alexandreteles/alexandria · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"The Hair of His Face are the number of the Outer Worlds, and the Outspreading of His Hands is the manifestation of the Cross. . . .

"The Source of the Cross is the Man [Logos] whom no man can comprehend.

"He is the Father; He is the Source from which the Silence [the Mother of the Æons] wells."

And as to the consummation of at-one-ment and the state of him who makes joyful surrender of himself unto the Powers, "and thus becoming Powers he is in God," as Poemandrês teaches, some intuition may be gleaned from the same document which tells of the Host of Powers, "having wreaths (or crowns) on their heads"--that is Æons or Christs or Masters crowned their Twelve Powers, and all the other orderings of spiritual energies (F.F.F., p. 556):

"Their Crowns send forth Rays. The Brilliancy of Their Bodies is as the Life of the Space into which They are come.

"The Word (Logos) that come out of Their Mouth is Eternal Life; and the Light that comes forth from Their Eyes is Rest for Them.

"The Movement of Their Hands is Their Flight to the Space out of which They are come; and Their Gazing on Their own Faces is Gnosis of Themselves.

"The Going to Themselves is a repeated Return; and the Stretching forth of Their Hands establishes Them.

"The Hearing of Their Ears is the Perception in Their Heart; and the Union of Their Limbs is the in-gathering of Israel.

"Their Holding to one another is Their Fortification in the Logos."

All this is doubtless "foolishness" to many but is Light and Life and Wisdom for some few, who would strive towards becoming the Many in One, and One in Many.

But to the somewhat lesser mysteries of our ritual. All the terms must, I think, be interpreted as mystery-words; they contained for the Gnostics a wealth of meaning, which differed for each according to his understanding and experience. If, then, I venture on any suggestions of meaning, it should be understood that they are but tentative and ephemeral, and as it were only rough notes in pencil in the margin that may be rubbed out and emended by every one according to his knowledge and preference.

"I would be saved."

The human soul is "wandering in the labyrinth of ills," as the Naassene Hymn has it (T.G.H., i. 191); is being swirled about by the "fierce flood" of Ignorance as the Preacher, in one of the Trismegistic sermons, phrases it (T.G.H., ii. 120). The soul is being swirled about in the Ocean of Genesis, in the Spheres of Fate.

She prays for safety, for that state of stability which is attained when the worlds of swirl in the Magna Vorago, or Great Whirlpool, to use a term of the Orphic tradition, are transcended, by means of at-one-ment with the Great Stability, the Logos--"He who stands, has stood and will stand," as the Simonian Great Announcement calls Him.

In its beginnings this safety expresses neither motion nor stability, but a ceasing from agitation; the mind or anxiety is no longer within the movement, the Procession of Fate.

The tempest-tossed self cries out to be drawn apart from the swirl; while the other self that is not in the swirl would like to enter.

The self within, or subject to, the "downward" elements has to unite with the self of the "upward" elements in order to be saved from the swirling of the passions; while the "higher" self has to be drawn into the "lower," so to say, and unite with it, in order to be "saved" from the incapacity of self-expression.

"I would be loosed."

That is, loosed from the bonds of Fate and Genesis. In some of the rites the candidate was bound with a rope. In Egypt he rope symbolized a serpent, the Typhonic "loud-breathing serpent" of the passions, as the "Hymn of the Soul" of Bardaisan calls it (F.F.F., p.477).

"I would be wounded."

Or "I would be pierced." This suggests the entrance of the ray of the higher self into the heart whereby the "knot in the heart," as the Upanishads phrase it, may be unloosed, or dissolved, or in order that the lower self may receive the divine radiance of the higher. This interpretation is borne out by the alternative reading from a Latin translation, which may have originated in a gloss by one who knew the mystery, for he writes: "I would be dissolved"; that is, "consumed by love."

And so we continue with the mysteries of this truly "Sacred Marriage," or "Spiritual Union," as it was called.

"I would be begotten."

This is the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, or Self-birth. "I would be begotten" as a Christ, the New-Man, or True Man, who is in verity the Alone-begotten--that is, Begotten-from-Himself-alone, or Self-begotten.

"I would eat."

By "eating," food and eater become one. The Logos is called the "Bread of Life"; that is, the Supersubstantial Bread, one of the Elements of the Eucharist. The soul desires to "eat" the Life in everything; this expresses how the soul must become everything before it can enjoy cosmic consciousness, and be nourished by the Life in all.

So it is that men can become part of the Cosmos through right action. But to reach this consummation we must no longer long to live and act our little life, but rather to be, if one may so phrase it, in our turn "eaten"; that is to say, to have our own self-will eaten out of us. And then our fate or life or activity becomes part of the Great Records, and the man becomes a Living Oracle or Drama, a Christ. All Life then becomes a happening with meaning; but this can never be until the man surrenders his self-will and becomes one with the Great Will.

This "eating" signifies a very intimate kind of union, in which the life of a man becomes part of a Great Life.

"I would hear."

It is to be remarked that there is no "I would see." If we can legitimately lay any stress on this, it is presumably because the candidate is already "seeing"; he has already reached the "epopt" stage, and therefore this "hearing" is beyond the probationary stage of "hearing" or of the "mystês."

Hearing is much more cosmic or "greater" than seeing, as we learn later on from our fragment, in the Vision of the Cross, where John "sees the Lord Himself above the Cross, not having any shape, but only a voice."

In such hearing the hearer draws nigh unto the Root-sound, or Breath (Âtman), which creates all that it is possible to see. To see there must be form, even if the form is only an idea.

Again, hearing may be said to be the verb of action when power is being conveyed to a person; while seeing is the verb of action of that person after receiving the power.

"I would understand."

This recalls the idea of "standing," "stability." Plato attributes this understanding to the Sphere of Sameness (the Eighth), in this, I believe, handing on an echo from Egypt. It is by means of this stability of the true mind that consciousness is enabled to link on the happenings in the whirling spheres, or whorls, of Fate to the Great Things or Things-that-are, and so perceive greater soul-records in phenomena. The last clause is evidently a gloss, but by a knowing scribe. The Logos is the true Understanding or Mind (Nous).

"I would be washed."

That is, I would be baptized, or immersed wholly in the Ocean of Living Water, the Great Oneness. It may mean simply "I would be purified." But the full rite of baptism was immersion and not sprinkling; as Thrice-greatest Hermes says in the sermon "The Cup," or "The Monad" (T.G.H., ii. 86):

"He filled a Mighty Cup (Kratêr) with it (Mind), and sent it down, joining a Herald to it, to whom He gave command to make this proclamation to the hearts of men:

"Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism, what heart can do so, thou who hast faith thou canst ascend to Him Who hath sent down the Cup, thou who dost know for what thou didst come into being!'

"As many then as understand the Herald's tidings and dowsed themselves in Mind, became partakers in the Gnosis; and when they had 'received the Mind' they were made 'perfect men'.

The Cup is perchance the Presence substantially.

"Grace leadeth the dance."

In the text this has the next sentence run on to it; but I am myself inclined to think that it is a note or a rubric rather than an utterance of the Initiator.

The ceremony changes. Hitherto there had been the circledance, the "going round in a ring," which enclosed the mystery-drama, and the chanting of the sacred word.

Contact is now mystically established with the Great Sphere, Charis or Sophia, the Counterpart or Spouse or Syzygy of the Supernal Christ, or of the Christ Above. She "leads the dance"; that is to say, the actors begin to act according to the great cosmic movements.

"I would pipe."

In the Naassene Document (T.G.H., i. 183), we read:

"The Phrygians also say that that which is generated from Him is Syriktês."

Syriktês is the Piper, properly the player on the syrinx, or seven-reeded Pan-pipe, whereby the music of the spheres is created.

"The Hair of His Face are the number of the Outer Worlds, and the Outspreading of His Hands is the manifestation of the Cross. . . .

"The Source of the Cross is the Man [Logos] whom no man can comprehend.

"He is the Father; He is the Source from which the Silence [the Mother of the Æons] wells."

And as to the consummation of at-one-ment and the state of him who makes joyful surrender of himself unto the Powers, "and thus becoming Powers he is in God," as Poemandrês teaches, some intuition may be gleaned from the same document which tells of the Host of Powers, "having wreaths (or crowns) on their heads"--that is Æons or Christs or Masters crowned their Twelve Powers, and all the other orderings of spiritual energies (F.F.F., p. 556):

"Their Crowns send forth Rays. The Brilliancy of Their Bodies is as the Life of the Space into which They are come.

"The Word (Logos) that come out of Their Mouth is Eternal Life; and the Light that comes forth from Their Eyes is Rest for Them.

"The Movement of Their Hands is Their Flight to the Space out of which They are come; and Their Gazing on Their own Faces is Gnosis of Themselves.

"The Going to Themselves is a repeated Return; and the Stretching forth of Their Hands establishes Them.

"The Hearing of Their Ears is the Perception in Their Heart; and the Union of Their Limbs is the in-gathering of Israel.

"Their Holding to one another is Their Fortification in the Logos."

All this is doubtless "foolishness" to many but is Light and Life and Wisdom for some few, who would strive towards becoming the Many in One, and One in Many.

But to the somewhat lesser mysteries of our ritual. All the terms must, I think, be interpreted as mystery-words; they contained for the Gnostics a wealth of meaning, which differed for each according to his understanding and experience. If, then, I venture on any suggestions of meaning, it should be understood that they are but tentative and ephemeral, and as it were only rough notes in pencil in the margin that may be rubbed out and emended by every one according to his knowledge and preference.

"I would be saved."

The human soul is "wandering in the labyrinth of ills," as the Naassene Hymn has it (T.G.H., i. 191); is being swirled about by the "fierce flood" of Ignorance as the Preacher, in one of the Trismegistic sermons, phrases it (T.G.H., ii. 120). The soul is being swirled about in the Ocean of Genesis, in the Spheres of Fate.

She prays for safety, for that state of stability which is attained when the worlds of swirl in the Magna Vorago, or Great Whirlpool, to use a term of the Orphic tradition, are transcended, by means of at-one-ment with the Great Stability, the Logos--"He who stands, has stood and will stand," as the Simonian Great Announcement calls Him.

In its beginnings this safety expresses neither motion nor stability, but a ceasing from agitation; the mind or anxiety is no longer within the movement, the Procession of Fate.

The tempest-tossed self cries out to be drawn apart from the swirl; while the other self that is not in the swirl would like to enter.

The self within, or subject to, the "downward" elements has to unite with the self of the "upward" elements in order to be saved from the swirling of the passions; while the "higher" self has to be drawn into the "lower," so to say, and unite with it, in order to be "saved" from the incapacity of self-expression.

"I would be loosed."

That is, loosed from the bonds of Fate and Genesis. In some of the rites the candidate was bound with a rope. In Egypt he rope symbolized a serpent, the Typhonic "loud-breathing serpent" of the passions, as the "Hymn of the Soul" of Bardaisan calls it (F.F.F., p.477).

"I would be wounded."

Or "I would be pierced." This suggests the entrance of the ray of the higher self into the heart whereby the "knot in the heart," as the Upanishads phrase it, may be unloosed, or dissolved, or in order that the lower self may receive the divine radiance of the higher. This interpretation is borne out by the alternative reading from a Latin translation, which may have originated in a gloss by one who knew the mystery, for he writes: "I would be dissolved"; that is, "consumed by love."

And so we continue with the mysteries of this truly "Sacred Marriage," or "Spiritual Union," as it was called.

"I would be begotten."

This is the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, or Self-birth. "I would be begotten" as a Christ, the New-Man, or True Man, who is in verity the Alone-begotten--that is, Begotten-from-Himself-alone, or Self-begotten.

"I would eat."

By "eating," food and eater become one. The Logos is called the "Bread of Life"; that is, the Supersubstantial Bread, one of the Elements of the Eucharist. The soul desires to "eat" the Life in everything; this expresses how the soul must become everything before it can enjoy cosmic consciousness, and be nourished by the Life in all.

So it is that men can become part of the Cosmos through right action. But to reach this consummation we must no longer long to live and act our little life, but rather to be, if one may so phrase it, in our turn "eaten"; that is to say, to have our own self-will eaten out of us. And then our fate or life or activity becomes part of the Great Records, and the man becomes a Living Oracle or Drama, a Christ. All Life then becomes a happening with meaning; but this can never be until the man surrenders his self-will and becomes one with the Great Will.

This "eating" signifies a very intimate kind of union, in which the life of a man becomes part of a Great Life.

"I would hear."

It is to be remarked that there is no "I would see." If we can legitimately lay any stress on this, it is presumably because the candidate is already "seeing"; he has already reached the "epopt" stage, and therefore this "hearing" is beyond the probationary stage of "hearing" or of the "mystês."

Hearing is much more cosmic or "greater" than seeing, as we learn later on from our fragment, in the Vision of the Cross, where John "sees the Lord Himself above the Cross, not having any shape, but only a voice."

In such hearing the hearer draws nigh unto the Root-sound, or Breath (Âtman), which creates all that it is possible to see. To see there must be form, even if the form is only an idea.

Again, hearing may be said to be the verb of action when power is being conveyed to a person; while seeing is the verb of action of that person after receiving the power.

"I would understand."

This recalls the idea of "standing," "stability." Plato attributes this understanding to the Sphere of Sameness (the Eighth), in this, I believe, handing on an echo from Egypt. It is by means of this stability of the true mind that consciousness is enabled to link on the happenings in the whirling spheres, or whorls, of Fate to the Great Things or Things-that-are, and so perceive greater soul-records in phenomena. The last clause is evidently a gloss, but by a knowing scribe. The Logos is the true Understanding or Mind (Nous).

"I would be washed."

That is, I would be baptized, or immersed wholly in the Ocean of Living Water, the Great Oneness. It may mean simply "I would be purified." But the full rite of baptism was immersion and not sprinkling; as Thrice-greatest Hermes says in the sermon "The Cup," or "The Monad" (T.G.H., ii. 86):

"He filled a Mighty Cup (Kratêr) with it (Mind), and sent it down, joining a Herald to it, to whom He gave command to make this proclamation to the hearts of men:

"Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism, what heart can do so, thou who hast faith thou canst ascend to Him Who hath sent down the Cup, thou who dost know for what thou didst come into being!'

"As many then as understand the Herald's tidings and dowsed themselves in Mind, became partakers in the Gnosis; and when they had 'received the Mind' they were made 'perfect men'.

The Cup is perchance the Presence substantially.

"Grace leadeth the dance."

In the text this has the next sentence run on to it; but I am myself inclined to think that it is a note or a rubric rather than an utterance of the Initiator.

The ceremony changes. Hitherto there had been the circledance, the "going round in a ring," which enclosed the mystery-drama, and the chanting of the sacred word.

Contact is now mystically established with the Great Sphere, Charis or Sophia, the Counterpart or Spouse or Syzygy of the Supernal Christ, or of the Christ Above. She "leads the dance"; that is to say, the actors begin to act according to the great cosmic movements.

"I would pipe."

In the Naassene Document (T.G.H., i. 183), we read:

"The Phrygians also say that that which is generated from Him is Syriktês."

Syriktês is the Piper, properly the player on the syrinx, or seven-reeded Pan-pipe, whereby the music of the spheres is created.