During the Atlantean Epoch the atmosphere was heavily laden with moisture. In the present post-Atlantean, Fifth Epoch the air is clear, light and dry. In biological development, as presented in Genesis and as taught in both physical and spiritual science, the amphibian stage precedes the mammalian. In terms of physiological development, therefore, only those Atlanteans survived the change from water to air who had kept abreast of evolutionary requirements and developed lungs necessary to functioning in the new element. It will be so in the transition which humanity will make from the present Epoch to the next. A new element of a fiery nature will then interpenetrate the air, and only those will escape "destruction by fire" who, like Noah, representative of the Atlantean remnant, have made physical progress enabling them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. This is not a momentary achievement. It is the result of obedience to nature's progressive demands from day to day and life to life and age to age. To miss a step is to fall behind the vanguard of the race, and the lot of the laggard is hard. If his backward state persists, the laggard ends by meeting, on his form side, violence and destruction — to the end that his spirit may exert itself to make the advance necessary for its own "salvation;" that is, a realization of its inherent divinity.

   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.

   Later, embryonic humanity reached the stage of individualization. After it acquired mind and developed self-will, it divided into separate races and nations. Consciousness was directed more and more to the external world. The many individualized minds and separated races were not unitedly receptive to a synthesized hierarchical guidance; so, in the divine order of things, this was henceforth delegated to a number of lesser Beings chosen from among Archangels working under the direction of the Lord Jehovah. Each race and nation received its immediate guidance from an archangelic Race Spirit.

   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).

   Thus the serpent symbol, in itself, represents neither good nor evil but a dual power that can be used for either. In ancient Mystery Schools it was used as a symbol of wisdom for this reason. It for the same reason signified priestly powers. Druid priests were called serpents. The Grecian Cadmus and his wife, whose lives in many ways parallel those of Abraham and Sarah, became serpent Initiates. According to Clement of Alexandria, the ord Heva, meaning female serpent was used in magical incantation. Many pre-Christian symbols depict Eve accompanied by a male serpent.

   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.

   When the masculine and feminine forces in the human body again function in unity and equilibrium, the heart and the larynx will become the centers of creation. Generation will then be regeneration. This truth was taught by Christ Jesus to Nicodemus when He declared that not until Nicodemus was born again could he enter into the kingdom of heaven. Birth by water signifies natural generation; birth by fire, regeneration. Purity marks the path of this attainment, and chastity is its keyword. Only the pure in heart shall see God.

   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.

   The promise made by the Lord to Abram, that in fulfilling the mission assigned him he would be blessed, was not arbitrary protection granted because of personal favoritism. The Lord (Law) automatically protects all those who are at one in purpose with Him (it).

   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?"

   God had indeed enriched them. No one aspires in vain. The seeker after soul sustenance is never sent away empty. The measure is full and running over. Joseph even provided his brothers with unsolicited provisions for their homeward journey. The processes of transmutation bring an increase of good on every plane of manifestation.

   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."

   This promised land was not only Palestine. It was the landed areas of the world for the Fifth, post-Atlantean Epoch. Also, it signified the Holy Land of the spiritual realms, the heaven world which becomes the eternal home of those who follow the ways of righteousness and love in obedience to the Lord's (Law's) decrees.

   Initiation does not relieve a recipient from labor, responsibilities, or grave problems. The power it bestows is not of a nature that ministers to personal interests, comforts or pleasures. So long as these are the results sought after and looked for, Initiation remains unattainable. Initiation is for the purpose of enlarging one's powers and capacities for service. The true Initiate becomes a servant of servants. This was taught and exemplified by Christ Jesus in the Rite of the Footwashing. Abram learned a like lesson from Melchizedek. "He who would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all."

   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.

   For ages the Great Ones were projecting spiritual forces into this selected area in preparation for the supreme world event, the coming of Christ Jesus. The place became a hallowed oasis suitable for cradling the Holy Child. Illumined Teachers and Seers of all time have known this, and worked accordingly. It was, therefore, not by accident, but by design that Jacob chose this place wherein to consummate the final rites of the Mystic Marriage.

   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.

   The story of Jacob and Esau is another version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son; also the legend of the Two Brothers which owes its origin to one of the Schools of the Egyptian Mysteries. They all deal with unhappy experiences that follow upon rejection of the true heritage of the spirit. The husks of a mundane life and the appetites of the senses leave the spirit hungry and faint. After a time, the emptiness and the weariness of such a life of the senses cause the spirit to turn from the material to the spiritual, from the false to the true, from the unreal to the real.

   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.

   In Melchizedek and Christ Jesus are blended the two principles of head and heart, intellect and intuition, Fire and Water. The accomplishment of this union is the specific task set for the New Age. It is, moreover, the fundamental purpose of earthly experience.

   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.

   Like the signs of the Zodiac, this alphabet contains a history of the pilgrimage of spirit through material existence, whereby it gathers experience, acquires self-realization, and attains to conscious union with its greater self: the god of whom it was, and is, and ever shall be an essential part.

   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.

   Evil has become powerful for a time. Materiality has waxed strong. Its progressive growth may be traced in successive Bible characters, beginning with Cain and continuing through Nimrod, Ishmael and Esau. This condition of materiality is temporary. When the New Age now dawning shall have come into its own, the race will experience an awakening similar to that of Jacob's when he discovered that the Lord was in truth near beside him, and he knew it not.

   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 letter "G" or gimel holds the mystery of the feminine principle. It pertains to generation. In Hebrew a symbol for the letter is a hollow tube or canal. Such is the spinal cord. When the kundalini power rises through the canal from base to summit, generation becomes regeneration and the human consciousness enters into awareness of the divine. The letter "G" also symbolizes the throat, wherein an idea conceived takes form. It is outspoken; the word becomes flesh.

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

Before the birth of man, the Angels sang hymns of joy and praise. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. " When Adam appeared they asked, "Is this the one for whom we sang hymns?" God said, "No, for he will fall. " At Noah's birth they repeated the question. "No, for he will plant the vine." Abraham? "No, for his progeny will be Ishmael." Isaac? "No, for he begat Esau, a displeasure unto God." Jacob? "Yes, for his name shall be changed to Israel and his descendants shall be called the 'children of Israel', which interpreted means 'sanctified before birth and remained holy'."

   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.

   Jacob's admonition to his twelve sons is a description of the path of progress for the entire human race, and of the reactions of man under the influences of the twelve zodiacal signs. His blessing is as true and applicable today as when it was written.

   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.

   The inclination of the axis of the Earth is spoken of by occultists as the fall of the feminine pole of the planetary body. The alteration in the position of the Earth literally shut off the inflow of spiritual forces that had hitherto entered freely into the planetary atmosphere. The "squaring of the circle," one of the problems propounded in ancient Mystery Schools, deals with truths regarding this planetary event. How wise the masonic injunction, "Brother, study nature, for it bears the impress of divinity!"

   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.

   Commenting on the exploit of the people of Nimrod, Jacob Boehme, the German mystic, writes: "As is to be known by the children of Nimrod at the Tower of Babel, when they had fallen from obedience to God into their own individual reason, then they had lost their guide and did confound reason so that they comprehended not truth any more. Their own reason, which was mixed of all colors, had to rule them."

   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.

   In the life of an aspirant, the birth of a son signifies the acquisition of some specific attribute of spirit. In early stages this acquisition is of a personal rather than a spiritual nature. This is indicated in the life of Jacob by the fact that, while Leah (lower nature) was fruitful, Rachel (higher nature) remained for a long time barren.

   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.

   Max Heindel, an Initiate of the Rosicrucian School, states that the chemical ether vibrates to the seed atom of the dense body, located in the heart; the life ether to the seed atom of the vital body in the solar plexus. These two ethers maintain the life of the physical body. The light ether vibrates to the seed atom of the desire body, located in the central vortex of the liver, and also to the pituitary body in the brain. Before man lost his spiritual vision and succumbed to the lure of his lower nature, this ductless gland (pituitary) vibrated to the seed atom of the desire body. The reflecting ether vibrates to the seed atom of the mind, located near the frontal sinus, and to the pineal gland which, like the pituitary body, is also located deep in the head.

   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.

   The concealed Eternal Feminine asks of the approaching neophyte, as did Tamar of Judah: "What wilt thou give me, that thou mayst come in unto me?" To this question Judah replied: "I will send thee a kid from the flock." The kid (goat), symbol of Capricorn, refers to the powers of the mind in process of spiritualization. Tamar then asked of him if he would give her a pledge until such time as he would send the kid. "And he said: What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him."

   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.

   Joseph typifies the man in whom the higher Christed mind has become operative under the guidance of the Sagittarian Hierarchy, the Lords of Mind. He has entered into a superior condition and assures his brethren that God will surely visit them and bring them out of this land (material mindedness) into the land (Christed mind) which He sware to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

   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.

   "And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." The mind is the path, says an occult maxim. The Christing of the mind is the supreme ideal for the present Fifth Root Race, the post-Atlantean peoples. Genesis follows this work to its completion in the life of Joseph.

   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.

   As long as the present law of generation exists there will be enmity between woman and the serpent. Jehovah states: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Upon woman has fallen the chief burden of sorrow and pain following misuse of the generative forces.

   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.

   The work of the Seven Creative Days as outlined in Genesis embraces the entire span of man's pilgrimage through time and matter. It covers the journey from unconscious, undifferentiated being to individualized, all-conscious at-one-ment with Universal Spirit. It describes the descent of the spirit into matter and its resurrection therefrom. Of the Seven Days, three and one-half were consumed in the involutionary process during which the spirit took on forms of increasing density, arriving at length at the nadir of materiality which was reached several mission years ago during the present Earth Period. The remaining three and one-half days will be devoted to the evolutionary process during which the spirit will gradually unfold its latent powers through meeting the resistance of form, and progressively lay aside the vehicles acquired during involution until it returns as pure, disembodied spirit to the bosom of the universal Father. It then will have passed from impotence to omnipotence, from nascence to omniscience.

   Man's complex structure is the product of innumerable Intelligences working over vast stretches of time. The progression is orderly, methodical and sequential; not haste, but perfection is the ultimate objective. As science and religion draw closer together, both will make the illuminating discovery that the work of the Seven Creative Days, recorded with mathematical brevity in a few verses, was not a week's activity of the Elohim in the remote past, but that it covers processes which have carried the manifested universe steadily forward through the ages-processes which will continue until the destined perfection is attained. In lesser cycles of action, the successive steps of the Seven Days are recapitulated in an endless series that reach into the infinitely small spiral motions of our individual lives. "Ye are heirs of God, and Joint-heirs with Christ;" and "it doth not yet appear what we shall be," affirm two who possessed the ability to be "caught up into the third Heaven," there to study cosmic pictures of Creation.

   According to the Apocrypha, the entire planet, as the heritage of the three sons of Noah, was divided into as many parts. Since the sons represent attributes of man's nature, the part of the Earth assigned to each possesses qualities of a corresponding character. The psychic and magnetic conditions on the planet's surface are as varied as are the geographic and climatic. From its inner strata definite forces are projected into certain localities, giving to them a distinctive character particularly suitable for certain types of activity and the development of certain qualities in the life coming within their influence. These considerations guide Race Spirits in directing the migrations of their human wards into regions suited to their advancement. Hence, divine wisdom lay back of early race colonization.

   It was not in the divine plan that cruelty and ferocity should enter into the nature of man or beast, or that they should prey on one another. This state is of man's own doing, his own destructive thoughts and actions extending to, and finding expression in, the lower kingdom. Being closely associated with man, but of lesser development, that kingdom is negative to his influence. It absorbs and gives back to man whatever he releases into the atmosphere. Since this includes so much that is cruel, greedy, grasping and sensuous, it is inevitable that there will be wild beasts and poisonous plants, discord and strife throughout the whole of man's environment.

   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 sacrifice required was not pleasing; the bread was not leavened and the herbs bitter. One reason for prescribing unleavened bread is that its atomic constituency is of a higher vibratory value than leavened bread. Fermentation is caused by a foreign agency of a decomposing nature.

   The experiences of the Israelites at this point was typical of those met by every aspirant on the way to a higher life. The process of detachment from accustomed ways of living, from thoughts and interests and habits that have become deeply rooted during the course of years and lives and ages, but which are not consistent with the highest advancement, is extremely difficult. Repeatedly, under severe strain and weariness, an aspirant rebels against hardships and clamors for a return to the more comfortable conditions that have been left behind. In such moments there is perhaps no recognition of the fact that whatever comfort and satisfaction the old ways of life yielded in the past, those same seemingly desirable conditions can never be recovered once the spirit has awakened to a higher and a nobler state of being. To go back would be to increase the trials of transition. For the aspirant there is but one way and that way is forward. Meanwhile, his experience is like that of the Israelites in the wilderness. They had neither the fleshpots of Egypt nor the milk and honey of Canaan. They had just seaweed and darkness and desert.

   Just as an Ego emanates a tone which is its keynote, so, too, does each of the spiritual centers of its body. Because of this fact incantations used in sacred rituals are of the highest significance, as is music. More and more will the latter be used, and with increasing esoteric knowledge, in all religious services and in the higher degrees of discipleship in Schools of the Mysteries. By the Word worlds came into being; by the Word Christ called the dead back to life; by the Word a regenerated humanity will become an actuality.

   For the Kabbalistic period of forty days and forty nights Moses remained in the Glory Light. Poised between the balanced forces of Fire (day) and Water (night), elements in his nature that he had mastered, he now reached the stage where not only his passions (Fire) and emotions (Water) were stilled, but even his mind (Air) was under full control. In that state he was able to look upon the flawless archetypes designed by the celestial Hierarchies for ultimate projection into forms upon the earth plane. One of the patterns he looked upon — the likeness of which he transmitted to his people for their reproduction — was the design for a sanctuary wherein the Lord God could come and dwell with His own. The first step toward its manifestation on the physical plane had been taken. In the mind of Moses there was born a human thought form of the plan for the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.

   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.

   It was a "mixed multitude" that left; that is to say, they were not of equal attainment, nor were they a perfected people. They were simply on their way, traveling in the right direction. And the wandering through the wilderness is an extended account of the refining process, through trials and difficulties, which man undergoes while being prepared for entry into the Holy Land.

   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 name Adonai is capable of twelve transpositions, all conveying the meaning to be. It is the only word that will bear so many transpositions without its meaning being altered. They are called the twelve banners of the mighty Name and are said to rule the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

   Before the tenfold assault of the spirit, mortal mind yielded its untenable position and surrendered to a greater good. The painful process did not fall on the Egyptians alone; the people of Israel, too, needed remedial measures for bringing them fully under the direction of spiritual law. This is indicated in the fact that the first three plagues fell equally upon the Israelites and the Egyptians. Beginning with the fourth, only the Egyptians were afflicted. No murrain swept the beasts of the Israelites; no tempest or locusts destroyed their crops. They suffered no darkness from an obscured Sun, nor were they afflicted with boils. The Lord (Law) made it clear that the fate of the Israelites was not identical with that of the Egyptians.

   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.

   When man fell all things in nature fell with him. Since that time he has been plagued by natural disasters of diverse kinds; and will continue to be so as long as he remains under the dominion of unillumined, concrete mind (Pharaoh) and an unregenerate life of the senses. Redeemed humanity of the future will, by realigning itself with spiritual law (Moses), reenter the holy land of the New Jerusalem as depicted in Revelation, where light is perpetual and the bounties of Earth unlimited.

   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 Ark, symbol of the soul, was built of shittim (acacia) overlaid with gold. The lid was of solid gold and served as the mercy seat. At the two ends of this seat stood two golden Cherubim, their outstretched wings covering the precious casket. Within the Ark were the two Tables of the Law, Aaron's rod that budded and the Pot of Manna.

   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.

   It was so with the Israelites. They had reached a point where, as pioneers, it was necessary to again prove them. Moses withdrew for a time. Soon the faith of the people faltered and they fell back into ways that led away from the objective they originally set for themselves.

   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.

   Moses remained with his parents during the years of his childhood, receiving from his father, "a man of the house of Levi," and his mother, "a daughter of the house of Levi," the saintly influences they were able to bestow upon him. Then followed esoteric instruction imparted by his guardian Temple priestess, whose name was Thermutis. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, states that the boy Moses was so beautiful passers-by in the streets would stop to admire him and that laborers left their work in the fields to look upon his magnetic presence whenever occasion offered.

   Among the many who were called to build the Tabernacle, those chosen were of the tribes of Judah and Dan. Astrologically, as we have learned, these tribes belong to Leo and Scorpio, respectively. When the heart is alight with the fire of Leo, the spirit of God becomes manifest as wisdom, understanding and the ability to perform all manner of workmanship. Also, when a man's life has been regenerated under the forces of Scorpio, he becomes wise-hearted and able to perform the Lord's commands. Love (Bazaleel; Judah; Fire) and transmutation (Aholiab; Dan; Water) are the two primary forces (master workmen) that build the soul body (Tabernacle) in which the immortal spirit (Jehovah) comes to dwell with its projected personality (congregation).

   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.

   During the time that Moses was on the Mount "he did neither eat bread, nor drink water." His activity was solely of a spiritual nature. It had to do with factors pertaining to the inner life, apprehended only ill the exalted consciousness attained by Initiation. According to higher Teachings, the written laws were derived from the sacred Ten Words spoken to Moses on the Mount, even as woman was created from the body of man in the "mystery of the Garden." Both are reflections of spiritual realities. Herein is to be found the inner significance of the enigmatic statement that woman (redeemed feminine principle) was the first to receive the Decalogue when given on Mount Sinai.

   Concerning this aspect of the Breastplate, Philo Judaeus, the Jewish Hellenistic philosopher, makes the following observations: Then the twelve stones in the breastplate, which are not like one another in color and which are divided into four rows of three stones in each, what else can they be emblems of except of the circle of the zodiac? For that also is divided into four parts, each consisting of three animals, by which divisions it makes up the seasons of the year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, distinguishing the four changes, the two Solstices, and the two Equinoxes, each of which has its limit of three signs of this zodiac, by the revolutions of the Sun according to that unchangeable and most lasting and really divine ratio which exists in numbers. For all the changes of the year and the seasons are arranged by well defined and stated and firm reason; though this seems a most extraordinary and incredible thing, by their seasonal changes they display their undeviating and everlasting permanence and durability. And it is said with great correctness and exceeding beauty also, that the twelve stones all differ in their colors, and that no one of them resembles the other; for also in the zodiac each animal produces that color which is akin to and belongs to itself, both in the air and in the earth, and in the water; and it produces it likewise in all the affectations which move them, and in all kinds of animals and of plants.

   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.

   The Ten Commandments are more than moral precepts. They are cosmic principles governing the evolution of the post-Atlantean, or Fifth Root Race; and as applicable today an on the day they were enunciated. More than this, in their esoteric significance they enfold the method whereby one may pass from faith to first-hand knowledge. They are keys to Initiation. From cover to cover the Bible deals with that one subject as its dominant theme, its chief revelation.

   Of the Egyptian candidate it is stated that after a preliminary trial at Thebes, where he had to pass through many trials called the "Twelve Tortures," he was commanded to govern his passions and never lose for a moment the idea of his God. After having overcome many dreadful trials he was initiated into certain degrees. Finally he was brought into a vast subterranean chamber and commanded to stand before a coffin in which lay the slain body of the Great Master Osiris. This hall was called the "Gates of Death." If the disciple emerged therefrom victorious he had gained immortality; he had become an Initiate into the Mysteries of the inner life.

   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.

   By the power of will Moses attained to a position of leadership through mastery of self; Aaron became the head of the new church after regeneration by the power of love. The fact that they met on the "mount of God" indicates that each had developed the two principles within himself to a high degree; also, that each had so elevated the principle predominant in his nature that the two could function in unison. What Moses and Aaron did together a developed individual will do singly in time to come, when all will be "priest-kings after the Order of Melchizedek."

   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.

   These festivals of soul dedication were not observed in Jerusalem by chance. Preparation for the sublime events had been in the making for thousands of years. Among those specially dedicated to this task were the Shepherd Kings of Egypt. The links in the chain of divine revelation are unbroken. The Lesser Mysteries of the ancients were steps leading up to the Greater Mysteries revealed by the Christ. This was understood by members of pre-Christian brotherhoods: knowingly, they worked toward the coming of the Light of the World who was to take flesh and dwell among men.

   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.

   A study of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness is, therefore, an inquiry into the structure of the cosmos, the anatomy of man, the operation of stellar forces, the method of evolution and the way of Initiation. It may be reasonably concluded that not even a forty-day period in the Glory Light would be sufficient to reveal the significance of the sanctuary where God dwells with man in all its mystical implications and sublime inclusiveness.

   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.

   The Promised Land to which the Israelites journeyed was not Palestine only. That land is the whole of the Fifth Epoch Earth — all the areas on which human evolution is progressing during the post-Atlantean Epoch. It is the realm of spirit into which Egos enter and function consciously when true Initiation has been attained.

   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.

   Three of the four Sacred Seasons of the year are here specified as times to be observed with religious remembrance for bounties received from the Giver of all good. The Passover is the Spring Equinox; the harvest festival, the Summer Solstice; and the feast of the ingathering, the Autumn Equinox. The last of the four festive times, the Winter Solstice, did not enter prominently into the Fifth Epoch religious calendar until the coming of Christ. Since then, Christmas and Easter have assumed foremost importance in the festive rituals of the Christian world.

   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!"

   Thus the mind is turned toward truth and the physical temple cleansed. To become transformed by the renewing of the mind, as Paul says, is seldom accomplished without experiencing the sorrow and suffering that attend a life lived after the dictates of an unillumined mind. Pharaoh's resistance is typical, not exceptional. He was not yet humbled to the point where he was willing to relinquish his proud, personal will, inadequate as it was, for the impersonal direction of the I AM with its ability to yield joy, harmony and fullness of life. So the painful experiences continued and increased.

   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.

   In accordance with the secret chronologies of the Sod (a conclave of Initiates with which Moses was associated), a sabbatical year consisted of three hundred and sixty solar years, and the "week years" was seven times three hundred and sixty, which gives a total of 2520 years. During this sabbatical period the divine outbreathing and inbreathing of cosmic forces takes place throughout the universe. In the interval of inbreathing, Divinity is said to rest, that is, the forces in evolution become subjective and harmony and order permeate all creation. This is the meaning of the statement in Genesis that on the seventh day God rested from His creative labors.

   The deepest truths taught in the Mysteries relate to the blood, because the very "life of the flesh" is in it. As no two individuals are alike, neither is the blood of any two persons identical. An individualized Ego makes its distinctive impression on its own constituent elements. This difference is sufficiently pronounced in the blood of man and animal to be easily recognized; so, too, is the difference between the blood of man and anthropoid. Again, the blood of major races differs clearly; and among people of the same race, medical science classifies for practical purposes four types. Some of these are sufficiently alike to make transfusions serve the end of life, while the mingling of others causes distress and even death. Looking to the causative, life side of this subject, an occult investigator learns that racial blood type is conditioned by the influence of the Race Spirit. Since each race is guided by a different Spirit, the blood through which each one works shows a corresponding difference.

   Taken in its entirety, this section has marked characteristics of its own. It builds on the legislation that has already been given to the Covenant People as an aid in keeping them in the ways of righteousness worthy of a nation elected to be a "kingdom of priests" among the peoples of the world. The Law of Holiness is not so much concerned with prescribing specific action and fixed ceremonials as it is in arousing the consciousness of man to a recognition of, and obedience to, principles that govern the higher life. It has less of the letter and more of the spirit of the law than do preceding chapters of either Leviticus or Exodus which deal with the subject. It looks forward to Deuteronomy and lays a foundation for the Sermon on the Mount wherein Christ Jesus enunciates the highest law of the spiritual life yet given to man. This is another instance of the old preparing for the new and the new rising on the old. It illustrates the growth of religion as the consciousness of progressing humanity expands. Differences between past and present need not be contradictions, but merely varying degrees of understanding and development. It is so in the inspired word of the Old and the New Testaments. The keynote of the one is law; of the other, love. But, in a poet's words, "God is love yet God is law." The path of obedience to the divine will leads from outer compulsion to inner freedom.

   There is a very great difference between the way cosmic illumination was attained in earlier cycles and at present. Under the Taurean Dispensation a candidate was put into a trance-like state while his spirit gleaned wisdom in inner realms. In the succeeding Piscean Dispensation the Christ opened the way for a disciple to rise in spiritual awareness sufficiently to read the Cosmic Records while retaining full waking consciousness. John the Baptist, like Balaam, lived and labored at a time when one cycle closed and another opened. A seer of the old school, he looked to and prophesied the coming of a new. Again a cyclic change is in process. The Piscean Dispensation is about to give way to the Aquarian. As the new outlook, the enlarged consciousness, and the fresh purposes of the oncoming cycle encroach upon long established viewpoints, out-moded concepts, and the limited powers of an age that is passing, there comes inevitably the inharmony, the conflicts and the general turbulence that characterize the present time.

   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.

   One of the most subtle tests on the Path is the ability to stand alone, unshaken in the midst of doubt, criticism and rebellion, as did Moses when charged by his people with having mistakenly led them into a state of misery worse than they had known before. Only a strong, self-reliant soul can keep calm, self-possessed and helpful under such circumstances; only one who has been long tried can face opposition and yet retain implicit trust and confidence in the righteousness and ultimate success of his appointed mission. Moses, having passed the test by Water, had so stilled his emotions that he had attained inward poise and outward calm. Such self-mastery is the mark of an Initiate.

   Every individual who assumes leadership of a people takes on the burden of their karma. This invariably requires great strength and fortitude. Moses possessed these qualities; yet when the Israelites faltered and failed repeatedly, and when they tired even of the manna that fell from heaven and clamored for the gratification of their carnal appetite, his strength and patience were tried almost beyond endurance. "I am not able to bear all this people alone," said he, "because it is too heavy for me." The same note is sounded by Christ Jesus who, having taken on the causation of all humanity, prayed to the Father to take from him, if He would, the bitter cup; but if that were not possible, then let His will be done.

   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 word Nazareth in Hebrew means a flower, usually translated as the lily. Jesus of Nazareth was, therefore, Jesus the flower. When so used the appellation contains a mystical reference to His spiritual status among that band of holy men and women who lived in and near the environs of Nazareth during the beginning of the Christian regime.

   The Book of Numbers deals principally with the Israelites' experiences during their wanderings through the wilderness of Sinai, and details many of the tests, temptations, and failures attending their pilgrimage, together with a record of their final victorious overcoming. These features of the Book are similar to those of the Iliad and Odyssey, with which it is sometimes compared. That comparison extends to their deep purpose, and the scope and influence they have exercised on the peoples to whom they were given. The allegorical interpretation of Sacred Writings was universal in the ancient world. As Hebrew mystics found in their Scriptures a divine cipher, revealing yet concealing holy mysteries, so too did the Greeks in theirs, and upon that secret Wisdom founded Schools of the Mysteries. It was during the David-Solomon period of Hebrew history that a group of writers living in or about Jerusalem began to collect the ancient traditions of the Hebrews; and it was about the same time that Homer assembled traditions of the Greek into epics known as the Iliad and the Odyssey which, like the Hebrew Book of Numbers, relate the fall of a besieged city and the extensive wanderings of a migratory people. In both instances the evolutionary path of human life is outlined.

   In initiatory work there is a special relationship between a teacher and his disciple. All Masters, in their capacity as Hierophants, come under the signature of the planet Mercury, giver of pure thought. The reasoning powers of a neophyte are, therefore, encouraged, and he is given full intellectual satisfaction as to the Master's right to be his Initiator. After he is thus satisfied he must render unquestioning loyalty to his Master because a critical attitude is an expression of the law of repulsion. It causes instant separation of the neophyte from his teacher. This is not due to any reaction on the teacher's part; it is the result of psychic law operative in the soul world as physical law is operative in the world of the senses. Material scientists acquire power over nature, not by disobeying natural law but by cooperating with it. Similarly, occult scientists attain power over the soul nature by cooperating with spiritual law.

   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.

   Initiation, then as now, meant a voluntary laying down of the personal life-though in a slightly different sense than we understand that sacrifice today. This sacrifice of the personality was symbolized by death; and death is symbolized by a coffin. The coffin of the tribe has reference to a certain initiatory word or power given under the impulse of the twelve zodiacal Hierarchies, one for each tribe. The "death number" of the sons of Jacob as given herewith are taken from the Thorah.

   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.

   Those who dedicate their lives in service to humanity live impersonally; their ways are appointed, and the path they follow is indicated by a Guiding Intelligence superior to human reason or unillumined mortal mind. This aspect of a true neophyte's guidance is exemplified in the Lord Jehovah's direction of His chosen people. When they had consumed all the "men of war" among them, they were instructed to go forth along a specified route. They were directed to "pass over through Ai," the land of the Moabites, "nigh over against the children of Ammon"; thence over the river Arnon and into the land of King Sihon. (The Amorites represent propensities for evil, and Sihon means a sweeping away.)

   There are numerous laws discussed in Deuteronomy and, though the surface meaning is material, an esoteric meaning may be ascertained through meditation. According to the Chaldean tradition, when the Lord created the universe He poured out His own blood that it might have life. From this comes the Chaldean saying that "in the clay of man is kneaded the blood of God." It is apparent to the eye of meditation that if God's life (spirit) is everywhere present, then every activity in the physical world, however insignificant, has its spiritual meaning. Upon this immanence of God as the indwelling principle of Nature the Chaldeans based their numerous methods of divination. Modern esotericists are not interested in divination in the form of fortunetelling, but are interested in learning to perceive spiritual principles which underlie all the phenomena of the material world. The sundry laws recorded for an ancient, primitive people (esoterically considered) may, therefore, be a basis for esoteric meditation.

   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.

   Seven-year cycles continue through life, and the completion of every such period means a new cycle of development. In the physical this is seen in seven-year periods of growth, during which physical powers mature, one after another. At the age of seven the vital body is matured; at fourteen, the desire body; at twenty-one, the mind. Then these primary periods are recapitulated until, at forty-nine, the mind has attained a high degree of maturity and comes more fully under the control of spirit. Under the law of mortality this age signals the beginning of decay; but under Higher Law it marks the renewal of youth, the attainment of new powers and a nobler vision.

   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 Pentateuch closes appropriately with an account of the glorious translation of that inspired personage who brought the five immortal Books into being. Those five Books are known inclusively as the Thorah. They are described as being "full of holy fire," and as having been "written with a black fire upon a white fire." They remain as an illuminated text for the continued spiritual guidance of all peoples of the post-Atlantean, Fifth Epoch, to which they were given. Humanity as a whole has yet to learn the truths taught therein, and the goal pointed out has yet to be reached.

   The candidate for Initiation is not above the law of the land which is binding upon his less advanced brethren. In so far as he is active in the outer world, he must order his life according to harmony and justice. That the two are inseparable is indicated by the exaltation of Saturn, the planet of law and order, in Libra, the sign of judgment, balance and harmony. And since the higher and the lower, the inner and the outer, are related, the converse is also true. Just as the spiritual "prince" is not exempt from civil law, neither is the king on an earthly throne free from spiritual law. Hence, Moses commanded that when the king "sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom. . . . he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites." A ruler who obeys these precepts is more than a mere earthly king; he is a "priest-king" after the order of Melchizedek.

   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)

   These words were uttered by one who had gone before and knew the way. Moses had a conscious realization of the omnipresence of Divinity, and lived in terms of it; he had ascended the mount and know its glory. External manifestations of a life centered in divine guidance are gentleness, sympathy, compassion, humility, simplicity, tolerance and loving kindness. Such a one executes "the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment." (Deuteronomy 10:18)

   The more active a neophyte becomes in well-doing, the greater will become his scope for service. Again and again he will be urged, by the indwelling spirit that presses its personality to renewed efforts and fresh departures, to leave the mount upon which he has "dwelt long enough." Go out "unto all the places nigh," counsels the inner voice, "in the plains, in the hills by the sea side ... go in and possess the land." In other words, take this possession of your whole self; go forth with its powers; seize the opportunities that are at every hand to help, to heal, to bless and to become a transforming factor for good in whatsoever conditions or circumstances you find yourself. To him who gives, shall be given more, "a thousand times more."

   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."

   The mount on which Israel was commanded to set up an altar of stones was called Ebal. It was the place of "the curse," and means bare and bald. After crossing Jordan, the stream that symbolically divides the material state from the spiritual, it is on the foundation of redeemed materiality (Ebal) that an altar (regenerated life) is to arise. This altar is constructed of whole stones (consciously developed faculties of mind and heart). They are the perfect cubes that Masons fashion out of the rough ashlar. The importance of this work is shown in the words Moses speaks to Israel: "Take heed, and harken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God."

   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 verses of the Shema were also to be written on the posts of the houses and on the gates, so that in going out and coming in the Israelites might be reminded of the omnipresent glory of their Lord. Esoterically, we apply this commandment to the going out and coming in between the door posts of night and day by way of the "gate" in the head, as we travel to and from our work as Invisible Helpers. The Shema is then truly a talisman, a safeguard against evil; such complete dedication to God as it commands leaves no slightest crevice where evil may enter in, and the neophyte is, in very truth, wearing the Shield of the Sun (Adonai) whose golden radiance dissipates all darkness.

   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.

   Having acquired this understanding, a candidate for Initiation has attained to expanded vision whereby he experiences within himself the reality of the Macrocosm. As a neophyte he knew that he lived and moved and had his being within the spiritual Macrocosm; now he experiences the Macrocosm as living and moving within himself.

   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.

   Jacob spoke from Egypt, the land of darkness; Moses from Mount Nebo, the heights of wisdom. Both Jacob and Moses gave their blessings just prior to their transition into the beyond, when their spiritual insight was calm and clear, and when their realization of Reality reached beyond ordinary boundaries of earthly awareness.

   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.

   Singing the Song of Life is an achievement belonging especially to the Water Initiation. Life is a unity, and its song is a universal song whose keynote is struck in the heart. It is heard by means of a spiritualized sense of hearing, which correlates to the mental qualities of meekness and docility: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." It is to this keynote of universal life that a virgin spirit (man in his true essence) vibrates; and in the processes of evolution this fundamental spiritual harmony gradually extends outward from the virgin spirit into its vehicles which manifest in the phenomenal worlds. The song of Moses is the outpouring of one in whom this process was being completed.

   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."

   Not until spiritual precepts given for man's guidance are carefully nursed in his heart will they become sufficiently a part of his life to serve spontaneously from within, thus transferring the direction of his personality from external authority to the indwelling god. Only then does compulsion yield to freedom. The former is the keynote of the Old Dispensation; the latter, of the New. The first stage is obedience to law through fear; the second is conformity through choice. Knowledge and experience finally lead to a love of law, and in that love is the law fulfilled. Deuteronomy may be said, therefore, to shed light on the purpose of the Books which precede it and to foreshadow a greater light to be revealed in the Books that succeed it. It gives to the Mosaic Age a key wherewith the door to the Christian Dispensation may be opened.

   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.

   These cities represent centers in the body of man, whirling vortices of force which afford strength and wisdom to provide safety from pursuing forces of destruction and death. They are quickened into activity by the accumulated vibration of intense and selfless love cultivated over a period of time. These focal points of power include the head center (Gad, Aries); the heart center (Judah, Leo); the illumined mind (Manasseh, Sagittarius); the spirit of equality and brotherhood (Reuben, Aquarius), and that of the Christed consciousness (Naphtali, Capricorn). These centers are cities of refuge to which modern aspirants may flee for sanctuary from the deadening weight of unillumined mortality.

   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.

   The Levites ministered in this Tabernacle because they had made themselves serviceable as transmitters of powers poured out by all the twelve signs of the Zodiac. They had attained to universal consciousness that put them in tune with the entire zodiacal wheel of life, so they became ministers of all the twelve Mansions of Light. They had "no part" of the land assignment, their inheritance being the priesthood. They were not limited in their expression to the powers of just one sign, but conveyed to their people Rays from them all.

   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.

   The closing Days of the life of Joshua were devoted to disposing of the conquered lands of Canaan to the twelve tribes. The portion allotted to each represents one of twelve soul faculties that has become active in the consciousness of a victorious candidate on the path of light. The twelve cities given to the twelve tribes represent gifts of spirit to its human personality. Gad's portion is reason; Simeon's, the beginning of spiritual understanding; Reuben's, a new birth; Manasseli's, eradication; Ephraim's, accesions of new truth; Asher's, understanding; Dan's, judgment; Naphtali's overcoming; Issachar's, wisdom; Judah's, love and praise; Benjamin's, the promise in or through love; and the Levite's, at-one-ment.

   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 his farewell address to Israel, Joshua reminds his people of the repeated evidences they have had of divine guidance and protections. He exhorts them, above all things, not to be mislead by neighboring peoples into idol worship (the placing of the material before the spiritual), but to remain true to the one God they have come to know; in other words, not to permit worldly interests to supersede spiritual. He furthermore warns them against making marriages with the "remnant" of displaced nations in Canaan lest they thereby lose their status as God's "peculiar people" and fail to fulfill the racial purpose for which they had been prepared so carefully over so long a period. It was important at that early stage of Fifth Epoch development for the racial stock to be kept pure and intact; otherwise, qualities implanted in them germinally, and awaiting unfoldment in the Fifth Root Race of which they were the nucleus, would not come to fruition. "Be ye therefore very courageous," urges Joshua, "to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left." Joshua foresaw that great things were destined to spring from those whom he addressed; that from them was to come the Initiate-poet David , the Seer-king Solomon; and Mary of Bethlehem, the perfect pattern of motherhood for the New Age and the Initiate-mother of the greatest of all messengers, the Christed Jesus.

   The Sun controls the vital body; the Moon, the desire body. The purified extract or essence of these two vehicles provides material for weaving the golden wedding garment, the soul body, which is essential to the functioning of Initiate consciousness. Joshua, who belongs to the tribe correlated to the zodiacal sign Virgo, is the son of Nun, the fish, or Pisces. Herein is found in starry script the message of one who came as a herald of the Pisces-Virgo Era which was to usher in Christian initiatory teachings dealing with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, when the voice of the Great Initiator Himself would ask: "Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?"

   Joshua was the son of Nun, a Hebrew name meaning fish. In the sacred language of symbolism, the "son of Nun" is synonymous with the son of Initiate-wisdom. The term is frequently so used in mystical writings of widely divergent times and places. Tertullian, an early Latin Church father, states, for instance, that Christ and His immediate followers were fishes bred in the water and saved by the Great Fish. This statement appears to be related to one in the Zohar, which declares of God that "He had His dwelling in the Great Sea, and was a fish therein." The ancient Chinese taught that Fuh-he invented nets with which to catch fish. The meaning is similar to that conveyed by the Christ when bidding his "fishermen" (Disciples) to be "fishers of men." Their task was to help make the way of the Piscean, or Fish, Initiation known and open to all who chose to walk therein.

   The Book of Judges stands apart from the remainder of the Bible. Contrary to appearance it possesses no particular historical value. It has nothing to do with the lives of the kings of Israel as it covers the interim between Joshua's conquests and the establishment of the monarchy. Although in its present form it consists chiefly of narrative, there are included in it many passages which must at one time have been true songs, chanted by tribal poets, perhaps in an heroic measure, and interspersed with lyrics for singing. It is not now possible to separate the chants and songs from their context, and we must, therefore, study not the songs alone but also the narrative in which they are imbedded. it is for this reason that we include the book here among the initiatory songs of the Old Testament, for there is profound esoteric knowledge to be gleaned from its pages.

   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.

   The traditions which have come down to us from the early Church Fathers belong to the Atlantean Schools; hence the first prophetess is rejected as such, for under Christ a new regime is inaugurated in which it is the prophetess figured in Mary, who prophesies of the world to come, and it is the prophet, figured in Jesus, who prophesies of the present world, of which He is the destined ruler. His Name is above all Names, and to Him every knee shall bow, for He is the King of the World, the Heavenly Jerusalem of the next, or Sixth Epoch.

   The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the city of love and the place of the heart, represents the Leo Labor in the life of Christ Jesus. The biblical keynote of this sign is summed up in the statement, "Love is the fulfilling of the Law." That Law which is fulfilled by the love of Leo is expressed by Aquarius, which is Leo's polar opposite and complementary sign, and the ideal of which is the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. This is the consummate ideal toward which these two signs point. Leo represents the heart (love) and Aquarius the head (mind). The forces of these two signs united produce the perfect type man of the New Age. Such an individual will be able to think with the heart and to love with the mind. From him will spring the Aquarian civilization in which every law will be motivated by love, when the former things (the present decadent age) shall have passed away.

   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.

   When the spinal spirit fire is gradually lifted to the head by pure and regenerate thoughts, words and deeds, it touches and sets into vibration the pineal and pituitary glands, the spiritual organs in the head. This fire then radiates through the entire body, and produces that auric splendor which is usually pictured about the body of Saints and Initiates. Such a one has become the living stone. This was the development of Peter when he was designated by the Master as the rock upon which the church is founded, a statement which applies not merely to the apostolic succession as traced through the orthodox church, but to every Initiate who comes into a knowledge of the Truth of his own being. "Thou art the Christ" is spoken to every redeemed and liberated human ego. Upon this rock the entire universe is built.

   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.

   It is for this reason that the allegorical interpretation of Scripture is being reintroduced among the religiously-minded in preparation for the New Age; not the interpretation of Scripture as nature allegories, but as allegories of the ego's development from clod to God on the Highway of Initiation.

   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.

   Within the individual the two great power centers, head and heart, under this new impulse will co-ordinate their activities more perfectly. As the age-old spectres of fear and want are dissipated, gradually a new consciousness of well-being will pervade the entire bodily organism, health will become the prevailing condition instead of disease as at the present time.

   In the Mystery Schools of ancient Greece the neophytes were taught the very same truths that are embodied in the story of Samson in the allegory of the twelve labors of Hercules, who, like Samson, was also a solar god. Hercules means "a prince of the Sun". The famous Twelve Labors of Hercules mark the passage of the Sun through the Zodiac, representing at the same time the way of attainment for the aspirant who seeks to become a Sun-man. The one who succeeds in awakening within himself the power of divinity (Hercules was worshipped as a demigod), is emancipated from material law and its causation. Thus liberated, he becomes a conscious and intelligent co-worker with the angelic Hierarchies under the supervision of the Lords of Destiny in the evolution of the Earth. Each one who thus emancipates himself, hastens the freedom of the entire race and its ascension into the glorious splendor of pure Spirit. The higher spiritual meanings of the twelve signs of the Zodiac are portrayed both in the Labors of Hercules and the corresponding biblical Labors of Samson. The time is rapidly approaching when all will realize how closely the events of their lives are influenced by the starry hosts. The Bible reveals this fact in many ways.

   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.

   In the Apostolic Zodiac, it is John, the best beloved of the supreme Master Christ Jesus and the one who partook most freely of the mystic waters of eternal life, who exemplifies the heights which may be attained by the Scorpio nature when working under its eagle aspect. As the eagle flies nearer the Sun than any other bird, so may the Scorpio-illumined soul rise to the loftiest pinnacles of spiritual attainment, as did St. John.

   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.

   The New Aquarian Age will bring about a restoration of equality, which in turn will be followed by a cessation of the rhythms of alternation and a centering within in totality of being and universal good. It is then that a new heaven-like Earth will appear with the Tree of Life in its midst — a transformation in consciousness very beautifully described in the biblical version of the Twelve Labors of Samson.

   "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.

   Obed (worshipper), the son born to Boaz and Ruth, symbolizes that high state of spiritual ecstasy termed by some occultists Adoration, the most profound state of meditation wherein all sense of division is lost and the consciousness becomes one with the Universal Whole — "The flight of the known to the Unknown," as the Grecian philosophers phrased this experience, or in the words of the Christ, "The Father and I are One".

   The Book of Ruth opens with an account of Naomi, who, after the death of her husband and two sons is ready to return to her former home in Bethlehem, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Orpah falters upon the way and turns back at Naomi's urging, but Ruth insists on going forward: "Intreat me not to leave thee nor to return from following after thee." In these beautiful words she expresses the complete dedication of her life to the things of the spirit. Her vow of fidelity is the vow which must be made by every neophyte before he can know the holy joys of the Invisible Helper: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried: The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

   The Invisible Helpers who work at night while their bodies are asleep are divided into groups according to ability, compatibility and attainment, and come under the supervision of one possessing greater spiritual powers, represented in the Book of Ruth by Boaz. The most sacred moment of the night experience is the privilege of contacting the glorious presence of the Teacher. How beautiful the words of His salutation and how radiant the halo of light about Him as He blesses His helpers! "The Lord be with you." And they answered him, "The Lord bless thee." Blessed indeed is that disciple who consciously contacts one of the Great Teachers while engaged in the activities of the sleep hours.

   The harp upon which David played to soothe the madness of Saul represents the powers of the interiorly illumined. Within the human body is the "seven-stringed lyre" awaiting revivification and which, when properly functioning, possesses wonderful powers of healing that are especially efficacious in cases of obsession such as Saul's. Again, legend teaches that the harp upon which David played was made from. the ram sacrificed by Abraham on Mount Moriah, and that it always sounded its most exquisite music at midnight. The ram symbolizes attainment through purity and sacrifice; Mount Moriah, "a vision of God." Midnight is the mystic hour when the call is given for service to all who are found worthy to function consciously as "invisible helpers." The story of Abraham's willingness to make the supreme sacrifice of his best-beloved (to put things of the spirit first), marks the beginning of a larger opportunity for spiritual work in the life of the pupil, as the utter lack of malice and revenge places David far upon the way of spiritual Illumination.

   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."

   The days preceding the coming of Samuel were a benighted time, marked by the spiritual decadence described in the Book of Judges. The spirit of religion appeared to have fled, while superstitions flourished. As frequently occurs when the pioneering spirit gives way to the inertia that prefers fixity to change, the people seemed to lose their fresh youthful ardor, as well as the luminous faith which had been their mainstay in the desert. And now there was no Moses to lift them to the heights of Pisgah, no Joshua to lead them to the fragrant heart of a mystic Jericho, no stately Deborah to renew their faith beneath the tall palms of a sacred Bethel.

   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.

   The Books of Samuel are considered by scholars to be among the most difficult and complicated in the entire Bible. Origen tells us that these two books in the original Hebrew canon were united and formed only one book. Samuel was the third of the so-called "earlier prophets". The same division also occurred in the Books of the Kings. Originally the four books, First and Second Samuel and First and Second Kings, were called the first, second, third and fourth "Books of the Kingdom." This refers not only to the origin of the monarchy as has long been generally supposed, but also to the establishment of the way of Initiation which was to be founded for the pioneers of the Fifth Root Race through the House of David in the little town of Bethlehem. Every event in the lives of David and Solomon bears an occult significance in relation to this new way of Initiation (Mystic Christianity).

   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.

   The birth of the child Samuel refers also to a new spiritual development taking place within Hannah herself. When presenting Samuel in the Temple, Hannah made a promise, "As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." This is the dedication of what the Christian knows as the "Christ Child Within", for as the Crucified is found within oneself at a certain stage of unfoldment, so, also, many years before, the Child is born and dedicated to the Lord. In all true esoteric work no promise is ever required to be made to another person. The dedication is always within, and only to the Higher Self. With this in mind as we meditate upon the inner meaning of Hannah's song we find it to be a chant of thanksgiving, an ecstatic rhapsody on the wonders and beauty revealed through the vistas of Truth at each forward step upon the path of Initiation.

   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.

   Up until the time of the reign of Saul all the leaders of the people had had direct communication with Jehovah. Saul is the first involuntary clairvoyant of whom mention is made in the Bible. We find him consulting the witch of Endor and receiving his instruction from Jehovah through Samuel, the prophet. Saul really wanted to become an Initiate-teacher like Samuel but he did not possess sufficient strength to do so. Therefore, we find him through ceremonial and sacrifice destroying all external things that were vile and unclean, but keeping Agag alive. It is then that Samuel tells him that he had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

   The House of Israel was given the great ability and wisdom of Solomon as the ideal to be emulated by their leaders, together with the promise that if they remained true to the ideal "there shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel." (I Kings 8:25) Solomon, in a moment of penetrating vision, discerned through the veil of unborn ages how far the House of Israel was to wander from the Light embodied in the Temple now being dedicated for them. Because of this "turning away," long ages of strife and division and captivity lay ahead, which would culminate in the destruction, rebuilding and final complete devastation of the sacred edifice.

   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.

   In order to test Saul, Samuel delayed his coming beyond the appointed time. Everyone has need to learn to possess his soul in patience. Saul, however, decided not to wait. Secure in his own strength, he would conduct the sacrifices himself. His temptation was severe; his men were deserting in large numbers; the longer he waited, the less, he thought, was the chance of success. The most important as well as the most difficult lesson for the aspirant to learn is not to depend upon external things, to become indifferent to outward circumstances and to place full and complete dependence upon the spirit within.

   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 cities taken by the Philistines were returned in every instance to Israel from Ekron (rooting up, eradicating evil) unto Gath (strength, power of spirit). Bethel, or "house", signifies the holy temple of the God Within, and Gilgal (circle) has reference to the spiritual centers active therein which are awakened through the powers of the illumined spirit. Israel, the fruits of the higher life, must be judged by the work done in Bethel, Mizpeh and Gilgal; Ramah, the high place, the home of the Ram, is the holy of holies within; it is the Ark of the Covenant builded within the body of the Initiate. This most holy place is always an altar unto the Lord.

   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.

   "He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters." He is here corroborating the experience of Moses, another high Initiate of the post-Atlantean, Fifth Epoch Dispensation. Everyone who reaches this place of attainment must also be drawn out from many waters.

   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.

   "I will establish thy son's kingdoms. He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever." Solomon in building this house was preparing the way for Jesus Christ whose throne is established "forever". The theme of David's hymn of thanksgiving was drawn from the memory of nature in which the "sweet singer of Israel" was able to read of these great impending events. David's keynote is humility in contrast to Saul's which was pride and egotism. After the illumination that came to him when realizing these great truths, he sings, "Who am I, Oh Lord God, and my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?" David's second keynote is praise, "Oh Jehovah, there is none like Thee." The life closest to God is one of praise; all truly devout aspirants are humbled rather than elated through and by the attainment of spiritual things.

   Uzziah's thoughtless handling of a sacred power symbolized in the Ark, resulted in his death. This is why knowledge of occult powers must be guarded. The place where Uzziah was stricken David called Perez-uzziah, meaning a breach in strength; there strength was broken. No one is righteous, no, not one, said the Great Teacher. Every Initiate is aware of his own Achilles' heel, or suffers the thorn in the flesh, as St. Paul expressed it. David was not to be exempt; of eight children born to him in Jerusalem one is named Shobad — "turned back".

   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.

   "Only the Father in Heaven is perfect," declared the Christ; and even those who have climbed far up the hills of attainment ofttimes falter and stumble.

   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."

   St. Augustine, writing in the third century, says, "We ascend thy ways that be in our hearts and sing a song of degrees; we glow inwardly with thy fire, with thy good fire, as we go, because we go upwards to the peace of Jerusalem."

   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.

   The Temple has many and varied esoteric meanings, for Truth is many-sided. It was built by three men: King Solomon of Jerusalem, King Hiram of Tyre, and the architect Hiram Abiff, the widow's son. King Hiram represents the intellectual principle, whereas Solomon represents the wisdom of the heart, the devotional principle. Hiram, or Khurum, the Masterbuilder, signifies "high", "white", 'lifted up". He has been described as "the possibility of the race made real". Architecturally, the Temple shows marked similarity to the Egypto-Phoenician temples of Melkarth, or Heracles (the Grecian Samson), representative of the Sun, particularly at the Vernal Equinox. Indeed, we discover throughout that the Temple of Solomon is in fact a likeness of the grand Temple of the Universe, and we shall not be surprised to discover from historical studies that mysterious rites similar to certain Egyptian rituals were celebrated in subterranean chambers under the Temple itself. Nor will it seem strange to us to know that "night watches" were observed there in connection with the stellar pageantry of the seasons.

   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.

   No country has ever set its indelible impress upon the remainder of the world to the extent and in the manner in which this has been accomplished by Egypt.

   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."

   Like Melchizedek, Elijah was a man of mystery. There is no mention in the biblical text of his having home, friends or ancestry. He was Uranian in the abruptness and secrecy of his movement from place to place. Suddenly he appeared out of the unknown and as suddenly returned into it. There is no dividing line between his desert and his glory. In the Bible he appears first upon a hilltop, hurling denunciations against Ahab and his queen, Jezebel.

   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.

   Faced with this tremendous task, Solomon turned for assistance to Israel's ancient and traditional friend, rich and cultured Tyre. There an enlightened ruler, Hiram I, son of Abi-baal (970-936 B.C.), was engaged in enriching ancient Phoenician temples and building new ones dedicated to Melkarth (whom the Greeks called Heracles) and Astarte. We recall that there had once been a Temple to Astarte in Jerusalem itself. Hiram founded the "Feast of the awakening of Heracles."

   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.

   Jacob Boehme, the illumined medieval seer, has said: "He who dies not before he dies, is the most unhappy of all mortals." And Christ Jesus, the Master-Initiator, taught Nicodemus that he must be born again before entering the kingdom of heaven. In Isis, the feminine column, is concealed the meanings of the first and the second deaths. When the neophyte has died to the personal life through Initiation, he becomes "the new born" upon whom the second, or natural death has no power.

   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.

   Through the wisdom gained in his own experience, King Solomon teaches his disciples "He that controleth himself, is greater than he that taketh a city."

   When he had spoken, Solomon raised his right hand and with a gavel of ebony having a handle of ivory, struck once on the great Corner Stone that lay before him. The silence that fell upon the mountain was unbroken by the sound of a breath-it was as deep and perfect as before the time when life began in the new earth. Below on the slopes of the mountain, in the valleys at its foot, in the great cities, everywhere, the same solemn hush had fallen. But hark! What was that — and that — and that? The rhythmic beat of wood upon stone, strong, steady and vigorous; now near, now receding, and soon so far away as to mock the attention that would have followed it unto the silence. Every Master in every Lodge within the hearing of Solomon's blow had answered with a blow from the gavel he held in his hand. Those who had not heard Solomon strike, but had heard those blows answered to his, gave like answer in their turn, and so the signal flew from hill to valley, from valley to hill again, on and on wherever Lodges were, wherever God's free air vibrated, wherever Mason's hearts were willing and Mason's arms were ready. The signal of Masonry's might commanding attention of the universe, had gone out to all the earth: On to the east, to the south, to the west, and even to the way of the dark north. On until they listened at the forges and furnaces of the clay-grounds. On until the commanders of the newly arrived boats at Joppa heard. On and on — the echo of that blow is sounding yet. That sacred sound will never fade and never die.

   The Temple occupied seven years in building, the palace thirteen years. The palace contained the glorious room of Solomon's judgment Hall, made entirely of white stone, cedars of Lebanon, silver and gold. This house was ornamented with precious stones and hewn stones, and bore a marked similarity to the Egyptian initiatory Temple of the Double Life. The judgment Hall is the hall of testing and illumination, symbolizing in man the heart wherein is hidden his own individual Book of the Recording Angels, a book which is concealed from human knowledge so long as the ego is centered primarily in the intellect, but which is self-revealed when the ego learns to "think with the heart." It may then take its place among the "redeemed." But if the ego refuses to accept the responsibility involved in the awakening of the great love power in the heart (visible to the clairvoyant vision as a glorious ruby), then he is among the "damned," and falls behind in his evolution; for the path of evolution is toward unity and not toward division, and unity is attained only through the experience of spiritual love.

   The spirit with which Solomon began his work and that with which he closed it are perhaps the most significant in his entire career. In the beginning he asked, "Only let me be wise," and the wisdom granted enlightened him so that he was able to perform the great Temple Work. He recognized the need of unity among the people, and led them to forget the strife which had existed between David and Saul. True spiritual Illumination can never be attained except in the spirit of brotherhood based on unity in Spirit. Solomon had this in mind when he concentrated the attention of the whole nation on building the Temple at Jerusalem, although he did not abolish the local shrines in other parts of the land. "The rich men adorn it with their gems, the poor with their handiwork. Men of action break stones, men of patience carry burdens. Artists make decorations and poets songs, musicians its rhythms, priests its rituals and ceremonials, children bring gifts and the aged their prayers."

   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.

   Kings, a book of occultism, relates how the life span of Hezekiah was lengthened; Chronicles makes no mention of this. Chronicles tells of the repentence of the wicked Manasseh; Kings contains no reference to it. Again, Kings gives an account of the conflict between Adonijah and Solomon for the throne of David, a struggle omitted from Chronicles. Nor does the latter record Solomon's fall into idolatry or the sin of David and Bath-Sheba, both mentioned in Kings.

   The story of David is perhaps the most encouraging in the Old Testament, and its value to the neophyte lies precisely in those elements which at first seem to be flaws. David's serious sins seem to mar the beauty of the Temple; we wonder why so faulty a man was chosen to found the line from which the blessed and holy Messiah was eventually to come. Such questions arise quite naturally. The life of David reveals the truth that one can rise above wrong doing, through sincere repentance and unremitting efforts to make restitution. This is most beautifully illustrated in David's whole-hearted repentance for his sins, and his earnest efforts to serve his people, all of which resulted in the clearing of his spiritual vision so that he became aware of the glorious destiny awaiting his son Solomon as a Master Temple Builder.

   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.

   Legend further teaches that the Angels protected and guarded the young child Solomon when evil forces sought to slay him, even as they protected the Child Jesus. Again like Jesus (who according to esoteric teaching was Solomon himself in a later reincarnation), the boy Solomon increased in beauty of stature and wisdom, and at an early age was placed by his father David in the care of wise men to be instructed in the interior Mysteries of the Law of Moses. One day, it is said, Solomon being then thirteen years of age, the court was assembled in the great Hall of Cedars when an Angel appeared and placed a golden leaf in David's hands. This leaf bore certain mystic characters inscribed upon its gleaming surface. David read it and said: "Whosoever answers these questions will become king after me in Israel;" and thus speaking, he read, "What is everything? What is nothing?" In the silence that followed the young Solomon alone made reply, "The world is nothing and God is everything." Again David read from the golden scroll, engraven with mystic, magic letters, "What is of most account and what is of least?" And once more in the silence which followed these questions it was the boy Solomon alone who replied. "It is fear that is of least account, and it is peace that is of most."

   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.

   "And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food for his household, and twenty measures of pure oil, thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year." Wheat, oil and corn all signify feminine soul attributes and two or twenty is the first feminine number, one (Yod) being masculine. When Solomon wrote to Hiram to procure the cedars of Lebanon to build his wonderful Temple, Hiram replied: "But do thou take care to procure us corn for this timber." In modern Masonry the winding stairs lead to the chamber where corn, wine and oil are delivered to the faithful for their work.

   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.

   In comparison with the initiatory formula of the life of Christ Jesus, the three murderers of Hiram Abiff correspond with Pilate, Caiphas and Judas; his three wounds with the scourging, the blow on the ear, and the crown of thorns. The twelve fellowcraft who are sent to search for him correspond to the twelve disciples. The three masters who raise him are Peter, John and Mary Magdalene. All true "operative" occult work unites the forces of man and 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.

   Ezra, a spiritual Teacher, suffered in like manner because of the transgressions of his people. The bond between a teacher and his pupils is so close that their weaknesses cause him great grief.

   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.

   The summons to return to Jerusalem was not a call easy to answer. it meant putting duty before pleasure and responsibility before ease. It was a call of self-renunciation. The material interests of the Exiles had become rooted in Babylon, city of plenty. To leave meant giving up things of this world, a sacrifice possible only to those who lived by the light of spirit. It is not surprising that so few were willing to make the sacrifice. They were the Remnant proclaimed by the prophets because they emancipated themselves from all the worldly self holds dear and took the long, hard march to the wastes of Judea.

   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.

   We now begin to comprehend the importance of the Field of Ardath. It was here that the Scriptures were collected and written down by that great scribe; it was here that the Christ Mystery was revealed to prophets of the Exile. The teachings published are exoteric Scriptures: Books of the Hexateuch and of such prophets as had delivered their message to Israel before and during the Exile. The secret Teachings for the wise are the secret doctrine of Israel, whose great Hierophant was Elijah or Elias, Christ's forerunner. These secret tenets were preserved through the Hellenistic Period by the Essenes.

   The exoteric purpose of the autumnal feast was to give thanks unto God for the fruit of the vine. There was dancing, music, feasting and brilliant illumination of the entire city of Jerusalem. The Mishna states that pious and distinguished men danced before the people with lighted flambeaux in their hands. In a procession celebrants carried golden pitchers filled with water from the mystic pool of Siloam. When they reached the Water Gate, three long blasts were blown on a trumpet; the priest then ascended the altar whereon were two silver basins, one to the west for water and one to the east for wine. Every morning during the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles, a priest drew three quarts of water from the fountain of Siloh in a golden vessel. This water was carried with joyous solemnity through the Water Gate to the Temple and poured out to the southwest of the altar. Exotericists interpret this to be a symbol of rain or an offering to a rain god; but esotericists know it was a symbol of the Holy Ghost. We recognize in the Water Gate the constellation Aquarius, whose celestial hieroglyph is a man pouring water from an urn. Aquarius, like Capricorn, is ruled by the planet Saturn (figuratively represented in the patriarch Abraham), to whom the Day of Saturn (Saturday) was sacred. The Hebrews set this day aside as their Sabbath, their "day of rest for the soul."

   The whole congregation of the Israelites was forty and two thousand, three hundred and threescore. Nehemiah kept a register of all who had come up from Babylon at the first call for workers in restoring Jerusalem. When interpreted kabbalistically, the number of the congregation gives us the number six (4+2+3+6+0=15=6), which is the number of Solomon and of resurrection into a new life. They represent pioneers of a New Age, those ready to answer the call for service anywhere at any time. They know a state of detachment from personality, place and things which enables them to say, "The world is my home and to do good is my religion." About ninety percent of all who had gone into captivity in Babylon remained there, preferring a life of worldly comfort to facing the hardships of a new-old life in barren Palestine.

   Nehemiah is recounting the battle between truth and error that every neophyte must wage within himself. Only by the armor of constant prayer can he win and right prevail. The strength of every aspirant has been weakened through the long evolutionary cycles wherein his spirit and mind have been subjected to the thralldom of desire; and the vehicles of his spirit have been weakened by his misuse of the creative life force within his body. The lament of Nehemiah sounds down through the ages, and his statement "There is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall" is as much to the point today as when he uttered it.

   Upon his arrival in Jerusalem Nehemiah was invested with power as governor. In his Book we read of how, under his wise leadership, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, the government of the city was recognized, and many far-reaching social reforms were effected. Most important of the changes brought about during this period was change of the language spoken in the Holy Land from Hebrew to Aramaic. They are kindred dialects, not wholly dissimilar. Yet any change in the language spoken by an entire people is a significant event in its history, indicating that a new Race Spirit has taken over its evolutionary guidance. This is in keeping with the esoteric doctrines of evolution, because the unfoldment of spiritual powers parallels the material evolution of earth and of mankind.

   The Feast of Purim is celebrated by the orthodox Hebrews in commemoration of the saving of their race "from the wiles of Haman through the God-aided means of Mordecai and Esther." Astronomically, it is, as already observed, the feast commemorating the solemn mysteries of the Spring Equinox, the victory of the light of spring over the darkness of winter, in the Christian world observed as the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, victor over death and the grave. Esoterically, it celebrates the Initiate's entry into the new life behind Temple doors, beyond the Cross of the great Crucifixion, where he receives and wears the Crown of the great Liberation forevermore.

   The Book of Esther opens with the account of a magnificent feast which was given by king Ahasuerus, whose palace was located in Shushan, the capital city of the Persian Empire. The word Shushan means "lily," the flower emblematic of attainment through purity. All esoteric schools observe certain Mystery Feasts such as this one which recounts the fall of Vashti and the ascension of Esther. During these Feasts exalted spiritual truths are repeatedly imparted to worthy recipients.

   So long as we are satisfied to interpret the lovely story of Esther as one dealing with race hatreds, mass murders and a wholesale wreaking of vengeance, we lose entirely the high spiritual mystery around which the Book revolves. The following lines taken from Irving's works on the subject of biblical meanings will aid in its interpretation: "Every name in the Psalms, whether of persons or of places, hath a mystical meaning given to it in the Christian Scriptures. Jerusalem is not the Jerusalem that was, nor is Babylon the Babylon that was, and even David hath lost his personality in the everlasting David. Judah and Israel mean not now the cast-away root, but the branch that hath been grafted in. The Jews previously referred to do not mean only the Jewish race, but those who have arrived at a higher phase of spiritual understanding, those who are being made ready to enter the Temple Eternal there to co-operate with the Brotherhood of Light. Hence they are the friends of Esther and Mordecai and have incurred the enmity of Haman, the evil one, or the powers of darkness. Therefore in biblical mysticism the Jews are always the "chosen people" in contradistinction to the Gentiles, or the unillumined.

   The inner-plane activity cannot be translated exactly in objective terminology; our language is but poorly equipped to express the reality there. It may even be necessary at times to use a symbology which is repugnant because ordinary language cannot convey the proper meaning. If we keep this in mind, we shall not wonder at the scholar who declares that "in passing from the other books of the Old Testament to Esther we pass from heaven to earth"; but we know that we must learn to read and understand a new language, truly a "new tongue", the symbol-language of the heaven worlds, where every form and every appearance bears infinite wisdom which delights the mind even more than its beauty delights the eye. Contrary to the exteriorized version, therefore, in Esther we pass esoterically from Earth to Heaven. This book is a divine symbology, its wisdom is ageless, its truths available always to the aspirant who seeks to find and enter the inner recesses of the sacred shrine of hidden Light.

   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.)

   The Book of Job is justly ranked with the world's eternal literature. Lifting sphinx-like above and beyond the limitation of any one race, nation or age, it repeats the eternal and continuous mandate of God: "Let there be light."

   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.

   "As above, so below": the Cosmic Whirlwind has its microcosmic correspondence in the human aura, which has numerous vortices of brilliant light, shining jewel-wise. When these vortices have been fully awakened, the interior vision is achieved, and not vision alone, but all other faculties of the soul, the ego itself being able to function consciously apart from the body without death intervening. It is not until this awakening has occurred that the wonders and mysteries of nature may be even faintly understood.

   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.

   Both Job and Revelation open with a description of an inspired seer's vision as he contemplates the spectacle of ethereal light diffused through the seven planetary spheres. The first Christians and earlier Initiates were accustomed to assemble on certain specified days to ascend in consciousness to the Holy City, the etheric Jerusalem situated above the physical place of that name. Tbe Prologue of Job is an earlier fragmentary recollection of this sublime experience.

   The path that shines after Leviathan is the aura of the Initiate: "upon earth is not his like who is made without fear"; and, "he beholdeth all things: he is king over all the children of pride." Fear is at the root of most of humanity's illnesses. Fear underlies greed, fear underlies every human evil. The conquest of fear is the greatest labor of the aspirant to the Mysteries and leads to the royal diadem of the Initiate who "beholdeth all things" and is "king over the children of pride." It is axiomatic in Mystery literature that the Initiate is always the son or daughter of a king. Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Hiram, Solomon, were all kings and sons of kings. Jesus was likewise a "king" of the royal line of Judah.

   In this celestial allegory we read a truth known to all esotericists: that even the tempting Angels and the afflicting Angels are part of the divine economy of the universe, and that their activities are subject to cosmic Law. The Bible, as we have it today, speaks occasionally of the angelic hosts and of the Archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael; but there are nameless hosts of angelic spirits which, as a matter of historic record, have been correlated by the ancient Chaldeans and Persians with the various attributes of the Most High God and the signs of the Zodiac as expressions of Him. Bel, it is known, is a form of the word Baal, meaning Lord, and referring to the Sun as a living Archangelic Spirit which in turn represents a member of the supreme Trinity. The Chaldeans attributed to Bel the Dragon of the Zodiac, which is the path of the Sun and also of the planets. In Persia the Spirit of the Sun was Mithra, or Mihr, as we learned in our study of the Book of Esther; and among the Gnostics, the Christ also was identified with the Spirit of Light resident in the Sun. Thus the Archangels referred to in the Bible are really the Planetary Spirits-Gabriel, Lord of the Moon; Michael, "the Angel of the Lord," the Lord of the Sun (among the Jews); and Raphael, the Lord of Mercury.

   The twenty-eighth chapter of Job is generally conceded by scholars to be an interpolation and the work of a much later writer. Some commentators are of the opinion that the chapter has no place here at all, and was inserted solely to insure its preservation. Regardless of the historical period from which this chapter emanates, it is evident to the esotericist that from the standpoint of spiritual unity it belongs in the narrative as the capstone of Job's career of sorrow, for it reveals the ultimate wisdom of Illumination unto which he attained after passing safely under the rod of Satan (Saturn); and allegorically considered, it describes the Path of Initiation.

   Job is subjected to four great testings, and these are common to all humanity under the vibratory influence of Saturn: the rupture of the family circle by death, the loss of worldly possessions, the breaking down of physical health and the misunderstanding, persecution and desertion of trusted friends. These are the four steps familiar in the lives of all men and the universal purification by means of which the mass consciousness is being gradually lifted to the place where it may know and commune with the "splendors beyond the veil."

   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.

   Job is naturally not satisfied with this materialistic theory, in view of his own unceasing efforts to live in a way pleasing to God; he strives for a deeper and more intimate approach to Truth. He is no longer satisfied with "things" of the outer world as such, but is eagerly seeking, "like some bold watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken", for an explanation of the origin and purposes of sorrow; for his own suffering has suddenly made him see and feel the sorrow of all the world. He is tortured by the sense of estrangement which he feels as between the human and the divine. Faust at this place upon the Path cries out, "Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast," and Job laments, "Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my sour." (Job 7:11)

   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.

   As a consequence of the increased sensitivity of the neophyte, he becomes aware of the spiritual world and its inhabitants, and learns to cooperate with the creative Hierarchies. He now knows what before he had accepted on faith; and such faith as he possesses is rightly designated a scientific faith, for it rests on reason, and has the support of evidence. There can be no complete dedication to Spirit until at least a degree of such first-hand knowledge has been achieved. Until then, there is always a sense of hesitation, perhaps even reluctance, to put behind the temptations of the world. But having once walked in the Light where God is, the soul hesitates no more, but surrenders gladly as something of no value the false gold of the mortal senses in order to make room for the true gold of Spirit. It is then he chants with the Psalmist (27th Psalm): "One thing will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in His Temple."

   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.

   There is also the fact to be considered that the modern version of occult truths is not in exact identity with that of ancient Initiates, because, man's mental outlook has changed in the course of evolution; nevertheless, in fundamentals the work is still the same, because the primordial Ideal, or archetype, is eternal and immutable, and it is only the shadow cast in the worlds of illusion which undergoes the process we call evolution.

   Regardless of all evidence to the contrary, evil does not, and never has, triumphed over good. Good is an aspect of God, the Eternal, and destroys evil as surely as light destroys darkness. There is no power in darkness by which it can destroy the light. Darkness must be, and is, always vanquished by light, for it is not a thing in itself, but the mere absence of the positive power of light. It is only when we see life bounded by one birth and one death that inequalities seem triumphant; but when through Initiation we are able to trace the journey of the ego from incarnation to incarnation, then the just operation of the Law of Consequence becomes clear to us, and we know that the righteous is indeed a Tree planted by the waters of Life, bringing forth fruit in its season. The wicked also must reap as they sow, and "are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." They "shall not stand in the judgment."

   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!

   Such are the praises sung in the 66th Psalm. No longer is prayer merely a petition. The oneness of all is realized. No longer does the lamentation of the earlier Psalms find expression here in an appeal for strength to overcome or courage to preserve. There is no life but Spirit, no path but that which leads into an ever-increasing beauty. Consequently the most beautiful and inspiring of all the Psalms are those whose theme is praise.

   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 Zohar states that the universe was created by three forms of expression — numbers, letters and words. The Hebrew alphabet, like the twelve signs of the Zodiac, represent certain definite spiritual powers to be developed in the neophyte as he works toward, and eventually becomes, the Initiate.

   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.

   It is not long since most Christians accepted the entire book of Psalms as being the work of David; yet this is by no means the oldest, nor yet the original tradition. The Hebrews disclaimed the idea that David was sole author of all the Psalms, attributing some to other Bible characters such as Adam, Melchizedek, Moses and Abraham, besides those whose names are mentioned in our existing text: Solomon, David, Heman, Jeduthun, Asaph and the Sons of Korah. The 127th Psalm is not accepted as the work of Solomon in the Hebrew tradition, nor is the 72nd. Esoterically such Psalms vibrate to the keynote of Solomon, that is, they were written under the inspiration of his blessed power in the inner worlds, and reflect his wisdom.

   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.

   In the 72nd psalm the Initiate singer was reading in the Mystic Scrolls of the glad day when Christ would be proclaimed Regent of earth and Saviour of the world. In that time of rejoicing every knee shall bow before Him and every voice proclaim Him Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

   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!"

   It is in this ecstasy of the spirit of praise that more than half of these exalted songs of the spirit are hymned, and by making them part of himself the neophyte may experience the same ecstasy. It is not possible to consider the Psalms exactly in the order in which they occur in the King James text. We will take them in groups, according to their esoteric function, and as they illustrate various phases of the initiatory work.

   Rhythm has a special correlation with the breath, and all that the breathing exercises of Oriental occultists seek to achieve can be achieved through musical rhythms alone, especially when correlated with the dance, for the dancing body is the very personification of rhythm, making music visible and tangible in three dimensions. In the Desire World the streams of rhythm are the basis of consciousness; they form patterns which are visible in light and color, and are audible as sound. There are twelve primary patterns, corresponding to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and one day we shall know that there are likewise twelve planets sounding twelve keynotes. Such are the rhythms we feel flowing through the Psalms, which are truly hymns of Initiation, and which raise tremendously the body rhythms and accelerate consciousness, making possible a contact with the interior worlds.

   It is a fact little known, even among esoteric students, that in and about the chamber in which their habitual meditation and prayer takes place, an etheric structure is erected which corresponds to the student's own state of development, according to the archetypal law referred to previously which governs all manifest form. If he is an advanced or "old soul", to use a technical term, his spiritual house will be a thing of true and perfect beauty, as cleanly fashioned as a crystal or a frost flower or a glowing jewel. Where evil exists these will have their pictured correspondence in distorted lines, in misshapen features and in dungeons of horror. St. Teresa of Avila in her meditations once discovered herself momentarily shut in her own personal hell. It was a small cave in which she could scarcely find lodging, and in which she was imprisoned, almost suffocating. This she recognized as typifying the punishment her sins deserved if a merciful God did not save her from it. On the spiritual side, such was the structure of Solomon's Temple, prototype of the House of the Holy Grail. Such is the meaning of every church, every edifice of worship. In Catholic Churches the red lamp which burns before the altar represents the etheric heart, and similarly in other ecclesiastic edifices.

   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.

   The story is told of two wise men who met and compared their respective knowledge. When they parted, the sage said, "All that he sees, I know." And the seer said, "All that he knows, I see." In the highest development, the ego must hold within his consciousness both powers, that of divine knowing and of divine seeing. The knowing comes through an ascent past logic, requiring the use of language to eliminate images; but the seeing requires the vow of silence, according as circumstances may reasonably allow, in which the suppression of the spoken word is reflected inwardly in the complete mental silence in which the music of the spheres is first heard and then seen in the divine geometry of the Logos: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21).

   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.

   The earliest Mystery Schools taught that to lose oneself was to find eternal life. Self is the great barricade to the threshold of the new life. "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house: but he that hateth gifts shall live." (Proverbs 15:27)

   King Solomon the Wise was the highest Initiate of the Old Testament Dispensation. The exquisite Song of Solomon is the spiritual insignia, as it were, of his profound wisdom. This song of songs reveals perfect equilibrium; the rhythmic cadence of absolute balance has never been more beautifully expressed in any language: "My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies." Esoteric Christianity teaches that there exists an intimate bond between this highest Initiate of the Old Dispensation and the Master Jesus, highest Initiate of the New Testament Dispensation. The mission of the latter was to surrender his perfect human body for the Christ's use during the three years of His ministry — for, as various Christian Fathers have asserted, it was essential for the Christ to veil His celestial radiance by a human form else no man could have borne the power and splendor of His presence.

   "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.)

   Writes Max Heindel: "Try to imagine what it means in the first chapter of Genesis and the first chapter of John when it is said that God moved upon the waters; try to realize that we, who were then in God, were also present there."

   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 soul radiance remains with the spirit when it returns into Earth life again and may be seen surrounding the head of an infant in a luminous halo. Nearly all children at birth have something of this reflection. In the case of an advanced ego this halo is a glorious sight such as master artists depict around the heads of the holy Mary and the Master Jesus.

   So long as man inhabits a body of flesh and lives in a material world, so long as he has not overcome this illusion of the senses through Illumination, he must take heed of the moral and practical laws which govern the appearances among which he lives. The Book of Proverbs may well be termed a study in contrasts of the real and the unreal, the eternal and the evanescent. It is indeed a series of practical precepts given by a Master in Israel with particular stress laid upon the most essential virtues to be cultivated by the aspirant, and the evils to be avoided. Many chapters, therefore, are contrast studies between the way of Spirit and the way of flesh. As the path of Spirit is contrasted with the way of the flesh, so also is the life of Reality contrasted with that of illusion; for Reality and Spirit are synonymous, and so are illusion and sensuality. As to the latter, "There is a way which seemeth right to a man; but the ends thereof are the ways of death; and the end of that mirth is heaviness." (Proverbs 14:12,13)

   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."

   The three parts of the cord are composed of etheric substance, astral matter and mental substance, respectively. The densest segment is the etheric, and this etheric segment is composed of the most tenuous of the four ethers, namely, the reflecting ether. The etheric segment is rooted in the apex of the heart, whence, during intrauterine existence, it grows toward the solar plexus; there it meets the second, or astral, segment, which meantime has grown from its root in the great vortex of the liver. This junction marks the quickening of the embryo. The fuller growth of the segment of the cord extending between the solar plexus and liver is a contributory cause of adolescence, this growth taking place in the second septenary of the child's life (ages of seven to fourteen). The first segment of the cord, extending between the heart and solar plexus, undergoes a fuller growth during the first septenary, and has an important bearing on the mystery of child life. The third segment of the cord is composed of mental stuff, and extends from the frontal sinus to the liver, where it joins the second or astral segment rooted there. This juncture marks the beginning of adult life, for it unites the mind with the desire body, so that the intellect is able to govern the desires henceforth. This is the end of adolescence. The third, or mental, segment of the cord like the first two segments, undergoes a further development in the seven years following the birth of the mind concomitant with the maturation of the reflecting ether which ripens during this fourth septenary period. Occultly, therefore, the age of twenty-eight marks the true beginning of completely mature adulthood.

   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."

   As the mystic comes to the place of the cross, the Hill of Death, where he casts off the personal life for the impersonal, so the occultist comes to his particular Hill of Death where knowledge no longer satisfies him: "I communed with mine own heart, saying Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yes, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge". And what did he learn from all his wisdom and knowledge? He learned at last that "he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow". "Behold, all is vanity".

   Scorpio, like Virgo, is often identified with Wisdom; its wisdom, however, is of a different sort than Virgo's, which is mental in nature, correlating to Mercury, or Hermes. The Scorpio wisdom is the wisdom of the serpent, and refers to the Mystery Schools in which the martial discipline is applied to the mind and soul to produce certain foreknown and definitely planned-for results. When the heart is thus applied to wisdom (Ecclesiastes 8:16), and when spiritual consciousness and extended vision are evolved through regeneration (which is the highest aspect of Scorpio), the Invisible Helper is "born" who is able to labor when out of the body in sleep in ways the worldly know not of. They also develop unusual skills and genius in the pursuit of their work in the world, thus making the wilderness blossom as the rose. The keynote of this chapter is found in the words: "Where the word of a king is, there is power. And who may say unto him, What doest thou?" (Ecclesiastes 8:4)

   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.

   Neglect of this consideration is one of the reasons that many neophytes fail to demonstrate the higher soul powers. They are not patient, they will not wait for the harvest season, but recklessly gather, or try to gather, the wheat before it is ripe and hence find themselves with an armful of tares and unripe wheat — negative psychism and evil karma — instead of the ripe wheat, or Initiation, which they desired. "The hour knoweth no man," said the Christ; and Ecclesiastes voices a similar warning: "No man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."

   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.

   When the Sun passes through the Mansion of Pisces, the orthodox churches observe Lent. The time limits are not exact, but there is a correspondence. In the early Church, when the Vernal Equinox fell on the cusp of Aries, the correspondence was closer, the forty days of Lent then falling almost wholly in Pisces, the sign whose symbol is two fishes bound together. The Vernal Equinox is now in about nine degrees of Pisces, and by the precession of the Equinoxes, each year it draws closer to the Aquarian boundary line; and Lent is thus thrown farther back among the constellations, being now more in Aquarius than in Pisces as a rule. In pre-Christian times there was a fasting season corresponding to our Lent when the Sun passed through the constellation Pisces and entered Aries, as shown in the Book of Daniel. When Christ came into the world, the Vernal Equinox — which is the point on the celestial equator where the Sun crosses northward in the spring — was in about seven degrees of Aries, already close to the Piscean cusp. Since then the Vernal Equinox has preceded through the constellation Pisces until it now stands at about nine degrees of that constellation, and each year approaches closer to the cusp of the constellation of Aquarius. Thus in the Aquarian Age (during which the Vernal Equinox is in Aquarius), Lent will fall largely in the period during which the Sun transits Pisces for much of the Age, but Easter Sunday itself will fall in Pisces rather than in Aries as it has done during the greater part of the current Piscean Age. The astronomical rule for determining Easter is that Easter shall be the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

   When the books of the Old Testament were written, astrology was universally studied and practiced in the schools which then existed; it was taught as a sacred science and a phase of religion. The wise men of the Temples knew it as the mother science of occultism and as one of the keys to Initiation, and this it still is today. One of the most important exercises for occult Illumination is to "follow the Sun" in its annual circuit of the twelve signs of the Zodiac and realizing oneself as the Divine Attribute which each represents and which the Sun vivifies. Thus when the Sun transits the sign Aries, the aspirant identifies himself with the Divine Attribute of Creative Energy: "I ant that." And so with the other "mansions" of the Sun, which is the Christ Star of our solar system. In the ancient Mysteries, the Initiate was always identified with the "god", or as we would say, the Archangel of the Mystery. Thus in Egypt the Initiate identified himself with Osiris, or with Isis; in Syria and Palestine, with Adonis or Ishtar; in Greece, with Dionysus or Semele, or with Orpheus or Euridice, with Eros or Psyche; and in Christian times, the Initiate becomes "the Anointed," the Christed One. In Ecclesiastes the student can follow the Christ Star through the signs of the Zodiac, learning their mystical meanings, and identifying himself with them as Christ did, for as the Egyptian aspirants sang, "Thy Attributes are my attributes!" This is the greatest of all spiritual and metaphysical Mysteries.

   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."

   This blending of the two poles of Spirit constitutes the Mystic Marriage with which St. John opens his Gospel and its music accompanies every verse of Solomon's beautiful marriage Song. Veiled for those who are not yet ready for the Quest under the likeness of a vividly beautiful human love song, the Song of Solomon is to the illumined a revelation from the very Holy of Holies, wherein he stands face to face with the Light Eternal, now no longer seen "as through a glass, darkly," but with transcendent clearness.

   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.

   There are seven plexuses of primary importance which this ascending spinal spirit fire quickens into life; they correspond to the seven steps of the Illumined Way enumerated previously. These awakened plexuses, spiritually discerned, are revolving centers of light and as the spinal spirit fire ascending to the head increases in volume, its powers permeate the entire body, flooding every atom with a rare luminosity. When the serpent fire has been completely lifted to the head and finds there its center of expression instead of in the lower part of the body, the mind is unified with Spirit, man becomes superman, and his creations spiritual instead of physical or material.

   It is true also that another esoteric mystery is involved in biblical instances where a great prophet or teacher reappeared in the course of centuries. The Disciples assumed without question that Jesus or John could be Elijah returned. This indicates how the Hebrews commonly accepted the idea of such rebirths. When writings of the exilic period are attributed to the first Isaiah it indicates that, regardless of the era in which they were written, Hebrew scholars believed they were the work of Isaiah himself. In like manner they believed that Ezra was "raised from the dead" after a hundred years to complete his work on the Scriptures. The First Isaiah may indeed have foreseen the future of his people; he may have been "raised from the dead" during the Exile to complete his great work, with no impairment of memory from the one birth to the next. This would require great spiritual power, but tradition and Scripture agree that Isaiah was a Master of transcendent Degree and several apocryphal Books describe his transfiguration and ascension. The great Christian teacher, Origen, accepted these phenomena as authentic and referred to them in his writings.

   Esoteric Christians understand that the inspiration of the prophets was based upon their ability to read from God's great picture book, the Memory of Nature, which contains indelible records of all past, present and future events. Hence, the words of Isaiah's first vision are as applicable to our present day as they were to the days they were written. When a new phase of religion is being inaugurated there are brought to birth strong egos whose illumination gives the new movement its initial forward impulse. The most noteworthy exemplification of this is the gathering of the Disciples in support of Christ Jesus. Towards the end of an epoch the religion that has served in the past is but a shadow of its original light. Its spirit is lost in form and ceremonial, its adherents are followers of the letter only, so it no longer has power to transform life.

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

   In their historical interpretation, the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah describe the life and mission of good King Hezekiah. From an esoteric or spiritual viewpoint, they describe perfectly the life and mission of Christ Jesus. Herein we consider the wonderful wisdom of the Bible, how great truths are intricately interwoven in such manner as to conceal and reveal various phases of truth in their application to varying stages of consciousness and different planes of manifestation.

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.

   Jeremiah is referring to imperfect bodies subject to death as a result of having been generated without regard to the harmony of stellar vibrations. Before the Fall man knew neither good nor evil; he functioned in unconscious obedience to cosmic Law. By the suffering consequent upon his disobedience to divine will he is learning to differentiate between good and evil. This is his great compensation for all the pain and sorrow he has experienced since the Fall. Bodies conceived without reference to cosmic harmony as registered by the stars have been subject to malformation, disease, disintegration and finally death. The Book of Jeremiah is largely a lament for the sorrowful condition of both earth and mankind because of this great offense against the Law.

   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.

   Each year the earth reenacts the great cosmic drama of this "fall," when nature is wrapped in winter darkness — as is man's soul when he chooses the way of flesh instead of the way of spirit. Such seasonal changes will continue until man chooses the path of soul redemption and changes his mode of living. Then will he find the new City of Zion. But until he has effected an alchemical blending of the four primary forces within himself there can be no reconciliation of the elements. "As above, so below;" also, as below so above! The macrocosm and the microcosm are one.

   When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem the second time he left only waste and desolation. All important buildings, including the Temple, were destroyed. The huge towers and colossal walls which had resisted five centuries of attack were leveled to the ground. Seventy of the leading citizens were executed while the remainder were herded into chains for being sent to Babylon. The poor, the old, the lame, the halt and the blind were left in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was allowed to choose whether he would go or remain. Always having chosen the most difficult path, he cast his lot with the sufferers left amid the ruins. He had predicted Babylon's victory over Egypt but the people refused to heed his warning And gave their allegiance to Egypt. When they sought refuge with the Pharaoh, Jeremiah went with them. At no time did he lose his vision of the Messiah's coming to establish the Kingdom of Righteousness. Temporal cities might fall but the celestial city would endure: "In those days and at that time will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David . . . In those days . . . shall Jerusalem dwell in safety" (Jeremiah 33:15, 16). "They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." (Jeremiah 50:5)

   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."

   The latter remains the ideal of esoteric Brotherhoods which guide the evolution of earth, but few there be in the world today who possess any knowledge of spiritual mysteries. Few there are even among the so-called religious leaders who understand the nature of the soul body and the method of its development, or who make any effort to teach their followers anything about the subject. And yet, throughout the Bible, the supreme Textbook for the Western World, teachings pertaining to the soul are plainly delineated, and Scripture makes clear what a lack of such knowledge means to the human race.

   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 reference is to the axial change of the earth which occurred with the descent of the Luciferian fire spirits from heaven and affected our entire planetary system, giving to earth a coat of dust and to men garments of skin.

   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."

   Esoterically, the Restoration of Israel symbolizes the redemption of the whole human race from materiality. The valley of dry bones is material consciousness. Restoration to spiritual life is possible only through the work of the Holy Ghost (Wisdom or Truth) within man. Similarly, the union of Judah and Joseph in the New Kingdom refers to spiritual development as a result of this work. The dry bones first put on flesh and resemble living men, but they are not truly living until they receive the Breath of Life from God.

   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.

   In order to do the work required of a spiritual Teacher the Will principle — having its focus in the frontal sinus — must be brought to a very high stage of development. Ezekiel is told: "Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant, harder than flint, have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house." (Ezekiel 3:8,9)

   According to Josephus a Hebrew legend states that Adam said the world would be destroyed by both water and fire, and this agrees with the Persian teaching. In the foregoing verses Daniel describes the terrible evil of black magic that destroyed the Fourth Root Race and the continent of Atlantis. "The dividing of time" was marked by the Flood, which destroyed the earth and the Fourth Race. Mankind had descended to the lowest point in the evolutionary cycle and was ready to turn again heavenward. The destruction by fire prophesied by Adam refers to the destruction of the Lemurian continent in the Pacific Ocean; this took place prior to the Atlantean Epoch.

   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 man has learned the way back to redemption and has again become pure and harmless, his perfected reflection will work a transformation in the animal world. Those who have found the path of holiness have demonstrated this truth individually. In the Aquarian Age it will be demonstrated collectively.

   Babylon was one of the most beautiful cities the world has ever seen. Its magnificence was unrivaled at the time and has never since been surpassed. Archeologists have discovered the ruins of a mighty Temple, the entrance of which was composed of stately columns while surrounding it were twenty-seven spacious chambers. It is thought that one of these great halls was used by Belshazzar for his memorable feast. The splendor of this banquet, with its throngs of guests, its flowers, the flowing of heavily perfumed wines and the wild abandonment of merry-making, has long been a favorite theme for artists and poets. It was while this luxurious orgy was at its height that the mysterious hand appeared upon the wall and wrote in a mystic script: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN" — "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting ... Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

   It is a fact known to Initiates that as an individual rises to a higher plane his consciousness is temporarily overshadowed by the high vibration; but as he becomes accustomed to it, consciousness gradually returns. He has the assistance of ministering Angels to help him make the adjustment, as does Daniel: "Behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands." Then he heard Gabriel speaking the words: "O Daniel, a man greatly beloved ... unto thee am I now sent." These words addressed to Daniel by the Archangel are very similar to those addressed to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation.

   The author of Daniel wrote in Maccabean times when, by both the Hellenizers and the Temple party, the Fire Mysteries had been driven underground by persecution. The truths of the story are consequently doubly veiled — just as Alchemists wrote into their treatises errors of method and even of scientific fact to mislead the profane and the orthodox alike. Certain modern kabbalists writing in the English language have done likewise in their delineations of the Tree of Life. Esoteric students know by many signs that Nebuchadnezzar was not persecuting the Three Friends; at most he is looked upon as a divinely appointed tempter (or tester) who was, perhaps, misled by the slander and malicious gossip of the court, but who quickly saw his error. Note that he alone of all the Chaldeans beheld the fourth who walked in the fire with the three: "I see four men loose (from the body), walking in the midst of the fire ... and the fourth is like the Son of God." Without initiatory knowledge Nebuchadnezzar could never have beheld the "Son of God" (i.e. Bel-Marduk, Son of Ea).

   The mingling of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay refers to the period of assimilation during a cosmic night, the interval between incarnations spent by an ego on inner planes; and also the period between great evolutionary days of cosmic manifestation. During these "night times" of Nature all evolving life-waves intermingle in the ocean of life, each sharing with the other the gains made during recent earth experiences, and incorporating the results as faculties for future expression. By Initiation a candidate learns to anticipate this cosmic process in the laboratory of his own consciousness — thus taking heaven by storm, as St. Paul says, and perfecting here and now the attainment destined for the race as a whole in a distant future.

   Following the Messiah's advent, "After threescore and two weeks (62 weeks) shall Messiah be cut off," indicating a period of something more than four hundred years (62 X 7 = 434) during which the Redeemer would still be known among men. This agrees with Gnostic tradition, for during the first five centuries following the Christ's Ascension Jesus organized the New Church and the Christ Mysteries while functioning in His etheric body. The Gnostics, however, preserved a tradition of the Invisible Christ who taught their Illumined Ones and who might be reached by all who made themselves worthy. The Persian Mani also taught much concerning the Invisible Master and how He guided the destinies of men from the spiritual side of Nature.

   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.

   Matthew describes the same finale: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on the right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matthew 25:31,33,34)

   After an Initiate has successfully passed the Dweller on the Threshold and, purity having been found in him, has gained control of that phantom, he is conducted by a spiritual Teacher to the Hall of Initiation. The various Schools or Temples of Initiation are not spatial in any sense. It may be said of them, as of the Castle of the Grail, that they are in no particular place but can be discovered and reached in all places. There are certain areas upon the earth's surface which correspond to great magnetic vortices that penetrate to earth's very core, and in these districts are usually located the Mystery Schools. Jerusalem is such an area, so the Chaldean-Persian Mysteries were destined to be transplanted westward into that new land. Second Ezra took the Persian Initiations. On the outer plane and with the help of various prophets of the Restoration, he established the visible Temple of Zion. Daniel, an illumined Initiate of both Chaldea and Persia, accompanied this activity on inner planes and helped to establish the invisible Temple there.

   The two major tests of Initiation by Fire are the Fiery Furnace and the Lion's Den, both referring to similar processes. The lion has always been a symbol of cosmic Fire, that Fire-force which pulsates throughout the universe and is the hidden life of mineral, plant, animal and man. As long as this fire-force rages unrestrained, man himself is a fiery furnace. After it has been brought under control of the spiritual will, he is immune to "fire" and can pass through it unscathed. This he does repeatedly in his work as an Invisible Helper, even seeming to bear a charmed physical life. Once in control of this force, man enters upon a life of harmlesness and purity. He can pass unharmed through "the lion's den" because he is under the protection of the Law of Unity and Love. Such an one is hailed as a "fiery Initiate;" he has become a "king of Fire" and in every realm denizens of fire know him and obey his will. It is only after passing through the experiences of the fiery Initiation that one comes to understand why the God in all religions has been represented by the Fire element.

   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.

   The Bible narrative clearly points out that Daniel surpassed the Chaldean diviners in their own wisdom, achieving honor through merit. His loyalty to the king is shown throughout, whereas history points the finger of suspicion at Babylonian priests in connection with treachery that enabled Cyrus to conquer the city by night. In Daniel's words to the king, esotericists see the integrity of a supremely gifted minister of the State. He may be better understood if compared with the more recent Nostradamus, a Roman Catholic of Jewish descent who is celebrated as the greatest prophet of Christian Europe and whose prophetic verses stand as a genuine apocalyptic work. Daniel may also be compared with those medieval Jewish kabbalists who, through their studies, became convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the promised Messiah and therefore confessed Christianity. So often was this the case that the Jewish Orthodox Church finally eschewed the kabbalah as a pernicious influence. As a result it remained almost wholly in Gentile hands until recent years.

   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.

   Chapter four recounts another vision of the king. The "watcher" mentioned is an angelic Being — and the term watcher is truly descriptive of these Beings — whose eyes are unwinking in their heavenly lustre and seem to illumine the very soul of any upon whom they gaze. It is as if their eyes were organs of communication for they convey that silent wisdom so beautifully described by Rudolf Steiner, the eminent occultist, as "inwardly instilled speech."

   The horse (as the centaur it is the symbol of Sagittarius) represents the lower nature and also a new cycle — hence, the winged horse Pegasus of Grecian mythology. Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob, who was lost in bondage for so long, was at length found in a position of glory and high honor as the Pharaoh-appointed ruler of Egypt, land of darkness (materiality). This aptly exemplifies the different steps in the redemptive processes of the mind. It is therefore most fitting that astrologers have assigned Sagittarius to Joseph. Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, portray perfectly the two aspects of mind, the masculine and feminine, the higher and lower, the abstract and concrete, the spiritual and material. It is the lifting or spiritualizing of the lower or feminine aspect of mind—referred to so often in the song of Hosea as Ephraim — that constitutes the great work before the post-Atlantean, or Fifth Root Race people in the world today.

   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.

   It is no coincidence, therefore, that plagues accompany wars and mass injustices of every sort. Each type of evil produces a specific plague-form; the most frequent and general is, of course, the ordinary cold germ which is an expression of fear or hate. Whether of the body, mind, or soul, courage is its best antidote. Thought-forms generated by malicious gossip are wasp-like, while well meant but thoughtless gossip appears in the desire world as swarms of gnats and mosquito-like insects. These creatures have also been described as tiny grotesque and misshapen bird-forms, consisting of nothing more than a tuft of feathers and a sharp bill that attacks the aura of a victim. Swedenborg's statement that locusts signify the sensual in man is borne out by the vision of many a Seer. Locusts of inner planes do not always have the same form as those of the outer, but there is a definite similarity in type. The locusts so graphically described by Joel correlate with the fire force in man: with its misuse and the consequences thereof.

   When the people's spiritual status fell so low that the complete destruction of the Temple was threatened, spiritual truth was withheld for a time. This same condition occurred at the time of the Flood, and again on the threshold of the Arian Age, when the breaking up of the Taurean civilization of Chaldea caused Abraham and his people to be led forth into Canaan. The Lords of Destiny always withdraw esoteric Teachings for a time when mankind lapses into a particularly dark period of materiality, but this does not mean that the Teachings are lost forever. A chosen messenger of the Brotherhood of Light appears precisely at the point where darkness prevails and lights the Path leading to the Promised Land.

   According to the Gospel of Luke, the blessed Lord Christ once declared: "This is an evil generation, they seek a sign, and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet." (Luke 11:29) Matthew (12:40) elucidates this further: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" — a reference to the three days of trance in ancient Initiation rituals. During this time the ego wandered in the spiritual world and investigated living records in the Memory of Nature. The Christ taught a new method, a new process of Initiation that eliminated the three days of trance. The "sign of Jonas" has reference to the ancient method; "the Son of Man" to the new process.

   When it was written that after three days Jonah left the body of the fish to return to land it meant esoterically that his Initiation was complete in that Degree. Now purified of formerly unrecognized failings, and strengthened by an extension of his mental and spiritual faculties, Jonah was ready to perform the work whereto he had been called. Still deeply grieving, he proceeds to Nineveh and warns the people of impending calamity.

   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.

   A Guardian Angel, personification of the Race Spirit, stands in the relationship of a parent to individual egos comprising the race. So long as one is content to be led in childlike obedience by this racial Oversoul, there is no conflict between his conscious and subconscious. When, however, he takes his evolution into his own hands, as is done in Initiation, he severs the bond ("cable tow") between himself and the Race Spirit. The Angel then relinquishes its guardianship over the gates of the individual's "hell," leaving, it free to rise into the full light of consciousness. Not infrequently a neophyte is unable to cope with these blind forces of his own subconscious and he becomes mentally or morally unbalanced or the victim, of serious social maladjustment. Schools of Initiation were instituted that neophytes might have help when they stand most in need of it, and in such wise as not to hinder their development into completely self-reliant individuals. Blessed are those who have learned the lesson of selflessness before that need arrives, for Love casteth out fear and enables a candidate to overcome through transmutation those dark powers dwelling under the Threshold.

   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)

   Yet Micah was fearless and undaunted by seemingly superior forces roused against him. He hurled his prophecies of impending doom so forcefully that King Hezekiah listened and was so impressed he instituted needed reforms. Micah was to the Kingdom of Judah what Amos had been to the Kingdom of Israel. During the reign of the evil Manasseh his valiant voice was stilled. He doubtless suffered martyrdom as did Isaiah.

   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)

   Every disciple comes to accept the fact that it is only through the action of the twin Laws of Rebirth and Causation, the basis of all evolutionary progress, that the inequalities and injustices of life can be satisfactorily adjusted. Only in the action of these Laws is God found to be both the Lord of Love and the Lord of justice.

   Esoterically considered, this prophecy relates to the law underlying all national causation. As a man must reap what he has sown, so, too, must a nation — a bitter lesson now being brought home to mankind. The same law applies to both. The word Huzzab means decreed, ordained. Any nation or people which loses the sense of social justice and equality, and places ease and pleasure above duty and responsibility, will inevitably suffer downfall. The just Law of Causation has brought about the rise and fall of civilizations. On inner planes certain Masters await for the rise of a nation that will demonstrate righteous living, that will lift the standard of righteousness above the demands of self-interest and spiritual values above materiality. Such a nation must replace temporal things with things eternal, and exalt as the chief aim and purpose of life, the quest for Truth. Only a civilization fulfilling these requirements can endure. In anticipation of its coming, Nahum sings: "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feast, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cast off." (Nahum 1:15).

   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.

   "And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and gold, that do after the will of your God." All spiritual representatives seek to encourage the cultivation of epigenesis, the latent creative power within the individual ego. The right cultivation of this force makes man an anointed or Christed One, able to realize the full aim and purpose of the Earth Period evolution.

   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.

   Prophecies concerning the End are couched in pictorial language familiar to every mystic as the "Jupiter Picture Consciousness" of a high Initiate, of which many examples have been given. It is a living language, symbolic and dramatic. It appears in mental space before the inner eye of an Illumined One, and at the same time is heard inwardly in speech understood by his heart. Such a type of prophetic communication is not to be confused with reading in the Memory of Nature. A disciple may or may not be in his body when he receives instruction of this kind. Ezekiel was taken out of the body; so was Esdras in the Field of Ardath. There are instances, however, where a disciple received instruction while remaining conscious within his physical vehicle.

   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.

   In the work of Initiation going forward in spiritual Temples on the inner planes there is a definite correspondence with outer movements of the universe. Thus, the first seven of the nine Lesser Mysteries correlate with the seven days of the week; the eighth correlates with the Solstices and the ninth with the Equinoxes. The first Great Initiation confers Adeptship and relates to penetration into the innermost secrets of the earth. Yet all this is but a prelude to the Great Work. Adeptship having been attained in the first Great Initiation, three more Great Initiations follow wherein an Adept comes to know the All Highest, not by reflections in Nature but face to face. Finally he enters the White Light of the Supreme and "goes no more out" into embodiment, having become one with his Source.

   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.

   Israel is feminine; Judah, masculine — as shown in the biblical "daughter of Israel" and "Lion of Judah." True affection and equality between man and woman have not existed on the earth plane since early Atlantean times. The New Age demands equilibrium; hence, a new place for woman. Boaz, the column of Beauty, must be lifted up. When this has been accomplished, the column of Bands (Unity, the binding together in brotherhood) will also be set upright. These two columns will be the pillars of a new civilization that will flourish in righteousness and beauty throughout the earth. Man and woman will walk hand in hand politically, economically, spiritually. They will be blessed and sustained by the loving protection of a masculine-feminine Father-Mother-God. Such will be the humanity and the civilization to which the Christ will return. In preparation for this Event Zechariah the Seer commands that the thirty pieces of silver be cast to the potter in the house of the Lord (Law).

   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."

   Because many apocalyptic promises were not fulfilled in the time of Jesus, a large group among the Jews rejected Him as the Messiah" but the rejection was based on a misunderstanding. According to prophecy, the "day of the Lord" was to be followed by "the agonies of the Messiah." But a "day of the Lord" may be either a millennium or a zodiacal age of more than two millennia. Hence, the First Coming of Messiah is followed by a "day" of suffering and conflict: the Piscean Age which has certainly been the bloodiest period the earth has ever known. Our very planet writhes in agony as the conflict approaches its consummation. At the end of the "agonies of the Messiah," however, victory comes. In Christian prophecy this victory is the Second Coming of Christ. It is clear to esotericists that the Age of Pisces is the apocalyptic age of the Messiah's agonies, and that only in the Capricornian Age described by Zechariah will all prophecy be fulfilled.

   From an historical viewpoint, the two olive trees "that stand by the Lord" refer to Joshua and Zerubbabel. But there is also an initiatory interpretation pertaining to the alchemy of the two nervous systems, which play such an important part in human regeneration. The sympathetic nervous system is the stronghold of the vital body, or life forces, the desire body having seized control of the cerebro-spinal system. As the contibl of the nerves of both the cerebro-spinal and the sympathetic nervous systems, the powers of which are greatly augmented. The neophyte then becomes aware of ethereal, but mighty, forces pouring purification process goes forward the universal Life Spirit attains to through Nature in great tides. Being aware of them, he is able to use them advantageously in creating a more perfect world and in achieving Illumination for himself. The cerebro-spinal system is predominately the channel for the masculine (positive) forces of creation on the material plane; the sympathetic is predominantly the channel for the feminine (negative) forces. When a harmonious balance is attained between them, neither one nor the other being dominant, Love and Reason function together as a unit. This balance is described in the words of Zechariah: "These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

   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.

   Once again the glory of the Christ Light is descending to a troubled and sorrowing world. Many persons are already beginning to sense its beauty and power; and some who have eyes to see have been caught up to receive His blessing and His benediction. This Sun of Righteousness, the highest Archangelic Initiate, descended to earth to assume regency of this planet and, by his supreme sacrifice on Golgotha, to bring redemption to the entire human race. Down through the ages there have been those who realized this mighty truth and have dedicated their lives to its dissemination. In the vision of St. John they bear the mark upon their foreheads, for they have been anointed with the seal of Christ. As the descending Christ Light grows increasingly brighter with the passing years, those who have ears to hear may again catch the prophetic words of Malachi: "The Sun of Righteousness (shall) arise with healing in his wings."

   Bible students are familiar with the columns Jachin and Boaz which stood before the door of Solomon's Temple, and they know also of the two columns of wind and fire which flanked the entrance of the Temple of the King of Tyre. It is not so well known that in Egypt these same two columns confronted the devotee or the Initiate and that he walked between them to enter the sanctuary. Within the Temple he was again required to pass between two columns before he could enter the Holy Place. These inner columns differed from the outer, being united by a crossbeam under which the neophyte must walk, indicating that he had brought to equilibrium the two natures within himself, and only those who had accomplished this work were worthy to enter.

   "Things which are seen are temporal," said one who knew, in regard to the transitional state. The Tarot picture shows the contrast between Aleph and Samekh, for Aleph is the White Fire of God expressing on the plane of eternity; Samekh is the Fire which burns in the sense world, with its constantly shifting and changing values, a plane of continuous transition. There are two Masters, one representing the forces of Light and the other the forces of Darkness. The first points the way to immortality by lifting the staff (the life current) toward the head (purity and regeneration). The second points the way to sense indulgence which leads to degeneration and death.

   Apocryphal Masonic legends ascribe the Books of Tau and the symbolic T to Methusael, the descendant of Cain, as we learned in our study of the letter Teth, which is also T in sound; and we reviewed the story of Hiram Abiff, the Master Architect of Solomon's Temple, who plunged through the raging molten sea to the center of the earth where he met his ancestor Tubal-Cain and received from him a disk and a hammer, with which he returned to the surface of the earth and completed his masterpiece. Afterward he was attacked by three ruffians, but succeeded in throwing into a well the golden plate upon which was inscribed the Master's Word, which was thus lost. Rosicrucian legends state that Hiram Abiff was reborn as Lazarus, taking the name of John in Initiation, and becoming the author of the Fourth Gospel. Only in John's Gospel do we have the story of the raising of Lazarus, and only there does Mary Magdalen receive the supreme honor of being first to see the Risen Christ.

   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."

   Historically we note that Hebrew is written from right to left, hence the letter-angels who appear before God in reverse order, from T to A, suggest an opposite arrangement, such as we find in the Greek alphabet, which uses the same letters but writes them from left to right, which is the case in English also. We are reminded of Lucian's satire on the trial of the letters in the court of the vowels, quoted in another place, which was evidently inspired by just such mystical playing with letters as we find in this parable.

   According to Max Heindel, there are in existence on earth five schools which teach the Four Great Initiations and seven schools which teach the Nine Lesser Initiations. He intimates that one at least of the five schools of the Greater Mysteries is located in the vicinity of ancient Israel, for the Christ founded all of these Greater Mysteries; one of the schools of the Lesser Mysteries he states is located in southern Germany — the Order of the Rose Cross, of which he was the representative, and another he mentions as existing in Egypt. In early lectures he also intimates that a Temple of the Lesser Mysteries is situated in the Himalayas.

   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.

   On the high plane of divinity or God-Consciousness, the High Priestess denotes the Glory of Shekinah, the manifested Presence of God as she begins to reveal Herself to her children, the Initiates. This is the "upper" Shekinah of the Kabbalah; the Shekinah of the Mysteries. In the next Tarot card we are shown the "lower" Shekinah, not as a "fallen feminine," but as God's manifestation in the realms of Nature. The disciple is taught to relate these two aspects of the Divine Feminine as being the manifestation of God on the inner and the outer planes of Nature.

   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.

   This symbolic weighing of the heart bears an interesting significance for the occultist, who understands that the seed atom of the physical body is located in the apex of the etheric heart and contains an indelible record of every thought, word and deed of that individual during his earth life. It is from this record in the heart that the values of each earth life are assessed at the time of death.

   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 hideous figure shown in this Arcanum typifies the spirit behind the dark forces which have sought to control and subjugate our planet since the beginning of human evolution and which are tremendously accelerated as the Age draws to its close, for with the end of the Piscean Age the spirits of evil is finished. Hebrew mystics spoke of the Piscean Age as the time of the "Agonies of the Messiah."

   As stated at the outset of our exploration of the Tarot mysteries, the Tarot, like the Bible and other Wisdom Books, outlines in symbol the steps and stages of the Path of Initiation or Illumination, forewarning of trials and temptations, foreshowing triumphs and delights. They represent for the modern neophyte an ideographic approach to the inner worlds, and their ideograms reach back into nameless epochs of past evolution, back to the dawn of human consciousness when the germ of mind was given to primitive man by cosmic Hierophants. The first Temples of Initiation were built for man when he became a "thinking animal," and there were as many of these Temples built, in various parts of the world, as there were kinds of people who needed them. Yet the basic Teaching was always and everywhere the same, though adapted to varying conditions in human life-both external and internal — to the outward conditions of space and time, to the inward conditions of heredity and the spirit's urge toward perfection.

   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.

   We may say that the Initiate recapitulates the history of his race and then steps forward beyond it. The Initiate is not a miraculous phenomenon set apart from his people and his time, but he is the apotheosis of civilization. He is the flowering of the race-plant and shows all men what it is their destiny to be. For this reason every part of his life has universal significance, and the experiences of all men are gathered up in him.

   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.

   We have stated previously that the Path of Initiation is divided into three parts, the parts denoting the three classes of disciples — first, the Neophytes; second, the Disciples; third, those who have been found worthy to part the veil and enter the Holy of Holies, the Initiates. In many schools the threefold divisions are named Studentship, Probationship and Discipleship; Initiation being the full flowering of the third degree.

   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.

   It is only in the understanding of the Twin Laws that a reasonable answer is found to all the inequalities and apparent injustices which we see about us; the good things of life heaped upon one who has seemingly done nothing to deserve them, while another who to all appearances is noble and deserving of the best spends an entire life time in a fruitless quest for the good things of life which seem always to elude him. But as St. Paul says, "We see in part, we know in part-but when that which is perfect is come (meaning a full understanding truth), then that which is in part shall be done away. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face."

   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.

   The occult scientist knows that the physical body, seen by physical vision, is not the only "body" which the ego possesses. He has finer vehicles — etheric, astral, mental and spiritual — which can only be studied by means of higher or extended vision. He understands that this earth planet also has similar envelopes, or shields, in addition to the physical sphere upon which humanity lives. It is in the mental envelope or body of the planet that we plant our thought seed. If planted by a strong will and powerful, vivid imagination, these seeds grow and influence not only those who have planted them but others who are thinking on the same subjects. Thus we may note the great blessings wrought through the lives of such souls as St. Francis of Assisi, whose thought seems to have inspired and influenced all generations since his time. A modern example is Mahatma Gandhi. An opposite picture is shown by dictators and war lords. Any individual who dreams of world domination can be powerfully influenced by the seed-thoughts planted in the mental realm by such characters.

   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.

   Whether in the fashion of Lamed with head downward, the martyr with calm visage whose blood drops like gold upon the earth, or the fashion of the cross elevated on Golgotha where the Son of God is raised against the sky for all men to behold, the Crucifixion represents the ultimate and complete self-conquest — not defeat, but victory!

   We must come into the realization at the very outset of our study that there is a vast difference between numbers and figures. Numbers are representative of forces which operate on the highest spiritual planes. Figures are but the external hieroglyphs of these spiritual powers as they may be seen and studied upon this outer physical plane. Numbers are the ten supreme Principles upon which the universe (not alone our solar system) is founded. Figures are but the outer shadow-forms of these all-abiding Principles as they are comprehended and interpreted by man.

   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 symbol or numeral of the figure 2 represents the descent of spirit into matter. God moves on he face of the waters to create. So the masculine principle of God operates in conjunction with the powers of the erstwhile prostrate feminine principle and thus it is that all formative processes begin. In this manner the firmament was made manifest. The waters which were under the firmament were divided from the waters which were above the firmament; and there was evening and there was morning a second day. (Genesis 1:7-8) The duad is the silent secretive, mysterious, occult feminine principle — the power behind the throne, as it were, unheralded and unseen, yet innermost heart and life of all created essences.

   The equilateral triangle is a symbol of perfection, for it contains the father and mother principles, or the 1 and the 2 in harmonious proportion. The true and eternal purpose of evolution is to perfect this equilibrium or polarity in man. The supreme object of nature, therefore, is the proper blending of the qualities of 1 and 2 to the end that it may produce as a result the Christed individual. In Masonic ceremonialism this fact is represented by the Sun, Moon and Mercury, or the Master of the Lodge. Note, also, that the Masonic Wisdom has placed the letter G in the center of the equilateral triangle. In some symbologies the Hebrew letter Yod, the tenth letter of the alphabet, is used instead of the letter G. In each instance, the letter is representative of the innate creative power through which all things are produced upon all planes of manifestation.

   The Gnostics declared that the Triangle, or 3, is God, and that 1 is man, whereas the 4 is God in man. To the man who is God-like we may therefore ascribe the awakened spiritual powers of 4. Four designates a transition of consciousness in ever-increasing and ascending rates of vibration. Four is the door of Illumination or Initiation. The Initiate transcends the planes of a three-dimensional knowledge and understanding, his faculties having expanded to such a degree that he is able to function in the realms of the fourth dimension. Solomon, the wise king of the Old Testament Dispensation, represents the highest development of Four.

   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.

   In the struggle between the two conflicting natures, the person coming under 5 must contend with a nervous, restless energy. His environment undergoes constant change. Life being his supreme teacher, he is brought into touch with many places, personalities, and problems, each and all of which yield their quota of experience and supply an abundance of material out of which to extract the qualities that make for wisdom, character, and the growth of the soul.

   No teacher has ever taught more beautifully or more decisively of the numbers in relation to human life than did the Master Himself. The Parable of the Laborers; Matthew, twentieth chapter, is recommended to the student for careful meditation. In this parable the Master deals with the spiritual operation of the numbers 3, 6, 9, and 11 in their relation to human life, the primary urge of each being a return to unity, an atonement with the divine. The "wages" for which the laborers worked were 1. Three is the first perfect number and has to do with the upliftment of spirit, soul, and body. Six signifies beauty and harmony established through the magnetic law of equilibrium. This is represented in the Kaballah as Tipherath, the light which shineth no longer in the darkness. It is the light which comes with the attainment realized during the "mystic span of 33 years" previously mentioned. Nine trebles the forces of 3; under that triune power the three principles of man comprising the body, the soul, and the spirit, are united into a single functioning unit. Each of these three principles is triune in its nature. The threefold body (physical, etheric, and astral) is joined to the three-aspected spirit (created in the likeness of the triune God), and these united trinities bring into being the soul, the essence of experience garnered by the spirit when incarnate in form and this soul is also of a threefold power corresponding with the two trinities of body and spirit from the coupled activities of which it comes into being. Ultimately the 3 plus 3 powers of body and soul will be absorbed by the threefold spirit which will then possess the powers of 3 plus 3 plus 3 or 9. In these facts we have the reason for considering 9 the number both of humanity and of Initiation.

   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.

   All the principal religions and schools of spiritual development embody in their teachings and symbology the fundamental principle of the number 7. The values of 7 are divided into the trinity of spirit and the quaternary of form. In spiritual science it is also taught quite universally that a sacred triad precedes the manifested 7, the 7 and 3 together constituting the perfect number 10.

   Eight is the highest feminine number of the entire series. It is the number of the feminine in exaltation, referred to sometimes by esoteric numerologists as the number of the Double Feminine. In keeping with this signification it is the symbol of awakened and developed soul faculties of the highest type. An 8 is one in whom the still small voice ever speaks clearly. It is the number of intuition par excellence. The Book of Exodus is keyed to 8. The paramount message of this Book is found in the words: "I was never disobedient to the heavenly vision." These words are descriptive of 8. Those who come under the rulership of this number rise easily above the material and claim their own amidst the things of the spiritual. Eight is the number of the resurrection into a higher consciousness and a new manner of living. It is the power of the divinity within which leads man, as represented by the children of Israel, out of Egypt, the symbolical land of materiality ruled over by Pharaoh, the power of this world, and into a land wherein they no longer function under bestial bondage but under the laws of God. The highway of spirit is definitely pointed out in this illuminating record of a God-guided people. It outlines the steps on the path of soul attainment. It offers truly an exodus from the old, the finite, and the personal, into the Promised Land of the New Age, wherein freedom, equality, soul comradeship and cosmic knowing, all of which are key-words of 8, will be generally realized.

   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.

   Since all humanity experiences the downward draw of the lower nature and the upward pull of the higher self, it is clear that 666, the Beast, and 144,000, the Regenerated, apply not to a single dragon nor to a specific group of individuals but that they are numerical symbols for powers operating in all humanity, and that both numbers reducing to 9 point to it as the major vibratory power governing human evolution. It makes it clear that this number relates both to the mortal and the immortal, the terrestrial and the celestial aspects of man.

   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."

   Modern man has much to learn from the ancients in regard to the power of the spoken word. "Words are spirit and they are life," said Christ Jesus.

   In the mystic series of initiatory signposts, the Hebrew alphabet, the eleventh of its 22 letters if Kaph, which is represented by a maiden closing the mouth of a Lion. Astrologically interpreted, the maiden is Virgo, the Lion, Leo. (The 5th and 6th signs equals 11). Spiritually, Virgo correlates to the feminine principle; Leo the masculine. On the physical plane the masculine dominates the feminine but in the alchemical processes of regeneration, the feminine overcomes this disability. The feminine pole of the spirit is then brought into perfect balance with the masculine. In terms of masonic symbolism, the fallen column of the two which stand at the entrance to the Temple is restored to its upright position. Equilibrium, the soul name for 11, is accomplished.

   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.

   In the great Hall of Accomplishment there were 13 chairs and. above each hung a shield, showing in symbol the deeds performed by the one who was worthy to occupy that seat. The 13th synthesizes the forces of the encircling 12. The 12 notes of the chromatic scale are focused on a 13th which sounds the basic harmony of the octave. The Traveller arrives at the Monastery just as the 13th Brother is preparing to ascend to higher realms, having mastered all the lessons belonging to material existence. It is a case of having completed a cycle — a cycle of 12 — and entering upon a new cycle in the ever ascending spiral of being. This portion of the story parallels the event in the life of the Christ when observing the initiatory Rite of the Last Supper prior to taking His departure from the 12 and later making His ascension.

   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?"

   Disease is rooted in sin, and sin is deviation from the perfect law. It is not, therefore, an arbitrary punishment meted out to disobedient man by an offended Deity, but the inevitable result of violations against Nature's true and wholesome ways. Being out of harmony with the laws of life, disease appears and serves as a warning to the offender that the restoration of health necessitates conformity to the divine order. In his way it becomes man's enlightener, painful only because he will not, for the most part, learn except through first-hand, sorrowful experiences. When he comes to recognize these truths and makes the necessary corrections and readjustments by which the causes of sickness are removed, the ill effects disappear and permanent healing becomes an established condition.

   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.

   No Ego ever comes to birth without the assistance of innumerable celestial Beings whose ministrations to the human race form a romance of incomparable splendor. St. Paul, observing their many and varied activities in the service of man, declared that we are ever encompassed about with clouds of invisible witnesses. Something of an outline of the work of those luminous Ones will be attempted in the following pages of this book.

   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.

   The sin against the Holy Ghost is unforgivable in that it must be expiated through suffering until a sufficient supply of divine life essence has been accumulated to compensate for what was lost through wrongdoing. It is the greatest of all sins in that it is a desecration of the pure Christ force within man, the force which unites him with the spiritual universe, and without which all creation would be resolved once more into "Chaos and old night."

   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.

   Note that what the Ego sees at this time is only the outline of the coming incarnation; it must by its own initiative supply all details. This panoramic preview of the approaching earth life, with the decisions the Ego forms concerning it, makes an indelible impression upon the consciousness which can never be quite forgotten and accounts for the, vague and haunting familiarity which ofttimes accompanies many of our high moments and vivid experiences in life. Sensitives, even those not able to see, often feel that they have lived through certain incidents, somewhere, sometime.

   The discovery that every living thing is a single cell or an aggregation of cooperating cells and cell products is the most important biological discovery of modern times. One of the simplest of single-cell animals is the amoeba. When this creature reaches the stage where growth ceases it divides into two amoebae. Each descendant possesses half the substance of the parent; this process continues until a colony is complete. Material science is at a loss to explain the reason for this division. The occultist perceives that the life impulse of each cell is a fusing of the principles which we know as the masculine and feminine polarities in man, as Fire and Water in nature. On the physical plane these forces do not operate in a perfectly equalized relationship; hence, the inevitability of division. These processes are a reflex of the workings of Aries and Taurus, masculine and feminine Zodiacal Hierarchies, respectively. After the division is effected, the life process comes under Gemini, the third Zodiacal Power, the sign of separateness and division. Apartness is the path to individualization on the material plane.

   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.

   Paul declared, "Ye are the temple of the living God," and it is the dictum of Paracelsus that "there is only one anatomy worth studying and this is the kind in which occult science can assist."

   In the ancient Mysteries the Initiate was taught how to lull the voluntary nervous system to sleep and then to dip down into the sympathetic where he would see, as in a state of luminosity, the silent workings of mighty cosmic laws. This was right and proper in most ancient times, before the mind was sufficiently awakened to make the positive development possible; but by the thousandth year before Christ, in the middle of the Arian Age, this method was already becoming outmoded, and the work of the Christ set it aside altogether. The rending of the initiatory veil of the temple signified that the deep Mysteries of the cosmos were to be viewed in a new way, the Christ Way, by means of the positively developed spiritualized mind. The sympathetic system is the vantage ground of the so-called subconscious mind. A is subconscious because its functioning is controlled by cosmic intelligences of which the human being is today seldom aware. The time will come when all of the work done now by cosmic agencies will be done by the individual himself, in full waking consciousness. No one today, except the high Adepts, can see and control every vital function of his body, the beating of the heart, the digestion and assimilation of food, the conversion of food to energy and its use in the muscles, etc. This belongs to the future, but is foreshown in the laboratory when the chemist analyzes the elements that go to make up food and the physiologist analyzes the processes by which the body lives. Some day all such knowledge will be part of the human being's equipment from the moment of birth, and then there will be no more subconscious operating through the sympathetic system.

   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.

   The term "ether" used to describe this borderland of matter is by no means clearly defined, either by occult or by physical scientists. However, occultists have seen the etheric forces by means of their extended vision, and have described them in terms of their own coining. Scientists, on the other hand, have discovered the laws governing phenomena of certain lower ethers and many valuable inventions have resulted. So we know the ethers by their products. New Age science is destined to meet with traditional occult science in this area, with benefit to both.

   After the Lords of Forms (celestial Beings represented by the constellation Scorpio), assisted by others, had fashioned bodies into something of their present form, the fiery Angels of Mars depolarized the iron in the Earth; and also in the blood stream of human bodies. By means of this Egos could produce internal heat and awaken to a realization of their selfhood. Man's awakening to himself as an Ego was roughly coincident with his being cut off from the nourishing Earth currents. Certain corresponding elements in the blood were then dissolved, and human consciousness became dimly aware of an egoic self, the "I" Blood then became red due to the presence of iron, and with the development of red blood a new creature was born upon the Earth. According to Moses, "the life of the flesh is in the blood." The Law of Moses contains many significant precepts relative to the blood which cannot be fully understood apart from their occult interpretation.

   These endocrine glands had their beginning in the Second Great Creative Day (Sun Period). Their ultimate development belongs to the Christian or Sun Initiation, a stage of development attained only after entering into the Greater Mysteries, which embody the highest teachings of this present Earth Period (Fourth Creative Day). It is significant that knowledge of these glands remained hidden until now, when the Ancient Wisdom and esoteric Christianity is again coming to light. Our understanding of the spiritual and physical significance of their functions is developing parallel with this restored spiritual science and initiatory teaching. The endocrines are especially sensitive to psycho-mental influences, and they will reveal more and more of the curious and remarkable powers which are the concomitant of Initiation. These additional powers are treated at length elsewhere in this anatomy series: The Two Nervous Systems and Their Relationship to Spiritual Development.

   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.

   It is quite otherwise with the Desire or Astral World. Unlike the region of the ethers, the realm of the Desire World is another plane of being. It is not just a finer gradation of matter. Actually, it is non-material; it is astral. While it flows in and through the Physical World, interpenetrating the chemical and etheric regions of the physical and constantly influencing all activities within this sphere, it is of a different nature and subject to laws other than those operating in either the Physical World or the higher worlds of mind and spirit.

   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."

   Modern science must progress far toward things of spirit before it will accept such sacred and beautiful truths — truths dealing not with the construction of form alone, but also with the great cosmic forces of spiritual life. These forces weave and interweave, uniting Spirit with body in an ever refining and illumining process whereby the spiritual extracts of one earth life become the atoms of the Ego's next physical vehicle! Of equal or greater importance is the steadily growing acuteness of all the senses. For example, psychometry points to the further evolution of the sense of feeling; clairvoyance and clairaudience to the higher octave of seeing and hearing.

   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.

   What we call these Schools matters little; but following the Greek custom, esotericists generally designate the lower school the Lesser Mysteries and the higher, the Greater Mysteries. There are nine Degrees or grades in the Lesser Mysteries, called Initiations — or, if the metaphysical terms are preferred, expansions of consciousness — and four in the Greater Mysteries. There are seven schools which teach or confer the nine Lesser Mysteries, and five which teach or confer the four Greater Mysteries. These schools are not physical but etheric structures such as the New Jerusalem. described by St. John; and they are not to be confused with mere secret societies. Truly, they all have an outlet on the material plane; if they had not, they would not reach our material-minded humanity and so would have no pupils to instruct in their Mysteries! These Mystery Schools, with their exoteric representatives, change from age to age in order to meet the requirements of the people among whom their work is to be done.

   This story indicates that the Sumerians, like other members of the Fifth Root Race in the post-Atlantean Epoch had descended so far into materiality that death had become a mystery and a terror. In Schools of Initiation it was then necessary to put a candidate into a deep cataleptic trance before his soul could be released from its body in full consciousness, to roam and explore inner planes and thus come to know that death is not the end of life. Since the coming of the Christ, whose influence upon the etheric and astral envelopes of the earth served to spiritualize corresponding envelopes of the human ego, catalepsy is no longer prerequisite to Initiation.

   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.

   A similar chaos and confusion exists in the world today as the end of the Piscean Age approaches. Multitudes again eagerly await the coming of a new World Teacher who shall appear as a veritable Son of Man bearing the glad tidings of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Every teacher and every school that points the way to the birth of the Christ within man is a pioneer of that New Age and is a herald of the new, World Teacher who is soon to come. The Piscean Dispensation is to be succeeded by the Aquarian Age, in which the vision of the prophets is to be realized. The Son of Man (the symbol of Aquarius) is to rise with healing in His wings.

   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.

   The collection of texts called by Egyptologists The Book of the Dead is actually part of the Mercurian Wisdom of Toth-Hermes originally contained in the world-famous Books of Thoth. These consisted of forty-two rolls, some of which were carried in processions in ritual order. One such procession has been described about as follows: First came a singer holding two rolls, one of which contained hymns; the other, the rules for the conduct of the monarch. After this came the horoscopist with with four books on astrology: one book on the fixed stars, one on solar and lunar eclipses, two on the rising of the Sun and Moon. Next came the bearer of ten books containing rules relating to Gods and religion: the laws of sacrifice, hymns, processions, holy days and similar matters. Last of all came the Prophet bearing ten sacredotal books dealing with sacredotal laws, the Gods, and rules for the priesthood. Of these Books of Thoth, thirty-six related to philosophy; six treated of medicine, anatomy and the cure of diseases. The Egyptians also possessed books on history. They had the deepest reverence for learning of all sorts, secular as well as religious, as demonstrated by the marvelous University Temple at Heliopolis from which trained Sages went forth to the entire ancient world.

   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.

   After the Chosen People had been molded into the new Fifth Epoch Race, semi-divine leaders were appointed by the great archangelic Race Spirits to lead carefully selected groups to new homes. These were not selected at random. The leaders saw with clear vision all the lands on earth, together with an outline of their destinies. The land to which the Old post-Atlanteans went, present-day India, was particularly adapted to their needs, as was the spiritual instruction received from their leaders. In time the teachings crystallized into a textbook, their Book of Books, or Bible. (The word Bible means The Book.)

   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."

   Such was the instruction imparted in the Schools of the Prophets, some of which survive in both the apochryphal and canonical records of the Old Testament Dispensation. Enoch is among those prophets whose writings have come down to us, as are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and a number of Minor Prophets.

   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.

   From the occult viewpoint, this can refer only to the dispersion after the final catastrophe of Atlantis. Atlantis went down in four major disasters; the last one, described to Plato by Egyptian priests, was not so many thousand years ago when the Island of Poseidon sank. At that time the celestial Hierarchies which direct and guide evolution divided the dispersed people into nations, placed them under various race spirits, and sent them forth into new lands that each might develop its own distinctive culture. Then it was that the Akkadians invaded Sumer and the ancient speech of Sumeria became mixed with the Semitic speech of the invaders — for the Flood that overwhelmed Atlantis also overwhelmed the Sumerian civilization.

   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 musical rites and forms of Solomon's Temple were adopted largely from the temples of Egypt. When Solomon was married to the daughter of Pharaoh, Magsara, legend has it that she brought to Israel a thousand varieties of musical instruments. It is stated further that one of the principal reasons for Sheba's visit to Solomon was her interest in the esoteric power attainable by the right use of the proper Temple music, in which Solomon was an adept. The Psalms which have come down to us include many sacred songs which were originally intoned in particular keynotes and particular rhythms and these were known to affect the mind and character of the worshippers and neophytes.

   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.

   There now remains in Persia only a few small and scattered groups of Zoroastrians, the sacred fire shrines having been closed, one after another, as Islam won the allegiance of the people. This can be considered as naught but the action of the Law of Cause and Effect — for when Mani, the great Christed Messenger, came to the Zoroastrian priesthood preaching Christ as foretold by Zoroaster, they crucified him. They thus attracted to themselves the same fate which overtook the Hebrew priesthood less than three centuries earlier. They, like the Judean priests, rejected the Christ, and about three centuries later Mohammed, as agent of the Lords of Destiny, meted out to them their karmic harvest. Only a few remained faithful. Some of these, driven from their own land, found a congenial home in India and established what continues to be the only influential Zoroastrian (Parsi) community in the world today. This community lies adjacent to the city of Bombay.

   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.

   In such wise Persian myths repeat the story known of old in Chaldea and Egypt, in China and India, the story of the destruction of ancient Lemuria and Atlantis and the continuous work for man's salvation performed by the Cosmic Christ through successive messengers whose mission it was to further the Christ Impulse throughout the earth. It was this great archangelic Being from the Sun who assumed guardianship of ancient humanity in the hoary beginnings of evolution, when the earth was still part of the solar nebula. All races and people retain some hint of this story in their spiritual histories, for the Lord Christ belongs to the entire earth and to the whole solar system. This is the keynote of the Mysteries.

   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.

   Few people realize the price to be paid in. future ages and incarnations for the present desecration of their bodies. Indeed, the terrible effects of alcohol can be fully realized only in the light of rebirth and the working of the Law of Consequence (karma), which reveals that the archetype or pattern for each successive earth life is the natural outgrowth of preceding lives. This archetype, built in the Second Heaven, receives from the reincarnating ego the vibratory powers of ils last body. If these powers have been seriously affected by liquor or wrong living, the new archetype will show corresponding weaknesses. In future lives many shall stand at the door and knock, calling in vain for the Light so ardently desired. They shall receive no answer because their nerves have been rendered insensible to higher vibrations by the demoralizing effects of alcohol.

   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.

   Now the Golden Bridge of Preparation was complete. It spanned the centuries from the beginning of the world to the consummation of the ages: the Advent of the Christ Archangel upon the planet earth.

   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.

   Despite materialistic encroachments, this great Sage will live in the heart and soul of China until the time is ripe for the Christ influence to envelope the land. When that time arrives there will be no greater rejoicing than in the heart of the wise Teacher, for he dedicated himself from first to last to the Great Preparation.

   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.

   The third Flood occurred sometime during the period when the Sun was passing through the constellation Cancer. This is the flood referred to in Chaldean legend and history as overwhelming Sumeria. Sometime after this flood the Delta was invaded by two Semitic peoples who, according to Wooley, came from Asia Minor by way of the Tigris valley and from Northern Syria by way of the Euphrates. These were the historical Akkadians whose first strongholds were in the northern parts of the valley, whence they proceeded to conquer the southern portions. By the time history dawns these three elements were already amalgamated into one race, a state referred to in Genesis as the time when the sons of God married the daughters of men. The Sumerian elements, however, remained dominant.

   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 fallen Vulcan is Hiram Abiff of Masonic legend, he who built Solomon's Temple (the solar system). In humanity he is Cain, who made two blades of grass to grow in place of one. He is Tubal-Cain, for he is the prototype of craftsmen. He is the Fire burning in the forge of Nature, which is visible to the "new vision." He is called the least beautiful of all the Gods. One account states that he was ejected from heaven because he was deformed; another, that he became deformed in consequence of his fall. Medieval Christian artists vied with one another in depicting the hideousness of Satan (Vulcan).

   Plato, the Wisdom Messenger of Greece, was undoubtedly recounting what he himself had seen in the course of Initiation when he declared that "the World Soul is crucified." Tradition avers that Plato had taken the Indian as well as the Egyptian Initiations, a fact everywhere patent in his writings. He must have seen the vision of the Blessed Androgynous Figure bearing the Sun in one hand and the Moon in the other, while across the vast expanse of the ethereal and luminous form were limned the seas and continents comprising the outer vestment of this glorious Planetary Spirit. He must also have seen in Egypt a representation (as at Philea) of Osiris with corn sprouting from his body, and the accompanying inscription: "This is the form of Him, whom we may not name, of the Mysteries.

   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.

   They regarded the body as the soul's prison house, and sought trials and difficulties, rejoicingly for they had learned that "wisdom is crystallized pain." They gloried in martyrdom, preaching and singing to God even in their sufferings. They not only forgave their enemies but sought to benefit them, and blessed even the criminals despite their destruction of life and property. Their food consisted chiefly of bread, water, wild roots, and fruit. They neither ate meat nor wore woolens. The habitual garment was the flowing white robe of linen such as was worn by the Master when He came to John for baptism.

   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.

   Nothing indeed was spared in making earthly Temples a reflection of paradise above earth. Temples were majestic, serene, radiant with life and color. Their walls were decorated with gold, silver, electrum and brilliant gems; the adytum was hung with curtains of gold tissue. All this co-ordinated with the course of nature rather than being set apart from it, and spoke to the Egyptian of the Eternal One in whom there is no death, but life only. Everything gave evidence of an eternity of beauty which might be enjoyed, here and hereafter, by all who lived the good life.

   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 Original Semites were an entirely new departure in racial evolution. It was from this fifth sub-race and not, as one might suppose, from the seventh or last, that the post-Atlantean, the Fifth Root Race, was developed.

   Initiation may be described as a death-process, for in it the candidate undergoes experiences that parallel those of a departed spirit, with the exception that the silver cord, which links the spirit to the physical body, is not broken as it is in death. Before the coming of the Christ Initiation was restricted to priestly and royal houses which, by generations of selective breeding, had produced bodies with requisite qualities for safety while undergoing this very dangerous Rite. The spirit might leave its earthly house and be unable to return to it, the result being death. Or, if the trials to which it was subjected in the lower regions of the Soul World were too severe for it, the spirit might rush back to its body with a force born of terror and dangerous to the heart. The aftermath of this might be invalidism from rupturing the etheric sheath of the brain and nerves, thus leading to nervous and mental disabilities, or death. The danger was very great, so the secrecy with which the priesthood surrounded these matters was not wholly for the purpose of a selfish monopoly of knowledge. Originally, it was done in the interest of the people themselves, to protect them.

   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.

   Informed as they were with the Initiate knowledge of their philosopher-founders at the time of their origin, the various Mystery Schools were in very truth earthly representatives of spiritual Hierarchies of Wisdom. There were several great Mystery Schools in Greece. The two greatest were the Orphic and the Eleusinian Mysteries, and Pythagoras represents the Orphic tradition.

   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.

   The onward march of materialism was temporarily stayed as interest was intensified in matters pertaining to life and death, to soul and body, to the visible and the invisible. The harvest was white and the Illumined came forth to labor in the field.

   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.)

   The Eleusinian Mysteries were concerned primarily with the problem of the soul's survival after death and conditions prevailing in the soul world. Their teachings were conveyed to Initiates in the form of dramatic spectacles wherein an Initiate was both spectator and participant. The Lesser Mysteries dealt with the story of Demeter and Persephone; the Greater Mysteries with Dionysus and his resurrection from the dead. Greeks themselves believed the Eleusinian Mysteries had been founded by Egyptians in prehistoric ages, and they identified Demeter (the World Mother) with Isis of Egypt. Similarly, the Mysteries of Samothrace and the Cabiri of Thebes were associated with the cult of the God Ptah of Memphis in Egypt.

   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 story of the incarnation of Vishnu is not to be dismissed as old-wives' tales or primitive legends. Vishnu is another name for the cosmic Christ Principle whose visible symbol is the Sun; Vishnu's incarnations reveal how this Principle has aided, and continues to aid, the life evolving on our planet. The narrative unfolds a history of evolution from the first forms (the fish) evolved in the depths of the primordial ocean through this half-animal-half-man link between animal and human kingdoms; next the "little man" or man at his most primitive stage, yet definitely human; then an ever-ascending progression until Divine Man is born. But the end is not yet. The path leads still higher, to the appearance of God-Man and the establishment of the new heaven and the new earth.

   These Persian ages are rich in meaning for the Christian Mysteries. From the tolerant spirit exemplified by the Initiate-King Cyrus the Hebrews conceived a new ideal of the Messiah, a Messiah for all the world who would bring justice and peace to all mankind. From the narrower concepts of national Zoroastrianism under Darius and succeeding monarchs, Ezra brought doctrines of racial, national and religious exclusiveness which thenceforth characterized Jewish life. But Jahweh remained the God of all the world, of heaven and earth, like Ahura Mazda of Persian inscriptions. Under Mani the Hebrew Messiah was linked with Zoroaster of the Persians. The theosophy of the Persians and the Hebrews became the basis of a new order in Europe, the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross — for the symbol of the Manicheans was a cross bearing flowers, symbolic of the resurrection and the life which are eternal, and of the Mysteries of Initiation which make them available to man.

   For aeons of time since, he has wandered far from the Father's house and wallowed among the swine in materiality and eaten of the husks of fleeting and transitory things. But always the spirit within has been calling him to arise and return unto the Father's house. The parable of the Prodigal Son bears a universal significance and parallels the life of every man. It is his awakening to the consciousness of the real and the true, and his starting in quest of it, that is symbolized in the Masonic Lodge as the demand for Light. "Blessed is he that knocketh for it shall be opened unto him, and blessed is he that seeketh, for he shall find." Here we have the answer to the Quest of every earnest and sincere Temple builder.

   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.

   Enoch had placed this Mystical Stone in the ninth stratum of his subterranean vault, where it was discovered by Noah and used by him as an anchor to fix the Ark on Mt. Ararat. It was the altar on which Abraham made ready to offer up his son. It was Jacob's pillar the night he laid his head upon it and in his sleep beheld the angels ascending and descending between Heaven and Earth. Jacob bequeathed the Stone to Joseph in Egypt, and Joseph commanded that it be placed over his grave. Moses took it with him at the time of the great deliverance, and it was upon this stone he stood when the Red Sea was divided and when the Amalekites were defeated. Again, he knelt upon it when he received the Tables of the Law on Sinai. Moses gave it into the care of Joshua, who built his altar upon it at Mt. Ebal. It was later deposited in the Temple of Shiloh until the erection of the Temple on Zion when Solomon commanded its use as the chief cornerstone. Here it remained undisturbed by either Zerubbabel or Herod, as it was destined to defeat the insane attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple — a destiny which it accomplished by destroying the workmen through the agency of fire. (In Europe, it reappears once more as the Philosopher's Stone of medieval alchemists.)

   Like all master-souls who come consciously into incarnation for a specific purpose, Mary was in complete possession of all her faculties from birth. With the beginning of her earth life she recognized the angelic messengers who surrounded her and from whom she received guidance and instruction. From earliest infancy Mary bore the soul signature of love and compassion. In self-obedience, humility, selfless service and the eagerness to ameliorate the suffering and sorrow that she found in the world about her, she was preparing the way for the Coming One. When Anna was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Purification she was again inspired to dedicate her daughter to the Temple service and it was here that she pledged to return with Mary to make her full and complete consecration to the Lord at the expiration of a period of three years.

   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.

   When the post-Atlantean epoch dawned, mankind came under the initiatory regime of Elder Brothers from Mercury. At this time the most developed of earthly Initiates were able to contact the Cosmic Christ through the Mysteries, so took over the task of leading and teaching their more backward brethren.

   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.

   Homer's works are the first great descriptive epics of European origin. His stupendous genius has been the source of inspiration for innumerable poets who came after him. Virgil's Aeneid was patterned after the Odyssey, as were the writings of Horace, Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost.

   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.

   There are twelve constellations of the Zodiac, so the Sun's precession through the twelve requires approximately 25,000 years. This is called a Great Sidereal Year. Only once in 25,000 years does the first degree of the first sign of Aries coincide with the Vernal crossing. This last occurred about 500 A.D. when the Vernal Equinox preceded from the first degree of the constellation Aries into the last degree of the constellation Pisces.

   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 experiences of the Initiate himself the expulsion of devils has reference to passing the Dweller on the Threshold, which is an entity formed of the essence of all evil and negative deeds of past lives, and which the newly initiated must face, conquer and dissolve (partially at least) by transmutation before he can pass into "realms of light" to be hailed as a "new born."

   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.

   Those who have glimpsed the high concepts of this dawning New Age have been scorned by sceptics and materialists as Utopian idealists and dreamers. Aquarian idealism, however, is actually based on the teachings of the Christ who looked far beyond His own day and, in the midst of a hostile world, dared to proclaim truths belonging to a new and a brighter tomorrow.

   For the esoteric Christian the devil has two meanings, an inner and an outer. From the external standpoint, the devil is Lucifer who, because of ambition, fell, and was exiled, together with other fallen angels, upon the planet Mars. The devil within man is his lower nature so long as this is influenced and controlled by the Luciferian vibrations. For this reason the plan of salvation as taught by the Church is designed to overcome and gain control of the desire body, for only in this way can the power of the devil be overcome. The Church works primarily with the desire body of man; esoteric Christianity focuses its effects on the vital body. Through the great orderly plan of evolution, which is God's handwriting upon the wall of time, the majority of people are brought into contact with the teachings of the Church before they come into occult work, which always presupposes that the desire body has been purified to a certain degree before definite training and specific development of the vital body is attempted.

   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.

   Every event in the life of the Christed Jesus finds its parallel in the life of one who aspires to the attainments of such Initiates as were Jesus, Mary and Joseph. So also in every pre-Christian religion or initiatory School without exception, the path of attainment is foreshown in the lives of its great teachers as clearly as it is shown to the Christian in the life of Christ Jesus. They include an immaculate conception, performance of miracles, a crucifixion and a resurrection. This must of necessity be so since the path of Initiation is similar for all. Hence every teacher is represented as experiencing these soul steps in his career. There is one exception: the legend of the Star is connected only with the birth of Jesus. This mysterious Star was the Archangel Christ hovering above and blessing the birth of Jesus and imbuing his holy body with His own celestial powers so that it might become a fit vehicle for His later use during the three-year Ministry.

   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.

   In this holy home in Nazareth, which was like a Temple of Peace, the early education of Jesus progressed. At the age of six He was sent to the day school in the auditorium of the town's synagogue. (This was necessary, in order that His body would not become too highly sensitized.) He studied the chief textbook of the Jews, the Old Testament, together with the rabbi's comments thereon. In addition to the Aramaic, the common form of Hebrew, He learned classic Hebrew and Greek. He procured important ancient manuscripts which He studied with deep spiritual insight, His vast fund of knowledge being a constant source of wonder to His teachers.

   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.

   Keynote: Meekness or Impersonality, that complete renunciation of self which is won through Gethsemane and which later lifts one to the consciousness of the Ascension.

   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.

   Christ, the Grand Hierophant of these Mysteries, after having called the Twelve, gave His Mysteries on Midsummer Day as the foundation work of the New Age religion, the fragments of which were gathered together in the Sermon on the Mount. The Great Work was permeated with the spirit of love, unity and harmony which emanates from the home world of the Christ. Consequently, to such as have not touched the Christ world of unified consciousness the Sermon on the Mount seems illogical, sentimental and impractical. But to such as have contacted the Christ realm it strikes the very keynote of the true Christian dispensation.

   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.

   Those who are unaware of the impartial measures of Divine Law are the complainers against the householders (the Law in operation). Theirs is the eye that is evil (limited) so that they do not recognize that "I am good." They do not see that when man prepares himself to receive only the highest manifestations of Divine Law, he will know and demonstrate only All-Good. The limitations of disease, poverty, and even death, will be dissolved amid the mists of the evanescent and the unreal. Man will come to inhabit a new world in which Equality, Fellowship, Love and Life shall reign supreme and for all time.

   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.

   The priests were chosen by lot for the privilege of entering into the Holy Place to sprinkle incense upon the altar. From the years of youth until old age had bowed his head and whitened his hair, Zacharias had prayed that this task might fall to him. At last after fifty years of Temple service the momentous time arrived, and it was while he stood within the Holy Place that the Angel appeared with the glad tidings of the coming of John.

   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."

   Paralysis, as all spiritual healers know, is the result of some form of fear. A deep and profound fear centered in the conscious mind, perhaps for many lives, impedes and slows down the life functions, until ultimately the physical body becomes inert and unresponsive to the communications of the Ego: it has become paralyzed.

   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.

   A supremely dedicated life centered in humility and service for others is the working formula for successful discipleship, and will always be productive of results, as exemplified in the response of the Master to the Centurion's request.

   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.

   The Master Jesus has never again taken upon himself the limitation of a physical body. His work is done entirely from the inner planes. He is working with all group movements that are truly spiritual and which have for their purpose the awakening of the Christ within. The impulses making for such an awakening are at their maximum during the celebrations of the holy and sublime Mysteries observed at the sacred seasons of the Equinoxes and Solstices. During these seasonal festivals special preparatory work is done with all those who are qualifying to receive the deeper Christian Mysteries which are destined to constitute the heart of the religion of the New Age, when the Son of Man will be revealed under Aquarius and when love will become a manifested power under Leo.

   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."

   Leprosy and cancer are "fire diseases" and have their matrix in the desire body. Both maladies are the consequence of an ungoverned desire nature in either present or past incarnations. Cancer takes the heavy toll in modern life that leprosy did in the past, and for like reasons.

   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 conflict, trial, and temptation such as no other has ever known before or since, He returned from the wilderness to share with men the divine realization which was His. The physical body of Jesus was as a tool in His hand. Every feeling and emotion was subservient to His dual powers of spiritualized will and dynamic love. He returned to the world to bring to it the new message of redemptive Christianity. Through perfect self-control and an absolute dominion over Himself, Jesus the Christ performed works the world calls miracles. The fundamental tenet of His teaching is contained in His words, "The kingdom of God is within you." When we discover this kingdom within ourselves, we shall find it also in others, and in all things about us. The Path of seeking must be the way of love.

   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)

   Paracelsus, admonishes us to remember that the subject of disease and healing can be understood only when considered in the light of karmic law, and this affects not only the physical body, but also the several interpenetrating invisible vehicles of man. "There is a twofold power active in man," he says, "a visible and an invisible. The visible body has its natural forces and the invisible body has its natural forces — and the remedy of all disease and injury that may affect the visible form are contained in the invisible body, because the latter is the seat of power that infuses life into the former and without which the former would have no life."

   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.

   Illness of any kind is nature's endeavor to focus attention on a weak link in the chain of perfect becoming and being. If we learn the lesson aright, permanent cure is the inevitable result. Illness should never leave us where it found us. This truth is emphasized throughout the ministry of Christ Jesus. Those who refused to heed it went away unhealed "because of their unbelief." In the light of this understanding, remember there is no such thing as incurable disease.

   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.

   That it is the humble who shall be exalted, Christ Jesus taught as a fundamental truth of the spiritual Way. Perhaps the most beautiful example of the importance which He attached to the cultivation of humility is found in the Rite of the Foot Washing. Here the Master declared emphatically that he who does not observe this Rite (meaning one who does not measure the deeds of his daily living by the gauge of humility) "can have no part in me."

   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."

   The curing of obsession or casting out of devils will again, as in the time of Christ, become one of the chief ministries of healing in the New Age. Obsession is seldom healed at the present time because it is so little understood, usually being classed erroneously with insanity and various nervous disorders. To deal successfully with this form of disease, the healer must be one possessing the highest state of spiritualized consciousness. Many persons confined today in insane asylums are pitiful examples of obsession. Generally this terrible malady is the fruit of past causation and often the direct result of the practice of hypnotism. There is no sin bearing a heavier causation than that of depriving an ego, even momentarily, of its free will, its most priceless heritage.

   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."

   This woman and her healing represent the lifting of the feminine pole and rightfully belongs to the initiatory processes symbolically described in the raising of the daughter of Jairus. In the same way the raising of the Son of the Widow deals with the lifting of the masculine pole and is a part of the initiatory process described in the Resurrection of Lazarus.

   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.

   To such exalted beings there are no barriers between the inner and outer planes, nor between life and so-called death. They function always in the sublime state of conscious and continuous being and becoming.

   Humanity in general responds to Jehovah through the influence of the physical Sun; Initiates of the Lesser Mysteries respond through the influence of the spiritual Sun, the body of the cosmic Christ; Initiates of the Greater Mysteries respond through the influence of Vulcan, which corresponds to the solar body of the Father. Astronomers have not yet discovered the planet Vulcan. It will, however, become known to the world as the result of scientific observations when enough individuals have become sufficiently sensitive to receive its vibrations. This was the condition under which the planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto commenced to register in the higher vehicles of man.

   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."

   Leprosy and cancer are "fire diseases" and have their matrix in the desire body. Both maladies are the consequence of an ungoverned desire nature in either present or past incarnations. Cancer takes the heavy toll in modern life that leprosy did in the past, and for like reasons.

   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.

   The ability to comprehend the great phenomena of nature, both the visible and the invisible forces at work throughout the earth, requires the illumination gained by means of the nine Lesser Mysteries. There are nine strata of the earth; one of these is investigated in each of the nine Initiations. This work is traced briefly in the Genesis record of the Seven Creative Days.

   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.

   Upon one of the nights of the arduous journey across the desert a band of robbers gave shelter to the Holy Family. The water in which Mary had washed the clothing of the infant Jesus she poured upon the leprous son of one of the robbers and he became as white as snow. Thirty-three years later this same son said to his Lord as they hung together upon Calvary: "Remember me in Paradise," and once again the Master and the holy Mary blessed his soul as long ago they had healed his body.

   At the present stage of human evolution it is impossible to state that one race, one class, or one sex, is a generation of Seth or Cain. Whether a person is one or the other depends upon the state of his consciousness, and the conflict between the two is a soul-conflict which must be settled individually. It is usually agreed, however, that in modern society the Masonic Fraternity represents a final fragments of the ancient Wisdom of Cain, while the Roman Catholic Church stands pre-eminent as representing the Faith of Seth. In the time of Christ, Philo Judeus designated Gentiles generally, and the Greeks in particular, as Sons of Cain; the Jews, as Sons of Seth. Among Jews, the Essenes claimed to be the inheritors of Seth, and to this day the Master Jesus is called The Flower of the Sons of Seth. To Seth belongs the doctrine of self-sacrifice through love, as exemplified in the death and resurrection of Savior-Gods.

   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.

   Sadly the Master Jesus returned with His parents to their home in Nazareth and from this time the days of childhood were put behind Him. A deeper seriousness animated every action, a more pronounced purpose crowned every deed. He was now prepared and ready to be "about His Father's business."

   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.

   This case has generally been taken to be one of epilepsy. It is significant in this instance to note that Aretacus in his treatise on chronic diseases states that epilepsy is considered a disgraceful disease, for it is thought to be inflicted upon persons who have sinned against the moon. Galen in his book, "Critical Days," asserts that the moon governs the period of epileptic seizures. ("Miracles and the New Psychology," Micklen)

   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."

   The Virgins represent those who have found the path of discipleship and are ready for the deeper work that leads to liberation from the physical body, with freedom to function in the radiant golden wedding garment of the soul. Five is the number of the physical senses. Five are the nails which hold the foolish Virgins to the cross of matter, and these same five nails, when "pulled," bring the resurrection of a new life to those who are wise. The truly wise one eventually becomes a "five pointed star." "I am the Light of the world," proclaims the Supreme Master of the new Christian Mysteries. Some of the miracle or mystery plays of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were based upon this Parable.

   The three Wise Men represent the complete dedication of spirit (gold), soul (myrrh), and body (frankincense). After the Christ has been born within, the next step in the process of unfoldment must always be this dedication to the Master and His work, if the new-born Christ within is to grow to the full stature of manhood. The spirit is symbolized by gold, which possesses the highest vibratory power of all the metals; the body is represented by frankincense, which, being a vapor, is a fitting symbol of the spirit's most impermanent vehicle. The soul body is symbolized by myrrh, a plant grown in Arabia, rare and difficult to procure. It is extremely bitter to the taste but possesses an unusual and beautiful fragrance. It symbolizes the soul-extract or essence of experience which the spirit garners in the body and which constitutes the whole purpose of life on the physical plane. It is in fact a synonym for the path of discipleship. The soul body of a saint emits a fragrance, a fact which has been the basis of many lovely legends in the Church.

   The angelic ministry to the world is both beautiful and varied. Angels lift and strengthen and bless in so many different ways. Unfortunately, however, few humans have any awareness of their nearness or their ministry. The tides of the sense world have risen so high they have blinded the eyes of the masses to even the existence of the angelic world. Young children are often conscious of the presence of Angels and delight in their loving ministrations, but as the years pass and their minds become more centered in things of the earth earthy, the lovely visions are likely to fade or be looked upon lightly as vagaries of the imagination. Only chastity and purity can restore their clear seeing. If everyone were as pure as the Holy Jesus and his blessed mother, Angels and men would commingle in one vast and glorious brotherhood. "Only the pure in heart shall see God" is a biblical dictum. It is equally certain that only the pure in heart shall see and commune with the angelic world.

   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).

   If, therefore, even so advanced a prophet as John the Baptist could not discern by physical sight alone that Jesus was the Messiah, how much less are we able to judge the quality of a soul from its exterior vestments? It was by spiritual revelation that John knew Jesus as the Christ, and it was by spiritual revelation that Samuel knew David as the Shepherd-King.

   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.

   Mary and Martha, the two sisters of Lazarus, were among the highest in development of the women disciples of Christ. They were thus able to take part in the initiatory or Resurrection Rite of their brother, as did the father and mother of Jairus' Daughter. Mary symbolizes the mystic path, or the faith of the heart; Martha, the occult path, or the reasoning of the mind. The union of heart (love) and head (understanding) produce Wisdom, the true essence of the soul. Lazarus represents this twofold blending, which lifts the neophyte to a state of consciousness far transcending that possessed by ordinary humanity.

   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.

   At the present time few persons have any conception of the spiritual significance of commonly observed ecclesiastical feasts. While the Church of Rome and the Church of England observe many of these festivals, their inner meaning has been largely lost. As has been stated before, the Christian Mystery Temple is located in the ethers above the City of Jerusalem. It was in this high and holy area that these feasts had their origin, and there they continue to be observed in their full splendor and majesty. During the observances a dynamic spiritual power is poured out upon earth. This is one of the many channels used by the Lord Christ for the spiritualization of the planet.

   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."

   When Enoch had lived "sixty and five years he begat Methuselah, the wise;" and thereafter, it is stated, "Enoch walked with God." The age of Enoch at this time is significant since it holds the numerological key to his attainment. Sixty-five contains the powers of the master number eleven. The Masons hold this to be the most important of all numbers because, according to their teachings, anyone possessing two units (11) within, may come into possession of all things. It means the attainment of equilibrium between the two poles of spirit, after which wisdom is begotten and a union with the divine self realized. Such an one becomes, like Enoch, a seer and a prophet announcing the coming of the Cosmic Christ to the world, and the birth of His consciousness in individuals.

   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.

   From the very beginning of civilization the most primitive religions paid homage to this great Being Who dwells in the Sun. High priests of Mystery Temples taught their most advanced disciples the truth relative to this glorious Sun Being, and they looked forward to a time when He would descend to earth and become the world's Redeemer. Those who were clairvoyant could see the Solar Lord to whom they paid homage. But there came a day when they could no longer see Him, and then they knew that His human embodiment was imminent. From country to country, from prophet to master, from master to teacher, from teacher to disciple passed the glad tidings that the Blessed Lord, He who was to be the Saviour of the world, was close to earth.

   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.

   A similar chaos and confusion exists in the world today as the end of the Piscean Age approaches. Multitudes again eagerly await the coming of a new World Teacher who shall appear as a veritable Son of Man bearing the glad tidings of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Every teacher and every school that points the way to the birth of the Christ within man is a pioneer of that New Age and is a herald of the new, World Teacher who is soon to come. The Piscean Dispensation is to be succeeded by the Aquarian Age, in which the vision of the prophets is to be realized. The Son of Man (the symbol of Aquarius) is to rise with healing in His wings.

   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."

   As in the Grecian Mysteries, the life of the archangelic Christ presents a pattern after which men may mold their lives and thus achieve wisdom and immortality, each in his turn becoming a Christos, a Dionysus, a Son of God. The pattern was written in the stars at the beginning of time. In the glorious constellations of the heavens the divine story may be traced, from the Savior's birth to His Ascension. If these be the Christ's, they are ours also. By imitating Him, by walking in His Way, the supreme goal of human evolution is achieved in the manifestation of the Christos (divinity) within each man. All religions, creeds and spiritual teachings find their apotheosis in Him. The wise of all races and all ages have understood this, and have endeavored to prepare for His coming.

   The inner work given the Craft at the time of King Solomon was transmitted from generation to generation in secret cyphers or keys by means of architecture, painting and literature. This was in preparation for the time of the falling of the "cloud upon the Sanctuary". About 1530 came the beginning of the end which lost to "workmen" their Jurisdiction over the "mystic building art." With the Reformation came the final and complete division between Masonry and the Church. Speculative succeeded Operative Masonry, the two poles of humanity — masculine and feminine, the head and the heart, man and woman — were rent asunder to function separately and unequally until the two paths are again united upon a yet higher rung of the evolutionary ladder under the now dawning Aquarian impulses.

   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."

   In the Gothic architecture of France's cathedrals, differentiation between the masculine and feminine is particularly noticeable. In Notre Dame the south tower is noted for its grace and delicacy of outline, the north for its strength and firmness.

   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 next important step in human evolution is the birth of Christ in man. The travail attendant upon the birth is causing much of the current inharmony, unrest and turmoil. No man can be a pioneer of the new race until the Christ has been born within himself. The call set forth by the Holy Spirit to all who are ready and willing to listen is for complete dedication in the service of the Lord Christ. It is the mission of the Holy Spirit relative to the Christian of the new race which led the Lord to declare, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you . . . and he will shew you things to come."

   The archangelic life wave has reached the status where it functions in perfectly polarized bodies. This is not true of the less evolved angelic and human kingdoms. It is, therefore, possible for members of these kingdoms to descend from their high estate into lower forms of expression. The fall of Angels is recorded biblically in the account of the war in heaven, when Lucifer and his followers were expelled therefrom; and the Fall of man occurred, according to the Genesis account, when Adam and Eve (infant humanity) lost the Garden of Eden. Redemption from these falls required a higher power than was available to either of these life waves. It had to come from the archangelic level. And so it did. The Lord Christ, the most highly evolved of the Archangels, became the teacher and redeemer of both the fallen Angels and humanity. This is one of the most profound truths associated with the mystery of the Christos.

   Every disciple being prepared for service in the Christ Dispensation meets upon the Path, in some form or other, the paramount test — such as Abraham's being called upon to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. At this point the disciple must be able to say with the Christ: "Not my will, but thine, be done." It was the Comforter, the Lord Christ Himself, who attended upon Abraham during this supreme trial, a fact recorded by both Origen and Cyprian, a contemporary of Origen. The sacrifice was not really required of Abraham, but only his willingness to renounce all for his Lord. This is beautifully demonstrated in the biblical sequel telling how a ram was substituted for Isaac, the ram being a symbol of the coming Arian Dispensation when the Lord Christ would descend and, in human embodiment, make the supreme sacrifice. In this test Abraham had proved his worthiness, and also his ability to study profound truths directly from the Akashic Records.

   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."

   To again quote Lactantius: "Scriptures teach that the Son of God is the Word or Reason of God," and adds as substantiation: "If anyone wonders that God should be begotten of God by putting forth of the voice and breath, he will cease to wonder if he knows the sacred sayings of the prophets.

   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 majority of famous Greeks were Initiates in the Mysteries. The fundamentals of their works were acquired by first-hand investigation of Akashic Records. Ceremonials and processionals, esoteric dramas and disciplines, were all part of their Atlantean heritage; hence the occultist's assurance that the Hermes Cult was the most ancient of all cults and that it was indigenous to the Greek mind. Other elements of remote Atlantean origin arrived in Greece through other channels, mostly through Egypt, Crete and Phoenicia, though Persia and India contributed their share.

   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 centers are variously located in the physical vehicle. Two are in the feet; two at the. knees; one at the base of the spine; one each in the solar plexus, the heart and the throat; two in the cranium. In oriental Mystery Schools these centers are referred to as "lotus blossoms"; by mystic Christians they are described as "the roses that bloom upon the cross of the body." They do not come into their full luminosity until after the first of the Greater or Christ Initiations has been reached. Centers below the diaphragm are not fully awakened until a disciple passes all four of these Christ Initiations; therefore humankind is not very familiar with their functioning or the processes involved in their activation. All centers located above the diaphragm are awakened during the course of the nine Lesser Initiations, so more is known about the means and manner of their functioning. There are other centers to be activated through further spiritual unfoldment, but the ones treated here are the most important at man's present stage of evolution.

   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.

   Either in the natural course of transition by, death or through the experience of Initiation, the spirit must pass through the dark netherlands of disembodied souls, variously described as Purgatory by Christians, Hades by Greeks, Land of Amenti by Egyptians. This strange land was characterized by immense fire pits and waterfalls and was inhabited by monsters of terrifying aspect. Only the pure in heart, those who had been just and righteous on earth, were able to pass through the perils unscathed.

   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.)

   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.

   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.

   It is of special interest to note that two of the predominating factors engendering fear in the human heart were the use of flesh and alcohol. By their use man lost his spiritual sight. They lowered the vibrations of etheric centers which interpenetrate his physical body, centers through which only was he able to contact spiritual worlds. His etheric centers thus clogged, man could no longer see the glorious Beings who were his teachers and friends. He could no longer see his loved ones after they passed into higher realms at death, so death gradually became a terror to him and life beyond the grave a fearful secret which he could not resolve.

   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.

   In the dawning Age of Air, Jerusalem will again become the site of a new Temple. The inspired biblical seers, Ezekiel and John, have described this glory Temple of the future: true, their description is the Pattern in the Sky, but it will one day cast its lovely luminous shadow upon the Earth, and all men shall behold it and love it. Then once again the Treasures will be discovered under the Holy of Holies, and Mystic Masons from the four corners of the Earth will follow the Light even to its abiding place in the heart of the East.

   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.

   Jacob Boehme describes this place on the Path so aptly that it finds an echo in the heart of everyone who has passed this way. He says: "It is not so easy a matter to become a child of God as men imagine ... To turn the mind and destroy self there is a strong and continued requisite, and such a stout and steady purpose that if the body and soul should part asunder by it, yet the will would persevere constantly and not enter again into the self. A man must wrestle until the dark center that is shut up close breaks open, and the spark lying therein kindles, and from thence immediately the noble lily branch spouteth — as from the divine grain of mustard seed, as Christ saith. A man must pray earnestly, with great humility, and for a while become a fool in his own reason and see himself void of understanding therein until Christ be formed in this new earth incarnation."

   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.

   Mary made possible the first coming of our blessed Lord, Christ Jesus. It will be through her intervention again that all mankind shall be made ready for His second coming.

   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.

   Mary and Joseph belonged to the highest initiatory Order, hence the greater was their sacrifice in going out into the world to become affiliated with the lesser Degree of the Householders.

   Jacob Boehme writes: "Made after the image and likeness of God, the whole body with all its parts represents heaven and earth; the interior of the body, the deep between the stars and the earth. The heart is fire, the larynx earth, the liver water, the lungs air. The feet, near and far, are from God. The hands are God's omnipotence. Man ruleth and changeth all things with his hands. The head is heaven. The whole body to the neck is the round circle or sphere of the stars. The head containeth the five senses wherein the stars and the elements qualify. Open here the eyes of spirit and behold God thy Creator!"

   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 charge brought against the Templars was that they were heretics against the Christian faith. Here again was evidenced the age-long conflict between orthodox (the outer) and esotericism (the inner). There is no doubt that in its beginnings the Templar Order was founded upon the secret Rites of the Ancient Wisdom and hereby have a common origin with Masonry. Their most important meetings were held at midnight and at sunrise. These observances were also a part of Essenian communities still resident in Palestine in that day.

   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.

   Redeemed Lucifers become co-workers with the Christ in emancipating both their brothers and mankind from the results of the Fall. Reformed Lucifers are exerting a powerful influence for good upon their unregenerate brothers and the human race they once led astray. Having no physical bodies to modify the intensity of their desire nature, they are capable of exercising a much greater influence over this aspect of man's expression, whether it be for good or ill, than is man himself. They can act upon man directly, swiftly and effectively.

   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.

   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 spiritual tendency of numbers is to raise all that comes under their influence above mundane limitations. This being true, a study of their inner significance is not confining or limiting, but revealing and expansive. But there is an essential difference between numbers and figures. By numbers is meant the force or power emanations that operate on the highest spiritual planes. Figures are but concrete hieroglyphics of these spiritual powers — shadow-forms cast by the all-permeating Principle upon the objective consciousness of men. The Ten Principles (numbers), therefore, upon which the universe is founded are expressions of powerful cosmic forces; they are intermediaries between the unmanifest and the manifest creation; they are pure ideas, emanations from Divine Mind. These ten emanations are symbolized in the kabbalistic Tree of Life — one of the most profound and far-reaching of all ancient glyphs — with its ten Sephiroth or glittering centers of light. These centers correspond to the ten Elohim, and each one is a different vibratory rhythm. Every name, being sound, is also vibration, and expresses the power of one of the Sephiroth which are expressions of the "Word." Upon this truth is based the philosophy of numbers. "Number veileth the power of the Elohim," early sages declared.

   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.

   The cross of discipleship gives way to the joys of the Initiate. These are evidenced in the Seven joys of Mary; (1) The Annunciation; (2) The Nativity; (3) The Purification; (4) Finding Jesus in the Temple after the three days loss; (5) The Resurrection; (6) Descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost; and (7) The Assumption.

   There is a closer correspondence between the biblical account of creation and the teachings of academic science than is generally recognized. When the Book of Genesis is read in the light of esoteric knowledge it will be found to correspond it its essential features with the teachings of the science of the Earth. It is esoteric Christianity's mission to reveal this correspondence and to re-establish harmony between sacred and secular science, thus to reunite them in common service to man. Such was their relation in the time of early Mystery Schools, and such will it become in the New Age that is at hand. Even now science promises to become more religious than religion itself.

   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."

   One day when Mary was praying, as was her custom, beside the holy tomb on Golgotha, the heavens opened and the Angel Gabriel appeared unto her and said: "Thou art to go forth soon from this fleeting world into the life which is forever."

   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.

   The fragments of the original Gospels owe their preservation to the earliest Christian communities, founded, in some instances, by various of the Twelve Disciples themselves, or their immediate disciples. The first instruction was by word of mouth, but in course of time the account of the words and deeds of Christ Jesus were written down, often in the form of Epistles, which passed from one church to the other. Among these accounts was the "Memorabilia" to which Justyn Martyr refers.

   Initiation as it existed before the coming of Christ was a very different process from what it is today. Ancient Initiation was termed the Path of Illuminated Mysteries, and it consisted of a magnificent ceremonial depicting important events in the life of great world teachers, from birth to their resurrection. With Christ's coming Initiation underwent a marked change, and is now termed the Path of the Solar Mysteries. Christian Initiation still depicts important events in the life of the Lord-birth, baptism, transfiguration, resurrection and ascension. Now these must become workable, vital experiences within the consciousness and the body of a disciple. Thus we see how much more difficult is Initiation under Christ than was pre-Christian Initiation. Therefore St. Paul, one of the leading exponents of the Christian Mysteries, gave what amounts to a mantram to his disciples — one applicable to those of modern times — when he said, "The Christ be formed in you." All of the various schools of metaphysics, New Thought, Christian Science, and so forth, which teach the manifestation of the Christ within are preparatory steps leading toward the supreme attainment of man's life: Initiation into the Mysteries brought to earth by the Christ.

   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."

   The foolish virgins are those who squander their sacred life force (oil) in worldly and sensual pleasures, and so have no light within themselves to greet the Bridegroom when He comes; in other words, they have not made themselves worthy of the Christ life within.

   Like all master-souls who come consciously into incarnation for a specific purpose, Mary was in complete possession of all her faculties from birth. With the beginning of her earth life she recognized the angelic messengers who surrounded her and from whom she received guidance and instruction. From earliest infancy Mary bore the soul signature of love and compassion. In self-obedience, humility, selfless service and the eagerness to ameliorate the suffering and sorrow that she found in the world about her, she was preparing the way for the Coming One. When Anna was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Purification she was again inspired to dedicate her daughter to the Temple service and it was here that she pledged to return with Mary to make her full and complete consecration to the Lord at the expiration of a period of three years.

   Early man was androgynous. Humanity became uni-sexed as the creative force was divided, half of it henceforth being used to build and feed the brain and the other half for the generation of new race bodies. During the earliest periods of human evolution, the sympathetic nervous system — the particular avenue for the forces of the cosmic Feminine — was dominant, but as the ego descended further and further into materiality the feminine powers resident in the sympathetic nervous system became largely dormant. After that, the ego worked for the most part through the cerebro-spinal nervous system, which is the cornerstone of modem Initiation. However, this unequal condition cannot go on forever, and so the symbol of the New Age is that of the androgynous figure of Aquarius, symbolizing the bipolarity of a new Christed humanity, when the forces of the sympathetic nervous system (the feminine column of the body temple) is re-awakened and revitalized through pure living. This involves the formation of a second spinal cord through the activities of the forces generated in the blending of the solar and lunar seeds, and when this is completed a bridge of light will connect the masculine and feminine columns at the base of the spine. Then generation will have become regeneration.

   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.

   A structure so built, and dedicated to the service of man and the glory of God, possesses from the start an aura of holiness that ordinarily requires many years to develop. This auric emanation permeates the building and projects far beyond it in a larger and more beautiful superstructure of light. Immediately upon entering such a building one becomes conscious of "something different" which pervades the atmosphere, and many instantaneous healings have been known to occur within such walls.

   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.

   It was because the Archangels had completely mastered the problem of polarity that the chief one amongst them, the Christ, was qualified to assume the role of Redeemer for the fallen members of both the angelic and the human kingdoms. To no one of lesser estate would the stupendous task have been possible. In the light of these facts we can re-read John's words with renewed reverence as he informs us that "God...gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting life." He came as the way, the truth and the life, revealing to man the means and the method by which he could save himself.

   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.

   All great religions give recognition to the triune nature of the Godhead. In Christianity it consists of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To this Trinity Rosicrucians assign the following attributes: power to the Father; the Word to the Son, the Cosmic Christ; motion to the Holy Ghost. In connection with his vision on the Isle of Patmos, John and Revelator declares: "I saw heaven opened . . . his eyes were as a flame of fire . . . and his name is called The Word of God." (Rev. 19:11-13) In the opening verses of his Gospel, John describes the Word in phrases that carry living creative potency scarcely suspected by the average reader or hearer of his words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made."

   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.

   All initiatory work since Atlantis has proceeded under the guidance and with the aid of these Mercurians. In Kabbalistic literature they are grouped in general with Angels although, according to initiatory tradition, they are little more advanced than ourselves in the school of evolution. They may, without error, be described as a superior humanity. These Elder Brothers from Mercury have charge of all initiatory work in the nine Lesser Mysteries, leading to the Liberator, the Christ. They work with individuals, not with the masses. As epochs succeed one another, humanity will become more and more responsive to its helpers until the two groups will easily commune.

   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."

   The divine creative life essence is rayed out upon the earth by the Cherubim (Hierarchy of Cancer). These forces descend no lower than the world of Life Spirit (the realm of Christ consciousness). From this high plane the creative force is received and transmitted to the earth by the Great Being known as the Holy Ghost, the most exalted of all Angelic Beings whose home is the Third Heaven. Gabriel and his Angels are the messengers between the Holy Ghost and humanity, by way of the lowest or First Heaven.