Appolonius Tyaneus
och
Simon Magus
 

Supplement 1: Apollonius av Tyana. Utdrag ur Teosofisk Ordbok av Helena Blavatsky

Supplement 2: Apollonius of Tyana from Isis Unveiled

Supplement 3: Simon Magus by G.R.S.Mead
 

HELENA BLAVATSKY

© 2005 Online Teosofiska Kompaniet Malmö 

HELENA BLAVATSKY 1831-1891

 

I boken ”History of the Christian Religion to the year two hundred” av Charles B. Waite, A.M. som änmäldes och recenserades i  Banner of Light, finner vi att delar av detta arbete hänvisar till Apollonius av Tyana – den storslagne thaumaturgisten av det andra århundradet e Kr. – vars like aldrig hade framträtt i det romerska riket.

”Den tidsperiod som denna volym har riktat in sig på har delats upp i sex perioder där den andra perioden som sträcker sig mellan år 80 e Kr. till år 120 e Kr., inkluderar ’Miraklens Tidsålder’, vars historik kommer att visa sig intressant för spiritualisten då han nu kan jämföra de manifestationer av osynliga intelligenser i vår tid med liknande händelser som utspelade sig vid den tid då kristendomen introducerades. Apollonius Tyaneus var den mest uppseendeväckande personen vid denna tid och han bevittnade ett dussin romerska Kejsares regeringstid. Innan han föddes så visade sig Proteus, en egyptisk gud, för hans moder och kungjorde att han skulle inkarnera i hennes kommande barn. Efter att ha följt instruktionerna som hon fick i en dröm så gick hon till en äng för att plocka blommor. Medan hon befann sig där så bildade en flock svanar en kör runt henne, och samtidigt som de ”klappade sina vingar” sjöng de i fullkomlig harmoni. Medan de var engagerade i detta fläktades luften av en mild västanvind, och Appolonius föddes.”

Detta är en legend som på den gamla tiden gjorde varje anmärkningsvärd person till en ”Guds son” mirakulöst född av en jungfru. Vad som följer efter detta är historia. ”I sin ungdom var han ett under av mentala krafter och personlig skönhet, och han fann sin största lycka  i konversationer med lärjungar till Platon, Chrysippus och Aristoteles. Han åt inget som hade liv, närde sig bara på frukter samt gröder från marken; han var en entusiastisk beundrare och anhängare, och som sådan förblev han tyst under fem år av sitt liv. Varhelst han befann sig så reformerade han den platsens religiösa dyrkan och utförde underbara gärningar. Vid festliga tillfällen förundrade han gästerna genom på begäran få bröd, frukter och olika läckerheter att framträda genom materialisering. Statyer besjälades med liv och bronsfigurer intog ställningar och utförde tjänstefolkets sysslor från sina piedestaler. Och genom att använda samma krafter så kunde dematerialiseringar ske; guld och silverkärl med dess innehåll försvann; till och med gästerna försvann på ett ögonblick och sågs inte mer.”

”I Rom åtalades Apollonius för förräderi. När han skulle korsförhöras kom hans anklagare fram till honom och vecklade ut den skriftrulle på vilken anklagelsen hade skrivits, men blev mycket förvånad då han såg att skriftrullen var helt tom.”

”När han mötte en begravningståg sa han till deltagarna ”sätt ner likbåren så ska jag torka bort de tårar ni fäller för ungmön”. Han rörde vid den unga flickan, yttrade några ord, och den döde vaknade till liv. När han vid ett tillfälle befann sig i Smyrna så härjade en pest vid Efesos och han kallades dit. ”Resan får inte bli fördröjd” sa han, och  i samma ögonblick som han hade sagt dessa ord befann han sig i Efesos.”

”När han var nästan hundra år fördes han fram till Kejsaren av Rom anklagad för att vara en besvärjare. Han fängslades och när han satt inspärrad frågade han när han skulle friges? ’I morgon om domaren får bestämma; i detta ögonblick om jag får bestämma.’ Efter att ha sagt detta drog han ut sina fötter ur bojorna och sade: ’Ni ser själva vilken frihet jag åtnjuter’. Därefter satte han åter tillbaka fötterna i bojorna.”

”Vid tribunalen ställdes följande fråga: ’Varför kallar människorna dig för en gud?’”

” ’Han svarade: därför att varje människa som är god är berättigad till den benämningen’”.

”Hur kunde du förutsäga pesten vid Efesos?’”

”Han svarade: ’Genom att leva på en lättare diet än andra människor’”.

”Hans svar på dessa och andra frågor från hans anklagare visade på en sådan styrka att Kejsaren berördes djupt och han valde att fria honom från alla brottsmisstankar; men sa att han skulle hålla honom kvar för att få ett privat samtal med honom. Han svarade: ’Du kan hålla kvar min kropp men inte min själ; och jag vill tillägga, inte ens min kropp. Efter att ha yttrat dessa ord försvann han från tribunalen och mötte samma dag sina vänner vid Puteoli som ligger tre dagars resa från Rom.”

”Appolonius skrifter visar att han var en lärd man med en omfattande kunskap om den mänskliga naturen, parat med ädla känslor och en djupsinnig filosofis principer. I en epistel till Valerius säger han:

’Det finns ingen död av någonting förutom av den yttre skepnaden, och det finns ingen födelse av någonting förutom av den yttre skepnaden. Det som passerar från essensen till naturen ser ut att vara födelse och det som passerar från naturen till essensen tycks vara död, trots att inget egentligen uppstår och inget går förlorat; utan blir bara synligt nu för att sen försvinna. Det framträder för oss genom materians täthet och det försvinner för oss genom essensens finhet; men det är alltid detsamma, för det skiftar bara i rörelse och förhållande.’”

”Det var Kejsaren Titus som visade den största aktningen för Apollonius. Filosofen hade skrivit till honom efter att han hade blivit installerad för att be honom visa återhållsamhet i sitt ämbete och Titus svarade:

’I mitt eget och i mitt lands namn så tackar jag dig och jag kommer att vara uppmärksam på dessa saker. Jag har förvisso intagit Jerusalem, men du har fångat mig’”

”De underbara saker som gjordes av Apollonius som ansågs vara mirakulösa, vars källa och orsak den moderna spiritualismen klart och tydligt visar trodde man djupt på i det andra århundradet e Kr., liksom hundratals år senare; av kristna såväl som av andra. Simon Magus var en annan prominent mirakelgörare som levde i det andra århundradet och ingen förnekade hans krafter. Även kristna tvingades acceptera att han utförde mirakel.”

 ”Det finns hänvisningar till honom i Apostlagärningarna, kap 8, vers 9-10. Han var världsberömd och hade anhängare i alla nationer och i Rom restes en staty till hans ära. Han hade en ständig tävlan med Petrus i något som vi idag skulle kunna kalla mirakeltävlingar för att få klarhet i vilken som hade de största krafterna. Det står i ’Apostlagärningarna enligt Petrus och Paulus’ att Simon fick en bronsorm att röra sig, stenstatyer att skratta och låta sig själv lyftas upp i luften; till detta bör anmärkas: att som en konsekvens av detta så helade Peter de sjuka med hjälp av ett ord, fick de blinda att se etc. ’Och då Simon fördes fram till Kejsaren Nero så ändrade han sin kroppsform och blev ett barn, och i nästa sekund en gammal man; och vid andra tillfällen en ung man. Och när Nero såg detta antog han att Simon var Guds Son.’”

”I Petrus verk ’Hågkomster’, som är av tidigt datum förmedlades en berättelse om en offentlig diskussion mellan Petrus och Simon Magus, vilken kommer att återges senare i denna bok.

” Berättelser om många andra mirakelgörare ges och visar övertygande att den andliga kraft som dessa personer använde inte var begränsad till ett fåtal, såsom den kristna världen lär, utan att dessa mediala gåvor var i mångas ägo, då liksom nu. Uttalanden om vad som hänt, vilka citeras från författarna av de två första århundraden, kommer att sätta godtrogenheten på hårt prov hos de allra mest godtrogna att tro, även i denna era av underverk. Många av dessa berättelser är troligen överdrivna en hel del, men det är inte rimligt att tro att alla dessa är fullständigt uppdiktade och falska, utan en enda gnutta sanning som grund; och i ännu mindre grad nu då avslöjanden har gjorts till människorna sedan den moderna spiritualismens start. För att ge en uppfattning om hur genomarbetat varje ämne är i denna volym hänvisas läsaren till indexet innehåller tvåhundratretton referenser till passager som hänvisar till ’Jesus, Kristus’, och därför kan man dra slutsatsen att vad som förmedlades måste vara av stort värde för dem som söker information om Jesus var Människa, Myt eller Gud. ’Ursprunget och Historien över de Kristna Doktrinerna’ och ’Ursprunget och Grundandet av Auktoriteten hos den Romerska Kyrkan över andra Kyrkor’ framställs fullt ut, och mycket ljus kastas på ett flertal obskyra och omdebatterade frågor. Det är med andra ord omöjligt för oss, utan att gå alltför långt utanför denna artikels gräns, att ge full rättvisa åt denna mycket upplysande bok; men vi tror att tillräckligt har sagts för att övertyga våra läsare att den är mer än en vanlig intressant bok och är ett önskvärt tillskott till den befintliga litteraturen i denna progressiva tidsålder.”[1]

Vissa författare försökte låta Apollonius framstå som legendarisk, medan fromma kristna kommer att fortsätta att benämna honom en bedragare. Vore Jesus av Nasaret´s existens lika väldokumenterad i historien och han själv hälften så känd av de klassiska författarna såsom Apollonius var, så skulle ingen idag betvivla själva existensen av en sådan människa som var Son till Maria och Josef. Apollonius av Tyana var vän och brevkorrespondent med en romersk Kejsarinna och flertalet Kejsare emedan inget är kvar av Jesus bland historiens blad mer än att Jesus liv verkar vara skrivit i ökensanden. Hans brev till Agbarus, Prinsen av Edessa, vars äkthet bara styrks av Eusebius – Baron Münchhausen inom den patriakala hierarkin – kallas i skriften Evidences of Christianity ’ett försök till förfalskning’ till och med av självaste Paley vars handfasta tro accepterar de mest otroliga historier. Apollonius var således en historisk person; medan många av de apostoliska kyrkofäderna, då de placerats framför historiens kritiska granskande öga, börjar flimra och många av dem tonar bort och försvinner likt ett irrbloss eller ignis fatuus.

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[1] Second edition, Ivol., 8vo, pp 455. Chicago: C. V. Waite & Co Thomas J. Whitehead & Co., agenter för New England, 5 Court Square, Room 9, Boston.

 

HELENA BLAVATSKY
Theosophist, June 1881

Översatt från H.P. Blavatskys Theosophical Articles, vol III, sid.161-164, ”Apollonius Tyaneus and Simom Magus”. Utgiven av The Theosophy Company, Los Angeles 1981.

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Marmorbyst av Apollonius of Tyana
från Museo Archellogico Nazionale di Napoli i Italien

 

Supplement 1:

Apollonius av Tyana

Utdrag ur Teosofisk Ordbok av Helena Blavatsky

Apollonius av Tyana (gr). En underbar filosof född i Cappadocia ungefär i början av det första århundradet; en ivrig pythagoré som studerade de feniciska vetenskaperna under Euthydemus; samt pythagoréisk filosofi och andra ämnen under Euxenes av Heraclea. Enligt denna skolas doktriner förblev han vegetarian under hela sitt liv, och levde bara på frukter och örter, drack inget vin, bar kläder enbart gjorda av växtfibrer, gick barfota och lät sitt hår växa långt, liksom alla Invigda gjort både före och efter honom. Han blev initierad av prästerna från Aesklepius (Asklepios) vid Aegea, och lärde många av sina ”mirakel” såsom att hela de sjuka genom medicinens gud. Efter att ha förberett sig själv för en högre initiering genom fem års tystnad, och genom resor, där han besökte Antiokia, Efesos, Pamphylia och andra platser, reste han via Babylon till Indien, och då övergav alla hans närmaste lärjungar honom, eftersom de fruktade att gå till ”besvärjelsernas land”. Emellertid slog Damis, en tillfällig lärjunge, följe med honom på hans resor. I Babylon blev han initierad, enligt Damis, av kaldeiska Magi, vars berättelse blev avskriven av någon som hette Philostratus ett hundra år senare. Efter sin ankomst från Indien, visade han sig vara en sann Invigd genom att de farsoter och jordbävningar, konungars död och andra händelser som han förutspådde verkligen inträffade. Vid Lesbos blev Orfeus präster så avundsjuka på honom att de vägrade inviga honom i sina säregna mysterier, även om de gjorde det flera år senare. Han förkunnade till Atens och andra städers folk den renaste och noblaste etik, och de fenomen han utförde var lika underbara som de var många och väl bevittnade. ”Hur kan det komma sig, ” frågar Justin Martyr i bestörtning, ”att Apollonius talismaner (telesmata) har sådan kraft, ty de förhindrar, som vi kan se, vågornas raseri, vindarnas våldsamma kraft och attacker från vilda djur; och  medan vår Herres mirakler enbart är bevarade genom traditionen, så är Apollonius väldigt talrika och verkligen manifesterade som verkliga fakta?”. . . (Queast, XXIV). Men ett svar är lätt att finna på detta, genom det faktum, att efter Apollunius hade korsat Hindu Kush, så hade han blivit hänvisad av en kung till de Vises boningar, vars boningar det kan vara än idag, och blev av dem undervisad i oöverträffad kunskap. Hans dialog med korinthiern Menippus ger oss verkligen den esoteriska katekesen och avslöjar (när den blir förstådd) många viktiga mysterier i naturen. Apollonius var vän, korrespondent och gäst hos kungar och drottningar och inga underverk eller ”magiska” krafter är bättre bevittnade än dessa. Vid slutet av sitt långa och underbara liv startade han en esoterisk skola vid Efesos, och dog vid en ålder av nästan ett hundra år. [Theosophical Glossary 27]

 

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Supplement 2:

More on Apollonius of Tyana
from Isis Unveiled

 

Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, pp. xxiii-xxiv

The earth is a magnetic body; in fact, as some scientists have found, it is one vast magnet, as Paracelsus affirmed some 300 years ago. It is charged with one form of electricity -- let us call it positive -- which it evolves continuously by spontaneous action, in its interior or centre of motion. Human bodies, in common with all other forms of matter, are charged with the opposite form of electricity -- negative. That is to say, organic or inorganic bodies, if left to themselves will constantly and involuntarily charge themselves with, and evolve the form of electricity opposed to that of the earth itself.

Now, what is weight? Simply the attraction of the earth. ”Without the attractions of the earth you would have no weight,” says Professor Stewart; ”and if you had an earth twice as heavy as this, you would have double the attraction.” How then, can we get rid of this attraction?

According to the electrical law above stated, there is an attraction between our planet and the organisms upon it, which holds them upon the surface of the ground. But the law of gravitation has been counteracted in many instances, by levitations of persons and inanimate objects; how account for this? The condition of our physical systems, say theurgic philosophers, is largely dependent upon the action of our will. If well-regulated, it can produce ”miracles”; among others a change of this electrical polarity from negative to positive; the man's relations with the earth-magnet would then become repellent, and ”gravity” for him would have ceased to exist. It would then be as natural for him to rush into the air until the repellent force had exhausted itself, as, before, it had been for him to remain upon the ground. The altitude of his levitation would be measured by his ability, greater or less, to charge his body with positive electricity. This control over the physical forces once obtained, alteration of his levity or gravity would be as easy as breathing.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, pp. 471-476

”Sanang Setzen,” says Colonel Yule [in ”Book of Ser Marco Polo,” vol. i., pp. 306-307], ”enumerates a variety of the wonderful acts which could be performed through the Dharani (mystic Hindu charms). Such were sticking a peg into solid rock; restoring the dead to life; turning a dead body into gold; penetrating everywhere as air does (in astral form); flying; catching wild beasts with the hand; reading thoughts; making water flow backward; eating tiles; sitting in the air with the legs doubled under, etc.”

Old legends ascribe to Simon Magus precisely the same powers. ”He made statues to walk; leaped into the fire without being burned; flew in the air; made bread of stones; changed his shape; assumed two faces at once; converted himself into a pillar; caused closed doors to fly open spontaneously; made the vessels in a house move of themselves, etc.”

The Jesuit Delrio laments that credulous princes, otherwise of pious repute, should have allowed diabolical tricks to be played before them, ”as for example, thing of iron, and silver goblets, or other heavy articles to be moved by bounds from one end of the table to the other, without the use of a magnet, or of any attachment.” We believe Will-Power is the most powerful of magnets. The existence of such magical power in certain persons is proved, but the existence of the Devil is a fiction, which no theology is able to demonstrate.

”There are certain men whom the Tartars honor above all in the world,” says Friar Ricold, ”viz., the Baxitae, who are a kind of idol-priests. These are men from India, persons of deep wisdom, well-conducted and of the gravest morals. They are usually with magic arts ... they exhibit many illusions, and predict future events. For instance, one of eminence among them was said to fly; but the truth, however, was as it proved, that he did not fly, but did walk close to the surface of the ground without touching it; and would seem to sit down without having any substance to support him. This last performance was witnessed by Ibn Batuta, at Delhi,” adds Colonel Yule, who quotes the friar in the Book of Ser Marco Polo, ”in the presence of Sultan Mahomet Tughlak; and it was professedly exhibited by a Brahman at Madras in the present century, a descendant doubtless of those Brahmans whom Apollonius saw walking two cubits from the ground.

”It is also described by the worthy Francis Valentyn, as a performance known and practiced in his own day in India. It is related, he says, that a man will first go and sit on three sticks put together so as to form a tripod; after which, first one stick, then a second, then a third shall be removed from under him, and the man shall not fall but shall still remain sitting in the air! Yet I have spoken with two friends who had seen this at one end and the same time; and one of them, I may add, mistrusting his own eyes, had taken the trouble to feel about with a long stick if there were nothing on which the body rested; yet, as the gentleman told me, he could neither feel nor see any such thing. We have stated elsewhere that the same thing was accomplished last year, before the Prince of Wales and his suite.

”Such feats as the above are nothing in comparison to what is done by professed jugglers; 'feat,' remarks the above-quoted author, 'which might be regarded as simply inventions if told by one author only, but which seem to deserve prominent notice from being recounted by a series of authors, certainly independent of one another, and writing at long intervals of time and place.' Our first witness is Ibn Batuta, and it will be necessary to quote him as well as others in full, in order to show how closely their evidence tallies.

”The Arab traveller was present at a great entertainment at the court of the Viceroy of Khansa. 'That same night a juggler, who was one of the Khan's slaves, made his appearance, and the Amir said to him, ”Come and show us some of your marvels.” Upon this he took a wooden ball, with several holes in it, through which long thongs were passed, and laying hold of one of these, slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it altogether ... (We were in the middle of the palace-court.)

”'There now remained only a little of the end of a thong in the conjurer's hand, and he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him also! The conjurer then called to him three times, but, getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also! By and bye, he threw down one of the boy's hands, then a foot, then the other hand, and then the other foot, then the trunk, and last of all the head! Then he came down himself, puffing and panting, and with his clothes all bloody kissed the ground before the Amir, and said something to him in Chinese.

”'The Amir gave some order in reply, and our friend then took the lad's limbs, laid them together in their places, and gave a kick, when, presto! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us! All this astonished me beyond measure, and I had an attack of palpitations like that which overcame me once before in the presence of the Sultan of India, when he showed me something of the same kind. They gave me a cordial, however, which cured the attack. The Kaji Afkharuddin was next to me, and quoth he, ”Wallah! 't is my opinion there has been neither going up nor coming down, neither marring, nor mending! 'T is all hocus-pocus!”'”

And who doubts but that it is a ”hocus-pocus,” an illusion, or Maya, as the Hindus express it? But when such an illusion can be forced on, say, ten thousand people at the same time, as we have seen it performed during a public festival, surely the means by which such an astounding hallucination can be produced merits the attention of science! When by such magic a man who stands before you, in a room, the doors of which you have closed and of which the keys are in your hand, suddenly disappears, vanishes like a flash of light, and you see him nowhere but hear his voice from different parts of the room addressing you and laughing at your perplexity, surely such an art is not unworthy either of Mr. Huxley or Dr. Carpenter. Is it not quite as well worth spending time over, as the lesser mystery -- why barnyard cocks crow at midnight?...

We have in our possession a picture painted from such a Persian conjurer, with a man, or rather the various limbs of what was a minute before a man, scattered before him. We have seen such conjurers, and witnessed such performances more than once and in various places.

Bearing ever in mind that we repudiate the idea of a miracle and returning once more to phenomena more serious, we would now ask what logical objection can be urged against the claim that the reanimation of the dead was accomplished by many thaumaturgists? The fakir described in the Franco-Americain, might have gone far enough to say that this will-power of man is so tremendously potential that it can reanimate a body apparently dead, by drawing back the flitting soul that has not yet quite ruptured the thread that through life had bound the two together. Dozens of such fakirs have allowed themselves to be buried alive before thousands of witnesses, and weeks afterward have been resuscitated.

And if fakirs have the secret of this artificial process, identical with, or analogous to, hibernation, why not allow that their ancestors, the Gymnosophists, and Apollonius of Tyana, who had studied with the latter in India, and Jesus, and other prophets and seers, who all knew more about the mysteries of life and death than any of our modern men of science, might have resuscitated dead men and women? And being quite familiar with that power -- that mysterious something ”that science cannot yet understand,” as Professor Le Conte confesses -- knowing, moreover, ”whence it came and whither it was going,” Elisha, Jesus, Paul, and Apollonius, enthusiastic ascetics and learned initiates, might have recalled to life with ease any man who ”was not dead but sleeping,” and that without any miracle.

If the molecules of the cadaver are imbued with the physical and chemical forces of the living organism, what is to prevent them from being set again in motion, provided we know the nature of the vital force, and who to command it? The materialist can certainly offer no objection, for with him it is no question of reinfusing a soul. For him the soul has no existence, and the human body may be regarded simply as a vital engine -- a locomotive which will start upon the application of heat and force, and stop when they are withdrawn.

To the theologian the case offers greater difficulties, for, in his view, death cuts asunder the tie which binds soul and body, and the one can no more be returned into the other without miracle than the born infant can be compelled to resume its foetal life after parturition and the severing of the umbilicus.

But the Hermetic philosopher stands between these two irreconcilable antagonists, master of the situation. He knows the nature of the soul -- a form composed of nervous fluid and atmospheric ether -- and knows how the vital force can be made active or passive at will, so long as there is no final destruction of some necessary organ.

The claims of Gaffarilus -- which, by the bye, appeared so preposterous in 1650 -- were later corroborated by science. He maintained that every object existing in nature, provided it was not artificial, when once burned still retained its form in the ashes, in which it remained till raised again. Du Chesne, an eminent chemist, assured himself of the fact. Kircher, Digby, and Vallemont have demonstrated that the forms of plants could be resuscitated from their ashes. At a meeting of naturalists in 1834, at Stuttgart, a receipt for producing such experiments was found in a work of Oetinger. Ashes of burned plants contained in vials, when heated, exhibited again their various forms. ”A small obscure cloud gradually rose in the vial, took a defined form, and presented to the eye the flower or plant the ashes consisted of.” ”The earthly husk,” wrote Oetinger, ”remains in the retort, while the volatile essence ascends, like a spirit, perfect in form, but void of substance.”

And, if the astral form of even a plant when its body is dead still lingers in the ashes, will skeptics persist in saying that the soul of man, the inner ego, is after the death of the grosser form at once dissolved, and is no more? ”At death,” says the philosopher, ”the one body exudes from the other, by osmose and through the brain; it is held near its old garment by a double attraction, physical and spiritual, until the latter decomposes; and if the proper conditions are given the soul can reinhabit it and resume the suspended life. It does it in sleep; it does it more thoroughly in trance; most surprisingly at the command and with the assistance of the Hermetic adept. Iamblichus declared that a person endowed with such resuscitating powers is 'full of God.' All the subordinate spirits of the upper spheres are at his command, for he is no longer a mortal, but himself a god. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul remarks that 'the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.'”

Some persons have the natural and some the acquired power of withdrawing the inner from the outer body, at will, and causing it to perform long journeys, and be seen by those whom it visits. Numerous are the instances recorded by unimpeachable witnesses of the ”doubles” of persons having been seen and conversed with, hundreds of miles from the places where the persons themselves were known to be. Hermotimus, if we may credit Pliny and Plutarch, could at will fall into a trance and then his second soul proceeded to any distant place he chose.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. II, p. 597

Epimenides, the Orphikos, was renowned for his ”sacred and marvelous nature,” and for the faculty his soul possessed of quitting its body ”as long as it pleased.” The ancient philosophers who have testified to this ability may be reckoned by dozens. Apollonius left his body at a moment's notice, but it must be remembered Apollonius was an adept -- a ”magician.” Had he been simply a medium, he could not have performed such feats at will. Empedocles of Agrigentum, the Pythagorean thaumaturgist, required no conditions to arrest a waterspout which had broken over the city. Neither did he need any to recall a woman to life, as he did.

Apollonius used no darkened room in which to perform his aethrobatic feats. Vanishing suddenly in the air before the eyes of Domitian and a whole crowd of witnesses (many thousands), he appeared an hour after in the grotto of Puteoli. But investigation would have shown that his physical body having become invisible by the concentration of akasa about it, he could walk off unperceived to some secure retreat in the neighborhood, and an hour after his astral form appear at Puteoli to his friends, and seem to be the man himself.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, pp. 158-159

And the modern Schopenhauer, repeating this philosophical idea, 10,000 years old now, says : ”Nature is non-existent, per se ... Nature is the infinite illusion of our senses.” Kant, Schelling, and other metaphysicians have said the same, and their school maintains the idea. The objects of sense being ever delusive and fluctuating, cannot be a reality. Spirit alone is unchangeable, hence -- alone is no illusion. This is pure Buddhist doctrine. The religion of the Gnosis (knowledge), the most evident offshoot of Buddhism, was utterly based on this metaphysical tenet. Christos suffered spiritually for us, and far more acutely than did the illusionary Jesus while his body was being tortured on the Cross.

In the ideas of the Christians, Christ is but another name for Jesus. The philosophy of the Gnostics, the initiates, and hierophants understood it otherwise. The word Christos, Xristos, like all Greek words, must be sought in its philological origin -- the Sanskrit. In this latter language Kris means sacred, and the Hindu deity was named Chris-na (the pure or the sacred) from that. On the other hand, the Greek Christos bears several meanings, as anointed (pure oil, chrism) and others. In all languages, though the synonym of the word means pure or sacred essence, it is the first emanation of the invisible Godhead, manifesting itself tangibly in spirit. The Greek Logos, the Hebrew Messiah, the Latin Verbum, and the Hindu Viradj (the son) are identically the same; they represent an idea of collective entities -- of flames detached from the one eternal centre of light.

”The man who accomplishes pious but interested acts (with the sole object of his salvation) may reach the ranks of the devas (saints); but he who accomplishes, disinterestedly, the same pious acts, finds himself ridden forever of the five elements” (of matter). ”Perceiving the Supreme Soul in all beings and all beings in the Supreme Soul, in offering his own soul in sacrifice, he identifies himself with the Being who shines in his own splendor” (Manu, book xii. slokas 90, 91).

Thus, Christos, as a unity, is but an abstraction : a general idea representing the collective aggregation of the numberless spirit-entities, which are the direct emanations of the infinite, invisible, incomprehensible FIRST CAUSE -- the individual spirits of men, erroneously called the souls. They are the divine sons of God, of which some only overshadow mortal men -- but this the majority -- some remain forever planetary spirits, and some -- the smaller and rare minority -- unite themselves during life with some men. Such God-like beings as Gautama-Buddha, Jesus, Tissoo, Christna, and a few others had united themselves with their spirits permanently -- hence, they became gods on earth.

Others, such as Moses, Pythagoras, Apollonius, Plotinus, Confucius, Plato, Iamblichus, and some Christian saints, having at intervals been so united, have taken rank in history as demi-gods and leaders of mankind. When unburthened of their terrestrial tabernacles, their freed souls, henceforth united forever with their spirits, rejoin the whole shining host, which is bound together in one spiritual solidarity of thought and deed, and called ”the anointed.” Hence, the meaning of the Gnostics, who, by saying that ”Christos” suffered spiritually for humanity, implied that his Divine Spirit suffered mostly.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, pp. 341-342

Apollonius, a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth, was, like him, an enthusiastic founder of a new spiritual school. Perhaps less metaphysical and more practical than Jesus, less tender and perfect in his nature, he nevertheless inculcated the same quintessence of spirituality, and the same high moral truths. His great mistake was to confine them too closely to the higher classes of society. While to the poor and the humble Jesus preached ”Peace on earth and good will to men,” Apollonius was the friend of kings, and moved with the aristocracy. He was born among the latter, and himself a man of wealth, while the ”Son of man,” representing the people, ”had not where to lay his head”; nevertheless, the two ”miracle-workers” exhibited striking similarity of purpose. Still earlier than Apollonius had appeared Simon Magus, called ”the great Power of God.” His ”miracles” are both more wonderful, more varied, and better attested than those either of the apostles or of the Galilean philosopher himself. Materialism denies the fact in both cases, but history affirms. Apollonius followed both; and how great and renowned were his miraculous works in comparison with those of the alleged founder of Christianity as the kabalists claim, we have history again, and Justin Martyr, to corroborate.

Like Buddha and Jesus, Apollonius was the uncompromising enemy of all outward show of piety, all display of useless religious ceremonies and hypocrisy. If, like the Christian Saviour, the sage of Tyana had by preference sought the companionship of the poor and humble; and if instead of dying comfortably, at over one hundred years of age, he had been a voluntary martyr, proclaiming divine Truth from a cross, his blood might have proved as efficacious for the subsequent dissemination of spiritual doctrines as that of the Christian Messiah.

The calumnies set afloat against Apollonius, were as numerous as they were false. So late as eighteen centuries after his death he was defamed by Bishop Douglas in his work against miracles. In this the Right Reverend bishop crushed himself against historical facts. If we study the question with a dispassionate mind, we will soon perceive that the ethics of Gautama-Buddha, Plato, Apollonius, Jesus, Ammonius Sakkas, and his disciples, were all based on the same mystic philosophy. That all worshipped one God, whether they considered Him as the ”Father” of humanity, who lives in man as man lives in Him, or as the Incomprehensible Creative Principle; all led God-like lives.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. I, p. 434

No region on the map -- except it be the ancient Scythia -- is more uncertainly defined than that which bore the designation of India. Æthiopia is perhaps the only parallel. It was the home of Cushite or Hamitic races, and lay to the east of Babylonia. It was once the name of Hindustan, when the dark races, worshippers of Bala-Mahadeva and Bhavani-Mahidevi, were supreme in that country. The India of the early sages appears to have been the region at the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes. Apollonius of Tyana crossed the Caucasus, or Hindu Kush, where he met with a king who directed him to the abode of the sages -- perhaps the descendants of those whom Ammianus terms the ”Brahmans of Upper India,” and whom Hystaspes, the father of Darius (or more probably Darius Hystaspes himself) visited; and, having been instructed by them, infused their rites and ideas into the Magian observances. This narrative about Apollonius seems to indicate Kashmir as the country which he visited, and the Nagas -- after their conversion to Buddhism -- as his teachers. At this time Aryan India did not extend beyond the Punjâb.

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Isis Unveiled, Vol. II, p. 434

Prayer opens the spiritual sight of man, for prayer is desire, and desire develops WILL; the magnetic emanations proceeding from the body at every effort -- whether mental or physical -- produce self-magnetization and ecstasy. Plotinus recommended solitude for prayer, as the most efficient means of obtaining what is asked; and Plato advised those who prayed to ”remain silent in the presence of the divine ones, till they remove the cloud from thy eyes, and enable thee to see by the light which issues from themselves.” Apollonius always isolated himself from men during the ”conversation” he held with God, and whenever he felt the necessity for divine contemplation and prayer, he wrapped himself, head and all, in the drapery of his white woolen [sic] mantle. ”When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father in secret,” says the Nazarene, the pupil of the Essenes.

HELENA BLAVATSKY

 

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Supplement 3:
Simon Magus by G.R.S.Mead

 

Disputation with Simon Magus from Brancacci Chapel, Florence

 

SIMON MAGUS

AN ESSAY ON THE FOUNDER OF SIMONIANISM

BASED ON THE ANCIENT SOURCES

WITH A RE-EVALUATION OF HIS PHILOSOPHY AND TEACHINGS.

BY

G.R.S. MEAD

Simon Magus and Theosophy

 

 

     DIAGRAM OF THE SIMONIAN AEONOLOGY.^[121]

 

A. Aphthartos Morphê.  B. Nous tôn Holôn. C. Epinoia Megalê. D. Eikôn. a. Nous. b. Phônê. c. Logismos. d. Enthumêsis. e. Onoma. f. Epinoia.

 

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