The Secret Doctrine · 365 of 727

Page 53 (part 11)

They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influences, astronomical phenomena, with their action and reaction on terrestrial and even moral nature; on [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Wilson's "Translation of Vishnu Purana," Vol.

I., pp.

50, 51.

[[Vol.

2, Page]] 74 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

birth, death, and growth, on health and disease.

All these natural events are based and depend upon cyclical processes in the Kosmos itself, producing periodic agencies which, acting from without, affect the Earth and all that lives and breathes on it, from one end to the other of any Manvantara.

Causes and effects are esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric, so to say.

In Isis Unveiled we wrote that which we now repeat: -- " We are at the bottom of a cycle and evidently in a transitory state.

Plato divides the intellectual progress of the universe during every cycle into fertile and barren periods.

In the sublunary regions, the spheres of the various elements remain eternally in perfect harmony with the divine nature, he says; 'but their parts,' owing to a too close proximity to earth, and their commingling with the earthly (which is matter, and therefore the realm of evil), 'are sometimes according, and sometimes contrary to (divine) nature.' When those circulations -- which Eliphas Levi calls ' currents of the astral light' -- in the universal ether which contains in itself every element, take place in harmony with the divine spirit, our earth and everything pertaining to it enjoys a fertile period.

The occult powers of plants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the ' superior natures,' and the divine soul of man is in perfect intelligence with these 'inferior' ones.

But during the barren periods, the latter lose their magic sympathy, and the spiritual sight of the majority of mankind is so blinded as to lose every notion of the superior powers of its own divine spirit.

We are in a barren period: the eighteenth century, during which the malignant fever of scepticism broke out so irrepressibly, has entailed unbelief as an hereditary disease upon the nineteenth.

The divine intellect is veiled in man; his animal brain alone philosophizes.

" And philosophizing alone, how can it understand the " S OUL D OCTRINE"?

In order not to break the thread of the narrative we shall give some striking proofs of these cyclic laws in Part II., proceeding meanwhile with our explanations of geological and racial cycles.

-------

§ Ask Guru about this passage →

Themes

Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The 'occult powers of plants, animals, and minerals' that sympathize with superior natures implies inherent spiritual agency in natural things, though framed in terms of sympathy rather than local spirits.

All passages →

Astral Lightcosmology

The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.

Eliphas Levi's 'currents of the astral light' in the universal ether is explicitly named and described as the medium through which circulations produce fertile or barren periods.

All passages →

Correspondencecosmology

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 maps cosmic cycles onto terrestrial phenomena and even moral nature, showing the structure of the cosmos reflected at every scale from astronomical to personal.

All passages →

Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The passage explicitly states that 'the occult powers of plants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the superior natures, and the divine soul of man is in perfect intelligence with these inferior ones,' a direct expression of hidden affinity binding all parts of the cosmos.

All passages →

Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The passage distinguishes 'esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric' causes and effects, and speaks of 'secrets of Nature' accessible only to those who study them, marking a clear esoteric/exoteric concealment structure.

All passages →

Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The divine soul of man is described as being in 'perfect intelligence' with the cosmic natures, positioning the human as a mirror of the larger cosmic structure.

All passages →

Rhythmcosmology

The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.

The entire passage is structured around cyclical processes, periodic agencies, fertile and barren periods, and the oscillation between harmony and contrariety with divine nature — a textbook expression of the Hermetic law of rhythm.

All passages →

Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

During barren periods, 'the spiritual sight of the majority of mankind is so blinded as to lose every notion of the superior powers of its own divine spirit' — a felt exile from one's divine origin.

All passages →

Related passages · 15 of 411 parallels

western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter XI (part 1)

“CHAPTER XI RHYTHM "Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensat…”

Shared concept: Rhythm — The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. (derived)

western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter XI (part 2)

“But the Hermetists carry the principle much further, and know that its manifestations and influence extend to the mental activities of Man, and that it accounts for the bewildering succession of moods, feelings and other annoying and perple…”

western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi)|2. Magical Equilibrium-b

“The same manual gesture may assimilate and give forth alternately what we are accustomed to call the fluid, and the magnetizer will himself be warned of the result of his intention by an alternative sensation of warmth and cold in the hand,…”

Shared concept: Astral Light — The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. (derived)

western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|6. Magical Equilibrium-d

“It is a fatal and inevitable operation, directed and made still more calamitous by elementary spirits and suffering souls, whose restless wills seek out sympathies in our weakness and tempt us, but not so much to destroy us as to win friend…”

western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man-a

“HENRIE STEPHEN, in A World of Wonders , published in 1607, mentions a monk of St. Anthony who declared that while in Jerusalem the patriarch of that city had shown him not only one of the ribs of the Word made flesh and some rays from the…”

Shared concept: Hidden Sayings — Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth. (derived)

western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Human Body in Symbolism-a

“THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body. The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious…”

Shared concept: Microcosm Macrocosm — The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror. (derived)

neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-b

“A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”

Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)

neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 365 (part 1)

“Section 45 45. From this discussion it becomes perfectly clear that the individual member of the All contributes to that All in the degree of its kind and condition; thus it acts and is acted upon. In any particular animal each of the lim…”

platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1ad

“That which yields has a small base; but that which rests on quadrangular bases is firmly posed and belongs to the class which offers the greatest resistance; so too does that which is the most compact and therefore most repellent. The natu…”

Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN-b

“And they had daggers with blades of gold, and with hilts of the bone of the whale. And they were shooting their daggers. “And a little way from them I saw a man in the prime of life, with his beard newly shorn, clad in a robe and a mantle…”

Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN-c

“The man looked upon me, and he smiled and said, ‘If I did not fear to distress thee too much, I would show thee that which thou seekest.’ Upon this I became anxious and sorrowful, and when the man perceived it, he said, ‘If thou wouldest ra…”

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN-d

“Under this tree is a fountain, and by the side of the fountain a marble slab, and on the marble slab a silver bowl, attached by a chain of silver, so that it may not be carried away. Take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water upon the slab…”

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWC-m

“And while thy speech and thy soft words last, a coat of thin linen were armour sufficient for thee, and thou wilt not need to break either lance or sword in fighting with the knight in the state he is in.” Then said Gwalchmai to Kai, “Thou…”

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWC-x

“And her figure was very thin and spare, except her feet and her legs, which were of huge size. And she greeted Arthur and all his household except Peredur. And to Peredur she spoke harsh and angry words. “Peredur, I greet thee not, seein…”

celtic|The Mabinogion|Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWC-ac

“And he destroys the branches of the best trees in the forest, and he kills every animal that he meets with therein; and those that he doth not slay perish of hunger. And what is worse than that, he comes every night, and drinks up the fish…”