Third Degree: Lesson VII
The Ennead
The term Ennead means “A Group of Nine”.
Numerologically –as you will recall from earlier Lessons- Nine is the number which represents the furthest extent of creation before returning to source. That is to say that Nine represents the full spectrum of Being: thus many Divine principles are represented in groups of Nine.
Nine is also the number of THREE TIMES THREE: which is Magic/Manifestation times itself, ultimate expansion and multiplication.
Historically there have been many Enneads which have been important in Pagan thought. Perhaps chief among these is the great ENNEAD OF HELIOPOLIS, the Nine Deities associated with creation and the cycles of existence by the ancient Priesthood of the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (On –present day Cairo). The Ennead of Heliopolis includes Ra, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nuit, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nepthys.
Another important Ennead which every Pagan should be familiar with is the Nine MUSES, a group of Nine Goddesses who in Greco-Roman Paganism represented the arts and sciences. The Muses are thought to have originally been aspects of the Goddess MNEMOSYNE, or Memory (ie: learning). The Nine Muses are: Calliope (Epic Poetry), Clio (History), Erato (Love Poetry), Euterpe (Music), Melpomene (Drama), Polyhymnia (Religion, Philosophy and MATHEMATICS), Terpsichore (Dance), Thalia (Comedy), and Urania (Astrology/Astronomy).
There are also, of course, the Nine Virtues, which we discussed in Lesson 3:1. There are in fact several lists of Nine Virtues coming down from different schools, including our own Correllian list. There are also many other lists of Nine Things, because the symbolism of the number lends itself to definitions of the spectrum of any given quality.
However, the Correllian Tradition has a very special definition of the Ennead, which so far as I know is unique to us: that is the Nine Monads.
As you will remember, the Goddess separated Herself into Nine Monads during creation, sending the Monads into the physical world in order to re-unite with the God. In this manner the Goddess “Fell” so that She might “Rise” –that is to say that the Goddess undertook the difficult steps necessary to achieve Her goal, separating off parts of Herself so that She might ultimately achieve Unity.
A Monad you will recall is to the Soul what the Soul is to each individual life. Many lives are manifestations of a single Soul, just as many Souls are manifestations of a single Monad.
The Monad
Although Correllian ideas about the Monad are unique to us, the idea of the Monad is a fairly common one. You will likely have heard the Monad discussed in other metaphysical Traditions under other names: many people call the Monad an “Oversoul”, others term it a “Group Soul”, and still others have used other terms for it. Most have only a hazy understanding of the role of the Monad however.
Another way in which some people look at the Monads is the idea that they are waves of creation from which Souls then emanate.