As may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the Rosicrucians' symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood even by modern mystics.
It is that of the "Pelican" tearing open its breast to feed its seven little ones -- the real creed of the Brothers of the Rosie-Cross and a direct outcome from the Eastern [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Thus Spencer, who, nevertheless, like Schopenhauer and von Hartmann, only reflects an aspect of the old esoteric philosophers, and hence lands his readers on the bleak shore of Agnostic despair -- reverently formulates the grand mystery; "that which persists unchanging in quantity, but ever changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the Universe presents to us, is an unknown and unknowable power, which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in Space and without beginning or end in time." It is only daring Theology -- never Science or philosophy -- which seeks to gauge the Infinite and unveil the Fathomless and Unknowable.
[[Vol.
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Secret Doctrine.
Brahma (neuter) is called Kalahansa, meaning, as explained by Western Orientalists, the Eternal Swan or goose (see Stanza III., Comment.
8), and so is Brahma, the Creator.
A great mistake is thus brought under notice; it is Brahma (neuter) who ought to be referred to as Hansa-vahana (He who uses the swan as his Vehicle) and not Brahma the Creator, who is the real Kalahansa, while Brahma (neuter) is hamsa, and "A-hamsa," as will be explained in the Commentary.
Let it be understood that the terms Brahma and Parabrahmam are not used here because they belong to our Esoteric nomenclature, but simply because they are more familiar to the students in the West.
Both are the perfect equivalents of our one, three, and seven vowelled terms, which stand for the O NE A LL, and the One "All in all." Such are the basic conceptions on which the Secret Doctrine rests.
It would not be in place here to enter upon any defence or proof of their inherent reasonableness; nor can I pause to show how they are, in fact, contained -- though too often under a misleading guise -- in every system of thought or philosophy worthy of the name.
Once that the reader has gained a clear comprehension of them and realised the light which they throw on every problem of life, they will need no further justification in his eyes, because their truth will be to him as evident as the sun in heaven.
I pass on, therefore, to the subject matter of the Stanzas as given in this volume, adding a skeleton outline of them, in the hope of thereby rendering the task of the student more easy, by placing before him in a few words the general conception therein explained.
Stanza I.
The history of cosmic evolution, as traced in the Stanzas, is, so to say, the abstract algebraical formula of that Evolution.
Hence the student must not expect to find there an account of all the stages and transformations which intervene between the first beginnings of "Universal" evolution and our present state.
To give such an account would be as impossible as it would be incomprehensible to men who cannot even grasp the nature of the plane of existence next to that to which, for the moment, their consciousness is limited.
The Stanzas, therefore, give an abstract formula which can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny earth, to [[Vol.
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that of the chain of planets of which that earth forms one, to the solar Universe to which that chain belongs, and so on, in an ascending scale, till the mind reels and is exhausted in the effort.
The seven Stanzas given in this volume represent the seven terms of this abstract formula.
They refer to, and describe the seven great stages of the evolutionary process, which are spoken of in the Puranas as the "Seven Creations," and in the Bible as the "Days" of Creation.
--------------------- The First Stanza describes the state of the ONE ALL during Pralaya, before the first flutter of re-awakening manifestation.
A moment's thought shows that such a state can only be symbolised; to describe it is impossible.
Nor can it be symbolised except in negatives; for, since it is the state of Absoluteness per se, it can possess none of those specific attributes which serve us to describe objects in positive terms.
Hence that state can only be suggested by the negatives of all those most abstract attributes which men feel rather than conceive, as the remotest limits attainable by their power of conception.
The stage described in Stanza II.
is, to a western mind , so nearly identical with that mentioned in the first Stanza, that to express the idea of its difference would require a treatise in itself.
Hence it must be left to the intuition and the higher faculties of the reader to grasp, as far as he can, the meaning of the allegorical phrases used.
Indeed it must be remembered that all these Stanzas appeal to the inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the physical brain.
Stanza III.
describes the Re-awakening of the Universe to life after Pralaya.
It depicts the emergence of the "Monads" from thei[[r]] state of absorption within the ONE; the earliest and highest stage in the formation of "Worlds," the term Monad being one which may apply equally to the vastest Solar System or the tiniest atom.
Stanza IV.
shows the differentiation of the "Germ" of the Universe [[Vol.
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into the septenary hierarchy of conscious Divine Powers, who are the active manifestations of the One Supreme Energy.
They are the framers, shapers, and ultimately the creators of all the manifested Universe, in the only sense in which the name "Creator" is intelligible; they inform and guide it; they are the intelligent Beings who adjust and control evolution, embodying in themselves those manifestations of the ONE LAW, which we know as "The Laws of Nature." Generically, they are known as the Dhyan Chohans, though each of the various groups has its own designation in the Secret Doctrine.
This stage of evolution is spoken of in Hindu mythology as the "Creation" of the Gods.
In Stanza V.
the process of world-formation is described: --- First, diffused Cosmic Matter, then the fiery "whirlwind," the first stage in the formation of a nebula.
That nebula condenses, and after passing through various transformations, forms a Solar Universe, a planetary chain, or a single planet, as the case may be.
The subsequent stages in the formation of a "World" are indicated in Stanza VI., which brings the evolution of such a world down to its fourth great period, corresponding to the period in which we are now living.
Stanza VII.
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The Dhyan Chohans are described as 'the septenary hierarchy of conscious Divine Powers' who are 'the active manifestations of the One Supreme Energy' and 'the intelligent Beings who adjust and control evolution,' functioning as divine archetypal beings within the cosmic fullness.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The Pralaya cycle—dissolution back into the ONE ALL followed by re-awakening and re-manifestation—describes periodic cosmic restoration and recurrence of the entire evolutionary process.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The state of the ONE ALL during Pralaya 'can only be symbolised in negatives; for, since it is the state of Absoluteness per se, it can possess none of those specific attributes which serve us to describe objects in positive terms.'
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The abstract formula of evolution 'can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny earth, to that of the chain of planets... to the solar Universe... and so on, in an ascending scale,' expressing the structural repetition of cosmic pattern at every level.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage is fundamentally a cosmogonic outline, tracing the origin of the universe from Pralaya through re-awakening, monad emergence, divine differentiation, nebula formation, and planetary evolution across seven stages.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The ONE ALL is described as 'an unknown and unknowable power' that 'daring Theology—never Science or philosophy—seeks to gauge,' and the First Stanza's state can only be suggested by negatives, marking radical divine concealment.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The state of Absoluteness 'can possess none of those specific attributes which serve us to describe objects in positive terms,' implying a God without parts, divisions, or composite attributes.
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.
The passage explicitly lays out a cascading hierarchy from the ONE ALL through Monads, the septenary Dhyan Chohans, and down through successive stages of world-formation, each level a manifestation of the one above.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage references 'the old esoteric philosophers' and the Rosicrucian tradition as a chain of transmission connecting Eastern and Western mystical wisdom.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage insists the Stanzas must be grasped by 'the intuition and the higher faculties of the reader' rather than ordinary intellectual comprehension, pointing to direct experiential apprehension as the mode of access to truth.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The Stanzas are explicitly allegorical, 'appeal to the inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the physical brain,' and their meaning must be grasped by intuition, concealing inner truth behind outer symbolic language.
The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.
Spencer's quoted formulation of 'without limit in Space and without beginning or end in time' and the ascending scale of evolutions that exhaust the mind point to an ontologically infinite cosmos.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The reference to 'the plane of existence next to that to which, for the moment, their consciousness is limited' and the Stanzas' appeal to 'inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the physical brain' imply non-physical dimensions of reality.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage describes 'the history of cosmic evolution' as a staged descent from the unconditioned ONE ALL through successive planes to materialization, framed as an 'abstract algebraical formula' of directional unfolding.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly names the 'Monads' emerging from absorption within the ONE, defining the term as applicable 'equally to the vastest Solar System or the tiniest atom' as the simplest undivided unit of manifestation.
The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world.
The ONE ALL during Pralaya is described as the undifferentiated divine fullness from which all multiplicity emerges, functioning as the totality of the highest realm before manifestation.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
The Pralaya/manifestation cycle—dissolution into the ONE followed by re-awakening and re-manifestation—expresses a cosmic pendulum motion between absorption and emanation.
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
The 'Brothers of the Rosie-Cross' are named as an organized group maintaining esoteric knowledge and symbols distinct from public religion.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage's foundational claim is 'the ONE ALL' and 'the One All in all,' asserting that all existence flows from and returns to a single undivided divine reality.