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Polarity

The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).

211 passages · 10 traditions
theosophy: 105 passagestheosophy105western_esoteric: 70 passageswestern_esoteric70christian_mysticism: 14 passageschristian_mysticism14jewish_mysticism: 6 passagesjewish_mysticism6neoplatonism: 5 passagesneoplatonism5renaissance_hermeticism: 5 passagesrenaissance_hermeticism5hinduism: 3 passageshinduism3hermeticism: 1 passagehermeticism1mandaean: 1 passagemandaean1sufism: 1 passagesufism1
theosophy105
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 10)
“Helped by his knowledge of landscapes left behind him, he can get a general and pretty correct idea of the transmural view, if he will only climb to the loftiest summit of the altitudes in front of him. Once there, he can gaze at it, at hi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 2)
“The latter is either "awake" or "asleep." The Svabhavikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul), speculate only upon the active condition of this "Essence," which they call Svabhavat, and deem it f…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 4)
“The orthodox Brahmins, those who rise the most against the Pantheists and Adwaitees, calling them Atheists, are forced, if Manu has any authority in this matter, to accept the death of Brahma, the creator, at the expiration of every "Age" o…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 5)
“But this view does not prevent him from believing in its existence so long as it lasts, to wit, for one Mahamanvantara; nor from applying Akasa, the radiation of Mulaprakriti,* to practical purposes, connected as the World-Soul is with all…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 6)
“." For clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it must be stated that Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements -- four entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 8)
“Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches: -- ( c ) The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul -- a spark of the former…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 4 (part 2)
“T HE ROOT REMAINS, THE LIGHT REMAINS, THE CURDS REMAIN, AND STILL O EAOHOO IS ONE. 6. T HE ROOT OF LIFE WAS IN EVERY DROP OF THE OCEAN OF IMMORTALITY, AND THE OCEAN WAS RADIANT LIGHT, WHICH WAS FIRE, AND HEAT, AND MOTION. D ARKNESS VANIS…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 4 (part 3)
“T HEY MAKE OF HIM THE MESSENGER OF THEIR WILL. T HE D ZYU BECOMES F OHAT, THE SWIFT SON OF THE D IVINE SONS WHOSE SONS ARE THE L IPIKA, RUNS CIRCULAR ERRANDS. F OHAT IS THE STEED AND THE THOUGHT IS THE RIDER. H E PASSES LIKE LIGHTNING TH…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 4 (part 4)
“I T IS THEY WHO ARE THOU, ME, HIM, OH L ANOO. T HEY, WHO WATCH OVER THEE, AND THY MOTHER EARTH. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 34 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. 2. T HE ONE RAY MULTIPLIES THE SMALLER RAYS. L IFE PRECEDES FORM, AND LIFE SURVIVES THE LAST ATOM…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 35 STANZA I. COMMENTARIES ON THE SEVEN STANZAS AND THEIR TERMS, ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMERATION, IN STANZAS AND SLOKAS. STANZA I. 1. " T HE E TERNAL P ARENT (Space), WR…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 3)
“D ARKNESS ALONE FILLED THE BOUNDLESS ALL ( a ), FOR FATHER, MOTHER AND SON WERE ONCE MORE ONE, AND THE SON HAD NOT AWAKENED YET FOR THE NEW WHEEL* AND HIS PILGRIMAGE THEREON ( b ). ( a ) "Darkness is Father-Mother: light their son," says a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 7)
“is explained in Vishnu Purana as: "that which is the unevolved cause, is emphatically called by the most eminent sages Pradhana, original base, which is subtile Prakriti, viz., that which is eternal, and which at once is (or comprehends) wh…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 53 THE STATE OF PARANIRVANA. STANZA II. C OMMENTARY. 1. . . . . W HERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN ( a )? . . . . IN THE UNKNOWN…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 2)
“No Orientalist, so far, seems to have thoroughly comprehended the real sense of the verses in the Purana, that treat of "creation." Therein Brahma is the cause of the potencies that are to be generated subsequently for the work of "creation…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 3)
“The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represen…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 4)
“-- Continued . 5. T HE S EVEN ( Sons ) WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE W EB OF L IGHT. D ARKNESS ALONE WAS F ATHER- M OTHER, S VABHAVAT, AND S VABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS ( a ). ( a ) The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies its…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 2)
“2.[[3.]] " D ARKNESS" RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY RAY INTO THE WATERS, INTO THE MOTHER DEEP. T HE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH THE VIRGIN-EGG; THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO THRILL, AND DROP THE NON-ETERNAL ( periodical ) GERM, W…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 3)
“unable either to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements the mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity? . . . . And what would y…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 4)
“The "fire," "heat," and "motion" here spoken of, are, of course, not the fire, heat, and motion of physical science, but the underlying abstractions, the noumena, or the soul, of the essence of these material manifestations -- the "things i…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 5)
“because, firstly, he is that which the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of the Thought Divine; and secondly, because in Esoteric philosophy this first manifestation, being the synthesis or the aggregate of Universal Wisdom, O…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 6)
“"In the beginning, before Mother became Father-Mother, the fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes alone" ( Book of Sarparajni. ) The Aitareya Brahmana calls the Earth Sarparajni, "the Serpent Queen," and "the Mother of all that moves." Befo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 7)
“( c ) The ancients represented it by a serpent, for "Fohat hisses as he glides hither and thither" (in zigzags). The Kabala figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth , whose symbol is the serpent which played such a prominent part in the Myst…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 9)
“He is Purusha (spirit), but he is also Prakriti (matter). Therefore it is only after separating himself into two halves -- Brahma-vach (the female) and Brahma-Viraj (the male), that the Prajapati becomes the male Brahma. ------- STANZA II…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 10)
“T HEN THE SONS ( the Elements with their respective Powers , or Intelligences ) DISSOCIATE AND SCATTER, TO RETURN INTO THEIR MOTHER'S BOSOM AT THE END OF THE "GREAT DAY" AND REBECOME ONE WITH HER ( a ). W HEN IT ( the Web ) IS COOLING, IT…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 1)
“`The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 86 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. STANZA IV. COMMENTARY. 1. L ISTEN, YE S ONS OF THE E ARTH, TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS -- THE S ONS OF THE F IRE ( a ). L EARN THERE IS NEITHER FIRS…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 2)
“Latent, during Pralaya, and active, during Manvantara, the "Primordial" proceed from "Father-Mother" (Spirit-Hyle, or Ilus ); whereas the other manifested Quaternary and the Seven proceed from the Mother alone. It is the latter who is the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 7)
“Adam Kadmon or Tetragrammaton is the Logos in the Kabala; therefore this triad answers in the latter to the highest triangle of Kether, Chochmah and Binah, the last a female potency and at the same time the male Jehovah, as partaking of the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 8)
“Having evolved from Cosmic Space, and before the final formation of the primaries and the annulation of the planetary nebula, the Sun, we are taught, drew into the depths of its mass all the Cosmic vitality he could, threatening to engulf h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 2)
“They are, so to speak, the eternal prototypes of the Buddhas who appear on this earth, each of whom has his particular divine prototype. So, for instance, Amitabha is the Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni, manifesting through him whenever…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 6)
“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 fac…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 136 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. STANZA VI. 1. B Y THE POWER OF THE M OTHER OF M ERCY AND K NOWLEDGE ( a ), K WAN- Y IN,* THE " T RIPLE" OF K WAN- S HAI- Y IN, RESIDING IN K W…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 4)
“Were a truly learned Occultist-alchemist to write the "Life and Adventures of an Atom" he would secure thereby the eternal scorn of the modern chemist, perchance also his subsequent [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 11 (part 2)
“When a planetary chain is in its last Round, its Globe 1 or A, before finally dying out , sends all its energy and "principles" into a neutral centre of latent force, a "laya centre," and thereby informs a new nucleus of undifferentiated su…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 12 (part 2)
“Thus the Monads of Class 2 reach the incipient human stage only in the Second Round, and so on up to the middle of the Fourth Round. But at this point -- and on this Fourth Round in which the human stage will be fully developed -- the "Doo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 12 (part 3)
“To return to "Esoteric Buddhism." It is there stated with regard to the enormous period intervening between the mineral epoch on Globe A, and the man-epoch,* that: "The full development of the [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 12 (part 4)
“Now the Monadic, or rather Cosmic, 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 pr…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 191 THE PRELIMINARY CREATION OF MAN. [[This page continued from previous section ]] STANZA VI. -- Continued. 5. A T THE FOURTH ( Round , or revolution of life and bei…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 3)
“It is already the outline of the two "Supremes" -- God and Satan. But in the Stanzas no such idea exists. Most of the Western Christian Kabalists -- pre-eminently Eliphas Levi -- in their desire to reconcile the Occult Sciences with Churc…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 13 (part 4)
“Thus " S ATAN," once he ceases to be viewed in the superstitious, dogmatic, unphilosophical spirit of the Churches, grows into the grandiose image of one who made of terrestrial a divine MAN; who gave him, throughout the long cycle of Maha-…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 2)
“The later Kabalists however, especially the Christian mystics, have played sad havoc with this magnificent symbol.* For the " ten limbs" of the Heavenly Man are the ten Sephiroth; but the first Heavenly Man is the unmanifested Spirit of the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 4)
“I am merged in Sekten." This last sentence gives the corroboration of, and repeats the doctrine of, esoteric Buddhism, for it alludes directly to the fifth principle (Manas), or the most spiritual part of its essence rather, which merges in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 8)
“These "Father and Son" were interchangeable in their functions and worked harmoniously together in their effects upon terrestrial nature and humanity; hence they were regarded as ONE, though TWO in personified Entities. They were both male…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 10)
“** The so-called "Spirits" that may occasionally possess themselves of the bodies of mediums are not the Monads or Higher Principles of disembodied personalities. Such a "Spirit" can only be either an Elementary, or -- a Nirmanakaya. [[Vo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 4)
“i., p. 302, is, first of all, shot down by the law of Evolution into the lowest form of matter -- the mineral. After a sevenfold gyration encased in the stone (or that which will become mineral and stone in the Fourth Round), it creeps ou…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 7)
“There is a curious work by Blanchard, on the Origin of Life, wherein he shows some strange contradictions and confusions in the theories of his colleagues, and which we recommend to the reader's attention. * Eliphas Levi shows it very trul…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 8)
“No Hindu has ever mistaken Prakriti -- the Astral Light being only above the lowest plane of Prakriti, the material Kosmos -- for the "immortal Spirit." Prakriti is ever called Maya , illusion, and is doomed to disappear with the rest, the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 9)
“198, of the same Vishnu Purana it is written, "in this manner were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to Earth" (?). Between Mahat or Maha-Buddhi and "Water, etc.," the difference is very considerable. ** According t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 10)
“" From the second Round , Earth - - hitherto a foetus in the matrix of Space -- began its real existence: it had developed individual sentient life , its second principle. The second corresponds to the sixth ( principle ) ; the second is l…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 6)
“The 'Ideal Forms' are the archetypal or formative ideas of the Neo-Platonists; the eternal and subjective concepts of things subsisting in the divine mind prior to 'becoming'" (p. 134). [[Vol. 1, Page]] 282 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. from whi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 10)
“B.] -- according to his organic capacities. ( e ) It is the guiding Force in the Cosmic and terrestrial elements. It resides in the Fire provoked out of its latent into active being; for the whole of the seven subdivisions of the * * * pr…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS. [[This page continued from previous section ]] § III. PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT. "As it would seem irrational…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 2)
“Without doubt, this one-sided mode of dealing with the problem is due largely to the pernicious Western practice of subordinating consciousness, or regarding it as a "by-product" of molecular motion. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 328 THE SECRET DOCTRI…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 8)
“"Therefore, it was taught in the inner temples that this visible universe of spirit and matter 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…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 20 (part 3)
“exoteric, of course, yet in its main idea as identical as possible with the Egyptian cosmogony, which shows in its opening sentences Athtor,* or Mother Night (which represents illimitable darkness), as the primeval element which covered the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 21 (part 2)
“In his "Revelation," speaking of divine mysteries expressed by means of letters and numbers, Marcus narrates how the "Supreme Tetrad came down unto me (him) from the region which cannot be seen nor named, in a female form , because the worl…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 22 (part 3)
“These four "animals" may be seen in many of the Roman Catholic New Testaments where the portraits of the evangelists are given. They are the animals of Ezekiel's Mercabah. As truly stated by Ragon, "the ancient Hierophants have combined s…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 22 (part 5)
“It is Phtah, however, "he who opens," the opener of life and Death,** who proceeds from the egg of the world to begin his dual work. ( Book of Numbers. ) According to the Greeks, the phantom form of the Chemis ( Chemi , ancient Egypt) whi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 386 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. [[This page continued from previous section ]] § IX THE MOON, DEUS LUNUS, PHOEBE. T HIS archaic symbol is the most poetical of all symbols, as…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 3)
“would be either the phallus or the phallus and yoni, . . . or male and female. Indeed, the words translated by the generalizing terms male and female, in the 27th verse of the 1st chapter of Genesis are . . . sacr and n ' cabrah , or…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 4)
“But the signification is, that it is androgyne or hermaphrodite, that is phallus and yoni combined, the number 10, the Hebrew letter Jod , the containment of Jehovah. She, or rather she-he, gives the minutes of the same circle of 360 degre…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 5)
“Lunar magnetism generates life, preserves and destroys it, psychically as well as physically. And if, astronomically, she is one of the seven planets of the ancient world, in theogony she is one of the regents thereof; with Christians now…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 6)
“Maia, in its forced derivation, has come to mean with the Greeks, "mother," from the root ma (nurse), and even gave its name to the month of May, which was sacred to all those goddesses before it became consecrated to Mary.* Its primitive m…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 9)
“The eye which Odin had to pledge to acquire that knowledge may be "the Sun, which enlightens and penetrates all things; his other eye being the moon, whose reflection gazes out of the deep, and which at last, when setting, sinks into the Oc…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 26 (part 4)
“The early Christians -- besides the Ophite Gnostics -- had their dual Logos: the Good and the Bad Serpent, the Agathodaemon and the Kakodaemon. This is demonstrated by the writings of Marcus, Valentinus, and many others, and especially in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 411 THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN THUNDERS. [[This page continued from previous section ]] § XI. DEMON EST DEUS INVERSUS. T HIS symbolical sentence, in its many-sided forms…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 2)
“Everywhere the speculations of the Kabalists treat of Evil as a FORCE, which is antagonistic, but at the same time essential, to Good, as giving it vitality and existence, which it could never have otherwise. There would be no life possibl…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 3)
“Anger, my son, is the destruction of [[Vol. 1, Page]] 416 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. all that man obtains . . . and prevents the attainment of emancipation. The sages shun wrath. Be not thou, my child, subject to its influence. Let not th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 5)
“We bow to thee, in the nature of Brahma uncreated, undecaying ( avyaya ), who art in our bodies and in all other bodies , and in all living creatures , and beside whom nothing exists. We glorify that Vasudeva, the lord of all, who is witho…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 6)
“"They have seized upon the three worlds, and appropriated the offerings which are our portion, taking care not to transgress the Precepts of the Veda. Although we , as well as they , are parts of thee.* . . . . engaged as they are in t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 29 (part 3)
“For which his mother coolly puts him down by saying, "Do not lie, Ildabaoth, for the father of all, the first man ( Anthropos ) is above thee , and so is Anthropos , the Son of Anthropos " (Irenaeus, b. I, ch. xxx., 6). This is a good pr…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 30 (part 5)
“That, however, which God and the Christian Saints are justified in doing, becomes a crime, if successful, in simple mortals. Sorcery and incantations are regarded as fables now; yet from the day of the Institutes of Justinian down to the l…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 32 (part 2)
“Notwithstanding the efforts made to the contrary, an unprejudiced mind will discover [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Their intellection, of course, being of quite a different nature to any we can conceive…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 32 (part 3)
“Bacon was one of the first to strike the key-note of materialism, not only by his inductive method (renovated from ill-digested Aristotle), but by the general tenor of his writings. He inverts the order of mental Evolution when saying that…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 2)
“V., pp. 329-34. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 509 THE FIXING OF LIGHT. sensitive paper in a dark place, and at the end of 24 hours it will have left an impression of itself on the sensitive paper, the whites coming out as blacks. . . . There see…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 38 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 523 SUGGESTIVE ALLEGORIES. [[This page continued from previous section ]] VII. AN ATTACK ON THE SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF FORCE BY A MAN OF SCIENCE. T HE wise words of seve…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 38 (part 2)
“On our globe this Substance is the second principle of the septenary Element -- Earth; in the atmosphere, it is that of air , which is the cosmic gross body; in the Sun it becomes the Solar body and that of the Seven rays; in sidereal space…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 39 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 529 MYSTERIOUS SUN FLUID. VIII. LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY. T HE imponderable fluids have had their day; "mechanical Forces" are less talked about; Science has put on a n…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 40 (part 2)
“But the students of Esoteric philosophy understand too well the secret meaning of the stanza: "Brahma has essentially the aspect of prakriti, both evolved and unevolved . . . . Spirit, O twice-born, (Initiate) is the leading aspect of B…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 40 (part 3)
“It is assimilating the very truths taught by the Occult Sciences [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] "to be best understood on the hypothesis of the homogeneity of the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 40 (part 5)
“The precipitation has evidently not been effected at random , those molecules of the base being decomposed which happened to come in contact with a corresponding molecule of ammonia, for we have taken care that the liquids should be uniform…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 40 (part 6)
“, twice as fast; and thirdly, a motion at right angles to these two (suppose downwards), which, in its simplest form, would be with unvarying velocity. If we project this figure in space we find on examination that the points of the curves…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 41 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1 [[Vol. 1, Page]] 554 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. [[This page continued from previous section ]] X. THE COMING FORCE. ITS POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES. Shall we say that Force is "moving…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 45 (part 2)
“10): -- "I speak only of a veritable material agent , refined, it may be, to the world at large, but actual and substantial : an agent having quality of weight and of volume, an agent susceptible of chemical combination, and thereby of chan…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 46 (part 7)
“Descartes' plenum of matter differentiated into particles; Leibnitz's Ethereal Fluid and Kant's "primitive fluid" dissolved into its elements; Kepler's Solar Vortex and Systemic Vortices; in short, from the Elemental Vortices inaugurated by…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 46 (part 11)
“They say that what is called collectively Monads by Leibnitz -- roughly viewed, and leaving every subdivision out of calculation, for the present** -- may be separated into three distinct Hosts, which, counted from the highest planes, are,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 49 (part 3)
“This sentence, moreover, in Stanza VI ., "Fohat sets in motion the primordial World-germs, or the aggregation of Cosmic atoms and matter, some one way, some another, in the opposite direction" -- looks orthodox and Scientific enough. For t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 52 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2 [[Vol. 2, Page]] 22 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. STANZA I.* BEGINNINGS OF SENTIENT LIFE. ------- §§ (1) T HE L HA, or Spirit of the Earth. (2) Invocation of the Earth to the Sun. (3) What the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 52 (part 4)
“(See also the 21st Fargard of the Vendidad on the celestial militia.) He is the golden-coloured Mercury, the [[ chrusophaes Hermes ]] whom the Hierophants forbade to name. He is symbolised in Grecian mythology by one of the dogs (vigilance…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 53 (part 6)
“In the original allegory it is matter -- hence the more material angels -- which was regarded as the conqueror of Spirit, or the Archangels who "fell" on this plane. "They of the flaming sword (or animal passions) had put to flight the Spi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 54 (part 5)
“The first is from the Book of the Concealed Mystery: -- (429.) From a Light-Bearer (one of the seven sacred planets) of insupportable brightness proceeded a radiating Flame, dashing off, like a vast and mighty hammer, those sparks which wer…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 55 (part 5)
“"Man must not be like one of us," say the creative gods, entrusted with the fabrication of the lower animal but higher; (see Gen. and Plato ' s Timaeus ) . Their creating the semblance of men out of their own divine Essence means, esoteri…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 55 (part 9)
“5, the Sloka simply says: "Bhutas -- fiends, frightful from being monkey-coloured and carnivorous"; and the word in India now means ghosts, ethereal or astral phantoms, while in esoteric teaching it means elementary substances, something ma…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 58 (part 1)
“fThe Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2 [[Vol. 2, Page]] 161 A SUGGESTIVE STANZA. STANZA VII. FROM THE SEMI-DIVINE DOWN TO THE FIRST HUMAN RACES. ------- §§ (24) The higher creators reject in their pride the forms evolved b…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 63 (part 5)
“" Compare the last sentence with what the Rabbi, who explains the Kabala to Prince Al-Chazari in the Book of that name, says; and it will be found that the Weight and Measure and Number are, in Sepher Jezirah, the attributes of the Sephirot…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 71 (part 5)
“53, and carefully examine his " Grand Symbole Kabalistique " of the Zohar. He will find, on the engraving given, a white man standing erect and a black woman upside down, i.e ., standing on her head, her legs passing under the extended arm…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 72 (part 6)
“contains (esoterically) the withdrawal of the veil of ignorance that closed the perceptions of the Angelic Man, made in the image of the "Boneless" gods, and the opening of his consciousness to his real nature; thus showing the bright Angel…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 72 (part 8)
“Speaking of Adam, Kain, Mars, etc., as personifications, we find the author of " The Source of Measures " enunciating our very esoteric teachings in his Kabalistic researches. Thus he says: -- "Now Mars was the lord of birth and of death,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 81 (part 3)
“God is light and Satan is the necessary darkness or shadow to set it off, without which pure light would be invisible and incomprehensible.* "For the initiates," says Eliphas Levi, "the devil is not a person but a creative Force, for Good a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 81 (part 4)
“It is mankind which has become the "Serpent of Genesis," and thus causes daily and hourly the Fall and sin of the "Celestial Virgin" -- which thus becomes the Mother of gods and devils at one and the same time; for she is the ever-loving, b…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 82 (part 4)
“'The prudent son of Iapetus,' says Hesiod, 'deceived Jupiter by stealing and concealing in the cavity of a narthex, the indefatigable fire of the resplendent glow' ( Theog. 565) . . . Thus the gift made by Prometheus to men was a conque…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 85 (part 3)
“By "intelligence," the Occultist says, Narada means neither "discussion" nor "argumentation," as Aruna Misra believes, but "intelligence" truly, or the adaptation of the fire of Wisdom to Exoteric Ritualism for the profane. This is the chi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 91 (part 7)
“But, as the French naturalist observes -- "their (Darwin's and Haeckel's) process is always the same, considering the unknown as a proof in favour of their theory." ( Ibid. ) It comes to this. Grant to man an immortal Spirit and Soul; end…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 91 (part 8)
“296.) This he develops in his mirific lecture on the " Perigenesis of the Plastidule, or the wave-motions of living particles." It is an improvement on Darwin's theory of "Pangenesis," and a further approach, a cautious move towards "magic.…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 97 (part 6)
“431-53), and has the gift of appearing to his Seers without being visible to other persons present -- (Iliad, xvii., 322-36) -- a gift, however, shared by every high Adept. The King of the Hyperboreans, was, therefore, the son of Boreas, t…”
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western_esoteric70
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter II (part 1)
“CHAPTER II THE SEVEN HERMETIC PRINCIPLES "The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open."--The Kybalion. The Seven Hermetic Principle…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter II (part 2)
“The ancient Hermetists considered this Principle as one of the most important mental instruments by which man was able to pry aside the obstacles which hid from view the Unknown. Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter II (part 4)
“The Hermetists have grasped this Principle, finding its universal application, and have also discovered certain means to overcome its effects in themselves by the use of the appropriate formulas and methods. They apply the Mental Law of Ne…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter III (part 1)
“CHAPTER III MENTAL TRANSMUTATION "Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art."--…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter III (part 2)
“So you see, therefore, that Mental Transmutation is really the "Magic" of which the ancient; writers had so much to say in their mystical works, and about which they gave so few practical instructions. If All be Mental, then the art which…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VI (part 5)
“With this difference, always, between the various hypotheses--that under the old views Mental Power was ignored as a Natural Force, while under Mentalism it becomes the Greatest Natural Force. And this one difference revolutionizes Life, t…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VIII (part 6)
“Only those whose minds have been carefully trained along the lines of the Hermetic Philosophy for years--yes, those who have brought with them from other incarnations the knowledge acquired previously--can comprehend just what is meant by t…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IX (part 1)
“CHAPTER IX VIBRATION "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."--The Kybalion. The great Third Hermetic Principle--the Principle of Vibration--embodies the truth that Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe--that noth…”
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christian_mysticism14
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 5)
“The will beholding itself in the mirror of wisdom causes its own image to appear within the groundlessness, and thus it creates a foundation in its own imagination." ( Menschwerdung , ii. 1.) "Wisdom, the eternal virgin, the playmate of Go…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 7)
“The light of God has also the quality of the fire, but in it the wrath is changed into love; hate and bitter pain into mild beneficence and sweet desire or satisfaction." ( Menschwerdung , i. 5–16.) "The fountain of love is a clasping and…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 4 (part 4)
“We may say that the world, as we know it, is constituted entirely of forms of heat, or of motion, or of electric conditions, or light, &c., &c. All this is true in so far as it refers to the relations which it bears towards ourselves. All…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 9)
“1.) "Lucifer having left the harmony of God, the holy name of God separated from him and remained in its own unity; but Lucifer remained in the qualities of the central fire which he had awakened within himself." ( Theosophical Questions ,…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 4)
“Then in the spirit of external nature there originated a male and a female kind—namely, in the fiery Mercury the male, and in the watery the female one." ( Clavis , 86.) "On the third day the fiery and the watery Mercury have again entered…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 7)
“That which Sol (the sun) is spiritually becomes corporeal in Luna (the moon)." ( Signature , ix. 24.) After the world of stars had begun to exist, the sidereal life appeared by the power of the former—that is to say, that living organisms…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 1)
“p. 164 CHAPTER VIII. NATURE, OR THE THIRD PRINCIPLE. "The godless seeks for God outside of his own self, and the Christless sectarians seek for a personal Christ in history; but the man of God and the true Christian know God and Christ w…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 8)
“For the internal being is continually labouring to manifest itself outwardly. Thus everything has its own mouth for the purpose of revealing itself, and therein is based the language of nature, by means of which each thing speaks out of it…”
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jewish_mysticism6
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) | 1f
“[The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are divided into three classes, the three mothers as they are called, AMSh; the seven duplex letters, BGDKPRTh, so called because they are sometimes tenues and sometimes aspirates, according to whether th…”
The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1e
“The seventh space here means Malkuth, the kingdom, or the queen, which together with the six of Microprosopus, makes up the seven lower Sephiroth. (See Introduction, § 77, further, for the idea of the balance of mercy and judgment.)] 23.…”
The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1g
“so to speak, not only the executor of judgment, but also the destroyer; destruction as opposed to creation, death as opposed to life. For the whole Sephiroth are represented as being the balance of mercy and justice, and the tenth Sephira…”
The Lesser Holy Assembly (Idra Zuta Qadisha) | Idra Zuta, Chapter 1 (part 1)
“CHAPTER VIII. CONCERNING THE FOREHEAD OF MACROPROSOPUS. 87. THE forehead of His skull is the acceptation of acceptations, whereunto is opposed the acceptation of Microprosopus, like as it is written, Exod. xxviii. 38: "And it shall be…”
Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) | Section 1c
“These three mothers again represent in the Microcosm or Human form, male and female; the Head, the Belly, and the Chest; the bead from the fire, the belly from water, and the chest from the air lieth between them. 5. These three mothers d…”
neoplatonism5
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII-v
“Hence some of them preside over men, others over lions or other animals, and others over plants; and still more partially, some are the inspective guardians of the eye, others of the heart, and others of the liver.” He adds, “all things, ho…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 78
“Section 3 3. If such be the Nature of Beings and of That which transcends all the realm of Being, Evil cannot have place among Beings or in the Beyond-Being; these are good. There remains, only, if Evil exist at all, that it be situate in t…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 138
“Section 16 16. Then Matter is simply Alienism [the Principle of Difference]? No: it is merely that part of Alienism which stands in contradiction with the Authentic Existents which are Reason-Principles. So understood, this non-existent has…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 189
“Section 2 2. By derivation from that Authentic Kosmos, one within itself, there subsists this lower kosmos, no longer a true unity. It is multiple, divided into various elements, thing standing apart from thing in a new estrangement. No lon…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 338
“Section 18 18. There remains the question whether the body possesses any force of its own- so that, with the incoming of the soul, it lives in some individuality- or whether all it has is this Nature we have been speaking of, the superior p…”
renaissance_hermeticism5
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter III — Of the Four Elements, Their Qualities, and Mutual Mixtions | Chapter III, Section 1
“CHAPTER III. Of the Four Elements, Their Qualities, and Mutual Mixtions . There are four Elements, and original grounds of all corporeal things—Fire, Earth, Water, Air—of which all elemented inferior bodies are compounded; not by way of hea…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LXIII — How the Passions of the Mind Change the Proper Body by Changing Its Accidents and Moving the Spirit | Chapter LXIII, Section 1
“CHAPTER LXIII. How the Passions of the Mind Change the Proper Body by Changing Its Accidents and Moving the Spirit . The phantasy, or imaginative power, hath a ruling power over the passions of the soul when they follow the sensual apprehen…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-d
“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”
Paracelsus: The Aurora of the Philosophers | Section 1o
“There are also two matters of the Stone, Sol and Luna, formed together in a proper marriage, both natural and artificial. Now, as we see that the man or the woman, without the seed of both, cannot generate, in the same way our man, Sol, an…”
Paracelsus: Coelum Philosophorum, or Book of Vexations | Section 1g
“It works essentially where otherwise there is no hope. It accomplishes that which is deemed impossible. What appears beyond belief or hope emerges into truth after a wonderful fashion. NOTE ON MERCURIUS VIVUS. Whatever tinges with a whi…”
hinduism3
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter VII, Section 1b
“Whichever form (of deity) any worshipper wishes to worship with faith, to that form I render his faith steady. Possessed Of that faith, he seeks to propitiate (the deity in) that (form), and obtains from it those beneficial things which he…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter IX, Section 1a
“CHAPTER IX. Now I will speak to you, who are not given to carping, of that most mysterious knowledge, accompanied by experience, by knowing which you will be released from evil. It is the chief among the sciences, the chief among the myst…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter XVI, Section 1a
“CHAPTER XVI. Freedom from fear, purity of heart, perseverance in (pursuit of) knowledge and abstraction of mind, gifts , self-restraint , and sacrifice, study of the Vedas, penance, straightforwardness, harmlessness, truth , freedom from a…”
hermeticism1
Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1c
“Gnosis of God hath come to us, and when this comes, my son, Not-knowing is cast out. Gnosis of Joy hath come to us, and on its coming, son, Sorrow will flee away to them who give it room. The Power that follows Joy do I invoke, thy Self-c…”
mandaean1
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Some Typical Extracts | Section 14
“That the Mandæan religion preserves echoes of a wealth of ancient mythical elements found in Iranian, Babylonian and Semitic traditions is evident on all hands. A process of syncretism had presumably gone on for generations before an impuls…”
sufism1
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VI-b
“They possess freewill and compulsion besides, 4 As in oyster-shells raindrops are pearls. Outside the shell they are raindrops, great and small; Inside they are precious pearls, big and little. These men also resemble the musk deer's bag;…”