Part I: The Birth of a Goddess In the Mind of the All-Consciousness, there came forth the Word. From the Word, came Light. Set apart from Light was Darkness, and so the One became Two, and the Universe was manifest. The Heavens were set apart from the Earth. In the Heavens were suspended the stars and celestial bodies, the Planets, the Sun and the Moon. And to the Earth was given the Air and the Water. The All contemplated Itself.
At night the Demiurge, the creative principle of the material plane, would descend into Mother Earth, covering Her with Darkness, with Desire. The pater, pattern, father, and the mater, matter, mother. From their union were born many beings, the foremost in power of these were the twelve Titans, in accordance with the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The Demiurge felt threatened by his children, the Titans. Insecure of his position in the Heavens, he sentenced them to imprisonment. The Mother fell into despair. To save Her children, she devised a plan to dispose of the Demiurge. She fashioned a great curved sickle from the firmament, and asked Her children to castrate their father. Only the youngest of Her children was brave enough, the boy Time, known as Saturn. When night fell and the Demiurge began to cover the Earth in Darkness, in Desire, Saturn used the sickle to sever his father's genitals. 
The Masculinity of the Demiurge fell into the sea, where a white foam formed. From the foam emerged the goddess of Beauty and Love, Venus, born of Desire. She is Titania, the daughter of the Titans. 
The Titans now ruled the Universe, with Saturn as their King. Saturn had many children with his wife and sister, the Titan Rhea. Like his father, Saturn grew to be resentful of his children, the gods of the Pantheon, and fearing that they would overthrow him he decided the Titans should eat them and thus absorb their power. Saturn tricked the god Dionysus, the Orphic savior, into staring at his own image in a mirror. He dismembered the distracted Dionysus, burning the remains in Fire then submerging them in Water before the Titans began their feast. Venus, the personification of pure Love, was horrified by Saturn's crime. She saved the dead god's Heart from being devoured so that he may later be resurrected. 
Jupiter, ruler of the sacred mountain Olympus, became enraged when he learned of the murder. Jupiter slayed Saturn and the other Titans with his thunderbolts. From the bodies of the Titans, infused with the flesh of the dead god they had consumed, Mankind sprung forth and populated the earth. All human beings have a dual nature. A physical Titanic body immersed in the material plane and a Spiritual Heart, a temple of the Divine. It is the daughter of the Titans, Love, symbolized by the beauty of the Divine Feminine, that acts as the link between the two. 
The people who sprung forth from the bodies of the Titans were the Hyperboreans, who lived an idyllic life in the north, in a land of eternal springtime. It was a Golden Age. The Hyperboreans were a fierce and noble people. They shunned the profits of the marketplace, banning usury and sharing all things in common except sword and drinking cup. Men conducted themselves righteously, and women were chaste and loyal to the family. They viewed battle as a sacred rite, and prized their honor above all things. The mystic sages of Hyperborea heard the Holy Mantras emanating through the firmament by the All-Consciousness. Their spiritual principles, which guided all aspects of their lives, constitute the prisca theologica of the Primordial Tradition. Free from any maleficent psychic influences, all people at the time of death successfully obtained liberation, union with the Solar Self of All that is In Motion or At Rest. The Dionyssian Heart began to beat again. 
As all things are subject to the cyclic degradation of time, the unique climate conditions that allowed the Hyperboreans to thrive in the north ended and the land became encased in ice and snow. The Hyperboreans were driven south, expelled from Paradise. After contact with various proto-indo-european peoples they settled around the Black and Caspian seas, eventually forming the various family clans collectively referred to as the Scythians. 
Soon destiny called and the wanderlust of the Hyperborean descendants answered with a relish. Masters of the horse, the bow, and the sword, the Scythians ventured out in successive waves and conquered everything in their vicinity. The Gallo-Roman historian Pompeius Trogus described the Scythians as "a nation hardy in toils and warfare; their strength of body is extraordinary; they take possession of nothing that they fear to lose, and covet, when they are conquerors, nothing but glory". Their nomadic incursions into the lands of Europe, Anatolia, Persia, India, and Western China left a long lasting cultural legacy, disseminating the eternal truth of the All-Consciousness throughout the globe. Although the main current of their spiritual teachings were lost over time, it became woven into the fabric of almost every major western culture to varying degrees of secrecy and esotericism. 
It would be in the land of Egypt, a holy nation constructed as a mirror image of Heaven, that the Primordial Tradition would be reconstituted. The antediluvian Atlantean Wisdom of Egypt existed alongside of and interacted with the Hyperborean derived Esotericism of the Greeks, culminating in the establishment of the Mystery Schools. Many great philosophers and mystics such as Pythagoras and Plato were initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries. 
Alexandria, the great city of the Mysteries, was founded by the Greeks in 332 B.C. on the banks of the Nile. A city that numbered around a million inhabitants, it was home to many Greeks and Egyptians, and also Romans, Jews, Indo-Aryans, and various other peoples. Many travelers and merchants from across Europa and Asia enjoyed the rich culture and commerce of the city, and with them came the scattered remnants of Hyperborean wisdom which flourished and culminated in the rise of Hermetic Philosophy, Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism. These teachings represented a return to the idyllic Golden Age of Hyperborea, their wisdom enshrined in the degrees of initiation into the Mystery Schools. 
The Mystery Schools taught the presence of a benevolent creator, the All-Consciousness, and it was in the Mind (Nous) of this Supreme Divinity that all the Universe existed. The Universe manifested from the Word (Logos) of God. The pantheon of gods belonging to the mythology of various peoples were correctly summarized as archetypes of the Logos, personifications of human consciousness manifest to better contemplate the great Unknowable One. The myth of Dionysus being devoured by the Titans was one sacred to a Mystery School known as the Dionysiac Architects. 
The Dionysiac Architects preserved the harmonic wisdom of the Pyramid builders through their allegorical dramas. They were the architects of many of the wonders of antiquity, including the Temple of Solomon. In their work they concealed their esoteric doctrines in symbols. Their central teaching, the death and resurrection of Dionysus, was a metaphor for the fall of Mankind from grace and the means to achieve spiritual rejuvenation or salvation. 
Dionysus represents the rational Soul, the Divine spark within. The mirror in which Dionysus becomes enamored with his reflection represents the material world, the world of form and illusion. Dionysus is dismembered and immersed in the Alchemical elements of Fire and Water, representing the separation of the spiritual and physical bodies. He is scattered throughout the cosmos, represented by the bodies of the Titans. However his Heart is preserved by Love, the goddess Venus, so that his essence may not be lost forever. When Jupiter sees the Divine essence being scattered he slays the Titans with his Thunderbolts, which represent the power of Death, being the liberation of the soul from it's material prison. Mankind springs forth, part Divine, our existence being as a vessel for the Divine within, to preserve the rational Soul until rejuvination is possible and liberation from the material world of illusion is achieved. 
The means of spiritual liberation is left up to every tradition, as there is no way or path that is the same for every being. Everyone must find their own way, although throughout all traditions there are similarities. To the Dionysiac Architects, their temple building reflected the building of an inner temple to the Divine, echoing the Hermetic axiom "As Above, So Below". The teachings of the Dionysiac Architects have been absorbed into the greater stream of Freemasonry today, with the figure of Venus being replaced by the Virgin of Masonry, who weeps at the Broken Pillar where Hiram Abiff is buried. 
Nature was seen by the ancients as a glorious manifestation of the All-Consciousness. Everything was ensouled, every tree, every stone, every body of water contained the presence of the One. The process of understanding the laws governing Creation and of working in harmony with the latent energies in Nature towards spiritual growth and regeneration was known as Alchemy. The root word of Alchemy, Khemia, was the Egyptian work for "black", denoting the first process in Alchemy of putrefaction and decay. The ancient name of Egypt, Kemet, is derived from Khemia. In Greek this was translated as Chymeia, to which the Arab prefix Al- was later added. Al-Chymeia is truly the Royal Art of the Egyptians, and according to tradition was first taught by the greatest of all philosophers, Hermes Trismegistus. 
Hermes stands triumphantly over the dragon of materialism, holding in his right hand the Emerald Tablet. The Emerald Tablet contains the formula used to produce the Lapis Philosophorum, the Philosopher's Stone. Representing perfection, immortality, and enlightenment, the Philosopher's Stone is the embodiment of the Greak Work of the Alchemists. Of the Great Work the Emerald Tablet states: His Father is the Sun, His Mother is the MoonThe wind carried him in her bosomAnd his nourisher was the Earth Clearly describing the four classical elements, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, what is less apparent is the masculine and feminine duality of Sol (Sun) and Luna (Moon) that gives birth to the mystical child, the reborn Soul. 
In the above engraving we see the Sun and Moon combine to impregnate the female figure with the mystical child. This female figure is the soror mistica, the mystical sister who provides the elements to the Alchemist to mix in the krater of his own soul. Reborn through this penetration of feminine energy, vibrating in his innermost being, he is transmuted from the lead of materialism into the gold of spiritual realization. 
In 1616 A.D. the Chemycal Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was anonymously published as the forth in a line of manifestos proclaiming the existence of an Alchemical brotherhood known as the Rosicrucians. It describes the seven day journey of Rosenkreutz to the Chemical Wedding, the mystical union of Alchemy. Rosenkreutz receives an invitation to the Royal Wedding from a female angel. Upon his arrival at the gates he is greeted by a Virgin in a blue mantle. She carries a lantern to guide him through the dark to the castle, a symbol of the Illuminating female divinity. Rosenkreutz's cloak is caught in the castle door as it closes, representing the attachment to material possessions that must be abandoned as one begins their mystical journey. Once inside the Virgin's blue mantle is transformed into a red robe. Rosenkreutz takes his place among the other guests where the Virgin administers a test to decide who is worthy to enter the Wedding, reminiscent of the Egyptian "Weighing of the Heart" ceremony where Osiris judges the dead in the afterlife. The seven men, including Rosenkreutz, that are deemed worthy are crowned with laurels and permitted to enter. They arrive at the pre-wedding feast, and sit at tables covered with red velvet. Seven maidens set the table with cups and plates of gold and silver, and take their place by the seven men. This is representative of the duality of the Sun and Moon, masculine and feminine. The maidens are aspects of the Virgin, for she is the Divine Feminine, she embodies the regenerative powers of the Moon. 
On the day of the wedding Christian Rosenkreutz is introduced to the King and the Queen. The Queen's white robes shine bright as the sun, so bright that he can barely look at her. To the horror of the guests, the King and Queen are executed. The Virgin appears and tells him, "Their lives now rest in your hands. If you follow me, you will see this death gives life to many". The Virgin and Rosenkreutz keep vigil over the King and Queen's caskets in the Royal Treasury, until at night a ship arrives. He watches as the caskets are loaded aboard the ship, which leaves in the same direction it arrived. They return to the Treasury which is now empty. Instead of gold and gems inside they find a woman sleeping in the nude. A servant tells them that the woman is the goddess of Love, Venus, and that when she awakes she will give birth to the new King. She appears so beautiful that Rosenkreutz isn't sure if she is real or a dream. How can we ever know if Love is real or not? The next day the guests gather for the funeral of the dead King and Queen. The Virgin, now dressed in black, gives a eulogy for the deceased. Only the Virgin and Rosenkreutz know that the caskets are empty. She then tells the guests that it is time for the Royal Couple to be reborn. Seven ships arrive and take the guests to the King and Queen's resting place. Along the way Rosenkreutz and the Virgin encounter beautiful sirens who sing to the ships as they pass by: "From whence have we our birth? From Love.... So may we too, through flame of Love.... With Joy unite them once again...." They arrive at a Tower where, under the tutelage of the Virgin, Rosenkreutz and the other guests begin an Alchemical process to rejuvenate the King and Queen. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a new King and Queen is born. Rosenkreutz is told he is their Father, and Venus is their Mother. Upon returning triumphantly to the castle, Rosenkreutz is made a Knight of the Golden Stone. It is now his duty to guard the castle gates, to weigh the Hearts of aspirants seeking entry. 
Christian Rosenkreutz was distinguished from the other guests because he had seen the true identity of the Virgin, the one who holds the power of the Moon. It was the greatest of the King's treasures, the sleeping goddess of Love. He alone possessed the secret of Union with the Divine. In the Chemical Wedding we see many faces of Titania, of the Divine Feminine. The Virgin and the Maidens, the Queen, the Sirens and the goddess of Love. Yet the true nature of Woman remains ever elusive. Like Water it cannot be grasped. Is she the illuminator of Divine truths? The nuturing mother? The tender lover? The caring sister? Her power lies in the ability to see into the depths of Man's soul, to be the great Initiator of the Mysteries. Like the Moon that waxes and wanes she holds the keys to spiritual transformation and transcendence. Venus was known to the ancients as the Light Bringer. It appears illuminated in the night sky just before the rising Sun. As she guides the Sun, she guides the Soul towards the gold of transcendence. She preserves the Sacred Fire of the slain King, tending the flames of ressurection. 
I leave you with a quote from chapter seven of the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon: "For Wisdom is more moving than any motion: She passeth and goeth through things by reason of her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty: therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness. And being but one, she can do all things. Remaining in herself she maketh all things new, and in all ages entering into Holy Souls she maketh them known to God." Man, Know Thyself! - A Lion Amongst Men
