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 immaculate Virgin-Mother, who is overshadowed, not impregnated, by the Universal MYSTERY -- when she emerges from her state of Laya or undifferentiated condition.
In reality, they are, of course, all one; but their aspects on the various planes of being are different.
(See Part II., "Theogony of the Creative Gods.") The first "Primordial" are the highest Beings on the Scale of Existence.
They are the Archangels of Christianity, those who refuse -- as Michael did in the latter system, and as did the eldest "Mind-born sons" of Brahma (Veddhas) -- to create or rather to multiply.
------- STANZA IV.
-- Continued.
3.
F ROM THE EFFULGENCY OF LIGHT -- THE RAY OF THE EVER-DARKNESS -- SPRUNG IN SPACE THE RE-AWAKENED ENERGIES ( Dhyan Chohans ): THE ONE FROM THE EGG, THE SIX AND THE FIVE ( a ); THEN THE THREE, THE ONE, [[Vol.
1, Page]] 89 THE VEHICLE OF THE UNIVERSE.
THE FOUR, THE ONE, THE FIVE -- THE TWICE SEVEN, THE SUM TOTAL ( b ).
AND THESE ARE: THE ESSENCES, THE FLAMES, THE ELEMENTS, THE BUILDERS, THE NUMBERS, THE ARUPA ( formless ) , THE RUPA ( with bodies ), AND THE FORCE OR DIVINE MAN -- THE SUM TOTAL.
A ND FROM THE DIVINE MAN EMANATED THE FORMS, THE SPARKS, THE SACRED ANIMALS, AND THE MESSENGERS OF THE SACRED FATHERS ( the Pitris ) WITHIN THE HOLY FOUR.* ( a ) This relates to the sacred Science of the Numerals: so sacred, indeed, and so important in the study of Occultism that the subject can hardly be skimmed, even in such a large work as the present.
It is on the Hierarchies and correct numbers of these Beings invisible (to us) except upon very rare occasions, that the mystery of the whole Universe is built.
The Kumaras , for instance, are called the "Four" though in reality seven in number, because Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanat-Kumara are the chief Vaidhatra (their patronymic name), as they spring from the "four-fold mystery." To make the whole clearer we have to turn for our illustrations to tenets more familiar to some of our readers, namely, the Brahminical.
According to Manu, Hiranyagarbha is Brahma the first male formed by the undiscernible Causeless CAUSE in a "Golden Egg resplendent as the Sun," as states the Hindu Classical Dictionary.
"Hiranyagarbha" means the golden, or rather the "Effulgent Womb" or Egg.
The meaning tallies awkwardly with the epithet of "male." Surely the esoteric meaning of the sentence is clear enough.
In the Rig Veda it is said: -- " T HAT, the one Lord of all beings .
.
.
.
the one animating principle of gods and man," arose, in the beginning, in the Golden Womb, Hiranyagarbha -- which is the Mundane Egg or sphere of our Universe.
That Being is surely androgynous, and the allegory of Brahma separating into two and recreating in one of his halves (the female Vach) himself as Viraj, is a proof of it.
"The One from the Egg, the Six and the Five," give the number 1065, the value of the first-born (later on the male and female Brahma-Prajapati), who answers to the numbers 7, and 14, and 21 respectively.
The Prajapati are, like the Sephiroth, only seven, including the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The 4, represented in the Occult numerals by the Tetraktis, the Sacred or Perfect Square, is a Sacred Number with the mystics of every nation and race.
It has one and the same significance in Brahmanism, Buddhism, the Kabala and in the Egyptian, Chaldean and other numerical systems.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 90 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
synthetic Sephira of the triad from which they spring.
Thus from Hiranyagarbha or Prajapati, the triune (primeval Vedic Trimurti, Agni, Vayu, and Surya), emanate the other seven, or again ten, if we separate the first three which exist in one, and one in three, all, moreover, being comprehended within that one "supreme" Parama, called Guhya or " secret," and Sarvatma, the "Super-Soul." "The seven Lords of Being lie concealed in Sarvatma like thoughts in one brain." So are the Sephiroth.
It is either seven when counting from the upper Triad headed by Kether, or ten -- exoterically.
In the Mahabharata the Prajapati are 21 in number, or ten, six, and five (1065), thrice seven.* ( b ) "The Three, the One, the Four, the One, the Five" (in their totality -- twice seven) represent 31415 -- the numerical hierarchy of the Dhyan-Chohans of various orders, and of the inner or circumscribed world.** When placed on the boundary of the great circle of "Pass not" (see Stanza V.), called also the Dhyanipasa, the "rope of the Angels," the "rope" that hedges off the phenomenal from the noumenal Kosmos, (not falling within the range of our present objective consciousness); this number, when not enlarged by permutation and expansion, is ever 31415 anagrammatically and Kabalistically, being both the number of the circle and the mystic Svastica, the twice seven once more; for whatever way the two sets of figures are counted, when added separately, one figure after another, whether crossways, from right or from left, they will always yield fourteen.
Mathematically they represent the well-known calculation, namely, that the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of a circle is as 1 to 3.1415, or the value of the (pi), as this ratio is called -- the symbol being always used in [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * In the Kabala the same numbers are a value of Jehovah, viz., 1065, since the numerical values of the three letters which compose his name -- Jod, Vau and twice He -- are respectively 10 ( ), 6 ( ) and 5 ( ); or again thrice seven, 21.
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The Dhyan Chohans are explicitly identified as 'the highest Beings on the Scale of Existence' and compared to Archangels, functioning as divine archetypal beings in the highest realm.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly critiques anthropomorphic language: 'The meaning tallies awkwardly with the epithet of male,' noting the allegorical nature of gendered divine imagery.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The 'Causeless CAUSE' is described as 'undiscernible' and the supreme principle as the 'Universal MYSTERY,' pointing to the divine as beyond positive description.
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 the number four 'has one and the same significance in Brahmanism, Buddhism, the Kabala and in the Egyptian, Chaldean and other numerical systems,' mapping structural correspondences across traditions.
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 explicitly a narrative of cosmic origin — the 'One from the Egg' emerging from the 'Effulgence of Light,' the successive emanations of the Dhyan Chohans, and the formation of the universe from the Golden Womb.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The supreme principle is characterized as the 'Universal MYSTERY,' the 'undiscernible Causeless CAUSE,' and the 'secret' (Guhya) — the radical concealment of the divine beyond ordinary knowledge.
The reunification of complementary divine principles (male-female, spirit-matter) as a symbol of wholeness and salvation.
The androgynous unity of the 'Father-Mother' and the re-union of Brahma with his female half Vach to create Viraj symbolize the reunification of complementary divine principles.
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 centrally describes the cascade of divine beings from the 'One from the Egg' through successive numerical orders (Six and Five, Three, One, Four, One, Five) down to the 'Divine Man' and beyond.
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 passage centrally discusses the masculine-feminine generative principle operating at the highest plane: 'Father-Mother' (Spirit-Hyle), the androgynous Being in the Golden Womb, and Brahma separating into male and female Vach.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage presents itself as esoteric teaching ('the sacred Science of the Numerals'), with the text explicitly framing its content as occult knowledge requiring specialized study.
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 refers to 'Beings invisible (to us) except upon very rare occasions' and the 'inner or circumscribed world' as a non-physical dimension 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 directional descent from the unconditioned 'Causeless CAUSE' through successive planes — the re-awakened energies, the hierarchical orders, down to the 'Divine Man' and the forms — as a staged process.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The entire passage is devoted to numerical hierarchies — 1065, 31415, pi, the Tetraktis, the sacred numbers, the numerical values of divine names — as the underlying structure of divine reality and cosmic organization.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
'In reality, they are, of course, all one' marks the dissolution of the binary oppositions (male/female, many/one) as a mark of ultimate spiritual completion.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The passage employs paradox throughout — the androgynous 'male' in the 'Golden Womb,' the 'One' that is also many, the 'Ever-Darkness' producing 'Effulgence of Light' — to destabilize ordinary understanding.
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 androgynous Being separating into male and female halves (Brahma and Vach) illustrates the principle of apparent opposites as aspects of one reality.
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
'In reality, they are, of course, all one; but their aspects on the various planes of being are different' holds two registers of truth as legitimate on their own plane.
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/Manvantara cycle ('Latent, during Pralaya, and active, during Manvantara') describes a measured cosmic oscillation between dormancy and activity.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The numerical values of the letters of Jehovah's name are presented as carrying ontological significance, with the name's components (10+6+5=21) encoding cosmological structure.
The diagrammatic arrangement of the ten Sephirot as a structured 'Tree of Life' mapping divine and cosmic forces.
The passage describes the structured arrangement of the Sephiroth as seven from the upper Triad headed by Kether, or ten exoterically, mapping the hierarchical structure.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
The Sephiroth are explicitly discussed — 'The Prajapati are, like the Sephiroth, only seven' — with the triad, Kether, and the tenfold structure all referenced.
The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.
The passage explicitly discusses triadic structures: the 'primeval Vedic Trimurti, Agni, Vayu, and Surya,' the triad in the Sephiroth, and the 'four-fold mystery' from which the Kumaras spring.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
'In reality, they are, of course, all one; but their aspects on the various planes of being are different' is a direct statement of non-dual unity underlying all apparent multiplicity.