Seeing with Different Eyes - Cosmology and Divination

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Chapter Two
ontological) stages in the ascent to a divine realm which cannot be
envisioned topographically. This is the ascent to Ashur (Ash literally
meaning “the Divine One”), the winged Sun which may contain one or
three noetic hypostases, or to Adad (dis epekeina, twice-beyond), the
Creator of the noetic world according to the Chaldean Oracles. Proclus
relates it as follows:
So it is right that it should not be possible to apply a name to it, as if one
could be made to fit what is beyond all things. But to it “one” only can be
applied if one desires to express what not only Plato but the gods, too, have
called inexpressible. For they themselves have given oracles to this effect.
“For all things, as they come from one and revert to one, are divided,
intellectually, into many bodies.” They counsel us to get rid of multiplicity
of soul, to conduct our mind upwards and bring it to unity, saying, “Do not
retain in your intellect anything which is multiple”, but “direct the thought
of the soul towards the One”. The gods, knowing what concerns them, tend
upwards towards the One by means of the One in themselves. And this
precisely is their theological teaching; through the voice of the true
theologians they have handed down to us this hint regarding the first
principle. They call it in their language, Ad, which is their word for “one”;
so it is translated by people who know their language. And they duplicate it
in order to name the demiurgic intellect of the world, which they call
“Adad, worthy of all praise”. They do not say that it comes immediately
next to the One, but only that it is comparable to the One by way of
proportion; for as the former is to the intelligible, so the latter is to the
whole visible world, and for that reason the former is called simply Ad, but
the other which duplicates it is called Adad. 24
Adapa (or Oannes), the ante-deluvian sage (apkallu), brings forth a
revelation (taklimtu) regarding the initiatic death, rebirth and ascent to
Heaven. He is the perfect model of the theurgist whose heart (libbu) is able
to reflect the subtle cosmos and who becomes not only the servant of
Ea/Enki, but also the warrior of Inanna/Ishtar/Hekate. Thus, according to
the Chaldean Oracles,
Being dressed in the full-armoured force of the resounding light
(photos keladontos)
And equipping the soul and the intellect with three-barbed strength,
You must cast into your mind the complete sunthema of the Triad and
wander
Amongst the fiery rays not in a scattered manner but with
concentration. 25