In Chapters VIII, IX, and X, H.P. Blavatsky traced the light of the central point into the Central Sun, the Solar Sun, and the Moon.
(Chapter VIII). THE LOTUS, AS A UNIVERSAL SYMBOL. H.P. Blavatsky opened this chapter in the "twilight of action" just as the "DARKNESS" of the Maha-Pralaya was beginning to disappear. As a symbol, the Lotus flower is the "Universe evolving from the central Sun, the POINT, the ever-concealed germ" in the water of Darkness. To understand the Lotus, she referenced a passage from the Egyptian The Book of the Dead, "I am the pure Lotus, emerging from the Luminous one . . . I carry the messages of Horus. I am the pure lotus which comes from the Solar Fields." This passage indicates three things: 1) the individual "I" as the central point emerges from the immaculate white disk 2) the individual "I" is the messenger for Horus (who resides in both the primary and secondary universe) as the conduit between the immaculate white disk and the Mundane Egg 3) the individual "I" streams into the solar fields as the Demiurge and resides there until it returns to the immaculate white disk. The Demiurge is the rush of gods materializing from the individual "I" as the Architect who penetrates the aura of the Central Sun.
(Chapter IX). THE MOON, DEUS LUNUS, PHOEBE: H.P. Blavatsky began this chapter in the solar fields. Osiris is now the Solar Sun, Isis the Moon. The Solar Sun gives life to the "whole planetary system" while the Moon gives life to our Earth globe. The Moon is a dual symbol in terms of its character. H.P. Blavatsky explained in The Secret Doctrine 1:400, "All the lunar goddesses had a dual aspect--one divine, the other infernal." When the Solar Sun penetrates her lunar atmosphere, she is good. When the lunar goddess blocks his light, she is corrupt. Her "psychic phases" are fickle. Only the Moon as the "genius of evil" can, for a short time, triumph over the "light and life-giving god (the sun)." In the 4th initiation, the candidate confronts the dual aspect (dark and light) of the Moon. The deceased minds of the dead live in her atmosphere. The candidate who traverses through her unholy environment must ward them off. But then the light comes, her surface is the receptacle of the life-giving god, and the hiding place of Thoth-Hermes or the "Secret Wisdom" among the lower Manasic elements of the Moon is revealed, per The Secret Doctrine 1:403. Quoting Plutarch (1st-2nd century AD) in Isis Unveiled 2:284-285, she suggested that Demeter represented the "deceased," but Persephone represented the "other death" or the Second Death when Manas pulls away from Kama because Hades (Persephone's home) symbolizes the auric field of the Moon. As the dead physical body "resolves" itself into the Earth, the dead astral soul "resolves" itself into the Moon. To understand these mysteries of the lunar initiation, one can review Plutarch's The Face Which Appears on the Orb of the Moon in Verses 27-30. In some ancient traditions, the Moon is transformed into the "Lord of the sun" because it commands the drawing down of the solar rays; the Solar Sun cannot resist. Through a ray, the solar fields transfer one of their own into her atmosphere and into the soul of the waiting candidate, so the Moon becomes the "immaculate virgin." As male-female deities, the Solar Sun and the Moon "fructify the earth" and its inhabitants. The Moon becomes "clothed with the Sun" and transmutes into a great reproductive cosmological power. Her child, the Earth, follows suit and produces its own kind.
(Chapter X). TREE, SERPENT, AND CROCODILE WORSHIP: H.P. Blavatsky continued with her focus on the Solar Sun and the Moon. In The Secret Doctrine 1:409, the crocodile is sacred to both Isis and Osiris because it carries the solar "ship," just as the Moon carries the solar ray. In its identification with the Moon, the crocodile becomes both a good and a bad symbol. The crocodile represents the Astral light, but it also represents the sacred wisdom of Thoth-Hermes. As Thoth-Hermes, it is, like the seven-headed serpents and dragons of other mystery traditions, the reflection of "the one and first manifested Light--the universal LOGOS" or the Central Sun, per The Secret Doctrine 1:411. This teaching relates to the Greek Tetractys. The 10 reflects itself into the 7 which reflects itself into the 4. That is, the immaculate white disk reflects itself into the Central Sun which reflects itself into the Solar Sun. It is the Solar Sun that impregnates the Moon as the immaculate virgin and transfers all these mirrored qualities to create a complete human being. The crocodile is the "dual symbol" of the "Sun and Moon" which fructifies the Earth and Lower Egypt. At the same time, the crocodile is the symbol of the "full Initiate" since the seven initiations are patterned on the seven phases of the Moon, three "astronomical" and four "psychic," per The Secret Doctrine 1:396-397.
Sources:
H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 2019).
Plutarch, The Face Which Appears on the Orb of the Moon, trans. A.O. Prickard (San Bernardino: Forgotten Books, 2019).
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