In its earliest stages of development, before the race consciousness had extended beyond the subjective state into the objective, mankind was easily amenable as a unit to a single directing will. That One Will operated through the twelve zodiacal Hierarchies in directing the destinies of the entire human race.

   The serpent, a symbol common to all world religions, represents the serpentine or kundalini fire-force coiled and sleeping in the body of man. In this universal application it signifies an inner power which caused his original downfall and also the power by which he accomplishes his regeneration. It is the power which may lead him to greater light and life or to death and destruction according to whether it is used wisely or unwisely.

   When the serpent force is directed downward for the gratification of sensual desire, the inevitable result is sorrow, pain, disease and death. Directed upward to the head, the spinal fire brings regeneration and builds the deathless body of the soul. While wandering in the wilderness the Israelites suffered from the poisonous bites of serpents that crawled in the dust (earthly sensualism) but were healed by the selfsame serpents when uplifted (regeneration through spiritual aspiration).

   Philo declared that the Fall recorded in the Bible is also written in the very organism of man, therein stating a profound occult truth. As a result of the Fall creative life is divided in its body-building processes. The masculine pole of spirit builds the larynx and the brain, the organs by which physical forms are brought forth and the life of the species maintained. It is the diversion of this creative force from the legitimate use of propagation to mere gratification of sensual desire that is described in biblical symbology as eating of the forbidden fruit. Eve first partook of it; that is, the feminine pole of the spirit, which embraces the power of love and the faculty of imagination, yielded first to the lure of the senses (temptation by the serpent). This led to the "fall" of the feminine principle in all humanity.

   To disengage the fallen feminine from its entanglement with sensual desire is the Great Work which must be accomplished by each individual and by the race as a whole. The Bible is primarily a guide to this Work. Means and methods whereby the regenerative process can be successfully performed constitute the fundamental Teachings of every Mystery School. Lifting of the fallen feminine principle is the central theme of masonic ceremonials and doctrines. It is also the main subject of the Zohar which treats it as the Mystery of the Balance.

   By God's command, Abram inaugurated a new departure in racial progression. He was required to leave his country and kindred and to go into a land that the Lord would reveal unto him. That land signifies new conditions — physical, political, social, religious and spiritual. The guidance Abram was receiving came from God through the mediation of the Race Spirit that presided over the destiny of the people Abram was called to lead. That Race Spirit, like all others of similar rank, belonged to the archangelic Hierarchy. His name is Michael.

   Touching the racial migration, Godfrey Higgins states in Anacalypsis that when "the Vernal Equinox changed from Taurus to Aries, several emigrations occurred from Mesopotamia and India towards the West in consequence of civil wars then prevailing."

   Notice is here taken of the precessional change in the heavens as being coincident with movements of population from one geographic location to another. It is also an interesting historical corroboration of the account in Genesis. While this aspect of the Bible is altogether secondary, it is present throughout. The history of the Jewish race becomes the external framework within which inspired writers have constructed a spiritual history of mankind that is equally true for all people at all times and in all places.

   Joseph, (the higher mind) had been rejected by his elder brothers and sent "down" into Egypt. But this descent of the divine principle into materiality neither annihilated nor obscured it. By its inherent power it transformed barrenness into fruitfulness. Whereas famine overtook all other parts of the world, Egypt had corn enough to carry her through the lean years, and not only for itself but for the suffering lands as well.

   Joseph had conserved the fruits of the field. He had stored up the corn; that is, he had preserved the very essence of life itself by a life of purity in keeping with the divine mind he symbolizes. It is squandering this life force that leads to weakness, impotency and want. It was from this famine that the people suffered, and still suffer. To learn the reason for such lack the less enlightened, older, more dominant and aggressive brothers, went into Egypt.

   The symbolism here indicates that the needed corn (sustenance) is rightly sought for in Egypt (the sacral plexus) where it is gathered by Joseph (higher mind) and stored in the granaries of the land (head centers), and is thus available to all who seek it. This corn from which the bread of life is made is without price. Astrologically, Joseph came into possession of storehouses of corn under the powers of his sign, Sagittarius, the sign governing the raising of the kundalini fire from the sacral plexus to the head.

   As Joseph commanded his brother's sacks to be filled, he also ordered that their money be restored to them. When, on their return journey, one of the brothers discovered that the purchase money had been refunded, he exclaimed in amazement, "What is this that God hath done unto us?"

   Abram had again chosen highly and wisely. He elected to take the better path, preferring advantages of a spiritual nature to those of the material. He dealt kindly and generously with his kinsman Lot, even though he had come to the place in his own spiritual life where he could no longer live amicably with Lot, the lesser mortal man. Every right choice and constructive action strengthens the whole nature and brings it into a closer harmony with universal right and good. The hold on spiritual values becomes more secure. This is illustrated at this stage of Abram's life in the Lord's appearance to him immediately after he had separated himself from Lot, and in his repetition of the promise already made that Canaan was his. "The length of it" and "the breadth of it ... I will give it unto thee."

   The Bible, being above all else a Book of Life, deals with death only as the end of a certain phase of existence and the beginning of another. In the lives of the principal characters whose biographies it records, it invariably refers to the sublime transition wherein consciousness outgrows the personal, and in transcending the world of time enters into a realization of the Life Everlasting.

   Jacob reached the highest stage of attainment with the birth of his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, by his beloved Rachel. Their birth followed upon pain and struggle. Rachel "travailed" while Jacob 11 wrestled," even to the disjointing of his thigh. The way of spiritual progress is ever the way of the cross. "Wisdom is crystallized pain."

   The birth of Benjamin, the last and best beloved of Jacob's sons, could occur only after his experience at Peniel where he received the name Israel. This was followed by the death of Rachel which occurred in Bethlehem. The place is significant as a center of spiritual strength.

   Esau belongs to Edom; he is red and hairy, a cunning hunter and a man of the fields. This description identifies Esau with the unregenerate nature in man. So long as Esau is in control, man lives an ephemeral life, and his values are measured in terms of things. The Esau nature despises its heritage of innate divinity, the things of flesh being at enmity with those of God.

   Abram's victorious exploit in rescuing Lot was followed by a transcendental experience which ranks among the most beautiful and significant episodes recorded in the entire Old Testament. It was Abram's meeting with Melchizedek, a man of mystery of whom nothing is known concerning his residence, his birth, his years, his future. He appears for a moment, bestows his blessing upon Abram, and passes again beyond the veils of physical perception.

   Melchizedek was the "king of Salem" and "the priest of the most high God." Coming to Abram, he brought forth bread and wine, "and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand." Genesis 14:18-20)

   Melchizedek was the king of peace (Salem), while Christ Jesus, Prince of Peace, was, according to Paul, a "high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." He was not only a personality but a principle.

   The change in the names of Abram and Sarai was the result of a change in their character and consciousness. It brought an external feature in conformity with an inner alteration. Names are powers. They carry vibrational values. To study these values is to lay hold of another key with which to unlock Bible mysteries. Every letter has a number value, and all the universe is built on number or motion. The Hebrew alphabet is constructed in accordance with numerical law and contains within itself an outline of the evolutionary path followed by the masses, and also the steps taken by the few who choose to follow the steep and narrow way of Initiation.

   Living by the sword is the way of conflict which arises from a state of consciousness that is selfish and separative. It is each for self rather than each for all. Esau (material man) was to serve Jacob (spiritual man) until by such service he would gain dominion over his mortal nature and thereby break the yoke of materiality that now pressed down upon his neck.

   Sodom and Gomorrah, like ancient Lemuria, were destroyed by fire. The cause was the same in both instances — a perversion of the sacred fire force in the body of man. "Daemon est Deus inversus." Sodom and Gomorrah are the two pillars in ruin, restored, they are the Jachin and Boaz that stand at the entrance of Solomon's Temple, the Shrine of Wisdom, which is man himself.

   The initial letters "S" and "G" of the names of the two cities point to the love principle which, because of its abysmal fall in the wicked cities of the plain, caused their overthrow. Studying the letters in their Hebrew significance we find that "S" or shin was one of the master letters, the other two being "A" and "M." When the dot was placed on the left hand prong of "S" the letter meant sin. The same word in ancient times also meant Moon.

   The following legend well describes man's struggle and conquest:

   Astrologically interpreted, Jacob represents the Sun and his twelve sons, the twelve signs of the Zodiac. When the attributes of these twelve signs are synthesized in an individual, he becomes one of the 144,000, the square of twelve, who qualify for entry into "the new heaven and the new earth."

   The blessing which Jacob bestows upon his sons is made up of fragments from ancient hymns of Initiation. A study of these fragments gives clues to the zodiacal rulership of the several sons and to the development awaiting future humanity.

   In its more virtuous days humanity was in possession of wide knowledge concerning the finer forces in nature. It knew about the varying magnetic conditions in and on the Earth, and disposed itself accordingly. It knew the alchemical secrets by which it could transform base metals into gold. It was capable of prolonging life by tapping the fountain of youth, and it possessed magical powers with which it could hurl rays of death and destruction upon its enemies. But its high knowledge and power were diverted from their rightful use with the result that they reacted destructively on the whole. The Fall of man reached a depth where the very planet tilted over as if in sympathetic shame. The land areas fell beneath the flood waters, there to undergo a cleansing by the salt seas for long ages to come.

   In Genesis we read that Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth ... a mighty hunter before the Lord." Nimrod was on the "path of pursuit." He represents humanity in its quest for worldly possessions and power, temporarily subjugating its higher nature (Japheth) and compelling it to serve personal ambition. The interests of self were separated from the good of the whole, for the city (consciousness) which he built was walled in. Gradually he ruled the world. The Iron Age had come. Possessions were the measure of power and might was right.

   The rebellion against the Lord's command here spoken of consists in a separation in consciousness from the Will of God. There are several aspects to this separation. The spirit's descent into matter drew a veil over its universal consciousness and it became less sensitive to divine guidance. Its newly acquired powers of mind set themselves up in opposition to the inner promptings of the God within. The desires of the lower nature were at war with those of the higher. The Lucifer spirits aided and abetted the fiery desires in their rebellion against reasoned control by the mind and guidance by the inner monitor. Man was launching out on a self-directed career, for better or for worse.

   Long training and severe discipline precede attainment. Dedication to an ideal does not mean easy or immediate realization. It often brings unexpected experiences, unsuspected problems, and seemingly unwarranted delay. Life may become harder for a time, since there remains so much in the nature of the aspirant that still hinders the spiritual promotion desired and asked for. In response to his dedication, the Lord (Law) takes a new interest in him and assigns tasks best suited to develop the necessary qualities. These tasks are according to his strength and need, not to suit his personal pleasure or inclination. Their necessary and beneficent aspects may not be apparent. It is then that the aspirant may exclaim, in the words of August Strindberg, the Swedish dramatist, "I sought God and found the devil," or ask, disappointedly, with Jacob, "Did not I serve with thee for Rachel?"

   Jacob did serve for Rachel, nor did he serve in vain. But before he was qualified to receive her, another seven year cycle of preparation was necessary, during which time he was given Leah, the representative of a lesser degree of inner light and spiritual attainment.

   Biblical writers have located the Garden of Eden in various parts of the Earth. But the Garden of Eden had no physical location; it was situated in etheric realms. The river that watered this Garden was the light that streamed from the World of Life Spirit, or Plane of Christ Consciousness, and was reflected on the etheric plane. Its four branches are the four differentiated streams into which etheric substance is divided. The River Pison compasses the land of light, the land of gold and the onyx stone. It symbolizes the highest or reflecting ether. The River Gihon compasses the land of Ethiopia or darkness. It is the lowest or chemical ether. Hiddekel, which flows east toward the light, is the light ether. The Euphrates, largest and most important river of Western Asia, typifies the life ether which, in humanity's present stage of development, is the most important of the four ethers.

   Astrologically, the four branches of the river in Eden represent the four turning points of the year, namely, the Winter and Summer Solstices, the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.

   The secrets of life belonging to the feminine principle are concealed from the eyes of the profane and the uncomprehending. This is the significance of the veiled Tamar. She is identical in meaning with the veiled Isis, the feminine patron saint of Egypt. This points the occult reason for the custom among oriental women of veiling their faces. The practice originated as a token of reverence for that which is too noble and holy to be exposed to the common gaze. That this custom is now rapidly passing is indicative of a new era in which a spiritual power, long hidden and submerged. is coming forth into manifestation. In the deeper significance of the term, the coming Aquarian Age will see woman in a position of equality with man. Intuition, the faculty of direct perception of truth, will become generally operative; and love, in its highest aspect, a living, moving power in the heart of mankind.

   Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years. Seventeen of these years he lived in Canaan; for ten years he was a servant of Potiphar; three years were spent in prison; for eighty years he ruled all the lands of Egypt. The number one hundred and ten is the tenfold power of eleven, the master number of attainment. He arrived at its high status after seventeen years of preparation, ten of service, three of trial, and eighty years of fruitful work for humanity. World service followed his years in prison, the time when, in terms of soul experience, every external aid is withdrawn leaving only inner resources of the spirit to be drawn upon. If these be uncovered and developed, as they were in Joseph's case, new power is available wherewith to minister to the needs of the world.

   In the light that shines in the darkness the Lord spoke to Jacob (humanity), assuring him that He would go down with him into Egypt (involuntary descent of the spirit into matter), and that He would surely bring him up again (evolutionary ascent from matter back to God). It is in, with and through God that the human spirit makes its pilgrimage into time and space and matter, gathering experience and unfolding potentialities. From unconscious oneness with God, the journey leads to conscious awareness of unity with the whole. It is an aeonic passage from impotence to omnipotence, from nescience to omniscience. We are gods in the making.

   The first effect of eating of the Tree of Good and Evil was an awakening to the existence of the physical world. A species of intuition opened their eyes. The faculty of imagination commenced to function on the material plane. It imaged forth physical objects. Gradually the focus of consciousness changed from the spiritual plane to the material. It fell.

   On awakening to physical existence, Edenic humanity perceived its nakedness. When this stage in human evolution was depicted in the ceremonials of the ancient Mystery Schools, the neophyte was naked except for an apron.

   Jehovah's warning to Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was simply a statement of consequences that would follow such an act. They ate, and thus assumed responsibility for using the law of generation as they desired, disregarding appropriate times and seasons which had always been observed when they were under the guidance of Jehovah and His Angels. Sensuous gratification followed, with the result that disease and death entered man's experience. He lost spiritual sight as he became immured in a denser body; physical conditions closed the gates on the etheric Eden wherein he had dwelt. Thus it was that he "died" to higher worlds.

   There is a closer correspondence between the biblical account of creation and the teachings of academic science than is generally recognized. A narrow theological interpretation on the one hand, and a spiritually unillumined science on the other, are responsible for the gulf that exists in the minds of many persons between the teachings of the two. Fortunately, the misconceptions that have divided many earnest students of the Bible from those of physical science are disappearing in the new light that is now falling in increased measure on sacred and secular knowledge alike.

   While it may seem too obvious for comment that the Creative Days of the Genesis account are vast periods of time and not brief hours of solar days, it is a fact that a literal interpretation at this point has given rise to a popular misconception that has proved prejudicial to the truth as it is set forth in the Scriptures and as expounded by science. If the creative period translated as "day" had been rendered instead by the word aeon as it is in the Greek version, there never could have been the interminable disputations concerning the question of time consumed for the creative stages recorded in Genesis.

   Initiation is a difficult attainment. It must be earned. No one can bestow it upon another, nor can money procure it. It is the result of right living, of moral character, of helpful service. One's selfish, animalistic nature must be sacrificed before his higher nature can come to fruition. Moses, the Initiate, teaches this to his people as the first essential to accomplishing the passover. ". . they shall take to them every man a lamb," and kill it. "And they shall eat the flesh... roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." (Exodus 12:3,8) The neophyte on the Path well realizes that the animal which must be slain, fired and devoured symbolizes the bestial qualities in his own nature. The ceremony merely visualizes an inner process.

   The initial journey undertaken by the emancipated Israelites was in the direction of a new life. This is the symbolical significance of six. In this instance the departure from the old life was taken with such determination and purpose, long strengthened and clarified by the suffering they had undergone and the sacrifices they had made to secure it, that the normal power of six had been raised to the extra ordinary degree of 6-00-000.

   As man develops a higher spiritual consciousness he will use ever greater care in speech not to predicate I AM with an untrue affirmation. A living realization of this single truth has brought modern religious denominations and movements into being that have been instrumental, not only in transforming the thinking of great numbers of their followers, but in exercising a liberating influence on the consciousness of the race. Like all truths, it is susceptible of misinterpretation. By inversion it is the means whereby the powers of spirit are prostituted for personal advantage instead of liberating an Ego from limitations of the personal that it may give selfless service in furtherance of the Kingdom of Light. These "latter days" are not without I AM manifestations on both higher and lower levels of expression.

   I AM is an affirmation of Being that all individualized Egos have the privilege of making. But there is a Name, unpronounceable by the masses, that penetrates yet more deeply into the heart of Reality, and it may be intoned by an initiated few. This is true in all religions. The Hindus, for instance, have their sacred AUM, the source of golden Light. Herodotus, the Grecian historian, in an account of Egyptian Initiations refers to representations made of Him "whose name they refrain from mentioning." The Zohar states that devout Jews never pronounce the name Yod-He-Vau-He — I AM THAT I AM — but substitute ADNI; that is Adonai, meaning Lord.

   The numerous plagues from which mankind has suffered in the past, and to which it is still subject, are the inevitable consequence of its own action under the operation of natural and divine law. The outer expresses the inner, so Earth reflects the moral status of humanity. Before the Fall there was neither discord nor want in the life of man or nature. There were no wintry winds, scorching heat, no severities of changing seasons; the race lived in perpetual summer. Beauty and harmony prevailed throughout the world.

   From the inner Court the path led into the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where stood the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest (higher spirit self) was admitted into this sacred chamber and he was not permitted to enter at any and all times. Only once a year could he pass into its holy precincts and perform the ceremonies prescribed by the Law. The Ego does not dwell perpetually in a pure Spiritual State, it could not so realize its latent powers. Periodically it comes forth, takes on forms and functions on more limited planes of consciousness. It is through struggling with such limitations that powers are developed and self-realization enhanced. The Holy of Holies was representative of the state where the spirit dwells, unconditioned by matter, in the light of its own undimmed, divine nature. In this chamber, therefore, there was no external light, none being required by an illumined one who entered therein.

   The Israelites became impatient over Moses' long absence. Turning to Aaron they said: "Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we wot not what has become of him." Aaron did as they desired. Calling them to surrender their golden trinkets and adornments, he had them melted and cast into the image of a calf. Before this god of a past age he erected an altar, and with rejoicing proclaimed the morrow a feast day. On that day the people arose early, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and spent the hours in pleasurable indulgences and gratification of physical appetites.

   So long as the higher light (Moses) was present, the personality recognized its authority and obeyed its commands. But it had not been sufficiently trained in the new school of the spirit (dispensation of Aries) to remain faithful to disciplines when that light faded temporarily from view. So there was a recession of consciousness. The old manner of thought and desire reasserted itself, and the personality was back in its former setting, worshiping the golden calf, (material possessions).

   In early stages an aspirant on the path receives stimulus and encouragement from the example of those who have gone before in attainment. Such external guidance must finally be removed. If the student has relied unduly on his teacher, blindly adoring and following, rather than assiduously incorporating into his very life the precepts taught him and the ideals held before him, he is likely to falter and fail when that external aid is withdrawn.

   Moses commenced his earthly life in an humble cottage situated on the banks of the river Nile. Not far removed stood the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, silently proclaiming to each succeeding age the existence of a body of knowledge and of superhuman power that has long since been lost to mankind in general. But its secrets have never been lost to an initiated few — among whom were, for instance, the Shepherd Kings. Nor were they to Moses, whose mission was to reinterpret these Mysteries in preparation for the Christian Dispensation to follow.

   God is both Law and Love. When He seems unloving it is because of failure to perceive where the perfect law has been violated. No action contrary to the universal Law of good can yield permanent satisfaction and security. Were this possible, imperfect man would everlastingly take refuge in conditions and circumstances less ideal than those designed for him by an all-wise and all-loving Father. Therefore, those who break the law will by no means be counted guiltless. They must suffer the painful reactions, perhaps in successive lives, until the better, wiser way, the way that accords with divine law, has been learned. By reincarnation, each individual is in truth the child Of his former self and father of the self he is yet to be. Actions, good or bad, thus carry their reactions even to the third and fourth generations.

   When the Ten Commandments are obeyed, not from outer compulsion or from fear of painful consequences, but because they are recognized as the right and desirable way of life, then the tenfold "shalt not" yields to the twofold "shalt." Ethics pass from negative to positive. Lesser law is swallowed up in a greater. The veil of the Moon that shielded the glory of the Sun is removed, and man begins to live in the light "as He is in the light."

   The significance of committing the Commandments on two tables is the same as the placement of the two pillars of brass cast by Hiram on the porch of Solomon's Temple. Through them a candidate for Initiation passed bearing the mystic rose, emblematic of unfolded spiritual powers. There columns were representative of masculine and feminine principles which had to be brought into equilibrium before higher degrees of illumination were attainable.

   The same symbolism is retained to this day by the Masonic Order, which places two pillars, the Jachin and Boaz of Solomon's porch, before its temples. Through them pass modern seekers after more of the divine light. The dual principles signified by these two pillars have been, and are, variously represented in Mystery Schools of all times and peoples.

   The law was given to those who had come out of Egyptian bondage (material mindedness) when the Lord (Law) revealed the laws by which they could progress upward to the summit of light even as had Moses, their Illumined Leader.

   Moses and Aaron were complementary characters. Like Cain and Abel, they are representatives of the Fire and Water principles, respectively. Moses worked predominantly from the head center; Aaron from the heart. Moses was the statesman; Aaron the churchman. Yet both had traveled far on the road that leads to a blending of the two. Moses could be still and listen to the promptings of his heart; Aaron could go into action to bring about practical results. Moses, though related to Fire, was shy and reticent; Aaron, though related to Water, was forward and eloquent.

   When the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt about 1600 B.C. they journeyed to Judea and centered their work in Salem, which later became Jerusalem. It was a holy city at that time as it still is today, despite outer contradictions, and as it will be in the future in all its aspects, physical and spiritual. In Salem Abraham was initiated into the Christ Mysteries by the high priest Melchizedek; in Jerusalem Christ Jesus, high priest after the Order of Melchizedek, gave His Disciples His last and most profound instructions into the Greater Mysteries of the Dispensation that opened with His coming. Both occasions were celebrated by partaking of bread and wine, symbols of mystical processes involved in Rites of Initiation.

   God's existence and presence is independent of all form. But in order to manifest Himself, even He requires a vehicle. Similarly, man is a spirit; he is not a body. But for him to function on the physical plane, a body is necessary.

   In the macrocosm nature constitutes the body of God; in the microcosm a physical body constitutes the vehicle in which the Ego functions. The two are related; the lesser reflects the greater. Both conform to patterns of divine symmetry in line, dimension, proportion and harmony in accordance with the basic structure of Eternal Being.

   During the forty days and the forty nights that Moses abode on the mount of illumination he was able to look into the essential nature of that fundamental structure. It might be stating the fact more accurately to say that while Moses was in that exalted state of consciousness, primary lines of force and the varying rates of energy flowing through them made themselves known to him with such distinctness that he was able to translate them in terms of directions, numbers, relation and proportion. The sum total became specifications for building the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. For the Lord who spoke to Moses was not an anthropomorphic being; it was the Law impressing its foundational character on the sensitive spiritual mirror of an advanced and understanding soul.

   The story of Israel's passage through the Red Sea is, like that of Noah and the Flood, a legendary account of the Atlantean pioneers migrating eastward to Central Asia to escape the successive inundations which finally caused complete submergence of that continent. The place where they first settled is now known as the Gobi Desert, and mysteries there are belonging to this region which, when revealed in days to come, will throw added light on the early beginnings of the post-Atlantean or Fifth Root Race there cradled during its infancy.

   The nucleus, or seed, for that great race was the Semites, the Israelites of the Bible. Because of the very important position which this gave them in the history of racial development, they were especially guided and cared for by the Race Spirit and leaders like Moses, who became instruments for carrying out the designs of the archangelic overlord.

   Among the many ordinances laid down for ancient Israel was one designating times to be observed with appropriate ceremonies and festivities. (Exodus 23:14-16) These were three in number: the first, in the months of Abio (March) and Nisan (April), the beginning of the sacred year, was in commemoration of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage; the second was the feast of the harvest in midsummer, when the first fruits of that which they had sown were making their appearance; the third was the feast of ingathering at the end of the growing season.

   The plague of boils is centered in the desire nature; it is the means by which nature eliminates bodily poisons. Impurities are burned to ashes in the furnace of affliction. The process is perfectly expressed in this ancient mystic chant: "O divine waters, receive ye these ashes, and put them in a soft and fragrant place . . . Matter has run its course!"

   The laws and regulations contained in Leviticus were adapted to the peculiar requirements of a people who were being specially prepared for a great destiny. In their literal application they were suited to the people to whom they were given and the times in which they lived. In their aspects they are dated. localized and racially distinctive.

   Since this is so, this ancient code of Moses is not and cannot be regarded as a living book containing specific guidance for the world today unless there be a spiritual perception of values that go beyond the letter of the law. This perception has been lost by the rank and file of Jews and Christians alike. Even when accepted as belonging to an ever-living, inspired Book, Leviticus is treated primarily for what it meant to bygone Israel and only secondarily for what it may mean to man today.

   Leviticus, like every other Book in the Bible, contains something for the devout literalist, but it contains vastly more for the student who has discovered the keys that unlock its mysteries. The day has arrived for an awakening to other and deeper strata of truth. In Leviticus, as throughout the whole of Sacred Scriptures, is outlined the way of spiritual progress for the unawakened multitude and the way of Initiation for the awakened few.

   The light which the Israelites were commanded to keep continually before them to illumine their way is fed with the oil of regenerated life. The twelve cakes represent experiences gathered in the twelve schools of the Zodiac. And the frankincense placed upon each row of cakes is symbolical of an extract of that experience out of which soul is fashioned.

   A child is not disowned for its weakness; an aspirant is not rejected because of failures. So long as the child grows and the aspirant tries there is help, protection and encouragement. It is when childhood is past, when any attempt to follow the way has ceased, that the parent or the teacher withdraws his authority and the Lord "strives" with him no more.

   In moments of soul ecstasy complete dedication to things of spirit is easy. It is when the call comes to carry the light received on the mountain peaks of illumination down into the wilderness of mortality that the way becomes hard and human nature is prone to rebel. Murmurings of the Israelites find an echo in every human heart until the last shred of personality has been woven into the texture of spiritual being.

   There are but few references to the sect of the Nazarites in the Bible. This is also true of the Essenes who belonged to a later date, and to whom the Nazarites were related. This is because they were both shrouded in mystery, their work being primarily of an esoteric nature. Their activity was apart from the world, it was performed quietly, with a single eye to holiness and selfless service. Work of such a nature is always subject to persecution by the uncomprehending world; hence, not only the wisdom but the need for carrying it on in comparative secrecy. The contemptuous manner in which Christ was asked if any thing good could come out of Nazareth illustrates this general attitude of the majority toward a minority with whom it differs.

   The Nazarites were located on the banks of the Jordan. Josephus, Pliny and Herodotus refer to their work. Joseph was called a Nazar, as were Samson and Samuel. The Talmud alludes to them as a band of wandering physicians and refers to all Christians as Nazari. Nazar means to consecrate to God; also a diadem (halo).

   The original Book of Jasher, to which Madame Blavatsky alludes, was one of the most profoundly esoteric of early Hebrew manuscripts in relation to the inner meanings of numbers. This work is no longer available for esoteric investigation. The existing fragment bearing that name is purported to be the work of an Initiate son of Caleb, who bore the name of Jasher.

   In this book Jasher states that in their journeyings each man among the Israelites carried the coffin of his father; i.e., of his tribe. Esoterically interpreted, this means that Initiation passed from father to son and was concerned with the development of the Earth-consciousness, including a knowledge of all past events pertaining to the history of Earth and man. This type of Initiation, passed through the tribe by family inheritance, was an expression of the activity of cosmic memory. Thus the Initiate lived fully aware of the lives of his forebears, merging himself into an age-old stream of ancestral consciousness. In effect, he laid down his personal life and took upon himself the life of the tribe.

   The Shekinah symbolizes the body of an Initiate, the glorified soul body that every aspirant on the Path is endeavoring to bring to perfection.

   Powers by which the new body is built come from all sides. On the east are Judah (Leo), the power of love which must become central to all of life's activities: Issachar (Taurus), symbolized by a white bull with the Sun between its horns, indicating polarity, and a blooming rose in the larynx, denoting power to speak the creative word; and Zebulun (Pisces) represented by two fishes, symbol of the mystic marriage.

   To the south are Reuben, Simeon and Gad. Reuben (Aquarius) pours the water of life from a golden urn into one of silver, expressing a poise no externalities can disturb; Simeon (Gemini) represents the forces of duality resolved into unity; and Gad (Aries) is the "Star of Fortune" that points the way of attainment through service, sacrifice and transmutation.

   On the north are Dan, Asher and Naphtali. Dan (Scorpio) symbolizes the creative fires, the principal factor in the regenerative process; Asher (Libra), according to Jacob's admonition, bears a light unto Dan's darkness; Libra, the trial-gate of the ancients, betokens the parting of the ways between flesh and the spirit, the right choice leading to the birth of the Christ consciousness; Asher, meaning to be happy, was an early name for the Moon and comes from a root meaning the wandering one. Naphtali (Capricorn) is the power of truth and wisdom attained only through controlling the inner fires. A goat was an ancient symbol representing the hidden powers of generation.

   On the west are Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph (Sagittarius) is the multiplier; he soars on the wings of aspiration; Benjamin (Cancer) is the doorway to Initiation. Joseph, the Fire of Sagittarius, and Benjamin, the Water of Cancer, must blend to provide powers for the completion of the body of the Shekinah.

   So long as an aspirant has unregenerated elements in his nature — or, in the words of the above text, wanders in the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea — he must encompass Mount Seir, the inheritance of Esau, mortal man. When this is accomplished he is bidden to rise up and go over the brook Zared, whose life-giving waters, as the name signifies, give luxurious growth. This stage of advancement was reached thirty and eight years after the Israelites left Kadesh-barnea. It culminated in the powers of eleven (30+8=11). When the forces of eleven lift a disciple to mastership, the "men of war" belonging to his lower nature cease to do battle with his higher; they are "wasted out from the host" that have long opposed the supremacy of the spiritual authority. The Bible is always dealing with principles rather than personalities. The latter enter only as representative types who serve as convenient vehicles for conveying abstract truths in concrete terms.

   During an era of universal belief in slavery, Hebrew Scriptures forbade the perpetual enslavement of one Hebrew by another. This is seen in the Deuteronomic Code. The master of a Hebrew slave is bidden to free him after seven years of servitude; and not only to free him, but to endow him with goods enough to keep him until he has found his place in the world.

   The candidate for Initiation is also freed from the forces of his lower nature after seven years. Seven years is the period of studentship and probationership in most esoteric schools. During this time the personality is purified and made amenable to spiritual influences, so a certain freedom is now permissible. The law is within, and the disciple may determine for himself what decrees he is to obey, what decrees to disobey, and whether these decrees be exoterically or esoterically received.

   Moses had taken the last and most difficult of the four great Initiations, Initiation by Earth. This gives mastery over matter; it reveals its hidden mysteries; it opens the way for sublimating the physical into the spiritual. With it every physical atom is brought under complete subjection to the mind and spirit of man. Moses had attained to such powers, as may be understood from the simple statement that "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." His mortality had been literally swallowed up in immortality. This glorious attainment is foreshadowed in the experience through which he passed when communing with God on the mount, "face to face." So highly charged with the forces of spirit was his very body that it was necessary for him to veil his presence from people. His face shone with transcendent glory; he was "in the light, even as He is in the light."

   What Moses demonstrated all the race will experience in ages yet to come. The record of his life is available for the light it throws on every man's path. What he did, all may do, but the day for its accomplishment may be near or far. To everyone is left this choice: to take the slowly drifting road traveled by unawakened multitudes, or to choose the shorter but steeper path of the awakened few, the Way of Initiation.

   The new body of laws which Moses delivered to his people as they were about to enter and take possession of Canaan are but precepts communicated by the higher self to its mental faculties for the guidance of the personality as it is about to cross the stream of elemental energies that divide the seen from the unseen, the material from the spiritual, the temporal from the eternal, and enter into the exalted state of consciousness known as Initiation. Spirit enjoins a candidate to "lay up" these precepts in his heart and soul. Further, in the words of Moses: "Bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou rises up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon earth." (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)

   In the body of a candidate for Initiation the river Jordan is the spiritualized spinal fluid. This is the stream in which man is immersed when Christed. It is the river of living waters which flows between the medulla oblongata and the cauda equina. The medulla is the principal nerve center of the body, and is the conducting medium through which forces that rise along the spinal column are conveyed to the brain. The more these nerves are sensitized, the more receptive they become to spiritual influences.

   As the process of spiritualization proceeds, powers latent within the cerebro-spinal nervous system are gradually brought into active manifestation. This work receives special aid from the Lords of Scorpio and the Archangels. To vivify the several centers in the nervous constitution of the body is the task of every spiritual pioneer. It is thus that he builds an altar unto the Lord (Law) of "whole stones."

   Moses required that the Hebrew Shema be bound "for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." This is the origin of phylacteries once worn by pious Jews — not only as a reminder of the One Lord, but as a protection from all evil, having somewhat the character of talismans in the Chaldean fashion. It is obvious that merely binding written words, however holy, upon the hand and the forehead cannot in itself be anything more than a reminder; but the esoteric meaning is quite different. The "words" to be "bound on the hand" and worn as "frontlets between the eyes" have clear reference to the indwelling principle, the Godhead in man; the one principle, by whose secret activity in the depth of the soul spiritual vision is opened (the Word of God between the eyes), and powers of healing and service are extended into higher dimensions (the Word of God upon the hands). This corresponds to the roses or lotuses which unfold at those points, blossoms of the spirit whose roots are in the Eternal Unity.

   The Old Testament, as the vehicle of the Law, is a garment in which this Jehovistic principle makes itself manifest among men. "As above, so below" — a Temple teaching frequently referred to in these pages — gives us the key to an intellectual comprehension of universal principle; but we have indeed failed if we do not recognize in principle the activity of life itself, and obey it because we love it for its own ordered beauty, rather than for the sake of the blessings by which it rewards its faithful servants. This is pre-eminently the lesson learned by a candidate on the Mount of Blessings: as principle, the activity of IHVH is sure, and rewards are certain to attend upon faithfulness to Him. Nevertheless, these rewards — whether psychic or material powers, whether earthly or heavenly wisdom, whether mortal or immortal joys — are not the strongest incentive to his endeavors.

   Leviticus, the book of the first law, closes with a description of conditions similar to those upon the Earth today, wherein the spiritual and the material exist in striking contrast to one another. Deuteronomy, the book of the second law, closes with a vision of the New Earth and the New Race which will inhabit it, as foreshadowed in the cosmic blessings of Moses.

   The blessings Moses bestows upon the twelve tribes parallel in many respects the blessings Jacob pronounced upon his sons. Both are of cosmic import; both correlate to the twelve zodiacal Rays. Yet there are important differences. In the four centuries that had elapsed between the utterance of Jacob, as recorded in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, and that of Moses, as recorded in the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, the race had made much progress. Consciousness had expanded, spiritual insight had deepened. The blessings of Moses reveal more of the higher qualities in man and his universe than do Jacob's. Jacob described the zodiacal influences as they registered in the mass consciousness; Moses expressed rather the reactions of the advanced few.

   As Moses' mission drew to a close his role of racial leadership was conferred on Joshua who, as we saw in the work on Exodus, occupied a place in the life of Moses comparable to that of John in the life of Christ Jesus. He was the most intimate with his master in that he was the most advanced of his disciples. The hour had come for giving him the special instructions he was now duly qualified to receive. The Lord (Law) was revealed to him, we read, in a pillar of cloud (Water Initiation). He was not yet sufficiently advanced to receive a revelation by the pillar of fire (Fire Initiation) as had Moses, his teacher and his inspiration.

   After Joshua's illumination he shared with Moses the ability to hear the music of the spheres. It is said, therefore, that "Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun." While Moses sang his song to all the people, its deeper import was for the inner circle of his disciples, foremost of whom was Hoshea. He is mentioned specifically. Hoshea is the spiritual name of Joshua. To the initiated that name reveals the status to which he had attained, a status so exalted that he was able not only to hear the song, but to sing it with Moses.

   Deuteronomy is the Book of the Higher Law. Between law, as recorded in Exodus and Leviticus, and love, as made manifest in the Gospels, stands Deuteronomy, linking the two. Looking to the past, Israel is exhorted to remember the law that had been delivered for their guidance and to "do it," that all might be well with them and that they might increase mightily in accordance with the Lord's promise-in a land that "floweth with milk and honey." Then, looking into the future and seeing how law is but a schoolmaster in preparing for a state wherein it will be swallowed up in the transcendent code of love, the keynote of the coming dispensation is sounded with Gospel clarity: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." To which is significantly added: "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart."

   In accordance with instructions given to Moses at an earlier date, six cities were appointed as places of refuge (Joshua 20:7,8). These provided sanctuary for those who had slain a person "unawares and unwittingly," and who were in danger of losing their life in consequence of the act.

   Shiloh, the place of rest, is a center of attraction. In the body of man it is the heart, the place of peace when love has become his motive power. The Tabernacle which was set up at Shiloh is, therefore, representative of the divine sanctuary which man must establish in the inmost center of his own being. It stands for the initiatory ideal given to "the whole congregation," the twelve tribes.

   Man, being created in the image and likeness of God, was once pure and innocent, a dweller in the light. This high estate he forfeited by projecting self-will against the divine plan. He fell, but he fell only to rise again. Joshua's life outlines for all mankind steps by which a re-ascent may be made, as does that of one character after another throughout the whole Bible. The supreme Way-Shower appears in the cosmic character of Christ Jesus.

   Every event in the daily life of man is recorded in the subconscious mind, wherein it serves as the arbiter of his destiny when the silver cord is loosed and his spirit is freed to return to its heavenly home.

   For one so highly illumined as Joshua, this recapitulatory cycle was more extended. It involved much more than that experienced by an average individual. Joshua possessed ability to read both past and future events in the Memory of Nature. At the time of his passing, when the powers of his superconscious mind were especially active, that ability was considerably enhanced. It was at this time of special illumination that Joshua delivered his parting exhortation to the people of Israel.

   Canaan, now Israel/Palestine, is truly Earth's principal spiritual center. Its being called the Holy Land is no misnomer. It is that in a peculiar sense. The land was long in preparation for the purposes it was to serve. The earliest post-Atlantean Mystery Schools were founded for the express purpose of training advanced souls to serve as messengers in preparing man and the Earth for the coming of the Messiah. Joshua was among the chief of these, as were Abraham, Jacob and Moses. Israel formed the nucleus of the pioneering race, the twelve tribes being representative of twelve attributes of character that come into expression in a fully developed individual and race.

   In the days of the early Temple teachings, many of the Initiate teachers were women in a line of tradition extending back to Heva, for in the Clementine Homilies we read of Heva: "She, as a female ruling the present world as her like, was entrusted to be the first prophetess, announcing prophecy with all amongst those born of woman. But the other (Adam), as the son of man, being a,male, prophesies better things to the world to come as a male." This is in line with the occult teachings that in ancient Lemuria it was the women, led by the Lucifer Angels, who first sensed the material world and who therefore established the first culture, the first civilization, on our planet, "as a female ruling the present world."

   In Atlantis, the male cult of the world to come, i.e., the spiritual worlds, was established in Schools of Initiation designed to nourish and protect the now atrophying faculties of clairvoyance. After the nadir of materiality had been reached in Atlantis, the ascent toward Spirit began; and now the male and female roles were reversed: the female cults gravitated spiritward while the male cults dominated material evolution. On the inner planes there was a parallel of this development, for in early Atlantis, Lucifer ruled the outer objective world, while the Christ was visible only on the inner planes, to the spiritual vision of the Initiates. But after the nadir of materiality was reached and passed, Lucifer gradually retired to the interior consciousness of the race, while the Christ descended to the exterior consciousness and finally revealed Himself objectively to the world in Christ Jesus.

   In Jotham's parable, the vine symbolizes aspiration or idealism; it is the vision without which nothing is accomplished and without which the people must perish as Isaiah tells us. Those who put their dependence in the bramble, or the life of the senses, are trusting only in a shadow which must ever prove fleeting, transitory and painful. It is the fire of the bramble which destroys the cedars of Lebanon, these precious cedars of which Solomon's Temple must be built, eternal in the heavens.

   As previously stated, Samson and Hercules are both solar heroes. Every event of their lives is somehow associated with the phenomena of the solar year. Yet, fascinating as these solar allegories are as we have them, they are still but fragments of ancient teachings once given to man in the Mystery Schools of antiquity.

   In early times, before the awakening of the intellectual faculty, man was centered primarily in his feelings and emotions; the ego was not isolated in the midst of nature as it is now. Therefore the inner work dealt largely with the strengthening of the mental powers and in the cultivation of the objective temperament. Spiritual discipline at that period — even so late as the Golden Age of Greece — referred to what we now call material sciences, arts and crafts. Today the contrary is true, and science is to be spiritualized, as religion and mysticism become rationalized and recognized in the schools for what they are: the Science of Life.

   The two columns in this Labor of Samson hold the mystic key to the powers of Aquarius and the coming Aquarian Age. The keyword of Aquarius is Equilibrium which means the "Analogy of Contraries," or to express it simply, perfect equality. The masculine and feminine forces must. be so balanced as to function efficiently — and therefore operate rhythmically — on every plane of manifestation. The beautiful symbol of Aquarius, an androgynous figure (half male and half female) pouring the contents from a golden urn into a silver one without wasting a drop of the precious essence, denotes the perfecting of this relationship.

   With the realization of this New Age concept men will no longer be subject to the present extreme reactions of plenty and poverty, health and disease, hope and fear. The first evidence of this new equality is the closer collaboration between man and woman in all fields of endeavor, spiritual, educational, political and economic.

   From the days of earliest civilization, the serpent has typified both spirit and matter, soul-life and sex. Unlike the scorpion, the serpent had a spiritual meaning for the Illumined; it referred to the "Gnosis," or Serpent Wisdom — which was understood and taught by the mystics of the early Church. It is only during late centuries, as materialism has dulled the inner sensibilities, that the spiritual significance of these symbols has been virtually lost, with the result that literalism in Bible interpretation has led to absurdities which have prejudiced its reading and study by many earnest and sincere seekers for the true Light. Ordinarily, no distinction is made between the Serpent of Wisdom and the scorpion of death and darkness.

   Lord Buddha, the Light of Asia, when depicted as the conqueror of all desires, is seated upon a huge, coiled cobra. Of like meaning is the uplifted serpent-rod of Moses, indicative of the new impulses of life and power which the great Fifth Epoch Initiate had demonstrated by self-mastery.

   The Hindu Deity, Siva, both the giver and destroyer of life, is adorned with a serpent crown and necklace, two symbols pointing to the processes of transmutation in the throat and head centers, a development which occurs more particularly under the influence of Uranus exalted in Scorpio.

   The most sacred and secret knowledge of the Bible is connected with the Tree of Life, In Samson's Gemini Labor is revealed the process by which divine polarity, the original state of man, was changed into the duality which marks his present condition, and his ultimate release from it.

   Under the Law of Duality the race experiences inequality between the masculine and feminine polarities, and hence between man and woman. It was this inequality that lost to the race its spiritual consciousness and which has been attended by the ills of alternation as previously described.

   "In Ruth we find a woman drawn in full length with the skill of heaven and the feeling of love. Such a woman is the Mother of the World. Evermore will the world need such a mother to nurse it in sickness and comfort it in the darkness of sorrow."

   The Book of Ruth closes with the chapter on the Mystic Marriage toward which all neophytes aspire, in which the lower nature is lifted up and united with the higher. There must always be ten Elders who witness the contract. Ten is the number of man and woman working on the plane of generation together and aspiring toward regeneration. This is the symbolism of the Fellowcraft Degree of Masonry. Ten on the higher or initiatory plane symbolizes the masculine and feminine principles in spiritual union or equilibrium. This is the power by which Hiram, the master, is raised to the third, or Mastership degree of the Blue Lodge.

   In the days of Eli, the priest, a wonderful child was brought to the sanctuary of the Ark at Shiloh there to be reared in the quiet serenity of the Temple which had succeeded the Tabernacle of the early days following the conquest. Here in the Temple on its hill in the district of Ephraim surrounded by protecting hills on east, north and west, the wonderful child was dedicated to the service of the Lord. This was Samuel, whose coming heralded a new biblical age, the Age of the Temple-Builders.

   Born through an Immaculate Conception, his coming announced by an Angel, his was truly a holy birth such as that of the Master Jesus, and, like him, he was the harbinger of the spiritual Light which had well-nigh ceased to burn within the holy of holies of man's heart. His name, Samuel, means "voice of God," or "the inner voice."

   Each one of the famous old songs of the Bible outlines a definite work upon the path of attainment. The mystical power of the words of this Book of Books is such that though the inner meaning of these songs has long been forgotten, yet they are still studied and revered by scholars and students who sense a meaning which eludes the grasp of reason. Gradually, however, as we approach the New Age of scientific religion, these hidden meanings are again being revealed, and we begin to understand and appreciate at their true value the real occult message and purpose of this Great Book.

   Hannah is one of the beautiful feminine characters of the Old Testament. The mother of Samuel, she has often been compared with Mary, the spotless Virgin of the new Testament. Her son is a Song of Annunciation in which she proclaims the successful accomplishment of her mission. To the esotericist, Annunciation is an Initiation marking a definite degree of spiritual development. In Hannah's song we recognize that she tacitly proclaims her ability to read certain records in God's Book of Remembrance, by which the Initiate knows the facts of rebirth and the cyclic action of the Law of Consequence, or Causation.

   This entire chapter of the Book of I Samuel is devoted to the story of how Saul failed to overcome his lower desires (Philistines and Amalekites), and how the good priest Samuel, in contrast, succeeded in transmuting the evil that still remained within himself into the great power of good with which he served humanity. Saul believed, as so many people do at the present time, that God may be appeased for wrongdoing by mere formal worship instead of by living the spiritual life. Samuel rebuked him for this, saying, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh in the heart" (wherein is located the seed atom which contains the complete life record).

   Amalek means lust. The Amalekites whom Saul was commanded to slay was the lust within himself, while the Kenites refer to those who were descended from Cain. The life of Cain as given in Genesis is the story of the gaining of wisdom through experience. It was through power thus gained that Cain became the father of Enoch and built the city of Enoch, city referring to a state of consciousness, and Enoch divine wisdom.

   The Kenites therefore refer to the wisdom which Saul had gained through past mistakes and sufferings, and which led him to separate from the Amalekites, or his lower desires. Saul began the work of his regeneration by smiting the Amalekites from Havilah unto Shur. Havilah means the land of gold (Saul had begun to work upon his golden wedding garment); Shur means a wall, a wall as an obstacle, and Egypt means darkness or evil. So we see that! Saul was endeavoring to overcome the evil within himself.

   But he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive. Here we find the keynote of the entire chapter.

   One who makes progress upon the Path must always meet the tests of disbelief and disrespect: "Can any good come out of Nazareth?" Saul held his peace and bided his time when the children of Belial sneered and upbraided him, thus evidencing the self-control of an advanced soul.

   An attack upon the Israelites by the king of the Ammonites gave Saul his opportunity. He gained a complete victory over the enemy before dawn and while they were still asleep. This symbolizes the neophyte's victory over self which is ofttimes achieved during his night experiences on the inner planes. Saul's victory over the Ammontes placed him beyond all cavil at the head of the nation. (Those who guide inner plane work see that the opportunity for outer world service is given to those who thus demonstrate their fitness.) Disclaiming personal credit Saul said: "It was not I that won the victory, but Jehovah" — words reminiscent of the Master's, "Not I but the Father, He doeth the works," which sound the keynote of true spiritual worth in every age.

   Samuel now commanded Saul to await his coming on Gilgal that they might there offer sacrifices to beseech Jehovah's aid. Already we see signs that Saul was beginning to depend unduly upon his own individual power. This is the most subtle of all tests for spiritual leaders, since it is so easy to forget that their power and influence exist only in proportion to their receptivity to the divine spiritual inflow and outflow.

   Beth-car means "the house of the lamb" and represents the new body built through purity and transmutation. Samuel's annual circuit is reminiscent of the annual cycle of the Sun as it progresses through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which biblically have their reflection in the twelve tribes over which he judged. This is likewise the basis of the alchemical cycle, by which the Great Work was accomplished in medieval Europe. The precious white stone described in verse twelve is that very Philosopher's Stone of which so much is written and so little understood: "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen." Mizpeh, a watch tower between man and God, stands for prayer without ceasing, and a state of constant communication between man and the angelic Hierarchies. Shen means "renown," and Ebenezer "the help or power of the Lord (cosmic Law)" One who avails himself of this aid has nought to fear from the Philistines.

   The early history of David begins with the slaying of the giant Goliath, or the overcoming of the lower nature by the higher. His career ends with the slaying Of the Philistine giants. "And there was yet a great battle in Gath (strength, the strength of evil); there was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers and every foot six toes, four and twenty in number, and he also was born to the giant! This giant of Gath fell by the hand of David and by the hands of his servants.

   This giant, as noted, typifies the Dweller on the Threshold. The final act of the victorious neophyte is to transmute all the essence of the evil of past lives, which is symbolized by this Dweller. With the additional power thus gained he now parts the veil before the Holy of Holies and enters through Initiation truly into the kingdom of heaven, as the Master outlined the way for Nicodemus. Such a one has indeed become as a little child, verily born again into the consciousness of a new life — the life that is eternal.

   It is in this light that we interpret this Song of Deliverance of David, sung by an Initiate and written for those who may find and understand its message.

   David begins his song with the perfect trust and faith which always must characterize the one who has found the glory of the new life, the one who has lifted the veil and stands face to face with Reality. From this high place he triumphantly sings, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer . . . ; my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour." He represents the true and complete dedication of the awakened spirit to the deeper quests of the spirit.

   In the ecstasy of his song David outlines some of the wonders of his celestial visions and experiences on the inner planes. He even sings of the discovery of the world.

   The seventh chapter of II Samuel contains a description of David's new covenant (new life) and his song of thanksgiving (the victorious chant of the high Initiate): "Therefore Jehovah will subdue thine enemies lower nature and build thee a house." Saul's house, symbolizing the feminine or water principle, fell because Agag was left alive. David's house, which symbolizes the blended principles, flourished in the glory of Solomon and flowered in the greater glory of Jesus. Solomon's Temple was an impressive symbol of this inner glory and hence its important place in the symbolism of Masonry.

   The divers colors of Tamar's garment represent the varicolored aura of the developed soul. There is always the sound of sorrow and lamentation heard in the soul world when the spiritual beauty of the soul is violated by the intrusion of material ambitions. It is a psychological law that what we have injured we tend to hate, because the sight of the injury is a reproach to the conscience; and when Amnon had violated Tamar, he hated her, seeing in her the image of his own wrong.

   In the spiritual life also we find a parallel condition: there is hidden below the threshold of consciousness a secret dread of the unseen world, because we know instinctively that something terrible resides there, and we fear it as we fear death. The ego which has been prepared through sorrow for illumination may, through sheer despair, find the courage to face this psychic darkness; but the unprepared soul is overwhelmed, his consciousness is invaded by fear, and this may become so intense as to affect the health.

   The cure lies in "slaying" the lower self; and therefore in the Bible story Amnon is slain by the servants of Absalom. These servants are the spiritual and psychic forces of the inner planes which the enlightened one learns to command. They come from every rank of the divine celestial Hierarchies, as well as from the ranks of the elemental entities whose status is that of the beginners on the path of evolution, lower in development even than the very minerals which compose the material world about us.

   Many neophytes fail in overcoming the menace of psychic fear by not realizing that it is not they, personally, but their "servants" who must carry out the death sentence on the lower nature. This is presented symbolically in the ceremony of the Footwashing in the life of Christ Jesus, where the Supreme Master stoops to the lowliest service of his disciples, and afterward Judas, self-convicted, destroys himself. Evil is always self-destructive, and when the lower self looks into the mirror of the soul it dies. But this result is attainable only by the aid of the celestial servants" who constantly minister to the illumined ego.

   From the standpoint of David as an individual, the story of Tamar refers not to different personalities associated with him, but to the final redemption of David himself. The same work is further expanded in the legend of Absalom and David's sorrow for him.

   Jerusalem was the center of the early Christian Mysteries for which the work of David and the Temple of Solomon were a preparation. Jerusalem will again be the center of the Christian Mysteries in preparation for the Second Coming.

   This holy place was the Mecca of the Initiates of both Old and New Testament times. It was the scene of activity for all of the biblical prophets excepting Amos and Hosea. Within the environs of its high inspiration most of the books of the Old Testament were conceived, if not actually written.

   It was the scene of a large part of the work of the Master and His immediate students or disciples, many of whom lived during their training in communities located near places of particularly high vibration such as the Mount of Olives, where David passed one of his tests of regeneration. This was the potently charged Earth area where the Death and Resurrection occurred. Christ Jesus proved many times that He knew the efficacy of the city's vibration relative to the spiritual development of His followers. Thus in Luke 18, verse 31, we read, "Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished."

   David could not build the Temple because he had not yet achieved the supreme gift of wisdom which comes with the blending of the polar opposites within. This attainment was won by Solomon, the highest Initiate of his time, and he was, therefore, worthy to build the Temple.

   It is understood by mystic Masons that Solomon's Temple was a Temple of Initiation. The details of its construction by "master workmen" as described in the Bible, the symbolic measurements, colors and numerological and astral significance, all designate it as belonging to the peculiar type of architecture which has characterized Temples set apart for purposes of Initiation (soul Illumination) since the beginnings of civilization.

   Mystic Masonry, however, did not originate with the "temple craft" of Solomon. We may trace its original flowerings to the early days of ancient Mizraim, later known as Egypt, the cradle of the Mysteries for the lands succeeding Atlantis. It is here we must go if we would arrive at the very fountainhead of Masonry. The degree of the Royal Arch of Solomon is an allegorical representation of the perpetuation of knowledge.

   There are three Old Testament characters who are said to have cheated death by drinking of the waters of Eternal Life; these are Enoch, Moses and Elijah. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the name Elijah is translated Elias, and it is in this form that it is best known to Christian esotericism.

   The Bible narrative relative to the kings of Israel is interrupted to introduce the history of Elijah, whose epoch-making career coincides with that of the evil Ahab (I Kings, 7th chapter).

   Greater far, however, than the patriotic significance of Elijah's work is the esoteric meaning of labor he performed for the world in this specific incarnation. The division of the Kingdom is an outward expression of the failure of the Mysteries, those Mysteries that were to bridge the centuries between Solomon and the Christ. It was to restore this bridge that Elijah came to Israel. It is said of him, therefore, that "he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down."

   Tried and purified and full of wisdom, the young King at once set about building the new Temple to Jehovah, the archetypal pattern of which he had received from his father David. This work David could not do, because he was a man of war and Jehovah's Temple was a Temple of the everlasting peace, that peace which was the name of Jerusalem and the watchword of Israel. So far was this ideal of peace to be carried that no iron was to be used in its representative structure and so the "house when it was in building was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house." Peace reigned there, even while it was building. The work went forward in silence.

   The two mighty columns that guard the entrance into every Temple pertaining to the Mysteries, the Osiris and Isis of Egypt, the Jachin and Boaz of Solomon's Sanctuary, are capable of many interpretations. Osiris typifies the White Brotherhood which has through all ages endeavored to lead man into the state and conditions which will establish the Golden Age, a return of the Edenic state, upon the Earth. Typhon typifies the Brotherhood of the Shadows, which through isolation, separation and egoistic tendencies has produced the chaotic, confused, self-seeking humanity we know today. The Lost Word is Love, the soul attribute of Isis and the only power which will lift her fallen column and emancipate man from the shackles which bind him to Earth in its present material state.

   The Pyramid and Sphinx are immemorial witnesses to the same lessons in soul wisdom that much later were given in the holy edifice constructed for that purpose under the supervision of the wisest of all kings.

   That the illumined ones are not free from temptation, and that the tests become subtler the higher one mounts the ladder of attainment, is evidenced by the marriage of Solomon with Magsara, daughter of Pharaoh. As she came out of Egypt in a chariot of silver, drawn by horses bedecked with scarlet plumage, hosts of slaves followed her, bearing rare perfumes and exotic flowers. When she came to Solomon, the heavenly ring flashed and sparkled, and in the midst of its lights he read the words: "Thou hast chosen wisdom."

   Magsara, the daughter of Egypt, entered into Jerusalem by the Gate of the Fountain, symbolizing the emotional life. The Queen of Sheba, who represents a much higher attainment in the life of Solomon, enters the City of Peace by way of a crystal lake.

   Those who enter the city of the New Jerusalem are those who have overcome the lower self and stand upon a sea of mingled fire and glass, symbolizing the complete transmutation of the emotional life.

   The esoteric doctrine of Israel — pre-eminently exemplified in the Zohar, or Book of the Balance — is therefore concerned with healing the disunity. In modern parlance this is called the Work of Initiation.

   As the handbook of Initiation, the Bible portrays the struggle of aspiring souls to achieve this balance, and by means thereof to attain heaven and its glories.

   The Book of Kings is the Book of occultism, emphasizing the way of attainment through works. Chronicles is the Book of mysticism, stressing the way of attainment by faith. Kings points to the followers of Jeroboam, the line of Cain (Fire); Chronicles, to the followers of Rehoboam, the line of Seth (Water). Jeroboam means struggle of people; Rehoboam, increase of people. Jeroboam and Rehoboam were both sons of Solomon. While they were brothers they were completely divided by differences and antagonisms — a divergence indicative of the barriers separating those who follow the path of knowledge from those who walk in the way of faith.

   The events described in both Books are largely parallel, yet they create widely divergent reactions in the biblical characters involved, for they depict in broad outline varying reactions to the experiences of life on the part of the occultist, those on the head path, and the mystic, those on the heart path.

   In his fascinating book, Legends of King Solomon, St. John D. Seymour relates a story of the birth of Solomon which has all the marks of a true spiritual vision: When the time of Solomon's birth drew near a multitude of Angels flew with festal banners and planted them on the right of David and on the left of the Queen until she had brought forth. The holy child came into the world with an appearance of dazzling purity; his countenance was suffused with light. The Angel Gabriel appeared in the king's chamber and said to him, "O David, peace and happiness be with thee because of this child by whom God hath comforted thee." Immediately David hastened from his dwelling to join his wife, and as he went he saw angelic banners flying and the Angels in ranks. They said to him: "Since God created us we have come down from heaven only at the birth of Abraham and of thy son Solomon." Then David fell on his face and gave thanks to God for the favor he had shown him, and he brought offerings. In the morning the whole world laughed for joy, and the wild beasts drew near and did obeisance to David in honor of the birth of his son, Solomon the Wise.

   It is of interest to observe that the ritual cry "Evolie!" (He-vau-be), used in all of the Grecian Mysteries, was also employed in Egypt, Judea, Phoenicia and Asia Minor, Phoenicia being located on the Syrian seaboard. The sacred word is obviously the equivalent of the three letters to which Yod is prefixed to form the Tetragrammaton, "Yod-be-vau-he;" in which the Yod is masculine and He-vau-he (Eve) is feminine.

   "So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, according to his desire." Cedar is feminine, fir, masculine, in esoteric symbology. A tree always represents the aspiration of the spirit soaring heavenward.

   Masonry depicts the way of Light as outlined in the life of the Master, Hiram Abiff, which includes death at the hands of three ruffians, and resurrection after the third day.

   In each instance, both Masters assume the role of cosmic Way Showers for the emulation of their followers. The disciple and candidate in turn must assume the same role and pass through identical experiences in order that he may change mortality for immortality, the terrestrial for the celestial as the Church expresses it, or in Masonic language, "learn to receive the wages of the Master and to travel in foreign countries." In both instances the glory of the first death (by Initiation), over which the second or natural death has no power, is the consummation to be attained.

   There is one important distinction in the two ceremonialisms. In the Masonic allegory, the Master is discovered by three officiants, all male. In the Church ceremonial the Master is discovered by three officiants, but one is a woman.

   The Rite of Renunciation was established for seekers who are of lesser attainment. it represents experiences on the Path which gave rise to the descriptive statement "so narrow that few there be who find it."

   The Rite comes to every aspirant who holds any possession dearer than the things of the spirit, and the possession must be given up, be it person, place or thing. Sacrifice is an important part of every initiatory process because inner freedom depends upon it; even the Holy One endured this trial in the Garden of Gethsemane,

   When the Proclamation of Cyrus (538 B.C.) set the Exiles free to return to their native land, not all desired to do so; nor did that Remnant called forth by the prophets return immediately or at one time. Three large migrations took place during the Persian Period. In addition there was a continuous stream of immigrants travelling in small groups or singly, with much visiting to and fro between Jerusalem and Babylon by those who were undecided as to which city they would chose for a permanent home. Consequently, a sizable Hebrew colony continued to flourish in Babylon far into rabbinic times; for even after Constantine the Great had closed those Palestinian Schools that created the Jerusalem Talmud, the work continued in Babylon until the middle of the sixth century A.D., when the Babylonian Talmud was brought to completion. Thus, Babylon and the Field of Ardath remained active in Hebrew thought for fully a thousand years, from the sixth century B.C. to the sixth century A. D. — a millennium, or Day of the Lord.

   What was the esoteric wisdom which Ezra taught to "those who could understand?" Its kernel, at least, has come down to us through collections of medieval works by kabbalistic writers, both Jewish and Christian, particularly through the Zohar. Although this book in its present form dates from the thirteenth century A. D., it embodies true esoteric traditions of the Restoration Period. The title Kabbalah means a doctrine of revelation received orally, and it supplements the Scriptures by presenting a philosophical basis for their Teachings. For example, the Old Testament says very little about the immortality of the soul; material life is stressed throughout, immortality and rebirth being taught only by implication and allegory. In the Kabbalah, however, immortality of the soul is axiomatic and the doctrine of rebirth is openly taught. It is claimed that kabbalistic doctrine descended from Adam in an unbroken succession via a line of prophets among whom are named Noah, Abraham, Moses and finally Ezra, the last having received the Teachings in the Field of Ardath at Babylon.

   The Bible is primarily a Mystery book and only a knowledge of the Mysteries will reveal its most profound meanings. As the Zohar expresses it:

"Is it conceivable that God had no holier matters to communicate than theme common things about Esau and Hagar, Laban and Jacob,
Baslam's Ass, Balak's jealousy of Israel and Zimri's lewdness?
"Does a collection of such tales taken in the ordinary sense deserve the name of Torah? And can it be said of such a revelation that it utters pure truths? If that is all the Torah contains, we can produce in our time a book as good, aye perhaps better.
"But no, the higher mystical sense of the Torah is its true sense."
The biblical narratives resemble a beautiful dress which enraptures fools so that they do not look beneath it. This robe, however, covers a body, i.e., the precepts of the Law; and this again a soul, the higher soul.
Woe to the guilty, who assert that the Torah contains only simple stories and therefore look only upon the dress.
"Blessed are the righteous who seek the real sense of the Law. The jar is not the wine, so also stories do not make up the Torah."
   (Excerpt from Pick's Cabala.)

   In the Book of Job we learn how it is possible to achieve union with God through meditation upon the mysteries of the revealed universe. The most esoteric work of the entire Book is therefore contained in the thirty-eighth to forty-second chapters. On the surface, these chapters appear to be a philosophical discourse having little to do with the man, Job; but they are really an esoteric discourse on the profoundest secrets of life and Initiation.

   The Prologue of Job occurs in heaven with the vision of the Great Spirits about the throne of God. These are the Archangels who, in the old star worship, were believed to bear the planets about in their courses, and John also describes them in his initiatory picture in Revelation, which is the great Mystery book of the New Testament.

   The arguments of Eliphas (the physical senses) may be summed up in the fact that his idea of the highest human blessedness is the accumulation of earthly possessions and a long life in which to enjoy them. He reiterates that material prosperity is the true mark of heavenly approbation, and adversity an equal sign of God's disfavor.

   The only purpose of working for greater spiritual light than is the portion of most of mankind is that the recipient may serve his fellowmen more efficiently. Many of the Psalms indicate this:

Psalm 20:
Now know I that Jehovah saveth his anointed;
He will answer him from his holy heaven
With the saving strength of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
But we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God.

Psalm 31
O love Jehovah, all ye his saints;
Jehovah, preserveth the faithful,
And plentifully rewardeth him that dealeth proudly.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All ye that hope in Jehovah.

Psalm 40
Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is written of me;
I delight to do thy will, O my God,
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
And He hath put a new song in my mouth.

   The deepest esoteric instruction can never be given publicly, and the Psalms therefore refer to the Mysteries only under a veil. But whether or not the neophyte is intellectually aware of the meaning of these holy songs, their vibration impinges upon the nerve centers of the body, gradually raising their sensitiveness through the law of sympathetic vibration, until they are sensitized sufficiently to transmit the delicate, but potent, sensations of the inner realms.

   Faith! This is the one most necessary key for unlocking the Temple doors behind which are the eternal glories. "According to thy faith be it unto you!" Yet faith is not the growth of an hour, nor yet of a day. It is attained by a very slow and gradual process, in which the expanding consciousness learns to "try the Lord" again and again, and to know the method of His working. In the various Psalms we may follow the aspirant's development of the faith which becomes power. Until faith is achieved, the aspirant progresses but slowly along the Path. Faith once gained, his feet are winged, and the way seems short. In the 3rd Psalm we read:

I laid me down and slept;
I awakened; for the Lord (Law) sustaineth me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people
That have set themselves against me round about.

   It must be borne in mind that the rabbinical editors of late centuries arbitrarily rewrote and cast out of the Scriptures much that was truly occult, and which had come down directly from Moses and even from the Patriarchs. This body of knowledge, rejected by the orthodox canon, is not lost; some fragments of it are to be discovered among the apocryphal and pseudo-epigraphical books, but in the Archetypal World all these books remain shining in the Light of Wisdom and are destined to be recovered by seers who make themselves worthy. On the physical side, archeology has an even more important function to perform in the recovery of lost teachings than it has played in the past, important as that has been.

   "The Wisdom of the Egyptians" will one day be recovered and be given an honored place, and so also will the Chaldean Mysteries, for Hebrew prophets were high Initiates in the Chaldean and Egyptian schools. In the Exilic Period, the wave of reform which swept over Persia engulfed Palestine also, because the Hebrew leaders in Exile at Babylon came under the Zoroastrian influence, and carried it back with them to Palestine. There then transpired a conflict between old and new religious ideas; there was even an official change of language from Hebrew to Aramaic. All of these vicissitudes may be traced in the Psalms, and we know that they follow the changing course of a Mystery School, and the work of Archangels and Angels with human beings.

   When the Initiate has arrived at the state presaged in the 119th Psalm there is but one expression adequate to voice it, and that is praise. Adoration must of necessity follow the contemplation of the glorious spiritual universe (which includes man himself) outspread before the vision of the seer.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth;
Sing forth the glory of his name;
Make his praise glorious!

   The Zohar is considered by many to be the culmination of Hebrew esotericism. It was written by Moses de Leon who died (1305) just a few years before Christian Rose Cross founded the Rosicrucian Mystery School (1313). The authorship of the Zohar, which means "Shining", de Leon attributes to his Master, Simon ben Yohai, whose very existence is denied by historians, since the book purports to be a product of the second century whereas its internal structure proves beyond doubt that it belongs to the thirteenth. Esoterically we understand that the Master to whom Moses de Leon refers was not in the flesh; and he may well have been one of the early Masters who lived in the second century, and who, after his death, continued his work in the Hebrew Mysteries. There is no doubt that the essential elements of the book can be traced to the early Gnostic centuries.

   The Zohar is a commentary on the Pentateuch and contains fifty-two divisions, covering the whole field of Hebrew esotericism as revealed by the mystical interpretation of Scriptures, namely, the Mansions and Abodes (Paradise and Hell), the Sephiroth or Creative Principles, the Faithful Shepherd (Moses, Elijah and Simon in conversation), the Secret of Secrets (transmutation), Cosmology and Demonology, and other matters of profound esoteric interest. The Zohar pivots about the principle of the Divine Balance or Equilibrium, which is the secret of all esoteric revelation and creative activity, for it solves the problem of polarity. It is the great source book of modern kabbalism.

   The Temple songs and chants were also means of healing, particularly the secretly intoned Tetragrammaton, whose vibrations were felt even though its sound was drowned in the thundering voices of the chorus.

   Hymns of praise are used to rebuild the higher ethers into the body: those cosmic rays, invisible to the ordinary eyes but visible and tangible to the sensitized nerves of the Initiate, which carry the Christ Life from interstellar space. The songs of praise lift the rate of vibration of the body atoms which have been vibrating below the level of health and thus destroy the disease. When the body rhythm harmonizes with the keynote of the spirit sounding in the medulla oblongata the manifestation of disease is impossible, because this point in the etheric body vibrates in unison with the celestial patterns or archetype in the spiritual realms where man is made in the image and likeness of God. The 91st Psalm is good as a preparatory meditation for spiritual healing because it stimulates faith. The 103rd Psalm is also helpful in that respect:

Bless Jehovah, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless his holy name,
Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits;
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.

   Many volumes have been written and much time spent in discussing the authorship of the Psalms. To the occultist, however, the important fact under consideration is not who wrote them, but how best to utilize them in daily living. David means "the well-beloved of the Lord." Whether or not the Psalms were written by David, King of Israel, it is clear that they were given under the inspiration of an Initiate, and such are always well-beloved of the Lord (Law). They depict the way of progress up to the point of conscious union with Deity, this highest spiritual attainment being described in the 23rd Psalm. The Path ascending thereunto leads from the dedication of the life to Spirit, through the many trials and temptations expressed in the laments, on to the chants of the overcoming — all to be climaxed in this, the perfect song of spiritual at-one-ment.

   Hippolytus affirms that David "wrote prophetic psalms upon the true Christ, our God, and evidently declared all the things which happened to him in his suffering. . . and how that Christ humbled himself and put on the form of the servant Adam."

   Justin Martyr quotes the whole 72nd psalm to prove that Christ was the King of glory, and declares that this entire psalm was written in honor of Him and none other. In his Apologies he asserts that in many instances the King referred to in the psalm was not David or Solomon, but the Lord Christ Himself. As another example, he quotes the 24th psalm: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates . . . and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of glory. This is a reference to Christ and the host of His ministering Angels and Archangels who always accompany Him.

   The Mystic Marriage represents the culmination of the initiatory process; it is not achieved except in Initiation, and constitutes part of the initiatory process and ceremonies. This is the portion of the Christian Gospels which has been lost, or destroyed by evil forces; for the early Initiates understood that the work of the Christ culminated in His union with Sophia, divine Wisdom. This union could take place only after the Resurrection, for it is included in the work of the Ascension.

   Prior to the Mystic Marriage we have the whole experience of the life of Christ: the Birth under the Star through the Virgin Consciousness, the Childhood, the Baptism, Temptation in the Wilderness, Way of the Cross and the Crucifixion. It is in the Ascension that we experience the Mystic Marriage.

   The Birth under the Star is the Mystic Illumination, as in the lives of such Saints as Francis of Assisi. The Church accepts stigmatization as an end in itself, a favor conferred by God; but the esotericist knows that stigmatization is only a beginning of the real esoteric work, for in addition to the Stigmatic Star, we have the symbolism of the Rod that blossoms, and the Resurrection and Ascension. The Rod is the power of the spinal fire, and its rise is accompanied by the blossoming of the Roses or Lotuses. Psalm 77 embodies the rhythms which tend to accelerate the action of these Roses, or Centers within the aura. As a result of such activity, we become the "Little Ones," namely, Initiates: "I call to remembrance my song in the night; I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search." It is then alone that we have the twelvefold power which is celebrated in Psalm 60:

God hath spoken in His holiness; I will exult;
I will divide Shechem, and meet out the valley of Succoth,
Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine,
Ephraim also is the defence of my head;
Judah is my sceptre (law giver).

   In the 5th Psalm, which was chanted at the laying of the holy fires at sunrise, David sings of full and entire dedication, for no half measures are efficacious on the Path which leads to liberation. "In the abundance of thy loving kindness will I come into thy house, in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy Temple. Let all those that take refuge in thee rejoice, for thou wilt bless the righteous, O Jehovah, thou wilt compass him with favor as with a shield."

   One of the important key instructions in the Psalms is given to neophytes of every faith: "Commune with your own heart and learn to be still." The Supreme Teacher but paraphrased these words when He taught that "the Kingdom of heaven is within you."

   The more spiritually advanced the disciple becomes, the fewer are the petitions he makes to the Deity, but the more constant are the communions and the songs of praise within the heart. When the lamp of the anointed flames within, there is born something of the true realization of the mystery of existence. One thus illumined is conscious of the unity of each with all, and the sacredness of life. He learns that God is in all, and that God is all. He can no longer think of himself as debased or dejected, for he has glimpsed the grandeur of that immortal glory which is within himself and within every other living being. He transcends all earthly desires. Surrounded and enveloped by the ever-burning light be proclaims, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork!"

   There is also a psychological reason for the practice of silent periods. Language is essentially the tool of the exteriorized intellect, which depends upon the uninspired logic of the mortal intelligence, Words and numbers alike are the particular instruments of logic because they liberate the intellect from dependence upon concrete imagery, and permit it to rise into the activity of abstract reason where images are eschewed. But in the initiatory development, the imagination must be trained, for the imagination is the eyes of the spirit; and what the reason knows by indirection the imagination sees directly in the Mind of God.

   Throughout Scripture, the word honey is of deep spiritual significance. The word as used here refers to the hidden or esoteric teachings. The aspirant is warned against being over-eager in his search for occult truths. It is better to receive a little and to live according to that provided than to seize avidly upon marvelous intellectual concepts and neglect to practice the common virtues incident to spiritual life. True wisdom expresses itself in terms of love, first, last and always. It means fellowship, brotherhood, and its emanations received clairvoyantly appear as a sweet, golden radiance, the "Venus gold" of the alchemist.

   "My delights were with the sons of men"; this was in the spiritual Eden, before man's fall, when all men's ways were ordered in the light of cosmic Wisdom. It is still the lot of the neophyte who, when he goes out of the door of his "chamber" into the invisible worlds, seeks out the Christ, and Wisdom: Blessed is he that heareth Wisdom, "watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." But, "he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." In the first chapter of John's Gospel the Wisdom Principle is saluted, "In the beginning was the Word .... and without him was not anything made that was made." Here the masculine tense is used, signifying the Christ; but the Wisdom principle, though in Christianity called masculine in the Christ, is identical with the Sophia (Wisdom-feminine) of the Old Testament. (Incidentally, the Christ equates with the Persian Mithra, Archangel of the Sun, who by the Persians was venerated as a Divine Hermaphrodite.)

   The Zohar contains much information relative to the lower and higher feminine in man under the title of inferior and superior mothers. In the same manner as the physical body is formed in the matrix of the lower ethers, so is the psychical body formed in a matrix composed of the golden Light Ether and the blue-white Reflecting Ether. Again like the material body, which must be sustained by the intake of nourishment, the soul body must be sustained by the food and drink of the spirit. The work of the ego in these two higher ethers gives to each person all that he possesses of aspiration and idealism. This work forms, in fact, the basis of character, and it is the forming of the Christ within. Even the physical body of one who is dedicated to the higher life gradually becomes luminous. The reflection of the two higher ethers first appears as a halo about the head and later extends to encircle the entire body. This radiance is not lost by the spirit between Earth lives but is used to form the matrix of its new celestial body. In the same manner in which the two lower or denser ethers form a matrix for the embryonic physical body at birth so do the two higher or spiritual ethers compose a matrix for the celestial body to be used in the heaven worlds.

   The twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes plays an important part in a certain esoteric ceremonial of the Masonic Lodge concerned with the silver cord or "cable tow". Occultists give special information on this "cable tow", but much remains to be discovered, for little is actually known of its functions and attributes. The silver cord is a silvery, ethereal cord which is visible to clairvoyant vision, connecting the subtler vehicles with the physical; this cord is threefold: "the threefold cord is not easily broken."

   Master occultists are associated with the Mystery Schools which are the supreme achievement of the scientific method of soul growth. They appeal to the scientific temperament, and they take into consideration the difference of race, climate and civilization which are so likely to affect the development of the aspirant when he deliberately and of his own free will aspires to Liberation. Love has no boundaries. But science must recognize the laws which govern the mortal man, at least until the mortal has been utterly supplanted by the immortal, as Light supplants the darkness which seems to be but is in truth a mere negation of being. Love preaches one doctrine only in every land and in every age. Science changes from age to age, and must adapt itself to many varying conditions within the same age.

   On the path of science, or knowledge, inevitably the time comes when the mortal intellect has reached its uttermost bounds. It must be laid off as a serpent sheds its skin, or as the phoenix is burnt on its nest of frankincense and myrrh, to rise into a new consciousness; and so this very path of knowledge by which man achieves God must itself some day be left behind. "I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven". The Teacher does not say above Heaven, but under Heaven, the meaning being the mortal consciousness. "This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith."

   Above our current cycle of the transitory is heard the voice of Spirit urging the return to the eternal realms of Reality. Let peace and tranquility prevail when evil presents itself, knowing that when the time is ripe, the evil will be eliminated: "for there is a time for every work" — a lesson taught by the Supreme Master, Christ Jesus, in the parable of the wheat and the tares which were allowed to grow together until the harvest.

   Like Aries, Leo signifies the creative Fire energy of God, but whereas the Arian fire is focused through the brain in works of mental creation, the Leo fire is focused in the heart. It manifests here as the creations of love and the courage of love; for does not the word courage point to the heart as its throne and source? "Love casteth out fear," and fearlessness is the fundamental requisite of Initiation.

   The humanity of Earth has misused this great cosmic Fire force and suffers in consequence the prevalence of sorrow, disease, poverty and death, as shown in the following verses:

Ecclesiastes 6:1,2
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:
A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

   In the long processes of evolutionary development each ego is born alternately in a masculine or feminine body so that the two poles of Spirit, which were divided in the separation of Adam and Eve, may again become equally active and potent in the egoic consciousness.

   The masculine pole of Spirit manifests as Will and the feminine as Imagination. In accordance with the predominance of one or the other is the physical body male or female. The purpose of incarnating alternately as man and woman is to teach the spirit to express increasingly the attributes of both poles simultaneously. The symbol of the New Aquarian Age is, therefore, that of the androgynous figure, which heralds the day when the spiritual androgyne will be the race type. This is already objectively demonstrated in part in the increasing freedom of women, their adoption of masculine attire and habits, and a similar trend on the part of men in the direction of the feminine privileges. Thus the biune spiritual power is being gradually but surely developed in the mass consciousness through impacts of experience, for life itself is always the supreme teacher.

   The "old soul," one who has known many earth experiences in human incarnations, if using a masculine garment will at the same time exhibit marked feminine characteristics such as gentleness, compassion, sympathy, tenderness and a deeper appreciation of the beautiful which flowers variously in the arts.

   The "old soul" in feminine incarnation has evolved many masculine characteristics, such as fearlessness, spiritual courage, a dauntless self-reliance and the attainment represented by St. Paul when he declared: "None of these things (of the outer world) move me."

   The most profound truths of the Bible deal with the evolution of man. His body is the base metal which, by spiritual alchemy he must transmute into a rare and shining gold. The spinal cord is the principal laboratory of these operations. As the sleeping serpent coiled within the lower part of the spinal canal is awakened by noble aspirations and pure living and gradually mounts toward the pineal and pituitary glands in the head, certain plexuses along the way of this ascending fire-course are stimulated and their forces tend to spiritualize or refine the nerves. This process of refinement aids in the development of inner faculties often referred to as the extension of the five physical senses into higher dimensions.

   Kabbalists say that "to every upper Mystery corresponds a Mystery in our lower world which is the Cosmos."

Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

   Astrologically, Jeremiah signifies the Autumn Equinox, the Gate of Libra, sign of the Scales. This is the point where judgment is meted out and choice must be made between the opposing forces of good and evil. His theme is that of strange, cold waters and of the darkness that comes from the north. These figures of speech are representative of the "fan" of the earth from the warmth and light of summer into the darkness and cold of winter. Jeremiah reiterates, "The summer is past."

Jeremiah 4:6
Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

   The Nazarites, an esoteric group, were still in possession of inner teachings concerning things of the spirit. They outlined two paths of development, namely, the mystical and the occult. The way of the mystic is the path of faith; it finds expression in teachings of the Church. Those who follow this line of development build a soul body purer than snow and whiter than milk. The way of the occultist is the path of knowledge and good works. Its followers demand an answer to all matters in doubt and require that the intellect be satisfied before the heart may speak. Such wear a garment of the soul more "rudy in body than rubies."

   From earliest times Chaldean astrology enumerates twelve signs of the Zodiac. But in Greece Libra was long associated with Virgo — on the one hand and Scorpio on the other, being designated as the Scales of the Virgin or the Claws of the Scorpion. Gradually, however, the essential individuality of the sign won recognition, although it is still true that an ego under Libra possesses an impulse drawing him toward both the cool sweetness of Virgo and the glowing intensity of Scorpio. Only when the Scales cease to swing in the human soul, only when perfect equilibrium has been attained, can true concord between these three signs be established.

   From Virgo and Libra come the white and red of celestial alchemists: white for the purity of the Virgin; ruby-red, color of the divine Rose Garden, for the purified love of Libra. The Hierarchy correlated with Virgo is that of the Lords of Wisdom; with Libra, that of the Lords of Individuality; with Scorpio, that of the Lords of Form.

   At the dawn of the Earth Period the Hierarchy of Scorpio was given charge over evolving form; from it came all the factors essential to physical evolution.

   The Lords of Mind are correlated with the constellation of Sagittarius. They confine their activities to the human life wave only. From their own auras they emanated the germ of mind so all-important to human evolution. Theirs is the Path to the Gods.

   Archangels belong to Capricorn. They work with the desire nature of men and animals. They oversee the activities of animal Group Spirits and of human tribes and races.

   Angels make up the Hierarchy of Aquarius. They work with the etheric or vital sheaths of plants, animals and humans. They are the agencies of birth in kingdoms that perpetuate their kind.

   The twelfth Hierarchy is Pisces, a collective Entity of our own life wave. As Virgin Spirits we are the Hierarchy of Pisces, and it is our task to blend the Four Divine Elements into a superhuman or celestial Man.

   To summarize: Five Hierarchies work with the spiritual impulses focused through the eternal cosmic Patterns of the World of God. Seven Hierarchies assist in the time-space evolution of the four life streams now progressing through earth-plane experiences: the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms. The four fundamentals of God's Power manifest equally through the celestial Hierarchies grouped into four Triplicities as follows:

   All that is created by the Ancient of Ancients can live only by a male and a female, states the Zohar. This first Adam included within himself the wisdom and beauty of Sephira, the first woman, for that Adam was androgynous.

   The "Fall" is described by Ezekiel in terms of several ancient nations, whose doom he predicts: Tyre, Assyria, Jerusalem, Israel and others. All of these nations are type-figures used to symbolize inner truths.

Ezekiel 31:16, 17
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descended into the pit: And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drinks water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
They also went down into hell with him, unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

   The present development of mind and heart are fittingly described by Rabindranath Tagore, one of the greatest of modern poets: "The heart is a river, the head is but a bridge. The river moves endlessly to the sea of God. My bridge only spans it at a certain point."

   Judah is the heart (Leo); Joseph, the mind (Sagittarius). The blending of these two powers in man is related to the "breathing of the four winds." The two segments together form the single pillar in the Temple of God, "and they shall go no more out;" that is, the Adept is freed from the wheel of birth and death, being no longer under the compulsion of karma. He may continue to serve humanity in a physical body or he may confine his activities entirely to higher realms, as the Disciples of Christ Jesus have done. In the New Testament Peter, James and John are termed "pillars." This is the origin of the expression "pillars of the Church."

   Inner-plane knowledge is very differently received than is knowledge in this world. When an embodied teacher speaks, his words are heard objectively by vibrations in the air entering at the hearer's ear. But in inner-plane Schools where Teachers speak through living, creative imagination, their words spring up alive in the mind and the soul of a disciple and become part of the latter's very being.

   Hence, the prophet "eats the roll." It is assimilated into his soul-consciousness just as bread is transmuted by physiological alchemy into the actual substance of one's body. "And it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness." The pictures described by the prophet are examples of the picture-consciousness that humanity will possess in the next great evolutionary Period, the angelic and Initiate speech with its living pictures and images and their soul-essence or wisdom. Such images are mentioned many places in the Bible.

   Spiritual bread is not given to a prophet merely to appease his own soul-hunger. He must share it with his people. Therefore, after his enlightenment Ezekiel is commissioned to become a Teacher. No ecstasy on earth is comparable to that accompanying the reception and dissemination of illuminating spiritual truths. John's experiences described in Revelation are like those of Ezekiel's ecstatic glory. The latter depicts the exalted preparation for Christ's coming while St. John's vision pertains to His Second Coming.

   The mortal consciousness of man is reflected upon and through the animal kingdom. Animals did not prey upon each other, or upon man, until after the Fall. This condition arose as a result of man's misdirection of the creative fire force which, in the angelic Hierarchy as in men and women who have achieved transmutation of the life force, is focused in and controlled through the etheric center located in the heart. Development of this vital center is probably the most important of all esoteric work, and every neophyte will one day realize that these things are not allegories but exact scientific facts that are experienced and therefore known.

   When reading in the Memory of Nature records of the past and archetypes of the future evolution of continents, nations and races, an Initiate also investigates the causes underlying the evolution and their method of unfoldment. He sees the terrific battle constantly being waged between the forces of good and the powers of evil; he sees, too, the ultimate victory of good. These opposing forces are represented by the ram and the goat.

   The temptation to use institutions devoted to spiritual ideals for purposes of political intrigue and for the satisfaction of personal ambition is one that every aspirant must face sooner or later. The commercialization of religious institutions or their prostitution by politicians has been, and still may be, the bane of Christendom. Even modern occult schools are not immune to this crystallizing and destructive influence, as is revealed in the struggle for authority and wealth going on in many of them. The appearance of a true spiritual Teacher is not welcomed by psychic careerists, so Daniel was unwelcome to the false seers of Nebuchadnezzar's court. Throughout the Book of Daniel we will see how his defeated rivals, most of whom were failures on the Path of Initiation, continue to harass him and repeatedly endeavor to undermine his prestige. They even succeed for a time.

   It is evident that each of Nebuchadnezzars visions is a trial for Daniel and his friends. In the initiatory trials of the modern candidates there are also many instances of Desire World phenomena being revealed to their spiritual sight, and of their being commanded to read and interpret. Upon awakening from "clear" sleep, neophytes often see before the inner eye books, scrolls and other manuscripts bearing esoteric instruction or words of encouragement. It frequently happens that a neophyte is unable to read the messages in their entirety, as was the case with Nebuchadnezzar. But an Initiate (figured in Daniel) must and will read; he can also interpret.

   Metaphysicians frequently comment upon the correspondences existing between biblical plagues and evil forces in human nature. On the physical plane these correspondences may seem to an unillumined person mere figures of speech, allegories without any foundation in fact. Yet there are some individuals who have developed the faculty for seeing thought-forms created by man's evil emotions and imaginings, and for tracing them in their gradual condensation through the ethers until they appear upon the physical plane as plagues of various kinds. Microscopic entities, scientifically designated as microbes, are both visible and tangible to interior vision. Not infrequently persons having very slight development of their etheric senses see the astral larvae which swarm in the lower regions of the desire world.

   Occultly considered, the story of Jonah and the whale is an allegory of the process of Initiation as known to us in our present Piscean or Christian Dispensation, the Age of the Fish. It was this knowledge which caused early Christians to inscribe the symbol of two fishes in so many places upon the walls of the catacombs in Rome. Many of those who inscribed this sign upon the walls had passed through an experience similar to that of Jonah — Trial by Water, one of the most difficult for a neophyte to come through in safety because it means unloosing thu anarchistic forces of the subconscious in which primitive impulses are confined. By his own will a neophyte opens the doors of the great Deep. He must be prepared for the up-rushing powers of subconscious evil formerly held in confinement by the beneficent protection of his Guardian Angel, who now withdraws his hand.

   The wealthy were ruthless in exploiting those of lesser estate. If they wished to take houses or lands of those not strong enough to defend them, they did so, leaving the rightful owner without means of redress. If one thus defrauded complained of ill-treatment his life became forfeit. The propertied classes were aided by a greedy clergy in perpetuating such cruel wrongs. About so direful a condition Micah says: "They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof devine for money." (Micah 3:10-11)

   An experience similar to the prophet's comes to every aspirant when he first glimpses something of the purpose and plan of life, and is conscious of the great verities and the unity underlying creation. His faith is not yet equal to his vision, consequently he has many "dark nights of the soul" so familiar to the mystic. There comes a torturing realization of how far man has departed from spiritual realities, and in anguish of soul he cries out, "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast Established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he." (Habakkuk 1:12-13)

   The aspirant Who is faithful will be guided, as was Habakkuk, to the Gates of Light where his questions will be answered and his mission of righting evil will be made plain: "And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

   There can never be any coercion in real spiritual work. The spirit must be free to make its own decisions. Any teacher or organization operating under rules and ordinances of "shall" and "shall not" is not a channel for the inflow of forces of Divine Spirit and cannot truly represent the New Age wherein man must learn to be a law unto himself — a condition not of anarchy, as would appear on the surface, but of strictest spiritual self-discipline.

   It has been truly said that the Apocalypse is the cradle of Christianity. Previous chapters have shown that active preparation for the Christ Advent in Palestine began with the Exile, and it was at this time that the Apocalypse appeared in Hebrew literature — although it did not reach its culmination until the Greek Period. The Messiah of the Apocalypse is no mere national hero of the Jews. He is the Savior of mankind, the Spirit of Light that overcomes the darkness of this world.

   All great Initiates body forth the development that spiritual evolution will eventually accomplish in the race as a whole. They are the first fruits of the evolutionary tree, so we therefore call them prototypes. For this reason the Book of Zechariah, although concerned primarily with Zechariah's own Illumination and with the Initiation of Zerubbabel, is also descriptive of the earth and mankind in the future Capricornian Age. Man will then be Christed, or anointed with the Christ powers. The masses will experience the birth of the Christ Within while pioneers, under Cancer, will receive higher Initiations and thus be able to follow the Christ into His own home world, the high heaven of Life Spirit, or Universal Christ Consciousness.

   By right use of his dual powers man may become a god. By their misuse, their betrayal, he becomes, in the words of Emerson, "a god in ruins," the two columns supporting his spiritual world being broken.

   In this last vision Zechariah again sees far beyond the first Advent of the Messiah in Palestine. He envisions a later period, time of the Second Coming. The terrestrial globe will have undergone a transformation and will then be self-luminous. Vast geological changes are indicated in the prediction that "living waters shall go out from Jerusalem."

   The Old Testament is the Book of Promise; the New Testament is the Book of Fulfillment. The one theme is continuous. Either Testament is incomplete without the other, but together they form the most glorious text ever given to mankind.

   All ancient mystic teachers used the symbolism of the mirror to explain or elucidate the mysteries of the created universe in relation to its archetype in the heaven worlds. And so it is that we find the letter-angels appearing before the Divine Face as in a mirror which is yet empty of images, with Tau, the last letter advancing first, "The first shall be last, and the last first."

   The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis describe mankind made in the image and likeness of God. The First and Second Arcana are a pictured representation of this perfected man and woman, the Archetypal Man. We meet the two Perfected Ones again in the New Testament in the persons of Joseph and his wife Mary, the parents of Jesus.

   The Eight Arcanum shows a maiden holding an uplifted sword, symbol of Truth. In the other hand she holds a pair of scales. One of the most dramatic episodes recounted in the Egyptian Book of the Dead is that of the weighing of the heart when the soul comes to Judgment soon after death. The weighing of the heart determines his place, whether it is to be in the upper or lower abodes, with gods or demons.

   The fifteenth Arcanum places before the aspirant the reminder that "the higher we climb, the harder we fall." It pictures the spirit of evil which has been known by many names throughout world literature. Here he is represented with the body of a hippopotamus, head of a crocodile, great bat wings and the feet of a goat. A serpent is seen emerging from the lower part of the body, indicative of the fact that all of his works are dedicated to evil.

   In one hand he holds aloft the scepter of destruction, in the other the scepter of division, confusion and hatred. Bound by chains to his feet are two human figures with goats' heads, suggesting the depravity into which man may descend when he allies himself consciously with the forces of destruction.

   The processes of Initiation do not remain the same throughout all times and cultures. Initiation is the scientific — consciously knowing and designed-method for unfolding the innate powers of the human spirit during incarnation. It therefore must change from age to age, as it is adapted to changing needs of the human ego by the great teachers and leaders of human evolution.

   Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the number 1; it is representative of the secret God-power manifesting in man, and correlates with the first Tarot card of the Major Arcana. This card shows the Master or Magus, the Wise One, who is described in the early chapters of Genesis as man made in the image and likeness of God — the supreme ideal toward which all the spiritual philosophers of the world have ever aspired.

   The Eighth Tarot card, called Justice, shows a female figure seated on a throne. Three steps lead up to the throne. They typify the three worlds in which man's evolution currently proceeds. Her Law governs all life in the three worlds, both during physical incarnation and after death, between incarnations. Upon her head she wears an iron crown. Her eyes are bandaged, showing that Divine Law is impartial and impersonal. In one hand she holds an uplifted sword, the weapon of retribution, in the other the balance or scales, by which justice is meted out with accuracy. This Tarot signifies the Twin Laws of Rebirth and Causation.

   Comparatively few persons even in this modem day understand the tremendous power of thought and the need that it be used constructively. The Bible says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." And so he will certainly become. It is possible to think one's self into health and prosperity. Young children should be taught these things and be led into habits of constructive mental image-making.

   In Christian esotericism the Path of Initiation is called the Way of the Cross. It has a meaning which is close to that of Lamed, the Hanged Man, yet there are differences. Lamed hangs head downward. Tau is the elevated cross upon which the Just Man is raised aloft. "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.

   The Hanged Man of Lamed is also the symbol of the holy martyr, personified in the New Testament record in St. Peter, who was crucified head downward at his own request. There is an ancient teaching that God will accept the martyrdom of certain holy ones in order that a remnant may escape the retribution demanded by cosmic law. Moses was not willing that even one of his Israelites should be blotted from the book of life and offered himself to die in their place, even though he knew that they had been disobedient and faithless. This is the doctrine of the Faithful Shepherd, most beautifully fulfilled in the Birth, Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord Christ Jesus.

   As in the consideration of the monad, we shall observe the duad first from the universal or cosmic viewpoint and afterward from the personal angle. In a study of the duad we find the beginnings of division, separation, duality, contrasts. Pythagoras says: "Two is the imperfect condition into which being falls when it becomes detached from the Monad of God. Spiritual beings emanating from God are enveloped in the Duad and therefore receive only illusory impressions."

   The life and works of the apostle Paul are indicative of the powers of 5. Says Paul: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." These words are particularly applicable to 5, the true symbol of which is the Pentagram, the five pointed star. Five has been called the dual number because it represents the two natures, the higher and the lower, which contend for supremacy in the life of man. The victory of the higher or spiritual nature over the lower is beautifully illustrated in the life of Paul, the change resulting in the adoption of another name, Saul, which became Paul, the former name representing in his case the lower man. In his awakened spiritual state he could no longer endure the vibratory impacts of the name Saul. The letter 'P' or 'Phe' in Hebrew, is symbolical of light, and is represented pictorially by a star.

   Plato, in Timaeus, declares that the soul of the world was generated from 7. Other ancient sages described nature as a golden egg surrounded by 7 natural elements, 4 visible, and 3 invisible. The 4 visible elements were designated as air, water, fire, and earth.

   Nine has special significance for humanity since it is the number principally governing its evolution. Around the power of 9 the cyclic progress of man revolves. That 9 is the number of the evolution of present humanity is borne out by two numbers in the Book of Revelation, a book which indeed reveals mysteries. These two numbers are 666 and 144,000. Both reduce to 9. The former is the number of the Beast, the unregenerate nature of man that wars against his higher nature, the mortality that must put on immortality. The latter number, 144,000, is the number of the redeemed. They comprise all who bear the mark of God upon their foreheads and chant hosannas in their joy of having found the peace that resides at the heart of their divine Selfhood.

   The names assigned to created things bear a profound occult significance in relation to numbers. Every name vibrates to a certain number. That number is, therefore, the very soul of the name. Herein lies the secret power of the spoken word, for when the syllables of a name are sounded, the corresponding powers of its number are released and may be used by one who has the wisdom to manipulate this subtle force. In this connection, meditate on thy promise: "Whatsoever ye ask in my name, shall be done unto you."

   Goethe, a master mind, had the power to tune in with the exalted forces of 13. He does so when describing the experiences of a Traveller on a visit to a certain Monastery wherein resided 12 Brothers together with a 13, who was head of the Group. The Traveller undergoes many trials before he discovers the home of the Order he seeks. The Monastery which he ultimately finds is crowned with a black cross which is embellished with 7 red roses. This same symbol also forms the gate through which the Traveller must enter before he can stand in the presence of the 12 and the exalted 13th.

   Permanent healing necessitates a removal of conditions that cause disease. Those conditions go beyond the physical, usually originating anterior to the present earth life. They have to do with the mental and emotional life of man; they are the result of some kind of disobedience, willful or ignorant, of cosmic law. This truth was made plain by Christ Jesus when He asked His disciples: "For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?"

   In a study of occult anatomy we must consider man both prior to his birth in a physical body and subsequent to the dissolution of that body at death. The Spirit is immortal and its activity is ceaseless. It goes on uninterruptedly whether it functions on this plane or on others, in a physical body or in forms of finer texture. Before the Spirit's advent on earth in a physical body it undergoes a long period of preparation, and after leaving spiritual incarnation it experiences an extended time of assimilation of the spiritual fruits of the earth life just past.

   Cosmically, the archetypal forces are the life essence poured out by that Great Being known as the Holy Ghost, Jehovah. The Angels are His messengers in this work. Western Wisdom teaches us that Jehovah's "world" is this same Third Heaven or "Chaos," from which all Creation came forth when spirit moved upon its "waters;" for these are the "waters" in which Life germinates, as Idea. They are the home world of human Spirits or Egos; but only the most advanced Egos remain there any length of time before descending to rebirth. For the great majority, this Heaven is virtually non-existent.

   When an Ego begins its descent for rebirth, its first task is building the archetype in the Second Heaven, by means of the two archetypal forces. If the Ego has wasted its life substance in "riotous living" in previous incarnations, it must necessarily fashion the heavenly pattern for a new body from a minimum of creative force-substance (the two terms are almost interchangeable in spiritual realms), and this will be reflected in a physical vehicle of impaired vitality. Thus, the Spirit learns through painful limitations the error of its previous indiscretions. This limitation lasts until the Ego has, by living in harmony with cosmic Law, again attracted a sufficiency of creative life essence to strengthen the lines of force that are rayed through the archetypal pattern, and so determine its strength and beauty.

   When the Ego has fully assimilated the experiences of its last Earth incarnation, it has reached the highest of the three heavens in which human consciousness is active at this time. The Third Heaven is a world of pure spirit, and the Ego which has risen out of the worlds of form exists there in human spirit only, for the "seeds" or "germinal ideas" are there only in latency. It is there that the Four Celestial Guardians who have charge of the cosmic records, Taurus-Scorpio and Leo-Aquarius, accord the Earth-directed Ego permission to view the spiritual outline of the life to come and the principal events thereof by which it may work out another part of its destiny and liquidate karmic debts accumulated during previous Earth sojourns.

   The human body and the way of its regeneration is the theme of every book in both the Old and New Testaments. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness, the Temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel, the Holy City of Ezekiel, and of the Seer of Patmos, each has its parallel in the human organism. Christ Jesus Himself said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again," and the Disciples knew that He was referring to the body-temple.

   The plan, structure, measurements and materials of the Tabernacle, which is the prototype for both the City and Temple of Jerusalem, all have significance in relation to the body and inner nature of man. So, too, do the objects contained within it. The Ark typifies the divine Spirit that dwells within the temple; the golden pot of Manna (the purified heart), with its white wafers made of honey, symbolizes the sacred life force in man which, when conserved and transmuted, elevates him to the status of the superman. Aaron's Rod that budded represents the life force lifted up through the spinal cord to the head and the unfolding therein of spiritual centers of perception. The Tables of the Law symbolize the positive and negative forces centered in the seed atom of the bodies of man. The Seven-branched Candlestick represents the seven principles in man which relate him to The seven planes of Being. The twelve loaves of Shrewbread have reference to the bread of life produced under the action of the twelve zodiacal signs, each of which governs that part of the body of man corresponding to their activity in the Solar Man. They also represent, anatomically, the twelve cranial nerves through the sensitization of which man awakens to the great work of Transmutation. The Altar of Burnt Offering symbolizes the sacrifice of fleshly desires; the Laver of Consecration, the processes of purification which result in the spiritualization of the mind and its consequent union with Spirit.

   The etheric body (or etheric double as it is also called) properly belongs to the physical realms — for, although not ordinarily visible to physical sight, it is composed of attenuated physical substance. It belongs in fact to the twilight realm of matter where subtle and hitherto little known forces operate just beyond the range of visibility. Into this twilight realm material science is each year penetrating a little farther. Many and wonderful are the inventions which even now result from a knowledge of its forces; for here science is endeavoring to control the mystery of the atom. And here, in a way not yet understood, interior mental forces become externalized into what we recognize as ail exterior physical world.

   Ethers at the threshold of the ordinarily perceived Physical World are simply a rarefied condition of matter, but slight physical development is required for their investigation. In fact, thousands of people who have given no special thought to either psychic or spiritual development have seen, and are continually seeing, one or more of them without knowing there is anything unusual about the experience. As the Aquarian Age draws near the number of persons sensitive to the finer ethers will increase year by year. Even now there are cases on record among pioneering scientists where etheric vision is momentarily opened in the course of particular investigations.

   The etheric region may be designated as the atomic and sub-atomic areas of the material world. Invisible to human senses as now developed, ether is none the less a substance belonging to the Physical World, though raised to a higher vibratory octave than physical matter. This being so, it is gradually yielding up to material scientists many mysteries that for centuries have been known only to occultists.

   With Initiate wisdom, Rudolph Steiner writes of the head as being "a store-chamber of former deeds, an image of successive metamorphoses of energies active in past lives — such is the human head." Dr. Steiner continues to elaborate on the wonders of the head. He.explains how the twelve zodiacal rays of spiritual force, which underlie the formation of the twelvefold physical body, in one earth life will set their impress upon the twelve principal nerves of the head for the following life.

   The celebrated medieval seer, Paracelsus, expresses a similar truth. He writes: " There is a star behind every process going on in man. All the forces of heaven have their corresponding activity in those parts of the body that are expressive of their prayers."

   Since the founding of initiatory Schools in ancient Lemuria after the link of mind was bestowed upon the pioneers of the human race. (the masses did not receive the mental link until the Atlantean Epoch), there have been two great classes or divisions in the Schools, corresponding, after a fashion, let us say, to preparatory school and college; or to college and post-graduate degrees.

   Palestine was a center of great unrest during the Roman rule. Since there were very few who had sufficient courage to defy openly the strong autocratic power of Rome, spies lurked everywhere. Teachers and leaders were compelled to instruct by means of parables and in cipher. Everywhere Messianic expectations were high. A new leader was eagerly awaited. The people anticipated a re-embodiment of one of the prophets such as Moses, David, Elijah or some other teacher of high spiritual attainment. Crowds gathered about every impostor who declared himself to possess any unusual power.

   The end of an age is always one of difficulty and trial. The religion of the closing age had reached its final state of crystallization. The spirit was lost; the form had become supreme. The new phase of spiritual light was but dimly perceived and its few adherents became the object of bitter persecutions. The masses of people, feeling the inadequacy of the old, and yet not ready to accept the new, were in a state of chaotic unrest that expressed itself in excesses of desire and emotion. Such were the conditions before the coming of the Supreme Teacher and the incoming of the Piscean Dispensation, the cycle astrologically symbolized by two fishes. It was under the approaching Piscean influence, the sign of this age, that the early Christians suffered martyrdom as a result of their efforts to give to the world the truth of the new religion. The Piscean Age began about 498 A.D., marked by the decline of the Roman Empire in the West.

   The great teacher, Thoth-Hermes, is the Elder Brother from Mercury who established and guided the initiatory Schools of Egypt. There is a legend to the effect that Hermes Trismegistus came to Egypt from Chaldfa; this is a reference to the fact that the Chaldean and Egyptian civilizations were of the same cultural stream — the culture of the second Fifth Epoch Race, as that of the Indian was of the first.

   India is the home of what is, perhaps, the oldest continuously surviving post-Atlantean civilization on this planet. Though her peoples are varied and her interests diversified, India possesses a single great religious tradition — more ancient than the pyramids of Egypt or than Sumeria — which once bound all together in a unity of mind and spirit. This tradition came with the Chosen People of Atlantis, yet it contains something which the Atlantean mind never could have understood. It reaches heights of clear thinking which could not have been encompassed by the mother race and which have never been surpassed by any other. For all this, it is not a tradition of cold intellectualism, for it recognizes that Reason and Love are one. As every Mystic knows that Truth resides with God, so every Sage realizes that Love resides with Him. In Him is fulfillment of all that the soul seeks: wise counsel for a loving heart, gentleness and sweetness for a cold intellect. This the Indian peoples understand and cherish as their ancient heritage.

   The most important work of the pre-Christian Mystery Schools was to prepare the world for the acceptance of the Christ at His coming. The Initiates of these schools knew that His advent on Earth meant the inauguration of a new Dispensation for humanity. The coming One was also universally recognized by the Illumined Teachers as the Solar Logos. The Sun gods of the so-called pagan Mysteries were prototypes of the Christ. The uninitiated masses, reflecting outwardly the inner knowledge of an enlightened few, paid homage in gorgeous ceremonials to the Sun in the heavens. But in the Temples of Wisdom neophytes were being taught the Mysteries of the Christ and were prepared to receive Him when He should descend and walk among them in the "appearance of a man."

   As Abraham represents the perfect type-pattern for the Fifth Root Race pioneer, so Nimrod is the type-pattern of evil forces which brought destruction to Atlantis. These dark powers also enveloped and destroyed the early cities of Fifth Root Race peoples. The Bible states that the beginning of his kingdom was "Babel, and Erech, and Akkad, and Calneh, in the Land of Shinar." Kish, the father of Nimrod, says George Smith, the noted Assyriologist, is Cusiarcus, the Akkadian deity of sunset and night. Some Christian writers, such as Eusebius, identify Nimrod with Evechous, the first King of Babylon after the Flood. Josephus writes of him that he was an enemy of God, a prime mover in building the Tower of Babel, and that he reigned in Babylon during the Dispersion.

   Our present materialistic age has all but forgotten the divine power of music which was a well known and demonstrated fact among the ancients. The musicians who took part in Temple rites were Initiates who knew how to employ both rhythm and harmony to promote the highest spiritual good of all the assembly, both participants and spectators. Plato states that the Egyptians accredited their sacred melodies to the goddess Isis. Their music, he adds, "had power to subdue man's passions and to purify his spirit." With Egypt's downfall, the best and highest in her sacred music passed into Greece and Palestine.

   The Avesta, or Law of Revelation, is the Scripture given to mankind by Zoroaster (Zoroaster is the popular Greek form of the name which is also spelled Zarathustra and Zardasht). Living as he did in the sixth century B. C., he was part of that great wave of spiritual light which swept around the globe, bringing Buddha to India, Lao-Tsu and Confucius to China, Pythagoras to Greece, Ezekiel to the Hebrews. It was a period which saw several great Bibles appear for the first time, among them the Hebrew Old Testament. Three of the most advanced Zoroastrian priests, still known as Magi in the ancient manner, followed the Star which guided them to the world's most sacred shrine in the little town of Bethlehem.

   When the human race had to be created, its guardianship was delegated to the Sun God, Mithra. Ahriman, the Spirit of Darkness, tried to desolate the land by droughts but Mithra foiled his efforts through producing living water from a great rock. Again, Ahriman brought upon man a universal deluge which depopulated the earth as seas and rivers overflowed their banks and no land could be seen. One man alone, secretly instructed by the Gods, constructed a boat in which he, together with his family and cattle, was preserved. A third time did Ahriman ravage the earth, this time by fire. A great conflagration consumed both men and beasts. But once more, through the intercession of Mithra, a remnant was saved and the human race immediately multiplied, thriving in peace and plenty. So was accomplished the terrestrial mission of Mithra.

   Moses was the pioneer leader of the currrent Fifth Epoch. His mission was to guide the Israelites from the mists of Atlantis into the clear sunlit air of post-Atlantean Earth. The pillars of cloud and of fire are magnificent symbols of this great transition. The "pillar of cloud" represents the Water Initiation being left behind, while the "pillar of fire" represents the spiritual attainment toward which man was travelling. Hence, the two pillars signify a bridge between the Water and Fire Initiations. Transition from the Water Initiation was the main spiritual work of Atlantis. Initiation by Fire is the most prominent work of the present post-Atlantean Age. This is most interestingly described in the Apocryphal Book of II Esdras:

II Esdras 7:6-9
There is also another thing; A city is builded, and set upon a broad field, and is full of all good things:
The entrance thereof is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, like as if there were a fire on the right hand, and on the left deep water:
And only one path between them both, even between the fire and the water, so small that there could but one man go there at once.
If this city now were given unto a man for an inheritance, if he never shall pass the danger set before it, how shall he receive his inheritance.

II Esdras 14:38-40
And the next day, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open thy mouth, and drink that I give thee to drink.
Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, he reached me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the colour of it was like fire.
And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit strengthened my memory.

   Alcohol is a false spirit because it is the product of fermentation and decay, the exact antithesis of the true spirit of life seen as a sparkling elixir flowing through the auric envelopes of this globe. This elixir is imbibed by all illumined candidates, for there is an intimate connection between it and the "blood" of the Christ by which men are saved.

   The sparkling magnetic tides and currents in earth's auric envelope act and react with similar tides in the Sun. This it is that is cerebrated at the four Holy Festivals of the year, the Equinoxes and Solstices, and special luminescent phenomena are then observable in the ethers. As etheric senses are neither "spiritual" nor "psychic" but only an extension of the physical senses, there are thousands of people in the world today who are beginning to see and feel these magnetic currents which, to otheric vision, are as beautiful as the aurora borealis and the aurora australis and are actually similar in nature.

   Thus, alcohol is no elixir; on the contrary, it is a most potent tool of the lowest "Black" Grail orders. Workers of black magic know full well that so long as men can be kept under its mesmeric spell they will be blind to spiritual realities and be willing dupes. Could individuals only know these occult truths, could they realize the subtle danger threatening the progress of the race, they would be on the alert to counteract and control the deadly menace of alcoholism.

   Pythagoras passed on to other labors in wider fields, but the philosophic systems he established on earth continued to flourish and grow. His work was incorporated into that of the Essene Brotherhood, whose communities were located along the banks of the Nile and in certain areas of the Holy Land. The Essenian Brotherhood was the specific channel for the inflow of spiritual forces having as their object the introduction of the archangelic Christ into Palestine. The Brotherhood constituted a School of Initiation; and its Initiates prepared the Way for the Christ's coming in a straight and undeviating line of descent down to the two Initiates, Mary and Joseph. Thus, His earthly parentage was assured. Parents of John the Baptist were also Essenian Initiates.

   Confucius' teachings have continued to serve his people. The five Constant Ideas are the pillars of conduct; Jen, humaneness; Yi, righteousness; Li, propriety; Chi, wisdom; and Jun, trustworthiness. These cardinal virtues became an integral part of Chinese life just as the Ten Commandments have of Western life.

   In the year 1 A. D. Confucius was canonized as "Duke Ni, the All-Complete and Illustrious." In the years 492 and 609 A. D. similar canonizations were conferred upon him; and in 657 he was canonized for the fourth time as "The most Complete and Holy, K'ung, the Foremost Master."

   So completely is the consciousness of his people attuned to his message that it is said if one wishes to understand the Chinese he must familiarize himself with the teachings of Confucius,

   Occult science makes mention of two races which developed in Atlantis after the departure of the Original Semites. The Original Semites were the Fifth Atlantean sub-race; the Akkadians were the sixth. In view of recent archeological discoveries it may be clearer to amend the traditional nomenclature and say that the Akkadians of Atlantis were the Original Akkadians. They in their turn migrated to the new lands of post-Atlantean Earth where they underwent further racial development in the interim between the first and the fourth catastrophies, which finally laid the island continent on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. During this interim the earth globe was continually shaken by earthquakes. New lands arose in the light of post-Atlantean Earth, among which were the Persian Gulf Delta areas that were to become the home of the Sumerians; and where, under their antediluvian kings, a great civilization was to appear.

   Prometheus the Titan, creator of humankind on the form side of Nature, is Lucifer in Hebrew legend. Vulcan, like Prometheus, is another fallen God of Fire, and in his fall he portrays another facet of the brilliant and gem-like Lucifer. He was a blacksmith, a metal worker, a builder. His hand fashioned the Palace of Apollo "beyond the sunrise" and all the shining dwellings of the Gods and Goddesses. In their totality these dwellings are the visible universe. When Vulcan was cast out of heaven he was a whole day in falling:

From morn to noon he fell,
From noon to dewey eve,
A summer's day, and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos, the Aegean isle.

   The wonderful dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna at the commencement of the battle forms the principle motif of the Bhagavad-Gita. This dialogue includes the elucidation of the most beloved abstractions of Bramanical thought, such as:

   "Know that to be indestructible which pervades all this.

   "There is no existence for that which is unreal, there is no non-existence for that which is real.

   "As a man casts off old clothes and puts on new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies goes to others and new ones.

   "For one that is born, death is certain; and to one that dies, birth is certain.

   "That sensible man to whom pain and pleasure are alike, he merits immortality."

   During this time there appeared on the banks of the Jordan, that mystic Brotherhood known as the Essenes, a small sect, numbering about four or five thousand. It existed in the days of the Jonathan Maccabees, and constituted one of the three dominant Jewish sects, the other two being the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Philo, the Hellenistic philosopher born in Alexandria 20 B.C. and who lived until 60 A.D., was an Essenian.

   Members of the Essene Order did not lay up treasures of silver or gold, but provided themselves only with the necessities of life. They regarded contentment of mind as the greatest of riches. They made no instruments of war and repudiated every inducement to covetousness. There were no slaves, but all were free, equal, and served each other. They were instructed in piety, holiness, righteousness, and economy; guided by a three-fold rule — love of God, love of mankind, and love of virtue. Their love of God was manifested beautifully in their constant and unalterable holiness of life. Their love of virtue showed itself in their indifference to money, fame, and pleasure; also in their life of chastity, simplicity, and modesty. Their love of man was exemplified in benevolence, equality, reverence, and care of the aged. There was neither abject poverty nor great wealth among them. They despised riches and held all things in common. Strangers were always welcomed as brothers, without money and without price. All living things were to them a part of God's life and therefore sacred.

   It was their highest ideal to become fit temples for the Holy Ghost (I Cor. 6:19), to perform miraculous cures, and to become worthy forerunners of the Messiah. They were taught humility and purity as the chief virtues and they lived in retirement from the world.

   Nowhere is the Egyptian character more clearly portrayed than in its Temples. The tombs and monuments of Egypt have suggested to some that the ancient Egyptians were overwhelmingly concerned with problems of survival after death, and therefore morbid and dark of mood. On the contrary, writes Arthur Weigall in The Story of the Pharaohs, a monastic or the anchorite sort of life was scorned by Egyptians. Their religious teachings before the Ptolemaic era do not suggest that mortification of the flesh was a possible means of purifying the spirit. An appeal to the senses and to the emotions, however, was considered as a legitimate method of reaching the soul. He asserts that the Egyptians were delighted by ceremonial grandeur: "Their huge temples, painted as they were with the most brilliant colors, formed the setting of processions and ceremonies in which music, rhythmic motion, and colour were brought to a point of excellence. In honor of some of the gods dances were conducted; while celebrations such as the fantastic Feast of Lamps were held on the anniversaries of religious events." In these magnificent ceremonials no place existed for anything but joy and gaiety, nor could the people have displayed any other temperament.

   After the Chosen People of Atlantis had been segregated from the masses on that island continent doomed to destruction, two more races were developed, the posterity of which was to find safety and to continue its evolution in the post-Atlantean Earth, the post-Flood period that is our present evolutionary Epoch. These races were the Akkadians and the Mongolians. The Akkadians are known to history as one of three peoples whose blood intermingled to produce the Chaldean race. It was from Ur of Chaldea that Abraham and his clansmen migrated to Canaan and there founded the Hebrew nation.

   The Chosen People of esoteric teaching, the Original Semites who were fifth of the seven Atlantean sub-races, were led from the doomed continent in a succession of great migrations. The biblical story of Noah's ark relates only to the last of these. A remnant of the Akkadians and Mongolians also escaped.

   The Mysteries represent a new departure in the history of Greek religion. Greece had no state religion, but the Mysteries were state supported and were hedged about with many restrictions. With the passage of time, however, these rules were largely relaxed. By the final centuries of the Greek Period the Mysteries had ceased to enjoy the high esteem of the Classic Age because so many unworthy people had become "initiates" — that is, they were pseudo-initiates, having received the Rituals of Initiation without experiencing their spiritual equivalent in power, purity and wisdom. The Mysteries thus became an empty shell, though many of the ceremonials found their way into orthodox Christianity. Only in esoteric Christianity did the Mysteries themselves find continuance.

   From approximately 650 to 450 B.C. a new mental and spiritual impulse traveled round the globe. With it came a number of illumined messengers who took up the Christ Light laid down by their predecessors and again directed people's attention to the One who was to come before the Age had run its course.

   Gautama the Buddha in India, Lao-Tze and Confucius in China, Zoroaster in Persia and Phythogoras in Greece were, perhaps, the outstanding messengers of this midpoint of the Arian Age. At a corresponding point the Hebrews entered upon their Exilic Period, from which they emerged with a Bible and a messianic program that originated with the Exile prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Through them the Christ Impulse came to a focus in the land of Palestine.

   In his "Morals and Dogma," the great classic of Masonry, Albert Pike, High Priest of the Craft, ascribes to Cicero the appraisal that the establishment of the Eleusinian Mysteries was the greatest of all benefits conferred by Athens upon the commonwealths: "their effect having been to civilize men, soften their savage and ferocious manners, and teach them the true principles of morals, which initiate man into the only kind of life worthy of him." The Masonic writer goes on to say that in the passage wherein Cicero apostrophizes Ceres and Proserpine he declares that mankind owes these Goddesses the first elements of moral life, as well as the first means for sustaining physical life; also, their knowledge and laws, the regulation of morals, and those examples of civilization which have improved the manners of both men and cities.

   The Initiate in the Mysteries of Orpheus, after he was purified, was considered as released from the empire of evil and transferred to a condition of life which gave him the happiest hopes. He was made to say "I have emerged from evil and have attained good." Those initiated in the Mysteries of Eleusis believed that the Sun blazed with a pure splendor for them alone. As we see in the case of Pericles, they flattered themselves that Ceres (Demeter) and Persephone inspired them, giving them wisdom and counsel. (Greek Persephone; Roman Proserpine.)

   According to prophecy, Vishnu's tenth incarnation will be as the emancipator of the race, One who will bring destruction upon the wicked and, like Horus of Egypt, establish a Golden Age of righteousness that shall Endure. It is said he will come as the son of an ancient Brahman of Shamballa and, at a propitious time, will be seen in the sky surrounded by a great light and seated upon a white horse, with his sword uplifted; also, that his coming will be with the suddenness and brilliance of a comet. In this Avatar we behold the Indian version of the Messiah.

   The Corner Stone which was laid in that impressive ceremony is described as a double cube, with every side inscribed except the base on which it stood. It is said that the first face of the cube was inscribed by Noah with an instrument of porphyry when the Ark was building, the second by Abraham with the horn of the ram which was substituted for his son on Mt. Moriah, the third by Moses with a porphyry tool, the fourth by Joshua and the fifth by Hiram Abiff before it was deposited in its final bed at the northeast angle of the Temple.

   The circle of Bodhisattvas were mirrors of the Cosmic Christ; they served to reflect His Light upon earth prior to His Incarnation in Palestine. The circle did not include earthly teachers until, in the Lemurian period of the human race, certain advanced individuals were chosen for special preparation that they might be Bodhisattvas of future ages.

   In Atlantis man's teachers were Elder Brothers of the human race from Venus. They were also rulers and were worshipped as Gods. Meanwhile, each new race formed among the Atlanteans by the in breeding of special types was under the tutelage of an Archangel from the Sun who became its Race Spirit. Less advanced Archangels served as group spirits of the animal species.

   Well can it be said that there can be no final translation of Homer. He is immortal. He belongs to all cycles and all ages, each succeeding generation bringing forth new interpretations of his writings commensurate with the events of its time. The Iliad and Odyssey are of that literature which is eternal, wherein every age finds a deeper and more significant meaning.

   As is so often true of a high Initiate with a world mission, the personality of Homer is shrouded in legend and speculation. The date and place of his birth are unknown. Seven cities claim the honor of having been the scene of his nativity. Archeological and historical research favor the Island of Chios (modern Khios) or the city of Smyrna because his works appear to be a blending of the dialects peculiar to these two places. The poet is thought to have lived between 1050 and 850 B.C. This corresponds to the Solomonic Era in Palestine, building of the first Temple being dated at approximately 900 B.C. Hesiod came after the Homeric Age.

   That stellar Bible, the Zodiac, reveals the Mystery of Salvation as it was known to the Magi and as it is still known to esotericism of our own time because of a phenomenon called by astronomers "the precession of the Equinoxes; the point at which the Sun crosses the celestial equator each spring in its passage from south to north appears to move backward through the constellations of the Zodiac at the rate of one degree in seventy-two years, or through one sign of the Zodiac in about 2,160 years. During this zodiacal age of 2,160 years, world Teachers appear at intervals of approximately five hundred years. The thousand-year point is more important, however, since it marks the apex or middle point of an age, its culmination. The terminal quarter of the age is usually a time of cultural decay, while the stirrings of a new beginning are visible simultaneously. Thus, during the last five hundred years of the Arian Age the Christ came to release a fresh impulse into the life of humanity that would prepare it for a new culture, since the Persian, Greek, Roman and Celtic civilizations were falling into decay.

   In the life cycle of the individual, the symbolic age of twelve is the crucial point for the child. It is then that the youth's desire nature begins to awaken, and the proclivities of past lives begin to manifest themselves. In an instance such as this of Jairus' daughter, an "old soul," one who has known many lives of experience in the earth school, this age marks a definite development of the spiritual nature. Instead of the awakening of the physical desires, there is a definite quickening of the accumulated soul powers of the past. Such a one has worked definitely and consciously with the processes of transmutation for many past lives. This was the case with the child Samuel when he began to prophesy, and the Master Jesus who was also twelve years old when He taught the elders in the Temple.

   Inspirational experiences are fairly common even among ordinary adolescents, and psychologists have observed that if an individual does not undergo a religious conversion during this period of life it is likely he will never have such an experience.

   It is significant to observe that in all three of the synoptic Gospels, the raising of Jairus' Daughter is preceded by the exorcism of evil spirits.

   In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Christ enunciates principles of the social code belonging to the Aquarian Age in which compassion, mercy, and the spirit of charity and true brotherliness arc manifested. In sharp contrast with the beauty of this picture is shown the hard, arbitrary and inhuman approach of our own time.

   Jesus is more than an inspiring example: He is of all men the Supreme Way-Shower. Being a member of our own humanity, he reveals the possibilities of human attainment. That which He did, all may accomplish. Had Jesus belonged to another order of beings, He would not be the example for our emulation that He now is. He would then be looked upon rather as an abstract ideal portraying a perfection possible to us only when reaching some superhuman development. But it is everyone's destiny, while yet in the human stage of development, to attain even as Jesus attained, and it becomes the work of New Age Bible Interpretation to clarify and enforce this truth so that all may come into a closer and more intimate relationship with the high Initiates, Jesus, Mary and Joseph than has been possible hitherto, and by such association grow day by day increasingly into their likeness. A new awakening to these truths and their practice in daily living is a necessary preparation for entry into the Era now dawning, when definite steps will be taken to establish suitable conditions for the future return of the high archangelic Spirit, the Christ.

   Great souls, in being prepared for a world mission, need peace and quiet to bring their spiritual powers into full fruition. Jesus' home in Nazareth provided such an environment. The white houses of the village were scattered among orchards of figs, olives, and pomegranates. Myriads of white doves circled about constantly and from the heights above one could see the soft shimmer of the Sea of Galilee. Knowing the companionship of pure, chaste, Initiate parents, and under the constant guidance and instruction of bands of Angels, the boy Jesus was ideally circumstanced to fit himself for becoming a suitable instrument for the Christ to whom he was later to surrender His body.

   1. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

   Keynote: Humility, signifying the Christ power to control all manifestations and phenomena of the earth.

   2. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Keynote: Comfort. Mourning pertains only to the present stage of manifestation. Man's eventual elevation to the Christ consciousness will bring that great peace which passeth all understanding.

   3. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

   There is a planetary entity which is built by the thoughts and deeds of humanity. As man finds the path of redemption through chastity, the body of earth is correspondingly purified and refined. The earth's ultimate destiny is to become a ball of light floating in a sea of golden ether. The "redemption" of the earth, its future status, position and function, constitutes part of the work belonging to the exalted ninth degree of the Lesser Mysteries. This degree is celebrated on Midwinter and Midsummer, nights; in fact, it is not possible to observe the celebration at any other time. The solstices mark the time when the earth's vibration is highest and when the cosmic rays of the Christ life are either entering or being withdrawn from it — the former occurring at the Winter Solstice and the latter at the Summer Solstice.

   The Parable of the Laborers and the Hours is one most profound and far-reaching in its application to human life upon the physical plane.

   The great, eternal and immutable Cosmic Law which governs the universe is centered in the Spirit of Oneness. Every human being is a child of God (All-Good) which means that all are inherently divine and consequently each has a right to an equal share in the inheritance of the Father's kingdom. The Law operates impartially. An equal share awaits each ego, it is his for the claiming and the taking. Many there are, however, who do not realize this truth and so do not receive the full share of their divine inheritance. "Many bear the burden of the day and the scorching heat," they live, that is, in accordance with the laws of materiality, as yet unawakened to the Law of Spirit by which "all that the Father hath is mine."

   The vineyard is the earth plane. The laborers are our evolving humanity and the householder is God or Cosmic Law. Oft-times in the working of this great Law one who is first in the eyes of men is last in the sight of God.

   John was the highest in spiritual attainment who had been sent to earth prior to the coming of Jesus. John formed the first inner School dealing with the deeper interpretations of the Christian Mysteries to prepare the pioneers for the Piscean era. Hence the words of the Christ: "The kingdom of heaven is seized by invaders," that is by those who find heaven and enter therein through the portals of Initiation as taught in the inner Piscean School established by John.

   Like Jesus, as previously observed, John was born of Initiate parents. His was also an angelic annunciation by Gabriel, an immaculate conception and a holy birth.

   Zacharias, the father of John, was a priest in the service of the Temple in Jerusalem. He and his wife lived in the little town of Jutta situated not far from the city, in the hill country and overlooking the vast reaches and brilliant shifting colors of the desert.

   Throughout the pages of the Bible the teaching is explicit that sin or wrongdoing is the direct causation of disease. According to Leviticus leprosy was the result of slander. Miriam was once stricken with leprosy following words of evil spoken against Moses during the years in the wilderness.

   Among the early Christians it was believed that "Diseases come from seven sins: for slander, shedding blood, false oaths, unchastity, arrogance, robbery and envy." Christ Jesus emphasized the same truth often in His talks with the Twelve, as in the question He put to them after He had healed the paralytic by saying: "Have courage, my son, your sins have been forgiven. Arise, take up your bed and go to your home." He asked: "Is it easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say arise and walk?"

   Permanent healing comes only at the end of a cycle of causation of which the illness is the concluding portion. Christ Jesus could easily, by His own cosmic powers, have instantaneously healed anyone of any disease whatsoever. However, if the sufferer had not learned the soul lesson involved, his infirmity would sooner or later have reappeared. it is only when the seed atom in the heart, which bears a record of the misdirected efforts(sin), has been cleansed by repentance, reform, and restitution that the Christ will say, "Arise, you are free." the Master can command, "Arise and walk," but only man himself can make it possible for Him to declare, "Thy sins are forgiven thee."

   Jesus was born in the manger where beasts fed. This place represents the lower desire nature, which must be regenerated before the Christ power can be born in the inn, which is the head. Thus every neophyte upon the way of Initiation must also leave Nazareth, the material life, and make the journey to Bethlehem, the purified impersonal life. Each one will find in the beginning that there is no room in the inn and that the birth must take place in a manger where beasts feed. This is the real significance of Christmas. It means little to Jesus that the Christian world honors His birthday on Holy Night. He made His renunciation only that we might learn. to follow Him and find the way that leads to our own individual Holy Night. Sings Angelus Silesius:

Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
And not be born within thy heart, thy soul will be forlorn.

   The story of the Centurion is recorded by both Matthew and Luke. This man, vested in military authority under the Roman government, had yet learned in his worldly contacts to practice the two principles which the Master enjoined upon all His disciples, namely, humility or self-effacement and active faith; truly an unusual achievement. Thus he was already qualified to become a follower of the Way, and to be made immediately the recipient of the Master's interest and benefits. "I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel," were the Master's words descriptive of the Centurion. The Centurion's bond slave, who was dear to him, was ill, and he had sent friends to ask the aid of the Great Healer, a request which was instantly granted. When the messengers returned home, they found the bond slave whole.

   In its deepest esotericism, the Baptism represents the perfect blending of Fire and Water, the first of the Greater Christian Mysteries. By the law of compensation Jesus' sacrifice of his vehicles to the Christ earned for him this great Initiation at the time of the Baptism. He then realized the highest attainment yet achieved by man and became, in the words of Paul, "the first fruit of them that slept." Justyn Martyr states that at the Baptism balls of fire appeared on the waters of the Jordan.

   Leprosy, the causation of which was the unbridled misuse of the creative life forces in ancient Lemuria and Atlantis, is one of the most terrible of all diseases. "An intimate tie binds the generator to that which is generated. Past generations are utilized in the construction of the future body; they are woven into the body as a tendency to some ailment, affecting either disposition or the life forces. This poison of past lives must somewhere be changed into healthfulness. This struggle comes through infections. Epidemics of races are materialized evils of the past. The Plague of Black Death takes its heaviest toll in countries where the practice of black magic flourished in incantations and passion charms." (Paracelsus.)

   There is perhaps no more interesting phase of rebirth than that which reveals the past causation of disease. All disease is the result of some previously existing cause. Again quoting the celebrated Swiss physician, Paracelsus, who has given so much light on the problem of disease in relation to reincarnation, we read: "No physician should presume to know the hour of recovery because it is not given man to judge the offense of another and the inner temple containing mysteries in which no uninitiated stranger is permitted to spy. If the trial is over, God will send the healer; if the patient recovers it is a sign the help was sent by God. If no recovery takes place, God did not send the physician."

   Before every important step that He took, the Christ went for a time into the silence of the desert. He knew that His work was to be accomplished within the short space of three years. He therefore chose the twelve most advanced of His followers to carry on the work of disseminating the new religion when He had gone. Immediately after choosing the Twelve, He delivered the Sermon on the Mount, His most sublime public utterance.

   After the prolonged exercise of His powers, the glorious Christ Spirit would depart for a season of solitude in an Essenian retreat, in order that His mighty vibrations should not completely shatter the human body of Jesus which He had assumed at the time of the Baptism and used throughout His ministry on earth. During these retreats from the public ministry, He withdrew from the mortal body, leaving it in the care of the Essenes, who worked upon it in His absence. This was a specialized work the Essenes were able to do because of their own high spiritual powers which they radiated from themselves. Advanced souls invariably work by projecting their vibrational powers. Thus also did Christ cast out the evil spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick and whose karma entitled them to healing, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet, saying, "Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases." (Matt. 8:16)

   The purpose of Christ's coming was to teach man how to save himself through regeneration, and this He taught by example as well as by precept, for not otherwise could it be successfully taught. By awakening the Christ within himself, man lifts himself above and beyond all personal limitations into a consciousness of peace, harmony and plenty. He then realizes a new life where there is "no more sorrow, no more tears, no more death, for the former things have passed away."

   The Supreme healer was also the Master Occultist. His healing ministry held a twofold purpose — to heal the sick and to impart lessons of profound metaphysical import to His disciples at the same time. Every biblical healing contains a key to spiritual Illumination or Initiation.

   If we study carefully the various methods and words which the Christ employed in His healing works, we shall discover that all of the most important phases of occult law were brought into operation. He was concerned not alone with the imperfections of the outer physical instrument but took into account also the invisible bodies, wherein lies the origin of all disease as well as the beginning of the healing process.

   The seven Parables are lessons pertaining to the teachings on humility, compassion and service — the three columns found in every initiatory Temple.

   It is by demonstrating daily these three character attributes of humility, compassion and willingness to serve others, that the disciple gives proof of worthiness for further inner-plane instruction and work. One who thus faithfully practices these qualities earns the privilege of hearing that treasured promise recorded in Isaiah 48:6, "I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them."

   The need for humility is the keynote of the Parable of the Chief Seats and the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.

   In the case of the deaf and dumb demoniac the possessing demon controlled the man's organs of speech and hearing, depriving him of their use. As soon as the evil spell was broken, the man could speak and was his normal self again. Hence the people who heard of these healings began to call Jesus both the "Son of Daniel" and the "Son of God."

   Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the story of the woman who had suffered with an infirmity for twelve years, and who was among the multitudes pressing and thronging about the Master as He passed on the way to the house of the nobleman, Jairus.

   "If I but touch His garments I shall be made whole." These words ascribed to the woman are a part of an initiatory mantram. The garment represents the soul body in contradistinction to the personality. To become whole is to be able to pass through the portals of Initiation where one no longer "sees through a glass darkly, but face to face."

   Another feminine Initiate of the Essenian Order who had also advanced far upon the path of soul attainment was Elisabeth, wife of the high priest Zacharias and a cousin to the blessed Virgin. Both Zacharias and Elisabeth, like Joseph and Mary, were Essenes, and received an angelic annunciation and were the agents of an immaculate conception and holy birth through which that ego described by the Master as the "greatest born of woman" returned to earth, in the person of John the Baptist.

   Both Mary and Elisabeth knew their sons before their incarnation, while as yet they were among the Angels of heaven, and it was the soul-call of these two great Masters which awakened the latent spiritual powers of the women destined to be their mothers in the flesh. Elisabeth's visit with Mary, the memorable weeks which they spent together companioned by Angels in the solemn sanctity of the hill country, was a high adventure of spirit which is emblazoned upon the cosmic records for the emulation of all prospective mothers for all time.

   If the Gospel of Luke is read carefully it will be observed that the ego who was to bear the name of John the Baptist was at this time already working with his mother Elisabeth in the preparation of his physical vehicle, and that he, as a spirit recognized the coming of Mary and greeted her with joy.

   Leprosy, the causation of which was the unbridled misuse of the creative life forces in ancient Lemuria and Atlantis, is one of the most terrible of all diseases. "An intimate tie binds the generator to that which is generated. Past generations are utilized in the construction of the future body; they are woven into the body as a tendency to some ailment, affecting either disposition or the life forces. This poison of past lives must somewhere be changed into healthfulness. This struggle comes through infections. Epidemics of races are materialized evils of the past. The Plague of Black Death takes its heaviest toll in countries where the practice of black magic flourished in incantations and passion charms." (Paracelsus.)

   There is perhaps no more interesting phase of rebirth than that which reveals the past causation of disease. All disease is the result of some previously existing cause. Again quoting the celebrated Swiss physician, Paracelsus, who has given so much light on the problem of disease in relation to reincarnation, we read: "No physician should presume to know the hour of recovery because it is not given man to judge the offense of another and the inner temple containing mysteries in which no uninitiated stranger is permitted to spy. If the trial is over, God will send the healer; if the patient recovers it is a sign the help was sent by God. If no recovery takes place, God did not send the physician."

   The Annunciation was the climax of the passing of the Blessed Virgin through the nine lesser mysteries in order that she might meet the Lord of the Sun, the Christ, in the heart of the earth, which is the work of the first of the four Greater Mysteries and has been described as the high exaltation of Mary in the Eastertide or Resurrection Season. These nine Initiations of Mary in preparation for the Annunciation are called "Novenas" by the Church as they are supposed to have occurred during a period of nine days, which is, however, purely symbolical.

   Matthew gives the Gospel of the Path as this is outlined immediately after the Birth. Luke represents a higher phase of attainment. Consequently Luke makes no mention of the flight into Egypt, which represents the call of the sense life. There is a period of probation and testing for each degree of Initiateship, as well as for the neophyte. Such a period is represented by the flight into Egypt. This thralldom of the sense life has been overcome in the higher degrees, therefore the Gospel of Luke passes from the Temple Rites directly to the teaching in the Temple.

   Egypt was three hundred miles away, and the journey a long and arduous one. But all along the route lived groups of the Essenes who knew the work destined for the Holy Child, and consequently He and His parents were assisted on their journey by many friends. They were also constantly companioned and protected by angelic hosts.

   According to mystic legends, the Holy Family passed most of the time in Matariah, a town near Cairo, almost in the shadow of the Sphinx and the Pyramids. These legends also state that when the Family entered Egypt, all temple idols fell from their shrines — a veiled allusion to the eventual precedence of the religion brought to the world by Christ Jesus.

   In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ enunciated the truest definition of discipleship as loving, self-forgetting service. It is not enough to be a priest and minister only to the souls of men. It is not enough to be a Levite and officiate in the Temple service. True discipleship demands of us also practical service in the physical betterment of humankind. This means true neighborliness, the giving of one's time, one's substance and oneself for the welfare of others.

   Love thy neighbor (whomsoever it is given thee to serve) as thyself, is the supreme commandment.

"Though buried deep or thinly strewn,
Do thou thy grace supply;
The hope in earthly furrows sown
Shall ripen in the sky."

   It was during these pilgrimages to Jerusalem that the Sorrow of Jesus for erring mankind was most apparent to His mother. As she sought to console His agony while He prayed in the Temple, she saw a light from heaven descend upon Him and heard a Voice saying: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

   The true Master always bears His own "sign" which those of similar attainment will always perceive. This was Jesus' purpose in teaching in the Temple; it offered Him an opportunity to discover if any of the Temple-priests recognized Him or had any concept of the great Cosmic Plan in which He was to play so glorious a part. In analog and parable He correlated the sciences and arts with the Mysteries as they were to be conjoined and taught in the ages to come. In many ways the high wisdom of the true Master was evidenced only to be received in resentment, anger and ignorance.

   Immediately after the glory of the Rite of Transfiguration (which was witnessed only by the most advanced of the Disciples, Peter, James and John) occurred the most difficult of all the healings of obsession, and one which the Disciples themselves were unable to achieve.

   Although the Disciples had already exorcised many evil spirits successfully, they found themselves powerless before this one. "Ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him." Here is the mystic key. This boy had in former lives been a follower of the Mysteries, working in the Temples with both the elements of fire and water. He had doubtless misused his powers and turned to black magic, hence in this life, "from a child," he had been under the control of powerful evil forces emanating from the center of the Black Brotherhoods. For this reason the Disciples, despite their high attainment, could not loosen this hold. Only a Master superior to the black arts could accomplish it.

   "Why could we not cast him out?" the Disciples asked Him when they were come. "This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting." In other words, it is only by the most complete life dedication through purity that the tenacious grip of the black magician can be broken.

   The Parable of the Ten Virgins was one of the teachings of Passion Week, the period when the most profound instructions were given to the inner circle of the Disciples. The virgins are awaiting the Bridegroom, who has been delayed, but when he comes, unexpectedly, at midnight — that most mystical hour of the soul's night! — five of them have no oil for their lamps. "And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out."

   In the New Testament we read how when John the Baptist first saw Jesus he did not recognize him as the Christ; for John himself confessed: "And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" (John 1:33-34).

   Lazarus was the most spiritually advanced of all the disciples who were under the tutelage of Christ Jesus. (The others did not reach this attainment until the Day of Pentecost.)

   Exoteric religionists are puzzled to account for Christ's delay of two days before going to the aid of Lazarus. The esotericist knows that Christ was aware that only the body of Lazarus was in the tomb, whereas his spirit was on the inner planes receiving the initiatory work that gives entrance into the deeper Christian Mysteries. The Master Jesus was initiated into these Mysteries in the Rite of the Baptism, and Lazarus, the next in spiritual attainment, at the time of his supposed death.

   Christ Jesus described this Initiation in the words, "This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God." In other phraseology, Lazarus now becomes a more perfect channel for receiving and disseminating the glories of God upon the earth.

   Twelve is the most important number of the New Testament, for twelve is the perfect number of Deity in a cycle of expression. The new Holy City as portrayed in Revelation has twelve gates that are never closed. With the ending of the cycle of twelve a new manifestation of life begins on a higher round. Thus the incidents in the life of every Teacher who brings a cosmic message to humanity parallel the passage of the Sun through the twelve zodiacal signs.

   There always have been twelve physical and twelve spiritual powers manifesting in humanity, corresponding to twelve spiritual centers in the body, which, when awakened, are symbolized by twelve lights, or the "flowers that bloom upon the cross." These centers are to be awakened as man progresses into higher phases of development; they represent the divine consummation of God's great plan for the entire human family at the end of the present Earth Period.

  The following table correlates the Twelve Disciples with attributes of character and with the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

James — Hope — Aries.
Andrew — Strength — Taurus.
Thomas — Doubt — Gemini.
Nathaneal — Intuition — Cancer.
Judas — Passion — Leo.
James (Son of Alpheus) — Method — Virgo.
Thaddeus — Courage — Libra.
John — Regeneration — Scorpio.
Philip — Spiritual Knowledge — Sagittarius.
Simon — Enthusiasm — Capricorn.
Matthew — Spiritual Will — Aquarius.
Peter — Faith — Pisces.

   The evil and corruption of Rome in her decline were veiled under the most magnificent display of wealth and luxury that the ancient world had ever known. Cleopatra's beautiful court was an example of this. Anthony and Cleopatra met their tragic end in the year 30 B.C.

   The canonical Scriptures contain but scant information about Enoch. In a few brief passages we learn that he was of the line of Cain, the son of Jared, and the father of Methuselah. His name signifies one. who is disciplined and dedicated, and his translation to heaven without passing through the gates of death indicates that he had attained consciousness of immortality while still functioning in an earthly body. "By faith," writes Paul, "Enoch was translated," and "before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." In the words of the Genesis account, "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

   The planetary Christ is a glorious Archangel, supreme among the archanglic Host. The Hierarchy of Capricorn is the home of the Archangels; but during the period of His mission to this planet, Christ and His ministering Hosts makes their home in the spiritual sheath of the Sun — for each heavenly body has a spiritual sheath extending far into space beyond its visible form. In the same way every human being has a spiritual extension beyond his physical vehicle.

   The end of an age is always one of difficulty and trial. The religion of the closing age had reached its final state of crystallization. The spirit was lost; the form had become supreme. The new phase of spiritual light was but dimly perceived and its few adherents became the object of bitter persecutions. The masses of people, feeling the inadequacy of the old, and yet not ready to accept the new, were in a state of chaotic unrest that expressed itself in excesses of desire and emotion. Such were the conditions before the coming of the Supreme Teacher and the incoming of the Piscean Dispensation, the cycle astrologically symbolized by two fishes. It was under the approaching Piscean influence, the sign of this age, that the early Christians suffered martyrdom as a result of their efforts to give to the world the truth of the new religion. The Piscean Age began about 498 A.D., marked by the decline of the Roman Empire in the West.

   To quite some extent Hebrew angelology was derived from the theosophy of Persia and Chaldea; from thence also came the final form of their Christology — which was cosmic or universal in scope, not merely racial or national. The Jews were assigned a leading role in the work of preparing for the Messianic Descent; but this leadership was to be spiritual, not military. When nationalism triumphed it led to the rejection of the Messiah — not, however, before Gentile nations had recognized Him as their own Savior, prophesied in the Mysteries. It was due to the spread of Chaldean stellar theosophy into the Roman Empire that the whole ancient world knew the end of the Age was at hand and that a Savior would appear. Virgil, writing in 40 B.C., proclaimed: "Now comes the final age of the Cumean Chant; the great succession of epochs is born anew. Now the Virgin returns, the reign of Saturn returns; now a new race descends from heaven on high.... thine own Apollo is king."

   The medieval cathedrals were built as replicas of the early Temples of Initiation. The Archbishop of Milan in 1332 invited only "those who understood the work" to present "models" for the cathedral, which was later constructed as virtually a reproduction of an inner-plane Mystery Temple, the inspiration of its rare and almost tenuous and fragile beauty remaining today as potent and striking as when it was first completed. This majestic spectacle is truly a "sermon in stone," the full meaning of which eludes the understanding of the wisest modern who lacks the esoteric key.

   By all canons of esoteric architecture a house dedicated to spiritual living should be cruciform. Christ upon the cross is the cosmic emblem of the spirit crucified in matter. All sanctuaries hold as their supreme ideal the liberation of the spirit, consciously, from this cross of matter; hence the glorious symbolism which marked the path of these master workmen during the medieval age of Cathedral building.

   The Christ legend, which symbolizes the Path of Initiation, was emblazoned by stone cutters, glass weavers and the painter's brush. These were divinely inspired workmen belonging to the mystic Masonic crafts. Fired by their reverence and devotion, they made stone and wood, marble and glass, into living memorials, beautiful beyond all words to describe — the great Gothic Epic which marks the path of medieval Christianity through France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy and England.

   The Gothic cathedral voices its ideal in vertical lines that seem to lift toward heaven in audible prayer beseeching fulfillment. As Longfellow expresses it: "Great towers yearning up toward God."

   The Christ Mystery is fourfold. First, there is the Christ in the Sun who has been the Lord and Director of all great world religions. Second, there is the Christ who incarnated on earth at the time of Jesus' Baptism and who, on the momentous day of His sacrifice on Golgotha, became its indwelling Planetary Spirit. Third, there is the Christ to be born in man himself. Then there is the historical Christ. It was to this fourfold Christ Mystery that Paul referred when he said, "Behold, I show you a mystery."

   This fourfold Mystery is under the guidance of the Holy Trinity. The Christ in the Sun is under the supervision of the Lord God. The Christ that took embodiment at the Baptism is under the direction of the Son, the Cosmic Christ. The Christ to be born in man is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has always been the great mystery of the Trinity. Humanity in the coming New Age will understand increasingly something of the scope of its nature and work.

   The early Fathers, some of whom received their teaching direct from the original Twelve, avowed the necessity for this resplendent Sun Being taking upon Himself human guise in order that man might make direct contact with Him. Referring to the Sun Spirit, Irenaeus, a celebrated Father of the Greek Church of the second century, says that "he might have come to us in his own incorruptible glory, but we could not have home the greatness of his glory." Also Origen, another Greek Father (185-253 A.D.), wrote: "Who (the Word) being in the beginning with God, became flesh that he might be comprehended by those who were not able to look at him, in that he was the Word, and was with God and was God. " And Origen adds further: "Coming down once to that which was not able to look at the dazzling brightness of his divinity, he became in manner flesh."

   It may be claimed that the history of civilization is always the history of the God Hermes or, to put it astrologically, the history of the planet Mercury's influence in human affairs. The original Semites were chosen as the Seed of the Fifth Root Race, in which reason was to be developed and brought to its first flowering. This exalted achievement came to ancient Greece. Consequently, Hermes finally stood as the Supreme Heirophant of their Mysteries in the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, the Thrice Great-beloved of Egypt also but more ancient than Egypt, for he was Heirophant of the Mercurial Mysteries of Atlantis.

   The Immaculate Conception is the Holy Rite whereby the fire that burns in man's personality is transmuted into the light of pure spirit. In the process of transmutation the red fire of Mars, the desire force generated by the Lucifers, is displaced by the golden Sun force, the pure love-power of the Christ. This will be the paramount transformation to take place in the whole race during the coming age.

   Late in human evolution certain centers were developed in the currents of man's desire body. These centers are largely latent in the majority of people, for they can be awakened only through spiritual development. As yet they have come into their full splendor only in those who have received the higher Degrees of Initiation. However, these centers, all twelve of them, are latent in the body of every individual. When awakened and functioning, they become twelve glorious lights.

   The purpose of Initiation is to "take heaven by storm," as it were; to come quickly into a realization of the continuity of life and of its ultimate goal.

   As pertaining to the continuity of life, the Book of the Dead was of importance to everyone; therefore, it was the custom to place a copy in the coffin of the deceased at the time of burial. As pertaining to Initiation, however, it was the constant and daily companion of every neophyte, and was more appropriately called The Book of the Coming Forth by Day.

   As has been previously said, the first Initiation given to man under the guidance of the Hierarchy was that of Water. In this early day it was a prime necessity that man be taught how to control his emotional life, so the Initiations were correlated with the element of Water. As evolution proceeded and the link of mind was given to the human race, a further step in spiritual progress was fostered by the Great Ones. This is known as the Fire Initiation. During the ages of Lemuria and Atlantis the Water Initiation was paramount. With the new post-Atlantean, Fifth Epoch, Initiation by Fire was introduced, since it had become necessary for man to learn how to control his desire nature. (Desires are correlated with Fire.)

   There is no more interesting phase of occult study than that of food and its relation to esoteric unfoldment. The Book of Daniel — which, as we have seen, is the biblical story concerning control of the Fire-forces and complete subjugation and transmutation of the desire nature — demonstrates the fact that the Work of Fire cannot be accomplished so long as one's body is nourished on such impure food as alcohol and flesh. Esotericists well know that food and drink are vitally important factors in spiritual evolution, but only in recent years has the science of nutrition come into its own more generally.

   In Genesis, in each epoch a new food has been provided to meet man's evolutionary requirements. The gift of wine is described in the story of Noah and Moses, but each gives his own version of its use. Occultists declare that the "spirit of fermentation" and meat-eating were introduced to further the material advancement of Fifth Root Race man, so we find the Bible describing Nimrod as a mighty hunter while Leviticus defines the clean and unclean meats. As this aim has been largely achieved, pioneers of the race — those preparing for Initiation — are required to "sacrifice" the use of both. No one who indulges in any false stimulus can ever fully know his true self, the I Am.

   As man became more material-minded his diet consisted largely of meats; then his wine-drinking increased because stimulants were necessary to overcome the deadening effects of flesh foods. The claim (which may be true) that there are no vegetarian drunkards would thus be accounted for, since the high rhythm of a vegetarian's body does away with the need for false stimulation.

   Masonry was founded on the secret teachings of Moses, Solomon and Zerubbabel. Down through the ages this work has never been allowed to perish. However low it flickered, the light has never been wholly extinguished, and always with the incoming of cycles propitious to its reawakening, an inspired messenger has appeared to trim the wick and replenish the sacred oil. Not only was this true in ancient Israel; it is also true in the Christian era. It was true in the time of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, and has continued to be true down to our own time as best exemplified in the inspired work of Albert Pike.

   This knowledge, and the power it confers, should be in the possession of every Thirty-Second Degree Mason, and will be, when the Lodge turns once more from mere Speculative Masonry to genuine Operative Masonry, making itself worthy to receive wages from a true Master. Then, and then only, will the sublime purpose of Masonry, as dreamed of by Albert Pike and other great Mystic Masons, be accomplished, and Masonry and Religion united become the two handmaids of a Christed people.

   The Parable of the Mustard Seed teaches us once more that we are all Christs-in-the-making, and that each one of us must, in a small way, make our lives a replica of the life of the Christ. The mind is the path; therefore the beginning of the resurrection within our own lives must be accomplished by establishing within ourselves a new mind through the creative power of thought. The Master knew this truth and gave it to His Disciples and to the multitudes gathered around Him. He likened the attainment of the kingdom (within) to the planting of a seed in the ground. As the seed lies embedded in darkness, hidden away from the light for a time, apparently inert and lifeless, so it is with the aspirant when he begins to live the spiritual life. For a time it may seem that he is making no progress. He is beset with trials and temptations and enveloped in darkness, and knows not how it is possible for the seed of the Spirit to spring up.

   For two thousand years the battle between darkness and light, between Christ and Antichrist, has raged in the world, in fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Now at last the forces of light are in the ascendant, and the secret powers of creation are emerging from their hiding places under the guiding hand of a New Science for the New Age. "My peace I give unto you," the Christ said to His disciples; and it was through that peace that they came to know the Comforter who taught them "all things."

   That holy peace was for the advanced few, and it has remained the secret of the few in the centuries of sorrow which have elapsed since the Christ ascended; but once world peace is attained, mankind will experience the descent of the Comforter anew in a universal Pentecost. Increasing numbers of men and women will submit themselves to the self-discipline necessary for the reception of the Comforter, and will proclaim Her advent. We say "Her" advent advisedly, for the New Age Comforter will be recognized primarily as the feminine aspect of God, the Divine Feminine, predestined to play so outstanding a role in the coming Age of Aquaria. The Divine Feminine cannot manifest in a world at war, in a world of hatred and bloodshed. Her Glory knows no shadow, Her Presence is alien to bitterness, Her Voice speaks in the quiet places of the heart. The Spirit of Prophecy, the angelic Daughter of the Voice, is Her representative, and as such was She known to the prophets.

   A world at peace will be prepared for Her Presence, and She will reveal Herself in Her highest human representative, the glorious Mary of Nazareth, mother of Jesus the Christ-bearer, who will proclaim Her in the Schools of Initiation. Consequently the coming Era will know a closeness and intimacy of communion with this blessed being approximating that of the early Christian centuries. Mary's abiding interest in humanity is demonstrated in more than one hundred apparitions since her last incarnation, nine of these having occurred during the last century.

   The Essenes were divided into two groups, the Householders and the Temple Initiates. The Householders married and set up homes in the villages and cities in the usual way of life where they made practical demonstration of the holy Temple teaching of the Immaculate Conception, preparing themselves through strict spiritual discipline for the sanctity of parenthood, with the object of attracting advanced egos from the heaven world who should further the work of the Order and of humanity generally.

   The more esoteric group comprised the Initiates who had taken the vow of perpetual virginity and held themselves unspotted of the world, living, usually, in isolated monastic communities where they could devote the whole life to the things of Spirit. Some of these, however, might also be found in the towns and cities when a special work was to be done, and some lived in the Temple precincts in Jerusalem itself and performed duties necessary to the Temple worship according to the demands of custom and tradition.

   These Initiate brethren were taught the Mysteries of the Fire-Mist in the human body — its nature, its origin and the way of its ascent to the head, there to be used in various kinds of mental-spiritual creative activity and to stimulate the functions of the pineal and pituitary glands whose awakening makes man more than man. The presence of these two spiritual organs in the head was known to ancient Initiates as references to them are still to be found in the writings of the Church Father Hippolytus, who, not being himself a believer in the Mysteries, was always attempting to discredit them. He nevertheless has done the service of preserving an ancient description of the organs in the head which, as he states, were likened to organs of generation, the head itself being likened to a marriage chamber. There in the brain the Serpent Fire has its true home, but descends by way of the medulla oblongata through the spine to the lower organs of physical generation. Modern anatomists know that the pituitary body in particular has an intimate connection with the sex function, and occult anatomists know that it has an equally intimate connection with regeneration and the fruition of spiritual powers.

   The Order of the Temple, through its enormous wealth and sumptuous living, gradually but inevitably lost the former reverence given to it both by Church and laity, and became instead the object of envy and hatred. There were leaders both in the Church and upon thrones who looked with greedy and avaricious eyes upon the Templar's vast holdings, and schemed to bring about its downfall. After trials that were a travesty of justice, and tortures cruel and diabolical (for this was the real beginning of the Inquisition), this high Order was demolished, its immense wealth confiscated, and its brave leader, Jacques de Molay, together with many of his loyal followers, burned at the stake in the month of March, 1312. The lives of many thousands of the Templar Knights were concurrently, sacrificed in the atrocities of the dungeon, the rack and the sword. Thus ends one of the darkest of civilization's many shadowed pages.

   The period of the World War also marked an epoch-making stage in the evolution of the Lucifer spirits. The disintegrating effect of their influence on humanity then reached its maximum. Both the Lucifers and mankind are becoming more amenable to purification by the white light of the Christ. There is a repentance, and a salvation for the Lucifers as there is for man. Both are in bondage and both are being assisted toward liberation by the life-giving power of the Christ.

   The Lucifers have commenced to retrace their steps; they are moving toward the heaven they lost. Not all. It is with them even as it is with humanity. Some have awakened, repented and enlisted under the banner of the Lord Christ, serving with Him in the redemption of the whole.

   The radiance and soul beauty of the Lucifers who have accepted Christ as their leader is of unutterable glory. Their red-gold aura, which sets them apart from the Angels whose radiation is white-gold, will be subjected to a cleansing from fiery desires by an infusion of the sublimating power of the Christ. Their transmuted force will then form the Ruby, a gem of no less brilliance than the diamond. The true light of the spirit will be reflected as brightly from one as from the other.

   Members of the Essene Order did not lay up treasures of silver or gold, but provided themselves only with the necessities of life. They regarded contentment of mind as the greatest of riches. They made no instruments of war and repudiated every inducement to covetousness. There were no slaves, but all were free, equal, and served each other. They were instructed in piety, holiness, righteousness, and economy; guided by a three-fold rule — love of God, love of mankind, and love of virtue. Their love of God was manifested beautifully in their constant and unalterable holiness of life. Their love of virtue showed itself in their indifference to money, fame, and pleasure; also in their life of chastity, simplicity, and modesty. Their love of man was exemplified in benevolence, equality, reverence, and care of the aged. There was neither abject poverty nor great wealth among them. They despised riches and held all things in common. Strangers were always welcomed as brothers, without money and without price. All living things were to them a part of God's life and therefore sacred.

   Pythagoras spoke truly when he said, "All the world is made by number." Number is the basis of all formation, the root of all creative manifestation. The numerals from 1 to 10 comprise the sound and power hieroglyphs of every world origin or genesis. The similarity in formation of these glyphs as used by all the people of Earth proves a universal understanding of their occult meaning and purpose.

   The Seven Sorrows of Joseph were: (1) Leaving Mary; (2) That there was no place for the Nativity but the Manger; (3) Sufferings of the Holy Child in circumcision; (4) Simeon's prophecy of sorrow for his beloved Mary; (5) The flight into Egypt; (6) Fear of Herod's son on the return to Nazareth; and (7) Loss of the young Jesus in Jerusalem.

   The Seven Joys of Joseph were: (1) Angelic communication of the Incarnation; (2) Adoration of the Shepherds; (3) The naming of Jesus; (4) Adoration of the Wise Men; (5) Simeon's pronouncement of the coming salvation through Jesus Christ; (6) The angelic summons to return from Egypt; and (7) Finding Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem.

   Mary signifies here as elsewhere,the redeemed feminine, the Love Power of the soul which is raised from bondage in matter to liberation in Spirit. Ordinarily, this redemption is accomplished through sorrow, for it is unfortunately true that mankind elects to achieve salvation the difficult way. Like Christ Jesus, Mary represents the subjective side of life; the perfect consummation of the work within, which awaits the realization of every individual of every race on earth. This process is outlined in the Seven Sorrows of Mary, which are: (1) The prophecy of Simeon; (2) The flight into Egypt; (3) The three days' loss at Jerusalem of the boy Jesus; (4) Meeting Jesus with the cross; (5) The Crucifixion; (6) The removal of her Son from the cross; and (7) the Holy Burial.

   According to the esoteric traditions, Mary's spiritual authority was accepted without question throughout the community of Christians. She was attended at all times by a group of her women disciples, among whom were: a daughter of that Nicodemus who came to Jesus "by night," Neshi, the daughter of Gamaliel who was the teacher of Paul, and Taleitha, who belonged to the family of Nero; and many others, the early legends say, whose names have not been written down.

   These faithful women always accompanied Mary, saying, "We will not separate from thee, O Mary, blessed Mother, except through death."

   "Mary was accounted by them as a glorious woman," we read, because they saw the signs and wonders which she wrought before them by day and by night." The first of her miracles which they observed was the fragrance like that of the sweetest perfume that emanated from her soul body and literally filled the house wherein she was, like waves of the sea. Then there were the miracles of healing. The sick and diseased came to her to be blessed and were cured of their sicknesses, and they marvelled when seeing "the great glory resting upon her."

   The Syrian and Arabic copies of this Gospel of Matthew read: "Here ends the copy of the Gospel of Matthew, which he wrote in the land of Palestine, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the Hebrew language, eight years after the ascension of Jesus the Messiah into heaven, and in the first year of the Roman Emperor, Claudius Caesar.

   Jerome and Origen called this The Gospel to the Hebrews because it was written in the Hebrew language. It was referred to by early writers as The Gospel of the Twelve. Justyn Martyr, in A.D. 133, mentions this book as The Recollections of the Apostles and affirms that it contains much information not included in the present Gospels.

   There were ten virgins who carried their lamps as they went forth to meet the bridegroom; but when he tarried, they fell asleep. Then, at the hour of midnight, came the cry, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh." The virgins awakened and five of the ten discovered there was no oil in their lamps, so they sought to borrow some from their sisters. But the wise virgins said, "Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." While the foolish virgins went to purchase oil the bridegroom came, and the five wise virgins "went in with him into the marriage; and the door was shut." When the foolish virgins came and asked for admittance, the bridegroom replied, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

   Christian architecture may be said to date from the issuance of Constantine's edict establishing Christianity as the official state religion of the Empire. Immediately the formerly secret religious rites were performed publicly, the sign of the cross came into view everywhere, and there was a demand for skilled artisans and craftsmen to build the churches and religious retreats which sprang up all over Europe.

   As the building of churches increased, the skilled workmen formed themselves into "building guilds," and journeyed from place to place wherever their expert services were required. Since most of the buildings they erected were of stone, the workmen were known as bands of travelling masons, and to the select circles was added the word free, this being an adaptation of an ancient Egyptian word Phree, meaning Light. Later the term Freemason was adopted indiscriminately, but its real significance is "holy men with whom God is first."

   That these builders were not looked upon as ordinary workmen is shown from the fact that they were exempted from taxes and such other obligations as were imposed upon the peoples of that time. They in turn regarded their labors as a sacred task by which they were instrumental in advancing the kingdom and glory of God.

   Most of the medieval cathedrals of Europe were fashioned under such conditions and still retain much of the aura of soul exaltation with which they were, impregnated during their construction.

   The desire currents of the planet Mars, home of the exiled Lucifers, intermingle with like-natured currents of the Earth planes in a way unique to these two planetary bodies. Because of this interpenetration of desire auras, Luciferian influences, operating through this medium, enter into the atmosphere of the Earth and act upon the life of our planet, particularly its emotional expression.

   It is to be remembered that, though fallen, the Lucifers are angels. Those who have eyes to see declare that they have the radiant beauty ascribed to Gods. They move in a vibrant scintillating light that sparkles with electric energy. The attitude of these fiery Beings is daring and challenging and their keynote is mental and emotional intensity and extreme activity. By these means their consciousness is quickened and their progress is furthered.

   Therefore they foster every thing that generates conditions favorable to these expressions. They inspire those who come under their influence with an indescribable longing to be free from every kind of limitation and bondage, to plumb unknown depths and to explore strange, boundless and undiscovered heights. The life they radiate is alluring, and with unbelievable subtlety they transmit their spirit of abandon to all whom they contact. The result is that those affected experience a restlessness that often leads to unreasoned recklessness. Fiery fearless natures naturally incline toward the Lucifers, and if this contact be close and continuous, the impulse to do and dare becomes so intense it is irresistible. It may lead to a willingness to sacrifice everything, even life itself, in the pursuit of something beyond definition or understanding.

   It is not the intent of the Lucifer Spirits to inflame the thoughts and passions of man to his destruction. They merely desire to create more advantageous conditions for the expression of their own highly geared activity. Where there is wisdom and strength to direct the intense Luciferian energies to constructive ends, they make for keener response, quickened creativeness, and an augmented awareness.

   Were man able to direct such intensified force to constructive uses, the Lucifers would be beneficent light-bringers only. But because of man's failure to do this, Luciferian, influence caused his Fall and is still predominantly evil in its effects upon him. Spiritual scientists, knowing these facts, do not make man's weakness an excuse for maligning a class of spirits who, while below the Angels, are yet far in advance of humanity. They are children of a loving Father no less than wayward humanity, and the Christ is giving His life for the redemption of both.

   In the modern world the Lucifer influence manifests strongly as a spirit of rebellion and independence. It tends to override moral restraint. It stirs up quarrels and wars. It gravitates to experiences that give thrills and excitement. The speed mania is one of its manifestations. In the arts it stimulates the spirit of freedom, even to the point of abandon, as in free verse, jazz and modernistic art.

   After man had been exiled to the plane of materiality, Angels and Archangels, working under the direction of the Christ, began to flood the Earth with spiritual forces designed to counteract the limiting influences under which he had fallen. Had the Lucifers remained with the Angels this work would have been somewhat obstructed. But as it was, and still is, the Lucifers could influence man chiefly by instigating him to hasty and disruptive action, thereby creating a veil that would prevent him from receiving unimpeded the inflow of beneficent forces from higher levels.

   The psychic atmosphere of the Earth is heavily charged with negative and destructive thoughts generated by humanity during ages past. Collectively, these form what may be best described as an elemental entity. Through this entity the Lucifers operate in inciting humanity to heated controversies and impassioned conflicts. An important part of man's work, and also of the higher Beings assisting him, is to dissipate this entity by generating forces of a positive character. Every thought sent out into the atmosphere that carries qualities of peace, harmony and good will aid in the performance of this task. Before such massed constructive thought negative entitites retreat; they dissolve as a mist before the light of the Sun.

   In the light of this knowledge man may the more wisely direct his own course. Knowledge is power. Knowing the nature of the predominant forces continually playing in and upon him, he can consciously and purposefully utilize them to his advantage. The Luciferian forces are subject to his control and may be transmuted into powers that will add to his spiritual light. His ability to do this comes largely from the assistance rendered by the Christ and His accompanying Hosts. By attuning himself with Christ's redemptive power man becomes master of himself. Then can the Lord God say that man is not only potentially, but actually, as "one of us."

   There is an aspect in which the red, martial Mars and the fiery hosts of Lucifer form the Dweller on the Threshold of Earth. The influence they exert upon man's lower desire nature must be overcome and transmuted before the Earth and its humanity can pass on to spiritual freedom. To assist man in the accomplishment of this task is one mission of the Christ. The Archangels have already effected this transmutation and are, therefore, qualified to lead the way for beings who have not so attained.

   As previously stated, the chief of the Archangels is the Christ. He is the Redeemer of Mars no less than of Earth. His mission extends to the whole of the solar system which, being a unit, suffered in its entirety as a result of the Fall of man.

   As we approach the several aspects of the Christ Mystery, we seem to hear again the angelic voice that spoke to Joshua: ''Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." The Christ Mystery is so sublime and so far-reaching in its import that it transcends any human definition. So profound are its meanings that they can never be plumbed or expressed by mere words; they can be sensed only in the silence of spiritual contemplation.

   When Initiate-Teachers of Atlantis foresaw the inevitable doom of their island continent, they separated from the masses those whose will retained a hold on human integrity and in whom the germ of reason, recently acquired by the Atlantean race, had not been prostituted to the service of evil. Those "chosen" people, the seed of Fifth Epoch races, were under the tutelage of certain leaders who had come hither from the planet Mercury; both they and their Mercurian leaders were led and instructed by the great Archangel Michael, who had charge of the Herculean evolutionary task of creating a new race upon earth.

   The Virgin Mary's entire earth life was preparatory for her translation into the angelic kingdom. Early Christian legends have preserved the truth for us in their frequent allusions to her intimate and continuous companionship with Angels. Master artists show her in even the most commonplace situations of life surrounded by angelic presences. She was from birth more closely attuned with Angels than with humanity. Her pure mind was intent upon their life and activities. Inspired poets have well described her as being "half human and half divine." Such an exalted state of consciousness was understood by the Illumined of her day as being "filled with the powers of the Holy Ghost." This high Initiate, known to the world as Mary of Bethlehem, was often referred to in the esoteric Wisdom of the early Church as the "Bride of the Holy Ghost."