astronomically, with the one here intended." Now the secret reading of the first verse of Genesis being: "In Rash (B'rash) or head, developed gods, the Heavens and the Earth" -- it is easy to comprehend the esoteric meaning of the raven , once that the like meaning of the Flood (or Noah's Deluge) is ascertained.
Whatever the many other meanings of this emblematical allegory may be, its chief meaning is that of a new cycle and a new Round (our Fourth Round.)* The "Raven," or the Eth-H ' Orebv , yields the same numerical value as the "Head," and returned not to the ark, while the dove returned, carrying the olive-branch, when Noah, the new man of the new Race (whose prototype is Vaivasvata Manu), prepared to leave the ark, the womb (or Argha ) of terrestrial nature, is the symbol of the purely spiritual, sexless and androgyne man of the first three Races, who vanished from earth for ever.
Numerically Jehovah, Adam, Noah, are one in the Kabala: at best, then, it is Deity descending on to Ararat (later on Sinai), to incarnate in man his image , through the natural process, henceforth: the mother's womb, whose symbols are the ark, the mount (Sinai), etc., in Genesis.
The Jewish allegory is at once astronomical, and purely physiological rather than anthropomorphic.
And here lies the abyss between the two systems (Aryan and Semitic), though built on the same foundation.
As shown by an expounder of the Kabala, "the basic idea underlying the philosophy of the Hebrews was that God contained all things within himself and that man was his image; man, including woman (as Androgynes);" and that "geometry and numbers (and measures applicable to astronomy) are contained in the terms man and woman; and the apparent incongruity of such a mode was eliminated by showing the connection of man and woman with a particular system of numbers and measures and geometry, by the parturient time-periods, which furnished the connecting link between the terms and the facts shown, and perfected the mode used." It is argued that, the primal cause being absolutely incognizable, "the symbol of its first comprehensible manifestation was the conception of a circle with its diameter line, so as at once to carry the idea of geometry, phallicism, and astronomy;" and this was finally applied to the "signification of simply human generative organs."** Hence the whole cycle of events [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Bryant is right in saying "Druid Bardesin says of Noah that when he came out of the ark (the birth of a new cycle), after a stay therein of a year and a day, that 364 + 1 = 365 days, he was congratulated by Neptune upon his birth from the waters of the Flood, who wished him a happy New Year.
" The "Year," or cycle, esoterically, was the new race of men born from woman after the separation of the sexes, which is the secondary meaning of the allegory: its primary meaning being the beginning of the Fourth Round, or the new Creation.
** Unpubl.
MSS.
(But see " Source of Measures.
") [[Vol.
1, Page]] 445 GOD IS OUR HIGHER SELF.
from Adam and the Patriarchs down to Noah is made to apply to phallic and astronomical uses, the one regulating the other, as the lunar periods, for instance.
Hence, too, their genesis begins after their coming out of the Ark, and the close of the flood -- at the Fourth Race.
With the Aryan people it is different.
Eastern Esotericism has never degraded the One Infinite Deity, the container of all things, to such uses; and this is shown by the absence of Brahma from the Rig Veda and the modest positions occupied therein by Rudra and Vishnu, who became the powerful and great Gods, the "Infinites" of the exoteric creeds, ages later.
But even they, "Creators" as the three may be, are not the direct creators and "forefathers of men." The latter are shown occupying a still lower scale, and are called Prajapatis, the Pitris (our lunar ancestors), etc., etc.
-- never the "One Infinite God." Esoteric philosophy shows only physical man as created in the image of the Deity: but the latter is but "the minor gods.
" It is the H IGHER- S ELF, the real E GO who alone is divine and GOD.
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Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly critiques the Semitic system as 'purely physiological rather than anthropomorphic' and contrasts it with the Aryan system that 'never degraded the One Infinite Deity' to such uses.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The passage states that 'the primal cause being absolutely incognizable,' describing the divine only through negation and beyond all positive categories.
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 states that the cycle of events applies to both phallic and astronomical uses, 'the one regulating the other,' and that geometry, numbers, and measures connect the terms to the facts.
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 interprets the Flood and emergence from the Ark as the cosmogonic beginning of the Fourth Round, a new creation cycle.
The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.
The 'One Infinite Deity, the container of all things' that is 'absolutely incognizable' functions as the infinite, unknowable ground prior to all 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 describes a cascade from the One Infinite Deity through minor gods to Prajapatis and Pitris (lunar ancestors), each level lower than 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).
The passage's central esoteric argument revolves around the androgyne man, the separation of sexes as a cosmic event, and the phallic-generative principle operating on every plane.
The deeper aspect of the individual's own consciousness aligned with divine or spiritual truth, distinct from the ego or everyday personality — a locus of guidance and identity that can speak with its own recognisable 'voice' in moments of crisis, carrying memory or knowledge the ordinary self lacks. Distinct from inner_light (a static luminous quality or spark, not an alternate seat of identity and agency) and kingdom_within (the claim that the divine realm generally is present inside the individual, not this specific personal higher consciousness).
The passage's final and most emphatic claim is that 'the HIGHER-SELF, the real EGO who alone is divine and GOD,' making the recognition of this deeper identity the central soteriological point.
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 Deity 'descending on to Ararat... to incarnate in man his image, through the natural process,' a directional descent of spirit into matter.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage relies on numerical equivalences (Raven = Head, Jehovah = Adam = Noah) and the connection of numbers, geometry, and measures as the key to esoteric interpretation.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The passage's culminating claim that 'the HIGHER-SELF, the real EGO who alone is divine and GOD' identifies recognition of one's own divine nature as the soteriological key.