“I call upon thee, o living god, radiant with illuminating fire. O unseen parent of the sun! pour forth thy light giving power and energise thy divine spark. Enter into this flame and let it be agitated by the breaths of thy holy spirit. Manifest thy power and open for me the temple of almighty god which is within this fire! manifest thy light for my regeneration, and let the breadth, height, fullness and crown of the solar radiance appear, and may the god within shine forth…”
— Translated from a rescension of a Greek Papyrus by Dr. Carl Wessely, Griechische Zauberpapyrus, 1888
In Greek, Φανης Phanes means “to bring light, to shine.”
“I invoke Protogonus [first god], of a double nature, great, wandering through the ether, Egg-born, rejoicing in thy golden wings, Having the countenance of a bull, the procreator of the blessed gods and mortal men, The renowned Light, the far-celebrated Ericepæus,Ineffable, occult, impetuous, all-glittering strength; Who scatterest the twilight clouds of darkness from the eyes, And roamest throughout the world upon the flight of thy wings, Who bringest forth the pure and brilliant light, wherefore I invoke thee as Phanes, As Priapus the king, and as dazzling fountain of splendour. Come, then, blessed being, full of wisdom and generation, come in joy To thy sacred, ever-varying mystery. Be present with the Priests of thy rituals.”
— Orphic fragment
Phanes was described as male/female. This is the same as the primodial Hindu divinities, and the Hebrew:
“In the beginning אלהים Elohim [literally “god-goddess”] created the heaven and the earth.” —Genesis 1:1
Phanes emerged out of a cosmic egg (the abstract absolute space) and had four heads: an eagle, a lion, a bull, and a man. The Christians adopted all of that symbolism as the four evangelist in the four gospels. It is also in the old testament in relation with the four holy creatures (Chaioth ha Kadosh) described in the book of Ezekiel.
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