) But now the Elements are degraded into and limited to atoms of which nothing is known, so far, and which are only "children of necessity" as Ether is too -- as we said in " I SIS." "The poor primordial elements have long been exiled, and our ambitious physicists run races to determine who shall add one more to the fledgling brood of the sixty and odd elementary substances." Meanwhile there rages a war in modern chemistry about terms.
We are denied the right to call these substances "chemical elements," for they are not "primordial principles of self-existing essences out of which the universe was fashioned," according to Plato.
Such ideas associated with the word element were good enough for the "old Greek philosophy," but modern science rejects them; for, as Professor Crookes says, "they are unfortunate terms," and experimental science will have "nothing to do with any kind of essences except those which it can see, smell, or taste.
It leaves others to the metaphysicians.
.
.
." We must feel grateful even for so much.
** Writing upon this subject in Isis Unveiled we said of it that it was: "The Chaos of the ancients, the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the Atash-Behram of the Parsees; the Hermes-fire, the Elmes-fire of the ancient Germans; the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that of Vesta; the fire-flame of Pluto's helm; the brilliant sparks on the hats of the Dioscuri, on the Gorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury; the Egyptian Phtha-Ra; the Grecian Zeus Cataibates (the descending) of Pausanias; the pentacostal fire-tongues; the burning bush of Moses; the pillar of fire of the Exodus , and the "burning lamp" of Abram, the eternal fire of the "bottomless pit"; the Delphic oracular vapours; the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the A KASA of the Hindu adepts; the Astral Light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists; the od of the Reichenbach; the Psychod and ectenic force of Thury; the psychic force of Sergeant Cox, and the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists; galvanism; and finally, electricity -- all these are but various names for many different manifestations or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause, the Greek Archeus.
" We now add -- it is all this and much more.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 339 THE MYSTIC FIRE.
Light" and Magnes.
As truly expressed by an opponent, Magus and magnes are two branches growing from the same trunk and shooting forth the same resultants.
And in this appellation of "living fire" we may also discover the meaning of the puzzling sentence in the Zend-Avesta saying that there is "a fire that gives knowledge of the future.
Science and amiable speech," i.e.
, develops an extraordinary eloquence in the sybil, the sensitive, and even some orators.
This "fire" is spoken of in all the Hindu Books, as also in the Kabalistic works.
The Zohar explains it as the "white hidden fire, in the Resha trivrah " (the White Head), whose Will causes the fiery fluid to flow in 370 currents in every direction of the universe.
It is identical with the "Serpent that runs with 370 leaps" of the Siphrah Dzenioota , which, when the "Perfect Man," the Metatron, is raised , i.e.
, when the divine man indwells in the animal man, it, the Serpent, becomes three spirits , that is to say, is Atma-Buddhi-Manas, in our theosophical phraseology.
(Vide Part II.
in Vol.
II., §§ 3, "The Many Meanings of the War in Heaven.") Spirit, then, or Cosmic Ideation, and Cosmic Substance -- one of whose principles is Ether -- are one , and include the ELEMENTS, in the sense St.
Paul attaches to them.
These Elements are the veiled Synthesis standing for Dhyan Chohans, Devas, Sephiroth, Amshaspends, Archangels, etc., etc.
The Ether of science -- the Ilus of Berosus, or the Protyle of Chemistry -- constitutes, so to speak, the rude material (relatively) out of which the above-named "Builders," following the plan traced out for them eternally in the DIVINE THOUGHT, fashion the systems in the Cosmos.
They are "myths," we are told.
"No more so than Ether and the Atoms," we answer.
The two latter are absolute necessities of physical science; the "Builders" are as absolute a necessity of metaphysics.
We are twitted with: "You never saw them.
" We ask the materialists: "Have you ever seen Ether, or your Atoms , or, again, your FORCE?" Moreover, one of the greatest Western Evolutionists of our modern day, the coadjutor of Darwin, Mr.
A.
R.
Wallace, when discussing the inadequacy of Natural Selection alone to account for the physical form of Man, admits the guiding action of "higher intelligences" as a " necessary part of the great laws which govern the material Universe" (" Contributions to Theory of Natural Selection ") .
These "higher intelligences" are the Dhyan Chohans of the Occultists.
Indeed, there are few Myths in any religious system worthy of the name, but have an historical as well as a scientific foundation.
"Myths," justly observes Pococke, "are now proved to be fables, just in proportion as we misunderstand them; truths , in proportion as they were once understood.
" The one prevailing, most distinct idea -- found in all ancient teaching, [[Vol.
1, Page]] 340 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
with reference to Cosmic Evolution and the first "creation" of our Globe with all its products, organic and inorganic (strange word for an Occultist to use) -- is that the whole Kosmos has sprung from the DIVINE THOUGHT.
This thought impregnates matter, which is co-eternal with the ONE REALITY; and all that lives and breathes evolves from the emanations of the ONE Immutable -- Parabrahm = Mulaprakriti, the eternal one-root.
The former of these is, so to say, the aspect of the central point turned inward into regions quite inaccessible to human intellect, and is absolute abstraction; whereas, in its aspect as Mulaprakriti -- the eternal root of all, -- it gives one some hazy comprehension at least of the Mystery of Being.
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 entire long list (A KASA, Astral Light of Eliphas Levi, nerve-aura, od, Psychod, Archeus, etc.) is explicitly presented as 'various names for many different manifestations or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause,' making this the central subject of the passage.
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's extensive list of cross-cultural names for the same principle (Greek, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Kabbalistic, Egyptian, etc.) implies a structural correspondence between different levels and traditions of the same reality.
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 presents a doctrine of cosmic origin: 'the whole Kosmos has sprung from the DIVINE THOUGHT' which 'impregnates matter, which is co-eternal with the ONE REALITY,' and 'all that lives and breathes evolves from the emanations of the ONE Immutable.'
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The 'Mystic Fire' is described as the 'Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians' and 'Astral Light,' and the Zohar's 'white hidden fire' whose Will causes the fiery fluid to flow — light as the luminous quality of the divine.
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 explicitly describes a cascade from the ONE REALITY through Divine Thought, Dhyan Chohans/Devas/Sephiroth/Amshaspends/Archangels (the 'Builders'), down to the systems in the Cosmos, each level derived from the one above.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage presents 'the veiled Synthesis' and positions itself as esoteric knowledge ('Occultists') contrasted with materialist rejection, framing the teaching as hidden truth accessible only to the initiated.
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 argues that Dhyan Chohans, Devas, and other 'Builders' are 'an absolute necessity of metaphysics' — non-physical beings and forces that operate in a dimension imperceptible to physical senses yet causally active in the cosmos.
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 a structured descent: ONE REALITY → Divine Thought → Builders (Dhyan Chohans, Devas, etc.) → systems in the Cosmos, a directional process from unconditioned principle through successive planes to materialization.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage states 'the whole Kosmos has sprung from the DIVINE THOUGHT' which 'impregnates matter,' making the Divine Thought the ordering principle through which the universe was created.
The Hermetic doctrine that THE ALL is Mind, and the Universe is mental in nature — a created thought held in the mind of THE ALL. Distinct from unity_of_being in specifying WHAT the underlying oneness is (mind, not an unspecified single substance), and from logos (a mediating ordering word BETWEEN a transcendent God and a separate material world) in collapsing that mediation entirely — under mentalism there is no world outside mind to mediate to.
The passage states the Kosmos 'has sprung from the DIVINE THOUGHT' and that 'Spirit, or Cosmic Ideation, and Cosmic Substance...are one,' collapsing the distinction between mind and matter into a single mental/ideational reality.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'ONE REALITY' and 'Parabrahm = Mulaprakriti, the eternal one-root' are presented as the absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
Sephiroth are explicitly named among the 'Builders' (Dhyan Chohans, Devas, Sephiroth, Amshaspends, Archangels) who fashion the systems in the Cosmos following the plan in the Divine Thought.
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The passage explicitly uses the theosophical formula 'Atma-Buddhi-Manas' (Spirit, Higher Soul, Mind) as a threefold division of the human or cosmic being.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts 'Spirit, then, or Cosmic Ideation, and Cosmic Substance...are one' and that all flows from 'the ONE Immutable — Parabrahm = Mulaprakriti, the eternal one-root,' presenting all existence as ultimately one divine reality.