Thus " S ATAN," once he ceases to be viewed in the superstitious, dogmatic, unphilosophical spirit of the Churches, grows into the grandiose image of one who made of terrestrial a divine MAN; who gave him, throughout the long cycle of Maha-kalpa the law of the Spirit of Life, and made him free from the Sin of Ignorance, hence of death.
(See the Section On Satan in Part II.
Vol.
II.) [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Jehovah's connection with the moon in the Kabala is well known to students.
** About the Nazarenes see Isis , Vol.
II.
p .
131 and 132; the true followers of the true Christos were all Nazarenes and Christians, and were the opponents of the later Christians.
*** Vide supra , the diagram of the lunar ring of seven worlds, where, as in our or any other chain, the upper worlds are spiritual, while the lowest, whether Moon, Earth, or any planet, is dark with matter.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 199 THE SEVEN PLANES.
STANZA VI.
-- Continued.
6.
T HE OLDER WHEELS ROTATED DOWNWARD AND UPWARD ( a ).
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T HE M OTHER'S SPAWN FILLED THE WHOLE ( Kosmos ) .* T HERE WERE BATTLES FOUGHT BETWEEN THE C REATORS AND THE D ESTROYERS, AND BATTLES FOUGHT FOR S PACE; THE SEED APPEARING AND REAPPEARING CONTINUOUSLY ( b ).** ( a ) Here, having finished for the time being with our side-issues -- which, however they may break the flow of the narrative, are necessary for the elucidation of the whole scheme -- the reader must return once more to Cosmogony.
The phrase "Older wheels" refers to the worlds or Globes of our chain as they were during the "previous Rounds." The present Stanza, when explained esoterically, is found embodied entirely in the Kabalistic works.
Therein will be found the very history of the evolution of those countless Globes which evolve after a periodical Pralaya, rebuilt from old material into new forms.
The previous Globes disintegrate and reappear transformed and perfected for a new phase of life.
In the Kabala, worlds are compared to sparks which fly from under the hammer of the great Architect -- LAW, the law which rules all the smaller Creators.
The following comparative diagram shows the identity between the two systems, the Kabalistic and the Eastern.
The three upper are the three higher planes of consciousness, revealed and explained in both schools only to the Initiates, the lower ones represent the four lower planes -- the lowest being our plane, or the visible Universe.
These seven planes correspond to the seven states of consciousness in man.
It remains with him to attune the three higher states in himself to the three higher planes in Kosmos.
But before he can attempt to attune, he must awaken the three "seats" to life and activity.
And how many are capable of bringing themselves to even a superficial comprehension of Atma-Vidya (Spirit-Knowledge), or what is called by the Sufis, Rohanee!
In Section the VII th of this Book, in Sub-section 3, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The reader is reminded that Kosmos often means in our Stanzas only our own Solar System, not the Infinite Universe.
** This is purely astronomical.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 200 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
the reader will find a still clearer explanation of the above in the Commentary upon Saptaparna -- the man-plant.
See also the Section of that name in Part II.
[[Footnote(s) to diagram ------------------------------------------------- ]] * The Arupa or "formless," there where form ceases to exist, on the objective plane.
† The word "Archetypal" must not be taken here in the sense that the Platonists gave to it, i.e.
, the world as it existed in the Mind of the Deity; but in that of a world made as a first model, to be followed and improved upon by the worlds which succeed it physically -- though deteriorating in purity.
‡ These are the four lower planes of Cosmic Consciousness, the three higher planes being inaccessible to human intellect as developed at present.
The seven states of human consciousness pertain to quite another question.
------------- ( b ) "The Seed appears and disappears continuously." Here "Seed" stands for "the World-germ," viewed by Science as material particles in a highly attenuated condition, but in Occult physics as "Spiritual particles," i.e.
, supersensuous matter existing in a state of primeval [[Vol.
1, Page]] 201 NO SHADOW, NO LIGHT.
differentiation.* In theogony, every Seed is an ethereal organism, from which evolves later on a celestial being, a God.
In the "beginning," that which is called in mystic phraseology "Cosmic Desire " evolves into absolute Light.
Now light without any shadow would be absolute light -- in other words, absolute darkness -- as physical science seeks to prove.
That shadow appears under the form of primordial matter, allegorized -- if one likes -- in the shape of the Spirit of Creative Fire or Heat.
If, rejecting the poetical form and allegory, science chooses to see in this the primordial Fire-Mist, it is welcome to do so.
Whether one way or the other, whether Fohat or the famous FORCE of Science, nameless, and as difficult of definition as our Fohat himself, that Something "caused the Universe to move with circular motion," as Plato has it; or, as the Occult teaching expresses it: " The Central Sun causes Fohat to collect primordial dust in the form of balls , to impel them to move in converging lines and finally to approach each other and aggregate.
" ( Book of Dzyan ) .
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" Being scattered in Space , without order or system , the world-germs come into frequent collision until their final aggregation , after which they become wanderers ( Comets ) .
Then the battles and struggles begin.
The older ( bodies ) attract the younger , while others repel them.
Many perish , devoured by their stronger companions.
Those that escape become worlds.
" ** [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * To see and appreciate the difference -- the immense gulf that separates terrestrial matter from the finer grades of supersensuous matter -- every astronomer, every chemist and physicist ought to be a psychometer , to say the least; he ought to be able to sense for himself that difference in which he now refuses to believe.
Mrs.
Elizabeth Denton, one of the most learned, and also one of the most materialistic and sceptical women of her age -- the wife of Professor Denton, the well-known American geologist and the author of "The Soul of Things" -- was, nevertheless, one of the most wonderful psychometers some years ago.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The previous Globes 'disintegrate and reappear transformed and perfected for a new phase of life' after a periodical Pralaya, indicating periodic cosmic restoration and recurrence.
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 'These seven planes correspond to the seven states of consciousness in man' and that the human must 'attune the three higher states in himself to the three higher planes in Kosmos,' making the as-above-so-below axiom a central structural claim.
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 Stanza VI passage narrates the origin of the world-germs, their collision and aggregation, the formation of comets and worlds, and the battles between Creators and Destroyers — a full 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 describes a seven-plane hierarchy (three higher spiritual, four lower material) with a chain of globes evolving from higher to lower, and the Kabalistic comparison of worlds as sparks from the Architect's hammer.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Atma-Vidya (Spirit-Knowledge) and the Sufi Rohanee are invoked as forms of direct experiential spiritual knowledge accessible to those who attune their higher states.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The Stanza is 'explained esoterically' and the three higher planes are 'revealed and explained in both schools only to the Initiates,' making the concealment of inner meaning a structural feature of the teaching.
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 three higher planes of consciousness, the Arupa (formless) realm, and supersensuous matter existing in primeval differentiation all describe non-physical dimensions interpenetrating the physical world.
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 process of Cosmic Desire evolving into Light, then shadow/primordial matter, then aggregation into worlds — a staged descent from spirit to matter complemented by the 'upward' rotation of the older wheels.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The human being is presented as the privileged mirror of the cosmos, with seven states of consciousness mapping directly onto the seven cosmic planes.
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 statement that 'light without any shadow would be absolute light — in other words, absolute darkness' is a direct expression of the doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature, differing only in degree.