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Attributed to, but probably not of Chaldean origin; not oracles (in the sense
of prophecies); and definitely not Zoroastrian; this is a famous collection of
aphorisms cherry-picked from classical sources. The earliest editions of the COZ
were published during the renaissance, when Chaldea was a land of mystery to
Europeans. Many of the cryptic 'Oracles' seem to reflect Neo-Platonism, the
Kabbalah and Gnostic views, which would have been considered heretical at the
time. Claiming an ancient Chaldean origin might simply have been a flag of
convenience.
The main text here was translated by the 19th century Neo-Platonist Thomas
Taylor, and I.P. Cory in his Ancient Fragments. This edition was published and
introduced by the Theosophist W. W. Westcott in his series Collectanea Hermetica
in 1895. Despite the twisted background of this text, it has a definite
resonance which students of the Esoteric will enjoy. Indeed, W.B. Yeats, who
moved in Theosophical circles, was an admirer of this text.
This is the first complete transcription of this edition of the COZ at
sacred-texts. This version supersedes an earlier etext, prepared by a third
party, which was incomplete and defective.
THE CHALDÆAN ORACLES OF ZOROASTER.
EDITED AND REVISED BY
SAPERE AUDE
[W. WYNN WESTCOTT]
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
L. O.
[PERCY BULLOCK]
LONDON, THEOSOPHICAL PUB. SOCIETY
COLLECTANEA HERMETICA VOLUME 6
[1895]
THE CHALDÆAN ORACLES
ATTRIBUTED TO
ZOROASTER.
PREFACE
By SAPERE AUDE.
THESE Oracles are considered to embody many of the principal features of
Chaldæan philosophy. They have come down to us through Greek translations and
were held in the greatest esteem throughout antiquity, a sentiment which was
shared alike by the early Christian Fathers and the later Platonists. The
doctrines contained therein are attributed to Zoroaster, though to which
particular Zoroaster is not known; historians give notices of as many as six
different individuals all bearing that name, which was probably the title of the
Prince of the Magi, and a generic term. The word Zoroaster is by various
authorities differently derived: Kircher furnishes one of the most interesting
derivations when he seeks to show that it comes from TzURA = a figure, and TzIUR=
to fashion, ASH = fire, and STR = hidden; from these he gets the words Zairaster
= fashioning images of hidden fire;--or Tzuraster=the image of secret things.
Others derive it from Chaldee and Greek words meaning " a contemplator of the
Stars."
It is not, of course, pretended that this collection as it stands is other than
disjointed and fragmentary, and it is more than probable that the true sense of
many passages has been obscured, and even in some cases hopelessly obliterated,
by inadequate translation.
Where it has been possible to do so, an attempt has been made to elucidate
doubtful or ambiguous expressions, either by modifying the existing translation
from the Greek, where deemed permissible, or by appending annotations.
It has been suggested by some that these Oracles are of Greek invention, but it
has already been pointed out by Stanley that Picus de Mirandula assured Ficinus
that he had the Chaldee Original in his possession, "in which those things which
are faulty and defective in the Greek are read perfect and entire," and Ficinus
indeed states that he found this MS. upon the death of Mirandula. In addition to
this, it should be noted that here and there in the original Greek version,
words occur which are not of Greek extraction at all, but are Hellenised Chaldee.
Berosus is said to be the first who introduced the writings of the Chaldæans
concerning Astronomy and Philosophy among the Greeks, * and it is certain that
the traditions of Chaldea very largely influenced Greek thought. Taylor
considers that some of these mystical utterances are the sources whence the
sublime conceptions of Plato were formed, and large commentaries were written
upon them by Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Pletho and Psellus. That men of such
great learning and sagacity should have thought so highly of these Oracles, is a
fact which in itself should commend them to our attention.
The term "Oracles" was probably bestowed upon these epigrammatic utterances in
order to enforce the idea of their profound and deeply mysterious nature. The
Chaldæans, however, had an Oracle, which they venerated as highly as the Greeks
did that at Delphi. *
We are indebted to both Psellus and Pletho, for comments at some length upon the
Chaldæan Oracles, and the collection adduced by these writers has been
considerably enlarged by Franciscus Patricius, who made many additions from
Proclus, Hermias, Simplicius, Damascius, Synesius, Olympiodorus, Nicephorus and
Arnobius; his collection, which comprised some 324 oracles under general heads,
was published in Latin in 1593, and constitutes the groundwork of the later
classification arrived at by Taylor and Cory; all of these editions have been
utilised in producing the present revise.
A certain portion of these Oracles collected by Psellus, appear to be correctly
attributed to a Chaldæan Zoroaster of very early date, and are marked "Z,"
following the method indicated by Taylor, with one or two exceptions. Another
portion is attributed to a sect of philosophers named Theurgists, who flourished
during the reign of Marcus Antoninus, upon the authority of Proclus, † and these
are marked "T." Oracles additional to these two series and of less definite
source are marked "Z or T." Other oracular passages from miscellaneous authors
are indicated by their names.
The printed copies of the Oracles to be found in England are the following:--
1. Oracula Magica, Ludovicus Tiletanus, Paris, 1563.
2. Zoroaster et ejus 320 oracula Chaldaica; by Franciscus Patricius. . . . 1593.
3. Fred. Morellus; Zoroastris oracula, 1597. Supplies about a hundred verses.
4. Otto Heurnius; Barbaricæ Philosophiæ antiquitatum libri duo, 1600.
5. Johannes Opsopoeus; Oracula Magica Zoroastris 1599. This includes the
Commentaries of Pletho and of Psellus in Latin.
6. Servatus Gallœus; Sibulliakoi Chresmoi, 1688. Contains a version of the
Oracles.
Thomas Stanley. The History of the Chaldaic Philosophy, 1701. This treatise
contains the Latin of Patricius, and the Commentaries of Pletho and Psellus in
English.
Johannes Alb. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Græca, 1705-7. Quotes the Oracles.
Jacobus Marthanus, 1689. This version contains the Commentary of Gemistus Pletho.
Thomas Taylor, The Chaldæan Oracles, in the Monthly Magazine, and published
independently, 1806.
Bibliotheca Classica Latina; A. Lemaire, volume 124, Paris, 1823.
Isaac Preston Cory, Ancient Fragments, London, 1828. (A third edition of this
work has been published, omitting the Oracles.)
Phœnix, New York, 1835. A collection of curious old tracts, among which are the
Oracles of Zoroaster, copied from Thomas Taylor and I. P. Cory; with an essay by
Edward Gibbon.
INTRODUCTION
By L. O.
IT has been believed by many, and not without good reason, that these terse and
enigmatic utterances enshrine a profound system of mystical philosophy, but that
this system demands for its full discernment a refinement of faculty, involving,
as it does, a discrete perception of immaterial essences.
It has been asserted that the Chaldæan Magi * preserved their occult learning
among their race by continual tradition from Father to Son. Diodorus says: "They
learn these things, not after the same fashion as the Greeks: for amongst the
Chaldæans, philosophy is delivered by tradition in the family, the Son receiving
it from his Father, being exempted from all other employment; and thus having
their parents for their teachers, they learn all things fully and abundantly,
believing more firmly what is communicated to them." †
The remains then of this oral tradition seems to exist in these Oracles, which
should be studied in the light of the Kabalah and of Egyptian Theology. Students
are aware that the Kabalah ‡ is susceptible
of extraordinary interpretation with the aid of the Tarot, resuming as the
latter does, the very roots of Egyptian Theology. Had a similar course been
adopted by commentators in the past, the Chaldæan system expounded in these
Oracles would not have been distorted in the way it has been.
The foundation upon which the whole structure of the Hebrew Kabalah rests is an
exposition of ten deific powers successively emanated by the Illimitable Light,
which in their varying dispositions are considered as the key of all things.
This divine procession in the form of Three Triads of Powers, synthesized in a
tenth, is said to be extended through four worlds, denominated respectively
Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah, a fourfold gradation from the subtil to
the gross. This proposition in its metaphysical roots is pantheistic, though, if
it may be so stated, mediately theistic; while the ultimate noumenon of all
phenomena is the absolute Deity, whose ideation constitutes the objective
Universe.
Now these observations apply strictly also to the Chaldæan system.
The accompanying diagrams sufficiently indicate the harmony and identity of the
Chaldæan philosophy with the Hebrew Kabalah. It will be seen that the First Mind
and the Intelligible Triad, Pater, Potentia, or Mater, and Mens, are allotted to
the Intelligible World of Supramundane Light: the "First Mind" represents the
archetypal intelligence as an entity in the bosom of the Paternal Depth. This
concentrates by reflection into the "Second Mind " representative of the Divine
Power in the Empyræan World which is identified with the second great Triad of
divine powers, known as the Intelligible and at the same time Intellectual
Triad: the Æthereal World comprises the dual third Triad denominated
Intellectual: while the
fourth or Elementary World is governed by Hypezokos, or Flower of Fire, the
actual builder of the world.
CHALDÆAN SCHEME.
The Intelligibles
The Paternal Depth
World of Supra-mundane Light
The First Mind
The Intelligible Triad
Pater: Mater or Potentia: Mens
The Second Mind
Intelligibles and Intellectuals
Iynges
in the
Synoches
Empyræan World
Teletarchæ
______________________________________
(The Third Mind.)
Three Cosmagogi
Intellectuals
(Intellectual guides inflexible.)
in the
Three Amilicti
Ethereal World
(Implacable thunders).
______________________________________
Elementary World
Hypezokos
The Demiurgos of the
(Flower of Fire)
Material Universe
Effable, Essential and
Elemental Orders
_______
The Earth-Matter
KABALISTIC SCHEME.
World of Atziluth
or of God
The Boundless
Ain Suph.
The Illimitable
Ain Suph Aur
Light
A radiant triangle
_____________________________________
World of Briah
Divine Forces
Kether
(crown)
Binah
(Intelligence)
Chokmah
(Wisdom)
_____________________________________
World of Yetzirah
or of Formation
Geburah
Chesed
Tiphereth
Hod
Netzach.
Yesod
_____________________________________
World of Assiah
Material Form.
Malkuth
Ruled by
Adonai Melekh
_________________
The Earth-Matter
CHALDÆAN SCHEME OF BEINGS.
Representatives of the previous classes guiding our universe.
I.
Hyperarchii--Archangels
II.
Azonœi--Unzoned gods
III.
Zonœi--Planetary Deities.
_______________
Higher demons: Angels
_______________
Human Souls
_______________
Lower demons, elementals
Fiery
Airy
Earthy
Watery
_______________
Evil demons
Lucifugous; the kliphoth
Chaldæan Theology contemplated three great divisions of supra-mundane
things:--the First was Eternal, without beginning or end, being the "Paternal
Depth," the bosom of the Deity. The Second was conceived to be that mode of
being having beginning but no end; the Creative World or Empyræum falls under
this head, abounding as it does in productions, but its source remaining
superior to these. The third and last order of divine things had a beginning in
time and will end, this is the transitory Ethereal World. Seven spheres extended
through these three Worlds, viz., one in the Empyræum or
verging from it, three in the Ethereal and three in the Elementary Worlds, while
the whole physical realm synthesized the foregoing. These seven spheres are not
to be confounded with the Seven material Planets; although the latter are the
physical representatives of the former, which can only be said to be material in
the metaphysical sense of the term. Psellus professed to identify them but his
suggestions are inadequate as Stanley pointed out. But Stanley, although
disagreeing with Psellus, is nevertheless inconsistent upon this point, for
although he explains the four -Worlds of the Chaldæans as successively noumenal
to the physical realm, he obviously contradicts this in saying that one
corporeal world is in the Empyræum.
Prior to the supramundane Light lay the "Paternal Depth," the Absolute Deity,
containing all things "in potentia" and eternally immanent. This is analogous to
the Ain Suph Aur of the Kabalah, three words of three letters, expressing three
triads of Powers, which are subsequently translated into objectivity, and
constitute the great Triadic Law sunder the direction of the Demiurgus, or
artificer of the Universe.
In considering this schema, it must be remembered that the supramundane Light
was regarded as the primal radiation from the Paternal Depth and the archetypal
noumenon of the Empyræum, a universal, all-pervading--and, to human
comprehension--ultimate essence. The Empyræum again, is a somewhat grosser
though still highly subtilized Fire and creative source, in its turn the
noumenon of the Formative or Ethereal World, as the latter is the noumenon of
the Elementary World. Through these graduated media the conceptions of the
Paternal Mind are ultimately fulfilled in time and space.
In some respects it is probable that the Oriental mind day is not much altered
from what it was
thousands of years ago, and much that now appears to us curious and phantastic
in Eastern traditions, still finds responsive echo in the hearts and minds of a
vast portion of mankind. A large number of thinkers and scientists in modern
times have advocated tenets which, while not exactly similar, are parallel to
ancient Chaldæan conceptions; this is exemplified in the notion that the
operation of natural law in the Universe is controlled or operated by conscious
and discriminating power which is co-ordinate with intelligence. It is but one
step further to admit that forces are entities, to people the vast spaces of the
Universe with the children of phantasy. Thus history repeats itself, and the old
and the new alike reflect the multiform truth.
Without entering at length into the metaphysical aspect, it is important to
notice the supremacy attributed to the "Paternal Mind." The intelligence of the
Universe, poetically described as "energising before energy," establishes on
high the primordial types or patterns of things which are to be, and, then
inscrutably latent, vests the development of these in the Rectores Mundorum, the
divine Regents or powers already referred to. As it is said, "Mind is with Him,
power with them."
The word "Intelligible" is used in the Platonic sense, to denote a mode of
being, power or perception, transcending intellectual comprehension, i.e.,
wholly distinct from, and superior to, ratiocination. The Chaldæans recognised
three modes of perception, viz., the testimony of the various senses, the
ordinary processes of intellectual activity, and the intelligible conceptions
before referred to. Each of these operations is distinct from the others, and,
moreover, conducted in separate matrices, or vehicula. The anatomy of the Soul
was, however, carried much farther than this, and, although in its ultimate
radix
recognised as identical with the divinity, yet in manifested being it was
conceived to be highly complex. The Oracles speak of the "Paths of the Soul,"
the tracings of inflexible fire by which its essential parts are associated in
integrity; while its various "summits," "fountains," and "vehicula," are all
traceable by analogy with universal principles: This latter fact is, indeed, not
the least remarkable feature of the Chaldæan system. Like several of the ancient
cosmogonies, the principal characteristic of which seems to have been a certain
adaptability to introversion, Chaldæan metaphysics synthesize most clearly in
the human constitution.
In each of the Chaldæan Divine Worlds a trinity of divine powers operated, which
synthetically constituted a fourth term. "In every World," says the Oracle, "a
Triad shineth, of which the Monad is the ruling principle." These "Monads " are
the divine Vice-gerents by which the Universe was conceived to be administered.
Each of the four Worlds, viz., the Empyræan, Ethereal, Elementary and Material,
was presided over by a Supreme Power, itself in direct rapport with "the Father"
and "moved by unspeakable counsels." These are clearly identical with the
Kabalistic conception of the presidential heads of the four letters composing
the Deity name in so many different languages. A parallel tenet is conveyed in
the Oracle which runs: "There is a Venerable Name projected through the Worlds
with a sleepless revolution." The Kabalah again supplies the key to this
utterance, by regarding the Four Worlds as under the presidency of the four
letters of the Venerable Name, a certain letter of the four being allotted to
each World, as also was a special mode of writing the four-lettered name
appropriate thereto; and, indeed in that system it is taught that the order of
the Elements, both macrocosmic and microcosmic, on every plane,
is directly controlled by the "revolution of the name." That Name is associated
with the Æthers of the Elements and is thus considered as a Universal Law; it is
the power which marshals the creative host, summed up in the Demiurgus,
Hypezokos, or Flower of Fire.
Reference may here be made to the psychic anatomy of the human being according
to Plato. He places the intellect in the head; the Soul endowed with some of the
passions, such as fortitude, in the heart; while another Soul, of which the
appetites, desires and grosser passions are its faculties, about the stomach and
the spleen.
So, the Chaldæan doctrine as recorded by Psellus, considered man to be composed
of three kinds of Souls, which may respectively be called:
First, the Intelligible, or divine soul,
Second, the Intellect or rational soul, and
Third, the Irrational, or passional soul.
This latter was regarded as subject to mutation, to be dissolved and perish at
the death of the body.
Of the Intelligible, or divine soul, the Oracles teach that "It is a bright
fire, which, by the power of the Father, remaineth immortal, and is Mistress of
Life;" its power may be dimly apprehended through regenerate phantasy and when
the sphere of the Intellect has ceased to respond to the images of the passional
nature.
Concerning the rational soul, the Chaldæans taught that it was possible for it
to assimilate itself unto the divinity on the one hand, or the irrational soul
on the other. "Things divine," we read, "cannot be obtained by mortals whose
intellect is directed to the body alone, but those only who are stripped of
their garments, arrive at the summit."
To the three Souls to which reference has been made, the Chaldæans moreover
allotted three distinct
vehicles: that of the divine Soul was immortal, that of the rational soul by
approximation became so; while to the irrational soul was allotted what was
called "the image," that is. the astral form of the physical body.
Physical life thus integrates three special modes of activity, which upon the
dissolution of the body are respectively involved in the web of fate consequent
upon incarnate energies in three-different destinies.
The Oracles urge men to devote themselves to things divine, and not to give way
to the promptings of the irrational soul, for, to such as fail herein, it is
significantly said, "Thy vessel the beasts of the earth shall inhabit."
The Chaldæans assigned the place of the Image, the vehicle of the irrational
soul, to the Lunar Sphere; it is probable that by the Lunar Sphere was meant
something more than the orb of the Moon, the whole sublunary region, of which
the terrestrial earth is, as it were, the centre. At death, the rational Soul
rose above the lunar influence, provided always the past permitted that happy
release. Great importance was attributed to the way in which the physical life
was passed during the sojourn of the Soul in the tenement of flesh, and frequent
are the exhortations to rise to communion with those Divine powers, to which
nought but the highest Theurgy can pretend.
"Let the immortal depth of your Soul lead you," says an Oracle, "but earnestly
raise your eyes upwards." Taylor comments upon this in the following beautiful
passage: "By the eyes are to be understood all the gnostic powers of the Soul,
for when these are extended the Soul becomes replete with a more excellent life
and divine illumination; and is, as it were, raised above itself."
Of the Chaldæan Magi it might be truly said that they "among dreams did first
discriminate the truthful
vision!" for they were certainly endowed with a far reaching perception both
mental and spiritual; attentive to images, and fired with mystic fervours, they
were something more than mere theorists, but were also practical exemplars of
the philosophy they taught. Life on the plains of Chaldæa, with its mild nights
and jewelled skies, tended to foster the interior unfoldment; in early life the
disciples of the Magi learnt to resolve the Bonds of proscription and enter the
immeasurable region. One Oracle assures us that, "The girders of the Soul, which
give her breathing, are easy to be unloosed," and elsewhere we read of the
"Melody of the Ether" and of the "Lunar clashings," experiences which testify to
the reality of their occult methods.
The Oracles assert that the impressions of characters and other divine visions
appear in the Ether. The Chaldæan philosophy recognized the ethers of the
Elements as the subtil media through which the operation of the grosser elements
is effected--by the grosser elements I mean what we know as Earth, Air, Water
and Fire--the principles of dryness and moisture, of heat and cold. These subtil
ethers are really the elements of the ancients, and seen at an early period to
have been connected with the Chaldæan astrology, as the signs of the Zodiac were
connected with them. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are permutations of the
ethers of the elements--four elements with three variations each; and according
to the preponderance of one or another elemental condition in the constitution
of the individual, so were his natural inclinations deduced therefrom. Thus when
in the astrological jargon it was said that a man had Aries rising, he was said
to be of a fiery nature, his natural tendencies being active, energetic and
fiery, for in the constitution of such a one the fiery ether predominates.
And
these ethers were
stimulated, or endowed with a certain kind of vibration, by their Presidents,
the Planets; these latter being thus suspended in orderly disposed zones. Unto
the Planets, too, colour and sound were also attributed;, the planetary colours
are connected with the ethers, and each of the Planetary forces was said to have
special dominion over, or affinity with, one or other of the Zodiacal
constellations. Communion with the hierarchies of these constellations formed
part of the Chaldæan theurgy, and in a curious fragment it is said: "If thou
often invokest it" (the celestial constellation called the Lion) "then when no
longer is visible unto thee the Vault of the Heavens, when the Stars have lost
their light the lamp of the Moon is veiled, the Earth abideth not, and around
thee darts the lightning flame, then all things will appear to thee in the form
of a Lion!" The Chaldæans, like the Egyptians, appear to have had a highly
developed appreciation of colours, an evidence of their psychic susceptibility.
The use of bright colours engenders the recognition of subsisting variety and
stimulates that perception of the mind which energizes through imagination, or
the operation of images. The Chaldæan method of Contemplation appears to have
been to identify the self with the object of contemplation; this is of course
identical with the process of Indian Yoga, and is an idea which appears replete
with suggestion; as it is written, "He assimilates the images to himself,
casting them around his own form." But we are told, "All divine natures are
incorporeal, but bodies are bound in them for your sakes."
The subtil ethers, of which I have spoken, served in their turn as it were for
the garment of the divine Light; for the Oracles teach that beyond these again "
A solar world and endless Light subsist! " This Divine Light was the object of
all veneration. Do not think
that what was intended thereby was the Solar Light we know: "The inerratic
sphere of the Starless above" is an unmistakable expression and therein "the
more true Sun " has place: Theosophists will appreciate the significance of "the
more true Sun," for according to The Secret Doctrine the Sun we see is but the
physical vehicle of a more transcendent splendour.
Some strong Souls were able to reach up to the Light by their own power: "The
mortal who approaches the fire shall have Light from the divinity, and unto the
persevering mortal the blessed immortals are swift." But what of those of a
lesser stature? Were they, by inability, precluded from such illumination?
"Others," we read, "even when asleep, He makes fruitful from his own Strength."
That is to say, some men acquire divine knowledge through communion with
Divinity in sleep. This idea has given rise to some of the most magnificent
contributions to later literature; it has since been thoroughly elaborated by
Porphyry and Synesius. The eleventh Book of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius and
the Vision of Scipio ably vindicate this; and, although no doubt every Christian
has heard that "He giveth unto his beloved in sleep," few, indeed, realise the
possibility underlying that conception.
What, it may be asked, were the views of the Chaldæans with respect to
terrestrial life: Was it a spirit of pessimism, which led them to hold this in
light esteem? Or, should we not rather say that the keynote of their philosophy
was an immense spiritual optimism? It appears to me that the latter is the more
true interpretation. They realised that beyond the confines of matter lay a more
perfect existence, a truer realm of which terrestrial administration is but a
too often travestied reflection. They sought, as we seek now, the Good, the
Beautiful and the True, but
they did not hasten to the Outer in the thirst for sensation, but with a finer
perception realised the true Utopia to be within.
And the first step in that admirable progress was a return to the simple life;
hardly, indeed, a return, for most of the Magi were thus brought up from birth.
* The hardihood engendered by the rugged life, coupled with that wisdom which
directed their association, rendered these children of Nature peculiarly
receptive of Nature's Truths. "Stoop not down," says the Oracle, "to the darkly
splendid World, For a precipice lieth beneath the Earth, a descent of seven
steps, and therein is established the throne of an evil and fatal force. Stoop
not down unto that darkly splendid world, Defile not thy brilliant flame with
the earthly dross of matter, Stoop not down for its splendour is but seeming, It
is but the habitation of the Sons of the Unhappy." No more beautiful formulation
of the Great Truth that the exterior and sensuous life is death to the highest
energies of the Soul could possibly have been uttered: but to such as by
purification and the practice of virtue rendered themselves. worthy,
encouragement was given, for, we read, "The Higher powers build up the body of
the holy man."
The law of Karma was as much a feature of the Chaldæan philosophy as it is of
the Theosophy of today: from a passage in Ficinus, we read, "The Soul
perpetually runs and passes through all things in a certain space of time, which
being performed it is presently compelled to pass back again through all things
and unfold a similar web of generation in the World, according to Zoroaster, who
thinks that as often as the same causes return, the same effects will in like
manner return."
This is of course the explanation of the proverb that "History repeats itself,"
and is very far from the superstitious view of fate. Here each one receives his
deserts according to merit or demerit, and these are the bonds of life; but the
Oracles say, "Enlarge not thy destiny," and they urge men to "Explore the River
of the Soul, so that although you have become a servant to body, you may again
rise to the Order from which you descended, joining works to sacred reason!"
To this end we are commended to learn the Intelligible which exists beyond the
mind, that divine portion of the being which exists beyond Intellect: and this
it is only possible to grasp with the flower of the mind. "Understand the
intelligible with the extended flame of an extended intellect." To Zoroaster
also was attributed the utterance "who knows himself knows all things in
himself;" while it is elsewhere suggested that "The paternal Mind has sowed
symbols in the Soul." But such priceless knowledge was possible only to the
Theurgists Who, we are told, "fall not so as to be ranked with the herd that are
in subjection to fate." The divine light cannot radiate in an imperfect
microcosm, even as the Clouds obscure the Sun; for of such as make ascent to the
most divine of speculations in a confused and disordered manner, with unhallowed
lips, or unwashed feet, the progressions are imperfect, the impulses are vain
and the paths are dark.
Although destiny, our destiny, may be " written in the Stars" yet it was the
mission of the divine Soul to raise the human Soul above the circle of
necessity, and the Oracles give Victory to that Masterly Will, which
"Hews the wall with might of magic,
Breaks the palisade in pieces,
Hews to atoms seven pickets . . .
Speaks the Master words of knowledge! "
The means taken to that consummation consisted in the training of the Will and
the elevation, of the imagination, a divine power which controls consciousness:
Believe yourself to be above body, and you are," says the Oracle; it might have
added "Then shall regenerate phantasy disclose the symbols of the Soul."
But it is said "On beholding yourself fear!" i.e., . the imperfect self.
Everything must be viewed as ideal by him who would understand the ultimate
perfection.
Will is the grand agent in the mystic progress; its rule is all potent over the
nervous system. By Will the fleeting vision is fixed on the treacherous waves of
the astral Light; by Will the consciousness is impelled to commune with the
divinity: yet there is not One Will, but three Wills--the Wills, namely, of the
Divine, the Rational and Irrational Souls--to harmonize these is the difficulty.
It is selfishness which impedes the radiation of Thought, and attaches to body.
This is scientifically true and irrespective of sentiment, the selfishness which
reaches beyond the necessities of body is pure vulgarity.
A picture which to the cultured eye beautifully portrays a given subject,
nevertheless appears to the savage a confused patchwork of streaks, so the
extended perceptions of a citizen of the Universe are not grasped by those whose
thoughts dwell within the sphere of the personal life.
The road to the Summum Bonum lies therefore through self-sacrifice, the
sacrifice of the lower to the higher, for behind that Higher Self lies the
concealed form of the Antient of Days, the synthetical Being of Divine Humanity.
These things are grasped by Soul; the song of the Soul is alone heard in the
adytum of God-nourished Silence!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
7:* This powerful Guild was the guardian of Chaldæan philosophy, which exceeded
the bounds of their country, and diffused itself into Persia and Arabia that
borders upon it; for which reason the learning of the Chaldæans, Persians and
Arabians is comprehended under the general title of Chaldæan.
7:† Diodorus, lib. I.
7:‡ Vide Kabalah Denudata, by MacGregor Mathers.
20:* They renounced rich attire and the wearing of gold. Their raiment was white
upon occasion; their beds the ground, and their food nothing but herbs, cheese
and bread
THE
ORACLES OF ZOROASTER.
_______________
CAUSE. GOD.
FATHER.
MIND.
FIRE.
MONAD.
DYAD.
TRIAD.
1. But God is He having the head of the Hawk. The same is the first,
incorruptible, eternal, unbegotten, indivisible, dissimilar: the dispenser of
all good; indestructible; the best of the good, the Wisest of the wise; He is
the Father of Equity and Justice, self-taught, physical, perfect, and wise--He
who inspires the Sacred Philosophy.
Eusebius. Præparatio Evangelica, liber. I., chap. X.
This Oracle does not appear in either of the ancient collections, nor in the
group of oracles given by any of the mediæval occultists. Cory seems to have
been the first to discover it in the voluminous writings of Eusebius, who
attributes the authorship to the Persian Zoroaster
________
2. Theurgists assert that He is a God and celebrate him as both older and
younger, as a circulating and eternal God, as understanding the whole number of
all things moving in the World, and moreover infinite through his power and
energizing a spiral force.
Proclus on the Timæus of Plato, 244. Z. or T.
The Egyptian Pantheon had an Elder and a Younger Horus--a God--son of Osiris and
Isis. Taylor suggests that He refers to Kronos, Time, or Chronos, as the later
Platonists wrote the name. Kronos, or Saturnus, of the Romans, was son of Uranos
and Gaia, husband of Rhea, father of Zeus.
________
3. The God of the Universe, eternal, limitless, both young and old, having a
spiral force.
Cory includes this Oracle in his collection, but he gives no authority for it.
Lobeck doubted its authenticity.
________
4. For the Eternal Æon *--according to the Oracle--is the cause of never failing
life, of unwearied power and unsluggish energy.
Taylor.--T.
5. Hence the inscrutable God is called silent by the divine ones, and is said to
consent with Mind, and to be known to human souls through the power of the Mind
alone.
Proclus in Theologiam Platonis, 321. T.
Inscrutable. Taylor gives "stable;" perhaps "incomprehensible" is better.
________
6. The Chaldæans call the God Dionysos (or Bacchus), Iao in the Phœnician tongue
(instead of
the Intelligible Light), and he is also called Sabaoth, * signifying that he is
above the Seven poles, that is the Demiurgos.
Lydus, De Mensibus, 83. T.
7. Containing all things in the one summit of his own Hyparxis, He Himself
subsists wholly beyond.
Proclus in Theologiam Platonis, 212. T.
Hyparxis, is generally deemed to mean "Subsistence." Hupar is Reality as
distinct from appearance; Huparche is a Beginning.
________
8. Measuring and bounding all things.
Proclus in Theologiam Platonis, 386. T.
"Thus he speaks the words," is omitted by Taylor and Cory, but present in the
Greek.
________
9. For nothing imperfect emanates from the Paternal Principle,
Psellus, 38; Pletho. Z.
This implies--but only from a succedent emanation.
________
10. The Father effused not Fear, but He infused persuasion.
Pletho. Z.
________
11. The Father hath apprehended Himself, and hath not restricted his Fire to his
own intellectual power.
Psellus, 30; Pletho, 33. Z.
Taylor gives:--The Father hath hastily withdrawn Himself, but hath not shut up
his own Fire in his intellectual power.
The Greek text has no word "hastily," and as to withdrawn--Arpazo means, grasp
or snatch, but also "apprehend with the mind."
________
12. Such is the Mind which is energized before energy, while yet it had not gone
forth, but abode in the Paternal Depth, and in the Adytum of God nourished
silence.
Proc. in Tim., 167. T.
13. All things have issued from that one Fire.
The Father perfected all things, and delivered them over to the Second Mind,
whom all Nations of Men call the First.
Psellus, 24; Pletho, 30. Z.
14. The Second Mind conducts the Empyrean World.
Damascius, De Principiis. T.
15. What the Intelligible saith, it saith by understanding.
Psellus, 35. Z.
16. Power is with them, but Mind is from Him.
Proclus in Platonis Theologiam, 365. T.
17. The Mind of the Father riding on the subtle Guiders, which glitter with the
tracings of inflexible and relentless Fire.
Proclus on the Cratylus of Plato. T.
18. . . . . After the Paternal Conception
I the Soul reside, a heat animating all things.
. . . . For he placed p. 27
The Intelligible in the Soul, and the Soul in dull body,
Even so the Father of Gods and Men placed them in us.
Proclus in Tim. Plat., 124.. Z. or T.
19. Natural works co-exist with the intellectual light of the Father. For it is
the Soul which adorned the vast Heaven, and which adorneth it after the Father,
but her dominion is established on high.
Proclus in Tim., 106. Z. or T.
Dominion, krata: some copies give kerata, horns.
________
20. The Soul, being a brilliant Fire, by the power of the Father remaineth
immortal, and is Mistress of Life, and filleth up the many recesses of the bosom
of the World.
Psellus, 28; Pletho, 11. Z.
21. The channels being intermixed, therein she performeth the works of
incorruptible Fire.
Proclus in Politico, p. 399. Z. or T.
22. For not in Matter did the Fire which is in the first beyond enclose His
active Power, but in Mind; for the framer of the Fiery World is the Mind of
Mind.
Proclus in Theologian, 333, and Tim., 157. T.
23. Who first sprang from Mind, clothing the one Fire with the other Fire,
binding them together, that he might mingle the fountainous craters, while
preserving unsullied the brilliance of His own Fire.
Proclus in Parm. Platonis. T.
24. And thence a Fiery Whirlwind drawing down the brilliance of the flashing
flame, penetrating the abysses of the Universe; for from thence downwards do
extend their wondrous rays.
Proclus in Theologian Platonis, 171 and 172. T.
25. The Monad first existed, and the Paternal Monad still subsists.
Proclus in Euclidem, 27. T.
26. When the Monad is extended, the Dyad is generated.
Proclus in Euclidemi, 27. T.
Note that" What the Pythagoreans signify by Monad, Duad and Triad, or Plato by
Bound, Infinite and Mixed; that the Oracles of the Gods intend by Hyparxis,
Power and Energy."
Damascius De Principiis. Taylor.
________
27. And beside Him is seated the Dyad which glitters with intellectual sections,
to govern all things and to order everything not ordered.
Proclus in Platonis Theologiam, 376. T.
28. The Mind of the Father said that all things should be cut into Three, whose
Will assented, and immediately all things were so divided.
Proclus in Parmen. T.
29. The Mind of the Eternal Father said into Three, governing all things by
Mind.
Proclus, Timæus of Plato. T.
30. The Father mingled every Spirit from this Triad.
Lydus, De Mensibus, 20. Taylor.
31. All things are supplied from the bosom of this Triad.
Lydus, De Mensibus, 20. Taylor.
32. All things are governed and subsist in this Triad.
Proclus in I. Alcibiades. T.
33. For thou must know that all things bow before the Three Supernals.
Damascius, De Principiis. T.
34. From thence floweth forth the Form of the Triad, being preëxistent; not the
first Essence, but that whereby all things are measured.
Anon. Z. or T.
35. And there appeared in it Virtue and Wisdom, and multiscient Truth.
Anon. Z. or T.
36. For in each World shineth the Triad, over which the Monad ruleth.
Damascius in Parmenidem. T.
37. The First Course is Sacred, in the middle place courses the Sun, * in the
third the Earth is heated by the internal fire.
Anon. Z. or T.
________
38. Exalted upon High and animating Light, Fire Ether and Worlds.
Simplicius in his Physica, 143. Z. or T.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
24:* "For the First Æon, the Eternal one," or as Taylor gives, "Eternity."
25:* This word is Chaldee, TzBAUT, meaning hosts; but there is also a word
SHBOH, meaning The Seven.
29:* Jones gives Sun from Helios, but some Greek versions give Herios, which
Cory translates, air.
IDEAS.
INTELLIGIBLES, INTELLECTUALS, IYNGES, SYNOCHES, TELETARCHÆ, FOUNTAINS,
PRINCIPLES, HECATE AND DÆMONS.
________
39. The Mind of the Father whirled forth in reechoing roar, comprehending by
invincible Will Ideas omniform; which flying forth from that one fountain
issued; for from the Father alike, was the Will and the End (by which are they
connected with the Father according to alternating life, through varying
vehicles). But they were divided asunder, being by Intellectual Fire distributed
into other Intellectuals. For the King of all previously placed before the
polymorphous World a Type, intellectual, incorruptible, the imprint of whose
form is sent forth through the World, by which the Universe shone forth decked
with Ideas all various, of which the foundation is One, One and alone. From this
the others rush forth distributed and separated through the various bodies of
the Universe, and are borne in swarms through its vast abysses, ever whirling
forth in illimitable radiation.
They are intellectual conceptions from the Paternal Fountain partaking
abundantly of the brilliance of Fire in the culmination of unresting Time.
But the primary self-perfect Fountain of the Father poured forth these
primogenial Ideas.
Proclus in Parmenidem. Z. or T.
40. These being many, descend flashingly upon the shining Worlds, and in them
are contained the Three Supernals.
Damascius in Parmenidem. T
41. They are the guardians of the works of the Father, and of the One Mind, the
Intelligible.
Proclus in Theologiam Platonis, 205. T.
42. All things subsist together in the Intelligible World.
Damascius, De Principiis. T.
43. But all Intellect understandeth the Deity, for Intellect existeth not
without the Intelligible, neither apart from Intellect doth the Intelligible
subsist.
Damascius. Z. or T.
44. For Intellect existeth not without the Intelligible; apart from it, it
subsisteth not.
Proclus, Th. Pl., 172. Z. or T.
45. By Intellect He containeth the Intelligibles and introduceth the Soul into
the Worlds.
46. By Intellect he containeth the Intelligibles, and introduceth Sense into the
Worlds.
Proclus in Crat. T.
47. For this Paternal Intellect, which comprehendeth the Intelligibles and
adorneth things ineffable, hath sowed symbols through the World.
Proclus in Cratylum. T.
48. This Order is the beginning of all section.
Dam., De Prin. T.
49. The Intelligible is the principle of all section.
Damascius, De Principiis. T.
50. The Intelligible is as food to that which understandeth.
Dam., De Prin. T.
51. The oracles concerning the Orders exhibits It as prior to the Heavens, as
ineffable, and they add--It hath Mystic Silence.
Proclus in Cratylum. T.
52. The oracle calls the Intelligible causes Swift, Mid asserts that, proceeding
from the Father, they rush again unto Him.
Proclus in Cratylum. T.
53. Those Natures are both Intellectual and Intelligible, which, themselves
possessing Intellection, are the objects of Intelligence to others.
Proclus, Theologiam Platonis. T.
The Second Order of the Platonist philosophy was the "Intelligible and
Intellectual Triad." Among the Chaldæans this order includes the Iynges,
Synoches and Teletarchs. The Intellectual Triad of the later Platonists
corresponds to the Fountains, Fontal Fathers or Cosmagogi of the Chaldæans.
________
54. The Intelligible Iynges themselves understand from the Father; by Ineffable
counsels being moved so as to understand.
Psellus, 41; Pletho, 31. Z.
55. Because it is the Operator, because it is the Giver of Life Bearing Fire,
because it filleth the Life-producing bosom of Hecaté; and it instilleth into
the Synoches the enlivening strength of Fire, endued with mighty Power.
Proclus in Tim., 128. T.
56. He gave His own Whirlwinds to guard the Supernals, mingling the proper force
of His own strength in the Synoches.
Dam., De Prin. T.
57. But likewise as many as serve the material Synoches.
T.
58. The Teletarchs are comprehended in the Synoches.
Dam., De Prin. T.
59. Rhea, the Fountain and River of the Blessed Intellectuals, having first
received the powers of all things in Her Ineffable Bosom, pours forth perpetual
Generation upon all things.
Proc. in Crat. T
60. For it is the bound of the Paternal Depth, and the Fountain of the
Intellectuals.
Dam., De Prin. T.
61. For He is a Power of circumlucid strength, glittering with Intellectual
Sections.
Dam. T.
62 . He glittereth with Intellectual Sections, and hath filled all things with
love.
Dam. T.
63. Unto the Intellectual Whirlings of Intellectual Fire, all things are
subservient, through the persuasive counsel of the Father.
Proc. in Parm. T.
64. O! how the World hath inflexible Intellectual Rulers.
65. The source of the Hecaté correspondeth with that of the Fontal Fathers.
T.
66. From Him leap forth the Amilicti the all-relentless thunders, and the
whirlwind receiving
[paragraph continues] Bosoms of the all-splendid Strength of Hecaté
Father-begotten; and He who encircleth the Brilliance of Fire; And the Strong
Spirit of the Poles, all fiery beyond.
Proc. in Crat. T.
67. There is another Fountain, which leadeth the Empyræan World.
Proc. in Tim. Z. or T.
68. The Fountain of Fountains, and the boundary of all fountains.
Dam., De Prin.
69. Under two Minds the Life-generating fountain of Souls is comprehended.
Dam., De Prin. T.
70. Beneath them exists the Principal One of the Immaterials.
Darn. in Parm. Z. or T.
Following the Intellectual Triad was the Demiurgos, from whom proceeded the
Effable and Essential Orders including all sorts of Dæmons, and the Elementary
World.
________
71. Father begotten Light, which alone hath gathered from the strength of the
Father the Flower of mind, and hath the power of understanding the Paternal
mind, and Both instil into all Fountains and Principles the power of
understanding and the function of ceaseless revolution.
Proc. in Tim., 242.
72. All fountains and principles whirl round and always remain' in a ceaseless
revolution.
Proc. in Parm. Z. or T.
73. The Principles, which have understood the Intelligible works of the Father,
He hath clothed in sensible works and bodies, being intermediate links existing
to connect the Father with Matter, rendering apparent the Images of unapparent
Natures, and inscribing the Unapparent in the Apparent frame of the World.
Dam., De Prin. Z. or T.
74. Typhon, Echidna, and Python, being the progeny of Tartaros and Gaia, who
were united by Uranos, form, as it were, a certain Chaldæan Triad, the Inspector
and Guardian of all the disordered fabrications.
Olymp. in Phæd. T.
75. There are certain Irrational Demons (mindless elementals), which derive
their subsistence from the Aërial Rulers; wherefore the Oracle saith, Being the
Charioteer of the Aërial, Terrestrial and Aquatic Dogs.
Olymp. in Phæd. T.
76. The Aquatic when applied to Divine Natures signifies a Government
inseparable from Water, and hence the Oracle calls the Aquatic Gods, Water
Walkers:
Proc. in Tim., 270. T.
77. There are certain Water Elementals whom Orpheus calls Nereides, dwelling in
the more elevated exhalations of Water, such as appear in damp, cloudy Air,
whose bodies are sometimes seen (as Zoroaster taught) by more acute eyes,
especially in Persia and Africa.
PARTICULAR SOULS.
SOUL, LIFE, MAN.
________
78. The Father conceived ideas, and all mortal bodies were animated by Him.
Proc. in Tim., 336. T.
79. For the Father of Gods and men placed the Mind (nous) in the Soul (psyche);
and placed both in the (human) body.
80. The Paternal Mind hath sowed symbols in the Soul.
Psell., 26; Pletho, 6.. Z.
81. Having mingled the Vital Spark from two according substances, Mind and
Divine Spirit, as a third to these He added Holy Love, the venerable Charioteer
uniting all things.
Lyd. De Men., 3.
82. Filling the Soul with profound Love.
Proc. in Pl. Theol, 4. Z or T.
83. The Soul of man does in a manner clasp God to herself. Having nothing
mortal, she is wholly inebriated with God. For she glorieth in the harmony under
which the mortal body subsisteth.
Psellus, 17; Pletho, 10. Z.
84. The more powerful Souls perceive Truth through themselves, and are of -a
more inventive Nature. Such Souls are saved through their own strength,
according to the Oracle.
Proclus in I. Alc. Z.
85. The Oracle saith that Ascending Souls sing a Pæan.
Olymp. in Phæd. Z or T.
86. Of all Souls, those certainly are superlatively blessed, which are poured
forth from Heaven to Earth; and they are happy, and have ineffable stamina, as
many as proceed from Thy Splendid Self, O King, or from Jove Himself, under the
strong necessity of Mithus.
Synes. De Insom, 153. Z or T.
Query Mithras.
________
87. The Souls of those who quit the body violently are most pure.
Psellus, 27. Z.
88. The girders of the Soul, which give her breathing, are easy to be unloosed.
Psellus, 32; Pletho, 8. Z.
89. For when you see a Soul set free, the Father sendeth another, that the
number may be complete.
Z. or T.
90. Understanding the works of the Father, they avoid the shameless Wing of
Fate; they are placed in God, drawing forth strong light-bearers, descending
from the Father, from whom as they descend, the Soul gathereth of the empyræan
fruits the soul-nourishing flower.
Proc. in Tim., 321. Z. or T.
91. This Animastic Spirit which blessed men have called the Pneumatic Soul,
becometh a god, an all-various Dæmon, and an Image (disembodied), and in this
form of Soul suffereth her punishments The
[paragraph continues] Oracles, too, accord with this account; for they
assimilate the employment of the Soul in Hades, to the delusive visions of a
dream.
Synesius De Insom. Z. or T.
The word Dæmon in the original meaning of the term did not necessarily mean a
bad Spirit, and was as often applied to pure spirits as to impure.
Compare the Eastern doctrine of Devachan, a stage of pleasing illusion after
death.
________
92. One life after another, from widely distributed sources. Passing from above,
through to the opposite part; through the Centre of the Earth; and to the fifth
middle, fiery centre, where the life-bearing fire descendeth as far as the
material world.
Z. or T.
93. Water is a symbol of life; hence Plato and the gods before Plato, call it
(the Soul) at one time the whole water of vivification, and at another time a
certain fountain of it.
Proc. in Tim., 318. Z.
94. O Man, of a daring nature, thou subtle production.
Psell., 12; Pletho, 21. Z,
95. For thy vessel the beasts of the Earth shall inhabit.
Psell., 36; Pletho, 7. Z.
Vessel is the body in which the Nous--thou, dwellest for a time.
________
96. Since the Soul perpetually runs and passes through many experiences in a
certain space of time;
which being performed, it is presently compelled to. pass back again through all
things, and unfold a similar web of generation in the World, according to
Zoroaster, who thinketh that as often as the same causes return, the same
effects will in like manner be sure to ensue.
Ficin. De Im. An., 129. Z.
97. According to Zoroaster, in us the ethereal vestment of the Soul perpetually
revolves (reincarnates).
Ficin. De Im. An., 131. Z.
98. The Oracles delivered by the Gods celebrate the essential fountain of every
Soul; the Empyrean, the Ethereal and the Material. This fountain they separate
from (Zoogonothea) the vivifying Goddess (Rhea), from whom (suspending the whole
of Fate) they make two series or orders; the one animastic, or belonging to the
Soul, and the other belonging to Fate. They assert that the Soul is derived
front the animastic series, but that sometimes it becometh subservient to Fate,
when passing into an irrational condition of being,. it becometh subject to Fate
instead of to Providence.
Proclus de Providentia apud Fabricium in Biblioth. Græca., vol. 8, 486. Z. or T
MATTER.
THE WORLD--AND NATURE.
99. The Matrix containing all things.
T.
100. Wholly divisible, and yet indivisible.
101. Thence abundantly springeth forth the generations of multifarious Matter.
Proc. in Tim., 118. T.
102. These frame atoms, sensible forms, corporeal bodies, and things destined to
matter.
Dam, De Prin. T.
103. The Nymphs of the Fountains, and all the Water Spirits, and terrestrial,
aërial and astral forms, are the Lunar Riders and Rulers of all Matter, the
Celestial, the Starry, and that which lieth in the Abysses.
Lydus., p. 32.
104. According to the Oracles, Evil is more feeble than Non-entity.
Proc. de Prov. Z. or T.
105. We learn that Matter pervadeth the whole world, as the Gods also assert.
Proc., Tim., 142. Z. or T.
106. All Divine Natures are incorporeal, but bodies are bound to them for your
sakes. Bodies not being able to contain incorporeals, by reason of the Corporeal
Nature, in which ye are concentrated.
Proc. in Pl. Polit., 359. Z. or T.
107. For the Paternal Self-begotten Mind, understanding His works sowed in all,
the fiery bonds of love, that all things might continue loving for an infinite
time. That the connected series of things might intellectually remain in the
Light of the Father; that the elements of the World might continue their course
in mutual attraction.
Proc. in Tim., 155. T.
108. The Maker of all things, self-operating, framed the World. And there was a
certain Mass of Fire: all these things Self-Operating He produced, that the Body
of the Universe might be conformed, that the World might be manifest, and not
appear membranous,
Proc. in Tim., 154. Z. or T.
109. For He assimilateth the images to himself, casting them around his own
form.
110. For they are an imitation of his Mind, but that which is fabricated hath
something of Body.
Proc. in Tim., 87. Z or. T.
111. There is a Venerable Name, with a sleepless revolution, leaping forth into
the worlds, through the rapid tones of the Father.
Proc. in Crat. Z. or T.
112. The Ethers of the Elements therefore are there.
Olympiodorus in Phæd. Z. or T.
113. The Oracles assert that the types of Characters, and of other Divine
visions appear in the Ether (or Astral Light).
Simp. in Phys., 144. Z. or T.
114. In this the things without figure are figured.
Simp. in Phys., 143. Z. or T.
115. The Ineffable and Effable impressions of the World.
116. The Light hating World, and the winding currents by which many are drawn
down.
Proc. in Tim., 339. Z. or T
117. He maketh the whole World of Fire, Air,. Water, and Earth, and of the
all-nourishing Ether.
Z. or T.
118. Placing Earth in the middle, but Water below the Earth, and Air above both
these.
Z. or T.
119. He fixed a vast multitude of un-wandering Stars, not by a strain laborious
and hurtful, but with stability void of movement, forcing Fire forward into
Fire.
Proc. in Tim., 280. Z. or T.
120. The Father congregated the Seven Firmaments of the Kosmos, circumscribing
the Heavens with convex form.
Dam. in Parm. Z, or T.
121. He constituted a Septenary of wandering Existences (the Planetary globes).
Z. or T.
122. Suspending their disorder in Well-disposed Zones.
Z. or T.
123. He made them six in number, and for the Seventh He cast into the midst
thereof the Fiery Sun.
Proc. in Tim., 280. Z. or T.
124. The Centre from which all (lines) which way soever are equal.
Proc. in Euclidem.
125. And that the Swift Sun doth pass as ever around a Centre.
Proc. in Plat. Th., 317. Z. or T.
126. Eagerly urging itself towards that Centre of resounding Light.
Proc. in Tim., 236. T.
127. The Vast Sun, and the Brilliant Moon.
128. As rays of Light his locks flow forth, ending in acute points.
Proc. in Pl. Pol. 387. T.
129. And of the Solar Circles, and of the Lunar, clashings, and of. the Aërial
Recesses; the Melody of Ether, and of the Sun, and of the phases of the Moon,
and of the Air.
Proc. in Tim., 257. Z. or T.
130. The most mystic of discourses informs us that His wholeness is in the
Supra-mundane Orders for there a Solar World and Boundless Light subsist, as,
the Oracles of the Chaldæans affirm.
Proc. in Tim., 264. Z. or T.
131. The Sun more true measureth all things by time, being itself the time of
time, according to the Oracle of the Gods concerning it.
Proc. in Tim., 249. Z. or T.
132. The Disk (of the Sun) is borne in the Starless.. realm above the Inerratic
Sphere; and hence he is, not in the midst of the Planets, but of the Three
Worlds, according to the telestic Hypothesis.
Jul., Crat., 5, 334. Z. or T.
133. The Sun is a Fire, the Channel of Fire, and the dispenser of Fire.
Proc. in Tim., 141. Z. or T.
134. Hence Kronos, The Sun as Assessor beholds the true pole.
135. The Ethereal Course, and the vast motion of the Moon, and the Aërial
fluxes.
Proclus in Tim., 257. Z. or T.
136. O Ether, Sun, and Spirit of the Moon, ye are the chiefs of the Air.
Proc. in Tim., 257. Z. or T.
137. And the wide Air, and the Lunar Course, and the Pole of the Sun.
Proc. in Tim., 257. Z. or T.
138. For the Goddess bringeth forth the Vast Sun, and the lucent Moon.
139. She collecteth it, receiving the Melody of Ether, and of the Sun, and of
the Moon, and of whatsoever things are contained in the Air.
140. Unwearied Nature ruleth over the Worlds and works, that the Heavens drawing
downward might run an eternal course, and that the other periods of the Sun,
Moon, Seasons, Night and Day, might be accomplished.
Proc. in Tim., 4, 323. Z. or T.
141. And above the shoulders of that Great Goddess, is Nature in her vastness
exalted.
Proc. in Tim., 4. T.
142. The most celebrated of the Babylonians, together with Ostanes and
Zoroaster, very properly call the starry Spheres "Herds"; whether because these
alone among corporeal magnitudes, are perfectly carried about around a Centre,
or in conformity to the Oracles, because they are considered by them
as in a certain respect the bands and collectors of physical reasons, which they
likewise call in their sacred discourse "Herds" (agelous) and by the insertion
of a gamma (aggelous) Angels. Wherefore the Stars which preside over each of
these herds are considered to be Deities or Dæmons, similar to the Angels, and
are called Archangels; and they are seven in number.
Anon. in Theologumenis Arithmeticis. Z.
Daimon in Greek meant "a Spirit," not "a bad Spirit."
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143. Zoroaster calls the congruities of material forms to the ideals of the Soul
of the World--Divine Allurements.
MAGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRECEPTS
144. Direct not thy mind to the vast surfaces of the Earth; for the Plant of
Truth grows not upon the ground. Nor measure the motions of the Sun, collecting
rules, for be is carried by the Eternal Will of the Father, and not for your
sake alone. Dismiss (from your mind) the impetuous course of the Moon, for she
moveth always by the power of necessity. The progression of the Stars was not
generated for your sake. The wide aërial flight of birds gives no true knowledge
nor the dissection of the entrails of
victims; they are all mere toys, the basis of mercenary fraud:, flee from these
if you would enter the sacred paradise of piety, where Virtue, Wisdom and Equity
are assembled.
Psel., 4. Z.
145. Stoop not down unto the Darkly-Splendid World; wherein continually lieth a
faithless Depth, and Hades wrapped in clouds, delighting in unintellible images,
precipitous, winding, a black ever-rolling Abyss; ever espousing a Body
unluminous, formless and void.
Synes., de Insom., 140. Z. or T.
146. Stoop not down, for a precipice lieth beneath the Earth, reached by a
descending Ladder which hath Seven Steps, and therein is established the Throne
of an evil and fatal force.
Psell., 6; Pletho, 2. Z.
147. Stay not on the Precipice with the dross of Matter, for there is a place
for thy Image in a realm ever splendid.
Psell., 1, 2; Pletho, 14; Synesius, 140. Z.
148. Invoke not the visible Image of the Soul of Nature.
Psell., 15; Pletho, 23. Z.
149. Look not upon Nature, for her name is fatal.
Proc. in Plat. Th., 143. Z.
150. It becometh you not to behold them before your body is initiated, since by
alway alluring they seduce the souls from the sacred mysteries.
Proc. in I. Alcib. Z. or T.
151. Bring her not forth, lest in departing she retain something.
Psell., 3; Pletho, 15. Z.
Taylor says that "her" refers to the human soul.
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152. Defile not the Spirit, nor deepen a superficies.
Psell., 19; Pletho, 13. Z.
153. Enlarge not thy Destiny.
Psell., 37; Pletho, 4.
154. Not hurling, according to the Oracle, a transcendent foot towards piety.
Dam. in Vitam Isidore. ap. Suidam Z. or T.
155. Change not the barbarous Names of Evocation for-there are sacred Names in
every language which are given by God, having in the Sacred Rites a Power
Ineffable.
Psell., 7. Nicephotus. Z. or T.
156. Go not forth when the Lictor passeth by.
Picus de Mirandula, Concl. Z.
157. Let fiery hope nourish you upon the Angelic plane.
Olymp. in Phæd. Proc. in Alcib. Z. or T.
158. The conception of the glowing Fire hath the first rank, for the mortal who
approacheth that Fire shall have Light from God; and unto the persevering mortal
the Blessed Immortals are swift.
Proc. in Tim., 65. Z. or T.
1S9. The Gods exhort us to understand the radiating form of Light.
Proc. in Crat. Z. or T.
160. It becometh you to hasten unto the Light, and to the Rays of the Father,
from whom was sent unto you a Soul (Psyche) endued with much mind (Nous).
Psell., 33. Pletho, 6. Z.
161. Seek Paradise.
Psell., 41. Pletho, 27. Z.
162. Learn the Intelligible for it subsisteth beyond the Mind.
Psell., 41. Pletho, 27. Z.
163. There is a certain Intelligible One, whom it becometh-you to understand
with the Flower of Mind.
Psell., 31. Pletho, 28. Z.
164. But the Paternal Mind accepteth not the aspiration of the soul until she
hath passed out of her oblivious state, and pronounceth the Word, regaining the
Memory of the pure paternal Symbol.
Psell., 39. Pletho, 5. Z.
165. Unto some He gives the ability to receive the Knowledge of Light; and
others, even when asleep, he makes fruitful from His own strength.
Synes., de Insomn, 135. Z. or T.
166. It is not proper to understand that Intelligible One with vehemence, but
with the extended flame of far reaching Mind, measuring all things except that
Intelligible. But it is requisite to understand this; for if thou inclinest thy
Mind thou wilt understand it, not earnestly; but it is becoming to bring with
thee a pure and enquiring sense, to extend the void mind of thy Soul to the
Intelligible, that thou mayest learn the Intelligible, because it subsisteth
beyond Mind.
Dam. T.
167. Thou wilt not comprehend it, as when understanding some common thing.
Damascius, de primis principiis. T.
168. Ye who understand, know the Super-mundane Paternal Depth.
Dam. Z. or T.
169. Things Divine are not attainable by mortals who understand the body alone,
but only by those who stripped of their garments arrive at the summit.
Proc. in Crat. Z. or T.
170. Having put on the completely armed-vigour of resounding Light, with triple
strength fortifying the Soul and the Mind, He must put into the Mind the various
Symbols, and not walk dispersedly on the empyræan path, but with concentration.
171. For being furnished with every kind of Armour, and armed, he is similar to
the Goddess.
Proc. in Pl. Th., 324. T.
172. Explore the River of the Soul, whence, or in what order you have come: so
that although you have become a servant to the body, you may again rise to the
Order from which you descended, joining works to sacred reason.
Psell., 5. Pletho. 1. Z.
173. Every way unto the emancipated Soul extend the rays of Fire.
Psell., 11. Pletho, 24. Z.
174. Let the immortal depth of your Soul lead you, but earnestly raise your eyes
upwards.
Psell., 11. Pletho, 20.
175. Man, being an intelligent Mortal, must bridle his Soul that she may not
incur terrestrial infelicity, but be saved.
Lyd., De Men., 2.
176. If thou extendeth the Fiery Mind to the work of piety, thou wilt preserve
the fluxible body.
Psell., 22. Pletho, 16. Z.
177. The telestic life through Divine Fire removeth all the stains, together
with everything of a foreign and irrational nature, which the spirit of the Soul
has attracted from generation, as we are taught by the Oracle to believe.
Proc. in Tim., 331. Taylor.
178. The Oracles of the Gods declare, that through purifying ceremonies, not the
Soul only, but bodies themselves become worthy of receiving much assistance and
health, for, say they, the mortal vestment of coarse Matter will by these means
be purified." And this, the Gods, in an exhortatory manner, announce to the most
holy of Theurgists.
Jul., Crat. v., p. 334. Z. or T.
179. We should flee, according to the Oracle, the multitude of men going in a
herd.
Proc. in I. Alc. Z. or T.
180. Who knoweth himself, knoweth all things in himself.
I. Pic., p. 211. Z.
181. The Oracles often give victory to our own choice, and not to the Order
alone of the Mundane periods. As, for instance, when they say, "On beholding
thyself, fear!" And again, "Believe thyself to be above the Body, and thou art
so." And,
still further, when they assert, "That our voluntary sorrows germinate in us the
growth of the particular life we lead."
Proc., de Prov., p. 483. Z. or T.
182. But these are mysteries which I evolve in the profound Abyss of the Mind.
183. As the Oracle thereforth saith: God is never so turned away from man, and
never so much sendeth him new paths, as when he maketh ascent to divine
speculation's or works in a confused or disordered manner, and as it adds, with
unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet. For of those who are thus negligent, the
progress is imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark.
Proc. in Parm. Z. or T.
184. Not knowing that every God is good, ye are fruitlessly vigilant.
Proc. in Platonis Pol., 355. Z. or T.
185. Theurgists fall not so as to be ranked among the herd that are in
subjection to Fate.
Lyd., De men. Taylor.
186. The number nine is divine, receives its completion from three triads, and
attains the summits of theology, according to the Chaldaic philosophy as
Porphyry informeth us.
Lyd., p. 121.
187. In the left side of Hecate is a fountain of Virtue, which remaineth
entirely within her, not sending forth its virginity.
Psell., 13; Pletho, 9. Z.
188. And the earth bewailed them, even unto their children.
Psell., 21; Pletho, 3. Z.
189. The Furies are the Constrainers of Men.
Psell., 26; Pletho, 19. Z.
190. Lest being baptized to the Furies of the Earth, and to the necessities of
nature (as some one of the Gods saith), you should perish.
Proc. in Theol., 297. Z. or T.
191. Nature persuadeth us that there are pure Dæmons, and that evil germs of
Matter may alike become useful and good.
Psell., 16; Pletho, 18. Z.
192. For three days and no longer need ye sacrifice.
Pic. Concl. Z.
193. So therefore first the Priest who governeth the works of Fire, must
sprinkle with the Water of the loud-resounding Sea.
Proc. in Crat. Z. or T.
194. Labour thou around the Strophalos of Hecaté.
Psell., 9. Nicephorus.
195. When thou shalt see a Terrestrial Dæmon approaching, Cry aloud! and
sacrifice the stone Mnizourin.
Psell., 40. Z.
196. If thou often invokest thou shalt see all things growing dark; and then
when no longer is visible unto thee the High-arched Vault of Heaven, when the
Stars have lost their Light and the Lamp of
the Moon is veiled, the Earth abideth not, and around thee darts the Lightning
Flame and all things appear amid thunders.
Psell., 10; Pletho, 22. Z.
197. From the Cavities of the Earth leap forth the terrestrial Dog-faced demons,
showing no true sign unto mortal man.
Psell, 23; Pletho, 10. Z.
198. A similar Fire flashingly extending through the rushings of Air, or a Fire
formless whence cometh the Image of a Voice, or even a flashing Light abounding,
revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud. Also there is the vision of the
fire-flashing Courser of Light, or also a Child, borne aloft on the shoulders of
the Celestial Steed, fiery, or clothed with gold, or naked, or shooting with the
bow shafts of Light, and standing on the shoulders of the horse; then if thy
meditation prolongeth itself, thou shalt unite all these Symbols into the Form
of a Lion.
Proc. in Pl. Polit., 380; Stanley Hist. Philos. Z. or T.
199. When thou shalt behold that holy and formless Fire shining flashingly
through the depths of the Universe: Hear thou the Voice of Fire.
ORACLES FROM PORPHYRY.
1. There is above the Celestial Lights an Incorruptible Flame always sparkling;
the Spring of Life, the Formation of all Beings, the Original of all things!
This Flame produceth all things, and
nothing perisheth but what it consumeth. It maketh Itself known by Itself. This
Fire cannot be contained in any Place, it is without Body and without Matter. It
encompasseth the Heavens. And there goeth out from it little Sparks, which make
all the Fires of the Sun, of the Moon, and of the Stars. Behold! what I know of
God! Strive not to know more of Him, for that is beyond thy capacity, how wise
soever thou art. As to the rest, know that unjust and wicked Man cannot hide
himself from the Presence of God!
No subtilty nor excuse can disguise anything front His piercing Eyes. All is
full of God, and God is in All!
2. There is in God an Immense Profundity of Flame! Nevertheless, the Heart
should not fear to approach this Adorable Fire, or to be touched by it; it will
never be consumed by this sweet Fire, whose mild and Tranquil Heat maketh the
Binding, the Harmony, and the Duration of the World. Nothing subsisteth but by
this Fire, which is God Himself. No Person begat Him; He is without Mother; He
knoweth all things, and can be taught nothing.
He is Infallible in His designs, and His name is unspeakable, Behold now, what
God is! As for us who are His messengers, We are but a Little Part of God.
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