BLOOD SACRIFICE, THE CHRIST’S EXAMPLE AND SIGNIFICANCE

BY MR. MICHAEL MENSAH

Blood has been considered a very important element of sacrifice since we knew the story of creation.

Why the sacrificial system require a blood sacrifice

Indeed in the whole of the Old Testament, every book, points toward the Great Sacrifice that was to come—that of Jesus’ sacrificial giving of His own life on our behalf. Leviticus 17:11 is the Old Testament’s central statement about the significance of blood in the sacrificial system. God, speaking to Moses, declares: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

A “sacrifice” is defined as the offering up of something precious for a cause or a reason. Making atonement is satisfying someone or something for an offense committed. The Leviticus verse can be read more clearly now: God said, “I have given it to you (the creature’s life, which is in its blood) to make atonement for yourselves (covering the offense you have committed against Me).” In other words, those who are covered by the blood sacrifice are set free from the consequences of sin.

Of course, the Israelites did not know of Jesus per se, or how He would die on their behalf and then rise again, but they did believe God would be sending them a Saviour. All of the many, many blood sacrifices seen throughout the Old Testament were foreshadowing the true, once-for-all-time sacrifice to come so that the Israelites would never forget that, without the blood, there is no forgiveness. This shedding of blood is a substitutionary act. Therefore, the last clause of Leviticus 17:11 could be read either “the blood ‘makes atonement’ at the cost of the life” (i.e., the animal’s life) or “makes atonement in the place of the life” (i.e., the sinner’s life, with Jesus Christ being the One giving life through His shed blood).

Hebrews 9:11-18 confirms the symbolism of blood as life and applies Leviticus 17:11 to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12 states clearly that the Old Testament blood sacrifices were temporary and only atoned for sin partially and for a short time, hence the need to repeat the sacrifices yearly. But when Christ entered the Most Holy Place, He did so to offer His own blood once for all time, making future sacrifices unnecessary. This is what Jesus meant by His dying words on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Never again would the blood of bulls and goats cleanse men from their sin. Only by accepting Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross for the remission of sins, can we stand before God covered in the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In Leviticus 17, the Lord commands against consuming blood by noting, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for our souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life" (Leviticus 17:11). Blood represented life. Without blood, a creature or person could not live. Because of this, God chose to use a blood sacrifice as part of the sacrificial system of the Jewish people. Each time blood was shed, it reminded the people of life and death.

Further, the blood sacrifice of the Jewish people was directly related to the freedom of the Israelites from Egypt at the first Passover. On that night, each family was to share a meal of lamb, placing some of the blood on the sides and top of the doorposts to keep the family from losing its firstborn son. The people of Egypt who did not were struck by this plague and many died. The blood in the sacrifices represented life and death as well as freedom by the hand of God from slavery.

A blood sacrifice also included a cost to the one giving the sacrifice. The price of the animal involved represented a price that had to be paid by the one providing the offering. Each time a blood sacrifice was made, the one giving it was reminded of the cost of sin. On a practical note, God also used part of the sacrificial offerings at the tabernacle and temple as a means of providing food for the Levites. The Levites served in the tabernacle and temple and did not share in the land inheritance of the other tribes. Deuteronomy 18:1-2 explains, "The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord's food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them." God gave instructions for how and what the Levites could use as food for themselves and their families from the sacrifices of the people.

In addition, the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament also foreshadowed the coming of Jesus and His death upon the cross. The blood of Jesus was poured out as a sacrifice for the sins of people. This one-time sacrifice became the completion of the law and marked a new covenant for those who would believe in His name. Before the death of Christ, the Jewish law required regular blood sacrifice offerings on behalf of sins. Hebrews 10:11-12 shares that this need changed with the shed blood of Christ: "And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." Christ's sacrifice was now sufficient and no further blood sacrifice is necessary. Hebrews 9:11-18 also expresses that the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed toward what Jesus would later provide. Verses 13-14 explain, "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

Virtually all major religions have practiced blood sacrifice. Islam to date uses animal sacrifices and so our traditional religions. History is replete with blood sacrifices during rituals and examples abound in the customary practices and folklore of our people. Often humans are either offered or die to save a whole state till date. People die for a cause in order to save a whole country. Tweneboah Kodua offered himself to save the Ashanti state and so are numerous agitations for political and economic benefits of states have not gone without blood sacrifice. In the Bible Stephen was the first to die openly for the cause of Christianity and so were several of the apostles of Jesus. The major national songs, pledge and coat of arms highlight the blood sacrifice offered by our elders, ancestors, and great people to redeem our tribes, communities and country.

Question is: Why does Christianity appear so bloody in sacrifices?

Blood has been an important part of the Bible's teachings reaching back to the writings of Moses. Noah was the first person God commanded not to eat meat with blood in it (Genesis 9:3) and blood was often used to represent life (Genesis 4:11; 9:6; 37:22). After Moses told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go and Pharaoh refused, God's first plague was to turn the Nile River into blood as a judgment upon the nation (Exodus 4:9). During the first Passover in the time of Moses, the Lord instructed the people to sacrifice a lamb and put some of its blood on the sides and top of the door to their house. This blood was to protect them from the angel who would put to death the firstborn son of those in Egypt as part of the final plague before the Israelites were freed. 

Blood became a symbol of atonement. In Leviticus 17:11 God teaches, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." Blood served as the means of atonement for the sins of the Israelites from the time of the tabernacle's construction in the wilderness through the entire temple period until the time of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ then fulfilled the law by personally dying on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8). His blood paid the price for human sin, providing the way for all people to know God personally (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

Still today, Christians recognize the importance of Jesus sacrificing His blood upon the cross through the Lord's Supper or Communion and the celebration of Easter. This practice follows the command of Jesus, who taught, "And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'" (Matthew 26:27-28).

While many cringe at the idea of Christianity being a bloody religion, it is by the blood of Jesus that we have been brought near to Him. The apostle Paul instructed in Ephesians 2:13, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Revelation adds that Jesus is the One who "loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" (Revelation 1:5).

Today, Christians no longer offer blood sacrifices since Jesus is the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17). Instead, Christians accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as sufficient to forgive sin. We remember the sacrifice of His blood in the act of Communion, giving worship to the Lord for providing His One and only Son to offer us eternal life (John 3:16).

The meaning of the blood of Christ

The phrase “blood of Christ” is used several times in the New Testament and is the expression of the sacrificial death and full atoning work of Jesus on our behalf. References to the Saviour’s blood include the reality that He literally bled on the cross, but more significantly that He bled and died for sinners. The blood of Christ has the power to atone for an infinite number of sins committed by an infinite number of people throughout the ages, and all whose faith rests in that blood will be saved. In the Rosicrucian teachings, we understand that individual sins are not wiped out clean and are still subject to the laws of rebirth and cause and effect, though, but the larger desire world which got choked up by our sins and was affecting our evolutionary journey was purified by the ingress of the Christ into the earth and remain there and providing us with the help and support needed to advance. Significantly, the sacrifice opens up the blockage in the system and clears the way as signified by the renting of the temple veil.

The reality of the blood of Christ as the means of atonement for sin has its origin in the Mosaic Law. Once a year, the priest was to make an offering of the blood of animals on the altar of the temple for the sins of the people. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). But this was a blood offering that was limited in its effectiveness, which is why it had to be offered again and again. This was a foreshadowing of the “once for all” sacrifice which Jesus offered on the cross (Hebrews 7:27). Once that sacrifice was made, there was no longer a need for the blood of bulls and goats. 

The blood of Christ is the basis of the New Covenant. On the night before He went to the cross, Jesus offered the cup of wine to His disciples and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). The pouring of the wine in the cup symbolized the blood of Christ which would be poured out for all who would ever believe in Him. When He shed His blood on the cross, He did away with the Old Covenant requirement for the continual sacrifices of animals. Their blood was not sufficient to cover the sins of the people, except on a temporary basis, because sin against a holy and infinite God requires a holy and infinite sacrifice. “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3). While the blood of bulls and goats were a “reminder” of sin, “the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19) paid in full the debt of sin we owe to God, and we need no further sacrifices for sin. Jesus said, “It is finished” as He was dying, and He meant just that—the entire work of redemption was completed forever, “having obtained eternal redemption” for us (Hebrews 9:12).

Not only does the blood of Christ redeem believers from sin and eternal punishment, but “His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). This means that not only are we now free from having to offer sacrifices which are “useless” to obtain salvation, but we are free from having to rely on worthless and unproductive works of the flesh to please God. Because the blood of Christ has redeemed us, we are now new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and by His blood we are freed from sin to serve the living God, to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him forever.

If the blood sacrifice of Christ was total and has a redeeming effect, why then has this blood turned into a weapon for fighting demons, evil and negative forces as is evidenced in modern day prayer sessions….’We dip or immerse all our enemies and evil spirits in the blood of Jesus’. Amen !!!.’Yesu mogya nka w’ani. ‘We command healing in the name of and blood of Jesus etc.? Indeed it is clear that the blood sacrificed for a different cause i.e. the general well-being of mankind is misinterpreted as a weapon.

No blood sacrifice to God is any longer tenable. So what else can we offer to God for the expiation of our individual sins that have created the karma we experience in our lives today? The example has been given by Christ. We have to sacrifice Self upon the altar of offering (service). The Rosicrucian Fellowship teaches us that there can be no other sacrifice than the sacrifice of SELF in the SERVICE of others not blood. Indeed there is more to spiritual sacrifice than mere adherence to the lesser codes of vegetarianism or attending lectures or Easter schools and giving great lectures. How is our light shining among men? How has our spirituality affected others? How clean and pure have our thoughts, words and actions been? How do we regard our fellow men? Has the possession of Venus been overcome by the altruism of Uranus?  Or love for children, family, houses, cars, money has taken a better part of our lives to the detriment of service to people? Does our work in House 6 only go to benefit our families only or the larger work in House 12 which does not attract any reward our concern?  Do we think about our country along the line of division and not look for the well-being of all but cling to our parochial and partisan interests? This is certainly not sacrificing self on the altar of offering (service).

It is only when people find themselves in tough situations that they realise they are alone. Virtually they are abandoned and even in the fellowship, many that I witnessed have been abandoned to their own fate under the weak pretext that they are paying for their sins of the past and as said before on this platform ‘they are drinking their own vinegar’, while we have members who could come to their aid.  If help for fellowship members does not come from the fellowship itself, then what is the essence of the teachings that we so much cherish on our lives. Have those who have been abandoned understood that what they lack today is what they abused in their past and have readied themselves to sow fresh seeds of service now or have resigned to their destinies?

Max Heindel admonishes us to LIVE the LIFE. The life of the Christ providing succour where there is difficulty, love where there is hatred, relief where there is pain, hope where there is despair, knowledge where there is ignorance. Our role as aspirants of the Rosicrucian Fellowship should transcend lip service, ceremonies and the like. The sacrifice of blood by the Christ should constantly remind us about the importance and the depth of the assignment before us. Let us move beyond what we know and preach and LIVE the Life. How can we excel in big things when we falter in doing the smaller things?

We know man’s incapability to maintain perfection by means of the law that was set up in the old covenant; God’s compassion and great love for mankind allowed for a new covenant. This would be an everlasting covenant to be established through the sending of His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus who became the true Lamb of God who opened up the way for us to live and work like He did to bring peace and restoration to our broken relationship between us and God once and for all. Our work in the vineyard should not be cosmetic. We are Gods in the making and so it must reflect in our lives. It should inspire and move us back on the path of righteousness and away from the tendency to be given so often to temptations and sins of omission and commission.

Let us die to SELF by Living the true Life of aspirants as shown by the example of CHRIST.

Thank You

EASTER AND HOW IT RELATES TO MAN

BY LORD HUMPHREY NII-ODOI

EASTER is the name given to a HISTORICAL event which occurred on Golgotha in Jerusalem about 1984 years ago. It was a Cosmic Event which was dramatized on earth to impact a Mystery to man. And if that event was, and is a mystery, then it needs to be Unfolded. If it becomes a puzzle, it must be solved and if it becomes a Mission, then, surely it must also be fulfilled.

And this was, and is the Mission of CHRIST for which reason HE left HIS Throne and his Kingly Crown and came down to earth for me and you. And so therefore, we need to know what is Easter, How is Easter, when is Easter and why Easter and finally to whom was Easter meant for?

The date for Easter is determined by astrology – the movement of the heavenly bodies. The Sun must cross the equator (21^st March) 2. The immediate full moon after the ‘Crossification’ the following Sunday then becomes Easter Sunday. So you see, that date depends upon a fixed date by the Sun, plus a viable date from the moon, and a top up by a Sunday – the day of Christ.

ASTROLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF:

The Heavenly bodies are the physical manifestation of the organs in the macrocosmic body of God. That is why the movement of these bodies determines when and how Easter is, and astrology as a Divine Science about the heavenly bodies can be better used to explain Easter. As the result of these marching orbs in their circular dance, they make movements and aspects which influence all matter in our God’s Kingdom. These movements determines the occurrence of the various seasons and the vibrations they impact on matter. So EASTER is a cosmic event which takes place due to the movement of the Sun through the Houses, complemented by the moon and others.

The mission of Christ was and is to break the crystallizing of our bodies, which has so affected our planet earth also and for that matter making our evolution very difficult or impossible.  When nothing else could save us from the result of our own wrongdoing (selfishness, disobedience to laws, and evil practices) the Compassionate Christ offered Himself and His great love, power to break up the crystallized condition of man’s bodies and the earth. For 3 years He taught mankind by word, precept, and example. Finally, He had to dramatize the message of His mission. Hence that Historic Drama as narrated in our Bible.

DIAGRAMATIC ASTROLOGICAL EXPLANATION

21^st June Summer Solstice – Feast of St. John + Pentecost Whitsuntide or the Ascension

Easter begins with the Lenten Season – 40 days preceding Easter is the time of preparation to the culmination of some high spiritual endeavor. Eg. Israelites wondered 40 years in the wilderness.

After the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the river Jordan – Christ Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days.

And for that matter installing of our Kings – 40days confinement.

What this preparatory period actually accomplishes depends upon the effort put forth by the individual. It might be completed in 40 days. In some instances it could be 40years or even forty rebirths.

The first initiates of the Christian Mysteries observed it as an extended interval of probation, commencing with the Sun’s entrance into Capricorn at Christmas and continuing through the Succeeding months as the Sun passed through Aquarius and Pisces, and then entered into Aries, the sign of new beginnings, when life mounts to the heights in the miracle of resurrection.

During this period there was a deep searching of the heart; events of the past year were recapitulated and the essence of the experience appropriated by the Soul.

This is so because man as a Composite being consists of a Physical body, whose needs are geared to the rhythm of days, and a Soul body which replenishes its forces in harmony with the Seasonal rhythm of the year and finally the spirit, or ego who nourishes its being in accordance with the rhythmic sweep of cycles of re-birth. This process of inner Self – examination is ceremonially express in the rituals of Ash Wednesday (1^st March) the 1^st day of Lent, when the palms which waved with rejoicing on the previous Palm Sunday are burned and their ashes used to mark the fore-head of the penitents. Thus is symbolized the failures in the course of the year past to live true to the high ideals to which the Soul was awakened on Palm Sunday. This is how Easter relates to man.

THE CHRIST HAD A MISSION

1.      To be born – incarnate amongst human beings – Explain

2.      To die violently

3.      To penetrate into the earth and establish a temporal residence in the earth for a purpose

4.      To salvage humanity

5.      To redeem and transform man – Christed man

This has to be so because if not, man may be as wise as King Solomon, may praise God as king David, may have faith as Abraham, may fight wars as Joshua did, but if not be as discipline as Joseph he may end in destruction as Samson did.

TE BIBLICAL HISTORY – HIGH-LIGHTS

1.      The Triumphant Entry – sending 2 disciples (Peter and John) to bring an Ass & colt

b) they brought it, put their clothes on the colt on which no one has sat before and set Christ Jesus on it – rode  triumphantly into Jerusalem.

2.      Christ Jesus cleanses the Temple

3.      Christ Jesus curses the fig tree

4.      Paying of Taxes to Caesar

5.      Christ Jesus Anointed at Bethany

6.      The Passover with the Disciples

7.      Christ Jesus prays in Gethsemane

8.      Betrayal and Arrest of Christ Jesus

9.      The Trials *3 – Peter Denies Christ Jesus

10.  Judas hangs himself.

11.  Christ Jesus mocked, spat upon, tortured etc.

12.  Crucifixion

13.  The Death of Christ Jesus

14.  The Guard at the Tomb

15.  The Resurrection

16.  Sun Rise Service

In the course of man’s attainment he/she must go through these things in order to fulfil his mission on earth as Christ Jesus incarnated amongst us in order to dramatize what it takes to accomplish.

So this is how Easter relates to man.

Thank you. 

THE MAGIC OF GOOD FRIDAY

BY: MR. LOUIS AGBE

The four Gospels, we understand, are formulas of Initiation. Mathew, Mark and Luke begin with the Nativity, or the Holy Birth, for they are formulas of the Lesser Mysteries. The Gospel of St. John begins with the Rite of the Mystic Marriage. This Gospel is a formula of the Greater, or Christed Mysteries. St. John’s Gospel is the most profound initiatory treatise ever given to man. Rudolf Steiner, the eminent occultist, states that this Gospel should not be considered merely as a textbook, valuable as it is as such, but as a spiritual force. Esoteric students of the western Mystery Schools are taught to meditate upon portions of this Gospel.

At the time of the Spring Equinox all nature lies under the spell of the mystic blending of Water and Fire principles (or heart and head). The fruitage of this blending is beauty, harmony and perfection. In the spring, nature manifests this beauty because the blending has been consummated under the great stellar Hierarchies. Man must also find the key in this sacred rite to the Greater or Christed Mysteries, but he must learn how to perform this great work himself. The Christ was referring to this rite of the Mystic Marriage when he admonish Nicodemus (who was already familiar with the work of the Lesser Mysteries) that he must be born of water and fire before he could enter the Kingdom of God ( the Greater or Christed Mysteries). This was also the meaning of the supreme Master’s words when he said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but through me”. This is because the Master himself is the embodiment of the Love-Wisdom Principle, which the aspirant is expected to balance within himself or emulate thoroughly before he can come to the Father. The supreme purpose of his mission to earth was thus to bring the Greater Christed Mysteries to man.

Each event connected with the life of the Lord Christ as given in the Gospels represents some definite step along the Path of Initiation. The beautiful ceremonialism of Good Friday outlines the consummation of the Christed attainment. The orthodox Christian world observes this day as a time of sorrowful vigil. The mystic Christian experiences on this day a rare spiritual exhilaration. He sees the crucifixion as a means unto a greater end and the agony of the path is lost sight of in contemplation of the supreme joy which lies just ahead. He understands that the crucifixion of the body must always precede the liberation of the spirit. The Good Friday Magic is the culmination of preparations during Lent and Passion Week. What Lent and the Passion Wek preparations teach us is what the spiritual aspirant is expected to be doing all his life.

The musical Initiate, Richard Wagner, who understood much of Christian esotericism, has given many glimpses into the deeper meanings of this wonder day in his sublime soul drama, Parsifal. This transcendental work may well be considered a treatise dealing with the magic of Good Friday.

“Parsifal” is the legend of the Rosicrucian Teachings.  The student will readily see its analogy to spiritual attainment through a life of purity and service.  The aspirant (the Grail Knights) by overcoming the lower nature (Klingsor) and gaining control of the dense body (Kundry) is able through a life of purity and service to raise the spinal fire to the head (Mt. Salvat) and attain liberation.  Note Parsifal’s answer to the question of where he comes from on his first visit to Mt. Salvat “I do not know”, and on the second visit when he was asked the same question his answer was “Through search and suffering I came.” This latter answer represents the experiences of Lent and the Passion Week (Through search and suffering), which culminates on Good Friday (with the triumphant cry, “I came” or I attained or “consumatum est”). First, for the aspirant, the attitude of the Lenten season and the Passion Week should be that of repentance, restitution and reformation; then the he works on purifying and controlling his various vehicles since temptations lie on the path, and lastly he practices spiritual principles of love and selfless service, all of which, if well done, should raise his spiritual vibration to a culmination point on Good Friday.   

Every aspirant who endeavors to walk the Path is a Parsifal in some stage of his development. He too, as did Parsifal, will know the way of the cross, and if he be patient and persistent in well doing will eventually, like Parsifal, know the supernal soul revelations which constitute the spiritual magic of Good Friday. Then he will utter the triumphant cry “Consummatum est” it is finished.

You would recall when Parsifal first came to the Grail Castle, he was a neophyte. The scene of Parsifal’s return to the Grail Castle is laid amid the beauties of nature on a bright spring morning. It is Good Friday, and a benediction of peace lies over all the landscape. There is a strange contradiction between the ecstasy of nature in the springtime and the Lenten ceremonial observed at this season by the orthodox Church. Places of worship are swathed in somber black while penitents kneel in tears and contrition, meditating on the Passion of Christ. Nature on the contrary, is arrayed in her most beautiful robes of the year and everywhere is heard songs of gladness and rejoicing. Parsifal describes one as “the day of darkest agony divine”, and of the other, he says “How beauteous the morning meadows are, they speak of the infinite love of God. 

When man fell, that is, lost perfect attunement with his spiritual consciousness, he also lost equilibrium between the two poles of spirit within himself, the masculine and the feminine or balance between head and heart. This want of equilibrium brought sorrow, poverty, disease and death into the world. The cross on which the Christ permitted himself to be crucified is the great cosmic symbol of this loss of equality between the two polarities in nature, humanly represented by man and woman. The cross is found in all lands and has been used by all peoples because the whole human race suffered this loss of equilibrium in the early days of its evolutionary journey when the Martian forces reigned supreme.

As Christ hung upon this cross, which according to esoteric Christian tradition, was both literal and symbolical, a historical event and a spiritual dramatization, he opened the way of Initiation whereby all mankind might again find completeness within; and by means of that completeness , rediscover the Edenic state of abundant well-being and immortal life. Each year with the crossing (crucifixion) of the Sun at the Vernal Equinox from south to north, northern latitudes enter upon their resurrection season and all nature demonstrates the beauty and joy of a perfect alchemical blending of life forces. Parsifal refers to this great Easter Mystery, when he baptizes the repentant Kundry with the words “Rejoice with all nature harmoniously redeemed.”

Kundry represents the Divine Feminine which fell through emotional instability as typified by the horizontal bar of the cross. Later, accompanied by the triumphant Parsifal, she enters the Temple to joyous pealing of Temple bells. Together they pass between the two upright columns which have replaced the cross and which are symbolic of Initiation through polarity. These two columns, the masculine and Feminine or head and heart, will replace the cross as universal symbols of religion in the Aquarian Age now dawning.

When Parsifal returns he tells of nature under the Good Friday Spell:

True, I did meet some marvelous flowers

Which sought around my neck to twine their tendrils;

And yet so fresh never seemed before

The grasses, frondage and blossoms;

Nor did their fragrance seem so sweet,

Or speak with such appeal to me!

“That is Good Friday Spell, my Lord!” says Gurnemanz. “How can that be?” asks Parsifal. “Surely instead of joy and blossoms nature should morn and sorrow for that day of agony?” Gurnemanz explains that the great glory of the Eastertide is due to the tears of sinners, wept in contrition and falling like holy dew upon the earth to bring it to flowery fruition. “Hence it is they flourish. All living things rejoice, they hear the Saviour’s voice, and him they cherish!” The groves and fields, he goes on to say, cannot look to Christ upon the cross, but they look to man redeemed. In the blossomings of flowers may he observed the counterpart in nature of the process of transmutation as it takes place in the lives of individuals.

 Gurnemanz continues to expound the inner mystery of this sacred season:

Each blade of grass, each twig and tiny blossom,

Knows that on this day can come no harm,

But that as God, with mercies manifold,

Remembered man, and for him died,

O man this day will be less bold

And walk with careful stride.

Now grateful all things animate

Which live a moment and go hence,

That all absolved they may await

And greet this day of innocence.

In the exquisite soul enchantment which Wagner wove into the Good Friday music, he blended all the sadness and sorrow of the esoteric religionist with the ecstasy manifest throughout nature in the spring season. It is music that typifies the culmination of the great transmutative process whereby the personality (Kundry, lower nature) is raised into at-one-ment with the spirit (Parsifal the higher nature). The Mystic Marriage has occurred; head and heart now blends. It is this alchemical blending which raises the aspirant to the Third or Master’s Degree, described in the opera as the Crowning of Parsifal. According to ancient legend, it is on this holiest of days that nature puts forth her loveliest tribute of blossoms. Also the animal kingdom responds to the accelerated life rhythms of the planet by drawing closer to one another and to man. Thus all nature contributes to the holiness of Good Friday. The Mystic knows it to be one of the supreme holy days of the year because it is the time when Temple doors open wide to permit “the qualified and worthy” to pass through the portals of glory (to Initiation). And when this happens, the aspirant can sing the resurrection song at last:

On the resurrection morning soul and body meet again

No more sorrow, no more weeping, no more pain

Soul and body re-united; thenceforth nothing shall divide

Waking up in Christ’s own likeness, satisfied

 Oh the beauty, oh the gladness of that resurrection day,

Which shall not through endless ages pass away

WAY OF LIBERATION

BY MR. AUGUSTINE MICHAEL OWUSU

The Holy Season of Easter is to every Christian a time for special devotional observance. To the orthodox church member it has largely an outer significance, symbolizing a time in the life of the Great Teacher, Christ Jesus, when He was crucified, resurrected, and carried away into the higher realms: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, “He is not here, but is risen,” While He blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven” (Luke 23:46, 24:5, 51). The Resurrection and Ascension of the Founder of the Christian Religion constitute a vibrant promise of eternal life to humanity, a promise which, even though considered only from an outer viewpoint, must infuse a richer meaning into the daily activities of anyone who accepts it.

Christ, the highest Initiate of the Sun Period, dedicated Himself to the guardianship of infant humanity back in the second day of Manifestation. In the beginning, parental work was done outside the Globe, but the time eventually came for the rigid laws of Moses to be replaced by a higher spiritual outreach into the realms of love and Universal Brotherhood. In order to fulfill His commitment and bring this about, the great Archangel Christ (Hebrews 1:1-4, 1Thessalonians 4:16), must become Regent of the Planet Earth and guide it and its life from within.

However, the Archangelic Life Wave had dipped no lower into matter than the Desire World. Therefore, the Christ’s lowest vehicle was the desire body. As it is a cosmic law that no being can create a vehicle which it has not learned to build during its evolution, it was impossible for the great Sun Spirit, Christ, to be born into a physical body. He could not form such a vehicle, neither could he form the Vital Body made of ether. To supply these vehicles needed for the great Mission, Jesus the man was chosen to fulfill this need.

Jesus, a man of our evolution, (Hebrews 2:9), the human life-wave, offered his body as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit. He was immaculately conceived by Initiates; the Virgin Mary and Joseph the Carpenter. For many lives Jesus of Nazareth had trod the path of Holiness and Initiation and had thus fitted himself for the greatest honour ever bestowed on a human being. He gave up his dense and vital bodies at the time of the Baptism. The Christ then entered the Physical World and became mediator between God and Man. “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.” --- John 1:32

The great Teacher, the Christ, brought love and altruism, the keynote of the World of Life Spirit, to the desire-torn world in order to save the helpless and hopeless generations to come. His ministry of love resulted in a painful death. He was crucified. This is the supreme and fundamental difference between Him and other teachers in whom the Race Spirits were born. They all died and must be reborn again and again to help their peoples bear their destiny.

The Archangel Michael, the Race Spirit of the Jews, raised up Moses and was taken to Mt. Nebo to die.

He was reborn as Elijah. Elijah returned as John the Baptist (Matthew 11: 12-15). Buddha died and was reborn as Shankara. When death came, Moses’ face shown and Buddha’s body became alight. They all reached the stage when the Spirit begins to shine from within, but they died. Christ Jesus reached that stage on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is significant that His real work took place subsequent to that event. He suffered, was killed, and resurrected.

And this is how Max Heindel puts it:

“When the Saviour, Christ Jesus was crucified, His body was pierced in five places, in the five centers where the currents of the Vital Body flowed, and the pressure of the crown of thorns caused a flow from the sixth also…. When the blood flowed from these centers, the Great Sun Spirit was liberated from the physical vehicles of Jesus, and found himself in the Earth with individual vehicles. The already existing planetary vehicles he permeated with his own and in a twinkling of an eye he diffused his own Desire Body over the planet, which has enabled him thenceforth to work upon the Earth and its humanity from within. At that moment, a tremendous wave of spiritual sunlight flooded the Earth. It rent the veil which the Race Spirit had hung before the Temple to keep out all but the chosen few. And it made the path of Initiation free thenceforth to whom-so-ever will. So far as concerned the spiritual worlds, this wave transformed the conditions of Earth like a flash of lighting, but the dense concrete conditions are, of course, much slowly affected. Like all rapid and high vibrations of light, this great wave blinded the people by the dazzling brilliance. Therefore it was said that the Sun was darkened. The opposite was true – for the Sun shone out in glorious splendor. It was the excess of light that blinded the people, and only as the entire Earth absorbed the Desire Body of the bright Sun Spirit, did the vibration return to a more normal rate both within and without the earthly sphere,”

To the student of esoteric Christianity there is an added significance to the Easter Season, because he has learned of the inner import of the Supreme Sacrifice as well as of its outward meaning. To him it is also a great cosmic event, a major solar festival, a time when the Sun of our solar system “commences to soar into the northern heavens.” It marks a turning point in the life of the Christ Spirit, a time when the indwelling Planetary Spirit, a Ray of the Cosmic Christ (Second Aspect of Deity), withdraws from His encasement – our Earth and ascends into the higher worlds for a rejuvenation of His Life Spirit vehicle.  Thence He returns in the autumn in order to revivify the Earth and the kingdoms evolving in and on it. (Romans 8:22).

According to the Law of Analogy as exemplified in the ancient maxim, “ As above, so below,” the human being, the microcosm, “enters his vehicles in the day time, lives in them and works in them, and at night is a free Spirit, free from the fetters of the dense body.”  Without this periodic revivification of his bodies, man suffers and eventually perishes. So, too, would all on the Earth suffer and perish without the annual infusion of Divine Life and Love brought by the Christ.

Since man is patterned after the spiritual image of his Creator, he contains within himself in potentiality all the powers of God. Hence it is explained in the Western Wisdom Teachings that the individual Spirit is three-fold;   Divine Spirit, Life Spirit, and Human Spirit. These are correlated, respectively, to the Will, Wisdom, and Activity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) Principles of God. Thus the Life Spirit Aspect of man is correlated to the Love- Wisdom (Christ) Principle of his Creator, and is therefore the true Christ Principle in man. It is the Christ Within, and its counterpart is the vital body. To evolve the Christ Principle, to form the Christ Within that it may shine through the material darkness of the present time, is the particular work of the Western World.

The Life Spirit has indelibly engraved upon it the record of all faculties acquired and knowledge gained by the threefold Spirit in previous lives. This record, the super- conscious memory, manifests as conscience, character, and counselor, sometimes compelling action even contrary to reason and desire. Sometimes it impresses itself directly upon the reflecting ether of the vital body, the message being carried by the blood to the heart, and then flashed to the brain by way of the pneumogastric   nerve. This is the intuitional impulse, which brings into the human “vesture of decay “the high vibratory power of the World of Life Spirit, urging the Personality to obedience to the Law of Love, which is the Way of Liberation.

It is possible to cultivate this all-wise inner guidance, if perchance we do not already have it to a usable degree? Yes, decidedly so. In fact, as previously indicated, it is the particular work of the Western World at the present time to evolve the intuitive faculty, because it is to replace reason as man’s highest tribunal. The method is outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, and described scientifically in the esoteric teachings.

The vital body of man, the counterpart of the Life Spirit, is composed of four ethers. The two higher, the light and reflecting ethers, are built anew each life, and are attracted to the individual by selfless service to others. By prayer, concentration, and purity of thought we purify the desire body and sensitize the vital body, and as we love and serve our fellow men, we attract to us the two higher ethers, the soul body, which is a link between the Life Spirit and the heart. The larger and more luminous the soul body, the stronger the intuitive urge. So it is that by closely imitating Christ Jesus we develop the inner voice, fashion the Wedding Garment, the vehicle of the future, and attain liberation in the truest sense of the word.

It is consequently of particular note to the esoteric student that in the Lord’s Prayer, which is an abstract formula for the upliftment and purification of all the vehicles of man, the petition of the Life Spirit for its counterpart in the lower nature, the vital body, is : “ Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Actually this prayer teaches the doctrine of the remission of sins in the words forgive us, and the Law of Consequence in the words as we forgive, making our own attitude toward others the measure of our emancipation. Thus we may see how essential it is that we cultivate daily the forgiving spirit if we would woo the intuitive guidance of the Life Spirit.

At some future time when humanity as a whole has sufficiently unfolded its collective powers, the Christ will be free to withdraw permanently from the Earth and pursue other activities in God’s Kingdom. In like manner, whenever an individual has developed his inherent God- powers sufficiently, he can leave his lower vehicles and perform a wider work in the invisible realms, clothed in the luminous Wedding Garment, or Soul Body. The Spirit has then transmuted its illusory creation, the Personality, and effected its emancipation from the crystallizing retarding influence of the lower nature.

Thus the Easter Season is not only the time of Liberation for the indwelling Spirit of our planet, an event which should evoke our deepest gratitude and worship. It is also a soul- satisfying assurance to every human being that he, too, as a Christ-in-the-making may be freed from his lower, materialistic self. The indwelling Spirit which is man may, during many sojourns on Earth, learn to live in harmony with God’s laws, transcend the life of the senses, and enter into the glory and freedom of a consciousness touched by the Divine Hand.

Many deplorable conditions exist in our world today as the Spirit of humanity stirs and prepares for a New Order of things. Most of these conditions: ignorance, poverty, hunger, disease, fear, warfare and prejudice are the results of past misguided actions on the part of individuals and nations, though new destiny is being continually created to some degree. The Laws of God have been too much disregarded, and at present we are witnessing and participating in a climatic struggle between the Forces of Light, sponsoring a God-guided Way of Life, and the Forces of Darkness, sponsoring a God-less and mind –guided existence. The outcome is being decided even now, as we give our help to the one side or the other.

May we all , at this Holy Season, sing with the Angels from hearts full of gratitude and praise, rededicating ourselves to Christ’s Way of Liberation, thus leaving our low-vaulted past and entering into the more stately mansions of intuitive guidance.

Finally, friends in Christ, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.- Philippians 4:8.

May the Roses bloom upon your Cross

CHRIST SACRIFICE CONTINUES

BY MR. M.K.A. AKRASI

The earth is today in the mist of change that it affects every Kingdom, every element connected to the planet earth and its inhabitants. This includes not only mineral, plant, animal, human Kingdom, but those higher life waves working as group and race spirits. As to the words of the earth, the sons of men, never in the history of the earth has there been such a state or upheaval, such wars, diseases, extending to almost every nation, land and sea, in the air and in the depths.

What is even more frightening and divesting is that man is not warring with a pride in physical prowess, as of old, but with the cruel ingenuity of a mentality so advanced that now none are safe, none are certain of life. The greatest battle of the ages is going on between the forces of evil and of good – Lucifer against God. Many attribute these unwholesome conditions of the earth to excessive greediness of humanity. Although in part this is certainly true, cannot we question the cause of such advance right along with man’s warring one against another for centuries” In truth , has it not been that man, walking upright, an individual with free will, chooses to follow Lucifer rather than to obey God?

In addition, cannot we see that the way to end wars and to overcome our avarice is to return to obedience to God and the forces or good?

In Gleanings of a Mystic Page 112, Max Heinded says: “Christ himself when upon earth said: I came not to bring peace but a sword; for it was evident to Him that as long as humanity was divided into races and nations there could be no “peace on earth and good will among men” Only when the nations have become united in a Universal brotherhood is peace possible. The barriers of nationalism must be done away with……” The sorrows, suffering and the losses mankind is now encounting will be the means of bringing man nearer to the realization of the words of the Christ: “ I am the Resurrection and the Life, he was dead, Yet shall he live “ (John 11:25). Each sorrow, each loss which man encounters during these stressful times is resurrecting him, Each sacrifice is lifting him higher in consciousness until, at length, the Christ within – illumined and radiant – will become to him a living reality, and he shall understand the saying of Jesus:  “ One is your Master, even Christ; and shall ye one brethren:

The inhabitants of the earth are now approaching the threshold of the Aquarian Age, when all must be resurrected into a higher state or consciousness. We cannot help but wonder how long will this story of the advent of the Savior, Christ Jesus, need to be told, until it is believed and practiced by all the Children of God. We have Our Christmas Season, when the world seems to be filled with multitude emotions and feelings’ anticipation, happiness, joyfulness and thanksgiving expressing and declaring in many ways the birth of the greatest soul ever known on our earth.

At Easter time, similarly, there is great rejoicing at this same great Savior in Good Friday Services and Easter Sunrise Services around the world. Our Churches tell the story of a child immaculately conceived by the Virgin Mary, who was espoused to Joseph a simple Carpenter. This child was born in a Manager on Christmas morning and was named Jesus. At about the age of thirty, he was baptized and the Spirit or God descended upon him in the form of a dove. He fasted forty days and nights, and later, being taken up into the mountains, how was tempted by the devil, after which, he preached the Gospel and healed the sick. This great teacher appeared to His followers as a God of Love and commanded all the Children of God to love one another. On Good Friday, He was crucified – nailed upon the cross – and was buried. On Easter morning He rose from the grave ascended to heaven and was placed at the right hand of God.

There is yet another side to this great story – the cosmic version – which is told by the mystic and the occultist.

This is the story a waiting world must hear and eventually believe in order that this story can have its rightful ending – the return of the Lord Christ Jesus. Only through one understanding of the sacrifice made two thousand years ago, and the sacrifice that continue each year on our behalf, will men live lives making triumphant return of the Lord Christ possible. Before the coming of Christ, the earth was worked upon from without – there was no indwelling Spirit. Jehovah, is highest initiate of the Moon period, ruled the earth from without. The world became so spiritually darkened that some monumental change was necessary.

Through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus made on behalf of all humanity, the day will surely come when the name of Christ Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Christ Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, mankind will finally understand, not only the sacrifice made by Jesus the man, but the whole glorious story of the yearly sacrifice of our Lord Christ shall be told: the Sacrifice that began at the crucifixion of the Christ on the Cross, the liberation of the Spirit of Christ from the body of Jesus, and His drawing into the earth and becoming the indwelling Earth Spirit. As we are told in the Cosmo – Conception, had the Christ Spirit remained in prisoned in the physical body of Jesus and continue to teach and heal the few thousand with whom He came in contact in His daily ministrations, the entire human race would have crystallization, as the earth at that time was in the grid of dense materiality.

We have indeed, a living savior. For, as the blood flowed, the Ego the Christ was infused into the earth to save humanity. There it is still groaning and travailing waiting to be liberated, waiting for humanity to become pure and spiritualized, and to reach that stage where we can save the earth by our own spirituality. Until then, the Christ must make His yearly sacrifice.

Another phase of this drama is played out in the life of each and every seeking soul. The birth of the Christ Spirit within is first felt with great Joy – the ideals of the aspirant soar high, and he or she is carried away by a wonderful feeling of oneness with God. When the transformation takes place, he is lifted up. He is no longer satisfied with worldly pleasures. He or She begins to seek the divine, the potential Christ which is within each of us. Where before, we sought only to gratify the outer person, we now seek the divine, the potential Christ which is within each of us.

Then comes the trials. The world’s weakness and the perversities of humanity weigh us down. We feel, as did our Lord, the hatred and passion of humanity. We are overcome with our own weakness and trailties moment and elated with great joy we would like to share with others the next moment. Often, during these wonderful moments of oneness with the Lord, the need to tell and share is truly overwhelming. But, all too often, we meet with sneers and indifference. Our hearts are heavy and we may feel forlorn and truly alone. These are times, when one is often taken to the wilderness, as Christ was and is tried by satan on all sides.

Now it is that we must remain strong and dauntless in our faith – for the path becomes as sharp as a razor’s edge. At last Golgotha, the place of the skull, the mount of Liberation is reached. Then, and only then, may we utter the same joyous cry that emanated from the lips of our Savior. “ Consummatum est” – it has been accomplished.

May we strive each new day to become more like Him, with loving deeds from our hearts and mind filled with Christ thoughts. As our Temple Service states:- “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Let us always remember that everyone is a Christ in the making. When love and altruism have become part of mans nature, then and only then will the Christ be released from the long sacrifice that began on Golgotha.

May we bow our heads in a solemn now to do all we can to hasten that day by living the precepts He taught.

At this Holy time of the Easter Season may we rededicate our lives a new, resolving to be more conscientious in our daily endeavors as we work towards a state of perfection by following in the steps of our Lord Christ Jesus on the pathway of Love and Truth.

Ref: Philosophy Lesson March/April 1983

HEALTH AND ASTROLOGY

BY MR. DIVINE W.K. ADAMS

To fully and completely understand the condition we call health, it is necessary that the student study the physical body from its early inception eons ago in the dark Saturn Period when the Divine Hierarchs gave man-in-the-making the germ of a dense body, down through the ages to its present state and on into the misty future when it will have attained to relative perfection.  Lacking the ability of the occult scientist to investigate the Memory of Nature for ourselves, we must accept on faith the teaching that the inter-relationship between the inner vehicles and the dense physical body gives a clue to the attainment of perfect health.  It is necessary, then, to turn to the science of astrology and reason, our next best guides in studying health and healing.  This lesson will be an attempt to shed some light on the occult principles of health showing a correlation to esoteric astrology.

Most of us have heard the expression, "The Bible is the book sealed with seven seals," and we have a vague idea of what some of these keys are though we perhaps possess not one.  We have also heard of the Law of Correspondences, or, as it is stated in the ancient maxim, "As it is above, so is it below; and as it is below, so is it above."  It will not seem farfetched, then, if we are told that man's physical body has a correspondence in the heavens, and that there are many keys which unlock the mysteries of man.  If the Bible story is written in the heavens as well as in the tiniest plant, so is it also written in Man, the Divine Son of God.  Certain rivers and cities mentioned in the Bible find their corresponding location in Man.  Even the location of the Last Supper has a related place in the human body.  At some future time in our development, knowledge of the dense body's relationship to the Bible will be essential to further development.  At this time it is well for us to study the science of astrology which has already been given to us on the principle that when it is thoroughly mastered new knowledge will be given each student as he requires it.  For it is a spiritual law that only as we use well what we have do we gain more.

   It is well known to the modern physician that the condition of the blood, and therefore the condition of the whole body, changes in sympathy with the state of mind of the patient, and the more the physician uses suggestion as an adjunct to medicine the more successful he is. Few perhaps would credit the further fact that both our mental and physical condition is influenced by planetary rays which change as the planets move. The way to find out the peculiarities of the Spirit that dwells in the patient's body is to cast his horoscope to see when the times are propitious for the administration of drugs, giving the appropriate HERBS at the proper time. Paracelsus did that, and therefore he was always successful with his patients; he never made a mistake. . It is to such uses that astrology should be put, and not degraded into fortune-telling for the sake of gold, for, like all spiritual sciences, it ought to be used for the benefit of humanity, regardless of mercenary considerations. 

Occult science teaches that each of us builds the archetype for our physical body while we are between lives and that this is done in accordance to planetary vibrations.  In this connection, we quote from Occult Principles of Health and Healing, by Max Heindel:

"There are seven spheres, the planets of our solar system.  Each has its own keynote and emits a sound varying from that of every other planet.  One or more among them vibrates in particular synchrony with the seed atom of the ego then seeking embodiment.  This planet then corresponds to the 'tonic' in the musical scale; and though the tones from all the other planets are necessary to build up an organism completely, each is modified and made to conform to the basic impact given by the most harmonious planet  which is therefore the ruler of that life. As in terrestrial music so also in the celestial there are harmonies and discords, and these all impinge upon the seed atom and aid in building the archetype.  Vibratory lines of force are thus formed, which later attract and arrange physical particles as spores of sand are marshalled into geometric figures by bowing a brass plate with a violin bow.

"Along these archetypal lines of vibration the physical body is later built, and thus it expresses accurately the harmony of the spheres as it was played during the period of construction.  This period, however, is much longer than the actual period of gestation, and varies according to the complexity of the structure required by the life seeking physical manifestation.  Nor is the process of construction of the archetype continuous, for under aspects of the planets which produce notes to which vibratory powers of the seed atom cannot respond it simply hums over including those which it has already learned, and thus engaged it waits for a new sound which it can use to build more of the organism which it desires in order to express itself.

"Thus, seeing that the terrestrial organism which each of us inhabits is moulded along vibratory lines produced by the song of the spheres, we may realise that the inharmonies which express themselves as disease are produced in the first place by the spiritual inharmony within.  It is further evident that if we obtain accurate knowledge concerning the direct cause of the inharmony and remedy it, the physical manifestation of disease will shortly disappear.  It is this information which is given by the horoscope of birth, for there each planet in its house and sign expresses harmony or discord, health or disease."

Yet it must not be supposed that these laws of nature are blind forces.  Indeed they are anything but blind, but are intelligences of varying degrees of consciousness whose work among other things is to carry on the process of assimilation, elimination, etc. within our dense bodies. Their work is affected by the stellar rays and by the archetypal harmonies or discords prevailing in our dense bodies. It is common knowledge to spiritual astrologers that each of the organs and tissues of the body is under the rulership of one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac or one of the seven planets of the horoscope and that examination of the horoscope will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the physical body.  It indicates how much of the solar fluid specialised by the spleen may be utilized by the various organs.  (The etheric counterpart of the spleen is the avenue by which the vitalizing solar force enters the dense body.  From the spleen it goes to the solar plexus and thence to all parts of the body, the excess radiating outward producing what is called, "radiant health.").  An affliction in the horoscope indicates by the law of correspondence which organ will be afflicted and will not be able to utilize sufficient vitalizing ether to maintain proper organic functioning.  The agencies working with that particular organ will have insufficient working material and disease may ensue if the person does not take the necessary care of his physical body.

From the self-created penalties following the misdirection of forces, or to speak astrologically, from the misfortune of malefic stellar aspects, man frees himself when he learns the ways of divine laws and lives in obedience to them.  Liberation from the bondage of "bad aspects" comes with the awakening of the Christ within.  The illumination that follows such an awakening leads to a life of love and beauty: lines of discord disappear from the archetype, and in due course their reflected disease in the physical body also disappear.

   The Moon is the heavenly orb that brings all things to pass; whatever is foreshown by all the other planets never comes to fruition until the Moon brings it to a climax.

   There is within the human body an ebb and flow, a tide, just the same as there is in the outside world. There are critical periods in certain diseases in particular that can be measured accurately by the Moon and it is therefore important that all understand the influence of this unusual planet.

   There is a cosmic force that culminates at the New Moon and another at the time when the Moon is full. Everything that is started from the time of the New Moon until the full increases in intensity and finally culminates when the Moon is full. That period marks the flowing out of the life that comes from the Sun and is reflected to us by way of the Moon. This force is a great aid in building up the body and keeping it in a healthy condition. From the Full Moon to the time of the New Moon this great light force becomes darker and darker and everything that has come to a focus begins to fade and gradually dies.

   Knowing that the Moon has these two influences according to whether it is increasing or decreasing, we find that in applying treatment notice must be taken of them. All treatments, like drugs, may be divided into two general classes: stimulants and sedatives. The first class has a distinctly better effect and is more easily applied during the increase of the Moon, and the other is found much more effectual if used during the Moon's decrease.

   The general rule is: From the time of the New Moon to that of the Full Moon stimulants produce the greatest effect and sedatives are weakest. Decrease the dose of stimulants and increase that of sedatives. The exception is: When the Moon increasing approaches a conjunction to Saturn give larger doses of stimulants and smaller doses of sedatives.

   When the Moon is increasing and approaching a conjunction to Mars and Mercury, stimulants have their maximum and sedatives their minimum effect.

   When the increasing Moon is in good aspect to Jupiter and Venus cardiac stimulation produces the most lasting results. Palpitation is most effectively treated when the Moon is decreasing and aspects the before mentioned planets favourably. Apply heart stimulants with extreme care when the Moon aspects these planets unfavourably, especially when dark. Anaesthetics are also then most liable to produce fatal results. If we inhibit the functioning of the pneumogastric nerve to a certain extent, we quiet the heart action and are then applying what would be the equivalent of a sedative in medicine. Manipulation of this nerve in such a way as to stimulate action is applying the equivalent of a medical stimulant.

There are four fundamental types of persons correlating with the twelve Zodiacal signs.  These twelve signs may be subdivided into four groups of three each, according to the element to which they belong. They make up what we speak of astrologically as the four triplicities.  A healer will be most successful in dealing with ailments that come under the same element as does his ruling sign.  Most healers, if not all, of every school, regardless of whether or not they recognize the astrological factors, admit they are more successful in treating some patients, and in healing some types of disease, than others.  The key to this is to be found in the common element linking healer and patient together, and also the third factor, the ailment to be cured.

A healer with the Sun in the fiery, cardinal sign Aries will be most successful in the treatment of acute diseases; one with the Sun in the fiery, fixed sign Leo, in chronic maladies; one with the Sun in the fiery, mutable sign Sagittarius will serve most effectively as a nurse.

Each type of plant is in a similar way attuned to one of the signs of the Zodiac through the little Nature Spirits which care for it, and the planetary ether which surrounds and penetrates plants has on this same principle an affinity for a particular part of the body and when eaten in sufficient abundance will help to strengthen afflicted parts.  Healing herbs are plants which have great amounts of ether acting as foci for one or more of the stellar rays and hence only small amounts are usually required to effect a cure.  Certain tissue salts, twelve in number, are, like herbs, focal points for healing force from one of the signs of the Zodiac.  And these salts, prepared and taken under the proper conditions can do much to restore health and vigour to a diseased part.

But if we would effect a true healing rather than just a palliative cure we must probe deeper into the original cause of disease.  We must recognise that just as "Thy templed face is carved from within," so is every part of our body the result of our mental, moral and spiritual attitude.  The outer man is but the reflection of the inner man.  If a man misuses the Virgo quality of discrimination, then in a succeeding life his Virgo organ, the intestine, will not be able to discriminate properly.  The man who is stiff-natured will find himself in a stiff body.  The woman who "turned a deaf ear"  to the pleas of others will find herself with a deaf ear.   The person who misplaces or misuses his or her affections will return to a body with a faulty heart.

How truly the Christ spoke when he said, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."  Our physical infirmities are due then, not to the caprice of an autocratic deity but to our own ignorance of cosmic law.  We are all on the evolutionary path from ignorance to omniscience and the only way we learn is through our own mistakes.  Max Heindel tells that the only sin is ignorance and the only failure is failing to try.  Understanding of this does not dishearten but rather spurs us on to greater heights for all the virtues and faculties each one of us possesses is due to our own past efforts. Those of us who suffer with any discomfort or ailment must search through our own thoughts and actions to determine the real cause never making the mistake of thinking, "I am in this condition because of what So-and- so did." We must be honest and recognize that So-and-so was only an instrument of our own destiny which we ourselves wrought.  If we accredit ourselves with the good, so must we accept responsibility for the reverse.  Only then can true healing be ours permanently.