Chapter 1 Magic, Sacred Mathematics and the Doctrine of Cycles
The first chapter starts off with a bang (the title, “Old Things With New Names”, doesn’t tell you much), as we are introduced with many of the classic theosophical notions pertaining to spiritual evolution including a brief excursis on reincarrnation (metempsychosis). All of this seems a bit of a tough read and hard to follow, but only because it has a somewhat odd structure; it actually makes for a solid basic introduction to the theosophical concept of esoteric evolution. So very early on we have the doctrine of cycles and its relation to evolutionary concepts which were later elaborated much more explicitly.
The structure is basically quite simple, the chapter is mainly about ancient sacred mathematics and the doctrine of cycles related to it; but to better explain the spiritual aspect of ancient science in general, pages 15-30 contain a digression on Magic as a divine and transformative science; but the placement of this digression is somewhat quirky and confusing.
There are quite a lot of side arguments, but it is clear enough that they all serve the purpose of introducing and illustrating a certain number of key concepts and strategies pertaining to esoteric philosophy or sacred science:
– Archaeological discoveries are uncovering important information about ancient wisdom which we can learn from.
– In many cases ancient knowledge was equal or even superior to modern knowledge.
– Ancient religion was in harmony with nature and had a clear understanding of spiritual principles and realities.
– This study of ancient philosophy shows the importance of the soul and an essential divine principle.
– Ancient adepts had a deep spiritual perennial wisdom that they guard and preserve.
– There has been a spiritual decline and we have lost much spiritual knowledge and so need to recover it
– History goes back a lot further than is commonly believed
– Modern science does not have all the answers.
Concepts of lost Ancient Perennial Wisdom:
There is a primitive divine universal revelation that gradually became dispersed and hidden.
One day they may learn to know better, and so become aware that the method of extreme necessarianism was practiced in ancient as well as in modern philosophy; that from the first ages of man, the fundamental truths of all that we are permitted to know on earth was in the safe keeping of the adepts of the sanctuary; that the difference in creeds and religious practice was only external; and that those guardians of the primitive divine revelation, who had solved every problem that is within the grasp of human intellect, were bound together by a universal freemasonry of science and philosophy, which formed one unbroken chain around the globe. It is for philology and psychology to find the end of the thread. That done, it will then be ascertained that, by relaxing one single loop of the old religious systems, the chain of mystery may be disentangled. (37-38)
Magic is a spiritual science and has been present in all cultures throughout history.
Magic was considered a divine science which led to a participation in the attributes of Divinity itself. “It unveils the operations of nature,” says Philo Judaeus, “and leads to the contemplation of celestial powers.”** In later periods its abuse and degeneration into sorcery made it an object of general abhorrence. We must therefore deal with it only as it was in the remote past, during those ages when every true religion was based on a knowledge of the occult powers of nature.(24)
Concepts of Esoteric Evolution
The Myth of the Fall symbolizes an evolutionary process of materialization from a primitive spiritual state.
A conviction, founded upon seventy thousand years of experience,** as they allege, has been entertained by hermetic philosophers of all periods that matter has in time become, through sin, more gross and dense than it was at man’s first formation; that, at the beginning, the human body was of a half-ethereal nature; and that, before the fall, mankind communed freely with the now unseen universes. But since that time matter has become the formidable barrier between us and the world of spirits. The oldest esoteric traditions also teach that, before the mystic Adam, many races of human beings lived and died out, each giving place in its turn to another. Were these precedent types more perfect? Did any of them belong to the winged race of men mentioned by Plato in Phaedrus? It is the special province of science to solve the problem. The caves of France and the relics of the stone age afford a point at which to begin. (1)
Science only studies evolution in its material phase; it is needed to understand the prior spiritual phase, which involves the emanation of spiritual archetypes.
For lack of comprehension of this great philosophical principle, the methods of modern science, however exact, must end in nullity. In no one branch can it demonstrate the origin and ultimate of things. Instead of tracing the effect from its primal source, its progress is the reverse. Its higher types, as it teaches, are all evolved from antecedent lower ones. It starts from the bottom of the cycle, led on step by step in the great labyrinth of nature by a thread of matter. As soon as this breaks and the clue is lost, it recoils in affright from the Incomprehensible, and confesses itself powerless. Not so did Plato and his disciples. With him the lower types were but the concrete images of the higher abstract ones. The soul, which is immortal, has an arithmetical, as the body has a geometrical, beginning. This beginning, as the reflection of the great universal ARCHAEUS, is self-moving, and from the centre diffuses itself over the whole body of the microcosm. (13-14)
If we accept Darwin’s theory of the development of species, we find that his starting-point is placed in front of an open door. We are at liberty with him, to either remain within, or cross the threshold, beyond which lies the limitless and the incomprehensible, or rather the Unutterable. If our mortal language is inadequate to express what our spirit dimly foresees in the great “Beyond” — while on this earth — it must realize it at some point in the timeless Eternity. (14)
Humanity is emerging from the lower arc of evolution.
Physiology, like everything else in this world of constant evolution, is subject to the cyclic revolution. As it now seems to be hardly emerging from the shadows of the lower arc, so it may be one day proved to have been at the highest point of the circumference of the circle far earlier than the days of Pythagoras. (8)
The ancient Hindus were aware of the sphericity of the earth and posit a phase were the earth was more ethereal.
The description of the earth in the shape of a round and bald head, which was soft at first, and became hard only from being breathed upon by the god Vayu, the lord of the air, forcibly suggests the idea that the authors of the sacred Vedic books knew the earth to be round or spherical; moreover, that it had been a gelatinous mass at first, which gradually cooled off under the influence of the air and time. So much for their knowledge about our globe’s sphericity; and now we will present the testimony upon which we base our assertion, that the Hindus were perfectly acquainted with the Heliocentric system, at least 2000 years B.C. (10)
The following authors and their works are commented on prominently in this chapter:
John William Draper (1811-1892)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Draper
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1185
Godfrey Higgins (1772-1833)
Godfrey Higgins (1772-1833)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Higgins
Anacalypsis (1833)
Joseph Ennemoser (1787-1854)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ennemoser
History of Magic (1819)
Charles Coleman
Mythology of the Hindus (1832)
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Mythology_of_the_Hindus.html?id=gTXWWbnYwyQC&redir_esc=y
Christian Karl Josias Bunsen (1791-1860)
Christian Karl Josias Bunsen (1791-1860)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Charles_Josias_von_Bunsen
Egypt’s Place in Universal History (1844)
http://www.mindserpent.com/American_History/books/Bunsen/bunsen_index.html
Ebers Papyrus
Ebers Papyrus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebers_Papyrus
Joseph Franz Molitor (1179-1860)
3 Comments
Pavel Axentiev
Regarding the references, the work of Franz Joseph Molitor (or, alternatively, Joseph Franz Molitor) seems significant. HPB quotes a Howitt’s translation of his “Philosophy of History and Traditions,” but it is nowhere to be found. I found what looks like the German original on archive.org, but that’s about it. (W. Howitt has also translated J. Ennemoser’s “History of Magic,” which is much more widely available; the translation is sometimes ascribed to his wife, Mary Howitt, the famous poetess.) By the way, the year of Molitor’s birth should read “1779,” of course.
Pavel Axentiev
I would also argue against the all-too-common allegations of HPB’s works being “hard to follow.” As she herself alludes to Intuition being a higher faculty of cognition, the sublime logic of the writings opens itself to the one who manages to combine the intelligence of the Heart with that of the Mind. In other words, and in my own experience, the texts should be studied with an attitude of reverence and/or fascination (somewhat natural to those Theosophists, who are characterized by a deep veneration of HPB and the Masters), and they should be studied methodically.
Really, no synopsis will provide one with a full understanding of the texts (or, any text). Personal determination is a prerequisite.
Pavel Axentiev
A synopsis of the chapter by paragraph:
1 Illustration of Adam from Sefer Dzeniouta
2-3 Hermetic view on the “evolution” of man from previous races
4 Divine and spiritual races of man, according to Popol Vuh, Philo Judaeus, Gnostic writers and Plato
5 Earlier races according to the Kalmucks and Siberian tribes; shamans
6 Ebers Papyrus
7 Forty-two books of Hermes
8 An accidental (?) encounter leading to the discovery of the papyrus
9 Modern science concurs with the notion of ancient origin of man
10-11 Science may be misinterpreting the evidence from ancient human fossils, ascribing them to the “uncultivated past”; Max Muller concurs with the contrary view
12 Science vs. “scientists”
13-14 Call for more open investigation
15 The ancient theory of cycles; archaeological evidence in defense
16 Arts and sciences were already degenerating in the times of the Ptolemies (the Hellenistic period); discovery of relics of pre-dynastic Egypt
17 The excavations of Troy; proposition of higher knowledge of psychology in ancient times
18 !- The cycles “do not embrace all mankind at one and the same time.” Science consents.
19 Geometry the basis of Platonic doctrine; true mathematics pertaining to spirit as much as to matter
20 Mathematics applied to the theory of cycles
21 Contemporary physiology being at the lowest point of its cycle
22 Mochus the Sidonian, the teacher of Pythagoras’s teachers
23 Ancient knowledge covered by the “impenentrable veil of arcane secrecy”; metaphysics of Plato and its misrepresentation by modern-day translators
24 General contempt of ancient philosophers by modern critics
25 The contrary opinion
26 Metempsychosis – Pythagoras – Aitareya Brahmana / The sacred meaning of number 4
27 Metempsychosis provides ‘missing links’ to the theory of evolution / Knowledge of the Heliocentric system in the Vedas
28 The Serpent-Mantra from Aitareya Brahmana and its presumed reference to evolution
29 Knowledge of the Archaic geology indicated by the Vedic text
30 !- The knowledge of the Sun’s movement alluded to in the text (“The sun never sets nor rises.”)
31 Remark by Dr. Haug
32 More evidence of the advanced knowledge of astronomy in ancient Hindu writings / Dating of the Vedas and the Chinese ‘Book of Odes’
33 Chaldean astronomy and the fixing of the Roman calendar
34 The accuracy of the Aztec (Mayan?) calendar
35 The Zoroaster vs. the Brahmans contention
36 Chronology remark by Dr. Haug
37 Belief in the metempsychosis through the centuries (Brahmans, Buddhists, Pythagoras, Socrates, Origen, Clement Alexandrinus et al.) / Panentheistic beliefs / The doctrine of two souls espoused by Aristotle, Zeno and others
38 Mistranslation of the verse in Genesis I, 30
39 Other errors in the translations of the Bible / El means Sol (Sun), not Deus (God) / Jehovah=Sun
40 Misapprehension of the modern science / Platonic views as to the arithmetic nature of the soul
41 Confession of Tyndall
42 The Kabbalistic key
43
44 Darwin’s imaginative breakthrough
45 Darwin at the threshold
46 Criticism of Huxley and, more broadly, the materialistic view of the origin of life
47 Theosophic counterargument
48 “The ancient Kabalist rested upon no hypothesis till he could lay its basis upon the firm rock of recorded experiment.”
49 The origin of materialism (in Aristotle’s times)
50 Hermes’ prophecy / Hierophants and hermetists predecessors to the Essenes
51 Present-day philosophers can see only “her physical forms,” when lifting ‘the Veil of Isis’ / Need to use intuition – “the eye of the soul”
52 Supreme Power vs. Supreme Being / The misconception of the masses / Kabbalistic view
53 Pure chance cannot explain the universe
54 !- The Jewish vs. Oriental Kabala / Descriptions of adepts
55 Maimonides / “It is an insult to human nature to brand magic and the occult science with the name of imposture. To believe that for so many thousands of years, one-half of mankind practiced deception and fraud on the other half, is equivalent to saying that the human race was composed only of knaves and incurable idiots.”
56 Occult knowledge of the East (Tibet, Japan, China) and the West (the Druids)
57 “Magic is as old as man.” / Odin vs. the Volvas / Zoroaster
58 The story of Apollonius of Tyana / Skepticism towards the Masons
59-60 The medical knowledge in the ‘Kabala’ / Criticism of modern medicine / Examples of ancient medical arts
61 Other modern discoveries predated by the ancients / Prof. John W. Draper’s ‘Conflict between Religion and Science’ / !- Astronomical knowledge of the ancient Chaldeans and Babylonians
62 Further quote on Mesopotamian astronomy
63-64 Where the world of eternal truths is to be discovered: Prof. Draper’s assertion (knowledge of geometry, “practical interrogations of nature”) and response to it (cf. the Mysteries and ancient Pyramid builders)
65 The significance of symbols
66 Mr. Felt’s discoveries
67 Schweigger et al. / Mesmerism and the “iron finger”
68 Bart: the Phrygian Dactyls and Cabeirian Theurgists / Guidance by spirits
69 Ancient monotheism (“American statues to their god Washington”) / Mistakes of modern investigators as to the esoteric meaning of the ancient symbols
70 Champollion defends the view that Egypt was monotheistic / Ennemoser traces all Greek knowledge to “Egypt and the East” / Addition of Moses and Jesus to the list
71 Ennemoser on lack of data on the Mysteries / Burning of Numa’s books
72 Magic (in the ancient world) as a divine science
73 The source of knowledge of Moses and Joseph
74 Ancient scientific knowledge superior to the modern
75 Moses’ transmission of secret knowledge to seventy elders
76 Jewish teachers of mysticism
77 Quote by Prof. Moliter on the ancient knowledge of Israel
78 The attitude of Christian churches
79 Mediumistic phenomena “have manifested themselves at all times in Russia as well as in other countries.”
80 Mediumism of the Pope, Pius IX.
81 Quote from ‘Richard III’
82 Mediumism and psychic powers of Prince of Hohenlohe
83 !- The Russian mediums “Klikouchy” and “Yourodevoy” / Protest against the Roman and Protestand clergy
84 !- Self-extrication from any irreverence or blasphemy / Appeal to the “CENTRAL SPIRITUAL SUN”
85 Comparison of theologians and scientists with ancient geographers
86 !- Critique of the contemporary Rosicrucians and Freemasons
87 Introduction to the presentation of the theory of cycles (?)
88 !- The great/Heliacal year / Periodic shifts of the Poles, Cataclysms and Deluges / Length of the Solar Year (10,800-13,984) / Giants that built Babylon (after surviving a Deluge) the alleged originators of the knowledge
89 !- Hindu/Buddhist kalpas and yugas / “We are now … in the Kali-yug of the twenty-eighth age of the seventh manwantara of 308,448,000 years”
90 – Corroborations by modern orientalists; the secret cycle; the key to the secret cycle (432,000) / Chaldean Book of Numbers
91 The length of the great year: 21,000 or 24,000? (Higgins) / Precession of the equinoxes
92 – Errors in the calculation; the origin of Jewish/Christian eschatology
93 Cycles within cycles (day, year, Great Saros)
94 !- Correspondence of physical “revolutions”/cycles with those “in the world of intellect”
95 Brief rehashing of the theory in relation to human history
96 Cycles (Ages) in the traditions of different peoples
97 Historical personages as “but reflexed images of human types which had existed ten thousand years before”
98 _”As above, so it is below. That which has been will return again. As in heaven, so on earth.”_
99 Astronomical discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus are predated by the knowledge of ancient sages
100 Quote by Hargrave Jennings
101 Spiritualists vs. Theosophists
102 Occultists vs. scientists and theologians / The Ego knows there is God in nature
103 Knowledge of God and afterlife “one innate, irrepressible craving” of man
104 Manes, anima, and umbra of the Ancient Greeks and Romans
105 The necessity of reviewing the accepted analysis of ancient texts; “the method of extreme necessarianism” / Adepts
106 Spiritualism and materialism surrogates of knowledge
107 Prophecy of the new age of knowledge