[PAGE 1]                                       ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION





                             ANCIENT AND MODERN

                                 INITIATION

                                     BY

                                 MAX HEINDEL
                                 [1865-1919]






                         THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP

                         INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

                                MT. ECCLESIA

                                 P.O BOX 713

                     OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, 92054, U.S.A.

                                   -------





[PAGE 3]                                       ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION


                                   FORWARD

   Within  the pages of this little volume are to be found some of the  most
priceless  gems belonging to the deepest phases of the  Christian  religion.
These  gems are the result of the spiritual investigations of that  inspired
and  illumined  Seer,  Max Heindel,  the authorized messenger of  the  Elder
Brothers  of the Rose Cross,  who are working to disseminate throughout  the
Western World the deeper spiritual meanings which are both concealed and re-
vealed within the Christian religion.

   The various important steps as outlined in the life of our Savior, Christ
Jesus,  form the general plan of Initiation for humanity.   Max  Heindel  in
this  work gives a deeper and more mystic insight into this alchemical  pro-
cess as it takes place in the body of man himself.  For we are but "a little
lower than the angels...and it doth not yet appear what we shall be."

   This volume will be a welcome addition to the libraries of many ministers
and church organizations throughout the world.   It will sound a new note of
inspiration and encouragement to all those who labor in His name.


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   The  Rosicrucian  School has a priceless heritage in the  opportunity  to
promulgate,  during this crucial time in the spiritual evolution of men  and
nations,  the esoteric teachings belonging to the Christian  Church.   "Unto
whomsoever much is given,  of him shall be much required."   Therefore it is
in  the  spirit of reverence and humility that  the  Rosicrucian  Fellowship
dedicates  the priceless teachings contained within this little book to  the
service of all humanity.

   May its Truth enlighten,  its Wisdom guide, and its Love enfold all those
who come to partake of its Waters of Life.   And may each one who comes find
the Illumined Way that is outlined herein.

   "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls.
Who,  when he had found one pearl of great price,  went and sold all that he
had and bought it."


[PAGE 5]                                       ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

                                   PART I

                      THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS

Chapter                                                      Page

  I.--The Atlantean Mystery Temple............................. 9

 II.--The Brazen Altar and Laver...............................17

III.--East Room of the Temple..................................28

 IV.--The Ark of the Covenant..................................36

  V.--The Sacred Shekinah Glory................................46

 VI.--The New Moon and Initiation..............................54

                                   PART II

                       THE CHRISTIAN MYSTIC INITIATION

  I.--The Annunciation and Immaculate Conception...............63

 II.--Mystic Rite of Baptism...................................75

III.--The Temptation...........................................84

 IV.--The Transfiguration......................................91

  V.--The Last Supper and Footwashing.........................102

 VI.--Gethsemane, the Garden of Grief.........................109

VII.--The Stigmata and the Crucifixion........................114


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                                ILLUSTRATIONS

                                                             Page

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness                     (Frontpiece)

The Brazen Laver...............................................22

The Holy Place and the Holy of the Holies......................33

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness
   "The Shadow of Good Things to Come".........................51

Christian Mystic Initiation: The Path Through the Heart........59

The Nine Steps of the Christian Mystic Initiation..............65

The Process of Transfiguration.................................94


[PAGE 7]                                       ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION



                                  PART ONE



                               THE TABERNACLE

                             IN THE WILDERNESS





[PAGE 9]                                       ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                 CHAPTER ONE

                         THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE

   Ever  since mankind,  the prodigal spirit sons of our Father  in  Heaven,
wandered  into  the wilderness of the world and fed upon the  husks  of  its
pleasures, which starve the body, there has been within man's heart a sound-
less voice urging him to return;  but most men are so engrossed in  material
interests that they hear it not.   The Mystic Mason who has heard this inner
voice feels impelled by an inner urge to seek for the Lost Word;  to build a
house of God,  a temple of the spirit, where he may meet the Father face  to
face and answer His call.

   Nor is he dependent upon his own resources in this quest,  for our Father
in Heaven has Himself prepared a way marked with guide posts which will lead
us to Him if we follow.   But as we have forgotten the divine Word and would
be unable now to comprehend  its  meaning,  the  Father  speaks to us in the


[PAGE 10]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

language of symbolism,  which both hides and reveals the spiritual truths we
must understand before we can come to Him.   Just as we give to our children
picture  books  which reveal to their nascent  minds  intellectual  concepts
which they could not otherwise understand, so also each God-given symbol has
a deep meaning which could not be learned without that symbol.

   God is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit.  It is therefore strictly
forbidden  to  make a material likeness of Him,  for nothing we  could  make
would convey an adequate idea.   But as we hail the flag of our country with
joy and enthusiasm because it awakens in our breasts the tenderest  feelings
for home and our loved ones,  because it stirs our noblest impulse,  because
it  is a symbol of all the things which we hold dear,  so also do  different
divine  symbols which have been given to mankind from time to time speak  to
that forum of truth which is within our hearts, and awaken our consciousness
to  divine  ideas entirely beyond words.   Therefore  symbolism,  which  has
played an all-important part in our past evolution,  is still a prime neces-
sity  in our spiritual development;  hence the advisability of  studying  it
with our intellects and our hearts.

   It  is obvious that our mental attitude today depends on how  we  thought
yesterday,  also that our present condition and circumstances depend on  how
we worked or shirked in the past.   Every new thought or idea which comes to
us we view in the light of our previous experience, and thus we see that our
present  and  future  are  determined by our previous living.  Similarly the


[PAGE 11]                                       THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE

path of spiritual endeavor which we have hewn out for ourselves in past  ex-
istences  determines our present attitude and the way we must go  to  attain
our  aspirations.   Therefore we can gain no true perspective of our  future
development unless we first familiarize ourselves with the past.

   It  is in recognition of this fact that modern Masonry harks back to  the
temple  of Solomon.   That is very well as far as it goes,  but in order  to
gain  the fullest perspective we must also take into consideration  the  an-
cient Atlantean Mystery Temple,  the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.   We must
understand the relative importance of that Tabernacle, also of the first and
second temples, for there were vital differences between them,  each fraught
with cosmic significance;  and within them all was the foreshadowing of  the
CROSS, sprinkled with BLOOD, which was turned to ROSES.

                      THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS

   We  read in the Bible the story of how Noah and a remnant of  his  people
with him were saved from the flood and formed the nucleus of the humanity of
the Rainbow Age in which we now live.  It is also stated that Moses led  his
people out of Egypt, the land of the Bull, Taurus,  through waters which en-
gulfed  their  enemies and set them free as a chosen people to  worship  the
Lamb,  Aries,  into which sign the sun had then entered by precession of the
equinox.  These two narratives relate to one and the same incident,  namely,
the emergence of infant humanity  from the doomed continent of Atlantis into


[PAGE 12]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the  present  age  of alternating cycles where summer and  winter,  day  and
night,  ebb and flow,  follow each other.   As humanity had then just become
endowed  with mind,  they began to realize the loss of the  spiritual  sight
which  they had hitherto possessed,  and they developed a yearning  for  the
spirit world and their divine guides which remains to this day, for humanity
has never ceased to mourn their loss.   Therefore the ancient Atlantean Mys-
tery Temple,  the Tabernacle in the Wilderness,  was given to them that they
might meet the Lord when they had qualified themselves by service and subju-
gation of the lower nature by the Higher Self.  Being designed by Jehovah it
was  the  embodiment of great cosmic truths hidden by a  veil  of  symbolism
which spoke to the inner or Higher Self.

   In  the  first place it is worthy of notice that this  divinely  designed
Tabernacle was given to a chosen people, who were to build it from  freewill
offerings given out of the fullness of their hearts.  Herein is a particular
lesson,  for  the divine pattern of the path of progress is never  given  to
anyone who has not first made a covenant with God that he will serve Him and
is  wiling  to  offer  up his heart's blood in a  life  of  service  without
self-seeking   The term "Mason"  is derived from PHREE MESSEN,  which is  an
Egyptian term meaning "Children of Light."  In the parlance of Masonry,  God
is  spoken  of as the Grand Architect.  ARCHE is a greek  word  which  means
"Primordial substance."  TEKTON is  the  Greek name for builder.  It is said


[PAGE 13]                                       THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE

that Joseph, the father of Jesus,  was a "CARPENTER,"  but the Greek word is
TEKTON--builder.   It  is also said that Jesus was a  "tekton,"  a  builder.
Thus every true mystic Freemason is a child of light according to the divine
pattern  given him by our Father in Heaven.   To this end he  dedicates  his
whole heart,  soul,  and mind.   It is, or should be,  his aspiration to  be
"greatest  in the kingdom of God,"  and therefore he must be THE SERVANT  OF
ALL.

   The next point which calls for notice is the location of the temple  with
respect to the cardinal points,  and we find that it was laid directly  east
and  west.   Thus we see that the path of spiritual progress is the same  as
the star of empire;  it travels from east to west.   The aspirant entered at
the  eastern gate and pursued the path by way of the Altar of  Burnt  Offer-
ings,  the Brazen Laver,  and the Holy Place to the westernmost part of  the
Tabernacle,  where the Ark,  the greatest symbol of all,  was located in the
Holy of Holies.   As the wise men of the East followed the Christ star west-
ward to Bethlehem, so does the spiritual center of the civilized world shift
farther  and farther westward,  until today the crest of the spiritual  wave
which started in China on the western shores of the Pacific has now  reached
the eastern shores of the same ocean, where it is gathering strength to leap
once more in its cyclic journey across the waste of waters, to recommence in
a far future a new cyclic journey around the earth.

   The ambulant nature of this Tabernacle  in the Wilderness is therefore an


[PAGE 14]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

excellent  symbolical  representation of the fact that man is  migratory  in
hisnature, an eternal pilgrim, ever passing from the shores of time to eter-
nity and back again.   As a planet revolves in its cyclic journey around the
primary sun, so man, the little world or microcosm, travels in cyclic circle
dance around God, who is the source and goal of all.

   The great care and attention to detail regarding the construction of  the
Tabernacle in the Wilderness shows that something far more exalted than what
struck the eye of sense was intended in its construction.  Under its earthly
and material show there was designed a representation of things heavenly and
spiritual  such as should be full of instruction to the candidate  for  Ini-
tiation and should not this reflection excite us to seek an intimate and fa-
miliar  acquaintance with this ancient sanctuary?   Surely it becomes us  to
consider all parts of its plan with serious, careful, and reverential atten-
tion,  remembering at every step the heavenly origin of it all,  and  humbly
endeavoring to penetrate through the shadows of its earthly service into the
sublime  and glorious realities which according to the wisdom of the  spirit
it proposes for our solemn contemplation.

   In  order  that we may gain a proper conception of this sacred  place  we
must consider the Tabernacle itself,  its furniture and its court.   The il-
lustration opposite page 33 may assist the student to form a better  concep-
tion of the arrangement within.


[PAGE 15]                                       THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE

                         THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE

   This  was an enclosure which surrounded the Tabernacle.   Its length  was
twice its width, and the ate was at the east end.  This gate was enclosed by
a curtain of blue,  scarlet, and purple fine twined linen,  and these colors
show  us  at once the status of this Tabernacle in the Wilderness.   We  are
taught in the sublime gospel of John that "God is Light," and no description
or  similitude could convey a better conception or one more enlightening  to
the spiritual mind than these words.   When we consider that even the great-
est  of modern telescopes have failed to find the borders of  light,  though
they penetrate space for millions and millions of miles,  it gives us a weak
but comprehensive idea of the infinitude of God.

   We know that this light,  which is God,  is refracted into three  primary
colors by the atmosphere surrounding our earth, viz., blue, yellow, and red;
and it is a fact well known to every occultist that the ray of the Father is
blue,  while that of the Son is yellow,  and the color of the Holy  Spirit's
ray is red.  Only the strongest and most spiritual ray can hope to penetrate
to the seat of consciousness of the life wave embodied in our mineral  king-
dom, and therefore we find about the mountain ranges the blue ray of the Fa-
ther  reflected  back from the barren hillsides and hanging as a  haze  over
canyons and gulches.   The yellow ray of the Son mixed with the blue of  the
Father gives life and vitality to the plant world,  which therefore reflects
back  a  green color, for it is incapable of keeping the ray WITHIN.  But in


[PAGE 16]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the  animal  kingdom,  to which unregenerate man belongs  anatomically,  the
three rays are absorbed,  and that of the Holy Spirit gives the red color to
his flesh and blood.   The mixture of the blue and the red is evident in the
purple blood,  poisoned because sinful.  But the yellow is never evident un-
til it manifests as a soul body, the golden "WEDDING garment"  of the mystic
Bride of the mystic Christ evolved from within.

   Thus the colors on the veils of the Temple,  both at the gate and at  the
entrance  of the Tabernacle,  showed that this structure was designed for  a
period  previous  to the time of Christ,  for it had only the blue  and  the
scarlet  colors of the Father and the Holy Spirit together with  their  mix-
ture,  purple.   But white is the synthesis of all colors, and therefore the
yellow Christ ray was hidden in that part of the veil until in the  fullness
of time Christ should appear to emancipate us from the ordinances that bind,
and initiate us into the full liberty of Sons of God,  Sons of Light,  Chil-
dren of Light, Phree Messen or Mystic Masons.


[PAGE 16A]                                       THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE


                               ILLUSTRATION:

                             THE BRAZEN LAVER









[PAGE 17]                                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

                                 CHAPTER TWO

                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

   THE BRAZEN ALTAR was placed just inside the eastern gate, and it was used
for the sacrifice of animals during the temple service.   The idea of  using
bulls and goats as sacrifices seems barbaric to the modern mind, and we can-
not realize that they could ever have had any efficacy in that respect.  The
Bible does indeed hear out this view of the matter,  for we are told repeat-
edly  that  God  desires not sacrifice but a broken spirit  and  a  contrite
heart,  and that He has no pleasure in sacrifices of blood.  In view of this
fact it seems strange that sacrifices should ever have been commanded.   But
we  must realize that no religion can elevate those whom it is  designed  to
help  if its teachings are too far above their intellectual or moral  level.
To appeal to a barbarian, religion must have certain barbaric traits.  A re-
ligion of love could not have appealed to those people,  therefore they were
given a law which  demanded  "an  eye  for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."


[PAGE 18]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

There  is not in the Old Testament any mention whatever of immortality,  for
these people could not have understood a heaven nor aspired to it.  But they
loved  material possessions,  and therefore they were told that if they  did
right  they  and  their seed should dwell in the land  forever,  that  their
cattle should be multiplied, et cetera.

   They loved material possessions, and they knew that the increases of  the
flock  were due to the Lord's favor and given by Him for merit.   Thus  they
were taught to do right in the hope of a reward in this present world.  They
were  also deterred from wrongdoing by the swift punishment which was  meted
out to them in retribution for their sins.   This was the only way to  reach
them.   They could not have done right for the sake of right, nor could they
have understood the principle of making themselves "living sacrifices,"  and
they probably felt the loss of an animal for sin as we would feel the  pangs
of conscience because of wrongdoing.

   The Altar was made of brass, a metal not found in nature, but made by man
from  copper  and  zinc.   Thus it is symbolically shown that  sin  was  not
originally contemplated in our scheme of evolution and is an anomaly in  na-
ture as well as its consequences, pain and death, symbolized by the sacrifi-
cial victims.   But while the Altar itself was made from metals artificially
compounded,  the fire which burned thereon unceasingly was of divine origin,
and  it  was kept alive from year to year with the most  jealous  care.   No
other fire was ever used, and we may note with profit that when two presump-


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tuous and rebellious priests dared to disregard this command and use strange
fire,  they met with an awful retribution and instant death.   When we  have
once taken the oath of allegiance to the mystic Master, the HIGHER SELF,  it
is extremely dangerous to disregard the precepts then given.

   When  the candidate appears at the eastern gate he is "poor,  naked,  and
blind."   He is at that moment an object of charity,  needing to be  clothed
and  brought  to the light,  but this cannot be done at once in  the  mystic
Temple.

   During the time of his progress from the condition of nakedness until  he
has  been clothed in the gorgeous robes of the high priest there is  a  long
and difficult path to be traveled.   The first lesson which he is taught  is
that  man advances by sacrifices alone.   In the Christian Mystic Initiation
when the Christ washes the feet of His disciples,  the explanation is  given
that  unless the minerals decomposed and were offered us as embodiments  for
the plant kingdom,  we should have no vegetation;  also,  did not the  plant
food furnish sustenance for the animals, these latter beings could not  find
expression; and so on, the higher is always feeding on the lower.  Therefore
man has a duty to them,  and so the Master washes the feet of His  disciples
symbolically performing for them the menial service as a recognition of  the
fact that they have served Him as stepping-stones to something higher.

   Similarly,  when the candidate is brought to the Brazen Altar,  he learns
the lesson that the animal is sacrificed for his sake, giving  its  body for


[PAGE 20]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

food and its skin for clothing.   Moreover, he sees the dense cloud of smoke
hovering over the Altar and perceives within it a light,  but that light  is
too dim,  too much enshrouded in smoke, to be of permanent guidance to  him.
His spiritual eyes are weak,  however, and it would not do to expose them at
once to the light of greater spiritual truths.

   We are told by the apostle Paul that the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was
a  shadow  of greater things to come.  It may therefore be of  interest  and
profit to see what is the meaning of this Brazen Altar,  with its sacrifices
and burning flesh, to the candidate who comes to the Temple in modern times.
In  order that we may understand this mystery,  we must first grasp the  one
great  and  absolutely essential idea which underlies  all  true  mysticism,
viz.,  that these things are WITHIN and not without.   Angelus Silesius says
about the Cross:

   "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
   And not within thyself thy soul will be forlorn.
   The Cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
   Unless within thyself it be set up again."

   This idea must be applied to every symbol and phase of mystic experience.
It is not the Christ without that saves, but THE CHRIST WITHIN.   The Taber-
nacle was built at one time; it is clearly seen in the Memory of Nature when
the interior sight has been developed to a sufficient degree;  but no one is
ever helped by the outward symbol.  We must build the Tabernacle within  our


[PAGE 21]                                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

own hearts and consciousness.   We must live through, as an actual inner ex-
perience,  the whole ritual of service there.  We must become both the Altar
of sacrifice and the sacrificial animal lying upon it.   We must become both
the  priest  that slays the animal and the animal that is slain.   Later  we
must learn to identify ourselves with the mystic Laver, and we must learn to
wash therein in spirit.  Then we must enter behind the first veil,  minister
in the East Room,  and so on through the whole Temple service till we BECOME
the greatest of all these ancient symbols,  the Shekinah Glory,  or it  will
avail us nothing.   In short, before the symbol of the Tabernacle can really
help us,  we must transfer it from the wilderness of space to a home in  our
hearts so that when we have become everything that that symbol is,  we shall
also have become that which it stands for spiritually.

   Let  us then commence to build within ourselves the Altar  of  sacrifice,
first that we may offer upon it our wrongdoings and then expiate them in the
crucible  of remorse.   This is done under the modern system of  preparation
for discipleship by an exercise performed in the evening and  scientifically
designed  by the Hierophants of the Western Mystery School for the  advance-
ment of the aspirant on the path which leads to discipleship.  Other schools
have given a similar exercise,  but this one differs in one particular point
from  all previous methods.   After explaining the exercises we  shall  also
give the reason for this great and cardinal difference.  This special method
has such a far-reaching effect that it enables one to learn now not only the


[PAGE 22]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

lessons  which one should ordinarily learn in this life,  but also attain  a
development which otherwise could not be reached until future lives.

   After  retiring for the night the body is relaxed.   This is very  impor-
tant,  for when any part of the body is tense,  the blood does not circulate
unimpeded;  part  of it is temporarily imprisoned under  pressure.   As  all
spiritual development depends upon the blood,  the maximum effort to  attain
soul growth cannot be made when any part of the body is in tension.

   When perfect relaxation has been accomplished, the aspirant to the higher
life begins to review the scenes of the day,  but he does not start with the
occurrences  of the morning and finish with the events of the  evening.   He
views  them  in REVERSE order:   first the scenes of the evening,  then  the
events  of the afternoon,  and lastly the occurrences of the  morning.   The
reason  for this is that from the moment of birth when the child  draws  its
first complete breath, the air which is inspired into the lungs carries with
it a picture of the outside world, and as the blood courses through the left
ventricle  of the heart,  each scene of life is pictured upon a minute  atom
located there.   Every breath brings with it new pictures, and thus there is
engraved  upon that little seed atom a record of every scene and act in  our
whole life from the first breath to the last dying gasp.   After death these
pictures from the basis of our purgatorial existence.   Under the conditions
of the spirit world we suffer pangs of conscience so acute that they are un-
believable  for  every  evil  deed we have done, and we are thus discouraged


[PAGE 23]                                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

from continuing on the path of wrongdoing.   The intensity of the joys which
we experience on account of our good deeds acts as a goad to spur us on  the
path of virtue in future lives.   But in the post-mortem existence this pan-
orama of life is reenacted in reverse order for the purpose of showing first
the  effects  and then the causes which generated them that the  spirit  may
learn how the law of cause and effect operates in life.   Therefore the  as-
pirant  who  is under the scientific guidance of the Elder Brothers  of  the
Rosicrucians is taught to perform his evening exercise also in reverse order
and  to judge himself each day that he may escape the purgatorial  suffering
after  death.   But let it be understood that no mere perfunctory review  of
the scenes of the day will avail.   It is not enough when we come to a scene
where we have grievously wronged somebody that we just say,  "Well,  I  feel
rather sorry that I did it.  I wish I had not done it."  At that time we are
the sacrificial animal lying upon the Alter of Burnt Offerings,  and  unless
we can feel in our hearts the divinely enkindled fire of remorse burn to the
very marrow of our bones because of our wrongdoings during the day,  we  are
not accomplishing anything.

   During the ancient dispensation all the sacrifices were rubbed with  salt
before being placed upon the Altar of Burnt Offerings.   We all know how  it
smarts  and  burns when we accidentally rub salt into a fresh  wound.   This
rubbing  of salt into the sacrifices in that ancient Mystery Temple  symbol-
ized the intensity of the burning which we must feel when we as living  sac-
rifices place ourselves upon the  Altar of Burnt Offerings.  It is the feel-


[PAGE 24]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

ing  of  remorse,  of deep and sincere sorrow for what we have  done,  which
eradicates the picture from the seed atom and leaves it clean and stainless,
so that as under the ancient dispensation transgressors were justified  when
they  brought  to the Altar of Burnt Offerings a sacrifice which  was  there
burnt,  so we in modern times by scientifically performing the evening exer-
cise  of retrospection wipe away the record of our sins.   It is a  foregone
conclusion  that  we cannot continue evening after evening to  perform  this
living sacrifice without becoming better in consequence and ceasing,  little
by little,  to do the things for which we are forced to blame ourselves when
we have retired for the night.   Thus, in addition to cleansing us from  our
faults  this exercise elevates us to a higher level of spirituality than  we
could otherwise reach in the present life.

   It is also noteworthy that when anyone had committed a grievous crime and
fled to the sanctuary,  he found safety in the shadow of the Altar of sacri-
fice, for there only the divinely enkindled fire could execute judgment.  He
escaped  the  hands  of  man  by putting himself  under  the  hand  of  God.
Similarly  also,  the aspirant who acknowledges his  wrongdoing  nightly  by
fleeing  to the altar of living judgment thereby obtains sanctuary from  the
law  of cause and effect,  and "though his sins be as scarlet they shall  be
white as snow."

                              THE BRAZEN LAVER

   The Brazen laver was a large basin  which  was always kept full of water.


[PAGE 25]                                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

It  is  said in the Bible that it was carried on the backs of  twelve  oxen,
also  made of brass,  and we are told that their hind parts were toward  the
center of the vessel.  It appears from the Memory of Nature,  however,  that
those  animals  were not oxen but symbolical representations of  the  twelve
signs of the zodiac.   Humanity was at that time divided into twelve groups,
one  group  for each zodiacal sign.  Each symbolic animal attracted  a  par-
ticular ray, and as the holy water used today in Catholic churches is magne-
tized by the priest during the ceremony of consecration,  so also the  water
in this Laver was magnetized by the divine Hierarchics who guided humanity.

   There  can be no doubt concerning the power of holy water prepared  by  a
strong and magnetic personality.   It takes on or absorbs the effluvia  from
his vital body,  and the people who use it become amenable to his rule in  a
degree commensurate to their sensitiveness.   Consequently the Brazen Lavers
in the ancient Atlantean mystery Temples, where the water was magnetized  by
divine Hierarchs of immeasurable power,  were a potent factor in guiding the
people  in  accordance  with the wishes of these ruling  powers.   Thus  the
priests were in perfect subjection to the mandates and dictates of their un-
seen  spiritual  leaders,  and through them the people were made  to  follow
blindly.  It was required of the priests that they wash their hands and feet
before  going into the Tabernacle proper.  If this command was  not  obeyed,
death  would follow immediately on the priest entering into the  Tabernacle.
We  may  therefore  say  that  as  the  keyword  of  the  Brazen  Altar  was


[PAGE 26]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

"justification" so the central idea of the Brazen Laver was "consecration."

   "Many  are called but few are chosen."  We have the example of  the  rich
young man who came to Christ asking what he must do to be perfect.   He  as-
serted  that he had kept the law, but when Christ gave the command,  "Follow
me,"  he could not, for he had many riches which held him fast as in a vise.
Like the great majority he was content if he could only escape condemnation,
and like them he was too lukewarm to strive for commendation merited by ser-
vice.   The Brazen Laver is the symbol of sanctification and consecration of
the  life  to service.   As Christ entered upon His  three  years'  ministry
through  the  baptismal waters,  so the aspirant to service in  the  ancient
Temple  must sanctify himself in the sacred stream which must sanctify  him-
self in the sacred stream which flowed from the Molten Sea.   And the mystic
Mason endeavoring to build a temple "without sound of hammer"  and to  serve
therein must also consecrate himself and sanctify himself.  He must be will-
ing to give up all earthly possessions that he may follow the CHRIST WITHIN.
Though  he may retain his material possessions he must regard them as a  sa-
cred  trust to be used by him as a wise steward would use his master's  pos-
sessions.   And  we must be ready in everything to obey this  Christ  within
when he says,  "Follow me," even though the shadow of the Cross looms darkly
at the end, for without this utter abandonment of the life to the Light,  to
the higher purposes, there can be no progress.  Even as the Spirit descended
upon Jesus when he arose from the baptismal water of consecration,  so  also


[PAGE 27]                                         THE BRAZEN ALTAR AND LAVER

the  mystic Mason who bathes in the Laver of the Molten Sea begins dimly  to
hear  the voice of the Master within his own heart teaching him the  secrets
of the Craft that he may use them for the benefit of others.


[PAGE 28]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                CHAPTER THREE

                           EAST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE

   HAVING MOUNTED the first steps upon the path the aspirant stands in front
of the veil which hangs before the mystic Temple.  Drawing this aside he en-
ters into the East Room of the sanctuary,  which was called the HOLY  PLACE.
No  window or opening of any sort was provided in the Tabernacle to  let  in
the  light  of day,  but this room was never dark.   Night and  day  it  was
brightly illuminated by burning lamps.

   Its furniture was symbolical of the methods whereby the aspirant may make
SOUL GROWTH BY SERVICE.  It consisted of three principal articles:   The AL-
TER  OF INCENSE,  the TABLE OF SHEWBREAD,  and the GOLDEN  CANDLESTICK  from
which the light proceeded.

   It was not allowable for the common Israelite to enter this sacred apart-
ment  and behold the furniture.   No one but a priest might pass  the  outer
veil and go in even as far as this first room.   The Golden Candlestick  was
placed on the south side of the Holy Place so as to be  to  the  left of any


[PAGE 29]                                        THE EAST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE

person  who stood in the middle of the room.   It was made entirely of  pure
gold,  and  consisted of a shaft or principal stem,  rising upright  from  a
base, together with six branches.  These branches started at three different
points on the stem and curved upward in three partial circles of varying di-
ameter,  symbolizing the three periods of development (Saturn, Sun, and Moon
Periods) which man went through before the Earth period,  which was not half
spent.   This  latter period was signified by the seventh  light.   Each  of
these  seven branches terminated in a lamp,  and these lamps  were  supplied
with the purest olive oil, which was made by a special process.  The priests
were  required to take care that the Candlestick was never without a  light.
Every day the lamps were examined,  dressed,  and supplied with oil so  that
they might burn perpetually.

   The  TABLE OF SHEWBREAD was placed on the north side of the apartment  so
as to be in THE RIGHT HAND of the priest when he walked up toward the second
veil.   Twelve  loaves of unleavened bread were continually kept  upon  this
table.   They were placed in two piles, one loaf upon another, and on top of
each  pile there was a small quantity of frankincense.   These  loaves  were
called shewbread, or bread of the face, because they were set solemnly forth
before the presence of the Lord,  who dwelt in the Shekinah Glory behind the
second  veil.   Every Sabbath day these loaves were changed by the  priests,
the  old  ones being taken away and new ones put in their place.   The bread
that was taken away was used by the priests to eat,  and  no  one  else  was


[PAGE 30]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

allowed  to taste it;  neither were they suffered to eat it anywhere  except
within the Court of the Sanctuary,  because it was most holy,  and therefore
might  only be taken by sacred persons upon holy ground.   THE INCENSE  THAT
WAS  UPON THE TWO PILES OF SHEWBREAD WAS BURNED when the bread was  changed,
as an offering by fire unto the Lord, as a memorial instead of the bread.

   The ALTAR OF INCENSE or the Golden Altar was the third article of  furni-
ture  in the East Room of the Temple.  It was situated in the center of  the
room,  that  is to say,  halfway between the north and the south  walls,  in
front of the second veil.  No flesh was ever burned upon this Altar, nor was
it ever touched with blood except on the most solemn occasions, and then its
horns alone were marked with the crimson stain.   The smoke that arose  from
its top was never any other than the smoke of burning incense.  This went up
every morning and evening,  filling the sanctuary with a fragrant cloud  and
sending a refreshing odor out through all the courts and far over the  coun-
try on every side for miles beyond.   Because incense was thus burned  every
day it was called "A PERPETUAL INCENSE before the Lord."

   It was not simple frankincense which was burned,  but a compound of  this
with other sweet spices, made according to the direction of Jehovah for this
special purpose and so considered holy,  such as no man was allowed to  make
like unto for common use.  THE PRIEST WAS CHARGED NEVER TO OFFER STRANGE IN-
CENSE on the Golden Altar, that is, any other than the  sacred  composition.


[PAGE 31]                                        THE EAST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE

This Altar was placed directly before the veil on the outside of it, but be-
fore the Mercy Seat,  which was within the second veil;  for though he  that
ministered  at the Altar of Incense could not see the Mercy Seat because  of
the interposing veil, yet he must look toward it and direct his incense that
way.  And it was customary when the cloud of fragrant incense rose above the
temple  for  all the people who were standing without in the  Court  of  the
Sanctuary to send up their prayers to God, each one silently by himself.

           THE MYSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EAST ROOM AND ITS FURNITURE

                          THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

   As previously said,  when the priest stood in the center of the East Room
of the Tabernacle, the Seven-branched Candlestick was ON HIS LEFT toward the
SOUTH.   This was symbolical of the fact that the seven lightgivers or plan-
ets  which tread the mystic circle dance around the central orb,  the   sun,
travel  in  the narrow belt comprising eight degrees on either side  of  the
sun's  path,  which is called the zodiac.   "God is Light,"  and the  "Seven
Spirits before the Throne"  are God's ministers;  therefore THEY ARE MESSEN-
GERS  OF  LIGHT to humanity.   Furthermore, as the heavens are  ablaze  with
light when the moon in its phases arrives at the "full"  in the eastern part
of  the  heavens,  so also the East Room of the Tabernacle was  filled  with
LIGHT, indicating VISIBLY the presence there of God and His seven Ministers,
the STAR ANGELS.


[PAGE 32]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   We may note,  in passing, the light of the Golden Candlestick,  which was
clear and the flame odorless,  and compare it with the smoke-enveloped flame
on the Altar of Burnt Offerings, which in a certain sense generated darkness
rather  than  dispelled it.   But there is a still deeper and  more  sublime
meaning in this fire symbol,  which we will not take up for discussion until
we  come to the SHEKINAH GLORY, whose dazzling brilliance hovered  over  the
Mercy Seat in the WEST ROOM.  Before we can enter into this subject, we must
understand all the symbols that lie between the Golden Candlestick and  that
sublime Father Fire which was the crowning glory of the Holy of Holies,  the
most sacred part of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.

                           THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD

   The  East  Room of the Temple may be called the Hall of Service,  for  it
corresponds  to the three years'  ministry of Christ,  and contains all  the
paraphernalia for soul growth,  though,  as said,  furnished with only three
principal  articles.   Among the chief of these is the Table  of  Shewbread.
Upon this table, as we have already seen, there were two piles of shewbread,
each containing six loaves, and upon the top of each pile there was a little
heap of frankincense.   The aspirant who came to the Temple door "poor,  na-
ked,  and blind"  has since been brought to the light of the  Seven-branched
Candlestick,  obtaining a certain amount of cosmic knowledge, and THIS HE IS
REQUIRED  TO USE IN THE SERVICE OF HIS FELLOW MEN;  the Table  of  Shewbread
represents this in symbol.


[PAGE 32A]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION



                            ILLUSTRATION:

                     EAST ROOM: THE HOLY PLACE

                 AND WEST ROOM: THE HOLY OF HOLIES




[PAGE 33]                                        THE EAST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE

   The grain from which this shewbread was made had been originally given by
God,  but  then it was planted by mankind,  who had  previously  plowed  and
tilled the soil.   After planting their grain they must cultivate and  water
it;  then when the grain had borne fruit according to the nature of the soil
and the care bestowed upon it, it had to be harvested, threshed, ground, and
baked.   Then the ancient SERVANTS OF GOD had to carry it into  the  Temple,
where  it was placed before the Lord as bread to "SHEW"  THAT THEY HAD  PER-
FORMED THEIR TOIL AND RENDERED THE NECESSARY SERVICE.

   The God-given grains of wheat in the twelve loaves represent the OPPORTU-
NITIES  FOR SOUL GROWTH given by God, which come to all through  the  twelve
departments of life represented by the twelve houses of the horoscope, under
the dominion of the twelve divine Hierarchies known through the signs of the
zodiac.  BUT IT IS THE TASK OF THE MYSTIC MASON, THE TRUE TEMPLE BUILDER, TO
EMBRACE  THESE OPPORTUNITIES,  TO CULTIVATE AND NOURISH THEM SO THAT HE  MAY
REAP THEREFROM THE LIVING BREAD WHICH NURTURES THE SOUL.

   We  do not,  however,  assimilate our physical food IN TOTO;  there is  a
residue, a large proportion of ash, left after we have amalgamated the quin-
tessence into our system.   Similarly,  the shewbread was not burned or con-
sumed  before the Lord,  but two small heaps of frankincense were placed  on
the two stacks of shewbread,  one one each pile.   This was conceived to  be
the aroma thereof,  and was later burned on the Altar of Incense.   Likewise
the  soul sustenance of service gathered daily by the ardent Mystic Mason is


[PAGE 34]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

thrown  into  the mill of retrospection at eventide when he retires  to  his
couch  and  performs  there  the scientific exercises  given  by  the  Elder
Brothers of the Rose Cross.

   There is a time each month which is particularly propitious for  extract-
ing  the frankincense of soul growth and burning it before the lord so  that
it may be a sweet savor,  TO BE AMALGAMATED WITH THE SOUL BODY and form part
of  that golden,  radiant "wedding garment."   This as at the time when  the
moon is at the full.   Then she is in the east,  and the heavens are  ablaze
with  light  as was the East Room of the ancient  Atlantean  Mystery  Temple
where  the  priest  garnered  the pabulum of the  soul,  symbolized  by  the
shewbread  and the fragrant essence,  which delighted our Father  in  Heaven
then as now.

   Let the Mystic Mason take particular note,  however,  that the loaves  of
shewbread  were not the musings of dreamers;  they were not the  product  of
speculation upon the nature of God or light.   THEY WERE THE PRODUCT OF  AC-
TUAL TOIL, of orderly systematic work, and it behooves us to follow the path
of actual service if we would garner treasure in heaven.   Unless we  really
WORK and SERVE humanity, we shall have nothing to bring, no bread to "shew,"
at the Feast of the Full Moon;  and at the mystic marriage of the higher  to
the  lower self we shall find ourselves minus the radiant golden sold  body,
the mystic wedding garment without which the union with Christ can never  be
consummated.


[PAGE 35]                                        THE EAST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE

                            THE ALTER OF INCENSE

   At the Altar of Incense, as we saw in the general description of the Tab-
ernacle and its furniture,  incense was offered before the lord continually,
and the priest who stood before the altar ministering was at that time look-
ing toward the mercy Seat over the Ark,  though it as impossible for him  to
see it because of the SECOND VEIL which was interposed between the first and
second apartments of the Tabernacle,  the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
We have also seen in the consideration of the "shewbread"  that INCENSE sym-
bolizes the extract,  THE AROMA OF THE SERVICE we have rendered according to
our opportunities;  and just as the sacrificial animal upon the Brazen Altar
represents the deeds of wrongdoing committed during the day,  so the incense
burned upon the Golden Altar, which is a sweet savor to the Lord, represents
the virtuous deeds of our lives.


[PAGE 36]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                CHAPTER FOUR

                           THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

   It  is noteworthy  and fraught with great mystic  significance  that  the
aroma  of VOLUNTARY SERVICE is represented as SWEET-SMELLING,  FRAGRANT  IN-
CENSE,  while the odor of sin, selfishness,  and transgression of  the  law,
represented by COMPULSORY SACRIFICE upon the Altar of service,  is  nauseat-
ing; for it needs no great imagination to understand that the cloud of smoke
which  went  up continually from the burning carcasses  of  the  sacrificial
animals  created a nauseating stench to show the exceeding loathsomeness  of
it,  while  the perpetual incense offered upon the Altar before  the  second
veil showed by antithesis the beauty and sublimity of selfless service, thus
exhorting the Mystic Mason,  as a CHILD OF LIGHT, to shun the one and cleave
to the other.

   Let  it be understood also that SERVICE does not consist in  doing  great
things  only.   Some of the heroes,  so-called were mean and small in  their
general lives, and rose only to the occasion upon one great and notable day.


[PAGE 37]                                            THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Martyrs  have  been put on the calendar of saints because they  DIED  for  a
cause; but it is a greater heroism, it is a greater martyrdom sometimes,  to
do  the little things that no one notices and sacrifice self IN SIMPLE  SER-
VICE TO OTHERS.

   We have seen previously that the veil at the entrance to the outer  court
and  the veil in front of th East Room of the Tabernacle were both  made  in
four colors,  blue, red, purple, and white.  But THE SECOND VEIL,  which di-
vided the East Room of the Tabernacle from the West Room,  differed with re-
spect  to  make-up from the other two.  It was wrought with the  figures  of
Cherubim.   We will not consider, however, the significance of this fact un-
til we take up the subject of the NEW MOON AND INITIATION, but will now look
into the second apartment of the Tabernacle,  the western room,  called  the
Most Holy or the Holy of Holies.  Beyond the second veil,  into this  second
apartment,  no mortal might ever pass save the HIGH PRIEST,  and he was only
allowed to enter on one occasion in the whole year, namely, Yom Kippur,  the
Day of Atonement,  and then only after the most solemn preparation and  with
the most reverential care.   The Holiest of All was clothed with the  solem-
nity of another world; it was filled with an unearthly grandeur.   The whole
Tabernacle  was the sanctuary of God,  but here in this place was the  awful
abode of His presence, the special dwelling place of the SHEKINAH GLORY, and
well  might mortal man  tremble  to  present  himself  within  these  sacred


[PAGE 38]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

precincts, as the High Priest must do on the Day of Atonement.

   In  the westernmost end of this apartment,  the western end of the  whole
Tabernacle,  rested the "ARK OF THE COVENANT."   It was a hollow  receptacle
containing the GOLDEN POT OF MANNA, AARON'S ROD THAT BUDDED,  AND THE TABLES
OF  THE LAW which were given to Moses.   While this Ark of the Covenant  re-
mained  in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness,  TWO STAVES WERE ALWAYS  WITHIN
THE FOUR RINGS OF THE ARK so that it could be picked up instantly and moved,
but when the Ark as finally taken to Solomon's Temple, the staves were taken
out.   This is very important in its symbolical significance.  Above the Ark
hovered  the Cherubim,  and between them dwelt the uncreated glory  of  God.
"Three,"  said He to Moses, "I will meet with thee,  and I will commune with
thee from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two Cherubim which are upon
the Ark of the Testimony."

   The glory of the Lord seen above the Mercy Seat was in the appearance  of
a  cloud.   The Lord said to Moses, "Speak unto Aaron they brother  that  he
come not at all time into the Holiest Place within the veil before the Mercy
Seat which is upon the Ark,  that he die not, for I will appear in the cloud
upon the Mercy Seat."   This manifestation of the divine presence was called
among  the  Jews the SHEKINAH GLORY.  Its appearance was attended  no  doubt
with  a  wonderful  spiritual glory of which it is impossible  to  form  any
proper conception.  Out  of  this cloud the voice of God was heard with deep


[PAGE 39]                                            THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

solemnity when He was consulted in behalf of the people.

   When the aspirant has qualified to enter into this place behind the  sec-
ond veil,  he finds everything DARK to the physical eye, and it is necessary
that he should have another light WITHIN.  When he first came to the eastern
Temple gate, he was "POOR, NAKED, AND BLIND," asking for LIGHT.  He was then
shown  the dim light which appeared in the smoke above the Altar  of  sacri-
fice,  and told that in order to advance he must kindle within himself  that
flame by remorse for wrongdoing.   Later on he was shown the more  excellent
light  in  the  East  Room  of the  Tabernacle,  which  proceeded  from  the
Seven-branched Candlestick;  in other words he was given the light of knowl-
edge  and of reason that by it he might advance further upon the path.   But
it  was required that BY SERVICE he should evolve within himself and  around
himself  another  light,  the golden "wedding garment,"  which is  also  THE
CHRIST  LIGHT  OF  THE  SOUL  BODY.   By  lives  of  service  this  glorious
soul-substance  gradually pervades his whole aura until it is ablaze with  a
golden light.  Not until he has evolved this INNER illumination can he enter
into the darkened precincts of the second Tabernacle, as the Most Holy place
is sometimes called.

   "GOD  IS LIGHT;  if we walk in the light as He is in the Light,  we  have
fellowship one with another."   This is generally taken to indicate only the
fellowship  of the Saints,  but as a matter of fact it applies also  to  the
fellowship which we have with God.  When the disciple enters the second Tab-
ernacle, THE LIGHT WITHIN  HIMSELF  VIBRATES  TO  THE  LIGHT OF THE SHEKINAH


[PAGE 40]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

GLORY between the Cherubim,  and he realizes the fellowship with his  FATHER
FIRE.

   As  the Cherubim and the Father Fire which hover above th  Ark  represent
the  divine  Hierarchies  which overshadow  mankind  during  his  pilgrimage
through  the wilderness,  so THE ARK WHICH IS FOUND THERE REPRESENTS MAN  IN
HIS HIGHEST DEVELOPMENT.   Three were, as already said,  three things within
the Ark:   the Golden Pot of Manna,  the Budding Rod,  and the Tables of the
Law.  When the aspirant stood at the eastern gate as a child of sin, THE LAW
WAS WITHOUT AS A TASKMASTER to bring him to Christ.   It exacted with  unre-
lenting  severity an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.   Every  trans-
gression brought a just recompense,  and man was circumscribed on every hand
by  laws commanding him to do certain things and refrain from doing  others.
But  when THROUGH SACRIFICE AND SERVICE he has finally arrived at the  stage
of  evolution represented by the Ark in the western room of the  Tabernacle,
the  TABLES OF THE LAW ARE WITHIN.  He has then become emancipated from  all
outside interference with his actions; not that he would break any laws, but
because HE WORKS WITH THEM.  Just as we have learned to respect the property
right of others and have therefore become emancipated from the  commandment.
"Thou shalt not steal,"  so he who keeps all laws because he wants to do  so
has  on  that account no longer need of an exterior taskmaster,  but  gladly
renders obedience in all things because HE IS A SERVANT OF THE LAW AND WORKS
WITH IT, FROM CHOICE AND NOT THROUGH NECESSITY.


[PAGE 41]                                            THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

                           THE GOLDEN POT OF MANNA

   Manas,  mensch,  mens,  or man is readily associated with the MANNA  that
came down from heaven.   it is the HUMAN SPIRIT that descended from our  Fa-
ther  above for a pilgrimage through matter,  and the Golden Pot wherein  it
was kept symbolizes the golden aura of the soul body.

   Although the Bible story is not in strict accordance with the events,  it
gives  the main facts of the mystic manna which fell from heaven.   When  we
want to learn what is the nature of this so-called BREAD, we may turn to the
sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, which relates how Christ fed the multi-
tudes  with LOAVES AND FISHES,  symbolizing the mystic doctrine of the  2000
years which He was then ushering in, for during that time the sun BY PRECES-
SION OF THE EQUINOX has been passing through the sign of the fishes, Pisces,
and the people have been taught to abstain at least one day during the  week
(Friday) and at a certain time of the year from the fleshpots which belonged
to Egypt or ancient Atlantis.  They have been given the Piscean water at the
temple door,  and the Virginian Wafers at the communion table before the al-
tar  when they worshiped the Immaculate Virgin,  representing the  celestial
sign Virgo (which is opposite the sign Pisces),  and entered communion  with
the sun begotten by her.

   Christ  also explained at that time in mystic but  unmistakable  language
what that LIVING BREAD,  or manna, was, namely,  the Ego.   This explanation
will be found in verses thirty-three and thirty-five,  where  we read:  "For


[PAGE 42]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the  bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth light  unto
the world--I am (EGO SUM) THE BREAD OF LIFE."  This, then,  is the symbol of
the golden pot of manna which was found in the Ark.   This manna is the  Ego
or  human spirit,  which gives life to the organisms that we behold  in  the
physical world.   It is hidden within the Ark of each human being,  and  the
Golden  pot or soul body or "wedding garment"  is also latent  within  every
one.   It is made more massive, lustrous,  and resplendent by the  spiritual
alchemy whereby service is transmuted to soul growth.   It is THE HOUSE  NOT
MADE  WITH  HANDS,  eternal in the heavens,  wherewith  Paul  longed  to  be
clothed, as said in the Epistle to the Corinthians.  Every one who is striv-
ing  to aid his fellow men thereby garners within himself that golden  trea-
sure, laid up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can destroy it.

                                 AARON'S ROD

   An ancient legend relates that when Adam was expelled from the Garden  of
Eden,  he  took with him three slips of the TREE OF LIFE,  which  were  then
planted by Seth.  Seth, the second son of Adam, is, according to the Masonic
legend, father of the spiritual hierarchy of CHURCHMEN working with humanity
through Catholicism,  while the sons of Cain are the CRAFTSMEN of the world.
The  latter  are active in Freemasonry,  promoting material  and  industrial
progress, as builders of the  temple  of  Solomon,  the universe, should be.


[PAGE 43]                                            THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

The  three  sprouts  planted  by Seth have had  important  missions  in  the
spiritual development of humanity,  and one of them is said to be the Rod of
Aaron.

   In  the beginning of concrete existence generation was carried  on  under
the wise guidance of the angels, who saw to it that the creative act was ac-
complished  at times when the interplanetary rays of force were  propitious;
and man was also forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge.   The nature  of
that tree is readily determined from such sentences as "Adam KNEW his  wife,
and she bore Cain";  "Adam KNEW his wife,  and she bore Seth';  "how shall I
bear  a child seeing that I KNOW not a man?"  as said by Mary to  the  angel
Gabriel.  In the light of this interpretation the STATEMENT of the Angel (it
was  not a curse) when he discovered that his precepts had  been  disobeyed,
namely,  "dying thou shalt die," is also intelligible, for the bodies gener-
ated  regardless  of  cosmic influences could not be  expected  to  persist.
Hence  man  was exiled from the etheric realms of  spiritual  force  (Eden),
where  grows the tree of vital power;  exiled to concrete existence  in  the
dense physical bodies which he has made for himself by generation.  This was
surely a blessing,  for who has a body sufficiently good and perfect in  his
own estimation that he would like to live in it forever?  Death, then,  is a
boon  to the spiritual realms for a season,  and build better vehicles  each
time we return to earth life.  As Oliver Wendell Holmes says:


[PAGE 44]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul!
As the swift seasons roll.
Leave thy low-vaulted past,
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut tree from Heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell
by life's unresting sea."

   In  the  course of time when we learn to shun the pride of life  and  the
lust of the flesh, generation will cease to sap our vitality.  The vital en-
ergy will then be used for regeneration,  and the spiritual powers,  symbol-
ized by Aaron's Rod, will be developed.

   The wand of the magician, the holy spear of parsifal the Grail king,  and
the  budding Rod of Aaron are emblems of this divine creative  force,  which
works  wonders of such a nature that we call them miracles.   But let it  be
clearly  understood  that no one who has evolved to the point  in  evolution
where  he is symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant in the West Room  of  the
Tabernacle ever uses this power for selfish ends.   When Parsifal,  the hero
of  the soul myth by that name, had witnessed the temptation of  Kundry  and
proved  himself to be emancipated from the greatest sin of all,  the sin  of
lust and unchastity,  he recovered the sacred spear taken by the black magi-
cian,  Klingsor, from the fallen and unchaste rail king, Amfortas.  Then for
many years he traveled in the world, seeking again the Castle of the  Grail,
and he said:  "Often was I sorely beset by enemies  and  tempted  to use the


[PAGE 45]                                            THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

spear in self-defense,  but I knew that THE SACRED SPEAR MUST NEVER BE  USED
TO HURT, ONLY TO HEAL."

   An  that is the attitude of everyone who develops within him the  budding
Rod of Aaron.   Though he may turn this spiritual faculty to good account in
order  to provide bread for a multitude, he would never think of  turning  a
single stone to bread FOR HIMSELF that his hunger might be appeased.  Though
he were nailed to the cross to die,  he would not free himself by  spiritual
power which he had readily exercised to save others from the grave.   Though
he  were  reviled every day of his life as a fraud or  charlatan,  he  would
never misuse his spiritual power to show a sign whereby the world might know
without  the shadow of a doubt that he was regenerate or heaven-born.   This
was the attitude of Christ Jesus, and its has been and is imitated by every-
one who is a Christ-in-the-making.


[PAGE 46]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                CHAPTER FIVE
                          
                         THE SACRED SHEKINAH GLORY

   The Western Room of the Tabernacle was as dark as the heavens are at  the
time when the lesser light,  the moon,  is in the western portion of sky  at
eventide with the sun;  that is to say, at the new moon,  which begins a new
cycle in a new sign of the zodiac.  In the westernmost part of this darkened
sanctuary stood the Ark of the Covenant,  with the Cherubim hovering  above,
and also the fiery Shekinah Glory, out of which the Father of Light communed
with  His  worshipers,  but which to the physical vision was  invisible  and
therefore dark.

   We do not usually realize that the whole world is afire,  that fire is in
the water, that it burns continually in plant, animal, and man;  yes,  there
is nothing in the work that is not ensouled by fire.   The reason why we  do
not perceive this more clearly is that we cannot dissociate fire and  flame.
But as a matter of fact,  FIRE bears the same relation to FLAME as SPIRIT to


[PAGE 47]                                          THE SACRED SHEKINAH GLORY

the  BODY;  it is the unseen but potent power of  manifestation.   In  other
words,  the true fire is dark, invisible to the physical sight.   IT IS ONLY
CLOTHED IN FLAME WHEN CONSUMING PHYSICAL MATTER.   Consider,  for  illustra-
tion,  how fire leaps out of the flint when struck,  and how a gas flame has
the  darkened  core beneath the light-giving portion;  also how a  wire  may
carry electricity and be perfectly cold, yet it will emit a flame under cer-
tain conditions.

   At this point it may be expedient to mark the difference between the Tab-
ernacle in the Wilderness,  Solomon's Temple, and the later Temple built  by
Herod.   There is a very vital difference.   Both the MIRACULOUSLY ENKINDLED
FIRE  on the Brazen Altar in the eastern part of the Tabernacle and the  in-
visible  SHEKINAH  GLORY in the distant western part of the  sanctuary  were
also  present in Solomon's Temple.   These were thus sanctuaries in a  sense
not equaled by the Temple built by Herod.  The latter was, nevertheless,  in
a  sense  the most glorious of the three,  for IT WAS GRACED BY  THE  BODILY
PRESENCE OF OUR LORD, CHRIST JESUS, IN WHOM DWELT THE GODHEAD.   Christ made
the  first selfsacrifice,  thereby abrogating the sacrifice of animals,  and
finally  at the consummation of His work in the visible world RENT THE  VEIL
and opened a way into the Holy of Holies, not only for the favored few,  the
priests  and Levites,  but that WHOSOEVER WILL may come and serve the  Deity
whom  we  know as our Father.   Having fulfilled the law  and  the  prophets
Christ has done away with the OUTWARD sanctuary, and from henceforth the Al-
tar of Burnt Offerings must be set up WITHIN  the  heart to atone for wrong-


[PAGE 48]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

doing;  the Golden Candlestick must be lighted WITHIN the heart to guide  us
upon our way,  as the Christ WITHIN, the Shekinah Glory of the Father,  must
dwell WITHIN the sacred precincts of our own God Consciousness.

                           THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS

   Paul  in his letter to the Hebrews gives a description of the  Tabernacle
and much information about the customs used there which it would benefit the
student  to know.   Among other things note that he calls the Tabernacle  "a
shadow of good things to come."   There is in this ancient Mystery Temple  a
promise  given which has not yet been fulfilled,  a promise that holds  good
today  just as well as upon the day it was given.   If we visualize  in  our
mind the arrangement of things inside the Tabernacle,  we shall readily  see
the shadow of the Cross.  Commencing at the eastern gate there was the ALTAR
OF BURNT OFFERINGS; a little farther along the path to the Tabernacle itself
we  find the LAVER OF CONSECRATION,  the Molten Sea,  in which  the  priests
washed.   Then upon entering the East Room of the Temple we find an  article
of furniture,  THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK, at the EXTREME LEFT, and the TABLE OF
SHEWBREAD  at the EXTREME RIGHT,  the two forming a cross with the  path  we
have been pursuing toward and within the Tabernacle.  In the center in front
of the second veil we find the ALTAR OF INCENSE,  which forms the center  of
the  cross,  while the Ark placed in the westernmost part of the West  Room,
the Holy of Holies, gives the short or  upper  limb  of  the cross.  In this



[PAGE 48A]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION


 
                              ILLUSTRATION:

                   THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS

              "THE SHADOW OF GOOD THINGS TO COME." PAUL



[PAGE 49]                                          THE SACRED SHEKINAH GLORY

manner  the  symbol  of  spiritual  unfoldment which is our particular ideal
today was shadowed forth in the ancient Mystery Temple,  and that  consumma-
tion which is attained at the end of the cross,  the achievement of  getting
the law WITHIN as it was within the Ark itself,  is the one that we must all
concern ourselves with at the present time.   The light that shines over the
Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies at the head of the cross, at the end of the
path in this world,  is a light or reflection from the invisible world  into
which  the  candidate seeks to enter when all the world has grown  dark  and
black about him.  Only when we have attained to that stage where we perceive
the spiritual light that beckons us on, the light that floats over the  Ark,
only when we stand in the shadow of the cross,  can we really know the mean-
ing, the object, and the goal of life.

   At  present we may take the opportunities which are offered  and  perform
service more or less efficiently,  but it is only when we have by that  ser-
vice evolved the spiritual light WITHIN ourselves,  which is the SOUL  BODY,
and when we have thus gained admission to the West Room,  called the Hall of
Liberation,  that  we can really perceive and understand why we are  in  the
world,  and what we need in order to make ourselves properly useful.  We may
not remain,  however, when access has been gained.  The High Priest was only
allowed to enter ONCE A YEAR; there was a very long interval of time between
these  glimpses of the real purpose of existence.   In the times between  it
was necessary for the High Priest to go out and function among his brethren,


[PAGE 50]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

humanity,  and  serve  them to the very best of his ability,  also  to  sin,
because  he was not yet perfect,  and then reenter the Holy of Holies  after
having made proper amends for his sins.

   Similar it is with ourselves at this day.  We at times attain glimpses of
the  things  that are in store for us and the things we must  do  to  follow
Christ to that place where He went.   You remember that He said to His  dis-
ciples:   Ye cannot follow me now, but ye shall follow me later.   And so it
is with us.   We have to look again and again into the darkened temple,  the
Holy of Holies, before we are really fit to stay there; before we are really
fitted to take the last step and leap to the summit of the cross,  THE PLACE
OF THE SKULL,  that point in our heads where the spirit takes its  departure
when it finally leaves the body, or off and on as an Invisible Helper.  That
Golgotha is the ultimate of human attainment, and we must be prepared to en-
ter the darkened roon many times begore we are fitted for the final climax.


                  THE FULL MOON AS A FACTOR IN SOUL GROWTH


   Let  us now consider the Path of Initiation as symbolically shown in  the
ancient Temples with the Ark,  Fire, and Shekinah,  and in the later Temples
where Christ taught.   Note first that when man was expelled from the Garden
of Eden because he had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge,  Cherubim guarded the
entrance with a flaming sword.  Passages like the following, "Adam KNEW Eve,
and  she bore Abel"; "Adam KNEW Eve,  and  she  bore  Seth";  "Elkanah  KNEW


[PAGE 51]                                          THE SACRED SHEKINAH GLORY


Hannah,  and she bore Samuel";  also Mary's question to the  angel  Gabriel,
"How shall I conceive seeing that I KNOW not a man?"  all show plainly  that
indulgence  of  the passions in the creative act was meant  by  the  phrase,
"eating the Tree of Knowledge."   When the creative act was performed  under
inauspicious  planetary rays it was a sin committed against the laws of  na-
ture,  which brought pain and death into the world,  estranged us  from  our
primal  guardians,  and forced us to roam the wilderness of  the  world  for
ages.

   At the gate of the mystic Temple of Solomon we find the Cherubim, but the
fiery sword is not longer in their hand; instead they hold a FLOWER,  a sym-
bol  full of mystic meaning.   Let us compare man with a flower that we  may
know the great import and signigicance of this emblem.   Man takes his  good
by way of the head,  whence it goes downward.   The plant takes  nourishment
through  the root and forces it upward.  Man is passionate in love,  and  he
turns the generative organ toward the earth and hides it in shame because of
this taint of passion.  The plant knows no passion,  fertilization is accom-
plished in the most pure and chaste manner imaginable, therefore it projects
its generative organ,  the flower,  TOWARD THE SUN,  a thing of beauty which
delights all who behold it.  Passionate fallen man exhales THE DEADLY CARBON
DIOXINE;  the chaste flower inhales this poison, transmutes it, and gives it
back pure, sweet, and scented, a fragrant elixir of life.

   This  was  the  mystery of the Grail Cup;  this is  the  emblematic  sig-
nificance of the Cup of Communion, which is called "KELCH" in German "Calix"


[PAGE 52]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

in Latin,  both names signifying the seed pod of the flower.   The Communion
Cup  with its mystic blood cleansed from the passion incident to  generation
brings to him who truly drinks thereof eternal life, and thus it becomes the
vehicle of regeneration,  of the mystic birth into a higher sphere,  a "for-
eign country," where he who has served his apprenticeship in Temple building
and has mastered the "art and crafts" of this world may learn higher things.

   The  symbol of the Cherubim with the open flower placed upon the door  of
Solomon's Temple delivers the message to the aspirant that PURITY IS THE KEY
by which alone he can hope to unlock the gate to God; or as Christ expressed
it,  "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."  The flesh must
be  consumed on the Altar of self-sacrifice, and the sold must be washed  in
the  Laver  of  Consecration to the higher life where it  may  approach  the
Temple door.   When "naked," "poor," and "blinded" by tears of contrition it
gropes in darkness,  seeking the Temple door,  it shall find entrance to the
Hall of Service, the East Room of the Tabernacle, which is ablaze with light
from  the Seven-branched Candlestick,  emblematic of the luminosity  of  the
full moon,  the moon changing in cycles of seven days.  In this Hall of Ser-
vice  the  aspirant is taught to weave the luminour vesture of  flame  which
Paul called "some psuchicon," or soul body (1st Cor., 15:44), from the aroma
of the shewbread.

   When we speak of the soul body we mean exactly what we say,  and this ve-
hicle  is  in  nowise  to  be  confused  with  the  soul  that permeates it.


[PAGE 53]                                          THE SACRED SHEKINAH GLORY

The Invisible Helper who uses it on soul flights knows it to be as real  and
tangible as the dense body of flesh blood.   But within that golden "wedding
garment"  there is an INTANGIBLE SOMETHING cognized by the spirit of  intro-
spection.  It is unnameable and indescribable; it evades the most persistent
efforts to fathom it, yet it is there just as certainly as the vehicle which
it fills-yes,  and more so.  It is  not life, love, beauty, wisdom,  nor can
any other human concept convey an idea of what it is,  for it is the sum  of
all human faculties, attributes, and concepts of good, immeasurably intensi-
fied.  If everything else were taken from us, that prime reality would still
remain,  and we should be rich in its possession, for through it we feel the
drawing power of our Father in Heaven,  that inner urge which all  aspirants
know so well.

   To this inner something Christ referred when He said: No man cometh to me
except  my Father draw him.   Just as the true fire is hidden in  the  flame
that  encloses it,  so that unnameable,  intangible something hides  in  the
sould body and burns up the frankincense extracted from the shrewbread; thus
it  lights the fire which makes the soul body luminous.   And the  AROMA  OF
LOVING  SERVICE to others penetrates the veil as a sweet savor to  God,  who
dwells in the Shekinah Glory similar created above the Ark in the  innermost
sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.


[PAGE 54]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                 CHAPTER SIX

                         THE NEW MOON AND INITIATION

   When the candidate entered at the eastern gate of the Temple looking  for
light,  he was confronted by the fire on he Altar of Burnt Offerings,  which
emitted  a  dim  light enveloped in clouds of smoke.   He was  then  in  the
spiritually  darkened  condition of the ordinary man;  he lacked  the  light
within  and therefore it was necessary to give him the light  without.   But
when he has arrived at the point when he is ready to have evolved the  lumi-
nous soul body in the service of humanity.   Then he is thought to have  the
light within himself,  "the light that lighteth every man."   Unless he  has
that, he cannot enter the dark room of the Temple.

   What  takes place secretly in the Temple is shown openly in the  heavens.
As  the moon gathers light from the sun during her passage from the  new  to
the  full,  so  the man who treads the path of holiness by use of his golden


[PAGE 55]                                        THE NEW MOON AND INITIATION

opportunities  in  the East Room of selfless service gathers  the  materials
wherewith to make his luminous "wedding garment,"  and that material is best
amalgamated  on the night of the full moon.   But conversely,  as  the  moon
gradually dissipates the accumulated light and draws nearer the sun in order
to make a fresh start upon a new cycle at the time of the new moon,  so also
according to the law of analogy those who have gathered their treasures  and
laid them up in heaven by service are at a certain time of the month  closer
to  their Source and their Maker,  their Father Fire in the higher  spheres,
than  at any other time.   As the great saviors of mankind are born  at  the
winter  solstice on the longest and darkest night of the year,  so also  the
process  of Initiation which brings to birth in the invisible world  one  of
the lesser saviors, THE INVISIBLE HELPER, is most easily accomplished on the
longest and darkest night of the month, that is to say,  on the night of the
new moon when the lunar orb is in the westernmost part of the heavens.

   All  occult development begins with the vital body,  and the  keynote  of
that vehicle is "repetition."  To get the best out of any subject repetition
is  necessary.   In order to understand the final consummation to which  all
this has been leading up, let us take a final look from another angle at the
three kinds of fire within the Temple.

   Near  the eastern gate was the Altar of Burnt Offering.   On  that  altar
smoke  was  continually generated by the bodies of the sacrifices,  and  the
pillar of smoke was  seen  far and wide by the multitude who were instructed


[PAGE 56]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

in the inner mysteries of life.  The flame, the light,  hidden in this cloud
of smoke was at best but dimly perceived.  This showed that the great major-
ity of mankind are taught principally by the immutable laws of nature, which
exact  from them a sacrifice whether they know it or not.   As the flame  of
purification was then fed by the more coarsely constructed and baser  bodies
of animal sacrifices,  exacted under the Mosaic law, so also today the baser
and  more  passionate mass of humanity is being brought into  subjection  by
fear of punishment by the law in the present world-more than by apprehension
of what my follow in the world to come.

   A  light of a different nature shone in the East Room of the  Tabernacle.
Instead  of drawing its nourishment from the sinful and passionate flesh  of
the  animal  sacrifices,  it was fed by olive oil procured from  the  chaste
plant kingdom;  and its flame was not shrouded in smoke,  but was clear  and
distinct,  so that it might illuminate the room and guide the  priests,  who
were the servants of the Temple, in their ministrations.   The priests  were
endeavoring to work in harmony with the divine plan,  therefore they saw the
light more clearly that the uninstructed and careless multitude.  Today also
the  mystic light shines for all who are endeavoring to really serve at  the
shrine  of self-sacrifice-particularly for the pledged pupils of  a  Mystery
School such as the Rosicrucian Order.   They are waling in a light not  seen
by the multitude, and if they are really serving, they have th true guidance
of the Elder Brothers of humanity, who  are always ready to help them at the


[PAGE 57]                                        THE NEW MOON AND INITIATION

difficult points on the Path.

   But  the most sacred fire of all was the Shekinah Glory in the West  Room
of the Tabernacle above the Mercy Seat.  As this West Room was dark,  we un-
derstand that it was an invisible fire, a light from another world.

   Now mark this, the fire that was shrouded in smoke and flame upon the Al-
tar of Burnt Offerings,  consuming the sacrifices brought there in expiation
of sins committed under the law, was the symbol of JEHOVAH THE LAWGIVER; and
we  remember that the law was given to brings us to Christ.   The clear  and
beautiful  light which shone in the Hall of Service,  the East Room  of  the
Tabernacle, is the golden-hued Christ light, which guides those who endeavor
to follow in His steps upon the path of self-forgetting service.

   As the Christ said,  "I go to my Father,"  when He was about to be cruci-
fied, so also the Servant of the Cross who has made the most of his opportu-
nities  in  the visible world is allowed to enter the glory  of  his  Father
Fire,  the invisible Shekinah Glory.  He ceases then to see through the dark
glass  of  the body,  and beholds his Father face to face in  the  invisible
realms of nature.

   The church steeple is very broad at the bottom,  but gradually it narrows
more  and more until at the top it is just a point with the cross above  it.
So it is with the path of holiness;  at the beginning there are many  things
which we may permit ourselves, but as we advance, one after another of these
digressions must be done away with, and  we  must  devote ourselves more and


[PAGE 58]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

more  exclusively to the service of holiness.   At last there comes a  point
where this path is as sharp as the razor's edge,  and we can then only grasp
at the cross.   But when we have attained that point, when we can climb this
narrowest of all paths,  then we are fitted to follow Christ into the beyond
and serve there as we have served here.

   Thus  this  ancient symbol shadowed forth the trial and  triumph  of  the
faithful  servant,  and thought it has been superseded by other and  greater
symbols holding forth a higher ideal and a greater promise,  the basic prin-
ciples embodies in it are as valid today as ever.

   In  the Altar of Burnt Offerings we see clearly the nauseating nature  of
sin and the necessity of expiation and justification.

   By  the  Molten Sea we are still taught that we must live  the  stainless
life that of holiness and consecration.

   From the East Room we learn today how to make diligent use of our  oppor-
tunities to grow the golden grain of selfless service and make that  "living
bread" which feeds the soul, the Christ within.

   And when we have ascended the steps of Justification,  Consecration,  and
Self-Abnegation,  we  reach the West Room, which is the  threshold  of  Lib-
eration.   Over it we are conducted into greater realms,  where greater soul
unfoldment may be accomplished.

   But  through this ancient Temple stands no longer upon the  plains  where
the wandering hosts pitched their camps in the hoary past,  it may be made a
much more potent factor for soul growth by any aspirant of today that it was
by the ancient Israelites provided he will build it  according  to  pattern.


[PAGE 59]                                        THE NEW MOON AND INITIATION

Nor  need the lack of gold wherewith to build distress anyone,  for now  the
true tabernacle must be built in heaven-and "HEAVEN IS WITH YOU."   To build
well  and true,  according to the rules of the ancient craft of  Mystic  Ma-
sonry,  the aspirant must learn first to build within himself the altar with
its sacrifices,  then he must watch and pray while patiently waiting for the
divine fire to consume offering.   Then he must bathe himself with tears  of
contrition  till he has washed away the stains of sin.   Meanwhile  he  must
keep the lamp of divine guidance filled that he may perceive how, when,  and
where to serve; he must work hard to have abundance of "bread of shew,"  and
the  incense of aspiration and prayer must be ever in his heart and  on  his
lips.   Then YOM KIPPUR, the Great Day of At-one-ment,  will surely find him
ready to go to his Father, and learn how better to help his younger brothers
to ascent the Path.





[PAGE 63]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

                                 CHAPTER ONE

                THE ANNUNCIATION AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

   Much  is said in certain classes of the Western World  about  Initiation.
This in the minds of most people seems usually to be associated with the oc-
cultism taught in the religions of the far East;  something that is peculiar
to  the devotees of Buddhism,  Hinduism, and kindred systems of  faith,  and
which  in  nowise  appertains to the religion of  the  Western  World,  par-
ticularly to the Christian religion.

   We have shown in the preceding series on "Symbols and Ancient and  Modern
Initiation: that this idea is entirely gratuitous, and that the ancient Tab-
ernacle in the Wilderness pictures in its symbolism the path of  progression
from  childlike  ignorance to superhuman knowledge.   As the  VEDAS  brought
light to the devotees who worshiped in faith and fervor on the banks of  the
Ganges in the sunny South,  so the Eddas were a guiding star to the sons  of
the rugged Northland,  who sought the Light of life in ancient Iceland where
the  sturdy  Vikings  steered  their  ships  in  frozen  seas. "Arjuna," who


[PAGE 64]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

fights  the  noble  fight  in  the  "Mahabharata,"  or  "Great  War,"   con-
stantly being waged between the higher  and  the  lower self,  difference in
nowise from the hero of the northern soul myth,  "Siegfried,"  which  means,
"He who through victory gains peace."

   Both  are  representative of the candidate  undergoing  Initiation.   And
though  their experiences in this great adventure vary in  certain  respects
called  for  by the temperamental differences of the northern  and  southern
peoples,  and provided for in the respective schools to which they  are  re-
ferred for soul growth, the main features are identical, and the end,  which
is enlightenment,  is the same.   Aspiring souls have walked to the Light in
the brilliantly illuminated Persian temples where the sun god in his blazing
chariot was the symbol of Light, as well as under the mystic magnificence of
the  iridescence  shed abroad by the aurora borealis of  the  frozen  North.
That  the  true  Light of the deepest esoteric  knowledge  has  always  been
present in all ages, even the darkest of the so-called dark,  there is ample
evidence to show.

   Raphael  used his wonderful skill with the brush to embody it in  two  of
his great paintings, "The Sistine Madonna" and the "Marriage of the Virgin,"
which we would advise the interested reader to examine for himself.   Copies
of these paintings are procurable in almost any art store.   In the original
there is a peculiar tint of golden haze behind the Madonna and Child,  which


[PAGE 64A]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION




                            ILLUSTRATION:

                     CHRISTIAN MYSTIC INITIATION

                     THE PATH THROUGH THE HEART

                        LOVE THE BASIC FACTOR




[PAGE 65]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

though exceedingly crude to one gifted with spiritual sight, is nevertheless
as close an imitation of the basic color of the first-heaven world as it  is
possible to make with the pigments of earth.  Close inspection of this back-
ground  will reveal the fact that it is composed of a multitude of  what  we
are used to call "angel" heads and wings.

   This  again is as literal a pictorial representation of facts  concerning
the inhabitants of that world as could be given,  for during the process  of
purgation  which  takes place in the lower regions of the Desire  World  the
lower  parts of the body are actually disintegrated so that only  the  head,
containing  the  intelligence of the man, remains when he enters  the  first
heaven,  a  fact which has puzzled many who have happened to see  the  souls
there.   The wings of course have no reality outside the picture,  but  were
placed there to show ability to move swiftly,  which is inherent in all  be-
ings in the invisible worlds.   The People is represented as pointing to the
Madonna and the Christ Child,  and a close examination of the hand wherewith
he  points  will  show that it has six fingers.   There  is  not  historical
evidence to show that the Pontiff actually had such a deformity, neither can
that  fact be an accident;  the six fingers in the painting  must  therefore
have been due to design on the part of the painter.

   What  its purpose was we shall learn by examination of the  "Marriage  of
the Virgin,"  where a similar anomaly may be noted.    In that picture  Mary
and Joseph  are  represented together with he Christ Child under such condi-


[PAGE 66]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

tions  that  it is evident that they are just on the eve  of  departure  for
Egypt,  and a Rabbi is in the act of joining them in wedlock.  The left foot
of  Joseph is the foremost object in the picture,  and if we count we  shall
find  it represented as having six toes.  By the six fingers in  the  Pope's
picture and the six toes of Joseph,  Raphael wants to show us that both pos-
sessed  a  sixth sense such as is awakened by Initiation.   By  this  subtle
sense the foot of Joseph was guided in its flight to keep secure that sacred
things which had been entrusted to his care.  To the other was given a sixth
sense  that he might not be a blind leader of the blind but might  have  the
"seeing eye" required to point out the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  And it
is a fact,  though not commonly known, that with one or two exceptions  when
political  power was strong enough to corrupt the College of Cardinals,  all
who have sat upon the so-called throne of Peter have had the spiritual sight
in a greater or lesser degree.

   We  have  seen  in the articles on "Symbols of Ancient  and  Modern  Ini-
tiation,"  which preceded the present article,  that the  Atlantean  Mystery
Temple  known  as  the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was  a  school  of  soul
growth;  and it should not surprise us to learn that the four  Gospels  con-
taining  the life of Christ are also formulae of Initiation,  revealing  an-
other and a later Path to power.   In the ancient Egyptian Mysteries,  Horus
was the first fruit whom the aspirant endeavored to imitate,  and it is sig-
nificant that in the Ritual of Initiation which was in vogue in that day and


[PAGE 67]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

which we now call the "Book of the Dead," the aspirant to Initiation was al-
ways  addressed Horus so-and-so.   Following the same method today we  might
appropriately  address those following the Christian Path of  Initiation  as
Christ so-and-so, for as a matter of fact all who tread this Path are really
Christs-in-the-making.   Each  in his or her turn will reach  the  different
stations of the Via Dolorosa, or Path of Sorrow, which leads to Calvary, and
experience  in his or her own body the pangs and pains suffered by the  Hero
of the Gospels.  Initiation is a cosmic process of enlightenement and evolu-
tion of power; therefore the experiences of all are similar in the main fea-
tures.

   The  Christian  Mystic  form of Initiation  differs  radically  from  the
Rosicrucian method,  which aims to bring the candidate to compassion through
knowledge,  and therefore seeks to cultivate in him the latent faculties  of
spiritual  sight and hearing at the very start of his career as an  aspirant
to  the higher life.   it teaches him to know the hidden mysteries of  being
and to perceive intellectually the unity of each with all,  so that at  last
through  this knowledge there is awakened within him the feeling that  makes
him truly realize his oneness with all that lives and moves,  which puts him
in  full and perfect tune with the Infinite,  making him a true  helper  and
worker in the divine kingdom of evolution.

   The  goal attained through the Christian Mystic Initiation is  the  same,
but the method,  as said,  is entirely different.  In the first  place,  the


[PAGE 68]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

candidate is usually unconscious of trying to attain any definite object, at
least during the first stages of his endeavors,  and there is in this  noble
School  of Initiation but no Teacher,  the Christ,  who is ever  before  the
spiritual  vision  of  the candidate as the Ideal and the Goal  of  all  his
striving.  The Western world, alas!  has become so enmeshed in intellectual-
ity  that its aspirants can only enter the Path when their reason  has  been
satisfied;  and unfortunately it i a desire for more knowledge which  brings
most  of the p pupils to the Rosicrucian School.   It is an arduous task  to
cultivate int he the compassion which must blend with their knowledge and be
the  guiding  factor in the use of it before they are fitted  to  enter  the
Kingdom  of Christ.   But those who are drawn to the Christian  Mystic  Path
feel  no  difficulty  of  that  nature.   They  have  within  themselves  an
all-embracing love, which urges them onward and eventually generates in them
a knowledge which the writer believes to be far superior to that attained by
any  other method.   One who follows te intellectual Path of development  is
apt  to sneer superciliously at another whose temperament impels  him  along
the  Mystic Path.   Such an attitude of mind is not only detrimental to  the
spiritual  development of whoever entertains it,  but it is entirely  gratu-
itous,  as the works of Jacob Boehme, Thomas a Kempis,  and many  other  who
have followed the Mystic Path will show.   The more knowledge we possess the
greater  condemnation  also shall we merit if we do not use it  right.   But
love, which is the basic principle in the Christian Mystic's life, can never


[PAGE 69]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

bring  us  into condemnation or conflict with the purposes of  God.   It  is
infinitely  better  to be able to FEEL any noble emotion that  to  have  the
keenest intellect and one which is able to define all emotions.   Hairsplit-
ting over the constitution and evolution of the atom surely will not promote
soul growth as much as humble helpfulness toward our neighbor.

   There  are nine definite steps in the Christian Mystic  Initiation,  com-
mencing  with the Baptism,  which is dedicatory.   The Annunciation and  Im-
maculate  Conception precede as matters of course for reasons  given  later.
Having prepared our minds by the foregoing consideration,  we are now  ready
to  consider  each stage separately in this glorious  process  of  spiritual
unfoldment.

                 THE ANNUNCIATION AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

   The Christian Mystic is emphatically not the product of one life, but the
flower of many preparatory existences,  during which he has cultivated  that
sublime compassion which makes him feel the whole world's woe,  and conjures
up before his spiritual vision the Christ Ideal as the true balm of  Gilead,
its practice the only palladium against all human grief and sorrow.   Such a
soul is watched over special care by the divine Hierarchies who have  charge
of  our progression along the path of evolution,  and when the time is  ripe
for him to enter that life in which he is to run the final race to reach the
goal and become a Savior of his kind, angels are  indeed  watching, waiting,


[PAGE 70]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

and singing hosannas in joyful anticipation of the great event.

   Like always seeks like,  and and naturally the parents are carefully  se-
lected  for (and by such a noble soul from among the "sons and daughters  of
the King."  They may be in the poorest circumstances from a worldly point of
view; it may be necessary to cradle the babe in a manger, but no richer gift
ever came to parents that such a noble soul.   Among the qualifications nec-
essary to be the parents of such an Ego is that the mother be a "virgin" and
the father a "builder."

   It is stated in the Bible that Joseph was a CARPENTER, but the Greek word
is  "tekton"  which means "builder."   In Mystic Masonry God is  called  the
Grant  Architech.   ARCHE is the Greek word signifying primordial substance,
and a tekton is a builder.  Thus God is the Great Master Builder, who out of
primordial  substance  fashioned  the world as  an  evolutionary  field  for
various grades of beings.   He uses in His universe many tektons,  or build-
ers,  of various grades.  Everyone who follows the Path of spiritual attain-
ment,  endeavoring to work constructively with the laws of nature as a  ser-
vant  of  humanity,  is a TEKTON or builder in the sense  that  he  has  the
qualifications necessary to aid in giving birth to a great soul.   Thus when
it is said that Jesus was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter,  we under-
stand that they were both TEKTONS or builders along cosmic lines.

   The  Immaculate Conception,  like all other sublime mysteries,  has  been
dragged  down  into  the  gutter  of  materiality,  and  being  so sublimely


[PAGE 71]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

spiritual it has perhaps suffered more by this rude treatment than any other
of  the  spiritual teachings.   Perhaps it has suffered even more  from  the
clumsy explanation of ignorant supporters that from the jeers and sneers  of
the cynic.   The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception,  as popularly under-
stood,  is that about two thousand years ago God in a miraculous manner fer-
tilized a certain Mary who was a virgin, as as the result she gave birth  to
Jesus,  an individual who is consequence was the Son of God in a sense  dif-
ferent from all other men.   There is also in the popular mind the idea that
this incident is unique in the history of the world.

   It  is  particularly the latter fallacy which has served to  distort  the
beautiful spiritual truth concerning the Immaculate Conception.   It is  not
unique in any sense.   Every great soul who has been born into the world  to
live a life of sublime saintliness,  such as required for the Christian Mys-
tic Initiation,  has also found entrance through of immaculate virginity who
were  not  besmirched by passion in the performance of the  generative  act.
Men  do  not gather grapes of thorns.  It is an axiomatic  truth  that  like
begets like,  and before anyone can become a Savior, he must himself be pure
and sinless.  He, being pure cannot take birth from one who is vile; HE MUST
BE BORN OF VIRGIN PARENTS.

   But the virginity to which we refer does not comprehend a merely physical
condition.  There is not inherent virtue in physical virginity, for all pos-
sess  it  at  the beginning of life no matter how vile their disposition may


[PAGE 72]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

be.  The virginity of the mother of a Savior is a quality of the soul, which
remains  unsullied  regardless of the physical act of  fertilization.   When
people  perform the first creative act without desire for offspring,  merely
for gratification of their animal lusts and propensities, they lose the only
(physical) virginity they ever possessed; but when prospective parents unite
in a spirit of prayer,  offering their bodies upon the altar of sacrifice in
order  to  provide  an incoming soul with the physical body  needed  at  the
present time to further spiritual development,  their purity of purpose pre-
serves  their  virginity and draws a noble soul to their  hearth  and  home.
Whether a child is conceived in sin or immaculately depends upon its own in-
herent soul quality, for that will unerringly draw it to parents of a nature
like unto its own.   To become the son of a virgin predicates a past  career
of spirituality for the one who is so born.

   The "mystic birth"  of a "builder" is a cosmic event of great importance,
and  it  is therefore not surprising that it is pictured in the  skies  from
year  to year,  showing a graphic symbolism in the great world or  macrocosm
what will eventually take place in man,  the little world or microcosm.   We
are all destined to experience the things that Jesus experienced,  including
the Immaculate Conception, which is a prerequisite to the life of saints and
saviors  of varying degrees.   By understanding this great cosmic symbol  we
shall more easily  understand its application to the individual human being.


[PAGE 73]                            THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

The  sun is "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD"  in a material sense.   When in  winter
time it reaches the extreme southern declination at the solstice on December
23rd, the people in the northern hemisphere, where all the present religions
have  had their birth,  are plunged into the deepest darkness and bereft  of
the all-sustaining vital power emanating from the sun,  which is them partly
dead so far as its influence upon men in concerned.   It is therefore neces-
sary that a new light shine in the darkness,  that a SUN OF GOOD be born  to
same  humanity from the cold and famine which must inevitably result if  the
sun were to remain in the southern position which he occupies at the  winter
solstice.

   On the night between the 24th and 25th of December,  the sun having  com-
menced  to  slowly rise toward the earth's equator,  the  zodiacal  sign  of
Virgo,  the immaculate celestial Virgin,  is on the eastern horizon  in  all
northern  latitudes (in the hours immediately preceding midnight).   In  the
science of astrology it is the sign and degree on the eastern horizon at the
time  of birth which determine the form or body of the creature  then  born.
Therefore  the Sun of Good is said to have been born of Virgo,  the  sublime
celestial Virgin, who remains as pure after giving birth to her Sun Child as
she was before.   By analogy the Son of God who comes to save his fellow men
must also be born of an immaculate spiritual virgin.

   From what has been said it is evident that a great period of  preparation
precedes the entrance of a Christian Mystic into the present sphere of human


[PAGE 74]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

life, though he in his physical consciousness is usually entirely unaware of
the  fact of the great adventure in store for him.   In all probability  his
childhood days and early youth will pass in obscurity, while he lives an in-
ner life of unusual depth,  unconsciously preparing himself for the Baptism,
which is the first of the nine steps of this method of attainment.

                             --- END OF FILE ---

[PAGE 75]                                         THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

                                 CHAPTER TWO

                           MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

   It is noteworthy that nearly all religious systems have prescribed  ablu-
tions previous to the performance of religious duties,  and the worship per-
formed in the ancient Atlantean Mystery Temple,  the Tabernacle in the  Wil-
derness,  was no exception,  as we have seen from the previous  articles  on
"Symbols of Ancient and Modern Initiation."   After having obtained justifi-
cation by sacrifice on the Brazen Altar, the candidate was compelled to wash
in the Laver of Consecration, the Molten Sea, before he was allowed to enter
upon the duties of his ministry in the sanctuary proper.   And it is in con-
formity  with  this rule that we find the Hero of the Gospels going  to  the
river Jordan,  where He underwent the mystic rite of Baptism.  When He rose,
we learn that the Spirit descended upon Him.   Therefore it is obvious  that
those  who  follow  the Christian Mystic Path of  Initiation  must  also  be
similarly  baptized before they can receive the Spirit, which is to be their


[PAGE 76]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

true guide through all the trials before them.

   But  what constitutes Baptism is a question which has called forth  argu-
ments  of almost unbelievable intensity.   Some contend that it is a  sprin-
kling  with water,  and other insist upon the immersion of the  whole  body.
Some  say that it is sufficient to take an infant into church,  sprinkle  it
with water despite its protests, and presto! it becomes a Christian, an heir
of  heaven;  whereas should it unfortunately die before this sacred rite  is
performed,  it must inevitably go to hell.  Others take the more logical po-
sition that the desire of an individual for admission into the church is the
prime factor necessary to make the rite effective,  and therefore wait until
adult age before the performance of the ceremony,  which requires an  immer-
sion of the whole body in water.   But whether the rite is performed in  in-
fancy or in laterlife,  it seems strange that momentary immersion or  sprin-
kling with water should have the power to save the soul; and when we examine
the subsequent life of those who have thus been baptized,  even in adult age
and with their full consent and desire, we find little or no improvement  in
the  great  majority.   Therefore it seems evident that this cannot  be  the
proper rite,  because the Spirit has not descended upon them.   Consequently
we must look for another explanation of what constitutes a true mystic  rite
of Baptism.

   A story is told of an Ottoman king who declared war on a neighboring  na-
tion, fought  a  number  of battles against it with varying success, but was


[PAGE 77]                                         THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

finally  conquered and taken captive to the palace of the victor,  where  he
was  compelled to work in the most menial capacity as a slave.   After  many
years fortune favored him,  and he escaped to a far country,  where by  hard
work he acquired a small estate, married, and had a number of children,  who
grew  up around him.   Finally he found himself upon his deathbed at a  very
rip  old  age,  and in the exertion of drawing his  last  breath  he  raised
himself  upon his pillow and looked about him,  but there were no  sons  and
daughters there.   He was not in the place which he had regarded as home for
so  many years,  but in his own palace which he thought he had left  in  his
youth,  and he was as young as when he left it.  There he found himself sit-
ting  in a chair with a basin of water close to his chin and a  servant  en-
gaged in washing his hair and beard.   He had just immersed his face in  the
water  when the dream of going to war had started,  and a lifetime had  been
lived in dreamland during the few seconds it took until he raised his  face.
There  are  thousands of other instances to show that outside  the  physical
world  time  is nonexistent and the happenings of millennia are  easily  in-
spected in a few moments.

   It is also well known that when people are under water and in the act  of
drowning,  their  whole preceding life is reenacted before their  eyes  with
crystal clarity,  even the minutest details which have been forgotten during
the passing years standing  our sharply.  Thus there must be and is a store-


[PAGE 78]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

house  of  events which may be contacted under certain conditions  when  the
senses are stilled and we are near sleep or death.

   To  make  this last sentence clear it should be understood and  borne  in
mind  that man is a composite being,  having finer vehicles which  interpen-
etrate the physical body,  usually regarded as the whole man.   During death
and sleep this dense body is unconscious on account of a complete separation
between it and the finer vehicles;  but this separation is only partial dur-
ing  dream-filled sleep and prior to drowning.   This condition enables  the
spirit to impress events upon the brain with more or less accuracy according
to circumstances,  particularly those incidents which are connected with it-
self.   In the light of these things we shall understand what really consti-
tutes the rite of Baptism.

   According  to the Nebular Theory that which is now the earth was  at  one
time a luminous fire-mist,  which gradually cooled by contact with the  cold
of  space.   This  meeting  of heat  with  cold  generated  moisture,  which
evaporated and rose from the heated center,  until the cold condensed it and
it fell again as moisture upon the heated world.   The surface of the  earth
being  thus subjected to alternate liquidation and evaporation for ages,  it
finally crystallized into a shell which perfectly covered the fiery  center.
This soft moisture-laden shell naturally generated a mist,  which surrounded
the planet as an atmosphere,  and this was the cradle of everything that has
its being upon the earth:  man, animal, and plant.


[PAGE 79]                                         THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

   The  Bible  describes this condition in the second  chapter  of  Genesis,
where we are told that at the time of the first man a mist went up from  the
earth,  "for it had not yet rained."  This condition evidently continued un-
til the Flood,  when the moisture finally descended and left the  atmosphere
clear so that the rainbow was seen for the first time, the darkness was dis-
pelled,  and the age of alternation, day and night, summer and winter,  com-
menced.

   By a study of the cosmology and the pictorial account of evolution  given
in the Northern Eddas,  treasured among the sages of Scandinavia before  the
Christian Era,  we may learn more of this period in the earth's history  and
the  bearing which it has upon our subject.   As we teach our  children,  by
means  of  stories and pictures,  truths that hey could  not  intellectually
grasp,  so the divine leaders of mankind were wont to teach the infant souls
in their charge by pictures and allegories,  and through these prepare  them
for a higher and nobler teaching of a later day.   The great epic poem which
is called "The Lay of the Niebelung,"  gives us the story of which we are in
search,  the cosmic origin of the rite of  Baptism and why it is necessarily
the preliminary step in the spiritual unfoldment of the Christian Mystic.

   The  cosmogony of the Eddas is similar to that of the  Bible is some  re-
spects, and in others gives points which bear out the theory of Laplace.  We
quote from the poetical version of Oehlenschlaeger:


[PAGE 80]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

"In the Being's earliest Dawn
All was one dark abyss,
Nor heaven nor earth was known.
Chill noxious fogs and ice,
North from murk Niflheim's hole,
Piled up in mountains lay;
From Muspel's radiant pole,
Southwards fire held the sway.


"Then after ages passed,
Mid in the chaos met
A warm breath, Niflheim's blast,
Cold with prolific heat.
Hence pregnant drops were formed,
Which by the parent air
From Muspel's region warmed,
Produced great Aurgelmer."


   Thus by the action of heat and cold Aurgelmer,  or as he is also  called,
the Giant Ymer,  was first formed.  This was the pregnant seed ground whence
came the spiritual Hierarchies,  the spirits of the earth,  air,  and water,
and finally man.   At the same time the All-Father created the Cow  Audumla,
from whose four teats issued four streams of milk,  which nourished all  be-
ings.   These are the four ethers,  one of which now sustains  mineral,  two
feed the plant,  three the animal,  and all four the human kingdom.   In the
Bible they are the four rivers which went forth out of Eden.


[PAGE 80A]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION




                            ILLUSTRATION:

                THE SPIRAL PATH OF ORDINARY HUMANITY

                                AND

                       THE WAY OF INITIATION




[PAGE 81]                                         THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

   Eventually,  as postulated by science,  a crust must have been formed  by
the continued boiling of the water,  and from this drying crust a mist  must
have  ascended as taught in the second chapter of Genesis.   By degrees  the
mist must have cooled and condensed,  shutting out the light of the sun,  so
that  it would have been impossible for early mankind to perceive  the  body
even had they possessed the physical vision.  But under such conditions they
had no more need of eyes that a mole which burrows in the ground.  They were
not blind,  however,  for we re told that "THEY SAW GOD";  and as "spiritual
things (and beings) are spiritually perceived,"  they must have been  gifted
with spiritual sight.  In the spiritual worlds there is a different standard
of reality than here, which is the basis of myths.

   Under these conditions there could be no clashing of interests,  and  hu-
manity regarded itself as the children of one great Father while they  lived
under the water of ancient Atlantis.  Egoism did not come into the world un-
til  the  mist  had condensed and they had left  the  watery  atmosphere  of
Atlantis.   When their eyes had been opened so that they could perceive  the
physical world and the things therein,  when each saw himself or herself  as
separate and apart from all others, the consciousness of "me and mine,  thee
and thine,"  took shape in the nascent minds,  and a grasping greed replaced
the fellow feeling which obtained under the waters of early Atlantis.   From
that time to the present stage of egoism has been considered the  legitimate
attitude, and even in our boasted civilization altruism  remains  a  Utopian


[PAGE 82]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

dream not to be indulged in by practical people.

   Had mankind been allowed to travel the path of egoism without let or hin-
drance, it is difficult to see where it all would have ended.  But under the
immutable  Law of Consequence every cause must produce an  adequate  effect;
the  principle of suffering was born from sin for the benevolent purpose  of
guiding  us back to the path of virtue.   It takes much suffering  and  many
lives  to accomplish this purpose,  but finally when we have become  men  of
sorrows  and acquainted with grief,  when we have cultivated that  keen  and
ready  sympathy which feels all the woe of the world,  when the  Christ  has
been born within, there comes to the Christian Mystic that ardent aspiration
to seek and to save those who are lost and show them the way to  everlasting
light and peace.

   But to show the way,  we must know the way;  without a true understanding
of  the  CAUSE OF SORROW we cannot teach others to obtain  permanent  peace.
Nor can this understanding of sorrow, sin, and death be obtained from books,
lectures,  or even the personal teachings of another; at least an impression
sufficiently  intense to fill the aspirant's whole being cannot be  conveyed
in that way.   Baptism alone will accomplish the purpose in an adequate man-
ner; therefore the first step in the life of a Christian Mystic is Baptism.

   But  when we say Baptism,  we do not necessarily mean a physical  Baptism
where the candidate is either sprinkled or immersed and where he makes  cer-
tain promises to  the  one  who  baptizes  him.  The Mystic Baptism may take


[PAGE 83]                                         THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

place in a desert as easily on an island,  for it is a spiritual process  to
attain a spiritual purpose.   It may take place at any time during the night
or day,  in summer or winter, for it occurs at the moment when the candidate
feels with sufficient intensity the longing to know the cause of sorrow  and
alleviate  it.   Then the Spirit is conducted under the waters of  Atlantis,
where it sees the primal condition of brotherly love and kindness;  where it
perceives God as the great Father of His children,  who are there surrounded
by His wonderful love.   And by the conscious return to this Ocean of  Love,
the candidate becomes so thoroughly imbued with the feeling of kinship  that
the  spirit of egoism is banished from him forever.   It is because of  this
saturation with the Universal Spirit that is able later to say:   "If a  man
takes  your coat,  give him you cloak also; if he asks you to walk one  mile
with him,  go with him two miles."  Feeling himself one and all,  the candi-
date does not even consider the murder of himself as mistreatment,  but  can
say:   "Father, forgive them."  They are identical with himself, who suffers
by  their action;  he is the aggressor as well as the victim.   Such is  the
true Spiritual Baptism of the Christian Mystic,  and any other baptism  that
does not produce this universal fellow feeling is not worthy of the name.


[PAGE 84]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

 
                                CHAPTER THREE

                               THE TEMPTATION


   We  often hear about devout Christians complain of their periods  of  de-
pression.  At times they are almost in the seventh heaven of spiritual exal-
tation,  they all but see the face of Christ and feel as if He were  guiding
their every step;  then without any warning and without any cause that  they
can  discover the clouds gather,  the Savior hides His face,  and the  world
grows black for a period.  They cannot work, they cannot pray; the world has
no attraction,  and the gate of heaven seems shut against them, with the re-
sult that life appears worthless so long as this spiritual expression lasts.
The reason is, of course, that these people live in their emotions,  and un-
der  the immutable Law of Alternation the pendulum is bound to swing as  far
to one side of the neutral point as it has swung to the other.  The brighter
the light, the deeper the shadow, and the greater the exaltation, the deeper
the  depression  of  spirit which follows it.  Only those who by cold reason


[PAGE 85]                                                     THE TEMPTATION

restrain  their emotions escape the periods of depression,  but  they  never
taste  the heavenly bliss of exaltation either.   AND IT IS  THIS  EMOTIONAL
OUTPOURING OF HIMSELF WHICH FURNISHED THE CHRISTIAN MYSTIC WITH THE  DYNAMIC
ENERGY  TO PROJECT HIMSELF INTO THE INVISIBLE WORLDS,  WHERE HE BECOMES  ONE
WITH THE SPIRITUAL IDEAL WHICH HAS BECKONED HIM ON AND AWAKENED IN HIS  SOUL
THE POWER TO RISE TO IT,  as the sun built the eye wherewith we perceive it.
The nestling takes many a tumble ere it learns to use its wings with  assur-
ance,  and the aspirant upon the path of Christian Mysticism may soar to the
very  throne of God times out of number and then fall to the lowest  pit  of
hell's despair.   But some time he will overCome the world,  defy the Law of
Alternation,  and rise by the power of the Spirit to the Father of  Spirits,
free  from the toils of emotion,  filled with the peace that passeth  under-
standing.

   But that is the end attained only after Golgotha and the Mystic  Baptism,
the latter of which we discussed in the preceeding chapter.  Moreover, it is
only the beginning of the active career of the Christian Mystic, in which he
becomes  thoroughly saturated with the tremendous fact of the unity  of  all
life,  and imbued with a fellow feeling for all creatures to such an  extent
that  henceforth  he can not only enunciate but practice the tenets  of  the
Sermon on the Mount.

   Did  the spiritual experiences of the Christian Mystic take him  no  fur-
ther, it would still  be  the most wonderful adventure in the world, and the


[PAGE 86]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

magnitude of the event is beyond words,  the consequences only dimly imagin-
able.   Most students of the higher philosophies believe in the  brotherhood
of  man from the mental conviction that we have all emanated from  the  same
source,  as rays emanate from the sun.  But there is an abyss of  inconceiv-
able depth and width between this cold intellectual conception and the  bap-
tismal saturation of the Christian Mystic,  who feels it is his heart and in
every fibre of his being with such an intensity that it is actually  painful
to him;  it fills him with such a yearning, aching love as that expressed in
the  words of the Christ:   "Jerusalem, Jerusalem,  how often would  I  have
gathered thy children together,  even as a hen gathereth her chickens  under
her wings;"   a brooding,  yearning, and achingly protective love which asks
nothing for self save only the privilege to nurture, to shield, and to cher-
ish.

   Were  even a faint resemblance to such a universal fellow feeling  abroad
among humanity in this dark day, what a paradise earth would be.  Instead of
every man's hand being against his brother to slay with the sword,  with ri-
valry  and competition,  or to destroy his morals and degrade him by  prison
stripes  or  industrial bondage under the whiplash of necessity,  we  should
have neither warriors nor prisoners but a happy contented world,  living  in
peace and harmony,  learning the lessons which our Father in Heaven aims  to
teach us in this material condition.  AND ALL THE MISERY IN THE WORLD MAY BE
ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE FACT THAT IF WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE AT ALL, WE BELIEVE
WITH OUR HEAD AND NOT WITH OUR HEART.


[PAGE 87]                                                     THE TEMPTATION

   When we came up through the waters of Baptism, the Atlantean Flood,  into
the Rainbow Age of alternating seasons,  we became prey to the changing emo-
tions  which whirl us hither and yon upon the sea of life.   The cold  faith
restrained  by reason entertained by the majority of  professing  Christians
may given them a need of patience and mental valance which bears them up un-
der  the trials of life,  but when the majority get the LIVING FAITH of  the
Christian Mystic which laughs at reason because it is HEART-FELT,  then  the
Age of Alternation will be past,  the rainbow will fall with the clouds  and
the air which now composes the atmosphere, and there will be a new heaven of
pure ether, where we shall receive the Baptism of Spirit and "THERE SHALL BE
PEACE" (Jerusalem).

   We are still in the Rainbow Age and subject to its low, so we may realize
that  as the Baptism of the Christian Mystic occurs at a time  of  spiritual
exaltation,  it must necessarily be followed by a reaction.   The tremendous
magnitude of the revelation overpowers him, he cannot realize it or  contain
it in his fleshly vehicle, so he flees the haunts of men and betakes himself
to the solitude allegorically represented as a desert.  So rapt is he in his
sublime discovery that for the time being in his ecstacy he sees the Loom of
Life upon which the bodies of all that live are woven, from the least to the
greatest-the mouse and the man, the hunter and his prey, the warrior and his
victim.   But to him they are  not separate and apart,  for he also  beholds
the one divine thread of golden life-light "which runs through all and  doth
all unite."  Nay, more, he  hears  in  each the flaming keynote sounding its


[PAGE 88]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

aspirations and voicing its hopes and fears, and he perceives this composite
color-sound  as the world anthem of God made flesh.   This is at  first  en-
tirely beyond his comprehension;  the tremendous magnitude of the  discovery
hides it from him, and he cannot conceive what it is that he sees and feels,
for there are no words to describe it, and no concept can cover it.   But by
degrees  it  dawns  upon  him  that HE IS AT  THE  VERY  FOUNTAIN  OF  LIFE,
beholding, nay, more, FEELING its every pulse beat, and with this comprehen-
sion he reaches the climax of his ecstasy.

   So  rapt  has the Christian Mystic been in his beautiful  adventure  that
bodily wants have been completely forgotten till the ecstasy has passed, and
it is therefore only natural that the feeling of hunger should be his  first
conscious  want  upon his return to the normal state of  consciousness;  and
also naturally comes the voice of temptation:  "COMMAND THAT THESE STONES BE
MADE BREAD."

   Few passages of the sacred Scriptures are darker that the opening  verses
of the Gospel of St. John:  "In the beginning was the word . . .  .and with-
out it was not anything made that was made."   A slight study of the science
of  sound soon makes us familiar with the fact that sound is  vibration  and
that  different sounds will mold sand or other light materials into  figures
of varying form.  The Christian Mystic may be entirely ignorant of this fact
from  the scientific point of view,  but he has learned at the  Fountain  of
Life to sing the SONG OF BEING, which cradles into existence whatever such a


[PAGE 89]                                                     THE TEMPTATION

master musician desires.   There is one basic key for the indigestible  min-
eral  stone,  but a modification will turn it to gold wherewith to  purchase
the means of sustenance, and another keynote peculiar to the vegetable king-
dom  will  turn it into food,  a fact known to all advanced  occultists  who
practice incantations legitimately for spiritual purposes but never for  ma-
terial profit.

   But  the  Christian Mystic who has just emerged from his Baptism  in  the
Fountain  of Life immediately shrinks in horror at the suggestion  of  using
his  newly  discovered power for a selfish purpose.   It was the  very  soul
quality  of unselfishness that ld him to the waters of consecration  in  the
Fountain of life, and sooner would he sacrifice all, even life itself,  that
use  this new-found power to spare himself a pang of pain.   Did he not  see
also the Woe of the World?  And does he not feel it in his great hearth with
such  an intensity that the hunger at once disappears and is forgotten?   He
may,  will,  and does use this wonderful power freely to feed the  thousands
that gather to hear him,  but never for selfish purposes else he would upset
the equilibrium of the world.

   The Christian Mystic does not reason this out, however.  As often stated,
he has not reason, but he has a much safer guide in the interior voice which
always speaks to him in moments when a decision must be made.  "MAN DOES NOT
LIVE  BY BREAD ALONE,  BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH FROM  GOD";-another
mystery.   There is not need to partake of earthly bread for one who has ac-
cess to the Fountain of Life.  The more  our  thoughts  are centered in God,


[PAGE 90]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the  less  we shall care for the so-called pleasures of the  table,  and  by
feeding our gross bodies sparingly on selected simple foods we shall  obtain
an  illumination  of spirit impossible to one who indulges in  an  excessive
diet  of coarse foods which nourish the lower nature.   Some of  the  saints
have used fasting and castigation as a means of soul growth,  but that is  a
mistaken method for reasons given in an article on "Fasting for Soul Growth"
published  in the December 1915 number of "Rays from the Rose  Cross."   The
Elder  Brothers of humanity who understand the Law and live accordingly  use
food  only  at intervals measured by years.   The word of God is to  them  a
"living bread."  So it becomes also to the Christian Mystic, and the Tempta-
tion instead of working his downfall has led him to greater heights.


[PAGE 91]                                                THE TRANSFIGURATION

                                CHAPTER FOUR

                             THE TRANSFIGURATION

   We  remember that by the mystic processes of the true  Spiritual  Baptism
the aspirant becomes so thoroughly saturated with the Universal Spirit  that
as a matter of actual fact,  feeling, and experience he becomes one with all
that lives,  moves,  and has its being,  one with the pulsating divine  Life
which  surges in rhythmic cadence through the least and the greatest  alike;
and having caught the keynote of the celestial song he is then endued with a
power of tremendous magnitude, which he may use either for good or ill.   It
should  be understood and remembered that though gunpowder and dynamite  fa-
cilitate farming when used for blowing up tree stumps which would  otherwise
require a great deal of manual labor to extract,  they may also be used  for
destructive  purposes as in the great European war.   Spiritual powers  also
may  be used for good or ill depending upon the motive and character of  the
one who wields them.  Therefore, whoever has successfully undergone the rite


[PAGE 92]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

of Baptism and thereby acquired spiritual power is forthwith tempted that it
may be concerned decided whether he will range himself upon the side of good
or evil.  At this point he becomes either a future "Parsifal," a "Christ," a
"Herod,"  or a "Klingsor"  who fights the Knights of the Holy Grail with all
the powers and resources of the Black Brotherhood.

   There  is  a  tendency in modern materialistic science  to  repudiate  as
fable,  worthy of attention only among superstitious servant girls and fool-
ish  old women,  the ideas commonly believed in as late as the Middle  Ages,
that such spiritual communities as the Knights of the Grail at one time  ex-
isted,  or that there are such beings as the "Black Brothers."  Occult soci-
eties in the last half century have educated thousands to the fact that  the
Good Brothers are still in evidence and may be found by those who seek  them
in  the  proper way.   Now unfortunately the tendency among  this  class  of
people is to accept anyone on his unsupported claims as a Master or an dept.
But even among this class there are few who take the existence of the  Black
Brothers  seriously,  or realize what an enormous amount of damage they  are
doing in the world,  and how they are aided and abetted by the general  ten-
dency of humanity to cater to the lusts of the flesh.   As the good  forces,
which are symbolized as the servants of the Holy Grail, live and grow by un-
selfish service which enhances the luster of the glowing Grail Cup,  so  the
Powers of Evil, known as the Black Grail and represented in the Bible as the
court  of  Herod,  feed on pride and sensuality, voluptuousness and passion,


[PAGE 93]                                                THE TRANSFIGURATION

embodied in the figure of Salome, who glories in the murder of John the Bap-
tist and the innocents.  It was shown in the legend of the Grail as embodied
in  Wagner's "Parsifal"  that when the Knights were denied  the  inspiration
from the Grail Cup,  on which they fed and which spurred them onto deeds  of
greater  love  and service,  their courage flagged and  they  became  inert.
Similarly  with the Brothers of the Black Grail.   Unless they are  provided
with words of wickedness they will die from starvation.   Therefore they are
ever active in the world stirring up strife and inciting others to evil.

   Were not this pernicious activity counteracted in a great measure by  the
Elder Brothers at their midnight services at which they make themselves mag-
nets for all the evil thoughts in the Western World and then by the  alchemy
of sublime love transmute them to good,  a cataclysm of still greater magni-
tude that the recent World Wrar would have occurred long ago.  As it is, the
Genius  of Evil has been held within bounds in some measure at least.   Were
humanity  not  so ready to range itself on the side of evil,  success  would
have been greater.   But it is hoped that the spiritual awakening started by
the war will result in turning the scale and give the construction  agencies
in evolution the upper hand.

   It is a wonderful power which is centered in the Christian Mystic at  the
time of his Baptism by the descent and concentration within him of the  Uni-
versal Spirit; and  when  he  has refused during the period of temptation to


[PAGE 94]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

desecrate it for personal profit or power, he must of necessity give it vent
in another direction, for he is impelled by an irresistable inner urge which
will not allow him to settle down to an inert,  inactive life of prayer  and
meditation.   The power of God is upon him to preach and glad tidings to hu-
manity, to help and heal.  We know that a stove which is filled with burning
fuel cannot help heating the surrounding atmosphere;  neither can the Chris-
tian  Mystic help radiating the divine compassion which fills his  heart  to
overflowing,  nor is he is doubt whom to love or whom to serve or  where  to
find his opportunity.   As the stove filled with burning fuel radiates  heat
to all who are within its sphere of radiation, so the Christian Mystic feels
the love of God burning within his heart and is continually radiating it  to
all with whom he comes in contact.   As the heated stove draws to itself  by
its  genial warmth those who are suffering with physical cold,  so the  warm
love  rays of the Christian Mystic are a a magnet to all those whose  hearts
are chilled by the cruelty of the world, by man's inhumanity to man.

   If the stove were empty but endowed with the faculty of speech,  it might
preach  forever the gospel of warmth to those who are physically  cold,  but
even  the finest oratory would fail to satisfy its audience.   When  it  has
been filled with fuel and radiates warmth, there will be no need of  preach-
ing.   Men will come to it and be satisfied.  Similarly a sermon on brother-
hood by one who has not laved in the "Fountain of Life"  will sound  hollow.
The true Mystic need not preach.  His  every  act, even his silent presence,


[PAGE 95]                                                THE TRANSFIGURATION

is more powerful that all the most deeply thought-out discourses of  learned
doctors of philosophy.

   There  is a story of St.  Francis  of Assisi  which  particularly  illus-
trates this fact, and which we trust may serve to drive it home, for its ex-
ceedingly important.   It is said that one day St.  Francis went to a  young
brother  in the monastery with which he was then connected and said to  him:
"Brother,  let  us go down to the village and preach to  them."   The  young
brother was naturally overjoyed at the honor and opportunity of accompanying
so hold a man as St.  Francis,  and together the two started toward the vil-
lage,  talking all the while about spiritual things and the life that  leads
to  God.   Engrossed in this conversation they passed through  the  village,
walking along its various streets,  now and then stopping to speak a  kindly
word to one or another of the villagers.  After having made a circuit of the
village St.  Francis was heading toward the road which led to the  monastery
when  of a sudden the young brother reminded him of his intention to  preach
in  the village and asked him if he had forgotten it.   To this St.  Francis
answered:   "My son,  are you not aware that all the while we have  been  in
this  village  we have been preaching to the people all around us?   In  the
first place,  our simple dress proclaims the fact that we are devoted to the
service  of God,  and as soon as anyone sses us his thoughts naturally  turn
heavenward.   Be sure that everyone of the villagers has been  watching  us,
taking  note of our demeanor to see in how far it conforms with our  profes-
sion.  They have listened to our words  to  find  whether  they  were  about


[PAGE 96]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

spiritual  or  profane subjects.   They have watched our gestures  and  have
noted that the words of sympathy we dispensed came straight from our  hearts
and went deep into theirs.   We have been preaching a far more powerful ser-
mon  that if we had gone into the market place,  called them around us,  and
started to harangue them with an exhortation to holiness."

   St. Francis was a Christian Mystic in the deepest sense of the word,  and
being taught from within by the spirit of God he knew well the mysteries  of
life, as did Jacob Boehme and other holy men who have been similarly taught.
They  are  in  a certain sense wiser than the  wisest  of  the  intellectual
school, but it is not necessary for them to expound great mysteries in order
to  fulfill  their mission and serve as guide posts to others who  are  also
seeking  God.   The very simplicity of their words and acts carries with  it
the power of conviction.   Naturally, of course, all do not rise to the same
heights.   All have not the same powers anymore than all the stoves  are  of
the  same  size and have the same heating capacity.   Those who  follow  the
Christian Mystic path, from the least to the greatest,  have experienced the
powers  conveyed  by Baptism according to their capacity.   They  have  been
tempted to use those powers in an evil direction for personal gain, and hav-
ing overcome the desire for the world and worldly things they have turned to
the path of ministry and service as Christ did;  their lives are marked  not
so much by what they have said as by what they have done.   The true  Chris-
tian  Mystic  is  easily  distinguished.  He  never  uses  the six week days

[PAGE 96A]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITATION


                            ILLUSTRATION:

                  THE PROCESS OF TRANSFIGURATION


[PAGE 97]                                                THE TRANSFIGURATION

to  prepare  for  a  grand  oratorical  effort  to  thrill  his  hearers  on 
Sunday, but spends every  day  alike  in  humble  endeavor  to  do  the Mas-
ter's  will  regardless  of  outward  applause.  Thus unconsciously he works
up  toward  that  grand  climax  which  in  the  history  of the noblest  of
all who have trod this path is spoken of as the "Transfiguration."

   The  Transfiguration is an alchemical process by which the physical  body
formed  by the chemistry of physiological processes is turned into a  living
stone such as is mentioned in the Bible.   The medieval alchemists who  were
seeking  the  Philosopher's Stone were not concerned with  transmutation  of
such  dross  as material god,  but aimed at the greater  goal  as  indicated
above.

   Moisture  gathered in the clouds falls to earth as rain when it has  con-
densed sufficiently,  and it is again evaporated into clouds by the heat  of
the sun.   This is the primal cosmic formula.   Spirit also condenses itself
into  matter and becomes mineral.   But though it be crystallized  into  the
harness of flint,  life still remains,  and by the alchemy of nature working
through  another life stream the dense mineral constituents of the soil  are
transmuted to a more flexible structure in the plant,  which may be used  as
food for animal and man.   These substances become sentient flesh by the al-
chemy of assimilation.  When we note the changes in the structure of the hu-
man body evidenced by comparison of the Bushmen,  Chinese,  Hindus,  Latins,
Celts,  and Anglo-Saxons,  it is plainly apparent that the flesh of  man  is
even now undergoing a refining process  which  is  eradicating  the coarser,


[PAGE 98]                                      ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

grosser substances.   In time by evolution this process of  spiritualization
will  render  our flesh transparent and radiant with the Light  that  shines
within,  radiant as the face of Moses, the body of Buddha, and the Christ at
the Transfiguration.

   At  present the effulgence of the indwelling Spirit is effectually  dark-
ened by our dense body, but we may draw hop even from the science of chemis-
try.  There is nothing on earth so rare and precious as radium, the luminous
extract of the dense black mineral called pitchblende;  and there is nothing
so rare as that precious extract of the human body, the radiant Christ.   At
present we are lavoring to form the Christ within, but when the inner Christ
has grown to full stature, He will shine through the transparent body as the
LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

   It is an anatomical fact of common knowledge that the spinal cord is  di-
vided into three sections,  from which the motor,  sensory,  and sympathetic
nerves  are controlled.   Astrologically these are ruled by the moon,  Mars,
and  Mercury,  which are divine Hierarchies tht have played a great role  in
human  evolution through the nervous systems indicated.   Among the  ancient
alchemists  these  were designated by the three alchemical  elements,  salt,
sulphur,  and mercury.   Between them and upon them played the spinal Spirit
Fire of Neptune.   It rose in a serpentine column through the spinal cord to
the  ventricles of the brain.   In the great majority of mankind the  Spirit
Fire is still exceedingly weak.  But whenever a  spiritual  awakening occurs


[PAGE 99]                                                THE TRANSFIGURATION

in anyone such as that which takes place in a genuine conversion,  or better
still  at the Baptism of the Christian Mystic,  the the downpouring  of  the
Spirit,  which is an actual fact,  augments the spinal Spirit Fire to an al-
most  unbelievable extent,  and forthwith a process of  regeneration  begins
whereby  the  gross substances of the threefold body of many  are  gradually
thrown out,  rendering the vehicles more permeable and quickly responsive to
spiritual impulses.   The further the process if carried, the more efficient
servants they become in the vineyard of the Master.

   The spiritual awakening which starts this process of regeneration in  the
Christian Mystic who purifies himself by prayer and service,  comes also  of
course to those who are seeking God by way of knowledge and service,  but it
acts in a different way,  which is noted by the spiritual investigator.   In
the  Christian  Mystic the regenerative spinal Spirit Fire  is  concentrated
principally  upon the lunar segment of the spinal cord,  which  governs  the
sympathetic nerves under the rulership of Jehovah.   Therefore his spiritual
growth is accomplished by faith as simple,  childlike,  and unquestioning as
it was in the days of early Atlantis when men were mindless.   He  therefore
draws  down  the great white Light of Deity reflected through  Jehovah,  the
Holy Spirit, and attains to the whole wisdom of the world without the neces-
sity of laboring for it intellectually.   This gradually transmutes his body
into THE WHITE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, THE DIAMOND SOUL.


[PAGE 100]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   In  those,  on the other hand,  whose minds are strong and  insistent  on
knowing the reason why and the wherefore of every dictum and dogma, the Spi-
nal  Fire  of regeneration plays upon the segments of the red Mars  and  the
colorless Mercury,  endeavoring to infuse desire with reason,  to purify the
former of the primal passion that it may become chaste as the rose, and thus
transmute the body into the RUBY SOUL, THE RED PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, TRIED BY
FIRE, PURIFIED, A CREATIVE BUDDING INDIVIDUALITY.

   All who are upon the Path, whether the path of occultism or of mysticism,
are weaving the "golden wedding garment"  by this work from within and  from
without.   In some the gold is exceedingly pale,  and in others it is deeply
red.  But eventually when the process of Transfiguration has been completed,
or rather when it is nearing completion,  the extremes will blend,  and  the
transfigured  bodies will become balanced in color,  for the occultist  must
learn the lesson of deep devotion,  and the Christian Mystic must learn  how
to  acquire knowledge by his own efforts without drawing upon the  universal
source of all wisdom.

   This view gives us a deeper insight into the Transfiguration reported  in
the  Gospels.   We should remember distinctly that IT WAS  THE  VEHICLES  OF
JESUS  WHICH WERE TRANSFIGURED temporarily by the indwelling Christ  Spirit.
But even while allowing for the enormous potency of the Christ Spirit in ef-
fecting the Transfiguration it is evident that Jesus must be a sublime char-
acter without a peer.  The Transfiguration as seen in the  Memory  of Nature


[PAGE 101]                                               THE TRANSFIGURATION

reveals his body as a dazzling white,  thus showing his dependence upon  the
Father, the Universal Spirit.  There is a great diversity in present attain-
ments,  but in the kingdom of Christ the differences will  gradually  disap-
pear, and a uniform color indicating both knowledge and devotion will be ac-
quired  by  all.   This  color will correspond to the  pink  color  seen  by
occultists as the Spiritual Sun,  the vehicle of the Father.   When this has
been  accomplished,  the Transfiguration of humanity will be  complete.   We
shall then be one with our Father, and His kingdom will have come.


[PAGE 102]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION


                                CHAPTER FIVE

                     THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOTWASHING

   We are told in the Gospels which relate the story of the Christian Mystic
Initiation,  how  on the night when Christ had partaken of the  Last  Supper
with His disciples,  His ministry being finished at that time,  He rose from
the  table and girded Himself with a towel,  then poured water into a  basin
and  commenced to wash His disciples'  feet, an act of the most humble  ser-
vice, but prompted by an important occult consideration.

   Comparatively few realize that when we rise in the scale of evolution, we
do  so by trampling upon the bodies of our weaker brothers;  consciously  or
unconsciously  we crush them and use them as stepping-stones to  attain  our
own ends.   This assertion holds good concerning all the kingdoms in nature.
When  a life wave has been brought down to the nadir of involution  and  en-
crusted in mineral form, that is immediately seized upon by another slightly
higher life wave,  which takes the disintegrating mineral crystal, adapts it


[PAGE 103]                              THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

to its own ends as crystalloid,  and assimilates it as part of a plant form.
If  there were no minerals which could thus be seized  upon,  disintegrated,
and  transformed,  plant life would be an impossibility.   Then  again,  the
plant forms are taken by numerous classes of animals,  masticated to a pulp,
devoured,  and made to serve as food for this higher kingdom.  If there were
no plants,  animals would be an impossibility;  and the same principle holds
good  in  spiritual evolution for if there were no pupils  standing  on  the
lower  round  of the ladder of knowledge and  requiring  instruction,  there
would be no need for a teacher.  But here there is one all-important differ-
ence.   The  teacher grows by GIVING to his pupils and serving  them.   From
their  shoulders he steps to a higher rung on the ladder of  knowledge.   HE
LIFTS  HIMSELF  BY LIFTING THEM,  but nevertheless he owes them  a  debt  of
gratitude,  which  is symbolically acknowledged and liquidated by  the  foot
washing--an act of humble service to those who have served him.

   When  we  realize that nature,  which is the expression of God,  is  con-
tinually exerting itself to create and bring forth,  we may also  understand
that  whoever  kills anything,  be it ever so little  and  seemingly  insig-
nificant,  is  to that extent thwarting God's purpose.   This  applies  par-
ticularly to the aspirant to the higher life,  and therefore the Christ  ex-
horted  His  disciples  to  be  wise  as  serpents  but  harmless  as  doves
notwithstanding.  But no matter how earnest our desire to follow the precept
of harmlessness,  our  constitutional tendencies and necessities force us to


[PAGE 104]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

kill  at every moment of our lives,  and it is not only in the great  things
that we are constantly committing murder.  It was comparatively easy for the
seeking  soul symbolized by Parsifal to break the bow wherewith he had  shot
the swan of the Grail knights when it had been explained to him what a wrong
he  had  committed.   From that time Parsifal was committed to the  life  of
harmlessness so far as the great things were concerned.   All earnest aspir-
ants follow him readily in that act once it has dawned upon them how subver-
sive of soul growth is the practice of partaking of food which requires  the
death of an animal.

   But  even  the noblest and most gentle among mankind is  poisoning  those
about him with every breath and being poisoned by them in turn,  for all ex-
hale the death-dealing carbon dioxide,  and we are therefore a menace to one
another.   Nor  is this a far-fetched idea; it is a very real  danger  which
will  become much more manifest in course of time when mankind becomes  more
sensitive.  In a disabled submarine or under similar conditions where a num-
ber of people are together the carbon dioxide exhaled by them quickly  makes
the atmosphere unable to sustain life.  There is a story from the Indian Mu-
tiny  of how a number of English prisoners were huddled in a room  in  which
there was only one small opening for air.   In a very short time the  oxygen
was exhausted, and the poor prisoners began to fight one another like beasts
in order to obtain a place near that air inlet, and they fought until nearly


[PAGE 105]                              THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

all had died from the struggle and asphyxiation.

   The  same  principle  is illustrated in  the  ancient  Atlantean  Mystery
Temple,  the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, where we find a nauseating stench
and  a suffocating smoke ascending from the Altar of Burnt Offerings,  where
the  poison-laden  bodies of the UNWILLING VICTIMS sacrificed for  sin  were
consumed,  and where the light shone but dimly through the enveloping smoke.
This we may contrast with the light which emanated clear and bright from the
Seven-branched  Candlestick fed by the olive oil extracted from  the  chaste
plant,  and where the incense symbolized by the WILLING SERVICE  of  devoted
priests rose to heaven as a sweet savor.   This we are told in many  places,
was pleasing to Deity,  while the blood of the unwilling victims,  the bulls
and the goats,  was a source of grief and displeasure to God,  who  delights
most in the sacrifice of prayer, which helps the devotee and harms no one.

   It  has  been stated concerning some of the saints that  they  emitted  a
sweet odor, and as we have often had occasion to say, this is no mere fanci-
ful story--it is an occult fact.   The great majority of mankind inhale dur-
ing every moment of life the vitalizing oxygen contained in the  surrounding
atmosphere.   At every expiration we exhale a charge of carbon dioxide which
is a deadly poison and which would certainly vitiate the air in time if  the
pure and chaste plant did not inhale this poison,  use a part of it to build
bodies that last sometimes for many centuries or even millennia as instanced
in the redwoods of California, and give us back the rest in the form of pure


[PAGE 106]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

oxygen which we need for our life.  These carboniferous plant bodies by cer-
tain  further  processes of nature have in the past become  mineralized  and
turned to stone instead of disintegrating.  We find them today as coal,  THE
PERISHABLE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE MADE BY NATURAL MEANS IN NATURE'S LABORATORY.
But  the Philosopher's Stone may also be made artificially by man  from  his
own body.   It should be understood once and for all that the  Philosopher's
Stone is not made in an exterior chemical laboratory,  but that the body  is
the workshop of the Spirit which contains all the elements necessary to pro-
duce this ELIXIR VITAE,  and that the Philosopher's Stone is not exterior to
the  body,  but THE ALCHEMIST HIMSELF BECOMES THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE.   The
salt, sulphur, and mercury emblematically contained in the three segments of
the spinal cord,  which control the sympathetic,  motor,  and sensory nerves
and are played upon by the Neptunian spinal Spirit Fire,  constitute the es-
sential elements in the alchemical process.

   It  needs no argument to show that indulgence in  sensuality,  brutality,
and bestiality makes the body coarse.  Contrariwise,  devotion to Deity,  an
attitude of perpetual prayer,  a feeling of love and compassion for all that
lives and moves, loving thoughts sent out to all beings and those inevitably
received in return,  all invariably have the effect of refining and spiritu-
alizing the nature.  We speak of a person of that sort as breathing or radi-
ating love,  an expression which much more nearly describes the actual  fact
than  most  people  imagine,  for  as  a  matter  of  actual observation the


[PAGE 107]                              THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

percentage  of poison contained in the breath of an individual is  in  exact
proportion  to  the evil in his nature and inner life and  the  thoughts  he
thinks.   The Hindu Yogi makes a practice of sealing up the candidate for  a
certain  grade  of Initiation in a cave which is not much  larger  than  his
body.   There he must live for a number of weeks breathing the same air over
and  over again to demonstrate practically that he has ceased  exhaling  the
death-dealing carbon dioxide and is beginning to build his body therefrom.

   The  Philosopher's  Stone then is not a body of the same  nature  as  the
plant,  thought it is pure and chaste,  but it is A CELESTIAL BODY  such  as
that  whereof St.  Paul speaks in the 5th chapter of Second  Corinthians,  a
body  which becomes immortal as a diamond or a ruby stone.   It is not  hard
and inflexible as the mineral;  it is A SOFT DIAMOND or ruby,  and by  every
act  of  the nature described the Christian Mystic is  building  this  body,
though he is probably unconscious thereof for a long time.   When he has at-
tained to this degree of holiness it is not necessary for him to perform the
foot  washing so far as concerns the physical pupil who helps him  to  rise,
but  he will always have the feeling of gratitude,  symbolized by that  act,
toward those whom he is fortunate enough to attract to himself as  disciples
and  to whom he may give the living bread which nourishes them to  immortal-
ity.

   Students  will realize that this is part of the process which  eventually
culminates  in the Transfiguration,  but it should also be realized that  in
the Christian Mystic Initiation there are no set and  definite degrees.  The


[PAGE 108]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

candidate looks to the Christ as the author and finisher of his faith, seek-
ing  to imitate Him and follow in His steps through every moment  of  exist-
ence.   Thus the various stages which we are considering are reached by pro-
cesses  of soul growth which simultaneously bring him to higher  aspects  of
all  these steps that we are now analyzing.   In this respect the  Christian
Mystic  Initiation differs radically from the processes in vogue  among  the
Rosicrucians,  in which an UNDERSTANDING upon the part of the  candidate  of
that which is to take place is considered indispensable.   But there comes a
time  at  which the Christian Mystic must and does realize the  path  before
him,  and that is what constitutes Gethsemane, which we will consider in the
next chapter.


[PAGE 109]                                    GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

                                 CHAPTER SIX

                                 GETHSEMANE 
                            THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

   And  when they had sung a hymn,  they went out into the Mount of  Olives.
"And  Jesus  saith unto them,  All ye shall be offended because of  me  this
night;  for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be
scattered.  But after that I am risen I will go before you into Galilee.

   "But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
"And Jesus saith unto him,  Verily,  I say unto thee that this day,  even in
this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

   "But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee,  I will not
deny thee in any wise.  Likewise also said they all.

   "And  they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:   and He saith  to
His disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray.  And He taketh with Him Peter
and  James  and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and


[PAGE 110]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

saith unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death:  tarry ye here
and watch.  And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed
that if it were possible the hour might pass from him.   And He said,  Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me:  Nev-
ertheless,  not what I will, but what thou wilt.   And he cometh and findeth
them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou?  Couldst not thou
watch  one  hour?   Watch ye and pray lest ye enter  into  temptation.   The
spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." --MARK, 14:26-38.

   In  the  foregoing Gospel narrative we have one of the saddest  and  most
difficult  of the experiences of the Christian Mystic outlined in  spiritual
form.   During  all his previous experience he has wandered  blindly  along,
that  is to say,  blind to the fact that he is on the Path which if  consis-
tently followed leads to a definite goal, but being also keenly alert to the
slightest sigh of every suffering soul.  He has concentrated all his efforts
upon alleviating their pain physically, morally, or mentally;  he has served
them in any and every capacity; he has taught them the gospel of love, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"; and he has been A LIVING EXAMPLE to all
in its practice.  Therefore he has drawn to himself a little band of friends
whom he loves with the tenderest of affection.   Them has he also taught and
served unstintingly,  even to the foot washing.   But during this period  of
service he  has become so saturated with the sorrows of the world that he is


[PAGE 111]                                    GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

indeed a MAN of SORROWS and acquainted with grief as no one else can be.

   This is a very definite experience of the Christian Mystic, and it is the
most important factor in furthering his spiritual progress.   So long as  we
are bored when people come to us and tell us their troubles,  so long as  we
run away from them and seek to escape hearing their tales of woe, we are far
from the Path.   Even when we listen to them and have schooled ourselves not
to show that we are bored,  when we say with our lips only a few sympathetic
words  that fall flat on the sufferer's ear,  we gain nothing  in  spiritual
growth.   It is absolutely essential to the Christian Mystic that he  become
so  attuned to the world's woe that he feels every pang as his own hurt  and
stores it up within his heart.

   When PARSIFAL stood in the temple of the Holy Grail and saw the suffering
of Amfortas the stricken Grail King,  he was mute with sympathy and  compas-
sion  for a long time after the procession had passed out of the  hall,  and
consequently  could not answer the questions of Gurnemanz,  and it was  that
deep  fellow  feeling which prompted him to seek for the spear  that  should
heal Amfortas.  IT WAS THE PAIN OF AMFORTAS FELT IN THE HEART OF PARSIFAL BY
SYMPATHY WHICH HELD HIM FIRMLY BALANCED UPON THE PATH OF VIRTUE WHEN TEMPTA-
TION  WAS STRONGEST.   It was that deep pain of compassion which  urged  him
through many years to seek the suffering Grail King, and finally when he had
found  Amfortas,  this deep,  heartfelt fellow feeling enabled him  to  pour
forth the healing balm.


[PAGE 112]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   As it is shown in the soul myth of Parsifal,  so it is in the actual life
and experience of the Christian Mystic:   he must drink deeply of the cup of
sorrow,  he must drain it to the very dregs so that by the  cumulative  pain
which threatens to burst his heart he may pour himself out unreservedly  and
unstintedly for the healing and helping of the world.  Then Gethsemane,  the
garden of grief, is a familiar place to him, watered with tears for the sor-
rows and sufferings of humanity.

   Through  all his years of self-sacrifice his little band of  friends  had
been the consolation of Jesus.   He had already learned to renounce the ties
of blood.   "Who is my mother and my brother?   They that do the will of  my
Father."   Though no true Christian neglects his social obligations or with-
holds love from his family,  the spiritual ties are nevertheless the  stron-
gest,  and through them comes the crowning grief;  through the desertion  of
his spiritual friends he learns to drink to the dregs the cup of sorrow.  He
does  not  blame them for their desertion but excuses them with  the  words,
"The Spirit is indeed willing,  but the flesh is weak,"  for he knows by his
own  experience how true this is.   But he finds that in the supreme  sorrow
they cannot comfort him,  and therefore he turns to THE ONLY SOURCE OF  COM-
FORT,  THE FATHER IN HEAVEN.  He has arrived at the point where human endur-
ance  seems to have reached its limit,  and he prays to be spared a  greater
ordeal, but with a blind trust in the Father he bows his will and offers all
unreservedly.

   That is the moment of realization.  Having drunk the cup of sorrow to the
dregs, being  deserted  by  all, he experiences that temporary awful fear of


[PAGE 113]                                    GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

being  utterly alone which is one of the most terrible if not the most  ter-
rible  experience  that can come into the life of a human  being.   All  the
world seems dark about.   He knows that in spite of all the good he has done
or  tried  to do the powers of darkness are seeking to slay him.   He  knows
that the mob that a few days before had cried "Hosannah"  will on the morrow
be ready to shout "Crucify!   Crucify!"   His relatives and now his last few
friends have fled, and they were also even ready to deny.

   But when we are on the pinnacle of grief we are nearest to the throne  of
grace.   The agony and grief,  the sorrow and the suffering borne within the
Christian Mystic's breast are more priceless and precious than the wealth of
the  Indies,  for when he has lost all human companionship and when  he  has
given  himself over unreservedly to the Father a transmutation takes  place:
the grief is turned to compassion, the only power in the world that can for-
tify a man about to mount the hill of Golgotha and give his life for  human-
ity,  not a sacrifice of death but a LIVING SACRIFICE,  lifting  himself  by
lifting others.


[PAGE 114]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

                                CHAPTER SEVEN

                      THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

   As  we  said in the beginning of this series of articles,  the  Christian
Mystic Initiation differs radically from the Occult Initiation undertaken by
those who approach the Path from the intellectual side.   But all paths con-
verge  at Gethsemane,  where the candidate for Initiation is saturated  with
sorrow which flowers into compassion,  a yearning mother love which has only
one all-absorbing desire; to pour itself out for the alleviation of the sor-
row of the world to save and to succor all that are weak and heavy-laden, to
comfort  them and give them rest.   At that point the eyes of the  Christian
Mystic  are opened to a full realization of the world's woe and his  mission
as a Savior; and the occultist also finds here the heart of love which alone
can give zest and zeal in the quest.  By the union of the mind and the heart
both  are  ready for the next step,  which involved the development  of  the
STIGMATA, a necessary preparation  for  the  mystic  death and resurrection.


[PAGE 115]                                  THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

The Gospel narrative tells the story of the STIGMATA in the following words,
the opening scene being in the Garden of Gethsemane:

   "Judas  then  having received a band of men and officers from  the  chief
priests  and  Pharisees came thither with lanterns,  torches,  and  weapons.
Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon Him went forth  and
said unto them, Whom seek ye?  They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth.   Jesus
said unto them,  I am He.....Then the band and the captain and the  officers
of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him and led Him away to Annas first.....The
high priest then asked of His disciples and of His doctrine.  Jesus answered
him,  I spake openly to the world.....Why asketh though me?   Ask them which
heard me what I have said unto them; behold they know what I have said.  Now
Annas  had  sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.....Then  they  led
Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment.....

   "Pilate  then  went out unto them and said,  What  accusation  bring  you
against this man?   They answered and said unto him,  If He were not a male-
factor  we  would not have delivered Him unto thee.....Then  Pilate  entered
into  the  judgment hall again,  and called Jesus,  and said unto  Him,  Art
though the King of the Jews?  Jesus answered him,  Sayest thou this thing of
thyself  or did others tell it to thee of me?.....My kingdom is not of  this
world:   if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that
I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.


[PAGE 116]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?  Jesus answered,  Thou
sayest that I am a king.  To this end was I born,  and for this cause came I
into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.   Everyone that is
of   the   truth  heareth  my  voice.   Pilate  said  unto  Him,   What   is
truth?.....Then he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them,  I find
in Him no fault at all.  But we have a custom that I should release unto you
one at the Passover;  will ye therefore that I release unto you the King  of
the Jews?   Then cried they all again saying,  Not this man,  but  Barabbas.
now  Barabbas was a robber.   Pilate therefore took Jesus and SCOURGED  Him.
And the soldiers platted A CROWN OF THORNS and put it on His head,  and they
put on Him a purple robe and said, Hail,  King of the Jews;  and they  smote
him with their hands.

   "Pilate  therefore went forth again and saith unto them,  behold I  bring
Him forth unto you that ye may know that I find no fault in Him.   Then came
Jesus  forth  wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.   And  Pilate
saith unto them, Behold the man!  When the chief priests therefore,  and of-
ficers saw Him,  they cried out, saying, Crucify Him,  Crucify Him.   Pilate
saith unto them,  Take ye Him and crucify Him;  for I find no fault in  Him.
The Jews answered him, We have a law and by our law He ought to die, because
He  made  Himself the Son of God.....Pilate sought to release Him,  but  the
Jews  cried  out saying,  If thou let this man go,  thou  art  not  Caesar's
friend; whoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.....They cried


[PAGE 117]                                  THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

out,  Away with Him,  away with Him,  crucify Him.   Pilate saith unto them,
Shall I crucify your king?  The chief priests answered,  We have no king but
Caesar.   Then  delivered he Him therefore unto them to be  crucified.   And
they  took Jesus and led Him away.  And He,  bearing His cross,  went  forth
into a place called the PLACE OF A SKULL, which is, in the Hebrew, Golgotha.
There  they CRUCIFIED Him and two others with Him,  one on either  side  and
Jesus in the midst.  And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross.   And
the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

   We  have here the account of how the STIGMATA or punctures were  produced
in the Hero of the Gospels,  though the location is not quite correctly  de-
scribed, and the process is represented in a narrative form differing widely
from the manner in which these things really happen.   But we stand here be-
fore  one of the Mysteries which must remain sealed for the profane,  though
the  underlying mystical facts are as plain as daylight to those  who  know.
The physical body is not by any means the real man.   Tangible,  solid,  and
pulsating  with life as we find it,  it is really the most dead part of  the
human being,  crystallized into a matrix of finer vehicles which are  invis-
ible  to  our ordinary physical sight.   If we place a basin of water  in  a
freezing temperature,  the water soon congeals into ice, and when we examine
this ice,  we find that it is made up of innumerable little crystals  having
various geometrical forms and lines of demarcation.  There are etheric lines
of forces which were present in the water before it congealed.  As the water


[PAGE 118]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

was hardened and molded along these lines,  so our physical bodies have con-
gealed and solidified along the etheric lines of force of our invisible  vi-
tal body, which is thus in the ordinary course of life inextricably bound to
the physical body, waking or sleeping, until death brings dissolution of the
tie.   But  as Initiation involves the liberation of the REAL MAN  from  the
body of sin and death that he may soar into the subtler spheres at will  and
return  to the body at his pleasure,  it is obvious that before that can  be
accomplished,  before  the  object  of  Initiation  can  be  attained,   the
interlocking  grip of the physical body and the etheric vehicle which is  so
strong and rigid in ordinary humanity, must be dissolved.   As they are most
closely  bound together in the palms of the hands,  the arches of the  feet,
and the head, the occult schools concentrate their efforts upon severing the
connection at these points, and produce the STIGMATA invisibly.

   The  Christian Mystic lacks knowledge of how to perform the  act  without
producing an exterior manifestation.   The STIGMATA develop in him spontane-
ously  by constant contemplation of Christ and unceasing efforts to  imitate
Him in all things.   These exterior STIGMATA comprise not only the wounds in
the  hands  and feet and that in the side but also those  impressed  by  the
crown of thorns and by the scourging.   The most remarkable example of stig-
matization is that said to have occurred in 1224 to Francis of Assisi on the
mountain of Alverno.   Being absorbed in contemplation of the Passion he saw
a seraph approaching, blazing with fire and having  between  its  wings  the


[PAGE 119]                                  THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

figure of the Crucified.  St. Francis became aware that in hands, feet,  and
side he had received externally the marks of crucifixion.   These marks con-
tinued  during the two years until his death,  and are claimed to have  been
seen by many eyewitnesses, including Pope Alexander the Fourth.

   The Dominicans disputed the fact,  but at length made the same claim  for
Catherine of Sienna,  whose STIGMATA were explained as having at her own re-
quest been made invisible to others.  The Franciscans appealed to Sixtus the
Fourth  who forbade representation of St. Catherine to made with  the  STIG-
MATA.   Still the fact of the STIGMATA is recorded in the  Breviary  Office,
and Benedict the 13th granted the Dominicans a Feast in commemoration of it.
Others,  especially women who have the positive vital body,  are claimed  to
have received some or all of the STIGMATA.   The last to be canonized by the
Catholic Church for this reason was Veronica Giuliana (1831).   More  recent
cases are those of Anna Catherine Emmerich, who became a nun at Agnetenberg;
L'Estatica Maria Von Moerl of Caldero;  Louise Lateau,  whose STIGMATA  were
said to bleed every Friday;  and Mrs.  Girling of the Newport Shaker  commu-
nity.

   But whether the STIGMATA are visible or invisible the effect is the same.
The  spiritual currents generated in the vital body of such a person are  so
powerful that the body is scourged by them as it were,  particularly in  the
region of the head,  where they produce a feeling akin to that of the  crown
of thorns.  Thus there finally dawns upon the person a full realization that


[PAGE 120]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the physical body is a cross which he is bearing,  a prison and not the real
man.   This brings him to the next step in his Initiation, viz.,  the cruci-
fixion,  which is experienced by the development of the other centers in his
hands and feet where the vital body is thus being severed from the dense ve-
hicle.

   We are told in the Gospel story that Pilate placed a sign reading, 'JESUS
NAZARENUS REX JUDAEOREM"  on Jesus' cross, and this is translated in the au-
thorized version to mean, "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."  But the
initials INRI placed upon the cross represent the names of the four elements
in Hebrew:   IAM,  water;  ##?NOUR,  fire; RUACH,  spirit or vital air;  and
IABESHAH, earth.  This is the occult key to the mystery of crucifixion,  for
it symbolizes in the first place the salt, sulphur, mercury, and azoth which
were  used  by the ancient alchemists to make the Philosopher's  Stone,  the
universal solvent,  the ELIXIR-VITAE.  The two "I's" (IAM and IABESHAH) rep-
resent the saline lunar water:   a, in a fluidic state holding salt in solu-
tion,  and b, the coagulated extract of this water, the "SALT OF THE EARTH";
in  other  words,  the  finer  fluidic  vehicles of man and his dense  body.
N (NOUR) in Hebrew stands for fire and the combustible elements, chief among
which  are SULPHUR and PHOSPHORUS so necessary to oxidation,  without  which
warm  blood would be an impossibility.  The Ego under this  condition  could
not  function  in  the  body  nor could thought find a material  expression.
R (RUACH) is the Hebrew equivalent for the spirit, AZOTH, functioning in the
MERCURIAL mind.  Thus the four letters INRI placed over the  cross of Christ


[PAGE 121]                                  THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

according to the Gospel story represent composite man,  the Thinker,  at the
point in his spiritual development where he is getting ready for  liberation
from the cross of his dense vehicle.

   Proceeding  further along the same line of elucidation we may  note  that
INRI  is the symbol of the crucified candidate for the following  additional
reasons:

   IAM is the Hebrew word signifying water, the fluidic LUNAR,  moon element
which forms the principal part of the human body (about 87 per cent).   This
word is also the symbol of the finer fluidic vehicles of desire and emotion.
NOUR,  the Hebrew word signifying fire, is a symbolic representation of  the
heat-producing  red blood laden with martial Mars iron,  fire,  and  energy,
which the occultist sees coursing as a gas through the veins and arteries of
the  human  body infusing it with energy and ambition  without  which  there
could  be neither material nor spiritual progress.   It also represents  the
sulphur  and phosphorus necessary for the material manifestation of  thought
as already mentioned.

   RUACH, the Hebrew word for spirit or vital air, is an excellent symbol of
the Ego clothed in the mercurial Mercury mind,  which makes MAN and  enables
him  to control and direct his bodily vehicles and activities in a  rational
manner.

   IABESHAH is the Hebrew word for earth, representing the solid fleshy part
which  makes up the CRUCIFORM EARTHY BODY crystallized within the finer  ve-
hicles at birth and severed from them in the ordinary course  of  things  at


[PAGE 122]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

death,  or in the extraordinary event that we learn to die the mystic  death
and ascend to the glories of the higher spheres for a time.

   This stage of the Christian Mystic's spiritual development therefore  in-
volves  a reversal of the creative force from its ordinary  downward  course
where  it  is  wasted in generation to satisfy the passions,  to  an  upward
course through the tripartite spinal cord, whose three segments are ruled by
the moon, Mars, and Mercury respectively, and where the rays of Neptune then
lights THE REGENERATIVE SPINAL SPIRIT FIRE.   This mounting upward sets  the
pituitary body and the pineal gland into vibration, opening up the spiritual
sight;  and striking the frontal sinus it starts the CROWN OF THORNS  throb-
bing  with pain as the bond with the physical body is burned by  the  sacred
Spirit Fire, which wakes this center from its age-long sleep to a throbbing,
pulsating  life  sweeping onward to the other centers  in  the  FIVE-POINTED
STIGMATIC STAR.  They are also vitalized, an the whole vehicle becomes aglow
with a golden glory.   Then with a final wrench the great vortex of the  de-
sire  body located in the liver is liberated,  and the martial  energy  con-
tained  in that vehicle propels upward the SIDEREAL VEHICLE  (so-called  be-
cause  the  STIGMATA in the head,  hands, and feet are located in  the  same
positions  relative  to one another as the points in a  five-pointed  star),
which  ascends through THE SKULL (Golgotha),  while the CRUCIFIED  CHRISTIAN
utters his triumphant cry, "Consummatum est" (it has been accomplished), and
soars into the subtler spheres to seek Jesus whose life he has imitated with


[PAGE 123]                                  THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

such  success  and from whom he is thenceforth inseparable.   Jesus  is  his
Teacher and his guide to the kingdom of Christ, where all shall be united in
one  body to learn and to practice the RELIGION OF THE FATHER,  to whom  the
kingdom will eventually revert that He may be All in All.

                                  THE END.

                             --- END OF FILE ---

[PAGE 125]                                                             INDEX

                                    INDEX

Aaron's rod, not used for self 45.
   one of the sprouts of Tree of Life planted by Seth 42.
Ablutions, in religious systems 75.
Adam, took with him three slips of Tree of Life 42.
Adept or Master, accepted by many on unsupported claims 92.
Age of Alternation, will fall with the rainbow 87.
Alchemist, becomes the Philosopher's Stone 106.
Allegories, infant humanity taught by means of 79.
Altar of Burnt Offerings, generated darkness 32.
   on path of aspirant 13.
   poison-laden bodies of UNWILLING victims burnt upon 105.
   showed majority taught by law 55-56.
   shows nauseating nature of sin and necessity for justification 36, 58.
   the symbol of Retrospection 21-24.
   SEE ALSO Brazen Altar, Altar of sacrifice.
Altar of Incense, frankincense burned on 33.
   incense symbolizing aroma of service 35, 53.
   only horns marked with crimson stain 30.
   shoed beauty of selfless service 36.
   strange incense never burned upon 30.
   the Golden Altar 30.
Altar of sacrifice 35, 39, 52.
Alternation, Age of, followed the Flood 79.
   Law of, defied by Mystic after Golgotha 85.
Altruism, considered an Utopian dream 82.
Amfortas, the stricken Grail King 111.
Angel wings in "Sistine Madonna," occult significance of 65.
Angels, attend the birth of the Mystic who is to become a savior 69-70.


[PAGE 126]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION


Angelus Silesius, quotation from 20.
Annunciation and Immaculate Conception, precede Baptism 69.
Arche, Greek word meaning primordial substance 12, 70.
Ark of the Covenant, at westernmost end of second apartment 38, 46.
   candidate at, never uses powers selfishly 44.
   description of all 13.
   represents man in highest development 40.
   symbolized man hovered over by divine hierarchies 40.
   three articles in:  pot of manna, budding rod, tables of law 40.
Arjuna, in Mahabharata, symbolically the same as Siegfried 64.
Aroma, of compulsory sacrifice, nauseating 36.
   of loving service a sweet savor to God 53.
   of voluntary service, sweet smelling 36.
Astrology, in relation to Christian Mysteries 73.
Atlantean Mystery Temple, a school of soul growth 66.
   ablutions in 75.
   foreshadowed the Rose Cross 11.
   given to satisfy longing for lost spiritual guidance 12.
   Tabernacle in the Wilderness, designed by Jehovah to teach cosmic
         truth 12.
   UNWILLING victims in 105.
   willing service symbolized in 105.
Atlantis, egoism came into world during 81.
   in Baptism, Mystic conducted under waters of 83.
Audumla, the Cow, and streams of milk symbolic of ethers 80.
Aurgelmer, the Giant Ymer, the seed ground of spiritual hierarchies 80.
Aurora Borealis, and sons of the North 64.

Balm of Gilead, the Christ Ideal is the 69.
Baptism, and Golgotha precede overcoming Law of Alternation 85.
   compared to ablutions in Molten Sea 75.
   correlated to Laver of Consecration 26.
   cosmic origin and necessity of, told in "Lay of Niebelung" 79.



[PAGE 127]                                                             INDEX

   dedicatory step 69.
   gives Mystic access to Fountain of Life 89-90.
   may take place anywhere in the world 82-83.
   misuse of power of 89.
   Mystic conducted under the waters of Atlantis in 83.
   of Spirit, in the new heaven of pure ether 87.
   orthodox disputes concerning 76.
   orthodox, produces little improvement in majority 76.
   teaches us the cause of sorrow, sin, and death 82.
   the most wonderful adventure in the world 85.
Benedict the 13th, granted Dominicans a feast in honor of stigmata of
   St. Catherine 119.
Bible story of Tabernacle, gives main facts of the mystic manna 41.
Biblical quotations:
   Adam knew Eve, etc., 43, 50.
   Arrest, trials, and Crucifixion 115-117.
   An eye for an eye 17.
   Christ in Garden of Gethsemane 109-110.
   Command that these stones be made bread 88.
   Dying thou shalt die 43.
   Father, forgive them 83.
   Follow Me 26.
   For it had not yet rained 79.
   God is light 15, 31, 39.
   Greatest in the kingdom of God 13
   Heaven is within 59.
   House not made with hands 42.
   I am the Bread of Life 42.
   If a man takes your coat 83.
   I go to my Father 57.
   In the beginning was the word 88.
   Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children 86.
   Man does not live by bread alone 89.
   Many are called but few chosen 26.
   No man cometh to me except my Father draw him 53.
   Seven Spirits before the Throne 31.
   Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the
         Holiest Place 38.
   The Spirit is indeed willing, but flesh is weak 112. 
   There will I meet thee...and commune from above the Mercy Seat 38.
   They saw God 81.


[PAGE 128]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself 110.
   Thou shalt not steal 40.
   Though his sins be as scarlet 24.
   Ye cannot follow me now 50.
Black Brothers, doing enormous amount of damage 92.
Black Grail, brothers of, starve unless provided with works of
         wickedness 93.
   Powers of Evil, in Court of Herod 92-93.
Blood, circulation of, relative to retrospection 22.
   purple, poisoned because sinful, symbolized on Temple veils 16.
   spiritual development depends upon 22.
   ties of, renounced 112.
Blue, color of the Father 15.
Blue ray, of the Father, gives blue haze 15.
   penetrates consciousness of minerals 15.
Body, crystallized into the matrix of the finer vehicles 117.
   is the most dead part of the human being 117.
Book of the Dead, the Egyptian ritual of Initiation 67.
Brazen Altar, fire on, of divine origin 18.
   keyword of, justification 26.
   made of brass, teaches sin an anomaly in nature 18.
   teaches first lesson, that man advances by sacrifices alone 19.

   used for animal sacrifice 17.
SEE ALSO Altar of Burnt Offerings, Altar of sacrifice.
Brazen Laver, central idea of, "consecration" 26.
   corresponds to Baptism of Jesus 26-27.
   supported by twelve zodiacal animals 25.
   symbol of sanctification and consecration 26.
   symbolic animals of, attracted particular rays 25.
   water in, a potent factor in guiding priests and people 25.
   water in, magnetized by divine hierarchies 25.
Bread, earthly, unnecessary for Mystic who gains Fountain of Life 89.
   living, is the Word of God 90.
   which fell from heaven, nature of 41, 42.
Breath, poison in, is in  proportion to evil in nature 107.
Brotherhood of man, mental belief in, contrasted with Baptismal 86.
   sermon on 94.
Buddha, body radiant with light within 98.
Buddhism, religion of the Far East 63.


[PAGE 129]                                                             INDEX

Budding rod, wand of magician and holy spear, symbolic of creative force 44.
Cain, sons of, the craftsmen of the world 42.
Carbon dioxide, a deadly poison, used by plants 105-106.
   exhaled by man, a danger 104.
Carboniferous plant bodies, become the perishable Philosopher's Stone 106.
Cardinals, college of, corrupted by political powers 66.
Candlestick, Golden and Seven-branched 28-29.
Castigation and fasting 90.
Cataclysm greater than World War prevented by Elder Brothers 93.
Catherine of Sienna, stigmata of 119.
SEE ALSO Golden Candlestick.
Chemistry, in relation to the light of the indwelling Spirit 98.
Cherubim, and Father Fire above Ark, represent divine hierarchies 40.
   second veil, wrought with figures of 37.
   with flaming sword at gates of Eden 50.
   with flower at Solomon's Temple, mystery of Grail 51.
China, spiritual wave started in 13.
Christ, and the story of the Rich Young Man 26.
   at being tempted the Mystic may become a 92.
   at the foot-washing, compared to Brazen Altar 19.
   author and finisher of Mystic's faith 108.
   entered ministry through baptismal water, comparable to aspirant at the 
         Brazen Laver 26.
   fed the multitudes with loaves and fishes 41.
   instituted building of Tabernacle within 47-48.
   kingdom of, transfiguration of humanity in 101.
   made first self-sacrifice, abrogating animal sacrifices 47.
   symbolized by golden light of East Room 57.
   the Son, color of ray is yellow 15-16.
Christ Ideal, the true balm of Gilead 69.
Christ Ray, hidden in white part of Temple veils 16.
Christ within, must dwell in our own God consciousness 48.
   is that which saves 20.
   the radiant extract of human body 98.
   will shine through transparent body as Light of the World 98.


[PAGE 130]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Christ's self-sacrifice, rent veil of the Temple and opened the way to the 
   Holy of Holies 47.
Christian, crucified, cries triumphantly "Consummatum est" 122.
   crucified, soars into subtler spheres to seek Jesus 123.
Christian Mysteries, compared to Egyptian 66-67.
Christian Mystic, after Baptism is both aggressor and victim 83.
   attains superior knowledge 68.
   after Temptation is urged to help and heal 94-95.
   at Temptation becomes Christ, Parsifal, Herod, or Klingsor 92.
   becomes Man of Sorrows, seeking and saving the lost 82.
   builds the Diamond Soul 99.
   childhood and youth of 74.
   conducted under waters of Atlantis 83.
   does not consider murder of himself as mistreatment 83.
   draws down great white light of Deity through Jehovah 99.
   easily distinguished by life he lives 96.
   emotional outpouring is the force which accomplishes Initiation of 85.
   feels every pang of suffering in his own heart 111.
   has cultivated sublime compassion 69.
   has safer guide than reason, in the interior voice 89.
   learns at the Fount of Life to sing Song of Being 88.
   must be born of virgin parents 70-71.
   perceives composite color-sound as the world-anthem of God 88.
   realizes mission as savior in Gethsemane 108.
   the flower of many preparatory existences 69.
   through service is saturated with sorrows of world 110-111.
   watched over with special care by divine hierarchies 69.
Christina Mystic Initiation, contrasted with Rosicrucian 67, 108.
   nine steps in 69.
   no set and definite degrees in 108.
Christian religion, usually supposed to have no connection with
   Initiation. 63.


[PAGE 131]                                                             INDEX

Christians, professing, usually restrain Faith by reason 87.
Church steeple, compared to Path of Holiness 57.
Circle dance, of man, the microcosm, around God 14.
   of planets 31.
Coal, the perishable Philosopher's Stone from nature's laboratory 106.
Color, of balanced development of head and heart is pink 101.
   of the Father's vehicle the Spiritual Sun 101.
Color-sound, the world anthem of God made flesh, perceived by Mystic 88.
Colors, of Temple veils give us status of Tabernacle 15.
Communion Cup, brings eternal life 51-52.
   the mystery of the Grail Cup 51-52.
Communion Table Virginian wafers at the 41.
Compassion, enabled Parsifal to pour forth healing balm 111.
   must be developed by Rosicrucian student 68.
   prompted Parsifal to seek the spear to heal Amfortas 111.
   radiated by Mystic like heat from a stove 94.
   the only power that can fortify a man to mount Golgotha 113.
   urged Parsifal to seek the suffering Grail King 111.
Consecration, baptismal waters of 27.
   central idea of Brazen Laver 26.
Conscience, pangs of, in Purgatory unbelievably acute 22.
Conversion, or Baptism, a downpouring of the Spirit 99.
Cosmic formula, primal 97.
Cosmogony of Eddas, compared to Bible and Science 79.
Consummatum est, the triumphant cry of the crucified Christian 122.
Court of the Tabernacle 15.
   worshippers in, prayed while incense arose 31.
Creative act, performed under inauspicious planetary rays 51.
Creative force, must be reversed by Christian Mystic 122.
Cruciform earthly body, represented by Hebrew letter Isabeshah 121.

Death, a boon and blessing to exiled man 43.
   and sleep, separation between vehicles in 78.
   inflicted upon priests who failed to wash in Brazen laver 25.


[PAGE 132]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   meted out to priests who used strange fire on Brazen Altar 19.
   the fruit of indiscriminate eating of Tree of Knowledge 43.
   the mystic 122.
Desire body, great vortex of, is liberated at Crucifixion 122.
Development, future, determined by previous living 10.
Diamond Soul, the Mystic Philosopher's Stone, 99-100.
Divine Pattern, of progress never given to those who have not made a 
   covenant with God 12.
Dominicans, claimed stigmata for Catherine of Sienna 119.
Dreams, result of incomplete separation of vehicles in sleep 78.
Drowning, separation of dense and finer vehicles not complete 78.
Drowning people, see whole life reenacted 77.

East Room, contains paraphernalia for soul growth 32.
   entered only by priests 28.
   golden light of, the Christ light 57.
   light in, knowledge and reason 39.
   mystic significance of 28-35.
   symbolical of soul growth by service 28.
   symbolical of time of full moon 31.
   teaches us how to make the living bread 58.
   the Hall of Service of Three Years' Ministry 32.
   the Holy Place 13, 28.
   the pure light in 56.
   where priest garnered pabulum of the soul 34.
Eastern gate, candidate poor, naked, and blind, standing without the 19.
   candidate at, subject to the Law Without 40, 54.
   entered by aspirant on path 13.
Eddas, cosmogony of 79.
   Northern, treasured among sages of Scandinavia 79.
   quotation from Oehlenschlaeger's translation 80.
Eddas, the guiding star to Sons of the North 63.
Eden, the etheric realms of spiritual force where grows the tree of vital
         power 43.
   the four rivers of, symbolize ethers 80.


[PAGE 133]                                                             INDEX

Egoism came into world after humanity left Atlantis 81.
Egypt, the Land of the Bull, Taurus 11.
Egyptian Mysteries, compared to Christian 66-67.
Elder Brothers, always ready to help at difficult points 56-57.
   prevented cataclysm greater than the World War 93.
   transmute evil thoughts by alchemy of love 93.
   use food only at intervals of years 90.
Emmerich, Anna Catherine developed stigmata 119.
Essence of service amalgamated at time of full moon 54-55.
Etheric lines of force in water 117-118.
Evolution, law of, higher feeds on lower 19.
Evolutionary debts, shown in foot-washing 102-103.
Eyes, in early periods man had no need for 81.
Equilibrium of the world, would be upset if spiritual powers misused 89.

Faith, of Mystic, laughs at reason 87.
   restrained by reason in most Christians 87.
   with head not heart the cause of world's misery 86.
Fasting and castigation, mistaken methods of soul growth 90.
Father, Kingdom will revert to the 123.
   represented by the Shekinah Glory 57.
   Spiritual Sun the vehicle of the 101.
Father in heaven, only comfort in Gethsemane 112. 
Father Fire, above the Ark, invisible and dark 46.
   in 2nd Tabernacle, disciple realizes fellowship with 40.
   the crowning glory of Holy of Holies 32.
Father ray, blue in color 15.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rays of 15-16.
Fellowship, of the Saints 39.
   with Father Fire felt in 2nd Tabernacle 39-40.
Fire, ensouls all things 46.
   on Altar of Burnt Offerings, symbol of the Lawgiver 55, 57.
   on Brazen Altar, divinely enkindled flame of remorse 23.
   on Brazen Altar, of divine origin 18.
   relationship of, to flame 46.
   Shekinah Glory, most sacred fire 57.
   the unseen but potent power of manifestation 47.


[PAGE 134]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

   three kinds within the Temple 55, 56, 57.
First heaven, accurately represented in "Sistine Madonna" 65.
   only head of individual remains when he enters the 65.
Flesh of man, even now undergoing change 97.
   will become transparent and radiant 98.
Flower, compared to man 51.
Food, used by Elder Brothers at intervals of years 90.
Foods, coarse, prevent illumination of Spirit 90.
Foot-washing, lesson of, compared to lesson of Brazen Altar 19.
   prompted by occult consideration 102.
   symbolizes debt of gratitude to younger brothers 103, 107.
Formula, primal cosmic 97.
Fountain of Life, and sermon on brotherhood 94.
   Mystic at the 88.
Four rivers of Eden, the four ethers 80.
Frankincense, combined with other sweet spices on Altar of Incense 30.
   of soul growth is the aroma of shewbread of service 34.
   placed on shewbread 29-30.
   the aroma of the shewbread 32, 33.
Freemason, a child of Light, builder of mystic Temple 13.
   must be servant of all 13.
SEE ALSO, Mason, Mystic Mason, etc.
Full moon, a factor in soul growth 50.
   East Room symbolical of 31.
   favorable for extracting frankincense of soul growth 34.
   time of amalgamation of essence of service 55.

Gate of the Tabernacle, aspirant a child of sin under th law at 40.
   enclosed with blue, scarlet, and purple curtain 15.
Generation, will cease to sap vitality and Aaron's Rod will bloom 44.
Genius of Evil, held within bounds by Elder Brothers 93.
Gethsemane, agony of, is priceless 113.
   Christian Mystic realizes path before him in 108.


[PAGE 135]                                                             INDEX

   grief transmuted into compassion in 113.
   marks union of heart and mind 114. 
   occultist finds here the heart which gives zeal to the quest 114. 
   one of saddest and most difficult experiences 110.
   opens Mystic's eyes to his mission as savior 114. 
   paths of Mystic and Occultist converge at 114. 
   teaches Mystic the only source of comfort, the Father 112. 
   the crowning grief is desertion by spiritual friends 112. 
   watered with tears for sorrows of humanity 112. 
Gilead, Christ Ideal is the true balm of 69.
God, the Grand Architect 12, 70.
"God Is Light," meaning of three primary colors 15.
Golden Altar, the Altar of Incense 30.
Golden life-light, seen by Mystic on Loom of Life 87.
Golden Candlestick, emblematic of full moon and cycles 52. 
   fed by olive oil, symbolizes willing service 105. 
   filled East Room with Light 31.
   light of, compared to flame of Burnt Offerings 32.
   must be lighted within our own hearts to guide us 48.
   symbolized Seven Spirits before the Throne 31.
Golden Pot, containing Manna, hidden within each human being 42. 
   is the house not made with hands 42.
   symbolizes golden aura of soul body 41-42.
Golden Wedding Garment, of Mystic and Occultist 100.
Golgotha, and Baptism precede conquering of Law of Alternation 85.
   place of the skull where spirit takes departure 50.
   represents a living sacrifice 113. 
   the skull 122.
   the ultimate of human attainment 50.
Gospels, formulae of Initiation 66.
Grail Knights, and the Black Brotherhood 92, 93.
   swan of the 104.
   Grail Cup, mystery of, shown in flower held by Cherubim 51.
Grain, in shewbread represents opportunities for soul growth 33.
Grand Architect, God the 70.


[PAGE 136]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Gunpowder, and dynamite, uses of, compared to spiritual power 91.
Gurnemanz, questions Parsifal 111.

Hall of Service, aspirant weaves soma psuchicon in 49.
Healing balm, poured forth by Parsifal through compassion 111.
Heaven world, accurately represented in "Sistine Madonna" 64-65.
Herod's Temple, most glorious of the three Temples 47.
   vitally different from Temple of Solomon and Tabernacle 47.
Herod, at Temptation Mystic may become a 92.
High Priest, entered Hall of Liberation once a year 49.
   reentered Holy of Holies after making amends for sin 50.
Higher Self, why dangerous to disregard precepts given 19.
Hindu Yogi, seals up candidate in cave at certain grade of Initiation 107.
Hinduism, religion of the far East 63.
Holy Grail, lustre enhanced by deeds of service 92.
   Parsifal stood in the Temple of the 11.
Holy Place, the.  SEE East Room.
Holy spear, wand of magician and budding Rod 44.
Holy Spirit, gives red color to man's flesh and blood 16.
Holy Water, renders people amenable to priestly rule 25.
   takes on effluvia from strong magnetic personality 25.
Horus, the first fruit, aspirant in Egyptian Initiations 66-67.
Human body, alchemically changed to living stone through Transfiguration 97.
Humanity, all emanate from same source, as rays from sun 86.
   ready to range itself on side of evil 93.
Humanity, divided into twelve groups at time of Tabernacle 25.
   mourns the loss of spiritual sight and divine guides


[PAGE 137]                                                             INDEX

Iabeshah, the Hebrew word for earth, the cruciform earthy body 121.
Iam, the Hebrew word signifying water 121.
Ice crystals, form along lines of etheric lines of force 117-118.
Illumination of spirit impossible to one who indulges in coarse foods 90.
Immaculate Conception, a prerequisite to life of saints and saviors 72.
   and Annunciation, precede Baptism 69.
   true nature of 70-71.
Immortality, not mentioned in Old Testament 18.
Incantations, practiced legitimately for spiritual purposes 89.
Incense, ascended with prayers of worshipers in the Court 31.
   on Golden Altar 30.
   on shewbread, burned when bread was changed 30.
   symbolical of willing service 105.
   the aroma of service 35, 53. 
Indian Mutiny, story of 104.
Indwelling spirit, effulgence of, darkened by dense body 94.
Initiation, a cosmic process of enlightenment and evolution of power 67.
   cannot be accomplished until interlocking grip of etheric and 
         physical bodies is dissolved 118.
   experiences of all similar in main features in 63.
   usually associated only with Eastern occultism 63.
Intellectuals, attitude toward Mystic unwarranted 68.
Invisible Helpers born at time of the new moon 55.
INRI, meaning of 120.
Intuition, the interior voice which guides the Mystic 89.
Israelites, did right through immediate reward or punishment 18.

Jacob Boehme, example of Mystic 68.
   knew the mysteries of life 96.
Jerusalem, attained by majority when they have the LIVING faith 87.
   meaning of 87.
   the new heaven of pure ether 87.
Jesus, a tekton 13.
   is teacher and guide to the kingdom of Christ 123.
Jehovah, symbolized in fire on Brazen Altar 57.


[PAGE 138]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

John, sublime Gospel of, teaches that God is Light 15.
John the Baptist and Salome 93.
Jordan, Baptism in, corresponds to Laver of Purification 75.
Joseph, a carpenter, tekton, or builder 70.
   in Marriage of the Virgin, has six toes 65-66.
   the father of Jesus, was a tekton 12-13.
Justification, consecration and self-abnegation 58.
   taught by Altar of Burnt Offerings 58.

Keynotes of life, heard by Mystic 88.
Kingdom of Christ, Rosicrucian pupils must learn compassion before
         they can enter the 68.
   transfiguration of humanity complete in 101.
   uniform color of soul body acquired in 101.
   will revert to the Father 123.
Klingsor, at Temptation Mystic may become a 92.
   fights Knights of the Grail 92, 93.
Knights of the Grail, deprived of inspiration from Grail Cup 93.
Knowledge, of Christian Mystic 68.
   Way of, also brings seeker to regeneration 99.

Laver of Consecration, SEE Brazen Laver. 
Law, a taskmaster at the Eastern gate 40.
   brings us to Christ, symbol the Altar of Burnt Offerings 57.
Law of Alternation, in life of Mystic 84, 85, 87.
   defied after Golgotha and Baptism 85.
Law of Consequence 82.
Law within, the consummation attained at end of the cross 49.
Lay of Niebelung, gives cosmic origin of Baptism 79.
L'Estatica Maria Von Moerl, received stigmata 119.
Life of Christian Mystic marked not by words but deeds 96.
Light, dimly perceived through smoke at Brazen Altar 20.
   of Christ within, must be developed to enter the Most Holy place 39.
   in the East Room fed by olive oil 56.
   over Mercy Seat, reflection from invisible world 49.
   present in the darkest ages 64.


[PAGE 139]                                                             INDEX

   refracted into three primary colors 15.
Light within, disciple vibrates to Shekinah Glory by means of 39-40.
Light without, given at Eastern gate 40, 54.
Living bread of Christian Mystic 90.
Loom of Life, seen by Christian Mystic 87.
Lost Word, mystic Mason seeks for the 9.
Louise ##?Lateau, received stigmata 119.
Love, basic principle, can never conflict with God's purpose 68-69.
   of God, burns in the heart of Christian Mystic 94.
   the basic principle in Christian Mystic Initiation 68-69.
Love rays, of Mystic 94.
Lust and unchastity, greatest sins of all 44.

Mahabharata, Arjuna symbolically the same as Siegfried 64.
Man of Sorrows, through service the Mystic becomes a 111.
Man, a composite being 78.
   compared to flower, the mystery of the Grail 51.
   exiled from etheric realms of spiritual force, Eden 43.
   microcosmic world in circle dance around God 14.
Mankind, had no need of eyes in early stages of evolution 81.

   the prodigal sons of the Father in heaven 9.
Manna, nature of, described in sixth chapter of John 41.
   the human spirit that descended from the Father 41-42.
Marriage of the Virgin, description and meaning of 64-65.
Mason, derived from Egyptian "phree messen" 12.
SEE ALSO, Mystic Mason and Freemason.
Masonry, why it harks back to Temple of Solomon 11.
   still builds the ancient Tabernacle 59.
Master, or Adept, accepted by many on unsupported claims 92.
Mercury, salt, and sulphur, in alchemy 98.
Mercy Seat 38, 49.
Mind, humanity endowed with in Atlantis 12.
Mineral kingdom, may be turned into gold or food 89.
   one basic key for 89.


[PAGE 140]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Molten Sea, ablution in, compared to Baptism 75.
   aspirant sanctified in stream flowing from 26.
   corresponds to Baptism of Jesus 26-27.
   laver of, teaches Mystic Mason the voice of the Master within 27.
   teaches the stainless life of holiness 58.
Moon, Mars, and Mercury, in alchemy 98.
Moses, face radiant with light from within 98.
   led his people out of Egypt, land of the Bull 11.
   set Israelites free to worship the Lamb, Aries 11.
   stories of, as with Noah, refer to Atlantis 11-12.
Mystic, SEE Christian Mystic.
Mystic birth, portrayed in macrocosm 72.
Mystic death, the 122.
Mystic Marriage, necessitates making of shewbread 34.
Mystic Mason, a child of light 36.
   must build Altar of Service, and wait for divine fire 59.
   must reap living bread 33.
   must regard earthly possessions only as sacred trust 26.
Mystic Masonry, calls God the Grand Architect 70.
Mrs. Girling, of Newport Shaker Community, received stigmata 119.
Myths, basis of, the spiritual standard of reality 81.

Noah and his people, formed nucleus of humanity of Rainbow Age 11.
Nebular Theory and Genesis 78-79.
Neptune, lights the regenerative spinal Spirit Fire 122.
   ruler of spinal Spirit Fire 98.
Neptunian spinal Spirit Fire, an essential element in alchemy 106.
New moon, candidate closest to the Father Fire at 55.
Niebelung, Lay of the, gives the story of Baptism 79.
Nour, Hebrew word signifying fire 121.

Occult development, begins with vital body 55.
Occultist, finds in Gethsemane the heart of love 114. 
   spinal fire endeavors to infuse desire with reason to create Ruby
   Soul 100.


[PAGE 141]                                                             INDEX

Oehlenschlaeger, quotation from poetic translation of Eddas by 79-80.
Old Testament, does not mention immortality 18.
Olive oil, fed the pure flame in the East Room 56.
Oliver Wendall Holmes, quotations from 44.
Ottoman King, story of, illustrates non-existence of time in inner
   worlds 76-77.

Parents of Christian Mystic, qualifications for 70.
Parsifal, a soul myth for Christian Mystics 112.
   at Temptation, Mystic may become a 92.
   free from lust secures the holy spear 44.
   held in path of virtue by pain of Amfortas felt in his heart 111.
   quotation from:  "Often was I beset by enemies" 44.

   the seeking soul breaks the bow 104.
Path of Holiness, likened to church steeple 57.
Paul, in letter to Hebrews, describes Tabernacle 48.
Persian temples of Initiation 64.
Peter, throne of 66.
Philosopher's Stone, a celestial body 107.
   a soft diamond or ruby 107.
   alchemical process culminates at Transfiguration 107.
   elements of, symbolized by INRI 120, 121.
   not made in exterior laboratory 106.
Phree messen, children of light 12.
Piscean Water at temple door, and Virginian wafers 41.
   who used strange fire on Brazen Altar met death 19.
Pitchblende, dense black mineral from which radium is obtained 98.
Poison, contained in the breath in proportion to evil of nature 107.
Pope, in "Sistine Madonna" has six fingers 65.
Pope Alexander the Fourth, an eye-witness of St. Francis's stigmata 119.
Pope Sixtus the Fourth, forbade representation of St. Catherine's
   stigmata 119.
Popes, possessed spiritual sight with few exceptions 66.
Powers, spiritual, may be used for good or evil 91.
Priest, of Catholic Church, magnetizes holy water 25.
Priests, alone allowed to enter East Room 28.
Primal cosmic formula 97.


[PAGE 142]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Purgatorial existence, basis of, pictures on seed atom 22.
   we suffer pangs of conscience unbelievable acute in 22.
Prodigal sons, mankind are the 9.
Purity the key to the gates of God 52.
Radium, the luminous extract of pitchblende 98.
Rainbow, after the Flood heralded Age of Alternation 79.
   falls with air and clouds, leaving new heaven of pure ether 87.
Rainbow Age, and Law of Alternation in life of Mystic 87.
   Noah and his people formed nucleus for 11.
Raphael, embodied occult truths in two great paintings 64.
   symbolizes Initiation of the Pope and Joseph 65-66.
Reason, Christian Mystic has none, but interior voice a safer guide 89.
   contrasted with faith of the Mystic 87.
Red, color of the Holy Spirit 15.
Regeneration, the process of 99.
Regenerative spinal Spirit Fire, lit by Neptune in spinal cord 122.
Relaxation, essential to retrospection 22.
Religion of the Father 123.
Religions, must meet needs of the people 17.
Remorse, divinely enkindled fire must burn to very marrow of bones 23.
   eradicates pictures from seed atom 24.
Repetition, the key to the vital body 55.
Retrospection, conditions necessary in 22.
   elevates us to higher level of spirituality 24.
   remorse, the flame on Altar of sacrifice 39.
   scientific evening exercises, wipes away record of sins 24.
   scientifically designed by Western Hierophants 21.
   the Rosicrucian student's Brazen Altar 21, 33-34.
   the sanctuary from law of cause and effect 24.
Rosicrucian method of Initiation, contrasted with Christian Mystic 67-68.
Rosicrucian Order, mystic light still shines for pupils of 56.
Rosicrucian student, attracted by desire for knowledge 68.
Ruach, Hebrew word for spirit or vital air 121.
Ruby Soul, the Philosopher's Stone of the occultist 100.


[Page 143]                                                             INDEX

Saints, emit sweet odor 105.
   some of the, used fasting and castigation for soul growth 90.
Sabbath, loaves of shewbread changed by priests on the 29.
Sacrifices, first lesson taught neophyte 19.
Sacrificial victims, rubbed with salt, symbolic of remorse 23.
   symbolize consequences of sin 18.
Salome, embodies pride, sensuality 93.
Salt, sulphur, and mercury 98, 106.
Seed atom, record on, eradicated by retrospection 24.
Self-abnegation, the third step 58.
Self-sacrifice, Altar of, on which flesh is consumed 52.
Sensuality, bestiality, coarsen the body 106.
Sermon on the Mount, practiced by Mystic 85.
Sermons on brotherhood, hollow when preached by one who has not 
   laved in "Fountain of Life" 94.
Service, what it consists of 37.
   willing, symbolized by Candlestick and Incense 105.
   more pleasing to God than blood of unwilling victims 105.
Seth, planted three sprouts of Tree of Life 42-43.
   one sprout was Aaron's Rod 42.
   the Father of spiritual hierarchy of churchmen 42.
Seven-branched Candlestick, SEE Golden Candlestick.
Shadow of good things to come, the 20.
Shadow of the Cross 48.
Shekinah Glory, an invisible fire, a light from another world 57.
   dwelling place of 37, 53.
   highest symbol of the candidate 21.
   is the Father 48.
   is the Father Within 57.
   Lord dwelt in the 29.
   manifestation of divine Presence 38.
   most sacred Fire of all 57.
   most sacred part of Tabernacle 32.
   special dwelling place of 37.
   the invisible fire 46.
Shewbread, not the musings of dreamers 34.
   represents use of the Light in service to humanity 32.
   the frankincense of soul growth 34.
Shewbread, Table of, with loaves of bread and incense 29.


[PAGE 144]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Sidereal vehicle, so-called because of stigmatic star 122.
Siegfried and Arjuna, symbols similar in meaning 64.
Siegfried, "he who through victory gains peace" 64.
Simple foods necessary 90.
Simplicity of Christian Mystic, carries conviction 96.
Sign and degree on Eastern horizon determine form of body 73.
Sin, nauseating nature of, symbolized 58.
   an anomaly in nature, and its consequences 18.
   selfishness, and transgression of law, symbolized 36.
"Sistine Madonna," by Raphael, occult significance of 64-65.
Sixtus the Fourth, Pope, and stigmata of St. Catherine 119.
Soma psuchicon, woven from aroma of shewbread 49, 52.
Son of God, born of immaculate virgin 73.
Song of Being, Mystic learns to sing the 88.
Sorrow, the cause of, must be understood by Mystic 82.
Soul, of the soul body, makes it luminous 53.
   must be washed in laver of consecration 52.
Soul body, amalgamates essence of service at full moon 34.
   contains an intangible something 53.
   is the light within 49.
   "No man cometh except my Father draws him" refers to the soul of 
         the 53.
   not to be confused with soul that permeates it 53.
   symbolized by golden pot in which manna was kept 41-42.
   tangible to the Invisible Helper 53.
   the house not made with hands 42.
Soul Growth, maximum effort for 22.
Sound, is vibration 88.
Spinal Cord, divided into three sections ruled by Moon, Mars, Mercury 98.
   tripartite, rulers of 122.
Spinal Spirit Fire, in Mystic, concentrated in lunar segment 99.
   essential element in alchemy 106.
   in occultist, concentrated in Mars-Mercury 100.
   lit by Neptune 122.
   rises in serpentine column to ventricles of brain 98.
   ruled by Neptune 98
Spirit, condenses into matter 97.


[PAGE 145]                                                             INDEX

   descends upon Jesus at Baptism, compared with Mason 26-27.
   universal, descends upon Christian Mystic at Baptism 75.
Spiritual center, shifts westward 13.
Spiritual development, depends upon the blood 22.
Spiritual Ideal, awakens soul power as sun built the eye 85.
Spiritual sight, possessed by infant humanity 81.
Spiritual wave, now on Eastern shores of Pacific 13.
St. Francis, most remarkable example of stigmatization 118-119.
   stigmata of, witnessed by Pope Alexander the Fourth 119.
   story of, illustrating force of Mystic example 95.
   taught from within by Spirit of God 96.
St. Paul, tells us the Tabernacle a shadow of good things to come 20.
Stigmata, caused by generation of spiritual currents in vital body
         so powerful that they scourge the body 119.
   of St. Francis, seen by many eye-witnesses 119.
   or punctures, how produced in Hero of Gospels 117.
   prepared for by union of heart and mind 114. 
   prepares candidates for Crucifixion 120.
   produced exteriorly through lack of knowledge 118.
   received invisibly by Catherine of Sienna 119.
   Veronica Giuliana, last to be canonized because of 119.
   what they are 118.
   why women develop stigmata more easily than men 119.
Stigmatic Star, five-pointed 122.
Stigmatization, cases of 119.
   St. Francis most remarkable example of 118.
Sulphur, salt, and Mercury, alchemical representations 98.
Sun, Spiritual, the vehicle of the Father 73, 101. 
   the material light of the world 73.
Symbolism, given to man because he has forgotten the Divine Word 10.
   hides and reveals spiritual truths 10.
   of tabernacle, given by Jehovah to speak to Higher Self 12.
   still a prime necessity to man 10.


[PAGE 146]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Tabernacle, a factor in soul growth 58.
   ambulant nature of, symbolized man as pilgrim 13-14.
   a school of soul growth 66.
   Atlantean Mystery Temple 12.
   basic principles still valid 58.
   built by chosen people with freewill offerings 12.
   called by Paul a shadow of good things to come 48.
   compared to Herod's Temple 47.
   location of, with respect to cardinal points 13.
   may be seen in Memory of Nature 20.
   must be built within our hearts and consciousness 20-21.
   must be built in heaven within 59.
   of heavenly origin 14.
   path of aspirant in, from east to west 13.
   pre-Christian, as shown in colors of Temple veils 10.
   secret rites of, shown openly in heavens 54.
   symbolizes path from childlike ignorance to superhuman knowledge 63.
Tables of the Law, are within, at stage of evolution represented by the
   Ark 40.
TEKTON, Greek word meaning builder 12, 70.
Temptation, in the Wilderness of Christian Mystic 99.
   of Christian Mystic leads to greater heights 90.
   of Christian Mystic, reason for 91-92.
   to misuse spiritual power comes after Baptism 88-89, 91-92, 93-94, 96.
Thomas a Kempis, mystic 68.
Time, non-existent in invisible worlds 77.
Transfiguration, an alchemical process by which body becomes living
         stone 97.
   blends Ruby Soul with Diamond Soul, giving pink color of the 
         Father 100-101.
   of humanity complete in Kingdom of Christ 101.
   of Jesus, reveals body of dazzling white 100-101.
   the work of medieval alchemists 97.
Tree of Knowledge, nature of 48-51.
Tree of Life, three slips of, taken by Adam 42.

Unchastity and lust, the greatest sin of all 44.
Unity of life, perceived by Mystic after Baptism 85-86.
Unity of spirit prevailed under the waters of Atlantis 81.


[PAGE 147]                                                             INDEX

Universal Spirit, Christian Mystic saturated with 91.
   concentrated within Christian Mystic at Baptism 93.
Vedas, brought light to India 63.
Veil, second wrought with figures of Cherubim 37.
Veils of Temple, blue, scarlet, and purple colors of Father and 
   Holy Spirit 16.
Veronica Giuliana, last to be canonized because of stigmata 119.
Via Dolorosa, each Mystic reaches different stations of 67.
Virginian wafers, at Communion Table 41.
Virginity, of a mother of Savior is a soul quality 72.
Virgo, the Virgin, on Eastern horizon of north latitudes on Christmas
   Eve 73.
Vital Body, occult development begins with 55.
Vital energy, when used for regeneration causes Aaron's Rod to bloom 44.

Wand of the magician, the holy spear and budding Rod 44.
Water, in Laver, magnetized by divine Hierarchs 25.
   in Catholic Church, magnetized by priest 25.
Western Room, called the Hall of Liberation 49.
   candidate enters many times before the final climax 50.
   dark as the heavens at new moon 46.
   dark to the physical eye 39.
   entered by priest once a year, at Yom Kippur 37, 49.
   light must be within self before candidate enters the 54.
   the threshold of Liberation 58.
Wheat, God-given grains of, represent opportunities for soul growth 33.
White, in Tabernacle curtain concealed Christ ray 16.
   synthesis of all colors 16.
White light of Deity reflected through Jehovah for Mystic 99.
Wilderness, after the Baptism Mystic is driven forth into 87.
Wisdom of the world, attained by Mystic without intellectual labor 99.
Wise Men, followed the Star westward 13.
Woe of the World, seen by Christian Mystic 89.


[PAGE 148]                                     ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Word of God, the living bread 90.
World anthem of God made flesh, perceived by Mystic 88.
World Ward, started spiritual awakening 93.

Yellow, color of Christ the Son 15.
Yellow Ray, hidden in white of the Tabernacle veil 16.
   never evident until in Golden Wedding Garment 16.
   shown in green color of the plant kingdom 15.
Ymer, the Giant of Northern myths, formed by action of heat and cold 80.
Yogi, seals up candidate for certain grade of initiation in a cave 107.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement 37.

   the day of At-one-ment 59.



              END OF "ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION"


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