Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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25. There now comes upon the scene the mighty Intellect of the Earth, a veritable Erdgeist, in the form of Momus, who speaking out of affection for him (28), urges Hermes to increase ills and trials upon the souls of men, so that they shall not dare too much (25-27). And thereon Hermes sets in motion the instrument or engine of unerring fate and mechanical retribution (28, 29).
29. Now all these things took place at the dawn of earth-life, when all as yet was inert, as far as our now solid earth is concerned. We must then suppose that as yet our present phase of existence on earth had not yet been manifested ; that all was as yet in a far subtler or more primitive state of existence, when earth was still all " a-tremble," and had not yet hardened to its present state of solidity ; — that is to say, that the manplasm was in an etheric state (30).
31. The earth gradually hardens. Into the now more solid earth, the Creator and His obedient sons, the Gods who had not made revolt, poured forth the blessings of nature. This is described by the beautiful symbol of the hands of blessing, figured in Egypt as the sun-rays, each terminating in a hand for giving light and life.1
The imprisoned souls, the kinsmen of the Gods obedient, continue their revolt; they are the leaders of mankind, of a mankind far weaker than themselves, a humanity, apparently evolved normally from the nature of things and as yet in its childhood. Instead of teaching them the lessons of love and wisdom, the Disobedient Ones use them for evil purposes, for war and conflict, for oppression and savagery.
32. Things go from bad to worse ; the earth is befouled with the horrors of savage man, until in despair the pure elements complain to God. They pray that He will send a holy emanation of Himself to set things right (32-34).
35. Hereupon God sends forth the mystery of a new birth, a divine descent, or emanation, an avatdra, as the Aryan Hindu tradition would call it, a dual manifestation.2 And so Osiris and Isis are born to help the world, to recall men from savagery, and restore the moral order (35-37).
1 Of. Hermes- Prayer, iii. 3.
2 This is of special interest as showing how the Egyptian tradition, in this pre-eminent above all others, did not limit the manifestation to the male sex alone.
It was they who were taught directly by Hermes (37) in all law and science and wisdom. Their mission meets with success, and the "world" is filled with a knowledge of the Path of Eeturn. But before their ascension into Heaven they have a petition to make to the Father, that not only earth but also the surrounding spaces up to Heaven itself may be filled with a knowledge of the truth. Thus then they proceed to hymn the Sire and Monarch of all in a praise-giving which, unfortunately, Stobseus did not think fit to copy.
The original text of the " Virgin of the World" treatise is obviously broken only by the omission of the Hymn of Osiris and Isis, and Excerpt ii. follows otherwise immediately on Excerpt i. The subject is the birth of royal souls, taken up from the instruction given in K. K., 23, 24 above.
39. There are four chief spaces : (i) Invisible Heaven, inhabited by the Gods, with the Invisible Sun as lord of all ; (ii) JEther, inhabited by the Stars, of which for us the Sun is leader; (iii) Air, in which dwell non-incarnate souls, ruled by the Moon, as watcher o'er the paths of genesis; (iv) Earth, inhabited by men and animals, and over men the immediate ruler is the Divine King of the time.
40. The king-soul is the last of the Gods but the first of men l ; he is, however, on earth a demigod only, for his true divinity is obscured. His soul, or ka, comes from a soul-plane superior to that of the rest of mankind.