The Secret Teachings of All Ages

by Manly Palmer Hall

The Secret Teachings of All Ages:

An Encyclopedic outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian symbolical philosophy
Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings concealed within the Rituals, Allegories, and Mysteries of all Ages
By
Manly Palmer Hall
San Francisco
Printed for Manly P. Hall
By H.S. Crocker Company, Inc.
MCMXXVIII

This Book is dedicated to the Rational Soul of the World

• Preface
• Introduction

Chapters

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies which have influenced modern Masonic symbolism

Ancient systems of education--Celsus concerning the Christians--Knowledge necessary to right living--The Druidic Mysteries of Britain and Gaul--The Rites of Mithras--The Mithraic and Christian Mysteries contrasted.

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies, Part II

The Gnostic Mysteries--Simon Magus and Basilides--Abraxas, the Gnostic concept of Deity--The Mysteries of Serapis--Labyrinth symbolism--The Odinic, or Gothic, Mysteries.

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies, Part III

The Eleusinian Mysteries--The Lesser Rites--The Greater Rites--The Orphic Mysteries--The Bacchic Mysteries--The Dionysiac Mysteries.

Atlantis and the gods of antiquity

Plato's Atlantis in the light of modern science-The Myth of the Dying God-The Rite of Tammuz and Ishtar--The Mysteries of Atys and Adonis-The Rites of Sabazius--The Cabiric Mysteries of Samothrace.

The life and writings of Thoth-Hermes Trismegistus

Suppositions concerning identity of Hermes--The mutilated Hermetic fragments--The Book of Thoth--Poimandres, the Vision of Hermes--The Mystery of Universal Mind--The Seven Governors of the World.

The initiation of the pyramid

The opening of the Great Pyramid by Caliph at Mamoun--The passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid--The riddle of the Sphinx--The Pyramid Mysteries--The secret of the Pyramid coffer-The dwelling place of the Hidden God.

Isis, the virgin of the world

The birthdays of the gods--The murder of Osiris--The Hermetic Isis--The symbols peculiar to Isis--The Troubadours--The mummification of the dead.

The sun, a universal deity

The Solar Trinity-Christianity and the Sun--The birthday of the Sun--The three Suns--The celestial inhabitants of the Sun--The midnight Sun.

The zodiac and its signs

Primitive astronomical instruments--The equinoxes and solstices--The astrological ages of the world--The circular zodiac of Tentyra--An interpretation of the zodiacal signs--The horoscope of the world.

The Bembine table of Isis

Plato's initiation in the Great Pyramid--The history of the Bembine Table--Platonic theory of ideas--The interplay of the three philosophical zodiacs--The Chaldean philosophy of triads--The Orphic Egg.

Wonder of antiquity

The ever-burning lamps--The oracle of Delphi--The Dodonean oracle--The oracle of Trophonius--The initiated architects--The Seven Wonders of the world.

The life and philosophy of Pythagoras

Pythagoras and the School of Crotona--Pythagoric fundamentals--The symmetrical solids--The symbolic aphorisms of Pythagoras--Pythagorean astronomy--Kepler's theory of the universe.

Pythagorean mathematics

The theory of numbers--The numerical values of letters--Method of securing the numerical Power of words--An introduction to the Pythagorean theory of numbers--The sieve of Eratosthenes--The meanings of the ten numbers.

The human body in symbolism

The philosophical manikin--The three universal centers--The temples of initiation--The hand in symbolism--The greater and lesser man--The Anthropos, or Oversoul.

The Hiramic legend

The building of Solomon's Temple--The murder of CHiram Abiff--The martyrdom of Jacques de Molay--The spirit fire and the pineal gland--The wanderings of the astronomical CHiram--Cleopatra's Needle and Masons' marks.

The Pythagorean theory of music and color

Pythagoras and the diatonic scale--Therapeutic music--The music of the spheres--The use of color in symbolism--The colors of the spectrum and the musical scale--Zodiacal and planetary colors.

Fishes, insects, animals, reptiles, and birds

Jonah and the whale--The fish the symbol of Christ--The Egyptian scarab--Jupiter's fly--The serpent of wisdom--The sacred crocodile.

Fishes, insects, animals, reptiles, and birds, Part II

The dove, the yonic emblem--The self-renewing phœnix--The Great Seal of the United States of America--Bast, the cat goddess of the Ptolemies--Apis, the sacred bull--The monoceros, or unicorn.

Flowers, plants, fruits, and trees

The flower, a phallic symbol--The lotus blossom--The Scandinavian World Tree, Yggdrasil--The sprig of acacia--The juice of the grape--The magical powers of the mandrake.

Stones, metals, and gems

Prehistoric monuments--The tablets of the Law--The Holy Grail--The ages of the world--Talismanic jewels--Zodiacal and planetary stones and gems.

Ceremonial magic and sorcery

The black magic of Egypt--Doctor Johannes Faustus--The Mephistopheles of the Grimores--The invocation of spirits--Pacts with demons--The symbolism of the pentagram.

The elements and their inhabitants

The Paracelsian theory of submundanes--The orders of elemental beings--The Gnomes, Undines, Salamanders, and Sylphs--Demonology--The incubus and succubus--Vampirism.

Hermetic pharmacology, chemistry, and Therapeutics

The healing methods of Paracelsus--Palingenesis--Hermetic theories concerning the cause of disease--Medicinal properties of herbs--The use of drugs in the Mysteries--The sect of the Assassins.

The qabbalah, the secret doctrine of Israel

The written and unwritten laws--The origin of the Qabbalistic writings--Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai--The great Qabbalistic books--The divisions of the Qabbalistic system--The Sepher Yetzirah.

Fundamentals of qabbalistic cosmogony ain soph

and the Cosmic Egg--The Qabbalistic system of worlds--The Qabbalistic interpretation of Ezekiel's vision--The great image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream--The Grand Man of the universe--The fifty gates of life.

The tree of the Sephiroth

The thirty-two paths of wisdom--The Greater and the Lesser Face--Kircher's Sephirothic Tree--The mystery of Daath--The three pillars supporting the Sephirothic Tree--The four letters of the Sacred Name.

Qabbalistic keys to the creation of man

Gematria, Notarikon, and Temurah--The Elohim--The four Adams--Arabian traditions concerning Adam--Adam as the archetype of mankind--The early Christian Church on the subject of marriage.

An analysis of the tarot cards

The origin of playing cards--The rota mundi of the Rosicrucians--The problem of Tarot symbolism--The unnumbered card--The symbolism of the twenty-one major trumps--The suit cards.

The tabernacle in the wilderness

Moses, the Egyptian initiate--The building of the Tabernacle--The furnishings of the Tabernacle--The Ark of the Covenant--The Robes of Glory--The Urim and Thummim.

The Fraternity of the Rose Cross

The life of Father C.R.C.--Johann Valentin Andreæ--The alchemical teachings of the Rosicrucians--Significance of the Rose Cross--The Rosicrucian Temple--The adepts of the Rose Cross.

Rosicrucian doctrines and tenets

The Confessio Fraternitatis--The Anatomy of Melancholy--John Heydon on Rosicrucianism--The three mountains of the wise--The philosophical egg--The objects of the Rosicrucian Order.

Fifteen Rosicrucian and qabbalistic diagrams

Schamayim, the Ocean of Spirit--The Seven Days of Creation--The symbolic tomb of Christian Rosencreutz--The regions of the elements--The New Jerusalem--The grand secret of Nature.

Alchemy and its exponents

The multiplication of metals--The medal of Emperor Leopold I--Paracelsus of Hohenheim--Raymond Lully--Nicholas Flarnmel--Count Bernard of Treviso.

The theory and practice of Alchemy

The origin of alchemical philosophy--Alexander the Great and the talking trees--Nature and art--Alchemical symbolism--The Song of Solomon--The Philosopher's Gold.

The theory and practice of Alchemy, Part II

The alchemical prayer--The Emerald Tablet of Hermes--A letter from the Brothers of R.C.--The magical Mountain of the Moon--An alchemical formula--The dew of the sages.

The chemical marriage

Christian Rosencreutz is invited to the Chemical Wedding--The Virgo Lucifera--The philosophical Inquisition--The Tower of Olympus--The homunculi--The Knights of the Golden Stone.

Bacon, Shakespeare, and the Rosicrucians

The Rosicrucian mask--Life of William Shakspere--Sir Francis Bacon--The acrostic signatures--The significant number thirty-three--The philosophic death.

The cryptogram as a factor in symbolic philosophy

Secret alphabets--The biliteral cipher--Pictorial ciphers--Acroamatic ciphers--Numerical and musical ciphers--Code ciphers.

Freemasonic symbolism

The pillars raised by the sons of Seth--Enoch and the Royal Arches--The Dionysiac Architects--The Roman Collegia--Solomon, the personification of Universal Wisdom--Freemasonry's priceless heritage.

Mystic Christianity

St. Iranæus on the life of Christ--The original name of Jesus--The Christened man--The Essenes--The Arthurian cycle--Merlin the Mage.

The cross and the crucifixtion

The Aurea Legenda--The lost libraries of Alexandria--The cross in pagan symbolism--The crucifixion, a cosmic allegory--The crucifixion of Quetzalcoatl--The nails of the Passion.

The mystery of the apocalypse

The sacred city of Ephesus--The authorship of the Apocalypse--The Alpha and Omega--The Lamb of God-The Four Horsemen-The number of the beast.

The faith of Islam

The life of Mohammed--The revelation of the Koran--The valedictory pilgrimage--The tomb of the Prophet--The Caaba at Mecca--The secret doctrine of Islam.

American Indian symbolism

The ceremony of the peace pipe--The historical Hiawatha--The Popol Vuh--American Indian sorcery--The Mysteries of Xibalba--The Midewiwin.

The mysteries and their emissaries

The Golden Chain of Homer--Hypatia, the Alexandrian Neo-Platonist--The "divine" Cagliostro--The Comte de St.-Germain--The designing of the American flag--The Declaration of Independence.