_Seven Lords created seven Men; three Lords [Dhyân Chohans or Pitris] were holy and good, four less heavenly and full of passion.... The Chhâyâs [phantoms] of the Fathers were as they._ This accounts for the differences in human nature, which is divided into seven gradations of good and evil. There were seven tabernacles ready to be inhabited by Monads under seven different Karmic conditions. The Commentaries explain on this basis the easy spread of evil, as soon as the human Forms had become real men. Some ancient philosophers, however, in their genetical accounts, ignored the seven and gave only four. Thus the Mexican local _Genesis_ has “four _good_ men,” described as the four real ancestors of the human race, “who were neither begotten by the Gods nor born of woman”; but whose creation was a wonder wrought by the Creative Powers, and who were made only after “_three attempts at manufacturing men had failed_.” The Egyptians in their theology had only “four Sons of God”—whereas in _Pymander_ _seven_ are given—thus avoiding any mention of the evil nature of man. When, however, Set from a God sank into Set‐ Typhon, he began to be called the “seventh son”; whence probably arose the belief that “the seventh son of the seventh son” is always a natural‐born magician—though at first only a _sorcerer_ was meant. Apap, the serpent symbolizing evil, is slain by Aker, Set’s serpent;(484) therefore Set‐ Typhon could not be that evil. In the _Book of the Dead_, it is commanded that Chapter clxiii should be read “in the presence of a serpent on two legs,” which means a high Initiate, a Hierophant, for the discus and ram’s horns(485) that adorn his “serpent’s” head in the hieroglyphics of the title of the said chapter, denote this. Over the “serpent” are represented the two mystic eyes of Ammon,(486) the hidden “Mystery God.” The above passages corroborate our assertion, and show what the word “serpent” really meant in antiquity. But as to the Nagals and Nargals; whence came the similarity or names between the Indian Nâgas and the American Nagals? The Nargal was the Chaldæan and Assyrian chief of the Magi [Rab‐ Mag], and the Nagal was the chief sorcerer of the Mexican Indians. Both derive their names from Nergal‐Serezer, the Assyrian god, and the Hindû Nâgas. Both have the same faculties and the power to have an attendant Dæmon, with whom they identify themselves completely. The Chaldæan and Assyrian Nargal kept his Dæmon, in the shape of some animal considered sacred, inside the temple; the Indian Nagal keeps his wherever he can—in the neighbouring lake, or wood, or in the house, in the shape of some household animal.(487)