CHAPTER VIII
The Cosmic Cycles
After these observations, which we believe appropriate for settling some important historical points, we come to what Mr. Benini calls the ‘chronology’ of Dante’s poem. We have recalled that in the poem the journey across the worlds takes place during Holy Week, that is to say at the time in the liturgical year that corresponds to the vernal equinox; and we have also seen that, according to Aroux, it was at this time that the Cathars performed their initiations. On the other hand, in the Masonic Rosicrucian Chapters the commemoration of the Last Supper is celebrated on Holy Thursday, and work symbolically resumes on Friday at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, that is to say, on the day and at the hour when Christ died. Finally, the commencement of Holy Week in the year 1300 coincided with the full moon; and one could point out in this respect, in order to complete the coincidences reported by Aroux, that it is also at the full moon that the Noachites hold their meetings.
The year 1300 marks for Dante the middle of his life (he was then 35), and it is also for him the mid-point of the times. Here again we will quote what Mr. Benini says: “Transported by an extraordinary egocentrism, Dante set his vision at the middle of the world’s duration. The movement of the heavens
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had lasted 65 centuries before him, and would extend 65 more after him. By a skillful contrivance, he made the exact anniversaries of some of the greatest events in history meet in three kinds of astronomical years, and, in a fourth kind, the anniversary of the most important event of his own life.” What must hold our attention here above all is the calculation of the total duration of the world (we would rather say of the present cycle): two times 65 centuries, namely 130 centuries or 13,000 years, of which the 13 centuries elapsed since the beginning of the Christian era form exactly a tenth. The number 65 is remarkable moreover in itself: through the addition of its figures, it is reduced again to 11; and 11, conversely, is composed of 6 and 5, which are the symbolic numbers of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm respectively, both of which Dante derives from principal unity when he says: “... Così come raia dell’un, se si conosce, il cinque e il sei.”[77] Finally, by transposing 65 into Roman numerals, as we have done for 515, we have LXV, or, with the same inversion as before, LVX, namely the word Lux, and this may have a connection with the masonic era of the True Light.[78] But here is what is most interesting: the duration of 13,000 years is none other than the half-period of the precession of the equinoxes, exceeding the exact value by only 40 years (hence less than half a century) and representing therefore an acceptable approximation—especially where this period is expressed in centuries. The total period is in fact 25,920 years. The ‘great year’ of the Persians and the Greeks represents half of this period (12960 years), and was usually estimated at 12,000 years, which is far less exact than Dante’s figure. This
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‘great year’ was actually regarded by the ancients as the elapsed time between two renewals of the world, which must doubtless be interpreted, in the history of terrestrial humanity, as the interval separating the great cataclysms during which entire continents disappeared (of which the last was the destruction of Atlantis). Actually this is only a secondary cycle, which can be considered part of another more extended cycle; but, by virtue of a certain law of correspondence, each of the secondary cycles reproduces, on a reduced scale, phases comparable to those of the great cycles of which it is a part. What can be said of the cyclical laws in general will find its application therefore at different degrees: historical cycles, geological cycles and true cosmic cycles—with divisions and subdivisions that again multiply these possibilities of application. Besides, when one goes beyond the limits of the terrestrial world, it can no longer be a question of measuring the duration of a cycle by a number of years understood literally; numbers then take on a purely symbolic value, and express proportions rather than real durations. It is no less true, in Hindu cosmology, that all cyclical numbers are based essentially on the period of the precession of the equinoxes, with which they have some clearly determined relationships.[79] The precessional movement is thus the fundamental phenomenon upon which the astronomical application of cyclical laws rests, and is, consequently, the natural departure point for the many analogical transpositions to which these laws give rise. Limited space precludes our developing these considerations here, but it is remarkable that Dante adopted the same basis for his sym-
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bolic chronology; and we note here again his perfect agreement with the traditional doctrines of the East.[80] We can ask ourselves though why Dante situates his vision just at the mid-point of the 'great year', and whether it is necessary to speak of 'egocentrism' in this respect, or whether there are not other reasons. Let us point out first that if one selects any starting point in time and then counts the length of the cyclical period from there, a point is always reached that is in perfect correspondence to that from which one started, for it is this very correspondence between the elements of successive cycles that ensures their continuity. One can therefore choose the origin so as to position oneself ideally at the mid-point of such a period. This yields two equal periods, the one anterior and the other posterior, in whose totality the full revolution of the heavens actually takes place, since all things finally find themselves in a position, not identical (to claim so would be to fall into the error of Nietzsche's 'eternal return'), but analogically corresponding to the one they had at the beginning. This can be represented geometrically in the following way: if the cycle in question is the half-period of the precession of the equinoxes, and if the entire cycle is represented by a circumference, it will suffice to trace a horizontal diameter to divide this circumference into two halves, each of which will represent a half-period whose beginning and end
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correspond to the two extremities of the diameter. If we only consider the upper half-circumference and trace the vertical radius, it will end at the median point corresponding to the 'mid-point of the times'. The figure thus obtained is the sign ♁, that is to say the alchemical symbol for the mineral kingdom[81]; surmounted by a cross, it becomes the 'globe of the world', hieroglyph of the Earth and emblem of imperial power.[82] This latter use of the symbol in question leads one to think that it must have had for Dante a particular value; and the addition of the cross is implied in the fact that the central point at which he placed himself corresponded geographically to Jerusalem, which represented for him what we can call the 'spiritual pole'.[83] Moreover, at the antipodes of Jerusalem, that is to say at the other pole, rises the Mount of Purgatory, over which shine the four stars that form the constellation of the 'Southern Cross'.[84] This is the entrance to the Heavens, whereas the entrance to Hell is to be found under Jerusalem; and we find depicted in this opposition the antithesis of 'Christ suffering' and 'Christ triumphant'. Some will find it astonishing, at first sight, that we thus draw a comparison between a chronological and a geographical symbolism; and yet this is where we wanted to arrive in order to give to the preceding remarks their real significance, for the temporal succession involved is itself only a mode of symbolic expression. Any cycle can be divided into two phases, which
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are, chronologically, its successive halves, and it is under this form that we have considered them in the first place; but in reality these two phases represent, respectively, the action of two opposed and yet complementary tendencies; and this action can clearly be simultaneous as well as successive. To place oneself at the mid-point of the cycle is therefore to place oneself at the point where these two tendencies counter-balance each other. It is, as the Muslim initiates say, ‘the divine place where contrasts and antinomies are reconciled’: the center of the ‘Wheel of Things’, according to the Hindu expression, or the ‘Immutable Middle’ of the Far-Eastern tradition; the fixed point around which the spheres rotate—the perpetual movement of the manifested world. Dante completes his journey by following the ‘spiritual axis’ of the world; only thence, in truth, is it possible to view all things in permanent mode, because one is not oneself subject to change, and consequently has a view that is synthetic and complete. From a properly initiatic point of view, what we have just said answers again to a profound truth: the being must above all identify the center of his own individuality (represented by the heart in traditional symbolism) with the cosmic center of the state of existence to which this individuality belongs, and which he takes as a foundation from which to raise himself to the higher states. It is in this center that perfect equilibrium resides, the image of principal immutability in the manifested world; it is here that the axis connecting all the states projects itself—the ‘divine radius’ that, in its ascending direction, leads directly to the higher states to be attained. Any point possesses these possibilities virtually, and is, if one may put it so, a potential center; but it is necessary that it become so effectively, through a real identification, to render possible the total development of the being. This is why Dante, in order to raise
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himself to the Heavens, has first of all to place himself at a point that is truly the center of the terrestrial world, both according to time and space—that is to say, in relation to the conditions that essentially characterize existence in this world. If we now return to the geometric representation that we used before, we see again that the vertical radius, going from the surface of the earth to its center, corresponds to the first part of Dante’s journey—the journey through the Underworld. The center of the earth is the lowest point, since it is there that the forces of gravity exert themselves from all sides; when it is overcome the ascent commences, ending at the antipode of the point of departure. To represent this second phase it is therefore necessary to extend the radius beyond the center, so as to complete the vertical diameter; we then have the figure of a circle divided by a cross, namely the sign ⊕, which is the hermetic symbol for the vegetable kingdom. Now, if one looks in a general way at the symbolic elements that play a leading role in the first two parts of Dante’s poem, one can in fact see that they relate to the mineral and vegetable kingdoms respectively (we will not stress the obvious relation that unites the first to the interior regions of the earth; and only mention in passing the ‘mystical trees’ of Purgatory and of the Terrestrial Paradise). One might expect this correspondence to obtain also between the third phase and the animal kingdom[85], but such is not the case because the limits of the terrestrial world are here exceeded, so that it is no longer possible to con-
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tinue the same symbolism. It is at the end of the second phase, that is to say while still in the Terrestrial Paradise, that we find the greatest abundance of animal symbols: it is necessary first to travel across the three kingdoms, which represent the various modalities of existence in our world, before passing on to other states, where conditions are quite different.[86] We must still consider the points at the opposite extremities of the axis passing through the earth, namely Jerusalem and the Terrestrial Paradise. These are the vertical projections, as it were, of the two points marking the beginning and the end of the chronological cycle, which in the preceding diagram corresponded to the extremities of the horizontal diameter. If we let these latter represent opposition according to time, and those of the vertical diameter represent opposition according to space, we have then an expression of the complementary roles of these two principles, whose action is translated, in our world, as the two conditions, time and space. The vertical projection could be regarded as a projection into the ‘intemporal’, if we are permitted to use this expression, seeing that it is accomplished along the axis whence all things are envisaged in permanent, not transitory, mode; the passing from the horizontal to the vertical diameter therefore really represents a transmutation of succession into simultaneity. But, one will ask, what is the relationship between the two points in question and the extremities of the chronological cycle? For one of them, the Terrestrial Paradise, this relationship is obvious; indeed, it really corresponds to the beginning
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of the cycle. But, for the other, it must be noted that the Terrestrial Jerusalem is taken as the prefiguration of the Celestial Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse; symbolically, moreover, it is also in Jerusalem that one situates the place of the resurrection and judgement that end the cycle. The antipodal positions of these two points take on a new significance if we observe that the Celestial Jerusalem represents the very reconstitution of the Terrestrial Paradise, according to an analogy applied in an inverse sense.[87] At the ‘beginning of time’—that is to say, of the present cycle—the Terrestrial Paradise was rendered inaccessible following the fall of man; the New Jerusalem must ‘descend from Heaven to Earth’ at the end of this same cycle to mark the reëstablishment of all things in their primordial order; and one can say that it will play the same role for the future cycle that the Terrestrial Paradise does for the present one. In fact, the end of a cycle is analogous to its beginning, and coincides with the commencement of the following cycle. What was only virtual at the start of the cycle is realized effectively at its end, and immediately engenders the potentialities that will develop in their turn in the course of the future cycle; however this is a matter on which we cannot dwell further without getting away completely from our subject.[88] We add only, for the sake of indicating yet another aspect of the same symbolism, that the center to which we
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alluded above is referred to in the Hindu tradition as the 'City of Brahma' (in Sanskrit Brahmapura), and that several texts speak of it in terms almost identical to those we find in the apocalyptic description of the Celestial Jerusalem.[89] Returning finally to what more directly concerns Dante's journey, it is relevant to note that, if the crossing of the terrestrial world ends at the beginning point of the cycle, this alludes explicitly to the 'return to origins' that holds so important a place in all traditional doctrines, and on which, rather remarkably, Islamic esoterism and Taoism in particular insist. It is a question again of the restoration of the 'Edenic State', of which we have already spoken, and which must be regarded as a precondition for the conquest of the superior states of the being. The point equidistant between the two extremities about which we have just been speaking—that is to say the center of the earth—is, as we have already pointed out, the lowest point; and it also corresponds to the middle of the cosmic cycle when this cycle is envisaged chronologically, or under the aspect of succession. We can in fact divide the whole into two phases: the one descending, proceeding in the direction of ever more
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accentuated differentiation; the other ascending, returning toward the principal state. These two phases, which the Hindu doctrine compares to respiration, are to be found likewise in Hermetic doctrine, where they are called 'coagulation' and 'solution': by virtue of the laws of analogy, the 'Great Work' reproduces in abbreviated form the whole cosmic cycle. Here we can see the respective predominance of the opposing tendencies tamas and sattva, which we have already defined: the first is manifested in all forces of contraction and condensation; the second in all expansion and dilation. In this regard we have again a correspondence between the opposite properties of heat and cold: the first dilating bodies, while the second contracts them; and this is why the last circle of Hell is frozen. Lucifer symbolizes 'the inverse attraction of nature', that is to say the tendency towards individualisation, with all the limitations inherent in it. His abode is therefore "il punto al qual si traggon d'ogni parte i pesi"[90], or, in other words, the center of the attractive and compressive forces represented by gravity in the terrestrial world; and the latter, which attracts bodies downward (that is, toward the center of the earth), is really a manifestation of tamas. We note in passing that this is contrary to the geological hypothesis of the 'central fire', for the lowest point must be exactly that where density and solidity are at their maximum. On the other hand, it is no less contrary to the hypothesis, envisaged by some astronomers, of an 'end of the world' by freezing, seeing that such an end can only be a return to indifferentiation. Besides, the last hypothesis is in contradiction to all traditional conceptions: it was not only for Heraclitus and the Stoics that the destruction of the world must coincide with its conflagration; the same affirmation is
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found almost everywhere, from the Puranas of India to the Apocalypse; and we must note again the agreement of these traditions with the Hermetic doctrine, for which fire (being that part of the elements in which sattwa predominates) is the agent of the 'renewal of nature' or of the 'final restoration'. The center of the earth therefore represents the extreme point of manifestation in the state of existence under consideration; it is a true pivot point, from which a change of direction occurs—the preponderance passing from the one to the other of the contrary tendencies. This is why an ascension or return toward the principle follows immediately upon a descent to the bottom of Hell; and the passage from the one to the other hemisphere is accomplished by going around the body of Lucifer, in a way that leads us to think that this central point is not without certain correspondences to the Masonic mysteries of the 'Middle Chamber', where it is also a question of death and resurrection. Here again we find symbolic expressions of the two complementary phases that, in initiation or in the Hermetic 'Great Work' (which are essentially one and the same thing), express the same universally applicable cyclical laws upon which, for us, rests the whole construction of Dante's poem.
found almost everywhere, from the Puranas of India to the Apocalypse; and we must note again the agreement of these traditions with the Hermetic doctrine, for which fire (being that part of the elements in which sattwa predominates) is the agent of the 'renewal of nature' or of the 'final restoration'. The center of the earth therefore represents the extreme point of manifestation in the state of existence under consideration; it is a true pivot point, from which a change of direction occurs—the preponderance passing from the one to the other of the contrary tendencies. This is why an ascension or return toward the principle follows immediately upon a descent to the bottom of Hell; and the passage from the one to the other hemisphere is accomplished by going around the body of Lucifer, in a way that leads us to think that this central point is not without certain correspondences to the Masonic mysteries of the 'Middle Chamber', where it is also a question of death and resurrection. Here again we find symbolic expressions of the two complementary phases that, in initiation or in the Hermetic 'Great Work' (which are essentially one and the same thing), express the same universally applicable cyclical laws upon which, for us, rests the whole construction of Dante's poem.
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