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Eta, or (Mystically) the Third of the Gods
Proem
AND the Spirit of Wisdom gave counsel, whose is the
angel of the innermost sphere, the brightest of the sons of heaven.
2. Lord Adonai, who createst,
remember the souls beneath Thine altar. (1)
3. And put a firmament between them
and Thee, to divide the upper from the nether, and the inner from the without.
4. And whereas there hath been but
one, let there henceforth be twain, the form and the substance, the apparent and
the real;
5. That they who are bound may remain
in the outer element.
6. But to me Thou committest thine
only begotten, who shall enter within the veil.
7. And God made a firmament in the
midst of all being, and divided the spirit from the body.
8. And the firmament is the gate of
the kingdom of heaven.
9. And God gave the keys thereof to
the angel of the second sphere, whose spirit is the Spirit of Understanding.
10. He is Hermes, the mediator, for
he mediates between the outer and the inner.
11. He is the transmuter and the
healer, Raphael the physician of souls.
12. There is no riddle he shall not
solve for thee, nor any solid he shall not melt, nor any wall he shall not pass
through.
13. Many are his states and his
aspects; his weight is as lead, he runneth like water, he is light as the mist
of dawn.
14. Yet he is as a rock between earth
and heaven, and the Lord God shall build his Church thereon; [F]
15. As a city upon a mountain of
stone, whose windows look forth on either side.
16. And upon the left are the
kingdoms of the world and the shapes of illusion; and upon the right are the
heights of heaven and the kingdom of spirit.
17. And to him are committed the keys
of the invisible, and of the Holy of Holies within the veil.
18. Whatsoever soul he shall bind,
shall be bound in the outer and the nether.
19. And whatsoever soul he shall
loose, shall be loosed in the inner and the upper.
20. He shutteth and no man openeth;
he setteth free and none shall bind again.
21. And his number is the number of twain; he is the angel of the
twofold states. (1)
22. And the waters below and above
the firmament, are the evening and the morning of the second day. [G]
Hymn to Hermes (2)
1. As a moving light between heaven
and earth; as a white cloud assuming many shapes;
2. He descends and rises, he guides
and illumines, he transmutes himself from small to great, from bright to
shadowy, from the opaque image to the diaphanous mist.
3. Star of the East conducting the
Magi: cloud from whose midst the holy voice speaketh: by day a pillar of vapour,
by night a shining flame.
4. I behold thee, Hermes, Son of God,
slayer of Argus, [H] archangel, who bearest the rod of
knowledge, by which all things in heaven or on earth are measured.
5. Double serpents entwine it,
because as serpents they must be wise who desire God. (1)
6. And upon thy feet are living
wings, bearing thee fearless through space and over the abyss of darkness;
because they must be without dread to dare the void and the deep, who desire to
attain and to achieve.
7. Upon thy side thou wearest a sword
of a single stone, two-edged, whose temper resisteth all things.
8. For they who would slay or save
must be armed with a strong and perfect will, defying and penetrating with no
uncertain force.
9. This is Herpe, the sword which
destroyeth demons; by whose aid the hero overcometh, and the saviour is able to
deliver.
10. Except thou bind it upon thy
thigh thou shalt be overborne, and blades of mortal making shall prevail against
thee.
11. Nor is this all thine equipment,
Son of God; the covering of darkness is upon thine head, and none is able to
strike thee.
12. This is the magic hat, brought
from Hades, the region of silence, where they are who speak not.
13. He who bears the world on his
shoulders shall give it to thee, lest the world fall on thee, and thou be ground
into powder. [J]
14. For he who has perfect wisdom and
knowledge, he whose steps are without fear, and whose will is single and
all-pervading;
15. Even he must also know how to
keep the divine secret, and not to expose the holy mysteries of God to the
senses of the wicked.
16. Keep a bridle upon thy lips, and,
cover thy head in the day of battle.
17. These are the four excellent
things, – the rod, the wings, the sword, and the hat.
18. Knowledge, which thou must gain
with labour: the spirit of holy boldness, which cometh by faith in God; a mighty
will, and a complete discretion.
19. He who discovers (1) the holy mysteries is
lost.
20. Go thy way in silence, and see
thou tell no man.
An Exhortation of Hermes to his
Neophytes (1)
1. He whose adversaries fight with
weapons of steel, must himself be armed in like manner, if he would not be
ignominiously slain or save himself by flight.
2. And not only so, but forasmuch as
his adversaries may be many, while he is only one; it is even necessary that the
steel he carries be of purer temper and of more subtle point and contrivance
than theirs.
3. I, Hermes, would arm you with
such, that bearing a blade with a double edge, ye may be able to withstand in
the evil hour.
4. For it is written that the tree of
life is guarded by a sword which turneth every way.
5. Therefore I would have you armed
both with a perfect philosophy and with the power of the divine life.
6. And first the knowledge; that you
and they who hear you may know the reason of the faith which is in you.
7. But knowledge cannot prevail
alone, and ye are not yet perfected.
8. When the fulness of the time shall
come, I will add unto you the power of the divine life.
9. It is the life of contemplation,
of fasting, of obedience, and of resistance.
10. And afterwards the chrism, the
power, and the glory. But these are not yet.
11. Meanwhile remain together and
perfect your philosophy.
12. Boast not, and be not lifted up;
for all things are God’s, and ye are in God, and God in you.
13. But when the word shall come to
you, be ready to obey.
14. There is but one way to power,
and it is the way of obedience.
15. Call no man your master or king
upon the earth, lest ye forsake the spirit for the form and become idolaters. (2)
16. He who is indeed spiritual, and
transformed into the divine image, desires a spiritual king.
17. Purify your bodies, and eat no
dead thing that has looked with living eyes upon the light of Heaven.
18. For the eye is the symbol of
brotherhood among you. Sight is the mystical sense.
19. Let no man take the life of his
brother to feed withal his own.
20. But slay only such as are evil;
in the name of the Lord.
21. They are miserably deceived who
expect eternal life, and restrain not their hands from blood and death.
22. They are miserably deceived who
look for wives from on high, and have not yet attained their manhood.
23. Despise not the gift of
knowledge; and make not spiritual eunuchs of yourselves.
24. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve.
25. Ye are twain, the man with the woman, (1) and she with him, neither man nor woman, but one creature.
26. And the
(149:1) “Souls in so early a stage of their
evolution as to have not yet attained the consciousness of their Spiritual
nature, and to be, therefore, still in bondage to the lower elements.” E.M.
(150:1) The state, that is, wherein the
spirit and soul are all, and there is no admixture of matter (Lecture by E.M. on
“The Creative Week and Its Four Generations”). S.H.H.
(150:2) Received under Illumination occuring
in sleep, in the night of September 25, 1878, at
(151:1)
I.e.
uncovers, or discloses, to profane eyes. E.M.
(152:1) Received, September 1878 (see Life
of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 273, 274 and See p. 280).
(152:2) At this point the seeress was shown
a garland of fig-leaves, the symbol of Hermes. For its meaning see pp. 25-27 and
155. E.M.
Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice
da Obra Previous: XI - Epsilon, or the First of the Gods Next: XIII -
Eta, or (Mystically) the Third of the Gods