguphim, or “Face could not see Face” . . .

— 376 —

“the Seven Rishis, certain (secondary) divinities . . .”

For the seventh . . . represents . . . the “seventh period of creation”

“Long before his (Ibn Gebirol’s) time . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “Long before his time, indeed we believe many centuries before the Christian era, there was in Central Asia, a ‘Wisdom Religion’; fragments of which subsequently existed among the learned men of the archaic Egyptians, the ancient Chinese, Hindus, Israelites and other Asiatic nations . . .” — p. 219

“The Qabbalah most likely originally came from Aryan sources . . .”

And such was the firm conviction of C. W. King . . .

see: C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 1887: “. . . the Jews learnt the idea of a Hidden Wisdom, underlying the Mosaic Law, from their intercourse with the Eastern nations during the Babylonion captivity; and we may further be assured that the origin of this Secret Wisdom is Indian.” — p. 6

Vamadeva Modelyar (Modely) describes the coming “night”

“Strange noises are heard, proceeding from every point . . .”

“Strange noises are heard . . . the precursors of the Night of Brahmâ . . .”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “De toutes parts des bruits étranges se produisent, précurseurs de la nuit de Brahma, le crépuscule se lève, le soleil vient de passer au trentième degré du macara (monstre marin, signe du zodiaque), il n’arrivera point au signe des minas (poissons, signe du zodiaque), et les gourou des pagodes, préposés au rasi-tchacra (zodiaque) peuvent briser leur cercle devenu inutile [From all sides, strange noises are produced, precursors of the Night of Brahmā, dusk sets in, the sun has just passed the thirtieth degree of Macara (sea monster, sign of the zodiac), it will not reach the sign of the Minas (Pisces, the sign of the zodiac), and the gurus of the pagodas, appointed to watch the zodiac, may break their circle which has become useless].” — p. 229

“Gradually light pales . . . waters dry up . . . and plants die.”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “Peu à peu la lumière pâlit, la chaleur diminue, les lieux inhabitables se multiplient, l’air se raréfie de plus en plus; les sources tarissent, les grands fleuves voient leur eau s’épuiser peu à peu, l’Océan n’a plus que du sable, les plantes meurent [Gradually light pales, heat diminishes, uninhabitable spots multiply, the air becomes more and more rarified; the springs dry up, the great rivers gradually see their water exhausted, the Ocean has only sand, the plants die] . . .” — p. 229

“Men and animals decrease in size. Life and motion lose their force . . .”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “. . . les hommes et les animaux diminuent tous les jours; le mouvement et la vie perdent leur force, les astres ne gravitent plus qu’avec peine dans l’espace, comme une lampe que la main du chocra n’entretient plus [men and animals decrease in size all the time; motion and life lose their force, the heavenly bodies can hardly gravitate in space, like a lamp which the hand of a servant no longer maintains] . . .” — pp. 229-30

— 376-7 —

“Sourya (the Sun) flickers and goes out . . . his task being accomplished, he falls asleep.”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “. . . Sourya (le soleil) vacille et s’éteint, la matière tombe dans le pralaya (dissolution), et Brahma devient Zeus . . . le dieu irrevélé . . . puisque son jour s’est accompli, il tombe dans le repos . . . et s’endort [The Sun flickers and goes out, matter falls into pralaya (dissolution), and Brahmā becomes Zeus . . . the Unrevealed God . . . since his workday is accomplished, he comes to rest and falls asleep].” — p. 230

— 377 —

“And now again he re-enters the golden egg of His Thought . . .”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “Et il renferme dans l’oeuf d’or de sa pensée, le germe de tout ce qui existe, ainsi que le dit le divin Manou. — Pendant son paisible sommeil, les êtres animés pourvus des principes de l’action quittent leurs fonctions et le sentiment (manas) tombe dans l’inertie [And he retires into the golden egg of his thought, the germ of all that exists, just as the divine Manu says. — During his peaceful sleep, the living beings, endowed with the principles of action, cease their functions, and perception (manas) becomes dormant].” — p. 230 (“L’Inde Brahmanique”)

“When they are all absorbed in the Supreme Soul . . . till the day when it resumes its form . . .”

p/q: Louis Jacolliot, Les Fils de Dieu, 1875: “Lorqu’ils sont dissous en même temps dans l’Ame suprême, cette âme de tous les êtres dort tranquillement dans la plus parfaite quiétude. Après s’être retiré dans l’obscurité primitive, elle y demeure longtemps sans accomplir ses fonctions, et dépouillée de sa forme qu’elle ne reprend qu’au réveil [When they are at the same time absorbed in the Supreme Soul, this soul of all beings sleeps tranquilly in the most complete quietude. After being withdrawn into primitive darkness, it stays there a long time without performing its functions, and stripped of the form that it will resume only upon waking].” — p. 230 (“L’Inde Brahmanique”)

“barbarians” will be masters of the banks of the Indus . . .

“There will be contemporary monarchs . . . intent upon the wives of others”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “These will, all, be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth; — kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted to falsehood and wickedness. They will inflict death on women, children, and cows; they will seize upon the property of their subjects {‘intent upon the wives of others’} . . .” — 4:224-5 & fn. (iv.24)

“they will be of unlimited [limited] power . . .”

“People of various countries intermingling with them . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The people of the various countries intermingling with them will follow their example; and, the barbarians being powerful in the patronage of the princes, whilst purer tribes are neglected, the people will perish {‘the Mlechchhas will be in the centre, and the Āryas, at the end’}. Wealth and piety will decrease day by day, until the world will be wholly depraved.” — 4:225-6 & fn. (iv.24)

“Property alone will confer rank . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Then property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source of devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual gratification.” — 4:226-7 (iv.24)

“External types will be the only distinction . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . external types . . . will be the only distinctions of the several orders of life {implying that a man, if rich, will be reputed pure}; dishonesty {Anyāya} will be the (universal) means of subsistence; weakness will be the cause of dependence; menace and presumption will be substituted for learning; liberality will be devotion . . . mutual assent will be marriage; fine clothes will be dignity . . .” — 4:227-8 & fns. (iv.24)

— 377-8 —

“He who is the strongest will reign . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Amidst all castes, he who is the strongest will reign over a principality . . . The people, unable to bear the heavy burthens {kara-bhāra, the load of taxes} . . . will take refuge amongst the valleys . . . Thus, in the Kali age, shall decay constantly proceed, until the human race approaches its annihilation.” — 4:228 & fn. (iv.24)

— 378 —

“When the close of the Kali age shall be nigh . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “When . . . the close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being who exists, of his own spiritual nature . . . shall descend upon earth . . . as Kalki, endowed with eight superhuman faculties. . . . He will, then, reestablish righteousness upon earth; and the minds of those who live at the end of the Kali age shall be awakened, and shall be as pellucid as crystal.” — 4:228-9 (iv.24)

“The men who are thus changed . . .”

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “The men who are, thus, changed . . . shall be as the seeds of human beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws of the Kṛita age (or age of purity). As it is said: ‘When the sun and moon, and (the lunar asterism) Tishya, and the planet Jupiter are in one mansion, the Kṛita age shall return.’ ” — 4:229 (iv.24)

“Two persons, Devapi . . . and Moru . . . continue alive throughout the four ages . . .”

“Moru the son of Sighru . . .”

— Footnotes

Morya, of the Morya dynasty, to which Chandragupta belonged

the dynasty of ten Moryas . . .

Colonel Tod believes the name Morya . . . a Rajpoot tribe

princes have taken their name Maurya from their town called Mori

see: Max Müller, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 1860: “[In the Mahāvanso we read] ‘The appelation of “Moriyan sovereigns” is derived from the auspicious circumstances under which their capital, which obtained the name of Moriya, was called into existence.’ ” — p. 285

as Professor Max Müller gives it, Morya-Nagara

see: Max Müller, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 1860: “His [Chandragupta’s] mother, the queen consort of the monarch of Moriya-nagara, the city before mentioned . . . gave birth to a son . . . and deposited him at the door of a cattle pen. A bull named Chando stationed himself by him, to protect him . . .” — p. 289

Vachaspattya, a Sanscrit Encyclopedia, places Katapa . . . in Tibet

Moru will re-establish the Kshattriya . . .

p/q: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . Maru . . . will be the restorer of the Kshattriya race in the solar dynasty {The Vāyu-purāṇa seems to declare, that he will reestablish the Kshattras in the nineteenth coming yuga}.” — 3:325 & fn. (iv.4)

— 379 —

“I see Brahm the Creator enthroned in thee above the lotus!”

p/q: The Bhagvat-Geeta, tr. Charles Wilkins, 1785: “I see Brahmā, that Deity sitting on his lotus-throne . . . I see thyself, on all sides, of infinite shape . . . I can neither discover thy beginning, thy middle, nor again thy end . . .” — pp. 90-1 (Lecture XI, “Display of the Divine Nature in the Form of the Universe”)

the seeds of the lotus contain . . . perfected plants

see: William Jones, “On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India,” 1792: “. . . bright yellow, the colour of the curious pericarpium in the centre of the water-lily, where Nature . . . in some degree discloses her secrets, each seed containing, before it germinates, a few perfect leaves . . .” — p. 60 (Dissertations Relating to Asia, v. 1)

The lotus, in India, is the symbol . . . of Mount Meru.

the four quarters of Heaven (the Maharajahs, see Stanzas)

The lotus flower, represented as growing out of Vishnu’s navel . . .

see: Edward Moor, The Hindu Pantheon, 1810: “ ‘It is related, in the Scanda Purana, that, when the whole earth was covered with water, and Vishnu lay extended asleep . . . a lotos arose from his navel . . .’ {Plates 7. and 8. represent this scene, but Vishnu is there . . . on Sesha, the vast thousand-headed serpent, emblematic of Eternity}.” — p. 17 & fn.

— Footnotes

(the Holy Ghost being still typified by “tongues of fire”)

— 379-80 —

Lakshmi . . . is also called Padma . . . floating at “Creation,” on a lotus flower

see: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “LAKSHMĪ. . . . Another legend represents her as floating on the flower of a lotus at the creation. With reference to this origin, one of her names is . . . ‘daughter of the sea of milk.’ From her connection with the lotus she is called Padmā. . . . ‘she was produced from the sea at the churning of the ocean.’ ” — p. 176

— 380 —

like Venus from the froth

“. . . Then seated on a lotus . . .”

In chapter lxxxi. of the Ritual . . . called “Transformation into the Lotus”

a head emerging from this flower . . . exclaims: “I am the pure lotus . . .”

p/q: Livre des Morts, tr. Paul Pierret, 1882: “Tableau: Une tête sortant de la fleur d’un lotus [Vignette: A head emerging from a lotus flower]. Je suis un lotus pur, sortant d’entre les lumineux. . . . Je fais les messages que poursuit Horus. Je suis un lotus pur issu du Champ du Soleil [I am a pure lotus, emerging from the Luminous Ones. . . . I carry the messages of Horus. I am a pure lotus born from the Field of the Sun].” — p. 255 (lxxxi.1-2)

The lotus-idea may be traced even in . . . Genesis, as stated in Isis.

see: H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1877: “At this first stage of action, Brahma had not yet become the architect, the builder of the universe, for he had, like the architect, to first acquaint himself with the plan, and realize the ideal forms which were buried in the bosom of the Eternal One, as the future lotus-leaves are concealed within the seed of that plant.” — 1:92

— Footnotes

Lakshmi is Venus-Aphrodite . . . she sprang from the froth of the ocean . . .

p/q: John Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, 1879: “Lakshmi or Śrī . . . The origin ascribed to her by the Rāmāyaṇa is the one commonly received. According to this legend she sprang, like Aphrodite, from the froth of the ocean, in full beauty with a lotus in her hand, when it was churned by the gods . . .” — p. 176

Burnouf . . . saying that Brahmâ does not create . . . emanates all nature out of himself

see: Émile Burnouf, La Science des Religions, 1872: “Brahmā . . . le père, l’aïeul, le producteur. On ne doit jamais traduire aucun de ses noms par le mot créateur . . . l’idée de créer n’existe pas dans la langue sanscrite. C’est par voie d’émanation qu’il engendre l’univers [Brahmā . . . the father, the ancestor, the originator. One must never translate any of his names with the word creator . . . the idea of creating does not exist in the Sanskrit language. It is by means of emanation that he engenders the Universe] . . .” — p. 158

— 381 —

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth . . .”

the lotus . . . Its mode of growth . . . a symbol of the generative activities.

a child is sometimes represented as . . . issuing from the flower

(See § X [IX], “Deus Lunus.”)

the use of this generative function as a basis for symbolical language . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Man in Search of His Soul, 1887: “It is here . . . that we should have to seek for the true origin of those Phallic symbols or sexual images which are found scattered the world over . . . Such emblems . . . were all erected with one meaning, and each according to the same primitive typology of a resurrection. . . . the Phallic Imagery was perpetuated for symbolic uses, and not for direct worship . . . the formation of the earliest tomb, together with the Monuments reared above, are all founded on the natural organs of the reproductive system, and, architecturally, the so-called Phallic faith resolves itself into an objective imitation of the parts of the human body which are devoted to re-birth . . .” — p. 4

— Footnotes

In Indian Purânas it is Vishnu, the first . . . logos

Brahmâ, the second logos . . .

Vishnu . . . Brahmâ . . . one as manifesting the lotus, the other as issuing from it

— 382 —

“The locality of the womb is to be taken as the most holy place, the sanctum sanctorum . . .”

see: “ ‘The Holy of Holies.’ Its Degradation”: “The Sanctum Sanctorum of the Ancients . . . The Gentiles . . . as Pantheists . . . regarded it — in its esoteric meaning — as the symbol of resurrection . . . The Jews . . . setting forth their Holy of Holies as the most solemn sign of their Monotheism — exoterically; while seeing in it but a universal phallic symbol — esoterically.” — SD 2:459

— Footnotes

“Know ye not ye are the Temple of God”

— 383 —

“With the ancient wise, there was no name and no idea, and no symbol of a first cause.”

— Footnotes

The Lord God tempts sorely Pharoah and “plagues him with great plagues”

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “. . . when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman [his wife] that she was very fair. . . . and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. . . . And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.” — p. 14 (Genesis, 12:14-15, 17)

— 384 —

the letter M . . . is made to symbolize water . . . a glyph for the waves

makara — the tenth sign of the Zodiac . . . MA is equivalent to . . . number 5

— 384-5 —

Mandala is in Sanskrit “a circle,” or an orb . . .

— 385 —

Pharaoh’s daughter “called his name Moses . . .”

the “three Maries” at the crucifixion

the Messiah is always connected with Water, Baptism, the Fishes

see: W. J. Schröder, The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel Expounded, 1876: “The Israel completed in the Messiah, in Christ, the temple, draws water with joy from the wells of salvation (Isa. xii. 3).” “In the Talmud the Messiah, too, is called ‘fish,’ and according to Abrabanel the constellation Pisces announces His birth.” — pp. 487, 489

Khnoom . . . sits on a throne enshrined in a lotus (Saitic epoch, Serapeum).

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Le dieu Khnoum à tête de bélier est assis sur un fauteuil qui, lui-même, repose sur une fleur de lotus [The ram-headed god Khnoom sits on a throne that itself rests on a lotus flower] . . .” — p. 170 (“Ep. Saïte. Sérapéum.”)

The god Bes stands on a lotus, ready to devour his progeny. (Ibid, Abydos)

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Dieu Bes posé sur une fleur de lotus: il semble vouloir dévorer l’enfant [The god Bes standing on a lotus flower: it seems that he wants to devour the child] . . .” — p. 162 (“Ep. Saïte. Abydos.”)

Thot . . . wearing the Solar disc as head gear, sits with a bull’s head . . .

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Sur une fleur de lotus épanouie, un dieu à corps humain, à tête de taureau, coiffée du disque solaire, est debout les bras levés . . . C’est une forme de Thot, taureau dans la ville de Mendès [On a full-blown lotus, a god with a human body, with a bull’s head, wearing the Solar disc as head gear, stands with raised arms . . . It is a form of Thot, the bull in the city of Mendes] . . .” — p. 163

the goddess Hiquet, under her shape of a frog, who rests on the lotus . . .

see: Thomas S. Millington, Signs and Wonders in the Land of Ham, 1873: “A frog sitting upon the sacred lotus was symbolical of the return of the Nile to its bed after the inundations. . . . there is also a frog-headed goddess named Heka . . . to whose favour the annual overflow of the Nile, with all the benefits which followed, was ascribed.” — p. 75

The “frog or toad goddess” was one of the chief cosmic deities

— Footnotes

the seven daughters of the Midian priest . . . had Moses water their flock . . .

see: The Interlinear Bible, 1906: “Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water . . . And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said . . . call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.” — pp. 72-3 (Exodus, 2:16-18, 20-1)

— 385-6 —

She not only participated in the organization of the world . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Non seulement elle était l’une des principales parmi les divinités cosmiques, et avait contribué avec Khnoum à l’organisation du monde, mais elle était liée au dogme de la resurrection [Not only was she one of the principal ones among the cosmic deities, and had together with Khnoom contributed to the organization of the world, but she was also connected with the doctrine of resurrection].” — p. 146

— 386 —

the early Egyptian Christians adopted it . . .

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “Les chrétiens d’Égypte l’empruntèrent aux payens et fabriquèrent des lampes en forme de grenouille [The Christians of Egypt adopted it from the pagans and made lamps in the form of a frog] . . .” — p. 146

lamps, on which were engraved the words “I am the resurrection” . . .

p/q: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “. . . lampes en forme de grenouille, sur lesquelles ils écrivaient: Je suis la résurrection, Ἐγὼ εἶμι Ἀνάστασις [lamps in the form of a frog, on which they wrote: I am the resurrection].” — p. 146

Yet, the cold chaste moon . . . in the words of Shelley —

— Footnotes

such “frog-goddesses” may be seen at Bulaq, in the Cairo Museum

see: Gaston Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1883: “1420 – 1429 . . . La grenouille est une déesse, Hiqit . . . C’est pour cela qu’on la trouve sur les momies [(Artifacts) 1420 – 1429 . . . The frog is a goddess, Heqet . . . For that reason we find her on the mummies].” — p. 146

— 387 —

Diana-Hecate-Luna is the three in one. . . . Diva triformis

The cat, a lunar symbol . . . is often seen on the top of the Sistrum in the hand of the goddess

see: Apuleius, The Metamorphosis, tr. Thomas Taylor, 1822: “For her right hand, indeed, bore a brazen rattle {this rattle . . . of Isis, is the same with the celebrated sistrum of that Goddess . . . ‘on the summit of the concavity of the sistrum they carved a cat having a human face . . .’ But by the cat they indicated the moon} . . .” — pp. 261-2 & fn. (Bk XI)

This animal was held in great veneration in the city of Bubaste . . .

see: Herodotus, History, tr. George Rawlinson, 1862: “When [a cat dies], the Egyptians are in deep affliction. . . . The cats on their decease are taken to the city of Bubastis, where they are embalmed, after which they are buried in certain sacred repositories.” — 2:95-6 (ii.66-7)

no one has better described it than Mr. G. Massey . . .

see: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “. . . when the Egyptians portrayed the moon as a Cat . . . They had observed the simple fact that the cat saw in the dark, and that her eyes became full-orbed and grew most luminous by night. . . . and so the familiar cat was adopted as a representative, a natural sign, a living pictograph of the lunar orb!” — p. 2

— Footnotes

The goddess Τρίμορφος in the statuary of Alcamenes

see: Description of Ancient Marbles in the British Museum, 1845: “This divinity is sometimes represented with three heads only, but more frequently as in the present instance with three bodies. Hence she is styled τρίμορφος . . . Alcamenes was the first artist who represented the triple figure of Hecate or Diana.” — p. 100 (Plate XLI)

— 387-8 —

the mythological allegory which shows Diana hiding under the shape of a cat . . .

— 388 —

Cynocephalus . . . was a glyph to symbolize the sun and moon . . .

see: J. G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 1883: “The Cynocephalus ape . . . was particularly sacred to Thoth [Mercury] . . . and in astronomical subjects two Cynocephali are frequently represented standing in a boat before the Sun in an attitude of prayer, as emblems of the Moon.” — 3:267

— 389 —

“the perception of time periods, marked on the vaulted arch of the heavens . . .”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “The Cabbalah — No. VI,” June 1886: “One ancient usage was the observance of times, and this involved astronomy . . . and astrology . . . we find that Daniel, the most wonderful of all the prophets, told off God’s providence by set times . . . the sun and the moon and the planets were set in the expanse for signs and for seasons . . .” — p. 271 (Masonic Review, 65:5)

“in the description of the Flood, where correction of 150 days was made for a period of 600 years”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “Correction of the 600 Year Period . . . One of the commonest methods for the computation of time was by taking the number of degrees of the celestial circle, for the number of days in the year — viz., 360 degrees were made to stand for 360 days.” — p. 242

“. . . ‘the period of viability’ is one of 210 days . . . The period of parturition . . . in 280 days . . .”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Identification of the British Inch as the Unit of Measure of the Mound Builders,” Jan. 1886: “Of this 280 days is 40 weeks, or the period of parturition, while . . . 210 days is called the period of viability.” — p. 239 (Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, v. 9, “Appendix C”)

— Footnotes

Mercury was the messenger appointed to keep time . . .

see: J. G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 1883: “Plutarch states that ‘Mercury was supposed to accompany the moon round the world . . .’ Thoth, therefore, in one of his characters, answers to the moon, and in another to Mercury.” — 3:165

— 390 —

“The basic idea . . . of the Hebrews was that God contained all things within himself”

“the bull and the cow . . . Osiris was the Sun . . . Isis was . . . the Mother Earth”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “Cabbalah — No. VII,” March 1887: “. . . the cow or (Egyptian) Isis . . . truly represented, in the first instance, the earth, or productive nature . . . In after times the ox or bull was added, representing the sun, or generative force in nature . . .” — p. 66 (Masonic Review, 67:2)

“These . . . periods . . . plainly set forth . . . in the Richardson and Gest tablets . . .”

“male and female, in the 27th verse of the 1st chapter of Genesis are . . . sacr and n’cabrah”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “. . . after 6 days [of Creation] have elapsed, on the sixth day . . . the fructifying principles of sacr, membrum virile and nekabvah, yoni, (see Gen. 1., v. 27), are commanded to multiply.” — p. 184

— 391 —

(See Section “Holy of Holies” . . .)

“With the ancient wise, there was no name, and no idea, and no symbol, of a First Cause.”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “The Cabbalah — No. VI,” June 1886: “. . . the wise men who enunciated the Cabbalah dealt first with the fact of a primal intelligence . . . This intelligence, they declared, could not be comprehended at all, — could not be located, — could not be named, though the cause of all.” — p. 257 (Masonic Review, 65:5)

its first comprehensible manifestation . . . a circle with a diameter line

see: “Proem”: “The first illustration being a plain disc . . . the second one in the Archaic symbol shows . . . a disc with a point in it — the first differentiation in the periodical manifestations of the ever-eternal nature . . . In its third stage the point is transformed into a diameter . . .” — SD 1:4

the one takes its birth from the nought or the Circle . . .

see: J. Ralston Skinner, “The Cabbalah — VI,” June 1886: “. . . the Ten Sephiroth, or the 10 Numbers, the picture of which is this: wherein the circle is the naught, its vertical diameter line is the first or primal One, — from which springs the 2, the 3, and so on to 9 . . .” — p. 266 (Masonic Review, 65:5)

“This idea of connecting the circle and its diameter line . . . number ten . . .”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “. . . the exactitude of the Jehovah diameter . . . ‘This number 10 is the mother of the soul . . . since the number one is born from the spirit . . .’ The primal one contained all the elements of generation, and therefore included the male idea and the female idea in itself. Thus, 1 contained | as a male, and O (a circle) as a female . . .” — p. 157

“a double-womb, for in Hebrew the letter hé ה is . . . the number 5 and symbol of the womb . . .”

— 392 —

the metrology of the Jews

“If 20,612 be multiplied by 4/3 . . .”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “20612 x 4/3 . . . and this x 4/3 . . . the second term is numerically the value of the moon’s lunation [revolution around the earth], and the third is the base of the calculation of the solar year.” — p. 43

“hermaphrodite, that is phallus and yoni combined . . . the containment of Jehovah”

see: J. Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, 1875: “. . . the necessity is a straight line one, of a denomination of 20612, or the perfect one, and Jehovah has been shown to be this. . . . the two words of which Jehovah is composed, make up the original idea of male-female, as the birth originator (for the י [Jod] was the membrum virile, and Hovah was Eve). So, it is seen that the perfect one, as originator of measures, takes also the form of birth origin, as hermaphrodite one . . .” — p. 159

Binah, “the Upper mediating Mother, the Great Sea . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . Binah, the Upper Mediating Mother . . . the Great Sea or Holy Spirit. Mary likely equals the Latin Mare, i.e., Sea. According to a hymn of the Xth century sung at the Annunciation, she is: ‘Star of the Sea . . .’ ” — p. 336

Virgin Mary — the Magna Mater of the Syrians and the Greeks . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Mère Divine et Dame du Ciel’ (des Égyptiens) . . . la Grande Déesse, Magna Mater, des Syriens et des Grecs [‘Divine Mother and Lady of Heaven’ (of the Egyptians) . . . the Great Goddess, Magna Mater, of the Syrians and the Greeks].” — 3:111-12

— 393 —

“It is only natural that . . . Ammon-Ra should be his mother’s husband . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Nous comprenons donc qu’Amoun-râ soit l’époux de sa mere, puisque la Magna Mater des chrétiens est précisément l’epouse de ce fils qu’elle enfante [So we understand that Ammon-Ra should be his mother’s husband, since the Magna Mater of the Christians is precisely the spouse of that son that she conceives].” — 3:117

“We . . . understand now why Neithis throws radiance on the sun . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Nous comprenons dès lors que Neith illumine le soleil tout en restant la lune, puisque la Vierge, qui est reine du ciel comme elle, revêt le Christ-Soleil comme elle et en est revêtue, ‘tu vestis solem et te sol vestit [From now on we understand that Neith illumines the Sun, while totally remaining the Moon, since the Virgin, who is the Queen of Heaven, as Neith was, clothes the Christ-Sun as she is clothed, ‘you clothe the Sun and the Sun clothes you’]. ” — 3:117

“We . . . understand . . . that the famous inscription at Sais . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Nous comprenons que la fameuse inscription de Saïs ait pu dire: ‘Personne n’a jamais soulevé mon voile,’ attendu que cette phrase, plus littéralement traduite, est le résumé de ce que chante l’Église au jour de la Conception [We understand that the famous inscription at Sais could say: ‘No one has ever lifted my veil,’ considering that this phrase, translated more literally, is the summary of what is sung in the Church on the Day of the Conception].” — 3:117 (“Archeology of the Virgin Mother”)

“The man in the moon . . . is often charged with bad conduct . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “The Man in the moon is often charged with bad conduct towards his mother, sister, mother-in-law, or some other near female relation, on account of the natural origin in lunar phenomena. In these the moon was one as the moon, which was two-fold in sex, and three-fold in character, as mother, child, and adult male. Thus the child of the moon became the consort of his own mother! It could not be helped if there was to be any reproduction. He was compelled to be his own father!” — p. 23

“These relationships were repudiated by later sociology . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “These relationships were repudiated by later sociology, and the primitive man in the moon got tabooed. Yet, in its latest, most inexplicable phase, this has become the central doctrine of the grossest superstition the world has ever seen, for these lunar phenomena and their humanly represented relationships, the incestuous included, are the very foundations of the Christian Trinity in Unity. Through ignorance of the symbolism, the simple representation of early time has become the most profound religious mystery in modern Luniolatry.” — p. 23

“The Roman Church, without being in any wise ashamed of the proof . . .”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “The Roman Church, without being in any wise ashamed of the proof, portrays the Virgin Mary arrayed with the Sun, and the horned moon at her feet, holding the lunar infant in her arms — as child and consort of the mother moon! The mother, child, and adult male, are fundamental . . . In this way it can be proved that our Christology is mummified mythology, and legendary lore, which have been palmed off upon us in the Old Testament and the New, as divine revelation uttered by the very voice of God.” — p. 23

“In the introduction written by R’Hez’quee-yah . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “In the introduction written by R. ’Hiz’qee-yah, which is very old, and which forms part of the Brody edition of the Zohar (i, 5b sq.), is an account of a journey taken by R. El’azar, son of R. Shim-on b. Yo’haī, and R. Abbah . . .” — p. 335

They met a man with a heavy burden and asked his name . . .

— 394 —

“They asked: ‘Who caused thee thus to walk . . .’ ”

“They said to him: ‘If thou wilt tell us the name of thy father . . .’ ”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “They said to him: ‘If thou wilt tell us the name of thy father, we will kiss the dust of thy feet.’ He replied: ‘. . . as to my father, he had his dwelling in the Great Sea, and was a fish therein; which destroyed the Great Sea from one end to the other, and he was great and mighty and “Ancient of Days,” until he swallowed all the other fishes in the (Great) Sea . . .’ ” — pp. 335-6

“R. El’azar listened and said to him . . .”

p/q: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “R. El’azar listened to his words and said to him: ‘Thou art the son of the Holy Flame, thou art the son of Rab Ham-’nun-ah Sabah, (the Old,) {The fish in Aramaic or Chaldee is . . . nun, pron. noon} thou art the son of the Light of the Thorah . . .’ ” — p. 336 & fn.

the feminine Sephiroth, Binah, is termed by the Kabalist the great sea . . . Yah, and Elohim

the Chaldean Tiamat . . the Thalatth of Berosus, who presides over the Chaos

see: Qabbalah, tr. Isaac Myer, 1888: “. . . there was a time when all was darkness and an abyss of waters, in this lived hideous strange beings . . . A woman named Omoroka, Chald. Thalatth . . . presided over them . . . In the Babylonian cosmogony as in the Hebrew, the watery abyss, termed by the former the Great Sea-serpent or dragon Tiamat, is the first source of all things. The latter is also named Tiavat, and is the Thavatth of Bêrôssos, and the . . . ‘deep’ of Genesis.” — p. 243

translated by Chwolson from an old Chaldean MSS. translated into Arabic . . .

see: A. Sayce, “Tammuz,” July 1865: “In the ‘Fragments of old Babylonian Literature,’ . . . recently discovered and edited by M. Chwolson, a different view is started. These ‘Fragments’ claim to be translations by Ibn Wahshiya the Chaldean (a.d. 900) of certain ancient Chaldean works, of which the most considerable is the ‘Nabathean Agriculture’ by Kūthāmi the Kufian, whose age is assigned to the thirteenth century b.c.” — p. 441 (Journal of Sacred Literature, v. 7)

Qû-tâmy being instructed by the idol of the moon, is easily understood

see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Thoughts on the Elementals,” May 15, 1890: “The word Pitri does mean, no doubt, the ancestor; but that which is invoked is the lunar wisdom esoterically, and not the ‘Lunar ancestor.’ It is the Wisdom that was invoked by Qu-ta-my, the Chaldean, in the ‘Nabathean Agriculture,’ who wrote down ‘the revelations of the Moon.’ ” — p. 187 (Lucifer, v. 6)

(vide Book III.)

[“Book III” refers to material that H. P. Blavatsky intended to use for Volume 3 of The Secret Doctrine. This was never published, and a completed manuscript of it was never found. Most of HPB’s leftover material is now published in volumes 12 and 14 of H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings.]

Seldenus tells us the secret . . . of the Teraphim

Seldenus tells us . . . as well as Maimonides (More Nevochim, Book III., ch. xxx)

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Seldenus, à son tour, nous dit, en parlant des téraphims et en copiant Maimonide (More Nevochim, livre III, chap. xxx) [Seldenus, in turn, tells us, when speaking about the teraphim and copying Maimonides (More Nevochim, Book III, ch. xxx) the following].” — 4:77

see: Maimonides, The Reasons of The Laws of Moses, tr. J. Townley, 1827: “Why the Ancient Idolaters united Agriculture with the Worship of the Stars. . . . they confessedly believed that the fruitfulness of the earth depended upon the worship of the planets and other heavenly bodies. . . . that Agriculture . . . depended upon the influence of the Sun, and the rest of the Stars, for its success . . .” — p. 169 (More Nevochim, III.xxx)

The worshippers . . . “carved images and claimed that the light of the principal stars . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Ils sculptèrent des images et prétendirent que la lumière des principales étoiles venant à les pénétrer, les vertus angéliques conversaient avec eux et leur annonçaient beaucoup de choses très-utiles’ [They carved images and claimed that as the light of the principal stars permeated these, the angelic forces conversed with them, and announced to them many very useful things].” — 4:77 (De Diis Syris)

Seldenus explains that the Teraphim were built . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Les téraphims, continue Seldenus, étaient composés d’après la position de certains astres, comme ceux que les Grecs appellent στοιχεῖα, et selon les figures que l’on plaçait dans les cieux et qu’on appelait ἀλεξητῆροὶ ou dieux tutélaires [The teraphim, continues Seldenus, were built according to the position of certain heavenly bodies, like those which the Greeks called στοιχεῖα, and according to the figures that were located in the heavens and called tutelary gods] . . .” — 4:77 (De Diis Syris)

Those who traced out the στοιχεῖα were called . . . the diviners by the στοιχεῖα.

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . ceux qui traçaient les στοιχεῖα s’appelaient στοιχειωματικοὶ, ou devinant par les στοιχεῖα {De Diis Syriis, Teraph. II, Synt. p. 31} [those who traced out the στοιχεῖα were called στοιχειωματικοὶ, or those divining by the στοιχεῖα].” — 4:77 & fn.

vide infra, the Teraphim

— 395 —

men of science . . . proclaim the work . . . “either an apocypha or a fairy tale . . .”

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “M. F. de Rougemont . . . lui reproche . . . ‘[Chwolson a] prétendu refaire toute l’histoire profane et sacrée avec les écrits d’auteurs apocryphes’ [F. de Rougemont reproaches him . . . ‘(Chwolsohn has) pretended to rewrite the entire profane and sacred history with the writings of apocryphal authors’].” — 3:219

it described the worship of demons . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Si nous l’interrogeons sur ses sources et sur ses auteurs, il nous répond dès la première page de son livre que ‘toutes les doctrines en ont été révélées par Saturne (le dieu méchant) à la lune, puis par la lune à son idole’ [If we question him about his sources and his authors, he answers us from the first page of his book that ‘all doctrines were revealed by Saturn (the evil god) to the Moon, then by the Moon to its idol’] . . .” — 3:219

ancient divinations were . . . accomplished with the help of the Spirits of the Elements . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Ammien Marcellin . . . nous avait avertis plus d’une fois que toutes les anciennes divinations se faisaient par les ‘esprits des éléments,’ spiritus elementorum . . . πνεῦματα τῶν στοιχειῶν {1.I, 21} [Ammianus Marcellinus . . . warned us more than once that all ancient divinations were accomplished by the ‘spirits of the elements’].” — 4:78 & fn.

the planets . . . and the Zodiac, were figured . . . by the twelve stones called “mysteries of the elements”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Nous voici donc encore une fois revenus aux anges des planètes et du zodiaque, qui . . . n’étaient pas figurés seulement à Héliopolis par les douze pierres appelées ‘mystères des éléments, elementorum arcana,’ mais bien aussi dans le temple de Salomon, dans plusieurs vieilles églises italiennes, et même à Notre-Dame de Paris [Here we have again come back to the angels of the planets and the zodiac, who . . . were represented not only in Heliopolis by the twelve stones called ‘mysteries of the elements, elementorum arcana,’ but also in Solomon’s temple and in several old Italian churches, and even at Notre Dame in Paris].” — 4:78

Diana-Luna, I’lythia, Lucina. . . . Anaïtis

see: Herodotus, History, tr. George Rawlinson, 1862: “She was the same Deity worshipped in many countries under various denominations . . . She was the ‘Queen of Heaven,’ the Moon . . . she answered to the Greek Eileithyiæ [Ilithyia] . . . as well as to Juno, Diana, and Lucina . . . The Phoenician Tanith or Tanat, who answered to Artemis (Diana) . . . Plutarch . . . says ‘Diana of Ecbatana is there called Anitis.’ ” — 2:445-6 (Appendix, “Essay I” by Wilkinson)

Luna-Artemis, to whom Pamphos was the first to give the surname of Καλλίστη

Καλλίστα πολὺ παρθενῶν

p/q: Euripides, The Hippolytus, ed. F. A. Paley, 1876: “. . . καλλίστα πολὺ παρθένων . . . καλλίστα τῶν κατ’ Ὄλυμπον παρθένων, Ἄρτεμι [fairest among all the virgins of the Pantheon . . . Artemis, fairer than all the maidens of Olympus].” — p. 13 (lines 66, 71-2)

This Artemis-Lochia . . . presided at conception and childbirth

see: J. C. Prichard, An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology, 1819: “Lucina, or Diana [Artemis], the goddess of child-birth among the Greeks and Romans, bore also some near relation to the Moon . . . Plutarch affirms that the Moon was supposed, when full, to assist at child-birth . . . Hence, he says, ‘Diana is called Lochia . . .’ ” — pp. 136-7

The goddess Τρίμορφος was the personified symbol of . . . the moon in each of her phases

see: Cornutus, De Natura Deorum, ed. Friedrich Osann, 1844: “. . . ἡ Ἑκάτη τρίμορφος . . . τρια σχήματα γενικώτατα ἀποτελεῖν τὴν σελήνην [the three-formed Hecate . . . three forms that in the end belong to the Moon] . . .” — p. 208 (xxxiv, 220-8)

the Orpheans explained the epithet . . . by three kingdoms of nature over which she reigned

revengeful and exacting, Hecate-Luna . . .

see: J. C. Prichard, An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology, 1819: “It is well known that, among the Greeks, Diana [Luna] . . . was supposed to have changed her form on her descent to Hades, and to have become a goddess of stern and vindictive character. Hecate . . . was the punisher of guilt, and the mistress of the Furies.” — p. 141

— 396 —

the lunar . . . goddesses, Nephtys or Neith, Proserpina, Melytta, Cybele, Isis . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Toutes ces déesses, Junon, Astarté, Mélytta, Cybèle, Isis, Athor, Neith, Vénus, Proserpine, Hécate [All these (lunar) goddesses, Juno, Astarte, Melytta, Cybele, Isis, Athor, Neith, Venus, Proserpine, Hecate] . . .” — 3:113

the gods were made to merge their functions . . . in the grand synthesis known as Maïa . . . a generic name

Maïa . . . has come to mean . . . “mother,” from the root ma (nurse) . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Maïa . . . dont la racine est ma (nourrice), dont nous avons fait le mois de mai . . . que ce mois était consacré à Maïa [Maïa . . . whose root is ma (nurse), from which we have made the month of May . . . which was consecrated to Maïa] . . .” — 3:113

Its primitive meaning, however, was Maya, Durgâ . . . the personification of Illusion.

see: Selections from the Mahābhārata [with notes by H. H. Wilson], 1842: “Māyā is any illusory female form of celestial origin . . . but Māyā Devī, or Mahāmāyā, is usually applied to a form of Durgā, as a personification of the unreality of worldly things . . .” — p. 62 fn.

Artemis Soteira (. . . whose attribute is the lyre . . .)

see: Maxime Collignon, Mythologie Figurée de la Grèce, 1883: “L’Artémis secourable ou Soteira a pour attributs le carquois fermé, et parfois même la lyre [Artemis the redeemer, or Soteira, has as attributes the closed quiver, and sometimes even the lyre] . . .” — p. 107

Deus Lunus, and especially Osiris-lunus and Thot-lunus, were the occult potencies of the moon.

see: J. G. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 1883: “The Egyptians represented their moon as a male deity, like . . . the Lunus of the Latins . . . Thoth is usually represented as a human figure with the head of an ibis . . . and in his character of Lunus he has sometimes a man’s face with the crescent of the moon upon his head . . . [Plutarch] supposes ‘Osiris to be the power and influence of the moon . . .’ ” — 3:165-6

— Footnotes

consecrating the month of May to the Virgin . . . “May is sacred to Maïa . . . or Vesta”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . Maïa . . . dont nous avons fait le mois de mai, comme nous l’apprend le bon Plutarque . . . ‘ce mois était consacré à Maïa (Μαῖα), c’est-à-dire à Vesta’ {Voyez . . . Aulu-Gelle, au mot Maïa.}[ Maïa . . . of which we have made the month of May, as the good Plutarch teaches us . . . ‘that month was dedicated to Maïa (Μαῖα), that is, to Vesta’ {See . . . Aulus-Gellius, on the word Maïa}].” — 3:113 & fn.

— 397 —

the Mahabhâratan War . . . the Suryavansas and the Indovansas. . . .

see: John Kennedy, The Natural History of Man, 1851: “. . . the Mahabharata, or Great War, which was carried on between . . . two branches of the Lunar race of Indian sovereigns. Nearly about the same time Rama is supposed to have lived. The exploits of this Rama, the most illustrious of the Solar line of Indian Kings, or Suryavansas, as they are called by native writers, who also designate the Lunar line Indu-vansas, or Soma-vansas, are detailed in the ‘Ramayana.’ ” — 1:84

the sun was for a very long time feminine . . . The moon was called “The Lord of the sun,” Bel-Shemesh

— Footnotes

Dayanisi . . . “the Ruler of Men,” the “Judge,” or the Sun

see: Thomas Inman, Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, 1868: “Dionysus . . . is of Assyrian origin, the formula for it being Dian-nisi, or Dayan-nisi, words signifying ‘Judge of men,’ the Dian or Dayan, being equivalent to the Hebrew Dan . . . ‘Shemesh dayan rabu shamie u irtsit,’ i.e., ‘The Sun, the Great Judge of heaven and earth.’ ” — 1:455

God is a “consuming fire,” “appears in, and is encompassed by fire”

Ezekiel (viii, 16) saw the Jews “worshipping the sun.”

The Baal of the Israelites (the Shemesh of the Moabites and the Moloch of the Ammonites) . . .

see: The Queen’s Printers Aids to the Student of the Holy Bible, 1882: “The Phœnicians shared the same religious beliefs as the Canaanites, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and Philistines . . . The Sun-god, called by the general name of Baal (lord), or Moloch . . . (king), was worshipped under a great variety of forms and attributes . . . as the sun with long hair or rays, Baal-Shemesh.” “. . . the Israelites, like their Phœnician kindred, were inclined towards sun-worship . . . In thus representing their national God, the Israelites identified Him with the Baal or Sun-god of the other Semitic tribes . . .” — pp. 106, 107

The “Sun of Righteousness”

— 398 —

Soma embodies the triple power of the Trimurti

see: Francis Wilford, “On the Chronology of the Hindus,” 1799: “Atri . . . had three sons; or, as it is declared in the Purānas, the Trimurti, or Hindu Triad, was incarnated in his house. The eldest, called Soma, or the moon . . . was a portion or form of Brahma.” — p. 261 (Asiatic Researches, v. 5)

Soma, the moon, produced by the churning of the Ocean . . . in another Manvantara

“the Rishis milking the earth, whose calf was Soma, the moon”

“the disease which springs up at a peculiar stage in human culture”

p/q: Gerald Massey, Luniolatry; Ancient and Modern, 1887: “ ‘We know,’ says Renouf . . . in his Hibbert lectures, ‘We know that mythology is the disease which springs up at a peculiar stage of human culture.’ Such is the shallow explanation . . . accepted by the British public, that gets its thinking done for it by proxy.” — p. 1

de Rougé . . . translates . . . “Thou art my Son, I have begotten thee”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Aprés avoir cité et traduit un texte dans lequel Ammon-râ dit au roi Aménophis III (Memnon): ‘Tu es mon fils, je t’ai engendré . . .’ [After having quoted and translated a text in which Ammon-ra says to King Amenophes III (Memnon): ‘You are my son, I have begotten you’] . . . ” — 3:108

— Footnotes

The earth flees for her life in the allegory . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “Pṛithu took up his divine bow . . . and, in great wrath, marched forth to assail the Earth. Earth, assuming the figure of a cow, fled hastily from him, and traversed . . . the regions of Brahmā and the heavenly spheres.” — 1:186 (i.13)

Again, in every Purâna, the calf changes name . . .

see: Vishṇu Purāṇa, tr. Wilson, ed. Hall, 1864-77: “. . . he, therefore, having made Swāyaṃbhuva Manu the calf, milked the Earth {according to the Matsya . . . Indra was the calf . . . The Yakshas made Vaiśravaṇa their calf . . . On behalf of the mountains, Meru was the milker; Himavat, the calf}.” — 1:187, 188 fn. (i.13)

— 398-9 —

de Rougé . . . finds the same idea . . . under various forms

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “M. de Rougé ajoute: ‘Cette idée est exprimée sous une multitude d’autres formes plus ou moins énergiques’ [De Rougé adds: ‘This idea has been expressed under a multitude of other more of less effective forms’] . . .” — 3:108

— 399 —

“for this idea to have entered the mind of a hierogrammatist . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “M. de Rougé ajoute . . . pour que cette idée pût venir dans l’esprit des hiérogrammates, il fallait donc qu’il y eût dans la religion égyptienne un fonds de doctrine plus ou moins précis, indiquant comme un fait possible et à venir une incarnation divine, sous la forme humaine [De Rougé adds . . . so that this idea could enter the mind of the hierogrammatists, there must have been then a more or less defined doctrine in the Egyptian religion, indicating as a possible fact that might come to pass, a divine incarnation in a human form].” — 3:108

“to realize clearer” what “the Divine Father and Son” were with the Egyptians . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Si je [De Rougé] puis comprendre ce qu’étaient aux yeux des Égyptiens le Père et le Fils divins, j’éprouve bien plus de difficulté à me rendre compte des fonctions que l’on attribuait au principe féminin dans cette génération primordiale’ [Even if I (De Rougé) can understand what the divine Father and Son were in the eyes of the Egyptians, I find more difficulty accounting for the functions that were attributed to the feminine principle in this primordial generation].” — 3:108

de Rougé . . . quotes the sentence of the Commander to Cambyses . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . cette phrase . . . du commandant des pylônes, adressée au roi Cambyse en l’introduisant dans le temple de Saïs [this sentence . . . of the commander of the entrance towers, addressed to King Cambyses when introducing him into the temple of Saïs].” — 3:109

“I made known to his Majesty the dignity of Saïs . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Je fis connaître ensuite à sa majesté la dignité de Saïs, qui est la demeure de Neith, la génératrice du soleil, lequel est un premier-né, et qui n’est pas engendré, mais seulement enfanté’ [I then made known to His Majesty the dignity of Saïs, which is the abode of Neith, the female originator of the Sun, who is a first-born, and who is not begotten, but only brought forth].” — 3:109

With the Christians, “the first-born” (primogenitus) is indeed generated . . . “genitum, non factum”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Le premier-né (primogenitus) est effectivement engendré (genitum, non factum), mais ici il est positivement enfanté (la Vierge enfantera, Virgo pariet . . .) [The first-born is in fact generated (not made), but here it is positively conceived (the Virgin will bring forth)].” — 3:109-10

“a demiurgical goddess, at once visible and invisible . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Neith était une certaine déesse démiurgique tout à la fois visible et invisible, ayant sa place dans le ciel et émettant néanmoins la génération aux espèces [Neith was a certain demiurgical goddess, at once visible and invisible, having her place in heaven and yet bringing forth the generation of species].” — 3:110

— Footnotes

the Egyptians prophesied Jehovah (!) and his incarnated Redeemer . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Il nous semble que le savant chrétien [De Rougé] . . . trouvant tout à la fois ici et son propre Jéhovah, et son rédempteur incarné (le bon serpent), et son martyre causé par la colère de Typhon (le mauvais serpent) [It seems to us that the Christian scholar (De Rougé) . . . finding here all at the same time his own Jehovah, his incarnated Redeemer (the good serpent), and his martyr caused by the anger of Typhon (the wicked serpent)] . . .” — 3:109

— 400 —

Behold in the Egyptian Hall of the British Museum, Hathor . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . qu’est-ce donc que cette déesse Hathor . . . allaite comme Isis? Nous pouvons la voir ainsi dans le Musée britannique égyptien, implorée par le pharaon Thoutmés, qui lui donne la main pendant qu’il tend l’autre à Month-râ, seigneur du ciel [so who is this goddess Hathor . . . who breastfeeds as Isis? We can also see her in the Egyptian Hall of the British Museum, implored by the Pharaoh Thutmose, who gives him a hand while he holds out the other to Month-rā, Lord of Heaven].” — 3:111

. . . “The Divine Mother and Lady, or Queen of Heaven”

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Ce monolithe est tiré des ruines de Karnak. On voit encore au même musée la même déesse assise sur un trône, au bas duquel on lit: ‘MÈRE DIVINE ET DAME DU CIEL’ [This monolith has been taken from the ruins of Karnak. Again at the same museum we see the same goddess seated on a throne, beneath which we read: ‘Divine Mother and Lady of Heaven’].” — 3:111

also “the Morning Star,” and the “Light of the Sea” . . .

see: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Tout se concilie dans le paganisme . . . même faire appeler cette Anaitis . . . ‘ÉTOILE DU MATIN et LUMIÈRE DE LA MER,’ stella matutina et lux maris [Everything is reconciled in paganism . . . even in calling this Anaitis . . . ‘Morning Star and Light of the Sea’].” — 3:111

Pallas, or Cybele, Minerva . . . holding her child-son on the lap . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “Chez ceux-ci . . . Minerve, Pallas ou Cybèle, nous la verrons tenant un enfant sur ses genoux, invoquée dans ses fêtes sous le vocable de Μονογενὴς Θεοῦ, seule Mère de Dieu, et représentée quelquefois entourée de douze personnages, et assise au milieu d’eux sur un lion {Raoul Rochette}[In these . . . Minerva, Pallas or Cybele, we will see her holding a child on her lap, invoked in her festivals by the name of ‘the One Mother of God,’ and sometimes represented by an entourage of a dozen personages, and sitting among them on a lion].” — 3:112 & fn.

Semele, the wife of Jupiter and mother of Bacchus, the Sun . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . Sémélé . . . épouse de Jupiter et mère de Bacchus (soleil) . . . Nonnus nous dit . . . ‘transportée, après sa mort, au ciel, où elle devient commensale de Mars et de Vénus sous le nom de πανβασιλεία, reine du monde’ [Semele . . . the wife of Jupiter and mother of Bacchus (Sun) . . . is, according to Nonnus, after her death, ‘taken to heaven, where she becomes the companion of Mars and Venus, under the name of the Queen of the World’].” — 3:112

“at the names of which . . . tremble all the demons”

“Σεμελῆν τρέμουσι δαίμονες.” This Greek inscription . . .

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “ ‘Σεμελῆν τρέμοῦσιν δαίμονες’ {Inscription grecque d’un petit temple représenté sur une pierre trouvée par Beger et reproduite par Montfaucon} [‘Semele made the dæmons tremble’ {Greek inscription on a small temple, depicted on a stone found by Beger and reproduced by Montfaucon}].” — 3:113 & fn. (“Archéologie de la Vièrge-Mère”)

— 400-1 —

To Maury’s remark that “the Virgin took possession of all the Sanctuaries . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “M. Maury a donc bien raison de poser en principe que ‘la Vierge prit possession de tous les sanctuaires de Cérès et de Vénus, et que les rites païens proclamés et pratiqués en l’honneur de ces déesses furent en partie transférés à la mère de Christ’ [Maury was therefore quite right to posit in principle that ‘the Virgin took possession of all the sanctuaries of Ceres and Venus, and that the pagan rites, proclaimed and practiced in honor of these goddesses, were partly transferrred to the Mother of Christ’].” — 3:118

— 401 —

“. . . As the dogma, the liturgy, and the rites professed by the Roman Apostolic Church . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . le dogme, la liturgie et les rites professés par l’Église apostolique et romaine en 1862, se retrouvant gravés sur des monuments, inscrits sur des papyrus ou des cylindres de bien peu postérieurs au déluge, il paraît impossible de nier l’existence d’un premier catholicisme anté-historique, dont le nôtre n’est que la continuation fidèle [as the dogma, liturgy, and the rites professed by the Roman Apostolic Church in 1862, found engraved on monuments, written on papyrus rolls or cylinders, are not much more recent than the Deluge, it seems impossible to deny the existence of a first prehistoric Catholicism, of which our own is but the faithful continuation] . . .” — 3:118

“. . . the summum of the impudence of demons and Goetic necromancy . . .”

“If in our (Christian) Revelation (l’Apolcalypse) . . .”

p/q: J.-E. de Mirville, Des Esprits, 1863-8: “. . . dans l’Apocalypse, Marie, revêtue du soleil, et ayant la lune sous ses pieds . . . n’a plus rien de commun avec l’humble servante de Nazareth, car elle est devenue la plus grande des puissances théologiques et cosmologiques de notre univers [in Revelation, Mary, clothed with the Sun and having the Moon under her feet . . . has nothing in common with the humble servant from Nazareth, because she has become the greatest theol

Theosophical University Press Online Edition

Secret Doctrine References

References — SD Volume 1

— Title Page —

“There is no Religion higher than Truth.”

Preface

— vii —

the history of occultism

the Aryan Race

The third volume is entirely ready . . .

“Isis Unveiled”

— viii —

this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety

Dzyan

De minimis non curat lex

Introductory

— xvii —

“Gently to hear, kindly to judge”

“neither esotericism nor Buddhism”

Mr. Sinnett’s work

— xviii —

the difference between “Buddhism” . . . and Budha . . .

we did our best to correct the mistake. (See Theosophist, June, 1883 [1884].)

“two years ago . . . neither I nor any other European living . . .”

— xix —

Adhi Budha . . . an appellation given by the earliest Aryans to the Unknown deity

used by Aryâsanga in his Secret treatises

the word “Brahmâ” not being found in the Vedas and the early works

“the primeval uncreated cause of all”

the “Buddha of Wisdom unmoved”

Buddhi is the faculty of cognizing . . . the discernment of good and evil

“When Buddhi absorbs our Ego-tism (destroys it) . . .”

— xx —

Saptaparna cave . . . the Cheta cave of Fa-hian

— Footnotes

the word Janna is defined as “to reform one’s self by meditation and knowledge”

— xxi —

His Secret Doctrine . . . differed in no wise from that of the initiated Brahmins

The Buddha was . . . a disciple of the “twice-born” (the initiated Brahmins)

— xxii —

Dzyan (or “Dzan”)

— xxiii —

the destruction of the Alexandrian Library

— Footnotes

no bribes or threats of Akbar could extort from the Brahmans . . .

— xxiv —

Badáonì . . . had an undisguised horror for Akbar’s mania for idolatrous religions

— Footnotes

“As they . . . surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals . . .”

This work “was kept secret . . . till the reign of Jahângir.”

— xxv —

He is said to have written 930 books on Ethics . . . and seventy on magic

His great work . . . has in it . . . only “about 5,000 words”

“the text is unintelligible without commentaries . . .”

— Footnotes

“If we turn to China . . .”

— xxvi —

Written in Greek by Berosus, a priest of the temple of Belus . . .

from the astronomical and chronological records . . . covering a period of 200,000 years

Alexander Polyhistor made a series of extracts from it . . .

Eusebius used these extracts in writing his Chronicon . . .

Bunsen charges him with mutilating history

— Footnotes

George Smith (vide his “Chaldean account of Genesis”)

— xxvii —

A few facts that were contained in the Berosian History are given in Part II of Vol. II

the Rig-Veda contains only “about 10,580 verses, or 1,028 hymns”

each volume . . . “weighing from four to five pounds”

the sacred canon of the Southern Church is said to contain 29,368,000 letters . . .

“five or six times the amount of the matter contained in the Bible” . . .

(in reality there are 333, Kanjur comprising 108, and Tanjur 225 volumes)

“the translators . . . have interwoven them with their own commentaries . . .”

“according to a tradition . . . 84,000 tracts . . .”

— xxviii —

Buddhist Arhats began . . . propagating the new faith . . . as early as the year 300 before our era

in the year 61 a.d. when Kashyapa, at the invitation of the Emperor Ming-ti . . .

— Footnotes

Lassen . . . shows a Buddhist monastery erected in the Kailas range in 137 B.C.

and General Cunningham, earlier than that

— xxviii-xxix —