Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
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ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

buddhist dogma, illustrated by dialogues. varieties of religious experience (james) valuable as showing the uniformity of mystical attainment. kabbala denudata, von rosenroth: also the kabbalah unveiled, by s. l. mathers. the text of the kabalah, with commentary. a good elementary introduction to the subject. konx om pax. four invaluable treatises and a preface on mysticism and magick. the pistis sophia. an admirable introduction to the study of gnosticism. the oracles of zoroaster. an invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical. the dream of scipio, by cicero. excellent for its vision and its philosophy. the golden verses of pythagoras, by fabre d'olivet. an interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this master. the divine pymander, by hermes trismegistus. invaluable as be

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE LOST CONTINENT

nd, asi means 'cum quasi serpens, obviously the name of an actual high priestess. ra is pure atlantean for sun, and 'mse (egyptian chomse) for moon. the idea in 'mse is that of a strong woman('m) closing the mouth of a serpent (s) or dragon, and from this we have the xith card of the bohemian tarot, and the legend in the apocalypse. in the mystic greek used by the gnostics we find similar traces, sophia being from s ph, giving the idea of 'serpent breath' i.e. wisdom. iao is phallos, kteis, proktos. the word logos means the boy (g) naturally engendered of the virgin (l) and the serpent (s. theos (root o, first written 0) means the sun in his strength and also the lingam-yoni conjoined. christos is 'the love of passion of the rising sun (r) and the serpent (s. the i and t indicate certain d

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

iroth. 2 see table. 3 ancient form of the key of s. 4 considered as the agent of resurrection. 5 in the true key of m the tree is shaped like the letter d= venus or love. the figure of the man forms a cross above a triangle, with apex upwards, the sign of redemption. ambrosii magi hortus rosarum 113 sapientiae lux viris baculum. femina rapta inspirit gaudium. pleiades. dignitates. amicitia. amor. sophia. and he went on. leave thine ox-goad, 1 quoth he, till i come back an ox! and she laughed and let him pass. now is our father come to the unstable lands, od wot, for the wheel whereon he poised was ever turning. sworded was the sphinx, but he out-dared her in riddling: deeper pierced his sword: he cut her into twain: her place was his. but that would he not, my brethren; to the centre he cl

ALEXANDRIAN BOOK OF SHADOWS OCCULT

on of priest's declamation in great rite esbats esbat sequence witches' rune charge of the goddess verse version of charge of the goddess drawing down the moon ancient call great god cernunnos invocation esbat cone of power wine blessing cake blessing ritual elements invocation to the horned god besom chant welcome to the public domain version of the alexandrian book of shadows compiled by sekhet sophia. layout& html by atho sabbats yule candlemas vernal equinox beltane midsummer lammas michaelmas (fall equinox) hallowmass various notes notes on earth element notes on water element notes on fire element notes on air element witches' wheel ways of making magic power properly prepared the meeting dance of calls the cone of power of the ordeal to get the sight to leave the body the working to

ALICE A BAILEY18 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME III ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

2 "there are only seven planets specially connected with the earth, and twelve houses, but the possible combinations of their aspects are countless. each planet can stand to each of the other in twelve different aspects (s.d. i. 626) 3 "the names of the planets are applied in the same order everywhere and always (s.d. i. 711) 4 "the seven planetary regents (planetary logoi) are `the seven sons of sophia (wisdom (s.d. ii. 221. note) 5 "for pythagoras the forces were spiritual entities, gods, independent of planets and matter as we see and know them on earth, who are the rulers of the sidereal heaven (s.d. i. 535) 6 "the seven sons of light called after their planets and often even identified with them namely, saturn, jupiter, mercury, mars, venus and presumably the sun and the moon (s.d. i

APOCRYPHON OF JOHN

nd in the third aeon the seed of seth was placed over the third light daveithai. and the souls of the saints were placed (there. and in the fourth aeon the souls were placed of those who do not know the pleroma and who did not repent at once, but who persisted for a while and repented afterwards; they are by the fourth light eleleth. these are creatures which glorify the invisible spirit "and the sophia of the epinoia, being an aeon, conceived a thought from herself and the conception of the invisible spirit and foreknowledge. she wanted to bring forth a likeness out of herself without the consent of the spirit- he had not approved- and without her consort, and without his consideration. and though the person of her maleness had not approved, and she had not found her agreement, and she ha

nd. and he became sober from the drunkenness of darkness. and he recognized his counter-image, and he said 'this is indeed bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh' therefore the man will leave his father and his mother, and he will cleave to his wife, and they will both be one flesh. for they will send him his consort, and he will leave his father and his mother (3 lines unreadable "and our sister sophia (is) she who came down in innocence in order to rectify her deficiency. therefore she was called life, which is the mother of the living, by the foreknowledge of the sovereignty of heaven. and through her they have tasted the perfect knowledge. i appeared in the form of an eagle on the tree of knowledge, which is the epinoia from the foreknowledge of the pure light, that i might teach them

t race and its thinking and the eternal light of man. when the chief archon realized that they were exalted above him in the height- and they surpass him in thinking- then he wanted to seize their thought, not knowing that they surpassed him in thinking, and that he will not be able to seize them "he made a plan with his authorities, which are his powers, and they committed together adultery with sophia, and bitter fate was begotten through them, which is the last of the changeable bonds. and it is of a sort that is interchangeable. and it is harder and stronger than she with whom the gods united, and the angels and the demons and all the generations until this day. for from that fate came forth every sin and injustice and blasphemy, and the chain of forgetfulness and ignorance and every s

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

ers, or gods, their souls, had to disappear from view with their bodies "the breath returning to the eternal bosom which exhales and inhales them" says our catechism "ideal nature" the abstract space in which everything in the universe is mysteriously and invisibly generated, is the same female side of procreative power in nature in the vedic as in every other cosmogony. aditi is sephira, and the sophia- achamoth of the gnostics, and isis, the virgin mother of horus. in every cosmogony, behind and higher than the creative deity, there is a superior deity, a planner, an architect, of whom the creator is but the executive agent. and still higher, over and around, within and without, there is the unknowable and the unknown, the source and cause of all these emanations. it thus becomes easy to

do not eat their sacred symbols. we know of no serpent, or reptile-eaters except in christian civilized countries, where they begin with frogs and eels, and must end with real snakes, as they have begun with lamb and ended with horse-flesh "pantheon" 3* the solar chnouphis, or agathodaemon, is the christos of the gnostics, as every scholar knows. he is intimately connected with the seven sons of sophia (wisdom, the seven sons of aditi (universal wisdom, her eighth being martanda, the sun, which seven are the seven planetary regents or genii. therefore chnouphis was the spiritual sun of enlightenment, of wisdom, hence the patron of all the egyptian initiates, as bel-merodach (or bel-belitanus) became later with the chaldeans* hermes, or rather thot, was a generic name. abul teda shows in "

ic authority in india on such questions, personally corroborated that ulupi was daughter of the king of the nagas at patala, or america, 5000 years ago, and that the nagas were initiates[[vol. 2, page] 215 buddha's great mountain. of knowledge of good and evil. therefore, we find ophis urging the first human couple- the material production of ilda- baoth, but which owed its spiritual principle to sophia-achamoth- to eat of the forbidden fruit, although ophis represents divine wisdom. the serpent, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life, are all symbols transplanted from the soil of india. the arasa-maram, the banyan tree, so sacred with the hindus (since vishnu during one of his incarnations, reposed under its mighty shade and there taught human philosophy and sciences

e, and who conferred on us spiritual, instead of physical immortality- the latter a kind of static immortality that would have transformed man into an undying "wandering jew" as narrated in king's "gnostics "ilda-baoth, whom several sects regarded as the god of moses, was not a pure spirit, he was ambitious and proud, and rejecting the spiritual light of the middle space offered him by his mother sophia- achamoth, he set himself to create a world of his own. aided by his sons, the six planetary genii, he fabricated man[[vol. 2, page] 244 the secret doctrine. but this one proved a failure. it was a monster, soulless, ignorant, and crawling on all fours on the ground like a material beast. ilda-baoth was forced to implore the help of his spiritual mother. she communicated to him a ray of her

ins concealed it, the christians, with a few exceptions, knew nothing. surely jesus of nazareth would have hardly advised his apostles to show themselves as wise as the serpent, had the latter been a symbol of the evil one; nor would the ophites, the learned egyptian gnostics of "the brotherhood of the serpent" have reverenced a living snake in their ceremonies as the emblem of wisdom, the divine sophia (and a type of the all-good, not the all-bad, were that reptile so closely connected with satan. the fact is, that even as a common ophidian it has ever been a dual symbol; and[[footnote(s* these "evil spirits" can by no means be identified with satan or the great dragon. they are the elementals generated or begotten by ignorance- cosmic and human passions- or chaos[[vol. 2, page] 387 who f

general, which was kabalistically connected directly with, and sacred to, jehovah, as is well known; with the sole difference that one was the female and the other the male aspect of the moon, and of the star venus. the sun (the father, the moon (the mother, and mercury-thoth (the son, were the earliest trinity of the egyptians, who personified them in osiris, isis, and thoth (hermes. in[[pistis sophia, the seven great gods, divided into two triads and the highest god (the sun) are: the lower[[tridunameis, whose powers reside respectively in mars, mercury and venus; and the higher triad("the three unseen gods) who dwell in the moon, jupiter and saturn (vide 359 and 361 et seq. this requires no proof. astoreth was in one sense an impersonal symbol of nature, the ship of life carrying throu

er and master its effects; but only by the holiness of their lives and by producing good causes. it has power only on the manifested lower principles- the shadow of the unknown and incognizable deity in space. but in antiquity and reality, lucifer, or luciferus, is the name of the angelic entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of the day. in the great valentinian gospel pistis sophia( 361) it is taught that of the three powers emanating from the holy names of the three[[tridunameis, that of sophia (the holy ghost according to these gnostics- the most cultured of all, resides in the planet venus or lucifer. thus to the profane, the astral light may be god and devil at once[[footnote(s* says johannes tritheim, the abbot of spanheim, the greatest astrologer and kabalist of

story of the third, fourth and fifth races; a very few prophecies from the present age of the world; a long retrospective, introspective and prophetic summary of universal and quite historical events- geological, ethnological, astronomical, and psychic- with a touch of theogony out of the antediluvian records. the book of this mysterious personage is referred to and quoted copiously in the pistis sophia, and also in the zohar and its most ancient midrashim. origen and clement of alexandria held it in the highest esteem. to say, therefore, that it is a post-christian forgery is to utter an absurdity and to become guilty of an anachronism, since origen, among others, lived in the second century of the christian era, yet he mentions it as an ancient and venerable work. the secret and sacred n

other gods, an euhemerized extinct planet, at best, the genius of the moon and saturn with the jews, of the sun and jupiter, with early christians; that the trinity was, in truth, only an astronomical triad- unless they accepted the more abstract and metaphysical meanings given to it by the gentiles- composed of the sun (the father, and the two planets mercury (the son) and venus (the holy ghost, sophia, the spirit of wisdom, love and truth, and lucifer, as christ, the bright and morning star; vide "revelation" ch. xxii, 15. because, if the father is the sun (the elder brother in the eastern inner philosophy, the nearest planet to it is mercury (hermes, budha, thot, the name of whose mother on earth was maia; the planet which receives seven times more light than any other: which fact led t

many erroneous interpretations. on the simple knowledge, however, of that well-known fact a comparison may be attempted, and a flood of light thrown upon several mystic meanings. thus the words, so often used in the upanishads and the puranas "sound" and "speech" may be collated with the gnostic "vowels" and the "voices" of the thunders and angels in "revelation" the same will be found in pistis sophia, and other ancient fragments and mss. this was remarked even by the matter-of-fact author of "the gnostics and their remains" through hippolytus, an early church father, we learn what marcus- a pythagorean rather than a christian gnostic, and a kabalist most certainly- had received in mystic revelation. it is said that "marcus had it revealed unto him that 'the seven heavens. sounded each o

always betrays a portion of the mysteries. we must always seek for more than one meaning in every mystery allegorically revealed, especially in those in which the number seven and its multiplication seven by seven, or forty-nine, appear. now when the rabbi jesus is requested (in pistis[[footnote(s* the "heavens" are identical with "angels" as already stated[[vol. 2, page] 564 the secret doctrine. sophia) by his disciples to reveal to them "the mysteries of the light of thy (his) father (i.e, of the higher self enlightened by initiation and divine knowledge, jesus answers "do ye seek after these mysteries? no mystery is more excellent than they which shall bring your souls unto the light of lights, unto the place of truth and goodness, unto the place where there is neither male nor female

es of astrological magic, got their wisdom and learning from india. it is not difficult, therefore, to recognize in them our own esoteric doctrine. in their secret computations, the japanese have the same figures in their cycles. as to the brahmins, their puranas and upanishads are a good proof of it. the latter have passed entirely into gnostic literature; and a brahmin needs only to read pistis sophia* to recognize his forefathers' property, even to the phraseology and similes used. compare: in pistis sophia the disciple says to jesus "rabbi, reveal unto us the mysteries of the light (i.e, the "fire of knowledge or enlightenment. forasmuch as we have heard thee saying that there is another baptism of smoke, and another baptism of the spirit of holy light" i.e, the spirit of fire "i bapti

ric husks of orthodox or sectarian ritualism. now, having the above in view, read the dialogue between the sages narada and davamata in the anugita, the antiquity and importance of which ms (an episode from the mahabharata) one can learn in the "sacred books of the east" edited by prof. max muller* narada is discussing upon the breaths or the "life-winds" as they are called in[[footnote(s* pistis sophia is an extremely important document, a genuine evangel of the gnostics, ascribed at random to valentinus, but much more probably a pre-christian work in its original. it was discovered in a coptic ms. by schwartze, in the british museum, quite accidentally, and translated by him into latin; after which text and (latin) version were published by petermann in the year 1853. in the text itself

er presumes to explain these things neither to the hindus, who have their own gurus; nor to the orientalists, who think they know more than all the gurus and rishis, past and present, put together. these rather lengthy quotations and examples cited are necessary, if even to point out to the student the works he has to study so as to derive benefit and learning from comparison. let him read pistis sophia in the light of the bhagavatgita, the anugita and others; and then the statement made by jesus in the gnostic gospel will become clear, and the dead letter blinds disappear at once. read this and compare with the explanation from the hindu scriptures just given "and no name is more excellent than all these (seven) vowels. a name wherein be contained all names, all lights, and all (the forty

t of initiation and the name of the "fire-self" which is no name, no action, but a spiritual, ever-living power, higher even than the "invisible god" as this power is itself. but if the able and learned author of the "gnostics and their remains" has not sufficiently allowed for the spirit of allegory and mysticism in the fragments translated and quoted by him, in the above named work, from pistis sophia- other orientalists have done far worse. having neither his intuitional perception of the indian origin of the gnostic wisdom still more than of their "gems" most of them, beginning with wilson and ending with the dogmatic weber, have made most extraordinary blunders with regard to almost every symbol. sir m. monier williams and others show a very decided contempt for the "esoteric buddhist

ays, speaking of himself "it is 60,000 years o king, that i am born" after which turning his back on the sun- he dies. jatayu is, of course, the cycle of 60,000 years within the great cycle of garuda; hence he is represented as his son, or nephew, ad libitum[[footnote(s* barbelo is one of the three "invisible gods" and, as c. w. king believes, includes "the divine mother of the saviour" or rather sophia achamoth (vide cap. 359* in other puranas jatayu is the son of aruna, garuda's brother, both the sons of kasyapa. but all this is external allegory[[vol. 2, page] 571 the antiquity of the kapilas. since the whole meaning rests in his being placed on the line of garuda's descendants. then, again, there is diti- the mother of the maruts- whose descendants and progeny belonged to the posterity

nephesh or seat of the physical appetites (vital breath, also; from jezirah, the ruach, or seat of the passions; from briah, the neshamah, and from aziluth it obtains the chaiah, or principle of spiritual life (king "this looks like an adaptation of the platonic theory of the soul's obtaining its respective faculties from the planets in its downward progress through their spheres. but the pistis-sophia, with its accustomed boldness, puts this theory into a much more poetical shape( 282" the inner man is similarly made up of four constituents, but these are supplied by the rebellious aeons of the spheres, being the power- a particle of the divine light("divinae particula aurae) yet left in themselves; the soul (the fifth "formed out of the tears of their eyes, and the sweat of their tormen

and their non-initiated successors, the talmudists, lost the sense, and applied the seven rounds, and the forty-nine races, etc, to the wrong end. not only "their priests" but those of every other country. the gnostics, whose various teachings are the many echoes of the one primitive and universal doctrine, put the same numbers, under another form, in the mouth of jesus in the very occult pistis sophia. we say more: even the christian editor or author of revelation has preserved this tradition and speaks of the seven races, four of which, with part of the fifth, are gone, and two have to come. it is stated as plainly as could be stated in chapter xvii, verses 9 and 10. thus saith the angel "and here is the mind which hath wisdom. the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sit

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

t had no money to purchase two statues or "idols" as they, very properly, were called by a witness- another but a non-converted hindu. blasphemous this will appear to a dogmatic christian, but the theosophist and the occultist must award the palm of logic to the converted hindu. the esoteric christos in the gnosis is, of course, sexless, but in exoteric theology he is male and female* the gnostic sophia "wisdom" who is "the mother" of the ogdoad (aditi, in a certain sense, with her eight sons, is the holy ghost and the creator of all, as in the ancient systems. the "father" is a far later invention. the earliest manifested logos was female everywhere- the mother of the seven planetary powers* see "chinese buddhism" by the rev. j. c. edkins, who always gives correct facts, although his conc

e loosely call "celestial beings" but they are, in fact, nothing of the kind[[footnote(s* these voluntary re-incarnations are referred to in our doctrine as nirmanakayas (the surviving spiritual principles of men* sukshma-sarira "dream-like" illusive body, with which are clothed the inferior dhyanis of the celestial hierarchy* compare this esoteric tenet with the gnostic doctrine found in "pistis-sophia (knowledge= wisdom, in which treatise sophia achamoth is shown lost in the waters of chaos (matter, on her way to supreme light, and christos delivering and helping her on the right path. note well "christos" with the gnostics meant the impersonal principal, the atman of the universe, and the atma within every man's soul- not jesus; though in the old coptic mss. in the british museum "chris

isis (p. 183 et seq) the philosophical systems of the gnostics and the primitive jewish christians, the nazarenes and the ebionites, are fully considered. they show the views held in those days- outside the circle of mosaic jews- about jehovah. he was identified by all the gnostics with the evil, rather than with the good principle. for them, he was ilda-baoth "the son of darkness" whose mother, sophia achamoth, was the daughter of sophia, the divine wisdom (the female holy ghost of the early christians- akasa* while sophia achamoth personified the lower astral light or ether. ilda-baoth* or jehovah, is simply one of the elohim, the seven[[footnote(s* they are found, however, in the chaldean book of numbers* the astral light stands in the same relation to akasa and anima mundi, as satan s

ith the views and policy of its christian arrangers; but in truth its ideas are identical with those of all other religious systems. the various cosmogonies show that the archaic universal soul was held by every nation as the "mind" of the demiurgic creator; and that it[[footnote(s* the "seven angels of the face" with the christians[[vol. 1, page] 353 the egyptian version. was called the "mother" sophia with the gnostics (or the female wisdom, the sephira with the jews, saraswati or vach, with the hindus, the holy ghost being a female principle. hence, born from it, the kurios or logos was, with the greeks, the "god, mind (nous "now koros (kurios) signifies the pure and unmixed nature of intellect- wisdom" says plato in "cratylus; and kurios is mercury, the divine wisdom, and "mercury is t

ible origin for the symbolic seven of time above. the goddess of the seven stars" he adds[[vol. 1, page] 408 the secret doctrine "was the mother of time, as kep; whence kepti and sebti for the two times and number seven. so this is the star of the seven by name. sevekt (kronos, the son of the goddess, has the name of the seven or seventh. so has sefekh abu who builds the house on high, as wisdom (sophia) built hers with seven pillars. the primary kronotypes were seven, and thus the beginning of time in heaven is based on the number and the name of seven, on account of the starry demonstrators. the seven stars as they turned round annually kept pointing, as it were, with the forefinger of the right hand, and describing a circle in the upper and lower heaven* the number seven naturally sugge

on the moist or mercury. the above is only for the alchemists. the serpent became the type and symbol of evil, and of the devil, only during the middle ages. the early christians- besides the ophite gnostics- had their dual logos: the good and the bad serpent, the agathodaemon and the kakodaemon. this is demonstrated by the writings of marcus, valentinus, and many others, and especially in pistis sophia- certainly a document of the earliest centuries of christianity. on the marble sarcophagus of a tomb, discovered in 1852 near the porta pia, one sees the scene of the adoration of the magi "or else" remarks the late c. w. king in "the gnostics "the prototype of that scene, the 'birth of the new sun" the mosaic floor exhibited a curious design which might have represented either (a) isis suc

through the red sea of death into the land of promise, saving them on their way from the serpents of the wilderness, that is, from the rulers of the stars (king's "gnostics" p. 366) and this "true and perfect serpent" is the seven-lettered god who is now credited with being jehovah, and jesus one with him. to this seven-vowelled god the candidate for initiation is sent by christos, in the pistis sophia, a work earlier than st. john's revelation, and evidently of the same school "the (serpent of the) seven thunders uttered[[vol. 1, page] 411 the mystery of the seven thunders. these seven vowels" but "seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not" says revelation "do ye seek after these mysteries" inquiries jesus in pistis sophia "no mystery is more excellent tha

one root of self, of which every other kind of self is but a manifestation or a reflection" it is then only in this "light (of consciousness) of mental and physical perception, that practical occultism can throw this into visibility by geometrical figures; which, when closely studied, will yield not only a scientific explanation of the real, objective, existence* of the "seven sons of the divine sophia" which is this light of the logos, but show by means of other yet undiscovered keys that, with regard to humanity, these "seven sons" and their numberless emanations, centres of energy personified, are an absolute necessity. make away with them, and the mystery of being and mankind will never be unriddled, not even closely approached. it is through this light that everything is created. thi

- she is chaos, in one sense. at any rate, she is the "mother of the gods" and it is from brahma (iswara, or the logos) and vach, as from adam kadmon and sephira, that the real manifested theogony has to start. beyond, all is darkness and abstract speculation. with the dhyan chohans, or the gods, the seers, the prophets and the adepts in general are on firm ground. whether as aditi, or the divine sophia of the greek gnostics, she is the mother of the seven sons: the "angels of the face" of the "deep" or the "great green one" of the "book of the dead" says the book of dzyan (knowledge through meditation "the great mother lay with[[diagram, and the, and the[[diagram, the second and the[[diagram* in her bosom, ready to bring them forth, the valiant sons of the[[diagram[[diagram (or 4,320,000

mad born of the seven-rayed one, agni, the sun[[footnote(s* qabbalah, p. 415-16, by t. myer, philadelphia* superior to the spirits or "heavens" of the earth only[[vol. 1, page] 449 the six stellar gods. and what not, only not the seven planets, which are surya's brothers, not his sons. these astral gods, whose chief with the gnostics was ildabaoth (from ilda "child" and baoth "the egg, the son of sophia achamoth, the daughter of sophia (wisdom, whose region is the pleroma, were his (ildabaoth's) sons. he produces from himself these six stellar spirits: jove (jehovah, sabaoth, adonai, eloi, osraios, astaphaios* and it is they who are the second, or inferior hebdomad. as to the third, it is composed of the seven primeval men, the shadows of the lunar gods, projected by the first hebdomad. in

aoth, for the father of all, the first man (anthropos) is above thee, and so is anthropos, the son of anthropos (irenaeus, b. i, ch. xxx, 6. this is a good proof that there were three logoi (besides the seven born of the first, one of these being the solar logos. and, again, who was that "anthropos" himself, so much higher than ildabaoth? the gnostic records alone can solve this riddle. in pistis sophia the four-vowelled name ieov is in each case accompanied by the epithet of "the primal, or first man" this shows again that the gnosis was but an echo of our archaic doctrine. the names answering to parabrahm, to brahm, and manu (the first thinking man) are composed of onevowelled, three-vowelled and seven-vowelled sounds. marcus, whose philosophy was certainly more pythagorean than anything

mercury with the greeks, to which god hermes trismegistos attributes the invention of, and the first initiation of men into, magic; and mercury is budh, wisdom, enlightenment, or "re-awakening" into the divine science. to close, kwan-shi-yin and kwan-yin are the two aspects (male and female) of the same principle in kosmos, nature and man, of divine wisdom and intelligence. they are the "christos-sophia" of the mystic gnostics- the logos and its sakti. in their longing for the expression of some mysteries never to be wholly comprehended by the profane, the ancients, knowing that nothing could be preserved in human memory without some outward symbol, have chosen the (to us) often ridiculous images of the kwan-yins to remind man of his origin and inner nature. to the impartial, however, the

known, seen, and felt by the whole of antiquity. pantheism manifests itself in the vast expanse of the starry heavens, in the breathing of the seas and oceans and the quiver of life of the smallest blade of grass. philosophy rejects one finite and imperfect god in the universe, as the anthropomorphic deity of the monotheist is represented by his followers. it repudiates in its name of philo-theo-sophia the grotesque idea that infinite, absolute deity should, or rather could, have any, whether direct or indirect, relation to finite illusive evolutions of matter, and therefore cannot imagine a universe outside that deity, or the latter absent from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate substance* why either the ether of space, or "nervous ether" should "destroy the individuality of ever

en's copy of the chart; with the brahmins, the asuras and some of its rishis- good, bad and indifferent; and among the egyptian gnostics it was thoth or (hermes) who was the chief of the seven whose names are given by origen as adonai, genius of the sun; tao, of the moon; eloi, of jupiter; sabao, of mars; orai, of venus; astaphai, of mercury; and ildabaoth (jehovah, of saturn. finally, the pistis-sophia, which the greatest modern authority on exoteric gnostic beliefs, the late mr. c. w. king, refers to as "that precious monument of gnosticism- this old document echoes, while distorting it to sectarian purposes, the archaic belief of the ages. the astral rulers of the spheres (the planets) create the monads (the souls) from their own substance out of the "tears of their eyes, and the sweat

to be masculine and yah feminine, together they make the[[hebrew] i.e, one yhvh. one, but of a male-female nature. the shekinah is always considered in the qabbalah as feminine (p. 175. and so it is considered in the exoteric puranas, for shekinah is no more than sakti- the female double or lining of any god, in such case. and so it was with the early christians whose holy spirit was feminine, as sophia was with the gnostics. but in the transcendental chaldean kabala or "book of numbers "shekinah" is sexless, and the purest abstraction, a state, like nirvana, not subject or object or anything except an absolute presence. thus it is only in the anthropomorphised systems (such as the kabala has now greatly become) that shekinah-sakti is feminine. as such she becomes the duad of pythagoras, t

BLUE EQUINOX

bster or murray is to the english language. varieties of religious experience (james. valuble as showing the uniformity of mystical attainment. kabbala denudata, von rosenroth: also the kabbalah unveiled, by s.l. mathers. the text of the qabalah, with commentary. a good elementary introduction to the subject. konx om pax. four invaluable treatises and a preface on mysticism and magick. the pistis sophia. an admirable introduction to the study of gnosticism. the oracles of zoroaster. an invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical. the equinox 22 the dream of scipio, by cicero. excellent for its vision and its philosophy. the golden verses of pythagoras, by fabre d.olivet. an interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this master. the divine pymander, by hermes trismegistus. i

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

nally in aramaic or hebrew, later being translated into greek, and later still being translated into old slavonic. 80 (n.t) gospel of matthew. 80 (n.t) gospel of luke. c.86 apollonides archprophet orapis of memphis wrote in greek on egyptian religion. 90 (n.t) gospel of john. 81-96 revelation of st. john. 123-170? apuleius, the golden ass 100-300 ce composition of corpus hermetica 100-185? pistis sophia 120-189 r. judah the prince, redactor of the mishnah. gave merkabah teachings to r. yochanam. c.120 r. akiba ben joseph 130 theon of smyrna: biblion- natural square often cited as magic. d. 132 rabbi ishmael. attributed to him is 3 enoch, or the hebrew apocalypse of enoch, supposedly written after his visionary ascension into heaven 132-5: bar kokhba rebellion in palestine. jerusalem is lev

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

newspapers in italy, la stampa and corriere dela sera. i bet they don't the secret government 155 mention that their owner is a leading voice in the bilderberg group. henry kissinger described him as "one of the people in this world i like the most".39 european royalty was represented by two regular attenders, queen beatrix of the netherlands (comm 300, the daughter of prince bernhard, and queen sophia of spain. the british delegation included john smith,40 the late leader of the labour party, who was also a trilateralist; gordon brown, the shadow labour chancellor; andrew knight; lord roll of ipsden; lawrence freedman, the head of the department of war studies at kings college; christopher hogg, the chairman of courtaulds; and patrick wright, the permanent undersecretary of state and hea

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

rologers, the astrological sign of england, that centre of global control. the name,baphomet, is reckoned to derive from greek words meaning baptism of wisdom orknowledge (initiation) and dr hugh schonfield, one of the experts on the dead seascrolls, says that using the code of the essenes, the word baphomet can be translated tosophia, the goddess of the gnostics, and the greek word for wisdom.13 sophia is anothername for the female energy. schonfield is sure there is a link between the templars and theessenes and so am i. he has demonstrated that the templars used the same code, theatbash cipher, employed in some of the dead sea scrolls.14 other accusations against thetemplars were of killing children and teaching women how to abort.15 it is true that mostof these confessions were made un

n by the german blacknobility family, the hanovers. they were closely connected with the house of hessewhich would become the launch pad for the house of rothschild. the first hanoverianking was george i. he couldnt even speak english and refused to learn. he began life asminor german nobility, a great grandson of the infamous james i, and ended it as king ofgreat britain. this guy kept his wife, sophia, in jail for 32 years for her alleged adulterywith the swede, philip von konigsmark, who was never seen again and was rumoured to371be under the floorboards of georges hanover palace. george ii became king in 1727and died in 1760 while sitting on the toilet suffering from acute constipation. yes hedied of the shits- or rather the lack of them- and there cant be many monarchs you cansay have

DIABOLUS

living. and she called his name yaltabaoth. the apocryphon of john the apocryphon of john, discovered in upper egypt in 1945, is perhaps one of the more significant gnostic texts which hold a hidden relation to the adversary. these early christian writings, dated roughly ad 350, were perhaps one of the most significant records of the history of gnostic records. it was written that barbelo (called sophia, a great and powerful female archon, who was considered beautiful and near perfection, desired to create a child. she went off alone and begat this child. while she desired to create something like herself, this child was imperfect and different. she saw the results of her creative desire, and cast him off away from her where others may not see him. this child of chaos took the form of a li

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

ve educational effort including a journal, communication through the internet, and a school. biosophia is published three times annually from r. pascoal de melo, 4-1, 1170-294 lisbon, portugal. sources: biosophia. lisbon, portugal, n.d. biosophical institute founded in the 1940s by dr. frederick kettner to promote his system of biosophy. he defined biosophy (from the words bios, meaning life, and sophia, meaning intelligence) as the science and art of intelligent living based on the awareness and practice of spiritual values, ethical-social principles and character qualities essential to individual freedom and social harmony. in his booklet, the need for a thousand year plan (1948, kettner acknowledged the part played by the human mind in creating civilization but stated, humanity s next p

another body, made up of ether, which was why the disciples did not recognize him after the resurrection. during his sojourn on earth after he had risen, he received from god the perfect knowledge of spiritual truth, or gnosis, which he communicated to the small number of the apostles who were capable of receiving it. sources: lacarriere, jacques. the gnostics. london, 1977. mead, g. r. s. pistis sophia: a gnostic miscellany. london, 1921. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1974. crumbaugh, james c(harles (1912) american psychologist and parapsychologist. he was born december 11, 1912, in terrell, texas, and educated at baylor university (b.a, 1935, southern methodist university (m.a, 1938, and the university of texas (ph.d, 1953. crumbaugh s education was interrupted by world

e. at the lyon-home trial in 1868 (see d. d. home) extracts from his preface were read in the court. he died march 18, 1871. sources: berger, arthur s, and joyce berger. the encyclopedia of parapsychology and psychical research. new york: paragon house, 1991. de morgan, augustus. a budget of paradoxes. la salle, ill: open court, 1915. reprinted as encyclopedia of eccentrics. n.p, 1971. de morgan, sophia elizabeth. three score years and ten; reminiscences of the late sophia elizabeth de morgan. london: r. bentley, 1895. prince, walter f. noted witnesses for psychic occurrences. boston: boston society for psychical research, 1928. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1963. denis, leon (1846.1927) the apostle of french spiritism (the name by which spiritualism is generally termed in

t of the lover, and kindleth the fire where it is afflicted. and because the most delicate, sweet and tender blood of the beloved doth there wander, his countenance is there represented, shining in his own blood, and cannot there be quiet, and is so haled from thence, that the blood of him that is wounded, reboundeth, and slippeth into the wounder. vairus, prior of the benedictine convent of ste. sophia in benevento, published a treatise, de fascino, in 1589. in it he first points to whole nations that have been reported to possess the power of fascination. the idolatrous biarbi and hamaxobii, on the authority of olaus magnus, are represented as most deeply versed in the art of fascinating men, so that by witchcraft of the eyes, or words, or of aught else [a very useful latitude of express

ptian gnostics. london: hollis and carter, 1960. reprint, new york: ams press, 1972. hedrick, charles w, and robert hodgson, jr, eds. nag hammadi, gnosticism, and early christianity. peabody, mass: hendrickson publishers, 1986. lacarriere, jacques. the gnostics. london: peter owen, 1977. mead, g. r. s. fragments of a faith forgotten. london, 1931. reprint, new york: university books, 1964. pistis sophia; a gnostic miscellany. london, 1921. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1974. robinson, james, ed. the nag hammadi library in english. san francisco: harper& row, 1988. rudolph, kurt. gnosis: the nature and history of gnosticism. san francisco: harper& row, 1987. gnostic order of christ the gnostic order of christ is the largest of several organizations, that was formally founde

es, see the entry teutons. spiritualism spiritualism was introduced into holland in about 1857. the first dutch spiritualist on record is j. n. t. marthese, who, after studying psychic phenomena in foreign countries, finally returned to his native holland, taking with him the american medium d. d. home. the latter held seances at the hague before several learned societies, and by command of queen sophia a seance was given in her presence. the medium himself, in an account of the performance, stated that the royal lady was obliged to sit seven seances on consecutive evenings before any results were obtained. these results, however, were apparently satisfactory, for the queen was thereafter a staunch supporter of the movement. during home s visit spiritualism gained a considerable following

accepted the task of considering what could be done for humanity and the world in light of the 2,000 years of dogmatism that had been inflicted upon them. out of their next years of discussions, the holy order of mans was formally incorporated in 1968. the holy order combined christian teachings with insights from the western esoteric tradition. the acronym mans stood for mysterion, agape, nous, sophia, greek for mystery, love, mind, and wisdom. it considered itself a pauline christian group in that it adopted paul s work as its own. its motto was service to the creator through service to man. it considered the master jesus as the master of the order. the group was modeled on roman catholic orders, except that both men and women were invited into membership. prospective members were accep

ted april 29, 1874. the company spent $60,000 on experimental work on keely s first engine, called the multiplicator. the company attracted investment, which keely spent on research, but he had no practical motor to show for the money. in 1881 the managers threatened keely with imprisonment if he did not disclose his secret. he did in fact spend a brief period in jail, but was befriended by clara sophia bloomfield moore, a theosophist, who provided further funds for keely s experiments and defended him from criticism. she wrote a stirring defense of his work: keely and his discoveries (1893. in addition to the famous motor, keely also demonstrated other devices, including a compound disintegrator, a musical ball, a globe engine, a pneumatic rocket gun, and a model airship, all powered by t

eve that any fraud keely committed may have been merely because of the intense pressure to show practical results and that there may have been some genuine basis to keely s lifework. however, there is no evidence that keely ever discovered a more powerful force than the inspired jargon of his theoretical expositions. a similar mysterious motor was built by john murray spear. sources: moore, clara sophia bloomfield. keely and his discoveries. london, 1893. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1972. keely motor an invention of john e. worrell keely (1837.1898, who claimed that it was powered by vibratory etheric force or cosmic energy. the motor was developed from what was called a hydro-pneumatic-pulsating-vacuo-engine. the keely motor association was formed in 1873 with headquart

r company, incorporated the following year. keely gave startling test demonstrations of motor force and other inventions said to use a similar mysterious energy, and convinced many reputable individuals and investors that his discoveries were genuine. there was evidence of fraud after his death, however, and as a result of these disclosures the keely motor company dissolved. sources: moore, clara sophia bloomfield. keely and his discoveries. london, 1893. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1972. keevan of the curling locks in irish mythology, keevan, the lover of the danaan maiden cleena, went off to hunt in the woods, leaving cleena to be abducted by the fairies. keil, h(erbert) h(ans) j(urgen (1930) lecturer in psychology and active parapsychologist. keil was born may 30, 193

bayonet into the icon. it continued to weep. he ripped it from the iconostasis (which separated the altar area from the rest of the sanctuary) and was about to destroy it when the villagers intervened. a person grabbed the icon and fled with it into the woods. the soldiers torched the church. when peace returned to the area, the icon was placed in the town hall at prjashev. however, the countess sophia bathory, who ruled the region, became excited about the icon and had it transferred to her chapel at her castle at mukachevo. the wealthy countess lavishly decorated the icon with jewels and drapes. it eventually became the possession of countess helen nee zrinyi. in 1688, the area having come under the control of the hungarians, the countess went into exile in turkey and took the icon with

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1968. the doctrine of the subtle body. 1919. reprint, london: stuart& watkins, 1967. echoes from the gnosis. 1907. reprint, hastings, e. sussex, england: chthonius books, 1987. mcmoneagle, joseph encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1006. fragments of a faith forgotten. 1900. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. pistis sophia. london: theosophical publishing society, 1921. simon magus. london: theosophical publishing society, 1892. thrice greatest hermes. london: theosophical society, 1906. meddelande fran sallskapet fur parapsykologis publication in swedish of the swedish society for psychical research. last known address: p.o. box 7045, stockholm 10386, sweden. medea in greek mythology, an enchantress and daug

its poison according to two compositions and one is all and through it is all and by it is all and if you have not all, all is nothing. the symbol of ouroboros has also been interpreted as the unity of sacrificer and sacrificed, relating to the symbolism of the mystical life. the symbol dates back to mesolithic (azilian) culture and appeared in the symbolism of many races. the gnostic text pistis sophia, describes the disc of the sun as a great dragon with his tail in his mouth. the fourth-century writer horopollon stated the egyptians represented the universe as a serpent devouring its own tail, a symbol of eternity and immortality, an image also found on gnostic gems. in alchemy, the tail-eating dragon represented the guardian of mystical treasure, symbolized by the sun. alchemy was to d

on of thought; a key to the enigmas of the world (english translation london, 1923. it offered his synthesis of time, space, relativity, theosophy, cosmic consciousness, and eastern and western philosophy. from 1913, ouspensky traveled on an extended journey to egypt, india, and ceylon, searching for the miraculous, and upon his return gave a series of lectures on his experiences. in 1915, he met sophia grigorievna maximenko (who later became his wife) and the mystic g. i. gurdjieff (who became his guru. ouspensky became a disciple and interpreter of gurdjieff s system (i.e, that there exists real possibilities for individuals to evolve psychologically into a state of consciousness far higher than that in which they spend the whole of their ordinary lives) until 1924, when he decided to fo

moose. a field guide to the little people. new york: wallaby, 1977. squinting a popular superstition that a squint was a bad omen. it was said that if you met a squint-eyed person, you should spit three times, to avert bad fortune. the superstition is an old one, and it was referred to in the treatise on fascination (de fascino) published in 1589 by vairus, prior to the benedictine convent of st. sophia in benevento, italy. in this work he stated let no servant ever hire himself to a squinting master. squire, j. r. m (ca. 1860) american medium and editor of the spiritualist weekly banner of light, who visited england in 1859. he was introduced into society under the auspices of the medium d. d. home, with whom he frequently held joint sittings. in the same year, the american minister prese

cient apocryphal writings (gospel of thomas, gospel of philip, book of enoch, writings from nag hammadi) and modern mormon revelations (oracles of mohonri, the order of the sons of zadok. the group believes in a secret oral tradition passed from moses to the essenes, to the gnostics, and eventually to joseph smith jr. that tradition is believed to be preserved in mystical books such as the pistis sophia and sepher yetzira. a 22-item statement of sai beliefs posits a heavenly hierarchy consisting of the heavenly father and mother; their son, jesus christ; the holy spirit; angels and archangels; and ministers of the flame (righteous humans made perfect. human beings are the literal offspring of the heavenly parents and have come into earthly existence to experience the mystery of mortality

ties, including wheaton and ojai. theosophical society of agrippa the famous occultist and alchemist agrippa (1486.1535) established in paris and other centers a secret theosophical society, the rites of admission to which were of a peculiar character. agrippa visited london in 1510, and there he established a branch of the order in that city. theosophy term derived from the greek theos (rod) and sophia (wisdom, denoting a philosophical-religious system that claims absolute knowledge of the existence and nature of the deity, and is not to be confused with the later system evolved by the founders of the theosophical society. this knowledge, or theosophy, it is claimed, may be obtained by special individual revelation, or through the operation of some higher faculty. it is the transcendent c

ractices were more of an ethical nature and were in no manner associated with the occult or magic. sources: westin, gunnar. the free church through the ages. nashville, tenn: broadman, 1958. walder, phileas a swiss lutheran minister who became an occultist and spiritualist, and a friend of french occultist eliphas levi. in the anti-clerical hoax of leo taxil (gabriel jogand-pages, walder and miss sophia walder were represented as associates of freemason albert pike in the rites of devil worship in charleston, south carolina. in reality, walder was an earnest freemason and mystic. wales wales shares with other celtic countries an ancient mythology and traditional lore, although much of this was suppressed with the spread of christianity from the fifth century on, and a succession of conques

e of the most remarkable magicians that history has left record of. he was a sorcerer at the court of king wenceslaus of bohemia (afterward emperor of germany) toward the end of the fourteenth century. among his more famous exploits was one chronicled by janus dubravius, bishop of olmutz, in his historiae regni boiemiae (history of bohemia, 1552. on the occasion of the marriage of wenceslaus with sophia, daughter of the elector palatine of bavaria, the elector, knowing his son-inlaw s liking for juggling and magical exhibitions, brought a number of morris dancers, jugglers, and other entertainers. when they came forward to give their exhibition ziito remained unobtrusively among the spectators. he was not entirely unnoticed, however, for his remarkable appearance drew the attention of thos

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

reform. the peculiarity of the reform in the spaccio is that it begins in the heavens; it is the images of the constellations of the zodiac and of the northern and southern constellations which are reformed or cleansed through a council of the planetary gods which is summoned by jupiter for this purpose. amongst the speakers in this celestial council conducting the celestial reform are the divine sophia, isis, and momus. the idea of a reform beginning in the heavens with the rearranging or cleansing of the celestial images (whence the lower world is reformed through the reform of the celestial influxes upon it) might have been suggested to bruno by a hermetic treatise, not one of the familiar ones in the corpus hermeticum but one of those preserved by stobaeus in his anthology. this is the

sis and osiris; who have put an end to slaughter and have restored justice; who having learned from hermes that things below must be kept in sympathy with things above have instituted on earth the sacred functions vertically linked with the mysteries of heaven.5 this treatise is very obscure6 and i have picked out from it only certain points for comparison with bruno's spaccio in which the divine sophia, isis, and momus (but not horus) are among the speakers; which is concerned with the convoking of an assembly of the gods to reform themselves and the celestial images; whence there is to come a general reform of mankind involving a return of egyptian religion and ethics. there is, further, a curious vein of lucianic familiarity in the treatment of the gods in the hermetic treatise (momus i

e manner of a magic memory system, the order of the constellation images, and on this the whole argument depends. the following are some examples of the virtue-vice movements, the ascent of virtues and descent of vices, which take place as the gods reform the heavens. to ursa major and minor there ascend truth, being, goodness, which drive out deformity, falsehood, and defect.2 in cephus, wisdom (sophia) replaces ignorance and foolish faith' natural and human law rise in bootes (arctophylax) in place of crime.4 in the corona borealis, justice replaces iniquity.5 in the triangulum, faith, love and sincerity drive out fraud.6 in the pleiades (which bruno places amongst the zodiacal signs, as in some editions of hyginus) union, civility, concord are found instead of sect, faction, and party.7

he was intensely cultivating the inner life and the inner imagery which gives those works their power. bruno took an affectionate farewell of the university of wittenberg in an oratio valedictoria.2 he told the assembled doctors that he, unlike paris, had made minerva his choice from among the three goddesses. to see minerva is to become blind, to be wise through her is to be foolish, for she is sophia, wisdom itself, beautiful as the moon, great as the sun, terrible as the marshalled ranks of armies, pure because nothing of defilement can touch her, honourable because the image of goodness itself, powerful because being one she can do all things, kind because she visits the nations that are sacred to her and makes men friends to god and prophets. 1 ibid, p. 142. bruno may be using the my

itione about the frenzy or furor with which the enthusiast hunts after the vestiges of the divine which are very like passages in the eroici furori; and he gives another formulation of his belief that poetry, painting, and philosophy are all one, to which he now adds music "true philosophy is music, poetry or painting; true painting is poetry, music, and philosophy; true poetry or music is divine sophia and painting."3 it is in such contexts as these, which have been little studied by the philosophers who have admired giordano bruno, that one should see the philosophy of the infinite universe and the innumerable worlds. such concepts are not with him primarily philosophical or scientific thinking, but more in the nature of hieroglyphs of the divine, attempts to figure the infigurable, to b

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

y reproduction. from this conception sprang the ormuzd and ahryman of the persians, the story of adam, eve, and the serpent in genesis, and the legend of kihua-kohuatl and tonakatl-koatl in mexico "the serpent remained in the memory and affections of most early people as wisdom, life, goodness, and the source of knowledge and science, under various names such as toth, hermes, themis, the kneph or sophia of egyptians and gnostics, and set, shet, or shem of the jews"[75 [75] forlong, rivers of life, etc, vol. i, p. 143. the serpent goddess, although embracing evil as well as good, was still the "giver of life" and the "teacher of mankind" these were the titles which in later ages began to be coveted by monarchs, and then it was that the attributes belonging to this deity began to appear in c

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

ch would have remained permanent. now as collateral evidence of my contention i pray you to follow me into the consideration that in our freemasonry may yet be traced allusions and references to that system of esoteric teaching and dogma, which was undeniably the result of the destruction of the exoteric monotheism of judea, i mean the jewish kabbalah-s-whiqh first took shape as a definite secret sophia, wisdom or doctrine after the fall of jerusalem, and which was founded on the basis of the monotheistic truths accumulated during centuries of more or less pure outward observance of a monotheistic religion. this kabbalah then crystallized gradually into a theological scheme, and became more and more elaborated through the dark ages following the ruin of the augustan era; to dominant118them

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

d and jewels. the crusaders even cut open the stomachs of those they had killed to find gold and precious stones the victims may have swallowed before they died. so great was the material greed of the crusaders that they felt no qualms in sacking the christian city of constantinople (istanbul) during the fourth crusade, when they stripped off the gold leaf from the christian frescoes in the hagia sophia. after a long and difficult journey, and much plunder and slaughter of muslims, this motley band called crusaders reached jerusalem in 1099. when the city fell after a siege of nearly five weeks, the crusaders moved in. they carried out a level of savagery the like of which the world has seldom seen. all muslims and jews in the city were put to the sword. in the words of one historian "they

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

ing, esotericism and modern language. 2 the great chain of being flatland, the traditional model of the universe, the axis mundi and the sacred tree, characteristics of the traditional model, the neo-platonic cosmos, theosophical and modern maps, the kabbalistic tree of life, yggdrasil:the world tree. 3 first principles who or what is god? what s in a name? the pleroma, the divine will, logos and sophia, what about jesus? jesus, christ and logos, what is sophia, the polarity of the god and goddess, impersonal to personal, the solar logos:christ, gods and spirits, the seven spirits (logoii, the seven planes, the earth and the underworld, the immortals. 4 the secret of saturn the secret of saturn, perceptional dualism, the watchers of enoch, archons, dominions and thoughts that run wild, the

ah is of course overlaid with imagery of old testament, jewish, christian (and sometimes gnostic) layers, it is primarily a greek neo platonic model. the tree starts with nothing, the great void or emptiness behind all things, this is known as ain (1st c) ain at various cycles moves through transformative stages and manifests three principles (2nd c) kether the divine will chokmah the logos binah sophia (saturn) we have deliberately chosen gnostic names here to prepare you for there use in our gnostic model of the universe as presented in the next chapter. chokmah and binah also form the polarity of male and female principles which give birth to the rest of the tree of life (they could also be easily related to the fire and ice of yggdrasil. geburah mars chesed jupiter tiphareth sun hod me

universe of luminous realities, from the highest forces or aeons to choirs and angels. traditionally this complete spiritual kingdom is known as the pleroma or fullness, because it is filled to the brim with light and life. at the same time, the major spiritual forces within it are known as aeons. while in the gnostic tradition we tend to emphasize the three principles, the divine will, logos and sophia and the seven spirits or aeons, there is a universe of created beings which exist in the pleroma and which fulfill the creative directive expressed by the lord of wisdom. in one gnostic tradition, michael (as a manifestation of the logos ray) and first the gnostic handbook page 26 estate predecessor of jesus, who was the first created immortal. the divine will the divine will is the first p

essor of jesus, who was the first created immortal. the divine will the divine will is the first principle of action, it is kether in the kabbalah and brahma in the hindu traditions. it is the creative principle, not in the sense of matter but in beginning the emanation process through which the whole great chain of being with its world, dimensions and multitudes of life are manifested. logos and sophia the two principles which are manifested and work in unison with the divine will are the logos and sophia. the logos is the divine mind and the concept came directly from the greek mystery traditions. indeed as early as 6th century bce heraclitus stated that the logos was shared by all. while orpheus stated behold the logos divine, thread well the narrow path of life and gaze of him. it is f

vine, thread well the narrow path of life and gaze of him. it is from this tradition that the gospel of st.john derives it model as expressed in the early verse in the beginning was the logos. the logos was known as spenta mainyu in the zoroastrian tradition in mythology it is sometimes the pre existed state of the son of god. there are many positions in the great chain of being for the logos and sophia and as we study further complex myths and legends of their power will be discussed. however, in their most primal form they work within the triangle of force in the upper world. what about jesus? one of the major debates in christianity has been about the nature of jesus. however, when we examine the new testament in a critical manner some important facts come to light. jesus over and over

t-born of every creature and the firstborn of the dead (col 1:13,15,18. this is echoed in the book of revelation where we read that jesus is the "beginning of the creation of god. over and over again we find nothing of jesus being god or even equal with god. jesus hence was a messenger of the pleroma whose god existed in the upper worlds. the gnostic handbook page 27 that which is not divine will sophia the logos the polarity of logos& sophia the gnostic handbook page 28 jesus, christ and logos when we come to understand that jesus was a created being a new picture of divinity arises. in many gnostic traditions many sons of god are acknowledge, however jesus was believed to be the first created entity, michael. jesus existed in the first estate (before coming into a physical body) as micha

the first estate (before coming into a physical body) as michael, that immortal who plays such an important role in mystical christian traditions. when michael is born into the essene community, he becomes jesus. at his baptism, after years of training (the so-called lost years) he became the christ. his special essene training had involved processes that cleansed the human state by the power of sophia and transformed his bodily vehicle into a form that was made pure enough for the communion with the logos. jesus as an individual, discrete being (michael) still existed but communed with the logos within him. jesus was not and is not god or the logos or christ, he became christed and hence in that understanding is known as jesus the christ. the term christ means "anointed" and refers to th

being (michael) still existed but communed with the logos within him. jesus was not and is not god or the logos or christ, he became christed and hence in that understanding is known as jesus the christ. the term christ means "anointed" and refers to the state of sonship to the lord of wisdom. jesus at his baptism communed with the mind of god (logos, his actions came to embody the spirit of god (sophia) and he became a full son of god (christ. we speak of god, of the son, his word, and of the holy spirit and we say that the father, the son and the spirit are united in power. for the son is the intelligence, reason and wisdom of the father and the spirit is an effluence, as light from fire. in the same way we recognize that there are other powers which surround matter and pervade it. athen

nostics stressed the experience union with the divine and showed little interest in the historical jesus, whom it has always been impossible to know in a concrete sense or even accurately in a historical sense. jesus christ, sun of god. david fideler, quest books. 1993. the state of christhood is a state to which all of us must aim, it is the state by which we return to the pleroma. the logos and sophia are energy fields emanating into the lower worlds and if permitted will transform us into immortal beings. this teaching is the solar tradition and is central to our understanding of the gnosis. the gnostic handbook page 29 that which is not divine will sophia the logos awakened by the mind of god (logos) purified by the wisdom of god (sophia) empowered by divine will the christ-state the g

ng into the lower worlds and if permitted will transform us into immortal beings. this teaching is the solar tradition and is central to our understanding of the gnosis. the gnostic handbook page 29 that which is not divine will sophia the logos awakened by the mind of god (logos) purified by the wisdom of god (sophia) empowered by divine will the christ-state the gnostic handbook page 30 what is sophia? the general understanding of the holy spirit as found in the christian tradition is a desexing of the great feminine power. sophia is the goddess or feminine principle and as such exists from the earliest pagan traditions right through to the greek mysteries and gnosticism. in gnostic literature she is described by many names the all mothers, mother of the living, shining mother and the ho

general understanding of the holy spirit as found in the christian tradition is a desexing of the great feminine power. sophia is the goddess or feminine principle and as such exists from the earliest pagan traditions right through to the greek mysteries and gnosticism. in gnostic literature she is described by many names the all mothers, mother of the living, shining mother and the holy spirit. sophia is seen as the counterpart of the logos and cannot work without. it is hence suggested in esoteric gnostic literature that it was the combined power of jesus and mary madgadene who transmitted the mysteries, not jesus alone. the sophia tradition has survived hidden under the veil of christian piety, it is still found in the cult of the virgin mary and is most powerful in the russian orthodo

adgadene who transmitted the mysteries, not jesus alone. the sophia tradition has survived hidden under the veil of christian piety, it is still found in the cult of the virgin mary and is most powerful in the russian orthodox traditions. it is a tradition of great age and some beauty that personifies the power of the holy spirit as distinctly female. for example, in proverbs particularly we have sophia wandering the street begging men to love her. while in the following quotes we may even begin to think that sophia or wisdom is separate, yet in reality, sophia is a facet of the lord of wisdom himself. wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, how long

es the old testament, as well of the one who is the begetter of the new testament; who is she, then, but the truest humanity, the purest and most whole of beings, the macrocosmic whole, the living soul of nature and of the universe eternally united and uniting in the process of time with the divine and uniting all that is. the pillar and foundation of the truth, pavel florensky. the importance of sophia can be best understood when we understand the primal myth behind her nature. throughout many cultures there has been the legend of the goddess who is stolen from the world of life and is taken to the underworld. there she is kept captive pinning for her lover who is still in the other world. she waits and pines until at last some salvation is achieved by her hero coming into the underworld

until the completion of the tale. though there are many modifications of this tale, it is the story of the spark of god within man. mans true self is caught in the coils of earth and is lost in the consciousness of matter. the nature of the spirit-spark within man is that of being a seed, god in potential. in hebrew it is called the ruach and interestingly, one definition offered of the ruach is sophia. so, here we have an israelite version of the classic tale. the spirit of god in man is a spark, a seed of light, it is caught in matter and crying out for salvation. the logos embodied in jesus answers the call and through great suffering offers salvation. but it is not that simple, for while sophia still lives in the world system, she can only travel to the upperworld by day and must retu

jesus answers the call and through great suffering offers salvation. but it is not that simple, for while sophia still lives in the world system, she can only travel to the upperworld by day and must return to the underworld by night or so the legend goes. so man, on the path of transfiguration, though being reborn through the powers of the pleroma must live in the world, but try not to be of it. sophia hence offers us some fascinating insights into the nature of god. she is the daughter of the divine will and yet is the part of the divine will itself, she is the spouse and lover of the logos and the spirit within man. she is reflected in the light hidden in nature, the ecclesia, the gnostic scripture and man, and illustrates the presence of light in all things. in each of these things sop

nsights into the nature of god. she is the daughter of the divine will and yet is the part of the divine will itself, she is the spouse and lover of the logos and the spirit within man. she is reflected in the light hidden in nature, the ecclesia, the gnostic scripture and man, and illustrates the presence of light in all things. in each of these things sophia is manifested. in the material world sophia is the presence of god in nature. even after all the pain man has inflicted on it, nature still exhibits the divine spark, though its luster has been sorely diminished. sophia is the bride of the logos embodied in the the gnostic handbook page 32 ecclesia, in the scriptures sophia is wisdom and in man she is the very essence which changes him from mortal to immortal, she is the holy spirit

he presence of god in nature. even after all the pain man has inflicted on it, nature still exhibits the divine spark, though its luster has been sorely diminished. sophia is the bride of the logos embodied in the the gnostic handbook page 32 ecclesia, in the scriptures sophia is wisdom and in man she is the very essence which changes him from mortal to immortal, she is the holy spirit. therefore sophia is twofold, at once divine and creaturely- above and before creation and in creation .in the world, sophia is actualised- as the earth's eros for heaven, all creation longing for liberation from the bondage of corruption for the radiance of sophianic light, for beauty and transfiguration. sophia- the wisdom of god. sergei bulgakov, lindisfarne press, 1993. the concept of sophia is alien to

ging for liberation from the bondage of corruption for the radiance of sophianic light, for beauty and transfiguration. sophia- the wisdom of god. sergei bulgakov, lindisfarne press, 1993. the concept of sophia is alien to many western gnostics and yet when we clearly study the bible in the light of the gnosis, we find she is an integral part of divinity. when we consider how often the concept of sophia is linked to the concept of wisdom, we can achieve a deeper understanding of the power and beauty of the pleroma. the polarity of the god and the goddess while the three principles (sometimes called the triangle or triune principle (singular) work in unison, in many traditions there is a strong emphasis placed on the polarity between the logos and sophia. while many gnostics would tend to a

d and goddess images which fit nicely on this polarity, they also move down through the planes and have other expressions. if we use the kabbalistic model for a moment we can see how the pagan concept of the horned god and the triple goddess arose. the horned god manifests as the logos in chokmah and then as the sun. these are his two modes. while the goddess manifests as the old crone of saturn (sophia/binah, the midwife (lunar) and the girl child (earth. these images are pregnant with meaning and certainly help us appreciate the power of these principles beyond simple mental speculation. however care must be taken for it is too easy to reduce the gods to images which fit our preconceptions and by using a gender based polarity we can easily end up with both misogynist and homophobic model

help us appreciate the power of these principles beyond simple mental speculation. however care must be taken for it is too easy to reduce the gods to images which fit our preconceptions and by using a gender based polarity we can easily end up with both misogynist and homophobic models. the gnostic handbook page 33 that which is not divine will daughter mother crone three phases of the goddess (sophia: earth, moon and saturn (daughter, mother and crone) two horns of the g r e a t g o d (logos, neptune (chokmah& the sun. the gnostic handbook page 34 this ability to show the origins of the symbols of many systems is a unique characteristic of gnosticism. rather than there being conflicts between pagan and so called christian, theism and non theism and related contradictions, we find that a

gan traditions the gods seem more human, it is certainly also found in the monotheistic traditions as well. jehovah and allah at times seem all too human. for the gnostic the impersonal is the highest principle, the unoriginate originator is without personality in a human sense of the word since it is beyond all of our preconceptions and projections. while the three principles of the divine will, sophia and the logos can be given iconographic and literary form they too are essentially what they are called principles. they are not personalities, they are not personal deities. accordingly gnosis is a form of perception, feed by the minds and fueled by the emotions. it does not, however, greatly emphasize devotion (bhakti) that is focused or obsessed with image, sound, form and so forth. whil

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

dam and eve, depending on interpretation, break gnostic theurgy page 16 one of creators commandments or in some way or another break cosmic law, and are expelled from the garden of eden (in gnostic terms the expulsion from eden represents the soul entering matter. there are many variantions on this theme. in some gnostic traditions the force of the universe expands and it s final manifestation is sophia or wisdom. out of a yearning to know the original creator she gives birth to a demi-god, ialdabaoth who in turn creates the material world. he becomes conceited and arrogant, and his creation (matter) becomes fallen and trapped within his dominion. in this legend the god of the old testament is seen as evil and christ is the only emissary of the light world. in another tradition satanel (th

gy of gaia, we can readily appreciate that the earth is a complex living system. in esoteric terminology, the earth is a logos and forms the matrix which receives and relays energies from the solar sphere. since these energies are both of a positive and negative nature, so too is mother earth. the gnostic tradition maintains that the essential earth logos is a light force (even in some traditions sophia herself) which has been locked in an outer physical cage or prison. this is where the gnostic concept of earth is radically different from earth religions, to worship the earth is to worship a cage, to be subservient to the earth is to risk annihilation. the earth is a living field, but like everything else on the physical plane, it is in a state of flux and drifts between light and darknes

a and return home. beyond all karmic records and factors exists a memory, a glimpse of the first estate, of the original nature of man. the process of transfiguration is to break beyond the endura (the world of the archons) and retrieve the gnosis coded within us, bursting forth with the power of divine will and formulating an identity of light substance. in the tradition of the barbelo gnostics, sophia herself, feeling guilty after giving birth to the false creator, hid within his very own creation the keys to man s liberation and the demiurge s downfall. gnostic theurgy page 59 some conclusions when we examine the cycle of eternal re-occurrence and the nature of transfiguration, we can see how wrong traditional views of reincarnation are. reincarnation is not some carefully graded develo

in religious terms it trans- mits the energies of the treasury of light and the forces of the archons. in the terms of esoteric science, it transmits x and y factors (fig 32) to explain this point further, the treasury of light, which exists beyond and behind the sun, uses the solar logos as a gateway through which higher forces can re-awaken man. these forces are, in gnostic terms, the logos and sophia. when they are manifested within the life of a gnostic the true self is awakened and the student becomes christed. the logos and sophia are the twin poles of the x factor. at the same time however, the sun also transmits the destructive currents of the demiurge, these must be resisted and controlled if liberation is to be achieved. fig 32: veils on the tree of life gnostic theurgy page 117

nd also has twin poles, the x and y factors create a solar cross of four energy forces (fig 33) the solar sphere is, hence, the focus of the mystery tradition, whether it be apollo, mithra, christ, horus or ra, we can see the secret teachings in application. the solar sphere itself became a symbol of the hidden mysteries. at rising it is the logos, at the height it is the christ, at setting it is sophia. this represents the doorway through which fallen mankind can awaken. i am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. john 10:9 the imagery of the solar sphere is central to our understanding of the technology of the gnosis. these forces control mankind and influence our religion, philosophy and way of life. we can see in the many sun

n based cultures of the past, both destructive and constructive facets of solar imagery. for example, the use of human sacrifice to satisfy the demands of the father sun in aztec culture obviously marked their loss of gnosis and domination by the fallen solar sphere. while the adoration of the three phases of the sun within the mithraic tradition helped explain the forces of the logos, christ and sophia (fig 34).at the same time, however, we can see the destruction and degeneration of mithraic worship in the caesar cults of rome. the solar gateway x factors y factors fig 33 gnostic theurgy page 118 we must take care when studying these theologies not to link positive with spiritual light, and negative with spiritual darkness. there is always positive and negative, passive and active. while

me, however, we can see the destruction and degeneration of mithraic worship in the caesar cults of rome. the solar gateway x factors y factors fig 33 gnostic theurgy page 118 we must take care when studying these theologies not to link positive with spiritual light, and negative with spiritual darkness. there is always positive and negative, passive and active. while there is a balance logos and sophia, for example, there is the duality between good and evil, ascension and degradation, x and y factors. the importance of the sun/son can be found in most esoteric traditions, whether it be baal in the early el tradition of canaan, the messiah of the israelite mysteries, ganesha in hinduism or the mithra of the zoroastrians. it is the intermediary between the treasury of light and mankind. an

le, there is the duality between good and evil, ascension and degradation, x and y factors. the importance of the sun/son can be found in most esoteric traditions, whether it be baal in the early el tradition of canaan, the messiah of the israelite mysteries, ganesha in hinduism or the mithra of the zoroastrians. it is the intermediary between the treasury of light and mankind. anti sophic forces sophia anti-logic forces logos fig 33 treasury of light world of the archons gnostic theurgy page 119 mithra is a fascinating case as there is a certain mythos which explains the nature of the solar sphere extremely well. while mithra is seen as a solar god, at times he is also seen as a saturnian lord ruling over the sun and moon. this is because saturn was related to zurvan, the supreme god of t

c theurgy page 119 mithra is a fascinating case as there is a certain mythos which explains the nature of the solar sphere extremely well. while mithra is seen as a solar god, at times he is also seen as a saturnian lord ruling over the sun and moon. this is because saturn was related to zurvan, the supreme god of time (equivalent to the lord of wisdom, with the logos being related to the sun and sophia to the moon. whilst mithra was a sun being, the saturnian imagery indicated to the faithful that the solar sphere was simply zurvan's presence in the lower world- this is an important truth. this mystery is even more complicated when we realise that saturn is the guardian of the abyss, and consists two aspects. the lower aspect of saturn is seen as the demiurge, while the higher is seen as

se beings become manifestations of the sun, and accordingly, we can appreciate how the incarnation motif became accepted, while not accepting its more anthropomorphic interpretation. solar mythologies the solar tradition has many forms. the most common adaptation is that found in the language of myth and legend where the x and y factors take on anthropomorphic forms. for the gnostic the logos and sophia are the twin poles of the x factor. one traditional adaptation, for example, was for the logos to be related to the sun and sophia to the moon, and this led to a wide range of sexual duality traditions using god and goddess images. while these are fine in their place, it is gnostic theurgy page 120 important to see them as mythological forms only, to worship the sun or the moon is to fall i

le these are fine in their place, it is gnostic theurgy page 120 important to see them as mythological forms only, to worship the sun or the moon is to fall into the greatest error, and comes under the dominion of the demiurge. since reproduction is only a thing of the lower world and resulted from the error of matter, the images of fertility can only with extreme care be related to the logos and sophia. while certainly we can see reproduction as the process of uniting the logos and sophia within ourselves, which gives birth to a child self, in the static kingdom, to allow this imagery to degenerate into nature worship or the idolisation of family is a great aberration. it must always be remembered that the sun being the gateway to the lower world also transmits the forces of the demiurge

ly myths and legends. for example, horus and set of ancient egypt, the twins of the sun, where horus is the power and glory of the solar sphere, and yet hidden within his breast is set, the fallen and dark one. in nature this can also be readily discerned, the sun can create deserts, as well as sustain the beauty of the forest- the sun burns just as quick as its causes growth. fig 34 setting sun (sophia) sun at midday: mithra/christ rising sun (logos) gnostic theurgy page 121 the nature of the solar currents the energies which are emanated from the solar sphere have certain distinct characteristics. these characteristics help us to appreciate the nature of both x and y forces. the major traits of these energies is that they are all pervasive, and interpenetrate all levels of the intermedia

page 139 the anointing of the holy spirit is the baptism with fire. it is not given with the baptism of repentance, but is offered later on the spiritual path. as the baptism of repentance is recognition of starting the spiritual path, the baptism of fire is recognition of a certain degree of achievement, and is stimulus for further growth. the baptism of water symbolises the start of the work of sophia in cleansing the life of the student, it also initiates the growth of the light spark in the gnostic. the baptism of fire recognises the growing spark of light and accelerates the destruction of the "old man" within the gnostic being. as the spark of light grows it attempts to commune with the mind of god (logos) to which the gnostic now has access, however, sin (dialectic facets) block the

f the student, it also initiates the growth of the light spark in the gnostic. the baptism of fire recognises the growing spark of light and accelerates the destruction of the "old man" within the gnostic being. as the spark of light grows it attempts to commune with the mind of god (logos) to which the gnostic now has access, however, sin (dialectic facets) block the way. as the initiate evolves sophia purifies and destroys the blockages between the self and the logos. this process is recognised and accelerated by the initiation of fire. the spirit baptism also recognises the new mind and emotions through which the new man is being formed. accordingly, as sophia imparts new gifts and powers. it should be noted that since this baptism initiates new aspects of the transfiguration process, i

derstanding of the esoteric meaning of the name jesus and the christ. jesus as a symbol represents the human principle. in gnostic literature the name jesus was symbolic of the spiritually disciplined life, hence, baptism in the name of jesus is the first baptism, that of water, discipline and repentance. the second baptism (or anointing) is that of fire, it is the christ baptism. at this baptism sophia breaks down the barriers between the new awakened self (pneumatic spark) and the logos and the gnostic enters into communion with the mind of god. in other words, the lord of wisdom is present in his soul, he is christed. now i realise many traditional christians (and others) will argue that the holy spirit cannot do any harm, it is the spirit of love, and hence these baptisms can be given

tides and overcome them. he travelled the world in his "so-called" missing years, studying in both india and britain, bringing the divergent threads of the mystery tradition to a common climax, while at the same time achieving a mastery of himself and the world around him. the baptism of jesus clearly shows his high state of initiation, his energy field has been cleansed of dialectic elements by sophia, and in recognition of his achievement, the father of wisdom acknowledged his new state. michael is now jesus the christ, the christ state being the achievement of communication with the logos. as soon as jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. at that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and lighting on him. and a voice from heaven said "th

HUEBNER LOUISE WITCHCRAFT FOR ALL WICCA 04

he questions they were asked were of the "when did you stop beating your wife" genre. women were asked to admit they were having sexual^ relations with the devil, and under torture they admitted it. i find it very difficult to accept the idea of the devil romping around and mating with all these warty women. if he did exist, it seems to me he could have done a lot better choosing ladies more like sophia loren or brigitte bardot, perhaps. at one time chemists were considered magicians. albertus magnus (1193-1290, considered a wizard in his day, was responsible for the discovery of caustic potash, cinnabar, and ceruse. he was a leader in witchcraft. you may remember his name from the film rosemary's baby. he was a chemist who was preoccupied with turning other metals into gold by (transmutat

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW CHUMBLEY

tic craft unites both mystical and the pragmatic dimensions to form transcendental sorcery. thus, whether seemingly high or low in application, magick locates the step and connects the spirit to its location- wheresoever one wanders in thought, word or deed. finally, i would add this: magick brings one to meet death before dying and thus bestows an eternally living wisdom. the light magia reveals sophia most fair neath the mask of thanatos most foul. rf: define crooked path sorcery. where did this term come from? ac: the term crooked path sorcery refers to a specific corpus of teachings and rituals transmitted from within an inner circle of the cultus sabbati. it is distinguished from other bodies of sabbatic lore by its specialised mode of ritual praxis, its distinctly ophidian cosmogony

ISIS UNVEILED

in the days of tertuuian, and as having "originated among the gnostic heretics" we will not permit ourselves to contra- 71. cf. a. kirdicr: sp/tinx mgitagoga, n. 52: amstelodami, 1676. 72. cmffiia bttioeta rtu^ion and seieiux, p. 224. digitizecoy google 4s isis unveiled diet such a learned authority, further than to state that it originaud among them no more than did their 'anointed' christos and sophia. the former they modeled on the original of the 'king mesnah' the male principle of wisdom, and the latter on the third sephiroth, from the chaldaean kabala* and even from the hindq brahmi and sara- svatt" and the pagan dionysus and demeter. and here we are on firm ground, if it were only because it is now proved that the new tehameni never appeared in its complete form, such as we find it

t from the beginning of time in the impenetrable secresy erf the inner sanctuaries of the pagodas. we need not be surprised ther^ore to find again, in all the fundamental dogmas of the gnostics, the metaphysical tenets of both brfthntanism and buddhism. they held that the old testament was the revelation of an inferior being, a subordinate divinity, and did not contain a ungle sen- tence of their sophia, the diviue wisdom. as to the new testament, it had lost its purity when the compilers became guilty of interpolations. the revelation of divine truth was sacrificed by them to promote selfish ends and maintain quarrels. the accusation does not seem so very improbable to one who is well aware of the constant strife between the champions of orcumcision and the 'law' and the apostles who had

uble-sexed deity in ancient conceptions, could be comprehended by an ordinary human intellect, the theology of every people had to create for its religion a logos or manifested word, in some shape or other. with the ophites and other gnostics who took their models direct from more ancient originals, the unrevealed bythoa and her male coimterpart produce ennoia, and the three in their turn produce sophia* thus completing the tetraktys, which will emanate christos, the very essence of the father 381. stqihia u the fai^ieat ptototj^ of womui the fint tpiribi^ eve. in the bible the syatem it revened and the mtcrrcnidg enuuuitiod being omitted. eve i> de- digitizecoy google. 172 isis dnveiled spirit. as the imrevealed one, or concealed logos in its utent state, he has existed from all eternity

omitted. eve i> de- digitizecoy google. 172 isis dnveiled spirit. as the imrevealed one, or concealed logos in its utent state, he has existed from all eternity in the arba-il, the metaphyseal abstrac- tion; therefore, be is onb with all others as a unity, the latter (including all) being indifferently termed ennoia, sige (silence, bythos, etc. as the revealed one, he is androgyne, chriatos, and sophia (divine wis- dom, who descend into the man jesus. both father and son are shown by irenaeus to have loved the beauty (jormam) of the primitive woman* who is bythos depth as well as sophia, and as having produced conjointly ophis and sophia (double-sexed unity again, male and female wisdom, one being considered as the unrevealed boly spirit or elder sophia the pntuma the intellectual 'mother

d unity again, male and female wisdom, one being considered as the unrevealed boly spirit or elder sophia the pntuma the intellectual 'mother of all things; the other the revealed one or opku, ty hfying divine wisdom fallen into matter, or god-man jesus, whom the gnostic ophites represented by the serpent (ophis. fecundated by the divine light of the father and son, the highest spirit and ennoia, sophia produces in her turn two other emanations one perfect christos, the second imperfect sophia-achamoth* from nis^n 'hokhamoth (simple wisdom, who becomes the mediatrix between the intellectual and material worlds. christos was the mediator and guide between god (the higher, and everything spiritual in man; achamoth the younger sophia per- formed the same function between the 'primitive man' e

econd personage of the hindq trinity, is also the logos, for he is made subsequently to incarnate himself in krishna. and lakhmi (or lakskmi) who, as in the case of osiris and isis, of ain-soph and sephira, and of bythos and ennoia, is wife, sister, and daughter of vishnu, through this endless >rrelation of male and female creative powers in the abstruse metaphysics of the ancient philosophies is sophia- achamoth. krish- na is the mediator promised by brahmd to mankind, and represents the same idea as the gnostic christos. and lakskmi, vishnu's spiritual half, is the emblem physical nature, the universal mother of all the material and revealed forms; the mediatrix and protector of nature, like sophia- achamoth, who is made by the gnostics the mediatrix between the great digitizecoy goog

and everything that is on it. the new tesiamerd gives us a redeemer for the first sin of mankind, which was punished for having sinned; but there is not a word said about a savior who would take away the unmerited curse from the earth and the animals, which had never sinned at all. thus the gnostic allegory shows a greater sense of both justice and logic than the christian. in the ophite system, sophia, the androgyne wisdom, is also the female spirit, or the hindft female n&ji (ndrayana, moving on the face of the waters chaos, or future matter. she vivifies it from afar, but not touching the abyss of darkness. sie is unable to do so, for wisdom is purely intellectual, and cannot act directly on matter. therefore sophia is obliged to address herself to her supreme parent; but although life

ng the abyss of darkness. sie is unable to do so, for wisdom is purely intellectual, and cannot act directly on matter. therefore sophia is obliged to address herself to her supreme parent; but although life proceeds primally from the unaeen cause, and its ennoia, neither ot them can, any more than herself, have anything to do with the lower chaos in which matter assumes its definite shape. thus, sophia is obliged to employ on the task her imperfect emanation, sophia- acha moth, the latter being of a mixed nature, half spiritual and half material. the only difference between the ophite cosmogony and that of the st. john nazarenes is a change of names. we find an identical system in the kabala, the book of mystery liber mytterii* all the three sys- tems, especially that of the kabalists and

or messenger of light. if bythos and ennoia are the nazarene mano, then the dual-natured, the semi -spiritual, semi-material acha- moth must be fetahil when viewed from her spiritual aspect; and if regarded in her grosser nature, she b the nazarene 'spiritus' digitizecoy google the fntst groups op christians 176 fetahil" who is the leflexiod of bis father, lord abatur, the third life as the elder sophia is also the third emanation is the 'newest- man' perceiving his fruitless uttemptb to create a perfect material world, the' spiritus' calls to one of her progeny, the karabtanot qda- baoth who is without sense or judgment('blind matter, to unite himself with her in order to create something definite out of this con- fused (turbvientog) matter, which task she is enabled to achieve only after

baoth who is without sense or judgment('blind matter, to unite himself with her in order to create something definite out of this con- fused (turbvientog) matter, which task she is enabled to achieve only after having produced from this union with karabtanoa the 'seven stellars' like the six sons or genii of the gnostic hda-baoth, they then frame the material world. the same stoiy is repeated in sophia- achamoth. ddegated by her purely spiritual parent, the elder sophia, to create the world of vitihle forma, she descended into chaos, and, over- powered by the emanation of matter, lost her way. still ambitious to create a worid of matter of her own, she busied herself hovering to and fro about the dark abyss, and imparted life and motion to the inert elements, imtil she became so hopelessl

sted female virtues are also emanations, that are termed 'primitive men' tbub adam kadmon, ennoia (or si^e, the logoi in short, are the 'only-begotten' ones but not the sotu of man, which appellation properiy belongs 388. iredmiu: afouul beraiet, i, xzz, i; tbcodoret: batnlieantm /mhdantm. 389. ircnaeiu: ep. eh, i, zxri. i. digitizecoy google cheists -descent into hell' 177 to christoa the aon of sophia (the elder) and of the primitive mad who produces him through his own vivifying light, which emanates from the source or caiue of all (hence the cause of his light also, the 'un- known father' there is a great difference made in the gnostic meta- physics between the first unrevealed logos and the 'anointed' who is christos. ennma may be termed, as philo understands it, the second god, but h

jerome, which shows better than whole volumes their traditionary policy? this is what saint gregory of nazianzen wrote to his friend and confidant sairtt jerome "nothing can impose better on a people than eerbiage; the less they understand the more they admire. our fathers and doctors have often said, not what they thought, but what circumstances and necessity forced them to" but to return to our sophia-achamoth and the belief of the genuine primitive christians. after having produced ilda-baoth hda from ht, a child, and baoth from tmf, the egg, or vitro, booth, a waste, a desolation sophia-achamoth suffered so much from the contact with matter, that after extraordinary struggles she escaped at last out of the muddy chaos. although unacquainted with the pleroma, the region of her moliier

portion of it. he follows the example of bythoa and produces from himself six stellar spirits (sons. they are all in his own image, and reflexions one of the other, digitizecoy google 184 isis unveiled which become darker as they successively recede from their father. with the latter, they all inhabit seven regions disposed like a ladd, beginning under the middle space, the region of their mother sophia- achamoth, and ending with our earth, the tesentk region. thus tb^ are the genii of the seven planetary spheres of which the lowest is the region of our earth (the sphere which surrounds it, our aether "hie respective names of these genii of the spheres are loee (jebovab) sabaolh, adonai, elm, ouriaos, a^phaiot* the first four, as every one knows, are the mystic names of ihs jewish 'lord go

ihs jewish 'lord god" being, as c. w. king expresses it" thus degraded by the ophites into the appetla- tiona of the subordinates of the creator; the two last names are those of the genii of fire and water" dda-baotfa, whom several sects regarded as the giod ta moses, was not a pure spirit; he was ambitious and proud, and rejecting the spiritual light of the middle space offered him by his mother sophia-achamoth, he set himself to create a world of. his own. aided by his sons, the nx planetary genii, he fabricated man, but this one proved a failure. it was a monster; soulless, ignorant, and crawling on all fours on the ground like a material beast. flda-baotb was forced to implore the help of his spiritual mother. she communicated to him a ray of her divine light, and so animated man and e

t of its fruit, for fear it should reveal to man- 409. c. w. king: tkt qnottia. etc, p. 97; 2iid edit. 410. this low, ho, or jeliotali ia quite diitinct from the god of tlie mysurka, uoi betd mkred by id! the natioiu of aatiquity. we will afaow the differcooe prwa n tly. 411. king: the onoihe, u. p. 08. digitizecoy google the revenge of ilda-baoth 185 kind the mysteries of the superior world. but sophia-achamoth, who loved and protected the man whom she had animated, sent her own genius ophis, in the form of a serpent, to induce man to transgress the selfish and unjust command. and 'man' suddenly became capable of compreheuding the mysteries of creation. dda-baoth revenged himself by punishing the first pfur, for man, through his imouiledge, had already provided for himself a companion out

s apiritual iuumination. then follow allegories embodying the idea of dualism, or the struggle between good and evil, spirit and matter, which is found in every cos- mogony, and the source of which is again to be sought in india. the itpea and antitypes represent uie heroes of this gnostic pantheon, bor- rowed from the most ancient mythopoeic ages. but in these personages, ophis and ophiomorphos, sophia and sophia-achamoth, adam-kad- mon and adam, the planetary genii and the divine aeons, we can also kcognise very easily the models of our biblical copies the euhemerized patriarchs. the archangels, angels, virtues and powers, are all found, under other names, in the vedas and the buddhistic system. the avestic supreme being, zero-ana, or 'boundless time' is the type of all these gnostic and

amshaspends, created through the 'word' of ormazd, the' first-bom' have their refiezions in bythos and his emana- tiodfl, and the antitypes of ormazd-ahriman and his devs also enter into the composition of dda-baoth and his six material, though not wholly evu, planetary genii. achamoth, afflicted with the evils which befall humanity notwith- standing her protection, beseeches the celestial mother sophia her antitype to prevail on the unknown depth to send down christoa (the son and emanation of the 'celestial virgin) to the help of perishing humanity. uda-baoth and his six sons of matter are shutting out the divine light from mankind. man must be saved. ilda-baoth had al- ready sent his own agent, john the baptist, from the race of seth, whom he protects as a prophet to his people; but onl

hristoa would be only temporal, and thus she induced him to send the forerunner, or precursor. besides that, she mode aim oaum the birth of the man jesus from the virgin mary, her own type on earth "for the creation of a material personage could only be the work of the demiurge, not falling within the province of a hi^er power. as soon as jesus was horn, chnstos, the perfect, uniting himself with sophia [wisdom and spirituauty, descended through the seven planetary regions, amiiming in each an analogous form, and concealing his true nature from their genii, while he attracted into himself the sparks of divine light which they retained in their essence. thus christos entered into the man jesus at the moment of his baptism in the jordan. from that time jesus began to work miracles; before th

y retained in their essence. thus christos entered into the man jesus at the moment of his baptism in the jordan. from that time jesus began to work miracles; before that, he had been completely ignorant of his mission" bda-baoth, discovering that christos was bringing to an end his own idngdom of matter, stirred up the jews against him, and jesus was put to death* when on the cross, christos and sophia left his body and re- turned to their own sphere. the material body of the man jesus was abandoned to the earth, but he himself was given a body made up of a^jur (astral soul "thenceforward he consisted of merely oai and spirit, which was the reason why the disciples did not recognise him after the resurrection. in this spiritual state of a nmvlaenim, jesus remuned on earth for eighteen mon

al body of the man jesus was abandoned to the earth, but he himself was given a body made up of a^jur (astral soul "thenceforward he consisted of merely oai and spirit, which was the reason why the disciples did not recognise him after the resurrection. in this spiritual state of a nmvlaenim, jesus remuned on earth for eighteen months after he had risen. during this last sojourn, he received from sophia that perfect knowledge, that true gnosis, which ae communicated to the very few among the apohlet who were capable of receiving the same "thence, ascending into the middle space, he rats on the right hand of bda-baoth, but unperceived by him, and there collects all the souls which shall have been purified by the knowledge of christ. when he has collected all the spiritual light that exists

christos, the measenger of life, who is sometimes called the angel gobrid (in hebrew, the mighty one of god, and who took with the gnostics the place of the logos, while the holy spirit was considered life^ with the sect of the naza- reoes, though, their 'spiritus' or holy ghost, had less honor. while nearly eveiy gnostic sect considered it a female power, whether they called it binah, ru'^3, or sophia, the divine intellect; with the nasa- rene sect it was the female spiritus, the astral light, the genetrix of all things of mtdler, the chaos in its evil aspect, made turbid by the demi- urge. at the creation of man "it was light on the side of the father, and it was li^t [material light] on the side of the mothsk. and this is the 'two-fold man" says the zokar "iliat day [the last one] will

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

itatis convicti per ipsa eorum monumenta, published in the mines de l orient, vol. vi. this treatise is illustrated with numerous admirably executed copperplates of magical statuettes, architectural ornaments, mystical inscriptions, vases, and coins. amidst these there is a bearded, yet female, figure, mete (magna, or maxima) whom von hammer, following theodosius and others, makes the same as the sophia of the ophites. some particulars referring to these subjects are contained 52 the rosicrucians. in the gnostics and their remains, ancient and mediaeval; although there is an evident betraying total ignorance on the part of the author, throughout his book, as to the purpose, meaning, and reality of the whole of these remote and mysterious subjects: to which he is, however, blindly constantl

itself (crowning, how grandly and suggestively, at solemn dawn, or in the spiritlustres of the dimming, and, still more than dawn, solemn 90 the rosicrucians. twilight, the top of some mountain, an ancient of the days. here, besetting us at every turn, meet we the same mythic emblem: again, in the crescent of the mohammedan fanes, surmounting even the latin, and therefore the once christian, st. sophia. last, and not least, the countless churches rise, in the latter-day dispensation, sublimely to the universal signal, in the glorifying, or top, or crowning cross; last of the revelations! in the fire-towers of the sikhs, in the dome-covered and many-storied spires of the hindoos, in the vertically turreted and longitudinally massed temples of the bhudds, of all the classes and of all the s

bala, or from the grecian philosophy, but from the east, as mosheim long ago maintained: so declares the author of the gnostics and their remains; but it is a thorough mistake, both in his authority (mosheim, and also in himself. we shall successfully show this before we have done. as soon as jesus was born, according to the gnostic speculative view of christianity, christos, uniting himself with sophia (holy wisdom, descended through the seven planetary regions, assuming in each an analogous form to the region, and concealing his true nature from its genii, whilst he attracted into himself the sparks of divine light they severally retained in their angelic essence. thus christos, having passed through the seven angelic regions before the throne, entered into the man jesus, at the moment o

parks of divine light they severally retained in their angelic essence. thus christos, having passed through the seven angelic regions before the throne, entered into the man jesus, at the moment of his baptism in the jordan* from that time forth, being supernaturally gifted, jesus began to work miracles. before that, he had been completely ignorant of his mission. when on the cross, christos and sophia left his body, and returned to their own sphere. upon his death, the two took the man jesus, and abandoned his material body to the earth; for the gnostics held* at the moment of his baptism in the jordan mark. up to that point he was natural but not the christ. this will recall his exclamation of world s disclaimer to the virgin woman, what have i to do with thee? traditionary facts at the

tion of the real history of the crucifixion was never written. asserting that a miraculous substitution of persons took place in the great final act of the crucifixion, the gnostics maintained that the son of god could not suffer physically upon the cross, the apparent sufferer being human only real body having no part with him. at the point of the miraculous transference of persons, christos and sophia (the divine) left his body, and returned to their own heaven. upon his death on earth, the two withdrew the being jesus (spiritually, and gave him another body, made up of ether (rosicrucian ther um. thenceforward he consisted of the two first rosicrucian principles only, soul and spirit; which was the cause that the disciples did not recognise him after the resurrection. during his sojourn

upon his death on earth, the two withdrew the being jesus (spiritually, and gave him another body, made up of ether (rosicrucian ther um. thenceforward he consisted of the two first rosicrucian principles only, soul and spirit; which was the cause that the disciples did not recognise him after the resurrection. during his sojourn upon earth of eighteen months after he had risen, he received from sophia (soph, suph, or holy wisdom, that perfect knowledge or illumination, that true gnosis, which he communicated to the small number of the apostles who were capable of receiving the same. the gnostic authorities are st. irenaeus in the first place, tertullian, clemens alexandrinus, origen, st. epiphanius. the gnostics are divided into sects, bearing the names of valentinians, carpocratians, ba

rcle, or 365, counting for each day of the solar year. the inscription upon the gnostic gems, ceou, is probably intended for qeou; for the arabs yet substitute the s for the th in their pronunciation (gnostics, p. 233; matter, histoire critique du gnostidsme. in this s and the th standing for it, lie all the mysteries of masonry, christos, was designed for the guide of all that proceeds from god. sophia-achamoth is the guide, according to the gnostics, for all proceeding out of matter. st. irenseus, whose period is the end of the second century, draws all these startling inferences from the book of enoch, and names sophia as signifying the divine wisdom. the ophite scheme seems evidently the bhuddistic bythos, answering to the first buddha. sige, sophia, christos, achamoth, ildabaoth, answ

ineffable name aum, are the titles iaw, abracax (the gnostics, p. 86. 160 the rosicrucians. figure 311 represents venus standing under a canopy supported on twisted columns, arranging her hair before a mirror held-up by a cupid; two others hover above her head, bearing up a wreath. in the field, fasis ariwrif the manifestation of arioriph. venus here stands for the personification of the gnostic sophia, or achamoth, and as such is the undoubted source of our conventional representation of truth (montfaucon, pi. clxi) reverse, figure 312, which represents harpocrates seated upon the lotus, springing from a double lamp, formed of two phalli united at the base. above his head is his title abraxas, and over that is the name iao. in the field are the seven planets. the sacred animals the scara

ations of the cabalistic sephiroth, becomes the blackness sediment, rosicrucian magic. 189 or ashes, which is the second fiery, real world. this power, or vigour, uniting with the ethereal spirit, constitutes strictly the soul of the world. it becomes the only means of the earthly intelligence, or man, knowing it. it is the angel-conqueror, guide, saviour born of woman, or great deep, the gnostic sophia, the word made flesh of st. john. the empyrseum is properly the flower, or glory (effluent in its abundance, of the divine latent fire. it is penetrated with miracle and holy magic. the rosicrucian system teaches that there are three ascending hierarchies of beneficent angels (the purer portion of the first fire, or light, divided into nine orders. these threefold angelic hierarchies are th

ia. the brazen serpent was called logoj, or the word, by the chaldee paraphrast (basnage, lib. iv. ch. xxv) it is very certain that, in ancient times, the serpent was an object of adoration in almost all nations. the serpentworshippers seem to have placed at the head, or nearly at the head, of all things (maia, and most intimately connected with the serpent, a. certain principle which they called sophia. this is clearly a translation of the word bhudda into greek. it also reminds us that the old. bhuddas are always under the care of the cobra-capella. this is evidenced in all the memnonian or egyptian heads; and in the asp (or fleur-de-lis, more or less veiled or altered, displayed as the chief symbol upon the universal sphynxes. the serpent, in one view, was the emblem of the evil princip

bably came from the fable of adonis who was the sun whom we have seen so often crucified being changed into a red rose by venus (see drummond s origines, vol. iii, p. 121. rus (which is ras in chaldee) in irish signifies tree, knowledge, science, magic, power. this is the hebrew r as. hence the persian rustan (val. col. hib. vol. iv. pt. i. p. 84. the ancient sardica, in lat. 40 50, is now called sophia; the ancient aquineum, buda, or buddha. these were, i believe, old names restored (vide d anville's atlas. the society bearing the name of the rossicrucians (or rosicruxians) is closely allied with the templars. their emblem is a monogram or jewel; or, as malicious and bigoted adversaries would say, their object of adoration is a red rose on a cross. thus: fig. 226. when it can be done, it

gnosticism. he branch sect of the gnostics, called basilideans, who were properly ophites, arose in the second century, deriving their name from basilides, the chief of the egyptian gnostics. they taught that in the beginning there were seven beings, or ons, of a most excellent nature; in whom we recognise the cabalistic seven spirits before the throne. two of these first ons, called dynamis and sophia that is, power and wisdom engendered the angels of the highest order. the name of abraxas, the deity of the gnostics, is made up of the numerical letters representing the total 365 the aggregate of days of the solar year. the manifesting of abrasax rests in his son, nus (knowledge) or christ, the chief of the ons, who descended to earth and assumed the form of man; was baptized, and crucifi

et ad recentes illius libris adversus patrem marinum mersennum scriptos respondetur, was printed at paris in 1628. this piece was reprinted in the third volume of gassendi's works published at paris in 1658, under the title of examen philosophi fluddan, the society secret and unknown. 365 &c. flood wrote two books against mersennus, who had assailed his philosophy. the title of the first book was sophia cum moria certamen, in quo lapis lydius a falso structore patre marino mersenno, monacho reprobatus, voluminis sui babylonici in genesi figurata accurateexaminat. this work was published in folio at francfort in 1629. the name of the second book was summum bonorum, quod est verum magi, cabal, alchymi, fratrum ros -crucis virorum, subjectura indictanim scientiarum laudem, in insignis calumni

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

llenistic mediterranean world that influenced paganism, judaism, and christianity. its core teachings were that this world, and especially the human body, were the products of an evil deity the demiurge who had trapped human spirits in the physical world. our true home is the absolute spirit, referred to as the pleroma, to which we should seek to return. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the spiritual beings (one of the aeons) residing in the pleroma inadvertently creates another entity often called yaldabaoth who creates our familiar world (e.g, the apocryphon of john 2, in robinson 1981, 9f. this creation involves the emanation of the seven levels of the classical cosmos, corresponding to seven planetary spheres of the ptolemaic astronomical scheme. the archons ar

n dee: essential readings. wellingborough, northamptonshire, uk: crucible, 1986. demiurge the demiurge is the chief archon or evil spiritual being who creates the world in the gnostic system. gnosticism refers to a movement and school of thought that was prominent in the hellenistic mediterranean world that influenced paganism, judaism, and christianity. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the good spiritual beings (one of the aeons) residing in the pleroma (the pure spiritual realm, inadvertently creates another entity often called yaldabaoth who creates our familiar world (e.g, refer to the apocryphon of john 2, in robinson 1981, 9f. this evil deity, who is alternately designated the demiurge (a term originally utilized by plato to refer to a demigod who creates the

that this world, and especially the human body, were the products of an evil deity the demiurge (a term originally utilized by plato to refer to a demigod who created the world in the timaeus) who also created the human body for the purpose of trapping human spirits in the physical world. our true home is the absolute spirit, referred to as the pleroma. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the spiritual beings residing in the pleroma, inadvertently created the demiurge. the demiurge then created the cosmos by emanating a series of different levels, ranging from as few as three to as many as 360. each of these levels is governed by an archon, who acts as a guardian preventing the sparks of light (i.e, the divine essence of individual human beings) from returning to the

which the invocation of angels and planetary spirits is made. spirit communication often takes place during the mass, when members of the clergy, who are clairvoyant, may have visions. during the mass a mystical language is perceived and spoken. the absolute, emanating the trinity, is viewed as the head of a gnostic hierarchical system. the trinity is the source of lucifer, the morning star, and sophia, the female divine being who is often revered as our lady of mt. carmel. the neo-pythagorean church is subject to a supreme heliophant, and its american jurisdiction is under bishop pierre-antoine saint-charles of boston, whereas michael bertiaux in chicago is over the caucasian-american members. the ancient order of oriental templars a lodge with credentials derived from the pre-crowleyite

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

twenty days :3 and she gave him gifts. 1 lamed means ox-goad; aleph, an ox. lamed aleph means no, the denial of aleph lamed, el, god. 2 read reverse, the star= the will and the great work] is to fold up the sephiroth; i.e. to attain nirvana. 3 the houses of the moon. all the gifts are lunar symbols. sapientiae lux viris baculum. femina rapta inspirit gaudium. pleiades. dignitates. amicitia. amor. sophia. 82 appendix ii the first day, a camel; the second day, a kiss; the third daty, a star-glass; the fourth day, a beetle.s wing; the fifth day, a crab; the sixth day, a bow; the seventh day, a quiver; the eighth day, a stag; the ninth day, an horn; the tenth day, a sandal of silver; the eleventh day, a silver box of white sandal wood; the twelfth day, a whisper; the thirteenth day, a black ca

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

nding in a serpent. c. w. king, in his gnostics and their remains, gives the following concise description of the gnostic philosophy of basilides, quoting from the writings of the early christian bishop and martyr, st. iren us "he asserted that god, the uncreated, eternal father, had first brought forth nous, or mind; this the logos, word; this again phronesis, intelligence; from phronesis sprung sophia, wisdom, and dynamis, strength" in describing abraxas, c. w. king says "bellermann considers the composite image, inscribed with the actual name abraxas, to be a gnostic pantheos, representing the supreme being, with the five emanations marked out by appropriate symbols. from the human body, the usual form assigned to the deity, spring the two supporters, nous and logos, expressed in the se

the human body, the usual form assigned to the deity, spring the two supporters, nous and logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the greeks had made the serpent the attribute of pallas. his head--that of a cock--represents phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and of vigilance. his two arms hold the symbols of sophia and dynamis: the shield of wisdom and the whip of power" the gnostics were divided in their opinions concerning the demiurgus, or creator of the lower worlds. he established the terrestrial universe with the aid of six sons, or emanations (possibly the planetary angels) which he formed out of, and yet within, himself. as stated before, the demiurgus was individualized as the lowest creation

who worshiped nous (christ) and the true spiritual light of the higher ons. after the death of basilides, valentinus became the leading inspiration of the gnostic movement. he still further complicated the system of gnostic philosophy by adding infinitely to the details. he increased the number of emanations from the great one (the abyss) to fifteen pairs and also laid much emphasis on the virgin sophia, or wisdom. in the books of the savior, parts of which are commonly known as the pistis sophia, may be found much material concerning this strange doctrine of ons and their strange inhabitants. james freeman clarke, in speaking of the doctrines of the gnostics, says "these doctrines, strange as they seem to us, had a wide influence in the christian church" many of the theories of the ancien

the history of the actions of these gods, searches into the hidden truths which he concealed under them, and examines the whole by the dictates of reason and philosophy" during the middle ages the troubadours of central europe preserved in song the legends of this egyptian goddess. they composed sonnets to the most beautiful woman in all the world. though few ever discovered her identity, she was sophia, the virgin of wisdom, whom all the philosophers of the world have wooed. isis represents the mystery of motherhood, which the ancients recognized as the most apparent proof of nature's omniscient wisdom and god's overshadowing power. to the modern seeker she is the epitome of the great unknown, and only those who unveil her will be able to solve the mysteries of life, death, generation, an

sm, astrology, and magic to have been divine sciences originally, but that through perversion they had become false doctrines, leading seekers after wisdom ever farther from their goal. the same author gives a valuable key to esoteric rosicrucianism by dividing the path of spiritual attainment into three steps, or schools, which he calls mountains. the first and lowest of these mountains is mount sophia; the second, mount qabbalah; and the third, mount magia. these three mountains are sequential stages of spiritual growth. the unknown author then states "by philosophy is to be understood the knowledge of the workings of nature, by which knowledge man learns to climb to those higher mountains above the limitations of sense. by qabbalism is to be understood the language of the angelic or cel

MEANING OF MASONRY

l event and not a mere ceremonial form as now, it is of interest to notice the practice upon a grand scale of the same customs and courtesies as are still observed, though alas unintelligently, by the craft of to-day. we must now speak more fully of the mysteries and the" royal art" as pursued by the greek school. with the greeks it took the form of a quest of philosophy; i.e, for wisdom, for the sophia, just as in the hebrew and christian schools it took the form of a quest for the lost word. the end was of course the same in both cases, but the approach to it was by different means and, as we shall see, the two methods coalesced into one at a later date. the greek approach was primarily an intellectual one and by what spinoza has termed amor intellectualis dei. the christian approach was

its presence, but resident in all as a saving force" christ in you, the hope of glory" consistently with christlike humility, hiram abiff (literally "the teacher from the father) is not described as a" king" as are solomon and hiram of tyre, but as one" of no reputation" a" widow's son; a beautiful touch of gnostic symbolism referable to the derelict or widowed nature of the divine motherhood or sophia owing to the errancy and defection from wisdom of her frail children. such of those children as have rejoined, or are striving to rejoin, their mother are alone worthy to be called the" widow's sons" and it is to the cry to those who have rejoined her from those still labouring at that task in the flesh, and perhaps wiping from their brow the bloody sweat of their gethsemane anguish in the

MORALS AND DOGMA

of intelligence, of which he is the general representative, is named _archangel, type_ and _representative_ of all spirits, even those of mortals. he is also styled the man-type and primitive man, adam kadmon. god only is wise. the wisdom of man is but the reflection and image of that of god. he is the father, and his wisdom the mother of creation: for he united himself with wisdom[[greek: s?f?a, sophia, and communicated to it the germ of creation, and it brought forth the material world. he created the ideal world only, and caused the material world to be made real after its type, by his logos, which is his speech, and at the same time the idea of ideas, the intellectual world. the intellectual city was but the _thought_ of the architect, who meditated the creation, according to that plan

her with his divine light and love, guided her in the way to purification, and she again united herself with him as his primitive companion. basilides, the christian gnostic, taught that there were seven emanations from the supreme being: the first-born, thought, the word, reflection, wisdom, power, and righteousness [greek??t, f??ts, s??a??a, and [greek??a??s] protogonos, nous, logos, phronesis, sophia, dunamis, and dikarosune; from whom emanated other intelligences in succession, to the number, in all, of three hundred and sixty-five; which were god manifested, and composed the plenitude of the divine emanations, or the god abraxas; of which the thought [or intellect [greek: nou. nous] united itself, by baptism in the river jordan, with the man jesus, servant[[greek: d. diakonos] of the

ended into heaven. basilides held that out of the unrevealed god, who is at the head of the world of emanations, and exalted above all conception or designation[[greek ?at? ast??t, were evolved seven living, self-subsistent, ever-active hyposatized powers: first: the intellectual powers. 1st. nous [greek] the mind. 2d. logos [greek] the reason. 3d. phronesis [greek: f??s] the thinking power. 4th. sophia [greek: s?f?a] wisdom. second: the active or operative power. 5th. dunamis [greek??a] might, accomplishing the purposes of wisdom. third: the moral attributes. 6th. dikaiosune [greek??a??s] holiness or moral perfection. 7th. eirene [greek] inward tranquility. these seven powers([greek? e. dunameis, with the primal ground out of which they were evolved, constituted in his scheme the [greek??

harmony of the eons, struggling to know and be united to the primitive god, was disturbed, and to redeem and restore them, the intelligence [greek] produced christ and the holy spirit his companion; who restored them to their first estate of happiness and harmony; and thereupon they formed the eon jesus, born of a virgin, to whom the christos united himself in baptism, and who, with his companion sophia-achamoth, saved and redeemed the world. the marcosians taught that the supreme deity produced by his words the [greek [logos] or plenitude of eons: his first utterance was a syllable of four letters, each of which became a being; his second of four, his third of ten, and his fourth of twelve: thirty in all, which constituted the [greek? a [pleroma. the valentinians, and others of the gnosti

him into man so made; and henceforward the contest between the demiourgos and his mother, between light and darkness, good and evil, was concentrated in man; and the image of ialdabaoth, reflected upon matter, became the serpent-spirit, satan, the evil intelligence. eve, created by ialdabaoth, had by his sons children that were angels like themselves. the spiritual light was withdrawn from man by sophia, and the world surrendered to the influence of evil; until the spirit, urged by the entreaties of wisdom, induced the supreme being to send christos to redeem it. compelled, despite himself, by his mother, ialdabaoth caused the man jesus to be born of a virgin, and the celestial saviour, uniting with his sister, wisdom, descended through the regions of the seven angels, appeared in each und

res, non-emanated from god, but really created, by the direct will of god, before time and the ages. according to the church, christ was of the same nature as god; according to some dissenters, of the same nature as man. arius adopted the theory of a nature analogous to both. when god resolved to create the human race, he made a being which he called the word, the son, wisdom, s?f a. logos, uios, sophia, to the end that he might give existence to men. this word is the ormuzd of zoroaster, the ensoph of the kabalah, the [nous] of platonism and philonism, and the s?f?a or ?e [sophia or demiourgos] of the gnostics. he distinguished the inferior wisdom, or the daughter, from the superior wisdom; the latter being _in_ god, inherent in his nature, and incapable of communication to any creature:

NAGEL CARL AMAZING SECRETS OF OCCULT POWER

life, giving the path to perfection. the idea is that you follow a complex path of spiritual enlightenment up the tree passing through each sepher (divine emanation) until you achieve union with god in kether the crown. an interesting aspect of the cabala is that the achieving of knowledge is likened to sexual union with shekinah, a female personification of wisdom. this is similar to the gnostic sophia, wisdom given a female personification, only with a much stronger sexual connection since she was a prostitute. gnosticism was the main competitor to christianity in ancient rome. the gnostics believed that the christian jehovah was not the real god but an evil creator of an evil world. the power of the spheres sit or lie down, whichever you find most comfortable, at the center of your witc

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

tecture also affected philosophy. under the influence of the collegia, byzantine art spread throughout the empire. there was an asia minor school of byzantine art (the churches of ephesus, sardes, and philadelphia in the fifth century, a syrian byzantine art (the cathedrals of basra and ezra in the sixth century, and a byzantine art of egypt. the most powerful marvel of this architecture is santa sophia of constantinople, which was built from 532 to 537 by anthenius of tralles and isidorus of miletus. never had the genius of rome and the east been combined in a more amazing and harmonious whole. byzantine builders at this same time erected churches in thessalonica, parenzo, and ravenna, the city where the collegia endured, and followed this with a prodigious blossoming of monuments that sp

of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries and the churches of constantinople, thessalonica, and greece built in the tenth and eleventh centuries. because the byzantine capital was located at the center of the civilized world, byzantine art could not help but wield great influence both far and wide. it was this art that left its imprint on the oldest structures of christian russia, such as saint sophia in kiev (eleventh century. armenia and georgia also have an abundance of byzantine buildings. the arabs of syria and spain and the christians of the west also experienced this influence. during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the scholoe of the builders of venice, which was entirely greek with respect to mores, built a cathedral in the purest byzantine style in honor of saint mark. work

RUBY TABLET OF SET

ory and practice, in the crystal tablet the gnosis as an integral part of the hermetic science table of contents i. introduction ii. the gnosis as a philosophical hermetism 1. philo, the man and his thought 2. the evidence from hippolytus 3. the old gnostics iii. some basic gnostic methods 1. cosmology 2. anthropology 3. soteriology iv. results of research in gnostic science 1. the myth of pistis sophia 2. the mystery of the first mystery 3. the gnosis of jesus the mystery of the ineffable 4. the degrees of the mysteries 5. the mysteries of mithras 6. the mystic diagrams 7 'inaoca xpiatoa 8. the truth 9. god v. the gnosis as a hermetic science can lead to new-thinking vi. conclusion i. introduction gnosis sounds very much more formidable and technical in english or german than it does in g

ounds very much more formidable and technical in english or german than it does in greek. avwaic is "knowledge. gnosis is the original greek term which means knowledge, and it is employed to designate intellectual knowledge as distinguished from the knowledge of faith or experience. gnosis, though it may be sometimes used in some special sense, has a fundamental significance that is so similar to sophia as to make any attempt to draw a radical distinction between them somewhat artificial. gnosis, like sophia, is what theosophical writers from time immemorial have been talking about. recognition of the importance of the concept of gnosis for christians comes early. clement of alexandria specifically notes that paul himself does not entirely despise the gnosis that classification: v4- a156.g

for a student of gnosticism to realize that gnosis in gnostic systems, in spite of a seeming myriad of denotations and explanations, refers to the means, the instrument some men have in and of themselves. they have it by virtue of their generation. they must take hold on this means, and use it to achieve their escape from their cosmic prison and find freedom in the pleroma. 1. the myth of pistis sophia "in the beginning she (pistis sophia) was in the thirteenth aeon with her companion aeons. by order of the first mystery, she gazed into the height and saw the light of the veil of the treasure of light, and desired to ascend into that glorious realm, but could not. she ceased to do the mystery of the thirteenth aeon and ever sang hymns to the light she had seen. hereupon the rulers in the

desired to ascend into that glorious realm, but could not. she ceased to do the mystery of the thirteenth aeon and ever sang hymns to the light she had seen. hereupon the rulers in the twelve aeons below hated her, because she had ceased to do their mystery- the mystery of intercourse or sexual union- and desired to go into the height and be above them all" it may be remarked that the name pistis-sophia is itself a "barbarous" formation, not properly paralleled in greek. there is some evidence that the gnostic "sophia (philosophy) was also named by other gnostics "pistis (faith: it is only in coptic that we find the names run together. similarly we have "zorokothora-meljisedek" run together; melchisedec whose genealogy is not given in the bible, is identified, not with shem as the jews som

re become. we dwell in the fane of the flame of ba. space and time bow before our will, and we are become lords of life, death, and life beyond death. hear then this doom which we now pronounce, and beware the ka which is come into being through that art which is ours to command [priest barrett traces the nine angles over the graal, and priest webb consecrates it with the following words] hode he sophia estin! eirene hymin adelphoi! eirene kai eleutheria! ho ophis! ho archaios! ho drakon! ho megas! ho on kai- ho on kai! ho zomeis tous aionas- ton aionon! meta tou pneumatos sou [priest barrett then offers the graal, beginning with the master. after the graal is returned to the altar, the priests return to their places, and the first warden strikes the gong three times [master] brother first

SALMANRUSHDIE THESATANICVERSES

igure of a parent standing between himself and the inevitability of the grave. an orphaned life, like muhammad"s; like everyone's. a life illuminated by a strangely radiant death, which continued to glow, in his mind's eye, like a sort of magic lamp _i must think of myself, from now on, as living perpetually in the first instant of the future, he resolved a few days later, in zeeny's apartment on sophia college lane, while recovering in her bed from the toothy enthusiasms of her lovemaking (she had invited him home shyly, as if she were removing a veil after long concealment) but a history is not so easily shaken off; he was also living, after all, in the _present moment of the past, and his old life was about to surge around him once again, to complete its final act. o o o he became aware

SATANGEL

erpent. rides a bear, carries a goshawk, speaks hoarsely. tells fortunes, gives invisibility, makes men witty. baphomet this character has long been identified with the devil and the goat of mendes, and as purely male. such has played its part in the continuation of that myth which states that the templars were the agents of darkness. the name baphomet is also that of the goddess of the gnostics, sophia. it is hidden through the cabbalist codes of temurah. in this, the letters of words are substituted, transposed and altered, so that any word may yield a hidden meaning. in writing the twenty two letters of the hebrew alphabet in a special order and in two lines, the letters above and below are substituted for each other. in the most direct form of this code the alphabet is written in its e

ld a hidden meaning. in writing the twenty two letters of the hebrew alphabet in a special order and in two lines, the letters above and below are substituted for each other. in the most direct form of this code the alphabet is written in its entirety on one line, and then related to itself running backwards in the line below. employing this code, the sacred name of baphomet translates to that of sophia. perhaps this was known to eliphas levi, whose depiction of this mystery is commonly reproduced in modern texts. his picture is that of a hermaphrodite, displaying both male genitalia symbolised as the two caduceus serpents, and female breasts. barbatos (goetia, 8th spirit. duke commanding 30 legions, formerly of the angelic order of virtues. teaches the speech of animals, breaks enchantmen

le genitalia symbolised as the two caduceus serpents, and female breasts. barbatos (goetia, 8th spirit. duke commanding 30 legions, formerly of the angelic order of virtues. teaches the speech of animals, breaks enchantments on hidden treasures, knows past and future, reconciles friends and those in power. barbelo (gnostic. according to the gnostic sect called the sethians, the daughter of pistis-sophia. was so great in her glory that it is said that she outshone god. bathin (goetia, 18th spirit. duke commanding 30 legions. appears as a strong man with a serpent tail, riding a pale horse. knows herb-lore, precious stones, teleportation. beast 666 (hebrew. scarlet hued monster with ten horns and seven heads, the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, the jaws of a lion, who rises from the s

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

web. http//venus.unive.it/pregadio/taoism.html (accessed on june 5, 2006. 206 world religions: almanac daoism 9 greco-roman religion and philosophy the ancient greek and roman worlds made important contributions to both religion and philosophy, the study of the nature of truth, knowledge, and moral values. in fact the word philosophy is of greek origin, combining the words philia or to love with sophia or wisdom. greek and roman religion was polytheistic; ancient greeks and romans worshipped many gods and goddesses. devout members of both groups believed that there were gods who influenced all natural phenomena. ancient greeks developed elaborate myths, or stories that explained these phenomena in terms of how these deities behaved, their strengths and weaknesses, and their histories. eac

SETH IN THE MAGICKAL TEXTS

ramentho, identified him as rhadamanthus, because nradamanyu! in aeolic is spelled as bradamanyu "if the medial d between the two a's was dropped or misread, something very much like aberamentho is the result (church and gnosis [cambridge 1932] 83. but this explanation is not sustainable. it may be said that "rhadamanthus in classical tradition was just and kindly, as is the aberamentho of pistis sophia" however, in later tradition, forthcoming.for instance.in virgil, rhadamanthus is a terrifying "judge in the land of fear c, examining, punishing and forcing [people] to confess (aen. vi.566-67. moreover, jesus in the untitled work in the askew codex is not a judge in the underworld, but a saviour and a revealer. the judging and punishing functions are ascribed to other beings (ch. 140. one

ar identification with seth, however, is less common. it should also be noted 25 see g. roeder, agyptische bronzefiguren, mitteilungen aus der agyptischen sammlung, staatl. museen, 6 (berlin 1956) 65( 99c) and plate 72g. roeder thinks that the figurine is rather late and "hardly egyptian. it is difficult to ascertain whether the head is that of an ass (seth's animal) or that of a horse. 26 pistis sophia, ed. c. schmidt and trans. v. macdermot, nag hammadi studies 11 (leiden 1978) 354 (line 8, 360 (line 5, 367 (line 22. 27 pdm xiv 686ff. in the greek magical papyri in translation (above, n. 6) 232; pgm xiv.20ff. 28 see the greek magical papyri in translation (above, n. 6) 271. the representation is discussed by procope- walter "iao und set (above, n. 15) 46-47. 29 see "iao und set (above, n

SOLOMON

w is, though thou hast sealed me round with the ring of god, thou hast done nothing. i am not standing before thee, and thou wilt not be able to command me. for i have no work other than the destruction of children, and the making their ears to be deaf, and the working of evil to their eyes, and the binding their mouths with a bond, and the ruin of their minds, and paining of their bodies [1. the sophia, identified by philo and the early fathers with the logos, is supposed to have entered into and taken possession of solomon as it afterwards did with jesus. 2. stamatihu, an unknown verb. 3. xalep n] 59. when i solomon heard this, i marvelled at her appearance, for i beheld all her body to be in darkness. but her glance was altogether bright and greeny, and her hair was tossed wildly like a

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

d in christianity, from the earliest phases, for example, in the gospel of mark, which steiner related to an alexandrian and gnostic milieu: see steiner, the gospel of st. mark (anthroposophic press, hudson, ny, 1986, pp. 187ff. the discovery of the secret mark fragment (cf. note 118) has again strikingly confirmed his insight. steiner discussed the basic myth of gnosticism, concerning the divine sophia and the pre-earthly existence of spiritual worlds( aeons) in his lectures christ and the spiritual world (london, n.d. 167. these include mystical theology, on the divine names, and on the celestial hierarchies. dionysius the areopagite was the pupil of paul in athens (acts 17:34) by whom these works claim to be written. steiner described dionysius as a teacher of esoteric christianity in t

SZYMANSKI GREG SEARCHING FOR THE ILLUMINATI DEEP WITHIN THE BOWELS OF THE VATICAN

several stories about the vatican bank scandal and traveling to london on the calvi story, finding very little new evidence, i didn't give much thought to the illuminati and child sacrificing until about a year later when i was sitting on via venato, having coffee for a brief hour or two with the rich and famous. as a quick aside, no one ever really believes me anyway when i mention i once sat on sophia loren's lap, so i will leave that story for happier times. mysterious maria as i mentioned, i put the gruesome picture of a child sacrificing out of my mind until a strikingly beautiful, black-haired italian woman in her late 20s, named maria, asked if she could join me at my via veneto outdoor table. rome is a small town, like i mentioned, later learning maria desperately wanted an outlet

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

books of the egyptian gnostics. new york: mjf books, 1986. duricy, michael p. black madonnas: our lady of czestochowa, maintained by the marian library/international marian research institute [online] http//www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/ olczest.html. 23 january 2002. imel, martha ann, and dorothy myers. goddesses in world mythology. new york: oxford university press, 1995. matthews, caitlin. sophia goddess of wisdom: the divine feminine from black goddess to world-soul. london: aquarian press, 1992. sjoo, monica, and barbara mor. the great cosmic mother. san francisco: harper and row, 1987. cathars in 1208, pope innocent iii (c. 1161 1216) declared the cathars, a sect of christianity (also known as the albigenses, to be heretical and condemned the citizens of beziers, perpignan, narbo

hallucination, because jesus did not have a physical body. valentinus: founder of the largest gnosticism school which lasted into the fourth century c.e. he taught that groups of aeons made up the fullness of the high god. the groups were divided into three parts: the ogoad depth, silence, mind, truth, word, life, man and church; the decad (10) and dodecad (12; and the docecad wisdom, also called sophia. carpocrates (c.140 c.e: teacher of reincarnation. he believed an individual had to live many lives and adsorb a full range of experiences before being able to return to god. source: gnosticism: ancient and modern [online. http//www. religioustolerance.org/gnostic.htm. main leaders of gnosticism of 12 books, plus eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book and tucked inside the front cover

ic.htm. main leaders of gnosticism of 12 books, plus eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book and tucked inside the front cover of the sixth. these eight leaves make up the complete text of a work that has been taken out of a volume of collected works. each of the books, except the tenth, consists of a collection of brief works, such as the prayer of the apostle paul, the gospel of thomas, the sophia of jesus christ, the gospel of the egyptians, and so on. although the nag hammadi library is written in coptic, the texts were originally composed in greek and contain many references to egyptian sites and beliefs. and although the work is ascribed to christian gnostics, there are many essays within the library that do not seem to reflect much of the christian tradition. while there are ref

THE GOLDEN ESSENCE

and the stars and moon floated in the darkness of her immense being. as the source of life and the place of death, she was depicted as half- fair and half dark and decaying; the outward life of the earth can also be seen as her fair face and the darkness below as her dark face. the original darkness that she embodies, which is the darkness of the mystery of fate, also links her to the figures of sophia or dame wisdom, which as we will see, is an important element in her theology, as her presence acts as a kind of final and necessary factor in the regeneration and realization of the cunning people, just as the ancient gnostics saw sophia as being the source of the wisdom that liberated the soul. we will discuss more of her liberating wisdom function later on. she is of a power and a time o

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

carmel unite their divinities beneath the brush of raphael! transfigure yourselves, ancient cathedrals of our fathers; dart forth into the clouds your chiselled and living arrows, and 62 let stone record in animated figures the dark legends of the north, brightened by the marvellous gilded apologues of the qur'an! let the east adore jesus christ in its mosques, and on the minarets of a new santa sophia let the cross rise in the midst of the crescent<symbol is characteristic of the greek church which he has been attacking. levi should have visited moscow- trans> let mohammed set woman free to give to the true believer the houris which he has so long dreamt of, and let the martyrs of the saviour teach chaste caresses to the beautiful angels of mohamme

THE MARTINIST OPERATIVE GENERAL RITUAL

nist review, that the particular rites and practices are observed only and exclusively within the regular and traditional martinist work. i take this opportunity to express my thanks to all those whose help made possible the publication of this general ritual in its present form. especially, i wish to thank the members of l'ordre martiniste& synarchique of canada (loge 'la canadienne' and circle 'sophia, for their generous help- in its many forms. they have given us a perfect example of martinist unity "behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (psalm 133) november 1962, sendivogius orient of toronto, canada. grand master 3 introduction introductory notes on the divine name "ieshouah: iod-he-shin-vau-he. the following notes concern a very ancient divin

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

amah, is the intuitive soul located in binah, although it lends its name to the other supernals as being generally descriptive of the soul's greatest aspirations. it is also the most approachable of the three supernal parts of the soul. the neshamah in psychology and magic 133 binah is symbolized by the feminine soul image of the anima, as well as the shekinah, the supernal mother, or the gnostic sophia. it is the source of human perception, comprehension, and spiritual understanding. the neshamah in binah initiates delineating ways in which the self can be defined as being unique to the individual as well as limitless in archetypal manifestation. it is the understanding of how the divine manifests itself through a multitude of archetypal forms, and how it can express itself more fully as

middle pillar exercise imagine a sphere of white light just above your head at your kether point. vibrate "ego eimi (eyo t ppron ou nced "eh-gaw eh-mee" meaning "i am. keep vibrating until it is the only thought in your conscious mind. then imagine a shaft of light descending from your kether center to your daath center at the nape of the neck. form a sphere of light at the daath center. vibrate "sophia (co41a pronounced "soh-fee-ah" meaning "wisdom. intone the name until it is the only thmg in your conscious mind. bring a shaft of light down from the daath center to the tiphareth center around your heart. form a sphere of light there. vibrate the word "gnosis (tvoo qp ronounced "g'naw-sis,"lo meaning "knowledge. intone the name several times until it fills your consciousness. see the shaf

center to your binah center at the right temple of your forehead. form a sphere of white light there. vibrate the word "thea@&paro nounced "theh-ah" meaning "goddess) a number of times until it occupies all of your mind. now bring a shaft of white light down diagonally from your binah center to your daath center at the nape of your neck. visualize a sphere of white light there. vibrate the word "sophia (co4ta pronounced "soh-fee-ah" meaning "wisdom. intone the name until it is the only thng in your conscious mind. next, visualize a shaft of white light down diagonally from the daath center to your chesed center at your left shoulder. form a sphere of light there. vibrate the name "agathos (aya9os pronounced "ah-gath-os" meaning "the good) a number of times until it fills your mind. bring

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

he universe is subject, who has been lord of all, on whom all is supported. h prana is the purusha or aum, the totality of brahman, vishnu, and siva, of past, present, and future. the wisdom of the book of proverbs, and the later book of wisdom; it is also the same power as the eden illa-ah of the zohar, the be f raisheeth of many qabalists and talmudists, the logos of philo and st. john, and the sophia of plato. all the above are absolute ideals, and so can bear only a relationship and no proportionate value whatever to our finite understanding, they can only be watched, and have never been realized; and for this reason is it that they have never been appreciated by the mass of their so-called believers: i will not look at her; i dare not stay. i will go down and mingle with the throng, f

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

a sidna, i. e. o god, our lord! the formula itself, to which this is an introduction, commences on the right side, and the first part of it reads houv mete zonar feseba (or sebaa) b. mounkir teaala tiz. there is no such word in arabic as mete, and von hammer considers it to be simply the greek word mti j, wisdom, a personification in what we may perhaps call the gnostic mythology answering to the sophia of the ophianites. he considers that the name baphomet is derived from the greek words baf m teoj, i. e. the baptism of metis, and that in its application it is equivalent with the name mete itself. he has further shown, we think conclusively, that baphomet, instead of being a corruption of mahomet, was a name known among the gnostic sects in the east. zonar is not an arabic word, and is pe

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

ceptions is intended, so that witches will be able to see and hear herodias, or aradia, allowing her to instruct them in diana's forbidden arts. until spirits manifest on the astral level, they have no existence to human 15. guazzo, compendium maleficarum, 34. 16. scot, bk. 111, chap. 16, p. 37. 17. leland, aradia, 4. 22 soul flight consciousness. there is also an echo here of the gnostic myth of sophia, goddess of wisdom, who incarnated as a mortal woman in order to aid human souls mired in ignorance to regain their divine birthright to dwell among the stars. witch's power of flight witchcraft is ancient in italy, and even in its pagan beginnings involved soul flight. the second-century roman writer lucius apuleius, in his novel the golden ass, described the flight of the witch pamphile

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

adation, or descent into forgetfulness("and the dwelling places, let them forget their names .confound her understanding with darkness) is usually symbolized in the various myths by prostitution. in the vision of st. john, the goddess earth becomes the great whore babylon, who from a gnostic perspective is a degraded form of the queen of heaven. among some gnostic sects, she was called barbelo or sophia. in the myth of the simonian gnostics, she is helena, one of whose incarnations was helen of troy. the gnostic prophet simon, who was confused with the biblical simon magus by the fathers of the church, taught that he was himself the highest power, god the father. according to irenaeus, a very biased reporter, simon found helen working as a prostitute in tyre and took her with him, calling

d him. however, man does not recognize his divinity, and this ignorance of his true estate allows yaldabaoth to use humans as his slaves, manipulating them through a combination of bribes, threats, and lies. in the later gnostic myths, christ, the son of the true father, will descend and liberate humanity from its slavery. in the valentinian version, this savior (soter) rescues the fallen goddess sophia from her degraded state and bears her back to heaven, where he weds her. although this key is filled with gnostic images, its philosophy is christian. mankind is to be punished for its original sin of disobedience. through constant strife, human souls will be made to forget their original heavenly origins "the dwelling places, let them forget their names" the soul of the world, of which all

WILLIAM WESCOTT GOLDEN DAWN HISTORTY LECTURE

fratres and sorores, the words "her or him" occur showing that in olden time, as at the present day, women rose to high rank and attainment in the secret knowledge of the order. mention may be suitably made to pernelle, the wife and fellow-worker of nicolas flamel, of martine berthereau, companion of baron jean de chatelet who died about 1645 and of the widow lady afterwards symbolized by him as sophia (heavenly wisdom, fellow student and inspirer of john georg gichtel who died about 1700. the occultists of today cannot need to be reminded of the great hermetists and theosophists of recent times: of d. anna kingsford, who was indeed illuminated by the sun of light; of madame blavatsky, leader of the t.s. no occult student, however wide apart his own favored path of wisdom, could fail to r

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

tt ancient faiths, article abraham. secret doctrine, i. 578, ii. 77. also c. w. king, the gnostics. the name sarah also has a curious set of similars in hebrew- srh, princess; sar, flesh; sor, gate; schr, black; sor, hairy seir; srt, incision; sr and srr, navel; and note the sacti of brahma is sara-swati, watery. sara refers to sri, lakhsmi, aphrodite, and all are related to water and luna, vach, sophia of the gnostics, and the ideal holy ghost, all feminine. 30. the 243 of abram becomes 248 by adding h, and sarai 510 becomes 505 by taking 5 off, putting h for y, and the total of the two names is unaltered, being 753; 248 is the number of the members of microprosopus and of rchm, rechem or mercy. before leaving this subject, a reference must be made to the magic squares, of the planets, et

power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott without a consonant. thus iehooua (the h is the greek eta, long e; and the first o is the greek long o, omega. in the zoroastrian theology, we read of the highest beings the 7 amshaspands. ormuzd, source of life; bahman, the king of this world; ardibehest, fire producer; shahrivar, the former of metals; spandarmat, queen of the earth (the gnostic sophia; khordad, the ruler of times and seasons; and amerdad, ruling over the vegetable world. below there are the 27 izeds, ruled over by mithras. in opposition to these were powers of darkness, the 7 arch devs and the 27 devs, or devils as we call them. 84. the historic city of rome, pagan before it was christian, was built upon seven hills. the palatine, coelian, aventine, viminal, quirinal, es

the sun at the summer solstice shine perpendicular into it. 700. the talmud says there are 700 species of fishes, and in eiruvin, 18. i, it says that god plaited eve s hair into 700 braids. 753. 753 b.c, the founding of the city of rome. it is also the number alike of abram with sarai 243 and 510, and of abraham with sarah 248 and 505, the change which led to parenthood. 780. ophis--serpent, and sophia--wisdom. 801. 801 is the number of alpha and omega, 1+800, the peristera or dove, vehicle of the holy ghost; being 80+5+100+10+200+300+5+100+1=801. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott 813. 813 is the numeration of ararita, a very important kabalistic word, its letters being collected from the initials of the sentence, one principle of his unity, one be

ZALEWSKI SECRET INNER ORDER RITUALS OF THE GOLDEN DAWN OCR

ew in the son. it is the key to the whole rosicrucian philosophy, the redemtion of matter, transforming the human into the divine. the blending of the dew and fire in purification and consecration. the exaltation of the cross of light. so, from the four we pass to three the triangle of spirit rising from the cube of matter. isis the eternal virgin (under whatever name we hail her. eternal mother, sophia, mary; osiris, father, and son jesus. and between them the serpent which must be transformed into the eagle. the destroyer who must become the transmuter. remember also that these 3 letters have a further significance thus 't' stands for the ego, the indestructible unit which survives from life to life "0" is the eternal spirit, embracing the universe, reaching out beyond the boundaries of

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