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    "num": 37,
    "slug": "87-xxiv-the-cross-and-the-pythagorean-decade-573",
    "title": "XXIV. THE CROSS AND THE PYTHAGOREAN DECADE ... 573",
    "of": 49,
    "words": 8837,
    "text": "## XXIV. THE CROSS AND THE PYTHAGOREAN DECADE ... 573\n\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 573 THE GNOSTICS AND PYTHAGORAS.\n\n#### § XXIV.\n\n##### THE CROSS AND THE PYTHAGOREAN DECADE.\n\n**T**HE early Gnostics claimed that their Science,\nthe **G**NOSIS, rested on a square, the angles of\nwhich represented respectively *Sige* (Silence), *Bythos\n*(depth),* Nous *(Spiritual Soul or Mind), and *Aletheia\n*(Truth).\n\nIt is they who were the first to introduce and reveal to the world\nthat which had remained concealed for ages: namely, the *Tau,\n*in the shape of a Procrustean bed, and Christos as incarnating\nin *Chrestos,* he who became for certain purposes a willing\ncandidate for a series of tortures, mental and physical.\n\nFor them the whole of the Universe, metaphysical and material,\nwas contained within, and could be expressed and described by\nthe digits of Number 10, the Pythagorean *decade*.\n\nThis Decade representing the Universe and its evolution out of\nSilence and the *unknown *Depths of the Spiritual Soul,\nor *anima mundi,* presented two sides or aspects to the\nstudent. It could be, and was at first so used and applied to\nthe Macrocosm, after which it descended to the Microcosm, or Man.\nThere was, then, the purely intellectual and metaphysical, or\nthe \"*inner* Science,\" and the as purely materialistic\nor \"surface science,\" both of which could be expounded\nby and contained in the *Decade. *It could be studied,\nin short, from the Universals of Plato, and the inductive method\nof Aristotle. The former started from a divine comprehension,\nwhen the plurality proceeded from unity, or the digits of the\ndecade appeared, but to be finally re-absorbed, lost in the infinite\nCircle. The latter depended on sensuous perception alone, when\nthe Decade could be regarded either as the unity that multiplies,\nor matter which differentiates, its study being limited to the\nplane surface; to the Cross, or the *Seven* which proceeds\nfrom the ten -- or the perfect number, on Earth as in heaven.\n\nThis dual system was brought, together with the Decade, by Pythagoras\nfrom India. That it was that of the *Brachmans* and*\nIranians*, as they are called by the ancient Greek philosophers,\nis warranted to us by the whole range of Sanskrit literature,\nsuch as the Puranas and the laws of Manu. In these \"Laws\"\nor \"Ordinances of Manu,\" it is said that Brahma first\ncreates \"the *ten *lords of Being,\" the ten Prajapati\nor creative Forces; which ten produce \"*seven*\"\nother Manus, or, rather, as some **MSS**. have it,\n*Munin, *instead of Manun = \"devotees,\" or holy\nBeings, which are the Seven Angels of the Presence in the\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 574 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nWestern religion. This mysterious number Seven, born from the\nupper triangle , the latter\nitself born from the apex thereof, or the Silent Depths of the\nunknown universal soul (*Sige *and* Bythos*)*,\n*is the sevenfold *Saptaparna *plant, born and manifested\non the surface of the soil of mystery, from the threefold root\nburied deep under that impenetrable soil. This idea is fully elaborated\nin Vol. I. § \"Primordial Substance and Divine Thought,\"\nwhich the reader has to notice carefully, if he would grasp the\nmetaphysical idea involved in the above symbol. In man as in nature,\nit is, according to the cis-Himalayan esoteric philosophy (which\nis that of the *original Manu *Cosmogony), the septenary\ndivision that is intended by Nature herself. The seventh principle\n(*purusha*)* *alone is the divine **S**ELF,\nstrictly speaking; for, as said in Manu, \"He (Brahma) having\npervaded the subtile parts of those six of unmeasured brightness,\"\ncreated or called them forth to \"Self\"-consciousness\nor the consciousness of that *One* **S**ELF\n(V. 16, ch. i. *Manu*)*. *Of these six, five elements\n(or principles, or *Tattva, *as Medhatithi, the commentator\nthinks) \"are called the atomic destructible elements\"\n(v. 27); they are described in the above-named section.\n\nWe have now to speak of the Mystery language, that of the prehistoric\nraces. It is not a phonetic, but a purely pictorial and symbolical\ntongue. It is known at present in its fulness to the very few,\nhaving become with the masses for more than 5,000 years an absolutely\ndead language. Yet most of the learned Gnostics, Greeks and Jews,\nknew it, and used it, though very differently. A few instances\nmay be given.\n\nOn the plane above, the Number is no Number but a *nought --\n*a CIRCLE. On the plane below, it becomes *one* --\nwhich is an odd number. Each letter of the ancient alphabets having\nhad its philosophical meaning and *raison d*'*etre,\n*the number I signified with the Alexandrian Initiates a*\nbody erect, *a living standing man, he being the only animal\nthat has this privilege. And, by adding to the I a head, it was\ntransformed into a P, a symbol of *paternity, *of the creative\npotency; while R signified a \"moving man,\" one on his\nway. Hence **P**ATER **Z**EUS had nothing\nsexual or phallic either in its sound or form of letters; nor\nhad [[*pater Deus*]] (*vide* Ragon). If we turn\nnow to the Hebrew Alphabet, we shall find that while I or aleph,\n, has a bull or an Ox for\nits symbol, 10, the perfect number, or *One* of the Kabala\nis a *Yodh (y, i, or\nj); and means, as the first letter of Jehovah, the procreative\norgan, et seq.*\n\nThe *odd* numbers are divine, the *even* numbers\nare terrestrial, devilish, and unlucky. The Pythagoreans hated\nthe binary. With them it was the origin of differentiation, hence\nof contrasts, discord, or matter, the beginning of evil. In the\nValentinian theogony, Bythos and Sige (Depth, Chaos, matter born\nin Silence) are the primordial binary.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 575 THE THREE SCIENCES.\n\nWith the early Pythagoreans, however, the duad was that imperfect\nstate into which the first manifested being fell when it got detached\nfrom the Monad. It was the point from which the two roads -- the\nGood and the Evil -- bifurcated. All that which was double-faced\nor false was called by them \"binary.\" **O**NE\nwas alone Good, and Harmony, because no disharmony can proceed\nfrom one alone. Hence the Latin word* Solus *in relation\nto one and only God, the Unknown of Paul. *Solus, *however,\nvery soon became *Sol* -- the Sun.\n\nThe ternary is thus the first of the odd numbers, as the triangle\nis the first of the geometrical figures. This number is truly\nthe number of mystery *par excellence. *To study it on\nthe exoteric lines one has to read Ragon's *Cours Interpretatif\ndes Initiations; *on the esoteric -- the Hindu symbolism of\nnumerals; as the combinations which were applied to it are numberless.\nIt is on the occult properties of the three equal lines or sides\nof the Triangle that Ragon based his studies and founded the famous\nmasonic society of the Trinosophists (those who study *three*\n*sciences; *an improvement upon the ordinary three masonic\ndegrees, given to those who study nothing except eating and drinking\nat the meetings of their lodges). \"The first line of the\ntriangle offered to the apprentice for study,\" writes the\nfounder, -- \"is the mineral kingdom, symbolized by Tubalc\n. . . (Tubal-cain). The second side on which the '*companion*'\nhas to meditate, is the *vegetable *kingdom, symbolized\nby Schibb (Schibboleth).\nIn this kingdom begins the *generation of the bodies. *This\nis why the letter G is presented radiant before the eyes of the\nadept (? !). The third side is left to the master mason, who has\nto complete his education by the study of the *animal kingdom.\n*It is symbolized by *Maoben\n*(Sun of putrefaction)\" etc., etc.\n\nThe first solid figure is the *Quaternary, *symbol of immortality.\nIt is the* pyramid: *for the pyramid stands on a triangular,\nsquare, or polygonal base, and terminates with a point at the\ntop, thus yielding the triad and the quaternary or the 3 and 4.\nIt is the Pythagoreans who taught the connection and relation\nbetween the gods and the numbers -- in a Science called *arithmomancy.\n*The Soul is a number, they said, which moves of itself and\ncontains the number 4; and spiritual and physical man is number\n3, as the *ternary *represented for them not only the surface\nbut also the principle of the formation of the physical body.\nThus animals were *ternaries *only, man alone being a septenary,\n*when* *virtuous;* a *quinary *when bad,\nfor: --\n\nNumber 5 was composed of a binary and a ternary, which binary\nthrew everything in the perfect form into disorder and confusion.\nThe\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The reason for it is simple, and was given in \"*Isis\nUnveiled.*\"* *In geometry, one line fails to represent\na perfect body or figure, nor can two lines constitute a demonstratively\nperfect figure. The triangle alone is the first perfect figure.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 576 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n*perfect man, *they said, *was a quaternary and a ternary,\n*or four material and three immaterial elements; which three\nspirits or elements we likewise find in 5, when it represents\nthe *microcosm. *The latter is a compound of a binary directly\nrelating to gross matter, and of three Spirits:\n\n\"since 5 is the ingenious union of two Greek accents\nplaced over vowels which have or have not to be *aspirated.\n*The first sign is\ncalled 'Strong Spirit' or superior Spirit, the spirit of God aspired\n(*spiratus*) and breathed by man. The second sign\nthe lower, is the *Spirit of Love,* representing the secondary\nSpirit; the third embraces the whole man. It is the *universal\nQuintessence, *the vital fluid or Life.\" (*Ragon.*)\n\nThe more mystic meaning of 5 is given in an excellent article\nby Mr. Subba Row, in \"Five Years of Theosophy\" (pp.\n110,* et seq.*)* -- *\"The Twelve Signs of the\nZodiac,\" in which he gives some rules that may help the inquirer\nto ferret out \"the deep significance of ancient Sanskrit\nnomenclature in the old Aryan myths and allegories.\" Meanwhile,\nlet us see what has been hitherto stated about the constellation\nCapricornus in theosophical publications, and what is known of\nit generally. Every one knows that\nis the tenth sign of the Zodiac into which the Sun enters at the\nwinter solstice, about December 21st. But very few are those who\nknow -- even in India, unless they are initiated -- the real mystic\nconnection which seems to exist, as we are told, between the names\n*Makara *and* Kumara. *The first means some amphibious\nanimal called *flippantly *'crocodile,' as some Orientalists\nthink, and the second is the title of the great patrons of Yogins\n(See \"*Saiva Puranas,*\")* *the Sons of,\nand even one with, Rudra (Siva); a Kumara himself. It is through\ntheir connection with Man that the Kumaras are likewise connected\nwith the Zodiac. Let us try to find out what the word *Makara\n*means.\n\nThe word *Makara, *says the author of \"*The Twelve\nSigns of the* *Zodiac,*\"* *\"contains\nwithin itself the clue to its correct interpretation. The letter\n*Ma *is equivalent to No. 5, and *Kara *means hand.\nNow in Sanskrit *Thribhujam *means a triangle, *bhujam*\nor* Karam *(both synonyms) being understood to mean a side.\nSo *Makaram *or* Panchakaram *means a Pentagon\"\n-- the five-pointed star or pentagon representing the five limbs\nof man.* Under the old system, we are told, Makara was the *eighth\n*instead of the tenth sign.** It is \"intended to represent\nthe faces of the Universe, and indicates that the Universe is\nbounded by *Pentagons,*\"* *as the Sanskrit\nwriters \"speak also of\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* What is the meaning and the reason of this figure? Because,\n*Manas *is the *fifth* principle, and because the\npentagon is the symbol of Man -- not only of the five-limbed,\nbut rather of the *thinking, conscious *MAN*.*\n\n** The reason for it becomes apparent when Egyptian symbology\nis studied. See further on.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 577 POSEION'S FIVE MINISTERS.\n\n*Ashtadisa *or eight faces bounding Space,\" referring\nthus to the *loka-palas,* the eight points of the compass\n(the four cardinal and the four intermediate points) . . . \"From\nan objective point of view the *Microcosm* is represented\nby the human body. *Makaram *may be taken to represent\nsimultaneously both the microcosm and the macrocosm, as external\nobjects of perception.\" (*pp. *113, 115)*.*\n\nBut the true esoteric sense of the word \"Makara,\" does\nnot mean \"crocodile,\" in truth, at all, even when it\nis compared with the animal depicted on the Hindu Zodiac. For\nit has the head and the fore-legs of an antelope and the body\nand tail of a fish. Hence the tenth sign of the Zodiac has been\ntaken variously to mean a shark, a dolphin, etc.; as it is the\n*vahan *of* Varuna, *the Ocean God, and is often\ncalled, for this reason, *Jala-rupa *or \"water-form.\"\nThe dolphin was the vehicle of Poseidon-Neptune with the Greeks,\nand one with him, esoterically; and this \"dolphin\" is\nthe \"sea-dragon\" as much as the Crocodile of the Sacred\nNile is the vehicle of Horus, and Horus himself. \"I am the\nfish and seat of the great Horus of Kem-our,\" says the mummy-form\nGod with the crocodile's head (*ch. lxxxviii.,* 2*,\n*\"*Book of the Dead*\")*. *With the\nPeratae Gnostics it is *Chozzar *(Neptune), who converts\ninto a sphere the dodecagonal pyramid, \"and paints its gate\nwith many colours.\" He has FIVE *androgyne *ministers\n-- he *is Makara, *the Leviathan.\n\nThe rising Sun being considered the Soul of the Gods sent to manifest\nitself to men every day, and the crocodile rising out of the water\nat the first sunbeam, that animal came finally to personify a\nSolar-fire devotee in India, as it personified that fire, or the\nhighest soul with the Egyptians.\n\nIn the Puranas, the number of the *Kumaras *changes according\nto the exigencies of the allegory. For occult purposes their number\nis given in one place as seven, then as four, then as five. In\nthe *Kurma Purana* it is said of them: \"These *five\n*(*Kumara*)*, *O Brahman, were Yogins who acquired\nentire exemption from passion.\" Their very name shows their\nconnection with the said constellation -- the *Makara, *and\nwith some other Puranic characters connected with the Zodiacal\nsigns. This is done in order to veil what was one of the most\nsuggestive glyphs of the primitive Temples. They are mixed up\nastronomically, physiologically, and mystically, in general, with\na number of Puranic personages and events. Hardly hinted at in\nthe \"*Vishnu,*\"* *they figure in various\ndramas and events throughout all the other Puranas and sacred\nliterature; so that the Orientalists, having to pick up the threads\nof connection hither and thither, have ended by proclaiming the\nKumaras \"due chiefly to the fancy of the Puranic writers.\"\nBut --\n\n*Ma, -- *we are told by the author of the \"Twelve\nSigns of the Zodiac\" -- is* Five; kara, *a hand with\nits five fingers, as also a five-sided sign or\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 578 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\na* pentagon. *The* Kumara *(in this case an anagram\nfor occult purposes) are *five *in esotericism, as Yogis\n-- because the last two names have ever been kept secret; they\nare the fifth order of Brahmadevas, and the fivefold Chohans,\nhaving the soul of the five elements in them, Water and Ether\npredominating, and therefore their symbols were *both aquatic\nand* *fiery*. \"Wisdom lies concealed under the\ncouch of him who rests on the golden lotos (*padma*)*\n*floating on the water.\" In India it is Vishnu (one of\nwhose avatars was Budha, as claimed in days of old). The Prachetasas,\nthe worshippers of Narayana (who, like Poseidon moved or dwelt\n*over *not under the waters), plunged into the depths of\nthe ocean for their devotions and remained therein 10,000 years;\nand the Prachetasas are *ten *exoterically, but *five*,\nesoterically. \"Prachetas\" is in Sanskrit, the name of\nVaruna, the water god, Nereus, an aspect of the same as Neptune,\nthe Prachetasas being thus identical with the \"*five*\nministers\" of [[*CHOZZAR*]] (Poseidon) of the Peratae\nGnostics. These are respectively called [[*AOT, AOAI, OTO,\nOTOB*]], \"the *fifth,* a* triple *name\n(making Seven) being lost\"* -- *i.e.*, kept secret.\nThis much for the \"aquatic\" symbol; the \"fiery\"\nconnecting them with the fiery symbol -- spiritually. For purposes\nof identity, let us remember that as the mother of the Prachetasas\nwas Savarna, the daughter of the Ocean, so was Amphitrite the\nmother of Neptune's mystic \"ministers.\"\n\nNow the reader is reminded that these \"five ministers\"\nare symbolized both in the Dolphin, who had overcome the chaste\nAmphitrite's unwillingness to wed Poseidon, and in Triton their\nson. The latter, whose body above the waist is that of a man and\nbelow a dolphin, a fish, is, again, most mysteriously connected\nwith Oannes, the Babylonian *Dag*, and further also with\nthe (fish) Avatar of Vishnu, *Matsya, *both teaching mortals\n*Wisdom. *The Dolphin, as every mythologist knows, was\nplaced for his service by Poseidon among the constellations, and\nbecame with the Greeks, *Capricornus, *the goat, whose\nhind part is that of a dolphin, thus shown identical with *Makara,\n*whose head is also that of an antelope and the body and tail\nthose of a fish. This is why the sign of the Makara was borne\non the banner of Kama deva, the Hindu god of love, identified,\nin Atharva Veda, with Agni (the fire-god), the son of Lakshmi,\nas correctly given by Harivansa. For Lakshmi and Venus are one,\nand Amphitrite is the early form of Venus. Now Kama (the *Makara-ketu*)\nis \"Aja\" (the unborn), and \"Atma-bhu\" (the\nself-existent), and Aja is the **L**OGOS in the Rig-Veda,\nas he is shown therein to be the first manifestation of the **O**NE:\n\"Desire first arose in **I**T, which was the\nprimal\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* So is Brahma's *fifth* head, said to be lost, burnt to\nashes by Siva's \"central eye\"; Siva being also *panchanana\n*\"five faced.\" Thus the number is preserved and\nsecresy maintained on the true esoteric meaning.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 579 THE PUZZLES OF SYMBOLISM.\n\ngerm of mind,\" that \"which connects entity with non-entity\"\n(or Manas, the *fifth,* with Atma, the *seventh, *esoterically)\nsay the Sages. This is* the first stage. *The second, on\nthe following plane of manifestation, shows Brahma (whom we select\nas a representative for all the other first gods of the nations)\nas causing to issue from his body his mind-born sons, \"Sanandana\nand others,\" who, in the *fifth* \"creation,\"\nand again in the ninth (for purposes of blind) become the Kumara.\nLet us close by reminding the reader that goats were sacrificed\nto Amphitrite and the Nereids on the sea-shore, as goats are sacrificed\nto this day to Durga Kali, who is only the *black *side\nof Lakshmi (Venus), the *white* side of Sakti; and by suggesting\nwhat connection these animals may have with Capricornus, in which\nappear twenty-eight stars in the form of a goat, which goat was\ntransformed by the Greeks into Amalthaea -- Jupiter's foster-mother.\nPan, the god of Nature, had goat's feet, and changed himself into\na goat at the approach of Typhon. But this is a mystery which\nthe writer dares not dwell upon at length, not being sure of being\nunderstood. Thus the mystical side of the interpretation must\nbe left to the intuition of the student. Let us note one more\nthing in relation to the mysterious number five. It symbolizes\nat one and the same time the Spirit of life eternal and the Spirit\nof life and love terrestrial -- in the human compound; and, it\nincludes divine and infernal magic, and the universal and the\nindividual quintessence of being. Thus, the five mystic words\nor vowels (*vide infra*)* *uttered by Brahma at\n\"creation,\" which forthwith became the *Panchadasa\n*(certain Vedic hymns, attributed to that God) are in their\ncreative and magical potentiality, the *white* side of\nthe *black *Tantrik *five* \"makaras,\"\nor the five* m*'*s. *\"Makara,\" the constellation,\nis a seemingly meaningless and absurd name. Yet, even besides\nits anagrammatical significance in conjunction with the term \"Kumara,\"\nthe numerical value of its first syllable and its esoteric resolution\ninto *five* has a very great and occult meaning in the\nmysteries of nature.\n\nSuffice it to say, that as the sign of Makara is connected with\nthe birth of the spiritual \"microcosm,\" and the death\nor dissolution of the physical Universe (its passage into the\nrealm of the Spiritual)*; so the Dhyan Chohans, called in India\n*Kumara, *are connected with both. Moreover, in the exoteric\nreligions, they have become the synonyms of the Angels of Darkness.\n*Mara *is the God of Darkness, the Fallen One, and Death**;\nand yet it is one of the names of Kama, the first god in the Vedas,\nthe Logos, from whom have sprung the Kumaras, and this\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* \"When the Sun passes away behind the 30th degree of *Makara\n*and will reach no more the sign of the *Meenam *(pisces)\nthen the night of Brahma has come.\" . . .\n\n** Death of every physical thing truly; but Mara is also the unconscious\nquickener of the birth of the Spiritual.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 580 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nconnects them still more with our \"fabulous\" Indian\nMakara, and the crocodile-headed God in Egypt.* The crocodiles\nin the Celestial Nile are *Five*, and the God Toum, the\nprimordial deity creating the heavenly bodies and the living beings,\ncalls forth these crocodiles in his *fifth* *creation.\n*When Osiris, \"the defunct Sun,\" is buried and enters\ninto Amenti, the sacred crocodiles plunge into the abyss of primordial\nWaters -- \"the great Green One.\" When the Sun of life\nrises, they re-emerge out of the sacred river. All this is highly\nsymbolical, and shows how primeval esoteric truths found their\nexpression in identical symbols. But, as Mr. T. Subba Row truly\ndeclares, \"The veil, that was dexterously thrown over certain\nportions of the mystery connected with the (Zodiacal) signs by\nthe ancient philosophers, *will never be fully lifted up for\nthe* *amusement or edification of the uninitiated public.*\"\n\nNor was number five less sacred with the Greeks. The five words\n(*Panchadasa*)* *of Brahma have become with the\nGnostics the \"Five Words\" written upon the akasic (shining)\ngarment of Jesus at his glorification: the words [[*ZAMA ZAMA\nOZZA PAXAMA, OZAI*]], translated by the Orientalists \"the\nrobe, the glorious robe of my strength.\" These words were,\nin their turn, the anagrammatic blind of the five mystic powers\nrepresented on the robe of the \"resurrected\" Initiate\nafter his last trial of three days' trance; the five becoming\nseven only after his *death,* when the Adept became the\nfull **C**HRISTOS, the full **K**RISHNA-**V**ISHNU,\n*i.e.*, merged in Nirvana. The E *Delphicum, *a\nsacred symbol, was the numeral *five*, again; and how sacred\nit was is shown by the fact that the Corinthians (according to\nPlutarch) replaced the wooden numeral in the Delphic Temple by\na bronze one; and this one was transmuted by Livia Augusta into\na *fac-simile *of gold.\n\nIt is easy to recognize in the two spirits -- the Greek accents\nor signs ( ) spoken of by\nRagon (*vide supra*)* *-- Atma and Buddhi, or \"divine\nspirit and its vehicle\" (spiritual soul).\n\nThe *six *or the \"Senary\" is dealt with later,\nwhile the Septenary will be fully treated in the course of this\nvolume. (*Vide the *\"*Mysteries of* *the\nHebdomad.*\")\n\nThe* Ogdoad *or 8 symbolizes the eternal and spiral motion\nof cycles, the 8, , and\nis symbolized in its turn by the Caduceus. It shows the regular\nbreathing of the Kosmos presided over by the eight great gods\n-- the seven from the primeval Mother, the One and the Triad.\n\nThen comes the number nine or the triple ternary. It is the number\nwhich reproduces itself incessantly under all shapes and figures\nin\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Osiris is called in the \"*Book of the Dead*\"*\n*\"*Osiris, *the double Crocodile.\" (*See*\n*Chapter *\"*On the Names of Osiris,*\"*\ncxlii.*)* *\"He is the good and the bad Principle;\nthe Day, and the Night Sun, the God, and the mortal man.\"\nThus far the Macrocosm and the Microcosm.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 581 THE MASTER MASON'S GRIP.\n\nevery multiplication. It is the sign of every circumference, since\nits value in degrees is equal to 9, *i.e., *to 3 + 6 +\n0. It is a *bad* number under certain conditions, and very\nunlucky. If number 6 was the symbol of our globe ready to be animated\nby *a divine spirit, *9 symbolized our earth informed by\na *bad *or evil spirit.\n\n*Ten, *or the Decade, brings all these digits back to unity,\nand ends the Pythagorean table. Hence this figure -- ,\n*unity within zero -- *was the symbol of Deity, of the\nUniverse, and of man. Such is the secret meaning of \"the\nstrong grip of the Lion's paw, of the tribe of Judah\" between\ntwo hands (the \"*master mason*'*s grip*\")*,\n*the joint number of whose fingers is *ten.*\n\nIf we now give our attention to the Egyptian cross, or the *Tau,\n*we may discover this letter, so exalted by Egyptians, Greeks,\nand Jews, to be mysteriously connected with the *Decade. *The*\ntau *is the Alpha and the Omega of secret divine Wisdom, which\nis symbolized by the initial and the final letter of Thot (Hermes).\nThot was the inventor of the Egyptian alphabet, and the letter\n*tau *closed the alphabets of the Jews and the Samaritans,\nwho called this character the \"end\" or \"perfection,\"\n\"culmination\" and \"security.\" Thence -- Ragon\ntells us -- the words *terminus *(end), and *tectum\n*(roof), are symbols of shelter and security, which is rather\na prosaic definition. But such is the usual destiny of ideas and\nthings in this world of spiritual decadence, if also of physical\nprogress. **P**AN was at one time *absolute nature,\n*the one and **G**REAT-ALL; but when history\ncatches a first glimpse of him, Pan has already tumbled down into\na *godling *of the fields, a rural god; and history will\nnot recognize him, while theology makes of him the devil. Yet\nhis seven-piped flute, the emblem of the seven forces of nature,\nof the seven planets, the seven musical notes, of all the septenary\nharmony, in short, shows well his primordial character. So with\nthe Cross. Far earlier than the Jews had devised their golden\ncandlestick of the temple with *three *sockets on one side\nand *four *on the other, and made of number 7 a feminine\nnumber of generation,* thus introducing\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Reflecting on the *Cross, *the author of the \"Source\nof Measures\" shows that this candlestick in the temple \"was\nso composed that counting on either side there were *four *candle-sockets;\nwhile at the apex, there being *one in common *to both\nsides, there were in fact *three *to be counted on the\none side and four on the other, making in all number 7 upon the\nself-same idea of *one in common w*ith the cross display.\nTake a line of one unit in breadth by three units long, and place\nit on an incline; take another of four units long, and lean it\nupon this one, from an opposite incline, making the top unit of\nthe four in length the corner or apex of a triangle. This is the\ndisplay of the candlestick. Now take away the line of three units\nin length and *cross *it on the one of four units in length,\nand the cross form results. The same idea is conveyed in the six\ndays of the week in Genesis, crowned by the seventh, which was\nused by itself as a base of circular measure\" (p. 51).\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 582 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe phallic element into religion, the more spiritually-minded\nnations had made of the cross (as 3, 4 = 7), their most sacred\ndivine symbol. In fact, Circle, Cross, and Seven -- the latter\nbeing made a base of *circular *measurement -- are the\nfirst primordial symbols. Pythagoras, who brought his wisdom from\nIndia, left to posterity a glimpse into this truth. His school\nregarded number 7 as a compound of numbers 3 and 4, which they\nexplained in a dual manner. On the plane of the noumenal world,\nthe triangle was, as the first conception of the manifested Deity,\nits image: \"Father-Mother-Son\"; and the Quaternary,\nthe perfect number, was the noumenal, ideal root of all numbers\nand things on the physical plane. Some students, in view of the\nsacredness of Tetraktis and the Tetragrammaton, mistake the mystic\nmeaning of the Quaternary. The latter was with the ancients *only\na secondary* \"perfection,\" so to speak, because\nit related only to the manifested planes. Whereas it is the *Triangle,\n*the Greek *delta, ,\nwhich was the \"vehicle of the unknown Deity.\" A good\nproof of it lies with the name of the Deity beginning with Delta.\nZeus *was written [[*Deus*]], by the Boeotians,* thence\nthe *Deus *of the Latins. This, in relation to the metaphysical\nconception, with regard to the meaning of the Septenary *in\nthe phenomenal world, *but for purposes of profane or exoteric\ninterpretation, the symbolism changed. *Three* became the\nideograph of the *three material elements -- *air, water,\nearth; and four became the principle of all that which is neither\ncorporeal nor perceptible. But this has never been accepted by\nthe real Pythagoreans. Viewed as a compound of 6 and 1, the *senary\n*and the *unity, *number seven was the invisible centre,\nthe spirit of everything (see further the explanation of 6), as\nthere exists no body with six lines constituting its form without\na *seventh* being found as the central point in it (see\ncrystals and snow-flakes in so-called *inanimate *nature).\nMoreover, number *seven*, they said, has all the perfection\nof the **U**NIT -- the number of numbers. For as\nabsolute unity is uncreated, and impartite (hence number-less)\nand no number can produce it, so is the seven: no digit contained\nwithin the decade can beget or produce it. And it is 4, which\naffords an arithmetical division between *unity* and*\nseven, *as it surpasses the former by the same number (three),\nas it is itself surpassed by the seven, since *four *is\nby as many numbers above *one, *as* seven *is above\n*four*. (From a **MS**. supposed to be by\n\"St. Germain.\")\n\n\"With the Egyptians number 7 was the symbol *of life *eternal,\"\nsays Ragon, and adds that this is why the Greek letter Z, which\nis but a double 7 is the initial letter of *Zao, *\"I\nlive,\" and of Zeus, \"the father of all living.\"\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* See Liddell's Greek-English Lexicon.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 583 THE MYSTERY OF THE NUMBER SIX.\n\nMoreover, figure 6 was the symbol of the Earth during the autumn\nand winter \"sleeping\" months, and figure 7 during spring\nand summer, -- as the Spirit of life animated her at that time\n-- the seventh or central informing Force. We find the same in\nthe Egyptian mythos and symbol of Osiris and Isis, personifying\nFire and Water *metaphysically, *and the Sun and the Nile\n*physically. *The number of the Solar year, 365 in days,\nis the numerical value of the word *Neilos *(Nile). This,\ntogether with the Bull, with the Crescent and the ansated cross\nbetween its horns, and the Earth under its astronomical symbol\n-- -- are the most phallic\nsymbols of later antiquity.\n\n\"The Nile was the river of time with the number of a year,\nor year and a day (364 + 1 = 365). It represented the parturient\nwater of Isis, or Mother Earth, the moon, the woman, and the cow,\nalso the *workshop *of Osiris, representing the *T*'*sod\nOlaum *of the Hebrews. The ancient name of this river was\nEridanus, or the Hebrew Iardan, with the Coptic or old Greek suffix.\nThis was the door of the Hebrew word Jared, or '*Source,*'*\n*or* Descent *. . . of the river Jordan, which had\nthe same mythical use with the Hebrews that the Nile had with\nthe Egyptians,* it was the source of descent, and held the waters\nof life\" (Unpub. **MS**.) It was, to put it\nplainly, the symbol of the personified Earth, or Isis, regarded\nas the womb of that Earth. This is shown clearly enough; and Jordan\n-- the river so sacred now to Christians -- held no more sublime\nor poetical meaning in it than the parturient waters of the moon\n(Isis, or Jehovah in his female aspect). Now, as shown by the\nsame scholar, Osiris was the sun, and the river Nile, and the\ntropical year of 365 days; while Isis was the moon, the bed of\nthat river, or the mother earth \"for the parturient energies,\nof which water was a necessity,\" as also the lunar year of\n354 days, \"the time-maker of the periods of gestation.\"\nAll this then is sexual and phallic, and our modern scholars seem\nto find in these symbols nothing beyond a physiological or phallic\nmeaning. Nevertheless, the three figures 365, or the number of\ndays in a solar year, have but to be read with the Pythagorean\nKey to find in them a highly philosophical and moral meaning.\nOne instance will be sufficient. It can read:\n\n*The Earth -- animated by -- the Spirit of Life.*\n\n...... 3 .................. 6 ........................ 5\n\nSimply because 3 is equivalent to the Greek *gamma,* or\n[[*G*]], which letter is the symbol of *gaia *(the\nEarth); while the figure 6 is the symbol of the animating or informing\n*principle, *and the 5 is the universal quintessence which\nspreads in every direction and forms all matter. (St. Germain's\n**MS**.)\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* It had no such meaning in the beginnings; nor during the earlier\ndynasties.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 584 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nThe few instances and examples brought forward reveal only one\nsmall portion of the methods used to read the symbolical ideographs\nand numerals of antiquity. The system being of an extreme and\ncomplex difficulty, very few, even among the Initiates, could\nmaster *all* the seven keys. Is it to be wondered, then,\nthat the metaphysical gradually dwindled down into the physical\nnature; that the Sun, once upon a time the symbol of **D**EITY,\nbecame, as aeons glided by, that of its creative ardour only;\nand that thence it fell into a glyph of phallic significance?\nBut surely, it is not those whose method was (like Plato's) to\nproceed from the universals down to the particulars, who could\never have begun by symbolizing their religions by sexual emblems!\nIt is quite true, though uttered by that incarnated paradox, Eliphas\nLevi, that \"man is God on Earth, and God is man in Heaven.\"\nBut this could not, and never did apply to the One Deity, only\nto the Hosts of **I**TS incarnated beams, called\nby us Dhyan Chohans, by the ancients, Gods; and now transformed\nby the Church into devils on the *left, *and into the Saviour\non the *right *side!\n\nBut all such dogma grew out of the one root, the root of wisdom,\nwhich grows and thrives on the Indian soil. There is not an Archangel\nthat could not be traced back to its prototype in the sacred land\nof Aryavarta. These \"prototypes\" are all connected with\nthe Kumaras who appear on the scene of action by *refusing*\n-- as* *Sanatkumara and Sananda -- to \"create progeny.\"\nYet they are called the \"creators\" of (thinking) man.\nMore than once they are brought into connection with Narada --\nanother bundle of *apparent* incongruities, yet a wealth\nof philosophical tenets. Narada is the leader of the *Gandharvas,*\nthe celestial singers and musicians; *esoterically, *the\nreason for it is explained by the fact that the latter (*the\nGandharvas*)* *are \"the instructors of men in\nthe secret sciences.\" It is they, who \"loving the women\nof the Earth,\" disclosed to them the mysteries of creation;\nor, as in the Veda -- the \"heavenly Gandharva\" is a\ndeity who knew and revealed the* secrets of heaven and divine\ntruths, *in general. If we remember what is said of this class\nof Angels in Enoch and in the Bible, then the allegory is plain:\ntheir leader, Narada, while refusing to procreate, leads men to\nbecome gods. Moreover, all of these, as stated in the Vedas, are\n*Chhandaja *(will-born) or incarnated (in different Manvantaras)\n*of their own will; -- *and they are shown in exoteric\nliterature as existing age after age; some being \"cursed\nto be re-born,\" others, incarnating as a duty. Finally, as\nthe Sanakadikas, the seven Kumaras who went to visit Vishnu on\nthe \"White Island\" (*Sveta-dwipa*) the island\ninhabited by the Maha Yogins -- they are connected with *Sakadwipa\n*and the Lemurians and Atlanteans of the Third and Fourth\nRaces.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 585 SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS.\n\nIn Esoteric Philosophy, the Rudras (Kumaras, Adityas, Gandharvas,\nAsuras, etc.) are the highest Dhyan Chohans or Devas as regards\nintellectuality. They are those who, owing to their having acquired\nby self-development the *five-fold* nature -- hence the\nsacredness of number *five* -- became independent of the\npure *Arupa *devas. This is a mystery very difficult to\nrealize and understand correctly. For, we see that those who were\n\"obedient to law\" are, equally with the *rebels,\ndoomed to be reborn in every age. *Narada, the Rishi, is cursed\nby Brahma to incessant peripateticism on Earth, *i.e.*,\nto be constantly reborn. He is a rebel against Brahma, and yet\nhas no worse fate than the *Jayas --* the* *twelve\ngreat *creative *gods produced by Brahma as *his assistants\nin the functions of creation. *For the latter, lost in meditation,\nonly *forgot to create; *and for this, they are equally\ncursed by Brahma to be born in every *manvantara. *And\nstill they are termed -- together with the rebels *-- Chhandajas,\n*or those born of their own will in human form!\n\nAll this is very puzzling to one who is unable to read and understand\nthe Puranas except in their dead letter sense.* Hence we find\nthe Orientalists refusing *to be puzzled, *and cutting\nthe Gordian knot of perplexity by declaring the whole scheme \"figments\"\n\"of Brahminical fancy and love of exaggeration.\" But\nto the student of occultism, the whole is pregnant with deeply\nphilosophical meaning. We willingly leave the rind to the Western\nSanskritist, but claim the essence of the fruit for ourselves.\nWe do more: we concede that in one sense much in these so-called\n\"fables\" refers to astronomical allegories about constellations,\nasterisms, stars, and planets. Yet, while the *Gandharva*\nof the Rig-Veda may there be made to personify the fire of the\nSun, the* Gandharva devas *are entities both of a physical\nand psychic character; while the Apsarasas (with other Rudras)\nare both *qualities* and* quantities. *In short,\nif ever unravelled, the theogony of the Vedic Gods will reveal\nfathomless mysteries of Creation and being. Truly says Parasara:\n\"These thirty-three divinities exist age after age, and their\nappearance and disappearance is in the same manner as the sun\nsets and rises again.\" (Book I., xv.)\n\nThere was a time, when the Eastern symbol of the Cross and Circle,\nthe* Swastica, *was universally adopted. With the esoteric\n(and, for the matter of that, exoteric) Buddhist, the Chinaman\nand the Mongolian, it means \"the 10,000 truths.\" These\ntruths, they say, belong to the\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Yet this sense, if once mastered, will turn out to be the secure\ncasket which holds the keys to the Secret Wisdom. True, a casket\nso profusely ornamented that its fancy work hides and conceals\nentirely any spring for opening it, and thus makes the unintuitional\nbelieve it has not, and cannot have, any opening in it. Still\nthe Keys are there, deeply buried, yet ever present to him who\nsearches for them.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 586 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nmysteries of the unseen Universe and primordial Cosmogony and\nTheogony. \"Since Fohat crossed the Circle like two lines\nof flame (horizontally and vertically), the hosts of the Blessed\nOnes have never failed to send their representatives upon the\nplanets they are made to watch over from the beginning.\"\nThis is why the *Swastica *is always placed -- as the ansated\nCross was in Egypt -- on the breasts of the defunct mystics. It\nis found on the heart of the images and statues of Buddha, in\nTibet and Mongolia. It is the *seal *placed also on the\nhearts of the living Initiates, burnt into the flesh, for ever,\nwith some. This, because they have to keep those truths inviolate\nand intact, in eternal silence and secrecy to the day these are\nperceived and read by their chosen successors -- new Initiates\n-- \"worthy of being entrusted with the ten thousand perfections.\"\nSo degraded, however, has it now become, that it is often placed\non the headgear of the \"gods,\" the hideous idols of\nthe sacrilegious *Bhons,* the* Dugpas *(Sorcerers)\nof the Tibetan borderlands; until found out by a *Galukpa *and\ntorn off together with the head of the \"god;\" though\nit would be better were it that of the worshipper which was severed\nfrom the sinful body. Still, it can never lose its mysterious\nproperties. Throw a retrospective glance, and see it used alike\nby the Initiates and Seers, as by the priests of Troy (found by\nSchliemann on the site of that old city). One finds it with the\nold Peruvians, the Assyrians, Chaldeans, as well as on the walls\nof the old-world cyclopean buildings; in the catacombs of the\n*New *world, and in those of the *Old* (?), at Rome,\nwhere, because the first Christians are supposed to have concealed\nthemselves and their religion, it is called *Crux Dissimulata.*\n\n\"According to de Rossi, the Swastica from an early period\nwas a favourite form of the cross *employed with an occult\nsignification, *which shows the secret was not that of the\nChristian cross. One Swastica cross in the catacombs is the sign\nof an inscription which reads [['*ZOTIKO ZOTIKE*]],' '*Vitalis\nVitalia,*'* *or 'life of life.' \"*\n\nBut the best evidence to the antiquity of the cross is that which\nis brought forward by the author of *Natural Genesis *on\npage 433.\n\n\"The value of the cross,\" says Mr. Massey, \"as\na Christian symbol, is supposed to date from the time when Jesus\nChrist was crucified. And yet in the 'Christian' *Iconography\nof the Catacombs no figure of a man appears* *upon the\nCross during the first six or seven centuries. *There are\nall forms of the cross except that -- the alleged starting-point\nof the new religion. That was not the initial but the final form\nof the Crucifix.** During some six\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Quoted in \"*The Natural Genesis*\"* *(p.\n427, Vol. I.).\n\n** With the Christians, most undeniably. With the pre-Christian\nsymbologists it was, as said, the Bed or Couch of Torture during\nthe Initiation Mystery, the \"Crucifix\" being placed\nhorizontally, on the ground, and not erect, as at the time when\nit became the Roman gallows.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 587 THE CROSS, A CHRISTIAN AFTER-THOUGHT.\n\ncenturies after the Christian era the foundation of the Christian\nreligion in a crucified Redeemer is entirely absent from Christian\nart! The earliest known form of the human figure on the cross\nis the crucifix presented by Pope Gregory the Great to Queen Theodolinde\nof Lombardy, now in the Church of St. John at Monza, whilst no\nimage of the Crucified is found in the Catacombs at Rome earlier\nthan that of San Giulio, belonging to the seventh or eighth century.\n. . . There is no Christ and no Crucified; the Cross is the Christ\neven as the Stauros cross was a type and a name of Horus, the\nGnostic Christ. The Cross, not the Crucified, is the essential\nobject of representation in its art, and of adoration in its religion.\nThe germ of the whole growth and development can be traced to\nthe cross. And that cross is pre-Christian, is pagan and heathen,\nin half a dozen different shapes. The cult began with the cross,\nand Julian was right in saying he waged a 'Warfare with the X';\nwhich he obviously considered had been adopted by the A-Gnostics\nand Mytholators to convey an impossible significance.* During\ncenturies the cross stood for the Christ, and was addressed as\nif it were a living being. It was made divine at first, and humanized\nat last.\"\n\nFew world-symbols are more pregnant with real occult meaning than\nthe Swastica. It is symbolized by the figure 6; for, like that\nfigure, it points in its concrete imagery, as the ideograph of\nthe number does, to the Zenith and the Nadir, to North, South,\nWest, and East; one finds the unit everywhere, and that unit reflected\nin all and every unit. It is the emblem of the activity of Fohat,\nof the continual revolution of the \"wheels,\" and of\nthe Four Elements, the \"Sacred Four,\" in their mystical,\nand not alone in their cosmical meaning; further, its four arms,\nbent at right angles, are intimately related, as shown elsewhere,\nto the Pythagorean and Hermetic scales. One initiated into the\nmysteries of the meaning of the Swastica, say the Commentaries,\n\"can trace on it, with mathematical precision, the evolution\nof Kosmos and the whole period of *Sandhya.*\"*\n*Also \"the relation of the Seen to the Unseen,\"\nand \"the first procreation of man and species.\"\n\nTo the Eastern Occultist the **T**REE of Knowledge\nin the Paradise of man's own heart, becomes the Tree of Life eternal,\nand has nought to do with man's animal senses. It is an absolute\nmystery that reveals itself only through the efforts of the imprisoned\nManas and the Ego to liberate themselves from the thraldom of\nsensuous perception and see, in the light of the one eternal present\nReality. To the Western Kabalist, and now far more to the superficial\nSymbologist, nursed in the lethal atmosphere of materialistic\nscience, there is but one chief explanation of the mysteries of\nthe Cross -- its sexual element. Even the otherwise spiritualistic\nmodern commentator discerns in the Cross and Swastica, this feature\nbefore all others.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* So it was, and could not be otherwise. Julian (the Emperor)\nwas an Initiate, and as such knew well the \"mystery-meaning,\"\nboth metaphysical and physical.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 588 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n\"The cross was used in Egypt as a protecting talisman and\na symbol of saving power. Typhon, or Satan, is actually found\nchained and bound to the cross. In the *Ritual*, the Osirian\ncries, '*The Apophis is overthrown, their cords* *bind\nthe South, North, East, and West, their cords are on him. Har-ru-bah\nhas* *knotted* *him*.'* These were the cords\nof the four Quarters, or the cross. Thor is said to smite the\nhead of the Serpent with his hammer . . . a form of Swastica or\nfour-footed Cross. . . . In the primitive sepulchres of Egypt\nthe model of the Chamber had the form of a Cross.** The pagoda\nof Mathura . . . the birth-place of Krishna, was built in the\nform of a Cross . . . . ***\n\nThis is perfect and no one can discern in this \"sexual worship,\"\nwith which the Orientalists love to break the head of Paganism.\nBut how about the Jews, and the exoteric religions of some Hindu\nsects, especially the rites of the Vallabacharyas? For, as said,\nthe Lingham and Yoni of Siva-worship stand too high philosophically,\nits modern degeneration notwithstanding, to be called a simple\nphallic worship. But the *tree *or* Cross-*worship*****\n*of the Jews, as denounced by their own Prophets, can hardly\nescape the charge. The \"Sons of Sorcerers,\" \"the\nseed of the adulterer,\" as Isaiah calls them (lvii.), never\nlost an opportunity of \"enflaming themselves with idols under\nevery green tree,\" which denotes no metaphysical recreation.\nIt is from these *monotheistic* Jews that the Christian\nnations have derived their religion, their \"God of gods,\nthe One living God,\" while despising and deriding the worship\nof the Deity of the ancient philosophers. Let such believe in\nand worship the physical form of the Cross, by all means.\n\nBut to the follower of the true Eastern archaic Wisdom, to him\nwho worships in spirit nought outside the Absolute Unity, that\never-pulsating great *Heart *that beats throughout, as\nin every atom of nature, each such atom contains the germ from\nwhich he may raise the Tree of Knowledge, whose fruits give life\neternal and not physical life alone. For him the Cross and Circle,\nthe Tree or the Tau, are, after every symbol relating to these\nhas been applied to, and read one after another, still a profound\nmystery in their Past, and it is to that Past alone that he directs\nhis eager gaze. He cares little whether it be the seed from\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Apophis or *Apap *is the Serpent of evil, symbol of human\npassions. The Sun (Osiris-Horus), destroys him, when Apap is thrown\ndown, bound and chained. The god Aker, \"the chief of the\ngate of the Abyss,\" of Aker, the realm of the Sun (xv. 39)\nbinds him. Apophis is the enemy of Ra (light), but the \"great\nApap has fallen!\" exclaims the defunct. \"The Scorpion\nhas hurt thy mouth,\" he says to the conquered enemy (xxxix.\nv. 7). The Scorpion is the \"worm that never dies\" of\nthe Christians. Apophis is bound on the *Tau* or* Tat,\n*\"the emblem of stability.\" (See the erection of\nTat in *Tatoo, *Ritual xviii.).\n\n** So have the crypts in cis-Himalayan regions where Initiates\nlive, and where their ashes are placed for seven lunar years.\n\n*** The *Natural Genesis, *Vol. I. p. 432.\n\n**** The Cross and the Tree are identical and synonymous in symbolism.\n\n####### [[Vol. 2, Page]] 589 MAN, THE REVILER OF GOD.\n\nwhich grows the genealogical *Tree of Being, *called the\nUniverse. Nor is it the Three in One, the triple aspect of the\nseed -- its form, colour, and substance -- that interest him,\nbut rather the **F**ORCE which directs its growth,\nthe ever mysterious, as the ever unknown. For this vital Force,\nthat makes the seed germinate, burst open and throw out shoots,\nthen form the trunk and branches, which, in their turn, bend down\nlike the boughs of the *Aswattha, *the holy Tree of Bodhi,\nthrow their seed out, take root and procreate other trees -- this\nis the only **F**ORCE that has reality for him, as\nit is the never-dying breath of life. The pagan philosopher sought\nfor the Cause, the modern is content with only the effects and\nseeks the former in the latter. What is beyond, he does not know,\nnor does the modern *A-gnostic *care: thus rejecting the\nonly knowledge upon which he can with full security base his Science.\nYet this manifested Force has an answer for him who seeks to fathom\nit. He who sees in the cross, the decussated circle of Plato,\nthe *Pagan, *not the antitype of circumcision, as *Christian\n*(St.) Augustine did,* is forthwith regarded by the Church\nas a heathen: by Science, as a lunatic. This because, while refusing\nto worship the god of physical generation, he confesses that he\ncan know nothing of the Cause which underlies the so-called *First\n*Cause, the causeless Cause of this Vital Cause. Tacitly admitting\nthe All-Presence of the boundless Circle and making of it the\nuniversal Postulate upon which the whole of the manifested universe\nis based, the Sage keeps a reverential silence concerning that\nupon which no mortal men should dare to speculate. \"The Logos\nof God is the revealer of man, and the logos (the verb) of man\nis the revealer of God,\" says Eliphas Levi in one of his\nparadoxes. To this, the Eastern Occultist would reply: -- \"On\nthis condition, however, that man should be dumb on the CAUSE\nthat produced both God and its logos. Otherwise, he becomes invariably\nthe *reviler, *not the 'revealers' of the incognizable\nDeity.\"\n\nWe have now to approach a mystery -- the Hebdomad in nature. Perchance,\nall that we may say, will be attributed to coincidence. We may\nbe told that this number in nature is quite *natural *(so\nwe say too), and has no more significance than the illusion of\nmotion which forms the so-called \"Strobic circles.\"\nNo great importance was given to these \"singular illusions\"\nwhen Professor Sylvanus Thompson exhibited them at the meeting\nof the British Association in 1877. Nevertheless we should like\nto learn the scientific explanation why seven should ever form\nitself as a pre-eminent number -- six concentric circles around\na seventh, and seven rings within one another round a central\npoint, etc., etc. -- in this *illusion, *produced by a\nswaying saucer, or any other vessel. We give the solution refused\nby science in the section which follows.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Sermon the 160th.\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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