Page 52 (part 3)

" ( d) In China the men of Fohi (or the "Heavenly Man") are called the twelve Tien-Hoang, the twelve hierarchies of Dhyanis or Angels, with human Faces, and Dragon bodies; the dragon standing for divine Wisdom or Spirit**; and they create men by incarnating themselves in [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * J. W. Alden, New York. ** It has been repeatedly stated that the Serpent is the symbol of wisdom and of Occult knowledge. "The Serpent has been connected with the god of wisdom from the earliest times of which we have any historical notice," writes Staniland Wake. "This animal was the especial symbol of Thot or Taut . . . and of all those gods, such as Hermes (?) and Seth who can be connected with him. This is also the primitive Chaldean triad Hea or Hoa." According to Sir Henry Rawlinson, the most important titles of this deity refer to "his functions as the source of all knowledge and science." Not only is he "the intelligent fish," but his name may be read as signifying both "life" and a serpent (an initiated adept), and he may be considered as "figured by the great serpent which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording Babylonian benefactions." Esculapius, Serapis, Pluto, Knoum and Kneph, are all deities with the attributes of the serpent. Says Dupuis, "They are all healers, givers of health, spiritual and physical, and of enlightenment. " The crown formed of an asp, the Thermuthis, belongs to Isis, goddess of Life and Healing. The Upanishads have a treatise on the Science of Serpents -- in other words, the Science of Occult knowledge; and the Nagas of the exoteric Buddhist are not "the fabulous creatures of the nature of serpents . . . beings superior to men and the protectors of the [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol. 2, Page]] 27 MAN'S DUAL AND TRIPLE NATURE. seven figures of clay -- earth and water -- made in the shape of those Tien-hoang, a third allegory; (compare the " Symbols of the Bonzes ") . The twelve AE SERS of the Scandinavian Eddas do the same. In the Secret Catechism of the Druses of Syria -- a legend which is repeated word for word by the oldest tribes about and around the Euphrates -- men were created by the "Sons of God" descending on Earth, where, after culling seven Mandragoras, they animated these roots, which became forthwith men.* All these allegories point to one and the same origin -- to the dual and the triple nature of man; dual, as male and female; triple -- as being of spiritual and psychic essence within, and of a material fabric without. -------- 2. S AID THE E ARTH, " L ORD OF THE S HINING F ACE ( the Sun ) MY HOUSE IS EMPTY. . . . S END THY SONS TO PEOPLE THIS WHEEL ( Earth ) . T HOU HAST SENT THY SEVEN SONS TO THE L ORD OF W ISDOM ( a ). S EVEN TIMES DOTH H E SEE THEE NEARER TO H IMSELF; SEVEN TIMES MORE DOTH H E FEEL THEE. T HOU HAST FORBIDDEN T HY SERVANTS, THE SMALL RINGS, TO CATCH T HY LIGHT AND HEAT, T HY GREAT B OUNTY TO INTERCEPT ON ITS PASSAGE ( b ). S END NOW TO T HY SERVANT THE SAME!" ( c ) . ( a ) The "Lord of Wisdom" is Mercury, or Budha. ( b ) The modern Commentary explains the words as a reference to a well-known astronomical fact, "that Mercury receives seven times more [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] law of Buddha," as Schlagintweit believes, but real living men, some superior to men by virtue of their Occult knowledge, and the protectors of Buddha ' s law , inasmuch as they interpret his metaphysical tenets correctly, others inferior morally as being black magicians. Therefore it is truly declared that Gautama Buddha "is said to have taught them a more philosophical religious system than to men, who were not sufficiently advanced to understand it at the time of his appearance." (Schlagintweit's " Tibetan Buddhism. ") * The Mandragora is the mandrake of the Bible, of Rachel and Leah. They are the roots of a plant, fleshy, hairy, and forked below, representing roughly the limbs of a man, the body and even a head. Its magical and mysterious properties have been proclaimed in fable and play from the most archaic ages. From Rachel and Leah, who indulged in witchcraft with them, down to Shakespeare, who speaks of shrieking -- . . . . "Like mandrakes torn out of the earth That living mortals, hearing them, run mad" -- the mandragora was the magic plant par excellence. These roots, without any stalk, and with large leaves growing out of the head of the root, like a gigantic crop of hair, present little similitude to man when found in Spain, Italy, Asia Minor, or Syria. But on the Isle of Candia, and in Karamania near the city of Adan, they have a wonderfully human form; being very highly prized as amulets. They are also worn by women as a charm against sterility, and for other purposes. They are especially effective in Black Magic. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 28 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. light and heat from the Sun than Earth, or even the beautiful Venus, which receives but twice that amount more than our insignificant Globe." Whether the fact was known in antiquity may be inferred from the prayer of the "Earth Spirit" to the Sun as given in the text.* The Sun however, refuses to people the globe, as it is not ready to receive life as yet. Mercury is, as an astrological planet, still more occult and mysterious than Venus. It is identical with the Mazdean Mithra, the genius, or god, "established between the Sun and the Moon, the perpetual companion of 'Sun' of Wisdom." Pausanias shows him as having an altar in common with Jupiter (Book V). He had wings to express his attendance upon the Sun in its course; and he was called the Nuntis, or Sun-wolf, " solaris luminis particeps. " He was the leader of and the evocator of Souls, the "great Magician" and the Hierophant. Virgil depicts him as taking "his wand to evoke from Orcus the souls plunged therein" -- tum virgam capit, hac animas ille evocat Orco.