Lessons in Cosmogony II
Given on March 24th at 6:15 AM

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Praised be His Holy, Holy, Holy Name. Amen.

Hereshith bara Elohim athashamaaim vasretz. At first in principle, Aelohim brought forth the selfsameness of heavens and the selfsameness of earth. And one boy could get no further than the first letter, Alif, and he left the school and went away for many years, always repeating “Alif.”

The more one looks into this, the more can be seen how Moses has carefully put into veiled language the very principle of principles. This Principle he called Rash and from it came Shamaim and Aretz. Let us carefully examine these three words, their combination and see what has been hidden in them. From R come all things related to the straight line and from Sh all things related to the circle. But the best and proper form of the first principle is not Rash the Hebrew form, but Arsh the Arabic form—this word is the Principle of principals par excellence.

It begins with A, Aleph, the principle from which all things move, the source of all. This A represents unity and stability. All things come from it. As soon as this A moves, or generates, it becomes M, the generative source, and the path it takes in a straight line from its center is represented by Ar, the first to letters of Arsh, thence the form Mar, composed of Ma, to generate, the source, matrix, mother of things; Ar or Ra the movement from a center, a ray, an activity, a vibration; Mar, a vibration; Mar, a vibration from the source, sound, speech, word.

The movement or unfolding of A is Al, force, power energy, but in connection with its Source. AL represents motion from the infinite to the finite, and La represents the reaction or contrary motion from the finite to the infinite. The H in Allah signifies Life, or Spirit—that this must be taken in and as Essence and not as materiality. Therefore Allah, from the source to the manifestation, from the manifestation to the source, the essence of both. Therefore it is said that Zat and Sifat must be taken as parts of One—you must not consider Zat apart from Sifat nor Sifat apart from Zat, and this combination expressed by H or Hu. Therefore Allah means the source from whence all come add to which all return as stated by the Prophet; again as it is said that all the Qur’an is contained in a Sura and all that Sura in a sentence and all that sentence in a word, Allah, again proving that Mohammed was second to none as a scientist. Thus in another sense God has been called Abba, father, rather than Ar.

The Sh or rather the Ash form the unfolding of a center toward a circumference, the expansion of a point, the spreading out of A, which is called the Heavens, Shem, whence the mother letters, the movement of the word Mar, giving the name Sham. Or putting in another form, this is the Harmony which springs from Love being in motion. This is again proven by the fact that Shsh, the duplication of Sh, means Calm or Happiness. The single Sh alone lacks the balance which the double Sh gives, and which will be explained further below.

The Ar or Ra in motion gives form to all creations by its hardening as it gets further and further from its source, whence the elements Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Ether which even in English still retain the letter R. From Mr which means see in Egyptian, Latin, German, French and other languages, the repetition of M with these letters. And again the combination of Ram in some form, taken to get with Ab which means “Father” in the Semitic languages and “Ba” which means father in the Aryan languages we have the key to the words Abram, Abraham, Brahma, Bahma, etc. The meaning of this word is “He is the father or source of all creation and all things are HIS manifestations.”

The letter R, Rash, was originally a head, circle, combined with a straight line, whence the Greek Ro and our letter P. It is here interesting to note that not only does Rash become Prin in Latin, but the Latin letter P comes from the same form as the Greek- Hebrew-Arabic R, and the Greeks still retain this in Arche which is the same as Rash, Arsh and Erin. And when we use the very word “Principle” in its deepest sense it is hidden right in the form of the P, the circle mounted on the straight line, the next letter R having the same significance as in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek and also from the common source of these three, the Egyptian. This gives us the key to many names given to God, Ra, Horus, Ahura, Ishwara, etc. A further examination into Prin, dividing it into three parts P R N—the P representing the Source, the R whence our word harmony, Ray, vibration, etc., the straight line motion of this and the N, the Kabbalistic meaning of which was Beauty, the three principles contained therein.

The Greek word Arche has the same significance. It can be divided into three parts A R Ch, the first two of which have the same meaning as in Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian. The Ch corresponds to the Sh in the Semitic and the is N in Latin, and was in the form of a Cross. This gives us the key to the Christian Trinity: A for Allah or Abba, R for Ruach, Ruh, the Spirit—rays, harmony, and the Ch for Christ, Cross, etc., the manifestation of Beauty in Man.

The Greek Caballa can be further seen in the words Kalos which means beautiful, fine and good, and Kakos meaning evil. These words have three parts K AL Os, and K Ak Os. The difference is between the Al and Ak. The Pl is the same as Al in the Semitic Languages as appears in Allah, and the Ak corresponds to Ach as in Nachash and other words. In other words the Linguals R and B represent the motion of vibrations, centrifugal force, love, self sacrifice and the gutturals represent darkness, contraction, egoism. The same difference is in Kalos and Kakos as between the forces in Man and the Universe, and shows that even the ancient Greeks in their actual words as well as in their philosophy identified Goodness and Beauty.

Returning to Rash or Arsh. Our word Arsh has the same idea. Arsh is derived from the Greek Arshe and is pronounced somewhat like the Arabic Arsh. And to one who will study the meaning of this word, he will find hidden the same principles. So the Masons, in endeavoring to preserve the lesser Mysteries called God the “Great Architect.” The Lesser Mysteries are connected with R, symbolized by the straight line and connected with the earth.

The greater mysteries are connected with SHAM, the heavens, sound. From SHAM come SAUM and SAMA. When Jelal-ud-din Rumi instituted the SAMA dance, he was re-establishing a ritual of the Greater Mysteries and for that reason the profane are not allowed to these assemblies. Everything done, the silence and the sound, the motion and the quiet are symbolic of the greatest mysteries. No ritual so sacred has been given to man since the beginning of the decay of ancient Egyptian civilization thousands of years ago.

The Final creation is Aretz, the earth, A R Tz. The Tz means a limit, particularly the limit of a path taken by a vibration whence that vibration is transformed into something else, whence Aretz means the final manifestation of the first principle but still retains the A, to ever remind us that we cannot separate creation from creator and Sifat from Zat. This Tz has become the T in the Latinised Terra, Terre, etc. It is the end of our word Limit. In its form Tau, Th, it is the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet and when Christ was crucified on the crossed, of which Tau was originally a symbol, His last words were “It is finished.”

The letter Sh was originally a hieroglyphic of a winged fire. The Sufis have instead a winged heart as their symbol. What does this mean? The replacement of the fire by the heart is to remind us that Love is the center of all things, the first principle. But the fire is retained with the symbol of the star and moon. The star represents God and the moon represents us, the reflecting of God. This is hidden in the Salat. The Salat is the symbol in words as prayer and contains in a few words the story of creation, manifestation and all written herein.

The star and moon together also signify A, Aleph. The word Aleph originally meant a buffalo, then an ox, then in Greek it became elephant, a deer and in our language elephant, each of which has drawn it farther and farther from its meaning. When we look at a buffalo or even an ox what do we see? A form (the head, rash) contained within a semi-circle. It is, as its word, one half of the symbol of the point within the circle. Hieroglyphically it was also an ark, a place of refuge, and in so far as it represented a boat, it was like a gondola. This ark is mentioned much in the Egyptian writings and in the story of the flood. So arc, a part of a circle, etc. etc. All to remind us of A, Aleph, the source in which we should take refuge.

The two wings in the symbol are contained in the principle of Sh or Shsh, to show balance and harmony. The combination of Sh and R, the idea of a straight line gives us the word Shar or Shir which means law, and also Song, Melody or Poem, because these must contain rhythm and balance. This also gives us one reason why the six-pointed star is used as a symbol rather than the triangle. In the star is harmony and balance and the six points give us the word Shesh which means Six and probably was originally Sia or Ses. The form of our letter S has this harmony and it contains the idea why some of our letters are symmetrical and balanced and others not, even with all that has been lost.

The whole symbol represents Beauty and Beauty in form. It contains within it all symbols. If you do not see the six-pointed star which means, remember Harmony, it is in the wings. If you do not see the cross, that is in the heart, meaning love. If you do not see the point and circle, let the whole symbol and again the star and crescent remind you of that.

It seems that Prin is really a form of Prim, the M being permuted to N before the guttural C in princeps, principium, and so transliterated into other languages. The meaning of Prim is much clearer. From Prim we obtain Prime, Primary, Primordial. The M is distinctly the feminine letter corresponding to the third principle, Beauty, Destiny, the Circle etc. It is the first word of Mundus, meaning the world, in Latin, as well as the general roots connected with the Female principle in most languages. A cursory glance into a few Sanskrit roots shows that the above principles hold true in that language. If a more careful examination proves true, it will show beyond a doubt that the Divine language of Celestial Correspondences is not a myth, or phantom but something very real and that the great work of the initiates, Prophets and European Theosophists was not in vain. If this can be given to man, together with an exposition of the Cosmogony of Moses, and accompanying the spreading of the Message, then truly we shall see the way to the kingdom of God on earth. There is but One God, One religion. One Law, One Truth, One Only Being, whom we ever adore, worship and seek. May that seeking lead men to the true Path that the goal be in sight and that they may hunger and thirst no more.

Written by the Grace of God to Whom be praise forevermore. Hallelujah.