Therefore, such being the case, all those who sought to give a name to the incognizable Principle have simply degraded it.
Even to speak of Cosmic Ideation -- save in its phenomenal aspect -- is like trying to bottle up primordial Chaos, or to put a printed label on E TERNITY.
What, then, is the "primordial Substance," that mysterious object of which Alchemy was ever talking, and which became the subject of philosophical speculation in every age?
What can it be finally, even in its phenomenal pre-differentiation?
Even that is ALL in manifested Nature and -- nothing to our senses.
It is mentioned under various names in every Cosmogony, referred to in every philosophy, and shown to be, to this day, the ever grasp-eluding P ROTEUS in Nature.
We touch and do not feel it; we look at it without seeing it; we breathe it and do not perceive it; we hear and smell it without the smallest cognition that it is there; for it is in every molecule of that which in our illusion and ignorance we regard as Matter in any of its states, or conceive as a feeling, a thought, an emotion.
.
.
.
In short, it is the " upadhi ," or vehicle, of every possible phenomenon, whether physical, mental, or psychic.
In the opening sentences of Genesis , as in the Chaldean Cosmogony; in the Puranas of India, and in the Book of the Dead of Egypt, it opens everywhere the cycle of manifestation.
It is termed "Chaos," and the face of the waters, incubated by the Spirit proceeding from the Unknown, under whatever name.
( See " Chaos , Theos , Kosmos.
") The authors of the sacred Scriptures in India go deeper into the origin of things evolved than Thales or Job, for they say: -- "From I NTELLIGENCE (called M AHAT in the Puranas) associated with I GNORANCE (Iswar, as a personal deity) attended by its projective power , in which the quality of dulness ( tamas , insensibility) predominates, proceeds Ether -- from ether, air; from air, heat; from heat, water; and from water, earth "with everything on it." "From THIS, from this same SELF, was the Ether produced," says the Veda.
( Taittiriya Upanishad II .
1).
It becomes thus evident that it is not this Ether -- sprung at the fourth [[Vol.
1, Page]] 331 ETHER, AS ITS NOUMENON.
remove from an Emanation of Intelligence "associated with Ignorance" -- which is the high principle, the deific Entity worshipped by the Greeks and Latins under the name of " Pater omnipotens AEther ," and " Magnus AEther " in its collective aggregates.
The septenary gradation, and the innumerable subdivisions and differences, made by the ancients between the powers of Ether collectively, from its outward fringe of effects, with which our Science is so familiar, up to the "Imponderable Substance," once admitted as the "Ether of Space," now about to be rejected, has been ever a vexing riddle for every branch of knowledge.
The mythologists and symbologists of our day, confused by this incomprehensible glorification, on the one hand, and degradation on the other, of the same deified entity and in the same religious systems, are often driven to the most ludicrous mistakes.
The Church, firm as a rock in each and all of her early errors of interpretation, has made of Ether the abode of her Satanic legions.* The whole hierarchy of the "Fallen" angels is there; the Cosmocratores -- or the "world bearers," (according to Bossuet); Mundi Tenentes -- the "world holders," as Tertullian calls them; and Mundi Domini "world dominations," or rather dominators , the Curbati , or "Curved," etc., who thus make of the stars and celestial orbs in their course -- Devils!
The difference made between the seven states of Ether (itself one of the Seven Cosmic principles), while the AEther of the Ancients is universal Fire , may be seen in the injunctions by Zoroaster and Psellus, respectively.
The former said: "Consult it only when it is without form or figure," absque forma et figura , which means without flames or burning coals.
"When it has a form -- heed it not ," teaches Psellus; "but when it is formless, obey it, for it is then sacred fire , and all it will reveal thee, shall be true."** This proves that Ether, itself an aspect of Akasa, has in its turn several aspects or "principles." All the ancient nations deified AEther in its imponderable aspect and potency.
Virgil calls Jupiter, Pater omnipotens AEther , "the great AEther."*** The Hindus have also placed it among their deities; under the name of Akasa (the synthesis of AEther).
And the author of the Homoiomerian [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * For it is thus that the Church has interpreted verse 12 in the VI.
Chapter to the Ephesians.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Further on St.
Paul mentions the spiritual malices ("wickedness" in English texts) SPREAD IN THE AIR -- " Spiritualia nequitiae coelestibus ," the Latin texts giving various names to these "malices," the innocent "Elementals." But the Church is right this time, though wrong in calling them all devils.
The ASTRAL LIGHT or lower Ether is full of conscious and semi-conscious and unconscious entities; only the church has less power over them than over invisible microbes or mosquitoes.
** Effatum XVI .
"Oracles of Zoroaster." *** Georgica.
Book II.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 332 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
System of philosophy, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, firmly believed that the spiritual prototypes of all things, as well as their elements, were to be found in the boundless Ether where they were generated, whence they evolved, and whither they returned -- an Occult teaching.
It thus becomes clear that it is from Ether in its highest synthetic aspect, once anthropomorphised, that sprung the first idea of a personal creative deity.
With the philosophical Hindus the elements are Tamas , i.e.
, "unenlightened by intellect , which they obscure." We have now to exhaust the question of the mystical meaning of "Primordial Chaos" and of the Root-Principle, and show how they were connected in the ancient philosophies with Akasa, wrongly translated AEther, and also with Maya (illusion) -- of which Ishwara is the male aspect.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The passage's core argument is that the Principle is 'incognizable,' that naming it 'degrades' it, that we 'touch and do not feel it; look without seeing it; breathe and do not perceive it' — a sustained via negativa describing the divine only by what it is not.
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.
The passage explicitly names 'The ASTRAL LIGHT or lower Ether' as full of conscious and semi-conscious entities, and extensively discusses Ether/Akasa as a pervasive medium with multiple aspects, directly cognate with the concept.
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 emphasizes that the same primordial principle is 'mentioned under various names in every Cosmogony, referred to in every philosophy' — Genesis, Chaldean Cosmogony, Puranas, Book of the Dead — mapping one reality across multiple symbolic registers.
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 explicitly narrates cosmic origin: 'From INTELLIGENCE associated with IGNORANCE, attended by its projective power, in which the quality of dulness predominates, proceeds Ether — from ether, air; from air, heat; from heat, water; and from water, earth,' and references Genesis, Chaldean Cosmogony, Puranas, and the Book of the Dead as cosmogonic sources.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The Principle is described as 'the ever grasp-eluding PROTEUS in Nature,' 'nothing to our senses,' the 'Unknown' from which the Spirit proceeds — radical concealment beyond all ordinary perception is a central theme.
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 passage states the primordial substance is 'in every molecule of that which in our illusion and ignorance we regard as Matter in any of its states, or conceive as a feeling, a thought, an emotion,' asserting the divine pervades all of creation.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The passage insists the Principle is 'incognizable,' cannot be named without being 'degraded,' is 'ALL' yet 'nothing to our senses' — a pure undivided being beyond all composite attributes or categories.
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 Taittiriya Upanishad passage explicitly lays out a cascading chain: INTELLIGENCE (MAHAT) associated with IGNORANCE (Iswar) → projective power with tamas → Ether → air → heat → water → earth, a clear downward flow from transcendent source to material multiplicity.
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 a pervasive reality that is 'nothing to our senses' yet present in every molecule, and the Astral Light as full of conscious entities — a non-physical dimension 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 traces a directional descent from the unconditioned Principle through successive stages (Intelligence → Ether → air → heat → water → earth) as a structured process of spirit unfolding into matter, which is the definition of involution.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The entire passage is devoted to describing the 'incognizable Principle' — the absolutely simple, undivided, nameless first substance that is 'ALL in manifested Nature' and from which all multiplicity flows, making it the central theme.
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.
The passage distinguishes between the noumenal Ether (the high principle) and the phenomenal 'Aether of the Ancients' (universal Fire), holding both as legitimate registers of the same reality on different planes.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that the primordial substance is 'ALL in manifested Nature' and is the 'upadhi, or vehicle, of every possible phenomenon, whether physical, mental, or psychic,' claiming one underlying substance for all existence.