The Awakening Of The Soul

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Escape from the Aeons of Nature

The subject to which we now turn relates to such new aspects in the development of the pupil that we think a short summary is needed.

We discussed the meaning of the 72nd verse of Hermes' Pymander, in which, among other things, is written: "The sleep of the body had become the soberness of the Soul, the closing of the eyes the real Seeing, the silence had become for me as a pregnancy of the Good and the proclaiming of the Word resulted in fruitful Works of salvation".

We asked ourselves: "Where does the tenuous part of the personality stay during sleep and what happens to it?" We saw that the nocturnal man, if we may so express it, resides in the astral sphere of duality during the nightly hours and we examined its nature.

The astral sphere has a strong imaginative faculty. Thoughts, desires, feelings and objects of the will project themselves in it. It is clear that the astral sphere of duality has become polluted and complicated to a high degree because of the reflection-sphere life and the general conduct of mankind. It i all delusion and fatal to any gnostic life, as the astral material is extraordinarily magnetic. Everything that does not agree with its nature is removed from the tenuous personality entering the astral sphere. That is why we read in the Pistis Sophia that she was continually deprived of her light-force.

The astral sphere of normal life is full of unholy forces, the aeons, which can be defined as natural forces.

The word 'aeon' means not only an immeasurably long period of time, but is also used to indicate formations of unholy forces of nature. With the help of this conception it becomes clear what aeons are with respect to the astral sphere. Aeons are astral forces, astral activities which have been formed throughout long periods of time and which have become very powerful; for instance, projections of human desires and thoughts which were fed to such an extent that finally they were propelled to life in the astral sphere.

Suppose we form a certain image. We agree to maintain this image throughout the years, to impress it on our children and on all those who are willing to come along with us; that our artists will draw, paint or carve it and that our poets will chant it. So you can imagine how aeons are formed in the astral sphere.  They are projections of constant currents of human desires and thoughts, which are finally vivified to such an extent that they begin to dominate mankind. These aeons, which increase in force because they are continually fed by mankind, deprive each gnostic-directed person who enters the astral sphere, of his or her light-force. Normally, this happens to every candidate as soon as he or she falls asleep.

Important consequences result for all those who take their pupilship seriously. Among other thing, there is a logical and compelling demand that they withdraw from the astral sphere of the nature-of-death. If one ascertains that he experiences the disastrous influence of this sphere every time he enters it during the nocturnal hours, the following question is obvious: "how can I protect  myself against these influences and in what way can I become free of them?" This is the first consequence.

The second is that he directs the subtle part of the personality to another astral field in which those pollutions and dangers do not occur. You will no doubt agree that these are elementary demands from which no one can escape. Without their fulfillment each gnostic pupilship is an illusion.

Once cannot force oneself into this; should we try for one or more days we would not be able to sustain it. It would be a struggle with the prospect of certain defeat. In the first place, it is necessary to draw the nucleus-principle of the I-being out of the liver-spleen system and up into the heart. This can happen only when one is ready for it, when at last the course of life causes one to reach a dead-end in matter, in the nature-of-death; when you discover that for a man who moves on the horizontal plane there is no prospect of Deliverance.

The man in the liver-spleen system, in the solar plexus, is the stone-hard, I-central man who clings to matter and consequently expects everything from it. However, the moment will come, sometimes after many lives in the microcosm, that he reaches a dead-end in the nature-of-death and finds that his existence is a circle without end. However, as long as he lives out of the liver-spleen system and, consequently, in self-maintenance and I-centrality, pupilship in a Spiritual School is completely useless. Only he who is able to draw the consciousness up into the heart will surmount his natural instincts. Only then does one begin to see the world as it really is.

A new desire, a yearning for true, essential liberation, which in the holy language is called yearning for salvation, then emanates from the astral self. Only this desire opens the heart of man for the Gnosis, for the light of the Holy Grail, the consequence being that the Rose is touched. Because of this yearning for salvation, the pupil will stand before the Gate of an entirely new state of Life.

From "The Awakening of the Soul (II) - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol. 1 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

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You have to want it.

The forces arrayed against those who wish to walk the Path are formidable and considerable. This blog refers to aeons over and over and over because it is important for the reader to realize that we are being victimized and controlled by invisible forces that are difficult to detect or escape. These forces must be unmasked so that man can gain much-needed insight into the true nature of his imprisonment and begin to want to do something about it.

To effect this attempt at liberation, it is imperative that one must be completely through with duality, even the so-called "good" parts of it. If we do not detach from everything that duality dangles in front of us, we will inevitably stumble and fall due to weaknesses brought about by our lingering attachments.

After gaining insight into the true nature of the human condition, the candidate must yearn for salvation with his or her entire being in order to continue attracting the forces of the Gnosis to him or her. There can be no compromise. We cannot have a foot in both worlds. This is the gnostic meaning behind the statement made by the Christ that "no man can serve two masters". Either we serve the aeons of this nature and bathe in the polluted astral sphere of this nature-order or we reach out for the safety of the Thirteenth Aeon, the Great Mixing Vessel sent for the salvation of all those who will choose Liberation during this Time of the End.

~ g
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Thirteenth - Conclusion

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However, if you are ready for it, if you want to shake off the pressure of the old Twelvefold, and if you long in every fibre for a fresh new start on a new 'thirteenth floor', then this is possible. Then you can break the cycle of life and death, abandon the Twelve and go up into the Thirteenth, the Higher Spiral of Life.  And even if you are unable to do it on your own, it is nevertheless an autonomous process.

Initially, you become aware of how closed you are, at least your emotional sphere, your inner being, your aura. Just as the Pistis Sophia, you go through the mist in order to reach the luminous certainty of the Christ-Field. You are assisted by a group, which carves a shaft through this collective field of mist, and which is actually indispensable in this. It concerns a collective of Light-seeking people and they form a new 'Twelvefold', from which a truly new, Thirteenth (aeon) speaks. It is a truly magical, gnostic-magical miracle! And in others, this Thirteenth will again awaken the 'holy agitation' - the Thirteenth becomes the number of the highest happiness.

From "Thirteenth" - Pentagram - the Journal of the International School of the Golden Rosycross, Vol. 34, 2012, number 4

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The Thirteenth Aeon, the radiation-field of the Christ vibration, is here now. It offers its transformative light energies to any and all who can hear its silent Call. Opening the heart, awakening the Divine-Spark within, tunes the seeker to the New Field of Life. All those who receive it will be given the power to become Sons of God once more.

"Unlucky", indeed.

~ g
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Thirteenth - Part Two

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How have these nature-forces become aeons that control humanity, and how has humanity itself erected this prison and evoked these demons? Aeons are electromagnetic powers, and archons are concentrations of these power principles. The aeons are caused by mental activity and by the creation of mental images. Mental images have the property that they are able to increase infinitely, provided that they are nourished by a similar mental activity. In this way, nature-gods are formed, nature-forces that will wholly control the human being.

The head is continually busy thinking how the desires of the heart can be fulfilled. These mental images and desires do not have the same nature and vibration and, consequently, neither have the created aeons. Clouds of the lowest vibration have gathered closely around the earth. Layer after layer has been formed, with, at the top, the layer with the highest vibration. This exceedingly varied 'reflection-sphere' forces humanity to continue its fateful course.

The forces and energies of these spheres are able to penetrate the human vehicles so that the human imprisonment is virtually complete. Man is lived. No one is able to get out on his own strength. A 'thirteenth one' is needed for this. This thirteenth one exists in what the ancient Gnosis called: the Thirteenth Aeon, the radiation-field of The Christ. It is the radiation-field of the Original, Divine Nature that has one goal only: to transform the material world consisting of two poles, the pairs of opposites, to the transparent world of The Unity.

In our time, the vibrational frequency of the earth increases and, therefore, everyone reacts to the Touch from the spheres of that Field. For each human being, the Thirteenth Aeon creates the possibility to enter a new, Higher Field of Life.

THE REVERSAL

How is the human being able to bid farewell to what is old, that is, to the Twelve ruling powers and to concentrate on what is new, on the Thirteenth Aeon ? It is clear that a human being cannot possibly walk this Path if he still experiences the touch of the the Twelve ruling aeons in his daily life as a pleasure.

And here we see the reversal of the "Holy Thirteenth' into the "doom-predicting thirteenth". In general, people who do not have the desire to fathom the great question of The Why, feel quite alright in this world. They prefer that everything stay as it is -  at least, no illness and war, of course - but basically, they are not fundamentally troubled by what they find within time and space and within themselves. And yes, if then the thirteenth fairy enters the stage uninvited (!), and predicts that the Sleeping Beauty will prick herself and sleep for a hundred years -  as a symbol for humanity and for every human being in whom the Divine Principle is still asleep - this thirteenth fairy still does not cause any undue alarm.

Thirteen is threatening, thirteen breaks through what is familiar, and in this way, the Holy Number 13, the number of the New Dimension, the Higher Spiral, becomes an "unlucky" number. We do not want it...We skip the thirteenth floor.

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From "Thirteenth" - Pentagram - the Journal of the International School of the Golden Rosycross, Vol. 34, 2012, number 4

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Thirteenth

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Thirteen.

It is Friday the thirteenth. On the radio, we hear that there will, statistically, be fewer accidents on this day than on other Fridays with the same weather conditions. Conclusion: people are more careful or people stay at home.

Another example: you are planning your wedding, but everything has been booked already. Only Friday the thirteenth is still available. You book a holiday: there is no chair 13 in the plane, there is no room 13 in the hotel and not even a 13th floor. Peculiar, how persistent an old superstition continues on both sides of the ocean even into the 21st century. It must be something that goes very deeply. What would be its origin?

TWELVE

The number twelve is a quite different story. Throughout history, society and culture have been familiar with it. There were twelve gods on Mount Olympus, we know the twelve labors of Hercules, and the twelve tables in the epic of Gilgamesh. There were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve precious stones of the high priest and Jesus had twelve apostles. Orthodox Christianity knows the twelve holy nights, adopted from the mid-winter time of the Germanic peoples, during which time seemingly stops for a while, until the birth of Christ is celebrated on the thirteenth night. The Book of Revelations speaks of a city with twelve gates and a tree with twelve fruits. The Round Table of King Arthur had twelve knights, and the jury system knows twelve members of the jury. There are twelve signs of the zodiac, fairy tales speak of twelve princes, brothers, fairies, etc.

And the human body has twelve pairs of cranial nerves.

PRIME NUMBERS

Twelve is a so-called 'rich number'. It can be divided by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, the sum of the divisors being greater than the number itself. Such 'rich numbers' are rare. They express a fullness: they contain all possibilities that exist. It is like a cornucopia. The whole of the twelve is waiting to be fulfilled. If no new situation arises, we can only fall back on what is old and familiar. This twelve, as a quality, expresses a desire for liberation from the cycle of spatiality. And the thirteen, a prime number (= indivisible), brings this liberation and leads the twelve to a New Reality: the world of unification with what is Higher. The number 13 contains the "1" as its deeper essence This "1" liberates the twelve from its cycle and grants it the spiral upward course.

Earthly space and time, within which the human being walks his path of life, gains his experiences, and within which the human being is imprisoned, is expressed by twelve. Twelve is the fullness of positive as well as negative.

In the book, The World Brotherhood of the Rosycross, we can read in a text by Rudolf Steiner that in the 13th century, the Brotherhood of the Rosycross consisted of a college of twelve men, who had assimilated the sum total of the spiritual wisdom of ancient times. The 13th, Christian Rosycross, was like a new birth of the twelve streams of wisdom.

Hermes Trismegistus ascertains that the natural human being is, independent from his ordinary behavior, dominated by twelve fundamental vices. He calls them ignorance, grief and sorrow, intemperance, desire, injustice, greed, deceit, envy, guile, anger, thoughtlessness, malice. They stem from the twelve elements of the zodiac, the twelve primordial forces of this nature.  These primordial forces have become what the Gospel of Pistis Sophia  calls 'the twelve aeons'. We may derive from this that the human being is not only imprisoned in space and time, but is also in the grip of these twelve aeons, as in boundless grief. Just look around you.

End Part One

From "Thirteenth" - Pentagram - the Journal of the International School of the Golden Rosycross, Vol. 34, 2012, number 4

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The Thirteenth Aeon

This is an attempt to convey an immense concept in a few short words. May this endeavor be successful.

The following is taken from "How Aeons Are Formed":

"It is an elementary esoteric fact that when, over time, many people fix their minds upon one idea, a mighty astral image of that idea develops. The astral world possesses specific possibilities of reflection. So when the minds of many of us are continually fixed upon one and the same idea, then we shall discover that at a given moment a huge astral image has been generated, which is becoming clear and well-defined, and with which we are connected and in communication because we created it ourselves. It is thus that a collective spirit, a collective idea, a collective thought-form or a collective image is created and continuously fed by people of similar disposition and/or belief"

Keep what was just read in mind. The collective thinking of a large group of humans can, and will create an aeon. The aeon will continue to thrive as long as the human maintain their focus upon the idea that created it. The aeon is their creation. The humans will feed their aeons by their thinking, willing and acting. The aeon, in turn will fortify the human group. Thus, a symbiotic relationship develops between an aeon and its creators.

It is possible for an aeon to grow so powerful that it begins to control and dominate its creators. With this in mind, continue to read on.

THE TWELVE AEONS (THE FATES)

There are twelve main aeons that command this nature-order. The ancients referred to these twelve aeons as "the Fates". These aeons are the overlords of physical reality. They impose themselves upon humankind. No one escapes their influence.

The twelve main aeons are the twelve zodiacs.

It would requre many thousands of words to detail this here. For now, the revelation will have to stand on its own. However, if one gives it some consideration, they may begin to see why this is so.

Ages of wrong-thinking have created a link between mankind and The Twelve Aeons. This link is one of a primarily negative nature, and it has enchained man to the physical realms.

THE THIRTEENTH AEON

Over the ages, in the manner described above, a group of gnostic-minded individuals managed to consciously create another aeon. One that is linked with the divine Sixth Cosmic Region. This aeon was built from pure ethers not-of-this-world and is maintained in the border-regions of this nature-order. It is an Oasis of Divinity segregated, as if in a vacuum, from the polluted realms of fallen nature.

True brothers and sisters of the Golden Rosycross recognize the reality of The Thirteenth Aeon.

All those who make the decision to forsake the world in order to sincerely walk the Path of Return in voluntary self-surrender will link themselves with The Thirteenth Aeon. It is from this Aeon that the candidate struggling in the earth-sphere will receive the "holy foods" that he or she will need to carry out the process of transfiguration.

All candidates for transfiguration have at their disposal all the help they need to win the fight and complete the Great Work. As long as one can maintain their link to the Mighty Thirteenth, success is assured. As recorded in the Corpus Hermeticum:

"He sent down a great Mixing Vessel, filled with the powers of the Spirit and He appointed a herald and bade him proclaim to the hearts of men:

"Immerse yourselves in this Mixing vessel, you souls who can; you who believe and trust that you will ascend to Him who sent down this Vessel; you who know for what purpose you were created".

God does not forsake the works of His hands.

all love,

~ g
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