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."