Page 49 (part 3)

This sentence, moreover, in Stanza VI ., "Fohat sets in motion the primordial World-germs, or the aggregation of Cosmic atoms and matter, some one way, some another, in the opposite direction" -- looks orthodox and Scientific enough. For there is, at all events, one fact in support of this position fully recognized by Science, and it is this. The meteoric showers (periodical in November and August) belong to [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * "Hermes here includes as gods the sensible Forces of nature, the elements and the phenomena of the Universe," remarks Mrs. A. Kingsford in a foot-note explaining it very correctly. So does Eastern philosophy. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 673 THE ALIASES OF FOHAT. a system moving in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The aphelion of this ring is 1,732 millions of miles beyond the orbit of Neptune, its plane is inclined to the Earth's orbit at an angle of 64 [[degrees]] 3', and the direction of the meteoric swarm moving round this orbit is contrary to that of the Earth ' s revolution. This fact, recognized only in 1833, shows it to be the modern rediscovery of what was very anciently known. Fohat turns with his two hands in contrary directions the "seed" and "the curds," or Cosmic matter; is turning, in clearer language, particles in a highly attenuated condition, and nebulae. Outside the boundaries of the solar system, it is other Suns, and especially the mysterious "central Sun" (the "Abode of the invisible deity" as some reverend gentlemen have called it) that determines the motion of bodies and their direction. That motion serves also to differentiate the homogeneous matter, round and between the several bodies, into elements and sub-elements unknown to our earth, which are regarded by modern Science as distinct individual elements, whereas they are merely temporary appearances, changing with every small cycle within the Manvantara, some Esoteric works calling them "Kalpic Masks." Fohat is the key in Occultism which opens and unriddles the multiform symbols and respective allegories in the so-called mythology of every nation; demonstrating the wonderful philosophy and the deep insight into the mysteries of nature, in the Egyptian and Chaldean as well as in the Aryan religions. Fohat, shown in his true character, proves how deeply versed were all those prehistoric nations in every science of nature, now called physical and chemical branches of natural philosophy. In India, Fohat is the scientific aspect of both Vishnu and Indra, the latter older and more important in the Rig Veda than his sectarian successor; while in Egypt Fohat was known as Toum issued of Noot,* or Osiris in his character of a primordial god, creator of heaven and of beings (see chapter xvii., " Book of the Dead ") . For Toum is spoken of as the Protean god who generates other gods and gives himself the form he likes; the "master of life" "giving their vigour to the gods" (chapter lxxix.) He is the overseer of the gods, and he "who creates spirits and gives them shape and life"; he is "the north wind and the spirit of the west ;" and finally the "Setting Sun of Life," or the vital electric force that leaves the body at death, wherefore the defunct begs that Toum should give him the breath from his right nostril (positive elec- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * "Oh Toum, Toum! issued from the great (female) which is in the bosom of the waters" (the great Deep or Space ) . . . "Thou, luminous through the two Lions " (the dual Force or power of the two solar eyes , or the electro-positive and the electro-negative forces. (See Book of the Dead , III. , and Egyptian Pantheon , chapter ii.) [[Vol. 1, Page]] 674 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. tricity) that he might live in his second form. Both the hieroglyph, and the text of chapter lxii. in the " Book of the Dead ," show the identity of Toum with Fohat. The former represents a man standing erect with the hieroglyph of the breaths in his hands. The latter says: -- "I open to the chief of An (Heliopolis), I am Toum. I cross the water spilt by Thot-Hapi, the lord of the horizon, and am the divider of the earth " (Fohat divides Space and, with his Sons , the earth into seven zones) . . . . . . . . "I cross the heavens, and am the two Lions. I am Ra , I am Aam , I ate my heir.* . . . . I glide on the soil of the field of Aanroo ,** given me by the master of limitless eternity. I am the germ of eternity. I am Toum, to whom eternity is accorded. . . . " The very words used by Fohat in the XI th Book, and the very titles given him. In the Egyptian Papyri the whole Cosmogony of the Secret Doctrine is found scattered about in isolated sentences, even in the "Book of Dead." Number seven is quite as much insisted upon and emphasized therein as in the Book of Dzyan. "The Great Water (the Deep or Chaos) is said to be seven cubits deep" -- "cubits" standing here of course for divisions, zones, and principles. Therein, "in the great mother, all the Gods, and the seven great ones are born." (See chapter cviii., 4, Book of the Dead and Egyptian Pantheon ) . Both Fohat and Toum are addressed as the "Great ones of the Seven Magic Forces," who, "conquer the Serpent Apap " or Matter. No student of occultism, however, ought to be betrayed, by the usual phraseology used in the translations of Hermetic Works, into believing that the ancient Egyptians or Greeks spoke of, and referred, monk-like, at every moment in conversation, to a Supreme Being, God, the "One Father and Creator of all," etc., as found on every page of such translations. No such thing indeed; and those texts are not the original Egyptian texts. They are Greek compilations, the earliest of which does not go beyond the early period of Neo-Platonism. No Hermetic [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * An image expressing the succession of divine functions, the substitution from one form into another, or the correlation of forces. Aam is the electro-positive force, devouring all others as Saturn devoured his progeny. ** Aanroo is in the domain of Osiris, a field divided into fourteen sections "surrounded with an iron enclosure, within which grows the corn of life seven cubits high," the Kama - loka of the Egyptians. Those only of the dead, who know the names of the janitors of the "seven halls," will be admitted into Amenti for ever; i.e.