The Secret Doctrine 2.5.20

Their Fathers were the Self‐born. The Self‐born, the Chhâyâ from the brilliant Bodies of the Lords, the Fathers, the Sons of Twilight.

The “Shadows,” or Chhâyâs, are called the Sons of the “Self‐born,” as the latter name is applied to all the Gods and Beings, born through the Will, whether of Deity or Adept. The Homunculi of Paracelsus would, perhaps, be also given this name, though the latter process is on a far more material plane. The name “Sons of Twilight” shows that the “Self‐born” Progenitors of our Doctrine are identical with the Pitris of the Brâhmanical System, as the title is a reference to their mode of birth; these Pitris being stated to have issued from Brahmâ’s “Body of Twilight,” as stated in the Purânas.