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16); "The righteous will shine in the kingdom of their Father" (not our Father) (Matt. xiii. 43) "Know ye not ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (I Cor. iii. 16); "I ascend to my Father," etc., etc. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 575 WHAT ARE THE SEVEN PLANETS? It is then the "Seven Sons of Light" -- called after their planets and (by the rabble) often identified with them -- namely Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and -- presumably for the modern critic, who goes no deeper than the surface of old religions* -- the Sun and Moon, which are, according to the Occult teachings, our heavenly Parents, or "Father," synthetically. Hence, as already remarked, polytheism is really more philosophical and correct, as to fact and nature, than anthropomorphic monotheism. Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus, the four exoteric planets, and the three others, which must remain unnamed, were the heavenly bodies in direct astral and psychic communication with the Earth, its Guides, and Watchers -- morally and physically; the visible orbs furnishing our Humanity with its outward and inward characteristics, and their "Regents" or Rectors with our Monads and spiritual faculties. In order to avoid creating new misconceptions, let it be stated that among the three secret orbs (or star-angels) neither Uranus nor Neptune entered; not only because they were unknown under these names to the ancient Sages, but because they, as all other planets, however many there may be, are the gods and guardians of other septenary chains of globes within our systems. Nor do the two last discovered great planets depend entirely on the Sun like the rest of the planets. Otherwise, how explain the fact that Neptune receives 900 times less light than our Earth, and Uranus 390 times less, and that their satellites show a peculiarity of inverse rotation found in no other planets of the Solar System. At any rate, what we say applies to Uranus, though recently the fact begins again to be disputed. This subject will, of course, be considered mere vagary by all those who confuse the universal order of being with their own systems of classification. Here, however, simple facts from Occult teachings are stated, to be either accepted or rejected, as the case may be. There are details which, on account of their great metaphysical abstractions, cannot be entered upon. Hence, we merely state that only seven of our planets are as intimately related to our globe, as the Sun is to all [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * These are planets accepted for purposes of judicial astrology only. The astrotheogonical division differed from this one. The Sun, being a central star and no planet, stands in more occult and mysterious relations with its seven planets of our globe than is generally known. The Sun was, therefore, considered the great Father of all the Seven "Fathers," which accounts for the variations found between seven and eight great gods of the Chaldean and other countries. Neither the earth nor the moon -- its satellite -- nor yet stars, for another reason -- were anything else than substitutes for esoteric purposes. Yet, even with the Sun and the Moon thrown out of the calculation, the ancients seem to have known of seven planets. How many more are known to us, so far, if we throw out the Earth and Moon? Seven, and no more: Seven primary or principal planets, the rest planetoids rather than planets. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 576 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. the bodies subject to him in his system. Of these bodies the poor little number of primary and secondary planets known to astronomy, looks wretched enough, in truth.* Therefore, it stands to reason that there are a great number of planets, small and large, that have not been discovered yet, but of the existence of which ancient astronomers -- all of them initiated adepts -- must have certainly been aware. But, as their relation to the gods was sacred, it had to remain arcane, as also the names of various other planets and stars. Besides which, even the Roman Catholic theology speaks of " seventy planets that preside over the destinies of the nations of this globe"; and, save the erroneous application, there is more truth in this tradition than in exact modern astronomy. The seventy planets are connected with the seventy elders of the people of Israel ( Numb. 11, 16) because the regents of these planets are meant, not the orbs themselves; and the word seventy is a play and a blind upon the 7 x 7 of the subdivisions. Each people and nation, as said already, has its direct Watcher, Guardian and Father in Heaven -- a Planetary Spirit. We are willing to leave their own national God, Jehovah, to the descendants of Israel, the worshippers of Sabaoth or S ATURN; for, indeed, the monads of the people chosen by him are his own, and the Bible has never made a secret of it. Only the text of the English (Protestant) Bible is, in disagreement, as usual, with those of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Thus, while in the former one reads ( in Deuter. xxxii., 8 and 9) "When the MOST HIGH (not Jehovah) divided to the nations their inheritance . . . he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel," in the Septuagint the text reads "according to the number of the Angels " (Planet-Angels), which is more concordant with truth and fact. Moreover, all the texts agree that "the Lord's (Jehovah) portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance" (Deut. xxxii. 9); and this settles the question. The "Lord" Jehovah took for his portion Israel -- what have other nations to do with that particular national Deity? Let then, the "angel Gabriel" watch over Iran and "Mikael-Jehovah" over the Hebrews. These are not the gods of other nations, and it is difficult to see why Christians [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * When one remembers that under the powerful telescope of Sir W. Herschell, that eminent astronomer, gauging merely that portion of heaven in the equatorial plane, the approximate centre of which is occupied by our Earth -- saw pass in one quarter of an hour, 16,000 stars; and applying this calculation to the totality of the "Milky Way" he found in it no less than 18 (eighteen) millions of S UNS -- one wonders no longer that Laplace, in conversation with Napoleon I. should have called God a HYPOTHESIS -- perfectly useless to speculate upon for exact physical Science, at any rate. Occult metaphysics and transcendental philosophy will alone be able to lift the smallest corner of the impenetrable veil in this direction. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 577 CYCLIC FALL OF THE GODS.