"Key To The Universe" ~ Harriette Augusta Curtiss. Part II - The Symbol Of The ,O' And The Serpent

PART I (Część I)- HERE (TUTAJ)

"Absolut is a circle, the center of which is everywhere
and the circumference nowhere." ~ Pascal.

"Alone, the One Form of Existence stretched
boundless, infinite, causeless, in Dreamless Sleep;
and Life pulsated unconscious in Universal Space,
throughout that All-Presence, which is sensed
by the Open Eye of Dangma." ~ Stanzc of
Dsya,s, I, 8

In numerical systems the O is the 1st symbol to be considered, as it is the 1 from which all others proceed. It is a symbol of Unmanifested Deity; in the Bible, the darkness of Chaos from which the Cosmos emerges. It is the Night of Brahm in which all is latent, "a boundless darkness on the ground of which appears the first central point in white." It may sound paradoxical to call the Deity, whom we are wont to think of as Universal Life and Omnipotent Being, a circle of darkness, yet right here the student must begin to adjust his point of view to the occult and mystical conceptions. A fundamental axiom is that "extremes meet," also that vibrations of light and life may be so intense that they cannot be perceived by man's physical sensesthe solar spectrum above violet, for instancehence are apparently darkness and nonexistence. Such a boundless circle of pulsating, vibrant yet undifferentiated life-force proceeding from the Center of All Life, forms the "waters of the Great Deep," deep in that they are unfathomable and incomprehensible to undeveloped man. Only when the Spirit of God moves upon these waters and the Word -- the Son (= Sun) of God -- is sent down into manifestation, are the waves of this Great Deep stilled, i. e., the vibrations are slowed down so that that which we understand as life begins to manifest.

Having neither beginning nor end, as we have said elsewhere: "The circle represents Boundless Space and limitless Time in Eternity. It marks off the space in which creation takes place, or the Circle formed by the down-pouring of the Great Creative Force. It is much like the circle of light projected by a magic lantern, within which the pictures are to appear. In one sense it is the circle of the unmanifested zodiac (the pathway of our solar system)."

In other words it is the Boundless Sphere of Space within which our entire Cosmos is manifesting. Our earth is but 1 point or digit in this mighty circle or cipher. The O is called naught or no-thing because no thing has been differentiated or manifested. It is the Silence of Non-Being. It is "the secret habitation of the ever invisible Deity."

"In the minds of the ancient Philosophers
something of the Divine and mysterious has ever
been ascribed to the shape of the circle. The
old world, consistent in its symbolism and with
its Pantheistic intuitions, uniting the visible and
the invisible Infinitudes into one, represented
Deity and its outward Veil alikeby a circle."

"In the beginning was a great Abyss (Chaos), neither Day nor Night existed; the Abyss was Ginnungagop, the yawning gulf, without beginning, without end. All-Father=Mother, the Uncreated, the Unseen, dwelt in the Depth of the Abyss (Space), and willed, and what was willed came into being." Ireneus in writing of the number symbolism of the Marcosians says: "Before all universes there is a source (or beginning) before the primal source, prior even to that state which is inconceivable, ineffable, unnameable, which I number as Naughtness."

It may be easier to form a conception of the beginnings of a mighty universe if we apply the same laws and processes to the individual, for in our small way we are all centers which send out invisible radiations of life-force in a circle, the size of the circle being limited by the forcefulness of the life within the center. Until its forces are made concrete and directed toward definite ends this circle is an invisible and unknown O of darkness, a Chaos, yet vibrant with potenciesour vague and unformed desires, longings and ideals. This circle is our sea, corresponding to the Great Deep. On it we are rocking in the little boat of our personality.

The "Sun of God" within is asleep and spiritual darkness is upon the face of the waters. We sail over the sea of life wholly engrossed in the things pertaining to our personality until a tempestuous and inharmonious condition arises and threatens to overwhelm us. When the personality sees no way of escape, in desperation it cries out: "Lord save us: we perish." It appeals to The Son within: "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Then the Son of Man, the same omnipotent Word sent forth in the beginning, arises and rebukes the tempestuous forces (winds) of adversity which manifesting normally in man's creative O should steadily advance his evolution without overwhelming him.

The wind symbolizes the Breath of the Spirit moving upon the waters of life. While it should quicken the vibrations of the sea of life, it should not be permitted to create a storm capable of wrecking the little boat of personality. But when the Master within is awakened He is able to rebuke the tempestuous winds and say to the sea: "Peace, be still."

"The Zerona Akerne is also the 'Boundless
Circle of Unknown Time,! from which Circle
issuc the radiant Lightthe Universal Sun, o*
Ormazd Ithe Logos or the "First Born"Jand
the latter is identical with Cronus, in his Æolian
form, that of a Cirde. For the Circle is Sar and
Saros, or Cycle. It was the Babylonian God
whose circular horizon was the visible symbol
of the invisible, while the Sun was the One
Cirde from which proceeded the cosmic orbs,
of which he was considered the leader. Zerona,
is the Chakra, or Circle, of Vishnu, the mysterious
emblem which is, according to the definition of
a Mystic, 'a curve of such a nature that as to any,
the least possible, part thereof if the curve be
projected m either way, it will proceed and
finally re-enter upon itself, and form one and the
same curveor that which we call the circle.' No
better definition could thus be given of the ,iotu,oJ
symbol and the evident nature of Deity, which
having its circumference everywhere (the boundless)
baa, therefore, its central point also everywhere;
in other words, is in every point of the
Universe."

The circle also represents the Garden of Eden which contained everything that would be needed for the growth and unfoldment of the as yet unmanifested man or Adam, the number 1. It was into this great encompassing O or Garden that "the Lord Absolut" (the 7 Elohim, O in Tarot = A Fool) put the 1st man, made in their 7 fold image, "to dress it and keep it." In the midst of this Garden was placed the Tree of Life which, astronomically and astrologically, is the sun with all its life-giving powers in the center of the zodiac, or the Dot in the circle. As applied to man, the Tree of Life in the midst of his "Eden" (body) refers to a deep mystery which, when understood in its fullness, will, as the gods said, make him "becon as one of us" (the Elohim) a perfect O, knowing the good as well as the evil or both halves of the O. Man upon the physical plane stands in the center of his circle, which reaches up to the realms of the gods and also sweeps downward into the nether worlds. Hence, ere he can manifest in and master his complete O he must, like all Saviors, descend into the hell of matter and become the savior of all the lower kingdoms, ere 'he can ascend into the higher realms or reenter Eden'.

A circle formed by a serpentsymbol of life and wisdom-swallowing its tail, symbolizes unending life or immortality. But this symbol means far more than a cycle of time, for it also symbolizes the Source of all creation, the Womb of Nature from which the Universe comes forth and also the womb from which the future man proceeds, even the fetus in the womb being curved upon itself in a circular fashion. This is the esoteric meaning of the so-called temptation to create, as allegorized in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, when the O or the serpent began its numerical evolutions within the cycle of manifestation, i. e., the Garden of Eden.

The serpent therefore represents the cosmic Great Creative Force which manifests as sex-force only when focused in the sex organs. The Great Creative Force is The Sun-force or that fructifying and vivifying power through whose action all things are brought into manifestation, not out of nothing but out of the O or great storehouse of potential energy which awaits only the creative activity of "the Lord Absolut" (the Law of Good) to bring forth. In the biblical allegory we have the God-head manifesting in its positive (man) and negative (woman) aspects with the magnetic attraction of the Creative Force (serpent-power) uniting them and forming His likeness or the expression of the Trinity on Earth.

The manifestation of the Great Creative Force in its aspect as sex is a most potent factor in man's evolution spiritual as well as physical. In fact upon its right understanding rests the destiny of mankind on this planet. For only through generation, and the lessons learned through the manifestation of the Great Creative Force in its most dense and material aspect of sex, can mankind reach regeneration. Only by the power of The Christ can man meet and conquer all that comes to him in this day of manifestation, and out of the seemingly blind forces of its chaotic night create a new day.

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast
of the field."

In this connection many students do not observe the proper distinction between the words subtil which is used to describe the serpent, and subtle which has quite a different meaning. According to the Standard Dictionary subtil means "having fine structure, not gross or dense; rarifled; refined; attenuated; ethereal, hence penetrating as a subtil perfume," while "subtle is used as an attribute of mind in the derogatory sense of crafty,' We therefore see - that the serpent is not represented as crafty and enticing, but as an ethereal creative force which unites the positive and negative and enables them to bring forth. "In the Egyptian mythology, Kneph the Eternal unrevealed Absolut is represented by a snake-emblem of eternity encircling a water-urn, with his head hovering over the waters, which he incubates with his breath. In this case the serpent is Agathodaimon, the good spirit; in its opposite aspect it is the Kakothodaimonthe bad one." (in Isis Unveiled, by Blavatsky, I, 133 - ps. Mam ten tekst na moim profilu Chomika*)

It is owing to the serpent being oviparous,
that it became a symbol of Wisdom and an
emblem of the Logoi, or the Self-Born.

* * *

The Creative God emerges from the Egg that
issues from the mouth of Kneph, as a winged. Serpent, for the Serpent is the symbol of the
All-Wisdom. With the Hebrews the same Deity
is glyphed by the Flying or 'Fiery Serpents' of
Moses in the Wilderness; and with the Alexandrian
Mystic she becomes the Orphio-Christos, the
Logos of the Gnostics. The Protestants try to
show that the allegory of the Brazen Serpent and
the Fiery Serpents has a direct reference to
the mystery of the Christ and the Crucifixion,
whereas, in truth, it has a far nearer relation to
the Mystery of generation, when dissociated from
the Egg with the Central Germ, or the Circle
with its Central Point. Without the Egg it was
purely a phallic symbol, but when associated therewith,
it related to cosmic creation.

* * *

So little have the first Christians tinder.
Stood the first four chapters of Genesis in their
esoteric meaning, that they have never perceived
that not only was no sin intended but that
the 'Serpent was actually the 'Lord God' himself,
who, as Ophis, the Logos, or the bearer of the
divine creative wisdom, taught mankind to become
creators in their turn. They never realized that
the Cross was an evolution from the Tree and
the Serpent, and thus became the salvation of
,nankind. By this it would become the very
first fundamental symbol of Creative Cause, applying
to geometry, to numbers, to astronomy, to
measure and to animal reproduction.

What can be plainer? The Divine Creative Force degraded by man has become through man's evil thoughts, the Tempter and Devil! Yet it must manifest in matter (number 4) as the cross, following the sequence of the O, 1, 2 and 3. Hence only when mere animal desire and the wrong use and abuse of this nighty .q'rtual force of creativeness, ha been crucified and balanced upon the cross of matter can the scriptures be fulfilled:

"For since by man came death; by man came also the resurrection from the dead." "The divinity of the serpent is proved by the occurrence of a horned serpent with twelve Roman gods on a Gallo-Roman altar. In other cases a horned or ram's-headed serpent appears as an attribute of a god.

M. Reinach claims that the primitive elements of the Orphic myth of the Thracian Dionysos-Zagrensthe divine serpents producing an egg whence came the homed snake Zagrens, occur in dislocated form in Gaul. There enlacing serpents were believed to produce a magic egg (= curious amulet, cosinected with the Druids, became famous in Roman times and is described by Pliny. This was the serpent's egg'; formed from the foam produced by serpents twining themselves together), and there a horned serpent was worshipped and horned serpents are known in other mythologiesthe horn being perhaps a symbol of divinity.

The homed serpent referred to above was not worshipped, any more than is the cross of the Christian world today, but was a symbol of Divine Wisdom. Stinson Jarvis explains it thus: "Out of the great female Egg parent, the M O O N (Mother EGG), comes the Druid sign of Wisdom, the Serpent. Thus every tail-sign, CU, growing out of the head, or Egg (as shown in the O), tells of the Wisdom that comes from the Head, and the carved Moon-priest at Palenke has a great CU hanging down from the back of his bead, because this wisdom serpent called CU comes out of the Egg, or Head, namely, out of the M I N D or Moon Deity, who is our word M I N D, and is also the Cat goddess pictured in my fourth Chapter.

Our 'Ophi-d-i-a-n' or Snake, is the Time-sign alphabetic Serpent named in the Greek word for snake as O-PH-I-S, which says CI RC-EL, 'The Island Sign,' because it named the Circle Church. The same kind of naming the Ophites, a [so-called] heretic branch of the early Christians, bad a Snake god named by them as the father of sciences; and their name Ophi-Te-s records their 'Snake God,' and themselves as 'Snake [Wisdom] People,' in the regular way."

 

Big Midday in the Solar System
Wielkie Południe w Układzie Słonecznym

It is therefore a mistake, due to ignorance of its symbology, to identify the serpent with evil or the devil. It was only by man's perversion of his god-like power to create, and his misuse of it for mere animal gratification and to further his own selfish ends, that he has created all the evil from which he and all the kingdoms below him have suffered from the time of its 1st misuse. Each stage of unfoldment and each passing phase of evolution has its needs and its highest point of expression, like the crest of each in-rushing wave of the sea. The sacred function of Creation, of which sex is but 1 expression, must not be confined merely to its animal function of procreation, for procreation is but 1 breaker on the shore of time. That which is called sex when operating through the sex organs of the body, becomes Divine Creative Christforce when operating through nature; Creative Ideation when functioning through the mind, and the outgoing of the Divine Breath, or the Urge to Manifest of the God-creativeness when functioning through the Cosmos, all being expressions of the Eternal Motion or the 1 Life of the Divine O. While the creative function must have its expression through our animal body, as must all our functions, and while it has its animal aspect, it is by no means limited to that animal aspect, but has its higher and spiritual uses as well.

"As to the importance of ardent love between parents, the irony would seem to be that many women, owing to early lack of hygiene and attention to perfect physical development, are incapable of reaching any depth of such feelings, while a few take actual pride in such insensitiveness due to distorted ideas of sex and chastity. Under such conditions, union for whatever purpose must be far from ideal. What it all comes to is that with some temperaments, a sacramental union for the deepening of unity and the blending of the two natures should be fully recognized apart from the careful consideration due to the creation of children."

When nature intends that the sex function in humanity shall be limited to procreation only, there will be but 1 season in the year when the human female can be impregnated. Until that time, the very fact that this is not the case shows that there must be otherand higher uses for that function.

 

Among the highly cultured Druid Priests who brought with them to Britain and Gaul much of the wisdom of their Hyperborean ancestors, every letter was a word and a symbol which pictured that which it chiefly represented. Later on these single-letterwords were combined into syllables and longer words, but always carrying with them something of the original meaning of the individual letters of which they were composed. As Stinson Jarvis shows: "As on many other carvings, the Ears of the High Priest who was deity, are shown by two forms of the letter ,O'. The alphabet word 'O' is the full Celtic name of the Ear, and its naming of this god-man's Ears is of itself a complete identification of his image with the Celtic Church.

The Church named herself by the 'O'; and because she was the Ear, Eye and Mouth of the world, the 'O' names all three, as in Os (Oz?), the mouth, Oculus and Ophthalmos, the Eye, and 'O', Og and Ous, the Ear. Consequently the winged 'O' was the regular record carving of the Church. Our 'O' named the Eye, Ear and Mouth, because this was the EYE of the Circle Church, named in the Celtic as A I N, meaning both Eye and Circle, and was carved in America and everywhere as the Winged Eye or Circle. Thus the vision-forms of Ezekiel are described as 'covered with eyes,' as the Los Angeles king-tablets from Teotihuacan are also covered with Eyes, picturing the all-seeing eye of the deity Church." Thus the O' as the symbol of the Boundless Deity from whence all things come into manifestation, became the symbol of their church, because the church represented that Deity among men, and because their Priests, being the descendants of the Missionary-Initiates from the original sacred college of the ancient Hyperboreans, set forth the principles and worship of the one O (Snake = Wąż/Wężowy Lud) Deity to the peoples of Britain and Gaul, just as did brother Initiates sent to India, Chaldee, Egypt, North America, Mexico and Peru.

 

The world wide travels of these ancient Missionary-Initiates and their descendants account for the finding of the same symbols and legends in all countries to express the same ideas. Their places of worship were therefore built in circular form, our modern word for a place of worship, church, being the same as the "Anglian C Y R C and C I R C and K I R K (captain Kirk from Star Trek, *Lol*) are all the same in naming the 'Church,' which in Britain was formed as a C I R CL E and named it." ' The circle was also their sign for Time, Turn and Cycle.

 

"Under any of its names, the Belt or Gird had the same reference to the circling of the sun which named the Church, and thus the Hawk which flies in a circle and describes this holy form in the air was chosen as a picture-name of the priesthood and named in Greek as 'KIRKos' (Church or Circle = rzymski Cyrcus/Cyrk). This is the Hawk which, as Job says, was made to fly southward, and in Egypt was the head of the local priesthoodhis name, 'KIRKos' recording him as the Circle and the Church."

To indicate their spiritual authority derived from the one O or including Deity, the priests, and often the rulers of various nations, wore as a head-dress a circlet of feathers, as do the American Indian Chiefs, the Kings of Hawaii and others. This head-dress "has the CI R C - L E - T of Feathers, because the light feather, under any of its names, always names the parent church identified with the Air; and the Anglian word for feather, as F - A E - D ER, also means Father," again the parent O) or source of all. Since the O is the plane in which the Deity -- that which contains the potencies of all spiritual powers -- is to manifest, in its perfect expression the Church on earth should be the plane of all embracing O which holds the potencies of all that humanity can require for the manifestation of its spiritual life, the true Priesthood being the Dot in the center of the circle.

The Round Towers of Ireland, of which only 18 or 20 out of more than 120 exist today, were connected with the Druid sacred colleges and hence were circular in shape. According to Jarvis: "The Round Towers of Ireland have never had their uses explained, but as the towers of Peru and Babylon were admittedly for astronomical purposes, so Ireland always bad her observatories; and as these were her chief structures and landmarks, their names were used to identify her with the secretive stories, and also to name her Time-gods, her astronomical priests, and even her coloniessuch as the Tyrians, whose name T U R - I, means 'Tower Islanders.'

That some of these observatories existed before the pyramids were built is shown in the fact that the picture of a Tower is built inside the Great Pyramid to name our T U R of Jupiter." In the book of Daniel (iii) we are told that Nebuchadnezzar set up his wonderful golden image in the Plain of Dura, the meaning of Dura being a "round or circular enclosure." And the round Tower of Belus or Bel in the center of the circular Temple of the Sun in_Babylon is familiar to all classical students and anti-quarians. The steeple or tower connected with the temple or place of worship in Christian and other countries today is but a survival of this once sacred syrnbology.

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End of Part II