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 THROUGH THE FIERY CLOUDS; TAKES THREE, AND FIVE, AND SEVEN STRIDES THROUGH THE SEVEN REGIONS ABOVE, AND THE SEVEN BELOW.
H E LIFTS HIS VOICE, AND CALLS THE INNUMERABLE SPARKS, AND JOINS THEM.
3.
H E IS THEIR GUIDING SPIRIT AND LEADER.
W HEN HE COMMENCES WORK, HE SEPARATES THE SPARKS OF THE L OWER K INGDOM THAT FLOAT AND THRILL WITH JOY IN THEIR RADIANT DWELLINGS, AND FORMS THEREWITH THE GERMS OF WHEELS.
H E PLACES THEM IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS OF SPACE, AND ONE IN THE MIDDLE -- THE CENTRAL WHEEL.
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F OHAT TRACES SPIRAL LINES TO UNITE THE SIXTH TO THE SEVENTH -- THE CROWN; AN ARMY OF THE S ONS OF L IGHT STANDS AT EACH ANGLE, AND THE L IPIKA IN THE MIDDLE WHEEL, T HEY SAY: T HIS IS GOOD, THE [[Vol.
1, Page]] 32 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
FIRST D IVINE WORLD IS READY, THE FIRST IS NOW THE SECOND.
T HEN THE " D IVINE A RUPA" REFLECTS ITSELF IN C HHAYA L OKA, THE FIRST GARMENT OF THE A NUPADAKA.
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F OHAT TAKES FIVE STRIDES AND BUILDS A WINGED WHEEL AT EACH CORNER OF THE SQUARE, FOR THE FOUR HOLY ONES AND THEIR ARMIES.
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T HE L IPIKA CIRCUMSCRIBE THE TRIANGLE, THE FIRST ONE, THE CUBE, THE SECOND ONE, AND THE PENTACLE WITHIN THE EGG.
I T IS THE RING CALLED " P ASS N OT" FOR THOSE WHO DESCEND AND ASCEND.
A LSO FOR THOSE WHO DURING THE K ALPA ARE PROGRESSING TOWARDS THE GREAT DAY " B E WITH US." T HUS WERE FORMED THE R UPA AND THE A RUPA: FROM ONE LIGHT SEVEN LIGHTS; FROM EACH OF THE SEVEN, SEVEN TIMES SEVEN LIGHTS.
T HE WHEELS WATCH THE RING.
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------- STANZA VI.
1.
B Y THE POWER OF THE M OTHER OF M ERCY AND K NOWLEDGE -- K WAN- Y IN -- THE "TRIPLE" OF K WAN-SHAI- Y IN, RESIDING IN K WAN-YIN- T IEN, F OHAT, THE B REATH OF THEIR P ROGENY, THE S ON OF THE S ONS, HAVING CALLED FORTH, FROM THE LOWER ABYSS, THE ILLUSIVE FORM OF S IEN- T CHANG AND THE S EVEN E LEMENTS:* 2.
T HE S WIFT AND R ADIANT O NE PRODUCES THE S EVEN L AYA C ENTRES, AGAINST WHICH NONE WILL PREVAIL TO THE GREAT DAY " B E-WITH- U S," AND SEATS THE U NIVERSE ON THESE E TERNAL F OUNDATIONS SURROUNDING T SIEN- T CHAN WITH THE E LEMENTARY G ERMS.
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O F THE S EVEN -- FIRST ONE MANIFESTED, SIX CONCEALED, TWO MANIFESTED, FIVE CONCEALED; THREE MANIFESTED, FOUR CONCEALED; FOUR PRODUCED, THREE HIDDEN; FOUR AND ONE TSAN REVEALED, TWO AND ONE HALF CONCEALED; SIX TO BE MANIFESTED, ONE LAID ASIDE.
L ASTLY, SEVEN SMALL WHEELS REVOLVING; ONE GIVING BIRTH TO THE OTHER.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Verse 1 of Stanza VI.
is of a far later date than the other Stanzas, though still very ancient.
The old text of this verse, having names entirely unknown to the Orientalists would give no clue to the student.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 33 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
4.
H E BUILDS THEM IN THE LIKENESS OF OLDER WHEELS, PLACING THEM ON THE I MPERISHABLE C ENTRES.
H OW DOES F OHAT BUILD THEM?
HE COLLECTS THE FIERY DUST.
H E MAKES BALLS OF FIRE, RUNS THROUGH THEM, AND ROUND THEM, INFUSING LIFE THEREINTO THEN' SETS THEM INTO MOTION; SOME ONE WAY, SOME THE OTHER WAY.
T HEY ARE COLD, HE MAKES THEM HOT.
T HEY ARE DRY, HE MAKES THEM MOIST.
T HEY SHINE, HE FANS AND COOLS THEM.
T HUS ACTS F OHAT FROM ONE TWILIGHT TO THE OTHER, DURING S EVEN E TERNITIES.
5.
A T THE FOURTH, THE SONS ARE TOLD TO CREATE THEIR IMAGES.
O NE THIRD REFUSES -- TWO OBEY.
T HE CURSE IS PRONOUNCED; THEY WILL BE BORN ON THE FOURTH, SUFFER AND CAUSE SUFFERING; THIS IS THE FIRST WAR.
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T HE OLDER WHEELS ROTATED DOWNWARDS AND UPWARDS.
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T HE MOTHER'S SPAWN FILLED THE WHOLE.
T HERE WERE BATTLES FOUGHT BETWEEN THE C REATORS AND THE D ESTROYERS, AND BATTLES FOUGHT FOR SPACE; THE SEED APPEARING AND RE-APPEARING CONTINUOUSLY.
7.
M AKE THY CALCULATIONS, L ANOO, IF THOU WOULDEST LEARN THE CORRECT AGE OF THY SMALL WHEEL.
I TS FOURTH SPOKE IS OUR MOTHER.
R EACH THE FOURTH "FRUIT" OF THE FOURTH PATH OF KNOWLEDGE THAT LEADS TO N IRVANA, AND THOU SHALT COMPREHEND, FOR THOU SHALT SEE .
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------- STANZA VII.
1.
B EHOLD THE BEGINNING OF SENTIENT FORMLESS LIFE.
F IRST THE D IVINE, THE ONE FROM THE M OTHER- S PIRIT; THEN THE S PIRITUAL; THE THREE FROM THE ONE, THE FOUR FROM THE ONE, AND THE FIVE FROM WHICH THE THREE, THE FIVE, AND THE SEVEN.
T HESE ARE THE THREE-FOLD, THE FOUR-FOLD DOWNWARD; THE "MIND-BORN" SONS OF THE FIRST L ORD; THE SHINING SEVEN.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The 'Great Day Be With Us' as the goal of all progression through the Kalpa implies periodic or final restoration of all things to their original state.
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.
'From one light seven lights; from each of the seven, seven times seven lights' explicitly states the fractal reflection of cosmic structure at every scale.
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 entire passage is a cosmogonic narrative describing how the universe came into being: from the One, through Fohat's strides, the formation of wheels, the calling of sparks, the building of the seven Laya Centres, and the first war.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The divine reflects itself in Chhaya Loka, the 'first garment of the Anupadaka,' and the sparks float in radiant dwellings — the divine pervades and manifests within the created order.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The 'Sons of Light,' 'Shining Seven,' 'from one light seven lights,' and the radiant dwellings make luminous divine quality a pervasive motif of the passage.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
'He lifts his voice, and calls the innumerable sparks, and joins them' and the separation of 'sparks of the lower kingdom' are central to the passage's cosmogonic narrative.
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 traces a clear cascade from the Mother-Spirit/One through Fohat, the Sons of Light, the Lipika, and down to the sparks and wheels — a structured divine outflow at each level.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The 'Mother of Mercy and Knowledge' (Kwan-Yin) as generative source and the 'Sons of Light' as her progeny establish a masculine-feminine generative principle operating at the cosmic level.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text's heavily coded language, the footnote noting that 'the old text of this verse, having names entirely unknown to the Orientalists would give no clue to the student,' marks it as esoteric teaching with concealed inner meaning.
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.
'Innumerable sparks' and the vast scale of seven regions above and below suggest a boundless cosmos without fixed circumference.
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 entire passage describes a non-physical dimension populated by divine beings, sparks, wheels, and forces that operate on planes imperceptible to ordinary senses.
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 ring called Pass Not for those who descend and ascend' and the structured descent from the One through successive planes to the sparks and wheels describe a directional cosmic process of spirit unfolding into matter.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
Fohat is explicitly 'the thought' that is the rider — the divine word/thought as the active ordering and creative principle mediating between the transcendent source and the manifested world.
The balance of two contrary forces as the structural law of cosmos and operation — Lévi's equilibrium, expressed in Kabbalah by the senary: the will of God in its first cause, liberty in man, mathematical equilibrium in matter; the twofold vibration required to direct the Astral Light safely.
'They are cold, he makes them hot. They are dry, he makes them moist. They shine, he fans and cools them' — explicit balancing of contrary forces as the structural law of cosmic formation.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
'First the Divine, the One from the Mother-Spirit' identifies a single undivided first principle from which all multiplicity (three, four, five, seven) flows.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage is saturated with numerological structure: three, five, seven strides; six directions plus center; seven regions above and below; seven Laya Centres; the manifested/concealed number patterns; 'from one light seven lights; from each of the seven, seven times seven lights.'
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).
The explicit operations of making cold things hot, dry things moist, and shining things cooled demonstrate the Hermetic principle that opposites are identical in nature differing only in degree.
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
'For those who during the Kalpa are progressing towards the Great Day Be With Us' and the ring for those who 'descend and ascend' describe a staged journey through levels of being.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
'First the Divine, the One from the Mother-Spirit' and the pattern of 'the three from the one, the four from the one' assert an ultimate unity underlying all multiplicity.
A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.
The seven regions above and the seven below, with Fohat passing through them vertically, suggest a vertical cosmic axis connecting upper and lower realms.