"In the Greek theology, Phanes burst from the egg of chaos, ornamented with the heads of birds and animals, and almost identical in description with the cherubim of Ezekiel. Thus each human body is itself a Mercavah, a chariot of the Law. The four bodies of man are represented by the four heads of the living creature. The physical body is the earth or Taurus, which is seated in the heart. Therefore, the heart is the head of the bull in man. The next is the watery sign of Scorpio, represented by the eagle, which has its seat in the human spleen. The third is the fiery or emotional body of man, ruled by Leo, with its seat in the liver. The fourth head, that of the human being, belongs to Aquarius, the principle of mind, which has its seat in the brain. Each of these beasts goes a different way, that is, has its own surfaces and temperaments, yet together they form the chariot or Mercavah of the spirit." — Manly P. Hall
Phanes or Protogonus was the mystic primeval deity of procreation and the generation of new life, who was introduced into Greek mythology by the Orphic tradition; other names for this Classical Greek Orphic concept included Ericapaeus
In Orphic cosmogony, Phanes is often equated with Eros or Mithras, and has been depicted as a deity emerging from a cosmic egg, entwined with a serpent. He had a helmet and had broad, golden wings.
Chronos (Time) is said to have created the silver egg of the universe, out of which burst the androgynous first-born deity Phanes, or Phanes-Dionysos. Phanes was a male God, in an Orphic hymn he is named as "Lord Priapos". Phanes was a deity of light and goodness, whose name meant "to bring light" or "to shine"; a first-born god of light who emerged from a void or a watery abyss and gives birth to the universe.
“This egg, then, which was the first substance, growing somewhat hot, was broken by the living creature within, and then there took shape and came forth something; such as Orpheus also speaks of, where he says, ‘when the capacious egg was broken,’ etc. And so by the mighty power of that which appeared (phaneis) and came forth, the globe attained coherency, and maintained order, while it itself took its seat, as it were, on the summit of heaven, there in ineffable mystery diffusing light through endless ages. But the productive matter left inside the globe, separated the substances of all things. For first its lower part, just like the dregs, sank downwards of its own weight; and this they called Pluto from its gravity, and weight, and great quantity (polu) of underlying matter, styling it the king of Hades and the dead." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII
“For from within the circumference a certain male-female Living Creature is imaged out by the Foreknowledge of the Divine Spirit that indwells in it, whom Orpheus doth call Manifestor (Φάνης—Phanēs), because when he is manifest (φανείς) the universe shines forth from him, through the lustre of Fire, most glorious of elements, perfected in the Moist [Element]." — Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, 1906
Library of Light Edition 1.0 — Last revised: June 2026