Primordial Substance and Divine Thought: From Theosophy’s Sacred Teachings in “The Secret Doctrine,” Part 1 of 2

Section 3 Primordial Substance and Divine Thought

“‘The one Universal Light, […] is ever existent,’ says the Chaldean ‘Book of Numbers.’ From it proceeds periodically the Energy, which is reflected in the Deep, or Chaos, the store-house of future Worlds, and, once awakened, stirs up and fructifies the latent Forces, which are the ever-present eternal potentialities in it. Then awake anew the Brahmâs and Buddhas – the co-eternal Forces – and a new Universe springs into being. […]”

“It is by being reflected in it, say the Kabalists, that the brooding Principle ‘created’ the phantasmagoria of a visible, manifested Universe. Chaos before, Ether after this ‘reflection,’ it is still the Deity that pervades Space and all things. It is the invisible, imponderable Spirit of things, and the invisible, but only too tangible, fluid that radiates from the fingers of the healthy magnetizer, for it is Vital Electricity— Life itself. […] It is to this day termed by the Theurgists and Occultists the ‘Living Fire.’[…] And in this appellation of ‘Living Fire’ we may also discover the meaning of the puzzling sentence in the ‘Zend Avesta:’ there is ‘a Fire that gives knowledge of the future, science and amiable speech.’ […]

Writing upon this subject, in ‘Isis Unveiled,’ we said: ‘The Chaos of the ancients, the Zoroastrian Sacred Fire, or the Atash-Behram of the Parsîs; the Hermes-fire, the Elmes-fire of the ancient Germans; the Lightning of Cybele; the Burning Torch of Apollo; the Flame on the altar of Pan; the Inextinguishable Fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and in that of Vesta; the Fire-flame of Pluto’s helm; the brilliant Sparks on the caps of the Dioscuri, on the Gorgon’s head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury; the Egyptian Ptah-Ra; the Grecian Zeus Cataibates (the Descending) of Pausanias; the Pentecostal Fire-tongues; the Burning Bush of Moses; the Pillar of Fire of Exodus, and the Burning Lamp of Abram; the Eternal Fire of the ‘bottomless pit;’ the Delphic oracular vapors; the Sidereal Light of the Rosicrucians; the Âkâsha of the Hindû Adepts; the Astral Light of Éliphas Lévi; the Nerve-Aura and the Fluid of the Magnetists; the Od of Reichenbach; the Psychod and Ectenic Force of Thury; […] – all these are but various names for many different manifestations or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading Cause, the Greek Archæus.’ […]”