The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

[A Hermetic dialogue, in which the teacher leads the pupil to the vision of the higher heavens; preserved with damage.]

The pupil said, My father, yesterday you promised to bring my mind into the eighth heaven, and afterward into the ninth; for you said this is the order of the tradition. The teacher said, My son, this is the order indeed; but the promise is according to human nature, for I said the eighth and then the ninth. You have done well; you are advancing. Let us pray, my son, to the Father of all, with my brothers who are your sons, that he may grant the spirit of speech.

They prayed: We call upon you, who rule over the kingdom of power, whose word is a begetting of light, whose words are immortal, eternal, unchangeable; grant that we may receive the vision of you. Give us the holy knowledge; fill us with your power. Let us behold the eighth, and through it the ninth, that we may praise you in the spirit.

And the teacher said, My son, I see the eighth, and the souls that are in it, and the angels singing a hymn to the ninth and its powers; and I see the one who has power over them all, working in them all. My son, I embrace the power; it has come to me. The pupil said, I rejoice, my father, for I see myself now in the eighth. The teacher said, Be silent, my son; this is the way of rest. From now on, sing in silence; for what is beyond cannot be spoken, but only seen. Write this in a book and keep it, and swear those who read it to keep it faithfully, that the wrath of the powers may not come upon them; for these things are not for the many. [Text missing]

[Fragment breaks here]