Even AEsculapius, called the "Saviour of all," is identical, according to ancient classics, with Phta , the Egyptian Creative Intellect (or Divine Wisdom), and with Apollo, Baal, Adonis and Hercules ( see Dunlap ' s " Mystery of Adonis ," pp.
23 and 95); and Phta is, in one of its aspects, the "Anima Mundi," the Universal Soul of Plato, the "Divine Spirit" of the Egyptians, the "Holy Ghost" of the early Christians and Gnostics, and the Akasa of the Hindus, and even, in its lower aspect, the Astral Light.
For Phta was originally the "God of the Dead," he in whose bosom they were received, hence the Limbus of the Greek Christians, or the Astral Light.
It is far later that Phta was classed with the Sun-gods, his name signifying "he who opens," as he is shown to be the first to unveil the face of the dead mummy, to call the soul to life in his bosom.
(See Maspero ' s " Bulaq Museum.
") K NEPH, the Eternal Unrevealed , is represented by the snake-emblem of eternity encircling a water-urn, with its head hovering over the " waters " which it incubates with its breath -- another form of one and the same idea of "Darkness," its ray moving on the waters, &c.
As "Logos-Soul," this permutation is called Phta; as Logos-Creator, he becomes Imhot-pou , his son, "the god of the handsome face." In their primitive characters these two were the first Cosmic Duad, Noot , "space or Sky ," and Noo , "the primordial Waters," the Androgyne Unity, above whom was the Concealed B REATH of Kneph.
And all of them had the aquatic animals and plants sacred to them, the ibis , the swan , the goose , the crocodile , and the lotus.
Returning to the Kabalistic deity, this Concealed Unity is then = [[ to pan ]] = [[ apeiros ]], Endless, Boundless, non-Existent, so [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * We use the term as one accepted and sanctioned by use, and therefore more comprehensible to the reader.
[[Vol.
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long as the Absolute is within Oulom , * the boundless and termless time, as such, En-Soph cannot be the Creator or even the modeller of the Universe, nor can he be Aur (light).
Therefore En-Soph is also Darkness.
The immutably Infinite and the absolutely Boundless can neither will, think, nor act.
To do this it has to become finite, and it does so, by its ray penetrating into the mundane egg -- infinite space -- and emanating from it as a finite god.
All this is left to the ray latent in the one.
When the period arrives, the absolute will expands naturally the force within it, according to the Law of which it is the inner and ultimate Essence.
The Hebrews did not adopt the egg as a symbol, but they substituted for it the "Duplex heavens," for, translated correctly, the sentence "God made the heavens and the earth" would read: -- "In and out of his own essence as a womb (the mundane egg), God created the two heavens." But the Christians have chosen as the symbol of their Holy Ghost, the dove.
"Whosoever acquaints himself with the Mercaba and the lahgash (secret speech or incantation), will learn the secret of secrets." Lahgash is nearly identical in meaning with Vach, the hidden power of the Mantras.
When the active period has arrived, from within the eternal essence of Ain-Soph, comes forth Sephira, the active Power, called the Primordial Point, and the Crown, Kether.
It is only through her that the "Un-bounded Wisdom" could give a concrete form to the abstract Thought.
Two sides of the upper triangle by which the ineffable Essence and the universe -- its manifested body -- are symbolized, the right side and the base are composed of unbroken lines; the third, the left side, is dotted.
It is through the latter that emerges Sephira.
Spreading in every direction, she finally encompasses the whole triangle.
In this emanation the triple triad is formed.
From the invisible Dew falling from the higher Uni-triad (thus leaving 7 sephiroths only), the "Head" Sephira creates primeval waters, i.e.
, Chaos takes shape.
It is the first stage towards the solidification of spirit which through various modifications will produce earth.
" It requires earth and water to make a living soul ," says Moses.
It requires the image of an aquatic bird to connect it with water, the female element of procreation with the egg and the bird that fecundates it.
When Sephira emerges like an active power from within the latent Deity, she is female; when she assumes the office of a creator, she becomes a male; hence, she is androgyne.
She is the "Father and [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * With the ancient Jews, as shown by Le Clerc, the word Oulom meant only a time whose beginning or end is not known.
The term "eternity," properly speaking, did not exist in the Hebrew tongue with the meaning, for instance, applied by the Vedantins to Parabrahm.
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Mother Aditi," of the Hindu Cosmogony and of the Secret Doctrine.
If the oldest Hebrew scrolls had been preserved, the modern Jehovah-worshipper would have found that many and uncomely were the symbols of the creative god.
The frog in the moon, typical of his generative character, was the most frequent.
All the birds and animals now held "unclean" in the Bible had been the symbols of the Deity in days of old.
It was because they were too sacred that a mask of uncleanness was placed over them, in order to preserve them from destruction.
The brazen serpent was not a bit more poetical than the goose or swan, if symbols are to be accepted a la lettre.
In the words of the Zohar: "The Indivisible Point, which has no limit and cannot be comprehended because of its purity and brightness, expanded from without , forming a brightness that served the indivisible Point as a veil;" yet the latter also " could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light.
It too expanded from without , and this expansion was its garment.
Thus through a constant upheaving (motion) finally the world originated" ( Zohar I.
20 a ) .
The Spiritual substance sent forth by the Infinite Light is the first Sephira or Shekinah: Sephira exoterically contains all the other nine Sephiroths in her .
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
En-Soph is described as unable to will, think, or act; the Absolute is 'non-Existent'; and the Indivisible Point 'could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light'—the divine is characterized by what it is not and what it cannot do.
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.
Phta is explicitly identified in its lower aspect with the Astral Light, and the Limbus of Greek Christians is equated with it as the bosom that receives the dead.
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 Phta across traditions (Anima Mundi, Divine Spirit, Holy Ghost, Akasa, Astral Light) and Kneph to the Kabbalistic Concealed Unity, reflecting structural parallels across scales and traditions.
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 narrates the full origin of the cosmos: from the Concealed Breath of Kneph, through the ray entering the mundane egg, Sephira emerging to create primeval waters (Chaos), and the first stage toward solidification of spirit producing earth.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
Kneph is explicitly titled 'the Eternal Unrevealed,' the 'Concealed Breath' hovers above the waters, and the Indivisible Point is veiled by its own expansion—radical concealment of the supreme principle is a recurring theme.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The Zohar passage describes the 'Indivisible Point' expanding 'forming a brightness that served the indivisible Point as a veil' and the 'Infinite Light' sending forth spiritual substance, framing divine illumination as the mechanism of emanation.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The Absolute is 'non-Existent,' cannot will, think, or act, and the Zohar's 'Indivisible Point, which has no limit and cannot be comprehended because of its purity' all assert the divine as having no parts or composite attributes.
The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.
En-Soph is the central Kabbalistic concept of the passage, described as the infinite, unknowable divine that cannot be Creator, is Darkness, and from which Sephira emerges as the first emanation.
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 traces a full cascade from the Concealed Unity/Ain-Soph through its ray into the mundane egg, producing Sephira/Kether, then the triple triad and seven sephiroths, each level a further differentiation of the source.
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).
Sephira is explicitly described as female upon emergence and male when assuming the creative office, making her androgyne, and the Cosmic Duad of Noot and Noo embodies the masculine-feminine generative principle at the cosmic level.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage references 'the secret of secrets,' lahgash as 'secret speech or incantation,' and Vach as 'the hidden power of the Mantras,' all pointing to esoteric teachings reserved for the initiated.
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 description of 'the first stage towards the solidification of spirit which through various modifications will produce earth' names a directional process of spirit descending into matter through successive stages.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
Phta is explicitly named 'Logos-Soul' and Imhot-pou 'Logos-Creator,' positioning them as mediating principles between the Concealed Unity and the manifested cosmos.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'Concealed Unity' identified with Pan and Apeiros as 'Endless, Boundless, non-Existent,' and the Zohar's 'Indivisible Point, which has no limit and cannot be comprehended,' both describe the absolutely simple, undivided first principle.
The diagrammatic arrangement of the ten Sephirot as a structured 'Tree of Life' mapping divine and cosmic forces.
The triangle with unbroken right side and base, dotted left side through which Sephira emerges, and the resulting triple triad constitute a diagrammatic arrangement of the sephirothic structure.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
The passage extensively discusses Sephira as the active Power emerging from Ain-Soph, Kether as the Crown, the triple triad, the seven sephiroths, and Shekinah as the first Sephira containing all others.
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 triad' is explicitly formed in the emanation, and the passage maps Phta onto the Holy Ghost, the Concealed Unity onto the Father, and Logos-Creator onto a Son figure, structurally mirroring the triadic pattern.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that Aesculapius, Phta, Apollo, Baal, Adonis, and Hercules are 'identical,' and that the Concealed Unity equals Pan and Apeiros, making the ultimate claim that all divine manifestations are one substance.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
Lahgash is defined as 'secret speech or incantation' and Vach as 'the hidden power of the Mantras,' directly asserting that spoken or uttered word carries causal-magical force in the creative process.