BOOK REVIEW: THE NUCTEMERON OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA
the twelve hours of liberation J. van Rijckenborgh’s commentaries show that the seemingly obscure texts of Apollonius radiate a clear light, so intense that it is able to reach our time undiminished. In twelve stages or ‘hours’, the eternal light is realised in the microcosm. Below, you will find the twelve texts and an introduction to the explanation, given by J. van Rijckenborgh in his book The Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana.
T
he First Hour: ‘In unity the demons praised God, losing their wickedness and wrath.’ He who wants to set out on the path of the Universal Gnosis, enters the Johannine path of preparation. What must be prepared? Our microcosm contains (latent) magnetic tensions; it is our individual respiration field, the drive of the subconscious, sometimes called demonic or sinful. Thus we live on the basis of two egos, from reason and from the primordial power. It is important that we accept this fact, and subsequently evoke the healing forces of the Gnosis. Then this new power will be able to affect this complexity by leading us to self-knowledge, to the confrontation of what is conscious with what is subconscious, because seeing the cause means removing it. Gnostic
salvation will then pervade the microcosm and any disharmony will be transformed into harmony. The resistances will lose their wrath and wickedness. The reader will realise that this ‘task of the First Hour’ requires a radical self-activation, before his former, individual demons will also begin to praise God. The Second Hour: ‘Through duality the fishes of the Zodiac praise God, the fire serpents entwine the serpent staff and the lightning becomes harmonious.’ In the First Hour, the human being has liberated himself in order to be able to walk the Path. This is followed by the confrontation with the great astral world: the power of duality, the play of changes. Without victory in the First Hour, we will not make progress The Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana 39
