, a fiery serpent, the Gnostic Agathodaemon probably.* As explained, the "sacred animals" and the Flames or "Sparks" within the "Holy Four" refer to the prototypes of all that is found in the Universe in the Divine Thought , in the R OOT, which is the perfect cube, or the foundation of the Kosmos collectively and individually.
They have all an occult reference to primordial Cosmic forms and its first concretions, work, and evolution.
In the earliest Hindu exoteric cosmogonies, it is not even the Demiurge who creates.
For it is said in one of the Puranas that: "The great Architect of the World gives the first impulse to the rotatory motion of our planetary system by stepping in turn over each planet and body." It is this action "that causes each sphere to turn around itself, and all around the Sun." After which action, "it is the Brahmandica , the Solar and Lunar Pitris (the Dhyani-Chohans)" who take charge of their respective spheres (earths and planets), to the end of the Kalpa." The Creators are the Rishis; most of whom are credited with the authorship of the mantras or Hymns of the Rig Veda.
They are sometimes seven, sometimes ten, when they become prajapati , the "Lord of Beings"; then they rebecome the seven and the fourteen Manus, as the representatives of the seven and fourteen cycles of Existence ("Days of Brahma"); thus answering to the seven AEons , when at the end of the first stage of Evolution they are transformed into the seven stellar Rishis, the Saptarishis; while their human doubles appear as heroes, Kings and Sages on this earth.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] when thou shalt have thirty three years of age thou wilt comprehend me." So with the mystery of the tortoise.
Rejoicing over the poetry of Biblical metaphors, associating with the name of Jehovah, "incandescent stones," "sacred animals," etc., and quoting from the Bible de Vence ( Vol.
XIX.
p.
318) a French pious writer says: "Indeed all of them are Elohim like their God; for, these Angels assume, through a holy usurpation , the very divine name of Jehovah each time they represent him." ( Pneumatologie , Vol.
II.
, p .
294).
No one ever doubted that the NAME must have been assumed , when under the guise of the Infinite, One Incognizable, the Malachim (messengers) descended to eat and drink with men.
But if the Elohim (and even lower Beings), assuming the god-name, were and are still worshipped, why should the same Elohim be called devils , when appearing under the names of other Gods?
* The choice is curious, and shows how paradoxical were the first Christians in their selections.
For why should they have chosen these symbols of Egyptian paganism, when the eagle is never mentioned in the New Testament save once, when Jesus refers to it as a carrion eater?
( Matt.
xxiv.
28); and in the Old Testament it is called unclean ; that the Lion is made a point of comparison with Satan, both roaring for men to devour; and the oxen are driven out of the Temple.
On the other hand the Serpent, brought as an exemplar of wisdom to follow, is now regarded as the symbol of the Devil.
The esoteric pearl of Christ's religion degraded into Christian theology, may indeed be said to have chosen a strange and unfitting shell to be born in and evolved from.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 443 THE MYSTERY OF BLACKNESS.
The Esoteric doctrine of the East having thus furnished and struck the key-note -- which is as scientific as it is philosophical and poetical, as may be seen, under its allegorical garb -- every nation has followed its lead.
It is from the exoteric religions that we have to dig out the root-idea before we turn to esoteric truths, lest the latter should be rejected.
Furthermore, every symbol -- in every national religion -- may be read esoterically, and the proof furnished for its being correctly read by transliterating it into its corresponding numerals and geometrical forms -- by the extraordinary agreement of all -- however much the glyphs and symbols may vary among themselves.
For in the origin those symbols were all identical.
Take, for instance, the opening sentences in various cosmogonies: in every case it is either a circle , an egg , or a head.
D ARKNESS is always associated with this first symbol and surrounds it, -- as shown in the Hindu, the Egyptian, the Chaldeo-Hebrew and even the Scandinavian systems -- hence black ravens, black doves, black waters and even black flames; the seventh tongue of Agni, the fire-god being called " Kali ," "the black," as it was a black flickering flame.
Two black doves flew from Egypt and settling on the oaks of Dodona, gave their names to the Grecian gods.
Noah lets out a black raven after the deluge, which is a symbol for the Cosmic pralaya, after which began the real creation or evolution of our earth and humanity.
Odin's black ravens fluttered around the Goddess Saga and "whispered to her of the past and of the future." What is the real meaning of all those black birds?
They are all connected with the primeval wisdom, which flows out of the pre-cosmic Source of all, symbolised by the Head, the Circle, the Egg; and they all have an identical meaning and relate to the primordial Archetypal man (Adam Kadmon) the creative origin of all things, which is composed of the Host of Cosmic Powers -- the Creative Dhyan-Chohans, beyond which all is darkness.
Let us inquire of the wisdom of the Kabala -- even veiled and distorted as it now is, -- to explain in its numerical language an approximate meaning, at least of the word "raven." This is its number value as given in the "Source of Measures." "The term Raven is used but once, and taken as eth-h ' orebv , = 678, or 113 x 6; while the Dove is mentioned five times.
Its value is 71, and 71 x 5 = 355.
Six diameters, or the raven , crossing, would divide the circumference of a circle of 355 into 12 parts or compartments; and 355 subdivided for each unit by 6, would equal 213-0, or the head ("beginning") in the first verse of Genesis.
This divided or subdivided, after the same fashion, by 2, or the 355 by 12, would give 213-2, or the word B ' rash , , or the first word of Genesis, with its prepositional prefix, signifying the same concreted general form [[Vol.
1, Page]] 444 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The passage explicitly names 'the seven AEons' and describes their transformation into the seven stellar Rishis (Saptarishis), with their human doubles appearing as heroes, kings, and sages on earth.
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 central argument is that every symbol in every national religion may be read esoterically by transliterating it into corresponding numerals and geometrical forms, demonstrating 'the extraordinary agreement of all' and that 'in the origin those symbols were all identical.'
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 is fundamentally a comparative cosmogonic study, examining Hindu Puranic creation, the circle/egg/head as universal first symbols, the black raven as pralaya before creation, and the Architect's first impulse to planetary motion.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
The passage explicitly states 'it is not even the Demiurge who creates' and describes the 'great Architect of the World' who gives the first impulse, positioning a secondary creator distinct from the supreme source.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'Infinite, One Incognizable' whose name is merely assumed by the Elohim, and the 'pre-cosmic Source of all' beyond which 'all is darkness,' express the supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The 'Flames or Sparks within the Holy Four' are explicitly identified as referring to prototypes found in the Universe in the Divine Thought, functioning as fragments of the divine source.
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 clear cascade from the ROOT/Divine Thought through the Dhyani-Chohans, Rishis, Saptarishis, and down to human doubles as heroes, kings, and sages.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage argues that 'every symbol in every national religion may be read esoterically' and that 'the esoteric pearl of Christ's religion' has been 'degraded into Christian theology,' asserting a concealed inner meaning beneath exoteric forms.
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 'primordial Cosmic forms and its first concretions, work, and evolution' — a structured descent from the unconditioned Source through successive stages to materialization.
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
The passage uses Kabalistic gematria (raven = 678, dove = 71) to decode cosmological meaning from Hebrew letters, treating them as the building blocks through which divine reality is expressed.
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 identifies the ROOT as the 'Divine Thought' and states that all cosmic forms are 'found in the Universe in the Divine Thought,' positioning the cosmos as a mental creation held in the mind of the ultimate principle.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage performs detailed gematria (raven = 678 = 113×6, dove = 71, 71×5 = 355) and derives cosmological meaning from geometric divisions of these numbers, treating numerical relationships as the underlying structure 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 'exoteric religions' from which 'we have to dig out the root-idea' and 'esoteric truths,' holding both as legitimate registers — the outer concealing but not negating the inner.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The passage discusses the divine name of Jehovah being 'assumed' by the Elohim and the Malachim, and uses the Hebrew word 'B'rash' (the first word of Genesis) as a carrier of cosmological meaning through its numerical value.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that 'in the origin those symbols were all identical' and that all cosmogonic traditions flow from a single pre-cosmic Source, implying an underlying oneness beneath apparent diversity.