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 III.
-- Continued.
9.
L IGHT IS COLD FLAME, AND FLAME IS FIRE, AND THE FIRE PRODUCES HEAT, WHICH YIELDS WATER, THE WATER OF LIFE IN THE GREAT MOTHER ( Chaos ) ( a ) .
( a ) It must be remembered that the words "Light," "Fire," and "Flame" used in the Stanzas have been adopted by the translators thereof from the vocabulary of the old "Fire philosophers,"** in order to render better the meaning of the archaic terms and symbols employed in the original.
Otherwise they would have remained entirely unintelligible to a European reader.
But to a student of the Occult the terms used will be sufficiently clear.
All these -- "Light," "Flame," "Hot," "Cold," "Fire," "Heat," "Water," and the "water of life" are all, on our plane, the progeny; or as a modern physicist would say, the correlations of ELECTRICITY.
Mighty word, and a still mightier symbol!
Sacred generator of a no less sacred progeny; of fire -- the creator, the preserver and the destroyer; of light -- the essence of our divine ancestors; of flame -- the Soul of things.
Electricity, the ONE Life at the upper rung of Being, and Astral Fluid, the Athanor of the Alchemists, at its lowest; GOD and DEVIL, GOOD and EVIL.
.
.
.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] rest, and may as well mean "holy" as not.
It is a blind, very suggestive in connection with certain superstitions -- e.g ., that of the Russian people who will not use the pigeon for food; not because it is "unclean," but because the "Holy Ghost" is credited with having appeared under the form of a Dove.
** Not the Mediaeval Alchemists, but the Magi and Fire-Worshippers, from whom the Rosicrucians or the Philosophers per ignem , the successors of the theurgists borrowed all their ideas concerning Fire, as a mystic and divine element.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 82 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Now, why is Light called in the Stanzas "cold flame"?
Because in the order of Cosmic evolution (as taught by the Occultist), the energy that actuates matter after its first formation into atoms is generated on our plane by Cosmic heat; and because Kosmos, in the sense of dissociated matter, was not, before that period.
The first primordial matter, eternal and coeval with Space, "which has neither a beginning nor an end," is "neither hot nor cold, but is of its own special nature," says the Commentary (Book II).
Heat and cold are relative qualities and pertain to the realms of the manifested worlds, which all proceed from the manifested Hyle , which, in its absolutely latent aspect, is referred to as the "cold Virgin," and when awakened to life, as the "Mother." The ancient Western Cosmogonic myths state that at first there was but cold mist which was the Father, and the prolific slime (the Mother, Ilus or Hyle), from which crept forth the Mundane snake-matter, ( Isis, vol.
i., p.
146).
Primordial matter, then, before it emerges from the plane of the never-manifesting, and awakens to the thrill of action under the impulse of Fohat, is but "a cool Radiance, colourless, formless, tasteless, and devoid of every quality and aspect." Even such are her first-born, the "four sons," who "are One, and become Seven," -- the entities, by whose qualifications and names the ancient Eastern Occultists called the four of the seven primal "centres of Forces," or atoms, that develop later into the great Cosmic "Elements," now divided into the seventy or so sub-elements, known to science.
The four primal natures of the first Dhyan Chohans, are the so-called (for want of better terms) "Akasic," "Ethereal," "Watery," and "Fiery," answering, in the terminology of practical occultism, to scientific definitions of gases, which, to convey a clear idea to both Occultists and laymen, must be defined as Parahydrogenic,* Paraoxygenic, Oxyhydrogenic, and Ozonic, or perhaps Nitr-ozonic; the latter forces or gases (in Occultism, supersensuous, yet atomic substances) being the most effective and active when energising on the plane of more grossly differentiated matter.** These are both electro-positive and electro-negative.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * [[ Para ]], "beyond," outside.
** Each of these and many more are probably the missing links of chemistry.
They are known by other names in Alchemy and to the Occultists who practise in phenomenal powers.
It is by combining and recombining in a certain way (or dissociating) the "Elements" by means of astral fire that the greatest phenomena are produced.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 83 THE WEB OF BEING.
STANZA III.
-- Continued.
10.
F ATHER- M OTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED TO SPIRIT ( Purusha ) , THE LIGHT OF THE ONE DARKNESS, AND THE LOWER ONE TO MATTER ( Prakriti ) ITS ( the Spirit's ) SHADOWY END; AND THIS WEB IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES MADE IN ONE, WHICH IS SWABHAVAT ( a ).
( a ) In the Mandukya (Mundaka) Upanishad it is written, "As a spider throws out and retracts its web, as herbs spring up in the ground .
.
.
so is the Universe derived from the undecaying one" (I.
1.
7).
Brahma, as "the germ of unknown Darkness," is the material from which all evolves and develops "as the web from the spider, as foam from the water," etc.
This is only graphic and true, if Brahma the "Creator" is, as a term, derived from the root brih, to increase or expand.
Brahma "expands" and becomes the Universe woven out of his own substance.
The same idea has been beautifully expressed by Goethe, who says: "Thus at the roaring loom of Time I ply, And weave for God the garment thou see'st Him by." ------- STANZA III.
-- Continued.
`.
I T ( the Web ) EXPANDS WHEN THE BREATH OF FIRE ( the Father ) IS UPON IT; IT CONTRACTS WHEN THE BREATH OF THE MOTHER ( the root of Matter ) TOUCHES IT.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
Astral Fluid is explicitly named as 'the Athanor of the Alchemists' at the lowest rung of the ONE Life, and the 'water of life' and correlations of electricity function as the universal transmitting medium.
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 passage explicitly states that Light, Fire, Flame, Heat, and Water are all 'correlations of ELECTRICITY' on our plane, mapping the same underlying structure across different registers of reality.
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 an explicit narrative of cosmic origin: the One separates into male and female, they spin the web of the universe, the four primal natures emerge, and matter awakens under the impulse of Fohat from cold mist and prolific slime.
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 ONE Life pervades from 'the upper rung of Being' to 'Astral Fluid at its lowest,' and the web of the universe is spun from the One's own substance, suggesting the divine pervades all of creation.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Light is described as 'the essence of our divine ancestors' and the web's upper end is 'the Light of the One Darkness,' connecting luminous quality to the divine.
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 structured descent from the undivided One (Purusha/Prakriti) through the male-female separation, the web of the universe, the four primal natures of the Dhyan Chohans, down to the seventy sub-elements known to science.
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 entire passage is structured around the masculine-feminine generative principle: the One separates into Brahma-vach (female) and Brahma-Viraj (male), Father-Mother spin the web, and the breath of the Father and Mother govern cosmic expansion and contraction.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly notes that the Stanzas use archaic terms and symbols that would be 'entirely unintelligible to a European reader' but 'sufficiently clear' to a student of the Occult, marking the esoteric register of the teaching.
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.
The primordial matter is described as 'eternal and coeval with Space, which has neither a beginning nor an end,' suggesting a boundless universe without 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 passage references the Akasic, Ethereal, Watery, and Fiery natures as 'supersensuous, yet atomic substances' and the Astral Fluid as a non-physical medium, pointing to a non-physical dimension interpenetrating the physical.
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 a directional descent from the undivided One through the male-female separation, through the web, through the four primal natures, to the differentiated sub-elements — a staged process of spirit unfolding into matter.
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.
The web expands with the breath of fire (Father) and contracts with the breath of the Mother (Matter) — the balance of two contrary forces as the structural law of the cosmos.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'two substances made in one, which is Swabhavat' and the 'One Darkness' from which the web is spun represent the absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
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 passage is structured around pervasive polarities — male/female, hot/cold, light/darkness, spirit/matter, expansion/contraction — with 'heat and cold are relative qualities' explicitly stating the identity-in-degree of apparent opposites.
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 final line — 'It expands when the breath of fire is upon it; it contracts when the breath of the Mother touches it' — is a direct expression of measured oscillation between poles operating on the cosmic register.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The 'two substances made in one, which is Swabhavat' and the statement that 'He is Purusha (spirit), but he is also Prakriti (matter)' assert that all existence is ultimately one divine reality despite apparent duality.
The Hermetic doctrine that nothing rests — matter, energy, mind, and spirit are a single continuum differing only in rate of vibration, from the grossest matter to the least material spirit. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (affinity resonating BETWEEN separate things) in being a claim about what constitutes any one thing in the first place, and from magical_equilibrium (Lévi's operational balancing technique, which presupposes some vibration doctrine rather than stating this general principle).
The passage presents a continuum from 'the ONE Life at the upper rung of Being' to 'Astral Fluid at its lowest,' with the progression from cold flame through fire, heat, and water representing degrees of the same underlying reality.
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 'web whose upper end is fastened to Spirit (Purusha) and the lower one to Matter (Prakriti)' is a vertical structure connecting cosmic levels, serving as the cosmos's spine linking the divine and material poles.