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(p. 175)
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[Owing at once to the sanctity and the unpronounceability
of the Tetragrammaton, or word of
four letters which in the Hebrew constitutes the name Jehovah, the Hebrews
invariably substitute for it in speaking the name Adonai, which in the A.V. is
rendered “the Lord.” These names are, however, substantially identical, in that
they alike imply a duality corresponding to that of the sexes, – a duality which
arises, necessarily, from the nature of the function fulfilled by their bearer,
which is that of the expression, word, or manifestor of Deity in the dual character of Father-Mother,
as expounded in Nºs. VII and VIII of
Part II; from which it follows that this Person of the Trinity is, properly, not
“Son” merely, but “Son-Daughter.” As thus exhibited, the Trinity consists
of Father, Mother, and Child, – (respectively energy, substance, and
phenomenon), – and represents a mode of the godhead which, logically (not
chronologically, time having no relation to the eternal), is antecedent to that
of the ecclesiastical Trinity, wherein the “Son” appears as the second person,
and the Holy Spirit as the third. For in this aspect, the “Mother” (substance)
is merged in the “Father” (energy or will), the two together constituting one
person, – the first, and the Son appears as the second, while the third is the
Holy Spirit, or divinity in its dynamic or active mode as distinguished from its
static or passive mode. Proceeding from the Father-Mother through the Son, and
identical in nature with them, the Holy Spirit is, like them, dual, and consists
of both energy and substance. For which reason the names and
symbols denoting the Holy Spirit are masculine or feminine, according to the
aspect or function concerned. On its procession through the Son the Holy
Spirit differentiates into the seven modes or potencies called the Seven Spirits
of God (as described ill Nºs. VI, VIII, and X of Part
II) dividing, like light on its emergence from the prism, into seven rays. These
are the Seven Spirits of God, the creative Elohim, which, with the three persons
of the Trinity, constitute the ten Sephiroth of the Kabala. Functions of the
Supreme and essential principles in the Divine nature, they are styled, on
entering into manifestation, Gods and Archangels; and inasmuch as they are
manifold and various as the spheres and kingdoms of nature, in all of which they
are operative, and comprise grades and distinctions innumerable, repeating
themselves like the notes of the musical scale in many keys and tones, their
names are rather titles of orders than designations of individuals. In no case
can they be apprehended of the outer senses, but to souls sufficiently mature
and sensitive they manifest themselves under forms
personal and symbolical of their offices, being both seen and heard of the
interior selfhood. And just as the Rainbow is one, though rainbows are legion, –
inasmuch as all these are manifestations of one and the same principle inhering
in the nature of light, – so is each divinity one, however multiplied his
personality, inasmuch as every appearance is but a fresh manifestation of one
and the same principle subsisting in the divine nature, and for that reason
subsisting also in every soul that is able to polarise divinity. Thus is the soul “Mother of God” and also
of the Gods, and “Man is a universe in himself, having the thrones of all the
Gods in his temple.” And of their co-operation is the edification of the world
into the
The Jehovah or Adonai of the Hebrews is thus no mere “tribal” god, as supposed
by writers more learned and ingenious than experienced or percipient, on the
strength of the defective presentations of Him in the Hebrew Scriptures; nor is
He but a partial aspect only of deity, or a being unreal and imaginary. He is
actually the one and supreme divinity, the central, radiant, and pivotal point
of the universe – its spiritual sun – the God of Gods, from whom all others
proceed, and of whom all others are modes and aspects. And He is this absolutely
and indefeasibly, how defective and misleading soever the human conceptions and presentations of Him. And
being recognised as such, He is fitly described as a
“jealous” God, in that he reprobates the ascription to the low or to a part, of
the honour due only to the highest and to the whole; and He is
this, not for His own sake – He cannot suffer loss – but for the sake of those
His creatures who, by limiting their ideal of the Divine perfection, withhold
themselves from the realisation
of their own perfection, and thereby from being made in the Divine image. For
what man thinks, that he is.
The vision about to be described of Adonai, was received without any previous
knowledge on the part of its recipient, either of its possibility, or of its
having always been claimed as a recognised fact of
mystical experience, the allusions to it in the Bible, (2) although
by no means rare, having altogether escaped her
recognition as having any real basis in the consciousness. (1) On this occasion she had been forewarned of
something of unusual solemnity as about to occur, and prompted to make certain
ceremonial preparations obviously calculated to impress the imagination. The
access came upon her while standing by the open window, gazing at the moon, then
close upon the full. (2) The
first effect of the afflatus was to cause her to kneel and pray in a rapt attitude,
with her arms extended towards the sky. It appeared afterwards, that under an
access of spiritual exaltation, she had yielded to a sudden and uncontrollable
impulse to pray that she might be taken to the stars, and shown all the glory of
the universe. Presently she rose, and after gazing upwards in ecstasy for a few
moments, lowered her eyes, and, clasping her arms around her head as if to shut
out the view, uttered in tones of wonder, mingled with moans and cries of
anguish, the following tokens of the intolerable splendour
of the vision she had unwittingly invited]: –
“Oh, I see masses, masses of stars! It makes me giddy to look at them. O my God,
what masses! Millions and millions! Wheels of planets! (3)
O my God, my God, why didst Thou create? It was by Will, all Will, that Thou
didst it. Oh! What might, what might of Will! Oh, what
gulfs! What gulfs! Millions and millions of miles broad and deep! Hold me – hold
me up! I shall sink – I shall sink into the gulfs. I am sick and giddy, as on a
billowy sea. I am on a sea, an ocean – the ocean of infinite space. Oh, what
depths! What depths! I sink – I fail! I cannot, cannot bear it!
“I shall never come back. I have left my body for ever. I am dying; I believe I
am dead. Impossible to return from such a distance! Oh, what colossal forms!
They are the angels of the planets. Every planet has its angel standing erect
above it. And what beauty – what marvellous beauty! I
see Raphael. I
see the angel of the earth. He has six wings. He is
a god – the god of our planet. I see my genius who called himself A. Z.; but his
name is Salathiel. (1)
Oh, how surpassingly beautiful he is! My genius is a male, and his colour is ruby. Yours, Caro, (2) is a female, and sapphire. They are friends – they are the
same – not two, but one; and for that reason they have associated us together,
and speak of themselves sometimes as I, sometimes as We.
It is the angel of the earth himself that is your genius and mine, Caro. He it was who inspired you, who spoke to you. (3) And they call me Bitterness. And I see sorrow – oh,
what unending sorrow do I behold! Sorrow, always sorrow, but
never without love. I shall always have love. How dim is this sphere! Oh,
save me – save me! It is my demon that I am approaching. It is Paris – Paris
himself, once of
“I am entering a brighter region now. What glorious form of womanhood is that,
so queenly, so serene, and endowed with all wisdom? It is Pallas Athena, – a
real personage in the spiritual world! And yonder is one of whom I have no need
to ask. I am passing through the circle of the Olympians. It is Aphrodite,
mother of love and beauty. O Aphrodite, spirit of the waters, firstborn of God,
how could I adore thee! And men on earth now deem the gods and goddesses of
Who are those with the giant muscles? They are
Odin and Thor, and their fellow-gods of
“Oh, the dazzling, dazzling brightness! Hide me, hide me from
it! I cannot, cannot bear it! It is agony supreme to look upon. O God! O God!
Thou art slaying me with Thy light. It is the throne itself, the great white
throne of God that I behold! Oh, what light! What light! It is like an emerald?
A sapphire? No; a diamond. In its midst stands Deity erect, His right
hand raised aloft, and from Him pours the light of light. Forth from His right
hand streams the universe, projected by the omnipotent repulsion of His will.
Back to His left, which is depressed and set backwards, returns the universe,
drawn by the attraction of His love. Repulsion and attraction,
will and love, right and left, these are the forces, centrifugal and
centripetal, male and female whereby God creates and redeems. Adonai! O Adonai!
Lord God of life, made of the substance of light, how beautiful art Thou in
Thine everlasting youth! With Thy glowing golden locks, how adorable! And
I had thought of God as elderly and venerable! As if the Eternal could grow old!
And now not as Man only do I behold Thee! For now Thou
art to me as Woman. Lo, Thou art both. One, and Two also.
And thereby dost Thou produce creation. O God, O God! Why didst Thou create this
stupendous existence? Surely, surely, it had been better in love to have
restrained Thy will. It was by will that Thou createdst,
by will alone, not by love, was it not? – Was it not? I cannot see clearly. A
cloud has come between.
“I see Thee now as Woman. Maria is next beside Thee. Thou art Maria. Maria is
God. O Maria! God as Woman! Thee, Thee I adore! Maria-Aphrodite! Mother!
Mother-God!
“They are returning with me now, I think. But I shall never get back. What
strange forms! How huge they are! All angels and archangels. Human in form, yet some with eagles’ heads. All the planets
are inhabited! How innumerable is the variety of forms! O universe of existence,
how stupendous is existence! Oh I take me not near the sun; I cannot bear its
heat. Already do I feel myself burning. Here is
Jupiter! It has nine moons! Yes, nine. Some are exceedingly small. And, oh, how
red it is! It has so much iron. And what enormous men and women! There is evil
there too. For evil is wherever are matter and limitation.
But the people of Jupiter are far better than we on
earth. They know much more; they are much wiser.
There is less of evil in their planet. Ah! And they have another sense. What is
it? No, I cannot describe it. I cannot tell what it is. It differs from any of
the others. We have nothing like it. I cannot get back yet. I believe I shall
never get back. I believe I am dead. It is only my body you are holding. It has
grown cold for want of me. Yet I must be approaching. It is growing shallower.
We are passing out of the depths. But I can never wholly return – never –
never.”
[Her apprehension was not without justification; for her body was completely
torpid, and several hours passed before consciousness was fully restored to it.
“Solve et Coagula” (Dissolve and Resume, or Project and
Recall).
Ancient Hermetic Formula.
It is impossible for anyone who did not witness the intensely dramatic action
and emphasis with which these ejaculations were uttered, to form anything like
an adequate conception of the sense of reality they conveyed. Able as I was from
my own experience, above referred to, to follow her in her journey from sphere
to sphere to the very highest and inmost, I found it impossible to doubt that
the seeress was in the right, when, recalling her
recollections, she declared her conviction that what she had beheld was no
illusion, but the reality itself of the universe. There was for both of us the
same sense of journeying through vast abysses of space and traversing various
spheres of being; and the same conviction that the journey was at once to the
centre of one’s own and to that of all consciousness.
She described the attitude and expression of Adonai as those of the absolute
calmness and repose of the power without effort which is predicable only of the
Infinite. Though bearing the aspect of humanity, it was impossible, she felt, to
represent the form in fixed outline, and declared that it seemed like a
sacrilege to attempt thus to portray it. She nevertheless made the attempt, with
the result reproduced opposite. It represents, however, only the masculine
aspect, the impression of the feminine having entirely failed to reach her outer
consciousness; and this had been the case also on the only other occasion on
which she had beheld it. (See p. 54.) In this respect
our experiences differed. She was most strongly impressed by the masculine, or
will, element in Deity; and I by the feminine, or love, element. In another
respect, too, there was a difference. For her the form was that of one standing
erect and, though calm, energetic: for me it was that of the “Sitter on the
Throne” and wholly reposeful, though similarly engaged in the act of projection
and recall. These differences were doubtless due to difference of temperament in
the beholders. The soul is a living lens which invests with its own “tincture”
the objects beheld by it.]
(177:1)
Referred to in Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp.
184-190, 193.
(178:1) E.g. St Dionysius “the Areopagite.”
(178:2)
Ex.
xxiv, 9-11; Is. vi, 1; Ezek. viii, 2; Dan. vii, 9, 10; Apoc. iv; xx, 11.
(179:1)
The reception of it by myself a few months previously
had been similarly independent of knowledge or anticipation, and I had been
constrained to maintain an absolute reserve in regard to it. The account in The
Perfect Way (IX. v.) was written from our joint experiences. Many of our
experiences were thus duplicated, hers, however, far exceeding mine both in number and in fulness
of detail. The latter, probably, because I always make a point of retaining
possession of the external comciousness, in order to
observe and record at the same time, and not knowing the result of letting
myself go altogether. E.M. See Life of Anna Kingsford,
vol. i, pp. 124-127.
(179:2)
It was at
(179:3)
It was as if there had been suddenly opened to her view a universe of
inter-planetary systems, invisible to the bodily sight; and while dazzlingly
bright to the spiritual eyes, of a consistency too tenuous to intercept or
refract the solar rays. A like effect would also be produced by entering the
fourth dimension of space, where all things would be beheld unmodified by
distance or any intervening medium. E.M.
(180:1)
“Lent of God.” Every divinity has a separate name
for each office fulfilled by him. Salathiel thus
denotes the angel of the earth in his capacity as head of the order of Genii, in
the sense of being the supreme spirit (of the planet) of whom each genius is a
manifestation, and into whom they return on the accomplishment of their mission.
As the first and last letters of the alphabet, A and Z, correspond to the “Alpha
and Omega,” in the sense of implying comprehension of the genii of all orders or
grades, and consequently all the rays of the spiritual prism.
E.M.
(180:2)
A spiritual or “initiation” name that had been given to
me, as Mary to her. The latter, however, was also one of her own names. E.M.
(180:3)
The reference here is to an experience, of my own, the
relation of which does not fall within the scope of this book. E.M.
(180:4)
The reference here is to sundry visitations by which
she had been harassed previous to my joining her in the cause of which she thus
recognised for the first time, and whom she was wont
to call her demon, using the term in its conventional sense.
E.M.
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