Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

1 Of. 8. I. .H"., 3 : " Now as I chance myself to be as though initiate into the nature that transcendeth death, and that my feet have' crossed the Plain of Truth"; and K. K., 22: "The Monarch came, and sitting on the Throne of Truth made answer to their prayers." The locus classicus is, of course, Plato, Phcedrus,

2 Of. K. K., 37 : " 3Tis they who, taught by Hermes that the things below have been disposed by God to be in sympathy with things above, established on the earth the sacred rites o'er which the mysteries in heaven preside."

This statement I am inclined to regard as one of the most distinct pronouncements on the nature of the higher mysteries which has been preserved to us from antiquity, and the locus classicus and point of departure for any really fruitful discussion of the true nature of the philosophic mysteries, and yet I have never seen it referred to in this connection.

Our old philosopher was well acquainted with the Egyptian mystery- tradition, for Cleombrotus obtained information from him concerning the esoteric significance of Typhon and Osiris, and what I have quoted above falls naturally into place in the scheme of ideas of the tradition preserved in the treatise which we are discussing.1 It, indeed, pertains to a higher side of the matter, for it purports to be the highest theoria of all, and possible for the souls even of the most righteous only at long periods of time.

Of course the representation is symbolical. The triangle is no triangle ; it is the " plain of truth," the " hearth of the universe." The triangle, then, pertained to the plane of Fire proper and not Air. Still, the ordering of the " worlds " is similar to that of our soul spaces. The triangle is shut off from the manifested world by the ^Eon ; it is out of space and time proper. Time flows down from it. The worlds proper are 3 worlds or cosmoi, each divided into 60 subordinate cosmoi, in choral dance, or orderly harmonious movement of one to the other. Our soul-spaces, then, may have been regarded as some reflection of these supernal conditions.

One is almost tempted to turn the plane triangle

1 Our difficulty, however, is that Plutarch, in the words of one of his characters, rejects the idea of this numbering being in any way Egyptian, and ascribes it to a certain Petron of Himera in Sicily,— thereby suggesting a probable Pythagorean connection.

into a solid figure, a tetrahedron,1 and imagine the idea of a world or wheel, at each of the four angles, and to speculate on the Wheels of Ezekiel, the prototype of the Mercabah or Heavenly Chariot of Kabalism, the Throne of Truth of the Supreme, but I will not try the patience of my readers any further, for doubtless most of them will have cried already : Hold, enough !

THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NUMBERS WHICH PRE- EXIST IN THE SOUL

Perhaps, however, it would be as well, before dismissing the subject, to consider very briefly what Plato, following Pythagoras,2 has to say concerning the "boundaries" of all numbers which pre-exist in the soul. These soul-numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 27 (the combination of the two Pythagorean series 1, 2, 4, 8 and 1, 3, 9, 27), or 1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 32, 33. Of these numbers 1, 2, 3 are apportioned to the World-Soul itself, in its intellectual or spiritual aspect, and signify its abiding in (1), its proceeding from (2), and its returning to itself (3) ; this with regard to primary natures. But in addition, intermediate subtle natures or souls are " providentially " ordered in their evolution and involution, by the World-Soul ; they proceed according to the power of the fourth term (4 or 22), ' ' which possesses generative powers," and return according to that of the fifth (9 or 32), " which reduces them to one." Finally also solid or gross natures are also "providentially" ordered in their procession according to 8 (23), and in their conversion according to 27 (33).3

1 See the section, " Some Outlines of ^Eonology," F. F. F., pp.
311-335.

2 See my Orpheus (London, 1896), pp. 255-262.

3 Cf. Taylor (T.), " Introd. to Timaeus," Works of Plato
(London, 1804), p. 442.

From all of which we get the following scheme of circular progression and conversion of the soul, the various main stages through which it passes:

r ' ^

21 ................. 3*

~W 32