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Holy Night is the supreme mystery night of the year. lt is in the hushed white stillness of the mystic midnight hour that the music of the earth song changes both in quality and tone. The clear high cadences which have characterized the reign of Michael and his ministering hosts echo and reecho softly along the cosmic corridors of the horizon as they seem to withdraw from the earth's atmosphere; for Gabriel and his Angels now assume the guardian ship of the earth, the air resounds with the tender sweetness of their song. It is this wonderful music which has been the inspiration for all the cradle songs and lullabyes which master musicians have given to the world.
The emblem of Gabriel is the lily which is also the symbol of the Immaculate Conception. The bringing of this exalted mystery to mankind is the crowning work of Gabriel's mission. To his fore most disciple, beautiful Mary of Bethlehem, he imparted his divine secret, and in manifesting it to the world she became the way-shower of mothers and fathers first of all, but also of all pure souls every. where. In the latter days of the Aquarian Age the Immaculate Con"" ception will no longer be the mystery it is today, for many will have achieved it. This will mean the end of sickness, old age and death, for in the life of the child immaculately conceived these human lim itations can have no place. It is of this glad new day that poets, prophets and seers of all ages have sung: "A little child shall lead them."
It requires many lifetimes of labor on the Path to reach the place where one has earned the right to be born of an Immaculate Conception; a labor in which the body of the aspirant becomes the true lily-body. The lily is the symbol of purity.
The lily-body is the immaculately conceived body of the ad vanced Initiate, in which a certain clearly discernible development has taken place; discernible, that is, to the spiritual vision, and at tested also by the unique powers which that development confers.
When purity and self-control have been firmly established as the Disciple's norm, the sacred creative life force is lifted toward the head, and there a new organ develops within the etheric counter part of the head. This new etheric organ has the outline of a lily blossom, its fragrant cup of white and shining petals extending from the larynx upward, and emitting a light which forms a glowing aureole.
It is this etheric organ, connecting the larynx with the spiritual organs within the head, which enables the Adept to speak the creative Word and to take part in the Earth Ceremonial of the Christ Mass. All nine of the Lesser Initiations are required to bring this holy plant to its full flowering.
The sacred creative life force is in literal fact a light-substance which feeds the etheric organs of the new body of light which is gradually supplanting the dense physical body which man has today. This body interpenetrates the physical body at the present time, but it is still wraith-like; yet as it matures in the course of incarnations it actually displaces the physical body atoms, until the Sixth Race body materializes as a pure and luminous vehicle of the em bodied ego, shining from within by the light of the Spirit.
Jacob Boehme, the medieval Initiate-Seer, had seen the vision of the glorious humanity that is destined to inhabit the New Day, and this is the lily body of which he writes.
Mary, too, had caught this vision as she sang of the multitudes that should arise to call her blessed, for she knew that she was the Pattern which the humanity of the New Age would follow in bring ing to birth a new and righteous race upon earth.
This is the Message which Gabriel and his Angels bring to te earth each year on Holy Night, that white night of the soul for him who is ready to receive it.
Gabriel is the Angel of tenderness, mercy, compassion, love. He is the chief guardian of the Winter Solstice festivities, those which are unseen by eyes of flesh as well as those visible to all; and as the Christmas hymns echo through the lofty aisles of cathedrals, one sees the flash of wings which are the auric formations of his angelic messengers.
At this time when the planet is luminous with Christ Power. Gabriel uses that Power to purify, elevate and spiritualize the hu man souls in his charge.
The Power of which we speak — that primal, creative, fiery Power which the Archangel uses in his work with Neophyte and Disciple alike — is Love. To the Neophyte he brings the lesson of the expansion of the Love consciousness beyond the confines of friends, family and benefactors, to include even enemies and those who seek to do him ill; a Love broadened to include every race and creed and cult, a Love without condescension because it is based on a genuine appreciation of the Divine Essence hidden within every human personality, however imperfect. He learns to say meaningfully that every man in the world is his brother and all the world his home.
This impersonal Love is not easy to achieve, and the Neophyte must pass through many Winter Solstice Ceremonials before the les son is learned.
The Disciple, having achieved the broad basis of brotherly Love, is ready for something higher which, however, cannot be won except on the basis of that brotherly love which he has acquired in his novitiate. This higher thing is to develop Love as a Power, under the tutelage of Gabriel. No longer must Love be to him a mere passing emotion or sensory thrill; it must be lifted up to become — as it really is — a Power of the Spirit. For with every step down ward into matter Love loses something of itself, but with every step upward into Spirit Love regains itself and is winged with celestial force.
St. Paul in his glorious love song declares: "Now there abideth Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love."
In the life of the Disciple, Faith, Hope and Love are not mere abstractions but definite attributes of soul or Spirit, manifesting in the illumined life. When Faith has thus become, not a mere abstrac tion which engages the intellect, but realizable Power emanating from Spirit, it can remove mountains as the Christ taught.
But prior to the possession of this Faith which is Power, the Disciple must have known the spiritual reality of Hope. There is profound truth in the legend of Pandora's box in which, when all vices and virtues had been extracted, yet one thing remained: Hope. Hope is the first of the mental qualities to be transmuted into us able soul power — Hope which is the voice of angelic ministers to the soul, Hope which turns the soul about and sets it on the path leading to Heaven. Hope can change the most discordant conditions and make of life a new and joyful experience, for it leads directly into the house of Love where the Christ Power confers upon the Disciple for the first time the dominion of the Initiate; Initiation being but a term descriptive of the powers possessed by one who has become Christed.
"And now abideth Faith, Hope and Love: but the greatest of these is Love." Such is the mantram for meditation on the White Night of the Soul.
When the Mystic Midnight Sun is born in the heart of the globe on Holy Night, a mysterious and beautiful phenomenon occurs in nature. The life force of the plant kingdom lies quiescent and dreaming in root and seed, but as the Midnight Sun floods the inner realms of earth with glory, suddenly at the roots of all growing things there gleams a soft star like point of light. The plant has begun to awaken, and its life mounts upward through stem and trunk, until at the Summer Solstice the starry radiance shines like a crown jewel upon the topmost height of every tree and shrub.
So intimately is the life of mankind interwoven with that of nature that the path of spiritual progression (called Initiation) also reflects the wonder-working of the plant kingdom. Turning his spiritual gaze inward, the Disciple discovers the same golden star light within himself, the Seed Star of Spirit, the sign and sigil of his own divinity, which in the course of evolution has ascended from lower centers of consciousness until at last it shines jewel-like in the crown of light upon his head.
From all of which it is evident that the inner aspects of the sacred festivals always supplement the outer, and give it the subtle overtones which delight the heart in meditation.
Now this inner aspect of the Festival is, in one sense, the opposition of the outer, for it is a law of spiritual nature that the hidden or occult aspect is always present and active within the outer. Thus in the depth of winter, the spirit of summer is active within nature, and that golden Star of which we have spoken is in fact evidence of the dynamic force which flowers in the brilliance and abundance of the Summer Solstice.
And therefore, also, the brilliance and beauty of the Archangel of the Summer Solstice, Uriel, the Light of God, Angel of Vision and Beauty, is actually present at the Winter Solstice; not, indeed, in out.er nature, but at the heart of nature, in the soul world. He is present within all the color and music of the Yuletide, his voice mingles with the joyous laughter of little children, as Gabriel guides the holy Festivities of the time. His are the overtones which prom ise the fruitage of summer, and he and his Angels add their song to the chorales chanted by Gabriel's hosts. Some of the most beautiful of the Christmas songs are but echoes of the in:p.er plane songs of Angels, which is the reason that Christmas carols have endured through long centuries bringing exaltation of spirit to all who hear them.
Gabriel is the guardian of the gates of earth during the three months of Christmas t6 Easter, or from the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox. During' this time the feminine element is most active. The sap is rising in the plants; buds, leaves and blossoms are forming to add their beauty and wonder to the Resurrection season, a work primarily of Gabriel. for he has charge of all nur turing activities throughout nature. It is during the interval of the Winter Solstice that all egos who are to take physical embodiment during the ensuing year come down into the etheric region to receive the blessing and counsel of the mighty Archangel.
Hence it was fitting that this bright Being should be the teacher and counsellor of the world's most perfect lnitiate Mother, Mary of Bethlehem. His presence illumined her path from birth. He was her guide throughout childhood and her teacher when she passed through her first Initiation (which the world calls the Annunciation). It was Gabriel and his Hosts of ministering Angels who guarded the Madonna to be until the moment the Child was born, and who guarded Mother and Child thereafter. With his fellow Archan gels Gabriel stood by the Manger at Bethlehem on the first Holy Night, and it was he who led the Initiate Shepherds on their journey, and it was he who inspired the Wise Men to follow the Star to the place where Babe and Mother waited to receive them.
Each of the Nativity Mysteries, which represent definite stages of the Way of Initiation, is under the rulership of Gabriel, and everyone found worthy to walk in this Way comes to know something of his gentle majesty. Christ the Archangel descended to earth in fulfillment of the prophetic chant of Angels who had for long aeons labored to prepare the way for Him. Earth must continue as a material planet until all division and separativeness has been resolved into unity; until there are no conflicting nations and races, and the world has merged into one harmonious organism, manifesting the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. This is the Great Event toward which all creation moves; when the sacrifice of Christ shall be end ed and He will return for all time to the celestial realms which are His rightful home.
The evolutionary cycles of mankind may be likened to the cycles of nature, in which periods of storm and stress, of cold and darkness, alternate with periods of peace and safety, of warmth and light in which all life moves easily. So also the experiences of egos on their long incarnational cycles, during which the wheel of life turns round and round through the worlds of birth, death and re birth, are sometimes found in the cold and dark of sorrow and pain, and again in the light and warmth of joy and fulfillment.
In the life of the planet the Christ Light manifests equally in each one of its alternating seasons; and His life glows as intensely through the darkness of winter when Gabriel shines as in the bright ness of summer when Uriel is the lamp of His hand.
Man also, as a Christ in the making, learns to shine above all the storms in the outer sense world, sending forth that Light which is in fact the evidence of his own inmost selfhood. When he has learned this lesson; when he lives and has his being consciously and at will in his Christhood, then it is that his earth pilgrimages will be ended altogether, and he too will join the great Compassionate Ones who come to earth not for their own edification but to lift and serve their brethren.
It was one who had gained this freedom, one who had learned to walk hand in hand with the Star Angels, who spoke these words out of his own sublime knowledge: "To them that receive Him He will give the power to become the Sons of God."
Upon the holiest of holy nights when the new-born Sun begins its journey northward and its life-giving powers are felt throughout nature; when energy sleeping in the roots of the plant kingdom awakens and begins a spiraling ascent; then also egos who are awaiting physical embodiment draw close to our planet in an ecstasy of anticipation — as described in the Legend of the White Rose. Beneath its fanciful imagery this legend conceals profound truth.
Where the portals of time guard the borders of earth from the unseen land stands the Spirit of Motherhood, gowned in long robes of flowing white that lose themselves in the distance like endless dreams. About her lovely head is wound a misty veil. woven from threads of smiles and tears: it clings around her gentle throat like the clasp of tiny hands. Her bright eyes gleam like twin stars of hope. Around her, and far behind, shines a soft light which is the reflection of the love-light of her heart. In her hands she holds a wonderful white rose that seems to be made of a multitude of children's faces. Each petal reflects a shining coun tenance in an ensemble so enchantingly lovely and so weighted with tenderness that all the weary world grows brighter.
Millions of eager souls who feel the urge to return to earth life are constantly thronging the portals of time. Each stands be neath the shadow of the large white rose; and upon each one to whom is granted an opportunity to walk earth ways again, the Spirit of Motherhood bestows a petal of this rose. For every petal that is removed another comes to take its place. So long as there are souls who yearn for earth experi nce, so long must the petals continue to bloom. Never withering and never bare, the everlasting white rose in all its exquisite mystery dreams above the world.
In the depth of the Holy Night all of the souls who are to find their earth-homes in the coming year go a-journeying. When all the world is filled with love and every heart is overflowing with peace and good will it is very easy for the tenuous bodies of the earth-drawn egos to penetrate into hearts and homes of their choosing. So on Holy Night a new wave of tenderness encircles each expectant mother: soft hands caress her; flower faces bend over her; and beautiful memories lave her in streams of half-remembered music. The tender fragrance of white rose petals brings her into a newer, a more ethereal consciousness. Ah, the exquisite happiness that beckons her on this holiest night for mothers, while the Angels sing of the coming of the Child.
Along an interminable skyline rest shadows of lavender-grey clouds; here and there the bright face of a star may be seen. A silver sheen of mist shrouds all things, with only an occasional splash of mauve light glancing through to herald the approaching dawn. The soft mist stirs gently like a curtain moving to and fro, opening to welcome the return of the souls from their loverjourneyings. Thou sands of happy cherubs, their faces shining with a moonlight radiance, slip behind the silver mists to await their star-call in the coming year.
So reads the Legend of the White Rose.
— Corinne Heline
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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