God is the Father of the cosmos, the cosmos is the father of those within the cosmos, the cosmos is the Son of God, and those within the cosmos have been created by the cosmos. The cosmos has been aptly named, ‘order’; for it gives order to all things

Hermeticum, 9:8

The Cosmos is tripartite meaning it exists in three distinct parts.

Spirit

Spirit is not separate from God’s true essence, but is spread out from it like the light of the Sun.

Hermeticum, 12:1

The highest realm is the Spirit (also called Intellect). The Spirit is the faculty that allows us to understand the Truth and God. Spirit also gives us the capacity for objectivity and the ability to rise above our own subjective experience to come into union with the Divine.

Although it is sometimes referred to as Intellect, the Spirit is distinct from rational thinking. In fact, rational thinking does not have the ability to fully grasp the Spirit at all. Spirit is the realm of pure consciousness, where knowledge and knower are one.

The Spirit exists at all levels of the Cosmos and we come to know it through its reflections in Truth, Beauty and Goodness (the infinite attributes of God).

Soul

The realm of the soul contains the immaterial aspects of our life. Our reasoning mind, imagination, memories, conscience, affections, will power and passions are all contained within the Soul.

The soul is the active reflection of the Spirit. This is why in Latin it is called the anima, because it is the animated reflection of the Spiritual realm. While the Spirit is beyond space and time, the soul is beyond space but within time. This is why when we dream, you may move instantly from one space to another, but you still experience time.

The Soul realm contains our individual souls but also the soul of the Universe called the Whole Soul. The whole soul is what connects all souls together allowing for our intuitive and spiritual connection with humans and other beings.

Generation

The final realm of generation is what we know as the physical world. It is the realm of matter and mortals. Everything here is an image or reflection of the realm of soul and by extension the realm of spirit. This is the most limited realm and far distant from our spiritual home. Suffering and pain are a necessary part of this realm as we are separated from our source in God and struggle to reunite with the Divine.

God/The One

Beyond these realms is God or the One. Since it is beyond being itself or rational thought it is something that is impossible to fully explain in words.

It is, therefore, truly ineffable: for whatever you say about it, you will always be speaking of a “something.” But “beyond all things and beyond the supreme majesty of Spirit” is the only one of all the ways of speaking of it which is true.

Plotinus, V-3-13

Nonetheless, God is not separate from the universe but so intimately intertwined with it that we can never fully see it in it’s entirety. God is imminent in all things and the presence of God is available to us through the Gods and through providence.