Cnoüs

First Appearance and Context

Cnoüs is cited within the Hylaean hymn sung during a daily aut performed in the Mynster. In that rite, the music first depicts a state of disorder that “preceded Cnoüs,” then converges to a single tone representing the Light dawning in Cnoüs’s mind, coinciding with the moment the aut sets the great mechanism in motion. The hymn also names Hylaea as “our mother” who brings forth the light of her father, Cnoüs.

Description and Role

In mathic tradition as expressed through the hymn, Cnoüs stands at the turning point between Kaos (non‑systematic thought) and ordered understanding. The ritual’s musical design uses the collapse of many voices into one pure tone to signify Cnoüs’s moment of enlightenment, after which the winding proceeds smoothly. Cnoüs is also identified as the father of Hylaea and Deät.

Relationships and Functions

• Parent of Hylaea and Deät, who are named as Cnoüs’s daughters in the hymn.
• Invoked during the Hylaean Anathem that accompanies the daily aut, where his moment of insight is mirrored by the rite’s sonic and mechanical climax.

Current Status

Cnoüs functions as a mythic-philosophical figure referenced in ongoing liturgical practice. No physical person or location is associated with him in the text so far; his significance is symbolic within the ritual context.