During life in the physical world the
human Ego works through its four vehicles, namely, the physical, vital,
desire, and mental bodies, all of which are connected to one another by
the silver cord. At night the Ego withdraws into the inner worlds taking
with it the mental and desire bodies, leaving the physical and vital
bodies lying on the bed. The Ego first brings about harmonious rhythm of
the mind and desire body, which, in turn, work upon the vital body. The
vital body then commences to restore the tired and worn-out physical atoms
to health and vitality. This restoration can only be done during the time
the desire body and mind are removed, for it is their activities which use
up the physical energy during the day, and in order that the vital body
may be free to rebuild the broken down physical vehicle, the Ego separates
itself with the two higher vehicles (the desire and mental bodies) from
the two lower vehicles but remains tied by the silver cord. At death when
the physical body can no longer hold on to its higher vehicles, when
disintegration must ensue, the Ego is forced to vacate its house, made of
clay, which it has built and used for an allotted length of time, and in
which it has learned many helpful and soul-building lessons. It has now
reached a period on the path of evolution where it must take time for the
assimilation of the lessons which were learned while functioning in the
world of matter. Death is to the soul what sleep is to the physical body,
a time of rest and recuperation so that the spirit may draw from these
experiences greater soul power.
At death the Ego leaves the physical
body by way of the parietal-occipital sutures, but instead of the vital
body remaining with the physical body as is the case during sleep, it also
leaves the physical body, together with the desire and the mental bodies,
for the spirit's work in the physical body is finished for this earth
life. The vital body now has a different work to do; it is no longer
called upon to keep the physical atoms in health.
At death the vital, desire, and mental
bodies are seen to leave the physical body through the head, and the
spirit, which is leaving its earthly prison house to decay, takes with it
its most cherished belonging, the only part of the physical which cannot
die and which it brings back with it at each earth life. During earth life
there is a tiny atom in the apex of the left ventricle of the heart which
is called the permanent seed atom. This seed atom of the physical vehicle
has been used as a nucleus for a physical body ever since the spirit
possessed a physical vehicle. When we speak of a permanent seed atom we do
not mean that the physical atom is used, but the forces which flow through
it. These forces remain with the Ego through rebirth after rebirth, or
until this particular spirit has finished its evolution in the physical
world at the close of this period. Then these forces will be transferred
to the seed atom of the vital body which will become the permanent seed
atom of the next period.
Going back to our discussion of the Ego
as it leaves its physical body at what is termed death, we find that the
spirit is passing through a very vital and extremely important period;
friends and relatives should be most careful that their loved one is left
free from excitement, grief, and disturbances of any kind. The body should
not be mutilated and embalming fluids should not be used until 84 hours
after the spirit has ceased functioning in the body. The reason for this
is as follows:
There is a snapping of the silver cord
at death which the Bible speaks of in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes.
This cord holds the higher and lower vehicles together and at death the
rupture takes place in the heart which causes this organ to cease beating.
When this occurs the Ego with its three bodies, namely, the vital, desire,
and mental bodies, is seen by the clairvoyant floating above the head of
the physical body for three and one- half days. During this period the
spirit is engaged in reviewing the scenes of its past life which have been
impressed on the permanent seed atom in the heart. These impressions have
been left on this seed atom by the blood. We are again taught from the
Bible that the spirit is in the blood; and the blood is the direct vehicle
of the spirit.
The heart and lungs are the only organs
through which all the blood in man's body passes, and the heart is the
stronghold of the human ego; as the blood courses through the heart the
scenes of every passing moment are carried through the blood to the heart
and engraved on the tiny seed atom. This seed atom is also impregnated
with the experiences of all past lives, and from it many impressions come
to man. These teach him the differences between good and evil, and they
become the voice of conscience.
Now the reason we hold it is necessary
that quietness reign in the house of death is as follows: The vital body
is the vehicle used immediately after death to transfer the impressions of
the seed atom in the heart onto the seed atom of the desire body; during
this work the silver cord is not yet broken and the Ego is still conscious
of its vehicles, it still feels and suffers to some extent when mutilation
of its body takes place. When the spirit is disturbed during this etching,
the impressions are very dim and the spirit as it returns to rebirth in
the next embodiment does not bring with it a keen sense of conscience
because it did not feel the remorse for wrong doings nor the joy of good
actions as keenly as it should in the after-death life.
When the panorama has been fully etched
into the desire body the silver cord breaks and the Ego is free of its
earthly house. The body should then be cremated. Cremation is very helpful
to the spirit, for it is attracted to, and often hovers over, its decaying
body, while burning frees it; this method is also more sanitary.
Let us hope that humanity will soon
awake to the proper care of its dead, and that we will have a science of
death as well as a science of birth.
THE METHOD
The body is to be placed in an ice pack
for preservation during a period of 3 1/2 days or 84 hours after death.
Embalming is absolutely not to be performed before the end of this time.
The body is to be left in perfect quiet, away from all disturbing noises
during this period--no postmortem operations are to be performed previous
to the expiration of the 84 hours.
At the end of this period the body is
to be cremated. Particular care is to be exercised that cremation is not
performed previous to 84 hours after death for the reason that during this
time the spirit still maintains connection with the body and pain from
burning is felt to some extent if cremation is carried out before the end
of the 84 hours.
Music.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening
Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives
salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are again at the time of Easter.
Once more we have reached the final act in the cosmic drama involving the
descent of the solar Christ Ray into the matter of our Earth, the mystic
Birth celebrated at Christmas, and the Mystic Death and Liberation. The
life impulse from the Cosmic Christ which entered the Earth last fall came
to mystic birth at Christmas, performed its wonderful magic of fecundation
during the months between autumn and the present Easter time, and is now
liberating itself from the cross of matter to rise again to the throne of
the Father, leaving the Earth clothed in the verdant glory of spring ready
for the physical activities of the summer season. The spiritual Ray sent
out by the Cosmic Christ each fall to replenish the smoldering vitality of
the Earth is about to ascend to the Father's Throne. At this time of the
year a new life, an augmented energy sweeps with an irresistible force
through the veins and arteries of all living things, inspiring them,
instilling new hope, new ambition, and new life, impelling them to new
activities whereby they learn new lessons in the school of experience.
Consciously or unconsciously to the beneficiaries, this outwelling energy
invigorates everything that has life. Even the plant responds by an
increased circulation of sap, which results in additional growth of the
leaves, flowers, and fruits whereby this class of life is at present
expressing itself and evolving to a higher state of consciousness.
Wonderful as these outward physical
manifestations are, and glorious though the transformations may be called
which changes the Earth from a waste of snow and ice into a wonderful,
blooming garden, it sinks into insignificance before the spiritual
activities which run side by side therewith. The salient features of the
cosmic drama are identical in point of time with the material effects of
the Sun in the four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn,
for the most significant events occur at the equinoctial and solstitial
points.
It is really and actually true that "in God we live and move and have our being." Outside Him we could have no
existence; we live by and through His life; we move and act by and through
His strength; it is His power which sustains our dwelling place, the
Earth, and without His unflagging, unwavering efforts the universe itself
would disintegrate. We are taught that man was made in the likeness of
God, and we are given to understand that according to the law of analogy
we have certain powers latent within us which are similar to those we see
so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe. This gives us
a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama involving the death and
resurrection of the Sun. The life of the God Man, Christ Jesus, was molded
in conformity with the solar story, and it foreshadows in a similar manner
all that may happen to the Man God of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied
when He said, "The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye do; whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards."
Nature is a symbolic expression of God.
She does nothing in vain or gratuitously. There is a purpose behind
everything and every act. Therefore we should be alert and regard
carefully the signs in the heavens, for they have a deep and important
meaning concerning our own lives. The intelligent understanding of their
purpose enables us to work much more efficiently with God in His wonderful
efforts for the emancipation of our ace from bondage to the laws of
Nature, and for its liberation into a full measure of the stature of the
sons of God crowned with glory, honors, and immortality, and free from the
power of sin, sickness, and suffering which now curtail our lives by
reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the laws of God. The divine
purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it is to be accomplished by
the long and tedious process of evolution or by the immensely quicker
pathway of evolution or by the immensely quicker pathway of Initiation
depends upon whether or not we are willing to lend our cooperation.
During the last six months we have been
more thoroughly impregnated with the spiritual vibrations which
predominate in winter. There came to us in the fall a new impulse toward
the higher life; it culminated on Holy Night and has worked its magic in
our natures according to the way in which we have embraced our
opportunities. According to our diligence or dilatoriness in the past
season, progression will be accelerated or retarded in the next, for there
is not truer word than that which teaches us that we are just what we have
made ourselves. The service we rendered or failed to render determines
whether a new opportunity for greater service will give us added impulse
heavenward; and it cannot be said too often that it is useless to expect
liberation from the cross of matter until we have used our opportunities
here and thus earned a larger sphere of usefulness. The "nails" which
bound the Christ to the cross of Calvary will fetter you and me until the
dynamic impulse of love flows out from us in waves and rhythmic swells
like the tide of love which yearly enters the Earth and imbues it with
renewed life.
During the winter moths the Christ
suffers agonies of torture, "groaning, travailing, and waiting for the day of liberation," which comes at the time we speak of in orthodox churches
as the passion week. But we realize according to the mystic teaching that
this week is just the culmination or crest wave of His suffering and that
He is then rising out of His prison; that when the Sun crosses the
equator, He hangs upon the cross and cries: "Consummatum est!" - It has
been accomplished. It is not a cry of agony. It is a cry of triumph, a
shout of joy that the hour of liberation has come, and that once more He
can soar away a little while, free from the fettering clod of our planet.
We should rejoice with Him in that
great, glorious, triumphal hour, the hour of liberation when He exclaims:
"It has been accomplished." Let us attune our hearts to this great cosmic
event; let us rejoice with the Christ, our Savior, that the term of His
annual sacrifice has once more been completed; and let us feel thankful
from the very bottom of out hearts that He is now about to be freed from
the Earth's fetters; that the life wherewith He has now endued our planet
is sufficient to carry us through the time until next Christmas.
Life is a school, and through learning
its many lessons humanity is slowly evolving from a divine spark to
Godhood. Had we learned life's lessons as they were given to us there
would have been no necessity for the great sacrifice which was made and is
annually being made by the Christ Spirit, who is the embodiment of love.
Through selfishness, disobedience to law, and evil practices we were fast
crystallizing not only our own bodies, but also the Earth on which we
lived, to such a degree that as means for evolution both were fast
becoming unusable. When nothing else could save us from the results of our
own wrongdoing the compassionate Christ offered Himself and His great love
power to break up the crystallized condition of man's bodies and the
Earth, and He does not leave the Earth at Easter until He has given of
Himself to the uttermost.
For those who have chosen to work
knowingly and intelligently with cosmic law, Easter has a great
significance. To them it means the annual liberation of the Christ Spirit
from the cramping confines of the Earth and His joyful ascent into His
true home world, there to remain for a season resting in the bosom of the
Father. It is also the annual sign given the aspirant of the cosmic basis
of his hopes and aspirations. And if the eyes are truly open, one beholds
angelic hosts waiting, ready to accompany Him on His heavenward journey;
if the ears are attuned to heavenly sounds one hears celestial choirs
chanting His praise in glad hosannas to the risen Lord. When taken as a
cosmic fact in connection with the law of analogy that connects the
macrocosm with the microcosm, it is symbolical that some day we shall all
attain the cosmic consciousness and know positively for ourselves by our
own experience that there is no death, but that which seems so is only a
transition into a finer sphere.
It is an annual symbol to strengthen
our souls in the work of well-doing that we may build the Golden Wedding
Garment required to make us sons of God in the highest and holiest sense.
It is literally true that unless we walk in the light as God is in the
light, we do not have fellowship; but by making the sacrifices and
rendering the services required of us to aid in the emancipation of our
race we are building the soul body of radiant golden light which is the
special substance emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the Cosmic
Christ. When this golden substance has clothed us with sufficient density,
then we shall be able to imitate the Easter Sun and soar into the higher
sphere.
With these ideals fixed firmly in our
minds, Easter time becomes a season when it is in order to review our life
during the preceding year and make new resolutions for the coming season
to serve in furthering our soul growth. it is a season when the symbol of
the ascending Sun should lead us to a keen realization of the fact that we
are but pilgrims and strangers upon Earth, that as Spirits our real home
is in heaven, and that we ought to endeavor to learn the lessons in this
life school as quickly as is consistent with proper service. Easter Day
marks the resurrection and liberation of the Christ Spirit from the lower
vibrations of the Earth, and this liberation should remind us to look
continually for the dawn of the new day which shall permanently free us
from the meshes of matter, from the body of sin and death, together with
all our brethren in bondage. No true aspirant could conceive of a
liberation that did not include all who were similarly placed.
This is a gigantic task, the
contemplation of it may well daunt the bravest heart, and were we alone it
could not be accomplished; the divine hierarchies who have guided humanity
upon the path of evolution from the beginning of our career are still
active and working with us from their worlds, and with their help we shall
eventually be able to accomplish this elevation of humanity as a whole and
attain to an individual realization of glory, honor, and immortality.
Having this great hope within ourselves, this great mission in the world,
let us work as never before to make ourselves better men and women, so
that by our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that
brings liberation.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love
and Service.
Concentration.
Music. (Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils Emblem and gives parting
admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter
the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our
daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day
by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as
self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of our Elder Brothers
in the service of humanity."
Music.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening
Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives
salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are now at the time of the Summer
Solstice, the season during which physical manifestation on Earth reaches
its height.
Each year a spiritual wave of vitality
enters the Earth at the winter solstice to impregnate the dormant seeds in
the frozen ground, to give new life to the world whereon we live, and this
work is done during the winter months while the Sun is passing through the
zodiacal signs Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
Cosmically the Sun is born on the
longest and darkest night of the year when Virgo, the Celestial Virgin,
stands upon the eastern horizon at midnight to bring forth the immaculate
Child. During the months next following, the Sun passes through the
violent sign Capricorn where, mythically, all the powers of darkness are
concentrated in a frantic endeavor to kill the Light-bearer, a phase of
the solar drama which is mystically presented in the story of King Herod
and the flight into Egypt to escape death.
When the Sun enters the sign Aquarius,
the waterman, in February, we have the time of rain and storms; and as the
Baptism mystically consecrates the Savior to His work of service, so also
the floods of moisture that descend upon the Earth soften and mellow it so
that it may yield the fruits whereby the lives of those who dwell here are
preserved.
Then comes the Sun's passage through
the sign Pisces, the fishes. At this time the stores of the preceding year
have been almost consumed and man's food is scarce. Therefore we have the
long fast of Lent which mystically represents, for the aspirant, the same
ideal as that cosmically shown by the Sun. There is at this time the
CARNE-VALE, the farewell to the flesh, for everyone who aspires to the
higher life must at some time bid farewell to the lower nature with all
its desires and prepare himself for the Passover which is then near.
In April, when the Sun CROSSES the
celestial equator and enters the sign Aries, the Lamb, the cross stands as
a mystic symbol of the fact that the candidate to the higher life must
learn to lay down the moral coil and begin the ascent of Golgotha, THE
PLACE IN THE SKULL; thence to cross the threshold into the invisible
world. Finally, in imitation of the Sun's ascent into the signs of the
northern heavens, to foster with its warming rays the growth of the seed
in the soil which has been revitalized by the Christic wave during the
winter months, he must learn that his place is with the Father and that
ultimately he is to ascend to that exalted place.
So it is that at the present time,
during the season culminating June 21st, the Great Christ Spirit has
reached the World of Divine Spirit, the throne of the Father. During July
and August, while the Sun is in Cancer and Leo, He is rebuilding His Life
Spirit vehicle which He is to bring to the world and with it rejuvenate
the Earth and the life kingdoms evolving in and upon it.
Without this annual mystic wave of
vital energy from the Cosmic Christ, physical life would be an
impossibility. There could be no physical bread and wine, nor the
trans-substantiated spiritual tincture prepared by alchemy from the heart
blood of the disciple. Physical existence is the school of laboratory in
which we learn to transmute the base metal of our lower natures into the
shining luster of the Philosopher's Stone, and thus make possible our
liberation into the higher spheres, where our exalted Ideal, the Christ,
is at present.
There are factors behind all
manifestations of Nature--intelligences of varying degrees of
consciousness, builders and destroyers, who perform important parts in the
economy of Nature. Midsummer is the sporting time of the earth-goblins and
similar entities concerned in the material development of our planet, as
shown by Shakespeare in his "Midsummer Night's Dream."
The semi-intelligent action of the
sylphs lifts the finely divided vaporized particles of water prepared by
the undines, from the surface of the sea and carries them as high as they
may before partial condensation takes place and clouds are formed. These
particles of water they keep until forced by the undines to release them.
When we say it storms, battles are being fought on the surface of the sea
and in the air, sometimes with the aid of salamanders to light the
lightning torch of separated hydrogen and oxygen and send its
awe-inspiring shaft crashing zigzag through the inky darkness, followed by
ponderous peals of thunder that reverberate in the clearing atmosphere,
while the undines triumphantly hurl the rescued raindrops to earth that
they may again be restored to union with their mother element.
The little gnomes are needed to build
plants and flowers. it is their work to tint them with the innumerable
shades of color which delight our eyes. They also cut the crystals in all
the minerals and make priceless gems that gleam from golden diadems.
Without them there would be no iron for our machinery nor gold wherewith
to pay for it. They are everywhere and the proverbial bee is not busier.
To the bee, however, is given credit for the work it does, while the
little Nature Spirits that play such an immensely important part in the
world's work are unknown save to a few so-called dreamers and fools.
At the summer solstice the physical
activities of Nature are at their apex or zenith, therefore "Midsummer Night"
is the great festival of the fairies who have wrought to build the
material universe, nourished the cattle, nurtured the grain, and are
hailing with joy and thanksgiving the crest wave of force which is their
tool in shaping the flowers into the astonishing variety of delicate
shapes called for by their archetypes and tinting them in unnumbered hues
which are the artist's delight and despair.
On this greatest of all nights of the
glad summer season, they flock from fen and forest, from glen and dale, to
the Festival of the Fairies. They really bake and brew their etheric foods
and afterwards dance in ecstasies of joy--the joy of having brought forth
and served their important purpose in the economy of Nature.
It is an axiom of science that nature
tolerates nothing that is useless; parasites and drones are an
abomination; the organ that has become superfluous atrophies, and so does
the limb or eye that is no loner used. Nature has work to do and requires
work of all who would justify their existence and continue as a part of
her. This applies to plant and planet, man and beast, and to the fairies
as well. They have their work to do; they are busy folk and their
activities are the solution to many of Nature's multifarious mysteries.
These are points which we should
endeavor to realize thoroughly in order that we may learn to appreciate
this season of the year as keenly as we should. What a cosmic calamity
should our Heavenly Father fail to provide the means for our physical
existence and sustenance each year! The Christ of last year cannot save us
from physical famine any more than last year's rain can drench the soil
and swell the millions of seeds that slumber in the Earth and await the
germinal activities of the Father's life to begin their growth; the Christ
of last year cannot kindle anew in our hearts the spiritual aspirations
which urge us onward in the quest any more than last summer's heat can
warm us now. The Christ of last year gave us His love and His life to the
last breath without stint or measure; when He was born into the Earth last
Christmas, he endued with life the sleeping seeds which have grown and
gratefully filled our granaries with the bread of physical life; he
lavished the love given Him by the Father upon us, and when he had wholly
spent His life, He died at Easter-tide to rise again to the Father, as the
river, by evaporation, rises to the sky.
But endlessly wells the divine love; as
a father loveth his children, so doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He
knows our physical and spiritual frailty and dependence.
May we so take advantage of the
opportunities offered us during this season that the coming of the Christ
Spirit again in the autumn shall find us with greater facility for
responding to the powerful spiritual vibrations with which we shall be
infused at that time.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love
and Service.
Concentration.
Music. (Stanza of Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils the Emblem and gives
parting admonition: "And no, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to
reenter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express
in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so
that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be
used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of our Elder
brothers in the service of humanity."
Music.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening
Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives
salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
"God is Light."
Each time we sink ourselves in these
three words we lave in a spiritual fountain of inexhaustible depth, and
each succeeding time we sound more thoroughly the divine depths and draw
more closely to our Father in heaven.
To get in close touch with this
subject, now that the Christ Light is beginning anew to permeate the
Earth, let us go back in time to get our bearing and the direction of our
future line of progress.
The first time our consciousness was
directed toward the Light was shortly after we had become endowed with
mind and had entered definitely upon our evolution as human beings in
Atlantis, the land of the mist, deep down in the basins of the Earth,
where the warm mist emitted from the cooling Earth hung like a dense fog
over the land. Then the starry heights of the universe were never seen,
nor could the silvery light of the Moon penetrate the dense, foggy
atmosphere which hung over that ancient land. Even the fiery splendor of
the Sun was almost totally extinguished, for when we look in the Memory of
Nature pertaining to that time, we find that it was exceedingly dim,
having an aura of various colors, very similar to those we observe around
an arc light.
But this light had a fascination. The
ancient Atlanteans were taught by the divine Hierarchs who among them to
aspire to light, and as the spiritual light was then already on the wane,
they aspired all the more ardently to the new light, for they feared the
darkness of which they had become conscious through the gift of mind.
Then came the inevitable flood when the
mist cooled and condensed. The atmosphere cleared, and the "chosen people"
were saved. Those who had worked within themselves and learned to build
the necessary organs required to breathe in an atmosphere such as we have
today, survived and came to light. it was not an arbitrary choice; THE
WORK OF THE PAST CONSISTED OF BODY BUILDING. Those who had only gill
clefts, such as the fetus still uses in its prenatal development, were as
unfit physiologically to enter the new era as the fetus would be to be
born were it to neglect to build lungs. it would die as those ancient
people died when the rare atmosphere made gill clefts useless.
Since the day when we came out of
ancient Atlantis our bodies have been practically complete, but from that
time and from now on THOSE WHO WISH TO FOLLOW THE LIGHT MUST STRIVE FOR
SOUL GROWTH. The bodies which we have crystallized about us must be
dissolved, and the quintessence of experience extracted, which as "soul"
may be amalgamated with the spirit to nourish it from impotence to
omnipotence. Therefore, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was given to the
ancients, and the LIGHT OF GOD DESCENDED UPON THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE. This
is of great significance: The Ego had just descended into its tabernacle,
the body. We all know the tendency of the primitive instinct toward
selfishness, and if we have studied the higher ethics we also know how
subversive of good the indulgence of the egotistic tendency is; therefore,
God immediately placed before mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of
Sacrifice.
Upon this altar they were forced by
dire necessity to offer their cherished possessions for every
transgression, God appearing to them as a hard taskmaster whose
displeasure it was dangerous to incur. But still the Light drew them. They
knew then that it was futile to attempt to escape from the hand of God.
They had never heard the words of John, "God is Light," but they had
already learned from the heavens in a measure the meaning of infinitude,
as measured by the realm of light, for we hear David exclaim, "Whither
shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy
Presence?...If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand
shall hold me...Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night
shineth as the day, for the darkness and the light are both alike to
Thee."
To render permanent this condition of
being in the Light was the next step in God's work with us, which
culminated in the birth of the Christ, who as the bodily presence of the
Father, bore about in Himself that Light, for the Light came into the
world that whosoever should believe in Christ should not perish, but have
everlasting life. He said: "I am the Light of the World." The altar in the
tabernacle had illustrated the principle of sacrifice as the medium of
regeneration, so Christ said to His disciples: "Greater love hath no man
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends."
And forthwith He commenced a sacrifice, which was not consummated in a few
hours of physical suffering upon a material cross, but is as perpetual as
were the sacrifices made upon the altar of the Tabernacle in the
Wilderness, for it entails an annual descent into the Earth conditions
must mean to such a great Spirit.
This must continue until a sufficient
number have evolved who can bear the burden of this dense lump of
DARKNESS, which we call the Earth, and which hangs as a millstone about
the neck of humanity, an impediment to further spiritual growth. This is
the task facing each of us.
We are now at the fall equinox where
the Sun is leaving the northern hemisphere, after having provided us with
the necessities of life for the coming year; and the spiritual tide which
carries on its crest the life which will find physical expression in the
coming year is now on its way toward our Earth. The half-year directly
before us is the holy part of the year. From the feast of the Immaculate
Conception to the Mystic Birth at Christmas (while this wave is descending
into the Earth) and from that time to Easter (while it is traveling
outward) a harmonious, rhythmic, vibratory song, not inaptly described in
the legend of the Mystic Birth as a "hosanna" sung by an angel choir,
fills the planetary atmosphere and acts upon all as an impulse to
spiritual aspiration.
You know the analogy between man--who
enters his vehicles in the daytime, lives in them and works through them,
and at night is a free Spirit, free from the fetters of the dense
body--and the Christ Spirit dwelling in our Earth a part of the year. We
all know what a fetter and what a prison this body is, how we are hampered
by disease and suffering, for there is not one of us who is always in
perfect health so that he or she never feels the pang of pain, at least no
one on the higher path.
It is similar with the Cosmic Christ,
who turns His attention toward our little Earth, focusing His
consciousness in this planet in order that we may have life. He has to
enliven this dead mass (which we have crystallized out of the Sun)
annually; and it is a fetter, a clog, and a prison to Him; therefore our
hearts at this time should turn to Him in gratitude for the sacrifice He
makes for our sakes during the winter months, permeating this planet with
His life to awaken it from its wintry sleep, in which it must remain were
He not thus born into it to enliven it.
Without this yearly infusion of Divine
Life and Energy all living things on our Earth would soon perish, and all
orderly progress would be frustrated so far as our present lines of
development are concerned. It is the "fall" of the spiritual Ray from the
Sun in autumn which causes resumption of the mental and spiritual
activities in winter. The same germinative force which leavens the seed in
the Earth and prepares it to reproduce its kind in multiple, stirs also
the human mind and fosters altruistic activities which make the world
better.
So it is that the powerful spiritual
vibrations of the life-giving Christ wave are in the Earth's atmosphere
during the months now before us and may be used by us to a much greater
advantage if we know it and redouble our efforts than if we were unaware
of the fact. The Christ is STILL GROANING AND TRAVAILING, WAITING FOR THE
DAY OF LIBERATION, for the "manifestation of the sons of God"; and truly
do we hasten that day every time we partake of food for our finer bodies
symbolized by the mystic bread and wine.
EACH TIME WE GIVE OURSELVES in service
to others we add to the luster of our soul bodies, which are built of the
two higher ethers. It is the Christ Ether that now floats this sphere of
ours, therefore let us remember that if we wish to hasten the day of His
liberation, we must in sufficient numbers evolve our own soul bodies to
the point where they may float the Earth. Thus we will take up His burden
and save Him the pain of physical existence. May we each take advantage of
the spiritual vibrations with which we will be infused during the coming
months so that another autumnal equinox will find us nearer the Day of
Liberation.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love
and Service.
Concentration.
Music. (Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils Emblem and gives parting
admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter
the material world, let us go out with a firmer resolve to express in our
daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day
by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as
self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of the Elder Brothers
in their service for humanity.
Music.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening
Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your
cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are now at the winter solstice, the
time when the light of the Sun has almost faded, when our Northern
Hemisphere is cold and drear. But on the longest and darkest night the Sun
turns on its upward path, the Christ Light is born on Earth again, and all
the world rejoices. The wave of spiritual light and life which will be the
basis of next year's growth and progress is now at its greatest height and
power. The Earth is now nearest the Sun. The spiritual rays fall at right
angles to the Earth's surface in the Northern Hemisphere, promoting
spirituality, while physical activities are held in abeyance on account of
the oblique angle at which the solar rays strike the surface of the Earth.
it is of great importance to the esoteric student to know and understand
the particularly favorable conditions which prevail at Yule-tide, so that
he may bend all his energies at this time to spiritual endeavor and thus
cover a much greater distance with less effort than at any other time.
The apostle gave us a wonderful
definition of Deity when he said that "God is Light," and therefore
"light" has been used to illustrate the nature of the divine in the
Rosicrucian Teachings, especially the mystery of the Trinity in Unity. It
is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures of all times that God is one and
indivisible. At the same time we find that as the one white light is
refracted into three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, so God appears
in a threefold role during manifestation by the exercise of the three
divine functions of CREATION, PRESERVATION, and DISSOLUTION.
When He exercises the attribute of
CREATION, God appears as Jehovah, the Holy Spirit; He is then Lord of law
and generation and projects the solar fertility INDIRECTLY through the
lunar satellites of all planets where it is necessary to furnish bodies
for the evolving beings.
When He exercises the attribute of
PRESERVATION for the purpose of sustaining the bodies generated by Jehovah
under the laws of Nature, God appears as the redeemer, Christ, and
radiates the principles of love and regeneration DIRECTLY into any planet
where the creatures of Jehovah require this help to extricate themselves
from the meshes of mortality and egoism in order to attain to altruism and
endless life.
When God exercises the divine attribute
of DISSOLUTION, He appears as THE FATHER Who calls us back to our heavenly
home to assimilate the fruits of experience and soul growth garnered by us
during the day of manifestation. This Universal Solvent, the Ray of the
Father, then emanates from the invisible Spiritual Sun.
These divine processes of creation and
birth, preservation and life, and dissolution, death, and return to the
Author of our being, we see everywhere about us, and we recognize the fact
that they are activities of the Triune God in manifestation. But have we
ever realized that in the spiritual world there are no definite events, no
static conditions; that the beginning and end of all adventures of all
ages are present in the eternal "here" and "now"?
From the bosom of the Father there is
an everlasting outwelling of the seed of things and events which enters
the realm of "time" and "space." There it gradually crystallizes and
becomes inert, necessitating dissolution that there may be room for other
things and other events.
There is no escape from this cosmic
law; it applies to everything in the realm of "time" and "space," the
Christ Ray included. As the lake which empties itself into the ocean is
replenished when the water that left it has been evaporated, and returns
to it as the rain to flow again ceaselessly toward the sea, so the Spirit
of Love is eternally born of the Father, day by day, hour by hour,
endlessly flowing into the solar universe to redeem us from the world of
matter which enmeshes us in its death grip. Wave upon wave is thus
impelled outward from the Sun to all the planets, giving a rhythmic urge
to the evolving creatures there.
And so it is in the very truest and
most literal sense a NEW-BORN Christ that we hail at each approaching
Yule-tide feast, and Christmas is the most vital annual event for all
humanity, whether we realize it or not. It is not merely commemoration of
the birth of our beloved Elder Brother, Jesus, but the advent of the
rejuvenating love-life of our Heavenly Father, sent by Him to redeem the
world from the wintry death grip. Without this new infusion of divine life
and energy we must soon perish physically, and our orderly progress would
be frustrated so far as our present lines of development are concerned.
But endlessly wells the divine love, as
a father loveth his children, so doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He
knows our physical and spiritual frailty and dependence. Therefore we are
now confidently awaiting the mystic birth of the Christ of another year
laden with new life and love sent by the Father to succor us from the
physical and spiritual famine which would ensue were it not for the annual
love-offering.
In time all the world will realize that
"God" is spirit and to be worshipped in spirit and truth. We cannot make
any likeness which will portray Him for He is like nothing in heaven or on
Earth. We can see the physical vehicles of Jehovah circling as satellites
around the various planets; we can also see the Sun, which is the visible
vehicle of the Christ; but the Invisible sun, which is the vehicle of the
Father and the source of all, appears to the greatest human seers only as
a higher octave of the photosphere of the Sun, a ring of violet blue
luminosity behind the Sun. But we do not need to see; we can feel his
love, and that feeling is never so great as at Christmas time when He is
giving us the greatest of all gifts, the Christ of the New year.
It is from the visible Sun that every
particle of physical energy comes. And it is from the spiritual invisible
Sun that all our spiritual energy comes. At the present time we cannot
bear to look directly at the Sun. it would blind us. But we can look at
the reflected sunlight that comes from the Moon. In the same way man
cannot stand the direct spiritual impulse that comes from the Sun, and
therefore it had to be sent by way of the Moon, through the hands, and
through the mediumship of Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon, as a race
religion. Only by initiation was it possible to get into direct touch with
the spiritual solar impulse. A veil hung before the temple.
So on Holy Night, which we call
Christmas, it was usual for the Wise Men-- those who were beyond ordinary
humanity--to take the ones who were also becoming wise, and therefore
entitled to initiation, into the temples. Certain ceremonies were
performed and the candidates entranced. They could not at that time be
given an initiation in their full waking state, it had to be done in a
trance. When the spiritual perception was awakened in them, they could
look through the Earth--not seeing any detail but the Earth became
transparent, as it were--and they saw the Star at Midnight.
Later came the time when man could take
the spiritual impulse more directly, and when the time arrived that the
Christ Spirit could be entertained on the Earth--when we had risen so
far--then a Ray from the Cosmic Christ came here, and incarnated here in
the body of our Elder Brother, Jesus. The Christ Spirit, then, is the
first incoming of a direct spiritual impulse.
Exoterically the Sun has been
worshipped as the giver of life from time immemorial, because the
multitude was incapable of looking beyond the material symbol of a great
spiritual truth. But besides those who adored the heavenly orb which is
seen with the physical eye, there has always been and there is today a
small but increasing minority, a priesthood consecrated by righteousness
rather than by rites, who saw and see the eternal spiritual verities
behind the temporal and evanescent forms which clothe these verities in
changing raiment of ceremonial, according to the times and the people to
whom they were originally given. For them the legendary Star of Bethlehem
shines each year as a Mystic Midnight Sun, which enters our planet at the
winter solstice and then commences to radiate from the center of our
globe, Life, Light, and Love, the three divine attributes. These rays of
spiritual splendor and power fill our globe with a supernal light and
envelopes everyone upon Earth, from the least to the greatest, without
respect of person.
At the time when the days are shortest
and the nights are the longest on that Holy Night that we speak of, when
the Christ was born, as a Sun who was to lighten our darkness--the
spiritual influence is then strongest, and can be reached easiest. It was
the great truth that was at the bottom of the Star in the Holy Night,
illuminating the longest and darkest night in the year. When Christ came
he altered the vibrations of the Earth and is changing them all the time
since. he "rent the temple veil." He made the Holy of Holies--the place of
initiation--open to "Whosoever will." From that time on, there is no more
trance needed, no more subjective states in order to go through
initiation. There is a conscious going forth in the Temple by everyone who
wills to come.
In the Rosicrucian order the nine
Lesser Mysteries, or Lesser Initiations, deal only with the evolution of
mankind during the Earth Period, the 5th degree taking the candidate to
the very end of the Earth Period when a glorious humanity is gathering the
fruits of this Period and taking it away from the 7 globes upon which we
evolve during each day of manifestation, into the first of the 5 dark
globes which are our habitation during the cosmic night. After being shown
the end in the 5th degree the candidate is made acquainted with the means
whereby that end is to be attained during the remaining three and one-half
revolutions of the Earth period; the 4 remaining degrees being devoted to
his enlightenment in that respect. The 9th, or last of these degrees, is
held in the summer and winter solstices, the candidate at this time having
gained entrance to all the layers of the Earth.
This is the great destiny that is
before each one of us. The Christ said to His disciples: "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also....and greater." It
is a sublime fact that we are Christs-in-the-making, and the sooner we
realize that we must cultivate the Christ WITHIN before we can perceive
the Christ without, the more we shall hasten the day of our spiritual
illumination. Each one will in time be led by the Star to the Christ. But
let us emphasize this very strongly: not to an exterior Christ, but to the
Christ that is WITHIN.
"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn."