Hieroglyphics of Horapollo
Presented on: Tuesday, June 3, 1986
Presented by: Roger Weir
Hermetic Tradition: From Egypt to America, From Osiris to Benjamin Franklin
Presentation 22 of 24
Hieroglyphics Of Horapollo
Presented by Roger Weir
Tuesday, June 3, 1986
Transcript:
The date is June the 3rd, 1986. This is part 22 in the Hermetic tradition Osiris to Franklin by Roger Weir. Mr. Weir will announce his own subject.
We'll wait. I guess the machines want to go. Sometimes. Go ahead. We'll wait on it. Sometimes if you buy cassettes and you hear nothing for a while it's me culminating or cogitating. Fulminating is better. Something which fulminates can explode.
I hope that some of you are learning to enjoy the cassettes. I try and speak so that it's convoluted enough so that you can listen to the cassettes three or four times and get something new each time. It's a difficult process and procedure. It was mastered in the High Middle Ages before the Renaissance. It's a four-part kind of a thought. The master of that quarternarian thought is Dante. And so, I, I try to style my mind like, like Dante. Only instead of instead of speaking in epic Italian I try to make it as colloquial as possible.
Come in. come in. we're just chatting. It's going to be a chatting, chatting evening. Better...you want some tea?
Speaker in the room: okay.
Okay. Catch your breath. Ah. that's fine.
Anyway, the cassettes I, I trust if you get into the habit of listening to them you will pick up the knack, the technique, of hearing in the same mode that I'm speaking.
This is the most difficult of all topics or subject matters. It's as difficult to address ourselves to as if we were trying to understand 1986 nuclear physics. In 1986 nuclear physics we have 10 dimensions to deal with. We have the three dimensions of space. And the fourth dimension of time. Along with it we have six other dimensions of space that occur with no time.
In this subject matter we have a history that in fact goes on and develops. And we have a civilization that undergoes a profound transformation. But if we follow history or the civilization or both of them, we miss the Hermetic tradition. Because it goes underground. But you have to understand that then the individuals who led it underground were masterful. We really don't know all of their names, but they were masterful. And they were trying to cover their tracks. And so, they would take portions of the Hermetic tradition and reformulate them. Pop...popularize them. Heavily stylize them. and then repackage them and promote this. Almost like sending out smoke screens. and then they would teach in a kind of a cultish way something a little more esoteric. But the main tradition they kept silent and passed it on only one to one. So that they became a very thin thread of the various strands of the Hermetic tradition. Which meant that you would not be privy to the full subtle Hermetic tradition unless you found an adequate teacher who then would test you. And sometimes a very long time.
In this way the Hermetic tradition developed what technically we would know now as lineages. and that's why in the later tradition, especially among alchemists, if you were to write something you would give your lineage. You would say who your teacher was and who your teachers' teacher and so on. And when the lineages got very long, many hundreds of years long, there were little shortcuts and you would just mention major figures in these lineages. We see the same phenomenon developing in China in the Daoist tradition. And of course, in India in the Guru tradition. The Tibetan lineages are notorious. And the case in point with the, the way in which the Kartuha tradition traditionally at its beginning the first five or six masters put their, their disciple their one disciple through all kinds of convolutions before they gave them anything. Depending upon the student the, the disciple. I don't like the term disciple, so they just call it student. But this is student with a capital S, the prized student. That the prized student will know in themselves that this is the teacher. This is the right person. That the truth can be had here. And that no matter what happens, no matter what convolutions, stick with that person.
So, we're dealing with a time where the genius of the Hermetic tradition now is going to go underground. It became downright dangerous. One of the contemporaries at the death of Plotinus who taught in Alexandria put the Hermetic tradition into arcane mathematics. Pythagorean and
Platonic number theory. We don't know that individuals name, but his student was named Theron. And Theron was originally from Smyrna. And we have still translated Theron's book on Esoteric Mathematics for Understanding Plato. And he taught in Alexandria. But he never found a man, a student, who was adequate to understanding. And so, his disciple was his own daughter named Hypatia. And Hypatia was extraordinary genius. She was brilliant mind. Our civilization has the bad habit of hiding brilliant women's minds. And so, we don't, we are unable to appreciate how many brilliant women there are but there are many.
And Hypatia's student was a man named Synesius of Cyrene. And a book came out just a few years ago from the University of California Press on Synesius, philosopher Bishop. And it's interesting to see with Synesius, who now is born about 365 and lives on into the 5th century. Up till about 409. He becomes a Christian Bishop but he's not a Christian. He is in fact a master in the Hermetic tradition. Like Hypatia was and like her father Theron. And like his teacher.
In this monograph we read, "Synesius then was never a Christian in the commonly accepted sense of that term. Even by 4th or 5th century standards. Nor did he ever intend to be one. He accepted the church as an institution but on his own terms." And this is the mark of the Hermetic tradition. That the individual always has the right to reserve judgment and opt for the personal vision rather than kowtow to the institution. No matter what. the tradition is that if there is a choice between the institution and your own vision, follow your own vision.
Now we've seen the reason for this in Plotinus. that Hermetic understanding in, in Plotinus transformed the whole Hermetic tradition. Because thought now was contemplation. One no longer thought in terms of arguments. Or as we colloquially say trains of thought. One entered into a contemplative mode. And in this contemplative mode what mattered was the pattern of wholeness. If I can speak poetically for a moment, you would suspend in your mind a sense of a pattern of wholeness. And you would train yourself, school yourself, to look with this pattern of wholeness. So that instead of looking with the eyes that are just natural. Or he eyes that are just logical in this kind of a linear way. You would look with radiant eyes. Which is why Hermetic teachers always seem to glow when they get going and they talk. They always glow. They had that glow. Because there is a radiance that's there. And the radiance is from the spirit. And in contemplation the spirit, holding this patterned vision, sees in terms of the all but sees specifically in terms of the all. Which seems paradoxical at first but actually is quite potent.
So that in teaching in a contemplative mode the chances of misinterpretation are legion. So that is necessary for the hearer to position themselves in a harmony with the speaker. We saw in our own time a teacher like this in Krishnamurti. Where the speaker the listener are like two birds that must fly together in tandem. And they must be able to have the open space in order to move in. there must be no restrictions. And there must be no sense of coordination other than the freedom of the motion. So that all of the quote maps of consciousness that one would engender in one's mind, all of the ski Mata that one would try to remember, become useless at this point. Become heavy baggage at this point. It must be jettison.
And so, the Hermetic teacher attempts to concentrate the mind of the student by showing that these linear patterns if followed forcefully enough lead into a, these linear threads lead into a pattern of wholeness. Where they weave themselves into a fabric of mind. And that once one has seen this. Once one has seen that if you really think clear along any lines you will eventually come into this recognition that all threads of thought lead to the same fabric. And that fabric is the universe. That there is in fact only one universe that actually does occur. And that whatever you do think about its final referent is the universe.
So that the context of all thought is the universe. And having brought to the mind to that maturity, to that ability to see that and follow that through one then opens oneself up to the universe.
So that the teacher then is no longer presenting ideas. No longer of presenting wisdom so much as in Sofia. But is presenting an ecstatic harmony with that understanding. So that instead of Sofia one is having Philo Sofia. One is loving the wisdom. And of course, the wisdom being God. The one is loving God.
So, if the term philosopher then becomes extraordinary in the Hermetic tradition about this time. And the choice that is offered generally to the public is to train themselves for philosophy. But to train themselves through a complementary process which is called, at this time for the very first time, theurgy. So that one becomes a theosophist. And this is the first time that that, that word is used is here in the 4th century A.D. A theosophist.
One becomes a theosophist to train the mind. To follow patterns of, threads of thought to the pattern of the universe. But having reached that, having attained that, having come into harmonium with that, one must then do an about-face and abandon any further thought. Abandon oneself to this flight from the mind. this flight from ideas. So that one then enters the all. And this of course is what distinguishes the Hermetic tradition. And makes one then a philosopher. Instead of theosophist one becomes a philosopher.
We have in this monograph on Synesius, a selection in translation of just a few lines from one of s Synesius' letters to Hypatia. Of course, all of Hypatia's own works were lost. Not only lost they were destroyed. She was a potent challenge to the structure of the church. and her works. She was killed and her works were destroyed. But we have some of Synesius' letters to Hypatia. And he writes here, "For my part nothing human is worth honoring outside of the Triad you make up. And I myself being added to the group will straightaway complete our foursome of holy friendship. But let the nature of the like named tech tract ease among the principles be passed over in silence."
Now this foursome this tract ease are four people. The Tet tract ease in Pythagoras' time, 5th century B.C., was a geometric drawing of a pyramid of ten dots. Where you had one dot. Then two dots. Then three dots. And then four dots. And by that arranging ten dots in that pyramid like that, one had all of the ratios that were the primal root of intelligence. One had the 1 the 2 the 3 and the 4. One had the triangle. One had also the relationship of 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and 3 to 4. And then one had the 10. So that you had in that original Tet tactus in the Pythagorean times a mathematical abstract. Which served the human questers at that time very well.
But we're talking now about 900 years later. And that the Tet tactus in the Hermetic tradition in Alexandria at this time was four people. So that there was in fact a triad group. The Greek word for that was trittys. T-r-i-t-t-y-s. Trittys. Where one had a triangular relationship. A conversation in a contemplative mode that went beyond the dialogue. Went beyond the two. Went beyond the teacher and the student. And so, you note know that some of the Hermetic treatises were just a dialogue between say Hermes and Tat, his son. some of them had a third party brought in. Generally, this would be Amun. But late in the Hermetic tradition you find that there are four that have to be present. Usually it's Amun and Tat and Hermes and Asclepius.
So that there is an esoteric form in the later Hermetic literature that shows the development of this powerful technique of having four spirits in harmony like that. So, you make up a, a quaternary in in your own selves.
He writes further,
I desire to inflame those astronomical sparks within your soul. And try to raise you to great heights by means of your innate powers. For astronomy is itself a divine form of knowledge. and might become a steppingstone to something more venerable. I consider it a science which opens up the way to ineffable theology. The blessed body of heaven has matter beneath it. And its motion has seemed to be the chief, has seemed to the chief philosophers to be an imitation of universal mind. And astronomy proceeds to its demonstrations clearly and distinctly. Making use of arithmetic and geometry as helpers. Disciplines which one can properly call a fixed measure of truth. a fixed canon of truth. Therefore, I am offering you a gift. most fitting for me to give and you to receive. A work of my own mind as my most revered teacher bestowed it on me.
The difficulty at this most critical juncture of letting go. Of surrounding oneself up from the lines of thought to the pattern of recognition. Was extremely difficult. And if one waited until you had matured your perception and your conception of mind. If you waited until that was matured before you began teaching the gestalt of the all, the sense of the all, you would never make it. And so, in the Hermetic tradition one began by teaching the sense of the all before you develop the mind. But in order to help condition the sense of the all, you could not use an experience, ecstatic experience, the Harmonia. Because they weren't ready yet. They would not be ready yet.
And this is where the use of pictures came in. The use of images came in. And this is where the hieroglyphics of Horapollo now come in. Because in order to begin training someone in the Hermetic tradition they have to be made sensitive to images. They have to be made sensitive to the fact that images occur within a context of light. And that the enlightened mind is filled with images. And naturally one resolves feeling into images, into pictures. This is not immediately apparent to the conscious mind. But it is apparent to us in that most human of all activities known dreaming. Because feeling resolves itself quite naturally into images in dreaming. But to take the conscious mind and teach it consciously how to resolve feelings into images, it is very, very difficult. But this is where we must begin. This is the way the Hermetic tradition would see it in the 4th century A.D. Because only by having the images before we have the power of mind to follow trains of thought do, we have a chance then of bringing all those threads of thought into the fabric of the universe. And seeing that all of those images also occur in the same universe.
So, what they're doing is tantamount to giving you pieces of a puzzle. Which are charming and fascinating because they're curious. They're wonderful. One doesn't quite know what to do with them except to play with them. And it's only after playing with them and after learning how to concentrate and develop the mind enough that one sees that all those pieces fit together. And it's like a puzzle which then resolves itself. And that the grand picture which the puzzle presents in its completed form then, occurs to one as the universe. As the whole.
These Hieroglyphics of Horapollo. Horapollo Nilopis. He lived alongside the Nile. Written by himself in the Egyptian tongue and put into Greek by a certain Philip. No one is sure just when this was done. Sometime in the 4th century. And when these Hermetic picture books began to surface again and be understood in the 14th century. In the late 1300's is when they started to come out. and the reason that they were understood at that time was that the Western mystical experience had advanced far enough so that contemplation was again a human experience.
Before the 14th century you would be hard-pressed to find visionaries. You would find visionaries, but they were rather rare individuals. Like Saint Francis of Assisi in the 13th century was a great contemplative visionary. But it was difficult for someone like Saint Francis to communicate this to someone else. Because at that time there was no tradition. There was no recognition that this was in a tradition. There was no awareness that this was a whole educational pattern that was not only possible, but thousands of years had gone into making it. So, in the time of Saint Francis the most that could be done was to append these contemplative experiences to the church. And so monastic orders were set up like the Franciscan friars. and because this was such an unusual event of setting up a, a monastic order. The precedent of it of course was with Bernard of Clairvaux who was the first great of visionary.
And when we read Dante's Paradiso, we see that the final guide of Dante, Virgil takes him through two thirds of the order. Through The inferno and through The Purgatorio. and then Beatrice takes him through paradise up to the vision of God. But his third guide, his thrice greatest guide, leading him to the face of God is Bernard of Clairvaux. And Dante says that "Only through the dark eye of the celestial eagle can the invisible light of penetrative vision see the face of the divine." And this is correct speaking. Honest as forbearer Dante was.
So, the orders, the monastic orders that came in before the 14th century were sort of precursors. Preludes. But in the 14th century we find dozens and dozens of mystics who are able to train and teach literally hundreds and thousands of people. So that there, there are whole communities of contemplatives by the 14th century. So that there are individuals outside of monastic orders who have the contemplative eye. And it is these individuals who rediscover the Hermetic tradition.
One of them is a Nicholas Flamel. And Flamel's book on alchemical hieroglyphs was printed by himself in 1399. And we have a translation into English done here in 1980. The Alchemical Hieroglyphs by Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle. And in these hieroglyphs Flamel tells us that he is living in Paris and he's newly married to a woman that he loves as, as himself. And this is Hermetic talking now. He's saying that he has had the secret exchange of cells. And he, he and Perenelle are understanding a contemplative life in there, their in their own home. Rather like William Blake and his wife would do some 300 years later. and that he chanced upon a book. And he said that, "This is a very old and very large book. A gilded book that he bought for two florins. But it was not made of paper nor a parchment as other books be. But was only made of delicate rinds of tender young trees." In other words, it was Papyrus. "The cover of it was brass. Well bound. All engraven with letters or strange figures. And for my part I think they might well be Greek characters or some such like ancient language. I could not read them. And I know that there were not notes nor letters of the Latin or Gaul or any other language."
And he goes on to describe some of these hieroglyphs.
And one of them the beginning of it seemed like the God mercury of the pagans. That here he held up a rod writhed about by two serpents whereupon he struck upon a helmet which covered his head. Which had wings upon it. And he seemed to be greeting someone who was coming on a cloud with open wings and with a hook or a scythe like death. Coming to the feet of mercury.
And so forth. and then he describes other of these hieroglyphical symbols. this is how it came back to the surface again in the 14th century. Late 14th century.
It would take about two generations for this to make the Florentine Renaissance. But this was when it was coming out of the underground. We're concerned now is when it went into the underground.
And The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo are very, very difficult to appreciate at first. This particular edition has some illustrations by Albrecht Durer, who is a Hermetic artist. Albrecht Durer is one of the really great arcane artists of history. Here's a symbol that they have.
The symbol of the rising of the Nile. To symbolize the rising of the Nile, write Horapollo about 370 A.D. which the Egyptians call noon which being interpreted means new. Sometimes they draw a lion. Sometimes three great water jars. Sometimes water gushing forth over heaven and earth. the lion since when the Sun enters Leo, it produces a great rise in the Nile.
And of course, he would say that then the Nile is very peculiar. Because the Nile floods and high flood in the summertime. And that usually streams in the periphery of the earth flood in the wintertime. When the thaws come in the springtime in the far north. but they conceived of Egypt of being in the center of the earth. Egypt's the center of the earth. And one can go far north or far south. so that the Nile floods in the summertime because all the waters of the earth come together.
And so, at the center of the Nile where you would have the Sun City, Heliopolis, this was actually the eye of the earth. And in the Heliopolitan city structure right in the center of it was the temple of Re or Ra, the Sun God. And in the inner sanctum of the temple was the library. and it was this library that was used to initiate Pythagoras and Plato and all of the other Hermetic geniuses up until the 4th century A.D. The reason it wasn't used after that is that most of the buildings were desecrated by official order. The church at that time desecrated most of the Hermetic sites. The Serapeum in Alexandria. The, the library there at the Heliopolitan City and so forth.
These books like The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo survived because they seemed just to be colloquial pictures and descriptions on a colloquial level. So that he's writing here,
The heart is the principal part of the body. And the Nile is the principal part of Egypt. So, then the Nile is like the heart of the earth. And this is arranged so that also the tongue comes in. The tongue is always moist. And we call it a mother. and three water jars no more nor less since the rise of the Nile according to them takes place in three ways. One they attribute to the land of Egypt for it produces water. Another to the ocean for water is born into Egypt by the ocean at the time of the rise. And the third is rainstorms which are produced in the southern parts of Ethiopia at the time of the rising of the Nile.
So, the image of the Nile then are these become these water jars, these three water jars with the a lion-like presence around them.
"Egypt. To symbolize Egypt, they draw a burning sensor and a heart above it. thus they, they show," and then Horapollo is misleading now. He says, "Thus they show as the heart of a jealous man is always on fire, so that of Egypt because of the heat. and it gives life to all things in itself and of itself." Well they're not talking about, about jealousy. To think that that this is an explanation is this foolish you see. But the sensor, the sensor is the place where incense is bur.... burned. The sensor is where the sacrifice is consecrated by what is offered up. What is being offered up is the heart. The heart energy you see is being offered up.
Well what is that heart energy? What is the offering up of that heart energy? That's that exostosis. that's that moment where thought must play itself into the pattern of the all. And one must commit oneself ecstatically to harmony with the universe. So, the symbol of Egypt in this Hermetic hieroglyph is this.
Speech. To symbolize speech, they draw a tongue and a bloodshot eye. For the primary element of speech is the voice. the secondary the eyes. For words do not arise in the soul perfectly formed. And changing, with its changes especially since other words are used for the soul among the Egyptians. And when they wish to symbolize speech differently, they draw a tongue placed above a hand. Thus, giving the primacy of speech making to the tongue. And to the hand which carries out the desires of the tongue second place.
Can you see how he skirts around it? There's what one can say but there's also what one can see.
What of the bloodshot eye though? The bloodshot eye that there's a strain here. That one has strained to learn to see a long time. That penetrative vision is trained by what one could say. Or what one could hear. But that the strain is not on the tongue but on the eye. Because it's very difficult to see in this way.
I'm giving you just some examples here it can get as complicated as you as you would like. There are literally 70 hieroglyphs that are here. And about a hundred and nineteen supplemental ones.
"The king ruling the cosmos. When they wish to sell symbolize the king ruling not the whole world but a part of it, they draw a serpent cut in half. They show the king by the animal. And by the half that he is not king of the whole world." So, if you wish to show a king of the whole world one would show the complete serpent. There's a little bit of a Hermetic tag here. If you show the serpent so that the head covers the tail, that is of a symbol of time. But if you show they had swallowing the tail that's a serpent, that's a symbol of eternity. Timelessness. the one flows upon itself the other disappears into itself. So that time continues. That's the nature of time is that it continues. But the nature of eternity is that it disappears. So that time is continuous, but eternity is trans figurative. Those who are here Saturday I think can understand. time then lends itself towards transformation. Towards change. but eternity lends itself only to transfiguration not to change. But to a radical break. So, by introducing even an instant of eternity into time breaks radically the whole continuity and transforms it. Or transfigures it we should say.
Okay the Hermetic hieroglyphic for the all-mighty, the pan...panquitor.
"they symbolize the Almighty by the perfect animal. Again, drawing a complete serpent. Thus, among them that which pervades the whole cosmos is spirit." And they go on and they, he tells us about the use of a Phoenix and so forth.
Education. To denote education, they draw the heavens dropping dew. Thus, they show that like the falling dew which is spread on all plants and softens them. Insofar as it is in their nature to be softened though some remain hard from their inner nature. So, it is impossible to accomplish the same thing with all. So, among human beings' education is common to all. But the well-endowed person drinks it up like dew but the poorly endowed cannot absorb it.
Please turn your cassette now and it will commence playing again on the other side after a very brief pause.
END OF SIDE ONE
And we see this all the time around us. That many people just simply cannot be educated. They cannot learn. They can go just so far, and they cannot learn. The first indication of someone that cannot learn is that they are unable to remember their dreams. That's like the very first indication. Because in order to remember your dreams. You have to have a memory for feeling toned images.
This is why like in Jungian therapy the whole strategy of therapee is to get you acclimated to being able to remember feeling toned images. Can you see that young psychology is a Hermetic Psychology? Because by preparing you to be acclimated to images. And then preparing you to follow through lines of thought to ideas of universal acclimation, archetypal levels, one is following the old Hermetic path. Jung is an old Hermetic teacher very much so. Very traditional as a matter of fact. He would have been right at home and was in the 3rd century.
One of the reasons that the Hermetic tradition had to go underground at this time was that there was a massive change in the world in the Roman Empire at this time. In 361 A.D., the young Julian became Emperor. And it was Julian who tried to bring the quote pagan religion back into the empire. Tried to put Christianity out of the Empire. This was about 30 years after Constantine had made it the official religion. So, there was a tremendous power struggle then to get rid of Julian. And he lived only for two years. 361 to 363 as Emperor. I think he was about 30-something, 32 or 3 when he died.
But in those 2 years there was an attempt on Julian's part to try to appeal to the masses through magic. Because the old Hermetic tradition at this time was is that you first appealed to people through images. So, Julian found the most potent magician of his time. A Hermetic teacher named Maxim Maximilian I believe it was. or Max Maximus. Maximus.
Here's one of Julian's letters to Maximus. "There is a tradition that Alexander of Macedon used to sleep with Homer's poems under his pillow. In order that by night as well as by day he might busy himself with those writings." Do you see the Hermetic connection? When you look at Homer, what's in Homer? Images. arranged in a universal pattern. If you read The Iliad and The Odyssey, you find in there the ancient tradition of just giving you image after image after image. And so that the feeling flow brings itself into focuses of images. And if you read Homer for a while you begin to be able to train yourself to see these images. One literally can do this.
But Julian is writing to Maximus saying there's a tradition that Alexander used to sleep with Homer under his pillow. So that his dream training was being trained by the magic of the book coming from the book into his, his dream world. His dream life. And there were many legends that this is why Alexander was such a developed visionary. And he was. He was a great visionary. If you ever see some of the ancient classical portraits of Alexander the Great you can see it in his eyes. The person in recent history that had Alexander's eyes was Shelley. The poet Shelley. And sometime, I'll show you a portrait of Shelley done in his time. You can see he has those eyes. He saw in that way.
But Julian is writing to Maximus saying uh
Alexander the Great did this with Homer. But I sleep with your letters under my pillow. As though they were healing drugs of some sort and I do not cease to read them constantly as though they were newly written had only just now come into my hands. Therefore, if you are willing to furnish me with letters as a semblance of your own society, write and do not cease to do so continuously. Or rather come with heavens help and consider that while you are away. I cannot be said to be alive. Except insofar as I'm able to read what you have written.
The Roman, great Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus recounts an occasion where Maximus came into Rome and came to visit the Emperor. Not into Rome but into Constantinople.
Meanwhile he frequently came into the Senate house to give attention to various matters with which the many charges in the state burdened him. And then one day as he was sitting in judgment there, it was announced that the philosopher Maximus had come from Asia. The Emperor started up in an undignified manner. So far forgetting himself that he ran full speed the full distance from to the vestibule. And having kissed the philosopher and received him with reverence brought him back with him. This unseemly ostentation made him appear to be an excessive seeker for empty fame. And to a forgotten that splendid saying of Cicero's which narrates the following and criticizing such folk. Those very same philosophers inscribed their names in the very books that they write on despising glory. So that even when they express scorn of honor and fame they wish to be praised and known for their scorn of fame.
He lasted two years. And they found a way to permanently get rid of him. And his, it was his successor that came in in 364 A.D. Theodosius, who ordered the destruction of the Seraphim in Alexandria. Who ordered the destruction of the Hermetic libraries throughout Egypt.
There was the apolocaful story that when the soldiers of Theodosius took their swords to the Statue of Serapis in Alexandria that their swords broke. Because they had made a covering of round jewels with a very heavy glue. So that the facade of Serapis was actually a very dark blue. Almost like a cobalt blue. And it glistened. You know sometimes you see these cars in East LA where they have the gold dust in the paint. Well Serapis glistened like that. And it took them a long while to find ways to break up the statue of Serapis. And of course, when they finally did break it, they had to push it over to break it. And when they pushed it over, they found a Saint Andrew's cross engraved in the floor under the statue of Serapis that had been put there in 300 B.C. It was many years before anyone came into the rooms of the Seraphim because they felt that they had actually desecrated some sacred Mystery, which they had, of God. Because there was the cross under the God Serapis.
All of these difficulties came to a head then in this time. And with The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo we get the first indication that people are trying to take the cream of the tradition and put it into popular forms. And put it out. so that the vulgar will not know that this is ancient wisdom. so that it is hidden.
But there was a second wave, a second movement, a complement complementary motion. besides making something popular you can make it so mysterious, so esoteric, so occult that that people become fascinated with it as if it were a puzzle. And preserve it because of that.
And next week we're going to see the great dream visions of Zosimos. the great Hermetic alchemical master of the 3rd, 4th century A.D. because The Visions of Zosimos are preserved because they were just so complicated.
Let's sweeten it up just a little bit by giving you just the beginning. And we'll see how this is. "And as I spoke, I fell asleep" See we're to the dream state. Why? Why the dream state? The dream state because this is where the beginnings of the contemplative mode come into play. Because in the contemplative mode there's no such thing as conscious and unconscious. It is all there. It's all together. There's no discrepancy whatsoever. What is the phrase? Nothing is hidden. And it is true. So, it is mysterious because nothing is hidden.
And as I spoke thus, I fell asleep and I saw a sacrificer standing before me high up on an altar. And there was in the shape a bowl. and there were 15 steps leading up to the altar. And the priest stood there. And I heard a voice from above me saying to me, I've performed the act of descending the fifteen steps into the darkness. And of ascending the steps into the light. And he who renews me is the sacrifice. By casting away the grossness of the body. And by compelling necessity I am sanctified as a priest. And now stand in perfection as a spirit. And on hearing the voice of him who stood upon the altar I inquired of him who he was. And he answered me in a fine voice saying, I am Aon, the priest of the inner sanctuaries. And I submit myself to an unendurable torment. For there came one in haste at early morning who overpowered me. And pierced me through with the sword and dismembered me in accordance with the rule of harmony. And he drew off the skin of my head with the sword. And he wielded with strength and mingled the bones with the pieces of flesh and caused them to be burnt upon the fire of the art. Till I perceived by the transformation of the body that I had become spirit. And that is my unendurable torment. And even as he spoke thus, and I held him by force to converse with me his eyes became as blood.
Bloodshot you see.
"And he spewed forth all his own flesh. And I saw how he changed into the opposite of himself into a mutilated a throw parlian. And he tore his flesh with his own teeth and sank into himself."
So that's how The Visions of Zosimos must begin. And we'll see next week how this Hermetic sequence then just like The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo present in a very popular way the wonder filled chaos, the mystery of true spiritual teaching. Because what it evokes out of us then is the, the need the continuing desire to penetrate into this mystery. To understand.
I think that's all for tonight.
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