First the (Point), the Monad, Bythus (the Deep),
the unknown and unknowable Father. Then the (Triangle), Bythus and the first emanated pair
or Duad, Nous (Mind) and its syzygy Aletheia (Truth). Then the (Square), the dual
Duad, Tetraktys or Quaternary, two males , the Logos (Word) and Anthrôpos (Man), two
females, their syzygies, Zoê (Life) and Ekklesia (the Church or Assembly), Seven in all.
The Triangle the Potentiality of Spirit, the Square the Potentiality of
Matter; the Vertical Straight Line the Potency of Spirit, and the Horizontal the Potency
of Matter. Next comes the Pentagram , the Pentad, the mysterious symbol of the
Manasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, which together with their syzygies make 10, or the Decad;
and last of all, the Hexalpha or interlaced Triangles the Hexad, which with
their syzygies make 12, or the Dodecad. Such are the Contents of the Pleroma or
Completion, the Ideas in the Divine Mind, 28 in all, for Bythus or the
Father is not reckoned, as it is the Root of all. The two small circles within
the Pleroma are the syzygy Christos-Pneuma (Christ and the Holy Spirit); these are after-emanations,
and, as such, from one aspect, typify the descent of Spirit to inform and evolve Matter,
which essentially proceeds from the same source; and from another, the descent or
incarnation of the Kumâras or the Higher Egos of Humanity. |