Dearest reader friends:
On this occasion I am sending you a beautiful engraving that appears in a book called Encomium musices ─namely: ‘Musical praise’─. These are 16 engravings published approximately in the year 1600 in Antwerp, Belgium, and which represent a praise to the Creator Verb through images that illustrate events from the Bible. At the bottom of each engraving is a biblical quotation paraphrased in Latin hexameters.
The full title of the book containing these engravings is Encomium musices quod ex sacris litteris concinnobat Philip Gallaeus. Iconibus exprimebat pictor celeberrimus lo Stradanas versibus illustrabat doctissimus lo Bochius, urbi Antverp.
Translation: ‘The musical Praise composed by Felipe Gallaeus from the sacred letters; the famous painter expressed it in icons; the more learned Bochius explained it in verse, in the city of Antwerp.’
I am now sending you the first engraving entitled…
…CREATION, JOB, 38
I now present to you the Latin text that accompanies this engraving:
Quid, mortalis, eras, et ubi, quum maxima terrae Fundamenta Deus posui? Coecumque resolvit Materies quum prima Chaos, cum machina formis Est distincta suis? quum laudibus omnia nostris Sidera, coelicolumque chorus miratus inhaesit, iubilaque aligeri cecinerunt laeta ministri? Iob cap. 38.
Translation:
‘What were you, mortal, and where when God laid the greatest foundations of the Earth, along with that he released matter from the first Chaos, in the form of machines. Is yours different? Who praises our entire night sky, in which the astonished choirs of the inhabitants of the sky ─Gods and Goddesses─ participate profoundly/closely. Did the happy ministers sing the songs of joy?’
Having already translated our Latin phrase, let us now go to the description of everything that our engraving entails.
First of all, I have to tell you that this artistic work takes us back to the very beginning of creation, or, in other words, to the beginning of our current Maha-Manvantara. The Latin phrase makes this clear when it speaks of the first chaos. Our Patriarch Samael explains to us in many of his conferences that, certainly, Genesis should never be interpreted literally, as many conceited theologians and pseudo-sapients do.
And, likewise, our Avatara has always called the forms given to creation by the Theomegaologos “little machines that receive and transmit energies from the Cosmos that are then retransmitted to the superior layers of the worlds.” This is very well explained in one of the conferences of our Guru, entitled “THE ARCHÉ”. In it, the verb of our Christ of Aquarius emphasizes the fact that from that chaos or alchemical nebula emergedall the forms that we can see, touch, palpate and feel today as part of this cosmic scenario.
In that same dissertation our Master tells us that, in the dawn of creation, the Elohim –namely divine or angelic hierarchies, Logos, etc.– all polarized themselves by unfolding two polarities from themselves: one masculine and the other feminine. Once polarized, then, by order of the most holy Theomegalogos, they performed a most pure act of Sexual Magic, and with the help of their throats and the memory of past Maha-Manvantaras they intoned the words of power ─namely: mantras─, which gave form to the various dimensions of sidereal space with everything that was going to fill them.
The work of the GREAT ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE has always been grandiose, even though he has had to carry out the creation of KARMIC WORLDS like the Earth.
Note that in our engraving there are several Angelic Choirs, all, in one way or another, playing musical instruments alluding to the power of the UNIVERSAL SOUND ─the creative verb─.
We see three categories of divine hierarchies. One is very obvious, it is the central part of the engraving and easy to perceive with its musical instruments. In the background we see another, even more elevated category, made up of children who are close to the sacred syllables Yod-He-Vav-He ─JEHOVAH─ written in the Hebrew language. These children seem to be making a mystical chain around the sacred name of God.
In the lower part we perceive other Angelic Choirs, and this is to indicate clearly to us that in each sphere of our space –upper, middle or lower– the sacred notes that sustain the Universe firmly in its march are always present.
When we look profoundly at the illustration of our subject it is easy to realize that indeed the heavens, the firmaments, etc., etc., etc., are created and sustained by the CURRENT OF THE UNIVERSAL SOUND. This is the music of the spheres that has been so much talked about in YOGA, experienced during a MAHA-SAMADHI, and every sincere devotee eager to annihilate the ANIMAL EGO can come to perceive such celestial symphonies.
I will now add for you some transcendental words of our Most Venerable Avatar SAMAEL, let us see:
“The whole Universe is the incarnation of the Verb. That Verb is the Christonic substance of the Solar Logos.
In ancient times man spoke the divine solar tongue, and all the creatures of the earth, water, air, and fire knelt before man and obeyed him.
But when man ate of the forbidden fruit, he forgot the tongue of the Children of Fire and raised the Tower of Babel. That tower symbolizes all the grammars of the world. Then men were confused amidst so many languages.
In ancient times only the language of Eden was spoken, and it was with that sacred Verb that the Sons/Children of the Fire created all things.
And the Verb came into the world, and they hung Him on a tree on the majestic peaks of the Calvary. He came to his own, but his own knew him not.
The Word is the light that illuminates every man who comes into the world. […]
Your mind glows with the Sacred Fire, O Arhat!
Your mind flutters amidst the undulating flames of space. […]
The flames of space whistle ardently within the Igneous Rose in your throat. […]
The blazing flame of cosmic understanding, speaking the Verb of Light, is terribly divine.
Your mind is now a blazing bonfire, O Arhat! […]
Remember, my son, that all things in the Universe are but the granulations of the fohat. […]
Listen to me, O Arhat, the flames of the Universe now speak through your creative larynx unleashing tempests upon the multitudes. […]
The sexual force of Eden has now blossomed on your fecund lips made verb.”
─Excerpts from the work Igneous Rose by the V.M. Samael Aun Weor─.
“JOB, chapter 38.
Jehovah convinces Job of his ignorance.
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors;
11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!’
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken.
16 Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home?
21 Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great?
22 Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate waste, and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?
28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
30 The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens, or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?
41 Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?”
The titles of the 16 engravings:
- Creation, Job 38.
- The Song of Mirjam, Exodus 15.
- Saul among the prophets, 1 Sam. 10.
- David knocking before Saul, 1 Sam. 16.
- David’s Triumph over Goliath, 1 Sam. XCIII.
- David dancing before the tabernacle, 2 Sam. 6.
- Solomon brings the tabernacle to the temple, 2 Chron. 5.
- Elijah and the kings, 2 Kings 3.
- Sacrifice of King Asa, 2 Chronicles 15.
- Coronation of King Joash, 2 Chronicles 23.
- Nehemiah’s inauguration of the walls of Jerusalem, Neh. 12.
- The triumph of Judith, Judith ─apocryphal─ 15.
- Rededication of the Temple by Simon Maccabee, 1 Maccabeus ─apocrypha─ 13.
- Annunciation, Luke 2.
- Holy Mass.
- The Glory of the Lamb, Rev. 5.
Other texts in Latin:
Ioan. Stadan. Invent: ‘It was invented by Jan van der Straet o Stradanus’, Flemish painter (1523-1605).
Adrian. Collaert. Sculp: ‘It was drawn by Adriaen Collaert, Flemish draughtsman and engraver (1560-1618).
Phls Galle. Excud: ‘It was engraved by Philip Galle’, Flemish engraver (1537-1612).
I now add a few sentences for reflection:
“The spirit of man endures his sickness, but who can sustain a dejected spirit?”
Bible: Proverbs
“The human spirit advances continuously, but always in a spiral.”
Goethe
“The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.”
Gospel of Saint Mark
“The heart and the spirit are the two plates of a scale. Immerse your spirit in study and your heart will rise to heaven.”
Victor Hugo
“The force of the spirit imbibes in itself and snatches away the forces of the soul.”
Fray Luis de Granada
AGNOSCO VETERIS VESTIGIA FLAMMAE.
─’I recognize the vestiges of the ancient flame’─.
KWEN KHAN KHU
