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88 THE TREE OF LIFE
upon them with the eye of equanimity. The whole subject should
be carefully studied, and if half as much care and attention is given
by the reader to the study of the Gods as the average man devotes
to his daily newspaper, a great deal of useful knowledge of profound
importance in Magic will be gained.
The evolution and development of the Cosmos, spiritual and
physical, were first recorded by philosophers in geometrical changes
of form. Every esoteric cosmogony used a circle, a point, a triangle
and a cube and so on. These later were incorporated into a simple
geometrical form such as is called in the Qabalah " The Tree
of Life." To each cosmic development a number was applied, and
existing as the specific meaning of the number or the particular
phase of evolution was the activity of a God or a hierarchy of Gods.
Thus in the Qabalah we have ten primary emanations. To each of
these is a number assigned, and in each number therefore is implied
a God. There are ten series of hierarchies of cosmic forces, spiritual,
dynamic and intelligent, whose concerted operations result in the
formation of the physical universe. The tradition of the Theurgists
classifies them in a descending scale of purity and spirituality, from
the Gods to Archangels, Intelligences and Spirits.
Since, in Magic the object is to achieve in one way or another a
close and abiding spiritual union with these cosmic deities who are
the underlying realities and the sources of sustenance and vitality,
it is advisable to give a brief description of them as understood by
the Egyptians. The table below will classify them according to
their hierarchies and graduated scale, and the interpretation will be
assisted if the reader remembers the statements made concerning
the Sephiros in a previous chapter.
Of each one of these Gods, I shall present a short description
based on Egyptological texts, leaving the reader to interpret as he
will. The nature of the archangels, intelligences and spirits named
on the table below will be revealed by the attributes of the ruling
Deity.
Corresponding to the cosmic development represented among
the Qabalists by Keser, the Crown, Ptah is the Egyptian deity the
meaning of whose name is the Opener. For the Egyptologists
this seems to have been a stumbling block in their classifications,
for in the event that he is assumed to be associated with the opening
of the day by the Sun, singularly enough he never forms one of the
important groups of the Sun gods in the hieratic texts. In the Book