Isis is also mystic Nature and also Earth; and her cow's horns identify her with Vach.
The latter, after having been recognised in her highest form as para , becomes at the lower or material end of creation -- Vaikhari.
Hence she is mystic, though physical, Nature, with all her magic ways and properties.
Again, as goddess of Speech and of Sound, and a permutation of Aditi -- she is Chaos , in one sense.
At any rate, she is the "Mother of the gods," and it is from Brahma (Iswara, or the Logos) and Vach, as from Adam Kadmon and Sephira, that the real manifested theogony has to start.
Beyond, all is darkness and abstract speculation.
With the Dhyan Chohans, or the gods, the Seers, the Prophets and the adepts in general are on firm ground.
Whether as Aditi, or the divine Sophia of the Greek Gnostics, she is the mother of the seven sons: the "Angels of the Face," of the "Deep," or the "Great Green One" of the "Book of the Dead." Says the Book of Dzyan (Knowledge through meditation) -- " The great mother lay with , and the |, and the , the second | and the * in her bosom , ready to bring them forth , the valiant sons of the || (or 4,320,000, the Cycle ) whose two elders are the and the ( Point ) .
" At the beginning of every cycle of 4,320,000, the Seven (or, as some nations had it, eight) great gods, descended to establish the new order of things and give the impetus to the new cycle.
That eighth god was the unifying Circle or L OGOS, separated and made distinct from its host, in exoteric dogma, just as the three divine hypostases of the ancient Greeks are now considered in the Churches as three distinct personae.
"The M IGHTY O NES perform their great works, and leave behind them everlasting monuments to commemorate their visit, every time they penetrate within our mayavic veil (atmosphere)," says a [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * 31415, or [[pi]].
The synthesis, or the Host unified in the Logos and the Point called in Roman Catholicism the "Angel of the Face," and in Hebrew "who is (like unto, or the same) as God" -- the manifested representation.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 435 ANTIQUITY OF THE PYRAMIDS.
Commentary.* Thus we are taught that the great Pyramids were built under their direct supervision, "when Dhruva (the then Pole-star) was at his lowest culmination, and the Krittika (Pleiades) looked over his head (were on the same meridian but above) to watch the work of the giants." Thus, as the first Pyramids were built at the beginning of a Sidereal year, under Dhruva (Alpha Polaris), it must have been over 31,000 years (31,105) ago.
Bunsen was right in admitting for Egypt an antiquity of over 21,000 years, but this concession hardly exhausts truth and fact in this question.
"The stories told by Egyptian priests and others of time-keeping in Egypt, are now beginning to look less like lies in the sight of all who have escaped from biblical bondage," writes the author of " The Natural Genesis.
" "Inscriptions have lately been found at Sakkarah, making mention of two Sothiac cycles .
.
.
registered at that time, now some 6,000 years ago.
Thus when Herodotus was in Egypt, the Egyptians had -- as now known -- observed at least five different Sothiac cycles of 1,461 years.
The priests informed the Greek inquirer that time had been reckoned by them for so long that the sun had twice risen where it then set, and twice set where it then arose.
This .
.
.
can only be realized as a fact in nature by means of two cycles of Precession, or a period of 51,736 years," (vol.
ii, p.
318.
But see in our Book II., " C HRONOLOGY OF THE B RAHMINS.") Mor Isaac ( See Kircher's OEdipus , vol.
ii.
, p.
425) shows the ancient Syrians defining their world of the "Rulers" and "active gods" in the same way as the Chaldeans.
The lowest world was the S UBLUNARY -- our own -- watched by the "Angels" of the first or lower order; the one that came next in rank, was Mercury, ruled by the " A RCHANGELS"; then came Venus, whose gods were the P RINCIPALITIES; the fourth was that of the S UN, the domain and region of the highest and mightiest gods of our system, the solar gods of all nations; the fifth was Mars, ruled by the " V IRTUES"; the sixth -- that of Bel or Jupiter -- was governed by the D OMINIONS; the seventh -- the world of Saturn -- by the T HRONES.
These are the worlds of form.
Above come the four higher ones, making seven again, since the three highest are "unmentionable and unpronounceable." The eighth, composed of 1,122 stars, is the domain of the Cherubs; the ninth, belonging to the walking and numberless stars on account of their distance, has the seraphs; as to the tenth -- Kircher, quoting Mor Isaac, says that it is composed "of invisible stars that could be taken, they said, for clouds -- so massed are they in the zone that we call Via Straminis , the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Appearing at the beginning of Cycles, as also of every sidereal year (of 25,868 years) therefore the Kabeiri or Kabarim received their name in Chaldea, as it means the measures of Heaven from Kob -- measure of, and Urim -- heavens.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 436 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Milky Way"; and he hastens to explain that "these are the stars of Lucifer, engulfed with him in his terrible shipwreck." That which comes after and beyond the tenth world (our Quaternary, or the Arupa world), the Syrians could not tell.
"All they knew was that it is there that begins the vast and incomprehensible ocean of the infinite, the abode of the true divinity without boundary or end." Champollion shows the same belief among the Egyptians.
Hermes having spoken of the Father-Mother and Son, whose spirit (collectively the DIVINE FIAT) shapes the Universe, says: -- " Seven Agents (mediums) were also formed, to contain the material (or manifested) worlds, within their respective circles and the action of these agents was named DESTINY." He further enumerates seven and ten and twelve orders, which would take too long to detail here.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The explicit statement that 'at the beginning of every cycle of 4,320,000, the Seven great gods descended to establish the new order of things and give the impetus to the new cycle' describes periodic cosmic restoration and recurrence.
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 mapping of Vach to Isis, Sephira to Vach, and the systematic correspondence between planetary spheres and angelic orders (Mercury-Angels, Venus-Principalities, Sun-highest gods, etc.) exemplifies the 'as above, so below' principle.
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 origin of the manifested theogony from Brahma/Logos and Vach/Sephira, the 'great mother' bringing forth her sons at the beginning of each cycle, and the establishment of the new order by descending gods.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The passage states that beyond the Dhyan Chohans 'all is darkness and abstract speculation,' and the three highest worlds are 'unmentionable and unpronounceable,' indicating the supreme divine reality's radical concealment.
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 is structured around a cascading hierarchy from the highest (para/Vach, the 'vast and incomprehensible ocean of the infinite') through the ten worlds of Mor Isaac down to the sublunary, with the Logos as unifying circle and the 'Mother of the gods' begetting successive orders of beings.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage draws explicit parallels between Egyptian, Greek, Chaldean, and Syrian traditions as sharing the same secret knowledge, implying a chain of transmission across cultures.
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).
Hermes' 'Father-Mother and Son' triad, the 'great mother' with her valiant sons, and Vach as both the goddess of Speech and the feminine counterpart to Brahma/Logos demonstrate the masculine-feminine generative principle operating at the highest cosmic level.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The Book of Dzyan is explicitly defined as 'Knowledge through meditation,' positioning direct experiential knowledge as the mode of accessing these cosmic truths.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The three highest worlds are described as 'unmentionable and unpronounceable,' and the passage states that 'beyond, all is darkness and abstract speculation,' indicating limits to what can be expressed of the highest mysteries.
The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.
Beyond the tenth world, 'the vast and incomprehensible ocean of the infinite, the abode of the true divinity without boundary or end' describes a cosmos without limit or circumference.
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 multiple non-physical realms (the ten worlds from sublunary to the 'ocean of the infinite'), the 'mayavic veil' (atmosphere), and the Arupa world beyond the tenth, all populated by divine beings imperceptible to ordinary senses.
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.
Vach's descent from her highest form (para) to the material end (Vaikhari), and the gods' descent to 'establish the new order of things and give the impetus to the new cycle' describe a directional process from unconditioned to conditioned.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Logos is explicitly named as Brahma/Iswara, identified as the 'unifying Circle' (the eighth god), and positioned as the mediating principle between the transcendent source and the manifested theogony alongside Vach/Sephira.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage is saturated with numerological significance: the seven (or eight) great gods, the cycle of 4,320,000, pi (31415), the ten worlds, the seven agents, and the specific numerical mappings of angelic orders to planetary spheres.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
Sephira is explicitly named alongside Adam Kadmon as the starting point of the theogony, and Mor Isaac's ten worlds map directly onto the Sephirotic structure with their corresponding angelic orders (Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Archangels, Angels).
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.
Hermes' 'Father-Mother and Son, whose spirit (collectively the DIVINE FIAT) shapes the Universe' is explicitly mapped as a three-aspected divine structure, and the passage notes the parallel with 'the three divine hypostases of the ancient Greeks' now considered as 'three distinct personae' in the Churches.