“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” January/February 2004—$5.00

THE LETTER TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN LAODICEAGOETHE’S THE MYSTERIES—AN INTERPRETATION

ON CLONING AND HUMAN DIGNITYMICRO AND MACRO ANATOMIES OF MAN

A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE

Back cover: Rosicrucian Fellowship Astrological Chart. Front Cover: Winter Scene, Corel.

ON REBIRTH AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT

All these souls, after they have passed away a thousand years, are summoned by the divine ones in great array,to the Lethean river....In this way they become forgetful of the former earthlife, and re-visit the vaulted realmsof the world, willing to return again into living bodies. —Virgil (70-19 B.C.)

Man himself, and his whole terrestrial life, [is] but an Emblem; a Clothing or visible Garment for that divinelife of his, cast hither, like a light-particle down from Heaven....Death and birth are the vesper and matin bellsthat summon mankind to sleep and to rise refreshed for new advancement. —Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Now, since I am convinced that nothing existing in nature can be annihilated, so I know for a certainty, that forthis reason, the more noble part of me will not cease to live. Though I may not be a king in my future life, somuch the better. I shall nevertheless live an active life and, on top of it, earn less ingratitude.

—King Frederick the Great (1712-1786), shortly before his death

Spirit sleeps in the stone, breathes in the plant, moves in the animal, and wakes up to consciousness in man.—F. W. J. von Schelling (1775-1854)

Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be forced to answer him: It is that part of theworld which is haunted by the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birthis his first entrance into life. —Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

A lifetime may be needed merely to gain the virtues which annul the errors of man’s preceding life....The virtueswe acquire, which develop slowly within us, are the invisible links which bind each one of our existences to theothers—existences which the spirit alone remembers, for Matter has no memory for spiritual things. Thoughtalone holds the tradition of the bygone life. The endless legacy of the past to the present is the secret source ofhuman genius. —Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850)

We all return; it is this certainty that gives meaning to life and it does not make the slightest difference whetheror not in a later incarnation we remember the former life. What counts is not the individual and his comfort, butthe great aspiration to the perfect and pure which goes on in each incarnation. —Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

I am a soul. I know well that what I shall render up to the grave is not myself. That which is myself will go else-where. Earth, thou art not my abyss!...The whole creation is a perpetual ascension, from brute to man, from manto God. To divest ourselves more and more of matter, to be clothed more and more with spirit, such is the law.Each time we die we gain more of life. Souls pass from one sphere to another without loss of personality, becomemore and more bright. —Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Write,” said that voice, and the prophet answered: “For whom?” The voice said: “For the dead, for those youhave loved in antiquity.” “Will they read me?”—Yes, for they will come back as posterity.”

—Soeren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

How well it would be, could one describe the experiences of a man who in a former life committed suicide. Hewill ever be meeting the same demands that formerly faced him, and so he will arrive at the awareness that hehas to fulfill those demands. Set right by this experience, this man will be wiser than others.

—Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), diary entry

In some sense, I was born and must die. In some sense, my dwelling holds me; your babe is in the crib, and yoursires are in the tomb. But there is an I, by which all these contents and consignments are disallowed. BeforeAbraham was, I am; I have power to lay down my life and power to take it up again. I am conscious of EternalGeneration, that I am what never lay in the cradle and no coffin can hold, but that which sits behind smiling atwhat was brought forth and expires. —Cyrus Augustus Bartol (1813-1900)

This Issue...Feature

Conforming to the Pattern of Christ’s Life...Thomas à Kempis...........................2

EditorialDay Unto Day Uttereth Speech.............................................................................3

Mystic LightStudies in the Apocalypse—Part 7...Valentin Tomberg ........................................4To Tell the Truth...Jamis Lopez.............................................................................9Goethe’s The Mysteries—An Interpretation (Part 1)...Ann Barkhurst ...............13The Concurrence of Initiates—Max Heindel Quotes Goethe.............................17Grace...Alyce Bothmann .....................................................................................20The Challenge of Life...Edith Wilkinson ............................................................23As We Sow...Selected..........................................................................................26

From Max Heindel’s WritingsRetrospection and Remorse.................................................................................27

Readers’ QuestionsAn Incomplete Bible?..........................................................................................28Faith Problem with Core Beliefs.........................................................................29Healing and the Planets .......................................................................................30

Western Wisdom Bible StudyThe Seven Jewels and the Seven Stages of Initiation...Corinne Heline .............31

AstrologyAstrology and the Child...Max Heindel ..............................................................34God’s Message Through Capricorn...Rosicrucian Fellowship Staff Members...38

Religion and the Public RealmCrossing the Nurenberg Line...William L. Saunders ..........................................42

News PerspectivesKnowing—By Remembering or Dismembering?...............................................46

Book ReviewsKeeper of the Bees...Jamis Lopez .......................................................................47

Nutrition and HealthMicro and Macro Anatomies of Man...C.W. ........................................................50

HealingMental Surgery ....................................................................................................57

For ChildrenThe Selfish Giant...Oscar Wilde..........................................................................58

MiscellaneousOn Rebirth and the Immortality of the Human Spirit (quotes) ..inside front coverGreeting...Fra Giovanni.........................................................................................8Invocation of the Holy Spirit (prayer).................................................................25January/February 2004 Ephemerides.............................................................61-62

“A Sane Mind,A Soft Heart,

A Sound Body”© 2004 The Rosicrucian Fellowship

A Christian Esoteric Magazine

Established byMax Heindel

June 1913

Volume 96, No. 1

January/February—2004USPS 471080—ISSN 0744-432X

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CHRIST urges us to mould our lives and our characters in the image of his, if we wishthe light of truth to shine in our hearts. So, above all else, we should devote ourselvesto meditating on the life of Jesus Christ.

The teaching of Christ is better than all the teaching of holy and wise people; and anyone guid-ed by the Spirit will find hidden nourishment there. Many people hear the gospel frequently andyet feel little desire to imitate Christ. This is because they do not possess the Spirit of Christ.Those who wish to understand and savor the words of Christ to the full must ensure that theirwhole lives conform to the pattern of Christ’s life.

People may discuss the doctrine of the Trinity with great theological skill; but if they lackhumility, they will displease God. Intellectual arguments do not make people holy and righteous;God wants us to lead good lives. I would rather feel repentance in my heart, than define it withmy mind. You could know the entire Bible word for word, and be familiar with every expositionwritten by scholars, but if you lack the grace and love of God, the knowledge is useless.

We live in a world of shadows. The only reality consists in loving God and serving him alone.The highest wisdom is to seek the kingdom of heaven, rejecting the things of this world. If youpursue riches, and believe they will make you happy, you are pursuing an empty fantasy. It isequally foolish to seek social status and honor, to become a slave to your natural appetites, to pre-fer a long life over a good life—to set your heart on anything in the world, which will soon passaway. Instead look only towards that place where tasting joy is to be found.

—Thomas à Kempis

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FEATURE

Conforming to the Pattern of Christ’s Life

The Baptism The Crucifixion The Resurrection

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JAMES THE ELDER writes that the tongue isan unruly member and that if we can controlour tongue, our words, our speech, we cancontrol our entire life, for our speech revealsmuch of who we are. Self-discipline, piety,

generosity of spirit, honesty, sincerity, selflessness,Christian amity are all on view—or absent—when weenter the lives of others through the spoken word. Ifour desire and calling is to give voice to the Gospel,the Good News, we ourselves must be good news, sothat our words may ring true. We shall give anaccounting for all our vocal deeds, which includes notonly the content of speech, but its timing, and espe-cially the motive and intention behind what we say.

The wise mother counsels her child to “hold yourtongue,” or “watch your tongue”—watch as in to keepvigil, or guard against incursions of the enemy. Who isthe enemy? On the mundane level, we say it is thought-lessness, spite, in a word, selfishness; but metaphysi-cally it is the profaner, the corrupter, the Adversary,who can’t abide God’s truth and would substitute hiscounterfeit, mere semblance: seeming for substance,nonsense for sense, sophistry for Sophia, logorrhea forlogic. How does Scripture describe him? John calls thedevil the “father” of lies and lying. It was a believed liethat brought about the Fall. What is the lie? That Godis not. That God as Christ was not and is not in man;that therefore nothing really matters. Do what youwant. Whatever you want is right. The Liar seeds irra-tionality, conflict, misunderstanding. Truth sayings rat-ify creation. When words fairly reflect God’s handi-work, they are iconic. When used irresponsibly, wordsconfuse and destroy. The Liar’s war on the Word iswaged in many ways. At the academic level, decon-structors, ironically, using words to make their case,deny objective truth claims. Commercially, the virginmother tongue is slandered and desecrated by buyersand sellers, whose temple text is marketplace litanies.

Words matter not just because they are the currencyof human interaction. At present, they are the primary

means of individual self-understanding and evolution.Words are the children of thought. Human dignity anddevelopment would literally be unthinkable, on thephysical plane, without language. The right use of lan-guage can help us find our way into the world ofSpirit. If Christians, and potentially all humans, havethe mind of Christ, as St. Paul affirms, we can think inthe light and direct that light on the created world tosee it as it is, not as personal desire would have it.

Our task and calling is to consciously manifest God.It is this action which makes holy, which sanctifies. No,the word alone does not make holy. But right use ofmeaningful sounds does, because sound reflects inten-tion, gives it physical form. The dove of divinity seeksto alight on the branches of inner language and graceour understanding, baptizing the incarnate momentwith its healing, truth-revealing presence. This dove issummoned by an inner obeisance of our mortal self towhence its help comes. This dove ever hovers about usand, when rightly sought, will bless our conscious-ness, with expressed light, annunciations of truth.

Think of this: The Word was made flesh—the Wordthat was from the beginning, which was in God andwas God. Language, the world of human words, hasthis self-same lineage, however far it has fallen.Words, the garment of thought, desire, and impulses ofwill, are emissaries from the worlds of Human, Life,and Divine Spirit, however oblivious we may be oftheir divine paternity. Demotic words, rightly used,may lead us back to the Word, as our thinking (inwords) leads us to thought’s Architect. The speech thataspires to sense and significance is impelled by thedesire to reveal spirit to Spirit, God’s children to God.

Let us purge our daily language in silence: SpeakLord for your servant listeneth. Let us renew our lan-guage by invoking the Word that gives us our Identity.And when we speak, let us remember its divine Proto-type—the Creator “speaking” creation into being—sothat we may be able to say, when we review our word-deeds at the end of each day: It is good. p

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Day Unto Day Uttereth Speech

EDITORIAL

IF THE SIXTH CULTURE-EPOCH hadto recognize the Christ as the GreaterGuardian of the Threshold, the SeventhPost-Atlantean epoch must become con-scious of another aspect of the Christ Being.

To understand this side of the knowledge of Christwe must again look back on that past of which theSeventh culture-epoch will be the ‘resurrection.’For as the Sixth culture-epoch will be the ‘resur-rection’ of the ancient Persian, so will the Seventhbe the ‘resurrection’ of the ancient Indian epoch.And again it will be in the sense that what flowedinto man’s intellectual life as revelation and inspi-ration during the old Indian epoch will now have tobe learned and acquired by the effort of that intel-lect. For the Seventh culture-epoch will be relatedto the First Post-Atlantean epoch as the life-spiritis to the ether body. In this sense also the contentof the ancient Indian revelation will re-appear insuch a way that “seven candlesticks” on the earthwill no longer receive their light from the “sevenstars”; that is, this time there will not be sevenhuman beings inspired by the divine revelation,but that the content will appear as the consciencereveals itself in man. For all which in the oldIndian age was a revelation from heaven will “riseagain” in the Seventh culture-epoch as consciencewithin man. And the word conscience is not usedhere merely in the sense in which it is understoodtoday (that is, as a moral judgement on a man’sown deeds), but in the sense of that certainty which

can arise in the soul from a comprehensive knowl-edge springing without shape or sound, not fromany external sense impression, speculative thought,nor clairvoyant perception, but from the deepeststratum of man’s being. Conscience, in this sense,results from inwardizing experience throughoutmany incarnations of the soul’s past. It is the greatmoral and spiritual synthesis of all the experiences

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The Letter to the Angel of the Church

of the Laodiceans

MYSTIC LIGHT

The Alpha and OmegaThis Orthodox image reminds us that the first is the last, “thebeginning and the ending.” The first Adam as creature was madein the image of the Creator. Christ, the “second Adam,” took onthe form of the first Adam and regenerated it. A similar princi-ple operates between the first and the seventh sub-epoch (Epoch,Period) where the former is resurrected in the latter. The Greektext in part reads: “I am the light of the world (kosmos).”

Coptic Im

age Archive

This is the concluding article drawn from Valentin Tomberg’sStudies of the Apocalypse, ©1985 by Candeur Manuscripts.Reprinted by permission of the Anthroposophic Press.

and revelations which the soul has received.Such comprehensive vision from within outward

was, during the age in which Christianity began,denoted by the word AMEN*, which is now inter-preted as meaning “It is certainly true.” And thisinterpretation is justifiable in so far as it points inthe direction in which the untranslatable word—like the AUM of the Indians, or the TAO of theChinese Taoists—is to be sought. For if a thing isknown to be certainly true and yet stands on noother foundation than a word uttered by man him-self and meaning nothing which can be found inany sphere of experience, then what is expressed isthat something hidden in his own nature has beenrevealed and the certainty arises from this revela-tion.

How this all-embracing inner wisdom, theAMEN, comes about may be seen from an exam-ple given...in connection with the karmic history ofthe great Zarathustra....[I]n the old Indian age,Zarathustra followed a path that was a preparationfor the mission which he was to carry out, from theancient Persian epoch onwards, as the greatteacher of the Post-Atlantean mysteries. Duringthat time he passed through seven incarnations,receiving in each incarnation the revelation con-tent of one of the Rishis. Thus he absorbed thewhole revelation of the seven Rishis. After this, heappeared in an eighth incarnation in a body, blindand deaf. It was thus impossible for him to receiveany impression from the outside world. In thateighth incarnation the great Zarathustra had to relyentirely on his own inner resources. And therearose within him the comprehensive “memory” ofthe revelation of the Rishis. It was not, however, amere memory of the Rishis’ revelation, but rathera resurrection from his own ego of that revelationas a comprehensive unity. And this comprehensiveunity then became an organ capable of receiving,in the next incarnation, a new revelation fromwithout; namely, the revelation of the Christ in theform of the Sun Being, Ahura Mazdao. The pathwhich Zarathustra took was in fact the archetype ofthe path followed by Post-Atlantean humanity as a

whole, when many souls typically had absorbedthe ancient Indian revelation, and were treadingthe one path which led, through blindness anddeafness, towards the spiritual world. But theresult of following this path will be the resurrec-tion from within of the original revelation, and ofall the experience to which it gave rise. Indeed, thisresurrection will not be the mere rising again of thecombined and enhanced wisdom of the past, but itsresurrection as an organ, so to speak, for theacceptance of the Christ Being as the living quin-tessence of that wisdom. For the Christ is the coreof the content of that wisdom. He is the AMEN,that which is hidden in “the beginning of the cre-ation of God” (Rev. 3:14). And it is as the AMENthat the Christ Being will be recognized during theSeventh culture-epoch—recognized as the Onewho bears the same relationship to the resurrect-ing, comprehensive wisdom as the sun does to itslight. And as a man becomes aware of the sun bymeans of this light—unless indeed he sees nothingbeyond the light and supposes himself to be theproducer of it—so in that resuscitated wisdom hewill possess an organ by which he can receive intohimself the very essence of that wisdom. Hence, inthe Letter to the Angel of the Church of theLaodiceans, the Apocalypse speaks of Christ “com-ing in to sup with” man, to share a meal with him.

“Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyman hear My voice and open the door I will comein to him and sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev.3:20). That the “coming in” leads to the closestconverse with the Christ Being is expressed in thefigure of “supping with him.” For the “supping”follows on the “hearing of the voice”—that is,intuitive knowledge of Christ follows inspiredknowledge. The supper shared signifies the con-verse of inspired knowledge. Man takes Christ intohis innermost being in the same way as, in thephysical sphere, he takes in food, and similarly theChrist takes man into Himself. For the point is thatthe meal is shared. In intuitive knowledge onedoes not only know, one is also known. The“bread” eaten in this communion is offered byeach to each.

But before this can happen, a man must pass thetest involved by the resurrection of the wisdom

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*“Amen” (alternative spelling amon), means, in the lan-guage of ancient Egypt, “hidden,”; similarly, “amenti” (thekingdom of the dead) means “that which hides.”

within himself from the past. For the deeplyimprinted memory rising from within may affectthe soul in such a way that it feels itself to be“rich,” and can thus be so satisfied that it asks fornothing more. In this way a disastrous error mayensue; for, instead of using the rising memory asan organ (as a “door”) for the admission of the liv-ing Being in the “shadow of whose light” all wis-dom consists, instead of turning his questioninggaze from the light to the sun which sheds it, a manmay be completely satisfied with the wisdom hehas absorbed and may say to himself: “I am rich,and increased with goods, and have need of noth-ing” (Rev. 3:17). Thus, experiencing wisdom, andregarding himself as “rich,” he knows not that heis “wretched and miserable and poor and blind andnaked” (Rev. 3:17) with respect to that purpose forwhich all wisdom exists. The great Zarathustra,although he became a radiant star of “wisdom fromwithin himself,” did not stop short at this compre-hensive understanding and the consciousness ofbearing “all wisdom within him,” but found thestrength of true humility to use that wisdom mere-ly as an “eye” which, forgetting itself, looks out-ward, as the physical eye, towards a higher being.Similarly, the men of the Seventh culture-epochwill regard the wealth of wisdom rising withinthem (and initiates at the corresponding stage ofoccultism must do the same thing today) not as anend in itself, but only as a “door,” an organ as self-less as the eye or the ear, by which to receive fromthe hidden heights the living quintessence of theAMEN. As the physical eye, in itself a structurefilled with tremendous wisdom, does not observeitself, but, forgetting its own entity in selflessness,submits itself to the external world, so the men ofthe Seventh culture-epoch must repeat the deed ofthe great Zarathustra, carried out many thousandyears earlier. They must sacrifice their wisdom-wealth of intensified memory to form somethinghigher, just as Zarathustra did when he molded itinto a faculty through which to absorb the Sun-spirit, Ahura Mazdao.

The test of the Seventh post-Atlantean culture-epoch will consist in overcoming the temptation torest content with riches derived from the past. Forif this sense of contentment is not overcome, a

standstill in evolution will result which will lead tothe soul being “neither hot nor cold” (Rev. 3:15).This state of mind, in which is felt neither the coldof loneliness and darkness nor the warmth of hopeand endeavor for the future, but where the soulactually rests completely satisfied with itself, is,for the divine love of that Providence whichwatches over the progress of humanity, a conditionoffering no alternative but to restore the soulthrough catastrophic blows of fate to the inter-change of cold and warmth. For only through suchheavy blows is it possible to re-awaken the spiritu-al humility which feels none of its contents and cir-cumstances to be “ends in themselves” or “riches,”but regards each one, however excellent andadvantageous it may be, as a gift entrusted to it,only to be used for the work which is to be accom-plished in the world under the unfailing guidanceof the Christ Being. Far from lingering in tranquilenjoyment of his spiritual treasures, the greatZarathustra became a prophet of the approachingChrist, feeling all the yearning of expectation andall the pain of a world which was still withoutHim. Yet, however edifying was the manner inwhich he stood this test, it is nevertheless impor-tant to study those figures in the spiritual history ofhumanity who had to experience the error of this

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Illumination (folio 7r), the Apocalypse (early 14th cent. ms), The Cloisters, New York City

The Opening of the BookChrist as the Lamb opening the Book of Life, or the future’s mem-ory, viewed from the realm of Life Spirit, where archetypes in theWorld of Thought are foreseen and transformed through theexpiatory act of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

great temptation. Thus, in the first century of ourchronology, there lived and worked a much-maligned man who, nevertheless, enjoyed amonghis contemporaries immense authority and fame.This fame spread throughout almost the wholeknown world of those days—from India to Spain.He was an initiate who, through his extensive trav-els (to Babylon, Egypt, India, and Spain), called upwithin himself, stratum by stratum, an enhancedresurrection of the wisdom of the past. A compre-hensive wisdom sprang up in him, stage by stage,during his wanderings. First there arose in him thewhole of the combined wisdom of the Greek mys-teries, and then an equally complete synthesis ofthe Chaldean and Egyptian wisdom. Later, after aglimmer of the ancient Persian wisdom, strangelyfeeble in comparison with the others, came the oldIndian wisdom, outshining all. After this, he trav-elled also to the West, to Spain, there to experiencea rekindling of the content of the guidance fromthe West, the path of the Atlantean wisdom. Thiscooperation of external destiny with the inner lifeof knowledge resulted in a consciousness whereina magnificent synthesis of the pre-Christian mys-tery wisdom dwelt in intensified form. Thus, in thefirst century of our chronology, Apollonius ofTyana was, so to speak, a living synthesis of allmysteries of the past, endowed with facultieswhich all the world admired. But the strange thingis that this sage who, on the one hand, cared noth-ing for power or wealth, and, on the other, hadpracticed countless deeds of compassion; whoknew all the Mystery schools and had learned allthe traditions; yes, and had visited most of the tem-ples—the strange thing is that this sage shouldpass blindly by the greatest event, not only of hisage, but of all world history. Apollonius of Tyanapaid no heed to the Mystery of Golgotha. He con-cerned himself in no way at all with Christianity orthe Jewish mysteries. Now, if we ask ourselves thereason of this strange circumstance, we must con-clude that it was the very wealth of his wisdomwhich hid, as it were, the Mystery of Golgothafrom him. For Apollonius was put to the test ofregarding his accumulated wisdom, not as thegoal, but as a means of attaining to the higher levelat which the fulfillment of all mystery wisdom is to

be found. And the outcome of this initiation testwas tragic. Thanks to his wisdom and his remark-able destiny, obvious to all the world, Apolloniuscould have imparted to humanity, with whom he,himself, had so much sympathy, the deepestknowledge, the highest gnosis of the Mystery ofGolgotha. Instead of this, he left behind him in theworld of his day, the impression that it could dovery well without the Mystery of Golgotha.

Now, had the mission of Apollonius of Tyana nottaken this tragic turn, the almost indescribabletragedy of Julian the Apostate need never havecome to pass. For the gulf which opened thenbetween an external Christianity and a mysteryprinciple devoid of hope—a gulf created by theparty-spirit forced upon them by Julian—wouldnever have existed at all if Apollonius had foundand pointed out the link between the Mystery wis-dom and the Event wherein it was fulfilled. Forthen Christianity would not have become external,and the Mystery principle would have offered itselfas an “eye” through which mankind could gazewith knowledge upon the Mystery of Golgotha.

But Julian was beloved of that Spirit, the SunSpirit, whom he also loved and who was present atthat time on earth. This made it impossiblethroughout the tragic course of his destiny for himto rely in contentment of soul upon the wealth ofhis wisdom. In his destiny the words of theApocalypse became reality: “As many as I love, Irebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19). For it may beseen in the destiny of Julian how suffering made itimpossible for him to be “neither hot nor cold,”and yet at the same time, how he lived in the mostintense cold of loneliness as well as in the fire ofhis hopeless longing to reawaken the spirit of themysteries. Thus, by the example of two differentindividual, Apollonius and Julian, we can seewherein lies the danger of the rising memory of thewisdom of the past, and by what means protectionmay be afforded, through the help of the Lords ofKarma.

But whoever stands this test, that is, whoeverovercomes the temptation to rest in the light ofwisdom, attains to rest of another kind in the veryBeing from which that wisdom radiated. For theBeing upon which wisdom depends is love. And he

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who overcomes the temptation involved in wis-dom enters into the hidden sphere, the AMEN ofwisdom. He is rooted into the Being of ChristHimself. Now to be rooted into the Being of Christis the true rest, for it means not resting satisfiedwith the result of the past, but a condition of secu-rity, a tapping of inexhaustible founts of patienceand courage in the task of fulfilling the Christ mis-sion throughout ages of time. This state of sharingthe Christ’s sources of strength, wherein the soulrests in such a way as to be ever stronger forgreater and greater efforts of sacrifice, is describedin the Apocalypse as “sitting in the throne withChrist.” So the Letter ends with the promise: “Tohim that overcometh will I grant to sit with me inmy throne, even as I also overcame, and am setdown with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3:21.)

This inner intuitive relationship to the ChristBeing will be the positive outcome of the Seventhculture-epoch, but the negative outcome of thatepoch will be the antithesis of the “supping togeth-er.” The Christ will “spew out of his mouth” thoseelements of the Seventh culture-epoch which haverigidified in a state of self-sufficiency. This “spew-ing out,” however, is a process which signifies notonly being set at a distance from the Christ, butalso, and above all, being conscious of that condi-tion. It will be so experienced by men that theywill feel a “plunge” into cold and darkness. Thisplunge will entail a shock which may be salutary inthe sense of an awakening of “cold” and “warmth”in the soul; that is to say, in the sense of liberationfrom the resting in the self-sufficiency. This shockwas experienced also in the past, on the path ofkarma during the life on earth. It was experiencedtoo in the life after death. But in the future, espe-cially in the Seventh culture-epoch which will endwith the war of “all against all,” it will be for thegreat majority of mankind the only cure for thecondition of false rest. And the war which willbring about the destruction and end of the wholePost-Atlantean culture will be karmically neces-sary for the purpose of shocking humanity into therealization that they are not “rich, and increasedwith goods, and in need of nothing,” but that theyare “wretched and miserable and poor and blindand naked.” p

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GREETING

I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have

not got; but there is much, very much, that,while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts findrest in today.

Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden

in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness,

could we but see, and to see we have only tolook. I beseech you to look.

Life is so generous a giver, but we judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard.

Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty, believe me, that angel’s hand is there; the gift is there, and the wonder of an over-shadowing presence.

Our joys too: be not content with them as joys.They too conceal diviner gifts. Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of

beauty, beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.

Courage then to claim it: That is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that

we are pilgrims together, wending through an unknown country, home.

And so, at this time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with

profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

—Fra GiovanniAnno Domini 1513

WE KNOW that to lie is wrong,but have you questioned whetherit is right to tell a so-called“white” lie? The answer is that itis not. We call lies “white” if they

seem harmless; however, in spiritual considerationswe talk about right and wrong based on underlyingprinciple, not on the face of things; not as theyappear to be, but as they are in truth.

TO LIE IS SPIRITUAL DEATH

We learn early on in the Western WisdomTeachings that a lie in the Desire World “is bothmurder and suicide,” destroying what it falselydepicts, and itself in the process.

In Max Heindel’s study entitled Archetypes, weread that “whenever an occurrence takes place, acertain thought form generated in the invisibleworld makes a record of the incident. Every timethe event is talked about or commented upon, a newthought form is created which coalesces with theoriginal and strengthens it, provided they are bothtrue to the same vibration. But if an untruth is toldconcerning what happens, then the vibrations of theoriginal and those of the reproduction are not iden-tical; they jar and jangle, tearing each other topieces ” (p. 14).

This passage is repeated and elaborated on in TheWeb of Destiny (pp. 54-55), where we learn that ourthought patterns during life directly impact thearchetype of the body upon which our physical con-dition in life depends, and aligning ourselves withwhat is true will result in improved health in thefuture.

TO LOVE THE TRUTH

So when we say “the truth,” we are referring towhat we say in relation to what we have perceivedto be so, and also in relation to the form recorded in

the invisible realm. If we have in mind one thingand we misrepresent it, we are lying. If we make lit-tle effort to see clearly, to be objective, and are care-less with the truth, we are guilty as well. So then wemust love the Truth, that we might seek it.

Max Heindel writes in The Web of Destiny that“even today only a very small percentage are readyto live as near the truth as they see it, to confess itand profess it before men....” In times past “the loveof truth [was] almost negligible,” and men werenaturally inclined “to disregard the interests of oth-ers, and to tell a lie seemed in no way reprehensibleand sometimes even appeared meritorious” (p. 67).

SELF-CENTEREDNESS

In lying, we must have a target, someone to lie to,and about. In lying we are disrespecting someone,and proving to be self-centered, even cowardly, inprotecting our self-interest. Are you such a coward,or am I? It could be so. We have been, and could yetbe, bringing such innate tendencies of self-interestand protection with us from the past. But do weneed to continue to be cowardly? I think not. If ourspiritual journey is to begin, it has to begin some-place. Truth telling is a practical starting point.

We are not loving man nor God when we lie. Ifwe are to love others as ourselves, then we begin byproviding the truthful answers, which we ourselveswould find acceptable—nothing less, no matter towhom. Telling the truth to both those we love andthose we don’t is one way of fulfilling the mandateto “Do unto others even as you would have them dounto you,” and to “love thine enemy,” as given inthe Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).

PRACTICE TO BE PERFECT

The Apostle James writes: “If any man offend notin word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to

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To Tell the Truth

MYSTIC LIGHT

bridle the whole body” (3:2).In Occult Principles of Health and Healing, p.

67, Max Heindel writes, “It is only when we enterinto the higher realms, and particularly into theRegion of Concrete Thought, that the eternal veri-ties are to be perceived; hence we must necessarilymake mistakes again and again, even despite ourmost earnest efforts to always know and tell thetruth.”

We need to put our Christian principles into prac-tice, beginning right now “to tell the truth.”

THE JUPITER PERIOD

What will happen if we start to tell the truth allthe time? Can you imagine? One writer tried toimagine and wrote a story which was made into amovie called Liar, Liar, featuring Jim Carrey. For24 hours an incorrigible liar had to tell the truth. Itwas very embarrassing, and very difficult for him.

In the forthcoming Jupiter period, truth and false-hood will be patent. No matter what we say, peoplewill see what we mean in their mind’s eye. It will beuncomfortable for many of us! Even now percep-tive people know when we are lying by our manner,tone of voice, nuances of expression, or simply bythe inconsistencies in our testimony.

Scientific techniques are now used by inquisitorsto determine whether or not we are telling the truth.Even the direction in which we look is said toreveal whether we are trying to recall something orscrambling to devise an impromptu fabrication.

A WORD OF CAUTION

Before we begin to “tell the truth,” we need to becautioned not to overstep ourselves. If we cannot beobjective, we cannot tell the truth. A thought formof the event has already been recorded, independentof our perception.

Subjective, negative opinions are not “the truth,”however strongly we believe them, or howeveroften we repeat them. A negative opinion is data towhich negative feeling has been coupled, and moreoften than not the result is a precipitous judgment.Lies are dangerous, particularly “evil and maliciouslies [which] can kill anything that is good, if theyare strong enough and repeated often enough”(Cosmo, p. 43).

Of the liar we might dismissively say, “He justwants attention.” Do we know that? We say it

because it’s easy to say and we are irritated. Thetruth is not always a first priority; insisting on beingtruthful can be inconvenient. It requires our atten-tion when we may not be interested. Our snap judg-ments, born of annoyance and impatience, jar withthings as they are. Once spoken, the same and sim-ilar rash conclusions are more easily and more fre-quently repeated.

Do we care about the impact we might have onthe individual we speak of? “Well, it’s ‘the truth,’isn’t it?” “It’s just the truth!” we protest. Is it?Probably not, but do we care? We must put our selfaside, and ask, what is the truth here?

Spiritual aspirants learn to correctly observe, see-ing themselves in the “third party.” The truthenables us to help, not hurt, others, if we express itwell. Objective analysis will sometimes find uswrong, and sometimes not. Objectivity seeks reso-lution; fault finding, it seems, is self-perpetuating,never shuts up.

SEEING THE GOOD

Telling “the truth” is not using our analyticalskills to find flaws in others and to point them out,often with no generosity of spirit. As Rosicrucianstudents we endeavor “to speak, act, and see only

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Fresco, Fra Angelico (1387-1455), Museo di San Marco, Florence

Sermon on the MountAs the Jehovah-originating Ten Commandments are particu-larly directed toward subduing the desire body, the princi-ples enunciated by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount workon the vital body and emanate from the World of Life Spirit.

the good in (our) daily associations with others.”We are directed to see the positive in any situa-

tion, for thereby the positive will strengthen. Whenidentified and spoken of, the truth in a situation ora person will be reinforced. It was noted by a retiredmathematics professor, an atheist without benefit ofknowing spiritual laws, that what we are gratefulfor increases.

As set forth in The Desire Body, the occult scien-tist bases his actions on cosmic law: Seeking “thegood in evil will, in time, transmute the evil intogood. If the form that is built to minimize the evil isweak, it will have no effect and will be destroyed bythe evil form, but if it is strong and frequentlyrepeated, it will have the effect of disintegrating theevil and substituting the good. That effect, be it dis-tinctly understood, is not brought about by lying,nor denying the evil, but by looking for the good”(p. 154).

HUMILITY AND COURAGE

Telling the truth is often a humbling experience;the temptation to lie is often to one we perceive asour adversary. Accordingly, when we tell the truth,we show respect to someone from whom we woulddeny it, especially when the truth points to ourerror.

Truth telling is not always easy, and can be inju-rious to our reputation, even to our life, and mayrequire a faith which we simply don’t have. So wedon’t tell the truth? Yet, the very least we must dois not lie to ourselves in an effort to justify a lie, andto know the difference between an excuse and a jus-tification.

Corrie ten Boom writes in her book The HidingPlace that during the Nazi occupation of Holland,she told the truth to soldiers looking for Jews,pointing to the entrance of their actual hiding place.Who knows how, but by a miracle of faith, the sol-diers did not look where she pointed.

THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Now that we have begun to pay attention to whatwe say, we are going to be disconcerted by howoften we misrepresent the facts, or even lie.Acknowledging that some Rays readers may be farpast this place of uncertainty, yet for the rest of uslet us ask: How often do we say, or hear othersadvise, “Just say this,” or “Just say that,” or “Youdon’t have to say,” or “No one will know”? “Who

is going to know?”The first step is to eliminate those habits and

practices which we would be hard pressed to con-fess. If we did, we cannot say we did not, and if wedid not, we cannot say we did, and so on. If we saidwe did and we did not, we must correct our error,and if we did not and said we did, again we mustcorrect ourselves.

Christ said that it is better to be hot or cold thanlukewarm because He knew that if we err we willbe caught and suffer for it—and learn by it. If welie, we lose an important advantage as spiritualaspirants.

So how do we respond to difficult questions?What do we say when someone asks our opinionand what we are thinking is not what the question-er wants to hear? We could tell them what they wantto hear; yet to say anything in contrast to our secretthought is to lie. Thoughts are things. The issue iscrucial. Let us not minimize the consequences ofbeing untruthful: “A lie is both murder and sui-cide.”

To start this process of being truthful, we stopthinking terribly critical thoughts; we lighten up.We learn to look upon others gently—as we wouldlike to be looked upon—putting things in perspec-tive. It is then that we find that the truth is not a neg-ative opinion but a balanced perspective.

There are ways to answer people with tact, orwith humor, on even the most sensitive issues.Ignorance is the only sin, said Max Heindel. Takingthe time to understand what we see will reveal to usthings which we would never know otherwise.Then, when we have a more informed perspective,we can learn to be gracious in our replies.

If confronted with a serious question which wewould rather not answer, we can try being “firm butfair.” People respect “firm but fair”; you don’t wantto lie and you don’t “need” to lie when you are“firm but fair.” Being fair, implies you are listeningto objections and weighing your further response,modifying it if necessary.

LYING TO GOD

We are taught in the Western Wisdom Teachingsto always look to others in terms of their higherselves, that part of God within each one of us. Indoing this we are addressing God as He manifeststo us. Would you lie to God?

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A parallel to this concept is found in the astrolo-gy writings of Elman Bacher, where he says that“planets are people.” The cosmic forces represent-ed in our natal charts, that is, in us, manifest to usthrough people. Do we lie to ourselves? Unfortunate-ly, we do, and not infrequently. We say we don’tcare, we don’t know, we cannot; and yet, we do careand we do know and, yes, we can.

RELATIONS WITH OTHERS

But there is more to this concept than the sentimentof it; if you give to people the truth and nothingless, you are honoring them and they will know it.

Negative predictions of what people may say ordo to justify lying to them is unfair; people expectto be lied to, to be treated with disrespect, and sotend to react negatively. Give them the chance ofdealing and your truthful reply, and with you fairly.

This approach does not guarantee immediateamity, and we are cautioned to not “regret” that wetold the truth. People’s first reaction is often nottheir final reaction, but how other people react to usis not at issue here; we are taking ourselves to task,and if someone wants to contribute, let them.

If you lie for fear of what someone will say or do,all the more reason to tell the truth; you are beingtrapped by your fears and you will feel inferior.Providing accurate answers, which serve the inter-est of all parties to the question, serves the Truth,and God.

The only thing we have in common with others isGod, and “God is Truth.” If we sacrifice God in ourrelationships, we will lose the dynamic dimensionof the relationship, the dimension where we giveand we grow and encourage others to do the same.In sacrificing our small ego, our “face,” for the sakeof Truth, we are giving real value to the other; andwe are living according to our motto—in “lovingself-forgetting service to others.”

DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Telling the truth can be difficult when when wedo not make it a guiding principle of our lives, butas spiritual aspirants, there is an added advantagefor us to tell the truth.

Max Heindel likens Rosicrucian Fellowship stu-dents, at this stage of their evolutionary career, to“diamonds in the rough.” It is through the pain ofliving that we are polished, that we are clarified,

and can increasingly receive and transmit the Light.Telling the truth regarding something of which weare ashamed may very well cause us the pain ofhumiliation. But we should not shy away from thispurgation. It is part of what we experience when wemake the offering (of our lower nature) on theBrazen Alter in the cleansing fires of clear-eyed ret-rospection.

If we protect ourselves from our due reckoningby prevaricating, what are we protecting? Ourlower selves. Who are we hurting? Everyone,including our inner or higher Self, for we interposethe tissue of lies between the liar, our personal self,and living Truth.

But we are afraid. What will happen to us? Thatis the point at which we defer to God. We ask thatHis will be done, not ours. If, at the same time thatwe have refused to lie, we have opened up to allowcensure by another, we have freed ourselves fromthe prison of isolation, where our sin would find us.

Little, or nothing, of a negative nature comes tous that we did not in some way contribute to, butthat does not prevent us from repenting, and pray-ing that the Father show His benevolence towardsus. That benevolence may come from an unexpect-ed direction, even from our accuser.

While past actions are a “cause” of present con-ditions, so present actions determine our future,including prayers of repentance, which can helpneutralize the effects of wrongful past actions. Weare taught to repent and to pray for forgivenessfor good reason. The first step is to confess ourwrong doing. Simply telling the truth is the mostbasic of confessions, and can act to dissipate neu-rotic complexes built on guilt and feelings ofbeing inferior.

It is the burning sensation of humiliation, fol-lowed by sincere remorse, that expunge the memo-ry of our errors from the physical seed atom locat-ed in our heart. So why hide from such experience?

If telling the truth brings us face to face with whatwe have been and done, a being and doing we findobjectionable, then why not tell the truth so we mayrepudiate and dismiss that being and doing?

Do not be afraid; for trusting other people withthe truth in all that we say, no matter how awkwardor painful it may be, will bring us rewards which wecannot anticipate. p

—Jamis Lopez

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WHEN in the fourteenth centurythe great individual who is ven-erated under the symbolicalname Christian Rose Crossfounded the Rosicrucian Order,

he foresaw the trend of Western civilization in thedirection of materialism and, together with a circleof twelve Brothers, took steps to counteract thistrend, which they saw would threaten not only thesoul-life of the human race but the very existenceof the planet itself.

At the same time that they worked to emancipatethe human intellect from materialism, the Brothers ofthe Rose Cross worked with equal force to breakthe chains of ecclesiastical dogma which bound thehuman Spirit in ignorance and servile superstition.

A third labor involved the saving of the ancestralculture of Europe from annihilation, for they sawthat it was neither right nor necessary for Westerncivilization to be separated from its own psycho-spiritual roots. Christianity was introduced intoGaul, Britain, and Germany in the first, second, andthird centuries by Greek-speaking missionaries, ofwhom legend preserves for us, as the earliest ofthese missionaries, Joseph of Arimathea, named as

the founder of thefirst ChristianMystery Schoolin the West, atGlas tonbury inBritain, while therelics of MaryMagdalene still lie,so church legendhas i t , a t Vezelay in France, which was thenGaul. We also understand from church legends thatLinus, Bishop of Rome after Peter, was sent byPeter to Gaul, but, he, too, represented not Latinbut Greek Christianity in the esoteric or Gnosticform, which was basic to the entire primitivechurch in all its five Patriarchates.

The Christianity of this early School neversought to destroy the Mysteries native to Europeand the Isles, and therefore the circled cross of theSun cults was readily interpreted in terms of theCross of Golgotha and the glorious ChristArchangel of the esoteric Christian tradition.Observe here the significance of the fact that theDruids, before the advent of Christianity, hadalready taken to writing their own Celtic tongue inthe Greek characters; for Greek culture flourishedin Gaul when it was dying at Athens, thanks to sev-eral Greek universities established at variousplaces—one of them that same Marseille whereJoseph and his party first landed on their flightfrom Jerusalem. The same conditions obtained atAlexandria in Egypt, where the Greek culture wasnourished; and in Egypt, also, the ancient Egyptiantongue came to be written in the Greek characters,

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Goethe’s The Mysteries—An Interpretation

Part 1

MYSTIC LIGHT

Max Heindel called the German poet, scientist, and philoso-pher Wolfgang von Goethe an Initiate. The Fellowship’sfounder quotes from a number of Goethe’s writings (espe-cially Faust) in many of his books (see p. 5). In The RosicrucianCosmo-Conception Heindel identifies the influence of “theFounder of the Rosicrucian Mystery School....In the works ofthe immortal Goethe and the masterpieces of Wagner” (pp.518-519). Beginning with this issue, the Rays will reprint aseries of articles that Ann Barkhurst wrote for the Rays in1962 and 1963 on Goethe’s “The Mysteries” (DieGeheimnisse), which has a specific Rosicrucian content.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

giving rise to the Coptic language in which theEgyptian Gnostics wrote their sacred texts.

Evidence of these truths sometimes comes tolight in a surprising way. A number of years agoquilted bedspreads were on exhibit in Londonwhich testify to the persistency, if only in symbol,of the ancient wisdom of which we have spoken.The bedspreads were decorated with what we wouldcall Rosicrucian symbols, and they were made inWales according to a centuries-old custom!

Archeology has yet to show that Britain andGaul, and perhaps Germany, produced its ownGnosis during the early centuries; but historiansare well aware that this possibility exists, andRobert Graves, in The White Goddess, does prove,as we think, the existence of a Celtic Christianityolder than King Arthur, and rightly points out thatthe antagonism of the Church of Rome towardthese Arthurian and Grail legends was in fact awarfare against a heresy which was older and moredirectly in touch with primitive Christianity thanRome had ever been. The belief that the Grail wasat Glastonbury was a challenge to the supremacyof the Church at Rome; for it meant simply this,that “the true esoteric Christianity is here with us!”

The circled cross, in its two forms, Greek andLatin so-called, had been a sacred symbol fromearliest times in Europe. Both Greeks and Celtshad such a cross; the Greek cross proper (withequal arms) was associated with St. George, whowas a popular saint of the Eastern Church beforeConstantine made Christianity the official cult ofthe Roman Empire in the fourth century. There isreason to believe that it goes back still earlier thanthis, to some unknown soldier-martyr and teacherwho comes in the line of that centurion in the NewTestament of whom Christ Jesus said: “Verily, Isay unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,not in Israel,” and of that other soldier who stoodby the cross, spear in hand, and said: “Truly thisman was the Son of God.”

Why does a certain Arthurian legend make somuch mystery of who it is that lies buried under awhite stone marked with a red cross? Malory’sMorte d’Arthur gives the answer, for he shows thatthe red cross on Galahad’s white shield had beendrawn by Joseph, son of Joseph of Arimathea, in

his own blood when he lay dying; and in the samework Malory calls Joseph of Arimathea “the firstBishop in Christendom.” And we read in anotherplace that Longinus, the Roman soldier whowatched Christ Jesus die, was also of Joseph’sparty when he landed in Britain.

The Celtic cross is a Latin-type cross with a cir-cle superimposed. Not the Celts alone, other north-ern people also had a circled cross. TheLithuanians up into the seventeenth century stillknew that these circled crosses were pre-Christian,and the last High Priest of the old Sun cult immo-lated himself on a funeral pyre in an effort to savehis people and their religion. It is indeed obviousthat the circled cross is associated with such astro-nomical cults as built the circle of stones atStonehenge and elsewhere.

But when the Church of Rome converted, by

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N.C. Wyeth, illustration for Sidney Lanier’s The Boy’s King Arthur

Excalibur is Proffered by the Lady of the LakeArthur is given both a mandate and the means to realize itfrom higher powers (sword), is guided by impulses from theWorld of Life Spirit (water element—the unformed), andreceives counsel through the occult knowledge of Merlin, asswans, symbols of initiation and “the highest spiritual influ-ence” (Heindel), witness the baptism of a new mystery school.

guile or by force, the rulers of Europe to allegianceto the Bishop of Rome, the new-style LatinChristianity launched upon a policy of warfareagainst the surviving cults of the Old Christianity.

It need not surprise us, therefore, that KingArthur, who was not at first subject to the Bishopof Rome, bore the image of the Virgin on his ban-ner; nor need we repudiate as fable the quest of theGrail undertaken by his knights. The Grail legendsmake it plain indeed that the House of the HolyGrail was somewhere in Britain at this time, andthat it was not merely the ancient Goddess with hercauldron who was worshiped but the CelestialVirgin as imaged in the Virgin Mary and exalted bythe Celtic and Gothic Christians in much the sameway that the Greek Orthodox Church exalts“Sancta Sophia” to this day. For it was at this timethat the Autumn Equinox began to fall in the con-stellation Virgo, which is shaped like a great cup orgoblet.

In bloody persecution that lasted for centuries,the old religion with its Greco-Christian additionswas driven underground. Yet it managed to sur-vive, despite Catholic and Protestant persecutors.For Lutheranism was, in fact, little more than areformed Roman Catholicism. It was by no meansa resurrected “Old” Christianity, such as wasbrought over in the first century A.D. by Joseph ofArimathea and St. Paul, or even by Linus fromRome.

Not until the 18th century, when science wasrapidly freeing itself from church domination, didthe clock of the centuries strike the hour for the

ancient wisdom of Europe to come forth onceagain into the light. It came, however, in a newguise, which included within itself all aspects ofthe esoteric cults that had gone before, since theraising of Lazarus from the tomb; for the raising ofLazarus was, from the beginning, the nexus of thenew esoteric Christianity, as recent antiquarianfindings have shown.*

It was the young Wolfgang von Goethe who waschosen for this new labor, at a time when he wasassociated with a certain mystical society intowhich he was inducted by a friend, the Frauleinvon Klettenberg, who proved to be an inspiredteacher for the young poet in his most sensitive andimpressionable years. Herself a mystic who hadbeheld the Christ in a vision, Fraulein vonKlettenberg longed for the time when all herfriends should have this wonderful experience. ButGoethe was by nature occultist rather than mystic;and we readily observe how a new force enters hisconsciousness at this time, which is distinct andapart from the heart-awareness of his first teachers,but which in a strange way, clearly reinforces thatawareness by means of egoic powers workingthrough the intellect, to channel and clarify theecstatic seizures of the mystic. He becomes theagent and messenger of this new force, which he iscareful not to name, but which is neverthelessnamed by indirection; and he gives himself up tothe pursuit of alchemy into which he had also beenled by Fraulein von Klettenberg. Dr. Metz, a mem-ber of the mystic circle, had furthered the youngman’s recovery from a serious illness with a“panacea,” and Goethe proceeded to try to discov-er the formula of this panacea for himself byexperiment in his own laboratory, in the attic of hisfather’s house, but without success, as might beexpected.

Goethe later introduced the new concepts in apoem entitled The Mysteries (Die Geheimnisse:Ein Fragment), consisting of forty-four eight-linestanzas, with the rhyme scheme ab, ab, ab, cc. Thepoem was never completed, and the reader is leftto conjecture as to why it was not completed. Wasit stopped from a change of attitude or interest? Orwere the concluding stanzas written and thendestroyed because of the esoteric content which

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*Dr. Morton Smith, assistant professor of history atColumbia University, related his discovery (circa 1960) ofevidence to show that the author of the earliest gospel, Mark,also wrote a secret gospel for initiates only. The writing,found copied into the back of a book published in 1646, in amonastery near Jerusalem, was a quotation from a letterpurportedly written by Clement of Alexandria of the secondcentury A.D. The letter refers to a secret gospel, a gospel sosecret that the receiver is enjoined to deny knowledge of iteven under oath. According to this writing, Mark’s Gospelwritten at Rome under Peter’s instruction did not includecertain secret matters, most important of which related toLazarus. Church legend has it that Mark founded the churchat Alexandria, and according to this letter of Clement, he lefthis secret Gospel to the Alexandrians. Other scholars seemto concur with Dr. Smith that this letter of Clement may bean authentic copy of the original, for it corresponds invocabulary and style to known writings of Clement.

was not suitable to publication at that time? Maywe not hope that the mystery which could not bepublished then may be published now, “restored,”as the archeologists say, or drawn out of the exist-ing fragment, by developing the esoteric conceptsand drawing the lines of action to their ultimatelogical conclusion, in the light of knowledgevouchsafed us since Goethe’s day?

We believe that this can be done; we can, at anyrate, make the attempt.

There is no really adequate translation of thispoem, Die Geheimnisse, in English, for subtlephilosophical nuances are sacrificed to the exigen-cies of rhyme and meter, and we will thereforeadhere more closely to the original verses, trans-lated quite literally, in order to bring to the light themany profound meanings hidden in the original.

We will first take the foreword and the openingstanzas of The Mysteries, in which the neophyte,an envoy from an unnamed brotherhood, arrives ina rocky gorge at the foot of a mountain on whosesummit is to be found a monastery where dwelltwelve Brothers, and a Thirteenth who is the Head,and whose symbol is a cross wreathed with roses.

The first two stanzas of Die Geheimnisse consti-tute a sort of foreword, in which Goethe callsattention to the esoterics of the poem which is tofollow. He says, and we translate with complete lit-eralness: “A song of marvels is prepared for you.Receive it with joy, and call to every man to comehither! Through mount and valley is the Way led.Here the view narrows, there again it is free. Andif the Path glides softly into the thickets, think notthat this is an error! Shall we not still, when wehave climbed enough (persevered to the limit ofour endurance), in the right time come near ourGoal!”

He continues: “But let no one believe that, withall his intellect (or senses) he will ever be able todecipher this poem entire. Many a man must gainmuch here; many a blossom brings forth theMother Earth! One flees hence with somberglance. The other stays, with cheerful mien (orgesture). Each man should, according to his ownpleasure, take and enjoy! For many a Wanderershould the fountain flow!”

Now obviously the literary effect in the German

is not like this literal translation which we give.But we are not at the moment trying to be literary;we are only trying to give the basic concepts of thepoem, although naturally, in the original there aresubtleties which escape a literal rendition.

The poet starts with the open announcement thathis poem is addressed to all men everywhere,inviting them to an account of marvellous things.Receive this with joy, take it deep into your heart,into your consciousness; call out so that men farand near may hear of these wonders and attend thewisdom feast. But, the song is not an end in itself.It is only the map of a spiritual journey which youmust take for yourself, since no one else can takethat journey for you, the map of a journey leadingfrom the lowlands of sense to unimaginableheights of spirit.

The Way is led, the course is laid, by a higherpower. It may be that we find ourselves in valleyswhere the view shrinks; but then again we emergeupon plateaus where the gaze wanders wide andfree. And even if it should happen that we seem tobe off our course, when the Path looses itselfamong brambles and thickets so that we cannot seewhere we are, or where we are going, think not thatthis is an error! There are no errors, there are nodelays, there are no obstructions on this Pathwhich is laid by a Divine Power. Only persevere;continue climbing; and in exactly the rightmoment of time, we shall come near our Goal

There follows two lines containing a rhetoricalquestion that does not require an answer. Literally,the text is: “We will yet, when we have climbedenough, at the right time come near to the Goal.”But in truth the meaning is more like: “Shall wenot still, when we have struggled and perseveredenough—that is, to the limit of our strength—inexactly the right moment arrive at the Goal!” The“right time” or “right moment” refers not to thepassage of time alone but to the events of the soulworld which are the real subject of this poem. Theforce of the German “wollen” is not “will” but“want, desire”—Do we not yearn for, do we notdeeply desire, the Goal; and after hard struggles,faithfully persevering on the upward Path; shall wenot, led by Divine Power, arrive at the Goal inexactly the right moment! As St. Paul puts it: “All

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things work together for good to them that loveGod.”

This mystical concept of time is very ancient. Itarose, quite naturally, with astronomical observa-tions. Every moment of time has its special workin the cosmic scheme, in which certain events mustculminate. “All the times of God come to theirterm according to what He has decreed concerningthem in the Mysteries of His Prudence,” says theHabakkuk Commentary of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In German, as in English poetry, what is unsaidis as important as what is said, and the reader musthe on the alert for all those philosophical subtletieswith which the German language is so richlyendowed, and which make it the language of thephilosopher par excellence.

Nevertheless, the poet warns us again, let no onebelieve that the meaning of this Wonderful Song(Wunderbares Lied) lies on the surface. With allthe powers of the natural intellect, with all theapplication of the senses, he warns, you, the read-er, will never decipher all that is hidden here. Itswonders have universal significance. For each manwho takes to the Path it has a different meaning, aunique value for that man alone. It is right that thisshould be so. Each man should discover for him-self what is there. No two “wanderers” willunearth the same treasure. There is something spe-cial for each one. Just as Mother Earth brings fortha multitude of blossoms, and each one chooses forhimself the blossom he desires, so in this poem thereare many meanings, and each person must choosefor himself the meaning that best pleases him. Thatmeaning which he chooses is the right one for him.The Fountain flows for all wanderers alike; andeach man drinks according to his capacity.

It may be indeed that for some the Song willhave no meaning, convey no message. One manlooks into this meadow filled with the variegatedblossoms of the soul, this fountain welling up withwisdom, and sees nothing to interest him. With thesomber glance of disappointment he turns way, heleaves the Path, and refuses to listen to the Songwhich for him is meaningless. Yet there is alwaysone who stays, one whose innermost Self hears thecall of Truth from the mountaintop—the one whois ready. (Continued) p

THE CONCURRENCE OF INITIATES—MAX HEINDEL QUOTES THE WISDOM AND

AUTHORITY OF JOHANN GOETHE

As death is the permanent dissolution of the tiebetween the physical and spiritual bodies, thosewho are near death approach the condition exist-ing when severance is about to take place. Goethe,the great German poet, received his first Initiationwhile his body was prostrated nearly unto death.

—Teachings of an Initiate, p. 154

[E]very plant gives out a certain keynote whichis the sum total of all the noises upon it, blendedand harmonized by the indwelling PlanetarySpirit. That sound can be heard by the spirit ear. AsGoethe says:

The sun intones his ancient song Mid rival chant of brother spheres; His prescribed course he speeds along In thunderous way, throughout the years.

This, from the first part of Faust, the prologue inheaven. And also in the second part of Faust, spir-its of air greet the rising sun with the words:

Sound unto the spirit ear proclaims the new bornday is here;

Rocky gates are creaking, rattling, Phoebus' wheels are rolling, singing—What sound intense the light is bringing.

—Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions andAnswers, Volume 1, pp. 315-316

[U]nless we are capable of investigating thepast history of the human race, we can obtain noclear conception concerning anything connectedwith mankind. Goethe spoke of ‘Das EwigWerdende’—the ever becoming. Change is themainspring of progression, and if we look uponman as he is now, without regard to what he hasbeen, our deductions as to his future must neces-sarily be very limited.

—Letter to Students, p. 10

Goethe, the great mystic, fittingly ends his

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version [of Faust] with that most mystic of all stan-zas found in literature:

All that is perishableIs but a likeness.The unattainableHere is accomplished.The indescribable,Here it is done:The Eternal FeminineDraws us on.

The stanza puzzles all who are not able to pene-trate into the realms where it is supposed to besung, namely, heaven.

It speaks of all that is perishable being but alikeness, that is to say, the material forms whichare subject to death and transmutation are but alikeness of the archetype seen in heaven. ‘Theunattainable here is accomplished’—that whichseemed impossible on earth is accomplished inheaven. No one knows that better than one able tofunction in that realm, for there every high andlofty aspiration finds fruition. The indescribablelongings, ideas, and experiences of the soul, whicheven it cannot express to itself, are clearly definedin heaven; the Eternal Feminine, the great CreativeForce in Nature, the Mother God, which draws usalong the path of evolution, becomes there a reali-ty. Thus the Faust myth tells the story of the WorldTemple, which the two classes of people are build-ing, and which will be finally the New Heaven andthe New Earth prophesied in the Book of Books.

—Mysteries Of The Great Operas, pp. 45-46

We have already lived through a mineral, plantand an animal-like existence before becominghuman as we are today, and beyond us lie still fur-ther evolutions where we shall approach theDivine more and more. It will be readily concededthat it is our animal passions which restrain usupon the path of attainment; the lower nature isconstantly warring against the higher self. At leastin those who have experienced a spiritual awaken-ing, a war is being fought silently within, and is allthe more bitter for being suppressed. Goethe, withmasterly art, voiced that sentiment in the words of

Faust, the aspiring soul, speaking to his morematerialistic friend, Wagner:

Thou by one sole impulse art possessed,Unconscious of the other still remain.Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast,And struggle there for undivided reign.One, to the earth with passionate desire,And closely clinging organs still adheres;Above the mists the other doth aspireWith sacred ardor unto purer spheres.

—Gleanings of a Mystic, p. 35

Thomas à Kempis remarks upon the desire ofthe majority to live A LONG LIFE, and how feware concerned to live a good life. I might para-phrase this by exclaiming, ‘Oh, how many aredesirous of attaining spiritual powers, but how fewstrive to cultivate spirituality!’

The story of Faust gives us an insight into whatmight happen should we exclaim with all the inten-sity of our whole being, as did he:

Oh, are there spirits in the air, Who float 'twixt heaven and earth, dominion

wielding? Stoop hither from your golden atmosphere, Take me to scenes new life and fuller yielding. A magic mantle did I but possess, Abroad to waft me as on viewless wings, I'd prize it more than any earthly dress, Nor change it for the royal robes of kings.

By this impatience and desire to get somethingfor nothing, to reap where he has not sown, heattracts to himself a spirit of an undesirablenature, for the inhabitants of the invisible worldsare in nowise different from people here.—How Shall We Know Christ at His Coming, p.10

It is always easy to tell others what to do or notto do but very difficult to enforce obedience onourselves, even though we may intellectuallyassent to the mandates of conventionality. AsGoethe says:

From every power that holds the world in chains,

18 RAYS 04

Man frees himself when self-control he gains. —Letters to Students, p. 89

[F]rom the customary viewpoint of the man inthe street, all the platitudes offered by the religion-ists cannot make the situation in the so-called"Christian world" less odious. But when we applythe cosmic scale of perspective and measurement,it is different. Goethe says well:

Who never ate his bread in sorrow, Who never spent the midnight hours Weeping, waiting for the morrow, He knows ye not ye heavenly powers.

—Letters to Students, p. 209

The words of the Earth Spirit to Faust, as givenby Goethe, offer splendid material for meditation,for they represent mystically what the candidatefeels when he first realizes the actual reality of theEarth Spirit as a living presence, ever activelylaboring for our uplift.

In the currents of life, in the action of storm, I float and wave with billowy motion; Birth and the grave, a limitless ocean; A constant weaving, with change still rife, A restless heaving, a glowing life, Time's whizzing loom I've unceasingly trod; Thus weave I the living garment of God.

—Mysteries of the Great Operas, p. 20

Goethe, who was an Initiate, also showed this[that the Ego is in the blood] in his Faust. Faust isabout to sign the compact with Mephistophelesand asks, ‘Why not sign with ordinary ink? Whyuse blood?’ Mephisto answers, ‘Blood is a mostpeculiar essence.’ He knows that who has theblood has the man; that without the warm blood,no Ego can find expression.

—The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, p. 145

It is axiomatic that ‘The oftener we die, the bet-ter we live.’ The Poet-Initiate, Goethe says:

Who has not this—Ever dying and bringing to birth—

Will aye remain a sorry guestUpon this dismal earth.

and Paul says ‘I die daily.’—The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, p. 249

It is easy to bid others do this and that, but toenforce obedience from oneself is the hardest taskin the world, and it has been truly said that ‘theman who conquers himself is greater than he whotakes a city.’ Goethe, the great initiate poet, givesus the reason why in the lines:

From every power that holds the world in chains,Man frees himself when self-control he gains. —Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures, pp. 59-60

Goethe also, in his novel, Elective Affinities,(Wahlverwandtschaft), brings out some beautifulillustrations wherein he makes it seem as if atomsloved and hated, from the fact that some elementscombine readily while other substances refuse toamalgamate, a phenomenon produced by the dif-ferent rates of speed at which various elementsvibrate and an unequal inclination of their axes.

—Rosicrucian Mysteries, p. 41

Thus we have in that drama [Faust], as repre-sented by Goethe, a perfect symbol of the Westernteaching that there is both the forgiveness of sinsand the expiation of a wrong act by a correspond-ing right act. Death is something that comes to alland the suffering which was incident to the wrongact in each case is surely none the less in the caseof Faust, where it was prolonged over a long peri-od of years, than in the case of Marguerite, wherethe life is ended in a much shorter time. The onlydifference is that Faust has overcome consciouslyand will in future life be immune to temptation,while the case of Marguerite is problematical. In afuture earth life she will yet have to meet tempta-tion in order that it may be made manifest whetheror not she has developed the strength of characterrequisite to withstand the wrong and adhere to theright.

—The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questionsand Answers, Volume 1, p. 44 p

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WHAT IS GRACE? Let us thinkabout it for a few minutes. It is alovely name for a girl or lady. Itused to be a short prayer we saidbefore meals.

There is a book out now discoursing on ways tomanage our food. This is a problem in our countrywhere we are graced with plenty. We do want to beselective in the foods we eat, but are less likely to eatto live well and to remember from Whom all bless-ings flow, including our nourishment. If we think ormeditate for a moment before we eat, as in anythingelse, we will manage better. It is not easy for someof us to eat wisely, but if we eat with gratitude andwith this forethought, some maintain that there willbe no need to diet. As Paul says, it is not what we putinto our body but what comes out of it that harms us.

Grace operates subtly. It is not subject to powerleverages or selfish implorings. It is seemingly anuncontingent favor. It comes unexpectedly. We can-not directly initiate it. Grace comes in such a waythat it can often lead to mercy and forgiveness, as inthe case of Mary Magdalene. Imagine: Here is Jesusat a special meal with Simon and some of the otherwell-appointed men of the neighborhood. Herecomes this woman of ill repute—to say the least—disrupting the proper gathering, so driven by hergratitude and poignant feelings that, oblivious to herimpropriety, she goes behind the couch where theMaster is reclining and begins to wash his feet withher tears of deep regret—repentance—anointingthem with the expensive fragrance she brought—thelove and appreciation of the truths Christ Jesus hadtaught her, and she wiped his feet with her longhair—the resolve that enlightenment had instilled inher. In former lives she evidently had developed the

character which was receptive to the advanced prin-ciples of our Christian code.

On the other hand, Saul of Tarsus, a very activezealot, was struck unconscious by a direct visit of theresurrected Christ and spent several days in that statelearning the truths of life in the unseen realms. Godknew that once this dynamic man’s energy wasdirected into constructive channels, he would be theone to launch the teachings of peace and love into thecoming ages. Saul’s own interests were not in God’sinterest. But by grace, born out of time, Paul, and wethrough him, was given more than he deserved or, fora time, could even comprehend.

Grace is sometimes vouchsafed to the brave andthe daring—those who seek dangers, such as climb-ing formidable mountains, sailing around the worldin little boats, or engaging in any daunting endeavorthat challenges one’s resolve and ability to cope.

20 RAYS 04

Grace

MYSTIC LIGHT

llustration from Treasures of the Bible, by Henry Davenport Northrop. Unknown illustrator.

Paul Struck by Grace

Such person may earn great adulation when theybreak records or prove valiant under the duress oftheir chosen endeavor. Grace may come with theglory but seems more a factor in achievement if theachiever is himself gracious in bearing the notorietyand significance of his accomplishments.

One of the great men of our time, GeorgeMarshall, was selected and and showed himselfcapable of being the Commander-in-Chief of theAllied Forces during the Second World War.However, in post-war life he did not exploit his suc-cess, but served in less conspicuous positions, andgained in grace for this choice. Then there wasDouglas MacArthur, whose record at West Point hasnever been equaled. He became a dramatic con-queror. Some have opined that MacArthur had thequalities of Alexander the Great combined withJulius Caesar, and indeed who could have figured soprominently in turning a totalitarian state into ademocracy in just seven years? One assumes he was,in some respects, an old and experienced soul. Butalthough, for diplomatic reasons, he could be gra-cious to the Japanese Emperor and the Japanese peo-ple, he made the grave mistake of not being graciousto his Commander-in-Chief.

To General MaCArthur there was not, nor hadthere been, anyone superior to him. When he metwith his President, who had already been aggravatedby this general’s high-handedness, MacArthur didnot salute his CEO. He felt that Truman was a mid-western small-town politician who accidentally fellinto the power of his high office. This lack of gra-ciousness has affected history. Fortunately, we knowthat the angels and archangels of destiny alwaysshape events for the best, so that the pride and bias ofthose in leadership positions teach the governedneeded lessons, lessons learned by, for instance,George Washington, who wielded power with graceand redirected praise and honor due him to the gloryand power of God. He was conscious of the debt heowed to the Guides of nations.

There is grace in gratitude. It is dangerous for asports player or other celebrity to be lifted to theheights of adulation and later have to cope with anordinary life. Many lessons learned in previous livesare necessary to sustain the come-down. A concur-rence of grace can only be attendant upon accompa-nying effort. There are periods in life for rest and ren-ovation, but it is important to keep a steady aim on

an objective and to be constant and vigilant in dailyapplication if we would be blessed by the continuinggrace of good fortune. For while grace is, in a sense,gratuitous, not at our beck and call, if we do notstrive to be virtuous, just, and self-effacing, gracewill far more likely be be a stranger.

It is precisely the casual, off-guard moment thatcan catch us short. A lady moving from her familyhome to an apartment put several nice pieces of fur-niture on the front porch for the Salvation Army topick up. When she returned to pick up the rest of herthings, the furniture had been appropriated by theneighbor next door. Over the years there had been avery friendly relationship between the two families,but the lady’s family was now gone, and her job wasuncertain, making her future finances problematic.She needed the write-off from her taxes. She couldnot imagine anyone, especially someone she thoughtshe knew, just taking her furniture, but after all thistime she did not want to ruin the kindly feelings shehad enjoyed with those next door—so she had thegrace to say nothing. Later, when she visited them,she was shown how neatly the furniture compliment-ed her former neighbor’s home. So many times, it isa temptation associated with money that causes aproblem. There seems to be a fear that God will notprovide for those who are so tempted.

In another instance, a woman was driving to workwhen a man in dirty clothes lurched out from thecurb. She stomped on the brakes and screeched to astop so fast she was almost certain she had not hithim, but as his clothes were so near the color of thestreet, she was not sure. He bent over and seemed tobe in pain, and after exchanging information, shetook him to a nearby hospital.

The insurance agent working on the claim repeat-edly urged her to say that the man was not in thecrosswalk, which would have been a lie, and shecouldn’t do it. As the case was closing, the agentcalled to make a final offer. He reminded the womanthat the man was largely at fault, feigning injury, andthat it would also be a blight on her driving record—especially if she had encountered him in the crosswalk.

It so happened that the woman had been living ina cramped little apartment trying whenever she couldto find a better place which she could afford. Theagent knew this, and when she hesitated a secondafter his argument, he said he knew of a condo just ashort distance from where she was living which he

RAYS 04 21

could get for her at an affordable price. Was sheabsolutely sure that this greedy man she supposedlyslightly hit was in the crosswalk? For a moment thewoman envisioned a beautiful life in the larger newplace. But if she succumbed to the agent’s argu-ments, she knew she would be out of grace and herconscience would plague her. So she continued tolive in her cramped little place. Two months later, afriend told her of a beautiful apartment well withinher means.

If we stick to our principles, unseen helpers sendus grace. We can neither predict nor prescribe it, butit comes in ways that are as generous and unexpect-ed as our learning experiences are trying of ourpatience and persistence. We admire those who showgrace in the context of daily doing. Others need to pitthemselves against the elements, conquer the physi-cal heights, depths, and breadths of nature. TheHimalayan Mountains are so massive and lofty thatthey distort the roundness of our globe. In the earlyattempts to climb Mt. Everest, a good number failedand some lost their lives. Sir Edmund Hillary and theman from the local area known as a Sherpa were thefirst to plant a flag on that imperious peak, but whenthe media questioned and even taunted to knowwhich of the two stood there first, neither would say.Such people are not only courageous and resource-ful, they also have the enhancing grace of generosityand a humility born of most daunting trials.

What are the lessons of grace to be learned on adaily basis? How do we react to someone who isalways late? Can we come up with the soft answerthat turns away wrath? Grace finds a way around anynegativity. Some people learn to overcome manyfaults in one lifetime; others seem to never learn—especially if they are those we live with. On the streetor in public, it seems easier to be courteous, but athome so many take out their frustrations on theirdearest ones. Dealing with neighbors can really teachus a lot. Not to mention what kind of neighbors weourselves happen to be! We all have had noisy ones,sloppy ones, careless ones who park halfway in ourdriveway, or borrow things they never bring back, orwho spread rumors or even less pleasing truths aboutus. Graciousness can mollify many irritations, and ifit does not solve a problem outright, we are everafforded chances to discipline ourselves.

There was a native Indian couple living next doorto a young family. The young lady had just finished

her college education and unconsciously flaunted hernewly acquired superiority. The Indian woman wasmade to feel resentful and spread mean commentsabout her high-toned neighbor, which got back to theyounger woman and she decided to put some of herknowledge to use by trying to make a friend of herneighbor. She was beginning to realize some of herown mistakes in the process. She was a serviceman’swife and could get groceries much cheaper at thecommissary, so she often would buy an item or twofor her neighbor. She offered to take care of herplants when the neighbor went on vacation. Sheadmired her neighbor’s cooking and her ability tokeep her home immaculate; in fact, the supposedlywell-educated young woman learned much of practi-cal wisdom from the woman next door. During thetime they lived so close together, they learned totruly care for each other, and when the youngwoman’s husband was transferred, they missed eachother. During the time the younger woman was over-seas, they corresponded, and when she returned tothe states they lived in opposite directions from eachother. The older woman’s health began to deteriorate,but her ex-neighbor didn’t know this. When the olderwoman visited her, it was shocking to see how muchshe had aged. The old lady said she came to tell herfriend how much she appreciated knowing her; thatshe had been the best person she had ever known.The older lady barely got back to her home beforeshe died. To the younger woman, this relationshiphad always been an example of how the principles ofChrist’s teachings yielded happiness and grace to life.

Even today, we will be tempted to allow someannoyance to disturb our peace. Those in charge ofour spiritual education, the unseen Guardians, do notmiss one opportunity to give us good practice.

And you have noticed, when we have actuallypassed some tests of our integrity and patience, therecan be at times a state of grace when we come acrosssomething that would otherwise have been lost, orwhen a person speaks words that are cheering andcomplimentary; our hand surely and quickly falls onwhat we need and we are shown a beautiful way ofliving in time.

We can also apply the teachings of grace as givenin the Scripture, through the stories of those whodemonstrated uncommon pluck and dignity, to beau-tify our inner as well as our outer life. p

—Allyce C. Bothmann

22 RAYS 04

WHENEVER a human Spirit isborn here on Earth in a physicalbody, it has deliberately placeditself in a situation where dissat-isfaction and discontent are the

rule. If we study our lives from day to day, we findthat there is always some problem in the offing,something that requires consideration, decision,and action.

The person who is swayed entirely by his emo-tions, no matter how advantageously he may besituated, will always be able to find something tobe worried or concerned about. It is the ability torealize that life in the physical body presents a con-tinuous challenge, and the ability to recognize andmeet these challenges with poise and equanimity,which constitutes a successful incarnation. Theperson who is contented is standing still and mak-ing little progress toward attaining wisdom andunderstanding.

The Spirit at the time of physical rebirth enterslife with a karmic debt from past lives that must bemet, and as far as possible the Ego must also inau-gurate something new to insure its progress andadvancement. The difficulties, sorrows, and suffer-ing we must endure challenge us on every hand. Inmeeting the problems of life an awareness of thespiritual value of the struggle will make for joy andsatisfaction as each one is met and overcome. Thesearch for peace and joy is a spur that brings aboutaction and experience, which develops wisdom.

When a Spirit is reborn into a physical body, itmust first become aware of itself, aware of itself asan Ego—a self-conscious Ego. This is usuallyaccomplished by the seventh year. Then it is nec-essary to acquire an education, to equip itselfto meet and deal with the exigencies of life,

whatever they may be. Later, as a youth, it facesthe challenges of the emotional nature and mustachieve a measure of control over it. If in a malephysical body, it must prepare itself for the role offatherhood and find a means of livelihood to pro-vide for itself and a family. If in a female body, itmust prepare itself for motherhood and learn tocare for a family. Our educational system does notalways adequately prepare for these needs, whichconstitute the basic challenges that must be met bythe majority of human beings.

It would seem that much of the difficulty withyoung people today is due to the fact that many par-ents attempt to shield their children from the chal-lenges of life, rather than teach them how to meetand cope with their daily experiences. How oftenwe have heard parents say: “I don’t want my chil-dren to have to struggle as I did.” To take the strug-gle out of life is to remove the absolutely necessaryopportunities for experience, which are the onlymeans we have of gaining the wisdom that nourish-es the Spirit. Rearing a family and seeing that chil-dren are equipped emotionally and mentally to liveproductive lives is of inestimable value. And yet,those who must struggle for an education withouthelp or encouragement from anyone are doublyblest, for out of such an endeavor great spiritualpower may be developed. This applies even more soto those who must overcome tremendous handicapsand obstacles in order to achieve their goal.

There is a tendency on the part of some personsto take on challenges that are not rightfully theirs,which is one way of “borrowing trouble.” It is verydifficult at times to remain aloof and allow dearfriends and loved ones to meet the problems intheir lives in their own way. This often presents aspecial challenge for the strong soul, who feels he

RAYS 04 23

The Challenge of Life

MYSTIC LIGHT

could handle an unfortunate situation better thanthe person who is faced with it. One must guardagainst assuming the karma of another, for this isan injury to both parties.

If we would teach our children to meet the prob-lems of life head on with the zest that the realiza-tion of their value might imbue, we would havedone much to overcome the tendency of manyyoung people to seek experi-ence in the use of drugs,crime, and emotional excessesto which they so often resortas a means of escape from thelegitimate challenges their lifepresents. Some young peopledo accept life’s problemsearly in life, and with apparentrelish, as we note in those whofind something constructive todo with their time, whether asa hobby or a real job. So oftenwe see that it is those whohave severe handicaps toovercome who accomplish themost with their lives. Accept-ing the challenge of theircondition with calmness anddetermination gives addedpower to all their faculties,and their success is oftenamazing. Such a Spirit isHelen Keller, who overcameto a considerable degree anincredible handicap, and there-by made an important contribution to humanity.Great credit must also go to her teacher, AnneSullivan, who devoted a life of loving service toher unusual pupil.

We have always with us the challenge of adapt-ability. In The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conceptionwe are told that

In the word adaptability we have the greatsecret of advancement or retardation. Allprogress depends on whether an evolving beingis flexible, adaptable, and pliable, so as to beable to accommodate itself to new conditions or

whether it is crystallized, set, and incapable ofalteration. Adaptability is the quality thatmakes for progress, whether an entity is at ahigh or a low state of evolution. Lack of it is thecause of retardation of the Spirit and retrogres-sion of the form. This applies to the past, pre-sent, and future; the division of the qualifiedand the unqualified thus being made with the

exact and impersonal justiceof the Law of Consequence.

If a person finds himself inuncongenial work or sur-roundings, this faculty ofadaptability is of great value.Of course such a person mustalways be on the lookout foran opportunity to make achange and be willing tograsp it when it appears.Adaptability must also applyto religions and philosophies.Unless they expand and growalong with humanity, they canno longer fill their needs. Thewillingness to embrace newconcepts and incorporate newideas is absolutely necessaryif a religion is to avoid crys-tallization and retrogression.

Then there is the challengeof finding a reason for lifehere on Earth. Why are wehere? What is the purpose of it

all? A whole lifetime, yes, many lifetimes, may bespent in this fascinating quest. This search willeventually bring the seeker to the spiritual Path.Some may find a philosophy that suits their needsand will spend years of study and service preparingthemselves far the higher life.

Others may feel that the proper method is towork on the physical body through breathing exer-cises, diet, etc. Very often they became lost in thesephysical activities. The breathing exercises maybring improved health or insanity, according to thesystem used and the nature of the student.Likewise in diet many became so interested in

24 RAYS 04

If life be not fraught with challenge, what sense isto be made of Christ’s words: “Unless a grainof wheat fall to the ground and die, it abidethalone; but if it die, it will bringeth forth muchfruit”? As grains of God, we die to our sepa-rateness and finiteness and grow throughChrist into the image and likeness of our Creator.

Created by A

riel Agem

ian exclusively for the Confraternity of the P

recious Blood

what is to be taken into the body that they turn intofood faddists and cranks. This, too, may improveor ruin the health according to the practices fol-lowed, but neither diet nor breathing exercises willbring the wisdom and understanding required forspiritual development. Others run about from onephilosophy to another, sampling this and tryingthat, in the vain belief that their promiscuous activ-ities will lead to spiritual growth. The sincere andserious student, who engages in honest self-analy-sis and personal discipline, will be led to the stud-ies and contacts that are best for him.

The progress of the occult student may bejudged by his behavior in his daily contacts, hisgeneral attitude toward his fellowmen. Even if heis rendering significant service in important ways,it is to some extent nullified and set at naught ifegotism, malice, selfishness, and lack of consider-ation for others reveal an obvious failure to over-come the lower self. Ideals have not really beenembraced and accepted until we are willing andable to apply them in our daily contacts and bringthem into manifestation in our personal lives.

There is an old saying: “What you are speaks soloudly that I can’t hear what you say.” No matterwhat beautiful words may flow from the lips of anindividual, his true nature is revealed in his behav-ior toward his fellowman. To profess without prac-tice makes the life a meaningless farce. Always wehave with us the challenges of refusing to return inkind malicious gossip, injustice, and persecution,and to deal with those who use unworthy methodsto gain their own ends.

The proper development and use of our talentsrepresents another challenge—to find a means ofself-expression that can be of genuine service tohumanity and to use it with humility and selfless-ness. All of us have to face old age and the chal-lenge of keeping life active and constructiveinstead of passive and useless.

Many on the spiritual path seek and yearn forInitiation with great eagerness, not realizing thatthis very eagerness may be the obstacle betweenthem and their goal, since it is apt to be a form ofselfishness and ambition which has been merelytransferred to a higher plane. Initiation is more like-ly to be achieved by someone who has forgotten all

about his own desires in selfless service to others.SERVICE is the battle-cry of the Rosicrucian

Fellowship student. Some meet this challenge byrushing around, being ever so helpful, and gettingvery much in their own way. May the student learnto polarize himself with spirit so that he is a pow-erhouse of radiating love, a constant receiving sta-tion of the LIGHT which needs only “to be” inorder to serve humanity. p

—Edith Wilkinson

RAYS 04 25

INVOCATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come, And from Thy celestial home Shed a ray of light divine.

Come, Thou Father of the poor, Come, Thou source of all our store, Come, within our bosoms shine.

Thou of comforters the best, Thou the soul’s delightful guest, Sweet refreshment here below.

In our labor rest most sweet, Pleasant coolness in the heat,Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of Thine, And our inmost being fill.

Where Thou art not, man hath nought, Nothing good in deed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew, On our dryness pour Thy dew, Wash the stains of guilt away.

Bend the stubborn heart and will, Melt the frozen, warm the chill, Guide the steps that go astray.

On Thy faithful who adore, And confess Thee evermore, In Thy sevenfold gifts descend.

Give them virtue’s sure reward, Give them Thy salvation, Lord. Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

YES, I SEE that fear is a great factor, butthere are many other things which influ-ence us in our acts. Maturity unfolds thepassions, the appetites, and I see the mostabnormal indulgences are countenanced

by the world. Are these natural or unnatural?Most of them are abnormal. Conservation of the life

forces is absolutely essential to a Christian life. Manhas been spending his competency in riotous living andthis means more than spending dollars. He wastes hissubstance out of which harmonious conditions withinthe body and in his environments are made, and thenwonders why he is poverty-stricken. There is no inhar-mony anywhere for which man is not responsible. Thesoul of man is too finely organized to dwell in harmo-ny in a body reeking with fumes of liquor. The body ofman is too delicate a mechanism to be filled with therubbish which is dumped into it, simply to satisfy agluttonous appetite. As a result, disease rather thanSpirit controls it. Thinkest thou that man can slay andtorture defenseless animals without giving an accountfor his acts? Do you think for a moment that one whowears the skin of an animal which has been tortured ina trap and fairly skinned before it was dead, escapesfrom feeling in a measure the misery and suffering ofthe animal whose life was so ruthlessly taken? Does awoman who wears a beautiful aigrette torn from thehead of a live bird, which is left to die, and the youngof which, now motherless, starve in their nests, doesshe wear the plume in pleasure and go unscathed? Doyou think that one who devours a beefsteak cut fromthe side of a innocent animal which has been shunted inbox cars to packed pens, poisoned with fear of its bru-tal death, goaded with prods to the slaughtering pens,and there sledge-hammered in the head, its throat slit,dipped in tanks of scalding scalding, and its hideremoved before it is dead—I say do you think the par-taking of such fears and agonies have no effect uponman mentally, morally and physically?

You ask me to explain what the matter is that human-ity so suffers, and I say it is reaping what it sows and is

careless of the sowing. It is sowing discord and expectsa harvest of harmony. When it grows ‘a crop’ of dis-cord, from the seed of discord which it has sown itcomplains that it lives in an unjust world.

There are many things which control conditions orinfluence them in life; many rules and many exceptionsto rules. When man awakens to a realization that Life isa science and must be lived scientifically to attain har-monious results, he will so live that he will escape frommuch of the trouble which haphazard living and thinkinghave caused. This does not mean that the man who livesscientifically is less free, nor that he must carry aboutwith him a sanctimonious face. When man lives scientif-ically and lovingly he will be free and his life will be har-monious. The Without shall become as the Within. Andthis means that his Spirit, soul and body will be harmo-nious; that his home life will be harmonious; that hisbusiness relations will be harmonious; and his socialrelations shall be what he wishes them to be. The mil-lennium will come when man ceases to slay—by thought,word, and deed. The animals will follow the example setby man and will cease to devour each other, and then thelion and lamb will actually lie down together.

You ask, But how shall man learn to live scientifi-cally? Listen! If you were to build a beautiful home foryourself, you would plan it carefully and would see thateach stone, each brick, and all of the wood which wasto become a part of your home, were carefully selectedand that they were placed securely in position, accord-ing to the plan. Yet, in building our lives, what do wedo toward selecting our thoughts, which correspond tothe stones, brick, wood, and other material for ourhomes? We take our thoughts and carelessly scatterthem in a haphazard manner, as though they had novalue. We accept “any old thought” that happens tocome our way, allowing it to take possession of us andto become a part of us instead of selecting our thoughtscarefully and rejecting any that are not first class orwhich would mar the beauty and symmetry of the per-fect life which we would build. p

—Selected

26 RAYS 04

As We Sow

MYSTIC LIGHT

AS THERE ARE many among theRosicrucian students who perform theexercises given by the Elder Brothersfor the purpose of furthering soul-growth, though they have not felt

inclined to enter the Path, it is thought to be well toconsider the occult effect of the emotions engen-dered by these exercises.

When we perform the exercise of retrospection,we should give ourselves over to the feelings ofregret and remorse with our whole soul; we shouldendeavor to shed tears of fire that may burn intoour very innermost being; we should make thecleansing process as thorough as possible, to theend that we may grow in grace thereby to theutmost. But having finished the exercise we shoulddo the same as is done in purgatory—consider theincidents of the day closed and forget all aboutthem, save insofar as they demand restitution ofsomething, the making of an apology, or such sub-sequent acts to satisfy the demands of conscience.And having thus paid the debt, our attitude ought tobe one of unfailing optimism. "Though your sins beas scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." "If Godbe for us, who can be against us?" By that attitudewe die daily to the old life and we are born eachday to walk in the newness of the spiritual life, forour desire bodies are thus renewed and ready toserve a higher aim in life than the day before....

There are people who live with regret as with aboon companion, who take it to bed with them atnight and get up with it in the morning; they take itto the office, shop, or church, they sit with it atmeals, they nurse it as the most precious thing intheir possession, and they would sooner part withlife itself than give up their regret for this, that, orthe other thing.

Remorse and regret, when continually indulged

in, have the same effect onthe desire body as excessivebathing has on the vital body.Both vehicles are depleted ofstrength by excessive cleansing, and for that reasonit is as dangerous to the moral and spiritual healthto indulge indiscriminately in feelings of regret andremorse as it is fatal to physical well-being to bathetoo much. Discrimination should govern in bothcases.

As a vampire sucks the ether from the vital bodyof its victim and feeds upon it, so perpetual thoughtsof regret and remorse concerning certain thingsbecome a desire-elemental which acts as a vampireand draws the very life from the poor soul who hasshaped it, and by the attraction of like for like, itfosters continuance of this morbid habit of regret.

We are not helping the loved ones who havedeparted this life by our regrets, which we love tofancy are evidences of our faithfulness, but we arehindering them. They have left the present sphereof experience and are going onwards to otherrealms where there are other lessons to be learned,and we are holding them back by our thoughts, forthey feel us most acutely for some time after theyhave passed over, and we owe them a duty to thinkthoughts of cheer and love instead of selfish regret,which hurts both us and them. Regret is subversiveof all spiritual growth, for while the thought-elemental thus created hangs about us as a vampire,we cannot climb the rugged path.

Loathsome as the vulture which feeds upon thenoxious, decomposing carcasses of the dead are thevain regrets which live upon the morbid contem-plation of the past and its mistakes. It is our duty todrive them out of our mental habitation as wewould eject a vulture from our physical abode wereit to seek entrance. p

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Retrospection and Remorse

FROM MAX HEINDEL’S WRITINGS

QUESTION: How can you follow theBible when much of it is missing orstolen? The Gospels are not completeas the traditional churches do not wantus to take our power back.

Answer:Yours is one position that may be takenvis-a-vis the Bible and the orthodox church.Another might be to concentrate on what is presentin the Bible, for, be assured, the essentials are there:The account of the giving of the life of Christ tohumans in a gratuitous death for our redemption,and the promise that we are Christs-in-the-making.

The New Testament Bible grew organically, itsnon-Gospel texts drawn principally from Paul’s let-ters, which were actually written before the Gospels.For a while there was no need for the Gospels—eyewitnesses of the life, death, and resurrection ofChrist Jesus were living through much of the firstcentury. But there was need for some explanation ofwhat these momentous events signified, and Whothis Being was over Whom death had no power.

Luke’s gospel followed that of Mark andMatthew. The latter was one of the “eyewitnessesand ministers of the word.” And Luke also thoughtit helpful (“good”) to write of the Incarnation ofthe Son of God, since he “had perfect understand-ing of all things from the very first” and couldvouch for “the certainty of those things.” LikewiseJohn, the Beloved, who was attuned to the heart ofChrist, could attest to the love-wisdom embodiedin Jesus, both in his Gospel and letters: “Thatwhich was from the beginning, which we haveheard, which we have seen with our eyes, whichwe have looked upon, and our hands have handled,

of the Word of life ...That which we have seen andheard declare we unto you, that ye may have fel-lowship with us.”

Who is better qualified than these seminal fig-ures in the recording and formulation of theChristian Narrative, including Paul, who, in hiswords (1 Cor l5:8), was the last (up to his time) tosee Christ. He was not ready to serve the Lord butChrist had need of him; therefore, he was “as oneborn out of time,” that is born into an understand-ing of the Word before he would have come tosuch understanding through his own devices, for atthe time of his stunning conversion he was a fero-cious anti-Christian.

And Christ was “seen of James,” whose letterhas wonderful guidance and wisdom in it. And cer-tainly the two letters of Peter—he who Christ atone time called Satan—are of great value.

Does this exhaust what we can know ofChristianity? Clearly not. But few texts are moreon target for a seeking soul. And nothing preventsus from seeking more. Indeed, we cannot but doso, because for many of us it is a love affair. Whendo we want to stop knowing more about what welove? Never. But if this is purely an intellectualmatter, no amount of knowledge can, in and ofitself, be a substitute for belief, for enabling us tomake a decision for and in Christ. The fact that thecanonical Bible does not contain all the writingsthat it could have included does not prevent apotential believer from finding the God of theChristian Church. Nor does that Church itself,whatever its perceived shortcomings. And whatchurch might we be talking of? Roman, Orthodox,

28 RAYS 04

An Incomplete Bible? Healing and the PlanetsFaith Problem with Core Beliefs

READERS’ QUESTIONS

Protestant, New Age, Unitarian, Mormon? Morelikely the problem involves some facet of our-selves. Perhaps, if we cannot affirm the core truthsin scripture and live them in our life, we can onlyearnestly pray and ask God to guide us into thelight of understanding and for a change of heartand a ordering of our mind.

The Rosicrucian Teachings were developed forpersons who need more mental input, more logicto underpin their commitment to the God ofChristianity. Railing against the church or the Biblewill not serve our spiritual growth. Indeed, whenwe have assimilated these Teachings, we may wellfind that much that was opaque or even offensivein Scripture becomes clear and meaningful. A car-dinal point that Max Heindel never tired of repeat-ing is that if we live the life, we will know the doc-trine—life’s saving truths. Life becomes ourteacher, and that teaching does not take place if wedo not enter into the thick of things and daily giveour utmost to be helpful, bringing all our energiesand (often unknown) talents to bear upon ourimmediate circumstance. We are even now, eachone of us, writing the book that teaches us what wemost want and most need to know.

A FAITH PROBLEM WITH CORE BELIEFS

Question: I have been having faith problems withthe core beliefs. I have concerns that astrology isnot at all true. Max Heindel borrowed almost allhis writings from others. I don’t know if this is atrial of probationership to be exposed to this or not.I thought that I would send this email for advice.Answer: The desire to know the truth is a funda-mental human need. It was planted by Godbecause, ultimately, God is the Truth we seek, andwe do not truly know until we know God.Knowing more of His Creation—particularly in itsspiritual aspect, in terms of the living Archetypeswhich are spirit Beings, members of creative hier-archies who partake more fully of the divine cre-ativity—is the way we approach God and progressin becoming Who in essence we are. St. Paulenjoins us: Try the spirits and also be ever ready togive a reason for your faith.

If you read (or reread) the preface to TheRosicrucian Cosmo-Conception—“A Word to the

Wise”—you will see Heindel’s objectives, appre-ciate his appeal to reason and fair-mindedness, andget a sense of his candor and honesty.

While it is true that much in the Cosmo can befound in other sources, you will find much inHeindel’s entire opus that is found nowhere else:His crucial emphasis on and detailed study of thesoul body; his scientific discussion of the differencebetween voluntary and involuntary clairvoyance(which Blavatsky never mentions, she being largelyinvoluntary); information on the the description ofthe four-part silver cord, its gradual formation andmultiple functions; the cause of the relatively highincidence of infant death. In regard to the latter, inHeindel’s Letters to Probationers, to which onlyProbationers have access, the writer speaks of hisbeing directed by the Brother to retrospect the livesof several hundred Egos who died as infants in orderto come up with a common theme. Heindel’s allu-sion to his Teacher (who guided or pointed outdirection more than taught) in many contexts ishighly persuasive, sewn into the fabric of his writ-ings in such an organic, natural way as to virtuallypreclude fabrication or creative license.

It is healthy to call things into question, but it isself-defeating to approach esoteric teachings in anegative frame of mind rather than being receptiveand impartial.

If you read a good amount of Heindel’s writings,it is difficult not to be impressed by his clarity,rigor, and intellectual integrity. In the final analy-sis, whether Heindel is the first to make public aparticular occult truth is beside the point. If youseek such truths, who gives them is of less impor-tant than that they are being given. Persons likeHeindel are messengers. We esteem them for themessage they deliver. If they are virtuous persons,as Heindel clearly was (moral development is hisoverriding concern), we are all the more apprecia-tive and inspired. Heindel simply asks for a fairreading—one that is not interpreted through thelens of preconception or prejudice.

The following quote from Heindel’s Letters toStudents (#83) directly addresses your concerns,and also reflects on the character and trustworthi-ness of the one you are calling into question:

What, then, is the way to the heights of religious

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realization, and where may one find it? This seemsto be the next logical question. The answer to it isthat it is not found in books, either my own or any-one else’s. Books are useful in so far as they giveus food for thought on the subjects dealt with. Wemay or may not come to the same conclusions asthe writer of the books, but so long as we take theideas presented into our inner being and therework over them carefully and prayerfully, whatev-er comes out of the process is our own, nearer thetruth than anything we can get from anyone else orin any other way.

The within then is the only worthy tribunal oftruth. If we consistently and persistently take ourproblems before that tribunal, we shall in the courseof time evolve such a superior sense of truth that,instinctively whenever we hear an idea advanced,we shall know whether it is sound and true or not.The Bible in a number of places exhorts us tobeware of all kinds of doctrines floating about inthe air because many are dangerous and unsettlethe mind. Books are launched on the market whichadvance this, that, or the other system of philoso-phy. Unless we have established, or have started toestablish, this inner tribunal of truth, we may belike the lady referred to above—wandering aboutfrom place to place, mentally speaking, all our livesand finding no rest, knowing little more at the endthan in the beginning and perhaps even less.

Therefore my advice to the student would benever to accept or reject or follow blindly anyauthority, but to strive to establish the tribunal oftruth within. Refer all matters to that tribunal,proving all things, and holding fast to that which isgood.

Until we have developed this interior tribunal, itwill be impossible for us to confirm the truthclaims for any proposition. The doubts we expressare then, finally, self-doubts, due to lack of suffi-cient self-knowledge, for which experience, rigor-ous self-examination, and prayerful meditation arethe antidotes.

PLANETS AND HEALING

Question: I am very interested in your articlecalled “The Ductless Glands” that I was reading inyour online magazine. In that article the writer dis-cusses the ‘seven roses’ upon the cross of the body

and their relationship to six of the planets.I was recently given information by my spirit

guides on a new form of healing called SubterfugeOrganic Healing which means...going around aproblem and using the hidden, unseen, but com-pletely organic parts of nature to alleviate all con-flict and painful circumstances within the humanbody. The shortened name will herein be calledSOH. And what my guides want me to use areseven of the planets. Each of these planets has adifferent strength. For example, Jupiter, since ithas so many layers, is utilized in 3 different ways:As a DIVIDER, it often can separate a diseasefrom its original source or thought form; as a SIM-PLIFIER, it can ease rational pain by enabling theentities involved to go into the light; and as a UNI-FIER, it helps to bring the body back into align-ment, helping the meridians to socially fuse theirenergies into one line. I am wondering if you haveever heard about any thing like this before?Answer: We are not familiar with the alleged heal-ing method you describe, but Max Heindel doesstate that the occult astrologer who is able to workin harmony with the stellar forces addresses theambassadors of the Star Angels of each planet,directing his petition for the good of othersaccording to the planetary hours when those starshave rule. (See the chart in Simplified ScientificAstrology, p. 192.) However, several comments arein order: While planetary forces “make things hap-pen,” they are not the cause of our sickness, norare they the cause of our healing. Each individual,by his thoughts, actions, and lifestyle has createdhis present circumstances. For any healing to bepermanent, knowledge of wrongdoing, repentance,restitution, and efforts to reform are necessary.

One must always proceed with caution whenattempting to work at the nonphysical level of dis-ease. The word “subterfuge” is not inviting; itmeans deception. Who or what is being deceived?Let it not be you. We know you are well-inten-tioned, but work with spirit guides requires greatself-understanding, self-control, discernment, andthe ability to “try the spirits,” for such opening ofone’s self can invite forces into his sphere beyondthe point where his individual autonomy can beexercised. p

30 RAYS 04

Wherever the name of man is spoken the doc-trine of immortality is announced.

There are two heavens in men; the one is LunaCebrum, but in the heart of man is the true micro-cosmic heaven. Yea, the heart of man is the trueheaven of an immortal being, out of which the soulhas never yet come, which new Olympus andHeaven Christ Jesus has chosen for His dwellingplace in man.—Paracelsus.

THESE PORTALS,” says the Book ofthe Golden Precepts, “lead the aspirantacross the waters on the other shore.Each Portal hath a golden key thatopeneth its gate; these keys are:

1. The key of Charity and Love immortal.2. The key of Harmony in word and act, the key

that counterbalances cause and effect and leavesno further room for Karmic action.

3. Patience sweet, that naught can ruffle.4. Indifference to pleasure and pain, illusion

conquered, Truth alone perceived.5. Dauntless energy that fights its way to super-

nal Truth out of the mire of lies terrestrial.6. The Golden Gate which once opened leads

toward the realms of the Eternal and its ceaselesscontemplation.

7. The key which makes of man a god, creatingof him a Bodhisattva.”

Since the founding of initiatory Schools inancient Lemuria after the link of mind was

bestowed upon the pioneers of the human race (themasses did not receive the mental link until theAtlantean Epoch), there have been two great class-es or divisions in the Schools, corresponding, aftera fashion, let us say, to preparatory school and col-lege; or to college and post-graduate degrees.

What we call these Schools matters little; butfollowing the Greek custom, esotericists generallydesignate the lower school the Lesser Mysteriesand the higher, the Greater Mysteries. There arenine Degrees or grades in the Lesser Mysteries,called Initiations—or, if the metaphysical termsare preferred, expansions of consciousness—andfour in the Greater Mysteries. There are sevenschools which teach or confer the nine LesserMysteries, and five which teach or confer the fourGreater Mysteries. These schools are not physicalbut etheric structures, such as the New Jerusalemdescribed by St. John; and they are not to be con-fused with mere secret societies. Truly, they allhave an outlet on the material plane; if they hadnot, they would not reach our material-mindedhumanity and so would have no pupils to instructin their Mysteries! These Mystery Schools, withtheir exoteric representatives, change from age toage in order to meet the requirements of the peopleamong whom their work is to be done.

All of these Mystery Orders are “formed on cos-mic lines”; thus, the thirteen Initiations correspondto the twelve constellations and their spiritual headof the zodiac; also their planetary rulers, some ofwhich remain to be discovered. (It is interesting tospeculate that in the Greek Zodiac the Pleiadeswere considered to be a thirteenth constellation

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The Seven Jewels and the Seven Stages of Initiation

WESTERN WISDOM BIBLE STUDY

Excerpted with permission from Corinne Heline’s OccultAnatomy and the Bible, published by the New Age BibleCenter, Santa Monica, CA, which was founded by the author.

until a late date.) The great Christian type of theMystery School is that of the Christ with Histwelve Apostles. The Rosicrucian Order is alsocomposed of twelve Brothers and an esoteric thir-teenth, the revered Founder, symbolically desig-nated Christian Rose Cross, after thework he came to do for the world.

The seven Schools of the LesserMysteries and the five Schools of theGreater Mysteries are grouped undera central Intelligence, called (again inthe Greek fashion) the Liberator—a title anciently conferred uponDionysus, but in Christian timesrelated to the Risen Christ (or tothe thirteenth Hierophant in aMystery School). The mystic thir-teenth is always the head of an Order,and the twelve heads are in turngrouped about that thirteenth whomChristians call the Christ, althoughHe is known by other names in otherlands and among other peoples.

In addition to the sacred numberstwelve and thirteen, we observe therecurrence of seven and five, corre-sponding to the five planets, Sun, andMoon of the Ptolemaic system. Insome Schools the Initiations arearranged differently, so that the illu-minative process is covered in sevenDegrees instead of nine ; but the workdone is the same in substance. Thegenerally accepted Temple aspirant isa novice of one of the Lesser MysterySchools, and of very early Degrees ofthat School. Few have advanced inspiritual work beyond the first sevenof the Temple Rites. The remainingtwo Degrees (in the ninefold sys-tem) rise above the realms of thismortal plane, giving companionship with celestialhosts past discerning or describing by mere mor-tality.

From all of which is readily understood why thenumber seven is sacred to occultists. It has beensaid that “whoever passes over these seven steps

and degrees comes to such a marvelous placewhere he sees much mystery and attains the trans-mutation of all natural things.” The seven Schoolsof the Lesser Mysteries, also the seven Degrees ofthe sevenfold system, relate biblically to the mys-

tic ladder which Jacob saw in hisvision. The whole of the initiatoryscheme is symbolized in the wind-ing stairway of Solomon’s Templewhich led to the inner chamberwhere a successful candidate wasgiven the “wages of a master.”

The five Schools which teach thefour Greater Mysteries are almostwholly unknown, even to the eso-teric world. Rarely does any soulpass their sacred portals. TheHierophants through whom this sub-lime work is administered are thefewest and highest of Earth’s Initiates,and their pupils are also few.

As a human being possesses anaura which surrounds and interpene-trates his physical body, so also isthe Earth planet clothed about withsubtle matter. The physical sphere isfamiliar ground to everyone, but notso the spheres that lie above it.These include the etheric, the astral,the mental, the spiritual, and thehigher spiritual. In the nine LesserMysteries of the Rose Cross (orseven Mysteries of certain otherSchools), the candidate ascendssuccess fu l ly th rough theseenvelopes of the Earth planet by

expansion of consciousness. Healso recapitulates, in full con-sciousness, the entire evolution ofthe Earth and its humanity, bothspiritually and physically. This

recapitulation has the effect of awakening in himall the dormant faculties and powers which therace possessed in past Epochs, so making availableto him the sum total of the race experience. Whatthis means is seen in the marvelous instincts of ani-mals and plants, instincts which man has lost since

32 RAYS 04

The key for advancing more rapid-ly on the spiral path of initiation isgiven by the injunction to adoptand live out of the Mind of Christ.

Wood engraving, F

ritz Eichenberg

he acquired reason but which in an Initiate becomea consciously usable addition to intellect. Besideshis humanity he possesses a super instinct, an inex-haustible vitality by which his body renews itselfjust as certain plants grow new parts to replace oldones. Thus his body becomes as indestructible as adiamond or ruby, for he has full control of thechemical forces also. All of this goes into the mak-ing of an Adept, an Initiate who has completed allof the nine Lesser Mysteries and the first of theGreater, thereby entering “the heart of the Earth”and meeting the Liberator face to face.

However, an Adept is so rare upon Earth that alayman is not at all likely to meet one on the phys-ical plane. The layman’s interest is therefore cen-tered almost wholly in the lower five of the ninelesser Mysteries. Few laymen take more than oneInitiation in any one lifetime. When any candidatepasses several Initiations in one incarnation, wemay be sure these are chiefly recapitulations ofwork done in many previous lifetimes.

The fact has been noted in this series that inembryological recapitulation, the fourth monthbrings a decisive change in fetal development; eso-terically, we say that at this time certain inner-world contacts are dissolved. The Ego concen-trates definitely earthward and is intent uponbuilding the physical vehicle in which it is to beembodied.

In Initiation, the Fourth Degree is an equallydefinite step heavenward; certain physical contactsare severed, and the inner-world relationshipbecomes more intimate. Henceforward for the dis-ciple God is All and All is God. Though he remainsin the exterior world where flesh and blood abide,he is no longer of it.

The fourth plane of Earth’s aura is the mentalplane; it is the “intelligence” of the planet or, inmetaphysical terms, it is the intelligence of Godexpressing itself relative to the Earth.

The mental world is the link between spirit andmatter. Immediately below the mental plane is theworld of desire; above it is the higher mental, orabstract mind, the plane of universal ideas. In thisis the world (consciousness) of the germinal idea,without which manifestation could not take placebecause it is the seedground of cosmos. Hence it

marks a crucial point not only in involution downinto matter for the race, but in evolution up intospirit for the Initiate. We may note in passing thatinvolution into form has been a mass processthroughout; Initiation, however, is an individualprocess. The Initiate stands alone.

At the fourth Initiation the Ego makes its deci-sion as to whether it will proceed on the White orthe Black Path. The strong, fully conscious Egowill not make the wrong decision.

The Fifth Degree, if attained, leads to sainthood.In this majestic Rite the Ego, having chosen unal-terably to unite with spirit, is brought face to facewith its own true self. In the ecstasy of this highmoment the disciple comes to comprehend the truemeaning of those words inscribed above theentrance of Grecian Temples—“Man knowThyself.”

In the Sixth and Seventh Degrees, the personal-ity is perfected as a channel through which thedivine self may pour its powers in creative work;every word and deed is inspired by a wisdomwhich is ageless. The Initiate bears the aroma oftimelessness, for he knows himself to be a part ofthat which is without beginning and without end-ing.

Thus the personal self is absorbed by the higher,spiritual self and the disciple stands at the thresh-old of godhood.

In the two final Degrees he enters upon the workwhich makes him a god indeed. The Rosicruciansays that the victorious candidate of the SeventhRite has blended the Red and White Roses whichbloom in his Rose Garden.

The Rosarium of medieval alchemists was sim-ply the laboratory (state of consciousness) of theaspirant who was seeking divine consummation.

Upon his head he wears a crown of sparklingjewels set in living gold. The kingly crown of anearthly ruler has its origin in the spiritual crown ofancient Initiate Priest-Kings after the order ofMelchizedek. The Pope’s triple tiara is anothersymbolic representation of this spiritually visiblecrown of the Initiate who has risen through thethree planes which lie under the higher mental.

Such also are the king and queen described inthe alchemical marriage of C. R. C. p

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GOD IS LIGHT," says the Bible, andwe are unable to conceive of agrander simile of His Omnipresenceor mode of His manifestation.* Eventhe greatest telescopes have failed to

reach the boundaries of light, though they reveal tous stars millions of miles from the earth. We maywell ask ourselves, as did the Psalmist of old,"Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascendup into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed inhell (the Hebrew word means “grave” and not“hell”), behold, thou art there. If I take the wings ofthe morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of thesea; even there shall thy hand lead me."

When in the dawn of Being God the Father enun-ciated the Word, and the Holy Spirit moved uponthe sea of homogeneous Virgin Matter, primevaldarkness was turned to Light. That is therefore theprime manifestation of Deity, and a study of theprinciples of Light will reveal to the mystic intu-ition a wonderful source of spiritual inspiration. Asit would take us too far afield from our subject, weshall not enter into an elucidation of that theme hereexcept so far as to give an elementary idea of howdivine Life energizes the human frame and stimu-lates to action.

Truly, God is One and undivided. He enfoldswithin His Being all that is, as the white lightembraces all colors. But He appears threefold inmanifestation, as the white light is refracted intothree primary colors: blue, yellow, and red.Wherever we see these colors they are emblemati-cal of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These threeprimary rays of divine Life are diffused or radiatedthrough the sun, and produce life, consciousness

and form upon each of the seven light bearers, theplanets, which are called "the Seven Spirits beforethe Throne." Their names are: Mercury, Venus,Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. Bode'slaw proves that Neptune does not belong to oursolar system and the reader is referred to SimplifiedScientific Astrology by the present writer for math-ematical demonstration of this contention.

Each of the seven planets receives the light of thesun in a different measure according to its proximi-ty to the central orb and the constitution of itsatmosphere. The beings upon each, according totheir stage of development, have affinity for someof the solar rays. They absorb the color or colorscongruous to them, and reflect the remainder uponthe other planets. The reflected ray bears with it animpulse of the nature of the beings with whom ithas been in contact.

Thus the divine Light and Life come to eachplanet either directly from the sun or reflected fromits six sister planets, and as the summer breezewhich has been wafted over blooming fields carriesupon its silent, invisible wings the blended fra-grance of a multitude of flowers, so also the subtleinfluences from the garden of God bring to us thecommingled impulses of all the spirits, and in thatvaricolored light we live and move and have ourbeing.

The rays which come directly from the sun areproductive of spiritual illumination; the reflectedrays from other planets make for added conscious-ness and moral development; and the rays reflectedby way of the moon give physical growth.

But as each planet can only absorb a certainquantity of one or more colors according to the gen-eral stage of evolution there, so each being upon

34 RAYS 04

Astrology and the Child

ASTROLOGY

*This article comprises selected writings from Max Heindel.

earth—mineral, plant, animal, and man—can onlyabsorb and thrive upon a certain quantity of the var-ious rays projected upon the earth. The remainderdo not affect it or produce sensation any more thanthe blind are conscious of light and color whichexist everywhere around them. Therefore whenman returns to earth to reap that which he has sownin previous lives and to sow anew the seeds whichmake for future experience, each Ego is differentlyaffected by the stellar rays. The stars are the heav-enly time-keepers which measure the year; themoon indicates the month when the time will bepropitious to harvest or to sow. Thus the science ofastrology is a fundamental truth in nature, of enor-mous benefit in the attainment of spiritual growth.

The child is a mystery to us all; we can onlyknow its propensities as they slowly develop intocharacteristics, but it is usually too late to check itwhen evil habits have been formed and the youth isupon the downward grade. A horoscope erected forthe time of birth in a scientific manner shows thetendencies to good or evil in the child, and if a par-ent will take the time and trouble necessary to studythe science of the stars, he or she may do the childentrusted to his or her care an inestimable serviceby fostering tendencies to good and repressing theevil bent before it has crystallized into habit.

Do not imagine that a superior mathematicalknowledge is necessary to erect a horoscope. Manyconstruct a horoscope in such an involved manner,so "fearfully and wonderfully made," that it isunreadable by themselves or others, while a simplefigure, easy of reading, may be constructed by any-one who knows how to add and subtract.

This method has been thoroughly elucidated inSimplified Scientific Astrology, which is a completetextbook, though small and inexpensive, and anyparent who has the welfare of his or her childrenthoroughly at heart should endeavor to learn to dothis work for himself. Even though his ability maynot compare with that of a professional astrologer,his intimate knowledge of the child and deep inter-est will more than compensate for such lack andenable him to see most deeply into the child's char-

acter by means of its horoscope. Thus shall we allcome to know clearly how to discharge our duty asparents, and bring forth most abundantly the spiri-tual potencies of the souls committed to our care.

A CASE IN POINT*Question: “We find the horoscope of Marjorie in

the magazine for this month. We have been hopingfor it, and are more grateful than we can tell you.(The child is three and one-half years old.)

"The energy that spends itself in loss of temper isalready in evidence (sun in conjunction with Marsand square to Uranus), and every attempt atrestraint is met with determined resistance, bothmental and physical. How to transmute that energyis our problem. To quote from the horoscope: 'Besure that you start right away, and that you startright.' We have studied and tried to obtain results.She does not respond to kindness, and just beforegetting the horoscope we had almost decided thatcorporal punishment was the only means. I knowfrom results that I witnessed in that correctionshould be done by other means. But many thingsare possible at school that are not practical in thehome, besides, I never learned any of the methodsemployed with children of Marjorie's age. Mrs. R.has read many authorities on child training all ofwhich deprecate physical punishment, but no onesays what to use instead. The child takes reasoningas an opportunity for argument.

"How can we secure obedience without physicalpunishment? We keep our word to her in the small-est detail and she never forgets, but reward begets asort of selfishness.

"If you can, give us some concrete example, yoursuggestion of method, some idea of how and whatto do. We want above all things in this world towork this miracle of transmutation, and I think,though it may hurt, that we can both accept theingratitude of the child and not complain. But hon-estly we do not know how."

[We introduce at this point Max Heindel’s read-ing for Marjorie’s horoscope, given in the April1916 Rays, followed by his answer to the parent’sforegoing question—Ed.]

The Moon in the first house in Pisces and trineNeptune in Cancer gives Marjorie a very restlessnature and she is sure to do considerable travellingin her life. She will change from place to place and

RAYS 04 35

*The following discussion by Max Heindel is an apt illustra-tion of the application of the Rosicrucian principles of edu-cation of children to a specific example. It is reprinted fromthe Question Department of the Rays for September, 1916.

long voyages are particularly shown, but this desireto wander is not dictated by a habit of shiftlessness.She will be very practical, hardworking andintensely ambitious to accomplish whatever shesets out to do. Fixed signs on the angles, and theSun conjunction Mars in Scorpio indicate thatshe will have the energy and perseverance towork until she achieves. Jupiter is in his essen-tial dignity in Sagittarius. This shows thatMarjorie has a noble heart and a humanitarianinstinct and the Sun in Libra also tells of herkindly inner nature. But Mars and Mercury arein the sign Scorpio, which is probably the mostbelligerent sign among the twelve and this showsus that her tongue can bite like a scorpion’s stingwhen she shows the other side.

Under ordinary conditions Uranus in theSaturnine sign Capricorn gives her a certain reserveand dignity of nature, but when Marjorie is swayedby the aforementioned configuration, Sun conjunc-tion Mars and square Uranus, it is like a bolt fromthe blue which transforms her for the time being toa fury. At least, that is the tendency, and the squareof Mars to Uranus, which makes her impatient ofevery restraint, will generally be found to be the keyto the trouble. If this tendency to completely loseher temper is allowed free rein, Marjorie will have avery unhappy life and be shunned by all despite themany good qualities which she otherwise possesses.

But this is just where the parents may do a greatgood for this soul. You have here a very difficultchild whom you will find a great responsibility, butalso a great opportunity for service whereby youmay lay up a wonderful treasure in heaven. Be surethat you start right away and be sure that you startright. Above everything do not endeavor to breakher spirit or curb her by harsh measures, butendeavor to teach her self-restraint. You will findthis a difficult problem, but study it. She is worth allyou can do for her, for she is a strong soul.

There, is no doubt that she will often have reasonfor being provoked, for the Sun square Neptuneshows that treachery may be expected frequently inher life, but tell her never under any circumstancesto go to law as Saturn in Gemini opposition toVenus tells her that she should be careful in theselection of her friends, for she may expect them toprove false. The Sun, Mars, and Mercury in Scorpio

will give her a very magnetic personality. She willhave a wonderful healing power and if possible youshould let her take up this art. Saturn in Gemini andtrine to Uranus will also make her very scientificand give her ability much above the ordinary andshe will also have great foresight and considerableexecutive ability. The Moon trine Neptune will giveher a love of occultism and considerable talent as anastrologer. It will also develop the imaginationwonderfully and she will have a number of psychicexperience. Saturn in opposition to Venus willmake courtship difficult and cause considerablejealousy, it would be better in one sense if she didnot marry for the Sun square to Uranus shows thatthe marriage will be very unhappy, but there will beno separation, the husband will die as attested bythe Sun conjunction Mars in Scorpio in the eighthhouse, and she will gain financially by this mar-riage for the husband will leave her in comfortablecircumstances.

With regard to health, you will find that the endof October and the beginning of November eachyear will always be a rather critical time for Marjorieand she will be most liable to the so-called femaletroubles. There are, however, certain exercises whichmay be used in early life to promote the generalhealth in such a manner that these tendencies willnot work themselves out. But above all, Marjorie

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should be told the truth about life as soon as it ispossible. Whenever she can understand sufficientlyto ask a question, be sure that it is truthfully answeredso that she may know, be properly informed, and beable to take care of herself when the strong feelingsshown by the Sun and Mars conjunction in Scorpiocome to her at the time of adolescence.

MAX HEINDEL ANSWERS MAJORIE’S PARENTS

Some children are more difficult to manage thanothers. As a matter of fact, we ought to rejoice whenwe get such a one as Marjorie, for such childrenhave spirit and individuality. The so-called goodchildren, who are models of deportment and obedi-ence, should really give us much more concernbecause of the lack of initiative in their nature.Difficult children are bound always to make theirway in the world and to gather experience, eitherdirectly by a life of virtuous action and glorious ser-vice or else indirectly through a life of wrong-doing, which is later corrected and transmuted inPurgatory. But the good child which never gives itsparents an uneasy moment is very apt to grow up injust the same way, and go through life withoutdoing either good or bad.

You remember in the Apocalypse, how the Spiritspeaks to the seven churches. To some of themthere was praise, to others blame, but the mostscathing, startling denouncement was given to onechurch in the words: "I would thou were cold orhot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neithercold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth." Ifthere is one character that is fixed firmly upon thepath of virtue, it is a converted “bad” man, for it isan axiom that "the greater the sinner, the greater thesaint." Whoever treads the paths of vice with a firmstep will also be strong for virtue when his feet areturned about. But the lukewarm people, who areneither hot nor cold, they are the ones that shouldcause us real concern. Therefore you need have nofear for Marjorie whatever. She will come out allright in the end. Only a strong soul has such con-figurations and shows such marked characteristicsin consequence.

Now, for a method of guiding her feet into thepath of well-doing. We have found that it is best totake no notice of minor delinquencies, those whichmay be called offenses, save by occasional advice

such as, "I would not do this or that; no really nicegirls do so and so; and you do not want people tothink that you are not nice." Unless you give lati-tude to the child and make allowance for the factthat the vital body is in the course of formation dur-ing the first seven years, you miss the mark. It is thevehicle of habit, therefore the child forms one habitafter another, breaking itself of the old ones almostas rapidly as the new ones are formed.

By bearing this in mind you will escape continu-al correction of the child, which dulls its respectwhen truly important matters are taken up in whicha certain line of conduct must be insisted upon forits good. When you come to such an issue, it isimportant to know what particular thing the childloves best in food, play, dress, or outdoor liberties.Then the screw can be put on, gently at first, butwith increasing pressure, until the object at issue isaccomplished.

A growing child should never be deprived of itsmeals, but the necessary nourishment can be givenwithout the delicacies it loves; it is quite legitimateto apply the "tortures of Tantalus" by placing theprescribed delicacies on the table and allowing thechild to see mother and father enjoy them andexpress their delight while they are eating cake orhoney which is denied to the recalcitrant, until he orshe agrees to do the thing required.

This we have found is one of the most effectivemethods of securing obedience. If the child is veryfond of dress, have an ugly frock or suit which itmust wear when disobedient. Then it will not wantto go out among its associates, or if it does they willvery soon find out the cause and with the custom-ary cruelty of children they will jeer and sneer at thelittle culprit who fears that treatment more thananything that mamma might do. Thus the screwwill very soon pinch it into obedience, resultingperhaps in a request to have the "naughty-dress"removed.

There are various other methods along the sameline which will suggest themselves to parents. Butsuch correctives should only be used very infre-quently and as last resorts or the child will becomehardened to them. In general, the appeal to its lovefor the parents, its desire to be well thought of, andits reason, so far as that can be appealed to, shouldbe invoked. p

RAYS 04 37

THE FORCE represented by Saturn,the ruler of Capricorn, has to do withboth the beginning and end of mani-festation. This force was the agentactive in setting the boundaries of the

Universe, in crystallizing God's thought into formin the substance of all planes, thus marking thedescent of the Spirit into Matter.

The sign Capricorn is the tenth sign of the zodi-ac and is, according to Rosicrucian philosophy, thetenth great creative Hierarchy. In The RosicrucianCosmo-Conception, we are told that the great cre-ative hierarchy of Capricorn is comprised of theArchangels, the humanity of the Sun Period.

Christ is the highest Initiate of the Sun Periodand an Archangel. He is "The Son."

The Archangels are expert builders in desirebodies, and work with the animals and man.

In the latter part of the Moon Revolution of theEarth Period, the first germ of separate personalitywas implanted in the higher part of the desire bodyby the Lords of Mind.

The Archangels were active in the lower part ofthe desire body, giving it the purely animal desires.They also worked on the desire bodies where therewas no division.

The force represented by Saturn was involvedalso in awakening the Ego to consciousness on thephysical plane. It is through this force, nowfocused on the Earth by the mighty planet Saturn,that the conquest of Spirit over matter, and the sub-limation of matter into Spirit is to be achieved onthe return journey to God. As said before, ChristJesus, who has taken upon Himself the task ofhelping us to this achievement, is the highestInitiate of the Archangelic life wave, which

belongs to the Hierarchy of Capricorn. Each yearat the Winter Solstice, when the Sun enters thissign, Christ completes the cyclic concentration ofHis forces in the center of the Earth, of which Heis Lord and Master.

During the three months that follow, He is work-ing within the Earth, sustaining and renewing thelife principle of all evolving things upon the plan-et. His powerful love-radiations are also cleansingand vitalizing the higher vehicles of man to thedegree in which he is, individually and collective-ly, able to respond to them.

We take up the study of thought and motivewhile the Christ is working upon our inner being,thus laying the foundation for the study of actionunder the sign Aries, where the spiritual forceswhich have been working inwardly burst into out-ward manifestation. The outstanding truths consid-ered in the Capricorn lesson include:

1) Thought as the hidden seed from which allaction and all manifestation spring; the reactionsof our thoughts under the Law of Cause and Effect;the relation of our habitual thought-life to the year-ly coming of Christ.

2) The picture of the Universe held in the mindof God, and the faithful, ceaseless work of allorders of Beings, above and below Man, to bringthe Divine Plan into manifestation.

3) The physical body as the dwelling place of theEgo, its beginning as a thought-form, its long evo-lution; Saturn's particular work in the body, theskeleton, which is a reflection, in form, of that hid-den framework of God's thought upon which theUniverse rests. His life is the sustaining principlein both.

Since the Cosmos is the pattern upon which our

RAYS 04 38

God’s Message Through the Astrological Sign Capricorn

ASTROLOGY

lives are to be molded, we seek the application ofthese truths to human life and conduct.

The one great lesson to be learned from the con-sideration of God's Plan in operation is that we,together with all self-conscious beings, are calledupon to work with the Plan; that our highest goodand our greatest joy are bound up in the Plan andcan be attained only when we have learned to con-form our lives to its divine purposes.

Following the Right at all costs is the first steptoward this attainment. Hence, self-sacrifice hasbeen chosen as one of the keywords of Capricorn,the sacrifice of the outer form to the life within, theobedience of the outer self to the God within. Toyield this obedience is but to exchange a lesser andtemporary good for a greater and everlasting good.It is, therefore, a sacrifice only from the standpointof the personality, and then only in the first stagesof self-discipline. When the beautiful results beginto flow in, it ceases to be a sacrifice, and the termloses its meaning.

This transfer of our allegiance from the Form tothe Life is the supreme ideal set before us by theGreat Ones who work through the sign Capricorn.

The recognition of thought as the creative powerbehind all activity forces us to recognize also thenecessity for controlling this power in our ownbeing and directing it into channels that are in linewith the purposes of evolution. The conscious con-trol and direction of thought is concentration.Therefore, concentration may be said to be themental keyword of Capricorn.

Concentration, or focusing thought on a singleobject, idea, or mental picture, is like using a lensto see a single planet or a particular portion of theheavens: When we look at Saturn, that is all wesee, for we have pointed the telescope to it alone,even though the room may be full of people.Maintaining the single focus steadily on a thoughtpermits the Higher Self to send light and powerthrough the lens of the mind into the thought pic-ture to which it is pointed, filling that thought pic-ture with energy and enabling it to fulfill its intend-ed purpose. Every time this is done, more life ispoured into that thought, making it stronger.

The Higher Self of each person, which is a partof God, does its best work when we completely

forget our lower self. That is why, when concen-trating in prayer, we sit with the physical body in acomfortable position, staying perfectly still, withspine erect, and muscles relaxed and at ease.

The Ego needs and uses the complex physicalbody in many wonderful and mysterious ways.One of the important things we need to learn ishow to give this higher part of ourselves free playin the physical body as well as in every other partof our being.

Concentration can be used in examining someobject of interest, in working out a problem, or per-forming a task. One of the advantages of concen-tration is that it increases the speed and accuracy ofaccomplishment. If a lesson or task seems difficultor uninteresting, it can be made interesting anddone so with surprising ease by employing con-centration. After doing this a few times, we willdiscover that our Higher Self knows much morethan the personality or lower self and stands readyto help whenever we give it a chance.

We may say that consecration is the emotionalkeyword of Capricorn. It is drawn from theabsolute devotion with which all orders of Beingsabove man give themselves to the realization of thePlan of God.

Faithfulness in following the urges and warningsof the Higher Self is the first step toward conse-cration. It forms when the desire to follow the callof our true Self is stronger than any desire of thepersonality.

How often we have heard the words: “Loving,self-forgetting service to others is the shortest, thesafest, and the most joyful road to God.” There isa deep, hidden meaning in this statement. As wecome to a better understanding of God's Plan forthe progress of all mankind, we are eager to learn,and speedily at that. However, as truths slowlyunfold, we realize that there is a great deal more tolife than we ever dreamed. For example, what mayseem unfair and unjust in life is not so at all.

There is considerably more to our existence thanwhat is encompassed in our present lifetime, whichmay be likened to a day in the School of Life, asthere are many grades in our educational system.Some make their grades with ease, others struggleand barely pass on to a higher level, while still

RAYS 04 39

others do not make the grade at all. So it is in Life'sSchool. The knowledge that we have lived manylives before this one, and will live many morebefore we reach the perfection of God's Plan,includes that we all become more tolerant of oth-ers’ shortcomings (and we all have them, althoughnot exactly the same ones). This makes us morewilling to be helpful to others, while showingkindness and love in doing so.

Eventually we send a joyous outpouring ofgoodwill to all people, who really are our brothersand sisters, for God is the spiritual Father of us all.True, we do not always get along with brothers andsisters in our families, but we must learn to do so;that is why we have been brought together in thefamily relationship. This is one of the things ChristJesus came to teach us.

Mankind's progress has been slower than itshould have been, so we must grow in love andservice to others, beginning with our family, andspreading out into the community, into the city, thestate, the nation, and into the entire planet. Only inthis way shall we progress and have peace on Earthwith goodwill to men. As more and more peoplelearn to do this, wars will be no more.

Another keyword of Capricorn, support, callsfirst for the recognition of the Ego as the sustain-ing principle in the physical body, the invisiblesupport without which it could not exist. Capricornhas specific rulership over the knees, and a signif-icant point is found in the association of the bend-ed knee with humility and worship and theunbending knee with pride and arrogance.

These are some of the truths to be learned underthe sign of Capricorn. These truths give a view ofthe foundation underlying all lessons we mustlearn while on Earth. They present, obviously, onlythe barest outline of the vast work going forwardunder the guidance of the twelve CreativeHierarchies of the zodiac. But this simple outline,if built into the consciousness and lived, will openin turn each of the Seven Seals of God's great Bookof Life, to reveal at last the full glory of its mes-sage.

Let us now consider some of the qualities wemay evolve with the help of Saturn, ruler of theCapricorn.

In the symbol of Saturn (i) the cross of matteris above the half-circle of the soul, denoting alsothe brain mind. It is that which gives persistence tothe impulses of Mars and symbolizes the relative-ly permanent part of the lower nature, that whichhas been weighed and found to be of use. Saturn is,therefore, symbolical of the seed-atoms of man'slower vehicles, wherein are stored the experienceof all past lives. Hence, Saturn denotes mechanicalability, chastity, and justice; the perseverance andmaterial attainments which have been made intovirtues through his purging influence. He stands asthe reaper of what has been sown in the body, andas such he appears often in life to chastise us forthe wrong we have done, in order that we maylearn the lessons of how to act rightly.

The seed-atoms enable the Ego to gather in eachworld the substance needed to build its instru-ments; that is to say, to build again the mind, thedesire body, the vital body, and the dense body.

With the entrance of the Sun into the signCapricorn, we come to one of the four crucialpoints in the year. It is the point marking the com-pletion of Christ's entrance into the Earth. Hisgreat love for mankind led Him to take uponHimself the burden of the Earth until poor, blindhumanity should awaken to the realization of itsglorious destiny of spiritualizing the planet Earth.This may be done only when man realizes that heis his brother's keeper and, as such, must love hisfellowman enough to sacrifice the world's plea-sures by living a life that is true, honest, and help-ful in the fullest sense of the word. To accomplishthis, we look to the ruler of the sign Capricorn,Saturn, for his direction as to what we must do. Hismessage is, “Stop and think!” When we do so, weshall find we can hear the still, small voice within(God speaking) helping us to choose the rightcourse of action. Thus we make fewer mistakes,and one day we may become helpers in doing whatChrist now does continuously to keep the worldafloat in its orbit.

We conclude our study of Capricorn by present-ing one of Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poems entitledThe Law, which wonderfully characterizes quali-ties and energies associated with this cardinal signand its ruler, Saturn:

40 RAYS 04

The sun may be clouded, yet ever the sun Will sweep on its course till the cycle is run, And when into chaos the systems are hurled, Again shall the Builder reshape a new world.

Your path may be clouded, uncertain your goal; Move on, for the orbit is fixed in your soul; And though it may lead into darkness of night The torch of the Builder shall give it new light.

You were, and you will be; know this while you are: Your spirit has traveled long and afar. It came from the Source, to the Source it returns; The Spark that was lighted eternally burns.

It slept in a jewel, it leaped in the wave; It roamed in the forest, it rose from the grave; It took on strange garbs for long eons of years, And now in the soul of yourself it appears.

From body to body your spirit speeds on; It seeks a new form when the old one is gone; And the form that it finds is the fabric you wrought On the loom of the mind with the fibre of thought.

As dew is drawn upward, in rain to descend, Your thoughts drift away and in destiny blend. You cannot escape them for petty or great, Or evil, or noble, they fashion your fate.

Somewhere on some planet, sometime and somehow, Your life will reflect all the thoughts of your now. The law is unerring; no blood can atone; The structure you rear you must live in alone.

From cycle to cycle, through time and through space, Your lives with your longings will ever keep pace. All that you ask for, and all you desire, Must come at your bidding, as flames out of fire.

You are your own devil, you are your own God, You fashioned the paths that your footsteps have trod, And no one can save you from error or sin, Until you shall hark to the spirit within.

Once list to that voice and all tumult is done, Your life is the life of the Infinite One, In the hurrying race you are conscious of pause, With Love for the purpose, and Love for the cause.

—Rosicrucian Fellowship Staff Members

RAYS 04 41

The mind is the focus through which the worlds of Spirit are projected into the denser worlds of matter. In the Saturn Period,The Lords of Mind were human and worked with mental substance as we humans are now working with mineral substance.When the Ego concentrates its will on and in matter, projected thought forms (mental images) can be physically embodied.

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0N FEBRUARY 13, 2002 the principalauthor of the new report on cloning fromthe National Academy of Science (NAS)told the President’s Bioethics AdvisoryCouncil that it was impermissible (at

least at the moment) to proceed with what hecalled “reproductive cloning,” i.e., cloning thatbrings the clone to birth, but that it was okay toproceed with “therapeutic cloning,” i.e., cloningthat kills the clone by experimenting on it. By whatstandard did Professor Irving L. Weissman and hisNAS colleagues judge reproductive cloning to beimpermissible and the other kind okay?

Reproductive cloning, they maintained, wassimply too dangerous—at present. The risk to thecloned subject was too great. The actual cloningprocess is difficult to manage: Most clones in ani-mal trials are defective, or indeed die. Ian Wilmot,the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, says thatonly one to five percent of embryos eventuallyresult in the live birth of animals, and those that areborn are plagued with obesity, lung and kidneyproblems, immune system failure, and so on.

But why does that make cloning impermissible?Sure, the risks are significant. But how didWeissman know that this degree of risk is animpermissible risk? His standard is the NurembergCode. The Nuremberg Code sums up the ethicaltradition of Western civilization and provides anexcellent guide to what constitutes ethical scientif-ic research involving human beings. As Weissman

himself noted, the fifth article of that code states:“No experiment should be conducted where thereis an a priori reason to believe that death or dis-abling injury will occur.” (It continued: “except,perhaps, in those experiments where the experi-mental physicians also serve as subjects.”)

The Nuremberg Code was created by theNuremberg Tribunal, convened to judge the Nazileadership and their allies for the atrocities theycommitted in World War II. It was born, if one mayuse that term, from the outrage of the civilizedworld at the genocide, and other crimes againsthumanity, committed by the Nazi regime. As such,it is the almost universally acknowledged standardtoday for medical experimentation on humanbeings.

The Nazis killed six to nine million people intheir concentration or “death” camps, most of themJews. Nazi laws had already defined Jews andother “undesirables” as non-persons. Eventuallythese “non-persons” were herded into the campsfor extermination. But before the death campswere even constructed, the Nazis had engaged inan extensive campaign of euthanasia against thesick and handicapped.

The crucial work justifying this was a book pub-lished in 1920, called The Permission to DestroyLife Unworthy of Life. As made clear by RobertJay Lifton in his book, The Nazi Doctors, theincurably ill, the mentally ill and feeble-minded,and retarded or deformed children were all regard-ed as “lives unworthy of life.” The Nazis “med-icalized” the idea, maintaining that the destructionof unworthy lives was a “healing treatment.”

42 RAYS 04

Crossing the Nurenberg Line—On Cloning and Human Dignity

RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

This article appeared in the November 2002 issue ofTouchstone, A Journal of Mere Christianity (www.touch-stonemag.com), and is reprinted with permission.

The first “Children’s Specialty Department” wasestablished in 1940 after Hitler came to power,under which “all therapeutic possibilities will beadministered according to the latest scientificknowledge.” A network of 30 killing areas withinexisting institutions was set up throughoutGermany, Austria, and Poland.

In the extermination camps, Nazi doctorsengaged in inexplicably cruel experiments onJews, Gypsies, Poles, and others. They exposedthem to extreme cold to see at what temperaturedeath would occur. They injected them with poi-sons to see how quickly certain elements movedthrough the circulatory system. They took twinsand subjected them to all manner of terrible condi-tions to see how genetically identical personsreacted to different conditions.

I called these experiments “inexplicable.” Butwere they? After all, some of the experiments weredesigned to preserve life—albeit not the subjects’lives, but the lives of others, such as pilots, forexample, who had to parachute into freezingwaters. The ultimate aim of the experiment was toyield a human good, to gain knowledge that wouldpreserve human life. There was, from the Nazi’spoint of view, a “greater good” involved.

VIOLATING THE CODE

Professor Weissman undoubtedly does notbelieve his views have anything in common withthose of the Nazis. But do they? If embryos arehuman beings, then stem-cell research on them(during which their stems cells are extracted andthey are killed) violates the Nuremberg Code. If,through therapeutic cloning, embryos are createdto be used in experiments that would, likewise, belethal to them, that too violates the NurembergCode.

Would it change our judgment of the act if theextravagant claims of cloning and embryonicstem-cell research advocates—that it will bringcures for every human disease and every humanailment—could be realized? I will answer thatquestion with a question. Would it have affectedour judgment of the Nazis if they had found suchcures? I do not think so, and more importantly, Iam sure Professor Weissman does not think so, and

that he believes that the imperative to conduct sci-entific research to “help people” must yield to thefundamental moral norm expressed in theNuremberg Code.

The only way, then, that Professor Weissmancan attempt to distinguish between Nazi researchand “therapeutic cloning” is to maintain that thera-peutic cloning does not involve human beings. Isthat a persuasive, or even a plausible, distinction?

In a word, no. It does not take an advanced sci-ence degree to know when human life begins. Itbegins normally upon conception, or the fertiliza-tion of a female egg cell by a male sperm. It beginsabnormally, or asexually, upon the activation by anelectrical charge of an egg cell from which theoriginal nucleus has been replaced with one takenfrom a “somatic” or body cell. In either case, fromthat moment forward, we have a new humanorganism. From that first moment, armed with itscomplete set of chromosomes, the new single-cellorganism directs its own integral functioning anddevelopment. It proceeds, unless death intervenes,through every stage of human development.

It will change in appearance, but it will neverundergo a change in its nature. It will never growup to be a cow or a fish. It is a human being fromthe first moment of its existence. As the great ethi-cist Paul Ramsey noted, “The embryo’s subse-quent development may be described as a processof becoming what he already is from the momentof conception.” Or from the moment of “therapeu-tic” cloning.

However, cloning proponents and many othersare engaged in an enterprise to obscure the fact thatevery human being begins as a single-cell zygote,grows through the embryonic stage, then the fetalstage, is born, and grows through the infant state,through childhood, and through adulthood, untildeath. The human being is the same human beingat every stage, though it looks different at eachstage. Change is the very essence of life.

As the Christian bioethicist John Harvey hasnoted, “a human being is unchangeable and com-plete only at the moment of death.” Think of yourown baby pictures—you do not still look like that,do you? We have all aged, but we are each thesame person we were in our baby pictures. We

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were not less the person we are now when we werea single-cell zygote.

This is the fundamental truth—the fundamentalscientific truth—upon which all our moral analysismust be built. If we obscure this fact, it is simplyimpossible to think clearly about these issues. TheNuremberg Code applies only to human beings. Ifthe cloned embryo is something else, then the eth-ical prohibition against killing human beings doesnot apply to it.

But it is not something else. It is a human being,a he or a she. Every human being was once azygote. Jesus Christ, God made man, was once azygote. Human life begins at that first moment,and when human life begins, it is stamped with theimmortal image of God, the Imago Dei (Gen.1:26). Nevertheless, cloning proponents pretendthat before the embryo is implanted in the mother’swomb, he is somehow fundamentally different,different in his very nature from what he will beafter implantation.

THE FIRST STEP

The first open step in denying what everyonereally knows was taken in 1970 when CaliforniaMedicine, then the journal of the CaliforniaMedical Association, invited its members to play anew game that its editors called “semantic gym-nastics.” The rules of this new game were, theywrote, the “avoidance of the scientific fact, whicheveryone really knows, that human life begins atconception and is continuous—whether intra- orextra-uterine—until death.” The purpose of thisnew game was to replace “the traditional Westernethic” respecting “the intrinsic worth and equalvalue of every human life, regardless of its state orcondition” with “a new ethic for medicine andsociety” in order “to separate the idea of abortionfrom the idea of killing.”

Then, later in the 1970s, the linguistic dehuman-ization of the unborn was taken a step further.Jesuit Richard McCormick and others promotedthe idea of the “pre-embryo.” The term referred tothe embryo before it was implanted in the womb.True, it was a “pre-embryo” in the sense of being“pre-implantation.” But so what? Does implanta-tion effect a change in the nature of the thing that

implants? No reputable scientist believes that itdoes. The renowned authority on embryology,Ronan O’Rahilly, of the School of Medicine at theUniversity of California, Davis, says in his 2001textbook on embryology:

The term “pre-embryo” is not used here for thefollowing reasons...it may convey the erroneousidea that a new human organism is formed atonly some considerable time after fertiliza-tion...and...it was introduced in 1986 largely forpublic policy reasons.

What reasons, you ask? Writing in RemakingEden, the celebrated Princeton biology professorand fearless savant Lee Silver clues us in:

I’ll let you in on a secret. The term pre-embryohas been embraced wholeheartedly by IVF [invitro fertilization] practitioners for reasons thatare political, not scientific. The new term is usedto provide the illusion that there is something pro-foundly different between a six-day-old embryoand a 16-day-old embryo. The term is useful inthe political arena—where decisions are madeabout whether to allow early embryo experimen-tation—as well as in the confines of a doctor’soffice where it can be used to allay moral con-cerns that might be expressed by IVF patients.

So the term “pre-embryo” was developed toavoid something everyone really knows: that life iscontinuous from the moment of conception(whether through fertilization or cloning) untildeath.

Though the term “pre-embryo” has largely beenrejected, the central idea behind it—to dehumanizethe early embryo—still lives in other guises. Wefind it today in the cloning debate, and we saw it awhile ago in the debate on embryonic stem-cellresearch.

A GAMBLE

In the cloning debate, the desire to “deny whateveryone really knows” by finding a term thatwould hide the facts about human life has led tosuch convoluted thinking that it would be amusingif lives were not at stake. First, a distinction

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between “reproductive cloning” and “therapeuticcloning” was advanced.

That was fairly easily rebutted, for once youhave a living human zygote the reproduction of amember of the human species has occurred,regardless of the purpose (birth or experiment) forwhich the clone was created. Nor can “therapeuticcloning” be therapeutic. For a treatment to be ther-apeutic, it must be so for the subject. Therapeuticcloning, however, kills the subject (the embryo)every time in order to get stem cells. Thus, it is infact non-therapeutic and anti-therapeutic. Even thepress, which has played a pernicious role inobscuring the truth in the stem-cell and cloningdebates, seems willing to abandon “therapeuticcloning” in favor of “research cloning.”

Finally, after opinion polls revealed thatAmericans did not like any kind of cloning, thebiotech industry took a breathtakingly bold gam-ble—they decided to call it something else. Insteadof “cloning,” the act would now be called “somat-ic cell nuclear transfer” or “nuclear transplantationto produce stem cells.” Breathtakingly simple—forboth phrases are simply the definition of cloningitself.

In other words, when one speaks about cloning,one is speaking about a laboratory procedure inwhich the nucleus from a “somatic” (body) cell is“transferred” or “transplanted” into an egg cellfrom which the original nucleus has been removed.That’s what “cloning” means.

Even worse, with the phrase “nuclear transplan-tation to produce stem cells,” cloning advocatesobscured the fact that the procedure does not pro-duce stem cells but produces an embryo who islater killed so his stem cells can be “harvested.”Would we describe the murder of inmates in theNazi camps as “experiments to preserve the livesof pilots who crash into freezing water”?

These “semantic gymnastics” are, in reality, nota new game but an old game, a game in whichhuman lives are sacrificed for the sake of ideology,while everyone purports not to know what is real-ly going on. In his essay “Politics and the EnglishLanguage,” the author of 1984 and Animal Farmobserved the game being played in his day. “In ourtime,” George Orwell noted,

political speech and writing are largely thedefense of the indefensible....Political languagehas to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness...Peopleare imprisoned for years without trial, or shotin the back of the neck, or sent to die of scurvyin Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimina-tion of unreliable elements. Such phraseology isneeded if one wants to name things withoutcalling up mental pictures of them.

The prophet thunders, “Woe to those who callevil good and good evil, who put darkness for lightand light for darkness” (Is. 5:20). Woe to us,indeed, if we do not call things by their propernames. Yet cloning advocates echo the Nazis incalling killing “therapeutic.” They imitate them bypretending that an embryo created by cloning is an“activated egg.”

FUNDAMENTAL ERROR

While the failure to tell the truth about thehuman embryo is one error the proponents ofcloning make, they make another that is perhapseven more fundamental. By adhering to theNuremberg Code in word, while being unable toanalyze their own actions in its light, Weissmanand other advocates of cloning (and of stem-cellresearch) appear to believe the code applies tosome “others”—Nazis, presumably, and other badpersons—but not to themselves.

They seem to think the world is divided into twotypes of people, “bad” people like Nazis and“good” people like themselves. Because of theenormity of their crimes, it is easy to think of theNazis as evil by nature, as demonic and funda-mentally different from ourselves. It is easy, but itis wrong. It misses the one essential point. AsAlexander Solzhenitsyn reminded us, “The linebetween good and evil is not between peoples. Theline runs through every human heart, and it shiftsback and forth.”

As Christians, this is a truth we know. In themidst of the debate about cloning and the humanembryo, when so many lies are being told so well,it is our job to remind our culture of this truth. p

—William L. Saunders

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WHAT’S NEWS for some is his-tory for others. Copernicus’ “dis-covery” of a heliocentric cosmoswas blasphemous news to theCatholic Church, but Aristarchus

of Samos in the third century B.C. concluded—aftercalculating the distance from the Earth to the Sun,and the size of the Sun and Moon (his measurementswere not accurate)—that the Sun, rather than theEarth, was at the center of the universe.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276-200 B.C.) calculatedthe circumference of the Earth at 46,000 km—a lit-tle off, but not too shabby an estimate—and this wasthe circumference a globe, not a flat circle! This oldfinding would have been startling news to personsliving in the first millennium of the Christian era.

Again, we may applaud the modern “discovery”of atoms, but it was a re-discovery. Five centuriesbefore Christ, Democritus, Leucippus, and Epicurussaid that atoms are basic building blocks of thematerial world. After all, atom is Greek and means“not cut”, cannot be cut or reduced. But when thesubmicroscopic universe of the atom is unveiled, itreveals (at least to thought’s eye) “tomic” parts evensmaller and more basic than protons, neutrons, andelectrons; namely, quarks, antiquarks, and gluons.Quarks come in six types (“flavors”) whose combi-nations make two kinds of hadrons. Gluons are car-rier particles that bind quarks to make hadrons. AndMax Heindel may have seen into the heart of thematter: “It is true that the ultimate atom of all phys-ical forms is the same.” This “ultimate atom” wouldhave to be sub-atomic, probably smaller than aquark, since all quarks are not the same.

The scientific speculations could get yet morecomplicated, for the inquiring mind—led by theinquisitive eye and the often misguided and violent-ly invasive will to dismember matter—wants to doanatomy on its heart, to see what makes it tick. Butthe ticking impulse is etheric, just as the source of

the electrical impulse coming from the site of theseed atom in the left ventricle of the heart is etheric.

So new and old are relative terms. For the writer,it is news to learn that in 1964 John Bell proposedthat two particles that had once been connectedwould forever be connected, even if they becamewidely separated. In the early 1980s, experiments atCERN, the European accelerator, showed that Bellwas correct. Bell’s hypothesis states that anunknown force, of which space, time and motion areall aspects, continues to link separate parts of theuniverse that were once united. Since, according tothe Big Bang Theory, the entire universe evolvedfrom a single point, this suggests that every singlepart of the universe must be connected to every otherpart, down to the gluons and quarks, and no doubtfiner particles, since each of these finite units is apoint, and, at least theoretically, compressible. Thisthought does tax and compress the grey matter! Andit would appear, finally, that formed matter tends tothis point, to the nature and “substance” of thoughtitself: That a Thinker is doing some powerful think-ing and then condensing that thinking to show, forshow. The eyes see. The philosophical mind wants toknow the what of that seeing. The instrumental mindwants to know the how. The what, finally, is aboutessences. And it is wanting to know the what that isbehind the scientific inquiry. For man, the thinker,wants his mind to abide as one with the Thought, theEssence, that so clearly originates and maintains,and, yes, destroys, the contents of the visible universe.Mind wants to know what was from the beginning,what the writer of John’s Gospel calls the Word(Logos). This is not new. Then again, it is ever new.

Albert Einstein once wrote: "I want to know howGod created this world. I am not interested in this orthat phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that ele-ment; I want to know his thoughts; the rest are de-tails.” As we become more like Him, we know moreas He knows. We begin to think God-thoughts. p

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Knowing.....by Remembering or Dismembering?

NEWS

THE KEEPER OF THE BEES, by natu-ralist Gene Stratton-Porter, is not a newrelease (copyright 1925); yet it is still inprint and available through IndianaUniversity Press. I felt impelled to search

for this book, while all the memory I had of it was asense of something ethereal, which I now perceive asan inhalation of pureTaurean essence.

Th i s i s impar t edthrough descriptive pas-sages of flower and bee,earth and sea, and salt-seaair from the Pacific Oceanalong the Cal i forniancoast. I received the bookonly days before begin-ning a journey to California and so was bemused tosee it described on the back cover as an “ode to [...]California, and its natural beauty.”

Taurus is the sign of physical form, of beauty as per-ceived by the physical senses. The importance ofphysical beauty is not one that should be overlookedby the spiritual aspirant. Beauty is harmony in mani-festation, and color is generated by harmonic tones.Striving to build an environment in and around thehome which pleases the eye and soothes the spirit isnot something to be neglected in the pursuit of a spir-itual life.

The story is set in the era following WWI whereright and wrong are not questions, transgressions canbe cruelly dealt with, the enemy is clear, racial andethnic groups are yet distinct, and patriotism is taughtin schools to blend the varied multitude into one coun-try.

It tells the story of a soldier of Scottish descent, a

son of a minister of the Church who, when called towar, had forgotten the God of his forbears, “...Fromwhence cometh my help,” and answered the callinstead of the race spirit in his blood, as he soughtrevenge against ‘the enemy’.

There were atrocities that had been committedagainst men of his raceand blood in the begin-ning of the war thatdrove all men of Scottishancestry and sympathiesa trifle wild.

Religions of old were“race religions,” each racespirit being an archangel

who would lead his people into battle. The bodies ofthese beings are made of desire stuff, and they stillinfluence us through our desires, as they are manifestin the blood. It was the purpose of Christ to end racereligions, to free man from the influence of the racespirits and inaugurate a period of Universal Love. Yetthe struggle continues, as in the case of this youngman, who still responded to the ancestral “call toarms” coursing through the blood in his veins.

The story opens following this war, with ‘our hero’suffering from a shrapnel wound that will not heal,fleeing from a medical facility into the Californiacountryside. There was also another wound that wouldnot heal, one in his heart “which the world could notsee.”

So he begins his ‘Great Adventure’, which theauthor uses to explore many points of moral or ethicalconsideration, through the reflections of the youngman as he finds God again, on a journey where his

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Keeper of the Bees

BOOK REVIEWS

The bee garden is blue because blue is the ‘perfect colour’ and bees are the most perfect of any insect in the waythey live, and the most valuable on account of the work they do, so blue would be the colour they love best, and it is!

Beauty is essential to the natural unfoldment ofthe human soul. The Mysteries held that man, inpart at least, was the product of his environment.Therefore they found it imperative that every per-son be surrounded by objects that would evoke thehighest and noblest sentiments. They proved that itwas possible to produce beauty in life by surround-ing life with beauty.

—Manly P Hall, Secret Teachings of all Ages

welfare rests on the grace of God. He finds himselfreverting to the language of his grandfathers inexpressing his gratitude “It’s unco gude ‘o you God.”

In moral reflections even the “wee people” are to beconsidered: “the father in him said ‘Leave whatremains for the wee folk as you found it.’ And themother in him said ‘Take with you every crumb thatremains against the morrow.’”

Here “the father” represents the conscience, thespiritual side, doing what is right by others, with littlethought of self, and “the mother” represents concernfor one’s material welfare, the pragmatic view oraspect of self-interest. So here, as in occult literaturegenerally, the positive forces, of "right," are represent-ed by the male, while the negative, earthly forces bythe female. We know, however, that the gender of menand women is given by their outer, or physical body.While their vehicles are four in number, only the dense

physical and vital bodies are gendered: In the male thephysical body is positive, the vital body is negative,with the reverse for the female.

The question of gender roles, a question of thetimes, is brought forth to intrigue us again later whenwe meet the “little Scout,” a ten year old child whosegender is not yet clear. According to the little Scout, ifyou can’t tell, then it makes no difference.

In the pre-pubescent child, where the desire body isyet unborn, sex as passion is not yet apparent, andtruly, it would seem, “makes no difference.” It is notuntil we are to fulfill the roles of male and female inlife, as providers of form for incoming egos, that sure-ly we “can tell.”

The story takes us to the home of the Bee Master inthe Sierra Madres along the seacoast. There, our for-lorn soldier moves from contemplation of his death toencompassing life, from weakness to strength, from

self-pity to selflessness. He arrives as a homelessunemployed and becomes a respected Keeper of theBees.

He does not make this transformation alone but withthe help of the loving embrace of neighbors as he set-tles into his new home, tending the bees in the BeeMaster’s absence.

Foremost among his new acquaintances is onecalled the ‘little Scout’ the Bee Master’s partner. The‘business’ of the little Scout, when not fulfilling therole of partner to the Bee Master, is playing the role ofScout Master, organizing play for a motley group ofchildren. Leading the Scouts, and ultimately bestingthem, the Scout Master is called “The Limit.”

The little Scout is a most vivacious and mercurialpersona, whose physical machinations and mentalreflections add much in the way of delight to thisbook. For example, when accused of “burning the can-dles at the both ends,” the small person replies: “Butah! my foes and my friends! It makes a lovely light!”

How we meet death, one of many threads runningthrough this brilliant weave, is a topic introduced to usthrough the reminiscences of the little Scout.

On the point of how beautiful death can be, of ‘lit-tle old Aunt Beth,’ the little Scout said:

She went in the night, you know, in her sleep,with her hands folded on her breast and thestrangest little mysterious smile on her face. It waslike she knew a beautiful secret that she’d love totell and she was smilin’ over it while she decidedwhether she would tell or not.

The Bee Master, a revered gentleman whose precar-ious health has provided the stage for this saga,inspires much loyalty. On contemplating his death, the

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Paracelsus, when describing the substances whichconstitute the bodies of the elementals, divided fleshinto two kinds, the first being that which we have allinherited through Adam. This is the visible, corpo-real flesh. The second was that flesh which had notdescended from Adam and, being more attenuated,was not subject to the limitations of the former. Thebodies of the elementals were composed of this tran-substantial flesh....“Yet,” he adds, “the Elementalsare not spirits, because they have flesh, blood, andbones; they live and propagate offspring; they eatand talk, act and sleep, etc.”

—Manly P Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages

Will is the male quality of the soul; imaginationis the female. When will is the strongest attribute,the soul wears male attire in a certain life, and inanother, where the quality of imagination isgreater, the female garb is taken. Thus under theLaw of Alternation which prevails during the pre-sent age of the rainbow, the soul wears a differentgarment in alternate lives, but whether the genderis feminine or masculine, the organ of the oppositesex is present in an undeveloped state. Thus man isnow, and will be so long as the physical bodyendures, both male and female.

—Max Heindel Mysteries of the Great Operas

little Scout said: “I bet all the harps and all the trum-pets in heaven would go Zoom! Zoom! and all the angelswould come flocking if the Bee Master came throughthe gates!

The Bee Master’s home, and surrounding gardens areintimated to be a reflection of the Bee Master himself.

There are only a few places where love and arti-sanship build a house with a welcoming face. Thereare only a few places where love and good horsesense build a garden half of wildings and half ofquaint old-fashioned things that evolved withoutthe help of crossing andfertilization and othermakeshifts that producegrowth so rambling andsizable that it is difficult to believe the blooms areliving things. There are only a few places where theside of a mountain walks down and slides downand jumps down and meanders winding, floweringways until it reaches the white sands of a brilliant-ly blue sea, and it is easy to believe that such alocation would naturally be the home of tiny roundwhite houses with round roofs where millions ofbees make honey to sweeten the food of a world.

Health and healing through natural means is anoth-er prominent theme. How our ailing soldier heals hiswounds through the discipline of a health regime iscarefully detailed. The value of eating for health, sim-ple and nutritious foods, and in the right combinations,is a concern of every spiritual aspirant.

In Occult Principles of Health and Healing, p. 116we read: “Proper food given at the right time andunder the right conditions will not only cure but pre-vent disease.” The science of food combining, a littleknown aspect of diet, is touched upon here. Of theneighbor that prepares his own meals he requests adiet in the combination that will go towards the “mak-ing of a man” and help to purify his septic blood.

Following his morning routine in the bee garden, hedrinks the juice of two ripe tomatoes and follows thiswith a dip in the healing waters of the salt sea, dryingin the rays of the morning sun. Then after his mid-daymeal he rests. Upon waking he drinks one glass offresh-squeezed orange juice.

Of fruits it is said in Occult Principles of Health andHealing, p. 117, that they contain “water of the purestand best kind, capable of permeating the system in a

marvelous manner....The increased permeabilityenables the Spirit to manifest more freely and withrenewed energy.” And in the same book the authorgives an occult explanation for the benefits ofuncooked food:

There is in the skull at the base of the brain a flame.It burns continually in the medulla oblongata at thehead of the spinal cord, and, like the fire on thealter of the tabernacle, is of divine origin. This fireemits a singing sound like the buzz of a bee, whichis the keynote of the physical body, and is soundedby the archetype. It builds in and cements together

that mass of cells knownas “our body”.

The fire burns high orlow, clear or dim,

according to how we feed it. [...] We replenish thissacred fire partly from forces from the Sun enteringthe vital body through the etheric counterpart ofthe spleen and from there to the solar plexus whereit is colored and then carried upward through theblood. We also feed the fire from the living fire weabsorb from the uncooked food which we eat andthen assimilate.

Note from the above the value of sunlight, in addi-tion to raw foods, for renewing of the body’s energy.An additional point to make here is that the ethericcounterpart of the spleen will continue to functioneven following the removal of the physical spleen, assometimes occurs following injury to this organ.

The art of keeping bees is learned with the help ofthe Bee Master’s ‘partner,’ as well as from an exten-sive library on the subject, which includes writings byAristotle and Pliny. The little Scout asks: “Why is thebee garden blue? And I’ll have to tell you the answerbecause you’ll never guess in a thousand years.Because of God.”

Max Heindel confirms this statement in RosicrucianPhilosophy in Questions and Answers, Volume 2:“Blue is the color of the Father who rules over thewhole universe continually from the beginning of man-ifestation to the end thereof, omnipresent in everythingthat lives, breathes, and has it’s being.”

There is more here, much more, to inspire us to livediligently as the bees and their keepers, leading nobleand courageous lives, embracing the beauty of earthand sky. p

—Jamis Lopez

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The bee is more honored than other animals, not be-cause she labors, but because she labors for others.

—St. John Chrysostom

AN ESOTERIC understand-ing of Scripture—as given,for instance, in CorinneHeline’s seven-volume NewAge Bible Interpretation, or

Geoffrey Hodson’s three-volume study ofthe Old Testament, Hidden Wisdom in theHoly Bible, and the New Testament study,The Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension—comprehends events and persons, includ-ing Christ Jesus, as revelations of divinefaculties and forces latent in each human.

Laotse wrote that “The universe is a manon a large scale.” Conversely, man is a uni-verse on a small scale: If, as occult philoso-phy maintains, the zodiac, the galaxies andtheir component systems, and the planetswith their kingdoms and planes, are notonly in correspondence and mutual resonance, buthave their representation in man himself, then, byanalogy, which is “the master key of all spiritualmysteries,” individual man is also a potential cos-mos, whose embryonic constellations and theirplanetary satellites are being formed out of his tril-lions of organic cells, each of which contains bil-lions of atoms, an atom itself often being likenedto a miniature solar system—electrons orbiting anucleus.

As each incarnate human is a member of theBody of Christ, vitally related to and informed bythe whole spiritual organism, so again, by analogy,organs in the single human body can be seen asevolving micro microcosms, each part of whichcorrelates with other body organs.

We shall briefly consider six instances of thislaw of correspondence, showing not only the inter-connectivity of physical organs, but how eachfunctions as a synopsis and mirror of the body’sother members, keyed to their being and condition.

Foot Reflexology is an ancient form of "pres-sure treatment" and involves applying focusedpressure to certain known "reflex" points locatedin the foot, which correspond to certain other areasin the body. Some of the recognized benefits fromreceiving a reflexology treatment include increasedcirculation, relaxation, and release of tensions.

When Peter protested that his feet, the lowliestpart of the body, be washed by his beloved Master,Christ Jesus replied, “If I wash thee not, thou hastno part with me”; whereupon the ever exuberant

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Micro and MacroAnatomies of Man

Nutrition and Healing©

Sacred W

isdom, H

elion Publishing, Tulsa, O

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Peter urged, “not my feet only, but also my handsand my head.” Christ answered, “He that is washedneedeth not save to wash his feet, but is cleanevery whit.” The footwashing incident is told only

by John, so we may assume it has an esotericmeaning, part of which has been explained in theRosicrucian literature. If the feet can be considereda map of the entire body, as foot reflexology main-tains, clean (sound or healthy) feet indicate asound and whole body; and not only physical bodybut desire body also, since organ dysfunctions andimpairments are caused by wrong feeling andwrong thinking. For Christ told Peter that “ye are

clean, but not all”; that is, even prior to having hisfeet washed, Peter and the other apostles weremorally clean—that is, all except Judas.

And foot reflexology claims to identify emo-tional “blockages” that manifest in organ malfunc-tion as diagnosed through the correlative foot area,including the sole, top, ankle, and instep. Footreflexology has a venerable history, being prac-ticed in both China and Egypt for several millenniabefore Christ. Pictographs found on ancientEgyptian walls depict the possible use of hand andfoot reflexology. There are some who believe thatthe practice of anointing the feet with oil was aform of foot reflexology.

While life ether emanates from the sun and isspecialized by the etheric counterpart of thespleen, conveyed to the solar plexus, whence itis distributed throughout the body, MaxHeindel does inform us that plant group spiritsare in the center of the Earth, and radiate linesof force that are continually passing throughtrees and plants. Might not humans be subjectto such lines of force? While it is clear that man

“receives his spiritual influence from the Sunthrough the head,” it may be that some tel-

luric forces enter through the feet,though these may affect the sympathet-ic system and be below (sub) con-sciousness. We do not forget that a Rayof the Cosmic Christ is the indwellingSpirit of the Earth and the life force Heimparts annually gives rise to a risingtide of new life even as He emergesfrom his terrestrial sepulcher at Easter

and rises to the Father. Thus the Princeof Peace and the Servant of Humanity,

Who incarnated when the precessional sunwas passing through Pisces, is associated with

the foot, the body’s servant. The whole armorof God includes “preparation of the gospel ofpeace,” with which the feet are shod. Peacerequires fortitude of heart and mind, allowing oneboth to stand one’s ground and to be humble—thatis, in saving touch with the earth. These qualitiesare implicit in Paul’s exclamation, “How beautifulare the feet of them that preach the gospel ofpeace.” The foot is the least evident part of the

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Egyptian mural showing the use of hand and foot reflexology.

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body, the base on which and by which we stand. Itbears the body’s cross and may be said to live a lifeof sacrifice. All parts of the human body rely on itand are neurally and etherically networked to it.

It should not surprise us that the hands can besimilarly mapped out as a topography of the entireanatomy. However hand reflexology is far less

prominent than foot reflexology as a tool for bothdiagnosis and therapy. It may be that the handshave become more specialized and independentand are less organically keyed into the bodypolitic. They are more effecting than affecting,more doing than done unto. One may “read” thehand in a more metaphorical and chronologicalmanner than the foot. Planetary influence, longevi-ty, and main character traits are deciphered fromthe palm of the hand. While, when we are notsleeping, the sole of the foot is always turnedearthward, is not seen, the palm of the hand ismore versatile and visible. We turn our palms out-ward in a gesture of welcome, in instances of sur-render of our person, in swearing our honesty, andtestifying to the truth. In each case, we open our-selves and would be known, as if on the hands oursignature were written, or our inner nature. Openhanded, nothing is hidden, we are an open book—for those who can read it!

While Max Heindel spoke very little aboutpalmistry, he did assert in Teachings of an Initiatethat “The Rosicrucian Fellowship advocates thestudy of astrology and palmistry by all its mem-bers.” Astro-Diagnosis, A Guide to Health andHealing, has a short chapter on “Diagnosing fromthe Hands and Fingernails,” including determining(or confirming) the Ascendant, which rules thephysical body, by identifying the type of nail (seediagram). With this information “It is not very dif-ficult to detect diseases which are latent.”Nevertheless, palmistry and hand analysis do notpermit the rigor and specificity that astrologymakes possible. Heindel did say that an individ-ual’s ripe destiny is evident in the palm. Askedwhether palmistry and astrology can be true,Heindel answered that an Ego’s “tendencies to actin a manner conducive to adjustment of this maturedestiny are inherent in the [physical] body andinscribed in the stars, for the stellar influences arethe source of man's activity, and therefore thismature destiny may be seen from the horoscope atbirth, standing out with exceeding clearness, sothat it is very plain and patent to the spirituallyminded astrologer or palmist.” We infer that thepalmist’s chart or horoscope is the palm itself.

Chiropractic is an offshoot of the holy laying on

52 RAYS 04

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Not only the fingers, but also the finger nails can be used forcharacter analysis and medical diagnosis. This illustrationshows the “pure types of finger nails, correlated to the signsof the zodiac. Horoscopes with many planets in one sign willchange the nails.” Typologies can be made by sign mode.For instance, fixed sign nails (houses 2, 5, 8, 11) are broad,showing great persistence and determination. The followinghealth indications from the finger nails are given in Astro-Diagnosis: A Guide to Health and Healing, p. 68: “Long, slender nails curving inward toward the flesh: scro-fulous and impure blood, weakness of the lungs, and throattrouble. White spots on the nails: anemia, impoverishedblood, nervousness. Long nails, thin and brittle: weak vital-ity, negativeness, timidity. Black or blue spots on the halfmoons: poison in blood, obstructed circulation, or restrictedheart action. The shape of the nails should be taken into con-sideration before making a decision. Well rounded and clearcut half moons on nails indicate good circulation; if palepink, they indicate health; if dark blue [they indicate poorcirculation and a weak heart]. Nails whose top surface isconcave indicate spinal weakness. Patients who have longsmooth hands, the flesh soft and smooth, the fingers flexible,the nails white in color, and especially when the nails wedgetightly into the side of the finger and the wedge portion iscolored, may be said to have been born tired. They will makelittle attempt to help the healer; they would prefer to have theInvisible Helpers to the work for them.”

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of hands, by which spiritual blessing is conferred.The blessing in chiropractic can be a somatic heal-ing. In either case, the hands become the instru-ment by which degrees and kinds of energy can befocused and transmitted. Since the human vitalbody is most deeply interpenetrated in the handsand feet (and one other place), it is these siteswhere the stigmatic nails are driven (and where, inMasonic parlance, “the plugs are pulled”), wherethe greatest pain associated with the cleavage ofthe two higher ethers from the physical body isassociated incident to initiation—or the ability tofunction at will in the soul body or sidereal vehicle(so-called because of the star-shaped configurationof its lines of force—feet, hands of the out-stretched arms, and head).

Often has it been said that the eyes are the win-dows of the soul. They also, according to iridolo-gists, give a picture of and report on the conditionof the many parts of the human body. More cor-rectly, it is the iris of the eye, the colored portion,that reveals the basic health of an individual.Iridology can indicate genetic and functionalweaknesses, tissue and organ condition, areas ofnutritional depletion and need, areas of inflamma-tion and toxicity, and the general body constitu-tion. This information is gathered by “reading” thefiber and markings of the iris, which manifestssymptoms specific to all the organs of the body

before they may be discernible through lab analy-sis or blood work. The front part of the eye some-what resembles a horoscope wheel, the pupil beingthe center and the iris sectioned off into numerousmodified pie segments, each of which correlatesand connects, by virtue of nerve reflex-pathways,to organs and systems in the body.

Ignatz von Peczely, qualified in surgery at theVienna Medical College, had ample opportunity tostudy the irides of patients before and after opera-tions, systematically recording, correlating, andpublishing his research in the book Discoveries inthe Realms of Nature and Art of Healing. His “IrisChart” was made public in 1880.

Much of the American medical research origi-nated with the work of Dr. Henry Edward Laneand his student, Dr. Henry Lindlahr. Dr. Lane car-ried out most of his surgical and autopsy correla-tions with iride markings at the KosmosSanitarium in Evanston, Illinois. In his book,Iridology—The Diagnosis from the Eye (1904), hestates “...thousands were examined before just onemarking could be considered corroborated.”

Dr. J. Haskel Kritzer recorded his lifetime ofresearch into iris diagnosis in his bookIridiagnosis. His work spurred on Bernard Jensen,a student of Dr. Lindlahr, into further research andthe development of an updated Iris Chart with Dr.John R. Arnold, founder of the World Iridology

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©S

acred Wisdom

, Helion P

ublishing, Tulsa, OK

12

Fellowship. Dr. Arnold was the main instigator inchanging the term iridiagnosis to iris analysis,which more accurately reflects that it is a means ofanalyzing conditions within rather than specificdiseases.

Of all anatomical structures, the eye literallyoffers “insight” into both the inner and outer phys-ical person as well as the soul and spirit that areindwelling and using the material body. While theeye was specialized to see physical light, it alsoshows something of the light within one, whetherit be dim and dull, or bright and keen.

Another sensory organ, ontogenetically the old-est, also maps out the composite human physiolo-gy. The germ for the dense body was given by theLords of Flame during the Saturn Period, includingthe capacity for developing the sense organs, par-ticularly the ear, “the most highly developed organwe possess. It is the organ which carries with thegreatest accuracy the impressions of outside con-ditions to the consciousness. It is less subject to theillusions of the Physical World than the other senseorgans.” Understandably, then, the ear is attuned tothe younger members of its household. Andacupuncture shows its sensitive relationship tothese members. We recall that physical light didnot exist prior to the Sun period, but that spiritualtone was creating physical forms during the SaturnPeriod when the Lords of Mind were going

through their human stage in the Region ofConcrete Thought, whose substance is immaterialsound. Light, even spiritual light, is more “exter-nal” or objective than spiritual and physical sound,which convey more the heart and essence of being,penetrating to the inner sanctum of consciousnesswhere meaning is registered. It is not, however, theincredibly fine and sensitive structures of the mid-dle and inner ear that reflexologists use to diagnoseand treat patients but the fleshy outer ear.

Phrenology studies the shape and contour of theskull to determine character and traits, rather thanas a index to other body structures. Max Heindelregarded phrenology as a science having spiritualsignificance (1Q&A, p. 309). In Message of the

54 RAYS 04

Names of the Phrenological Organs(Referring to the numbers indicating their relative positions.)

DOMESTICPROPENSITIES

1 Amativeness2 Philopro

-genitiveness3 Adhesiveness4 Inhabitiveness5 Concentrativeness

SELFISHPROPENSITIES

6 Combativeness7 Destructiveness8 Alimentiveness9 Aquisitivenness10 Secretiveness11 Cautiousness

ASPIRING ANDGOVERNING

ORGANS

12 Approbativeness

13 Self-Esteem14 Firmness

MORALSENTIMENTS

15 Conscientious-ness

16 Hope17 Spirituality18 Veneration19 Benevolence

PERFECTIVEFACULTIES

20 Constructiveness

21 Ideality

22 Imitation

23 Mirthfulness

PERCEPTIVEFACULTIES

24 Individuality25 Form26 Size27 Weight28 Color29 Order30 Calculation31 Locality

LITERARYFACULTIES

32 Eventuality33 Time34 Tune35 Language

REASONINGFACULTIES

34 Causality35 Comparison

Illustration: Elem

ents of Phrenology

Frontispiece, by G

eorge Com

bes; organ names by S

amuel R

. Wells, after O

. S. F

owler

REFLEX POINTS OF THE EAR1 Body warmer2 Heel3 Feet and toes4 Ankle5 Hand and fingers6 Knees7 Hips8 Upper leg9 Kidney10 Back pain11 Wrist12 Lower back13 Elbow14 Liver15 Upper arm16 Spleen17 Upper back18 Shoulder19 Forehead20 Back of head21 Neck22 Face and body reflexes

(under ear lobe)

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Stars, the Taurus body type is described as having“the bump of amativeness well developed” (seeillustration for location). Phrenology was promot-ed and popularized by Franz Joseph Gall (1757-1828), a Viennese physician, who first called it thescience of "craniology," or "organology," with theclaim that the physiology of the brain was directlylinked to the capacity and character of the mind.This meant that not only did the size and shape ofthe skull give direct indication of mental capacityand attributes, but exercise of specific parts of thebrain, or even manipulation of the skull, couldchange or develop its faculties.

Gall’s cranioscopy (cranium=skull, scopos=vision) was later renamed phrenology (phrenos=mind, logos=study) by his followers.

With his revolutionary concepts on brain local-ization, Gall offended religious leaders and scien-tists alike. The Church considered his theory ascontrary to religion (that the mind, created by God,should have a physical seat in brain matter, wasanathema). Established science also condemnedhim for many reasons, including the fact that hecould not provide real scientific proof of his theo-ry; but also because phrenology was quickly takenover by quacks and was considered a kind ofmoney-making fraud. However, Gall made manycontributions to "real science," such as his discov-ery that the gray matter of the brain contained cellbodies (neurons) and the white matter containedfibers (axons). His concept that brain function waslocalized was later proved to be correct.

Gall and his followers identified 37 mental(“intellectual”) and moral (“affective”) facultieswhich they thought were represented in the exteri-or surface of the skull and could be palpated, mea-sured, and diagnosed. Gall surmised that just asmuscles grow larger when they are exercised, dif-ferent parts of the brain would either grow or shrinkwith use. Therefore, the shape and surface of theskull could be read as an index of an individual'snatural capacities, aptitudes, and tendencies.

Gall's organology of the mind was not directlybased on his neuroanatomical research. Nevertheless,it contributed to studying the mind biologicallyrather than philosophically.

The “reflex” principle in the case of skull

“topography” refers the investigator not to otherparts of the physical body but to soul qualities.

Dr. Norman Walker did much to make betterknown the relationship of the colon to other bodyorgans. In Colon Health, The Key to a Vibrant Life,Walker describes the impact of a dysfunctionalcolon on a number of glands (pituitary, thyroid,thymus) and organs. It should come as no surprisethat negative emotions, such as fear and anger,impair digestion and compromise the integrity andoperation of the colon. The segmented form of thecolon lends itself, like the iris and teeth, to a corre-lation with the somatic counterparts of each sec-tion. The first section, or ascending colon, co-ordi-nates primarily with organs and glands in the head;the transverse colon with the upper and middletorso, and the descending colon with the organsconnected to the digestive tract after the stomach,the kidneys and urinary tract, and the generativeorgans. Colon therapy—including enemas,colonics, intensive live vegetable juice regimens,the elimination of toxic and constipating sub-stances, the avoidance of stimulants, drinking ofample amounts of distilled water, liver and kidneydetoxification, purification of the lymph system byexercise as well as the foregoing measures—simultaneously improves the health of the colon,all other bodily organs, and the individual’s emo-

RAYS 04 55

NORMAL COLONSPHINCTERS and SACCULATIONS

and their INTERRELATION withANATOMICAL CENTERS and PATHOLOGY

LUNGS AND BRONCHIA

HEART

DIGESTED FOOD REFLEX

HEART DISCORDANCE

UNDIGESTEDFOOD REFLEX

GALL BLADDER

MALE &FEMALEGENITALS

STOMACH

SINUS

PELVISEYES & EARS

EUSTACHIAN TUBES

LIVER

PARATHYROID

CALCIUMDEFICIENCY

THYROIDMINERALDEFICIENCY

MAMMARYGLANDSASTHMA

NASAL CATARRHCHRONIC

ACUTE

SPLEEN

PANCREAS

ADRENALS

KIDNEYS

GENITALGLANDS

TESTES

BLADDER

PROSTATE

THYMUS

HAY FEVER

PITUITARY GLAND

Illustration after Norm

an Walker

tional and mental well being. Whole-body diagno-sis through colonic analysis is not as feasible asother organ reflexologies, given its relative inac-cessibility.

Once one discerns the operation of the law ofanalogy as it applies to the smaller anatomical unitreflecting the larger, and the part representing thewhole, one might think that the teeth, given theirsymmetry and specificity, clearly demonstrate thislaw, as the above illustration confirms.The ener-getic relationship of teeth to organ systems isunknown to the general population, but may beverified using electro-acupuncture. A speciallydeveloped machine can read specific points in anorgan’s acupuncture energy meridian. The healthof one depends on the health of the other. Forinstance, the bilateral upper 2 molars, and lower 2premolars are linked to the mammary glands. Theveterinary doctor Gloria Dodd confirmed a breasttumor in a Sealyham bitch related to an infectedlower premolar. She pulled the tooth, treated thedog with homeopathy, and 6 months later, thebreast tumor disappeared.

It is clear from the tooth chart that the teeth canalso be grouped on an elemental basis, whichrelates each tooth to one of the four ethers,although here the Chinese element system is used.

While this brief study had considered severalhuman organs or structures as compendiums of allthe body’s systems and organs, providing therebya diagnostic and in some cases therapeutic tool, itis helpful to remember that we see what we lookfor. Max Heindel knew that some people “lookupon astrology as merely a matter of calculationand upon palmistry and phrenology as materialsciences, without any spiritual significance. Whothus views these sciences would be blameless if heused them as a means of livelihood, while anyonewho had obtained an idea of the spiritual side ofthese sciences would, in the estimation of thewriter, be prostituting his knowledge.” This articlehas primarily sought to introduce the reader to theconcept of organ reflexology. Further study andmeditation will give insight into the spiritual sig-nificance of these relationships. p

—C.W.

56 RAYS 04

Designed by D

r. Todd Ravins and S

tephen Weisz, G

raphics by Gina F

iore

Tooth-Organ Relationship Chart

Left Side

Rig

ht S

ide

SOME PEOPLE “demand” perfect healthand claim they have a right to it. Theyforget that either in this or in a former lifethey may have forfeited their God-givenright through disobedience to Nature’s

laws, which are God’s laws. Through suffering theyhave to learn obedience. When they have masteredthis lesson and are willing to “sin no more,” theirright to health will be restored to them.

The Divine Healing Force is constructive. Wrongmethods of living which disregard the laws ofNature are destructive.

The omissions and transgressions responsible forwrong living, and consequently of disease, are many.The following are the principal ones: unnatural food;too much food, ill proportioned food; lack of freshair and sunshine; lack of cleanliness; lack of exer-cise; lack of rest and sleep; lack of self-control;sleeping in unventilated rooms; harboring thoughtsof anger, hatred, and resentment; yielding to a hastytemper; gratifying low desires; harming fellow crea-tures, whether human or animal; abusing the sacredgenerative function.

Since all the organs and functions of the body areinterdependent, the abuse and consequent afflictionof one part hurts all the others, furthers the accumu-lation of disease poison throughout the system, andlowers the vitality of the whole. The local symptomsare only evidence of the whole body being at fault.Therefore, all true healing, in order to achieve last-ing results, is directed not to the suppression ofsymptoms, but to the removal of the cause that madethe symptoms appear.

Spiritual healing operates on the higher planes ofbeing but is effected in strict adherence to Nature’slaws, which prevail below as above. Consequently,all natural therapeutics applied on the physical planeare in harmony with the work of the Invisible

Helpers on the higher planes. p

Visible Helpers are just as necessary as InvisibleHelpers, and our friends and patients may share in ahigh privilege, as well as add much to the power ofliberated healing force, by joining us in prayer for thesick. Our Healing Service is held every evening inthe Healing Temple at 6:30 (7:30 when Daylight timeis in effect) and in the Pro-Ecclesia at 4:15 P.M. whenthe Moon is in a cardinal sign on the following dates:

January.............................5—13—20—26February...................3—10—17—24—30

Relax, close your eyes, and make a mental pictureof the white rose in the center of the RosicrucianEmblem on the west wall of our Pro-Ecclesia, andconcentrate on Divine Love and Healing.

RAYS 04 57

Right Living and the “Right” to Health

HEALINGS

tained glass (19th century), Christ H

eals a Blind M

an, Lancaster, Lancashire, England

EVERY AFTERNOON, asthey were coming fromschool, the children used togo and play in the Giant's gar-den. It was a large lovely gar-

den, with soft green grass. Here and thereover the grass stood beautiful flowers likestars, and there were twelve peach-treesthat in the spring-time broke out into del-icate blossoms of pink and pearl, and inthe autumn bore rich fruit. The birds saton the trees and sang so sweetly that thechildren used to stop their games in orderto listen to them. "How happy we arehere!" they cried to each other.

One day the Giant came back. He hadbeen to visit his friend the Cornish ogre,and had stayed with him for seven years.After the seven years were over he hadsaid all that he had to say, for his conver-sation was limited, and he determined toreturn to his own castle. When he arrivedhe saw the children playing in the garden.

"What are you doing here?" he cried ina very gruff voice, and the children ranaway.

"My own garden is my own garden," said theGiant; "any one can understand that, and I willallow nobody to play in it but myself." So he built ahigh wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED!

He was a very selfish Giant.The poor children had now nowhere to play. They

tried to play on the road, but the road was very dustyand full of hard stones, and they did not like it. Theyused to wander round the high wall when theirlessons were over, and talk about the beautiful gar-den inside. "How happy we were there," they said toeach other.

Then the Spring came, and all over the countrythere were little blossoms and little birds. Only inthe garden of the Selfish Giant it was still winter.The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no

58 RAYS 04

The Selfish Giant

FOR CHILDRENO

riginal artwork for this story by A

lan Gregory

children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once abeautiful flower put its head out from the grass, butwhen it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for thechildren that it slipped back into the ground again,and went off to sleep. The only people who werepleased were the Snow and the Frost. "Spring hasforgotten this garden," they cried, "so we will livehere all the year round." The Snow covered up thegrass with her great white cloak, and the Frost paint-ed all the trees silver. Then they invited the NorthWind to stay with them, and he came. He waswrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the gar-den, and blew the chimney-pots down. "This is adelightful spot," he said, "we must ask the Hail on avisit." So the Hail came. Every day for three hourshe rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke mostof the slates, and then he ran round and round thegarden as fast as he could go. He was dressed ingrey, and his breath was like ice.

"I cannot understand why the Spring is so late incoming," said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the win-dow and looked out at his cold white garden; "Ihope there will be a change in the weather."

But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. TheAutumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to theGiant's garden she gave none. "He is too selfish,"she said. So it was always Winter there, and theNorth Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and theSnow danced about through the trees.

One morning the Giant was lying awake in bedwhen he heard some lovely music. It sounded sosweet to his ears that he thought it must be theKing's musicians passing by. It was really only a lit-tle linnet singing outside his window, but it was solong since he had heard a bird sing in his garden thatit seemed to him to be the most beautiful music inthe world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over hishead, and the North Wind ceased roaring, and a deli-cious perfume came to him through the open case-ment. "I believe the Spring has come at last," saidthe Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.

What did he see? He saw a most wonderful sight.Through a little hole in the wall the children hadcrept in, and they were sitting in the branches of thetrees. In every tree that he could see there was alittle child. And the trees were so glad to have the

RAYS 04 59

Original artw

ork for this story by Alan G

regory

children back again that they had covered them-selves with blossoms, and were waving their armsgently above the children's heads. The birds wereflying about and twittering with delight, and theflowers were looking up through the green grass andlaughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner itwas still winter. It was the farthest corner of the gar-den, and in it was standing a little boy. He was sosmall that he could not reach up to the branches ofthe tree, and he was wandering all round it, cryingbitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered withfrost and snow, and the North Wind was blowingand roaring above it. "Climb up! little boy," said theTree, and it bent its branches down as low as itcould; but the boy was too tiny.

And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out."How selfish I have been!" he said; "now I knowwhy the Spring would not come here. I will put thatpoor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I willknock down the wall, and my garden shall be thechildren's playground for ever and ever." He wasreally very sorry for what he had done.

So he crept downstairs and opened the front doorquite softly, and went out into the garden. But whenthe children saw him they were so frightened thatthey all ran away, and the garden became winteragain. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyeswere so full of tears that he did not see the Giantcoming. And the Giant stole up behind him and tookhim gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree.And the tree broke at once into blossom, and thebirds came and sang on it, and the little boystretched out his two arms and flung them round theGiant's neck, and kissed him. And the other chil-dren, when they saw that the Giant was not wickedany longer, came running back, and with them camethe Spring. "It is your garden now, little children,"said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knockeddown the wall. And when the people were going tomarket at twelve o'clock they found the Giant play-ing with the children in the most beautiful gardenthey had ever seen.

All day long they played, and in the evening theycame to the Giant to bid him good-bye.

"But where is your little companion?" he said:"the boy I put into the tree." The Giant loved him thebest because he had kissed him.

"We don't know," answered the children; "he hasgone away."

"You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow," said the Giant. But the children said thatthey did not know where he lived, and had neverseen him before; and the Giant felt very sad.

Every afternoon, when school was over, the chil-dren came and played with the Giant. But the littleboy whom the Giant loved was never seen again.The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet helonged for his first little friend, and often spoke ofhim. "How I would like to see him!" he used to say.

Years went over, and the Giant grew very old andfeeble. He could not play about any more, so he satin a huge armchair, and watched the children at theirgames, and admired his garden. "I have many beau-tiful flowers," he said; "but the children are the mostbeautiful flowers of all."

One winter morning he looked out of his windowas he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now,for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep,and that the flowers were resting.

Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, andlooked and looked. It certainly was a marvelloussight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a treequite covered with lovely white blossoms. Itsbranches were all golden, and silver fruit hungdown from them, and underneath it stood the littleboy he had loved.

Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out intothe garden. He hastened across the grass, and camenear to the child. And when he came quite close hisface grew red with anger, and he said, "Who hathdared to wound thee?" For on the palms of thechild's hands were the prints of two nails, and theprints of two nails were on the little feet.

"Who hath dared to wound thee?" cried the Giant;"tell me, that I may take my big sword and slayhim."

"Nay!" answered the child; "but these are thewounds of Love."

"Who art thou?" said the Giant, and a strange awefell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

And the child smiled on the Giant, and said tohim, "You let me play once in your garden, to-dayyou shall come with me to my garden, which isParadise."

And when the children ran in that afternoon, theyfound the Giant lying dead under the tree, all cov-ered with white blossoms. p

—Oscar Wilde

60 RAYS 04