In this essay we'll focus exclusively on the positive connotations of creation as power dealing with the formation of entities beneficial to humankind. We'll explore how the terms "creation," "creator," and "creative" have been distorted ¹ beginning in the 1990s to change some meanings of these words into the exact opposite of the original and genuine meanings.

     We'll concentrate on the meaning, structure, and dynamic of creation As Power not only to attain an understanding of this elemental reality, but also to gain the ability to bring new entities into being or existence.

Creation Bringing into being or existence Investing with a new form Producing or bringing about by a course of action or behavior Producing through imaginative skill Establishing; constituting; founding The totality of all existing things: cosmos, macrocosm, nature, universe, world Any fictitious idea accepted as part of an ideology by an uncritical group; a received idea: fantasy, fiction, figment, invention, myth

      It may seem irrelevant to study the changing meanings of these terms, but we must keep in mind that language sets the limits as to what humans can experience, understand and accomplish. If a language lacks specific word-based concepts or if the people no longer understand those concepts--or misunderstand them--then their meaning and power cease to be available to them. If the original, genuine meanings of words are changed into corrupted meanings, then the thinking and behavior of people change drastically.

"Whoever wields power is also able to control language and not only with the prohibitions of censorship but also by changing the meaning of words." Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz

  The changing of the terms "creation," "creator," and "creative" is illustrative of how a large number of words are being twisted into aberrations of their original purport. Beginning in the early 1990s, "creation" came to have the negative connotation: "any fictitious idea accepted as part of an ideology by an uncritical group; a received idea: fantasy, fiction, figment, invention, myth." This meant that "creation" now included, as one of its "acceptable" connotations, this distortion of its genuine meaning.

      The degeneration of the term "creative" is even more instructive. Up till about 1987, "creative" meant:

Marked by the ability or power to create

Having the quality of something created rather than imitated

      In 1993, two new meanings for "creative" were added, with the word label "facetious:"

  1. Managed so as to get around legal or conventional limits, as in "creative financing"
  2. Deceptively arranged so as to conceal or defraud, as in "creative bookkeeping"

      In the 1993 Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary in which these new meanings were included for the first time, the word label "facetious" was defined as: "used consciously for humorous or playful effect." The inclusion of the label "facetious" indicated that these irregular connotations were not a legitimate or acceptable part of the meaning of the word "creative."

  The interesting thing is that after 1993, the word label "facetious" was dropped from Webster's dictionaries. This meant that the negative meanings which had earlier been delineated as outside the original or genuine connotations of "creative," now were ordinary and acceptable meanings.

   This illustrates how English--and all other world languages--are being systematically changed ² and distorted by the decline in moral probity among the people. Corrupt practices, in this era of deliberate lying by politicians and financiers, are becoming common and, to many, acceptable.

      Thus, as I indicated earlier, we'll concentrate exclusively on the positive meanings of creation in an effort to understand how this transcendent process operates on the supersensible and terrestrial levels.

Creation

      Plato provides us with profound insight into the reality of creation.

"Since this world of ours is beautiful and its Creator partakes of the Form of Goodness, then clearly the Creator has selected the primordial Form of Beauty as the blueprint for the world. "The Creator produces the universe through bringing order out of chaos, because a realm of order allows for harmony, understanding, and wisdom. "The Creator wants this whole universe of becoming to be as much like Himself as possible . . . He reasons that it is best that entities in the terrestrial realm possess intelligence . . . and to possess intelligence they must be endowed with a soul . . . The Creator forms the universe as a self-sufficient Living Unity containing all existent entities within its World Soul . . . "Humans can attain immortality by becoming like the Creator and learning to create in precisely the manner He creates. The Creator plants the seed of immortality in humans which can be brought to fruition by human acts of self-transformation and self-control. He provides Guides to assist in human transformation." Plato, Timaeus

Creation occurs when the One Quintessence, propagating ceaselessly throughout the spiritual and terrestrial realms, manifests for specific purposes.       The constantly radiating Transcendent Power is instantiated in objects, persons, events, and ideas, relative to the purpose of the arresting force. A person, idea, or object must provide a stress 3 point for the Higher Force to be embodied in a particular actuality. Manifestation of the undifferentiated All-Consciousness is possible only by the interposition of some form of resistance.

The room you now find yourself in is being bombarded by frequencies which only become manifest through the imposition of an arresting mechanism called a television set.       Electricity remains undisclosed until it becomes light or power or heat according to the kind of resistance thrown across its flow.

      The Primal Force continues in undifferentiated transmission unless it meets a complementary force that causes its particularization relative to a specific intention.

"That is the forming of the mold. As it is a process of assimilation and reproduction, the delicacy of its development requires the comforting enwrapment of time and of brooding cherishing. Until the hour of its unfoldment its petals must not be pried open by the sharp fingers of intellect, nor forced by the hot breathing of haste. It must be allowed its due and graceful period of gestation before it can be brought forth for handling. It must be allowed to lie quiet, warmed by, one might say, a sort of suspended and reverent attention. "During that period, from that second stream of inspiration, which we call psychic, details apparently isolated and unattached will float to it almost at random, until at last it stands ready for the intellectual fashioning. That is the second step of the process. "The infinite universe is a flow of unbroken and unmanifested harmony. . . Manifestation in the finite is an arresting for the purpose of visibility, so to speak, of that flow. That arresting can take place only by what we will call creative intelligence. Intelligence works in creation only by means of a conscious act of will. The act of creation is the setting in motion of a specific set of vibrations. That set of vibrations takes its form in manifestation according to the medium in which it is expressed. Its dynamics may be sufficiently powerful to carry it beyond its first medium of expression into other and different media, in which case the form of manifestation may be different. But it will be the same in power and degree of harmony." Betty White, The Gaelic Manuscripts, 1925

Transcendent and Terrestrial Creation

      We're comparatively familiar with "creation" in the physical domain since our lives are largely composed of purposes (ours and others', those living and those who lived previously) manifesting in actions, objects, and events. However, few people comprehend creation at the metaphysical and spiritual levels of being.

      The five phases or aspects of creation are:

1. Contacting and Receiving Inspiration From the Transcendent Force Developing the capability of creative imagination: allowing the flow-through of ideas and archetypes

2. Forming an Intention Intelligence intentionally selecting a Form, Pattern, 4 or Purpose for creating a specific entity (person, object, condition, or event)

3. Using Creative Imagination Forming a blueprint or plan for creating the entity selected for manifestation "Imagination is the very gateway to reality! Imagination is the Power of Transportation--that overrides space and time! Imagination enables you to put yourself anywhere. It's the power of juxtaposition, that puts together things that were never put together before, at points of contact that nobody else ever thought of. It's the power to see the Pattern." Betty and Stewart Edward White, Across the Unknown

4. Acting to Produce Tangible or intangible operations through which the selected entity is brought into existence relative to the original intention as structured by the blueprint

5. Manifesting in the Supersensible or Terrestrial Domain Created entities (tangible or intangible) sustained and used to benefit humankind

He said: 'I was a hidden treasure; creation was created so that you might know me.' Hakim Sanai, The Walled Garden of Truth

Examples of Creation
Phase	Henry David Thoreau	Charlotte Bronte	Plato
Contacting the Transcendent Force	Joining with the undifferentiated Force creating and sustaining transcendent being and terrestrial existence
Forming an Intention	Build a simple shelter for solitude and the study of nature	Illustrate an extraordinary relationship	Develop a process to access the Transcendent Realm
Using Creative Imagination to Develop a Blueprint		Book outline: Exceptionally intelligent governess and master form a spiritual bond	A Higher Intellect procedure higher than mathematics that enables persons to apprehend Pure Form
Acting to Produce	Carpentry, masonry, tinsmithy	Writing, organizing, reflecting	Studying Socrates' procedures, experimenting with new processes
Bringing to Manifestation		The novel Jane Eyre	Plato's Science of Dialectic

      You'll notice that the three examples of creation contain significant differences. Thoreau's planning and building of his cabin on Walden Pond resulted in a tangible object which did not survive in its original form, even though it's been reconstructed as a tourist site. The book Thoreau wrote, Walden, has survived and keeps alive the memory of the cabin and Thoreau's experiences while living on Walden Pond.

      Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre is still in print and remains popular with modern readers. The novel enshrines an outstanding illustration of a spiritual relationship between a woman and a man that continues to influence human interchange. The novel, that is, has tangible existence as a published work of art, but also now has permanent being in the supersensible realm as a Form or pattern.

      Plato's science of dialectical interchange has its primary timeless being in the transcendent realm, while possessing terrestrial existence in books containing Plato's writings, in Perennialist books, Perennialist teaching material, and in the contemporary practice of dialectical interchange in the Perennial Tradition.

"True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true. That which is above is like that which is below and that which is below is like that which is above, to accomplish the miracle of unity.   Everything is formed from the contemplation of unity, and all things come about from unity, by means of adaptation.   Thus you shall have the glory of the illumination of all the world, and all obscurity will fly far from you.   This is the power of all strength--it overcomes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid substance.   This was the means of the creation of the world.   In the future wonderful adaptations will be achieved, and adaptation is the Way.   I am Hermes the Threefold Sage, so named because I hold the three elements of all wisdom. And thus ends the revelation of the work of the Sun." Hermes Trismegistus, The Emerald Tablet

    The first phase of creation--contacting and receiving inspiration from the Transcendent Force--is the most difficult because it's here that the seeker must accomplish an essential dead lift, ⁵ as Betty White called it. This is evidenced by, among other capabilities, being able to achieve inspiration through opening to Higher Intelligence, demonstrated through the creation of new, original entities (ideas, objects, and events).

      Creation is actually achieved through our blending and cooperating with the Higher creative impetus that produces and sustains all beings. Our part in creation is primarily cooperative; we eagerly, actively seek to be a minute part of the ongoing Transcendent Doing.

      Creation, as we're defining it in this essay, does not involve our whomping something into actuality on our own, willy nilly. We can, of course, slap together incompatible, absurd ideas and objects to concoct an abortion.

      And any moron with enough criminal intent and illegitimate power can cook up mayhem and destruction--as is evidenced by the current gang of thugs wreaking havoc on the world.

      The infinite universe is a flow of unbroken and unmanifested harmony. Creation is an arrestment of the flow of this universal harmony and its differentiation into new forms of particularization. Entities can be brought into actualization through evil or malicious intent, resulting in atrocities and horrors. However, genuine creation eventuates in persons, objects, and events that have predominantly positive qualities which can be utilized in the furtherance of human evolution.

Study of the process of creation helps us recognize our place in the larger scheme of things: cells of a harmonious Body illuminated beyond our comprehension.       Rather than take yourself too seriously, you must recognize the absurdity of seeing yourself as a Grand Panjandrum.

      We can gain increased understanding of Creation--and thus more ability to create--by identifying the details of its five phases and aspects:

Phases and Aspects of Creation
1. Contacting the Transcendent Force	Joining with the undifferentiated Force creating and sustaining transcendent being and terrestrial existence Turning to the source of our being   Allowing the Higher Doing to flow through us and model us to its purposes   Associating with this essence of life power consciously to rest in it and depend upon it   We appropriate this Higher Force by partaking of it and blending with it. You develop for yourself a sensation of the entrance into your being of the universal creative life force which connects you to all other created beings. This gift of heart expansion and growth becomes silently available through you to others of your degree of consciousness.
2. Forming an Intention or Purpose	Intelligence intentionally selecting a Form, pattern, or purpose for creating a specific entity (person, object, or event) Nourished by your contact with and inspiration by the Higher Force, you use your mental faculties to plan its utilization. The intention is a product of creative inspiration. Relative to your awareness of yourself and the world, elemental needs present themselves which require the intentioning of an answer or solution.
3. Using Creative Imagination to Develop a Blueprint	Forming a blueprint or plan for creating the entity selected for manifestation Tapping into the personal and collective Creative Imagination through interpersonal and inner dialectical interchange, you discover a design and strategy by which you will be able to bring the intended entity to manifestation
4. Acting to Produce	Constructing, developing, improving, revising, renovating, overcoming, building, studying, conceiving, affirming, understanding, discerning, formulating, asserting, informing, cooperating, uniting Working to achieve creative inspiration to discover the specific appropriate and effective actions which through conscious cooperation with spiritual and terrestrial forces that brings the intended, planned entity to manifestation
5. Bringing to Manifestation	Instantiating Higher Forms and Purposes in creating and recreating yourself, others, and a new world Stabilizing an inward companionship with the supersensible domain and the spiritual nature of all particularized manifestations of Universal Life

The Metaphysics of Creation

      We're intent on understanding the essence of creation so we can attain the power to create. To do this, we must comprehend the ontological first principles that bear on creation.

      Creation in the terrestrial realm involves the bringing of an entity from non-existent being (1A) to existence (1B). To accomplish this act, a creative agent must use a Form (1.A.a) along with the Primordial Force to bring an entity into existence (1.B).

      As early as the Hermetic, Vedic, and Platonic embodiments of the Perennial Tradition, Perennialist teachers have maintained:

1. We must distinguish between being and existence, since existent entities are manifestations of supersensible Forms that have their being in the transcendent realm

2. Entities in existence participate in being

3. God, the Divine, the Creator, the One, is beyond the designation of being or non-being, since this Ultimate Reality created being and existence.

      Hakim Sanai, in his mystic work "The Walled Garden of Truth," expressed it this way:

"Place itself has no place
How could there be place
for the creator of place
heaven for the maker of heaven."

      Meister Eckhart coined the German word Istigkeit to delineate the unique reality of God, beyond being and existence, maintaining that "to create is to give being out of non-being." We use the word "ipseity" to delineate the quality of God's independence, being complete in Himself.

      In his Religion in the Making, Alfred North Whitehead asserted that "The world lives by its incarnation of God in itself."

"What has no Being [of and by itself] is nothing. Creatures have no Being of their own, for their Being is the presence of God. If God withdrew from them even for a moment, they would all perish." Meister Eckhart

Creation In the Terrestrial Domain

      In Perennialist teaching, creation is conceived as a process, not as a single event. One of the current theories concerning the single event of the creation of the physical universe is the big bang theory. This and similar theories of the creation of the cosmos suffer from unanswered questions and unsupported presuppositions. In this essay we're not concerned with the conception of creation as an event; we're exploring creation as an ongoing operation.

      As we examine the contemporary world, we must ask what it is that we should create if we're to improve the condition of humankind. Certainly, we must create a New Commonwealth in which the full development of all humans is the common goal. But can we hope to create such a new world with people as they are today?

      We can answer this question by examining ordinary persons in everyday situations. What stands out is how ignorance and egomania have destroyed the minds and personalities of a vast number of Americans. Persons, for example, who call into radio or TV talk shows exhibit the most debilitating witlessness and self-centeredness imaginable, forcing their uninformed prejudices on the other listeners or viewers in a daze of total obliviousness to others' sensibilities. They simply aren't aware of how they bore other people with their absurd expressions of inane feelings and abject ignorance.

      Thus, the first elements we must create--or rather re-create or transform--are our own personalities and minds. We couldn't possibly create a new commonwealth with people in their present debilitated state of arrogance, stupidity, self-centeredness, and presumptuousness--they're incapable of any degree of intelligence, fellow-feeling, or cooperation.

      In our present situation, we find that we were born into this terrestrial domain with specific potentialities. The process of human conception and birth is a special type of creation: the bringing into existence a new being composed of body, mind, and soul. As we grow up, we form our mind and personality relative to how we respond to various experiential impacts. By developing self-awareness and moral probity, we gain an understanding of our soul and develop a unity with our Higher Consciousness.

      At this point, we are constituted by what and how we have developed and what and how we have not developed. This is the same with all entities: they are both what they are (what they've realized) and what they are not (what they haven't realized). A triangle--a figure formed by the intersection of three lines--for example, can be understood to be both what it encloses (what is inside the triangle) as well as what it excludes (what is outside the triangle).

      This is another aspect of the dialectical nature of existent beings: they're composed of diverse, sometimes contradictory elements in an ongoing process of interchange and interaction. Nicholas of Cusa referred to this aspect as "actualized contrariety," indicating that every existent is definable both positively (in terms of what it is) and negatively (in terms of what it is not).

"The divine One is undivided and One in essence . . . a negation of negations. Every creature contains a negation: one denies that it is the other. [Even] an angel denies that it is any other creature; but God contains the denial of denials: He is the One who denies of every other that it is anything except Himself." Meister Eckhart

      Using the same framework as outlined above, we can determine how the creation of new human beings must take place.

Creating the New Human
Contacting the Transcendent Force	Allowing the Higher Doing to flow through us and model us to its purposes Vanquishing Ignorance Expanding Human Consciousness Conceiving of a New World
Using Creative Imagination to Develop a Blueprint	Forming a blueprint or plan for creating the entity selected for manifestation Plato The Saving Remnant
Acting to Produce	Working to achieve creative inspiration to discover the means by which to bring the intended, planned entity to manifestation Enlightening Groups Transformative Groups Creative Inspiration
Bringing to Manifestation	Stabilizing an inward companionship with the supersensible domain and the spiritual nature of all particularized manifestations of Universal Life Realizing the Unitive State Realizing the Evolved Human Building Commonwealth Communities

"Creation" of Our World Through Perceptual Mental Activity

      In earlier essays, we've explored how the actions of our minds "create" our world. Perception is always permeated by Thought; we do not experience immediate apprehension of an unmediated reality. As we seek to understand Reality, we impose certain ordering principles on our sense data: causality, objectivity (seeing things as objects), space, time, etc. Contrary to naive realism, Reality is not easily knowable. We have to begin by searching within ourselves to discover what we think we know about Reality but don't really know (ignorance of ignorance). When we discover that our impressions of Reality are inaccurate, we must correct them through thoughtful examination of evidence as to what the truth really is.

      The acts of perception and Understanding--by which we "create" our reality--reveals primarily not the properties of the external object being perceived, but discloses the potencies and nature of the perceiving subject. Our ability to apprehend Reality is in direct ratio to our essence: our powers of fair appraisal, our capability of allowing an object to disclose itself to us without our dictating to it what it must be.

      Every act of objective knowing is also an act of self-knowing; perception reveals who we are as much as what the object is. Persons "create" or are given completely different realities relative to their individual capabilities and powers. If persons are willing to accept the ordinary world as "given" by "public opinion" as created by propaganda and blind tradition, then they live in one kind of false reality (as depicted below).

      Those persons who develop their mental, moral, and spiritual capabilities are able to create an entirely independent and superior Reality. One of the primary attributes of the "new human" is the practice of ongoing re-creation or transformation. ⁶   A genuine human persists in continuous improvement because she wishes to develop her full potential. Unfortunately, most persons in today's world remain the same throughout their lives.

      As "new humans" developing ourselves--our awareness of our inner essence and our world--we gain increased ability to know and create.

      It's not just a matter of getting in touch with more reality. We must improve ourselves--our mental and moral qualities--if we're to gain increased understanding of what we're already in touch with and new aspects of reality we can discover--and create--with our enhanced capabilities.

"All results of this kind are gained by a slowing down of the universal current by intentioning. . . Whenever you apply this power, . . try to remember and as far as possible duplicate your impression of the greater current carrying into you from above, sweeping through you as a fresh breeze flows. Imagine that picture. "Then try once more to imagine deflecting a certain portion of this current to pass outward in focused form - not merely permitting the broad sweep, but focusing, as of water in a pipe. "The checking of the universal flow by an intelligent Idea results, as has been said, in a creation. We have in cosmos an underlying reality, an ALL Consciousness, which is infinite, and which we, as finite minds, cannot understand. Necessarily, finite creation must be part of this consciousness, of its same stuff. But it is what it is because of its underlying Idea. . . "We do not work a law: we merely assemble the conditions for its working. Then the matter is out of our hands; we cannot prevent it from working. . . Betty White, The Gaelic Manuscripts, 1935

The Mystery of Creation

      As we've seen, persons create through apprehending Forms, selecting intentions, developing blueprints, actualizing Forms and intentions in terrestrial reality, and experiencing the manifested entities. As with all Higher Teachings, these concepts concerning creation have been distorted and debased by persons who do not comprehend their essence. New Age gurus, in particular, have adulterated and cheapened this teaching into the mantra:

"You can create anything you want if you reprogram your subconscious belief system and change your thoughts."

      Teachers within the Perennial Tradition have made it clear that the belief that anyone, no matter what his moral, philosophical, or spiritual attainments, can easily concoct into actuality whatever he wants is sheer nonsense.

"The deeper secrets and laws of our being are self-protected; to learn them requires an adaptation of character and purpose, and a humility of mind and spirit, inconsistent with those displayed by the perverse or merely curious enquirer. To understand, let alone practically to explore, the Hermetic Mystery is not for every one--at least, at his present state of evolutional unfolding. . . . Only to those whose spiritual destiny has already equipped them with a certain high measure of moral and intellectual fitness will even a rough notional apprehension of it be practicable." Walter Leslie Wilmhurst, Introduction to Mary A. Atwood's, Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy

      Ignorant persons wishing to "get rich quick" or "affirm into existence" whatever their egocentric minds desire assume that there is an easy magic to creation: if a person can just find the occult words or spell or amulet or crystal or whatever, they can bring into actuality anything they want. The Internet is chock-full of Websites that provide money-back guaranteed programs of "Learning to Create Your Own Reality."

      As with other Perennialist teachings that have been debased into nostrums and scams, there is a reality behind the illusion. As Rumi points out: "Counterfeit gold only exists because there is such a thing as real gold." But, as usual, the reality is totally different from the delusory concept. There is a transcendent process of Creation which can be used to bring new entities into actuality--if we re-create ourselves into changed beings.

      The "magic" or occult mystery of Creation as Power--which was earlier titled Alchemy--has been seen in two different lights:

1. As merely a materialistic transmutation of baser metals into gold, silver or other mysterious entities

2. The spiritual transformation of the human psyche into a higher state of being (which then might be capable of transmutation as well as other marvelous powers)

      The difficulty with understanding the "magic" of Creation is that its prerequisites all have to do with the inner essence of the person himself, not external things such as wealth or fame. To attain the mystical power of Creation a person must transform himself into a new being through realization ⁷ of who and what he is.

      It's almost impossible for most people to realize that a higher power such as Creation is attained primarily through the enhancement of understanding which enables a person to bring new entities (conditions, things, personalities, events) into actuality.

      The power of Creation involves becoming progressively aware that other dimensions of Reality are constantly, in specific events and persons, interpenetrating ordinary reality. When we experience things which seem inexplicable to us, it's because of this intervention. We don't recognize the participation of the "higher worlds" in ordinary experience, because we assume that "reality" is merely the accustomed world of commonplace opinions.

      The power of Creation involves learning to retain in your mind the possibility of higher dimensions impinging upon the ordinary world so that your higher consciousness becomes activated. This is no mere concept or theory; it's literal participation in a higher state of consciousness. You learn it by assimilating transformative material (books, essays, and exercises) which teach you to project yourself into those higher dimensions. The distinguishing feature of Perennialist teaching material is its power to produce psychic upheaval in a prepared mind and assist that mind to ascend to a higher dimension.

The Mystery of Who and What We Are

      We can understand creation as power if we imagine that we are, in our essence, like the image below. We actually are similar to that image in that we contain powers that we're totally unaware of. We've been programmed to call ourselves by the strange, incomprehensible name, "ascendant being." Our training has taught us to walk around with these mysterious appendages on either side of our body which seem to have no function--except to run into telephone poles.

      Now some idiot comes along talking about a bizarre teaching called the Perennial Tradition that claims that we "ascendant beings" can use the enigmatic appendages to do something called "flying." I don't know about you, but I for one am more intelligent than to be taken in by any such scam as this "flying" swindle!

      A few persons are able to credit this claim about "flying" and begin to study themselves to learn who and what they are. Through assiduous self-examination and self-re-creation, they learn to "take off," make the "leap," ascending into another dimension.

      The primary preparation is comprehending our essence, understanding what hidden, atrophied powers we possess, forgotten through neglect. This work of gaining discernment of who and what we are seems to most people like sheer metaphysical daydreaming: "I already know what kind of being I am, thank you, and no charlatan is going to con me into thinking I'm some kind of weird creature pretending to be capable of doing something called 'flying' which is clearly just a fantasy!"

"For man is demonstrated to be an epitome of the whole mundane creation, and was generated to become wise above all terrestrial animals; being endowed, besides those powers which he commonly exerts, and by means of which he is able to contemplate the things which exist around him, with the germ of a higher faculty, which, when rightly developed and set apart, reveals the hidden Forms of manifested Being, and secrets of the Causal Fountain, identically within himself. Nor this alone; not only is man reputed able to discover the Divine Nature, but, in the forcible language of the Asclepian Dialogue, to effect It; and in this sense, namely with respect to the Catholic Reason which is latent in his life, man was once said to be the Image of God." Mary A. Atwood, Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy, 1850, reissued in 1960