N.O.X.

 

N.O.X.

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

“For the Goddess Night is superior to certain orders, but inferior to others; and as the first principle of things superessential, so Night is supercelestial [i.e. is above that intellectual order which is denominated Heaven]. Why, however, are souls not said to see Heaven, but to become situated in, and be conjoined with it, yet are not conjoined with the natures above Heaven, but perceive them only? In answer to this it may be said, that it is necessary contact should exist, as far a to a certain thing. Why, therefore, as far as to this? Because neither are the gods under Jupiter said to be united to Phanes; but this is alone asserted of Jupiter, and he is said to be united through Night as a medium.”

According to the qabalah the highest intellectual attainment is Chesed, which is the sphere of Jupiter and directly below the Abyss. One of the tasks for an Adept occupying Chesed is making contact with the world above the Abyss known as the Supernal Triad, as I stated in a previous essay, this world can be likened to Devachan which is the world between life and death. Night or Nox is associated with Da-ath according to the above quote and it is Nox which establishes a link between consciousness and the world above the Abyss. Jupiter becomes a medium for the most direct expression of the Supernal Light being united through Night (Nox) as a medium. Heaven is illuminated by the light that is brought into the phenomenal world by Phanes, this can be seen as consciousness, and Phanes is the creator of Heaven and Earth. Heaven then is LVX, wherein all is united, but it is, the principle which connects everything in Heaven and Earth, and so Jupiter is united to the rest of the gods within the Light but becomes an expression of the Supernal Light. Jupiter is thus separated from the Light via this distinction, the light which is always changing and in continual motion throughout eternity, such as a great ocean wherein life is created, and a metaphor for man's conscious evolution, from which Jupiter represents the highest attainment. Here then we have established man’s constitution via the symbolism of the primordial Orphic deities, whereby Nox is being, Phanes is consciousness or life and Heaven is likened to intellect, Earth accordingly corresponds to the physical body, or even the senses and emotions. Thus, Earth and Heaven are united by the Light with the gods, but Jupiter is joined to the Forms, through his connection with Nox which is the potential for creation, and indeed the source of creation to the lower worlds and everything in it. This establishes Nox’s connection with the Forms, which are made visible by the Supernal Light.

[..] Plato manifests that the place of the Nights is above the kingdom of the Heaven; but through the privation of figure, that it is above the order of the Cyclops. For theology says, that figure is first unfolded into the light in these, and that the divinities, the Cyclops, are the first principles and causes of figures which subsist every where.”

The Cyclops correspond quite perfectly with the Watchers in the Book of Enoch, who gave life to the Nephilim, as they share the same office, as the Nephilim were teachers to mankind and so are the Cyclops. They are the medium through which the supercelestial forms may be understood and communication between man and them is likened to preternatural communication.

“We must not therefore wonder on hearing that Vulcan and Minerva are the cause of figures. For Vulcan is the cause of corporeal figures, and of every mundane figure; but Minerva, of the psychical and intellectual figure, and the Cyclops of divine, and every where existing figure.”

The figures are the forms that are interpreted by the different faculties of the psyche and correspond accordingly to Vulcan, Minerva and the Cyclops, the latter is the highest and are said to be the first divinities. In Hermetic parlance, the Cyclops are likened to the Astral Light as distinguished from the LVX and the Supernal Light, which is the medium for inspiration from the former, as they serve to render the supercelestial figures intelligible. This difference is indicative of what the LVX, Astral Light and Supernal Light indicate, with regards to man’s psyche. For instance, LVX and the Supernal Light are linked to intellect and Spirit, however the Astral Light is representative of the archetypes of the collective unconscious and the lowest incorporeal manifestation of the supercelestial figures, which are beyond the scope of intellectual contemplation. It is only after the decent into the lower worlds or Heaven (LVX), that the Light becomes intelligible and the Astral Light is made manifest, which is here associated with the Cyclops.

“Love is the law, love under will.”