Simon Magus: An Essay on the Founder of Simonianism Based on the Ancient Sources With a Re-Evaluation of His Philosophy and TeachingsMead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Religion
Simon Magus: An Essay on the Founder of Simonianism Based on the Ancient Sources With a Re-Evaluation of His Philosophy and Teachings
Mead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Simon, Magus, active 1st century
(1) We should bear in mind what has already been said about the Logos,
Speech and Divine Names. (2) In the Septenary the Quaternary represents
the Manifested and the Triad the Concealed Side of the Fire. (3) The
fundamental characteristics of the manifested universe with the Hindûs
and Buddhists are Name (Nâma) and Form (Rûpa). (4) Simon says that the
Great Power was not called Father until Thought (in manifestation
becoming Voice) _named_ ([Greek: onomasai]) him Father. (5) Reason and
Reflection are evidently the two lowest aspects, principles, or
characteristics, of the _divine_ Mind of man. These are included in the
lower mind, or Internal Organ (Antah-karana), by the Vedântin
philosophers of India and called Buddhi and Manas, being respectively
the mental faculties used in the certainty of judgment and the doubt of
enquiry.
This Quaternary, among a host of other things, typifies the four lower
planes, elements, principles, aspects, etc., of the Universe, with their
Hierarchies of Angels, Archangels, Rulers, etc., each synthesized by a
Lord who is supreme in his own domain. Seeing, however, that the
outermost physical plane is so vast that it transcends the power of
conception of even the greatest intellect, it is useless for us to
speculate on the interplay of cosmic forces and the mysterious
interaction of Spheres of Being that transcend all normal human
consciousness. It is only on the lowest and outermost plane that the
lower Quaternary symbolizes the four Cardinal Points. The Michael (Sun),
Gabriel (Moon), Uriel (Venus), and Raphael (Mercury) of the Kabalah, the
four Beasts, the Wheels of Ezekiel, were living, divine, and intelligent
Entities pertaining to the inner nature of man and the universe for the
Initiated.
It is to be presumed that the Simonians had distinct teachings on this
point, as is evidenced by the title of their lost work, _The Book of the
Four Angles and Points of the World_. The Four Angles were probably
connected with the four ducts or Streams of the "River going forth from
Eden to water the Garden." These Streams have their analogy on all
planes, and cosmically are of the same nature as the Âkâsha-Gangâ--the
Ganges in the Akâshic Ocean of Space--and the rest of the Rivers in the
Paurânic writings of the Hindûs.
But before going further it will be as well to have a Diagram or Scheme
of the Simonian Aeonology, for presumably the School of Simon had such a
Scheme, as we know the Ophites had from the work of Origen, _Contra
Celsum_.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE SIMONIAN AEONOLOGY.][121]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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