Monads, Logoi and Vortices

In the course of our discussion of the Magical myth’s ideas about beings and their incarnations, we have often mentioned the concept of Monads as a potential reality standing behind actual manifestations. And it might seem that behind every being there stands a Monad as the supreme reality.

At the same time, this leaves unclear the nature of ministering spirits and Elementals, also mentioned in our conversations.

To clarify this point, it is necessary to specify what the Magical myth considers the source of consciousness.

Since the principle of triplicity lies at the foundation of manifestation according to this myth, it is obvious that the sources of consciousness are also threefold.

Monads constitute the positive component of this ternary, since they are the source of the universe’s cognitive activity.

The neutral component that determines the laws of that cognition is the hierarchy of Logoi.

The hierarchy of Monads expresses the division of the Absolute into an infinite number of subjects carrying out its self-knowledge. Similarly, the hierarchy of Logoi expresses the totality of the ways by which this self-knowledge is carried out, the set of laws governing that self-knowledge. This means that every element, from differential energy to the Universe as a whole, has its own cognitive law — its own Logos. We have already said that the Logos is the principle of form of every object, since form is the product of a description (this very description is called an “idea,” an eidos, and is a “concrete section” of the Logos), and the Logos is the law according to which that description is constructed.

At the same time, since the hierarchy of Logoi belongs to the realm of consciousness, it is clear that each Logos in itself also has a particular kind of consciousness. The consciousness of the Logoi differs from the consciousness of monadic manifestations, and their hierarchy is threefold on a different principle — whereas Monads are completely independent, neutral entities, the hierarchy of Logoi obeys the principle of individualization of collectivities, so that a Logos of higher order contains Logoi of lower order, and so on. The totality of all forms is affirmed by the Cosmic Logos, which is in essence the revealed Creative Active Desire. Note that a Logos exists for every embodied being and for every object, and it is perhaps contact with a Logos’s consciousness that led the Magi of the modern age to the idea of the “Sacred Guardian Angel.”

It is precisely the birth of the Logoi that is understood as the Creation of the Universe, since without them the Monads’ consciousness is barren: it cannot construct a description of the world, cannot single out form, and therefore cannot actualize anything. The creation of Logoi is creativity in the true and absolute sense of the word.

Note that manifestations of the Logoi — “ideal models” — can be detected in any individual consciousness, including humans, in the course of its functioning; and such a “relative” Logos is all the more stable the closer it is to the intrinsic, “absolute” Logos of the given assemblage of energies. In other words, the closer a person’s representation of an object is to its internal regularities, the more power that representation carries. This is precisely what is meant when one says “knowledge is power,” and in this way the source of the “thirst for knowledge” is found.

The negative pole of the ternary of consciousness is formed by the vortical bearers of consciousness.

As mentioned, the Magical myth regards a vortex as the elementary form of movement in the World Passive Medium. Just as the Monad is the source of potentials for realization in the world, and the Logos is the law of that realization, so the Vortex expresses the process of realization itself.

Wherever a difference in potentials arises, wherever there is an active and a passive principle, the force of attraction between them is channeled into vortical movement according to the Tetragrammatical law.

By analogy with the above, it is clear that every manifestation of Will — from the will of an individual energy to the Will of the Absolute — forms its own vortex. It is also clear that every vortex is a bearer of consciousness, likewise subject to the law of individualization of collectivities. It is this vortical nature that ministering spirits and elementals possess. The vortical component of a human being is called the Body of Desires (or, in common terms, the “astral body”).

We have often said that vortices also possess their own form of consciousness, and even a short-lived vortex, for example, a larva, is a conscious entity. The hierarchy of vortical entities is headed by the World Vortex — Baphomet — the beginning and end of every manifestation.

Thus we see that consciousness as a general characteristic of manifestation is universally distributed, and various bearers of consciousness complete its overall picture: Monads can be regarded as the source of Will, Logoi — of Intelligence, and Vortices — of Feeling.