Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01444)

ISIS007.TXT (Isis Unveiled, 1st Edition) - BEFORE THE VEIL
   (continued)

FAKIRS. - Religious devotees in East India. They are generally
   attached to Brahmanical pagodas and follow the laws of Manu. A
   strictly religious fakir will go absolutely naked, with the
   exception of a small piece of linen called dholi, around his
   loins. They wear their hair long, and it serves them as a
   pocket, as they stick in it various objects - such as a pipe, a
   small flute called vagudah, the sounds of which throw the
   serpents into a cataleptic torpor, and sometimes their
   bamboo-stick (about one foot long) with the seven mystical knots
   on it. This magical stick, or rather rod, the fakir receives
   from his guru on the day of his initiation, together with the
   three mantrams, which are communicated to him "mouth to ear." No
   fakir will be seen without this powerful adjunct of his calling.
   It is, as they all claim, the divining rod, the cause of every
   occult phenomenon produced by them. [Philostratus assures us
   that the Brahmins were able, in his time, to perform the most
   wonderful cures by merely pronouncing certain magical words.
   "The Indian Brahmans carry a staff and a ring, by means of which
   they are able to do almost anything." Origenes states the same
   ("Contra Celsum"). But if a strong mesmeric fluid - say
   projected from the eye, and without any other contact - is not
   added, no magical words would be efficacious.] The Brahmanical
   fakir is entirely distinct from the Mussulman mendicant of
   India, also called fakirs in some parts of the British
   territory.

HERMETIST. - From Hermes, the god of Wisdom, known in Egypt, Syria,
   and Phoenicia as Thoth, Tat, Adad, Seth, and Sat-an (the latter
   not to be taken in the sense applied to it by Moslems and
   Christians), and in Greece as Kadmus. The kabalists identify him
   with Adam Kadmon, the first manifestation of the Divine Power,
   and with Enoch. There were two Hermes: the elder was the
   Trismegistus, and the second an emanation, or "permutation" of
   himself; the friend and instructor of Isis and Osiris. Hermes is
   the god of the priestly wisdom, like Mazeus.

HIEROPHANT. - Discloser of sacred learning. The Old Man, the Chief
   of the Adepts at the initiations, who explained the arcane
   knowledge to the neophytes, bore this title. In Hebrew and
   Chaldaic the term was Peter, or opener, discloser. hence, the
   Pope, as the successor of the hierophant of the ancient
   Mysteries, sits in the Pagan chair of "St. Peter." The
   vindictiveness of the Catholic Church toward the alchemists, and
   to arcane and astronomical science, is explained by the fact
   that such knowledge was the ancient prerogative of the
   hierophant, or representative of Peter, who kept the mysteries
   of life and death.  Men like Bruno, Galileo, and Kepler,
   therefore, and even Cagliostro, trespassed on the preserves of
   the Church, and were accordingly murdered.

Every nation had its Mysteries and hierophants. Even the Jews had
   their Peter - Tanaim or Rabbin, like Hillel, Akiba, and other
   famous kabalists, who alone could impart the awful knowledge
   contained in the Merkaba. [Akiba was a friend of Aher, said to
   have been the Apostle Paul of Christian story. Both are depicted
   as having visited Paradise. Aher took branches from the Tree of
   Knowledge, and so fell from the true (Jewish) religion. Akiba
   came away in peace. See 2d Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter
   xii.] In India, there was in ancient times one, and now there
   are several hierophants scattered about the country, attached to
   the principal pagodas, who are known as the Brahma-atmas. In
   Thibet the chief hierophant is the Dalay, or Taley-Lama of
   Lha-ssa.  [Taley means ocean or sea.]

Among Christian nations, the Catholics alone have preserved this
   "heathen" custom, in the person of their Pope, albeit they have
   sadly disfigured its majesty and the dignity of the sacred
   office.

Scanned and uploaded by Alan Bain
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