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“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” July/August 2001—$5.00
MEDITATION: THE ASCENSIONTHE MYSTIC AND THE OCCULT IN MAX HEINDEL’S WRITINGS—PART 3
THE ASTROLOGY OF REINCARNATIONJOHFRA AND THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC—LEO AND VIRGO
A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE
Front Cover: American National Parks, Corel. Back Cover: Stained glass, Perth Church, Planet Art. Above: Corel
MY STRENGTH
I rise to meet today with TheeMy Lord, with spirit joyouslyRejoicing that, my hand in Thine,The steps that follow will designA day of service, every act,Each hourly challenge to exactThe noblest undiscovered powersFrom me, assured by quiet hoursSpent with Thee, in Thy sacred shrineOf prayer and love, my hand in Thine.
—Helen Lawson
This Issue...Feature
A Prayer Under Pressure of Violent Anguish...Robert Burns...............................2
EditorialTruth, from the Inside Out.....................................................................................3
Mystic LightMeditation: The Ascension...Friedrich Rittelmeyer..............................................4
The Mystic and the Occult in Max Heindel’s Writings—Part 3...C.W. ...............8
The Book of Tobit...Kent Lorimer......................................................................14
Tests in the Quest...B. Rogers.............................................................................18
The Faith That Makes Faithful...Adele Oakdale.................................................21
Keys to the Kingdom: The Pineal Gland...F. Hope Fisher.................................24
Readers’ QuestionsTraining Children;...............................................................................................28
Punishment for Sins; Separation of Sexes; Materializing Appendages..............29
AstrologyJohfra and the Signs of the Zodiac—Cancer and Leo........................................30
Astro View of Heredity and Disease...Dr. A. J. Haworth...................................36
The Astrology of Reincarnation...Martin Schulman...........................................38
House Classification...Stephen Arroyo ...............................................................41
From Max Heindel’ s WritingsDaily Exercises in Soul Culture..........................................................................47
Western W isdom Bible StudyThe Sign of the Master...Max Heindel................................................................48
News PerspectivesPro Life—Contra Life.........................................................................................51
Book ReviewsThe Sage of Chelsea...AProbationer..................................................................52
Zanoni, A Rosicrucian Tale...C.W. ......................................................................54
Nutrition and HealthAssimilation...Diana Dupre..................................................................................56
HealingImaging Health....................................................................................................58
For ChildrenJane’s Thought Garment...D. D. Arroyo .............................................................59
MiscellaneousMy Strength (poem)...Helen Lawson..........................................inside front cover
“A Sane Mind,A Soft Heart,
A Sound Body”© 2001 The Rosicrucian Fellowship
A Christian Esoteric Magazine
Established byMax Heindel
June 1913
Volume 93, No. 4
July/August—2001USPS 471080—ISSN 0744-432X
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FEATUREC
hrist in Gethsem
ane, oil on Canvas, C
arl Bloch (1834-1890), A
ltar piece, St. H
ans Church, O
dense, Denm
ark
O Thou great Being! what Thou artsurpasses me to know:
Yet sure I am, that known to TheeAre all Thy works below.
Thy creature here before Thee stands,All wretched and distressed;
Yet sure those ills that wring my soulObey Thy high behest.
Sure, Thou, Almighty, canst not actFrom cruelty or wrath!
O, free my weary eyes from tears,Or close them fast in death.
But if I must afflicted be,To suit some wise design:
Then, man my soul with firm resolvesTo bear and not repine!
—Robert Burns
A PRAYER UNDER PRESSUREOF VIOLENT ANGUISH
STUDENTS OF WESTERN WISDOMteachings may encounter the same criti-cism that is leveled by orthodoxChristians at “New Agers”—they mere-ly think what suits them and ignore
what requires self-discipline or what the history ofthe brightest and the best has thought, fought, anddied for. In Catholicism this body of received rev-elation and theology takes the form of creed,canon, and Magisterium. New Agers, on the otherhand, including students of Rosicrucian teaching,are, so they are told, churches of one, collectors ofrandom metaphysical curiosities, space-age spiri-tual cowboys(girls).
To be sure, there is a perceptual problem here,because the general public is becoming increasing-ly open-minded, not only to esoteric truths but tothe right of persons generally to be who and dowhat they choose, in light of intuition, discrimina-tion, and sound judgment
Ethical principles and religious doctrines thathave guided western society for two millennia arebeing challenged or simply ignored. Increasingly,tacit approval builds for each doing “his own thing.”This permissiveness is seen as a globalization ofbasic human rights—the right of each to think,speak, and believe what his inner guide dictates.
Let us be clear. Seeking the truth within does notmake it relative to the seeker. There is one objec-tive universal Truth, the Father of all subsidiarytruths. “Going within” characterizes how and wherethis Truth can be found and certainly known.
The people of the world are at a crossroads,where the rule of law meets the rule of love.
Christian love assumes the law, lacking which, it isnot Christian love. Objective spiritual powers haveworked through the Christian church to inform,guide, inspire, and discipline evolving humanity.This church, as presently constituted, is facinggeneral insurrection. Its teachings (and teachers)are losing their authority because the laity is askingmore questions and asserting their own spiritualneed to participate in truth-formation and to beself-determining. The danger with increasedautonomyis that an undue emphasis on the pri-ority of personal experience produces an anarchicrelativism, where all personal values are deemedequal because the persons who hold them areequal.
But all people are created equal only becausethey are created (this fact is contested byDarwinians, among others) by their Creator andthey are created in His (God’s) image. If God is notpart of this democratic equation, a Judeo-Christianinheritance, man is made in his own image, or inno image at all. The result is that man becomes themeasure of all things and, as Pope John Paul II hasstated, “a slave to his own finiteness”—his ownimpulses, appetites, prejudices, and weaknesses.
If the student of Rosicrucian teachings seeks thetruth in the sanctuary of his soul, he does sobecause he believes that God’s truth is written inhis heart and mind (Heb. 8:10, 10:16) and he has apersonal responsibility to find and fix that truth.He also knows that the human is truly a persononly in relationship and that personhood is sancti-fied because each human is in relation to God, forfrom God he issues and in Him is he sustained. ❐
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Truth, from the Inside Out
EDITORIAL
THE RISEN CHRISTappears in three waysin the New Testament.He appears first in theway in which He
reveals Himself to the disciplesbetween Easter and Ascension.Here John’s Gospel is especiallyimportant. It tells us most cir-cumstantially and impressivelyof the Risen One. No one oughtto let the seasons of Easter andWhitsuntide pass without lettingthese accounts act upon him.Over them is spread a fragranceand beauty, as of spring inElysium. To breathe this spirit ofthe resurrection in these stories awakes a man him-self to a new life.
A second kind of resurrection occurrence isdescribed in that which happened at Damascus,when Paul met the Risen One. We have earlierindicated the organic connection of this appear-ance with the experience at the baptism in Jordanand with the revelation to Stephen. All these canhelp us if we wish to reach an impression oftheRisen One. These stories are meant for that purpose.
But here, for our meditation, we would pointespecially to the last and greatest revelation of theRisen Christ in the Apocalypse of John (Rev. 1).As nowhere else we can really get to know theRisen One in this picture, live ourselves into Him,
and thus ourselves arise. This picture is the mostpowerful meditation upon the resurrection.
Step by step we can call this Christ up before us,and if at first the picture is strange to us, becausewe study such pictures from a too outward, toomaterialistically painted standpoint, are too littleable to read and bring to life within us the languageof the spirit which is spoken there, we must letsuch pictures become more living and vivid thanwe are accustomed to receive pictures to-day. Thenwe live ourselves ever more strongly into them.
The head shining in pure light, as if itself creat-ed out of purest light, wisdom, and holiness in one!Out of it the eyes shine forth, “as the sun shineth inhis strength.” Thus the head is surrounded fromwithout with cosmic divine light and at the sametime, in the eyes, filled from within with theessence of divine light: outward and inward meet.
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Meditation: The Ascension
MYSTIC LIGHT
Illuminated manuscript, from the Ottheinrich Bible, completed 16th c. by Matthias Gerung, Bavarian State Library
One Like a Son of Man Appears Before JohnThe living Christ of John’s Revelation cannot be adequately portrayed. It representsthe third and ultimate manifestation of Christ in His Resurrection phase, prior tothe Ascension. In this portrayal John is prostrate with awe before Him who bearsthe seven stars in his right hand and whose Word is the two-edged sword of Truth.
This is the twelfth in a series of articles taken from FriedrichRittelmeyer’s Meditation, Guidance of the Inner Life, pub-lished by Floris Books, Edinburgh. Reprinted with permission.
The garment with the golden girdle is the same thatwe have recognized in these studies as divinepeace, the divine support which proceeds fromsuper-earthly cosmic harmony. That this peace isno rest apart, but the strongest cosmic force, werecognize from the voice which comes forth fromthe breast, which is as the rushing of mighty waters;which acts like a two-edged sword of judgment.Again we see this peace more inwardly in the gar-ment with the golden girdle, and more directedtowards the world in the mighty cosmic word.
And the love of which we first spoke is shown inthe picture to us in the feet, which are formed outof earth-force, out of brass, but heavenly fire glowsthrough them; and in the hands, in which live thepowers of the stars. Again, a more personal side oflove is depicted in the feet, and the side turnedtowards the world is depicted in the hands.
John the Seer tells us of himself that, when hehad seen this Christ, he fell to earth as one dead.We always appear dead near Him. We experiencethe great grave, the earthly world, and the littlegrave, our earthly body....Thus we look uponChrist and receive out of Him true humanity. Yes,we can now see, summed up in this Christ, thewhole construction of these our exercises in life, asfar as they refer to character. That which is broughtabout through the foot-washingwe see here in theearthly feet, through which the fire glows—earthpower united to the spirit of love. That which thescourgingbrought, comes back in perfection in theflowing garment with the golden girdle. Thatwhich the crowning with thornsawoke in us, thestanding for that which is sacred in us, earthly liferaised to heavenly wisdom, shines forth from theeyes. In the noblest thing which the earth can bringforth, in the human eye, shines the power of thesun itself.
And now follow the three higher exercises also.That to which the Crossled us, the becoming onewith cosmic love, lives as creative power in thepierced hands which hold the stars. The last judg-ment of the world into which thedescent into hellled us, lives in might in the divine voice. And theresurrection itself, the awakening to a new being,is woven around the head as a heavenly fullness oflight. We may think of these details, or have thewhole before us: this is the Risen One, as He
appeared to His beloved disciple. So He woulddraw all men up to Him. Before Him all prayerbecomes worship.
Where today is a pure worship of Christ to befound? It would be the noblest prayer. ThroughChrist we worship the World-Father “in Christ’sname.” What might not humanity become if thepicture of the Risen One did not remain in thegrave of the Bible, but arose in souls themselves?What unheard-of development would men bringforth from within? With deepest reverence man, ashe is, would look towards man, as he ought tobecome. He shines forth from Christ as the“Divine Son.”
Let him who cannot yet honestly connect thispicture of Revelation with a Christ alive today,think of it all at first as his own higher ego, or asthe ideal for man. One day it will become clear tohim that he has there before him not only a thoughtpicture of his own making.
With all this we are now already in the midst ofthe Ascension. One feels the whole contradictionof our time when one merely speaks this word.Men who live among machines, ought they to sinkthemselves into the resurrection of Christ? Butfrom quite another side comes a consideration. Weread in the before-mentioned lectures of RudolfSteiner on the Gospel of John “The seventh feelingcannot be expressed in words: he alone coulddescribe it who was able to think without using theinstrument of the human brain; and for this there isno language, because our language has expressionsonly for the physical plane. Therefore one can onlygive indication at this level. It surpasses all whichman can represent to himself. One calls it the‘ascent into heaven,’or ‘the complete absorptioninto the spiritual world.’”
According to such words we shall retain in ourconsciousness that there are experiences which liehigh above all that we are able personally to reach.It is good in our last meditation to carry this quiteclearly in our soul. And yet we must not pass bythe highest. Not only because to the descent intohell of which we speak, an ascent into heavenalone can bring the balancing compensation, if wewish to have all correctly balanced—just as thedeath on the Cross corresponds to the resurrec-tion—but because it is just the man of the present
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day who must come to feel again most stronglythat he belongs to the divine world, if he is tooppose to the strong outward life the strongestcontrary force.
Here also we shall walk most surely and may beprotected from all dangers, if we follow the indi-cations of the Bible itself.
Immediately before His Ascension, Christ insti-tuted Baptism: “Make disciples of all nations, bap-tizing them in the name of the Father and of theSon and of the Holy Ghost!” Baptism, also, may beexperienced on the most differing levels. When,starting from the picture of Christ which we havedescribed, a man seeks to mount personally towhere he plunges his whole thinking, the wholebeing of his head, into the Holy Ghost, to where heplunges his whole feeling, his whole “middle man”which lives in heart and blood and lungs, into theDivine Son, to where he plunges his whole will,which lives in our acts and in our walk, into theDivine Father, then he mounts into the regionwhere man himself is an image of the DivineTrinity; then the thrice holy Divine Name, which isabove all the heavens, echoes wonderfully in man;then he becomes one with the life of the primalDivinity, which rules all the worlds, and is raisedabove all the powers of evil; then he is in his high-est heavenly fatherland. Like a victor, crownedwith light, he returns back to his earthly tasks. Allthe heavens are gathered within him and yet holierheavens will open to him in prospect.
A man can seem to himself to be transfigured inheaven. But he must not sink down into uncon-sciousness, which was the danger of the mystics,but in his awakened ego the heavens themselveswill awake. It is the highest perfection of man,which we build up above the child in a sacramen-tal action when we baptize it. Nothing must be inmy thinking but that which is the Holy Ghost.Nothing must live in my feeling, but that which isthe Divine Son. Nothing must act in my will, butthat which is the will of the Father of the world,Who is over all that exists. One can experience thismeditation as a sealing with a divine seal.
Such a meditation will sanctify us, as nothingelse can sanctify us. To have been in heaven—thatgives one for life quite a different feeling towardsthe earth. Divinely ennobled we come back to it.
But that is only possible when we have not soughtto escape the Cross and hell. If we have receivedthe divine seal, we learn to speak the word “man “in quite a different way. We begin to feel that manhimself is called to enter the ranks of the divinebeings, and to feel what his being, when amongthem, will be in light, life and love. For these threewords of John’s Gospel express the same thought,“Is it not written: Ye are Gods?” (John 10:34)Behold the Man! Behold the God!
But the Ascension, if we do not deny the spirit ofChrist, must never betray us into wishing to remainin heaven, however strongly we should feel it as“blessedness.” The will of Christ leads straightfrom heaven to earth! Only then are we united toChrist, if this will itself is alive in us also.
Thus indeed it was at the Baptism of ChristHimself. It can be regarded as an actual ascent toheaven. The connection between the Ascensionand Baptism, as we described it above, becomes init fully clear. And so the consideration of theBaptism of Christ can help us to strengthen themeditation upon the Ascension by means of a pic-ture drawn from the earth.
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Fresco, detail, Masolino da Panicale(1383-1435), Baptistery, Castiglione Olona (Lombardy)
The Baptism of ChristThe Baptism of Christ Jesus prefigures the Ascension in thatit introduces the Ego to the realms of Human Spirit (HolyGhost), Life Spirit (the Son) and Divine Spirit (the Father).
Photo: A
ntonio Quattrone
“The heavens were opened.” This experience ofJesus at the Baptism in Jordan, was...the deepestexperience that ever a man had upon the earth. Inthe bright dove which lighted upon His head, theHoly Ghost revealed itself. In the voice whichsounded, “Thou art my well beloved Son, uponwhom my revelation rests lovingly,” the DivineSon is revealed.
In the opening of the heavens over Him andaround Him, the Father of the worlds drew near.That which we here see before us was a passingthrough the three realms: Imagination, in the pic-ture; Inspiration, in the sound; Intuition, in thereceiving of life. By this event—the Baptism ofChrist—our ascent to heaven may at the same timebe anchored and remain fast held within the realmof earth. We will also remind ourselves how Christreturned back after His Baptism into earthly lifeand after the temptation in the wilderness—theseverest temptations often come directly after thehighest experiences—the humdrum activities ofdaily life began, through which thereafter the king-dom of heaven glowed from the background. “Thekingdom of Heaven is at hand!” was henceforthHis announcement. When through our earthlyactivities also there shines a kingdom of heaven inwhich we have been, then they contain their realbeauty and true grandeur.
Resurrection and Ascension complete oneanother like breathing in and breathing out. TheResurrection is a going into heaven. The Ascensionbecomes a returning from heaven. The two belongtogether as the highest communion: The Resur-rection is a last receiving of Christ’s body. TheAscension fills us in the deepest sense withChrist’s blood. The Lord’s Supper is the prepara-tion for this experience.
If we look back upon the whole course of thepurification of our feeling, we find that we havetwice passed through the realm of love, of peace,of holiness. Like a spiral movement our way pro-ceeded upwards, since the second circuit lay abovethe first. Into love, which is our relationship to ourfellow-men; into peace, which is our relationshipto the earthly world around; into holiness, which isour relationship to the divine world—into this trin-ity we as men are wrought. Our earthly existenceis so shaped that there is nothing which we would
not have to lay hold of with these three basic,human, and divine faculties of ours. In theAscension they are all summed up.
And thus, at the same time, this path is the ful-filling of the second request in the Lord’s Prayer,“Thy kingdom come to us!” Usually in this requestone thinks only of the kingdom that shall some daycome from above. From this inadequate concep-tion we are fully freed by our inward progress. Wego the way of the Gospels themselves toward thedivine kingdom: through death to resurrection.That is the way by which Christ Himself passedbefore us “into the kingdom.” Through no outwarddoor can one enter this kingdom, not through out-ward death alone. It is not a geographical kingdom,but a divine kingdom of the spirit. Strict conditionsgovern it: “Whither I go ye know, and the way yeknow.” (John 14: 4)
When Christ appeared to His disciples for thelast time before His Ascension, He three times putto Peter the question: “Lovest thou Me?” One canfeel, as one meditates upon this story, how thisquestion each time penetrates more deeply into thesoul, how, when it is received as a vital question, itmelts the whole soul in a sacred fire. It is a uniquemeans of self-transubstantiation which Christ theregave to Peter, the earthly-minded.
We may conclude our meditation upon theAscension, and our whole series of meditationsdirected to the feelings, by experiencing as strong-ly as possible Christ standing there before us, ask-ing this question. All that we experienced in themeditation upon the Resurrection is now in thisChrist. And all that we gained in the meditationupon the Ascension and the Baptism is now in us.It is no presumption, but it is a fully-human appro-priation of the Gospel story, if we, within thisChrist, Who, radiant, encloses us like a figurewhich towers above us and enwraps us, receiveinto ourselves the question: “Lovest thou Me?”That is the question which always and everywheresounds forth from His being, when we listen toHim. In the fire of this question, which has in itsomething heavenly which burns us, we are mostfully re-created. With the highest heaven in ourhearts, we then return to earth. “Father I will thatthe love wherewith thou hast loved me may be inthem, and I in them.”—John 17:26 (Continued) ❒
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DOES MAX HEINDEL ’S majorwork, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, that eminently occultwork, have mysteries? According toits author the “mystery hidden in
every line” of the Cosmo, what it “preaches onevery page, [is] THE GOSPELOF SERVICE”(Gleanings of a Mystic, GM, 135). A mystery signi-fies what is hidden, not overt. An occult writing isan uncovering of what is covert. When Heindelcalls Wagner’s soul “deeply mystic” (GM 153), hemeans that the composer had a certain attunementto esoteric truths, but not necessarily a clear intel-lectual conception of hidden realities. Earlier inGleaningsHeindel writes that the composer, “withthe rare intuition of the master musician” sensed themystery (31). He did not consciously perceive andrealize the full significance of the connectionbetween the death of the Savior and the regenera-tion of nature; rather, he “unwittingly stumbledupon the key” to a sublime mystery (154).
Terms such as mystic birth, mystic marriage, andmystic deathmust remain imprecise preciselybecause they pertain to mysteries. To repeat, mysticused as an adjective signifies that the spiritualoccurrence is similar to the earthly event denomi-nated by the noun it modifies. But some “are tired ofparables and long to learn the underlying facts” (182).They “feel an inner urge to take the Kingdomof Godby storm” (181). “The Rosicrucian Fellowship wasstarted for the purpose of reaching this class.” Themethods it employs “are definite, scientific and reli-gious; they have been originated by the WesternSchool of the Rosicrucian Order” (182). We do not
wait, as does the mystic, but we willfully and inten-tionally set about to emigrate to the Kingdom ofHeaven. We imitate our Elder Brother Jesus (170,172) just as the Catholic, but more, we “exalt Godin our own consciousness” (172), for “till Christ beformed in us” (in a mystic birth!) we will be blindto His presence (159).
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The Mystic and the Occult in Max Heindel’s Writings
Part 3
MYSTIC LIGHT
Splendor solis, S. Trismosin, London, 16th century. The British Library, London
The Philosophical TreeEarthly abstract thinking (dry branch) is exchanged for livingthinking, making possible knowledge of the invisible worlds.“Plant this tree [of knowledge] on the lapis [soul body]...that the birds of the sky [living thoughts] come and repro-duce on its branches; it is from there that wisdom rises.”
The use of mysticalin the sense of metaphoricalis evident in the passage referring to the divine cre-ative Word that “expires” at the Spring Equinox: “Itdies upon the cross at Easterin a mystical sense”(GM 155). It does not actually die. A figurativedeath occurs.
Who is this mysticwhose gleaningswe are study-ing? The book’s title, Gleanings of a Mystic, wasgiven by Heindel’s wife, Augusta. In the Forwardshe refers to the author as “the mystic” and imme-diately adds that these collected writings “containsome of his deepest thoughts, and are the result ofyears of research and occult investigation.” Sheadds that “The occultist has received much from thebook entitled The Web of Destiny, which is a mineof mystical knowledge and helpful occult truths.”Are these synonymous terms? Which are which?Max Heindel does not refer to knowledge as mystic,but the term occult knowledgeis used seven timesin the Cosmo. He may have been a mystic, but hisGleaningsand other books are the result of occultresearch, either his own, or, in the case of theCosmo, the Elder Brothers’.
“Mind is the predominating feature” (117) ofthose who want to accelerate their soul growth bypracticing the exercises of retrospection and con-centration, thereby advancing “scientificallytowards the goal of Initiation” (119) and becomingmembers of the Rosicrucian Order, which is anoccult Order. “Please remember that if anyoneoffers to initiate you into an occult order, no matterif he calls it ‘Rosicrucian,’” his demand of an initi-ation fee stamps him as an impostor (20). In thissame passage the writer says he received “TheLight” in the “Mystic Temple” of the Rose Cross.Here mystic,as in many other contexts, means fig-urative. The Temple is etheric and cannot be seenby physical vision.
Were one to characterize Heindel himself as pri-marily a mystic or an occultist, a disservice wouldbe done to the complementary side of his nature.Manly Hall, the author of a masterful compilationof the world’s esoteric teachings, preferred to callHeindel “America’s foremost Christian Mystic.”Hall was a student of the Rosicrucian Fellowship inthe 1920’s. He wrote an introduction to what “mayproperly be considered as Max Heindel’s first liter-ary effort,” a sixty-page essay entitled Blavatsky
and the Secret Doctrine(DeVorss & Co.). “It wasthrough the writings of Blavatsky that Max Heindelreceived in this life his first knowledge of occultsciences. He recognized gratitude to be the first lawof occultism and his fine soul preserved to the enda beautiful spirit of gratitude for the inspiration andinstruction he had gained from The Secret Doctrine,which, in the Cosmo, he calls “an unexcelled work”(512) and one of the “very valuable works onoccultism” (270).
Hall describes the Cosmo as a “textbook ofChristian Metaphysics” (10), a description thatwould give offense to orthodox Christians due tothe breadth and depth of occult knowledge con-tained therein. Elsewhere,calling Heindel “a pio-neer in Christian mysticism” (14) and “the greatestWestern mystic of the twentieth century” (19), Halluses the same expression August Foss employs inreferring to a body of occult truths. He says thatHeindel “greatly increased his store of mysticalknowledge” from what he knew as a member of theTheosophical Society between 1904 and 1905.
We repeat that a mystic does not have suchknowledge as Max Heindel possessed. Heindelhimself states that “The Mystic is usually devoid ofintellectual knowledge” (1Q&A 290, Cosmo520),particularly occult knowledge. Hall gives an alteredand exceptional (and Platonic) meaning to mysti-cism, whose “true purposes” are, he avers, “to per-petuate, interpret, and apply the idealism of therace” (12). Such purposes presuppose the posses-sion and use of advanced reasoning and analyticalpowers that are simply not part of the traditionalmystic’s capability or concern. His example andwork may have that effect over time, but it was notthe product of a conscious intention.
We may surmise that Heindel was born with astrong mystic yearning for union with the one Life,but he wanted more, as his Cain-Seth, Freemasonry-Catholicism antithesis makes clear. He had to know.Specifically and fully. Faith did not suffice. He wasgrateful to receive explicit occult information. Yethe wanted even more than that. He wanted to expe-rience occult truth first-hand. He wanted to stand inthe supersensible worlds, to experience and identi-fy the facts of metaphysical reality. This need is theengine that drives the occult inquiry: to dare all, toknow all, to do all; but not to be silent—not Max
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Heindel. In his study of Blavatsky andThe SecretDoctrine, Heindel calls the book “The greatest ofmodern works on occultism” (56). That was beforehe wrote the Cosmo!
Since mystic is etymologically and semanticallyassociated with mystery, it understandably retainsconnotations of nonspecificity and subjectivity,referring to what one experiencesof a supernormalor meta-physical nature, but may not be able to con-ceptualize, objectify, or explain in the form ofsupersensible knowledge. The Rosicrucian teach-ings presented in the Cosmo(and Heindel’s otherwritings) “make no statements that are not support-ed by reason and logic.” Therefore the Cosmomustbe “satisfying to the mind, for it holds out a reason-able solution to all mysteries.” What was onceobscure or enigmatic is taken into the purview ofspiritual science and made a legitimate subject ofrational inquiry.
In one of his most informative statements aboutmysticism, and by association the mystic, Heindelwrites that “the one great and absolutely essentialidea which underlies mysticism” is that all struc-tures, artifacts and ceremonials pertaining to thereligious life are objectifications for what is interi-or—all “these things are within and not [essential-ly] without” (AMI 20). “This idea must be appliedto every symbol and phase of mystic experience. Itis not the Christ without that saves, but the Christwithin” ( ibid). Thus the qualifying term mystic—asin mystic bride(16), mystic master(19), mysticLaver (21), mystic Temple (28), mystic marriage(34), mystic manna(41), mystic birth(52), mysticblood (52), mystic light (56), and mystic death(114)—always refers to an esoteric reality in theoccult anatomy or spiritual consciousness of theindividual soul. As St. Paul explains, the OldTestament Law of outward ordinances mustbecome mystically inscribed on the heart as innerimpulses and moral directives. Like the ancientTabernacle, it is transferred “from the wilderness ofspace to a home in our hearts” (21).
A basic tenet of the Rosicrucian Teachings is thatall occult development begins with the vital body(AMI 55, CL 276, GM 96, LS182, TI 79), but in TheWeb of DestinyMax Heindel says “all mystic devel-opment begins in the vital body” (15). Is this anoth-er instance of the inadvertent conflation of the twoterms? The Rosicrucian student is not primarilyengaged in mystic development. In fact, the religionof those “who have true spirituality...is not basedupon the emotional nature...but is rooted in the vitalbody, which is the vehicle of reason” (17).Therefore the student is directed to become obser-vant and to draw conclusions from his observations;to reason from perceptual experience; to discrimi-nate by separating out the essential from the trivial;to meditate on occult information such as is pre-sented in Western Wisdom Teaching; to strengthenhis ability to concentrate and perform daily retro-spection, which will improve the memory andsimultaneously purify the desire nature.
By these exercises given in the “Western Mystery[!] School of the Rosicrucians,” a viable soul bodymay be formed out of the two higher ethers of thevital body (18). Such exercises are not performedby the mystic Christian, who engages in devotional
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prayer, rather than concentration used by theoccultist (Cosmo463). When they do pray, “it is thepractice of accomplished occultists to stand withbowed heads” (WD 132). Moreover, there are“occult reasons which make collective prayer inad-visable” (129).
The conjunction of the two terms mystic andoccult can challenge our understanding of theirrespective domains, whose borders at times seemblurred and overlapping. For instance, “the mysticmaxim ‘if thou are Christ, help thyself’” is taken toheart by the occultist who believes “we ought toguide ourselves without fear or favor from any spir-it” ( WD 36). This advice is not followed by the tra-ditional mystic, who would not dare such indepen-dence, but is a docile, if vehement, affirmer ofChristian dogma and looks to Jesus to save him.
In a section of The Web of Destinyentitled “TheOccult Effect of Our Emotions,” the author’sinquiring mind is turned toward investigating theprior lives of several hundred persons in order toarrive at some basic principles regarding the opera-tion of the law of cause and effect. From his youthHeindel had a practical, inquisitive cast of mind; hewanted to know how things work, whatconstitutesthem, and why certain conditions must prevail forthem to properly function. He was a ship’s engi-neer, he “electrified” Mt. Ecclesia, was learned (andself-taught) in hydrolics, desalination, printing,physiology, mechanics and other technical areas.He implemented his knowledge, grounding theoryin practice. He may have possessed a developedintuitive sense, qualifying him as a mystic, but hewas a practical mystic, seeking explanations for hisinsights. He cleared pathways to practice so that hiswisdom and visions could be both useful and con-firmed on the material plane. Solomon the mystichad wisdom. He could picture a temple. But hecould not build it. Hiram Abif f could build this liv-ing temple of the soul, the soul body. He had boththe occult knowledge and the skill required to giveform to the etheric structure.
The traditional mystic is not fascinated by thestructure and processes of the physical world, or,for that matter, the supersensible worlds. God orDivinity is the sole object of the mystic’s attentionand devotion. Since creation is the work of theDivine Mind and man is made in God’s image,
using the mind to delve into the divine “mysteries”so that they dawn to understanding in the light ofreason can be described as an act of piety.
While truths of the supraphysical worlds are notdirectly transmissible by physical plane languages,they can be symbolically or analogically presented.And they can be logically spoken about, because“nothing that is not logical can exist in the uni-verse” (Cosmo440). Spiritual realities as arche-types have their material counterparts, which mayresemble them. The lower is like the higher. ThusHeindel writes that the Hermetic law of analogy is“the master-key to all mysteries” (WD 115). Whilethe mystic may have certain beliefs, the occultistknows the reasons why those beliefs are (or are not)true and can enunciate them—logically or analogi-cally—thereby enlightening others. Myth and poet-ry are particularly effective in the analogical pre-sentation of spiritual verities. But they do notdirectlyaddress the faculty of reason.
For Heindel and, he presumes, for students of theRosicrucian Teachings, it does not suffice to begiven exercises for soul growth and automaticallyperform them. The mind itself must be consciouslyengaged. It must know more than the how; it mustknow the why of what it does. The author of theWeb of Destinyfeels the need to study and deliber-ate on the “occult effect of the emotions engenderedby esoteric exercises” (111). The mystic prays the“Our Father” with fervor. The occultist may do like-wise. In addition, he needs to know that it is a peti-tion to threefold God by the threefold spirit for theneeds of the four lower human vehicles. Does hepray “better” for so knowing? Perhaps. At least hisintellect is more apt to earnestly and fully partici-pate in the prayer.
In her forward to Teachings of an Initiate,Augusta Foss calls the author “the Western Mystic”and then states that his last eight books “comprisethe later investigations of this seer.” The occultist,like the scientist, investigates; the mystic does not.The occultist goes out to find, identify, and catego-rize; the mystic waits for inspiration, for the gift ofspiritual understanding. The author’s wife is correctin saying that “seekers along [both] mystical andoccult lines” will realize the value of his works. Themystic component is given by “words [that] reachto the very depth of the heart of the reader,” because
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they are the expression of“the heart throb of thisgreat lover of humanity.”
The other, occult, com-ponent of Heindel’s writ-ing consists in the “won-derful truths he had gar-nered through his contactwith the Elder Brothers”(ibid). The “heart throb”does not teach. It inspires,it can motivate, but it is nota seal on truth. One can beearnestand wrong. One canbelievewith all one’s heartand soul that a thing is true.That does not make it true.
The fervor of faith has a long history of militantevangelism and “righteous” persecution. Heindelwas aware of this abuse. It gave rise to his poem“Creed or Christ” which precedes the Cosmotext.He sought to appeal to the reason of his reader byexplicating occult truths which can illuminatecreedal mysteries and explain life’s enigmas.Lacking occult knowledge, the seeker is confined tomystical faith—often in the face of seemingly con-trary evidence—that life is purposeful, God isbeneficent, and the human spirit is eternal. Esotericknowledge obtained by investigation in the super-sensible worlds and communicated logically deliv-ers the skeptic and disbeliever from their ignoranceand evangelizes their energies to live the life andprepare for first-hand confirmation of what theirreason assents to.
Max Heindel had just such a redemptive mission:“It has been the writer’s work to investigate spiritu-al facts and correlate them with the physical in sucha manner as would appeal to the reason and thuspave the way for belief....to give [occult] light toseeking souls on many of the mysteries of life” (TI7). A mystery on which occult light is shed is nolonger a mystery.
Max Heindel investigated. So should we. Theunexamined life is not worth living. We are meantto know, for we are homo sapiens (L. sapere, taste,be wise), thinkers. What distinguishes mankind ismind. The word is derived from Sanskrit manas,and man, to think. The leader who guided the
Atlantean survivors into the region of the Gobidesert was called the Manu. Ego identity firstrequires a mind. In some respects the mysticattempts to leap from the desire world into theworld of life spirit, hurdling over the world ofthought. Some of his flights are successful. But hissojourn in that universal realm is temporary. For heis human, a mind bearer. He must give birth to andevolve that mind.
“If we do not investigate, how shall we know?”(TI 17). Here speaks an occultist. And here speaksan enlightened one: “When we consult the occultrecords we find an interpretation which satisfies theheart without doing violence to the mind” (19, 35).The terms of this sentence could as easily bereversed: The occult records satisfy the mind with-out doing violence to the heart.
Readers of this study may well ask themselveswhy they are (if they are) members of theRosicrucian Fellowship, or at least why they aredrawn to the Teachings disseminated by it. Heindelhas an answer: “[B]ecause at some time we havebeen dissatisfied with the explanations of the prob-lems of life given elsewhere” (TI 33). We want,even require and demand, explanations. Parables donot suffice. They are milk. We need meat. We want“knowledgeof the Kingdom of Heaven” (33).However, we come to realize that knowledge byitself is not enough either. “Even the deepestknowledge along religious [mystic] or occult linesis not wisdom” (37). Only when knowledge has
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THE PATH OF THE UNUSED SEX CURRENTSIN
THE MYSTIC
LARYNX
ORGANS OFKNOWLEDGE
RIGHT SIDESPINAL CORD
LEFT SIDESPINAL CORD
UNUSED SEX FORCENEGATIVE IN HEARTPOSITIVE IN BRAIN
PERFECT
BALANCE
UNUSED SEX FORCEPOSITIVE IN HEARTNEGATIVE IN BRAIN
CREATIVEORGAN
THE WORD
ORGAN OFFEELING
THE OCCULTIST THE ADEPT
Life energies in the occultist and mystic course the head and heart in opposite directions.
wed love does it transmute to wisdom, whoseessenceis the Christ principle (ibid). Therefore themission of the Rosicrucian Fellowship is to “pro-mulgate a combined doctrine of the head and heart,which is the only wisdom” (ibid).
In the Aquarian Age “faith will be swallowed upin knowledge” (58), a phrase first introduced in thepenultimate sentence of the Cosmo’s first two edi-tions. In this dawning Age “faith must be rooted inreason,” so “both the mind and the religious instinct”are satisfied (56). As the herald of the AquarianAge “the Rosicrucian Fellowship has been chargedby the Elder Brothers with the mission” of leaven-ing the world with “ideas” so that “conditions inthe land of the living dead are not shrouded in mys-tery.” To the inquiring intellect, opaque mysteryand ignorance are like a burial shroud that makesus blind sleepwalkers on earth (58).
As elsewhere, the word mysticdoes double dutyin Teachings of an Initiateand is used where occultwould better suit the context, as when Heindel pro-poses to shed “mystic light on the [First] WorldWar” (66-95). The seer explains current conditionsby citing his “occult investigations” (68) into theconflict’s origin: The old Romans had become theBritish and the old Carthaginians were collectivelyreborn as Prussians (69). Though the “great major-ity of mankind....scarcely ever thinks of the prob-lems of existence [and]...have probably nevergiven the great questions of life...any serious con-sideration,” the occultist does—and must (72).
The only admissible reading of mysticin the titleof this three-chapter investigation on the war is asa cognate for spiritual, intellectual, hidden, or thelike—in fact, occult. For the author’s purpose is tobring occult facts to bear upon the evident suffer-ing and travail that the war unleashes, thereby jus-tifying it in the sense that it is no longer inexplica-ble. Human behavior is often irrational. But thecosmos operates according to immutable logic, andoccult knowledge confirms this wisdom. When wesee that events have causes and that nothing iswithout a cause, that humans do and must experi-ence the consequences of their own actions, thenincentive can be given for altering human behavior,and the law of cause and effect, occultly consid-ered, gives a powerful impulse for making the nec-essary changes that will improve the human condi-
tion.Elsewhere Heindel uses mysticas a synonym for
occultist when he states that “AChristian mystictakes a deeper and more far-reaching view” ofEaster than most people” (108). Actually, it is theoccultist, rather than the mystic, for whom this istrue, as Heindel confirms. For whereas the mysticmay have a flash of direct but ineffable recognitionof the profundity of the Easter Mystery, theoccultist author cites a profusion of theosophicalreferences to elaborate the “more far-reachingview,” including Druids, Scandinavian Eddas,Indian Vedas, Egyptian Hermeticism, GreekMysteries, and Native American serpent mounds(104-105).
Heindel wanted the mysteries opened up andspelled out so that spiritual causes could convinc-ingly account for physical facts. This applies equal-ly to soul development. The Rosicrucian Teachingspresent “the scientific [not mystical] method ofspiritual unfoldment” (108). The Elder Brothers ofthe Rosicrucians have “originated a scientificmethod” to “develop the sleeping soul powers inany individual” (112). If the aim of the “RosicrucianMystery Teachings” is to “correlate scientific factsto spiritual verities” (Cosmo52), it is clear thatsuch teachings are designed to remove mystery. Weenter not into the twilit crypt of a church where themystic imagination can cut loose; we enter the highnoon of clear intellect where reason brings light towhat formerly was nebulous, hidden, or perplex-ing.
One would not call the Elder Brothers or, for thatmatter, higher initiates, mystics, precisely becausethey are enlightened as to the mysteries of the spir-itual world. However, one could well call themoccultists.
A publicly taught religion suffices the needs ofmost people. The precocity of some demands ahigher teaching and a deeper doctrine. TheBrothers of the Rose Cross “sanctioned the launch-ing of the Rosicrucian Fellowship to promulgatethis teaching” (127). What is taught is occultknowledge. Mysticism can be left to the Churches,who have produced stellar mystics, including St.John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Francis,and hundreds more. (Continued) ❐
—C.W.
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THE BOOK OF TOBIT is probablythe most human document in theApocrypha. It is what we would call “agood story,” lively and entertaining. Ifit lacks the spiritual depth of the Book
of Wisdom, it more than makes up for the lack inits rich humanity and fairy-tale glamour.
The Book belongs to the Gnostic tradition of theHellenistic Period and was written, it is thought,somewhere in the third century B.C., certainlybefore 166 B.C., for it is pre-Maccabean, and prob-ably written originally in Aramaic by a BabylonianJew.
It has been pointed out that the story of Tobit isstrikingly similar to the “Tractate of Khons,” inwhich a Theban deity casts out a demon from anensorcelled princess. The use of the fish in theJewish tale is also reminiscent of Egyptian magicalpractice. But it is also admitted that Persian influ-ence is even more marked than the Egyptian, forthe demon Asmodeus, whom we meet in this story,is the Aeshma Daeva of Persian demonology, andthe dog which follows Tobias on his travels is rem-iniscent of the dog which attends upon the PersianSraosha, the Spirit of Obedience, which indeed thedog clearly typifies. Inasmuch as the dog wassacred to Zoroastrianism but despised among theJews, this touch is taken to be unJewish. Buthuman nature is human nature, and it is difficult tobelieve that a Jewish boy might not, under favor-able circumstances, love a dog, as Tobias, the sonof Tobit, does in this story, whether or not it wasthe usual custom among his kinsmen.
There is no reason to suppose, either, that the
Babylonian and Assyrian medical practice differedappreciably from the Persian and Egyptian, and thevery matters which seem so characteristicallyPersian or Egyptian have their counterparts inBabylonian usage. We call to mind that Abraham,the father of the Hebrew nation, was a prince in Urof the Chaldees, and a legend of the Haggada con-tains the statement that Abraham learned of theLaw of God from astrology. This is in keeping withwhat we know of the Chaldean star worship. TheBabylonian Captivity naturally brought this vesti-gial Chaldean heritage into renewed life among theHebrews, and they profited by the greater scientif-ic and magical knowledge of the Babylonianpriesthoods.
At the time of the Captivity, the Babylonianswere in the midst of a great Renaissance, compil-ing their ancient books of wisdom and writing newones embodying the later learning of Chaldea.Until this time, the Hebrews had no completelyorganized Scripture of their own. The TempleScrolls—master-records from which other copieswere made—were burned by the Chaldeans, asEsdras mentions, at the time of the downfall ofJerusalem, and it was the Sages of Ardath whotook it upon themselves to restore these lostScriptures, as it is said “from a supernaturallyinspired memory,” and who thus, under the stimu-lation of the Babylonian Renaissance, gave us ourOld Testament in a form not dissimilar to thatwhich we have today. The traditions and doctrinesincorporated in these Scriptures, though writtenand edited from the point of view of the MessianicOrder of the Exile, are actually older than
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The Book of Tobit
MYSTIC LIGHT
Abraham; they include also the esoteric teachingsof Joseph and Moses (Egyptian Initiates), as wellas those of the great prophets of the Exile, Ezekiel,the Second Isaiah (of the Exile), and Esdras—Ezekiel being the exponent of the ChaldeanInitiation, while Esdras and the Second Isaiah rep-resent the Persian.
The Assyrians, though enemies of theBabylonians, yet owed all their culture and learn-ing to them, and it is a modification of theBabylonian star worship and sorcery which isfound in Nineveh, where the story of Tobit opens,supposedly in the times of Esarhaddon, about 680-660 B.C.
The principal characters of the story are Tobit, aJew of Naphtali taken captive to Nineveh bySargon, who has lost his eyesight; his son, Tobias;and Raphael the Archangel. (We observe in pass-ing that many of these apocryphal Books are richin angelology.)
Raphael is that Angel who is called, particularly,the Friend of Man, and he is the angelic patron ofthe healing arts. In astrology he is usually namedas the Archangel representing the planet Mercury,but some Bible students associate him with theSun, instead of Michael whom they, conversely,name as governing, or representing, Mercury.However, since Mercury rules Virgo, the sign usu-ally associated with the healing arts, it is perhapsmore logical to associate Raphael with Mercury, asin the Rosicrucian Philosophy; especially since theMercurians do, indeed, work with the individualwho is preparing for Initiation and therefore standin a more than usually close relationship with thehuman being upon the planet Earth.
Tobit has a son, Tobias, whom he purposes towed to Sara, a young Jewess in Ecbatana in Media,and the daughter of Raguel. This girl has had astrange history. She has been married seven times,and each time her husband has been slain on hiswedding night by Asmodeus, a demon lover bywhom she is persecuted and who allows no mortalman to approach her. Despite the fact that this girlsuffers from possession she is essentially devoutand has long prayed to God for release from hercondition. Therefore the Archangel Raphael is sentto earth to accomplish a double mission: to heal the
eyes of Tobit, whose love for his people shinesforth on the inner planes, and to free Sara from thepersecution of Asmodeus, the evil spirit.
Raphael was sent to heal them both, that is, toscale away the whiteness of Tobit’s eyes, and togive Sara the daughter of Raguel for a wife toTobias, the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodeus theevil spirit; because she belonged to Tobias by rightof inheritance.(Tobit 3:17 )
Raphael, then, descended from heaven and inthe likeness of a mortal offered himself as a guideto lead Tobias to Ecbatana and to the house ofRaguel, Sara’s father. Having satisfied the blindTobit of his good faith and character, he and Tobiasset out on their journey to Ecbatana, after afarewell lecture by Tobit in which he said, amongother things, “Do that to no man which thou hat-est”; i.e., do nothing to others that you would notwant done to yourself—the Golden Rule expressedfrom the negative point of view.
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Egg tempera on poplar, Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), National Gallery, London
Tobias and the AngelThe only mention of Raphael in the Bible (including the Apoc-rypha) is in Tobit. While his divine natured is disguised in thestory, the archangel is depicted by Lippi with halo and wings.
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The ostensible object of Tobias’visitto Ecbatana was the recovery of ten tal-ents of silver which his father had left incharge of a friend there, some yearsbefore, during the days of his prosperi-ty. Now poverty and blindness had over-taken him and he had nothing left for hisson but these ten talents of silver, and hetherefore sent Tobias to Ecbatana to getthem. There, also, in Ecbatana, livedRaguel, his cousin, and the girl Sara.“So they went forth both [Tobias and theArchangel Raphael], and the youngman’s dog with them.”
There is perhaps nothing in Bible lit-erature more touchingly homely thanthis scene: the young man and theArchangel (in disguise), setting outupon their long journey afoot, followedby the dog.
Proceeding on their journey, Tobiasand Raphael—and the dog—came tothe river Tigris and found lodging on itsshores.
And when the young man went downto wash himself, a fish leaped out of theriver and would have devoured him. Then theangel said unto him, Take the fish. And the youngman laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. Towhom the angel said, Open the fish, and take theheart and the liver and the gall, and put them upsafely. (Tobit 6 :14)
Of course Tobias wanted to know what this wasall about, so Raphael explained that the smoke ofthe burnt liver and heart in conjunction with ashesof perfume is efficacious in driving away evil spir-its, while the gall is useful in curing certain kindsof blindness.
At last they arrived in Ecbatana and at the houseof Raguel, where they were welcomed cordially,and Tobias met Sara and immediately asked for herhand in marriage. To this her father consented, butin all honesty warned the young man of the possi-ble fate awaiting him on his wedding night, but thewarning failed to dampen Tobias’ardor, since hewas fortified by previous instruction from theAngel. So the wedding preparations went forward.
After the wedding supper a chamber was preparedfor the bride and groom. But Tobias rememberedthe words of the Angel and took with him the ashesof perfume and the liver and heart of the fish, andhaving entered the bridal chamber he made asmoke of them, “the which smell, when the evilspirit had smelled, he fled, into the utmost parts ofEgypt [and who can blame him?] and the Angelbound him.”
The next morning the anxious father and mothersent a maid into the bridal chamber, fully expect-ing her to come forth to report another corpse intheir daughter’s bed. To their great joy the maid“came forth, and told them that he was alive.”
In the meantime, Tobit, back in Nineveh with hiswife, waited anxiously for the delayed return of hisson, thinking him dead, and sorrowing for him.
But Tobias and Raphael, with the new bride,were on their way home. Then Raphael said toTobias, “Thou knowest, brother, how thou didstleave thy father: Let us haste before thy wife, and
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Die Bibel in Bildern, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1789-1853)
The Prayer of Tobias and SaraPerhaps one concern that caused Protestant authorities to cut the Book ofTobit from the canon of Old Testament scripture (which is retained in theCatholic Douay version) was burning fish organs to drive off evil spirits, apractice that smacked of magic. Likewise, referring to the assistance ofRaphael might erode monotheism and encourage a reversion to the com-mon middle eastern practice of worshipping and appealing to many gods.As Tobias and Sara pray, the Archangel is shown spiriting off the demon.
prepare the house. And take in thine hand the gallof the fish.” “So they went on their way, and thedog went after them,” the text adds. All the wayfrom Nineveh to Ecbatana, and all the way fromEcbatana to Nineveh, the dog had followed them.
Anna, the mother, saw them coming and ran totell Tobit. Tobit, the blind old man, stumbledeagerly to the door, but Tobias hastened to him andtook hold of him and rubbed the gall into his eyesas the Angel had said to do. “And when his eyesbegan to smart, he rubbed them; and the whitenesspulled away from the corners of his eyes; andwhen he saw his son he fell upon hisneck.” “Then Tobit went out tomeet his daughter-in-law atthe gate of Nineveh, rejoic-ing and praising God andthey which saw him gomarvelled, because hehad received his sight.”(Tobit 11:1-16. )
Now when the earthlymission of the Angel hadcome to a successful close,Tobit and Tobias called himaside and asked what they could doto reward him for his services, offeringhim half of the wealth Tobias had brought home Ofcourse the Angel refused it, saying:
“I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels,which present the prayers of the saints, and whichgo in and out before the glory of the HolyOne....Fear not, for it shall go well with you;praise God therefore. For not of any favor of mine,but by the will of God I came; therefore praise himforever. All these days I did appear unto you; but Idid neither eat nor drink, but ye did see a vision.Now therefore give God thanks: for I go up to himthat sent me.”(Tobit 12:15-20. )
After the death of Tobit and Anna at a ripe oldage, during which they were prospered by theLord, Tobias and his wife and their six sons, whohave arrived in the interim, returned to Ecbatana toRaguel his father-inlaw, “where he became oldwith honor...and inherited their substance and hisfather Tobit’s. And he died at Ecbatana in Media,being an hundred and twenty-seven years old. But
before he died he heard of the destruction ofNineveh.”
The really interesting point in this story is thepatently common belief that Angels, or gods in thepagan usage, could and did walk the paths of earthindistinguishably from mortal men—a beliefwhich played its part in preparing mankind for thedescent of the Christ Archangel in a fleshly body inthe End of the Age—although opinions might dif-fer as to the means by which such appearanceswere achieved. It is significant, too, that the Angel
in this story is not winged, but carefullyconforms to all of the seeming laws
which govern human existenceon earth—conforms so care-
fully that Tobias has notonce realized that hisangelic Companion nei-ther ate nor drank as hehimself did. So also theChrist Archangel par-took of food and drink, or
seemed to do so, yet whenit was lacking he showed no
hunger or weakness but said,“I have food that ye know not of”;
for the Jesus-body which men saw hadbeen completely made over on the Mount ofTransfiguration and was no longer a matter-bodyin any sense which the ordinary mortal couldunderstand, but had become instead a light body,indestructible by any earthly agency whatever, anda lamp for the Christ-Sun which burned within it.
It is interesting to read in this Book Tobit’s dreamof the future Jerusalem, the city of God havingwalls of precious stones and battlements of gold.
The Apocrypha were of widespread popularityin the Middle Ages, and much of the colorful mys-ticism associated with that time comes from theseBooks, as well as some folk customs. For example,in the Latin Vulgate, and in the earliest of theEnglish Bibles as well, Tobias and Sara dedicatethe first three nights after their marriage to reli-gious devotions, postponing their wedlock untilthe fourth night; and we find that this was taken asa behavior pattern by the Middle Ages. ❐
—Kent Lorimer
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“Iam Raphael,
one of the seven holyAngels, which present
the prayers of the saints,and which go in and out
before the glory ofthe Holy One.
IN THE INTELLECTUAL SPHERE ofthe Western world today there is a greatunrest. Many “run to and fro” in search of asomething that they find easier to grope forthan to define. They are attracted to and they
dabble in every new cult that appears on the muta-ble religious firmament, and carefully noting itsexterior, they give passing attention to any novelprecept or explanation, and too often the latter islittle better than an apology, and then journeyonward along their aimless path, just as the capri-cious butterfly visits every bright-hued flower andtastes of its pollen.
At first their activity is largely unconscious, asthey seek to simply satisfy curiosity, but after atime, having observed certain discrepancies andanomalies in the claims and elucidations of thevarious sects, they begin to feel puzzled, uncertain,and dissatisfied, and, attaining to the first degree ofconsciousness in their search, they utter the his-toric cry of Pilate, who, when in a like position,asked “What is Truth?”
Thus for the first time these people realize thattheir transit from one set of opinions to another hasa definite object, and though its nature will appearvery nebulous at first, yet as disappointment afterdisappointment is sustained this object will gradu-ally loom up from the background, growing clear-cut and imposing and eventually compel the atten-tion of the seeker.
This dissatisfaction and questioning is the out-ward sign of the first definite gropings for the path,and if the traveller is taking the staff of the intellectto feel his way onward, then the doubts, fears, and
puzzlings become the thorns of his Via Dolorosa.He will be intellectually assailed as a diversity ofdoctrines and practices converge upon him andchallenge to be mutually reconciled. Finally, withwearied mind and aching head he may well be ledto lift his consciousness from the bewilderingdiversity up to its Source, the great Unity, and utterwith rhythm of heart and head “Lead kindly light,amid the encircling gloom”—the first line ofNewman’s immortal poem.
This admission of failure is in reality the
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Tests in the Quest
MYSTIC LIGHT
Oil on canvas, Sir Joseph Noel Paton, 1821-1901
Sir Galahad with an AngelClad in armor or khaki, assisted by the angel of intuition or anElder Brother, one who aspires to the source of truth must wieldthe sword of discernment, master the mount of his physicalbody and desire nature, and look to the light from on high.
Planet A
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moment of the seeker’s greatest success, for he hasraised his mind for that brief period into the realmswhere the desired knowledge rules unalloyed, andby the recognition of his own weakness he layshimself open to the assistance of those Beingswho, working from the superphysical planes, standas representatives of the Good Shepherd, everready to assist the more precocious of His flock.
There never was an earnest soul who utteredwords of despair at his inability to unwind theseeming tangle wrought by the entwining of themultitudinous threads of appearances, whosewords did not resound in the superphysical realmsand whose call was not responded to gladly bythose laboring for and directing our humanity. Andfrom this time he will receive help and guidancefrom the unseen, though the sources of this assis-tance will remain unmanifest. This does not mean,however, that he will be taken by the hand and ledup to the fountainhead, and after bathing his eyesand gazing upon the former enigma all that beforewas inexplicable will appear plain. Not in the least.
When giving forth of their virtues, whether it belove, wisdom, or the power to discriminate inaction, the Elder Brothers of humanity keep onething in view, and that is the recipient’s prospec-tive ability to serve. The Brothers are in reality thestage managers of this world platform on whichthe drama of life is being played. Their guidingconcern is that the person who receives their atten-tion may become an efficient actor in the ongoingplay. Unselfishness alone spells efficiency in thecosmic drama.
For this reason, after his supplication has beenmade, the seeker is first of all tested upon his per-sistence and constancy, for without these two qual-ities he will be useless as a future helper and expe-rience great unhappiness as a result of failure inthat direction.
A certain feeling of relief comes over the seekerafter he has poured out his heart, for he has beentrue to himself, he has attended the real confes-sional that requires no earthly lips to tell him thathis shortcomings are forgiven and that an invisiblegrace will aid him in future attempts to solve hisproblems. And so he enters again into the intellec-tual sphere of the everyday world and again
applies himself to the same questions.He reads, investigates, and listens for “the still
small voice” that will speak to him about the greatmysteries of the source, purpose, and destiny oflife. Although he seems to be nearer a solution inthe deepest sense, yet a little further on anotherdeadlock presents itself and the same impenetrablewall formed of every negative quality builds uparound him. He knows nothing of the workingfrom behind the scenes and therefore may well bepardoned if, confronted by new obstacles, even hisaccumulated faith may fail him. As a result, hemay either give up the quest, declare that knowl-edge is impossible and that all is speculation, orsimply adopt his time’s fashionable opinions.
This is the wise and necessary test set by theElder Brothers to all seeking definitely for truth. Inthe Rosicrucian Fellowship, where procedures arebased upon occult facts, the Student must remainin the most elementary section, whatever his pre-vious knowledge, for a period of two years beforehe can have the opportunity of touching the fringeof the deeper teachings. Now those who are gov-erning the Rosicrucian Order itself are also mostactive along similar lines in the Western world,therefore they apply the same methods, which arethe only rational ones from both viewpoints—when properly understood.
The test spoken of may last for varying peri-ods—months or years—and many will fall by thewayside, weary or despondent, or wander intodiverting bypaths. Thus those seeking out of idlecuriosity or from uncertain motives are graduallyeliminated from the quest, and only the dedicatedprospective actors remain.
In course of time the third stage begins to devel-op. The seeker commences to learn the necessityof discrimination. Formerly he was fascinated byeach sect offering new explanations and he judgedthe whole subject by the totality of their presenta-tions. From that experience gained he begins tocollate and analyze his information, and as timepasses he is able to synthesize the whole and todiscern a unity, where before all was diversity andcontradiction. Advancing along these lines themind is eventually focussed inward toward funda-mentals and the principles of things, and he puts to
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himself a new question—an improvement on thefirst one—“What is the nature of Truth, of whatshould it consist, and to what does it relate?”
Upon analysis of this all-important query it mustbecome apparent that religious truth should dealwith an explanation of superphysical conditionsand their relation to the individual. Three thingsmay be said to describe the rational purpose of reli-gious truth: First, the exposition of super-physicalfact; second, the elucidation of super-physical law;and, third, the presentation of counsels and rules oflife in harmony with the foregoing conditions.
The purpose of religion since its inception hasbeen to enforce the last named, giving just enoughof the two former to still the mind. The whole hasbeen wrapped in allegory and wound up in thestory of the founder of the particular religion, inorder that it might be the better assimilated by thepeoples for whom it was intended.
But religion is in reality a system of moralitybased upon a science. It is a symbolical expressionof cosmic fact. Occultism is the one science of theuniverse, and the fact that it is the source and inspi-ration of all religions is proved by their unity inessentials.
This Science may be likened to a natural source,situated in a high mountain, clad in an immaculaterobe of snow and never defiled by foot or breath ofany creature—the source from which several greatrivers rise, all flowing to the same limitless Ocean,and which are the waterways of the people of theearth. The seeker has now reached the point wherethis source comes within his vision, and greatindeed is his privilege.
Occultism deals with the facts of the universeand therefore it is patent that a long path of patientpersistence is necessary before the aspirant candiscern even the outline.
With the first glimpses of the the snow-cappedmountain the traveller from afar may well standand give thanks from the bottom of his heart, forhe will now be able to build the temple of his wor-ship upon the rock of fact, in place of the shiftingsands of belief, and no storm shall ever demolishthe structure or wash it away. For the resultingconviction reaches the inner planes of being, thereto be registered, and he thus acquires man’s bless-
ing and joy, “A house not made with hands, eternalin the heavens.”
In retrospect he sees the path he has followed—from unconscious acceptance to the first dawn ofconscious intellectual uneasiness, the precursor ofa long period of acute suffering. He notes the grad-ual relinquishment of the exoteric presentation forthe discernment of the inner substance of the vari-ous teachings, and he sees his initial steps upwardin the first dawn of the perception of the inherentnature of truth. The doubts, fears, and wearinessthat had beset him during the darkest stages of thepath loom up before his eyes as by-gone fantasiesout of which he has extracted the “pearl of greatprice,” and the conscious realization of the posses-sion of the latter transforms his joy into the will toattain, and a determination to use his knowledge—which as a power is a panacea for all ill—toassuage the pain and dispel the ignorance of hisfellows. ❒
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Nevado de Colima Volcano, Mexico
©D
uranguense17
“He that fainteth in the day of adversityhath small strength.”
WHAT ONE OF US hasstood steadfast from thevery start? Only thepromise, “Lo! I am withyou even to the end!” has
sufficed to carry even the bravest through theinevitable weakness and discouragement ofthe battle. For battle the Christian life surelyis—interior warfare with the enemy thatnone knows but the soul, and warfare withthe world so alluring to the young. OurFather and our Lord well knows how difficultit is for us who set out on “The Path” to keepon, especially in the first years. We have seena Star, a Vision, and we are perhaps impulsivelyeager to follow it. We may have the heart side (thefeminine) overdeveloped; in which case we areemotional and easily moved by feelings; we lackbalance. How easily, how soon we weaken, growcool, lose enthusiasm! Still, having once started weare loth to slacken the pace. We are ashamed of ourofttime luke-warmness. Nothing is so easily dis-turbed, so soon shaken—even lost—as a newlybudded spirituality. The world is so little sympa-thetic, so utterly discouraging to our young ardor.Even the church seems lacking in the sense of fel-lowship we need. Our delicate wings are so easilywithdrawn from the rough contact of a practical,commercial, and almost wholly material spirit. Itreally seems to us we have no place, and in loneli-ness and despair we cry out, “Oh, had I the wings
of a dove I would fly away and be at rest!” But it isnot rest we need. We have rested too long, that iswhy our spiritual pinions have so little strength,they cannot beat against the winds of adversity, andso we almost stop. We do turn back maybe, just tofeel again companionship. But we are spoiled forthe world—or the world for us—there is no rest forthe sole of our foot. Having set our face to the light,we moan in the darkness and after many days per-haps we once more essay the uphill path.
It is a long, a lonely way, marked by the occa-sional flower of friendship, by a rarely illuminatedhour when the soul for a space seems lifted awayfrom sordid things to the sweet and glorifiedheights. But for the most part it is a plodding onwith the courage that comes of high resolve, oflofty ideals, of pure faith in the promise “to him,
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The Faith That Makes Faithful
MYSTIC LIGHT
Die Bibel in Bildern, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1789-1853)
Jacob Wrestling with the AngelAs Paul said, we fight not against flesh and blood but against unseenadversaries—both our own lower nature and spirit beings who seek toencourage its expression in order to serve their own occult agendas.Before we can enter the “Promised Land” of the spirit worlds, we meetadversaries and tempters who will test our resolve and prove our virtue.
who overcometh,” and perhaps more than all, whenemotion seems dead, enthusiasm worn threadbare,still lives love—love of righteousness that fillsone’s heart with praise, one’s soul with a quietpeace that passeth all understanding, and we saywith the Psalmist
As the hart panteth for the water brooks,So panteth my soul for Thee, Oh Lord!
The intellect is by this time involved in the quest.The heart is supported by logic, by reason whichknows what the love can only feel. And when reli-gion is thus a marriage of faith and understanding,of trust and sound judgment, one is able to walkalone, if need be. The nature has become harmo-nious in itself, it is one with God, at-one-mentmated, complete. But this happy consummation isnot for the first years. Very inefficient, poor littleones we are for many years.
A rare spirit fairly soars for a time in the first joyof finding Christ, after perhaps deep degradation,utter emptiness of soul. But this euphoria is quick toweaken; such exotic growth has little substance, itfades, falls at the first storm, and not because thelove weakens, but such souls live by excitement,emotion; they do not bear a dull routine, a simplediet. They flourish in a blare of trumpets, a greatlight, the glory of the new vision, and cannot endurethe quiet of ordinary days. They soar to the empyre-an or descend to the depths. But as the birds—”spir-its that would soar must fear neither depth norheight”—they must bear whatever comes, mustprove their pinions by practice. We may feel quitedisenchanted for a dull hour. Where is the vision?Was it only a dream? Is there no reality? And forplodding long years of such tame days we have notaste. This is the hour of the “Brothers of theShadow.” They laugh a disconcerting laugh ofsneering belittlement of our visionary quest. Buteven for them we have a responsibility. Not onesoul but is lifted a little by our fidelity, and no oneis tried beyond his strength. The soul does not growby leaps and bounds, it is by honest achievement,stage by stage, from birth to maturity. Only bypatience, courage, loyalty, persistence—the samequalities that win in material life—do we gain.
When happy in our tub, Diogenes-like—whenlike the happy man whose shirt was sought by the
king who learned he had no shirt—when thus with-out friends or means or comfort or encouragement,like “Him who had not where to lay his head,” likeHim whom we follow, we can be poised and atpeace—then we shall have arrived at one stage ofour journey. Calvary must be reached and passed,the crucifixion of all outward things we love andhold dear, the heart of flesh, the affections, all willwither and leave us pinned to that hard and cruelcross of the body. Still we can summon an authen-tic smile and bless God for life, for the chance tobecome something worth while.
Have you read these lines?
As once toward Heaven my face was set, I came to a place where two roads met. One led to Paradise and one away; And fearful of myself lest I should stray, I paused that I might know Which was the road I ought to go.
The first was one my weary eyes to please,Winding along through pleasant paths of ease, Beneath shadows of fair branching trees.This path of calm and solitudeSurely must lead to Heaven,I cried in joyous mood.
Yon rugged one, so rough for weary feet—The footpath of the world’s too busy feet—Can never be the way of life. But at that moment I thereon espied Footprints that bore traces of having bled; And knew them for the Christ’s; So bowed my head And followed where He led.”
And that is just the fact of the matter, We mustplod on among the workers, ourselves workers too,and still keep the sense of uplift when everything,everyone about us, would drag us down. “If I belifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” And not bywhat we say or do perhaps, but just by what weare—the light that is in us will radiate to other livesand brighten them, will attract them to what is inus—for in ourselves we are nothing—by just somuch as we embody in daily living the principles oftrue Christian character do we win in this sordidbattle with all material unloveliness. It is easy to be
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lovely when life goes sweetly. It takes the Christ inus to shine when the world presses sinister, cold,cruel, on every hand. “Let us then be up and doing,with a heart for any fate.”
I’ve just come across these lines; have they nomessage for the discouraged?
“Tho he were the Son, yet learned he by thethings he suffered.”
And these words of Paul’s to the disciples:“When for a time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again which be the firstprinciples of the oracles of God, and are becomesuch as have need of milk and not of strong meat.”
And remember about the man who having put hishand to the plow turned back. It is a serious thingfor the soul to faint and fall by the way—and to goback, still more serious. It is possible for one to losethe capacity for Good, for spiritual life. To play fastand loose with the chance one has for growth anddevelopment, to become lax and indifferent aftermaking one’s vows, is to grow callous and finallydrift away. “The last stage of that man is worse thanthe first.” Just that sort of doing is what makes ship-wreck of marriage, or of any adventure, for evenreligion is an adventure of our own choosing, thegrandest, most wonderful of all undertakings.Compare the successful man in any enterprise withthe failure. Is it not always he who endures thehardships, the stress, the weariness with courage,living one day at a time, bravely, always believingin himself and his cause, who wins through? And toone argonaut who comes out loaded down with pre-cious gold, there are dozens who have fallen, haveturned back, have drifted—human flotsam—to thebeach, mere derelicts. The battle is to the strong, thepure, the earnest. Sheer enthusiasm may buoy oneup for a time, but to endure requires a daily livingwith Christ, moment by moment—very humbly,lest we boast; very near, lest we lose the light, “Allfor Him, and the world well lost.” Nothing is sohard to bear as disloyalty of our friends, family,“mine own particular friend in whom I trusted.”Those of our own household can often contribute toour sense of aloneness.
Yes, all this He knew. I wonder if the young aspi-rants study the Bible enough? It has a word for everymood, for every need. It is complete, the full spiritual
journey with all its vicissitudes are there set forth inthe lives of many of the faithful who learned by whatthey suffered. There is nothing new in our experi-ences. Pilgrim souls have always trod the same road,but each must advance on his own feet, as if for thefirst time. No one can do more than cheer us along.No one can learn for us. Step by step, day by day, wejourney toward the goal—to Godliness. And we whohave glimpsed the glory, started on “The Path,” maygive thanks for the bare capacity to love righteous-ness. Think, only think of the hosts of the utterlyindifferent, unable even to desire the things of theSpirit—empty bodies, bare chambers, unfurnished!Who knows how long they will wander in densedarkness and not even know their poverty?
Friends, you are rich, happy, blessed, if alreadyyou are on the way out of carnality, eyes turned tothe heights. The only hope is to keep looking up.And as soon as you take your eyes from the Star,you are apt to become dizzy, fall into the chasm atyour feet, over which His arm can carry you, inWhom your faith is fixed.
All lofty souls, all strong ones, are alone—if notseemingly, yet in spirit. It is in loneliness that thesoul grows strong. ❒
—Adele Oakdale
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Created by A
riel Agem
ian exclusively for the Confraternity of the P
recious Blood
When thou thinkest I am far from theeI am often nearest thee
Therefore when thine eye is single, thy wholebody also is full of light—St. Luke 11:34
MAN POSSESSES within his ownbody the keys to the kingdom ofheaven. These seven keys are theseven roses on the cross, or theseven ductless glands, namely,
the pineal gland, the pituitary body, the thyroid, thethymus, the spleen, and the two adrenals. Moreemphasis has been placed upon the first two thanupon all the others combined. Can it be that manhas evolved to that point where he is ready to enterupon the disciplines necessary for the re-energizingof these two centers and so to that end his attentionis being directed by those spiritual Hierarchieswho know betterthan man when he is ready?
Anatomically, the pineal gland is a tiny, reddishorgan about a third of an inch long, a third of aninch wide, and a fifth of an inch thick, weighingapproximately .129 grams. Resembling a minia-ture pine cone (from whence comes its Latinappellation, conarium pinealis or pinea), it is at-tached by a hollow stalk, the habenula, to the roofof the third ventricle o£ the brain just above andbehind the pituitary body. Its inner structure iscomposed of closed follicles containing epithelialcells and acervulus cerebri or “brain sand.” Largerin children than in adults, larger still in adultfemales than adult males, this pineal body is, in theeye of modern medicine, a profound mystery.Nature wastes nothing, yet, medical science cannot explain the purpose and function of the pineal
gland except in hesitating, circumloquacious,indistinct terminology.
Doctors maintain that in adults, and particularlyin old people, a solid, fatty tissue surrounds thisgland, but in the individual approximately undertwenty-one no such substance is present. Why?
Doctors claim that if the pineal gland isremoved, the person dies. What service, then, doesit perform that is so vital to the body’s survival?
Doctors believe that it has some effect upon thegrowth of the body, that in some mysterious way itaffects the emotions and is a governor over thebody’s other glands. To what extent?
These are questions which medical science asks.
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Keys to the Kingdom:The Pineal Gland
MYSTIC LIGHT
Jacob Böhme (1575-1624), Theosophische Wercke, 1682, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Divine will (top eye) initiates creation and, through love-wisdom of the Son (middle eye), builds intelligent form. Triune(lily) Spirit incarnates as the Word (trumpet), or number.Involution and evolution are a function of cosmic vibration.
However, it will never find material answers, andit seems answers of a metamaterial nature areunacceptable to them. Hence, because orthodoxmedicine can ascribe no positive function to thepineal gland, it is called an atrophying body, a ves-tige like the appendix. To illustrate, an edition ofthe Encyclopedia Britannica calls the pineal gland“a vestigial organ which represents a more highlyevolved apparatus in lower types of living verte-brates, and probably a still more highly evolvedapparatus in certain extinct reptiles such as theIchthyosaurus.” Webster defines a vestige as “asmall, degenerate, or imperfectly developed part ororgan which has been more fully developed in anearlier stage of the individual or in a past genera-tion.” Such atrophy, however, is certainly not thecase in regard to the pineal gland. The fact that thecorpus pineale has such a rich supply of bloodindicates to those more thoughtful persons that, farfrom being a useless vestige, it is a very activemember of the endocrine chain.
The pineal gland secretes a substance calledpinealin, and sometimes called resin or oil. Thesubstance is said to act as a “restrictor” for all thebody’s other glands having an internal secretion.This “restrictor” checks the other endocrine glandsso that the newly born infant can devote its entireenergy to the business of growing in size which, inthe baby, is of primary importance. Thus, duringthe first two years the child multiplies its originalweight fourfold.
It was stated that the pineal gland of children islarger than that of adults. This is the most interest-ing point. Up to the age of seven, children are nat-urally more clairvoyant than afterward. They oftensee things, beings, invisible to the adult. It is alsowell known that young children exhibit a greatersensitivity at the crown of the head where thesutures have not yet joined together (which boningover does not occur until between the seventh andninth years). Imbedded in the brain below thisopening lays the pineal gland surrounded by a con-nective tissue from the pia mater, exactly the sametype of membranous substance enclosing the brainand spinal cord. Align these facts with one more:during the Polarian Epoch man possessed a densebody that was like a large gelatinous globe that had
but one organ which projected from an opening atthe top. As the Ego of evolving man united itselfmore closely with its physical instrument and theLords of Form assisted man in organizing andusing his desire body during the Lemurian Epochof the Earth Period, this pineal organ retreated toits present location, and contact with the innerworlds was lost. So is it with children. As the Egoof the child, having descended once more into thePhysical World, becomes more closely enmeshedwith the body it has formed, the divided sutures atthe top of the head gradually bone over and itschildhood clairvoyance is lost.
Now, to illustrate by way of interest what occurswhen the pineal gland is abnormally developedthrough a physiological malformation, we quotethe following excerpt taken from Dr. LouisBerman’s book entitled The Glands RegulatingPersonality: “A classic case, the most extraordi-nary and curiosity-piquing sort of case, with symp-toms involving the pineal gland, in a boy, wasreported by the Austrian neurologist, VonHochwart. That boy provoked a little army ofresearches. He came to the clinic complainingabout brain tumor as the diagnosis to pigeonholehim. Nothing extraordinary about him in thatrespect. But the story told by his parents was quiteextraordinary, even to the jaded palate of the clin-ic professor and his assistant. They said that he wasa little over five years old, a statement conclusive-ly proved correct at his death. Up to the time thathis illness began he had been quite normal in size,intelligence, and interests. But with the onset of hismisfortune, he began to grow—and rapidly—untilnow he looked and corresponded height to a nor-mal boy of twelve or thirteen. Hair developed overhis skin....His voice became low-pitched, and mostremarkable of all, his sexuality and mentality pre-cocious....He is said to ask questions about the fateand conditions of the soul after death....Otherstatements attributed to him imply the mostastounding maturity of thought and mental process.Headache finally came, and he died about fourweeks later. The cause of the whole bizarre tragedywas found to be a tumor of the pineal gland.”
Obviously, therefore, the pineal gland is of vast-ly greater importance than medical science at this
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time concedes. But the power of this superior fac-ulty is not for everyone—not yet—and to awakenthatpower before the time is ripe is to court disaster.Therefore, the Ancient Ones, knowing that one dayman would again rise to that stage where he mightrightfully claim his heritage, have perpetuated thememory of the pineal gland from the time of itsretirement into the skull through such sundrydevices and emblems that only the seekers afterwisdom recognize. In every land, in every age, thepineal gland finds its symbol in the religion andcustoms of the people. In China, for instance, thepineal and pituitary bodies find their dual repre-sentation in the head and tail of the Dragon ofWisdom. The Chinese mandarin wears his peacockfeather upon his head at the spot beneath which thepineal gland lies. Likewise, the American Indianattaches his feather at approximately the sameplace. In his booklet, The Occult Anatomy of Man,Manly P. Hall writes “E. A. Wallis Budge, keeperof the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum,mentions in one of his works the Egyptian customof tying pine cones on the top of their heads. Hestates that in the papyrus rolls these cones are fas-tened to the tops of the heads of the dead, whentaken into the presence of Osiris, Lord of theUnderworld. Undoubtedly, this symbol referred tothe pineal gland. It was also the custom of certainAfrican tribes to fasten pieces of fat to the top oftheir heads, as part of their religious observances.”
The thyrsus of Bacchus, the scepter of the Greekmysteries, is a long staff adorned at the top by apine cone and entwined with ivy and grape leaves.Occult philosophy teaches that “the form of thisscepter is symbolic of the spinal cord, the Nadisand plexuses, the pineal gland, and the pneumo-gastric nerve, all closely related to the mysteries ofregeneration. Hence we see that the pine tree andits cone have been particularly sacred throughoutthe ages, the tree symbolic of and worshiped as theemblem of the Savior of the World, and the cone,the phallic symbol of the positive or male organ ofgeneration (regeneration).
It has been said that before physical eyesevolved, man utilized the pineal gland as an organof vision. Then, after his present eyes developed,this corpus pineale continued to operate as a sup-
plementary organ, connecting man with the invisi-ble realms. But, as men grew increasingly attachedto the Physical World, to its pleasures and enchant-ments, this supplementary eye, “the third eye,”became correspondingly less active until its usevanished almost entirely and can now be regainedonly through persistent discipline, a matter whichwe will take up subsequently. Long called “thethird eye” (perhaps because the gland contains cer-tain nerve cells having a pigment quite similar tothat found in cells of the present human retina), ithas been perpetuated for centuries through a vari-ety of designations. The Hindus call it the Eye ofDangma. They refer, too, to the Eye of Shivawhich is represented in a vertical position on theforeheads of their Dhyanas and gods to indicate theactivity of their spiritual perception. To theBuddhists, the pineal gland is “the all-seeing eye”;likewise to the Masons. Christ Jesus called it the“eye single” when He said, “The light of the bodyis the eye: therefore, when thine eye is single, thywhole body also is full of light; but when thine eyeis evil, thy body also is full of darkness.” (Luke11:34) Böhme called it the “Eye of the Lord”
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Mixed media, Darren McManus ©2000
The Egyptian god Ra is shown with a prominent pineal gland.
which, he said, “beholds all.” In Norse mythology,it is the Eye of Odin, by means of which heobtained all knowledge. The Egyptians speak ofthe Eye of Horus devoured by Typhon.
Astrologically, the pineal gland is ruled by theplanet Neptune, representing the positive or Willprinciple. Hence, the position and aspects toNeptune in the natal chart indicate the physical andspiritual capacities governed by the pineal gland.
Thus has mankind preserved for him the mys-tery of the pineal gland, that organ which of itselfdoes not possess the siddhis or powers but is theinstrument by which man recrosses into his formerhomeland. It is no easy task, the crossing of thisbridge. For once in possession of these powers,man is bound to wield them unselfishly. MaxHeindel writes that the initiate “is able to reach outat any time and in any direction, and read thethoughts and plans of others....The great danger tosociety which would result from the indiscriminateuse of this power if possessed by an unworthy indi-vidual can easily be understood. He would be ableto read the most secret thought. Therefore, the ini-tiate is bound by the most solemn vows never touse this power to serve his individual interest in theslightest degree, nor to save himself a pang.” Inother words, he may perform miracles even asChrist Jesus, but like Him “although he saves oth-ers, himself he cannot save.” Herein lies the firstprecept—unselfishness.
The second precept is purity. Purity in thought,purity in speech, purity in action. There are, in thismatter of purity, two aspects. The first includes theavoidance of all gossip and unkindnesses, all man-ner of jealousies and maliciousness. The second isthe avoidance of all sex activities except for itssole function, the creation of a new vehicle for anincoming Ego. This creative force is unquestion-ably the most powerful force of the body.Frequently expended it becomes debilitated. Butits conservation forces it upward to the brainwhere, in time and under the right instructions, it istransmuted into spiritual power, for both the pinealgland and the pituitary body must be so sensitizedthat their vibration creates an arc of energybetween them. When this arc is formed, the aspi-rant has then bridged the gap between the World of
sense and the World of Desire. “From the time thebridge is built,” says Max Heindel, “man becomesclairvoyant and able to direct his gaze where hewill. Solid objects are seen both inside and out. Tohim space and solidity, as hindrances to observa-tion, have ceased to exist.” Though he is now avoluntary clairvoyant, he is as yet untrained. Themanner of his training will be explained in a sub-sequent article on the pituitary body.
Precept number three is the relinquishing of allmeat from the diet, for the aspirant can make littleprogress along the Path by forcibly denying life tohis younger brothers by slaughtering them, orallowing them to be slaughtered for the benefit ofhis stomach. It is fallacious to maintain that meat isa necessity to one’s diet. Yet a word of caution. It issafer to taper off gradually. In The RosicrucianCosmo-Conception, the aspirant will find pages 445through 462 of the utmost value in planning his diet.
The fourth precept is perseverance. Without thistrait, little can be accomplished. But by constantrepetition certain currents are set up and strength-ened. The beginning seeker after wisdom may,indeed will fail often. Time and again he will fallshort in acting out of unselfishness. He may fail tokeep faith with himself in the matters of purity andof diet. But if he earnestly perseveres, he mustinevitably succeed. This success cannot be deniedhim. It is as certain as the law of the tides and theprinciple of gravitation.
These four rules or precepts may seem very sim-ple. Yet, let not the aspirant be deceived. It is nosmall thing to cease all criticism, to throttle thedesire to gossip, to wean the mind and body awayfrom impurities. But he who is earnest and sincerewill devise some plan whereby to accomplishthese objectives—slowly at first, to be sure, butsteadily, definitely. And the intensity of his desirewill work wonders to restimulate a flagging will.Then, when he has labored long enough to provehis sincerity and to sufficiently prepare himself,both mentally and physically, he will be led gradu-ally, first to one thing then to another along thepath of wisdom, until at last he has evolved to thepoint where one who is further along that pathappears to guide him into deeper mysteries. ❒
—F. Hope Fisher
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QUESTION: In train-ing children it isadvised that parentsget an astrologicalreading of the child’spotentialities so as to inhibit detri-
mental tendencies and strengthen the beneficent.Does this pay? Is it not necessary and ultimatelybeneficial for the child to pass through the so-calledadverse moods and experiences? Will not the spiri-tual nature be stronger when they are overcome? Isnot acquired virtue better than innocence or puritythrough evasion?Answer: No, we do not advise parents to get anastrological reading for their children. We advisethem to study astrology for themselves so as to beable to study and read their children’s horoscopes.We do this because although strange astrologers,professional or otherwise, may be much more com-petent to read the children’s horoscopes than theparents, they lack the keen vital interest and thesympathy which will intuitively guide the parent toa much better understanding of what is contained inthat little figure than ever an outsider can.
Furthermore, the parent will have a much keenerappreciation of what is shown in the child’s horo-scope when he has to dig it out for himself and seesit there in symbolic form than when it is simply gen-erated from a computer program and ready to readon a printed page. He or she will then be much bet-ter fitted and qualified by a deeper insight to helpthe child foster the good tendencies and avoid thepitfalls shown by the bad.
Now, our correspondent asks if this pays. Is the
child not going to be much better off by just simplywading through the mire and blundering along thanby avoiding the pitfalls that are shown? Surely not.What would we think of a captain of a ship who setout on a voyage without either chart or compassbecause he thought it would be far better to learn byexperience than to avoid the rocks and shoalsalready charted by others? We would call him afoolhardy man, and we would be surprised if he didnot put his ship on the rocks and smash it to pieces.If everyone refused to take the experience of othersas contained in books and the general knowledgenow available in the world, how limited would bethe experience of each—all the world committingthe same blunders over and over again!
We find the same thing in our colleges as com-pared with the manually trained mechanics. The boywho goes into a shop and learns only by practicewhat work is done there may become fairly profi-cient in his trade during the time another spends ina technical school, but once the technological stu-dent has graduated and enters the shop, he not onlyquickly catches up with the man who has learnedonly by experience, but he soon passes him and goesto the top.
Such is the universal experience in all parts anddepartments of life, that by adding the practicalexperience of others contained in books and taughtin schools to our own experience we acquire a vast
28 RAYS 01
TrainingChildren
READERS’ QUESTIONS
William Blake shows a negative teaching that kills the creativity of children byfragmenting the living Whole, to which one student, as a true teacher, points.
Dover P
ublications, Inc.
amount of knowledge that could not be obtained inany other way.
It is the same in the school of life with respect toethics and morals. If someone who is interested inus and knows just at what point we fall short and isable to supply the needed training or encourage usto train ourselves in that particular branch of moralsand ethics, and is ready to help and restrain us whenwe would rush headlong into a pit, then we canacquire the same faculties and qualities in a differ-ent way than would be the case if left to our owndevices and forced to learn by experience. Thus weshall be able to advance upon the path of evolutionmuch better than if we had to learn through our ownsin and suffering.
PUNISHMENT FOR THE SINS OF A PRECEDING LIFE
Question: Is it right and just to punish an ego in onelife for a sin committed or a debt incurred in a for-mer life of which the ego has no remembrance?Answer: The question involves a misconception.The ego, namely the threefold spirit, does havecomplete remembrance of all the acts of every pre-ceding life because they are all engraved in animperishable record upon the Life Spirit. It is onlythe personality, the lower self, which does notremember. Since the ego or higher self is responsi-ble for gaining and maintaining mastery over thepersonality or lower self, it is quite right that the egoshould suffer for the sins and mistakes committedby the lower self and which it permitted. The Lawof Consequence is therefore entirely just in bringingto each ego the results of the deeds of the personal-ity under its charge. The experience in purgatorypurifies the desire body, but some debts of destinyhold over and must be discharged in a succeeding life.
SEPARATION OF THE SEXES IN MAN AND ANIMAL
Question: If humanity was separated into sexes sothat a part of the sex force might be utilized in build-ing the brain and larynx, and if this was not doneuntil we became human, why are the present ani-mals separated into sexes, also some of the plants?Why does the separation occur relatively so muchearlier in the case of the animals and plants than itdid in the case of man?Answer: Each succeeding life wave manifests on a
higher round of the spiral of evolution. The animallife wave is one complete round higher than human-ity was when it passed through its animal-like stage,and the plant kingdom is two rounds above the sta-tus of humanity when it passed through the plantlikestage. Certain lessons in evolution have to belearned by means of the separation into sexes. Theanimals and the plants are learning these lessons atan earlier stage than we did; also they will be eman-cipated from sex at a correspondingly earlier stage.
MATERIALIZING PHYSICAL APPENDAGES
Question: From reading your literature I understandthat it is possible for an Invisible Helper to developphysical hands with which to work when he isattending a patient. Will you please tell me how thisis to be done?Answer: When the Invisible Helper works withpatients he functions in his soul body, which is com-posed of light and reflecting ethers. The silver cordwhich connects him with his dense vehicle re-mainsintact, and this gives him continuous connectionwith the physical body seed atom. The magneticpower of the seed atom is therefore exerted and itrequires a subconscious effort on the part of theInvisible Helper to keep the physical atoms in thesurrounding atmosphere from flowing into hisetheric vehicle.
Consequently when he desires to perform a cer-tain work which requires the use of a physical hand,arm etc., he can materialize the needed memberwith the greatest of ease simply by consciouslyallowing the physical atoms in his immediate envi-ronment to flow into his etheric hand, arm, etc.
When he has performed the necessary work, bythe power of thought he is able to scatter the denseatoms which he has attracted to him and therebydematerialize the physical hand or arm.
It is quite possible for an Invisible Helper whenworking inside of the body of a patient where it isnecessary to manipulate a diseased organ, orstaunch the flow of blood from an artery or vein, tomaterialize fingers made temporarily from the fleshatoms of the patient without causing him the leastdiscomfort, and by the power of thought to as read-ily dissolve the fingers when the work has beencompleted. ❒
RAYS 01 29
CANCER, THE CRAB, is a negativesign, water in generation. The sun is inCancer around 22 June, just after itshighest point at the beginning of sum-mer, the period of growth. The moon
rules Cancer.The correct symbol for this sign is not, as com-
monly illustrated, the rather large crab but the smallhermit crab whose behavior more effectivelyexpresses the character of this sign. The hermit crabputs its weak hindquarters in abandoned snail shellsfor protection. If it grows too big for the shell, itgoes in search of a bigger one and quickly rehousesitself. From this secure position, the creature lies inwait for its prey, which it quickly grabs with itslarge claws, pulling into its house to polish it off atleisure.
The sideways or oblique backwards movementtypical of crabs is also illustrative of this star sign.
These two main characteristics show the psycho-logical insight of the ancient astrologers in choosingthe crab as symbol for the natives of this sign.
The experiences collected under Gemini are con-solidated, classified and advanced under Cancer.Cancer is a collector, at every level. At the materiallevel, the Cancer native collects beautiful things; at
the emotional level—and he is emotionalby nature—he gains deep experiences.Mentally, he collects knowledge in a sci-entific fashion, and spiritually he tries togain insight into the basis of the existenceof things. His fixed point is his house,hiscastle, to whichhe always retreats atthe end of each foray with his newlyobtained treasure. Here he is surroundedby everything he has collected during hisexistence. He is domestic by nature andconvivial.
The rapid retreat into protective armorat a sign of danger is characteristic of the tortoise,too, which explains why this animal was used assymbol for Cancer in ancient Babylon (1).
The backwards locomotion of the crab relates tothe way the Cancer native gladly loses himself inthe past. He lives ina state of historicalawareness and, look-ing back, can appre-ciate the continuityof events; hence, therepresentation ofthe sign in ancientAmerica as the feathered snake that moves back-wards. To the Chinese, it was the cross-section of atree, whose yearlyrings record its history. I haveincluded all these in the painting’s frame.
30 RAYS 01
Johfra and the Signs of the ZodiacCancer and Leo
ASTROLOGY
This is the fourth in a series of articles on the twelve signs ofthe zodiac as conceived and painted by the Dutch artistJohfra, coupled with his personal commentary. Johfra,recently deceased, studied the Rosicrucian teachings. Thanksto this association, his wife, Ellen Lorien, has graciouslygranted the Rayspermission to reprint his artwork and text.
The crab itself sits on its treasures, which arehidden in an iron chest that it has safely buried inthe sand (2). It reaches out to the moon, its rulingplanet (more of this later). Hands emerge from theframe to grab the jewels and precious stones,mainly aquamarines and moonstones, the moon’sjewels, theprecious things collected on the materiallevel (3).
I have chosen the pearl to represent the acquisi-tion of emotional experiences; it is the classicsymbol of suffering that leads to insight. Apearl is, by its very existence, the symptom ofa disease in the oyster. Should a foreignbody—a stone or fragment of shell—enterinside the oyster’s shell, its weak, sensitivebody is irritated and reacts by covering thealien object with layer upon layer of pearl, sosmoothing it and making it less painful. Inthis way suffering bringsabout the growth ofa beautiful jewel (4).
Next to this open oyster, the Kephera, theholy scarab beetle of ancient Egypt, rolls a pearl upthe slope (5). There is double symbolism here. Thescarab (scarabeus) is a beetle that lays its egg inmanure, which it has first kneaded into a ball. Itthen rolls the ball into a hole already dug for thepurpose. Safe under the earth, and provided withplenty of food, the egg in the manure eventuallydevelops into a new beetle. The ancient Egyptiansdid not know that an egg had already been laid inthe manure and thought that a beetle had createditself from the rotting matter: spontaneous genera-tion (generatio spontanae). Many of the ancientsbelieved that life appeared spontaneously fromdead matter, without the usual implanting processbeing first involved. This is why the dung beetleKephera was also seen as a shadow of the godheadwho constantly recreated himself. In this case, theball of dung was the golden sun which Kepherarolled every day across the path of the heavens fromeast to west. It was the ultimate symbol of rebirth,the constantly self-renewing life using the power ofRa, the sun.
Because consciousness develops and revivesthrough grief, I have substituted a pearl for the ballof dung, so turning the sun symbol into a moonsymbol, because the sea and all that lives in it, aswell as the soul, are bound to a great extent to the
moon. This is not only because the moon has thegreatest influence over the ebb and flow of thetides, but also because many creatures of the seaclearly follow the lunar cycle in their sexual behav-ior. There is a complex interplay between the moon,procreation, and the sea. The moon is the giver ofform and regulates implantation and growth. She isdirectly associated with primordial matter, the pri-mordial ocean from which all has been formed and,
more specifically, with the sea from which all lifehas evolved. The ocean is mother to us all. She iscalled Mara, the Bitter one. She is Mater materiaand Mary, Mother of God, just as she is Maya,Buddha’s mother. These are all aspects of the sameprinciple coming from Binah, the primordial motheron the left-hand pillar of form in the cabbalistic treeof life.
Next to the moon I have drawn her material rev-elation in the form of Diana or Artemis, the chastegoddess of hunting and the animal kingdom, theeternal virgin. She represents the most spiritualaspect of the planet (6).
Let us now say something more about the attitudeof the Cancer native to the spiritual, outside thisworld of inner feeling which, because of the rule ofthe moon, we have explored rather more deeply.There is a series of symbols in the top left-hand cor-ner of the painting, in variously shaped alcoves.
The most general ones are right at the top: the keyand the keyhole (7). Here they represent theMysteries (quite apart from their popular psychoan-alytical symbolism for sexuality). I shall confinemyself to saying that the four emblems below arethe key to the universe. Specifically, they are thefour suits of the Tarot, which always make up theattributes, the ‘magic weapons,’of ritual magic.
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15
16
32 RAYS 01
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34 RAYS 01
The staff represents the element of fire, (8) the goblet that ofwater (9), the sword air (10) and the pentacle, with itsinscribed pentagram,the element of earth (11). According toclassicaltradition, these elements together make up the astralformulae according to which all things in the universe are tuned.If the magician controls these powers, then he possesses the keyto creation, and he is depicted as the King of the World in the orbto the right (12). From here also comes regulation and classifica-tion, by which man tries to apprehend the numerous revelations.
Right over to the left is the Ankh cross, the Egyptian symbolof immortality (13). Under it is a smalltriangle that points down-ward—the alchemical symbol for the element of water (14).
Top right, as a magic emblem, is the planetary seal of themoon (15) with the snake that moves backwards under it (16).
LEO
L EO, THE LION, is a positive sign: fire in being, becausethis is the second fire sign, Aries being the first. The sunstands in Leo from 23 July to 22 August and is also the
ruler of the sign.After becoming aware of dualism (under Gemini) and with
this awareness collecting experiences (Cancer), the accent underLeo falls on the relationship between self and non-self. Or rather,one might say, the accent falls totally on the self, which takes thecentre of the stage in Leo, the self’s surroundings being the the-atre where the Leo native performs with distinction. Hence mypositioning of the lion in the centre of the composition, sharingthe centre with the ruling sun.
The lion, just like the sun, shines out over good and bad. He isthe Royal Heart (1), because Leo and the sun rule the humanheart. He brings a festive, luxuriant touch to his surroundings.
He bathes everything in a golden light, gold being the sun’smetal, hence the richly decorated gold border.
But this sign also has its particular afflictions. The egocentri-cism of the Leo native can make him prey to vanity andambition and can make him tyrannize his surroundings. Then,like all sun heroes in mythology, he has to fight both the lion inhimself and other animals (as Hercules did) that are put in his
path as obstacles to be overcome.This classic fight is shown in theright forefront of the landscape,where Hercules, or Samson, isinvolved in a deadly struggle withhis own negative Leo power (2). Ifhe wins, he will become the sun godApollo, who bewitches the wholeworld with the beautiful music ofhis lyre (3).
The regality of this sign isbrought out in the luxuriant land-scape, withits majestic palms, erectcypresses, sunflowers, and citrusbushes. These plants all come underthe dominion of the sun, as does theoak in the right foreground. Thishollow oak has another significancewhich I must explain, since it per-tains toone of the deepest and most
fundamental mysteries of virtually all religions:thebirth of the self-sacrificing Sun God. There is apopular and widespread myth, however much itmay differ in form and presentation, which seems toexpress one and the same idea. All variations of thestory concern a risen being, born of a human (fre-quently a virgin) and absorbed into a godhead. Thisdual being houses the human as well as the godly.During his period on earth he has to perform vari-ous tasks, and in so doing he symbolically over-comes his baser nature.
In the end he dies after completing his work;then, however, he is aroused fromdeath and ascends to heaven, com-pletely deified. During thisprocess, the hero is betrayed, fre-quently imprisoned, locked up orburied. The godly part appears todie, yet it lives on secretly becauseof its eternal nature. This immor-tality is later revealed in the resur-rection which is manifested at dif-ferent levels: during the course ofthe year, plant growth apparentlydies, yet the plant goes on secretlyliv ing underground, to burst outagainin its full glory in the new spring. Then again,at a high spiritual level, we are told that the Creatorimprisons himself in his creation and descends toearth to transform this material revelation, workingout from the inside, then returning it from its nadirto its original state. In one of these stories, Osiris(light) is betrayed by his twin brother Seth (dark-ness) and tricked into entering a chest that is sol-dered with lead and committed to the Nile. In Jesus’case, he is betrayed by Judas, killed on the cross(the fourfold substance), and buried in a cave.Moses is entrusted to the Nile in a basket made ofrushes. Adonis underwent mystic growth rather likethe dead Osiris, whose coffin was overgrown by atamarind tree.
These figures all have a similar history: throughtheir particular birth, works, betrayal, death, andresurrection (deification), they formed an interme-diary, a bridge over which two fundamentally dif-ferent worlds are bound together or ‘reconciled’.Their mixed origins fit them for the role of inter-mediary. In fulfilling this commission, their godly
nature is sacrificed at birth by being imprisoned inthe baser nature, human personality. In their furtherexistence, this personality is sacrificed in the ser-vice of their calling. In death, the vessel is brokenand the imprisoned spirit is liberated to radiatewithout obstruction.
The sun also occupies a central place on the mid-dle pillar of the cabbalistic tree of life. It isTiphereth, the sixth sephira, also known as the ‘Sunfire’ or the ‘Son of the All-Father’ (Kether, the firstsephira, stands directly above Tiphereth). The spir-itual function of the intermediary is expressed
clearly and sublimely here (‘Noman cometh unto the Father butby me’). This principle is like theneck of an hour glass that linksthe five higher macrocosmicsephiroth with the four lowermicrocosmic sephiroth (baserpersonality). Tiphereth representsthe higher self in man, the innerChrist, through Whom the per-sonality can consciously reachthe Father. This principle is some-times expressed in the form of achild—the royal child in the crib
or in the hollow tree (4). This shows how sacred theheart is to the personality. In alchemy, the hollowoak was the image of Athanor, the alchemical fur-nace, which had to be kept at a critically constanttemperature for the Philosopher’s Stone, the godlychild, to be born. Using ‘the powder’ prepared fromthis stone, the alchemist would be able to transmutebase metals into gold, limitlessly. A very clear sym-bolism.
A word of explanation about the magical signa-tures: the sign of Leois depicted in a shield atApollo’s feet (5).
The cartouche in the top left-hand corner bearsthe most important seal of the sun (6).
The large cartouche on the right (middle) con-tains the seal of the Olympic spirits who rule thedomain of the sun (7, top), the sign of the gnosticspirit Sorath (8), and the sign of the planetary intel-ligence Nakhiel (9, bottom).
The smaller cartouches contain various signswhich the alchemists used to illustrate gold, the sunmetal, or the “Spiritual Sun” (10). (Continued) ❒
RAYS 01 35
THE BIBLE TELLS US that the sinsof the parents may be visited on theirchildren for three or four generations.This is true not only from a physicalstandpoint but from a mental and
moral point of view. The Ego is entitled to the sortof parents whose tendencies coincide closely withits own. Parents possessing negative characters, asa result of violating nature’s laws, attract and areentitled to children of a similar nature. The bodyevolves along with the spirit and as people learnthe penalty of violating these laws by neglect ofduty or wilful opposition, the spirit becomes ableto “build a more stately mansion” for itself. The spir-it soon recognizes this through suffering, and thuswe often see a great and kindly soul in a weak anddeformed body, who has started on the long jour-ney of building a better temple for the god within.
The dictionary says that heredity from a biolog-ical standpoint is the transmission of physical andpsychical characteristics from the parents to theiroffspring. Metaphysicians freely admit that this istrue from a physical point of view; for the embryomust use or draw on the chemicals of the motherfor physical growth. However, many advanced Egosare able to draw from the ethers that which themother may lack in proper material, and thus fromsickly parents may come a sound body for the child.
The inheritance of psychical traits in the sameway as physical transmission cannot hold true onaccount of the Law of Causation and natural evo-lution. There are usually psychical resemblancesdue to the law of attraction and just deserts. Butoften an Ego who has evolved to where it has a
wide choice of parents and early environment maychoose to pay off an old debt to other spirits, andas a result a healthy genius or a highly spiritualperson will come from sickly parents of mediocrecalibre; or, conversely, a thief may come from aminister’s home. These examples refute the idea ofmental inheritance. But let us get down to thephysical factors as they affect health, diagnosis,and therapy.
When the pediatrician looks to parental weak-ness to diagnose the child’s disease, he may be eas-ily led astray for the reasons outlined above, unlesshe uses astrology and studies the mother’s ductlessglands, which are the prime factor in forming thefoetus. For the blood stream of the mother does notintermingle with the foetus. So it is by osmosis thatthe chemical particles are transmitted to the child’sbody via the ductless glands. Thus if the adrenalsare out of order in the mother, the liver of theinfant will be affected. This holds true for mostpeople; but where an Ego is so advanced that it canbuild a good body by transmuting poor materialand drawing on cosmic forces, it will not need adoctor’s attention anyway.
The reason the pediatrician is apt to make a mis-take or be confused is that while the parent has notyet developed liver trouble from adrenalin pathol-ogy because the planetary progressions have notbrought it to a head, the child will have a diseasedliver, because the embryo had insufficient materialfrom the mother’s glands. Something similarapplies of course to any ailment.
We will take a recent example which came toour attention to further elucidate this. The mother
36 RAYS 01
Astro-View of Heredity and Disease
ASTROLOGY
Each individual is equipped with a mental and moral nature which are entirely hisown, taking from his parents only the material for the physical body. Naturally he is drawn
to parents where he can get the kind of material for the expression of his life’s work.
has Uranus adversely aspected in Aries. She isyoung, has some very good aspects to mitigate theUranian affliction, and has had no serious physicalcomplaints as yet. But lacking the proper balanceof hormone from the adrenals during gestation andhaving little to offset this influence, the child isvery backward; has spasmodic headaches, ner-vousness, is underweight as well as having weakeyes. All this results from the influence of hismother’s Uranus at odds in Aries, ruler ofthe head. Uranus rules the eyesthrough the ethers and the nerves,and also governs the pituitarybody.
Now the pituitary gland isalso the gland of growth andassimilation, and is the indica-tor of abnormal as well asnormal growths. We can traceeverything from warts, tumorsand cysts to dwarfs, giants,and malformed limbs to thedysfunction of this gland.When the child reaches puber-ty in another year, much of thistrouble will be automaticallycorrected by the fact that the thy-mus, which now carries on thework of growth and assimilation,will atrophy, his pituitary will takeover this work, and he will manufacturehis own red corpuscles. He will no longer bedependent upon the essence he was able to store inthe thymus from his mother’s pituitary gland, butwill be “on his own.” With his well-aspectedUranus, we are able to safely predict a greatchange for the better. He will at that time, so tospeak, have paid off the “sin” of his mother, andwill reap some benefit from his own chart.
This explains clearly why children “outgrow”pathology and cease to have what is known as chil-dren’s diseases, which in the final analysis are thesins of the parents visited upon the offspring. Wedo not say, however, that puberty is a “cure all” forchildren’s disorders. This particular case is typical,and explains why the lack of a metaphysical andastrological understanding of the body is such a
handicap in pediatrics as well as in adult diseases.Such understanding indicates why the mother
before pregnancy may be sickly and then becomemore robust after childbirth. The fact is that thelack of certain elements in her body caused theEgo of the child to demand proper material to buildinto its body. So-called abnormal appetites ensuedwith the mother, with the result that her own body
profited by supplying the needs of the unbornchild. The alchemical and chemical
changes in her body also affected hermental outlook, at least temporarily.
We have in mind a woman whowas quite a gloomy soul, given toscolding those around her. Butduring the flush of pregnancyshe became an entirely differ-ent person—cheerful and tol-erant, even sweet and lovelyof face. And much of thischange for the better remainedwith her after the baby wasborn. Her pride and joy in car-ing for and loving the infantwas truly a wonderful example
of the divine blessings of moth-erhood. It also saved a marriage
that threatened to wreck on therocks of misunderstanding. And a
happier father than the one in thishome would be hard to find.
What a pity that doctors and parents have solittle knowledge of what astrology can do for hap-piness in the home. Pregnant mothers having aknowledge of astrology can design their diet to suittheir own mineral affinity or mineral lack as shownin the horoscope, and when the baby is born theycan feed it intelligently and give it every chance tohave a sound physical body and avoid laying thefoundation for future adult diseases.
Only the surface of this profound and grippingsubject has been scratched by the average doctorwho uses astrology. May God hasten the day whendoctors and parents will begin to cooperate inlearning the wonderful workings of the laws of lifeas disclosed by metaphysics and astrology. ❒
—Dr. J. A. Haworth
RAYS 01 37
Courtesy of H
arry Menne
THE TIME LINK
IT IS GENERALL Y ACCEPTED in theastrological community today that theNodes of the Moon represent the major keytowards understanding your life as part of acontinual thread. Many astrologers believe
that the Nodes hold more importance than the restof the chart. To a qualified expert a knowledge ofthe Sun, Moon and Nodal positions can reveal theentire life of the individual.
At one level these Nodes reveal the track thatyour soul is running on in the current life, whilethe rest of the horoscope adds additional informa-tion as to how you are to make the journey. It isthrough the Nodes that Western astrology is nowable to make its first inroads into relating this divinescience to the Hindu concept of reincarnation.
The Nodes represent the cause and effect relation-ships by which you lead your life. They are the dif-ference between mundane and spiritual astrology.
Here we find our first clues as to why the rest ofthe chart is manifesting the way it is. The person-ality and life of the individual have little meaningif not seen within a larger context. The Nodesplace the individual on his stairway to heaven inso-far as they define the karmic lessons he has chosento take on for this life. Therefore his trials andtribulations begin to have new meaning whenviewed as related chapters in the story of his con-tinuous soul growth.
The individual is no longer apart from the worldbut is instead an important part of world evolution.Everything he thinks and does is ultimately akarmic contribution to the improvement of his soulwhich upon reaching its ultimate nirvana is animprovement in the world he has helped to create.
Always man wants to know why. And always heturns to history for the answer on the assumptionthat effect always follows cause. The position ofthe Nodes link man with his past and point the waytoward his future. When man can firmly establishthe roots of his past, he starts to experience athread of continuity which makes him feel moresecure about walking into his future.
The Nodes are actually points of soul magnet-ism, one pulling toward the future and one comingfrom the past. The process which we call life is toblend these two into a median of happiness for theindividual, so that his present incarnation is a sym-bol of his transition from the past to the future.
THE SOUTH NODEThe South Node is symbolic of man’s past. It is
not symbolic of one past incarnation but rather acombination of events, ideas, attitudes andthoughts from every incarnation whose accumulat-ed unresolved effects have created the current life.
The most deeply ingrained behavior patterns areto be found here at the point of man’s zenith ofhundreds or thousands of years of working on him-self. There is little he could do in the present life toalter greatly the balance of so many years of train-ing and habits. For this reason man tends to rest onhis South Node as the comfortable family of his
38 RAYS 01
The Astrology of Reincarnation
ASTROLOGY
This article is excerpted from Karmic Astrology by MartinSchulman and is reprinted here with the permission ofSamuel Weiser, Inc., York Beach, Maine 03910
past in whose ways he is thoroughly familiar. Thehouse he builds for himself in this life can only restupon the foundation he has created before.
For some the South Node can be limiting, whilefor others whose past foundations are firm andlarge it can be just the factor whichbrings the present life to afruition of achievement.
As an incoming presi-dent enters the WhiteHouse to begin hisnew life there, so thepossibilities of hisachievements will behampered or aided byall he has thought,said and done duringhis past record inCongress. You arepresident of yourcurrent incarnationbut your karmicrecord in Congress isthe concrete stepsupon which you standor the stilts below yourwobbly feet.
THE SOUTH NODE—YOUR ACHILLES HEELThe potentially weakest spot in any horo-
scope is the South Node for it represents the foot-steps we have left behind us. Regardless of thepaths we have taken this South Node trail leaves usopen to karmic residue from behind. We constant-ly look to the future and rarely stop to examine theeffects of all we have created until such effectsloom ahead of us in our path.
Nevertheless, the tracks we have made are stillthere, symbolizing the habits of lifetimes, and sofor many they point the way to the most observablepath of least resistance. In fact an individual’s mostnegative traits are those which for hundreds orthousands of years he has allowed to continuebrewing within his soul. He keeps trying to piecetogether the fragments of his deeply-rooted past inthe hope that they will form the foundation blocks
of his future.Too often the past itself involves the individual
in a type of curious fascination, hypnotizing himback into old methods of behavior, whereupon heforgets the reason for delving into his past and
makes his reliving it the actual pur-pose of his existence rather
than the means to the endhe originally desired.
The South Node canbe quicksand; safeenough to look backinto as long as nophysical steps are
taken in that direction.One step into the SouthNode is almost certainto immerse the indi-vidual in relivingcompressed memo-ries from which itmay well take yearsand the help of many
other people to pullhim back.It is interesting to note
that man’s curiosity whichis one of his most formidable
assets can also be his greatestenemy, for as tiny flashbacks of his
South Node seep through to his conscious mindhis own insatiable curiosity makes him turn aroundand go backwards to seek more. In order to cometo full terms with his past, he seeks more than anintellectual understanding. Desiring to feel intu-itively, relate emotionally, see, touch and perceivethe reality of his past, he inadvertently makes it thereality of his present!
Here without knowing it he has suddenly thrownhimself backwards into another time zone. Inessence he has reprogrammed his computer, butthe shift is so subtle that he doesn’t notice it, untilthe admonitions of those close to him bring to hissensitivities the awareness that his functionalbehavior is somehow inappropriate to the life he isin here and now. Thus the South Node is to be usedas the memory bank of grades already lived
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Detail of cover for K
armic A
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through, but unless there are strong planetary con-junctions to it, the individual is to move ahead, for-ever drawing on his past, but not dwelling in it.
THE NORTH NODEThe North Node is the symbol of the future. It
represents a new experience as yet untried. For theindividual, this is the new cycle to which he islooking forward. Carrying with it all the apprehen-sions of the unknown and as yet untried experi-ences, this Nodal position nevertheless has a curi-ous magnetic allure, pulling the soul towards itsfuture growth.
There is Divine Providence in trying somethingnew, and here the individual receives much helpfor his efforts. At the very deepest levels of hisbeing he feels a sense of direction. His purpose tolive spurs him on in spite of all obstacles. In fact,this Nodal position is like a treasure-filled cornu-copia reaping one benefit after another as eachobstacle is turned into a stepping stone of futuregrowth.
It symbolizes the highest area of expression tobe reached in the current life and therefore must beinterpreted by the highest qualities of the sign andhouse in which it is placed. The new experiencesseem lonely at first as the individual is unsure ofhis footing. He soon comes to realize that if histests of courage are to be meaningful, they must befaced alone at the core of his being where eachnew adventure finds him as the single character ofhis own unique experience. The newness of it allcreates a peculiar fascination in the individual.
Always he sees it in front of him like the prover-bial carrot used to make the donkey walk, yetevery time he thinks he reaches it, its higher possi-bilities become visible to him, demanding still.more footsteps, more tests, and more of a desire togo forward.
But man cannot reach his North Node until helearns to shed his past for his past represents theshackles of his karmic prison. The new cycle of theNorth Node is a new problem heretofore uncon-fronted. It is man’s discontent with the old anddecaying ways of his past, coupled with his greatdesire for the discovery and exploration of hishigher potential in the future.
With each step closer he starts to feel betterabout himself. His life takes on new meaning as heexperiences possibilities he had never considered.But man does not achieve his North Node untilafter he rises to the highest karmic levels of hisSouth Node. He must learn to give up gracefullythe negative habits and memories which no longerserve a useful purpose in his life. He must be will-ing to walk where he feels there are no footstepsbefore him.
The most amazing feature about the North Nodeis that however much man achieves it, there isalways more to go—as it truly represents his ever-lasting upward spiral towards God. ❒
40 RAYS 01
The RosicrucianMysteries
By Max Heindel
Written in almost narrative style, intendedespecially to give busy people a solution tolife’s basic problems by enabling the heart toaffirm what the rational mind has sanctioned.Includes:
The Order of Rosicrucians
and The Rosicrucian Fellowship
The Visible and the Invisible Worlds
The Constitution of Man
Life and Death
Please order on page 64
207 Pages. Indexed. Paper. Published byThe Rosicrucian Fellowship
The sublime truths of the
Western Wisdom
Teachings
THE MOST FAMILIAR way ofdefining the different types of hous-es is to separate them into the clas-sifications of angular, succedent,and cadent. The angular houses are
associated with a self-activating quality andhave an immediate impact on the structure ofone’s life. The keyword for the angular housesis ACTION. The succedent houses are associat-ed with individual desires and the things wewant to control and manage. This urge towardcontrol is motivated by our need for SECURI-TY, the keyword for this type of house. Thecadent houses are the sections of the chartwhere there is input, exchange, and distributionof thoughts and observations. And hence, thekeyword for these houses is LEARNING.
The progression of houses from angular throughsuccedent and cadent and back to angular againsymbolizes the flow of life experience: we act, weconsolidate the results of our actions in order toattain security; we learn what we have done andalso become aware of what remains to be done;and therefore we act again. Everyone participatesin this cycle of life, but our individual birth chartsreveal which phases in the cycle are dominant inthis lifetime.
The houses are also divided according to groupsof three, depending upon the element of the signsassociated with those houses. For example, thethree houses associated with the water signs (4, 8,
12) make up what has been called the “psychictrinity” or the “trinity of soul.” For the sake ofbrevity and simplicity, I’ll call these houses simply“the water houses.” All of these houses deal withthe past, with the conditioned responses which arenow instinctual and operate through the emotions.Planets in these houses show what is happening onthe subconscious levels and indicate the process ofgaining consciousness through the assimilationofthe essence of the past, while simultaneously let-ting go of the useless memories and fears that holdus back. These “water” houses relate to attainingemotional peace by freeing ourselves from the gripof the past. At the deepest level, these houses sym-bolize the most profound yearningsof the soul; forthey indicate the process by which the emotionalresidue from the past is purged before the soul canexpress itself clearly and actively. The keywordsfor the water houses are, therefore, EMOTIONAL
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House Classification
ASTROLOGY
This text is contained in Astrology, Psychology, and the FourElements, by Stephen Arroyo, and is reprinted with permissionfrom CRCS Publications, P.O. 1460, Sebastopol, CA95472
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ACTIONon the
MATERIALlevel
SOCIAL andINTELLECTUAL
SECURITY
LEARNINGon EMOTIONAL
andSOULlevels
MATERIALSECURITY
IDENTITYin
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LEARNINGon the
SOCIAL andINTELLECTUAL
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ACTIONon the
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LEARNINGon the level of
IDENTITYEMOTIONAL
andSOULSECURITY
ACTION at theSOCIAL and
INTELLECTUALlevel
IDENTITYSECURITY
LEARNINGthrough
MATERIALaffairs
HOUSE
KEYWORDS
House keywords are a composite of the mode of energy expression—based on whether the house is angular, succedent, or cadent—and the level or emphasis (material, emotional, mental, or egoic)of experience—based on the element of the sign occupying thathouse in the Earth’s horoscope at the Spring equinox (Sun in 0°a).
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and SOUL.The earth houses (2, 6, 10—often called the
“trinity of wealth”) are associated with the level ofexperience wherein we try to satisfy our basicneeds in the practical world: possessions, money,job, health, reputation, etc. The keyword for thesehouses is therefore MATERIAL, for the earthhouses deal chiefly with concerns of the materialworld.
The fire houses (1, 5, 9—often called the “trini-ty. of life”) are associated with one’s attitudestowards life itself, toward the experience of beingalive. They represent an outpouring of energy intothe world and theaspirations andinspirations thatmotivate us to doso. The keywordthat sums up theessential meaningof the fire houses isIDENTITY; for our sense of identity, our sense ofbeing, determines out attitude toward life in gener-al. In other words, if we feel good about ourselves,we feel good about being alive; and we thereforedevelop faith that this life will be an essentiallypositive experience.
The air houses (3, 7, 1—called the “trinity ofrelationship”) are associated not only with socialcontacts and relationships of all types, but alsowith concepts. The social and intellectual realmsof activity are inseparable, for it is our conceptsthat motivate us to seek out other people of likemind and those very concepts constitute a greatpart of what is shared between any two people. Thekeywords for the air houses are, therefore,SOCIAL and INTELLECTUAL.
The tabulation above presents a concise formu-lation of these keywords.
THE WATER HOUSES
As seen above, all of the water houses have cer-tain things in common, in that they all representexperience on the emotional and soul level.However, analyzing the three modes of expressionindicated by the keywords gives us a clue to theinterrelationship of these houses.
The Fourth HouseThe fourth house is the areaof direct ACTION on the EMOTIONAL andSOUL level. All action at this level of experienceis necessarily conditioned by factors beyond ourcontrol. Traditionally, the fourth house is relatedto, among other things, the home and family. Inwhat area of life do we act so much on the basis ofhabit and emotion as when dealing with our fami-ly members?
The fourth house also represents our need forprivacy, for an environment in which we feel com-fortable, in order that we can turn within and relax,recuperate, and reflect without feeling any pres-
sure from the out-side world. Peoplewho have the Sunin the fourth housegenerally spendmany years trying(whether con-sciously or uncon-
sciously) to gain freedom from the conditioningassociated with their early life experience. In otherterms, we could say that those who have a strongemphasis on the fourth house have a need to act atthe deepest emotional level in order to assimilatethe essence of their experience in childhood andyouth. They yearn for peace for the individual self,which often requires a physical distance from theparents so that they can gain detachment on theemotions aroused by their presence.
The Eighth HouseThe succedent water house,the eighth, represents the need to find EMOTION-AL SECURITY and SOULSECURITY. Thosewith an emphasis on this house in their birth chartsinevitably involve themselves in activities which,they feel, will provide them with this sort of deepinner stability. The sexuality associated with theeighth house is prompted not merely by instinct,but also by a need to experience ultimate emotion-al security through merging with another person.Many people attempt to gain this feeling of securi-ty by achieving power and influence over others.This power is sometimes provided by wealth or byparticipation in large corporate ventures, and itsometimes stems from their knowledge of occultlaws or from a penetrating psychic sensitivity.
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Mode of Expression Level of ExperienceAngular: Action Water: Soul & Emotional Succedent:Security Earth: Material Cadent: Learning Fire: Identity
Air: Social and Intellectual
Other eighth house matters, such as insuranceand joint finances, can also be clearly relatedto emotional security. The fact that the eighthhouse is also called the “house of death” pointsout why people with an eighth house emphasisare often preoccupied with thoughts of death,afterlife, spiritualistic phenomena, and lega-cies. These people are concerned with suchmatters because, although they may not recog-nize it as such, they sense within themselves alonging for soul security, for an assurance thattheir soul will be “saved.”
Although people with eighth house empha-sis may seek security in material values,power, sex, or psychic knowledge, a real feel-ing of emotional and soul security can onlyexist when the tumultuous emotional conflictsalways shown by this house begin to subside.And such emotional turbulence gives way to adeep sense of inner peace only when the truenature of the individual’s yearnings are recog-nized. The occult studies associated with thishouse are primarily useful as a means of attainingthis inner peace through the knowledge of thedeepest laws of life. The sexuality of the eighthhouse is an expression of the urge to be rebornthrough union with a greater power than self. Inshort, this house symbolizes a longing for a state ofemotional peacewhich can be arrived at only bygrowing free from desires and compulsive willful-ness
The Twelfth House The cadent water house, thetwelfth, is the area of LEARNING on the EMO-TIONAL and SOUL level. This learning takesplace through the gradual growth of awareness thataccompanies loneliness and deep suffering,through selfless service, or through devotion to ahigher ideal. The twelfth house represents influ-ences and experiences which are totally and obvi-ously beyond our control, but which can be tran-scended by directing our energies toward self-knowledge and spiritual values. It reveals thephase of evolution wherein one must assimilate theresults of all past life experiences and responsibil-ities. And, at the deepest level, this house indicatesthe urge to seek peace for the soulthrough surren-der to a higher unity, through devotion to a tran-
scendent ideal, and through freedom from theghosts of past thoughts and actions.
THE EARTH HOUSES
The Tenth House The angular earth house dealswith ACTION on the MATERIAL level; and, tra-ditionally, this house is said to represent one’s rep-utation, position in the world, and vocation. Theaction that anyone performs in the material worldis the basis upon which his reputation rests, and thepublic categorizes the individual according to whataction he is performing: baker, salesman, doctor,etc. The keywords also clarify the tenth house’sassociation with the specific ambition that onehopes to accomplish in the world.
The Second HouseThe succedent earth house,the second, has for its keyword MATERIALSECURITY. This explains why the second househas been related to money, earnings, possessions,and the desire to control things and people.However, the keyword also clarifies the broaderprinciple underlying such inclinations, for manypeople with a strong second house emphasis arenot so much concerned with money itself as withan assurance that they will always be secure in thematerial world by having an abundance ofresources to draw upon. Thus, many such people
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collect coins, buy land, invest in banks and realestate in the attempt to consolidate their security. Ihave also noticed that people with the Sun in thesecond house are generally rather stingy with theirtime (especially if the Sun is in a fixed sign), forthey feel that their every effort must be specifical-ly productive of income in some form or another.
The Sixth HouseThe cadent earth house is thesixth, and it has been associated with work, healthand duties. When we see that the underlying prin-ciple of the sixth house is that of LEARNINGthrough immediate experience with MATERIALaffairs, we can easily understand the motivationbehind these activities. We learn about our materi-al body’s needs and limitations chiefly throughhealth problems (often coming from bad habits,too much pressure from work or duties, or exces-sive self-criticism or negative thinking—all sixthhouse matters). We also gain practical insight intoour selves through the everyday performance ofour work and duties. All these areas of experiencehelp us to learn humility, to accept our limitations,and to take responsibility for our own state ofhealth, both physical and psychological. When it isunderstood that the sixth house represents a phaseof purification through immediate contact with thematerial level of experience, we can begin to inter-pret this house in a true and positive way.
THE FIRE HOUSES
The First House The angular fire house is thefirst house and represents one’s IDENTITY inACTION, the phase of life wherein one is identi-fied with specific, self-directed action. People witha strong emphasis on their first house are impatientfor action since their sense of self begins to fade ifthey abstain from active individual involvementwith the outer world. Traditionally, this house isalso associated with the energy and appearance ofthe physical body; and, using the keywords, onecan see that the body is one’s identity in action.People recognize us and are influenced by ourmost characteristic manner of physical movementand expression; and anyone begins to feel devital-ized if the qualities shown by the first house plan-ets and the ascendant are suppressed or thwarted.
The Fifth House The succedent fire house, the
fifth, represents the search for IDENTITYSECU-RITY. Those with an emphasis on this house areseeking a secure sense of self by identifying withthings or people in which they see themselvesreflected. These people want to be significant insome way, not simply to beas in the first housephase. An emphasis on this house can indicate aself-attitude toward life, but it more deeply revealsthe individual’s emotional attitude and religiousfeelings about all of life. The urge toward signifi-cance and the attempt to gain a secure sense ofidentity are reflected in each matter commonlyassociated with this house. Children, for example,are often a focus for one’s own desires for a secureidentity. Not only are many children named aftertheir parents (especially sons being named afterthe father), but also we have all seen how manyparents foist their own desires for recognition andaccomplishment upon their children. A person witha strong creative bent (fifth house) finds that he hasto produce something in order to feel good abouthimself.
One of the greatest attractions of love affairs(another fifth house matter) is that such a relation-ship, although it may be totally impractical andoften extremely disruptive, gives us a brief experi-ence of self-worth simply because another personhas found us worthy to love. In an intense loveaffair, our sense of identity is confirmed; we seeourselves in the other person; and, because we feelbetter about ourselves, our outlook on life itselfbrightens considerably. To sum up, a strongemphasis on the fifth house in the natal chart indi-cates that the individual must project himself intothe world, that he must exercise his creative pow-ers responsibly and consistently in order to attainthe sense of joy and security he needs.
The Ninth House The cadent fire house, theninth, represents LEARNING on the level ofIDENTITY, in other words, learning who one real-ly is. From this essential principle flow all the reli-gious and philosophical attitudes, searchings, andactivities with which this house is usually associ-ated. The motivation behind all religious andphilosophical speculation is the need to knowone’s true identity. The question “Who am I?” isthe spring from which every religious quest flows.
44 RAYS 01
Therefore, people with an emphasis on thishouse are drawn to activities which widentheir horizons of self-awareness, enable themto improve themselves, and help them to gaina perspective on human nature. Foreign traveland higher mental studies are the beginningstages in this quest. In the next stage, the per-son identifies himself with a religion, philoso-phy, or metaphysical doctrine; and thereafter,he often devotes himself to learning directlyfrom a teacher or from an organization whichhe believes embodies the truth.
THE AIR HOUSES
The entire range of personal relationship isrepresented by these houses, comprising notonly the way one approaches various kinds ofrelationships but also the social urges andintellectual needs that motivate specific typesof behavior in these areas.
The Seventh HouseThe angular air house, theseventh, symbolizes ACTION at the SOCIALandINTELLECTUAL level. Since one-to-one rela-tionship is the basic meaning of the seventh house,and since all social structures and activities dependupon the quality of such relationship, it is appro-priate that the angular air house focuses on thisfield of experience. More specifically, alladvanced societies are founded upon the “mar-riage” unit, and the stability and efficiency of thatsocial unit to a great extent determines the viabili-ty of the social order. On the individual level, thequality of a person’s chief partnership has suchimpact that its influence pervades all the otherareas of life: health, finance, children, sex, profes-sional success, etc. (Sociological research exitswhich indicates that an individual’s career oftensuffers when his marriage breaks up.)
The intellectual aspect of this house can be seenin the way that people with a strongly accentedseventh house so readily appeal to the public intheir presentation of ideas. Such people are oftensought out as consultants, advisors, and counselorspurely on the basis of their intellectual competenceand objectivity.
The Eleventh HouseThe succedent air house isthe eleventh and represents the search for SOCIAL
and INTELLECTUAL SECURITY. Those whosenatal charts focus on the eleventh house invariablytend associate themselves with others who sharetheir ideas and objectives. This is so because theyfeel socially and intellectually insecure and there-fore find great comfort in the knowledge that thereare other people who can understand and acceptthem as they are. These people often join groups oralign themselves with friends who share theirintellectual bent, although they may not agree at allon specifics. Their search for intellectual securityalso leads them into vast systems of thought,whether political, metaphysical, or scientific.These people have a marked ability to facilitategroup activities, social change ventures, and the“management” of large masses of people.
The mental rigidity so common in these peoplestems from the fact that they are intellectually inse-cure and therefore extremely hesitant to changetheir ideas once they find concepts that satisfythem. (It is an interesting sidelight that anAquarian president, F.D.R., devised the systemknown as “Social Security”; and the eleventhhouse is naturally correlated with Aquarius.) Themost effective way that a person with a strongeleventh house can achieve the security he seeks isto establish a strong sense of individual purpose
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MUTABLEEARTH
MUTABLEFIRE
MUTABLEAIR
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FIXEDWATER
FIXEDEARTH
FIXEDFIRE
CARDINALFIRE
CARDINALEARTH
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SIGN BYELEMENT &MODALITY
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which not only fulfills his personal needs but alsoharmonizes with the needs of society as a whole.To avoid the rigidity and opinionated characteris-tics of this house, he would do we to focus on thepurpose itself rather than upon oversimplified con-cepts that purport to state absolute truth. In thatway, he can apply his ideas concretely toward theamelioration of society.
The Third House The cadent air house, thethird, is the field of LEARNING on the INTEL-LECTUAL and SOCIALlevel. It therefore repre-sents all forms of exchange of information, such asbasic communication skills, media work, merchan-dising, sales, etc. Those with a third house empha-sis have an insatiable need to communicate withothers and an ability to deal in an easy and friend-ly way with people of the most diverse qualitiesand interests. Their curiosity about people andideas is endless; and this inquisitiveness leadsthem to make numerous casual acquaintances andto evolve a broad and flexible intellectual back-ground. Basic facts and abstract ideas are bothimportant to these people, even if such informationis isolated from any “significant” context. Whereasthe learning represented by the ninth house comesabout through the use of the inspired intuitive mind,the learning of the third house occurs through theapplication of one’s own logic and reason.
ASTROLOGY: A TOOL FOR SELF-KNOWLEDGE
After having used this keyword system for awhile, it will become apparent that it is valuablenot only for understanding the general life patternshown in the natal chart, but also that it makes themeaning of current and future trends and cyclesmuch more accurate and psychologically signifi-cant. For example, if a particular birth chart has alack of the air element as indicated by planetaryplacement, why is it that this person is so interest-ed in people and continually involves himself insocial activities? An emphasis on the air houseswill reveal that, although he may not have an ener-gy attunementto that element, he still may focussome of his water, fire, or earth energy towardsocial, intellectual, and relationship activities. Or ifa person has no attunement to the fire element,why is it that she seems to exemplify the high-
spirited and optimistic qualities that she supposed-ly lacks? An emphasis on the fire houses in herchart indicates that, although she does not have theenergy attunement to the fire element, she never-theless pours her air, water and earth energies intoinspired, creative, and idealistic fields of experi-ence.
In cases like those mentioned above, the indi-vidual will still lack attunement to a certain ele-ment and will usually still manifest some of theproblems associated with that lack. However, sincethe sorts of activities that interest them compensateto some extent for their elemental imbalance, suchpeople will often experience a more moderateform of the expected difficulty. It is only by apatient and detailed examination of the entirebirthchart that the astrologer can evaluate thedegree in which one astrological factor compen-sates or balances off another. If, however, a partic-ular person lacks emphasis on the water signs andthe water houses, for example, one can almost beassured that the problem indicated has reached asevere degree of imbalance.
In the area of understanding transits, progres-sions, Key Cycles, and similar projection tech-niques, the astrologer who uses this system will nolonger have to choose one of the many possiblemeanings of, for example, transiting Jupiter orSaturn in a certain house, leaving the distinct pos-sibility that the main point will be entirely missed.He will be able to know with confidence that theadvice and explanations he gives will help clientsto look within themselves for the real meaning ofa particular time period, rather than encouragingthem to focus on some trivial or non-existentevent.
By clarifying the basic principle involved in aparticular phase of life experience, a principle thatinvariably pertains to the situation regardless ofthe surface conditions that the client may talkabout, the astrological practitioner will be able toeliminate much of the usual guesswork and toavoid being misled by the client’s lack of perspec-tive or self-deception. In short, the utilization ofthis keyword system can be in actual practice onemore step in making astrology what it should be: atool for promoting self-knowledge. ❒
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WHEN CHRIST visited Marthaand Mary the former was muchmore concerned with preparationfor his material comfort than inattending to the spiritual matters
which he taught; hence the rebuke that she was con-cerned with many things of lesser moment than “theone thing needful.” There is no doubt that it is pos-itively wicked to neglect fulfilling one’s duties andmeeting every obligation honestly incurred in ourordinary everyday life. But unfortunately most of usmake the great mistake of looking upon our workand duties in the material world as paramount,thinking that the spiritual side of our developmentcan wait until a convenient time when we havenothing else to do. An increasing number of peopleadmit that they ought to give more attention to spir-itual matters, but they always have an excuse for notattending to them just now.
“My business requires my entire attention,” onewill say. “Times are so strenuous, and in order tokeep my head above water I must work from earlymorning till late at night. But as soon as times are alittle better I am going to look into these matters andgive more time to them.” Another claims that cer-tain relatives are dependent on him and that when hehas fulfilled his obligations to these dependents hewill be able to devote his time to soul growth.
There is no doubt that in many cases these excus-es are legitimate, to a certain extent, and that the onewho makes them is really and truly sacrificing him-self or herself for some one else. I remember thecase of a probationer who once wrote in distress thather two little children were always in need of atten-tion at the times when she ought to perform hermorning and evening exercises. She ardentlydesired to progress along the path of the higher lifebut the care of the children seemed a hindrance, and
she asked what she should do. Attend to her chil-dren, of course, as I wrote to her. The sacrificeinvolved in giving up her own progress for the sakeof her children’s comfort naturally won a rebound toa thousand times more soul growth than if she hadneglected her children for her own selfish interests.
But on the other hand there are many who simplylack the mental stamina to make the sustained effort.No matter how strenuous business conditions are, itis possible to devote a little time each day, morningand evening, to the attainment of spirituality. It is anexceedingly good practice to concentrate the mindupon an ideal during the time spent in street carsgoing from home to the place of business.
The very fact that there is so much noise and con-fusion, which makes the effort more difficult, is initself a help; for he who learns to direct his thoughtone-pointedly under such conditions will have nodifficulty in obtaining the same results, or evenbetter, under more favorable circumstances. Thetime thus spent will prove far more profitable thanif used for reading a newspaper or a magazinewhich will call attention to conditions that are farfrom elevating.
The mind of most people is like a sieve. As waterruns through the sieve so also thoughts flit throughtheir brain. These thoughts are good, bad, and indif-ferent—mostly the latter. The mind does not hold onto any of them sufficiently long to learn its nature,and yet we are apt to entertain the idea that we can-not help our thoughts being what they are. On thataccount the great majority have formed the habit oflistless thinking which makes them incapable ofholding on to any subject until it is thoroughly mas-tered. It may be difficult to do, but certainly whenthe power of thought control has been gained, thepossessor holds within his hand the key to successin whatever line he may be engaged. ❒
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Daily Exercises in Soul Culture
FROM MAX HEINDEL’S WRITINGS
THERE ARE at the present timemany who, judging from thesigns of the times, believeChrist to be at the door and arewatching Him in joyful antici-
pation. Though, in the opinion of the writer,the "things which must first come to pass"have not taken place in many important par-ticulars, we must not forget that He gavewarning that "as it was in the days of Noah,so shall be in the day of the Son of Man."Then they ate, drank, and made merry; theymarried and were given in marriage up tothe very moment when the flood descend-ed and engulfed them. Only a small rem-nant was saved. Therefore we who pray forHis coming will do well to watch also lestour prayers be answered before we areready, for He said, "The day of the Lordwill come as a thief in the night."
But there is also another danger, a verygreat danger which He pointed out, namely,"There shall be false Christs;" and "they shalldeceive even the very elect, if that were possible."So we are warned that if people say, "Christ is herein the city or there in the desert," we are not to go,or we shall certainly be deceived.
But on the other hand, if we do not investigate,how shall we know? May we not run the risk ofrejecting Christ by refusing to hear all claimantsand judging each according to merits? When weexamine the injunctions of the Bible upon thispoint, they seem bewildering and altogether sub-versive of the end they are supposed to help us
attain, and the great question: “How shall we knowChrist at His coming?" is still rife. We have issueda pamphlet on this subject but feel sure additionallight will be welcome to all.
Christ said that some of the false Christs wouldwork signs and wonders. He always refused toprove His divinity in that sordid manner whenasked to do so by the scribes and Pharisees, becauseHe knew that phenomena only excited the sense ofwonder and whetted the appetite for more. Thosewho witness such manifestations are sometimessincere in their efforts to convince others but they
48 RAYS 01
The Sign of the Master
WESTERN WISDOM BIBLE STUDY
Fresco, Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455) and workshop, Monastery of San Marco, Florence
The TransfigurationWhile the light of Christ’s etheric body irradiated his dense physical bodywith solar force on the Mount of Transfiguration, the sign of the master,the luminous soul body, the glorious golden wedding garment woven ofthe two higher ethers, is always visible to them who have eyes to see.
are generally met with an attitude of mind whichsays in effect: "You say you have seen him do soand so and therefore you believe. Very well! I alsoam willing to be convinced. Let him show me."
But even supposing a Master were willing toprove his identity, who among the multitude isqualified to judge the validity of the proof? Noone! Who knows the sign of the Master when hesees it? The sign of the Master is not a phenome-non which may be repudiated or explained awayby the sophists, neither is it something the Mastermay show or hide as he pleases, nor can he take itup and lay it aside at will. He is forced to carry itwith him always as we carry out arms and limbs. Itwould be just as impossible to hide the sign of theMaster from those qualified to see, know andjudge it as it would be for us to hide our membersfrom anyone who has physical sight. On the otherhand, as the sign of the Master is spiritual, it mustbe spiritually perceived, and it is therefore asimpossible to show the sign of the Master to thosewho lack spiritual sight as it is to show a physicalfigure to the physically blind.
Therefore we read: "Awicked and adulterousgeneration seeketh after a sign, and there shall nosign be given unto it." A little further on in thesame chapter (Matt. 16) we find the Christ askingHis disciples, "Whom do men say that I, the Son ofMan, am?" The answer developed that though theJews saw in Him a superior person—Moses, Elias,or one of the prophets—they were incapable ofrecognizing His true character. They could not seethe sign of the Master, or they would have neededno other testimony.
Christ then turned to His disciples and askedthem, "But whom say ye that I am?" And fromPeter came the answer weighted with conviction,quick and to the point, "Thou art the Christ, theSon of the living God." He had seen the sign of theMaster, and he knew whereof he spoke, indepen-dent of phenomena and exterior circumstances, asemphasized by Christ when He said, "Blessed artthou, Simon, Son of Jonah, for flesh and bloodhath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father whichis in heaven." In other words, the perception of thisgreat truthdepended upon an interior qualification.
What this qualification was, and is, we learn
from the next words of Christ: "And I say also untothee that thou art Peter (Petros, a rock) and uponthis rock (Petra) I will build my church."
Christ said concerning the multitude of material-istic Jews: "Awicked and adulterous generationseeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign begiven unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah";and much speculation has been the consequenceamong equally materialistic Christians in lattertimes. Some have contended that an ordinarywhale did swallow the prophet and later cast himashore. Churches have divided on this as on manyother foolish issues. But when we consult theoccult records we find an interpretation which sat-isfies the heart without doing violence to the mind.This great allegory, like so many other myths, ispictured upon the film of the firmament, for it wasfirst enacted in heaven before it was staged on theearth, and we still see in the starry sky "Jonah, theDove," and "Cetus, the Whale". But we will notconcern ourselves so much with the celestial phaseas with its terrestrial application.
"Jonah" means dove, a well recognized symbolof the Holy Spirit. During the three "days" com-prising the Saturn, Sun, and Moon revolutions ofthe Earth Period, and the "nights" between, theHoly Spirit with all the Creative Hierarchiesworked in the Great Deep perfecting the inwardparts of the earth and men, removing the deadweight of the moon. Then the earth emerged fromits watery stage of development in the middleAtlantean Epoch, and so did "Jonah, the SpiritDove," accomplish the salvation of the greater partof mankind.
Neither the earth nor its inhabitants were capa-ble of maintaining their equilibrium in space, andthe Cosmic Christ therefore commenced to workwith and on us, finally at the baptism descendingas a dove (not in the form of a dove but asa dove)upon the man Jesus. And as Jonah, the dove of theHoly Spirit, was three Days and three Nights in theGreat Fish (the earth submerged in water), so at theend of our involutionary pilgrimage must the otherdove, the Christ, enter the heartof the earth for thecoming three revolutionary Days and Nights togive us the needed impulse on our evolutionaryjourney. He must help us to etherealize the earth in
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preparation for the JupiterPeriod.
Thus Jesus became at his bap-tism, "a Son of the Dove," andwas recognized by another,"Simon Bar-Jonah," (Simon,son of the dove). At that recog-nition, by the sign of the dove,the Master calls the other "arock," a foundation Stone, andpromises him the "Keys toHeaven." These are not idlewords nor haphazard promises.These are phases of soul devel-opment involved which eachmust undergo if he has notpassed them.
What then is the "sign ofJonah" which the Christ boreabout with Him, visible to allwho could see, other than the"house from heaven" wherewithPaul longed to be clothed; theglorious treasure house whereinall the noble deeds of many lives glitter and glistenas precious pearls? Everybody has a little "housefrom heaven." Jesus, holy and pure beyond therest, probably was a splendid sight, but think howindescribably effulgent must have been the vehicleof splendor in which the Christ descended; then weshall have some conception of the "blindness" ofthose who asked for "a sign." Even among Hisother disciples He found the same spiritualcataract. "Show us the Father," said Philip, oblivi-ous to the mystic Trinity in Unity which ought tohave been obvious to him. Simon, however, wasquick to perceive, because he himself had by spir-itual alchemy made this spiritual petros or "stone"of the philosopher which entitled him to the "Keysof the Kingdom"; an Initiation making usable thelatent powers of the candidate evolved by service.
We find that these "stones" for the "temple madewithout hands" undergo an evolution or process ofpreparation. There is first the "petros," the dia-mond in the rough, so to speak, found in nature.When read with the heart, such passages as 1Cor.10:4, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink;for they drank of that spiritual Rock [Petros] that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ," are illu-minating in this connection. Gradually, very grad-ually, we have become impregnated with the waterof life which sprang from the Great Rock. We havealso become polished as "lithoi zontes" (livingstones), destined to be grouped with that GreatStonewhich the Builder rejected; and when wehave wrought well to the end, we shall finallyreceive in the Kingdom the diadem, the most pre-cious of all, the "psiphon leuken," (the white stone)with its New Name.
There are three steps in the evolution of "theStone of the Sage": Petros, the hard rough rock;Lithon, the stone polished by service and ready tobe written on; and psiphon leuken, the soft whitestone that draws to itself all who are weak andheavy laden. Much is hidden in the nature andcomposition of the stone at each step which cannotbe written; it must be read between the lines.
If we hope to build the Living Temple withChrist in the Kingdom, we would do well to pre-pare ourselves that we may fit in, and then we shallknow the Master and the Sign of the Master. ❐
—Max Heindel
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Oil on panel. Private commission for the Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas More, Manor House, London, U.K.
Jonah and the WhaleAs Jonah, the dove of the Holy Spirit, worked for three Days or Revolutions in the“whale” of the earth submerged in water, so has Christ, baptized as a “Son of theDove,” entered the earth for the last three revolutionary Days to help humanity ethe-realize its planet in preparation for the Jupiter Period.
READERS ARE CERTAIN to seerecurring reference in the Rays to theinvestigations and practices in micro-biology, which sanity and moralitymust conceive to be at least dubious
and, more likely, spiritually transgressive.Several motives impel scientific research in cellu-
lar and molecular biology. While greed, ambition,and desire for power play a part, the main incentivefor exploring the inner precincts of the natural mate-rial world is the ineluctable desire to know, a desirewith which students of Rosicrucian teachings areintimately familiar, for, “It is a desire for knowledgewhich brings most of the pupils to the RosicrucianSchool” (Ancient and Modern Initiation, p. 68).
Material scientists are mostly, like their esotericconfreres (Rosicrucian students), son’s of Cain: theystrive to pass behind the veil of ignorance throughintelligent action and applied knowledge. But theveil in question is not material or spatial; it is cogni-tive. It involves positing and discovering levels ofconsciousness and correlative dimensions of worldbeing. It recognizes that life does not derive fromatomic, molecular, and cellular forms and activity; itmanifests though these forms as etheric processes,themselves based on living mental archetypes.
From occult science we learn that a series of Atlanteancatastrophes resulted from humanity’s selfish use ofetheric forces. Are modern scientific practices lead-ing toward a comparable neo-Atlantean enormity?
Heindel in his day deplored the killing of animalsfor human consumption and convenience. One hun-dred years later we are witnessing a refinement ofanimal “sacrifice”—the harvesting of living humanorganisms. At least five companies buy and sell fetalbody parts, in what the Canadian news magazineAlberta Report (Aug. 25, 1999) calls “a vast trade in
human tissue from babies that are aborted and some-times vivisected, to satiate the exploding multibil-lion-dollar biotechnology industry.” Now, with theability to induce in vitro (out of the body) fertiliza-tion, embryonic stem cells can be harvested, as wasdone recently by researchers from Jones Institute forReproductive Medicine in Virginia, which engi-neered 40 human embyros (LifeSite News, Oct. 25,2000). Stem cells are called plenipotent, or totipo-tent, because they are potentially capable of develop-ing into any kind of cell, and thus might help treat anarray of intractable diseases by generating healthytissue at problem sites. Great Britain legalized embry-onic stem cell research in January of this year andParliament has condoned “therapeutic” human cloningto create spare parts from the test tube cultivation oforgans from donor cells.
It would seem that there is no stopping stem celland genetic research. The ethical have scruples. Notso others. Stem Cell Sciences (Australia) andBiotransplant (United States) have both producedmixed embyros of two species—human and porcine—by removing the nucleus of a pig cell and replac-ing it with a cell nucleus taken from an unborn baby(Zenit, Oct. 8, 2000). The brave new world is here!
There can be no evasion of Destiny, no escapefrom self-wrought physical lessons to be learned andfleshed-out consequences of prior actions to be expe-rienced. Our goal is not to improve our body partsand prolong our physical life span but to transformthe thinking and feeling habits which produce ill-being. A presumed good end (bodily health, longlife) does not justify a wrong means (embyronic har-vesting, cloning for body parts). Our destiny is tobecome spiritually creative, not organ merchants andconsumers. What profit is in these practices if theyentail ignoring, and thus losing, our own soul? ❐
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Pro Life—Contra Life
NEWS PERSPECTIVES
COULD EVER a worse blow befall anauthor? It happened to Carlyle inMarch, 1835. He had spent monthsresearching for his first volume onthe French Revolution and putting the
fruits thereof on paper. His friend John StuartMill—philosopher, economist, member ofParliament—had borrowed the manuscript and inturn lent it to one Harriet Taylor, who left it lyingout overnight. Her maid thought it was just scrappaper so she tore it up and used it to light a fire.Only a few scraps survived. A whole winter’s laborwas lost to an author who was writing primarily forthe money. Calmly, quietly, magnificently, Carlylecommenced over again.
Truly, when night is darkest, the stars are bright-est. Carlyle was born in 1795, during an egregiousepoch of the French Revolution, in the village ofEcclefeshan, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. Most of hiseducation was received in the university of the“Athens of the North,” Edinburgh. His early lifehad been strongly theocentric in the orthodox way.He was under pressure to prepare to preach, but helost faith in the “old orthodoxy.”
A spiritual struggle ensued, which kept him fromhis calling, and he became a historian, philosopher,and author. Shortly after marriage to Jane Welsh in1826, he moved to London. It remained his placeof residence the rest of his life, which is why hecame to be known as “the sage of Chelsea,” afterthe part of the city he had chosen. In addition to hisvolumes on the French Revolution, he also wroteon Scotland’s great reformer, John Knox,England’s 17th century strong man OliverCromwell, Norway’s early kings, Frederick the
Great of Prussia, and Germany’s FriedrichSchiller. Carlyle’s best known work, SartorResartus, is basically autobiographical and may bethe best exposition of his philosophy.
If his writings and lectures could be said to havea purpose, it would have to be to redress the intel-lectual and moral balance which had been upset byskepticism and materialism. Character was to himthe an indispensable reality, based on denial ofself, which he considered the soul of Christianity.Men are to love God more than pleasure. Historyto Carlyle was the biography of great men. One ofhis treatises was entitled Heroes and HeroWorship: He had been called guilty of the last partof that title.
Sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, wassaid by him to be the first characteristic of all menwho were in any way heroic. Carlyle extols moralinsight, silence, integrity, and industry. All men areto live actively, but the real hero is the one wholeaves behind something imperishable, of endur-ing value.
This matter of purposeful activity assumedgigantic proportions in Carlyle’s view. Work isman’s primary purpose; he is to start where he isand seize the duty nearest at hand. All-important isthe spirit in which it is pursued. There is but onemisfortune—withdrawing from work.
He rigorously practiced what he taught. Daily,right after breakfast, he went to his study, in a stateof restless concentration. He resented intrusions inthe morning because he was driven by an intensityof will to achieve a certain amount of work eachday. In 1853 he completed building a soundproofroom with double walls and double windows on
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The Sage of Chelsea
BOOK REVIEWS
the top floor of his Chelsea home. It not onlyblocked out train whistles but, after his death, thesound of airplanes. Only after he had put in a dailyamount of writing did he feel sufficiently relaxedto walk in the fresh air, dine, and entertain, thoughtthere was a tremendous drop of the latter after thetragic death of his beloved Jane in 1866 while outriding.
A list of his publications shows the results of hisinner drive. When one considers most of itrequired extensive research, one is all the moreimpressed. “Every book was written with pain”(page 107, Thomas Carlyle, Ian Campbell, CharlesScribner’s Sons, New York, 1974, 210 pages). Andthis no doubt hastened his physical decline. Hedidn’t sicken, he simply sank in strength until theend came on February 5, 1881. Of course
Westminster Abbey, final home of so many of theheroes he had admired, was offered, but he hadrequested burial at his place of birth.
His funeral was also as quiet as he had request-ed; it was the quiet before the storm. In his finalyears he had worked on Reminiscences, whichcontained sentiments that might easily be misun-derstood, so Carlyle had accordingly requestedediting of his memoirs. This was not done. Anuproar of controversy arose “which threatened toblow Carlyle’s reputation as Sage and Prophet sky-high” (Campbell, p. 155). Gadflies are unpopular;could this have had something to do with the effortby some to vilify him posthumously? We maynever know.
But about one fact of his life there can be nodoubt: his indisputable indebtedness to the eso-teric. In the early years he had spent much timetranslating German literature. He first gainedattention for introducing English readers to theGerman mystics, romantics such as Schiller,Novalis, and Goethe, the initiate-genius and “hischief master” (page 3, Carlyle and GermanThought: 1819-1834, Charles Frederick Harrold,Archon Books, Hamden, London, 1963, 340pages). Goethe’s Wanderjahre and FaustresolvedCarlyle’s own youthful spiritual crisis. He virtual-ly attributed his renewed faith in Christianity to thereading of Goethe’s works. He also was interestedin the French mystic Blaise Pascal and Russia’sMadame de Staël.
Not only are Carlyle’s spiritual roots esoterical-ly subsumed, so are his wings. His resoundingreception in the United States contributed consid-erable to his fame, and no one did more to intro-duce and endear him to the American public thanEmerson. The “sage of Concord” not only visitedthe “sage of Chelsea” in 1833, 1847, 1872, and1873, but it was primarily due to Emerson’s effortsthat Carlyle was able to stop feeling himself underfinancial pressure, which greatly augmented hiscreativity.
On the basis of his birth, Carlyle is claimed bythe Scots, and because of lengthy residence, by theEnglish. But his work and spirit rank him rightlyamong the mystics. ❒
—A Probationer
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Thomas Carlyle and Emerson’s GrandsonRalph Waldo Emerson discovered in Carlyle a kindred spir-it, for the Scotsman spoke of the dawning of an age of “newSpirituality and Belief; in the midst of old Doubt and Denial,as it were, a new revelation of Nature, and the Freedom andInfinitude of Man, wherein Reverence is again renderedcompatible with Knowledge, and Art and Religion are one.”
ZANONI, A ROSICRUCIANTALE
IT HAS TAKEN THE REVIEWER nearlythirty years to read a book that was firstcalled to his attention in RosicrucianPhilosophy in Questions and Answers(“Each neophyte must face this gruesome
specter as Glyndon did in Bulwer Lytton’s novelZanoni”—Vol. 2, p. 160), and then in MaxHeindel’s October 20, 1911 letter to Probationers,where, referring to his first initiation and receivinginstructions on how to leave hisbody at will, Heindel “met thedreadful creatures which I,myself, had generated. Theybeggar description (such asattempted by Bulwer), and fearjumped at my throat; butencouragement from theteacher sustained me throughthat awful ordeal...”
Bulwer did “attempt” todescribe the Dweller in Zanoni(Garber Communications,Hudson, N.Y.) and his descrip-tive powers, challenged to thehilt, stand him well. Why did ittake so long to read this novel?Perhaps because it is a novel: Too muchfiction and not enough fact, I presumed.Just another gothic romance, I opined.Well, having read it, I can recommend it not least onthe grounds that it is a compelling read—intelli-gent, a dramatic narrative in full dress, rhetorical,impassioned, in the grand manner, which, regret-tably, is not in vogue these days, where language ispared down to the skin of strict sight, reduced toexpletives and juvenile idioms, and conscripted toserve mercantile interests and instrumental economy.
Lord Lytton, born in 1802, was an active memberof Parliament, a scholar, editor, dramatist, and ahighly popular novelist. That he was a Rosicrucian,at least in the old sense (not one of “theCompassionate Ones,” who have passed the fourGreater Initiations but declined to move to higherspheres that they may assist their younger brothersand sisters in their spiritual development), is a mat-
ter of historical record. In a letter of July 3, 1870,Bulwer-Lytton wrote: “There are reasons why Icannot enter into the subject of the RosicrucianBrotherhood, a Society still existing, but not underany name by which it can be recognized by thoseoutside its pale.”
Bulwer is definitely familiar with both historicalRosicrucians and those inspired by them, includingGoethe, Shakespeare, Van Helmont, and SolomonTrismosin (teacher of Paracelsus), quotes fromwhose writings serve as epigraphs to chapters in
Zanoni. The author character-izes his book as “a truth forthose who can comprehend it,and an extravagance for thosewho cannot.”
Until the turn of the twenti-eth century it is true that “themasters of the [Rosicrucian]School have [n]ever con-signed, except by obscure hintand mystic parable, their realdoctrines to the world. And Ido not blame them for theirdiscretion....Who but aRosicrucian could explain theRosicrucian Mysteries! Andcan you imagine that any mem-
bers of that sect, the most jealous of allsecret societies, would themselves lift theveil that hides the Isis of their wisdom
from the world?” Zanoniis, in part, about the intemperate effort to
lift that veil. It is also about one who has passedbeyond the veil but who is not immune from thetensions and temptations of fleshly experience. Thenovel is divided into seven parts whose titles sug-gest a sevenfold path of spiritual development. Thefourth section, entitled “The Dweller on theThreshold,” is a highly plausible and wonderfullydramatic expression of an occult fact incident to ini-tiation. In this case, an English artist, Glyndon,demands entrance into the desire world, therebyconjuring a dread embodiment of his own unpurgedlower self.
Who, then, is Zanoni? He is an Initiate of somedegree. He has real knowledge and powers that
54 RAYS 01
Edward Bulwer1st Baron Lytton
(1803-1873)
only initiation can confer. He also has heart. Hisheart does not yet beat exclusively for the world asa whole, wholly dispassionately. He is yet open tothe influence of personal, and therefore partial,love. “But thou, Zanoni—thy pulse still beats withthe music of mortal passion—thy kind is still tothee something warmer than an abstraction.”Zanoni’s “kind” is at the precipice of the bloodyanarchy unleashed by the French Revolution. Atthis point, in walks the blithely confident Glyndon,who wants what Zanoni has, and will do anythingto get it. Zanoni can, of course, “read” Glyndon’sheart and rejects his overtures for instant initiationbecause the Englishman is too green; he has notsuffered and delved deeply enough to know the dif-ference between real and merely apparent truth.Glyndon is not to be put off. Rashly he attempts to“lift the veil of Isis.” His desire for knowledge,however, is “but petulant presumption.” The terri-ble specter he raises “thou thyself must exorcise.”Having awakened faculties that will not sleep,Glyndon finds the “restless influence” in all heundertakes. As for thoughts: “Dread them mostwhen thou beholdest them not.” If, as Heindel writes,every lie is both a murder and a suicide in the desireworld, it is because “every thought is a soul.”
Bulwer-Lytton writes with great flair. His narra-tive glows and flares with the gold of deep-minedtruths and well-wrought sentences. Here followsome examples:
● “Though all earth were carved over and inscribedwith letters of diviner knowledge, the characterswould be valueless to him who does not pausetoinquire the language, and meditate the truth.”
● “It is labor itself that is the great purifier of themind.” Labor and retrospection.
● “Thou mayst be master of the Cabala and theChemistry; but thou must be master also over theFlesh and the Blood—over Love and Vanity,Ambition and Hate.”
● “The extension of our existence robs us of acountry and a home.” So did Christ Jesus say thatthe Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. IfThomas Paine’s home is the entire world, it is hishome away from home, for the extension of ourexistence to encompass the worlds of spirit makesus here below pilgrims and wanderers and prodigal
sons and daughters.● “It needs a soul tempered, and purified, and
raised, not by external spells, but by its own sub-limity and valor, to pass the threshold and disdainthe foe.” The “foe” being our composite lowernature for whom this world is home.
● One must have “full and entire experience ofthe illusions to which the knowledge that is withoutFaith climbs its Titan way.”
Bulwer employs an effective parallelism where-by the French Revolution figures as both backdropand a magnified equivalent to the unpurged pas-sions and uncontrolled powers forcibly summonedin a single person’s psyche. Once unleashed, theRevolution had a mind of its own. The freedom(Liberté) sought by the French citizens was notprincipled or ordered by self-knowledge, self-disci-pline, and selflessness. The specter of the Guillotineterrorizing the French soul has its individual coun-terpart in the haunting presence of the Dweller sum-moned by Glyndon.
How is the Dweller mastered? By self-mastery,by complete self-understanding, by invincibleimpersonal love: “I approach thee—I look, daunt-less, into thine eyes. The soul that loves can dare allthings. Shadow, I defy thee, and compel.” It is the“sacrifice of self to another” that brings the courseof ages to its goal.
In a concluding “note,” the author rejects thenotion that Zanoni is an allegory; nevertheless,beneath the narrative, “typical [as in prototypic]meanings are concealed.” While his characters arenot personified virtues or qualities, they can beviewed, by Lytton’s admission, as exemplifyingIdeals, which he spells out for the interested readerin an addendum.
Leaving room for a degree of bias, a Preface toZanoni by Paul Allen, who has made manyRosicrucian documents more accessible to the gen-eral public, ends with the contention that “Zanonistands as one of the great pioneer landmarks of pro-found esoteric value, of lasting interest and impor-tance for our time.” He may well be right.
A closing thought: “The excesses and crimes ofHumanity are the grave of the Ideal.” A grave fromwhich Humanity, in time, resurrects. ❐
—C.W.
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ASSIMILATION IS DEFINED as:“the conversion or incorporation ofnutritive material into the fluid orsolid substance of the body.” It is theend product of digestion, and it is lit-
erally true that we live, not by what we eat, but bywhat we assimilate.
Some people have difficulty assimilating certainor all of their foods properly. In order for them todetermine how they may better adjust the assim-ilative process in their bodies, they must considerspiritual as well as physical factors.
From the physical standpoint, the law of assimi-lation requires that every particle of food we eatmust be overcome and made subject to ourselvesbefore it can be built into our bodies. Thus, in largemeasure, the extent to which foods are assimilateddepends upon the degree of consciousness of thecells of which they are composed.
Knowing this, it would appear at first glance thatminerals—the least conscious of created things onEarth—would be ideal foods for human consump-tion. This is not the case, however. The mineralshave no separate vital body, and man is not so con-structed that he can live upon a “dense only” typeof substance. We are told: “When a purely mineralsubstance, such as salt, is eaten, it passes throughthe body, leaving behind it but very little waste.What it does leave, however, is of a very injuriousnature” because it tends to harden and crystallize.
Plants, which do possess separate vital bodies,can assimilate the mineral compounds found in theEarth. By eating plants, then, man assimilates—atsecond hand, so to speak—the minerals he needsfor nourishment and sustenance. Since the plantconsciousness is that of dreamless sleep, littleenergy is required to assimilate food derived from
plants. Plant cells have little individuality of theirown, and the life ensouling them does not seek toescape as quickly as that ensouling more highlydeveloped forms such as animals. A vegetariandiet, then, particularly when the produce is inter-penetrated with much ether, provides more endur-ing strength than does a meat diet. In addition to itsmoral and spiritual superiority, it is particularlybeneficial for those people whose assimilativepowers are deficient.
Solar energy, drawn into the dense body throughthe etheric counterpart of the the spleen in the vitalbody, is the cementing factor of assimilation. Anextra quantity of this vital fluid is required duringthe digestive and assimilative processes. The morehearty the meal, the greater the quantity of vitalfluid which must be expended within the body, andthe weaker the power of the outrushing currents ofthe vital body which normally carry off germs andmicrobes. Thus, frequent overeating renders usparticularly susceptible to disease.
Assimilation proper does not begin until the Egois seven years old. Before this time, the vital bodycannot yet use the forces operating along the posi-tive poles of the ethers. Since assimilation worksalong the positive pole of the chemical ether, whatthere is of it in childhood is due to the macrocos-mic vital body—the ethers which act as a “womb”for the child’s vital body until the seventh year.
From the spiritual standpoint, the forces whichwork along the positive pole of the chemical etherand assist in assimilation are the nature forcescomposed largely of our so-called dead who haveentered heaven and are there learning to build bod-ies we use on Earth. They are directed by higherTeachers, including Angels, who are particularlyconcerned with assimilation, growth, and propaga-
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Assimilation
NUTRITION AND HEALTH
tion. These forces work in a marvelously selectiveway, well illustrating both the direction of divineintelligence and the universal law of service.
Spiritual students are likely to have more diffi -culty with assimilation than do other peoplebecause those who endeavor to live the spirituallife attract more of the higher light and reflecting,and less of the lower chemical and life, ethers.Therefore spiritual students in particular shouldtake care to select food containing as much of thechemical ether as possible. Assimilation is alsohelped if the food is fresh, well-presented, andaccepted with gratitude and appreciation.
The three attributes of God, and of man as a god-in-the-making, are Will, Wisdom, and Activity.These attributes are reflected in the threefold Spiritwhich is man. The second attribute, the Love-Wisdom, or Christ, principle, is the cohesiveattribute upon which all nutrition and growth isbased. It is linked with the Life Spirit, which, inturn, is reflected in the vital body. The blood, thecarrier of nourishment, is the highest expression ofthe vital body. The ductless glands are also expres-sions of the vital body. The Life Spirit has its seatprimarily in the pituitary body and secondarily inthe heart, the gateway of the blood into the physi-cal vehicle.
Uranus rules assimilation as well as intuition—the faculty by means of which the Ego may contactcosmic wisdom through the Life spirit, which isdirectly linked with the Love-Wisdom principle inman. Venus, the lower octave of Uranus, also rulesassimilation during the first fourteen years of life.Venus rules the thymus gland, the link betweenchild and parents until puberty. Before puberty, thechild draws from the thymus gland a spiritualessence deposited there by the parents. With thisessence the child can accomplish the alchemistryof blood until the desire body becomes dynamical-ly active, and he can manufacture his own redblood corpuscles.
In Message of the Stars, p. 573, we read: “It iswell known that all things, our food included, radi-ate from themselves continuously small particleswhich give an index of the thing whence theyemanate, its quality included. Thus when we liftthe food to our mouths a number of these invisible
particles enter the nose and by excitation of theolfactory tract convey to us a knowledge ofwhether the food we are about to take is suitablefor this purpose or not, the sense of smell warningus to discard such foods as have a noxious odor,etc. But besides those particles which attract orrepel us from food by their action upon the olfac-tory tract through the sense of smell, there are oth-ers which penetrate the sphenoid bone, impingeupon the Pituitary Body and start the uranianalchemistry by which a secretion is formed andinjected into the blood. This furthers assimilationthrough the chemical ether, thus affecting the normalgrowth and well-being of the body through life.”
We are also told that: “There is a physical con-nection between the pituitary body, the principalorgan of assimilation and therefore of growth, andthe adrenals, which eliminate the waste and assim-ilate the proteins. These are also physically con-nected both with the spleen and the thymus andthyroid glands. The pituitary body is ruled byUranus, which is the higher octave of Venus, theruler of the solar plexus where the seed atom of thevital body is located. Thus Venus keeps the gate ofthe vital fluid coming direct from the Sun throughthe spleen, and Uranus is the warder of the gatewhere enters the physical food. It is the blending ofthese two streams which produces the latent powerstored up in our vital body until converted todynamic energy by the martial desire nature.”
Virgo is also connected with assimilation. Thissign rules the intestinal tract, and is correlated tothe Lords of Wisdom, who originally radiated toman the germ of the vital body.
Thus it becomes clear that assimilation is boundup with the Love-Wisdom principle. In proportionas that second attribute of God is developed with-in us, we have proper assimilation and a corre-sponding degree of good health. It follows, there-fore, that the key to a permanent adjustment ofassimilative powers lies in the unfolding of theChrist Love within us. The intellect must be spiri-tualized and the lower nature transmuted into theHigher. Only in this way can we develop to per-fection the soul power necessary for fully satisfac-tory assimilation. ❒
—Diana Dupre
RAYS 01 57
THE GREAT LAW of Attractionoperates in every department ofour lives, and for every one ofus. It knows no favorites, andmakes no exceptions. It not only
brings together people of similar character,but it also draws inevitably to each one of usthe health or illness that we ask for—or haveasked for in past lives—by our thoughts,words, feelings, and deeds.
The mind is the link between the indwellingSpirit and its bodies. It enables the Ego to transmitits commands as thought and word, also to compelaction. It is the focusing medium whereby theideas wrought by the imagination of the Spirit areprojected upon the material universe. First they arethought forms only, but when the desire to realizethe imagined possibilities has set the man to workin the Physical World, they become what we callconcrete “realities.”
Thus, even though we say we desire health, if weat the same time indulge in thoughts of fear, suspi-cion, impatience, intolerance, jealousy, hatred,etc., we will find that these negative thoughts willmanifest in our bodies and surroundings as inhar-monious and unpleasant conditions. Furthermore,by harboring such thoughts against a single personin the world we make ourselves magnets forattracting into our auras the destructive thoughtcurrents of those who think and live evilly.
On the contrary, by evidencing our desire forhealth by thinking thoughts of kindliness, sympa-thy, trust, faith, hope, and courage, we bring into“concrete reality” the imag(in)ed possibilities:
health and pleasant surroundings. At the same timewe fortify ourselves against all evil vibrations.
The apostle Paul’s prescription for mental, andthus physical, health is “Whatsoever things aretrue, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoeverthings are pure, whatsoever things are lovely...think on these things.” ❒
Visible helpers are just as necessary as InvisibleHelpers, and our friends and patients may share ina high privilege, as well as add much to the powerof liberated healing force, by joining us in prayerfor the sick. Our Healing Service is held everyevening in the Healing Temple at 6:30 (7:30 whenDaylight time is in effect) and in the Pro-Ecclesiaat 4:15 P.M. when the Moon is in a cardinal sign onthe following dates:
July........................................5—12—19—25August.............................1—9—16—22—28
Relax, close your eyes, and make a mental pictureof the pure white rose in the center of the RosicrucianEmblem on the west wall of our Pro-Ecclesia, andconcentrate on Divine Love and Healing.
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Imaging Health
HEALING
Healing Temple (Ecclesia) at dusk, seen from the north
SIX YEAR OLD JANE’S VOICE wasshrill with anger. She screamed andtears came into her eyes. Her babybrother had taken the pretty little slip-pers from her very best doll, and he was
getting them dirty; trying to put his feet into them.Her mother hurried into the room, and seeing thetrouble picked up Jane’s little brother.
“Mother, he’s ruined them,” said Jane betweensobs. “My best doll’s slippers, and now they’re allspoiled. He’s mean. I hate him!” She stamped herfeet as she looked at her small brother, and he, too,began to sob, frightened by her actions.
Mother sat down on the bed, and handing littlebrother a cracker, spoke softly. “Jane, I’m sorry hetook the slippers, but he hasn’t hurt them toomuch. It’s wrong for you to say the things you did”
The little brother, happy with the cracker, letmother take the tiny slippers off the tip of his foot.He watched quietly while Mother carefully wipedthe grimy finger marks off the little white slippers;but Jane still sobbed. “But Mother, see, he’s tornthem. Now, my doll won’t look pretty.”
Mother looked at her little daughter. “Dear Jane,you shouldn’t let yourself become angry and excit-ed. You make very ugly thought patterns when youdo. They are like little arrows falling all aroundwhich hurt others, and in turn come back to hurtyou. You know that, for I have taught you about it.”
“But I can’t help it, Mother. It hurts to have mydoll spoiled. It’s mine, and I want it pretty,” saidJane resentfully.
Mother nodded. “I know you want it kept pretty,dear, but your brother is too little to understand. Hedidn’t mean any harm. Besides, the slipper isn’t
spoiled. I can mend it, and they are both cleanednicely. There—see?”
Jane looked doubtfully at the slippers and thenwiped the tears from her eyes.
Mother continued. “You see, Jane, it is easier torepair the physical damage done than it is to repairthe damage you have done with your angrythoughts.”
“But, Mother,” Jane protested, “everyone getsangry and says things. I didn’t mean I...I hated mybrother, really. I just said that.” The little girl wasbeginning to look repentant.
Her Mother regarded her gravely.“Yes, dear, that’s the whole trouble. People do
say things, and then, not really meaning them,think their words are forgotten and don’t amount toanything. They don’t realize that our words makepatterns around us. When the words are angry onesand mean ugly things the patterns are ugly, too.These patterns aren’t just wiped out as soon as ouranger is gone. They linger and fasten onto us. Theybecome easier to repeat, and then if not stoppedthey become a part of our character. Worse, thesepatterns affect other people. They encourage themto do mean things, and make them unhappy. It iswrong to create ugliness, when we should makepatterns of beauty and happiness.’’
Jane looked at her mother apologetically. “I’msorry, Mother, truly I am. I’ll try to make betterthought-patterns—beautiful ones!
“I’m sure you will, dear,”said Mother, giving,her little daughter, a quick hug.
That night after Jane went to bed she had adream which helped her to remember this promise.In her dream she saw a small angel just her size.
RAYS 01 59
Jane’s Thought Garment
FOR CHILDREN
The little angel wore a long white robe and sat ona chair. In her hand the angel had a garment. It wasa dress and the angel was sewing designs on it. Asshe sewed many little things buzzed around her.
Some of the things were of a beautiful shape andcolor, but others looked more like monstrousinsects. They were horrible and ugly to look at.From time to time the angel reached out and choseone from the swirling swarm about her. Sometimesshe picked a lovely creature and when she sewedthat on the dress it looked very beautiful. However,at other times she chose one of the ugly lookinginsect-things and these she sewed into place along-side the beautiful patterns already on the dress.
In her dream Jane cried out every time she saw
an ugly pattern sewed, on the dress.“You’re spoiling the dress putting those horrible
things right with those beautiful designs,” she saidto the angel.
To her surprise the angel nodded and replied,“Yes, and isn’t it a shame to spoil a lovely dresswith such horrible designs?”
“Yes, it is,” quickly agreed Jane. “Why do youpick them out to put on the dress? Why don’t youjust sew the beautiful patterns on the dress?”
The angel smiled sweetly and said, “That is whatI’d like to do. It would be very pleasant work ifthere were only beautiful patterns to sew onto thisdress, but you see, I have to sew on the patternsthat are made for the garment.”
“But who makes you take the ugly ones?” Janeeagerly inquired.
Again the angel smiled, but this time rathersadly as she replied, “You do, Jane. These are yourthoughts. This garment is a symbol of your soul.When you think beautiful, loving thoughts, then Ihave lovely patterns to work with. When you areangry, or impatient, or say hurtful things, and per-haps act thoughtlessly and selfishly, then one ofthese ugly patterns form, and it has to be put intothe garment.”
Jane trembled. She was frightened at the ugli-ness of the swarm and of the number of monstrousdesigns spoiling the beautiful dress the angelsewed on. She felt very unhappy about it all.
“Can’t I ever get rid of the ugly ones,” she askedslowly.
The angel’s smile was very bright. “Oh yes,indeed, dear Jane. You can learn always to controlyour thoughts and your emotions so that they willmake beautiful patterns and then I can take outthese ugly designs and sew in the new and beauti-ful ones.”
“And then may I have the beautiful dress to wearas my very own?” Jane asked eagerly.
The angel nodded, “You have it already. It is
your thought garment. You wear it through life, ifyou only realized it. And when you go to the heav-en world after your life here on earth is completedit goes with you, and that which is good and fine init becomes a part of the real you—your Spirit.”
Suddenly, Jane awoke, the dream still vivid inher memory. How beautiful the angel had been andhow shining some of the thought patterns on thegarment! She thought it all over and decided to tryhard in the future to control her thoughts.
When she felt cross or selfish, or wanted tobecome angry, she remembered the angel sewingon the thought garment and immediately tried tothink good thoughts. She tried to be unselfish, too,and patient. Sometimes she failed, but she kept try-ing, for Mother had told her, “There is no failureexcept in ceasing to try.” As time went on itbecame easier and easier for her to think goodthoughts, and she found herself much happierbecause of it. The little angel is very happy too,because Jane’s thought garment is growing morebeautiful all the time.
Now, dear reader, what about your thought gar-ment? Is it lovely to look at, and do you supposethe angel is happy when she works on it? ❒
—D. D. Arroyo
60 RAYS 01
You wear your thought garment through life, if you only realized it.And when you go to the heaven world after your life here on earthis completed it goes with you, and that which is good and fine in it
becomes a part of the real you—your Spirit.
