Eta, Or (mystically) The Third Of The Gods

No. XIII

ETA, OR (MYSTICALLY) THE THIRD OF THE GODS[L]

PART I

Proem

THE mystery of thine orbit, O Earth, and the secret of the work of the third day;

2. Which the wise of old knew not, for the Lord God withheld them.

3. The light is as wisdom, the water as understanding, and the dry earth as the force and power of things.

4. Phoibos first, and Hermes next, and last the kingdom of Dionysos.

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Hymn to the Planet-God ¹

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1. O Father Iacchos; thou art Lord of the Body, God manifest in the flesh;

2. Twice born, baptized with fire, quickened by the spirit, instructed in secret things beneath the earth:

3. Who wearest the horns of the ram, who ridest upon an ass, whose symbol is the vine, and the new wine thy blood;

4. Whose Father is the Lord God of Hosts; whose Mother is the daughter of the King.[M]

5. Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of initiation; for by means of the body is the soul initiated:

6. By birth, by marriage, by virginity, by sleep, by waking, and by death:

7. By fasting and vigil, by dreams and penance, by joy, and by weariness of the flesh.

8. The body is the chamber of ordeal: therein is the soul of man tried.

9. Thine initiates, O Master, are they who come out of great tribulation, whose robes are washed in the blood of the vine.

10. Give me to drink of the wine of thy cup, that I may live for evermore:

11. And to eat of the bread whose grain cometh up from the earth, as the corn in the ear.

12. Yea; for the body in which man is redeemed, is of the earth; it is broken upon the cross; cut down by the sickle; crushed between grindstones.

13. For by the suffering of the outer, is the inner set free.

14. Therefore the body which thou givest is meat indeed, and the word of thy blood is drink indeed.

15. For man shall live by the word of God.

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16. Evoi, Father Iacchos: bind thy Church to the vine, and her elect to the choice vine.

17. And let them wash their garments in wine, and their vesture in the blood of grapes.

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18. Evoi, Iacchos: Lord of the body, and of the house whose symbol is the fig;

19. Whereof the image is the figure of the matrix, and the leaf as a man's hand: whose stems bring forth milk.

20. For the Woman is the mother of the living; and the crown and perfection of humanity.

21. Her body is the highest step in the ladder of incarnation,

22. Which leadeth from earth to Heaven; upon which the spirits of God ascend and descend.

23. Thou art not perfected, O soul, that hast not known womanhood.

24. Evoi, Iacchos: for the day cometh wherein thy sons shall eat of the fruit of the fig: yea, the vine shall yield new grapes; and the fig-tree shall be no more barren.

25. For the interpretation of hidden things is at hand; and men shall eat of the precious fruits of God.

26. They shall eat manna from heaven; and shall drink of the river of Salem.

27. The Lord maketh all things new: He taketh away the letter to establish the spirit.

28. Then speakest thou with veiled face, in parable and dark saying: for the time of figs was not yet.

29. And they who came unto the tree of life sought fruit thereon and found it not.

30. And from thenceforth until now hath no man eaten of the fruit of that tree.

31. But now is the gospel of interpretation come, and the kingdom of the Mother of God.

32. Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the body; who art crowned with the vine and with the fig.

33. For as the fig containeth many perfect fruits in itself, so the house of man containeth many spirits.

34. Within thee, O man, is the universe; the thrones of all the Gods are in thy temple.

35. I have said unto men, Ye are Gods; ye are all in the image of the Most High.

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36. No man can know God unless he first understand himself.

37. God is nothing that man is not.

38. What man is, that God is likewise.

39. As God is at the heart of the outer world, so also is God at the heart of the world within thee.

40. When the God within thee shall be wholly united to the God without, then shalt thou be one with the Most High.

41. Thy will shall be God's will, and the Son shall be as the Father.

42. Thou art ruler of a world, O man; thy name is legion; thou hast many under thee.

43. Thou sayest to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to another, Do this, and he doeth it.

44. What thou knowest is told thee from within; what thou workest is worked from within.

45. When thou prayest thou invokest the God within thee; and from the God within thee thou receivest thy good things.

46. Thy manifestations are inward; and the spirits which speak unto thee are of thine own kingdom.

47. And the spirit which is greatest in thy kingdom, the same is thy Master and thy Lord.

48. Let thy Master be the Christ of God, whose Father is the Lord Iacchos.[N]

49. And Christ shall be thy lover and the saviour of thy body;[O] O yea, He shall be thy Lord God, and thou shalt adore Him.

50. But if thou wilt not, then a stronger than thou art shall bind thee, and spoil thine house and thy goods.

51. An uncleanly temple shalt thou be; the hold of all manner of strife and evil beasts.

52. For a man's foes are of his own household.

53. But scourge thou thence the money-changers and the merchants, lest the house of thy prayer become unto thee a den of thieves.

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54. Evoi, Father Iacchos: Lord of the thyrsos and of the pinecone.

55. As are the involutions of the leaves of the cone, so is the spiral of generation,--the progress and passing-through of the soul,

56. From the lower to the higher; from the coarse to the fine; from the base to the apex;

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57. From the outer to the inner; yea, from the dust of the ground to the throne of the Most High.

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58. Evoi, Io Nysæe: God of the garden and of the tree bearing fruit.

59. The dry land is thine, and all the beauty of earth; the vineyard, the garland, and the valleys of corn.

60. The forests, the secrets of the springs; the hidden wells, and the treasures of the caverns.

6:c. The harvest, the dance, and the festival; the snows of winter, and the icy winds of death.

62 . Yea, Lord Iacchos; who girdest destruction with promise and graftest comeliness upon ruin.

63. As the green ivy covereth the blasted tree, and the waste places of earth where no grass groweth;

64. So thy touch giveth life and hope and meaning to decay.

65. Whoso understandeth thy mysteries, O Lord of the Ivy, hath overcome Death and the fear thereof.

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66. Evoi, Father Iacchos, Lord God of Egypt: initiate thy servants in the halls of thy Temple;

67. Upon whose walls, are the forms of every creature: of every beast of the earth, and of every fowl of the air;

68. The lynx, and the lion, and the bull: the ibis and the serpent: the scorpion and every flying thing.

69. And the columns thereof are human shapes; having the heads of eagles and the hoofs of the ox.

70. All these are of thy kingdom: they are the chambers of ordeal, and the houses of the initiation of the soul.

71. For the soul passeth from form to form; and the mansions of her pilgrimage are manifold.

72. Thou callest her from the deep, and from the secret places of the earth; from the dust of the ground, and from the herb of the field.

73. Thou coverest her nakedness with an apron of fig-leaves; thou clothest her with the skins of beasts. ¹

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74. Thou art from of old, O soul of man; yea, thou art from the everlasting. ¹

75. Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as vesture dost thou fold them up.

76. They perish, but thou remainest: the wind rendeth and scattereth them; and the place of them shall no more be known.

77. For the wind is the Spirit of God in man, which bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.

78. Even so is the spirit of man, which cometh from afar off and tarrieth not, but passeth away to a place thou knowest not.

(6)

79. Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the Sphinx: who linkest the lowest to the highest; the loins of the wild beast to the head and breast of the woman.

80. Thou holdest the chalice of divination: all the forms of nature are reflected therein.

81. Thou turnest man to destruction: then thou sayest, Come again, ye children of my hand.

82. Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth: Lord of the cross and the tree of salvation.

83. Vine of God, whose blood redeemeth; bread of heaven, broken on the altar of death.

84. There is corn in Egypt; go thou down into her, O my soul, with joy.

85. For in the kingdom of the body thou shalt eat the bread of thine initiation.

86. But beware lest thou become subject to the flesh, and a bond-slave in the land of thy sojourn.

87. Serve not the idols of Egypt; and let not the senses be thy taskmasters.

88. For they will bow thy neck to their yoke; they will bitterly oppress the Israel of God.

89. An evil time shall come upon thee; and the Lord shall smite Egypt with plagues for thy sake.

90. Thy body shall be broken on the wheel of God; thy flesh shall see trouble and the worm.

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91. Thy house shall be smitten with grievous plagues, blood, and pestilence, and great darkness; fire shall devour thy goods; and thou shalt be a prey to the locust and creeping thing.

92. Thy glory shall be brought known to the dust; hail and storm shall smite thine harvest; yea, thy beloved and thy firstborn shall the hand of the Lord destroy;

93. Until the body let the soul go free; that she may serve the Lord God.

94. Arise in the night, O soul, and fly, lest thou be consumed in Egypt.

95. The angel of the understanding shall know thee for his elect, if thou offer unto God a reasonable faith.

96. Savour thy reason with learning, with labour, and with obedience.

97. Let the rod of thy desire be in thy right hand; put the sandals of Hermes on thy feet; and gird thy loins with strength.

98. Then shalt thou pass through the waters of cleansing, which is the first death in the body.

99. The waters shall be a wall unto thee on thy right hand and on thy left.

100. And Hermes the redeemer shall go before thee; for he is thy cloud of darkness by day, and thy pillar of fire by night.

101. All the horsemen of Egypt and the chariots thereof; her princes, her counsellors, and her mighty men:

102. These shall pursue thee, O soul, that fliest; and shall seek to bring thee back into bondage.

103. Fly for thy life; fear not the deep; stretch out thy rod over the sea; and lift thy desire unto God.

104. Thou hast learnt wisdom in Egypt; thou hast spoiled the Egyptians; thou hast carried away their fine gold and their precious things.

105. Thou hast enriched thyself in the body; but the body shall not hold thee; neither shall the waters of the deep swallow thee up.

106. Thou shalt wash thy robes in the sea of regeneration; the blood of atonement shall redeem thee to God.

107. This is thy chrism and anointing, O soul; this is the first death; thou art the Israel of the Lord,

108. Who hath redeemed thee from the dominion of the body, and hath called thee from the grave, and from the house of bondage,

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109. Unto the way of the Cross, and to the path in the midst of the wilderness;

110. Where are the adder and the serpent, the mirage and the burning sand.

111. For the feet of the saint are set in the way of the desert.

112. But be thou of good courage, and fail thou not; then shall thy raiment endure, and thy sandals shall not wax old upon thee.

113. And thy desire shall heal thy diseases; it shall bring streams for thee out of the stony rock; it shall lead thee to Paradise.

114. Evoi, Father Iacchos, Jehovah-Nissi; Lord of the garden and of the vineyard;

115. Initiator and lawgiver; God of the cloud and of the mount.

116. Evoi, Father Iacchos; out of Egypt hast thou called thy Son.

PART 2

Hymns to the Elemental Divinities ¹

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To Hephaistos

1. The spirits of the elements bear thee company, Lord Iacchos, whose wheels encompass thy planet, who hold the four corners thereof.

2. Hephaistos the Fire-King, whose symbol is the red lion, Lord of the serpent, the flame, and of the secret parts of the earth;

3. Whose veins are full of fire, whose breath is destruction and burning, whose finger maketh the hills to smoke.

4. Ah! beware how thou invoke him; as a lion he devoureth; he rendeth and swalloweth as a furious beast of prey.

5. He purifieth and layeth waste; the land is as the Garden of Eden before him, and behind him a desolate wilderness.

6. He commandeth the inmost zone of things; his hammer is the lightning, and his anvil the loadstone.

7. He maketh all bodies therewith, he fuseth and deviseth; whether in the small or in the great, whether in the outer or in the inner, before Demeter is Hephaistos.

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8. He endoweth all metals with power, and fashioneth all manner of precious amulets.

9. The gold of the womb of earth is his, the mercury, and the iron of the mine, the sulphur, the onyx, and the crystal.

10. All his galleries are luminous with mirrors of fire, wherein are manifold and wondrous images: the glory of princes, the wealth of nations, yea, the splendour of all the kingdoms of the world.

11. He blindeth and deludeth the eyes of men; he encompasseth the foolish with illusions, and smiteth the feeble with madness.

12. Even Lucifer, Lord of the Crystal, which hath power to bind the children of earth, for therein are imprisoned the spirits of the fire.

13. Serve not the fire nor the crystal, and be not undone by their sorcery.

14. For the spirits of lust and illusion obey the crystal, and they who love the light of it shall fall under the dominion of Lucifer.

15. Be thou master of the fire, and command it; let not the cloven tongue of the serpent beguile thee; neither barter thy liberty for the fruit of enchantment.

16. For the fire shall be quenched by the water, and the water shall be resolved into spirit.

17. But if the fire consume thy soul, it shall be scattered abroad as ashes, and return to the dust of the earth.

18. For it is fire that tries every man's work, and purifies the substance of all souls.

19. By fire is the initiate baptized, by fire the oblation is salted; and the flame shall devour the dross of the crucible.

20. That which endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved.

21. Therefore be praised, Hephaistos, thou and thy wheel; be praised, O searching and purgatorial Fire!

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Hymn to Demeter

1. And thou, Demeter, fair Earth-Mother, whose bosom the patient ox treadeth, whose hands are full of plenty and blessing.

2. Angel of the crucible, guardian of the dead, who makest and unmakest, who combinest and dissolvest, who bringest forth life out of death, and transformest all bodies.

3. They are sown as seed in thy furrows; they are buried

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therein, as the droppings of the ripened ear; from thy womb they came forth, and to thee they return, O Mother of birth and of sleep!

4. Who makest the volatile to be fixed, and the real to be apparent, whether in the great or the small, whether in the outer or the inner.

5. Who yokest the cattle of the field to thy plough, for thy dominion is of the field, O daughter of Time; thou bindest not the sons of the air and the sea.

6. But to the gross thou art gross, and to the subtle thou art subtle.

7. Be praised, Demeter, cunning and multiform alchemist; be praised,--thou and thy wheel, O fruitful Spirit of Earth!

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Hymn to Poseidon

1. And Poseidon, Lord of the Deep, Master of the substance of all creatures, who weareth the face of an angel, for he is the Father of Souls.[P]

2. His brow is dark with storms, his voice is as the thunder of cataracts in the mountains; he is subtle, and swift, and strong; he is mightier than all the children of earth.

3. All things are of the sea-salt, for without salt matter is not, whether of the outer or of the inner, whether of the small or of the great.

4. Behold the manifold waves of the sea, which rise and sink, which break and are lost, and follow each other continually; even as these are the transmutations of the soul.

5. For the soul is one substance, as is the water of the deep, whose waves thou canst not number, neither tell their shapes, for the form of them passeth away; even as these are the incarnations of the soul.

6. And the secret of Thetis is the mystery of the Metamorphosis.

7. Out of the sea the horse ariseth; strength and intelligence are begotten of the deep.

8. She is the mother of Avatârs, and her cup is the chalice of bitterness: whoso drinketh thereof shall taste of power and knowledge, and of tears of salt.

9. Be thou praised, O Poseidon, thou and thy wheel; be praised, O chrism of the soul, mighty and variable Spirit of the Sea!

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Hymn to Pallas Athena

1. And thou, Athena, blue-eyed virgin, Mistress of the Air, eagle-headed, who givest to all bodies the breath of life:

2. Immaculate mother of the word of prophecy, symbol of the holy essence, goddess of the ægis and of the spear:

3. Spirit of the whirlwind, secret breather of wisdom, fortifier of the soul, inspirer of armies:

4. Shining maid, by whose spear we vanquish, for interior wisdom thrusteth all things through; by whose shield we are covered, for interior purity preserveth from all contagion.

5. By thine aid, O Athena, strong and undefiled, by thine aid the hero overcometh in the battle.

6. By thine aid, O armed and winged wisdom, thy servant shall smite the lust of the world.

7. Upon whose beauty, whoso looketh, is changed into stone; who feedeth upon the souls of men.[Q]

S. Be praised, O Athena, thou and thy wheel; be praised in the great and the small, in the outer and the inner, invisible and immaculate Spirit of Life!

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Epode

These are the four great Genii, which are the angels of the Earth, the spirits of the elements of the macrocosm and the microcosm.

These are the fourfold Sphinx of the four states,--of the flesh, of the intermediary, of the human, and of the divine.

Of the house of bondage in the land of Egypt;

Of the ark of the covenant in the wilderness;

Of the gate and the tree of Eden,

Of the celestial chariot and the throne of Adonai.

And the wheels of their fourfold kingdom encircle the whole earth; and are full within and without of the eyes of life.[B]

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Footnotes

153:1 I.e. The intellect and the intuition.

154:1 The theme of this hymn, which was recollected, in sleep, early in March 1881, is the Mystic Exodus, or flight of the Soul from the power of the body, wherein Egypt stands for the body; Israel for the soul; the corn in Egypt for the nourishment, experiences, discipline, and so forth requisite for the soul's sustenance and education; Hermes is the understanding of divine things; and Iacchos, whose other name, Dionysos, identifies him with the Jehovah Nissi of the Hebrews, is the Divine Spirit of the planet, and "Father" of the man regenerate (see Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 438-441; vol. ii, 1, 132).    S. H. H.

157:1 For implication of "coats of skin," see Part I, No. VI.

158:1 Meaning that her substance is everlasting, being that of God, which is not the case with matter, which is but a temporary condition and specialised mode of substance.    E. M.

160:1 Received early in March 1881 (Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, p. 438).