Franz Hartmann, co-founder of OTO
Franz Hartmann, co-founder of OTO
I have been considering building a stained glass window with a
hexagram in the center. This illustration, which appears on the cover of
“Magic White and Black” by Franz Hartmann, seemed a good place to start.
I wasn’t extremely familiar with Hartmann, and actually got him confused
with a similarly named disciple of Gurdjieff’s. Wikipedia says that
Franz Hartmann co-founded the Ordo Templi Orientis along with Kellner
and Germer. I am seeking advice on colors to use for such a window. I
plan to mark the glass with the appropriate planetary and astrological
symbols, and maybe even using sanskrit for the hindu gods. The part I am
most curious about are the triangles with Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma Here
is the illustration (click on it for full-size): 
The following interpretation is taken from an electronic copy of “Magic
White and Black”: [Page 5] At the foot of the picture is a sleeping
Sphinx, whose upper part (representing the higher principles) is human;
while the lower parts (symbolising the lower principles) are of an
animal nature. She is dreaming of the solution of the great problem of
the construction of the Universe and of the nature and destiny of Man,
and her dream takes the shape of the figure above her, representing the
Macrocosm and the Microcosm and their mutual interaction. Above, around,
and within all, without beginning and without an end, penetrating and
pervading all, from the endless and unimaginable periphery to the
invisible and incomprehensible centre is Parabrahm, the unmanifested
Absolute, the supreme source of every power that ever manifested or may
in the future manifest itself as a “thing”, and by whose activity the
world was thrown into existence, being projected by the power of His own
will and imagination. The Omega (and the Alpha in the centre) represent
the “Son”, the Absolute having become manifest as the Universal Logos or
The Christ, also called Buddhi, or the sixth principle, the cause of the
beginning and the end of every created thing. It is One with the
“father”, being manifested as a Trinity in a Unity, the cause of what we
call Space, Motion, and Substance. Its highest manifestation is
Self-consciousness, by which it may come to the comprehension of Man.
The spiritual man whose matrix is his own physical body, draws his
nutriment from this universal spiritual principle as the physical [Page
6] foetus is nourished by means of the womb of the mother, his soul
being formed from the astral influences or the soul of the world. Out of
the Universal Logos proceeds the “invisible Light “ of the Spirit, the
Truth, the Law, and the Life, embracing and penetrating the Cosmos and
becoming manifest in the illuminated soul of Man, while the visible
light of Nature is only its most material aspect or mode of
manifestation, in the same sense as the visible sun is the reflex of its
divine prototype, the invisible centre of power or the great spiritual
Sun. The circle with the twelve signs of the Zodiac, enclosing the space
in which the planets belonging to our solar system are represented,
symbolises the Cosmos, filled with the planetary influences pervading
the Astral Light, and which are caused by the interaction of the astral
emanations of the cosmic bodies and their inhabitants. The activity in
the Cosmos is represented by the interlaced triangle. The two outer ones
represent the great powers of creation, preservation, and destruction,
or Brahama, Vishnu, and Siva, acting upon the elements of Fire, Water,
and Earth — that is to say, upon the original principles out of which
ethereal, fluid and solid material substances and forms are produced.
The two inner interlaced triangles refer more especially to the
development of Man. B, C, and D represent Knowledge, the Knower, and the
Known, which trinity constitutes Self-knowledge. E, F, and G represent
the Physical Man, the Ethereal or Inner Man, and the Spiritual Man. The
centre represents the divine Atma, being identical with the Universal
Logos. It is, like the latter, a Trinity in a Unity.[Of the three
interlaced A’s only one is distinctly drawn in the figure. It is the
spiritual seed [Page 7] implanted in the soul of man, through whose
growth immortal life is attained. Its light is the Rose of the Cross
that is formed by Wisdom and Power. But below all is the realm of
illusion, of the most gross and heavy materialised thoughts, sinking
into Darkness and Death, where they decompose and putrefy, and are
resolved again into the elements out of which the Universe came into
existence. [Page 8 and 9]