I am merged in Sekten." This last sentence gives the corroboration of, and repeats the doctrine of, esoteric Buddhism, for it alludes directly to the fifth principle (Manas), or the most spiritual part of its essence rather, which merges into, is absorbed by, and made one with Atma-Buddhi after the death of man.
For Se-khen is the residence or loka of the god Khem (Horus-Osiris, or Father and Son), hence the "Devachan" of Atma-Buddhi.
In the Ritual of the Dead the defunct is shown entering into Sekhem with Horus-Thot and "emerging from it as pure spirit" (lxiv., 29).
Thus the defunct says (v.
130): "I see the forms of (myself, as various) men transforming eternally .
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I know this (chapter).
He who knows it .
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takes all kinds of living forms." .
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And in verse 35, addressing in magic formula that which is called, in Egyptian esotericism, the "ancestral heart," or the re-incarnating principle, the permanent E GO, the defunct says: -- "Oh my heart, my ancestral heart necessary for my transformations, .
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do not separate thyself from me before the guardian of the Scales.
Thou art my personality within my breast, divine companion watching over my fleshes (bodies).
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." It is in Sekhem that lies concealed "the Mysterious Face," or the real man concealed under the false personality, the triple-crocodile of Egypt, the symbol of the higher Trinity or human Triad, Atma , Buddhi and Manas.* In all the ancient papyri the crocodile is called Sebek (Seventh), while the water is the fifth principle esoterically; and, as already stated, Mr.
Gerald Massey shows that the crocodile was "the Seventh Soul, the supreme one of seven -- the Seer unseen." Even exoterically Sekhem is the residence of the god Khem, and Khem is Horus avenging the death of his father Osiris, hence punishing the Sins of man when he becomes a disembodied Soul.
Thus the defunct [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * One of the explanations of the real though hidden meaning of this Egyptian religious glyph is easy.
The crocodile is the first to await and meet the devouring fires of the morning sun, and very soon came to personify the solar heat.
When the sun arose, it was like the arrival on earth and among men "of the divine soul which informs the Gods." Hence the strange symbolism.
The mummy donned the head of a crocodile to show that it was a soul arriving from the earth.
[[Vol.
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"Osirified" became the god Khem, who "gleans the field of Aanroo ," i.e.
, he gleans either his reward or punishment, as that field is the celestial locality (Devachan) where the defunct is given wheat , the food of divine justice.
The fifth group of the celestial Beings is supposed to contain in itself the dual attributes of both the spiritual and physical aspects of the Universe; the two poles, so to say, of Mahat the Universal Intelligence, and the dual nature of man, the spiritual and the physical.
Hence its number Five, multiplied and made into ten, connecting it with Makara , the 10th sign of Zodiac.
( g ) The sixth and seventh groups partake of the lower qualities of the Quaternary.
They are conscious, ethereal Entities, as invisible as Ether, which are shot out like the boughs of a tree from the first central group of the four, and shoot out in their turn numberless side groups, the lower of which are the Nature-Spirits, or Elementals of countless kinds and varieties; from the formless and unsubstantial -- the ideal THOUGHTS of their creators -- down to the Atomic, though, to human perception, invisible organisms.
The latter are considered as the "Spirits of Atoms" for they are the first remove (backwards) from the physical Atom -- sentient, if not intelligent creatures.
They are all subject to Karma, and have to work it out through every cycle.
For, as the doctrine teaches, there are no such privileged beings in the universe, whether in our or in other systems, in the outer or the inner worlds,* as the angels of the Western Religion and the Judean.
A Dhyan Chohan has to become one; he cannot be born or appear suddenly on the plane of life as a full-blown angel.
The Celestial Hierarchy of the present Manvantara will find itself transferred in the next cycle of life into higher, superior worlds, and will make room for a new hierarchy, composed of the elect ones of our mankind.
Being is an endless cycle within the one absolute eternity, wherein move numberless inner cycles finite and conditioned.
Gods, created as such, would evince no personal merit in being gods.
Such a class of beings, perfect only by virtue of the special immaculate nature inherent in them, in the face of suffering and struggling humanity, and even of the lower creation, would be the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * A world when called "a higher world" is not higher by reason of its location, but because it is superior in quality or essence.
Yet such a world is generally understood by the profane as "Heaven," and located above our heads.
[[Vol.
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symbol of an eternal injustice quite Satanic in character, an ever present crime.
It is an anomaly and an impossibility in Nature.
Therefore the "Four" and the "Three" have to incarnate as all other beings have.
This sixth group, moreover, remains almost inseparable from man, who draws from it all but his highest and lowest principles, or his spirit and body, the five middle human principles being the very essence of those Dhyanis.* Alone, the Divine Ray (the Atman) proceeds directly from the One.
When asked how that can be?
How is it possible to conceive that those "gods," or angels, can be at the same time their own emanations and their personal selves?
Is it in the same sense in the material world, where the son is (in one way) his father, being his blood, the bone of his bone and the flesh of his flesh?
To this the teachers answer "Verily it is so." But one has to go deep into the mystery of BEING before one can fully comprehend this truth.
------- STANZA VII.
-- Continued.
2.
T HE ONE RAY MULTIPLIES THE SMALLER RAYS.
L IFE PRECEDES FORM, AND LIFE SURVIVES THE LAST ATOM ( of Form , Sthula-sarira , external body ) .
T HROUGH THE COUNTLESS RAYS THE LIFE-RAY, THE ONE, LIKE A THREAD THROUGH MANY BEADS ( pearls ) ( a ) .
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 systematically maps Egyptian esoteric symbols (triple-crocodile, Sekhem, Khem) onto Theosophical-Buddhist principles (Atma-Buddhi, Devachan, the five principles), treating each level as a legible map of the others.
Naturally-existing, non-human intelligences native to a single element — earth, air, fire, or water — rather than the fourfold-composite human nature: Paracelsus's gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines; the Deva Kingdom or fairy kingdom of Western occultism, forming their own parallel kingdom capable of incarnating in or forming relationships with humans. Distinct from artificial_elemental (a manufactured thought-entity deliberately created by a single operator, not a naturally-occurring species) and animism (the general doctrine that nature-places host indwelling spirits, of which this is one specific taxonomic system organised around the four elements rather than locality).
Nature-Spirits and Elementals are explicitly described as ethereal, conscious entities shot out from the first central group, forming a parallel kingdom of countless kinds and varieties down to the Atomic.
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 systematically describes a cascade from the One through the Divine Ray (Atman), Dhyan Chohans, celestial hierarchy, Nature-Spirits/Elementals, and Spirits of Atoms, each level derived from the one above.
The passage quotes from the Egyptian Ritual of the Dead, describing the defunct's passage through Sekhem and before the guardian of the Scales, which is a text guiding the soul through death.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly distinguishes the 'real though hidden meaning' of the Egyptian glyph from its exoteric reading, and frames the entire discussion as esoteric interpretation of sacred text.
The deeper aspect of the individual's own consciousness aligned with divine or spiritual truth, distinct from the ego or everyday personality — a locus of guidance and identity that can speak with its own recognisable 'voice' in moments of crisis, carrying memory or knowledge the ordinary self lacks. Distinct from inner_light (a static luminous quality or spark, not an alternate seat of identity and agency) and kingdom_within (the claim that the divine realm generally is present inside the individual, not this specific personal higher consciousness).
The 'Mysterious Face, or the real man concealed under the false personality' and the 'ancestral heart' described as 'my personality within my breast, divine companion watching over my fleshes' point to a deeper aspect of consciousness distinct from the ego.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The passage states that 'the Four and the Three have to incarnate as all other beings have,' and discusses the re-incarnating principle and the defunct taking 'all kinds of living forms' as discrete acts of descent into bodily existence.
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 describes ethereal entities, Nature-Spirits, Elementals, and Spirits of Atoms as conscious beings in a non-physical dimension 'as invisible as Ether' that interpenetrates 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.
Stanza VII's 'The One Ray multiplies the smaller rays. Life precedes form, and life survives the last atom' names the directional process of spirit unfolding into successive planes of form, complemented by the return.
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 principles (Atma, Buddhi, Manas) are presented as mirroring the cosmic structure, with the five middle human principles being 'the very essence of those Dhyanis' and the human Triad corresponding to the cosmic hierarchy.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'one absolute eternity' and the 'One' from which the Divine Ray (Atman) proceeds directly are presented as the absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage describes Manas 'merging into, [being] absorbed by, and made one with Atma-Buddhi after the death of man,' a union of the individual spiritual principle with the higher divine essence.
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 fifth group is described as containing 'the dual attributes of both the spiritual and physical aspects of the Universe; the two poles' of Mahat, presenting opposites as two extremes of the same underlying reality.
Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms.
The Ritual of the Dead passage describes the defunct entering Sekhem with Horus-Thot and 'emerging from it as pure spirit,' a guided passage through afterlife realms.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The defunct 'emerging from [Sekhem] as pure spirit' and the merging of Manas into Atma-Buddhi describe the soul's journey back to its divine origin after the cycle of incarnation.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The 'Mysterious Face, or the real man concealed under the false personality' points to the recognition of one's true nature beneath the surface identity as a prerequisite for spiritual progress.
Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.
The defunct 'sees the forms of (myself, as various) men transforming eternally' and 'takes all kinds of living forms,' presenting form-mutability as a constitutional property of the spiritual being.
The passage explicitly discusses the 're-incarnating principle, the permanent EGO,' the defunct 'taking all kinds of living forms,' and the 'ancestral heart necessary for my transformations,' making transmigration a central theme.
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The defunct 'emerging from [Sekhem] as pure spirit' and the Celestial Hierarchy being 'transferred in the next cycle of life into higher, superior worlds' describe a staged upward movement through realms of being.
A temporary mental construct given visible form on the astral plane by directed imagination — ordinarily without independent life, and dispellable by the same imaginative act that made it, unless invocation of elemental essence or projection of the maker's own force gives it sufficient sustained power to resist unmaking, at which point it escalates into an artificial_elemental. Distinct from artificial_elemental (the escalated, quasi-independently-alive entity this concept precedes and can turn into) and astral_light (the ambient medium in which a thought-form is formulated, not the construct itself).
The Elementals are described as descending 'from the formless and unsubstantial -- the ideal THOUGHTS of their creators -- down to the Atomic,' suggesting these beings originate as mental constructs given form.
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 'triple-crocodile of Egypt, the symbol of the higher Trinity or human Triad, Atma, Buddhi and Manas' explicitly maps a three-aspected divine structure onto the human constitution.
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The human Triad of Atma (spirit), Buddhi (soul/intellect), and Manas (mind) constitutes a threefold division of the human being into spirit, soul, and lower mental principle.