Post by petergower on Apr 28, 2010 14:06:10 GMT 9.5
This is the Pythagorean tetraktys.
The Tetraktys contains in the whole universe, which is represented geometrically: 1 is the geometric point, 2 are the points by which man identifies the line, by 3 points man locates the plan and eventually, by 4 points, a solid. Alchemically, one is the Supreme Principle, two the reign of manifestation, three are the fundamental elements of humankind: salt, mercury and sulphur; eventually, number four represents the Nature. Theon of Smyrna says that this symbol was honoured by the Pythagoreans “because it appears to contain the nature of all things.” The Tetraktys of Pythagoras was the sacred symbol upon which the Pythagoreans took their most binding oath:
I swear by him who the Tetraktys found, Whence all our wisdom springs and which contains Perennial Nature's fountain, cause and root.
Yes, and in the H.R.A. ritual used in the Australian Federation of Co-Freemasonry the Tetraktys is said to symbolize the Higher Triad in man---the Will, the Intuition, and the Intelligence, energized and controlled by the Monad. It is then the higher counterpart of the Tetragrammaton?
The Theosophical model of Man runs along the lines of..
Spirit Soul Personality
which is composed of..
Mental body Emotional or astral body Etheric or energy body Dense 'physical' body
Looking at this I can see that, with what you say petergower, that it might be the bottom half of the tetrakytys? Unity -> Duality (top half of the tetrakytys) occurring before the creation of mankind?
I always think of the officers of the lodge as being representations of these 'bodies'. Thus the Snr Deacon (Mental Body) carries the commands of Spirit to the Soul. The Jnr Deacon (Emotional/Astal) being the messenger between the Soul and the Personality's consciousness.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth