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The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

My father, yesterday you promised me you would take my mind to the e


ighth heavenly sphere and after that you would take me to the ninth. You said th
is is the sequence of the tradition.
Yes, my child, this is the sequence, but the promise was made about
human nature. I said to you when I first made the promise, If you remember each o
f the stages. After I received the spirit through the power, I established the ac
tion for you. Clearly understanding dwells within you. In me it is as if the pow
er were pregnant, for when I conceived from the spring that flows to me, I gave
birth.
Father, you have spoken every word rightly to me, but I am amazed at
what you say. You said, The power in me.
He said, I gave birth to it as children are born.
Then, father, I have many siblings if I am to be counted among the ge
nerations.
Right, child. This good thing is counted . . . always. So, child, you
must know your siblings and honor them rightly, since they have come from the v
ery same father. For each of the generations have I addressed. I have named them
, since they are offspring like these children.
Then, father, do they have a day?
Child, they are spiritual, for they exist as forces that nurture othe
r souls. That is why I say they are immortal.
Your word is true. From now on it cannot be refuted. Father, begin th
e discourse on the eighth and the ninth, and count me also with my siblings.
Let us pray, child, to the father of the universe, with your siblings
, who are my children, that the father may grant the spirit of eloquence.
How do they pray, father, when they are united with the generations?
Father, I want to obey.
. . . It is right for you to remember the progress you have experienc
ed as wisdom in the books. Child, recall your early childhood. You have posed,
as children do, senseless and foolish questions.
Father, I have experienced progress and foreknowledge from the books,
and they are greater than what is lackingthese matters are my first concern.
Child, when you understand the truth of your statement, you will find
your siblings, who are my children, praying with you.
Father, I understand nothing else than the beauty I have experienced
in the books.
This is what you call the beauty of the soulthe edification you have e
xperienced in stages. May the understanding come to you, and you will teach.
I have understood, father, each of the books, and especially. . . .

Child, . . . in praises from those who raise them.


Father, I shall receive from you the power of the discourse you will
utter. As it was spoken to the two of us, let us pray, father.
Child, it is fitting for us to pray to god with all our mind and all
our heart and our soul, and to ask god that the gift of the eighth reach us, and
that each receive from god what belongs to god. Your job is to understand, mine
is to be able to utter the discourse from the spring that flows to me.
PRAYER FOR THE ASCENT TO THE EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
Let us pray, father:
I call upon you,
who rules over the kingdom of power,
whose word is an offspring of light,
whose words are immortal,
eternal, immutable,
whose will produces life for the semblances everywhere,
whose nature gives form to substance,
by whom the souls of the eighth and the angels are moved . . . ,
whose word reaches all who exist,
whose forethought reaches everyone here,
who produces everyone,
who has divided the eternal realm among spirits,
who has created everything,
who, being self within self, supports everything,
being perfect,
the invisible god one speaks to, in silence,
whose image is moved when it is ordered,
and it is ordered,
mighty one in power,
who is exalted above majesty,
who is superior to the honored ones,
Z O X A TH A Z O
A
O
O
O
O
O
O

O
O
O
O
O
O

O
O
O
O
O

O
O O
O O O
O O O O

E
E
E
O
U
O

E
E
E
O
U
O

E
E
O
U
O

E
O O
U U U
O O O O

Z O Z A Z O TH
Lord, grant us wisdom from your power that reaches us,
that we may relate to ourselves the vision of the eighth and the
ninth.
Already we have advanced to the seventh,
since we are faithful
and abide in your law.
Your will we fulfill always,
we have walked in your way
and have renounced . . .
so your vision may come.
Lord, grant us truth in the image.

Grant that through spirit we may see


the form of the image that lacks nothing
and accept the reflection of the fullness
from us through our praise.
And recognize the spirit within us.
From you the universe received soul.
From you, one unconceived,
one that has been conceived came into being.
The birth of the self-conceived is through you,
the birth of all conceived things that exist.
Accept these spiritual offerings from us,
which we direct to you
with all our heart and soul and strength.
Save what is within us,
and grant us immortal wisdom.
VISION OF THE EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
Child, let us embrace with love. Be happy. Already the power, light,
is coming to us from them. I see, I see ineffable depths. How shall I tell you,
child? . . . How shall I tell you about the universe? I am mind, and I see an
other mind, one that moves the soul. I see the one that moves me from pure forge
tfulness. You have given me power. I see myself. I want to speak. Fear seizes me
. I have found the beginning of the power above all powers, without beginning. I
see a spring bubbling with life. I have said, child, that I am mind. I have see
n. Speech cannot reveal this. For all of the eighth, child, and the souls in it,
and the angels, sing a song in silence. I, mind, understand.
How does one sing a song through silence?
Can no one speak to you?
I am silent, father. I want to sing a song to you while I am silent.
Sing it. I am mind.
I understand mind, Hermes. You cannot be known, since you stay in you
rself. I am happy, father. I see you laughing. The universe is happy. No creatur
e will lack your life, for you are the lord of the inhabitants everywhere. Your
forethought keeps watch. I call you father, eternal realm of eternal realms, gre
at divine spirit, who through spirit sends moisture on everyone. What do you tel
l me, father Hermes?
Child, I say nothing about this. It is right before god for us to be
silent about what is hidden.
Trismegistos, dont let my soul be deprived of the great, divine vision
. Everything is possible for you as master of the universe.
Praise again, child, and sing while you are silent. Ask what you want
in silence.
When he finished praising, he called out, Father Trismegistos, what s
hall I say? We have received this light, and I myself see this same vision in yo
u. I see the eighth, and the souls in it, and the angels singing a song to the n
inth and its powers. I see the one with the power of them all, creating those i
n the spirit.
From now on it is good for us to remain silent, with head bowed. Fro

m now on do not speak about the vision. It is fitting to sing a song to the fath
er till the day of leaving the body.
What you sing, father, I also want to sing.
I am singing a song in myself. While you rest, praise. You have found
what you seek.
But is it right, father, for me to praise when my heart is filled?
What is right is for you to sing praise to god so it may be written i
n this imperishable book.
I shall offer up the praise in my heart as I invoke the end of the un
iverse and the beginning of the beginning, the god of the human quest, the immor
tal discovery, the producer of light and truth, the sower of reason, the love of
immortal life. No hidden word can speak of you, lord. My mind wants to sing a s
ong to you every day. I am the instrument of your spirit, mind is your plectrum,
and your guidance makes music with us. I see myself. I have been strengthened b
y you, for your love has reached us.
Yes, my child.
O grace! After this, I thank you with my song. You gave me life when
you made me wise. I praise you. I invoke your name hidden in me,
A
O EE
O EEE
OOO III
OOOO OOOOO
OOOOO UUUUUU
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO.
You exist with spirit. I sing to you in a devout manner.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE TEXT
Child, copy this book for the temple at Diospolis in hieroglyphic ch
aracters, and call it the Eighth Reveals the Ninth.
I shall do it, father, as you command.
Child, copy the contents of the book on turquoise steles. Child, it
is fitting to copy this book on turquoise steles in hieroglyphic characters, fo
r mind itself has become the supervisor of these things. So I command that this
discourse be carved into stone and that you put it in my sanctuary. Eight guard
s watch over it with . . . the sun: the males on the right have faces of frogs,
and the females on the left have faces of cats. Put a square milkstone at the b
ase of the turquoise tablets, and copy the name on the azure stone tablet in hie
roglyphic characters. Child, you must do this when I am in Virgo, and the sun i
s in the first half of the day, and fifteen degrees have passed by me.
Father, all you say I shall gladly do.
Write an oath in the book, so that those who read the book may not us
e the wording for malicious purposes or to subvert fate. Rather, they should sub
mit to the law of god and not transgress whatsoever, but in purity ask god for w

isdom and knowledge. And whoever will not be conceived in the beginning by god d
evelops through the general and instructional discourses. Such a person will not
be able to read what is written in this book, even though the persons conscience
is pure within and the person does nothing shameful and does not go along with
it. Rather, such a person progresses by stages and advances in the way of immort
ality, and so advances in the understanding of the eighth that reveals the ninth
.
I shall do it, father.
This is the oath: I adjure you who will read this holy book, by heave
n and earth and fire and water and seven rulers of substance and the creative sp
irit in them and the god not conceived and the self-conceived one and the one wh
o has been conceived, that you guard what Hermes has communicated. God will be a
t one with those who keep the oath and everyone we have named, but wrath will co
me upon each of those who violate the oath. This is the perfect one who is, chil
d.

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