These (commands) are those which are wont the Rulers of the great Destiny of the Aeons they are wont to deliver them (him, MS ) to the counterfeit spirit: and are wont the Rulers, they are wont to call the Ministers of the Aeons amounting to (filling, MS ) 365, who are wont to give to them the soul and (of, or to, MS ) the counterfeit spirit, being bound in unto one another, the counterfeit spirit being outside of the soul, the mixture of the power being the inward of the soul, being within them both, that they should be able to stand up both: and are wont the Rulers, they are wont to order unto the Ministers, saying to them, This is the type [308 ] which ye will put in the body of the matter of the World.
They are wont to say indeed to them: Put the mixture of the power the innermost of them all, that they should be able to stand up, because it is their setting up; and after the soul place the counterfeit spirit: this is the manner which they are wont to order unto their Ministers, that they should put them down in the bodies of the anti-type: and after this form are wont the Ministers of the Rulers, they are wont to bring the power with the soul with the counterfeit spirit, they are wont to bring them (all) three down unto the World, and they are wont to pour (them) out unto the World of the Rulers of the Middle.
Are wont also the Rulers of the Middle, they are wont to consider the counterfeit spirit with the Fate also, whose name is “the Moira” he is wont to conduct the man, until he cause them to kill him in the death which is reckoned unto him: [309 ] this (fate) which bound in unto the soul the Rulers of the great Destiny; and are wont the Ministers of the Sphere, they are wont to bind (together) the soul with the power with the counterfeit spirit and with the Fate, they are wont to divide them all, and put them in two parts, and go round after the man with the woman in the World, these to whom they gave sign that they (we, MS ) will send them in unto them.
And they are wont to give (one) part to the male and (one) part to the woman in meat of the World or in a breath of the air, or in water or in some thing (form, MS ) which they are wont to drink.
All these I shall say unto you the kind of each soul with the types which are wont to go in unto the bodies, either man or bird or beast, or wild-beast or creeping thing or every form which is on the World, I shall say unto you [309 ] their types in what type they are wont to go in unto the men, I shall say them 174 unto you in the Distribution of the Universe.
Now therefore whenever the Ministers of the Rulers, whenever they should cast the part in unto the woman and the part also in unto the male, in the way which I said unto you, even if they are at (a) distance from one another, in a distance which is much, are wont the Ministers to compel them in concealment that they should harmonise with one another in the harmony of the World: and is wont the counterfeit spirit which is in the male, it is wont to come unto the part which is deposited unto the World in the matter of his body, he is wont to take it away and cast it unto the womb of the woman being deposited unto the seed of the wickedness: and immediately are wont the three hundred (and) sixty five Ministers of the Rulers, they are wont to go into her belly and [310 ] lodge in it.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The passage describes a binding of the soul with power and spirit that allows them to stand up together.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Rulers actively order the Ministers and distribute souls to bodies according to a predetermined cosmic plan.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
A hierarchy of Rulers, Ministers, and the World is described as transmitting power downward from higher levels.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The counterfeit spirit is described as being outside of the soul, indicating a state of disconnection from the divine origin.
Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.
Souls are described as going into bodies of various forms including man, bird, beast, or creeping thing.