"The Creation of Humankind"

 ~transcribed from 'The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of The Pharaohs'

When the Creator who want for a better name,
We call ‘Atum’, had made the ‘second god’
which is the Cosmos
{S}he was pleased.
His creation was beautiful,
and wholly filled with goodness,
and he Loved it like his child.
 
In his kindness
Atum wished for there to be a creature
capable of appreciating the beauty of his creation.
So, by an act of will he created humankind,
to be an imitator of his divine wisdom and nurturing Love.
 
Atum asked each heavenly god in turn,
‘What can you provide for humanity,
which I am about to create?’
The sun said it would shine all day,
providing laughter as a source of joy
for both mortal minds and the boundless universe itself.
The moon promised sleep and silence, and to shine by night.
 
Saturn offered justice and necessity
Jupiter gave peace and Mars struggle.
Venus proffered Love and pleasure.
Mercury, who is also called Hermes, said:
‘I will make humankind intelligent.
I will convey to them wisdom and Knowledge of the Truth.
I will never cease to benefit all humanity.’
Atum was glad when he heard these words
and gave the command that man should come into being.
 
Mind, the All-Father, who is Life and Light,
gave birth to humanity, which bore his own image,
and he took delight in his offspring.
Joined to the gods by a sense of kinship,
humanity worshipped them with piety and holy thoughts,
while, for their part, the gods watch over humankind
with concern and loving mercy.
 
At first man was solely eternal and spiritual,
but Atum saw that his new creation
could not tend the Earth
unless he sheltered them in a material envelope -
giving man a mortal body as well as an immortal soul.
So, Atum bade Nature be,
and from his voice came a woman’s form,
so lovely that the gods were smitten with her beauty.
Atum made Nature mistress of the world.
 
She communed with herself,
producing all kinds of seeds
which Atum took hold of with his hands
and scattered over the Earth,
who is the mother of all worldly things.
Seeing in man a beautiful image of Atum,
Nature was filled with insatiable Love.
She clasped him to her,
and they merged to become one in Love.
Mortal and eternal blended and mingled
so that Man may perform the demands
of both sources of his nature.
Firstly, to serve God -
venerating and praising the things of heaven.
Secondly, to assist and administer the things of Earth,
by tilling the soil, navigating the waters, building on the land,
and by serving each other - the strongest of bonds that links the human race together.
 
Then Atum, the master of generation, bestowed on humankind
the sacrament of reproduction -
full of affection and joy,
gladness and yearning,
and all the heavenly Love that is his Being.
 
I would have to explain the nature
of this compelling sacred bond
that binds man and woman together,
were it not that each one of us,
if we explore our innermost feelings,
can experience it for ourselves.
 
Contemplate that supreme moment
when each sex infuses itself with the other.
One giving forth
and the other eagerly embracing.
At that moment,
through the intermingling of the two natures,
the female acquires male vigour,
and the male is relaxed in female languor.
This sweet sacramental act we celebrate
is shared in secret,
because if performed openly
before impure eyes
the ignorant may mock
and the divine power
manifesting in both sexes
will shy away.