(16) the Angels are not only imaged or framed out of the seventh Nature-Spirit, as the transitory Creatures are, but when the Deity moved itself to the creating of Angels, then in every Circle, wherein each Angel was incorporated or compacted together, there the Deity with its whole Substance and Being was incorporated or compacted together, [* Understand the two eternal Principles, viz. “the Fire and the Light, and yet not the Quality or Source of the Fire, but the Essence of it,”] and became a Body, and yet the Deity continued in its Seat, as before. Understand this well:

(171) But as they rise, so they go away again, for they are not incorporated or compacted together, as the Angels are: For these Figures are so formed in the Birth of the rising Qualities, in the Spirit of Nature, or Nature-spirit.

(24) On the Seven Minor Planes of the Great Spiritual Plane exist Beings of whom we may speak as Angels; Archangels; Demi-Gods. On the lower Minor Planes dwell those great souls whom we call Masters and Adepts. Above them come the Great Hierarchies of the Angelic Hosts, unthinkable to man; and above those come those who may without irreverence be called "The Gods," so high in the scale of Being are they, their being, intelligence and power being akin to those attributed by the races of men to their conceptions of Deity. These Beings are beyond even the highest flights of the human imagination, the word "Divine" being the only one applicable to them. Many of these Beings, as well as the Angelic Host, take the greatest interest in the affairs of the Universe and play an important part in its affairs. These Unseen Divinities and Angelic Helpers extend their influence freely and powerfully, in the process of Evolution, and Cosmic Progress. Their occasional intervention and assistance in human affairs have led to the many legends, beliefs, religions and traditions of the race, past and present. They have superimposed their knowledge and power upon the world, again and again, all under the Law of THE ALL, of course.

(30) The seventh Spirit is Nature, in which stands the corporeal Being of all six Spirits, for the six Spirits generate the seventh. In this Spirit stands the corporeal Being of Angels, Devils, and Men, and is the Mother of all the six Spirits, in which they generate themselves, and in which they also generate the Light, which is the Heart of God. Of the Third Birth or Geniture.

(9) This Elemental Soul, embodied in elemental substance as stated, is that Something which to the race has been known as the "ghost," "spirit" (in this case the term "spirit" is grossly misused and inappropriate), ethereal body, "fluidic body," "double," "wraith," "doppelganger," etc. It has sometimes been called "the astral body," but this is a mistake, for what the occultists have long known as the true "astral body" is something very different.

(23) All that we can say is that the Seven Minor Planes of the Great Spiritual Plane (each Minor Plane having its seven sub-divisions) comprise Beings possessing Life, Mind and Form as far above that of Man of to-day as the latter is above the earth-worm, mineral or even certain forms of Energy or Matter. The Life of these Beings so far transcends ours, that we cannot even think of the details of the same; their minds so far transcend ours, that to them we scarcely seem to "think," and our mental processes seem almost akin to material processes; the Matter of which their forms are composed is of the highest Planes of Matter, nay, some are even said to be "clothed in Pure Energy." What may be said of such Beings?

(33) Every Angel is created in the seventh qualifying or fountain Spirit, which is NATURE, out of which his Body is compacted or incorporated together, and his Body is given him for a Propriety, and the same is free to itself, as the whole Deity is free. [Viz. the Body.]

(104) "Nature and the Ternary are not one and the same; they are distinct, though the Ternary dwells in Nature, but unapprehended, and yet is an eternal Band, as is plainly unfolded in our second and third Book." Now observe here, how the Imaging in Nature is in the seventh Spirit.

(45) The seven qualifying or fountain Spirits have their compacted, or incorporated Body out of Nature, that is, out of the seventh Nature-spirit in the divine Power; which in this Book I call the Salitter of God, or the Comprehensibility, wherein the heavenly Figures or Shapes arise.

(19) The Plane of Elemental Mind (C), in its seven sub-divisions, comprises those entities or beings, invisible as are all such elemental forms, which partake of the nature of both animal and human life in a degree and in certain combinations. The highest forms are semi-human in intelligence.

(39) Yet you must know, that the Corporeity of the Element of this Creature is inferior to the Deity; for the Deity is Spirit, and the Element is generated out of the Word from Eternity; and the Lord entered into the Servant, at which all the Angels in Heaven wonder. And it is the greatest Wonder that is done from Eternity, for it is against Nature; and that may [indeed rightly] be [called] Love.

(31) In this Tone rises up the Power of all the six Spirits, and becomes a palpable Body, to speak after an angelical Manner, and subsists in the Power of the other six Spirits, and in the Light; and this is the Body of Nature, wherein all heavenly Creatures, Ideas, Figures, and Sprouts, or Vegetations, are imaged or fashioned. The Holy Gates.

(86) And as the rising up of the Spirits in every Place is, so the Tone also forms itself, but very meekly, and incomprehensibly to the Bodies of the Angels, but very comprehensibly to the animated or soulish Birth or Geniture of Angels: And as the Deity presents itself in each Place, so the Angels also present themselves: For the Angels were created out of this Being, and have among them their Princes of the qualifying or fountain Spirits of God, as they are in the Birth or Geniture of God.

(29) What we have said so far in our consideration of the individuals manifesting flashes or glimpses of this phase of consciousness, applies in a much greater degree to those who have penetrated fully into the higher sub-planes of this great Plane of Consciousness. On this planet, and on others, dwell Beings so fully awakened and unfolded in this phase of consciousness that they are as Supernatural Beings to the ordinary human being. Many of such beings are performing important offices in the unfoldment of the race, and the betterment of mankind. Many of these people have been regarded as Angels or Demi-Gods by ordinary people with whom they have come in contact in the past, and many of them are the Invisible Helpers of whose presence many of the race have been made aware by actual experiences.

(1) Moreover, with respect to the tenuity and subtilty of light, the Gods extend a light so subtle that corporeal eyes cannot sustain it, but are affected in the same manner as fishes, when they are drawn upward from turbid and thick water into attenuated and diaphanous air. For men who survey divine fire are not able to breathe, through the subtilty of it, but become languid as soon as they perceive it, and are deprived of the use of their connascent spirit. Archangels, also, emit a light which is intolerable to respiration, yet their splendour is not equally pure with that of the Gods, nor similarly overpowering. The presence of angels renders the temperature of the air tolerable, so that theurgists are capable of being united to it. But when dæmons are present, the whole air is not at all affected; nor does the air, which surrounds them, become more attenuated; nor does a light precede them, in which, being previously received and preoccupied by the air, they unfold the form of themselves; nor are they surrounded by a certain splendour, which diffuses its light everywhere. When heroes appear, certain parts of the earth are moved, and sounds are heard around them; but, in short, the air does not become more attenuated, nor incommensurate to theurgists, so as to render them unable to receive it. But when archons are present, an assemblage of many luminous appearances runs round them, difficult to be borne, whether these appearances are mundane or terrestrial. They have not, however, a supermundane tenuity, nor even that of the supreme elements. And to the psychical appearances the air is more allied, and, being suspended from them, receives in itself their circumscription.

(3) The following, also, will be no small indications to you [of the difference of these powers]. With the Gods matter is immediately consumed. With archangels it is consumed in a short time. With angels there is a solution of, and elevation from, matter. By dæmons matter is elegantly adorned. With heroes there is a coadaptation to it, in appropriate measures, and a skilful providential attention to it. And with respect to archons, those that are the governors of the world are present with matter in a transcendent manner, and in this way unfold themselves into light. But those that are material, exhibit themselves as entirely replete with matter. With respect to souls, also, those that are pure, present themselves to the view out of matter, but those of a contrary description are seen surrounded with it.

(7) You will kindly remember, however, that the Three Great Planes are not actual divisions of the phenomena of the Universe, but merely arbitrary terms used by the Hermetists in order to aid in the thought and study of the various degrees and Forms of universal activity and life. The atom of matter, the unit of force, the mind of man, and the being of the arch -angel are all but degrees in one scale, and all fundamentally the same, the difference between solely a matter of degree, and rate of vibration--all are creations of THE ALL, and have their existence solely within the Infinite Mind of THE ALL.

(2) These, also, may now be divided according to the difference of commixture. For mundane vapours are mingled with dæmons, and are unstably borne along, contrary to the motion of the world. Genesiurgic compositions of pneumatic substances are mingled with heroes, about which substances, also, they are moved. The archons of the world remain invariably the same, exhibiting the mundane nature which they possess. But the archons of matter are full of material substances. And souls are filled with an abundance of stains and foreign spirits, together with which, when they become visible, each of these genera presents itself to the view.

(114) In that seventh Spirit of Nature rise up also the heavenly Fruits and Colours, and whatsoever is apprehensible or comprehensible, and is like to such a Form, or Manner, as if the Angels dwelt betwixt Heaven and Earth in the Deep, where they ascend and descend, and wherever they are, there their Foot rests, as if it stood upon the Earth. [Text Forma.]