Page 79 (part 6)

This sentence, qui circumambulat terram , however, is again referred to the D EVIL in theology, the mythical father of Evil being said to "fall like lightning." Unfortunately for this interpretation, the "Son of Man," or Christ, is expected, on the personal testimony of Jesus, to descend on earth likewise, "As the lightning cometh out of the East,"* just in the same shape and under the same symbol as Satan, who is seen "as lightning to fall from heaven."** All these metaphors and figures of speech, pre-eminently Oriental in their character, must have their origin searched for in the East. In all the ancient cosmogonies light comes from darkness. In Egypt, as elsewhere, darkness was "the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Matthew xxiv. 27. ** Luke x. 18. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 486 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. principle of all things." Hence Pymander, the "Thought divine ," issues as light from DARKNESS. Behemoth* is the principle of Darkness, or Satan, in Roman Catholic Theology, and yet Job says of him that "Behemoth is the chief (principle) of the ways of God" (xl. 19) -- "Principium viarum Domini Behemoth!" Consistency does not seem to be a favourite virtue in any portion of divine Revelation, so-called -- not as interpreted by theologians, at any rate. The Egyptians and the Chaldeans referred the birth of their divine Dynasties to that period when creative Earth was in her last final throes, in giving birth to her prehistoric mountain ranges, which have since disappeared, her seas and her continents. Her face was covered with "deep Darkness and in that (Secondary) Chaos was the principle of all things" that developed on the globe later on. And our geologists have ascertained that there was such a terrestrial conflagration in the early geological periods, several hundred millions of years ago.** As to the tradition itself, every country and nation had it, each under its respective national form. It is not alone Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia or Mexico, that had their Typhon, Python, Loki and its "falling" Demon, but China, also. The Celestials have a whole literature upon the subject. In King, it is said that in consequence of a rebellion against Ti of a proud Spirit who said he was Ti himself, seven choirs of celestial spirits were exiled upon earth, which "brought a change in all nature, heaven itself bending down and uniting with earth." And in the "Y-King," one reads: "The flying Dragon, superb and rebellious, suffers now, and his pride is punished; he thought he would reign in heaven, he reigns only on the earth." Again, the Tchoon-Tsieoo says allegorically: "one night the stars ceased shining in darkness, and deserted it, falling down like rain upon the earth, where they are now hidden." These stars are the Monads. Chinese cosmogonies have their "Lord of the Flame" and their "Celestial Virgin," with little "Spirits to help and minister to her; and big Spirits to fight those who are the enemies of other gods." But all this does not prove that the said allegories are presentments or prophetic writings which all refer to Christian theology. The best proof one can offer to Christian Theologians that the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The Protestant Bible defines Behemoth innocently -- "The elephant as some think" (See marginal note in Job xl. 19) in the authorised versions. ** Astronomy, however, knows nothing of stars that have disappeared unless from visibility, never from existence, since the Science of Astronomy became known. Temporary stars are only variable stars, and it is believed even that the new stars of Kepler and Tycho Brahe may still be seen. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 487 THE SHADOWS OF THE SHADOWS. esoteric meaning in the Bible -- in both Testaments -- was the assertion of the same idea as in our Archaic teachings -- to wit, that the "Fall of the Angels" referred simply to the incarnation of angels "who had broken through the Seven Circles" -- is found in the Zohar. Now the Kabala of Simeon Ben Iochai is the soul and essence of its allegory, as the later Christian Kabala is the "dark cloaked" Mosaic Pentateuch. And it says (in the Agrippa MSS .): "The wisdom of the Kabala rests in the science of the equilibrium and Harmony." "Forces that manifest without having been first equilibrized perish in space" ("equilibrized" meaning differentiated). "Thus perished the first Kings (the Divine Dynasties) of the ancient world, the self-produced Princes of giants. They fell like rootless trees, and were seen no more: for they were the Shadow of the Shadow " ; to wit, the chhaya of the Shadowy Pitris. ( Vide about the "Kings of Edom.") "But those that came after them, who shooting down like falling stars were enshrined in the shadows -- prevailed and to this day": Dhyanis, who by incarnating in those "empty shadows," inaugurated the era of mankind. Every sentence in the ancient cosmogonies, unfolds to him who can read between the lines the identity of the ideas, though under different garbs. The first lesson taught in Esoteric philosophy is, that the incognizable Cause does not put forth evolution, whether consciously or unconsciously, but only exhibits periodically different aspects of itself to the perception of finite Minds. Now the collective Mind -- the Universal -- composed of various and numberless Hosts of Creative Powers, however infinite in manifested Time, is still finite when contrasted with the unborn and undecaying Space in its supreme essential aspect. That which is finite cannot be perfect. Therefore there are inferior Beings among those Hosts, but there never were any devils or "disobedient Angels," for the simple reason that they are all governed by Law. The Asuras who incarnated (call them by any other name), followed in this a law as implacable as any other. They had manifested prior to the Pitris, and as time (in Space) proceeds in Cycles, their turn had come -- hence the numerous allegories (Vide "Demon est Deus inversus," Part II ., Vol. I.). The name of Asura was first given by the Brahmans indiscriminately to those who opposed their mummeries and sacrifices, as the great Asura called "Asurendra" did. It is to those ages, probably, that the origin of the idea of the demon, as opposer and adversary, has to be traced. The Hebrew Elohim, called in the translations "God," and who create "light," are identical with the Aryan Asuras. They are also [[Vol. 2, Page]] 488 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. referred to as the "Sons of Darkness" as a philosophical and logical contrast to light immutable and eternal.