We shall speak further on of the intelligent "principle," or rather of the invisible immaterial properties, in the visible and material elements, that "sprung from the primordial Chaos." For, "What is the primordial Chaos but AEther?" it is asked in "ISIS UNVEILED." Not the modern Ether; not such as is recognised now, but such as was known to the ancient philosophers long before the time of Moses; but AEther, with all its mysterious and occult properties, containing in itself the germs of universal creation.
Upper A Ether or Akasa, is the celestial virgin and mother of every existing form and being, from whose bosom, as soon as "incubated" by the Divine Spirit, are called into existence Matter and Life, Force and Action.
AEther is the Aditi of the Hindus, and it is Akasa.
Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and chemical action are so little understood even now that fresh facts are constantly widening the range of our knowledge.
Who knows where ends the power of this protean giant -- AEther; or whence its mysterious origin?
Who, we mean, that denies the spirit that works in it, and evolves out of it all visible forms?
It will be an easy task to show that the cosmogonical legends all over the world are based on a knowledge by the ancients of those sciences, which have allied themselves in our days in support of the doctrine of evolution; and that further research may demonstrate that those ancients were far better acquainted with the fact of evolution itself, embracing both its physical and spiritual aspects, than we are now.
"With the old philosophers, evolution was a universal theorem, a doctrine embracing the whole , and an established principle; while our modern evolutionists are enabled to present us merely with speculative theoretics; with particular , if not wholly negative theorems.
It is idle for the representatives of our modern wisdom to close the debate and pretend that the question is settled, merely because the obscure phraseology of the Mosaic, far later, account clashes with the definite exegesis of 'Exact Science'" (" Isis Unveiled ") .
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 333 WHAT MANU SAYS OF THIS.
If one turns to the "Laws (or Ordinances) of Manu," one finds the prototype of all these ideas.
Mostly lost (to the Western world) in their original form, disfigured by later interpolations and additions, they have, nevertheless, preserved quite enough of their ancient Spirit to show its character.
"Removing the darkness, the Self-existent Lord" ( Vishnu , Narayana , etc.
) becoming manifest, and "wishing to produce beings from his Essence, created, in the beginning, water alone.
In that he cast seed.
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That became a golden Egg." (V.
6, 7, 8, 9.) Whence this Self-existent Lord?
It is called THIS, and is spoken of as "Darkness, imperceptible, without definite qualities, undiscoverable as if wholly in sleep." (V.
5.) Having dwelt in that Egg for a whole divine year, he "who is called in the world Brahma," splits that Egg in two, and from the upper portion he forms the heaven, from the lower the earth, and from the middle the sky and "the perpetual place of waters." (12, 13.) But there is, directly following these verses, something more important for us, as it corroborates entirely our esoteric teachings.
From verse 14 to 36, evolution is given in the order described in the Esoteric philosophy.
This cannot be easily gainsaid.
Even Medhatithi, the son of Viraswamin, and the author of the Commentary, "the Manubhasya," whose date, according to the western Orientalists, is 1,000 A.D., helps us with his remarks to the elucidation of the truth.
He showed himself either unwilling to give out more, because he knew that truth which has to be kept from the profane, or else he was really puzzled.
Still, what he does give out makes the septenary principle in men and nature plain enough.
Let us begin with Chapter 1.
of the "Ordinances" or "Laws" after the Self-existent Lord, the unmanifesting Logos of the Unknown "Darkness," becomes manifested in the golden Egg.
It is from this "Egg," from ---- (11.) That which is the undiscrete (undifferentiated) cause, eternal, which Is and Is not , from It issued that male who is called in the world Brahma.
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Here we find, as in all genuine philosophical systems, even the "Egg" or the Circle (or Zero), boundless Infinity, referred to as I T,* and Brahma, the first unit only, referred to as the male god, i.e.
, the fructifying Principle.
It is or 10 (ten) the Decade.
On the plane of the Septenary or our World only, it is called Brahma.
On that of the Unified Decade in the realm of Reality, this male Brahma is an illusion.
(14.) "From Self ( atmanah ) he created mind, (1) which is and is not; [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- The ideal apex of the Pythagorean triangle: vide Sections in Vol.
II., "Cross and Circle," and the "Earliest Symbolics of the Cross." [[Vol.
1, Page]] 334 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
(2) and from mind, Ego-ism (Self-Consciousness) the ruler; (3) the Lord." (1.) The mind is Manas.
Medhatithi, the commentator, justly observes here that it is the reverse of this and shows already interpolation and rearranging; for it is Manas that springs from Ahamkara or (Universal) Self-Consciousness, as Manas in the microcosm springs from Mahat, or Maha-Buddhi (Buddhi, in man).
For Manas is dual, and as shown and translated by Colebrooke, "is serving both for sense and action , is an organ by affinity, being cognate with the rest." "The rest" means, here, that Manas, our fifth principle (the fifth, because the body was named the first , which is the reverse of the true philosophical order)* is in affinity both with Atma-Buddhi and with the lower four principles.
Hence, our teaching: namely, that Manas follows Atma-Buddhi to Devachan, and that the lower (dregs, the residue of) Manas remains with Kama rupa, in Limbus , or Kama-loka, the abode of the "Shells." (2.) Such is the meaning of Manas , which " is , and is not.
" (3.) Medhatithi translates it as "the one conscious of the I," or Ego, not "ruler," as the Orientalists do.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The ultimate source is described as 'Darkness, imperceptible, without definite qualities, undiscoverable as if wholly in sleep' and 'which Is and Is not' — a description by negation and paradox that the divine transcends all positive categories.
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.
AEther/Akasa is described as the primordial medium 'containing in itself the germs of universal creation' from which all forms and forces emerge, functioning as the universal transmitting substance cognate with akasha.
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 'the septenary principle in men and nature' and shows how Manas in the microcosm mirrors the cosmic structure, making each level a legible map of the others.
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's central narrative is the golden Egg cosmogony from the Laws of Manu — the Self-existent Lord in Darkness creating water, casting seed, forming the Egg, splitting it into heaven, earth, and sky — a temporally-narrative account of cosmic origin.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The supreme source is the 'Unknown Darkness,' 'imperceptible, without definite qualities, undiscoverable as if wholly in sleep' — the radical concealment of the ultimate beyond ordinary knowledge or perception.
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.
AEther is described as pervading 'the visible and material elements' with 'invisible immaterial properties' and as containing 'the germs of universal creation' within itself, suggesting the divine pervades all of creation rather than remaining solely transcendent.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The first principle is 'the undiscrete (undifferentiated) cause, eternal' — the Egg or Circle or Zero, boundless Infinity — pure undivided being with no parts or composite attributes.
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 lays out a clear cascading descent from the undiscrete cause (IT/Zero) through Brahma, Mind, Ego-ism, and the septenary/decade principles, each level flowing from the one above.
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).
AEther is the 'celestial virgin and mother' (feminine) while Brahma is 'that male who is called in the world Brahma, i.e., the fructifying Principle' (masculine), establishing the masculine-feminine generative principle as a structural feature of creation at the highest level.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
Medhatithi 'showed himself either unwilling to give out more, because he knew that truth which has to be kept from the profane' — esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them, with outer meaning concealing inner truth.
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 entire framework of AEther/Akasa as containing 'invisible immaterial properties' in visible elements, plus Devachan, Kama-loka, and the subtle planes of Manas and Buddhi, constitutes 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 describes evolution 'embracing both its physical and spiritual aspects' as a staged descent from the unconditioned principle through successive planes, with the septenary order given 'in the order described in the Esoteric philosophy,' complemented by the return (Devachan).
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage explicitly names 'the unmanifesting Logos of the Unknown Darkness' as the principle that becomes manifested in the golden Egg, mediating between the transcendent source and the created world.
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's septenary structure (body, Kama-rupa, lower Manas, higher Manas, Buddhi, Atma) is presented as a small-scale image of the cosmic order, with Manas in the microcosm springing from Mahat just as in the macrocosm.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'undiscrete (undifferentiated) cause, eternal, which Is and Is not' — the Egg, Circle, or Zero, boundless Infinity referred to as IT — is the absolutely simple first principle from which all multiplicity flows, and it is the structural anchor of the entire passage.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage explicitly maps the cosmogony onto the Decade (10) and the Septenary (7), with 'It is or 10 (ten) the Decade' and 'On the plane of the Septenary or our World only,' using numbers as the structural architecture of divine 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.
The passage distinguishes between 'On the plane of the Septenary or our World only, it is called Brahma' and 'On that of the Unified Decade in the realm of Reality, this male Brahma is an illusion' — two coexisting registers of truth, one relative to the world-plane and one absolute.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage presents all of existence as flowing from a single undivided source (IT/Zero/AEther) and describes the cosmos as one continuum of properties emanating from that one principle, implying non-duality as the underlying theological claim.