“Nous, God, being male and female, beginning as life and light, gave birth, by the word, to another Nous, the creator of the world ; he, being the god of fire and air, formed seven powers who emcompass in their circles the sensory world, and the governance of these powers is called destiny”
Corpus hermeticum Book 1 paragraph 9
The ancients perceived the planets of our solar system both as physical spaces, but also as spiritual dimensions.
According to the history of the incarnation of man in the philosophy of the ancients: this being, by virtue of a fall whose adventures vary from myth to myth, falls into the world of matter, that is -say on earth. During his fall, man generally begins by donning his subtle body, intermediate between the immaterial and the increasingly material which will attach to him.
He crosses the 7 spheres, dressing the clothes and the vices of the 7 associated planets. And it is thus contaminated with these 7 dimensions that he finally incarnates in an earthly body and unites with material nature.
The 7 planets governed by forces therefore represent the 7 vices of man:
– The moon: Growth and decay
– Mercury: Malevolence
– Venus: Pleasure, lust
– The sun: Ambition, pride
– Mars: Temerity, ardor
– Jupiter: Riches
– Saturn: Lies, wickedness
The soul fell, imprisoned by the 7 forces controlling the 7 main weaknesses of man. These strengths thus reveal and personify our weaknesses by exploiting them; they therefore also represent the stages of ascension to be accomplished during life. Our weaknesses, our enslavement by involutionary forces become our path to accomplishment and return to the source.
The candidate for liberation climbs the 7 rungs of the ladder or the 7 steps of the pyramid in order to free themselves from the influences of the planets. Man becomes the master of the 7 spheres only when he transmutes the impulses he receives from them. He who masters these 7 worlds is reunited with the divine source of his own nature.