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cosmology

Microcosm Macrocosm

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

488 passages · 14 traditions
western_esoteric: 132 passageswestern_esoteric132christian_mysticism: 102 passageschristian_mysticism102neoplatonism: 63 passagesneoplatonism63renaissance_hermeticism: 61 passagesrenaissance_hermeticism61hermeticism: 29 passageshermeticism29jewish_mysticism: 19 passagesjewish_mysticism19platonism: 17 passagesplatonism17taoism: 14 passagestaoism14gnosticism: 12 passagesgnosticism12greek_mystery: 11 passagesgreek_mystery11sufism: 10 passagessufism10egyptian: 9 passagesegyptian9finnic: 6 passagesfinnic6celtic: 3 passagesceltic3
western_esoteric132
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistusg
The Supreme Being--the Mind--male and female, brought forth the Word; and the Word, suspended between Light and darkness, was delivered of another Mind called the Workman , the Master-Builder , or the Maker of Things . "In this manner it w…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Initiation of the Pyramidi
The Mysteries taught that the divine energies from the gods descended upon the top of the Pyramid, which was likened to an inverted tree with its branches below and its roots at the apex. From this inverted tree the divine wisdom is dissem…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Sun, A Universal Deityg
According to the mystics, there are three suns in each solar system, analogous to the three centers of life in each individual constitution. These are called three lights: the spiritual sun, the intellectual or soular sun, and the material…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Sun, A Universal Deityh
In the heart of the regenerated, the divine power, stimulated by the Light of the Logos, grows into a Sun which illuminates his mind." In a note, the same author amplifies his description by adding: "The terrestrial sun is the image or refl…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Zodiac and Its Signsf
A new and different sidelight on zodiacal symbolism is supplied by John Cole, in A Treatise on the Circular Zodiac of Tentyra, in Egypt : "The symbol therefore of the Goat rising from the body of a fish [Capricorn], represents with the grea…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Zodiac and Its Signsj
Pythagoras taught that 10, or the unit of the decimal system, was the most perfect of all numbers, and he symbolized the number ten by the lesser tetractys , an arrangement of ten dots in the form of an upright triangle. The early star gaz…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Bembine Table of Isisk
Is not the Holy Temple in the center the great throne of the many-formed Spirit of Nature which is shown in the middle of the Tablet? What are the seven triads but the seven Powers that rule over the world? Psellus writes: 'The Egyptians…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Bembine Table of Isisl
The relation of these two zodiacs to the subzodiacal spheres has a correlation in the respiratory system of the human body. The great fixed zodiac may be said to represent the atmosphere, the movable zodiac the lungs, and the subzodiacal w…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Life and Philosophy of Pythagorase
Pythagoras highly esteemed the medicinal properties of the sea onion, and he is said to have written an entire volume on the subject. Such a work, however, is not known at the present time. Pythagoras discovered that music had great thera…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Life and Philosophy of Pythagorash
This fifth element, or ether, was called by the Hindus akasa . It was closely correlated with the hypothetical ether of modern science, and was the interpenetrative substance permeating all of the other elements and acting as a common solv…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Pythagorean Mathematicsl
Therefore, they chose the five-pointed star, or pentagram, as the symbol of vitality, health, and interpenetration. It was customary for the philosophers to conceal the element of earth under the symbol of a dragon, and many of the heroes…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolisma
THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolismb
It is not improbable that this mysterious figure standing over the primitive altars was made in the nature of a manikin and, like certain emblematic hands in the Mystery schools, was covered with either carved or painted hieroglyphs. The s…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolismc
Philosophically speaking, form, being a part of spirit, is within spirit; but: spirit is more than the sum of form, As the material nature of man is therefore within the sum of spirit, so the Universal Nature, including the entire sidereal…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolismf
John, who holds a cup from which the poison miraculously departed in the form of a serpent. (See Handbook of Christian Symbolism.) The figure of Christ upon the second phalange of the thumb does not follow the pagan system of assigning the…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolismg
As life precedes light, its only symbol is darkness, and darkness is considered as the veil which must eternally conceal the true nature of abstract and undifferentiated Being. In ancient times men fought with their right arms and defended…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolismi
Man's physical body was looked upon as the robe of his spiritual nature; consequently, the more developed were his super-substantial powers the more glorious his apparel. Of course, clothing was originally worn for ornamentation rather tha…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Hiramic Legendf
The arrant enemies of universal democracy have ever been the crown, the tiara, and the torch. Thus CHiram symbolizes that ideal state of spiritual, intellectual, and physical emancipation which has ever been sacrificed upon the altar of hu…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Hiramic Legendg
In the human brain there is a tiny gland called the pineal body, which is the sacred eye of the ancients, and corresponds to the third eye of the Cyclops. Little is known concerning the function of the pineal body, which Descartes suggeste…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colorf
The lower octave (Γ to G) comprises that part of the universe in which substance predominate over energy. Its harmonies, therefore, are more gross than those of the higher octave (G to g) wherein energy predominates over substance. "If st…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colorj
P, Blavatsky relates the colors to the septenary constitution of man and the seven states of matter as follows: COLOR: Violet PRINCIPLES OF MAN: Chaya, or Etheric Double STATES OF MATTER: Ether COLOR: Indigo PRINCIPLES OF MAN: Higher Manas,…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Treesd
The heraldic rose of the Middle Ages generally has either five or ten petals thereby showing its relationship to the spiritual mystery of man through the Pythagorean pentad and decad. CULTUS ARBORUM The worship of trees as proxies of Divin…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Stones, Metals and Gemsa
EACH of the four primary elements as taught by the early philosophers has its analogue in the quaternary terrestrial constitution of man. The rocks and earth correspond to the bones and flesh; the water to the various fluids; the air to th…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Ceremonial Magic and Sorceryh
But should the operation be performed in a retired part of a house, cc cetera, the circle may remain, as it might serve in alike future operation, but the room or building must be locked up to avoid the intrusion of strangers." The agreemen…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Elements and Their Inhabitantsc
"Yet," he adds, "the Elementals are not spirits, because they have flesh, blood and bones; they live and propagate offspring; they cat and talk, act and sleep, &c., and consequently they cannot be properly called 'spirits.' They are beings…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Hermetic Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Therapeuticsj
In the eleventh century this order, by capturing the fortress of Mount Alamont, established itself at Irak. Hassan Sabbah, the founder of the order, known as the "Old Man of the Mountain, " is suspected of having controlled his followers b…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israelc
This rare cut shows the name of God in seventy-two languages inscribed upon the petals of a symbolic sunflower. Above the circle are the seventy-two powers of God according to the Hebrew Qabbalah. Below two trees, that on the left bearing…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israelg
Heaven was created from the elementary fire (or ether) ש, the earth, comprising sea and land, from the elementary water, מ, and the atmospheric air from the elementary air, or spirit, א, which establishes the balance among them. Thus were…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israelh
Surrounding the black star are the signs of the zodiac symbolized by the twelve Simple Letters. In the midst of this star is the Invisible Throne of the Most Ancient of the Ancients--the Supreme Definitionless Creator. *** 8. NOTE. Knut…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israeli
The simple letters correspond to twelve directions: east height, northeast, east depth; south height, southeast, south depth; west height, southwest, west depth; north height, northwest, north depth. They diverge to all eternity and are th…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israelj
He caused the letter ס(S) to predominate in sleep, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Sagittarius (the Archer) in the universe, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the human body (male and female).…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonyb
The universal AIN SOPH, therefore, no longer shines through space, but rather upon space from an established first point. Isaac Myer describes this process as follows: "The Ain Soph at first was filling All and then made an absolute concen…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonyi
By the man of Ezekiel's vision is symbolized the World of Atziluth ; by the throne, the World of Briah ; by the firmament, the World of Yetzirah ; and by the living creatures the World of Assiah . These spheres are the wheels within wheels…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonyj
* * * The Zohar is a genesis of light; the Sepher Yetzirah is a ladder of truth. Therein are expounded the two-and-thirty absolute symbols of speech--being numbers and letters. Each letter produces a number, an idea and a form, so that ma…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonyk
The second order of gates is termed Decad of Evolution and its divisions areas follows: (11) Minerals differentiate; (12) Vegetable principles appear; (13) Seeds germinate in moisture; (14) Herbs and Trees; (15) Fructification in vegetable…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Tree of the Sephirothb
The ten Sephiroth composing the body of the prototypic Adam, the numbers related to them, and the parts of the universe to which they correspond are as follows: No.: 1 THE SEPHIROTH: Kether--the Crown THE UNIVERSE: Primum Mobile ALTERNATIVE…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Tree of the Sephirothc
Occasionally Jesod is considered as the male and Malchuth as the female generative power. The Grand Man thus conceived is the gigantic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, with head of gold, arms and chest of silver, body of brass, legs of iro…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Tree of the Sephirothe
*** The Lesser Face is properly symbolized by the six-pointed star or interlaced triangles of Zion and also by the six faces of the cube. It represents the directions north, east, south, west, up, and down, and also the first six days of C…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Mane
Philo Judæus considered Adam to represent the human mind, which could understand (and hence give names to) the creatures about it, but could not comprehend (and hence left nameless) the mystery of its own nature. Adam was also likened to t…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Manf
The Zohar holds the concept of two Adams: the first a divine being who, stepping forth from the highest original darkness, created the second, or earthly, Adam in His own image. The higher, or celestial, man was the Causal sphere With its…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Mang
Hargrave Jennings sees in the figure of Adam a type of the lingam of Shiva, which was a stone representative of the creative power of the World Generator. "In Gregorie's works * * *," writes Jennings, "is a passage to the effect that 'Noah…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | An Analysis of Tarot Cardsl
Thirteen teardrops are falling from the solar face Levi, seeing in the two children Faith and Reason, which must coexist as long as the temporal universe endures, writes: "Human equilibrium requires two feet, the worlds gravitate by means o…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | An Analysis of Tarot Cardsn
Milton Pottenger believed that the United States of America was laid out according to the conventional deck of playing cards, and that the government will ultimately consist of 52 States administered by a 53rd undenominated division, the Di…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Tabernacle in the Wildernessc
Socrates subtly reminded his disciples that Death was, in reality, the great initiation, for his last words were: "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?" (As the rooster was sacred to the gods and the sacrific…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagramsc
(This is not to be taken as earth years or times.) The 5,000, 000 represents the great hall year; the 700,000 the great Sabbath year, wherein all human beings gradually gain true understanding and become heirs to their original and eternal…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagramsd
Figure 36 is the character of copper and Venus; Figure 37, of iron and Mars; Figure 38, of tin and Jupiter; Figure 39, of lead and Saturn; Figure 40, of Mercury (both the planet and the element); Figure 41, of antimony, the key metal of the…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagramsg
Figure 10 shows the New Jerusalem in form of a cube, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on the twelve lines of the cube. In the center is the eye of God. The words round the outer circle are from the Book of Revelation.…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Theory and Practice of Alchemyd
Realizing, therefore, that alchemy is a mystery in three worlds--the divine, the human, and the elemental--it can easily be appreciated why the sages and philosophers created and evolved an intricate allegory to conceal their wisdom. Alche…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Theory and Practice of Alchemye
If one thing in the universe grows, then everything in the universe grows. If one thing can be multiplied, then all things can be multiplied, "for the superior agrees with the inferior and the inferior agrees with the superior." But as the…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Theory and Practice of Alchemyk
v ., 9 to 14; Fixation , C . ii ., 12, and C . viii ., 4; Multiplication , C . vi ., 7; Augmentation and Projection , C . viii ., 8, etc., etc." A tiny particle of the Philosopher's Scone, if cast upon the surface of water, will, accord…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Freemasonic Symbolismg
But Freemasonry most of all owes to the Dionysiac cult the great mass of its symbols and rituals which are related to the science of architecture. From these ancient and illustrious artisans it also received the legacy of the unfinished Te…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Freemasonic Symbolismh
The soul, constructed from an invisible fiery substance, a flaming golden metal, is cast by the Master Workman, CHiram Abiff, into the mold of clay (the physical body) and is called the Molten Sea. The temple of the human soul is built by…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | American Indian Symbolismk
Pisces, their ashes turning into man-fishes , and later back into human form." It would seem more appropriate to assign the river of blood to Aries and that of mud to Taurus, and it is not at all improbable that in the ancient form of the l…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 4 (part 3)
Just as Goethe's Werther , with its sex-sentimentality, is said to have provoked an epidemic of suicides, so may Tertium Organum —which restores love to that high heaven from whence descend every beauty and benison—inaugurate a renascence o…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 1)
p. 8 p. 9 TERTIUM ORGANUM p. 10 "I have called this system of higher logic Tertium Organum because for us it is the third canon —third instrument— of thought after those of Aristotle and Bacon. The first was Organon , the second, Novum…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 7)
In addition to all this it is necessary to remember that through the same slit through which we see the world we observe ourselves and see in ourselves changes similar to the changes in the rest of things. 2. Why can we not extend that sl…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VIII (part 3)
In addition to the simple sensations of these sense organs (color, sound, touch, smell and taste), in addition to the simple emotions of pleasure, pain, joy, anger, surprise, wonder, curiosity and many others, there is passing through our c…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VIII (part 4)
That is to say, Kant's idea would be proven experimentally if we could be convinced that for the being possessing sensations only, the world is one-dimensional; for the being possessing sensations and perceptions the world is two-dimensiona…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 3)
It appears to us as if it is really growing up, i.e., as though it did not exist before. There disappeared the river, which was visible for so long a time; there appeared the bell-tower, which was invisible before. Such, exactly, is our r…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 6)
The mind will have to open its doors to objects each possessing such an enormous, such an infinite number of signs and characteristics that to comprehend them by means of the reason is absolutely impossible. And if one wants to comprehend…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XI (part 3)
The pioneers of natural science do not enjoy such a serene point of view, and to this circumstance the natural sciences are indebted for their continuous development. I venture to lift the brilliant and familiar veil and throw open the san…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIII (part 5)
When such a sequence touches the life of a man or that of a human society, we perceive clearly that it escapes from the "physical sphere" and returns into it. Regarding the matter from this standpoint we see that, just as in the life of on…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIV (part 2)
And if we take men as we know them—the sailor, the hang-man, the ascetic: men who seem to us similar and equal —and consider them from the standpoint of their differences in function, we shall see that in reality they are entirely different…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIV (part 4)
He hears "the voices of stones," understands the whisperings of ancient walls, of tumuli, of mountains, rivers, woods and plains. He hears " the voice of the silence ," understands the psychological difference between silences, knows that…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 1)
p. 176 CHAPTER XVI The phenomenal and the noumenal side of man. "Man-in-himself." How do we know the inner side of man? Can we know of the existence of consciousness in conditions of space not analogous to ours? Brain and consciousness.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 3)
______ In "man" we have found that one side of his noumenon is his psychic life, and that therefore in the psyche lies the beginning of the solution of the riddle of the functions and meanings of man which are incomprehensible from an outsi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 7)
From the STANDPOINT OF LOGIC such a theory is more correct than the theory of two classes of actions—REASONED AND UN-REASONED. It at least establishes the principle of NECESSARY UNIFORMITY. It is really impossible to suppose that in an im…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 10)
By trying to think out of the usual categories, by trying to look at things and at ourselves from a new angle and simultaneously from many sides, by trying to liberate our thinking from its accustomed categories of perception in space and t…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 2)
If in general life and feeling exist, they must exist in all. Life and rationality make up the world. If we consider nature from our side , from the side of phenomena, then it is necessary to say that each thing, each phenomenon , possess…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 3)
The snail is a complex centre of transmutation of some physical energies into others. This centre possesses a consciousness of its own. It is for this reason that the snail is indivisible. Its psyche is infinitely higher than that of the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 5)
"In saying "I," a man means, of course, not the total complex of all these regions, but that which in a given moment is in the focus of his consciousness. " I wish " (or more correctly, simply "wish," because man very seldom says I wish):…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 7)
The activity of the life of such a composite being as a forest is not the same as the activity of different species of plants and animals, and the activity of the life of a species is again different from the life of separate individuals.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 8)
Doesn't this show a singularly indigent imagination? Isn't this brave universe made on a richer pattern, with room in it for a long hierarchy of beings? Materialistic science makes it infinitely richer in terms, with its molecules, and et…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 10)
By ourselves we are simply out of relation with each other, for we are both of us there, and different from each other, which is a positive relation. What we are without knowing, it knows that we are. It is as if the total universe of inn…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVIII (part 2)
Evolutionists, followers of Darwin, say that the struggle for existence and the selection of the fittest created the mind and feeling of contemporary man—that mind and feeling SERVE LIFE, preserve the life of separate individuals and of the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVIII (part 3)
In exactly the same way, our separate lives are manifestations of some great rational entity. We find the proof of this in the fact that our lives have no other meaning at all aside from that process of acquiring knowledge performed by us.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 7)
In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity. But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 3)
These Eleatic ideas—namely that there is and there can be only One Absolute Being, infinite., unchangeable, without a second, without parts and passions—are the same ideas which underlie the Upanishads and have been fully worked out in the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 5)
______ Whatever we may think of this philosophy, we cannot deny its metaphysical boldness and its logical consistency. If Brahman is all in all, the One without a second, nothing can be said to exist that is not Brahman . there is no room…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 6)
It is in answering these questions that the various theologies perform their theoretic work, and that their divergencies most come to light. They all agree that the "more" really exists; though some of them hold it to exist in the shape of…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 11)
Let not thy Left Eye deceive thee, by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy Right Eye command back this Left . . . And only bringing the Eye of…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 16)
Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the Rajah of the senses, the Thought-Producer, him who awakes illusions. The mind is the great slayer of the real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer. For— When to…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 21)
Blood describes the value of the anæsthetic revelation for life as follows: "The Anæsthetic Revelation is the initiation of man into the mystery of the open secret of Being, revealed as the inevitable vortex of continuity. Inevitable is th…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 24)
The comparison of the sensation of woman experienced by man, or vice versa , with the feeling for nature is met with very often. And it is really the same sensation as is given by forest, prairie, sea, mountains, only in this case it is ev…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 25)
I sensed the enormous heavy body— my body —all its motions, shudderings, waverings and vibrations, fire, pressure of steam and weight of engines were inside of me , the unmerciful and unyielding propelling screw which pushed and pushed me f…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 7)
It was in the early spring, at the beginning of his thirty-sixth year. He and two friends had spent the evening reading Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Browning, and especially Whitman. They parted at midnight and he had a long drive in a han…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 9)
Further, it should be noted, as the possession of concepts implies the possession of language, so the possession of concepts and language (which are in reality two aspects of the same thing) implies the possession of self-consciousness. Al…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 15)
Simple Consciousness and flashes of thought. Animals possessing complex organisms. Absence of consciousness of death. Body, instincts, desires, voices of the body, emotions. Reasoning. Moments of self-consciousness and flashes of cosmi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 16)
329 cases it is more correct to regard them all as the highest types in their own evolution. The absence of intermediate forms makes this view much more probable than that which is usually accepted, and which gives such rich material for d…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 29 (part 1)
p. 337 TABLE OF THE FOUR FORMS OF THE MANIFESTATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS For ease of online reading, I have exchanged the rows and columns in this chart.—JBH 1ST FORM 2ND FORM 3RD FORM 4TH FORM THE SENSE OF SPACE AND TIME The sense of one-dime…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | Introductionh
Thereafter he meets with the sphinx, that symbol of symbols, the eternal enigma of the vulgar, the granite pedestal of the sciences of the sages, the voracious and silent monster whose unchanging form expresses the one dogma of the Great Un…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | Introductioni
Oedipus divined what was man and he put out his own eyes because he did not see what was God. He divulged half of the Great Arcanum, and, to save his people, it was necessary for him to bear the remaining half of the terrible secret into e…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 1. The Candidatec
His body and arms form the letter ALEPH, the first of that alphabet which the Jews borrowed from the Egyptians: to this symbol we shall have occasion to recur later on. The Magus is truly that which the Hebrew Kabalists term Microprosopus…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 1. The Candidatee
Every figure is a character, every character derives from and returns into a word. For this reason the ancient sages, of whom Trismegistus is the organ, formulated their sole dogma in these terms: “That which is above is like unto that whi…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 2. The Pillars Of The Templeb
Such is the mysterious language of the Kabalists in the Talmud, and on account of vulgar ignorance and malignity, it is impossible for us to explain or simplify it further. What then is creation? It is the house of the creative Word. Wha…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 3. The Triangle Of Solomona
PLENITUDO VOCIS BINAH PHYSIS The perfect word is the triad, because it supposes an intelligent principle, a speaking principle and a principle spoken. The Absolute, revealed by speech, endows this speech with a sense equivalent to itself,…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 4. The Tetragrama
GEBURAH CHESED PORTA LIBRARUM ELEMENTA IN Nature there are two forces producing equilibrium, and these three constitute a single law. Here, then, is the triad resumed in unity, and by adding the conception of unity to that of the triad we…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 5. The Pentagramc
The secret of this Great Work does not remain for discovery; it has been known and practised by a great number of initiates, above all by the celebrated Apollonius of Tyana, who has left a theory concerning it, as we shall see in the “Ritua…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 5. The Pentagramd
Arise! Bathe, O adept of science, thy breast, still enveloped by an earthly veil, in the splendours of the dawning day!” (Faust, Part i. sc. I.) On 24 July in the year 1854, the author of this book, Eliphas Levi, made an experiment of ev…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 6. Magical Equilibriuma
TIPHERETH UNCUS SUPREME intelligence is necessarily reasonable. God, in philosophy, may be only a hypothesis, but He is a hypothesis imposed by good sense on human reason. To personify the Absolute Reason is to determine the Divine Ideal.…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 7. The Fiery Sworda
NETSAH GLADIUS THE septenary is the sacred number in all theogonies and in all symbols, because it is composed of the triad and the tetrad. The number seven represents magical power in all its fullness; it is the mind reinforced by all ele…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 7. The Fiery Swordb
The scenes which succeed one another in this wonderful prophetic epic are so many pantacles, the keys of which are the ternary, the quaternary, the septenary and the duodenary. Its hieroglyphic figures are analogous to those of the Book of…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 8. Realizationa
HOD VIVENS CAUSES manifest by effects, and effects are proportioned to causes. The Divine Word, the One Word, the Tetragram, is self-affirmed by tetradic creation. Human fecundity proves divine fecundity; the JOD of the Divine Name is the…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 17. Astrologya
STELLA OS INFLEXUS Of ALL THE ARTS which have originated in ancient magian wisdom astrology is now the most misunderstood. No one believes any longer in the universal harmonies of Nature and in the necessary interconnection of all effects…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 17. Astrologyb
Paracelsus was perhaps the last of the great practical astrologers; he cured diseases by talismans formed under astral influences; he distinguished upon all bodies the mark of their dominant star; there, according to him, was the true Unive…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 17. Astrologyd
Hence I conclude that, for myself and for this year, experience confirms fully the precision of Cardan's astrological calculus, which connects furthermore with the climacteric years of ancient astrologers. This term signifies arranged in s…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. Summary And General Key Of The Four Secret Sciencesa
SIGNA TROT PAN LET us now summarize the entire science by its principles. Analogy is the final word of science and the first word of faith. Harmony consists in equilibrium, and equilibrium subsists by the analogy of contraries. Absolute…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | Introductionh
This living speech is the condemnation of the wicked, and hence they seek to destroy it; but it is they only who die, and the Word of Truth remains to judge their memory! Orpheus may have been rent by bacchantes; Socrates may have quaffed…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 1. Preparationsc
“But how act?” Rise daily at the same hour, and that early; bathe at a spring before daybreak, and in all seasons; never wear soiled clothes: wash them yourself at need; practise voluntary privations, that you may be better able to bear tho…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 2. Magical Equilibriuma
EQUILIBRIUM is the consequence of two forces. If two forces are absolutely and invariably equal, the equilibrium will be immobility and therefore the negation of life. Movement is the result of an alternate preponderance. The impulsion g…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 2. Magical Equilibriumb
The same manual gesture may assimilate and give forth alternately what we are accustomed to call the fluid, and the magnetizer will himself be warned of the result of his intention by an alternative sensation of warmth and cold in the hand,…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 4. The Conjuration Of The Fourd
The earth is exorcised by aspersion of water, by breathing and by fire, with the perfumes proper for each day and the Prayer of the Gnomes King invisible, Who, taking the earth as a support, didst furrow the abysses to fil them with Thine o…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 5. The Blazing Pentagrama
We proceed to the explanation and consecration of the Sacred and Mysterious Pentagram. At this point, let the ignorant and superstitious close the book; they will either see nothing but darkness, or they will be scandalized. The Pentagram…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 5. The Blazing Pentagramc
Need anyone be surprised therefore that every Magus believes in the real influence exercised by this sign over spirits of all hierarchies? Those who set at naught the Sign of the Cross tremble before the Star of the Microcosm. On the cont…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 7. The Septenary Of Talismansb
We have observed previously that in this sense the planets are only signs; they have the influence which universal faith attributes because they are more truly the stars of the human mind than the orbs of heaven. The sun, which Antique Mag…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 10. The Key Of Occultismc
His feet represent the equilibrium of BRIAH, or the world of forms; his legs are the two Pillars of the Masonic Temple, JAKIN and BOAZ; his body, veiled by clouds, from which issues a hand holding a book, is the sphere of YETZIRAH, or initi…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 12. The Great Worka
TO be ever rich, to be always young and to die never: such, from all time, has been the dream of alchemists. To change lead, mercury, and the other metals into gold, to possess the Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life - such is the pr…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 15. The Sabbath Of The Sorcerersb
All the Kabalah and all Magic, as a fact, are divided between the cultus of the immolated and that of the emissary goat. We must recognize therefore a Magic of the Sanctuary and that of the wilderness, the White and the Black Church, the p…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 15. The Sabbath Of The Sorcererse
The most simple, in our opinion, connects it with the Jewish Sabbath, for it is certain that the Jews, most faithful depositaries of the secrets of the Kabalah, were almost invariably the great masters in Magic during the Middle Ages. The…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 17. The Writing Of The Starsb
It was included in the work of Montfaucon on the religions and superstitions of the world, and also in the treatise upon Magic published by the mystic Eckartshausen. Scholars, moreover, are not agreed upon the configuration of the letters…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. The Book Of Hermesg
Other Tarots substitute a spinner unwinding destinies, and yet others a naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a scarlet standard. רVegetative principle, generative virtue of the earth, eternal life. Hieroglyph, THE JUDGEMENT…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. The Book Of Hermesl
In the schools of seers the terrestrial globe was represented by an egg of pasteboard or painted wood, and when young children were asked, ‘What is this egg?’ they answered, ‘It is the earth.’ Those older children, the barbarians, hearing t…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. The Book Of Hermesn
Faith, hope and charity are three such inseparable sisters that they may be taken one for another. Thus in religion universal and hierarchic orthodoxy, restoration of temples in all their splendour; reestablishment of high ceremonial in it…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VII (part 4)
Along with Hinton, I postulated that our space itself bears within it the relations which permit us to establish its relations to higher space, and on the foundation of this postulate I built a whole series of analogies which somewhat clari…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XV (part 6)
I shall quote in this connection a poem in prose by Edward Carpenter, from the book Towards Democracy . THE OCEAN OF SEX To hold in continence the great sea, the great ocean of Sex, within one, With flux and reflux pressing on the bounds o…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 2)
Studying man from one side only I should stand in the same position in relation to him as, according to Kant, we stand with relation to the world surrounding us. We know merely the form of our knowledge of it. The world-in-itself we do no…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 9)
In ourselves, visual consciousness goes with our eyes, tactile consciousness with our skin. But although neither skin nor eye knows aught of the sensations of the other, they come together and figure in some sort of relation and combinatio…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 9)
There cannot be anything which is measured by years, days, hours—there cannot be before, now, after. Moments of different epochs, divided by great intervals of time, exist simultaneously, and may touch one another. Along with this, all th…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 7)
Now we have established that illogicality (from our standpoint) is the necessary condition of the knowledge of truth or of the real world. This does not mean that everything that is illogical is true and real, but it means absolutely, that…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 9)
In like manner he beheld the whole creation, and from that foundation he afterwards wrote his book, " De Signature Rerum ." In the unfolding of those mysteries before his understanding he had a great measure of joy, yet returned home and to…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 10)
But it does not bear fruit presently; and, though it blossoms, they fall off; also many a cold wind, frost and snow, puff upon it, before it comes to any growth and bearing of fruit. Boehme's books are full of wonderment before these myste…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 14)
The bankruptcy of materialism, i.e., "logical" systems, when it comes to organizing life on earth is now evident in the bloody epoch which we are undergoing, even to those men who but yesterday were prating of "culture" and "civilization."…”
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christian_mysticism102
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | Ia
THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF GOD St John vi. 44. —“No one can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” Our Lord Jesus Christ hath in the Gospel spoken with His own blessed lips these words, which signify, “No man can come…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | IIIa
THE ANGEL’S GREETING St Luke i. 28 .—“Hail, thou that art highly favoured among women, the Lord is with thee.” Here there are three things to understand: the first, the modesty of the angel; the second, that he thought himself unworthy to…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | IIIb
The earth cannot flee from heaven: whether it flee up or down, the heaven rains its influence upon it, and stamps its impress upon it, and makes it fruitful, whether it be willing or not. Thus doth God with men: whoever thinketh to escape…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | IVb
No, they are certainly not; for the work of the angels is the will of God, and the will of God is the work of the angels; their service to us does not hinder their joy nor their working. If God told an angel to go to a tree and pluck cater…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | Va
THE SELF-COMMUNICATION OF GOD St John xiv. 23 .—“If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” We read in the Gospels that Our Lord fed many people with five…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | Vc
Thus happens it to the noble soul which goes to God to school, and learns there what God is in His essence, and what He is in the Trinity, and what He is in man, and what is most acceptable to Him. St Augustine saith that the righteousness…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VIIc
When a good work is done by a man, he is free of it, and through that freedom is liker and nearer to his Original than he was before. The moral task of man is a process of spiritualization. All creatures are go-betweens, and we are placed…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 1)
p. 33 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. "Our whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man may create a kingdom of light within himself. . . . He in whom this spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the d…”
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neoplatonism63
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
Moreover, that which purifies souls is perfect in the Gods; but in archangels it is anagogic. Angels alone dissolve the bond of generation. Dæmons draw souls down into nature; but heroes lead them to a providential attention to sensible wor…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVI
Descending, however, to particulars, the soul of animals, the dæmon who presides over them, the air, the motion of the air, and the circulation of the heavens, variously change the viscera, [74] 156 conformably to the will of the Gods. But…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
But we sometimes see that take place which is now proposed to be considered. For it happens that spirits are commanded [to do this or that] who do not use a reason of their own, and have not the principle of judgment. Nor does this occur ir…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
The hostile opposition, therefore, in the things that are now proposed, may be easily dissolved by demonstrating the dignity of wholes with 226 respect to parts, and by recalling to your recollection the exempt transcendency of the Gods abo…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xa
We, however, admit all these assertions; physical essences, indeed, being coexcited as in one animal, according to aptitude or sympathy, as in another respect being subjects, and following and being subservient to the cause of the efficacy…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIII
According to another division, therefore, the numerous herd [or the great mass] of men is arranged under nature, is governed by physical powers, looks downward to the works of nature, gives completion to the administration of Fate, and to t…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXIII
The various mode, therefore, of sanctity in sacred operations partly purifies and partly perfects some one of the things that are in us or about us. And some things, indeed, it restores to symmetry and order; but others it liberates from mo…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
You say, therefore, “ that according to many of the Egyptians, that which is in our power depends on the motion of the stars .” What the truth, however, is respecting this, it is necessary to unfold to you from the Hermaic conceptions. For…”
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renaissance_hermeticism61
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter VII — Of the Kinds of Compounds, what Relation They Stand in to the Elements, and What Relation There Is Betwixt the Elements Themselves and the Soul, Senses and Dispositions of Men | Chapter VII, Section 1a
CHAPTER VII. Of the Kinds of Compounds, what Relation They Stand in to the Elements, and What Relation There Is Betwixt the Elements Themselves and the Soul, Senses and Dispositions of Men . Next after the four simple Elements follow the…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XII — How It Is That Particular Virtues Are Infused into Particular Individuals, even of the Same Species | Chapter XII, Section 1
CHAPTER XII. How It Is That Particular Virtues Are Infused into Particular Individuals, even of the Same Species . There are also in many individuals, or particular things, peculiar gifts, as wonderful as in the species and these also are f…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XIV — Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and How by Way of Medium It Unites Occult Virtues to Their Subjects | Chapter XIV, Section 1a
CHAPTER XIV. Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and How by Way of Medium It Unites Occult Virtues to Their Subjects . Democritus and Orpheus, and many Pythagoreans, having most diligently searched into the virtues of celestial things…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XXII — How Inferior Things Are Subjected to Superior Bodies, and How the Bodies, the Actions, and Dispositions of Men Are Ascribed to Stars and Signs | Chapter XXII, Section 1a
CHAPTER XXII. How Inferior Things Are Subjected to Superior Bodies, and How the Bodies, the Actions, and Dispositions of Men Are Ascribed to Stars and Signs . It is manifest that all things inferior are subject to the superior, and after…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XXII — How Inferior Things Are Subjected to Superior Bodies, and How the Bodies, the Actions, and Dispositions of Men Are Ascribed to Stars and Signs | Chapter XXII, Section 1b
The several Signs, also, of the Zodiac take care of their members: So Aries governs the head and face; Taurus, the neck; Gemini, the arms and shoulders; Cancer, the breast, lungs, stomach and arms; Leo, the heart, stomach, liver and back; V…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XXXIII — Of the Seals and Characters of Natural Things | Chapter XXXIII, Section 1a
CHAPTER XXXIII. Of the Seals and Characters of Natural Things . All Stars have their peculiar natures, properties, and conditions, the Seals and Characters whereof they produce, through their rays, even in these inferior things, viz., in…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LII — Of the Countenance and Gesture, the Habit and the Figure Of The Body, and to What Stars Any of These Do Answer—Whence Physiognomy, and Metoposcopy, and Chiromancy, Arts of Divination, Have Their Grounds | Chapter LII, Section 1b
Jupiter signifies a man to be of a pale color, darkish red, a handsome body, good stature, bold, of great eyes (not black altogether) with large pupils, short nostrils not equal, great teeth before, curled hair, of good disposition and mann…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONj
The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God. The life of the soul is the true life of the man. Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought. By means of it we rise…”
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hermeticism29
Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1b
But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.…”
Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1f
All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I unto Father-God. 31. Holy art T…”
Corpus Hermeticum 2: The Serapeum | Section 1b
A: How is it, then, that things down here, Thrice-greatest one, are moved with those that are [already] moved? For thou hast said the errant spheres were moved by the inerrant one. H: This is not, O Asclepius, a moving with, but one again…”
Corpus Hermeticum 3: The Sacred Sermon | Section 1
The Sacred Sermon 1. The Glory of all things is God, Godhead and Godly Nature. Source of the things that are is God, who is both Mind and Nature - yea Matter, the Wisdom that reveals all things. Source [too] is Godhead - yea Nature, Energy,…”
Corpus Hermeticum 4: The Epistles | Section 1b
And having raised themselves so far they sight the Good; and having sighted it, they look upon their sojourn here as a mischance; and in disdain of all, both things in body and the bodiless, they speed their way unto that One and Only One.…”
Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1a
Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest 1. I will recount to thee this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the mysteries of the God beyond all name. And mark thou well how that which to the many seems unmanifest…”
Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1c
And for this cause hath He all names, in that they are one Father's. And for this cause hath He Himself no nome, in that He's Father of [them] all. Who, then, may sing Thee praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee? Whither, again, am I to tur…”
Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1a
That No One of Existing Things doth Perish, but Men in Error Speak of Their Changes as Destructions and as Deaths <The idea of cyclic change central to CH III, "The Sacred Sermon", also takes center stage here. A current of ancient specula…”
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jewish_mysticism19
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1a
CHAPTER V. 1. (It is written) Isa. i. 4: "Woe unto the sinful nation, unto the people heavy with iniquity, unto the seed of evildoers, &c." (Here the author of the "Siphra Dtzenioutha" reasoneth concerning the small word HVI, "woe," whi…”
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1e
31: "And He was wise above every man." Because these are not classed with man. 21. (But when it is said) "And the Tetragrammaton gave him wisdom," then is understood the supernal He . (Because he gave unto him the influx of the wisdom of…”
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1h
35: "Ye shall not do iniquity in judgment, in dimension, in weight, and in measure." (Where these four are mystically intimated.) 37. (There is one) rigorous judgment (of severity),another that is not rigorous (that is, of the kingdom). T…”
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1i
And IVBL, Yobel , "jubilee," is H, He (the first He of the Tetragrammaton); and He is the spirit rushing forth over all (because the mother is the world to come, when in the resurrection all things will receive the spirit); and all things s…”
The Greater Holy Assembly (Idra Rabba Qadisha) | Idra Rabba, Chapter 1 (part 2)
1 12. "For it is written, Deut. xxxiii. 29: 'Blessed art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee?' Also it is written, Exod. xv. 11: 'Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Tetragrammaton?'" 2 13. He called Rabbi Eleazer, his son, and…”
The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1a
p. 43 SPRA DTzNIOVThA (SIPHRA DTZENIOUTHA); OR, THE BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY. CHAPTER I. 1. Tradition .--"The Book of Concealed Mystery" is the book of the equilibrium of balance. [The word "Dtzenioutha" is difficult to translate, but…”
The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1b
[But the first idea of equilibrium is the Ancient One (the first Sephira, or Crown Kether), because it is the first potential limitation of the boundless light which proceeds from the Limitless One. That is, the central point of Kether is…”
The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1d
and must therefore be referable to the Edomite kings.] p. 48 19. And it hath proceeded out of that which hath undergone the curse, as it is written in Genesis v., 29, "From the earth which the Lord hath cursed." (The meaning is: That the…”
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platonism17
Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1q
Thus far I have been speaking of the fourth and last kind of madness, which is imputed to him who, when he sees the beauty of earth, is transported with the recollection of the true beauty; he would like to fly away, but he cannot; he is li…”
Plato: Republic | Section 1h
Yes, but not in a satisfactory manner; you frightened us by interposing objections, which certainly showed that the discussion would be long and difficult; and what still remains is the reverse of easy. What is there remaining? The questi…”
Plato: Republic | Section 1j
And if a necessity be laid upon him of fashioning, not only himself, but human nature generally, whether in States or individuals, into that which he beholds elsewhere, will he, think you, be an unskilful artificer of justice, temperance, a…”
Plato: Republic | Section 1r
There you are right, he said, since we have made them to share in all things like the men. Well, I said, and you would agree (would you not?) that what has been said about the State and the government is not a mere dream, and although diff…”
Plato: Symposium | Section 1j
And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his affection turn out to be a villain, and…”
Plato: Symposium | Section 1l
The course of the seasons is also full of both these principles; and when, as I was saying, the elements of hot and cold, moist and dry, attain the harmonious love of one another and blend in temperance and harmony, they bring to men, anima…”
Plato: Symposium | Section 1m
For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men…”
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1l
This entire compound he divided lengthways into two parts, which he joined to one another at the centre like the letter X, and bent them into a circular form, connecting them with themselves and each other at the point opposite to their ori…”
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taoism14
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 5
Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of gras…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 7
Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure. Therefore the…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 10
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) b…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 13
Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind). What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 16
The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things alike go through their processes of activity, and (then) we see them return (to their original state). When thin…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 23
Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that these (two) things are owing? To Heaven and E…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 25
There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)! It may be regarde…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 26
Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement. Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects to look at, he quietly remains (in his p…”
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gnosticism12
Gospel of Philip | Section 1d
When the child is grown, however, then the father turns over all he possesses. THE LOST Those who have gone astray are those born of the spirit. And they are usually lost because of the spirit. So from one single breath of spirit the fir…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1i
His seed was Jesus, and the plant was the cross.” The tree of life in the middle of that garden of paradise is an olive tree, and from the olive tree comes chrism, and from that oil comes the resurrection. THE WORLD EATS BODIES The world e…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 2
Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 3
Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and i…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 22
Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 24
His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 29
Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty."…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 48
Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."…”
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Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 14)
If this is the case, do not they who deny that prayers are to be offered to the Gods, and who prevent their souls from being united with the divinities, that is with beings more excellent than themselves, appear similar to those who are dep…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 15)
For the generative causes of things, are contained by similitude in their effects; and in causes themselves their progeny subsist, comprehended in perfect union and consent. Hence the celestial orbs impart a copious defluxion of good to th…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 5 (part 5)
101 who profess, says he, the Orphic theology, consider a two-fold power in souls and in the celestial orbs: the one consisting in knowledge, the other in vivifying and governing the orb with which that power is connected. Thus in the orb…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn X (part 1)
X. TO PAN * The FUMIGATION from VARIOUS ODORS I Call strong Pan, the substance of the whole, Etherial, marine, earthly, general soul, Immortal fire; for all the world is thine, And all are parts of thee, O pow'r divine. p. 131 Come, bles…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXV. VULCAN * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE and MANNA
LXV. TO VULCAN * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE and MANNA. STRONG, mighty Vulcan, bearing splendid light, Unweary'd fire, with flaming torrents bright: Strong-handed, deathless, and of art divine, Pure element, a portion of the world is t…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 2)
Wherein have I done amiss? What have I done? What have I omitted that I ought to have done? 43. If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; 44. And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 2)
It is not proper to despise those things of which we shall be in want after the dissolution of the body. 36. You should not ask of divinity that which, when you have obtained, you will not perpetually possess. 37. Accustom your soul aft…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 11
p. 62 PYTHAGOREAN SENTENCES FROM THE PROTREPTICS OF IAMBLICHUS 1. As we live through soul, it must be said that by the virtue of this we live well; just as because we see through the eyes, we see well through the virtue of these. 2. It must…”
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The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUEb
Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not? Because the rust has not been scoured from its face. If it were purified from all rust and defilement, It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.6 O friends, ye have now heard this tale, Whic…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Ia
The Prince and the Handmaid. A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accompany him. After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her tended by divers physicians. As,…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Vc
The skill taught by God to the silkworm Is a learning beyond the reach of the elephant. The earthly Adam was taught of God names, 4 So that his glory reached the seventh heaven. He laid low the name and fame of the angels, 5 Yet blind ind…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Vd
But the light that lights the heart is the Light of God, Which is distinct from the light of reason and sense. At night there is no light, and colors are not seen; Hence we know what light is by its opposite, darkness. At night no colors…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Ve
"In yourselves are signs; will ye not behold them?" (Koran li, 21). 12. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 92. Mr. Mansel (Bampton Lectures, p. 49) says: "A thing can be known as that which it is only by being distinguished from that which it is n…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIIa
The Merchant and his Clever Parrot. There was a certain merchant who kept a parrot in a cage. Being about to travel to Hindustan on business, he asked the parrot if he had any message to send to his kinsmen in that country, and the parrot…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXd
I knew of myself what ye thought, But I desired that ye should speak it; As this boasting of yours is very improper, So shall my mercy be shown to prevail over my wrath: O angels, in order to show forth that prevailing, I inspired that pret…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY XIV
The Chinese and the Greek Artists. The Chinese and the Greeks disputed before the Sultan which of them were the better painters; and, in order to settle the dispute, the Sultan allotted to each a house to be painted by them. The Chinese pro…”
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The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 10 (part 4)
In his daily course he vanquished night and darkness, and mist and cloud disappeared from before his rays; subsequently the Egyptians invented the moral conception of the sun, representing the victory of right over wrong and of truth over f…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 10 (part 10)
There is no one word which will exactly describe the Egyptian conception of Maat both from a physical and from a moral point of view; but the fundamental idea of the word is " straight," and from the Egyptian texts it is clear that maat mea…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 23 (part 6)
Text [CHAPTER LVI.]: CHAPTER OF SNIFFING THE AIR UPON EARTH. [He saith]: "(2) Hail, Tmu, grant thou unto me the sweet breath which is in thy two nostrils. I embrace the mighty throne which is in Unnu,[4] and I watch and guard the Egg of t…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 86)
tav 346.] {p. cxiii} Ausar or Osiris , the sixth member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the son of Seb and Nut, and the husband of his sister Isis, the father of "Horus, the son of Isis," and the brother of Set and Nephthys. The v…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 95)
see also Maspero, Hymne au Nil, publié et traduit d'après les deux textes A Musée Britannique , Paris, 1868. 4to. 2 Pyramid of Unas, l. 219; Pyramid of Teta, ll. 60, 286; Pyramid of Pepi I., ll. 444, 593, etc. 3. Pyramid of Pepi I.,…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 99)
The charms against serpents in the pyramid texts of the Vth and VIth dynasties have their equivalents in the XXXIst and XXXIIIrd Chapters of the Book of the Dead, which are found on coffins of the XIth and XIIth dynasties;[2] and in the XVI…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 6 (part 12)
Every khu and every god stretcheth out his hand unto this Pepi when he cometh forth into heaven by the Ladder of God . . . . that which he seeth and that which he heareth make him wise, and serve as food for him when he cometh forth int…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 38 (part 6)
Vignette: The goddess Neith. Text: (11) The fore-arms of Osiris Ani, triumphant, are the fore-arms of the lady of Sais. Vignette: The god Sut. Text: (12) The backbone of Osiris Ani, triumphant, is the backbone of Sut. Vignette: A god.…”
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The Kalevala | Rune IVg
As the tear-drops fall and mingle, Form they streamlets three in number, And their source, the mother's eyelids, Streamlets formed from pearly tear-drops, Flowing on like little rivers, And each streamlet larger growing, Soon becomes a rush…”
The Kalevala | Rune IXf
Thus it was be tried the balsam, Thus the magic salve he tested, Touched with it the splintered sandstone, Touched the broken blocks of granite, Touched the fissures in the mountains, And the broken parts united, All the fragments grew toge…”
The Kalevala | Rune Xb
From her temples beams the moonlight, From her breast, the gleam of sunshine, From her forehead shines the rainbow, On her neck, the seven starlets, And the Great Bear from her shoulder. "Ilmarinen, worthy brother, Thou the only skilful bl…”
The Kalevala | Rune XVIIb
Wise Wipunen, full of song-charms, Opens wide his mouth and swallows Wainamoinen and his magic, Shoes, and staff, and iron armor. Then outspeaks the wise Wipunen: "Many things before I've eaten, Dined on goat, and sheep, and reindeer, Bear…”
The Kalevala | Rune XVIIf
"I shall set my forge and bellows Deeper, deeper in thy vitals; I shall swing my heavy hammer, Swing it with a greater power On thy heart, and lungs, and liver; I shall never, never leave thee Till I learn thine incantations, Learn thy many…”
The Kalevala | Rune XXVf
Neither did the prudent hostess, Beautiful, and full of wisdom, Let the barley sprout too freely, Lest the beer should taste of black-earth, Be too bitter in the brewing, Often went she to the garners, Went alone at hour of midnight, Was no…”
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The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINc
Elphin of notable qualities, Be not displeased at thy misfortune; Although reclined thus weak in my bag, There lies a virtue in my tongue. While I continue thy protector Thou hast not much to fear; Remembering the names of the Trinity, Non…”
The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINg
And so, when the bards and the heralds came to cry largess, and to proclaim the power of the king and his strength, at the moment that they passed by the corner wherein he was crouching, Taliesin pouted out his lips after them, and played “…”
The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINh
I have been with my Lord in the manger of the ass: I strengthened Moses through the water of Jordan; I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene; I have obtained the muse from the cauldron of Caridwen; I have been bard of the harp to L…”