The Egyptian Oedipus, Volume II

CLASS VII. MATHEMATICAL HIEROGLYPHICS. 17 CHAP. II.

twice by 1000, or marked as a cube, it encompasses the corporeal physical or bodily nature, which is constituted from the temperament of the four elements; and consequently, it is submerged in darkness to the same degree that it is distant from the summit of light. The second [Orb], however, contains the celestial World, holding a middle seat between light and darkness, full of the Intelligences spiritual beings believed to guide the movement of the planets that move the Orbs. These beings both illuminate and fertilize the lower World—which is otherwise wrapped in darkness—through a perpetual derivation of light. The third Orb contains the Angelic World, the habitation of light, in which those celestial armies of blessed minds are distributed in harmonic order, dispensing and distributing the various

The Orders of Angels. Seraphim.

ministries of the lower Worlds. The Seraphim, burning with divine love, incite and draw all lower things toward divine love through the consonance of their works; they set them aflame through a perennial and, as it were, divine commotion.

Cherubim.

The Cherubim, absorbed in the immense Ocean of divine science knowledge, illuminate the minds of men and the lower Orders toward true science and cognition.

Thrones.

The Thrones are the disposers of the World and of the things existing within it; they arrange all things into perfect harmony. There are, therefore, three principal duties of this Order: first, that they purge lower beings from their impurities by a certain divine heat; second, that they illuminate them with the knowledge proper to each; and finally, that they perfect them in both regards. For all beings, by their very nature, long for the Supreme Good from which they flowed forth, and they strive with all their strength toward that same Good so that they may be joined to it and enjoy it as much as possible, and inflame others to achieve the same. Since these beings are closest to the Supreme Good in essence, power, and action, and are its closest participants, they are necessarily made good themselves. They bear no envy toward any being, and it is necessary for them to cooperate with all things in goodness through their own bounty; this is done, as we have said, by the triple action of illuminating, purging, and attracting. For through these same actions, the minds of the first triad; a group of three are also themselves illuminated most closely and continually by God and set on fire by divine flame; they are both aided in these works and impelled by a certain sweet force, becoming the primary ministers of divine providence.

The second Order also performs this same duty, but according to its own nature—being further removed from the Creator than the first—it carries it out more mildly. This order is itself brought to its own perfection by God through the higher Order. This perfection consists in the

Dominations.

Dominations exercising a certain free dominion over lower things; compelled by no force, they bestow their graces upon them, illuminating, purging, perfecting, and leading them to the Supreme Good. The Virtues do the same with a certain stability and fortitude proper to them. The

Virtues & Powers.

Powers, original: Potestates however, preserve order in these actions, keeping all things far from confusion. The third Order provides most closely for the human race: the

Principalities, Archangels, Angels.

Principalities seem to have the care of Princes secular rulers; the Archangels care for the leaders of the people; and finally, the Angels care for individual humans. Through these, the whole human race is illuminated in its understanding, purged in its will, and perfected in both. For it was not fitting for that Goodness, which stands above all, to procreate all beings and then leave them to chance, or to permit them to remain alienated and discordant from itself; rather, if they were to remain whole, as is Goodness itself, it was necessary that it join the universe together and keep it continually suspended from itself.

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