GENESIS 1:21
"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
Inner Meaning
This verse describes the organization of astral life into distinct orders.
Where Genesis 1:20 depicts the stirring of astral motion, Genesis 1:21 represents the structuring of those forces into coherent forms.
Two great developments occur:
- "Great sea creatures" - the vast, powerful emotional forces that dominate the early astral nature.
- "Every winged bird" - the refined thought-forms that rise above the emotional field.
This is the moment when the soul's inner life becomes differentiated, with higher and lower currents taking recognizable shape.
Symbolic Breakdown
Great Sea Creatures
These represent the large-scale emotional powers within the astral plane:
- primal desires
- instinctual drives
- collective emotional currents
- deep, unconscious forces
They are "great" because they dominate the early psychic life of the evolving soul.
Every Living Creature That Moves
Symbolizes the lesser impulses, the smaller emotional and psychic motions that populate the astral field.
These are the "swarming" tendencies of the lower nature.
Waters Bringing Forth Abundantly
The astral plane naturally generates forms in abundance.
It is the matrix of:
- desire
- imagination
- emotional imagery
- psychic impressions
This is the soul's first creative field.
Every Winged Bird After Its Kind
Represents thought-forms that arise from the astral but ascend toward the mental plane.
They "fly above the earth" because:
- thought rises above physicality
- ideas transcend instinct
- aspiration lifts consciousness upward
And God Saw That It Was Good
Indicates that the differentiation of emotional and mental forces is necessary and beneficial for the soul's evolution.
Esoteric Interpretation
Genesis 1:21 describes the ordering of the inner life:
- The astral plane produces the full range of emotional forces.
- These forces differentiate into higher and lower expressions.
- Thought begins to rise from emotion, forming the first structures of the mental plane.
- The soul gains the capacity to direct, refine, and eventually transcend its own psychic energies.
This is the foundation of self-consciousness and inner mastery.
Comparative Symbolism
Jungian Psychology
- "Great sea creatures" = archetypal emotional powers of the unconscious.
- "Winged birds" = emerging ideas and intuitions rising toward consciousness.
Judaism
The verse reflects the divine ordering of chaos into structure, a movement from undifferentiated waters to distinct forms.
Christianity
The separation of emotional and spiritual life mirrors the distinction between flesh and spirit, the two movements within the soul.
Hinduism
The sea creatures correspond to kama (desire), while the birds correspond to manas rising toward buddhi, the ascent of mind toward higher wisdom.
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