Definitions HQ

Matter (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a mere inference, whereas the psyche is existence itself, since we know of matter only in so far as we perceive psychic images mediated by the senses.

Matter (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as much a hypothesis as spirit: one is attested by the senses, the other by psychic experience — and among primitives matter has a soul and spirit is material.

Matter (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠all-powerful is the old Creator God over again, stripped of his anthropomorphic features and turned into a universal concept everyone presumes to understand.

Matter (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠identified with evil only because of an overwhelmingly “pneumatic” streak in man; in itself it, like spirit, is neutral — capable of both.

Matter (n.) holds ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a third of the revealed Godhead even in Basilides — an anticipation of the "mystic" significance matter later assumed in alchemy and natural science.

Matter (n.) at ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its heaviest and darkest has a secret relationship to the Anthropos — the metals grow from Gayomart's blood, the lowest thing being identical with the highest and most spiritual.

Matter (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its own numinosity, which in the shape of materialism threatens to suffocate our world.

Matter (n.) used ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as a name for the creative powers within merely replaces an X by a Y and leaves us no further forward.

Matter (n.) once ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠took our projections easily because it was unknown; whatever is mysterious, man fills with his own assumptions.

Matter (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the concreteness of God's thoughts, and so the very thing that makes individuation possible; its soul is the adversary, the point of resistance.

Matter (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a hypothesis: say "matter" and you have made a symbol for something unknown that might as well be spirit, or even God.

Matter (n.) rises ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠up as a primordial image of creation whenever a religion glorifying the spirit disappears.

Matter (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠for the alchemists, material and spiritual, and spirit spiritual and material; the only difference is that the one is crude and dense and the other subtle.

Matter (n.) had ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a soul for the alchemists, unaware it came from their own psyche by projection; intellect served only as a famulus to their intuition, and they themselves did not know what they were talking about.

Matter (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠never de-deified for the alchemists: either God was imprisoned in it as the world-soul, or it was God's reality, coeternal with him as Paracelsus held.

Matter (n.) stripped ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠of the Great Mother is a term dry as dust and inhuman; spirit reduced to intellect stops being the Father of All and vanishes in an intellectual desert.