Chrysalis

When it is revealed that one's microcosm is in possession of a "spirit-spark atom", the sole remnant of a Divine existence that contains within it all of the potentialities required to transform man into god-man, skepticism and disbelief are apt to follow. How can one tiny, microscopic atom effect a total change from a mundane, earthly personality to one that is glorified and immortal? Come, now!

But it is true. Ridicule and scorn can never tarnish Truth. Man cheats himself by refusing to think outside the box. Instead, he chooses to remain trapped in the mental prison that the aeons of this nature have erected for him. If he would dedicate himself to seeking Right Knowledge, if he would listen to the Silent Voice Within, instead of his arrogant and under-developed mental faculty, perhaps he would begin to see the simplicity of the Miracle That Lies Within.

One has but to look at the example that was left for us to contemplate in the natural world. The wonderful mystery of the caterpillar's metamorphosis from lowly, ground-bound grub to magnificently colored and delicate butterfly. How is such a feat accomplished? We know it speaks to the glory of the Logos but the whys and hows of it leave us speechless.

The following from LRC's Pentagram #4, 2012:

[QUOTING]

...I am fascinated by the image of the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. The profound truth that what you receive does not become valuable until you are able to use it in the right way, can be seen very clearly in this. The purpose of the caterpillar is to consume the plant on which it lives. It does not look left or right and does not see sun or horizon. It has no time for this kind of nonsense. It keeps its eager glance focused on the indirect sunlight that is contained in the leaf; it wants to have as much of it as possible. This eagerness reminds me of something: my insatiable hunger for knowledge, truth, excitement, mystical experiences and wisdom. Just think of the countless leaves in our bookcase.

A caterpillar eats until it is filled. Not until then does a change in its pattern of life begin: it no longer eats, but it begins to digest its food. First, it spins and weaves a mantle around itself, the cocoon, in which it withdraws. Then, hidden from the eyes of the outside world, the caterpillar now enters a peculiar process.

Only very few people are aware that, before a magnificent butterfly breaks out of the cocoon, a tremendous struggle is fought inside. The old form must be completely demolished and, indeed, a truly new body must be built. The immune system of the caterpillar violently resists this strange transmutation of cells. It does anything to preserve the caterpillar. Only if it gives up the hopeless struggle, can the transformation of cells continue unhindered. Nothing remains of the caterpillar, except a shapeless, small heap. And exactly one cell contains the building plan of the butterfly, on which basis the completely new body is built.

Then I understood.

[END QUOTING]

Everything is brought forth from a single seed. From plant to man, all begins as an image, a matrix, encased in a single seed or atom. The seed-atom matrix of an oak tree contains everything that is required to produce a mighty adult oak. The seed-atom matrix of a human embryo contains everything that is required to produce an adult human being. The matrix of the Spirit-Spark atom, our Divinve Spark, contains everything that is required to transfigure the lowly human being into a Divine Child of God.

None should think that such a miracle, such an alchemical event, is impossible. Nothing is impossible in God's Creation! You have but to contemplate the example of the humble caterpillar to get an inkling of that.

Now ponder this: if something as small and seemingly insignificant as a caterpillar is allowed to undergo such a beautiful metamorphosis, imagine how much more can be accomplished by the human personality who takes it upon himself or herself to walk the Path that leads to True Life.

~ g
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The Paradise Curse

[QUOTING]

There is a world of Absolute Being and also a world of relativity, a relativity, which proves itself in the finiteness of every thing. Finiteness means instability, breaking up, and breaking up means grief, pain, disease and death.

This world of finiteness is our world! It is this earthly 'vale of tears' in which grief, pain, disease and death are our everyday experiences. All these phenomena of the breaking up of life, together with all the forms of suffering resulting from it, belong to the essence of this order of existence, and therefore, are inseparably tied to this world and can never be overcome by the means of this world. Consequently, suffering and the breaking up of life by various forms of disease will be our lot as long as we are children of this world.

This factual situation immediately connects us with the Paradise Curse, in which the whole nature of our order of existence, of this world of broken-ness, is laid down. The fact that we are in this field of existence results from our violation of the Universal Laws of Life. Man, before the Fall, was still divine and lived in the Light of the Absolute Being. As it is expressed in the Holy Language, 'he walked in the Light', which means that he knew and possessed the life of the Order of God, of the 'Kingdom of Heaven'. He was then called therein to a revelation of Life in ever-increasing glory, in a system of vehicles, in a corporeality which enabled him to completely do so.

Thus, in accordance with the two absolutely separated orders of nature, there are also two manifestations of man. One which has remained loyal to the Divine Laws of Life and accordingly lives and is in the Universal Light, the other, our part of mankind, going the path of broken-ness, the way of descent and degeneration. That is what is stated and meant by the Paradise Curse!

Does this simply that our existence here should be looked upon as a punishment for being sinful? No! Because, as creatures of this nature, we harmonize entirely with the laws of existence of this nature.

Must we then see it as though we were living in an accursed world? No! Because this world also behaves entirely in accord with its nature.

To arrive at a correct understanding of these questions we must begin to see these things upon a larger scale and understand that this world and the manifestation of man living in it, both originated from the breaking of the Universal Cosmic Laws of Life and are not included in God's Plan.

They are absolutely in disharmony with the Divine Intention as regards this world and mankind and, therefore, do not co-vibrate in God's Plan.

This world and this mankind are not in harmony with the Intercosmic Radiation (g: Christos).

This is the cause of the broken-ness of our existence.
This is the cause of all grief, pain, disease and death.
This is the heart of the matter in question!

When there is a body within a radiation-field that does not belong there and that is alien to the nature of this field, then this radiation-field will either remove the alien body or break it up incessantly.

The Paradise Curse, therefore, is no damnation, nor is it an interpretation of wrath or despair, because God, the Universal Spirit of Perfect Harmony, Love and Light, does not punish nor is He wrathful.The Paradise Curse is nothing more than a statement of scientific fact!

When, by violating the Universal Cosmic Laws, a group of entities call into existence a world order differing from the Plan of God (the Revelation of the Logos), then, from that moment onward, a disharmony is caused with the Intercosmic Radiation, with the working of the Light-Power of the Logos which bears and maintains the whole Creation. And every disharmony causes demolition with grief, pain, disease and death as the direct result.

Therefore, every disease, every disharmony, is the direct proof that this nature is not included in God's Plan, and disharmony with the Intercosmic Radiation means demolition and consequently -- disease. On the other hand, harmony with the Intercosmic Radiation will mean eternal building, eternal advancing from glory to glory -- a realization of God's Plan.

From "The Problem of Cancer" Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

To be repeated as often as is necessary: there are two separate nature orders, two universes. One is fallen, the other Divine. We are trapped in the fallen nature order, without a clue as to how to escape. Sadly, many don't even think of escape. Instead, they try to think of ways to make this world 'better'.

This world cannot be made a 'better' place. There will never be 'peace' on an earth that is governed by the laws of duality. Earthly 'love' is an illusion, at once both selfish and possessive. Man will only be truly free when he realizes that this world is not the world that he wants to be in. When finally he is struck by Remembrance and begins to long for his Divine Home, only then will all the dreams he ever had begin to come true, by the grace of the Logos, in the Light of The All.

~ g
.

The Star Within

Know, O man, that Light is thine heritage,

Know that Darkness is only a veil.

Sealed in thine heart is a Brightness eternal,

waiting the moment of freedom to conquer,

waiting to rend the veil of the Night.

 

Man is a Star bound to a body,

until in the end, he is freed through his strife.

Only by struggling and toiling thy utmost

shall the Star within thee bloom out in New Life.

 

Fragment from The Emerald Tablets

.

Emerald Tablet IX

 

The Key To Freedom of Space

List ye, O man, hear ye my voice,
teaching of Wisdom and Light in this cycle;
teaching ye how to banish the darkness,
teaching ye how to bring Light in thy life.

Seek ye, O man, to find the great pathway
that leads to eternal LIFE as a SUN.
Draw ye away from the veil of the darkness.
Seek to become a Light in the world.
Make of thyself a vessel for Light,
a focus for the Sun of this space.

Lift thou thine eyes to the Cosmos.
Lift thou thine eyes to the Light.
Speak in the words of the Dweller,
the chant that calls down the Light.
Sing thou the song of freedom.
Sing thou the song of the Soul.
Create the high vibration
that will make thee One with the Whole.
Blend all thyself with the Cosmos.
Grow into ONE with the Light.
Be thou a channel of order,
a pathway of LAW to the world.

Thy LIGHT, O man, is the great LIGHT,
shining through the shadow of flesh.
Free must thou rise from the darkness
before thou art One with the LIGHT.

Shadows of darkness surround thee.
Life fills thee with its flow.
But know, O man, thou must arise
and forth thy body go
far to the planes that surround thee
and yet are One with thee, too.

Look all around thee, O man.
See thine own light reflected.
Aye, even in the darkness around thee,
thine own Light pours forth through the veil.

Seek thou for wisdom always.
Let not thine body betray.
Keep in the path of the Light wave.
Shun thou the darkened way.
Know thee that wisdom is lasting.
Existing since the ALL-SOUL began,
creating harmony from by the
Law that exists in the WAY.

List ye, o man, to the teachings of wisdom.
List to the voice that speaks of the past-time.
Aye, I shall tell thee Knowledge forgotten,
tell ye of wisdom hidden in past-time,
lost in the midst of darkness around me.

Know ye, man,
ye are the ultimate of all things.
Only the Knowledge of this is forgotten,
lost when man was cast into bondage,
bound and fettered
by the chains of the darkness.

Long, long ago, I cast off my body.
Wandered I free
through the vastness of ether,
circled the angles
that hold man in bondage.
Know ye, O man, ye are only a spirit.
The body is nothing.
The Soul is ALL.
Let not your body be a fetter.
Cast off the darkness and travel in Light.
Cast off your body, O man, and be free,
truly a Light that is ONE with the Light.

When ye are free from the fetters of darkness
and travel in space as the SUN of the LIGHT,
then ye shall know that space is not boundless
but truly bounded by angles and curves.
Know ye, O man, that all that exists
is only an aspect of greater things yet to come.
Matter is fluid and flows like a stream,
constantly changing from one thing to another.

All through the ages has Knowledge existed;
never been changed, though buried in darkness;
never been lost, though forgotten by man.

Know ye that throughout the space that ye dwell in
are others as great as your own,
interlaced through the heart of your matter
yet separate in space of their own.

Once in a time long forgotten,
I, THOTH, opened the doorway,
penetrated into other spaces
and learned of the secrets concealed.
Deep in the essence of matter
are many mysteries concealed.

Nine are the interlocked dimensions,
and Nine are the cycles of space.
Nine are the diffusions of consciousness,
and Nine are the worlds within worlds.
Aye, Nine are the Lords of the cycles
that come from above and below.

Space is filled with concealed ones,
for space is divided by time.
Seek ye the key to the time-space,
and ye shall unlock the gate.
Know ye that throughout the time-space
consciousness surely exist.
Though from our knowledge it is hidden,
yet still forever exists.

The key to worlds within thee
are found only within.
For man is the gateway of mystery
and the key that is One with the One.

Seek ye within the circle.
Use the WORD I shall give.
Open the gateway within thee,
and surely thou, too, shall live.
Man, ye think that ye liveth,
but know it is life within death.
For as sure as ye are bound to your body,
for you no life exists.
Only the Soul is space-free,
has life that is really a life.
All else is only a bondage,
a fetter from which to be free.

Think not that man is earth-born,
though come from the earth he may be.
Man is light-born spirit.
But, without knowing, he can never be free.
Darkness surrounds the light-born.
Darkness fetters the Soul.
Only the one who is seeking
may ever hope to be free.

Shadows around thee are falling
darkness fills all the space
Shine forth, O LIGHT of the man-soul.
Fill thou the darkness of space.

Ye are son of the GREAT LIGHT
Remember and ye shall be free.
Stay not thou in the shadows.
Spring forth from the darkness of night
Light, let thy Soul be, O SUN-BORN,
fill with glory of Light,
Freed from the bonds of the darkness,
a Soul that is One with the Light.

Thou art the key to all wisdom.
Within thee is all time and space.
Live not in bondage to darkness.
Free thou, thy Light-form from night.

Great Light that fills all the Cosmos,
flow thou fully to man.
Make of his body a light-torch
that shall never be quenched among men.

Long in the past, sought I wisdom,
Knowledge not known to man.
Far to the past, I traveled
into the space where time began.
Sought I ever-new Knowledge
to add to the wisdom I knew.
Yet only, I found, did the future
hold the key to the wisdom I thought.

Down, to the HALLS of AMENTI
I journeyed, the greater Knowledge to seek.
Ask of thee, LORDS of the CYCLES,
they way to the wisdom I sought.
Asked the LORDS this question:
Where is the source of ALL?
Answered, in tones that were mighty,
the voice of the LORD of the NINE:
Free thou thy soul from thy body
and come forth with me to the LIGHT.

Forth I came from my body,
a glittering flame in the night.
Stood I before the LORD,
bathed in the fire of LIFE.
Seized was I then by a force,
great beyond knowledge of man.
Cast was I to the Abyss
through spaces unknown to man.

Saw I the moldings of Order
from the chaos and angles of night.
Saw I the LIGHT, spring from Order
and heard the voice of the Light.
Saw I the flame of the Abyss,
casting forth Order and Light.
Saw Order spring out of chaos.
Saw Light giving forth Life.

Then heard I the voice.
Hear thou and understand.
The flame is the source of all things,
containing all things in potentiality.
The Order that sent forth light
is the WORD and from the WORD,
COME LIFE and the existence of all.

And again spoke the voice saying:
THE LIFE in thee is the WORD.
Find thou the LIFE within thee
and have powers to use of the WORD.

Long I watched the Light-flame,
pouring forth from the Essence of Fire,
realizing that LIFE is but Order
and that man is one with the Fire.

Back I came to my body
stood again with the Nine,
listened to the voice of the Cycles,
vibrate with powers they spoke:
Know ye, O Thoth, that LIFE
is but the WORD of the FIRE.
The LIFE force ye seek before thee
is but the WORD in the World as a fire.
Seek ye the path to the WORD and Powers
shall surely be thine.

Then asked I of the Nine:
O Lord, show me the path.
Give the path to the wisdom.
Show me the way to the WORD.
Answered, me then,
the LORD OF THE NINE:
Through ORDER, ye shall find the way.
Saw ye that the WORD came from Chaos?
Saw ye not that LIGHT came from FIRE?

Look in thy life for this order.
Balance and order thy life.
Quell all the Chaos of the emotions
and thou shalt have order in LIFE.
ORDER brought forth from Chaos
will bring thee the WORD of the SOURCE,
will bring thee the power of CYCLES,
and make of thy Soul a force that
free, will extend through the ages,
a perfect SUN from the Source.

Listened I to the voice
and deep thanked the words in my heart.
Forever have I sought for order
that I might draw on the WORD.
Know ye that he who attains it
must ever in ORDER be, for use
of the WORD though disorder
has never and can never be.
Take ye these words, O man.
As part of thy life, let them be.
Seek thee to conquer this order
and One with the WORD thou shalt be.
Put forth thy effort in gaining LIGHT
on the pathway of Life.
Seek to be One with the SUN-state.
Seek to be solely the LIGHT.
Hold thou thy thought on the Oneness
of Light with the body of man.
Know that all is Order from Chaos
born into Light.

From The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean - Tablet IX

"Seek to become a Light in the world. Make of thyself a vessel for Light. Create the high vibration that will make thee One with the Whole".

~ g
.

Dress Rehearsal

The life you live now  can be considered a dress rehearsal for what comes after death.

One could pass from this world any day. None of us know when Destiny will tap us on the shoulder. Like a cosmic game of musical chairs, one's soul-state at the moment of death will determine where one spends the next eternity.

Be reminded, eternity does not mean infinity. Eternity and infinity are not the same thing. Infinity means  a time without end. Eternity means an extremely long period of time that eventually has an end (with a return to earth-life). Eternity can last from hundreds to thousands to many millions of years, depending upon the cycle involved.

Like attracts like. A state of consciousness is a state of life. Whatever you are, whatever you may be, is reflected in your non-physical bodies (etheric, astral and mental). Your thinking, willing, feeling and acting combine to formulate an overall vibration in what man calls the human aura. It is this overall vibration, this cumulative record of your works on earth in lives past and present, that will determine where you go when this particular sojourn through matter is over.

Physical life is not a game. It is only so for the foolish and the ignorant. Physical life is an opportunity. It represents the latest in hundreds of such opportunities for us to do what is necessary to find the Key to Liberation. There is no other purpose to life. Therefore, seek not to obtain wealth, fame, love, happiness, longevity or pleasure via the fruitless striving of earth-life.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all else will be added unto you". Mark 6:33

Again, there is no other purpose.

One can scoff at the above if that is what one desires. Such a one will simply have to learn via bitter experience, what we call "the hard way".

Dim the lights.

~ g
.

The Plan

[QUOTING]

The Spiritual School of the Golden Rosycross distinguishes between the earthly and the heavenly human being. The nature-born, earthly personality has a physical body, an etheric body and an astral body. The microcosm has a monadic flame and an etheric and astral aspect. In addition, we know that the earthly personality was not created as an end in itself. A Plan underlies its ages of development: it must devote itself to a Healing Process by a sanctifying mode of life. This means that the personality must surrender to a process of healing and purification, thus helping the microcosm develop its latent properties and powers once again. In this way, the earthly personality makes the return of the microcosm to its Original Realm of Life possible.

The Plan of the Logos enables the microcosm and the personality to merge into a single being. Through an alchemical development, the two must unite into one being. The Spiritual School calls this process transfiguration. This is extensively discussed, because transfiguration is one of the pillars of the gnostic teachings of Liberation. Through a series of developments, the growing new human being acquires properties and powers which far surpass the possibilities of the earthly personality. They should certainly not be confused with the properties and powers that can be acquired by means of certain occult methods.

The above-mentioned new state of consciousness and life can only be realized by following the Path of inner Liberation. This Path cannot be unlocked by any power of the earthly personality or by occult practices but is only accessible through the Rose of the Heart, the last remnant of the Divine Life.

From "Gnosis - Basis for the New Man" - Gnosis As Inner Religion

[END QUOTING]
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That Which Is Caesar's

In every Age, there are those who awaken in the Gnosis and choose to walk the Path of Liberation, the Path of Return. In every Age, those travelers are confronted with obstacles. In the time of the Christ it was the ruling powers of church-and-state that united in an attempt to discourage those who had heard The Call. In subsequent centuries, this continued to hold true, as the orthodox church used its connections with the kingdoms of the day to wield the sword in their favor. Crusades and inquisitions were born.

These days, with the decline of the orthodox churches, different sorts of obstacles present themselves to the seeker steadfastly striving to maintain his or her footing on The Path. One is the loosening of social constraint and the moral decay that has followed. Another is the lack of true leadership in the world and in many homes, which are microcosms of the world. There is also the never-ending treadmill of life that forces man to work a third of his day or more in order to feed himself, his family and to provide a roof over their heads. And that's if one is fortunate enough to have a job. This crushing daily grind can get in the way of one's Walk, if so allowed.

We should be ever vigilant of the myriad ways that the aeons of this nature will attempt to knock us of our square and lead us away from The Path. Stay focused, stay true and live every moment in the Knowledge that although we are in this world, our aim and destiny is not of this world.

We render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God's.

~ g
.

Unworthy

No matter what sort of person one has been in the past, no matter what sort of wrong one may have committed in the past, no matter what kind of life one may have lived, it is never too late to turn it all around.

The Path of Return beckons all: sinners are especially welcome. Remember the transformation of Saul to Paul. No one is unworthy.

Down through the ages, the Father waits with open arms for His prodigals to return.

~ g
.

The Gnostic Key To The Bible

The Christ is a powerful astral radiation from a higher astral realm, the Sixth Cosmic Domain. It emanates from the Divine Kingdom and possesses a higher vibration than the radiations of our physical plane (the Seventh Cosmic Domain). This mighty astral radiation periodically descends into the physical plane, then withdraws. Other names for this radiation are Christos, Kiristi (Sumerian), Krishna and Gnosis.

When this Divine vibration descends into the physical plane, it must find a physical space to inhabit in order to go about its purifying work. The challenge inherent in this task is brought about by the fact of the universal law of "like attracts like". The Aquarian radiations must find a physical temple of like-vibration in which it can take up residence.

This is difficult to accomplish in the natural-world during periods and epochs where man has lost his way and wanders in ignorance. Whenever humanity has descended to its latest nadir, there are few, if any, incarnate human-beings that can be found whose light-vestures vibrate at a level high enough to accommodate the Christine radiations.

For this reason, "sent ones" are periodically inserted into this nature-order by the Universal Chain of Brotherhoods. Briefly, the Universal Chain consists of all those entities who either

a. did not follow their brothers when this portion of the human life-wave "fell" into matter or,

b. did fall, but through steadfastness, faith and works, subsequently obtained liberation from matter.

These entities originate not only from this solar system, but from many others. Their one objective is to assist in the Divine Plan of Salvation, the rescue of all fallen microcosms from the physical plane.

Sent Ones of note from earth's recent past include Hermes Trismegistus (also known as Thoth), Krishna, the Buddha, Jesus the Nazarene. Each of these entities was a Christ, because each of these entities vibrated in harmony with the Christos, the Christ-radiation, the Gnosis. Although their physical shell was composed of the matter of this earth, their microcosms were Light-filled. As such, they acted as vehicles for the Christ-vibration, enabling It to gain a foothold in this dark world. This is what set them apart from the common humanity of their day.

At the end of every world age, major or minor, in advance of the Harvest, a Sent One will appear among mankind. His charge, to sound The Call, to begin the work of gathering the fruit of the Harvest into the barn, the preservation of those microcosms who have obtained the minimum level of affinity with the Christos. The ultimate aim is to deliver this Remnant from the re-cycling of the earth's twin spheres (material and reflection-spheres). We have reached the end of a major world-cycle of three sidereal years* and the time has come for Harvest.

*a single sidereal year consists of 25,920 earth-years.

For this purpose, the Christ-radiation elected to incarnate among mankind in the physical form of Jesus. The parents, Joseph and Mary, were initiates, members of the gnostic sect known as the Essenes. They were most likely celibate or virginal. They understood that their duty would be to provide the physical vehicle for the Christ-radiation's eventual habitation. The so-called "virgin-birth" should be looked upon as a physical act of love and service performed by Joseph and Mary with the purest of motives and intent. We can also view it as virginal because the microcosm that was to be linked with the physical child, Jesus, did not bear within it any negative karma whatsoever. The orthodox church, which, in fact, has always been an enemy of the Christ, cleverly re-interpreted these facts to create a fairy-tale that has confounded, confused and frustrated human-beings for the past two thousand years.

The child-Jesus began serving at an early age and was raised under the auspices of the Essenes. As a young man he traveled to Egypt to study the gnostic mysteries. These things are omitted from the orthodox Bible. Upon his return from Egypt at the age of thirty, he is "baptized" at the Jordan. This event symbolizes the full awakening of his Divine Spark and the entry of the Seven-Spirit into the head sanctuary.

From the point of this "baptism" going forward, it is the Christ-vibration that is expressing itself through the physical vehicle of the man, Jesus. In essence, the divine Logos took complete possession of that vehicle and used it to bring the doctrine of liberation to mankind.

Now mark the following carefully:

The entire New Testament is a treatise on how to walk the Path of Liberation, written in a strong symbolism that can only be understood if one has the gnostic key. That key is this:

John the Baptist represents the candidate who makes way for "the One who is to come". He is the candidate who has acquired sufficient insight into the truth of the human condition and desperately yearns for salvation.

Jesus represents the candidate who has had his Divine Spark awakened. The Gnostic vibrations enter the head sanctuary, described as the "descent of the Holy Spirit". The purification of the microcosm then begins in earnest. The construction of the "golden wedding-garment", the Light-Vesture of the New Man, has commenced.

The Temptation in the Desert represents how the aeons of this nature will continue to press harder upon the candidate once he has made the decision to be in the world, but not of the world. Here is where the candidate surrenders the self to the Gnosis, remaining steadfastly faithful to the requirements of the Path.

His walk among the people, spreading the doctrine of liberation, healing the sick, performing works represents the new attitude of life, the selfless service that we must all undertake in order to continue to receive the benefits of the Gnostic radiations.

The Road to the Crucifixion represents how the candidate must prevail against the unceasing attacks that the aeons of this nature will undertake against him or her via strangers, friends, family or daily circumstances. As the candidate perseveres through the slings and arrows without responding in the old "I-centric" way, he walks the path of I-demolition. The wants of the the I-being are no longer responded to. This is the process that the Cathars called the endura.

The Crucifixion itself has always been presented as a tragedy, when it is, in fact, a Great Victory. This represents Final Liberation, when the candidate hangs the shroud of the flesh upon the Cross of Matter and "dies" as to this world.

This leads, quite naturally, to the Resurrection, which symbolizes the Rebirth of the Divine Man, the completion of the Divine Plan of Salvation. The Victory can only be won with the voluntary assistance of the human who is able to follow the fivefold gnostic Path of Liberation to a successful conclusion.

The four Gospels, although they differ in certain aspects, contain one and the same symbolism and relay one and the same message. The gospels of Paul and the other books of the New Testament also utilize the same symbolism. The Apostles spread the Word as it had been given to them, as they had been charged to do. They succeeded in a big way, so much so that the reigning powers of church-and-state during the decades and centuries after the departure of the Christed One worked tirelessly to ruthlessly crush all gnostic interpretations of the Word and all followers of the True Path.

The Key to the New Testament is that it is not merely a story about an exceptional human-being, it is about you. It is about you and what you must do to become a Christ. The entity Jesus, in an act of supreme sacrifice, lived His life in such a way that the story of Liberation could never be suppressed. The intent of the Adversary was to eradicate all traces of His work and damage what they could not erase. The intent of the Universal Brotherhood has always been to ensure that this Truth would live among men right until the present day, when its revelation of Grace would be needed the most by a lost humanity approaching the end of this Age.

Pick up the New Testament and blow off the dust. Discard the erroneous church teachings and begin reading it anew, this time with the Gnostic Key. You should find a whole new revelation awaiting you. As the classical Rosicrucians once maintained when speaking of the Bible*

* excluding the five books of Moses and the historical books, but including the entire NT, Genesis, the Psalms and the books of the Prophets.

"For this is the whole sum of our Laws: those are nearest and likest unto us who do make the Bible the rule of their life, the end of all their studies, and the compendium of the Universal World, from whom we require not that it should be continually in their mouth, but that they should appropriately apply its true interpretation to all the Ages of the world.

Some make sport of Scripture as if it were a tablet of wax to be indifferently made use of by theologians, philosophers, doctors and mathematicians. Be it rather ours to bear witness, that from the beginning of the World there hath not been given to man a more excellent, admirable and wholesome book than the Holy Bible.

Blessed is he who possesses it, more blessed is he who reads it, and most blessed of all is he who truly understands it, while he is most like unto God who both understands and obeys it".

 

- Confessio Fraternitatis -

May this post serve, in some small way, to help you regain your understanding of that which was left for you to understand.

~ g
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The Shedding Of The Blood

[QUOTING]

No one can gird himself with a truth that does not issue from the blood. At most one can force it for a certain length of time, but there is no human being who can keep it up indefinitely. So one can only walk the Rose-Path to the full if one does so on the basis of a blood-certainty, on the basis of "girding the loins with Truth". For the pupil of a Spiritual School, then, the first concern must be to ensure that he really is capable of "girding himself" with Truth. He who possesses the Truth in the blood can bear it out by means of this blood-impetus. He or she can work through, and on the basis of, the blood. The activities of the blood render such a person capable of reaching his goal.

When we perform our task on the basis of the blood, we are making use of a power -- blood power. In this way we shed our blood. That is why it is said that Jesus the Lord and other great ones of the Gnosis shed their blood for mankind. They used, they spent their blood-power in which the Divine Truth was living and vibrating. They spent this power for a sinful, hostile mankind

So the cause of this bloodshed, of this most profound manifestation of the soul, must be sought in man himself. To the extent that a human being lives outside the Truth, others who possess the Truth from within will have to shed their blood-power for him. The shedding of their blood then becomes a blessing for him, a saving grace. Their soul-wounds become healing for him. He nails them to the cross of bloodshed, on which they willingly sacrifice themselves. And by this sacrificial death they conquer the world.

We are trying to make clear to you the truth about the divine revelation of salvation, to explain the facts of salvation about which dogmatists and theologians can only babble, because they derive their knowledge from documents and historical data.

We are trying to make you see how right the seventeenth-century poet Paul Gerhardt was when he sang:

A great burden of affliction

Thou hast borne, Lord, in my name,

yet tis I, O Lord, tis I

who am to blame.

 

Behold then, Lord, this sinner

who now stands before your face,

and give him, in compassion,

of your Grace.

He who possesses the Truth in the blood, is bound to shed his blood for entities who do not yet live in such a blood-state.

From "The Shedding of the Blood" The Mystery of Life and Death - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

It is hoped that this post and the previous one have been received with understanding. If so, then one should now understand what was truly meant (as opposed to what the churches preach) when it is said that the Christed One "shed" his blood for mankind.

The five soul fluids culminate in the blood and spur the personality to action. If the blood is of a certain nature, the human being will demonstrate that nature by his actions. If the blood has been purified by the Gnosis, that result will also show in the actions of one so blessed. For that person will act not out of self-interest, but in self-forgetfulness and service to all others. The Christ-power will work through him.

He will shed his blood for mankind.

~ g
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The Blood Is A Peculiar Fluid

[QUOTING]

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the day of evil, and having done all, to stand:

1, Gird your loins with Truth
2. Put on the breastplate of Righteousness
3. Shod your feet with the preparedness of the gospel of Peace
4.Take up the shield of Faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of evil
5. Put on the helmet of Salvation
6. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
7. praying always in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplication
8. and taking care to remain praying, with great perseverance, for all the holy ones"

Ephesians 6

The Eightfold Path begins with "girding your loins with Truth". In a superficial sense, this might relate to getting dressed, to putting on clothes and preparing oneself for a journey. But the clear symbolism Paul employs here obliges us to look more deeply.

His words concern the liver-spleen system with its center in the solar plexus. This system is the primary blood production and control center. It is located in the region of the loins. So in this sense, "girding" oneself means proceeding from a certainty etched in the blood. All a persons actions, the invisible activity of his thoughts and feelings as well  as his outward actions, originate from or are controlled by the blood.

If one has girded oneself with a certain blood-certainty; if such a blood-certainty is emanating from the liver-spleen system; if, in the liver, the blood is continually replenished with such a certainty, so that the person actually lives out of such a state of the liver, then the inevitable result will be a life of corresponding actions. So if you want to experience and walk the Rose-Path in reality, then its aim, its essence, its absolute Truth  must be present in your blood.

It is easy to imagine how it is with those who do not possess this fundamental blood-state and yet seek to walk the Rose-Path. Their condition is always forced, to a greater or lesser extent. If the blood-certainty we have described is not present, difficulties always develop in one's pupilship.

How can we achieve such a blood-certainty? To understand this we will need to consider

The Five Fluids Of The Soul

First, there is an astral fluid. This fluid enters the human system via the magnetic faculty of the brain, filling the seven cerebral cavities, the seven-branched candelabrum, with its fire. This fluid is the ego-fire, the nucleus of consciousness from which the four other fluids are to be explained.

The astral fluid brings to life the twelve pairs of cranial nerves. With the aid of the nerve fluid, the second soul fluid, twelve faculties, twelve attributes are called into being. These twelve faculties can rightly be called the twelve disciples, the twelve eons of the human being. They condition the human being's organic life.

The third soul fluid is the serpent-fire, situated in the innermost canal of the spinal column. It connects the seven-branched candelabrum in the head with the sacral plexus situated at the lower end of the spinal column. These two points, the candelabrum in the head and the sacral plexus, form the two magnetic poles of the personality; thus the sacral plexus performs the same function as the south pole of our planet.

In the axis of the personality, the serpent-fire, the astral fire comes to expression, mixed with all the magnetic, karmic impulses from the microcosm's past. So you should see the serpent-fire as a co-mingling of past and present. Via the central nervous system, this essence too is transmitted throughout the system, so that the system will behave in keeping with the electromagnetic totality. However, this preparation is not sufficient to achieve such an aim. That is why the fourth soul fluid exists, the hormonal fluid, originating in the ductless glands. We can see these organs as transforming stations of electromagnetic fluid, each laden with magnetic fire, each with a special task, each producing a different hormone which is transmitted to the fifth soul fluid, the end-product of our soul's activities, the blood.

The whole being speaks, testifies and works in the blood. The entire soul is manifested in the blood. As the blood is, so is the human being. Thus it is in the blood, through the blood, that the state of consciousness becomes a state of life. So it is clear that, if a Truth is to live in us, if it is truly to be made free in us, it must be present in us as a state of the blood, as a blood-certainty, since it is the blood that actualizes the totality of the fivefold soul. That is why the blood is, as someone once said, "a very special fluid indeed" (Goethe's Faust, Act I, Scene 4).

From "The Shedding of  the Blood" The Mystery of Life and Death - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

The blood is the vehicle of the soul. Everything about the human being is contained in and explained from the blood and the other four soul fluids. This is why the call for purification of the blood is a key requirement for going the Path. It begins with the re-direction and purification of the thought-life.

When the Christ-radiation, the Gnosis, enters the heart and is continually attracted via a sincere yearning for salvation, it will begin to circulate throughout the body by way of the blood. If the candidate can continue to attract this other-wordly vibration then it becomes possible, after what is usually a long struggle, to overthrow the karmic and hereditary influences inherent in our blood. The reborn New Soul can then flourish and grow.

Not as easy as it sounds. The aeons of this nature-order have a tight grip on all of us, their influence is firmly anchored in our blood. With diligence and steadfastness we can pry their talons from us, one claw at a time.

~ g
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The Gnostic Doctrine Of Liberation

 

(clicking on the above picture should allow you to enlarge it)

[QUOTING]

In these drawings you can see a two-dimensional impression of something that touches Eternity! The microcosm, shown as a small circle with the latent soul nucleus (the Divine Spark or Rose of the Heart), travels a circular path from the material sphere to the reflection-sphere and back. This circular course is the endless wheel of birth and death upon which the microcosm is trapped. It can only be stopped by the person who inhabits the microcosm deciding to go "the Way of the Stars", thereby breaking through the circular course.

From "The Gnostic Doctrine" - Lectorium Rosicrucianum

[END QUOTING]

The drawing on the top represents the journey of the microcosm through the twin spheres of the physical world. The drawing on the bottom is a representation of the microcosm itself. We identify the individual components as follows:

The Microcosm

First, we see the recognizable shape of the physical body of the human being. If one looks closer, one will see an outline drawn around this figure. That outline represents the etheric double, which does extend perhaps three-quarters of an inch away from the physical body. The etheric double is also known as the vital body, primarily because it is the vehicle that sustains and vitalizes the physical body.

Next we find an ovoid shape that surrounds the physical and etheric bodies. This is the astral body, which is not a body per se, but can take on the shape of the human figure when necessary.The astral body is the body of feelings, emotions and desires.

Around the head area we see a cloud-like area which represents the mental body. This is the vehicle of thought, sometimes refered to as the consciousness. It is the least developed of man's four bodies.

The area composed of seven circles and twelve points of light is the lipika, or auric-being. This is where the entire karma of the microcosm is kept, spanning hundreds of lives. The twelve lights of the lipika are in resonance with the Twelve Aeons, the zodiac. If you'll look at the lines that lead from the lights of the auric-being you'll notice that they converge at the head area of the human, specifically, the human brain.

Between the lipika and the astral body is the respiration field of the microcosm. This is an astral medium through which the impulses and impressions emanating from the lipika travel on their way to impacting the consciousness of the human. It therefore stands to reason that as go the lights of the auric being, so goes the personality, the physical human being.

At the mathematical center of the microcosm is the Divine Spark, the Rose of the Heart. The earthly personality is built around this latent, yet divine, focal point.

The ray touching the Divine Spark represents the Gnosis, the Christ-radiation which is not of this world. It is the only thing that the Divine Spark has an affinity with. Through unselfish service to others and self-forgetfulness, the personality can assist the Rose of the Heart in attracting this divine radiation. The Rose will awaken and begin to bloom. When one has done this successfully, he or she is said to have attached the Rose (the Divine Spark of the microcosm) to the Cross (the "cross" of matter, the human personality). That is the origin of the name, Rosicrucian.

You may or may not be aware that there are twelve cranial nerves that originate in the brain and extend to animate the entire personality. In the vast majority of men and women, these cranial nerves are under the control of the lights of the lipika, or auric-being.

The Journey of the Microcosm (the two paths)

The drawing on top depicts the journeys of the microcosm. We use the word "journeys" because there are two possible paths that the microcosm can take. The first and most-travelled path, is the path of least resistance, the constant revolutions on the wheel of death and rebirth.

Starting at the birth (lower right), we see the microcosm (big circle), the physical body (shaded circle) and the Divine Spark (the star). Moving from right-to-left through the material-sphere, the microcosm picks up its other three vehicles at seven-year intervals, indicated by the addition of a shaded circle.

Age seven: the etheric body is born (two shaded circles)
Age fourteen: the astral, or desire body is born (three shaded circles)
Age twenty-one: the birth of the mental vehicle (four shaded circles)

This is why twenty-one is considered the "age of majority", for it is at that point the personality has all of its vehicles and is prepared to resume the current life where the previous life left off.

Here's where your attention is required.

If the personality inhabiting the microcosm follows the path of least resistance, floating through physical life without seeking and finding the True Path, at death the physical body is dropped and the microcosm will transition back to the reflection-sphere (three shaded circles). Then, in succession over a period of many earth-years the following will occur:

etheric body dissolves (two shaded circles)
astral body dissolves (one shaded circle)
mental body dissolves (Divine Spark remains)

This is referred to as the "emptying of the microcosm". This emptying is the way of all flesh when a personality fails to awaken the Divine Spark during the physical life and at least begin the process of Transfiguration. The microcosm remains in this state until the time comes for it to be combined with a new personality for a return trip to the material-sphere and another attempt at locating The Path.

The other possibility is that the personality, through long experience, diligent, intelligent seeking and a yearning desire to be rid of this world, finds the One Thing Needful. In humility and self-surrender, he or she begins to walk the Path of Return. Blessed are they who manage to awaken their Divine Spark. By following the fivefold gnostic path of insight, yearning for salvation, self-surrender, new attitude of life and liberation, something miraculous takes place within the microcosm. The microcosm and its personality are in the world, but no longer of the world (depicted in the material-sphere by fully-shaded circle with white star representing the awakened Divine Spark).

At some point, the transmuting personality will still meet its lawful end, the physical body will be dropped. But unlike the first case where the microcosm returns to the reflection-sphere to have its remaining vehicles undergo gradual dissolution, the transmuting microcosm with its remaining personality vehicles will head off to Shamballa (follow the line in the diagram that leads into the reflection-sphere). The Vacuum of Shamballa is a special region of the reflection-sphere set aside for those microcosms that have begun the process of Transfiguration. It is referred to as a "vacuum" because there is an absence of natural ethers there. Instead, it is composed primarily of pure ethers that are closer in vibration to those of the Sixth Cosmic Domain, the Divine Kingdom.

You'll notice that the small, once sleeping Divine Spark has grown to a great size. This represents the New Soul being born. Notice also that the circles which represent the vehicles of the personality are no longer shaded, but white. This attempts to depict two things:

- that there is no dissolution of the personality in Shamballa
- that the personality vehicles have undergone a process of purification

When this process of transmutation is complete, the Divine Man, the Spirit-Soul is reborn. This is represented by the Star within the microcosm (now depicted completely outside of the twin spheres of the physical world) with its new, purified Light-Vesture (the pentagon). The Divine Spirit-Soul-Body tri-unity lives again! The microcosm escapes the wheel of death and rebirth and ascends to the Sixth Cosmic Domain. The personality that assisted in starting this process while in the material-sphere is not dissolved but is absorbed by the glorified microcosm and shares in the Eternal life of the New Man.

This is what your life is truly all about. This is the One Goal of Humanity. This is the only Road to Immortality available to the human personality. So, what will it be? The path of least resistance or the Path of Return?

Sometimes a picture (or two) can be worth a thousand words.

~ g
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Consciousness And The New Soul Principle

[QUOTING]

Consciousness occurs when the animating principle, causing life, occupies a central position in the system There is much natural life where, indeed, there is evidence of an animating principle, but this principle does not exist within the life-system, but influences it from without, As a result, no consciousness can be present in such a life-manifestation. We think here, for instance, of plants and insects. Indeed, with most species of animals there is no question at all of an individual animating principle, they exist out of a group-soul.

Other animals have a kind of half-consciousness. The animating principle only partially dwells in it; it does no lie concentrically in the physical vehicle but hangs and vibrates partly outside of it. With some of the higher species of animals such as horses and dogs, the animating principle approaches almost the in-dwelling condition, as is the case with human-beings. Were this evolution of the animal species to continue as to their nature-born state, dogs, horses and human beings would stand on equal footing. Then would occur what many authors during the course of history have fantasized: the manifestation of thinking, consciously living animals and the forming of animal communities. Think of Gulliver's Travels, by the well-known author Jonathan Swift. Gulliver comes upon a community of horses who think and live as humans.

In-dwelling animation, situated concentrically in the vehicles of the personality,makes thought possible, that is, a brain activity in the human sense.

The material body is built up of cell and atoms. It lives and remains vital because it possesses an etheric double. This etheric double continually propels a fourfold life-force into the organism. If this etheric vehicle did not function properly, all kinds of physical difficulties would arise.

The material body with its etheric double are vivified by an animating principle. When the thread between the animating principle and the organism is broken, in some way or other, death occurs and the organism disintegrates because it can no longer maintain itself in the system. We ascertained that life originates out of the co-operation of the animating principle, an etheric double and a material body.

Consciousness occurs when an animating principle is in-dwelling. It is possible to distinguish various conditions of consciousness, half-consciousness, etc., which are caused by the relationship of the soul to the organism. The question is whether the soul principle is situated concentrically or only partially in the vehicles. Our investigation makes it clear that the soul principle transcends life, is superior to mere form and appearance. Everything stands or falls on the basis of the soul principle with its animating activity.

What then, is this soul principle? It is of an astral, or sidereal nature. One can associate it with the astral vehicle of the personality that is drawn around the material body with its etheric double as a mantle.

The astral vehicle is composed of atoms of a higher, finer gradation than the etheric and material atoms. So there are material, etheric and astral atoms which correspond with the three spheres: the material, the etheric and the astral sphere. An etheric sphere surrounds the material  body of the earth and the astral sphere encircles the etheric sphere. The astral body of man resides in this sphere at night; it is drawn up into it. The astral body exists in three conditions, in three grades of density, in three different vibration frequencies.

In duality, (please pay attention to this, for then you will understand what transfiguration is) one of these astral conditions works positively and the other two negatively. The positive pole of the astral body corresponds with the liver-spleen system, more particularly with the liver, while the two negative poles correspond with the hart and the head. In practically all dualistic people the seat of consciousness is centralized in the liver-spleen system and the emotional and thought-life are attuned to it. This condition is fundamental to all nature-born people.

From "Live Out Of The New Soul Principle - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol 1 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]
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Equanimity

[QUOTING]

"Do I love the Soul enough? Is my self-surrender to the Soul really complete? Can the new Soul-power be sufficiently active in me and can it take shape in my being? Is everything going well with me? What way of life would be the best, the most efficient, in this respect?"

These are common questions which every pupil is faced with at one time or another.

We aim to confront the student of The Alchemical Wedding and those who are approaching the feast of the wedding hall with the imperishable fact that the love of God, which must become a reality within the True Man, is given to every creature; that it shines over good and bad alike.

The love of God is over everything and everyone. It is undivided. It knows no more or less. If a person has truly been reborn as to the Soul, he too can live according to this glorious Law. The love-radiation of the Soul, too, is emanated equally to all. It cannot do otherwise. With imperishable hope it comes to all who need help; to all who are seeking: to those who have gone astray and have been damaged; and also to those who still utterly oppose its requirement of Renewing Life. The Soul never flags in its loving activity. its loving Service. It faithfully perseveres, throughout all eternity.

You should not confuse the love of God, which is over everything and everyone, with the un-scientific "do-gooding" of some people, which is quite superficial and useless, and in fact even harmful. The love of God which goes out from every true Soul-being to all in the same measure, will help one and punish another, it will build up one and break another down. It gives to each one what he or she needs, in an absolute impersonal intervention. It has no I-central motives whatsoever.

Now that we have said all this about the love of God, we would like to point out to you that the first requirement for gaining control over your astral self is the absolute constancy of vibration of your entire astral body. Once you have attained this absolute constancy, the gate to the Alchemical Wedding is opened wide to you. The ability to do so is present within you. The astral body itself is able to achieve it. To make this clear, let us remind you that the astral body, or desire body, has three faculties: attraction, repulsion and equanimity. The faculty of equanimity -- not to be confused with neutrality or indifference  -- is an invariable, impersonal, objective, silent, dynamic radiation, emanating in absolute uniformity to all God's creation. If, on the basis of Soul-growth, you can attain this, strong feelings and emotional disturbances, with all their results, will no longer take place in you. Then you will stand like a candle, shining and clear, in God's greatest temple.

As long as this stillness of the astral light has not been realized within you, your astral turbulence will be manifested in three aspects. You will find yourself continually in conflict, both internally and externally. You will seek and attract what you strongly desire, and you will repel, and thus fight against, what offends or displeases you. And you will be indifferent  to what does not interest you, to those things you do not love or towards which you are inwardly hostile. In this way, your entire personality will be undermined by a continual whirl of impressions and influences.

If however, strengthened by the Soul, you are able to ascend to that equanimity, that equilibrium of astral vibration, you will quite naturally be able to attract and receive what is good, but without emotion. What is not good will simply be unable to enter your system. You will not need to devote a single particle of energy to what does not need it or is not worth it, although you are nevertheless connected with it. Through astral equilibrium you will be able to demonstrate a way of life in harmony with the Sermon on the Mount. Then you will love those who hate you. You will not resist the evil one and you will bless those who curse you. And you will do all this not in a personal, I-central way -- for that would be impossible in such a way of life, lived according to the Sermon on the Mount -- but on the basis of the disposition and nobility of the Soul, which enables every candidate to live such a life.

[END QUOTING]

A good friend once reminded me that one should not spend any time looking at one's feet while trying to walk the Path, for that one will be sure to bump into things.

Free advice in tow, we should also not spend too much time wondering if we are "worthy" to walk the Path. There are no "saints" on this planet. All have sinned, all have erred, for many lives, in different bodies. What is important about this ending-cycle is that we take advantage of the Grace that is being offered to all.

Stilling the astral body is a key component of what needs to be done on the way to transfiguration. Once again, like attracts like. The Gnosis is neither positive or negative. It is a sublime equilibrium, emanating from the heart of the Logos. If we remain slaves to our emotions, affinities and dislikes, we will continue to careen helplessly back and forth between the pairs of opposites and miss the point of Balance.

Find the Middle Way and maintain it. For when the astral body emanates equanimity it will enable the candidate to receive in return the abundant love of God.

~ g
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The Need For Astral Purification

[QUOTING]

We hope that we have now made clear how necessary it is to gain knowledge and control of one's astral body (see The Neglected Astral Body).

Soul-quality and pupilship are the primary necessities for the fulfilment of this so important task. There must be new soul-quality, derived from the Rose of the Heart and active in the blood and nerve-fluid; an absolutely serious pupilship demonstrated in a life of actual deeds.

New soul-quality will also manifest itself in mental hygiene, in a new purified thought-life. You gain access to your astral body and can set it into motion by means of your thought-life. Every thought has an immediate astral effect, entirely in accordance with the thought's nature, quality, content and strength. So the nature of your mentality is of the greatest importance for the quality and maintenance of your entire personality. However, after the initial step of thought-hygiene, the next most important thing is the psychological and physical organization of your astral body. The pupil must know what he can and may do in that respect, for through the astral body ethers are released, and it is ethers that construct and maintain the material body.

As Rose-power and Rose-fragrance, new soul-quality makes the pupil's material body receptive to very sublime impressions, to astral influences far above the level of nature. These influences find it increasingly difficult to gain entrance to the system because of the ever finer, higher vibrations of the astral body. Serious pupilship ensures the candidate a harmonious link with the Living Body of the Spiritual School. Then, through the power of the Living Body, one can easily rise above harmful effects which the candidate, in his weakness, would ordinarily find difficult to withstand.

So it is important for those who are striving for true life-renewal in the sense of The Alchemical Wedding to realize clearly that besides a properly oriented material way of life, the conscious maintenance of pure astral behavior is also a necessity. If such practical, astral behavior fails to come, or is only partial, the Alchemical Wedding cannot be celebrated. Then the pupil will come to a standstill on his Path and will be unable to progress one millimeter further. It will be like the toiling of the Pistis Sophia, who struggles to achieve some result in her pupilship but is continually over-powered by the might of the aeons, by the countless variety of counter-influences active in the astral body, which victimize the entire fourfold* personality.

* man's mental, astral. etheric and physical vehicles

The Alchemical Wedding for which the candidate strives necessitates the realization of a threefold link: the reborn soul, the fourfold personality and the Spirit need to be combined into an absolute unity within the microcosmic field.

We have already discussed an important part of the preparation to restore this unification between the Spirit, Soul and Body and in the part of The Alchemical Wedding already explained the candidate has given proof of this preparation: the soul-birth has taken place in him; he has gained sufficient sensitivity to understand and react positively to the call to New Life emanating from the universal Gnosis; consequently he is ready to make sacrifices for the sake of the Liberating Path; he wants to seek the temple of initiation; and he has withstood the test of the seven weights.

From "The Ten Stories - Esoteric Amalysis of the Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross, Vol 1 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]
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Pymander - Conclusion

[QUOTING]

The Bridegroom

When the new state has been reached by means of the Holy Spirit and the candidate has been connected with his Pymander, he will enter an entirely new state-of-life, because "a state of consciousness is a state of life".

When the seven rays of the Logos touch the seven cerebral cavities in this positive way and enter them on the basis of the purified soul; when Osiris meets Isis, that is, when the Spirit meets the soul, then out of this encounter the Son of eternal fullness will arise. This is the new state of consciousness, a state which, though in the world, is no longer of the world. The process of generation and manifestation of the Pymandric man takes place in the ordinary physical body of nature-born man. In view of his physical existence the person concerned is still in the world, but by virtue of his Pymandric state, no longer of the world.

If a dualistic person is loosely attached to his vehicle, so that the splitting of the personality can easily occur, such a person -- and very often at the most inconvenient moments -- is more in the reflection-sphere than in the physical sphere of duality. When he then looks into the life of the physical sphere, it often appears to be unreal to him. As you will know, this situation may also occur during the transition between waking to sleeping.

Those who possess such sensitivity (this splitting of the psyche often occurs in women) and hear of the gnostic Path for the first time, or launch themselves upon it with their natural I, often make the serious mistake of assuming that their state-of-being is already the Pymandric state. Their actions and behaviors give rise to all sorts of deplorable consequences. This is a dangerous and complicated state of I-centrality, but we use it as an example to explain the following:

The Pymandric state-of-being entails many difficulties and is far from perfect. This is because the candidate does not enter this phase with a transfigured personality, but with a transmuted personality, a nature-born personality that has been subjected to some change. Transmutation always precedes transfiguration. Therefore, at that moment, the pupil does not yet possess the New Personality which belongs to the world of the Living Soul-State, the Sixth Cosmic Domain. That Personality has yet to manifest itself.

There is a New Soul, a Golden Wedding Garment, that surrounds the old personality. And the entrance of the Spirit has come about, so that the bride meets the bridegroom and transfiguration, the Alchemical Wedding, can begin.

Just imagine yourself in this state. The Spirit has entered, Pymander and the Soul have united. The new-born Soul-man feels released. His consciousness comprises the seven rays and via these seven rays he is capable of merging with the All, and of descending to wherever his consciousness drives him. He understands with his Spirit-Soul everything that is on earth, in heaven and above heaven. He surveys the majestic Plan of the sublime Deity. A Released One can read this Plan in all things. He beholds the Good, the only autonomous Good. However, in this state he knows himself still to be connected to a nature-born personality. He is still in the nature of death, in the midst of a social confusion that is so vast, so stupid and so frightening that he feels as if he is in a snake pit. He considers his sojourn here in the nature of death as an adversity. Therefore, he rejects this drab reality in a decisive and fundamental way, in a manner never done before. He accepts all the consequences so as to rise to the One and Only.

You will understand that the rejection of "all things corporeal and incorporeal" concerns both the physical sphere and the reflection-sphere of duality. For the brother or sister who has been released the tinsel splendor of the nature of death becomes as nothing.

In this state of most majestic glory, coupled with the most dreadful experience of distress, which in most cases has to be undergone in a weak body, the brother or sister has received the Holy Grail.

The Grail is the out-pouring of the Seven-Spirit in the head sanctuary. The Grail grants an awakening in the New Morning, but at the same time a vision into an unfathomable black night. There is of course a reason for this. In this state of no longer being of the world, but nevertheless being in the world (and how!) the brother or sister can serve the Logos in two fields, in the world of the Living Soul-State, the Golden Head, but also in the nature of death. This he will do; he accepts it.

That is the Holy Grail, the Divine Cup. On the one hand Liberation, on the other, Service. It is being able to serve on account of being liberated, and being liberated on account of the service rendered. On the one hand, one experiences new grief, one enters a new state of grief, but on the other hand one experiences a magnificent glorification. On the one hand there is the prayer: "Father, if it is possible that this cup pass me by", and on the other hand: "Not my will, but Your will be done", and one empties the Cup to the last drop. That is to accept the Way of the Cross until the morning of the Resurrection, without complaint. That is the Holy Grail. Freedom, the reward of the Liberated Ones, is always born in and through sacrifice.

[END QUOTING]

Father + Mother = Son

Seven-Spirit + New Soul = Spirit-Soul human being

Osiris (Spirit) + Isis (Soul) = Horus (Spirit-Soul human being)

Christ (Spirit) + Jesus (Soul-man) = Christ-Jesus (Spirit-Soul human being)

Pymander (Seven-Spirit) + New Soul = Pymandric Man (Spirit-Soul human being)

We are walking the Path to Liberation, trying to replace everything physical about us with that which is Divine. First, we must attract the radiations of the Gnosis and thereby awaken our sleeping Divine Spark. Then, we must continue to attract this Divine energy so that it can circulate throughout our light-vesture (the astral and etheric bodies). Steadfast dedication to this task of transmutation will result in the construction of a new Soul vehicle, the Golden Wedding Garment. This New Soul (the bride) will unite with the Seven-Spirit (the bridegroom) in an alchemical wedding that will result in the rebirth of the Divine Man.

All this can be done, in fact, must be begun while we are still in the physical body. The New Soul and the old mortal soul will co-exist to an extent. However, this process of transmutation requires that the Divine part of the candidate increases, while the gross material part decreases. The candidate's job is to enable this to happen by adopting a new attitude of life - selflessness - and living in self-surrender. This means that we can no longer answer to the desires of our I-being or live for ourselves. We must instead act in total cooperation with the New Forces that are building the New Soul and live to serve others, not ourselves. As image-bearers of the Divine Man, this is our task, our duty.

"29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3 29-30

We are friends of the Bridegroom, and members of the Wedding.

~ g
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Pymander II

[QUOTING]

As the radiations of the Seven-Spirit descend into the heart, they meet the proto-atom, the Rose, which contains the structure of lines-of-force of the True Man, the latent spiritual principle. As soon as the rays of the Seven-Spirit touch the reborn soul, the Rose is awakened to life.

If you have a plan regarding a given object, this will give rise to a structure of lines-of-force in your astral body. If someone then asks you to tell him about your plan, you will look, eyes turned inwardly as it were, into that structure and describe the plan. You will trace all the lines-of-force and the image will become visible to your audience.

The same applies to the proto-atom, the Rose of the Heart, which contains the image of the True Man. This image can be awakened and take shape only if the Seven-Spirit can act within you by means of the matured soul.

If we look at this activity from the point-of-view of the head sanctuary, the radiations of the Seven-Spirit acting on the seven cerebral cavities form Pymander; seen from the heart sanctuary they form the Spirit-Soul,  the structure of lines-of-force of the True Man. This Pymandric man, this structure of lines-of-force which is within us and urges us on, raises us out of the animal state into the world of the Living Soul state. It places the microcosm in a new Reality and under a new Law. Those who have thus been baptised and purified in the power of the Spirit, will achieve a perfect human existence and particpate in the Gnosis, the living Knowledge of God. They will acquire a new state of consciousness, in which Knowledge is an absolute faculty.

Dualistic knowledge is likewise a consequence of a faculty. In the dualistical, animal state, the ability to think exists and by means of it knowledge is acquired; disjoint, fragmented, relative knowledge. However, if the Pymandric state predominates, absolute Knowledge becomes a faculty. Then one will not acquire knowledge by means of intellectual training, but Knowledge will be an essential part of the personality. The opposite development is described in Hermes as follows:

"However, those who have sinned against the Proclamation* by not listening to it, remain within the limits of reason, as they have not received the powers of the Spirit and do not know why they were created, nor by whom. The sensorial perceptions of such human beings are almost equal to those of irrational animals, and as their nature is a mixture of passions, they have no admiration for what is worthy of reflection and contemplation; they devote themselves to their bodily pleasures and desires and believe that man has come into being for such things. However, those who have partaken of God's gift are no longer mortals, as proved by all their deeds, but Divine men who understand with their Spirit-Soul all that is on earth, in heaven and perhaps, above heaven. Having beheld The Good, those who have raised themselves in this way have learned to consider their sojourn here on earth as a disaster. They repudiate all things corporeal and incorporeal to reach the One and Only."

End Part II

From "Receiving the Holy Grail" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol 2 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

* The Proclamation:

God imparted reason to all men, but not the Spirit. It was His will that the link with the Spirit should be obtained by all souls, however, as a prize for the race.

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".

It is said that the seed contains within it all that is required for it to grow to a majestic maturity. A tree doesn't grow because of something outside of it. The instructions and attributes needed for it to grow and fulfill its tree-destiny are already embedded within the seed.

So it is with the proto-atom, the Rose of the Heart, the Divine Spark. This sleeping atom contains within it all of the lines-of-force necessary to bring forth the True Man. The image of a Divine Possibility lies within. That is why we are called image-bearers; because we carry within our hearts the Divine Atom containing the lines-of-force, the image of the Divine Man.

The tree needs water and sunlight. The child requires food, water, love and guidance. The Coming New Man enters the process of soul-rebirth when the Seven-Spirit begins to water the Rose of the Heart..

This is the gnostic meaning behind the parable of the Mustard Seed.

~ g
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Pymander

[QUOTING]

'Those who gave heed to this proclamation and were purified by immersion in the powers of the Spirit, became partakers in the Gnosis, in the living knowledge of God, and, as they had received the Spirit, became perfect men".

The process of reversal, the process of the first baptism, is well-known to you. It has been discussed countless times in the School and explained in detail in our literature. It is the first task of pupilship of the Spiritual School.

Anyone who brings about this reversal in the light-power of the Gnosis, in the light-power of the Universal Gnostic Chain, causes a transmutation of the five soul fluids in the system of his personality. The soul fluids determine the composition and nature of the atoms of which the personality is composed.

It is in this transmutation that the soul is purified and reborn;  a rebirth which especially influences and modifies the head sanctuary, so that the system is opened for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel, the beginning of this procedure is referred to as "receiving the sign of the Son of Man", which concerns the transmuting modifications which must take place in the head sanctuary if one is to participate in the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit.

In this way, the candidate is prepared for his meeting with Pymander. Thus the purified soul receives the prize of the perfect souls. It is only when one possesses Pymander that one is truly a man. Only then does one emerge from the animal state. Then, one is a Manas, a thinker in a God-fulfilling sense.

What actually is Pymander? Or the Spirit-Soul? Or the Holy Spirit? Is it possible to distinguish this Spirit when it has manifested itself? Yes, it is possible. The following explanation may be useful.

Seven rays emanate from the Logos, seven activities, seven immense streams of power, which move the entire All. By the word "All", you should understand "primordial substance". The entire universe is filled with primordial substance. This, together with all the life that awakens from it, is moved by seven streams, seven rays, the seven Lords of Fate as they were called by the classical Rosicrucians. All the biological activities of nature, including animal life, are to be explained by the activities of the Seven Rays.

All that takes place in the universe, all that moves and develops, no matter how and where, is subject to a Plan. Everything is awakened and crushed again, everything rises and wanes, including the human kingdom which, apart from its ability to reason, does not differ in any way from the animal kingdom. Everything is subject to a Plan, which is aimed at awakening the possibility of a new development in all of biological life. If this Project fails or cannot as yet succeed, then what has been created is dissolved again to awaken later, out of the womb of eternity, to be given a new possibility.

The Plan of the Logos and its Seven-Spirit concerns the awakening of a new possibility in us all. If this fails we will perish. We are then subject to the law: "You are dust and to dust you shall return". We shall then remain chained to the effects of he wheel of life and death.

The rhythm and periodicity of the Cosmic Days and Nights, of the tidal movements of the All, are controlled and put into effect by the seven rays of the Logos. Thus the seven rays have an elevating effect on the creature. If this process of elevation does not succeed, the creature will be de-natured. "You are dust and to dust you shall return". Animal-man, natural man, is constructed in such a way that he can be elevated and can react positively to the seven rays, in this way rendering de-naturation and death unnecessary. So the prize for the perfect souls is freedom from death.

When the soul purifies and regenerates itself, when it is reborn and carries out the transmutation of the personality in harmony with this soul-birth, then, as a matter of course, the soul man will also be confronted by the seven rays of the Logo in an entirely different way.

As soon as you entrust yourself to the gnostic Light and start to walk the Path, a transmutation, an atomic change will develop in your nature-born state, in the body you now possess, a change which will primarily affect the heart and head sanctuaries. Your head sanctuary will be prepared to receive the Seven-Spirit in a positive way. As soon as the soul has been born, the seven streams of the Seven-Spirit will penetrate the seven cerebral cavities. It is thus obvious that the perfect soul will receive the seven radiations in an entirely different way from that in which the man of nature receives them.

End Part One

From "Receiving  the Holy Grail" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis, Vol 2 - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]
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About Shamballa

The following is in response to a comment posted by andrew on 4/21/2014:

The Lectorium Rosicrucianum does not function in the reflection-sphere. The reflection-sphere is the last place that one will find a true brother of the RosyCross. With all the effort that is spent trying to warn mankind about the dangers of the reflection-sphere, there is no way that help of any sort would be extended to ailing humanity from that sphere. To do so would go against what we know to be true about this nature-order and its twin spheres.

If any entity approaches you from the reflection-sphere, even if he says he is God Himself, place no undue value or emphasis on the communication. The reflection-sphere is the realm of deception and illusion. Nothing truly divine could operate in that region. Yes, there are spirit-guides and invisible helpers and the like. But all of these entities are fallen entities, light-spirits, reflection-sphere phenomena. None of them have obtained Liberation and most of them do not know how. If they did, they wouldn't be hanging around in the reflection-sphere!

When a true brother or sister of the RosyCross transitions, their destination will be the Vacuum of Shamballa, not the reflection-sphere. Why? Because the awakening of the Divine Spark, combined with insight, yearning for salvation, self-surrender, a new attitude of life and a life of selfless service to humanity creates a vibrational change in the microcosm. The entity's soul-vehicles vibrate at too high a level to be attracted by any region of the reflection-sphere. Remember, like attracts like.

Communication between fallen humanity and those in Shamballa is not possible, at least not in the ways that man is accustomed to (i.e., dreams, apparitions, voices, etc.). Shamballa is composed of ethers that are not of this world. Physical humanity has not yet activated the sensory apparatus required to "see" Shamballa or its inhabitants. The only communication that that can be expected from Shamballa comes in the form of impressions that are sent out constantly into the world from its location somewhere in the Gobi Desert.

Shamballa is open to all who follow the fivefold gnostic Path, not just pupils of the LRC. The advantage of joining with LRC is that it provides those who are truly sincere with the ability to walk the Path aided by a gnostic power-field built up over the centuries by previous brotherhoods, such as the Essenes, the Manicheans and the Cathars. We refer to this power-field as the Thirteenth Aeon. With this aid, every step that the candidate takes is sure-footed and true. With perseverance and steadfastness, obstacles are overcome. All of this is provided through the agency of group unity, the Universal Brotherhood. Within this power-field, it is one for all and all for one. The strong will stand for the weak.

An additional note: although the Vacuum of Shamballa is centered in a physical location (the Gobi), it is not a material-sphere or reflection-sphere location, per se. It is more of a borderline between this Seventh Cosmic Domain and the Sixth Cosmic Domain, the Divine Kingdom. Therefore, its ethers are of a very subtle nature, more Divine than physical. This is why it is referred to as a vacuum, because there is a complete absence of material-sphere ethers present therein.

In order to be taken up into this realm the preparation of the etheric, astral and mental bodies has to begin here in the material-sphere during the physical life. After death, the physical body is of no more use ("flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven)"). At that time it is our soul-vehicles that must have been prepared and made ready for the Journey to Shamballa. That is what walking the Path is about, that is the purpose of the Path. And that is the mission of Lectorium Rosicrucianum. Linked to the New Field of Life, it provides a safe-haven of development for those who are sincerely ready to leave this world and never come back.

For more on the Vacuum of Shamballa, you may want to read The Brotherhood of Shamballa by Jan van Rijckenborgh

~ g
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