Music by:
Ian Michael Augustine - "Metamorphosis"

“IMMORTAL LOVE! who ere the morn of Time,
On wings outstretch’d, o’er Chaos hung sublime;
Warm’d into life the bursting egg of Night,
And gave young Nature to admiring Light!—
YOU! whose wide arms, in soft embraces hurl’d
Round the vast frame, connect the whirling world!
Whether immers’d in day, the Sun your throne,
You gird the planets in your silver zone;
Or warm, descending on ethereal wing,
The Earth’s cold bosom with the beams of spring;
Press drop to drop, to atom atom bind,
Link sex to sex, or rivet mind to mind;
Attend my song!—With rosy lips rehearse,
And with your polish’d arrows write my verse!—

– Erasmus Darwin, “The Temple of Nature,” ENGLAND, 1802 CE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

“Sing, Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ]
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s Brook that flow’d
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th’ Aonian Mount, while it pursues [ 15 ]
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread [ 20 ]
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad’st it pregnant…”

– John Milton, “Paradise Lost”, Book 1, ENGLAND, 1667 CE

Enter, INITIATE!

How the creation was set in place in the world of the living:
When the Foul Spirit was undone and lying unconscious...
He lay stunned for 3000 years.
During that inactivity of the Foul Spirit,
Ohrmazd fashioned the creation into the world of the living.
From the endless light he fashioned forth fire,
From fire wind,
From wind water,
And from water the earth with all things having bones.
As it says in the dên:
The first creation was a drop of all waters,
That is, everything was from water,
except the semen of men and animals, for that semen is from fire.
And first he established the sky to keep back.
Some say "First" [he established the sky,
Light, visible, very far and *in the shape of an egg*].
Second he established water, to strike the druz of thirst.
Third he established the earth with all things having bones.
Fourth the plants, to help the beneficent cow.
Fifth the cow, to help the Orderly Man (i.e., the perfect sacrificer).
Sixth he established the Orderly Man,
To strike and undo the Foul Spirit together with the evil gods.
And next he established the fire as living cinder,
And he attached to it the shine of the endless light.
Thus it has a good form, as is the fire’s wish.
And next he established the wind in the form of a fifteen-year-old youth,
To carry and uphold this water and plants
And the cow and the Orderly Man and everything else.

– Zoroastrian Bundahishn, Chapter 1A, PERSIA, 8th century CE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

Zeus is the first. Zeus the thunderer, is the last.
Zeus is the head. Zeus is the middle, and by Zeus all things were fabricated.
Zeus is male, Immortal Zeus is female.
Zeus is the foundation of the earth and of the starry heaven.
Zeus is the breath of all things. Zeus is the rushing of indefatigable fire.
Zeus is the root of the sea: He is the Sun and Moon.
Zeus is the king; He is the author of universal life;
One Power, one Daemon, the mighty prince of all things:
One kingly frame, in which this universe revolves,
Fire and water, earth and ether, night and day,
And Metis the primeval father, and all-delightful Eros (Love).
All these things are united in the vast body of Zeus.
Would you behold his head and his fair face,
It is the resplendent heaven, round which his golden locks
Of glittering stars are beautifully exalted in the air.
On each side are the two golden taurine horns,
The risings and settings, the tracks of the celestial gods;
His eyes the sun and the Opposing moon;
His unfallacious Mind the royal incorruptible Ether.

– Eusebius, via "Orpheus," CAESAREA/GREECE, 4th century CE

Enter, INITIATE!

In the beginning there was no earth and no
heaven, but darkness and wind enveloped the
deep: they extended every way without end,
from remotest time.
But when the wind conceived love of its own
'head', those things began to be mixed
together; and the name of that involvement was
Desire.
This was the source of creation for all things,
but its own creation it knew not; and it was
formed like the shape of an egg.
And out of that Desire the sun and moon
shone forth, the stars and the 'great stars'.
(Separation of heaven and earth.)
(Creatures born from the mud.)
And they were blind creatures and without
sense; but from them were born creatures with
eyes to see and ears that they might hear. And
their name was called Watchers of the Sky.
And after the air became clear, the sun heated
the sea and the earth, so that winds and stormclouds
arose, and the waters of heaven were
poured forth: the clouds dashed together, one
with another, and thunders and lightnings
broke forth from their chambers.
And at the crashing of the thunders the
Watchers of the Sky were awakened, and they
trembled mightily at the noise of them; and
they were stirred in their loins on the land and
in the sea, both male and female.

– Philo of Byblos, via "Sanchuniathon," SYRIA/PHOENICIA, 2nd century CE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

In the beginning was the Logos (Word/Reason),
and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life,
and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

– The Gospel of John, ASIA MINOR, 2nd Century CE

Enter, INITIATE!

"Of bodies chang'd to various forms, I sing:
Ye Gods, from whom these miracles did spring,
Inspire my numbers with coelestial heat;
'Till I my long laborious work compleat:
And add perpetual tenour to my rhimes,
Deduc'd from Nature's birth, to Caesar's times.
Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,
And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of Nature; if a face:
Rather a rude and indigested mass:
A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam'd.
No sun was lighted up, the world to view;
No moon did yet her blunted horns renew:
Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky,
Nor pois'd, did on her own foundations lye:
Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown;
But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable,
And water's dark abyss unnavigable.
No certain form on any was imprest;
All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.
For hot and cold were in one body fixt;
And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt."

– Ovid, "Metamorphoses," ROME, 1st century CE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

The Lord brought me [Wisdom] forth as the first of his works,
Before his deeds of old;
I was formed long ages ago,
At the very beginning, when the world came to be.
When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
When there were no springs overflowing with water;
Before the mountains were settled in place,
Before the hills, I was given birth,
Before he made the world or its fields
Or any of the dust of the earth.
I was there when he set the heavens in place,
When he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
When he established the clouds above
And fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
When he gave the sea its boundary
So the waters would not overstep his command,
And when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
Rejoicing always in his presence,
Rejoicing in his whole world
And delighting in mankind.

– Proverbs 8:22-31, ISRAEL, 4th-2nd century BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

"First I sung the obscurity of ancient Chaos,
How the Elements were ordered, and the Heaven reduced to bound;
And the generation of the wide-bosomed Earth, and the depth of the Sea,
And Eros (Love) the most ancient, self-perfecting, and of manifold design;
How he generated all things, and parted them from one another.
And I have sung of Cronus so miserably undone, and how the kingdom
Of the blessed Immortals descended to the thunder-loving Zeus."

– Apollonius of Rhodes, "Argonautica," GREECE, 3rd century BCE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night,
dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and
heaven had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Night
laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps
of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages,
sprang the graceful Eros, with his glittering golden wings,
swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep
Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus
hatched forth our race (the birds), which was the first
to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist
until Eros had brought together all the elements of the world,
and from their marriage Heaven, Ocean, Earth and the
imperishable race of blessed gods sprang into being.

– Aristophanes, "The Birds", GREECE, 414 BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

I invoke Protogonus, of a double nature,
great, wandering through the Ether,
Egg-born, rejoicing in thy golden wings,
Having the countenance of a bull,
the procreator of the blessed gods and mortal men,
The renowned Light, the far-celebrated Ericepaeus,
Ineffable, occult, impetuous, all-glittering strength;
Who scatters the twilight clouds of darkness from the eyes,
And roam throughout the world upon the flight of thy wings,
Who brings forth the pure and brilliant light, wherefore I invoke thee as Phanes,
As Priapus the king, and as dazzling fountain of splendor.
Come, then, blessed being, full of wisdom and generation, come in joy
To thy sacred, ever-varying mystery. Be present with the Priests of thy Orgies.

– Orphic Hymn to Protogonus, GREECE, 5th century BCE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

“These things declare to me from the beginning,
you Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus,
and tell me which of them first came to be.
In truth at first Chaos came to be,
but next wide-bosomed Earth,
the ever-sure foundation of all the deathless ones
who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus,
and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth,
and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods,
who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind
and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.
From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night;
but of Night were born Aether and Day,
whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebus.
And Earth first bore starry Heaven, equal to herself,
to cover her on every side, and to be
an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods.

– Hesiod, “Theogony,” GREECE, 7th century BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

Heart took shape in the form of Atum. Tongue took shape in the form of Atum. It is Ptah, the very great, who has given [life] to all the gods and their kas through this heart and through this tongue, from which Horus had come forth as Ptah, from which Thoth had come forth as Ptah.

Thus heart and tongue rule over all the limbs in accordance with the teaching that it (the heart, or: he, Ptah) is in every body and it (the tongue, or: he Ptah) is in every mouth of all gods, all men, all cattle, all creeping things, whatever lives, thinking whatever it (or:he) wishes and commanding whatever it (or:he) wishes.

His (Ptah's) Ennead is before him as teeth and lips. They are the semen and the hands of Atum. For the Ennead of Atum came into being through his semen and his fingers. But the Ennead is the teeth and the lips in this mouth which pronounced the name of every thing, from which Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Water) came forth, and which gave birth to the Ennead.

Sight, hearing, breathing - they report to the heart, and it makes every understanding come forth. As to the tongue, it repeats what the heart has devised. Thus all the gods were born and his Ennead was completed. For every word of the god came about through what the heart devised and the tongue commanded.

Thus all the faculties were made and all the qualities determined, they that make all foods and all provisions, through this word, to him who does what is loved, to him who does what is hated. Thus life is given to the peaceful and death is given to the criminal. Thus all labor, all crafts are made, the action of the hands, the motion of the legs, the movements of all the limbs, according to this command which is devised by the heart and comes forth on the tongue and creates the performance of every thing.

Thus it is said of Ptah: "He who made all and created the gods." And he is Ta-tenen, who gave birth to the gods, and from whom everything came forth, foods, provisions, divine offerings, all good things. Thus is recognized and understood that he is the mightiest of the gods. Thus Ptah was satisfied after he had made all things and all divine words.

– Shabaka Stone, EGYPT/NUBIA, 700 BCE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

IN the beginning rose Hiranyagarbha (The Golden Egg),
born Only Lord of all created beings.
He fixed and holdeth up this earth and heaven.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
Giver of vital breath, of power and vigour,
he whose commandments all the Gods acknowledge -.
The Lord of death, whose shade is life immortal.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
Who by his grandeur hath become Sole Ruler of all
the moving world that breathes and slumbers;
He who is Loord of men and Lord of cattle.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
His, through his might, are these snow-covered mountains,
and men call sea and Rasā his possession:
His arms are these, his are these heavenly regions.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
By him the heavens are strong and earth is stedfast,
by him light's realm and sky-vault are supported:
By him the regions in mid-air were measured.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
To him, supported by his help, two armies embattled
look while trembling in their spirit,
When over them the risen Sun is shining.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
What time the mighty waters came,
containing the universal germ, producing Agni,
Thence sprang the Gods’ one spirit into being.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
He in his might surveyed the floods containing
productive force and generating Worship.
He is the God of gods, and none beside him.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
Neer may he harm us who is earth's Begetter,
nor he whose laws are sure, the heavens' Creator,
He who brought forth the great and lucid waters.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
Prajāpati! thou only comprehendest all these
created things, and none beside thee.
Grant us our hearts' desire when we invoke thee:
may we have store of riches in possession.

– Hiranyagarbha Sukta, Rig Veda, Book 10, Hymn 121, INDIA, 8th century BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

"There was neither non-existence nor existence then,
There was neither the realm of space, nor the sky, which is beyond.
What stirred? Where? In who's protection?
And was there water, bottomlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of day, or of night.
That ONE breathed windless, by Its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning.
All this was indiscriminate chaos.
All that existed then was void and formless.
By the great power of Tapas (heat) was born that ONE.
Thereafter rose Desire in the ONE from the beginning..
Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.
Sages, seeking in their hearts with wisdom
Found the bond of existence in non-existence
Their cord was extended across
Was there a below, was there above?
There were seed-placers. There were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence, this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows from whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen, perhaps it formed itself,
Or perhaps it did not.
The ONE who looks down upon it, in the highest heaven,
Only he knows, or perhaps, does not know.

– Nasadiya Sukta, Rig Veda, Book 10, hymn 129, INDIA, 8th century BCE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

This do I ask Thee, O Ahura and wish you to tell me truly.
Who has been the Creator and First Father of the Truth?
Who laid down the path of sun and stars?
Who made the moon to wax and wane betimes.
All these and many other things besides I wish to know O, Mazda.
This do I ask Thee, O Ahura and wish you to tell me truly.
What power doth hold the earth and the heavens apart
and prevents the later from falling down?
Who is the creator of water and plants?
Who imparts swiftness to the wind and wafts
from far the dark clouds charged with rain?
Who is the Creator inspiring Vohuman, O Mazda?
This do I ask Thee, O Ahura and wish you to tell me truly.
Who is the Creator of light and darkness?
What architect has fashioned sleep and awakening,
rest and activity? Who has created the dawn, the day and the night,
teaching the wise man to fulfill his daily duties properly.

– Zarathushtra, Gathas, Yasna 44, CENTRAL ASIA, 1100 BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And Chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into being,
And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;
Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven..."

– Enuma Elish, BABYLON, 1700 BCE

Enter, NEOPHYTE!

Hail, O waters brought by Shu,
Which the twin springs raised,
In which Geb has bathed his limbs,
So that hearts lost fear, hearts lost dread.
I was born in Nun
Before there was sky,
Before there was earth,
Before there were mountains,
Before there was strife,
Before fear came about through the Horus Eye.

– Pyramid Text of Pepi I, EGYPT, 2300 BCE

Enter, INITIATE!

Excerpt from: "Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis: Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture"
Walter Burkert, Harvard University Press, 2004