If, on the one hand, a great portion of the educated public is running into atheism and skepticism, on the other hand, we find an evident current of mysticism forcing its way into science. It is the sign of an irrepressible need in humanity to assure itself that there is a Power Paramount over matter; an occult and mysterious law which governs the world, and which we should rather study and closely watch, trying to adapt ourselves to it, than blindly deny, and break our heads against the rock of destiny. More than one thoughtful mind, while studying the fortunes and reverses of nations and great empires, has been deeply struck by one identical feature in their history, namely, the inevitable recurrence of similar historical events reaching in turn every one of them, and after the same lapse of time. This analogy is found between the events to be substantially the same on the whole, though there may be more or less difference as to the outward form of details.
H.P. Blavatsky The Theosophist, July 1880
Cyclic causation or the eternal law of periodicity stands midway between the affirmation of the Absolute and the postulate of progressive enlightenment in the set of fundamental axioms of Gupta Vidya. Pointing to the inexorable alternation of day and night, of birth and death, of manvantara and pralaya, cyclic law ensures that all events along with their participants, great or small, are comprehended within the archetypal logic of the Logos in the cosmos. Gupta Vidya indicates the mayavic nature of all manifestation in relation to the Absolute, whilst at the same time stressing that karmic responsibility is the pivot of all spiritual growth. The essential significance of the complex doctrine of cycles sometimes seems difficult to grasp in theory or to apply in practice. If the mind misconceives the metaphysical distinction between TAT and maya, then the dignity of spiritual striving through cycles under karma will be minimized. Self-examination and self-correction may be neglected owing to a false and merely intellectualist theory of transcendence. Conversely, the mind which embraces a too literalized conception of the immanence of the Absolute will find itself mired in experience with no accessible power of transcendence. It will tend to acquiesce in a sanguine or despairing doctrine of mechanical destiny which is psychological fatalism resulting from a mistaken conflation of causality with the ephemeral forms of outward events.
The true teaching of cyclic causation implies neither a trivialization nor a mechanization of life in a vesture in terrestrial time. Instead, it intimates the mysterious power of harmony, the irresistible force of necessity, which resides in the eternal balance of the manifest and the unmanifest in every living form and phase of the One Life. The ceaseless vibratory motion of the unmanifest Logos is the stimulus of the complex sets and subsets of hierarchies of being constituting the universe; and of the intricate and interlocking cycles and subcycles of events that measure out its existence. The intimate relationship between temporal identity and cyclic existence is symbolized in the identification of the lifetime of Brahmā with the existence of the universe, a teaching which also conveys the true meaning of immortality in Hiranyagarbha.
From the standpoint of universal unity and causation, the universe is a virtual image of the eternal motion or vibration of the unmanifest Word, scintillating around a set of points of nodal resonance within that Word itself. From the standpoint of individual beings involved in action, the universe is an aggregation of interlocking periodic processes susceptible to reasoned explanation in terms of laws. Understanding the nature of cycles and what initiates them, together with apprehending the mystery of cyclic causation itself, requires a progressive fusion of these two standpoints. The exalted paradigm of the union of Eternity and Time is Adhiyajna, seated near the circle of infinite eternal light and radiating compassionate guidance to all beings who toil in the coils of Time. Established in Boundless Duration, all times past, present and future lie before his eye like an open book. He is Shiva, the Mahayogin, the leader of the hosts of Kumaras, and also Kronos-Saturn, the lord of sidereal time and the ruler of Aquarius. If humanity is the child of cyclic destiny, Shiva is the spur to the spiritual regeneration of humanity. And, if the Mahatmas and Bodhisattvas, the supreme devotees of Shiva, live to regenerate the world, then it is the sacred privilege and responsibility of those who receive their Teachings to learn to live and breathe for the sake of service to all beings.
It is in this spirit that H.P. Blavatsky, in her essay entitled “The Theory of Cycles”, suggested several keys to the interpretation of cyclical phenomena. We can readily discern the vast variety of periodic phenomena which has already been noticed in history, in geology, in meteorology and in virtually every other arena of human experience. We can also recognize the statistical recurrence of certain elements in reference to economics, to wars and peace, to the rise and fall of empires, to epidemics and revolutions, and also to natural cataclysms, periods of extraordinary cold and heat. H.P. Blavatsky’s intent was not merely to persuade the reader of the pervasiveness of periodic phenomena through the multiplication of examples, but rather to convey the immanent influence of the power of number and of mathematics within all cyclic phenomena. She reviewed the original analysis of certain historical cycles made by Dr. E. Zasse and published in the Prussian Journal of Statistics. Dr. Zasse presented an account of a series of historical waves, each consisting of five segments of two hundred and fifty years, which have swept over the Eurasian land mass from east to west.
According to Dr. Zasse’s chronology, which began at approximately 2000 B.C., the year 2000 of the present era should mark the conclusion of the fourth such wave, and the inception of yet another wave from the east. Commenting briefly upon the importance of one-hundred-year cycles within the longer cycles indicated by Dr. Zasse, H.P. Blavatsky cited his analysis of ten-year and fifty-year cycles of war and revolution affecting European nations. In order to draw attention away from external events and to direct it towards deeper psychological causes, she pointed out:
The periods of the strengthening and weakening of the warlike excitement of the European nations represent a wave strikingly regular in its periodicity, flowing incessantly, as if propelled onward by some invisible fixed law. This same mysterious law seems at the same time to make these events coincide with astronomical wave or cycle, which, at every new revolution, is accompanied by the very marked appearance of spots in the sun.
Elsewhere, both in Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, she made reference to the eleven-year sunspot cycle, suggesting something of its occult significance in the respiration and heartbeat of the solar system.
During the nineteenth century a number of scientists speculated about the relationship of sidereal and terrestrial events. Dr. Stanley Jevons, one of the founders of econometrics, saw a correlation between sunspot cycles and the rises and falls of economic output and productivity. Jevons went so far as to speculate that “the commercial world might be a body so mentally constituted . . . as to be capable of vibrating in a period of ten years”. In The Secret Doctrine, H.P. Blavatsky observed:
Drs. Jevons and Babbage believe that every thought, displacing the particles of the brain and setting them in motion, scatters them throughout the Universe, and they think that ‘each particle of the existing matter must be a register of all that has happened’.
The Secret Doctrine, i 104
Correlating this idea to the occult conception of the enduring impress of thought upon the subtle matter of the invisible human vestures, H.P. Blavatsky intimated the vital relationship between the impress of sidereal influences upon the psyche and the cyclic destiny of human souls.
The Hindu Chitra-Gupta who reads out the account of every Soul’s life from his register, called Agra-Sandhani; the ‘Assessors’ who read theirs from the heart of the defunct, which becomes an open book before (whether) Yama, Minos, Osiris, or Karma – are all so many copies of, and variants from the Lipika, and their Astral Records. Nevertheless, the Lipika are not deities connected with Death, but with Life Eternal.
Connected as the Lipika are with the destiny of every man and the birth of every child, whose life is already traced in the Astral Light – not fatalistically, but only because the future, like the PAST, is ever alive in the PRESENT – they may also be said to exercise an influence on the Science of Horoscopy.
The Secret Doctrine, i 105
From such considerations a complex picture emerges of a myriad overlapping cycles and subcycles on several planes of existence. Whilst the enormous breadth and depth of cyclic phenomena would render elusive and exacting analysis of cycles for the neophyte in Gupta Vidya, one should attempt to nurture a cool apprehension of the regular periodicity in the excitement of mental and physical forces affecting both collective and distributive karma. It may help to begin with a relatively simple example. Consider the case of a single family living within a larger household and a local community. Each member of the family is born at a different moment. Each, therefore, has a different constellation in the ascendant at the moment of birth, and each has different cycles determined by the positions of the moon, the planets and the stars in the heavens at the moment of birth. For each, the angular relationships between these sidereal bodies – and their placement relative to the zenith and horizon in the place of the individual’s birth – will vary. Already, even at the simplest level, one can see an inherent complexity to the cyclic destiny of every individual.
Researchers have identified a fascinating six-planet system that offers a different take on planetary configurations. The newly reported configuration features six planets around a single star. Their orbits line up in a synchronized manner, which astronomers call resonance.
When planets move in resonance, their orbital periods stay in a fixed ratio for millions or even billions of years. This pattern can be so exact that it reminds some observers of musical tempos.
Spotting this kind of rhythmic harmony helps scientists figure out why some stars gather families of planets that have stood the test of time.
The analysis was led by Rafael Luque from the University of Chicago.
Rare six-planet system
Known as HD110067, this star sits approximately 100 light-years away in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices.
Astronomers first recognized unusual dips in the star’s brightness when NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) started surveying that region.
Each tiny dip hinted that one of the star’s planets was crossing its face. Data from both TESS and the European Space Agency’s CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite (Cheops) revealed something rare: a neat chain of six sub-Neptune planets in close orbits.
“This discovery is going to become a benchmark system to study how sub-Neptunes, the most common type of planets outside of the solar system, form, evolve, what are they made of, and if they possess the right conditions to support the existence of liquid water in their surfaces,” remarked Luque.
Understanding sub-Neptunes
Many stars in our galaxy hold at least one planet that’s bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. These in-between worlds are often called sub-Neptunes, and they’re more plentiful than massive gas giants like Jupiter.
Scientists are intrigued by this class of planet because it covers a range of possible compositions. Some might hold thick, gas envelopes, while others could have dense, rocky surfaces.
Observing these in sync can show how these planets get locked in place and remain that way for an incredibly long span of time.
Choreography of this planetary system
Resonant systems form when planets start out with orbits that nudge each other in a balanced way. Small gravitational pulls set up a regular rhythm. But big objects or random gravitational jostling can break these patterns.
That makes resonance a tricky arrangement to maintain. Astronomers estimate that only about one percent of multi-planet systems preserve this stable choreography.
Not all stars are lucky enough to keep their planetary brood free of turbulence. Some lose this delicate pattern when a larger planet barges in or when stars drift near one another.
The lack of large neighbors in HD110067’s environment might have helped these six sub-Neptunes remain nestled in their precise arrangement for so long.
Without any violent intrusions, the orbits can carry on as they have since formation. This level of cooperation in one system could provide hints about how others might form or break apart.
Why does this six-planet system matter?
For experts who study planet formation, every new system that shows a clear pattern provides more evidence about how dust and gas swirl together and eventually become planets.
Some calculations suggest planets might typically start in resonance, but migration and collisions can make them drift.
An untouched system paints a cleaner picture of early planet-building. Pinpointing each planet’s mass and density can also highlight the proportions of rocky materials, water, and gas they contain.
Researchers plan to keep a close eye on HD110067’s planets using more precise techniques. Improving measurements of the planets’ masses and densities will help astronomers to figure out what these sub-Neptunes look like on the inside.
Deeper analysis can also show whether any might have conditions that allow water to stick around on the surface. These tasks will probably involve instruments on large ground-based telescopes and future space observatories.
Astronomers hope the data from this oddly balanced system will reveal reasons why some worlds remain in tight-knit formation, while others never stabilize.
A puzzle worth solving
Stumbling upon a collection of planets that circle in smooth synchronization gives a glimpse into the hidden patterns that shape the galaxy.
This compact group orbiting HD110067 might be just one example of what sub-Neptunes can do when left undisturbed.
Folks who are fascinated by the way planetary families and planet systems form see this system as a chance to learn.
It challenges scientists to look for other hidden resonances in our galaxy and sparks the question of how many have slipped past our detection.
The full research paper was published in the journal Nature.
According to an esoteric reading of the Tarot, a Red Rose represents Venus (Azazel’s human wife), while a Red Cross represents the angel Azazel. The combined Rose-Cross in one respect represents the sexual union of Azazel and his human wife. The word ‘Rosicrucian’ is German for ‘Rose Cross,’ a term synonymous with Red Cross. In addition to this, the word ‘rose’ is an anagram for Eros, the name of the Greek god of Love, who was the first-born son of the angel Azazel and of his human wife.
The 18th Degree in Freemasonry is commonly known as the Rose-Croix (Rose Cross), a fact showing the relation to and establishing a link between these two seemingly diverse organizations. In fact, the ascension of Freemasonry (not to be confused with the more archaic Masonry) as we know it today correspondingly relates to the decline of the Rosicrucian order in Europe, most markedly in Germany, the birthplace of Rosicrucianism (Dr Sigismund Bacstrom, an important Rosicrucian scholar of the alchemical sciences, wrote in Bacstrom’s Rosicrucian Society (circa late 18th to early 19th Centuries A.D.) of “the August most ancient and most learned (Rosicrucian) Society, the Investigators of Divine, Spiritual and Natural Truth (which Society, more than two centuries and a half ago (during the 15th Century), did separate themselves from the Freemasons).”
These movements being inter-related and dynamic by their their very natures, Freemasonry later re-absorbed many Rosicrucians back within its ranks (See pp.55-56 Proofs of a Conspiracy: Chapter I by John Robinson, 1798 A.D.). There are many Rosicrucian Societies yet in existence today, most notably the SRIA and AMORC. In addition, and of a most interesting note, the Order of Maat Supreme Grand Lodge owns a web site called Links Central of Maat (M.A.A.T. = Master of the Temple A:.A:. [A:.A:. = Aleister Crowley’s Argenteum Astrum/Silver Star]. See p. 241 Nightside of Eden by Kenneth Grant, 1977 A.D. “The Master of the Temple A.’A.’ (whose name is Truth [Maat])” [See p.159 Outside the Circles of Time, Kenneth Grant, 1980 A.D.] [“The ‘Silver Star’ of the order’s name is Sirius, which holds a central place in its magickal philosophy, because the Secret Chiefs—the discarnate entities believed to govern the order—were somehow connected with Sirius.” – The Stargate Conspiracy pp.270-1]), by their own profession “a web ring for Rosicrucians,” which employs a rose-cross ankh symbol (a rosetau).
This is derived from the name of the Egyptian god Seker (another name for Osiris), who represented the angel Azazel, who was called ‘He of the rosetau,’ which is to say, he of the rose (red) cross. In Scene 2 of the 3rd Tableau of the Initiation of Plato, it is revealed that Azazel’s symbol, “the red cross,” was “traced upon the banner of Egypt,” on what amounted to being the national flag of Egypt. And according to Flying Roll No. 10 (in Roman numerals, 10 = X, so named in honor of Azazel) of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, ‘X’ (a cross variant) is the occult sign of Osiris risen (Osiris represented Azazel’s cherub Behemoth [Abydos, the cult center for the worship of Osiris in Egypt, in hieroglyphic pictographic writing is denoted in part by the following depiction of (Azazel’s cherub) Osiris: ]. It is for this reason A. E. Waite, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, lists the Wheel of Fortune, representative of Azazel’s cherub, as the 10th [Roman numeral X] Major Arcana of the Tarot. There exist those who hold the crossed-arm symbolism represents ‘Osiris slain’ [it was in the 10th nome of Egypt where was deposited it is said the ‘divine heart’ of Osiris (See On the Hieratic Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu by E.A. Wallis Budge]). It must also be noted The Church of Scientology employs a similar logo, called the Cross Saltire.
Compare the Cross Saltire to Aleister Crowley’s OTO Rose Cross Lamen (a lamen is a magical charm-like pendent worn around the neck by the leader of a witch’s coven). This signifies Azazel’s (represented by the ‘X’) future appearance as the false Christ (represented by the cross). When the symbol for Azazel (x) is superimposed upon the cross (+), it forms what is known as an eight-point compass rose (compare to the Sumerian cuneiform name of the god An who likewise represented Azazel, in basic form an eight-point compass rose: . The ‘Compass Rose’ is also known as the 1042 Roman ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and the Buddhist samsara, the ‘Wheel of Life’ [See p.175 Secrets of the Satanic Executioners by Ambrose Bertram Hunter, 2007 A.D.]).
For this reason a classical wooden ship’s wheel, which resembles an eight-point compass rose, is at times used as a symbol of Azazel (as are wheels and other devices of similar composition). A ship’s anchor (often found wound round caduceus-style with a chain) is also used as a symbol for the union of Azazel and his human wife, as it represents the union of the tau cross, representative of Azazel, with the crescent moon, the crescent moon being a symbol of Azazel’s human wife). (**Author’s Note: The Process Church of the Final Judgment founded by two ex-Church of Scientology members employed a decidedly related symbol depicting a serpent upon a cross [in the place of Christ crucified], what one might venture to identify as a quasi Christianized-version of the palladium (the palladium is related to the Rosicrucian alchemical device known as the ‘Crucified Serpent.’
As Nigel Jackson explains: “One of the oldest symbols in the esoteric tradition is the serpent on the tree (by definition a ‘palladium’ representing the Genesis serpent Azazel [See Genesis 3:1]. That a tree may be employed as a symbol of a cross is evidenced by Galations 3:13). This is usually depicted as a snake coiled or crucified on a Tau cross.” – p.183 The Pillars of Tubal Cain. The signification of the Greek letter ‘T’ and the Hebrew ‘t’ as noted by J.F.C. Fuller in his table of Hebrew Alphabet and Correspondences as set forth in his book, The Secret Wisdom of Qabalah [1937 A.D.], is the serpent). The Process Church even had rings made with this cross depicted in red on a white background [within the ‘disk’] the sigil of Azazel [See below]): In Egyptian hieroglyphics the god Ptah (a god who represented Azazel) is always associated with an ‘x’ within a circle, also known as the quartered circle (for this reason an ox has become an esoteric symbol of Azazel.
A male ox is called a bull, a common angel symbol (by extension, Azazel’s human wife may be symbolized as a cow. The Egyptian cow goddess represents Azazel’s human wife). Compare the ‘x’ within a circle symbol of Ptah to the Cross of Wodan, also a cross within a circle. The Germanic god Wodan is yet another god who represented the angel Azazel/Behemoth. The Celtic cross of the Druids also incorporates the ‘cross within a circle’ motif. In some circles the ‘cross within a circle’ motif is known as the Mark of Cain (this is due to the fact that in the Phoenician alphabet the letter ‘T’ is rendered as an ‘X’ and is pronounced ‘tau,’ meaning ‘mark’; the Mark of Cain is also known as the Mark of Set, who is Azazel). Cain of course was the son of Azazel by Eve. The quartered circle was the badge (talisman/magic charm) of the Grand Master of the Knights Templars as well. No doubt it was worn in part to protect the user in battle, as God was said in Genesis 4:15 to have placed such a “mark” upon Cain to keep him from being slain, hence the term, the Mark of Cain).
The so-called Freemasonic Scottish Rite 18th Degree Rose Croix quartered circle (also a symbol of the Gnostics/Gnosticism) is a variant of the ‘cross within a circle’ motif due to the fact the ‘quartered circle’ is variously known as the Rose Cross (See p.94 Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils by Fred Gettings). The NATO military alliance also employs a variant of the ‘quartered circle’ logo which is representive of the god of war Azazel. And as we learn from the Wicca witch priestess Doreen Valiente in Witchcraft for Tomorrow pp.67-68, the cross within the circle motif, the sign of Azazel, was one of the designs of the ‘magic circles’ of the witches—the construction of such a ‘magic circle’ was standard practice when witch’s invoked their Horned God, who is Azazel. In fact, the device known as the ‘witches’ mark’ which was employed by the witches (often signed during witches’ initiation ceremonies much like when the Catholic Church similiarly makes the sign of the cross) is itself “an X-shaped cross” (Ibid p.179), the sign of Azazel. This is greatly akin 1043 to the ‘Qabalistic Cross’ signed by touching the forehead, then the solar plexus, the right shoulder then the left shoulder, performed during ceremonial magic rituals as well (See p.51 The Practice of Ritual Magic by Gareth Knight).
As in witchcraft, the magic circle of the ceremonial magician is typically divided into “four quarters based on the cardinal points” (Ibid pp.21-22), creating a classic quartered circle/cross within the circle motif. The cross within the circle motif is also known as the Celtic Cross as employed by Celtic pagans which is also known as the ‘wheel cross,’ aka the ‘rose cross’ (See An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present p.405). The signification of the Freemasonic LVX (also rendered LUX) is also the ‘quartered circle’ sign of Azazel: “The early expositors of Freemasonry regarded the Latin word LVX, ‘Light,’ as synonymous with their science, and they dwelt on the fact that by dividing the Circle into four equal parts [the quartered circle] they produced a Cross from which they got the outline of the three Roman letters needed to spell this word – LVX.” – Introduction to The Apocalypse of Freemasonry p.5 by F. De P. Castells, 1924 A.D. (as additionally noted therein, LVX [Light] was also symbolic of the Freemasonic god who was represented by the so-called ‘All-Seeing Eye’ [Ibid p.6] which is for this reason oft depicted surrounded by rays of light, the Being also known as T.G.A.O.T.U., an abbreviated form of The Great Architect of the Universe).
The red (rose) cross (in appearance a red X), was emblazoned upon Azazel’s cherub Behemoth: “Lamia is the ‘snake’ among the Ophidian; Lama is the hand: lamh, hand (for this reason a hand may also be used to represent Azazel; two examples are the god Sabazios, who represents Azazel, and whose symbol is a hand and also the witch’s Hand of Glory which likewise represented their Horned God Azazel), is a divine name in the Scythian tongue. It also means the number 10 (in the Hebrew alphabet, the Hebrew letter yodh whose signification is the ‘hand’ in Gematria is assigned the numerical value of 10), and the Roman numeral X, which is a cross…which, according to Eastern allegory, is placed…upon the Rebellious Spirits (read: a red X was emblazoned upon the cherub of the angels) in their ‘abyss’ or ‘prison’ (within the earth).” – The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries by SRIA member Hargrave Jennings, 1870 A.D. (The SRIA is an English Rosicrucian Society.
SRIA members, it must be remembered, gave birth to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which derives its “mysteries” in part from this book by Jennings). With this preceding information in mind it is instructive to learn that: “The 10th and central Arcanum [of the Tarot, the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ which symbolizes Azazel’s cherub], [is] circumscribed by the tetramorph [reminiscent of Ezekiel’s cherubic ‘wheel’] and lettered Caph… Caph is ‘the palm of the hand’…” – The Magician’s Dictionary: Wheel of Fortune by E.E. Rehmus) The Knights Templar god Baphomet also represented Azazel. As we learn from The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries p.215, the Coptic [Copts are Egyptian Christians] root –met [such as that encountered in the word Bapho-met] means “ten” (compare also to the name of the Egypt-associated angel Mastema [from Jubilees and the Zadokite Work], an anagram of Met-Sama[el]. Samael is Azazel [“Azazel is Moloch and Samael.” – p.299 Vestiges of the Spirit History of Man by S.F. Dunlap, 1858 A.D.]. Mastema is essentially Metsam-a spelled backwards, a common magic practice).
The Roman numeral signifying 10, rendered as an X, a cross variation, is the sign of Azazel (Ba [=ab/father]-pho [=oph/serpent] – met [X]). As Doreen Valiente is nice enough to point out: “The distinguished nineteenthcentury French occultist, Eliphas Levi, declared Baphomet of the (Knights) Templars to be indentical with the god of the witches’ Sabbat; it was not the figure of a devil (Satan), however, but of Pan (the Horned God of the witches, who is Azazel)…” – p.53 An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present by Doreen Valiente. This author certainly agrees with this assessment. In a like way, Metraya is an anagram of the ‘Arya Met.’ Arya is a Sanskrit word meaning master/lord, with Met of course signifying 10 (the word ten being a cognate of Met), 1044 in Roman numerals rendered as an X (See note on ‘Master X’ below). In her book Witchcraft for Tomorrow p.117 the Wicca witch-priestess Doreen Valiente reveals: “Ogham was a sacred Druid alphabet and would certainly have contained magic secrets…”
I would say one of the biggest secrets it reveals is the mystery surrounding the identity of the mysterious Theosophical Society deva known as Master KH (the 10th Aethyr, Khoronzon, Master of Form, hence the moniker Master KH) with whom many highranking members of this society claimed to be in contact. In the sacred Ogham alphabet of the magic-practicing Druids, KH was rendered as an X. Master KH, which is the Druid way to say, Master X, was the Hidden Master Azazel himself. This is also the idea behind the word ‘Ur-Khaos,’ the god of the underworld: KH (X) + A (horned ox head sign of the horned god) + O (the disk, a cherub) + S (the serpent), the horned god whose sign is the serpent of the X-marked disk of the Chaldean city of Ur (Ur-Khaos was later transliterated as Orcus, the Gaelic Druidic god of the underworld/abyss [aka Lord Sathanas who art in Orcus, the serpent seducer of Eve of the Gnostic Ophites]).
In Freemasonry, Azazel is known as Khur-Om, most often transliterated as Hiram (See p.70 Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Scottish Freemasonry by Albert Pike). In Hinduism, ‘Om’ signifies deity, the symbol of this god a swastika (See the Yajurveda), in basic form an X composed of two crossed S’s: (Azazel/Asasel/SS-El, the angel/god whose sign is the double serpent. The double S [SS] is one of the sacred symbols of British Druidic hereditary witchcraft [See p.73 The Secrets of Ancient Witchcraft by the British witches Arnold and Patricia Crowther, 1974 A.D.]). (Pertinent Quote: “The letter S, which takes on the curving shape of a snake, corresponds to the Greek khi (X) and takes over its esoteric meaning… It is a theoretical image of the Beast of the Apocalypse**…” – p.152 The Mystery of the Cathedrals by ‘Fulcanelli’)
(A reference to Revelation 17:8 which states: “The beast [Azazel] that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [where he is entrapped within the earth in the Abyss (from the Late Latin abyssus “bottomless pit,” related to the Greek abussos)], and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast…” – Revelation 17:8) (**The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon gives the following definition for ‘Abussos’: “Bottomless; unbounded; the abyss; the pit; the immeasurable depth of Orcus [the Gaulish god Orcus, a derivative of Ur-Khaos (Chaos being by definition, the abyss), god of the underworld (of the abyss located at the site of the ancient city of Ur) in which he is entrapped, a god who represented the fallen angel Azazel], a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth…the abode of demons [read: the abode of the fallen angels where they remain entrapped within the earth].”)
(According to Islamic legend [as noted in the 9 th – 10th Century A.D. writings of Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari], it is said that the fallen angels [jinn] are in fact bound in Babylon [within which was the site of the ancient city of Ur wherein is located the abyss in which the angels are imprisoned] and continue in their imprisonment to teach men magic [See p.115 Fallen Angels: The Soldiers of Satan’s Realm by Bernard J. Bamberger, 1952 A.D.]) According to the Ritual Magic of the Golden Dawn (p.208, King 1987), the rising of Adonai** (read: Azazel: “…Adonai, a Hebrew word for Lord which Crowley employed as a synonym for the Higher Genius, the term used by the Golden Dawn, and for the Holy Guardian Angel, the phrase employed by Abramelin.” – pp.353-4 The Eye in the Triangle by Israel Regardie [and as Regardie explains in Foundations of Practical Magic p.127: “…the Adept seeks to unite himself to his…higher self [which in the realm of psychology is symbolic of the ‘Holy Guardian Angel’], symbolized again in the Hebrew word Adonai.”]), of Mithra the Lord of Wide Pastures was by the ancient mysteries symbolized under the form of a rose (also known as the ‘Rose of Dawn’). In a like way, the gods Adonai and Mithra represented Azazel/Behemoth (** “Adonai has…come to mean, through the Rosicrucian tradition, the Holy Guardian Angel [with whom, it must be noted, magicians sought to communicate].” – Eight Lectures on Yoga by Aleister Crowley, 1939 A.D.).
Azazel will in the future arise 1045 within his cherub being loosed from his earthly imprisonment. In respect to the angel Azazel, the rose cross also symbolizes the future rising of Azazel/Behemoth, Azazel being accepted as the promised coming Messiah. So the rose is also used as a symbol of Azazel. The red cross as a symbol of Azazel’s cherub Behemoth also hearkens back to the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris. The god Osiris represented Azazel’s cherub Behemoth, and by extension, Azazel. In the Egyptian Hymn to Osiris, the “disk” of Osiris (Osiris = Behemoth) is identified as the rose tau, the rose (red) cross (“Divine oblation to Osiris [Behemoth] KhentAmenti, lord of Abydos [Lord of the Abyss]…the disk…the rostau” – Hymn to Osiris). Cherubim are disk-shaped. It must also be noted the tau cross (rendered in Greek as a T) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. Azazel’s prophesied release took place sometime in 2016 A.D., as per the height of 5776 inches in the masonry of the Great Pyramid (Mount Taurus, RosTau, Rose Cross).
In Freemasonry, the symbol for Azazel, a tau cross, is represented by the T-square. The Rosicrucians, whose name means “rose cross” in German, names their secret organization after the rostau/disk/Osiris/Behemoth. The Germanic name Christian Rosenkreuz, which in English translates as ‘Christian Rose Cross,’ represents no other persona than the rebellious angel Azazel himself. The name is a play on words which may be interpreted as the christ of the red cross, representing Azazel, whose sign is the red cross, in reference to his future appearance as the false-christ/false prophet/messiah (See Revelation 16:13. According to the Rosicrucian Hargrave Jennings in The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries, p.142, the color red is male and represents the Salvator, a Latin word meaning ‘Savior’). (It must also be mentioned when one adds the disk (O) [Azazel’s cherub is disk-shaped], to the word Sirius, it becomes Osirius, and when one drops the ‘u’ it becomes Osiris. The heliacal rising of the star Sirius in 2016 A.D. takes place on the 19th day of July, the day Azazel in his disk-shaped red-cross emblazoned cherub is to emerge from his earthen imprisonment, claiming to be Christ.
In this same way, the Babylonian god Ea, alternatively spelled Ia (another such god which represented Azazel/Behemoth), becomes the name of the Gnostic god Iao with the inclusion of the disk [O]). The words ‘Sirius’ and ‘Osiris’ are related to the Semitic word ‘Siru’: “Scholars ordinarily refer to the serpent god (who is Azazel) by the name Siru, being the Semitic word for serpent…” – p.120 Tammuz and Ishtar. In Gematria, the numerical values for the Hebrew words for “messiah” and “serpent” are the same. It would also seem the name Isis is also derived from the word Osiris). As an additional added bonus note, in the ancient Babylonian system of Gematria, where letters are used to represent numbers, the number 10 is represented by the letters IA (which Roman numeral is represented by an X). ‘Ia’ of course is an alternative spelling of the name of the god ‘Ea.’ Compare the modern spelling of our number ‘ten’ to the name of the Egyptian sun disk ‘Aten’ (in Roman, A-X) (AX = IAO = OX).
No doubt there exists a connection here. In the pictographic alphabet of the Egyptians, a horned ‘ox head’ (representative of the horned-god Azazel) was the equivalent of the Roman letter ‘A’ (and hence was also derived the anarchist symbol for Azazel, an A within a circle/disk [O]). All of these are designations for Azazel’s cherub Behemoth and by extension, the Horned God Azazel. Additionally, Ax/Abrasax were synonymous terms: “You are Ax (A-ten), you are Abrasax (Ab [father] + Ra [the disk] + S [the serpent] + A [horned oxhead/horned god] + X [ten] (A-ten)), the angel (whose sign is the serpent) who sits upon the tree of Paradise (forming the palladium)…” (A-X is in fact the Archaic Latin alphabetic version of the classical Greek Alpha-Omega, the title of the resurrected Christ (See Revelation 22:13). Both are the first and last letters of their respective alphabets. The Classical Greek Alpha-Omega = the all-encompassing All). As such an ax in the literal sense is often used as a symbol for Abrasax/Azazel (compare ‘ax’ to the Greek word ‘aix’ which means ‘goat’ (also note the addition of the phallic ‘pillar,’ I, possibly to signify a male goat). The Hebrew word for a male goat was also used to denote a demon, demons being by definition fallen angels.
For this reason Satyrs/demons, representative of fallen angels, are symbolically represented as being goat-like in appearance, such as the horned-god Pan, the king of satyrs, who represented Azazel: “The satyrs are, of course, the seirim or ‘hairy ones’ who follow their master, the goat god Azazel.” – p.137 The Pillars of Tubal Cain by Nigel Jackson [from seirim comes the word siren (from Greek seiren) to denote women associated 1046 with the fallen angels]). The letter ‘O’ (the disk) itself was derived from the Semitic `Ayin עmeaning ‘eye’ and additionally representative of a male goat due to its horn-like appendages and its single penile-like protrusion), and hence, the ‘eye (disk) of Horus,’ also known as Azazel’s cherub Behemoth (in Hebrew, the Watcher/angels are known as the resh ‘ayin, commonly translated as ‘those who watch’). Constantine’s ‘IX monogram’ (also employed by the Merovingians) often encircled with the disk in its various forms is likewise esoterically connected with the false christ Azazel.
Constantine had never actually abandoned his pagan beliefs—he simply applied a Christian veneer to them. A phallis (a word cognate with the word ‘pillar’) also is a symbol used to represent Azazel, often represented as an ‘I,’ it being representative of Osiris’ phallis which according to one version of the Osiris legend was the single dismembered member of Osiris’ dissected corpse retrieved by the goddess Isis. One may conclude this to be the origin of the artificial stone phalli and priapic statues employed in Egyptian magic rituals, it representing Osiris’ amputated phallis. Such priapic pagan idols were actually used to perform hiero gamos magic rituals involving the ritual rending of a virgin’s hymen. Consider also the name of the angel Metatron of the 6 th Century work, the Hekalot Rabbati, one of the major extant texts from the period of Merkabah mysticism. If we assume as its name suggests that this angel’s name had an Egyptian-Christian Coptic influence (as Copts are Egyptian Christians), and we juxtapose the letters found therein, we find this to be Met-Ra-T-On. ‘On’ was the Egyptian name for the ‘city of the sun’ [in Greek Heliopolis] named after the Egyptian sun-god Ra (rendered Helios in Greek), which name in hieroglyphics contains the following symbols: the X-marked disc, , and the classic pillar/obelisk (think also ‘pillar of cloud/fire’), .
The Egyptian god Ra represented Azazel’s cherub Behemoth. The name of the sun-god Ra itself when rendered in hieroglyphics (by definition: “a writing system that uses symbols or pictures to denote objects”) includes the following symbols: and (the classic UFO/flying saucer shape). The Coptic Met means “ten” (in Roman numerals X), a symbol of Azazel, he of the X-marked disc. And last but not least we encounter the Egyptian tau cross, also a sign of Azazel, in Greek rendered T. The Rosicrucian/Freemasonic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn magic order also esoterically derives its name from Azazel. Hermes (hermes in Greek means ‘stone wall’ providing an esoteric Freemasonic link to this god) was another Egyptian name for Azazel, he of a thousand names. The Golden Dawn is analogous of the solar disk, the sun, which like Azazel’s cherub Behemoth, is disk-shaped and rises at dawn, which is the expected time of Azazel’s future release (“…the holy one [read: the angel Azazel in his cherub] appeared…; as a golden dawn did he appear…” – Aleister Crowley’s LIBER ARCANORUM τών ATU τού TAHUTI QUAS VIDIT ASAR IN AMENNTI SUB FIGURÂ CCXXXI LIBER CARCERORUM τών QLIPHOTH CUM SUIS GENIIS. ADDUNTUR SIGILLA ET NOMINA EORUM) (in the Egyptian Book of the Dead Plate XXI B.D. Chap. XV it was said the Egyptian god Ra, who represented the angel Azazel, “risest at dawn” in allusion to the time of Azazel’s release).
Israel Regardie, a Rosicrucian who later joined the Stella Matutina, a successor organization of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Regardie once served as personal secretary to Aleister Crowley), writes in his book entitled The Golden Dawn: “‘The Rose-Cross’… is a glyph…of the higher Genius (read: angel) to whose knowledge and conversation the student is eternally aspiring” (in reference to Aleister Crowley’s “attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.” As Israel Regardie explains in Ceremonial Magic p.64, the term “Holy Guardian Angel” [“extrapolated from The (Book of the) Sacred Magic of Abremelin the Mage”] was a term “synonymous with the Golden Dawn reference to the Higher Genius and the Theosophical term the Higher Self [aka the High Self].”). The ‘Genius’ of which Regardie speaks with whom such individuals sought to converse is a so-called ‘guardian angel,’ the angel Azazel. His glyph/symbol is the rose 1047 cross/red cross (this being the significance of the ‘Red Cross,’ also known as the ‘Cross of Fire,’ used as one of the symbols of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—a ‘white triangle surmounted by a red cross’ symbol is emblazoned upon Golden Dawn altars [See p.135-136 The Eye in the Triangle by Israel Regardie]—the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn being at heart a Rosicrucian order].
A Rose Cross may also be represented by a gold cross with a red ruby in its center, namely, “the Rose of Ruby and the Cross of Gold” [Ibid p.176]. The Rose Cross is, as Israel Regardie notes, a variant form of the pentagram: “A variation of the Pentagram symbol employed by other people with a certain degree of success is a golden cross surmounted by a crimson rose. The symbolism in both cases is identical…” – p.244 The Tree of Life: A Study in Magic by Israel Regardie). The Rosicrucian initiate, as Israel Regardie explains: “…pledges himself to his higher and divine Genius” (See Ceremonial Magic p.84), this higher divine Genius being the fallen angel Azazel, to whom is devoted “the service of the Order.” Theosophist Freethinker Ida C. Craddock provides yet another piece of our puzzle: “Why did these mystics call themselves Rosicrucian? Some writers have attempted to derive the name from two words meaning “dew” and “cross”: but the usual interpretation is “followers of the Rosy Cross” (read: followers of Azazel) a cross with a rose (used analogously of Azazel) being used as the society’s symbol.” – Heavenly Bridegrooms.
Rosicrucians are followers of and pledge allegiance to the “Holy Guardian Angel” Azazel whose sigil is the rose cross. Azazel is also known as Sirius, the Hidden God of the Illuminati (the Illuminati/angels are also known as the ‘Grand Masters of the Templars’), so named as Azazel’s return is associated with the Dog Star Sirius. This fact is important enough to repeat. Azazel is known as the “Hidden God Sirius”: “In his book ‘Magickal Revival’ Grant writes that Phoenix was (Aleister) Crowley’s most secret name. It represented the ancient Constellation in which Sothis (Seth) (Set) or Sirius was the highest star. He writes that Crowley associated the very heart of his teachings and ‘Magick’ with a certain star, namely the ‘Sun behind the Sun’ (in reference to Sirius A and its companion star, Sirius B), the ‘Hidden God Sirius.’ The secret of the Illuminati, or the Enlightened Ones is the blazing star Sirius, Grant writes.” – The Sirius Mysteries (Pertinent Quote: “To the Egyptians, the Sun behind the Sun was known as Osiris [a god who represents Behemoth/Azazel] and also as Amun-RA, the Hidden Sun.” – The Book of the Master by Marshall Adams.
Indeed, the Egyptian Hymn to Osiris-Soka is a summons/call addressing the angel Azazel in greeting: “Hail, thou hidden God, Osiris in the underworld!”) (The Great Hymn of Aten, Aten being representative of Azazel’s cherub Behemoth, is called therein the “hidden…god…in the underworld…”). Crowley was merely carrying on a long established magic tradition, most noteably of the magic practiced by highdegree Freemasons (particularly within the Egyptian derived rites of Memphis-Misraim and often based on information gleened from ongoing archaeological discoveries of the period): “The Ancient Astronomers (astronomers were as a rule astrologers/sorcerers) saw all the great Symbols of Masonry in the Stars. Sirius glitters in our (Freemasonic) lodges as the Blazing Star (which is a symbol of Azazel [‘Blazing’ is synonymous with ‘shining’].** The ‘Blazing Star’ which represents Azazel is known as the ‘Upright Pentagram.’ Conversely, a downward pointing pentagram, the ‘Averse Pentagram,’ represents Satan.
A combination of the two yields the ten-point star, the ‘Dekagram,’ a powerful charm in the realm of magic).” – Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Scottish Freemasonry by Albert Pike. Indeed, as we learn from C. W. Leadbeater (a prominent member of the Theosophical Society) in Glimpses of Masonic History the Blazing Star Sirius (representative of Azazel), the so-called glyph of the higher genius with whom all practitioners of magic sought to contact, was also symbolized by “the Rose which ever blossoms at the heart of the Cross,” the rose cross, the very symbol of the Rosicrucians themselves. Compare to the Dogon tribe in Africa which also portrays the helical rising of Sirius as a cross with a flower-like sun at its center. (The fallen angel Azazel is associated with the star Sirius. The upward pointing Five-Pointed Star is the icon of Sirius, and as such, it is the icon of Azazel, and this is the esoteric significance of the five-pointed Blazing Star of the Masons.
The symbol of the star Sirius as a symbol of Azazel 1048 hearkens back to Biblical days: “Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch [their ‘King,’ Azazel], and the star [called a Chiun; ‘chiun’ translates as ‘star’] of your god Remphan [Azazel], figures which ye made to worship them [the fallen angels]: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.” – Acts 7:43; and again: “But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch [their ‘King,’ Azazel] and Chiun your images, the star of your god [Remphan/Azazel], which ye made to yourselves.” – Amos 5:26) (** “According to Sufi expert Idries Shah the: “…true rulers of the world are the ‘Enlightened Ones’ (Illuminati) [read: the fallen angels] and the Sufi have discovered their secret in the Quran in the following verse: ‘Allah [who is Azazel] is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth. His Light is resembled by a lamp within a niche. The lamp within a crystal, like a shining (blazing) star.’” [a reference to The Koran 24.35: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth, the parable of His Light is as if there were a niche, and within it a Lamp: The Lamp enclosed in Glass; the glass as it were a brilliant star”].
Idries Shah claims the allusion to a ‘shining star’ is a reference to the star ‘Sirius’ (See The Sirius Mysteries). The angels are known as the Shining Ones and a star is often analogously used as the symbol for an angel, hence Shining Star/Blazing Star) (A Not-sonotable Quote: “Such surely is the destiny that awaits our beloved Order in the future; such the splendour that will transfigure the Craft [Freemasonry] in the years that are to come, until within its temple walls once more is raised—not only in symbol but in actual fact (which is to say, upon Azazel’s release from his earthen imprisonment)—the ladder which stretches between earth and heaven, between men and the Grand Lodge above, to lead them from the darkness of the world to the fullness of light in God (he speaks not, to be sure, of the God of Christians and Jews, but of the god of the Craft, who is Azazel), to the Rose which ever blossoms at the heart of the Cross, to the Blazing Star whose shining brings peace and strength and blessing to all the worlds.” – Glimpses of Masonic History by C. W. Leadbeater)
According to a footnote to The Dionysian Artificers: “Thamuz (a variant spelling of Tammuz) signifies the name of a month, and likewise the name of an idol or divinity, which even in the opinion of St. Jerome is the same as (the god) Adonis (both are gods who represent the angel Azazel—Adonis is a cognate of the word Dionysian). Plutarch says that the Egyptians called Osiris Ammuz, and from thence was corruptly derived the name of Jupiter Ammon (‘Ammon,’ a varient spelling of ‘Ammoum,’ means ‘the Hidden One.’ See p.29 Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente, 1978 A.D. Another variant spelling is Amoun: “Amoun was the primeval god of the Egyptians…all (Egyptian) deities were his various forms. Therefore his names were many; but his real name [which is Azazel] was secret.” – p.130 An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present by Doreen Valiente). Robertson (Thesaurus Linguae Sanctae) says that the word Ammuz (read Ammoum) used by Herodotus and Plutarch, were corruptions from the Hebrew Thamuz (Hebrew תםוז} Hebrew TMWZ}). I would rather say that the word was originally Egyptian, and made Hebrew by the addition of the formative ת} Hebrew T})…”
And so was an Egyptian name for Azazel, namely Ammuz, transformed into Tammuz by the addition of the symbol for Azazel, namely, the tau cross (rendered in Greek as a T; in the Phoenician alphabet, the Greek ‘T’ 1049 takes the form of yet another enigmatic symbol of Azazel’s cherub Behemoth, the quartered circle/‘x’ within a circle, pronounced ‘tet’ and meaning ‘wheel,’ a Biblical name for a cherub. This corresponds to the Hebrew letter ‘teth,’ meaning ‘serpent.’ [See The Secrets of the Satanic Executioners p.170], which also relates to the Greek letter Theta [which numerical number is 9 and is connected to the 9th sign of the Zodiac, Capricornus, Latin for ‘horned goat’ (Pan)], the initial letter of Thenatos, the Greek god of death [Ibid p.170]).
It must be noted The Dionysian Articifers (circa. 1820 A.D.) is an essay written by an eminent Brazilian Freemason. The Greek Dionysiacs as they were also called was an association of architects and engineers, followers of the god Dionysius (also known as Bacchus), builders of temples, theatres and stadia, they being an early society of Freemasons. As earlier noted, in Freemasonry the tau cross, the symbol of Azazel, is represented by the T-square: “The TAU cross is preserved to modern Masonry under the symbol of the T square.” – The Secret Teachings of All Ages p.582 by Manly P. Hall (Interesting quote: “The TAU [the sign of Azazel] is the central figure of the Theosophical Seal [employed by the Theosophical Society] and the heart of its message.” – The Theosophical Seal by Arthur M. Coon, 1958 A.D.) (The Thames River in England is named after Thamuz/Azazel…
Excerpt from ‘The False Prophet Azazel’ – December 31, 2010
JACHIN AND BOAZ (Heb. יָכִין בֹּעַז), two pillars which were set up in front of the Sanctuary in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem(I Kings 7:15–22, 41–42;II Kings 25:13, 17;Jer. 52:17, 20ff.;II Chron. 3:15–17; 4:12–13). The form and nature of these pillars are uncertain, and many proposals have been advanced by scholars. […]
The eternal and transcendental geography of Mount Meru is partially mirrored in divisions of the earth connected with the polar regions. Hence, northern Asia is termed the eternal or perpetual land and the Antarctic is called the ever-living and the concealed. The freedom of the polar regions from the vicissitudes of racial evolution and geological change is a reflection of the permanence of the axis mundi of Mount Meru. The association of the North Pole with Sveta Dwipa, however, should not be thought of merely in terms of a terrestrial region. It would be more helpful to think of a Fohatic magnetic field associated with ice and snow. It is to be found both in snow-capped mountains and in desert oases, such as the Gobi Desert of Central Asia. The poles of the earth are likened in Gupta Vidya to valves regulating the ingress and egress of the solar-selenic radiance affecting the earth. They are intimately connected, through Fohatic arteries girdling the globe, with the circulations of daimons in the atmosphere. By correspondence, within the human form they are analogous to the circulation of the blood and other fluids with their invisible elemental constituents.
To connect this meta-geography with the inward life of the soul, one must connect the idea of pilgrimage to the idea of the restoration of the obscured flows of spiritual energies within the human temple. As Shankara and others taught, the sacred places of pilgrimage in the world mirror centres within the human body. Thus, there is a deep meaning behind the saying of the Puranas that even the incarnated gods themselves rejoiced to be born in the condition of men in Bharata Varsha in the Third Root Race. In one sense, Bharata Varsha is India, the original chosen land and the best division of Jambhu Dwipa. More essentially, Bharata Varsha is the land of active spiritual works par excellence, the land of initiation and divine knowledge. Hence H.P. Blavatsky’s remark that one who visits India in a proper state of mind can find more blessings and more lessons than anywhere else on this earth.
Evidently, this must not be understood in an external mechanistic or physical sense, since there are millions upon millions of souls on the Indian subcontinent who have nothing to do with this eternal current. Just as thousands of people might never show Buddhic perception, even though they saw Sir Richard Attenborough’s powerful film on Gandhi, so too, numerous individuals could either visit or be born in India without developing Buddhic insight. Rather, H.P. Blavatsky’s comment must be understood in the light of Christ’s statement that whenever two or three are gathered in his name, he was present amongst them. Again, one could think of the meaning of Dharmakshetra in Kurukshetra, the invisible and omnipresent field of dharma wherein all human beings ceaselessly live and move. Hence the teaching of the eighteenth chapter of the Gita: “Wherever Krishna, the supreme Master of devotion, and wherever the son of Pritha, the mighty archer, may be, there with certainty are fortune, victory, wealth, and wise action.”
The awakening of Buddhi depends upon soul refinement and soul sensitivity, which can only emerge from a noetic understanding of the noumenal language of the soul. That language is experienced by every human being during deep sleep, but it can only be developed when significant connections are made between what transpires in deep sleep and in waking life. One must learn to understand arcane symbols at many levels. One must, for example, become receptive to the idea that the Sveta Dwipa of the Puranas is one with the Shamballa of Buddhist tradition, and that both are identical with the abode of the Builders, the luminous Sons of Manvantaric Dawn. All such mystical names pertain to a plane of consciousness accessible to human beings within. Mount Meru and the mystical descent of the Ganges can be correlated with critical points within the spiritual spinal cord and the invisible brain. Yogic meditation transports one to inner centres, wherein dwell the gods of light. In this Sveta Dwipa, the luminous Sons of Manvantaric Dawn are eternally present during the mahamanvantara. Though they came out of the Unknown Darkness, according to mythic chronology, they are still ever present on that plane as the root of the world, as timeless spectators in the bliss of non-being. Man links heaven and earth so fully that no mode of incarnation can entirely erase the alchemical signature of one’s origin.
The lessons of mythic chronology and mystical geography must be applied by each individual to his or her own incarnation. All human beings are always involved with the cycles of the gods and daimons, the devas, devata and elementals. Every child is basically an Atma-Buddhic spark with a ray of lower Manas which becomes active in the seventh month in the mother’s womb. Typically, the ray of Manas does not become active until the age of seven, around which time it brings with it the power to choose and to take responsibility. In some it may be retarded, in others it may come too soon, before there is adequate moral preparation. But the parent who would follow the wise practices of the oldest cultures will only do the minimum that is needed for the baby. That parent will leave the baby alone to bathe in its own state of consciousness. At the same time, adults should listen to a baby’s sounds and address it as an immortal soul, as a human being capable of controlling and commanding the elementals. In so doing, an adult can arouse in the elementals that gather round a child those which are benevolent as well as those which are strong but not possessive. That everything essential to human life is capable of universalization and capable of becoming an object of responsibility may be imparted to a child before it learns to walk, or certainly when it learns to talk. Then it is crucial to draw out a baby’s innate intuition in Atma-Buddhi by explaining and guiding it through the incarnation of Manas.
By the age of seven, the child should have learnt to sit still and to receive wisdom, and be prepared to inhabit Bharata Varsha. This is nothing but a recapitulation of human evolution up until the midpoint of the Third Root Race, when the Manasa Dhyanis descended into the waiting human forms. Between the ages of seven and fourteen, a child must be very still, calm and deliberate. It can be taught deliberation by deliberate parents; anxious parents find, to their shock, their own neuroses reflected in their children. A child who is given enough basis for self-respect and self-consciousness without verbalization, before the age of seven, can, after Manas awakens it, engage in proper dialogue with a respect for alternatives and a freedom of thought. This combination of discernment and discipline is crucial if the child is to resist the chaos of companions in junior high and high school. Here both parents and children alike should closely observe and follow the best examples they can find. They should withdraw attention from negative examples, abstaining from needless analysis. In this way, the parent may help a child overcome the tendency, prevalent since Atlantis, of fascination with evil.
All this preparation encourages a balance between the centrifugal and centripetal forces which engage the incarnated ray more fully by the age of fourteen. The centrifugal power of spirit or Buddhi is capable of diffusing from a single point in every direction within a sphere. This omnidirectional diffusion mirrors the ceaseless motion of the Atman. In Manas, the capacity to hold, to focus and to concentrate these energies is associated with the centripetal energies. A helpful example in the balancing of these energies may be gleaned from those older cultures which never allowed people to speak when they were confused or excited until they had sat down. Adolescents must learn to collect themselves, to draw their energies together in calmness, if they are to avoid the rush, the tension and the anxiety endemic to the cycle between fourteen and twenty-one. Once they have developed some mature calmness, depth and strength, they can release the potential of the higher energies of Atma-Buddhi-Manas. In a sense, all humanity is presently engaged in this adolescent phase.
In the Aquarian Age a dynamic principle of balance is needed. Whilst this has its analogues on the physical plane, and even in the astral vesture, it must not be approached on this level, lest there be a degradation of the idea into Hatha Yoga. Instead, one must begin with the Buddhi-Manasic, with the emotional and mental nature, and find on the physical plane appropriate means of expressing that creative balance. Thus one can produce a rhythmic flow and a light ease in one’s sphere of influence which reflects a life of deep meditation. The ultimate aim is a fusion of love and wisdom, which then becomes Wisdom-Compassion, the fusion of Buddhi and Manas. The fusion of Buddhi and Manas at the highest level is inseparable from the path of adeptship.
Because of the inherent pacing and cycle of soul-evolution, and because of the karmic encrustations human beings have produced in themselves through associations with secondary and tertiary hosts of daimons, no one can be expected to accomplish all of this in a single lifetime, or indeed in any immediate future series of lives. But each being can make a beginning, and, at some level, fuse Buddhi and Manas. Although overactive in kama manas, most human beings are mediumistic, yet in the antaskarana there are authentic longings for the higher. Such longings must first be purified and made manasic through universalization. This requires sifting finer thoughts and higher impulses from the dross of kama manas, then releasing them for the welfare of humanity as a whole. This means ignoring statistical portraits of humanity given by mass media and developing an inward sense of one’s intimate relationship on the plane of ideation and aspiration with millions upon millions of immortal souls.
The more one can change the ratios of one’s thought about oneself, one’s thought about Bodhisattvas, and one’s thought about humanity, the better. As these ratios change, the patterns of one’s associations of daimons and elementals will shift, progressively transmuting one’s vestures and refining one’s capacity for benevolence. Gradually, as one thinks more and more in the direction of Bodhisattvas and of humanity, one will come to see oneself as someone who has the confidence and capacity to control elementals at home, at work and in the world. Thus, one can help oneself and so help others to recover the lost link with the Manasa Dhyanis. One may learn to become a being of true meditation and compassion, capable of serving as a self-conscious living link between heaven and earth.
Let us beware of creating a darkness at noonday for ourselves by gazing, so to say, direct at the sun . . . , as though we could hope to attain adequate vision and perception of Wisdom with mortal eyes. It will be the safer course to turn our gaze on an image of the object of our quest.
Plato
Every year more than three hundred and fifty Catholic and Protestant sects observe Easter Sunday, celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God who called himself the Son of Man. So too do the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, but on a separate calendar. Such is the schism between East and West within Christendom regarding this day, which always falls on the ancient Sabbath, once consecrated to the Invisible Sun, the sole source of all life, light and energy. If we wish to understand the permanent possibility of spiritual resurrection taught by the Man of Sorrows, we must come to see both the man and his teaching from the pristine perspective of Brahma Vach, the timeless oral utterance behind and beyond all religions, philosophies and sciences throughout the long history of mankind.The Gospel According to St. John is the only canonical gospel with a metaphysical instead of an historical preamble. We are referred to that which was in the beginning. In the New English Bible, the recent revision of the authorized version produced for the court of King James, we are told: “Before all things were made was the Word.” In the immemorial, majestic and poetic English of the King James version, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is a bijasutra, a seminal maxim, marking the inception of the first of twenty-one chapters of the gospel, and conveying the sum and substance of the message of Jesus. John, according to Josephus, was at one time an Essene and his account accords closely with the Qumran Manual of Discipline. The gospel attributed to John derives from the same oral tradition as the Synoptics, but it shows strong connections with the Pauline epistles as well as with the Jewish apocalyptic tradition. It is much more a mystical treatise than a biographical narrative.
The Godhead is unthinkable and unspeakable, extending boundlessly beyond the range and reach of thought. There is no supreme Father figure in the universe. In the beginning was the Word, the Verbum, the Shabdabrahman, the eternal radiance that is like a veil upon the attributeless Absolute. If all things derive, as St. John explains, from that One Source, then all beings and all the sons of men are forever included. Metaphysically, every human being has more than one father, though on the physical plane each has only one. Over ten thousand years, everyone has had more ancestors than there are souls presently incarnated on earth. Each one participates in the ancestry of all mankind. While always true, this is more evident in a nation with mixed ancestries. Therefore it is appropriate here that we think of him who preached before Jesus, Buddha, who taught that we ask not of a man’s descent but of his conduct. By their fruits they shall be known, say the gospels.
There is another meaning of the ‘Father’ which is relevant to the opportunity open to every human being to take a decision to devote his or her entire life to the service of the entire human family. The ancient Jews held that from the illimitable Ain-Soph there came a reflection, which could never be more than a partial participation in that illimitable light which transcends manifestation. This reflection exists in the world as archetypal humanity — Adam Kadmon. Every human being belongs to one single humanity, and that collectivity stands in relation to the Ain-Soph as any one human being to his or her own father. It is no wonder that Pythagoras — Pitar Guru, ‘father and teacher,’ as he was known among the ancient Hindus — came to Krotona to sound the keynote of a long cycle now being reaffirmed for an equally long period in the future. He taught his disciples to honour their father and their mother, and to take a sacred oath to the Holy Fathers of the human race, the ‘Ancestors of the Arhats.’
We are told in the fourth Stanza of Dzyan that the Fathers are the Sons of Fire, descended from a primordial host of Logoi. They are self-existing rays streaming forth from a single, central, universal Mahatic fire which is within the cosmic egg, just as differentiated matter is outside and around it. There are seven sub-divisions within Mahat — the cosmic mind, as it was called by the Greeks — as well as seven dimensions of matter outside the egg, giving a total of fourteen planes, fourteen worlds. Where we are told by John that Jesus said, In my Father’s house are many mansions, H.P. Blavatsky states that this refers to the seven mansions of the central Logos, supremely revered in all religions as the Solar Creative Fire. Any human being who has a true wakefulness and thereby a sincere spirit of obeisance to the divine demiurgic intelligence in the universe, of which he is a trustee even while encased within the lethargic carcass of matter, can show that he is a man to the extent to which he exhibits divine manliness through profound gratitude, a constant recognition and continual awareness of the One Source. All the great Teachers of humanity point to a single source beyond themselves. Many are called but few are chosen by self-election. Spiritual Teachers always point upwards for each and every man and woman alive, not for just a few. They work not only in the visible realm for those immediately before them, but, as John reminds us, they come from above and work for all. They continually think of and love every being that lives and breathes, mirroring “the One that breathes breathless” in ceaseless contemplation, overbrooding the Golden Egg of the universe, the Hiranyagarbha.
Such beautiful ideas enshrined in magnificent myths are provocative to the ratiocinative mind and suggestive to the latent divine discernment of Buddhic intuition. The only way anyone can come closer to the Father in Heaven, let alone come closer to Him on earth Who is as He is in Heaven, is by that light to which John refers in the first chapter of the Gospel. It is the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world, which the darkness comprehendeth not. Human beings are involved in the darkness of illusion, of self-forgetfulness, and forgetfulness of their divine ancestry. The whole of humanity may be regarded as a garden of gods but all men and women are fallen angels or gods tarnished by forgetfulness of their true eternal and universal mission. Every man or woman is born for a purpose. Every person has a divine destiny. Every individual has a unique contribution to make, to enrich the lives of others, but no one can say what this is for anyone else. Each one has to find it, first by arousing and kindling and then by sustaining and nourishing the little lamp within the heart. There alone may be lit the true Akashic fire upon the altar in the hidden temple of the God which lives and breathes within. This is the sacred fire of true awareness which enables a man to come closer to the one universal divine consciousness which, in its very brooding upon manifestation, is the father-spirit. In the realm of matter it may be compared to the wind that bloweth where it listeth. Any human being could become a self-conscious and living instrument of that universal divine consciousness of which he, as much as every other man or woman, is an effulgent ray.
This view of man is totally different from that which has, alas, been preached in the name of Jesus. Origen spoke of the constant crucifixion of Jesus, declaring that there is not a day on earth when he is not reviled. But equally there is not a time when others do not speak of him with awe. He came with a divine protection provided by a secret bond which he never revealed except by indirect intonation. Whenever the Logos becomes flesh, there is sacred testimony to the Great Sacrifice and the Great Renunciation — of all Avatars, all Divine Incarnations. This Brotherhood of Blessed Teachers is ever behind every attempt to enlighten human minds, to summon the latent love in human hearts for all humanity, to fan the sparks of true compassion in human beings into the fires of Initiation. The mark of the Avatar is that in him the Paraclete, the Spirit of Eternal Truth, manifests so that even the blind may see, the deaf may hear, the lame may walk, the unregenerate may gain confidence in the possibility and the promise of Self-redemption.
In one of the most beautiful passages penned on this subject, the profound essay entitled “The Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry,” published in 1889, H.P. Blavatsky declared:
Most of us believe in the survival of the Spiritual Ego, in Planetary Spirits and Nirmanakayas, those great Adepts of the past ages, who, renouncing their right to Nirvana, remain in our spheres of being, not as ‘spirits’ but as complete spiritual human Beings. Save their corporeal, visible envelope, which they leave behind, they remain as they were, in order to help poor humanity, as far as can be done without sinning against Karmic Law. This is the ‘Great Renunciation’, indeed; an incessant, conscious self-sacrifice throughout aeons and ages till that day when the eyes of blind mankind will open and, instead of the few, all will see the universal truth. These Beings may well be regarded as God and Gods — if they would but allow the fire in our hearts, at the thought of that purest of all sacrifices, to be fanned into the flame of adoration, or the smallest altar in their honour. But they will not. Verily, ‘the secret heart is fair Devotion’s (only) temple’, and any other, in this case, would be no better than profane ostentation.
Let a man be without external show such as the Pharisees favoured, without inscriptions such as the Scribes specialized in, and without arrogant and ignorant self-destructive denial such as that of the Sadducees. Such a man, whether he be of any religion or none, of whatever race or nation or creed, once he recognizes the existence of a Fraternity of Divine Beings, a Brotherhood of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Christs, an Invisible Church (in St. Augustine’s phrase) of living human beings ever ready to help any honest and sincere seeker, he will thereafter cherish the discovery within himself. He will guard it with great reticence and grateful reverence, scarcely speaking of his feeling to strangers or even to friends. When he can do this and maintain it, and above all, as John says in the Gospel, be true to it and live by it, then he may make it for himself, as Jesus taught, the way, the truth and the light. While he may not be self-manifested as the Logos came to be through Jesus — the Son of God become the Son of Man — he could still sustain and protect himself in times of trial. No man dare ask for more. No man could do with less.
Jesus knew that his own time of trial had come — the time for the consummation of his vision — on the Day of Passover. Philo Judaeus, who was an Aquarian in the Age of Pisces, gave an intellectual interpretation to what other men saw literally, pointing out that the spiritual passover had to do with passing over earthly passions. Jesus, when he knew the hour had come for the completion of his work and the glorification of his father to whom he ever clung, withdrew with the few into the Garden of Gethsemane. He did not choose them, he said. They chose him. He withdrew with them and there they all used the time for true prayer to the God within. Jesus had taught, Go into thy closet and pray to thy father who is in secret, and that The Kingdom of God is within you. This was the mode of prayer which he revealed and exemplified to those who were ready for initiation into the Mysteries. Many tried but only few stayed with it. Even among those few there was a Peter, who would thrice deny Jesus. There was the traitor, Judas, who had already left the last supper that evening, having been told, That thou doest, do quickly. Some among the faithful spent their time in purification. Were they, at that point, engaged in self-purification for their own benefit? What had Jesus taught them? Could one man separate himself from any other? He had told those who wanted to stone the adulteress, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. He had told them not to judge anyone else, but to wait for true judgment. Because they had received a sublime privilege, about which other men subsequently argued for centuries and produced myriad heresies and sects, in their case the judgment involved their compassionate concern to do the sacred Work of the Father for the sake of all. The Garden of Gethsemane is always here. It is a place very different from the Wailing Wall where people gnash their teeth and weep for themselves or their tribal ancestors. The Garden of Gethsemane is wherever on earth men and women want to cleanse themselves for the sake of being more humane in their relations with others. Nor was the crucifixion only true of Jesus and those two thieves, one of whom wanted to have a miracle on his behalf while the other accepted the justice of the law of the day, receiving punishment for offenses that he acknowledged openly. Every man participates in that crucifixion. This much may be learnt from the great mystics and inspired poets across two thousand years. Christos is being daily, hourly, every moment crucified within the cross of every human being. There are too few on earth who are living up to the highest possibility of god-like wisdom, love and compassion, let alone who can say that in them the spirit of Truth, the Paraclete, manifests. Who has the courage to chase the money-changers of petty thoughts and paltry desires from the Temple of the universal Spirit, not through hatred of the money-changers, but through a love in his heart for the Restoration of the Temple? Who has the courage to say openly what all men recognize inwardly when convenient, or when drunk, or when among friends whom they think they trust? Who is truly a man? How many men are there heroically suffering? Not only do we know that God is not mocked and that as we sow, so shall we reap, but we also realize that the Garden of Gethsemane is difficult to reach. Nonetheless, it may be sought by any and every person who wants to avoid the dire tragedy of self-annihilation. Indeed, there are many such people all around who barely survive from day to day because of their own self-hatred, self-contempt and despair, and who tremble on the brink of moral death. We live in terribly tragic times, and therefore there is no one who cannot afford to take a little pause for the sake of making the burden of one’s presence easier for one’s wife or husband, for one’s children, or for one’s neighbours. Each needs a time of reexamination, a time for true repentance, a time for Christ-like resolve. The Garden of Gethsemane is present wherever there is genuineness, determination and honesty. Above all, it is where there is the joyous recognition that, quite apart from yesterday and tomorrow, right now a person can create so strong a current of thought that it radically affects the future. He could begin now, and acquire in time a self-sustaining momentum. But this cannot be done without overcoming the karmic gravity of all the self- destructive murders of human beings that he has participated in on the plane of thought, on the plane of feeling, especially on the plane of words, and also, indirectly, on the plane of outward action. If the Garden of Gethsemane did not exist, no persecuting Saul could ever become a Paul. Such is the great hope and the glad tiding. As Origen said, Saul had to be killed before Paul could be born. St. Francis who was a simple crusader had to die before the Saint of Assisi could be born. Because all men have free will, no man can transform himself without honest and sincere effort. Hence, after setting out the nature of the Gods, the Fathers of the human race, H.P. Blavatsky spoke of the conditions of probation of incarnated souls seeking resurrection:
. . . every true Theosophist holds that the divine HIGHER SELF of every mortal man is of the same essence as the essence of these Gods. Being, moreover, endowed with free-will, hence having, more than they, responsibility, we regard the incarnated EGO as far superior to, if not more divine than, any spiritual INTELLIGENCE still awaiting incarnation. Philosophically, the reason for this is obvious, and every metaphysician of the Eastern school will understand it. The incarnated EGO has odds against it which do not exist in the case of a pure divine Essence unconnected with matter; the latter has no personal merit, whereas the former is on his way to final perfection through the trials of existence, of pain and suffering.
It is up to each one to decide whether to make this suffering constructive, these trials meaningful, these tribulations a golden opportunity for self-transformation and spiritual resurrection. If this decision is not made voluntarily during life, it is thrust upon each ego at death. Every human being has to pass at the moment of death, according to the wisdom of the ancients, to a purgatorial condition in which there is a separation of the immortal individuality. It is like a light which is imprisoned during waking life, a life which is a form of sleep within the serpent coils of matter. This god within is clouded over by the fog of fear, superstition and confusion, and all but the pure in heart obscure the inner light by their demonic deceits and their ignorant denial of the true heart. Every human being needs to cast out this shadow, just as he would throw away an old garment, says Krishna, or just as he would dump into a junkyard an utterly unredeemable vehicle. Any and every human being has to do the same on the psychological plane. Each is in the same position. He has to discard the remnants, but the period for this varies according to each person. This involves what is called ‘the mathematics of the soul.’ Figures are given to those with ears to hear, and there is a great deal of detailed application to be made.
Was Jesus exempt from this? He wanted no exception. He had taken the cross. He had become one with other men, constantly taking on their limitations, exchanging his finer life-atoms for their gross life-atoms — the concealed thoughts, the unconscious hostilities, the chaotic feelings, the ambivalences, the ambiguities, the limitations of all. He once said, My virtue has gone out of me, when the hem of his garment was touched by a woman seeking help, but does this mean that he was exposed only when he physically encountered other human beings? The Gospel According to John makes it crisply clear, since it is the most mystical and today the most meaningful of the four gospels, that this was taking place all the time. It not only applies to Jesus. It takes place all the time for every person, often unknown to oneself. But when it is fully self-conscious, the pain is greater, such as when a magnanimous Adept makes a direct descent from his true divine estate, leaving behind his finest elements, like Surya the sun in the myth who cuts off his lustre for the sake of entering into a marriage with Sanjna, coming into the world, and taking on the limitations of all. The Initiator needs the three days in the tomb, but these three days are metaphorical. They refer to what is known in the East as a necessary gestation state when the transformation could be made more smoothly from the discarded vehicle which had been crucified.
People tend to fasten upon the wounds and the blood, even though, as Titian’s painting portrays clearly, the tragedy of Jesus was not in the bleeding wounds but in the ignorance and self-limitation of the disciples. He had promised redemption to anyone and everyone who was true to him, which meant, he said, to love each other. He had washed the feet of the disciples, drawn them together, given them every opportunity so that they would do the same for each other. He told them that they need only follow this one commandment. We know how difficult it is for most people today to love one another, to work together, to pull together, to cooperate and not compete, to add and not subtract, to multiply and serve, not divide and rule. This seems very difficult especially in a hypocritical society filled with deceit and lies. What are children to say when their parents ask them to tell the truth and they find themselves surrounded by so many lies? In the current cycle the challenge is most pointed and poignant. More honesty is needed, more courage, more toughness — this time for the sake of all mankind. One cannot leave it to a future moment for some pundits in theological apologetics and theosophical hermeneutics to say this cycle was only for some chosen people. Every single part of the world has to be included and involved.
The teaching of Jesus was a hallowed communication of insights, a series of sacred glimpses, rather than a codification of doctrine. He presented not a summa theologica or ethica, but the seminal basis from which an endless series of summae could be conceived. He initiated a spiritual current of sacred dialogue, individual exploration and communal experiment in the quest for divine wisdom. He taught the beauty of acquiescence and the dignity of acceptance of suffering — a mode appropriate to the Piscean Age. He showed salvation through love, sacrifice and faith — of the regenerated psyche that cleaves to the light of nous. He excelled in being all things to all men while remaining utterly true to himself and to his ‘Father in Heaven.’ He showed a higher respect for the Temple than its own custodians. At the same time he came to found a new kind of kingdom and to bring a message of joy and hope. He came to bear witness to the Kingdom of Heaven during life’s probationary ordeal on earth. He vivified by his own luminous sacrifice the universal human possibility of divine self-consecration, the beauty of beatific devotion to the Transcendental Source of Divine Wisdom — the Word Made Flesh celebrating the Verbum In the Beginning.
Above all, there was the central paradox that his mission had to be vindicated by its failure, causing bewilderment among many of his disciples, while intuitively understood only by the very few who were pure in heart and strong in devotion, blessed by the vision of the Ascension. After three days in the tomb, Jesus, in the guise of a gardener, said to a poor, disconsolate Mary Magdalene, Mary! At once she looked back because she recognized the voice, and she said, Rabboni — “My Master” — and fell at his feet. Then he said, Touch me not. Here is a clue to his three days in the tomb. The work of permanent transmutation of life-atoms, of transfiguration of vehicles, was virtually complete. He then said, Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God. Subsequently he appeared three times to his disciples.
Jesus gave the greatest possible confidence to all his disciples by ever paying them the most sacred compliment, telling them that they were children of God. But, still, if a person thinks that he is nothing, or thinks that he is the greatest sinner on earth, how can the compassion and praise of Jesus have meaning for him? Each person has to begin to see himself undramatically as one of many sinners and say, “My sins are no different from those of anyone else.” The flesh is weak but pneuma, the spirit, is willing. And pneuma has to do with breath. The whole of The Gospel According to John is saturated with the elixir of the breathing-in and breathing-out by Jesus of the life-infusing current that gives every man a credible faith in his promise and possibility, and, above all, a living awareness of his immortality, which he can self-consciously realize when freed from mis-identification with his mortal frame.
The possibility of resurrection has to do with identification and mis-identification. This is the issue not for just a few but for all human beings who, in forgetfulness, tend to think that they are what their enemies think, or that they are what their friends want them to be. At one time men talked of the Imago Dei. We now live in a society that constantly deals in diabolical images and the cynical corruption of image-making, a nefarious practice unfamiliar in simpler societies which still enjoy innocent psychic health. Even more, people now engage in image-crippling — the most heinous of crimes. At one time men did it openly, with misguided courage. They pulled down statues and defaced idols. They paid for it and are still paying. Perhaps those people were reborn in this society. That is sad because they are condemning themselves to something worse than hell — not only the hell of loneliness and despair — but much worse. The light is going out for many a human being. The Mahatmas have always been with us. They have always abundantly sent forth benedictory vibrations. They are here on earth where they have always had their asylums and their ashrams. Under cyclic law they are able to use precisely prepared forums and opportunities to re-erect or resurrect the mystery temples of the future. Thus, at this time, everybody is stirred up by the crucial issue of identity — which involves the choice between the living and the dead, between entelechy and self-destruction.
The central problem in The Gospel According to John, which Paul had to confront in giving his sermon on the resurrection, has to do with life and with death. What is life for one man is not life to another. Every man or woman today has to raise the question, “What does it mean for me to be alive, to breathe, to live for the sake of others, to live within the law which protects all but no one in particular?” Whoever truly identifies with the limitless and unconditional love of Jesus and with the secret work of Jesus which he veiled in wordless silence, is lit up. Being lit up, one is able to see the divine Buddha-nature, the light vesture of Buddha. The disciples in the days of Buddha, and so again in the days of Jesus, were able to see the divine raiment made of the most homogeneous pure essence of universal Buddhi. Immaculately conceived and unbegotten, it is Daiviprakriti, the Light of the Logos. Every man at all times has such a garment, but it is covered over. Therefore, each must sift and select the gold from the dross. The more a person does this truly and honestly, the more the events of what we call life can add up before the moment of death. They can have a beneficent impact upon the mood and the state of mind in which one departs. A person who is wise in this generation will so prepare his meditation that at the moment of death he may read or have read out those passages in the Bhagavad Gita, The Voice of the Silence, or The Gospel According to St. John, that are exactly relevant to what is needed. Then he will be able to intone the Word, which involves the whole of one’s being and breathing, at the moment when he may joyously discard his mortal garment. It has been done, and it is being done. It can be done, and it will be done. Anyone can do it, but in these matters there is no room for chance or deception, for we live in a universe of law. Religion can be supported now by science, and to bring the two together in the psychology of self-transformation one needs true philosophy, the unconditional love of wisdom.
The crucifixion of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection had little reference to himself, any more than any breath he took during his life. Thus, in the Gospel, we read that Jesus promises that when he will be gone from the world, he will send the Paraclete. This archaic concept has exercised the pens of many scholars. What is the Paraclete? What does it mean? ‘Comforter’? ‘The Spirit of Truth’? Scholars still do not claim to know. The progress made in this century is in the honest recognition that they do not know, whereas in the nineteenth century they quarreled, hurled epithets at each other out of arrogance, with a false confidence that did not impress anyone for long. The times have changed, and this is no moment for going back to the pseudo-complacency of scholasticism, because today it would be false, though at one time it might have had some understandable basis. Once it might have seemed a sign of health and could have been a pardonable and protective illusion. Today it would be a sign of sickness because it would involve insulting the intelligence of many young people, men and women, Christian, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, but also Buddhist, Hindu, Moslem, Sikh, and every other kind of denomination. No one wants to settle for the absurdities of the past, but all nonetheless want a hope by which they may live and inherit the future, not only for themselves or their descendants, but for all living beings.
This, then, is a moment when people must ask what would comfort the whole of mankind. What did Jesus think would be a way of comforting all? Archetypally, The Gospel According to John is speaking in this connection of the mystery temple, where later all the sad failures of Christianity took place. This is the light and the fire that must be kept alive for the sake of all. Who, we may ask, will joyously and silently maintain it intact? Who will be able to say, as the dying Latimer said in Oxford in 1555, “We shall this day light such a candle . . . as I trust shall never be put out.” Jesus was confident that among his disciples there were those who had been set afire by the flames that streamed through him. He was the Hotri, ‘the indispensable agent’ for the universal Alkahest, the elixir of life and immortality. He was the fig tree that would bear fruit, but he predicted that there would be fig trees that would bear no fruit. He was referring to the churches that have nothing to say, nothing real to offer, and above all, do not care that much for the lost Word or the world’s proletariat, or the predicament and destiny of the majority of mankind.
His confidence was that which came to him, like everything in his life, from the Father, the Paraguru, the Lord of Libations, who, with boundless love for all, sustains in secret the eternal contemplation, together with the two Bodhisattvas — one whose eye sweeps over slumbering earth, and the other whose hand is extended in protecting love over the heads of his ascetics. Jesus spoke in the name of the Great Sacrifice. He spoke of the joy in the knowledge that there were a few who had become potentially like the leaven that could lift the whole lump, who had become true Guardians of the Eternal Fires. These are the vestal fires of the mystery temple which had disappeared in Egypt, from which the exodus took place. They had disappeared from Greece, though periodically there were attempts to revive them, such as those by Pythagoras at Delphi. They were then being poured into a new city called Jerusalem. In a sense, the new Comforter was the New Jerusalem, but it was not just a single city nor was it merely for people of one tribe or race.
Exoterically, the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 63 B.C. by Pompey and was rebuilt. Later it was razed to the ground again in 70 A.D. Since the thirteenth century no temple has been in existence there at all because that city has been for these past seven hundred years entirely in the hands of those who razed the old buildings and erected minarets and mosques. Now, people wonder if there really ever was a true Jerusalem, for everywhere is found the Babylon of confusion. Today it is not Origen who speaks to us, but Celsus, on behalf of all Epicureans. Everyone is tempted, like Lot’s wife, to be turned into salt by fixing their attention upon the relics and memories of the past long after they have vanished into the limbo of dissolution and decay.
Anyone, however, who has an authentic soul-vision is El Mirador. Jesus knew that the vision, entrusted to the safekeeping of a few, would inspire them to lay the basis of what would continue, because of what they did, despite all the corruption and the ceaseless crucifixion. Even today, two thousand years later, when we hear of the miracle of the limitless love of Jesus, when we hear the words he spoke, when we read about and find comfort in what he did, we are deeply stirred. We are abundantly grateful because in us is lit the chela-light of true reverential devotion to the Christos within. This helps us to see all the Christs of history, unknown as well as renowned, as embodiments of the One and Only — the One without a Second, in the cryptic language of the Upanishads. When this revelation takes place and is enjoyed inwardly, there are glad tidings, because it is on the invisible plane that the real work is done. Most people are fixated on the visible and want to wait for fruits from trees planted by other men. There are a few, however, who have realized the comfort to be derived in the true fellowship of those who seek the kingdom of God within themselves, who wish to become the better able to help and teach others, and who will be true in their faith from now until the twenty-first century. Some already have been using a forty-year calendar.
There have been such persons before us. Pythagoras called them Heroes. Buddha called them, Shravakas, true listeners, and Shramanas, true learners. Then there were some who became Srotapattis, ‘those who enter the stream,’ and among them were a few Anagamin, ‘those who need never return on earth again involuntarily.’ There were also those who were Arhans of boundless vision, Perfected Men, Bodhisattvas, endlessly willing to re-enter the cave, having taken the pledge of Kwan-Yin to redeem every human being and all sentient life.
Nothing less than such a vow can resurrect the world today. These times are very different from the world at the time of John because in this age outward forms are going to give no clues in relation to the work of the formless. Mankind has to grow up. We find Origen saying this in the early part of the third century and Philo saying the same even in the first century. Philo, who was a Jewish scholar and a student of Plato, was an intuitive intellectual, while Origen, who had studied the Gnostics and considered various philosophical standpoints, was perhaps more of a mystic or even an ecstatic. Both knew that the Christos could only be seen by the eye of the mind. If therefore thine eye be single, Jesus said, thy whole body shall be full of Light. Those responding with the eyes of the body could never believe anything because, as Heraclitus said, “Eyes are bad witnesses to the soul.” The eyes of the body must be tutored by the eye of the mind. Gupta Vidya also speaks of the eye of the heart and the eye in the forehead — the eye of Wisdom-Compassion. Through it, by one’s own love, one will know the greater love. By one’s own compassion one will know the greater compassion. By one’s own ignorance one will recognize the ignorance around and seek the privilege of recognition of the Paraclete. Then, when the eye becomes single in its concentration upon the welfare of all, the body will become full of the light of the Christos. Once unveiled at the fundamental level of causality, it makes a man or woman an eternal witness to the true resurrection of the Son of Man into the highest mansions of the Father.
It has come to my attention that a very strange idea is spreading in modern occultism. Because I just don’t have the time or the mental energy to endure most occult groups on Facebook, or Wit […]
By Adam J. Pearson (2024) The Kybalion: Hermetic Philosophy by “Three Initiates.” First Edition. 1908. A.1. Introduction: Unveiling The Mind(s) Behind the Doctrine of Mind Published in […]
There is in every single human being the embryo of this ideal man of meditation, and we can at least imagine what it would be like for such a being to be present somewhere in our midst, if not in ourselves. We also can recognize that we have our own share in the desperate demand for psychological survival. In this way we restore an integrity to our own quest and are somewhat deserving of that illumination which will take hold in our consciousness in relation to the great and priceless teaching. We might begin to wonder whether perhaps there is a golden chord that connects the golden sphere of a man of meditation and the complex intermediary realms in which he must, by pain and anguish and awakening, by knitting together minute golden moments rescued from a great deal of froth and self-deception, come to know himself. If there were not a fundamental connection between meditation and self-study, something of the uniquely precious wisdom in this great text would be lost to us. When we begin to realize this in our lives, we come to appreciate that, while we may not be in a position to make judgments about teachers and schools in a vast and largely unrecorded history or in our own time, nonetheless we do know that there is something profoundly important in stressing both meditation and self-study, in bringing the two together. We must reconcile what looked like a pair of opposites and get beyond despair to something else which allows an existential and dynamic balance between meditation and self-study. This is the quality of compassion. It is in the heart of every human being in his response to human pain, and brings him truly into the fellowship of those Beings of Boundless Compassion.
A man is a Buddha before he seeks to become a Buddha. He is a Buddha potentially. The Buddha at one time must have had a desire to become a Buddha, to understand human pain. The Buddha vow is holy because it is a vow taken on behalf of all. There is in everyone the capacity to want something for the sake of all, and also honestly to want it for oneself. In this there is an authentic mirroring, in every human heart, of the highest, the holiest and the most pregnant of beginnings of the quest. There are many beginnings, many failures, and many seeming endings. The quest itself, since it applies to all beings and not only to any one man, is beginningless and endless. It is universal, since any individual quest in this direction becomes at some point merged into the collective quest. Put in poetical form, or recognized in the simplest feelings, there is something metaphysically important and philosophically fundamental to the connection between meditation or self-transcendence, and the kind of self-study which makes true self-actualization possible. There is a way in which a man can both be out of this world and in this world, can forget himself and yet be more truly himself. These paradoxes of language are difficult to explain at one level and yet we all know them to be the paradoxes of our very lives. In our moments of greatest loneliness we suddenly find a surprising capacity to come closer to beings far removed from us, men of different races and alienated groups in pain. Then we come to feel a brotherhood that is so profound that it could never be secured in any other way. These are part of the everyday experience of mankind.
Here we touch on a crucial emphasis, maintained sedulously by the Gelukpa tradition of Tibet, which affirms that unless you spend sufficient time in refining, studying and purifying your motive, in using compassion as fuel to generate the energy needed to take off and land, you should not begin to rush into meditation. It is a slow school, but it greets the aspirant in the name of all. It scorns powers and the notion of one man becoming a superman in isolation from the quest of other men. Making no promises or claims, it does not insult our intelligence by promising us something to be attained without effort.
Are we not old enough in history to be somewhat apprehensive of schools that promise too much and too soon, when we know that this does not work in any sphere of life? Would we go to some local, loud-talking musician who tells us that he could make us as good as Casals in a week? Would we even take him seriously? We might go to him out of fun or sympathy or curiosity. Why in the most sacred of all realms should we be misled? Is it because of our impatience, our feeling of unworthiness, an advance fear of failure? These questions throw us back upon ourselves. In raising them, in probing our own standpoint at the original moment of the beginning of the quest, we make discoveries about ourselves. They are very profound and important, as they may sum up for us a great deal of the past. They would also be crucial in the future where we may come to sense the supreme relevance all along the way, when it is hard and rough, of what Merlin said to Arthur: “Go back to the original moment.” If one could understand the fullness of what is anticipated in that original moment of our quest, one could trace the whole curve of our growth that is likely to emerge, with its ups and downs. Yet it cannot tell all as long as there are unknown depths of potentiality and free will in a human being.
A statement in The Morning of the Magicians suggests that so long as men want something for nothing, money without work, knowledge without study, power without knowledge, virtue without some form of asceticism, so long will a thousand pseudo-initiatory societies flourish, imitating the truly secret language of the ‘technicians of the sacred.’ There must be some reason why the integrity of the quest requires that no false flattery be made to the weaker side in every man. The Voiceof the Silence tells us early on: “Give up thy life, if thou would’st live.” That side of you which is afraid, which wants to be cajoled and flattered and promised, which would like an insurance policy, must go, must die. It is only in that dying that you will discover yourself. We all limit ourselves. We engage in a collective act of daily self-denigration of mankind. We impose, in addition to our tangible problems, imaginary and insurmountable difficulties owing to our dogmatic insistence on the finality of our limitations.
The Wisdom-Religion is transmitted so as to restore in the human being, and collectively in the world, the reality of the perfectibility of man, the assurance that men are gods, that any man is capable of reaching the apex, and that the difference between a Buddha or a Christ and any one of us is a difference of degree and not of kind. At the same time it shows that the slaying of the dragon, the putting of the demon under the foot, the command of the sovereign will of the Adept, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” are heroic deeds every one of us could accomplish. Potential gods could also become kings. Every man could be a king in his own republic, but he can only become a king and eventually a god if he first experiences the thrill of affirming what it is to be a man — man qua man, one who partakes of the glory, the potentiality, the promise and the excellence of human nature, one who shares points of contact with the mightiest man of meditation. He must understand what the power of his thought can do, and discern a connection between the imagination of children and the disciplined imagination of perfected teachers.
With this exalted view of the individual embodiment of the collective potentialities of man, a person can say, “I’m proud to be a man and man enough to give myself a minimum of dignity. I’m willing to be tried, to be tough, to go through a discipline. I’m willing to become a disciple, and dissipate that portion of myself which is pretentious, but which is also my problem and my burden — like the donkey the man carries on his back in the Japanese fable — instead of making it an ever-lengthening shadow by walking away from the sun. I can make that shadow shrink by walking towards the sun, the Logos reflected in the great teachers, which is real and in me and every single living being.” This is a great affirmation. To make it is profoundly important. It is to affirm in this day and age that it is meaningful for a man to give up lesser pretensions and engage in what may look like presumption, but is really an assertion in his life that he can appreciate the prerogative of what it is to be a manushya, a man, a self-conscious being. That is a great step on the path of progressive steps in meditation and self-study.
So far all that has been said is about beginnings, but this really is an arena where the first step seems to be the most difficult. Also, it is a matter of how you define the first step. An analogy may be made here with our experience in the engineering of flying machines. The designs were there; the diagrams were there; the equations were there; the knowledge of what is involved in maintaining a jet engine at high altitudes was there. The tough part was the take-off and landing problem. We now know more widely, in an age when people turn in desperation to a variety of drugs, that it is very difficult to have control over entry into the higher states of consciousness in a manner that will assure a smooth re-entry into ordinary life. It is because of the take-off and landing problem that we need both to be very clear about our beginnings and also to see the whole quest as a re-sharpening of the integrity of the beginning, in relation to meditation and self-study.
In the Gelukpa schools one would be told to spend a lot of time expanding compassion but also meditating on meditation. What is one going to meditate on? Meditate on meditation itself. Meditate on men of meditation. In other words, the more you try to meditate, the more you realize that meditation is elusive. But this is an insight that protects you from self-deception. Ultimately, the entire universe is an embodiment of collective mind. Meditation in its fullness is that creative power of the Platonic Demiurge, of the Hindu Visvakarman, of the Logos of the Gnostics, which could initiate a whole world. That initiation or inauguration of a world is a representation of the mighty power of meditation. You can become, says The Voice of the Silence, one with the power of All-Thought, but you cannot do so until you have expelled every particular thought from your mind-soul. Here is the philosophical and cosmic basis of meditation in its fullness. All meditations can only be stepping stones towards a larger meditation. What will give us a gauge of the quality, strength and meaningfulness of our power to meditate, and of our particular meditations, is our ability to harvest in the realm of self-knowledge that which can be tested in our knowledge and understanding of all other selves. To put this in another way, if to love one person unconditionally is so difficult for us, how extraordinarily remote from us seems to be the conception of those beings who can unconditionally love all living beings. We cannot do it even with one. Now someone might say, “No, but I can do it with one or a few sufficiently to understand in principle what it would be like to do it for all.” Someone else might say, “Oh, when I look at my life I find that I don’t know what it is fully to love any one, but I do know that somewhere in my loneliness and pain I feel the closeness of anonymous faces, a silent bond of brotherhood between myself and many others.”
There are different ways by which we could see in ourselves the embryo of that boundless love and compassion which is the fruit of self-knowledge at its height, where a man becomes self-consciously a universal embodiment of the Logos, having no sense of identity except in the very act of mirroring universal light.
There must be a tremendous integrity to a teaching and discipline which says that every step counts, that every failure can be used, and that the ashes of your failures will be useful in regrafting and rejuvenating what is like a frail tree that has to be replanted again and again. But the tree one is planting is the tree of immortality. One is trying to bring down into the lesser vehicles of the more differentiated planes of matter the glorious vesture of immortality, which showed more clearly when one was a baby, which one saluted in the first cry of birth, and of which one becomes somewhat aware at the moment of death.
There is a hint at the moments of birth and death, something like an intimation of the hidden glory of man, but during life one is not so awake. This becomes a problem of memory and forgetfulness. The chain of decline is started. It was classically stated in the second chapter of the Gita: “He who attendeth to the inclinations of the senses, in them hath a concern; from this concern is created passion, from passion anger, from anger is produced delusion, from delusion a loss of the memory, from the loss of memory loss of discrimination, and from loss of discrimination loss of all!” Every man is fragmenting himself, spending himself, limiting himself, finitizing himself, localizing himself, to such a degree, with such an intensity and irregularity, and such a frenetic, feverish restlessness, that he is consuming himself. Physiologically, we know that we cannot beat the clocktime processes of the changes in the physical body. Therefore we cannot expect to find the elixir of immortality on the physical plane. But we all know that by attending to the very process of growth and change, and by awareness of what happens to us in sickness, that we do have some control and can make a difference by our very attitude and acceptance of the process. If you are very ill, by worrying about it you are going to make yourself worse, but there are people who are really quite ill, who by acceptance have gained something of the aroma of well-being.
These are everyday facts having analogues and roots in a causal realm of ideation and creative imagination which gives shape and form to the subtle vehicle, through which a transmission could take place of the immortal, indestructible and inexhaustible light of the Logos which is in every man and came into the world with every child. It is the radiance of Shekinah, the nur of Allah, the light of St. John. It is a light that looks like darkness and is not to be mistaken for those things that have a glamour on the sensory plane. To bring it down or make it transmit through the causal realm and become a living tejas or light-energy issuing forth from the fingers and all the windows and apertures of the human body is, of course, asking for a great deal. But what one is asking is meaningful, and we have got to try to understand.
The newest method for working with the 72 angelic names of the Shemhamphorash now revealed on Pansophers.com with an invitation to join a working group HERE […]
Hello, Isiacs. I’m reposting this because, well, it’s that time of year and this question must be answered. Again. Every year, at about this time, one post on this blog starts to get a […]
The five fold kiss is series of ritual kisses given at initiation, and as a portion of the Great Rite ceremony. The kiss is usually done male to female, or female to male, though this is not always the case. It is only performed within the circle. It is also a ceremony that is sometimes ritually acted out between the High Priestess and Priest to mark the respect shown between the God and Goddess.
*FEMALE
The High Priest kneels before the High Priestess and gives her the Five Fold Kiss; that is, he kisses her on both feet, both knees, womb, both breasts, and the lips, starting with the right of each pair. He says, as he does this:
“Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these way
Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar.
Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be.
Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty.
Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Name”
For the kiss on the lips, they embrace, length-to-length, with their feet touching each others. When he reaches the womb, she spreads her arms wide, and the same after the kiss on the lips.
*MALE
The High Priestess kneels before the High Priest and gives him the Five Fold Kiss; that is, she kisses him on both feet, both knees, phallus, both breasts, and the lips, starting with the right of each pair. she says, as she does this:
“Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways.
Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar.
Blessed be thy phallus, without which we would not be.
Blessed be thy breasts, formed in strength
Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names.”
For the kiss on the lips, they embrace, length-to-length, with their feet touching each others. When she reaches the phallus, he spreads his arms wide, and the same after the kiss on the lips.
-Farrar, Janet and Stewart; “Eight Sabbats For Witches”; Robert Hale 1983
Since, then, the soul is immortal and has been born many times, since it has seen all things both in this world and in the other, there is nothing it has not learnt. No wonder, then, that it is able to recall to mind goodness and other things, for it knew them beforehand. For, as all reality is akin and the soul has learnt all things, there is nothing to prevent a man who has recalled — or, as people say, ‘learnt’ — only one thing from discovering all the rest for himself, if he will pursue the search with unwearying resolution. For on this showing all inquiry or learning is nothing but recollection.
Plato
Anamnesis is true soul-memory, intermittent access to the divine wisdom within every human being as an immortal Triad. All self-conscious monads have known over countless lifetimes a vast host of subjects and objects, modes and forms, in an ever-changing universe. Assuming a complex series of roles as an essential part of the endless process of learning, the soul becomes captive recurrently to myriad forms of maya and moha, illusion and delusion. At the same time, the soul has the innate and inward capacity to cognize that it is more than any and all of these masks. As every incarnated being manifests a poor, pale caricature of himself — a small, self-limiting and inverted reflection of one’s inner and divine nature — the ancient doctrine of anamnesis is vital to comprehend human nature and its hidden possibilities. Given the fundamental truth that all human beings have lived many times, initiating diverse actions in intertwined chains of causation, it necessarily follows that everyone has the moral and material environment from birth to death which is needed for self-correction and self-education. But who is it that has this need? Not the shadowy self or false egoity which merely reacts to external stimuli. Rather, there is that eye of wisdom in every person which in deep sleep is fully awake and which has a translucent awareness of self-consciousness as pure primordial light.
We witness intimations of immortality in the pristine light in the innocent eye of every baby, as well as in the wistful eye of every person near the moment of death. It seems that the individual senses that life on earth is largely an empty masquerade, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nevertheless, there is a quiet joy in the recognition that one is fully capable of gaining some apprehension not only of the storied past but also of the shrouded future by a flashing perception of his unmodified, immutable divine essence. If one has earned this through a lifetime of meditation, one may attain at the moment of withdrawal from the body a healing awareness of the reality behind the dense proscenium of the earth’s drama.
Soul-memory is essentially different from what is ordinarily called memory. Most of the time the mind is clouded by a chaotic association of images and ideas that impinge upon it from outside. Very few human beings, however, are in a position to make full use of the capacity for creative thinking. They simply cannot fathom what it is like to be a thinking being, to be able to deliberate calmly and to think intently on their own. Automatic cerebration is often mistaken for primary thinking. To understand this distinction, one must look at the fundamental relation between oneself as a knower and the universe as a field of knowledge. Many souls gain fleeting glimpses of the process of self-enquiry when they are stilled by the panoramic vistas of Nature, silenced by the rhythmic ocean, or alone amidst towering mountains. Through the sudden impact of intense pain and profound suffering they may be thrown back upon themselves and be compelled to ask, “What is the meaning of all of this?” “Who am I?” “Why was I born?” “When will I die?” “Can I do that which will now lend a simple credence to my life, a minimal dignity to my death?”
Pythagoras and Plato taught the Eastern doctrine of the spontaneous unfolding from within of the wisdom of the soul. Soul-wisdom transcends all formal properties and definable qualities, as suggested in the epistemology, ethics and science of action of the Bhagavad Gita. It is difficult for a person readily to generate and release an effortless balancing of the three dynamic qualities of Nature — sattva, rajas and tamas — or to see the entire cosmos as a radiant garment of the divine Self. He needs to ponder calmly upon the subtle properties of the gunas, their permutations and combinations. Sattvic knowledge helps the mind to meditate upon the primordial ocean of pure light, the bountiful sea of milk in the old Hindu myths. The entire universe is immersed in a single sweeping cosmic process. Even though we seem to see a moving panorama of configurations, colours and forms, sequentiality is illusory. Behind all passing forms there are innumerable constellations of minute, invisible and ultimately indivisible particles, whirling and revolving in harmonic modes of eternal circular motion. A person can learn to release anamnesis to make conscious and creative use of modes of motion governing the life-atoms that compose the variegated universe of his immortal and mortal vestures.
The timeless doctrine of spiritual self-knowledge in the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita suggests that human beings are not in the false position of having to choose between perfect omniscience and total nescience. Human beings participate in an immense hinterland of differentiation of the absolute light reflected within modes of motion of matter. To grow up is to grasp that one cannot merely oscillate between extremes. Human thought too often involves the violence of false negation — leaping from one kind of situation to the exact opposite rather than seeing life as a fertile field for indefinite growth. This philosophical perspective requires us to think fundamentally in terms of the necessary relation between the knower and the known. Differences in the modalities of the knowable are no more and no less important than divergences in the perceptions and standpoints of knowers. The universe may be seen for what it is — a constellation of self-conscious beings and also a vast array of elemental centres of energy — devas and devatas all of which participate in a ceaseless cosmic dance that makes possible the sacrificial process of life for each and every single human being. If one learns that there are degrees within degrees of reflected light, then one sees the compelling need to gain the faculty of divine discrimination (viveka). That is the secret heart of the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.
The Gita is a jewelled essay in Buddhi Yoga. Yoga derives from the root yog, ‘to unite’, and centres upon the conscious union of the individual self and the universal Self. The trinity of Nature is the lock of magic, and the trinity of Man is the sole key, and hence the grace of the Guru. This divine union may be understood at early stages in different ways. It could be approached by a true concern for anasakti, selfless action and joyous service, the precise performance of duties and a sacrificial involvement in the work of the world. It may also be attempted through the highest form of bhakti or devotion, in concentrating and purifying one’s whole being so as to radiate an unconditional, constant and consistent truth, a pure, intense and selfless feeling of love. And it must also summon forth true knowledge through altruistic meditation. Jnana and dhyanado not refer to the feeble reflections of the finite and fickle mind upon the finite and shadowy objects of an ever-evolving world, but rather point to that enigmatic process of inward knowing wherein the knower and the known become one, fused in transcendent moments of compassionate revelation. The pungent but purifying commentary by Dnyaneshvari states in myriad simple metaphors the profoundest teaching of the Gita. In offering numerous examples from daily life, Dnyaneshvari wants to dissolve the idea that anything or any being can be known through a priori categories that cut up the universe into watertight compartments and thereby limit and confine consciousness. The process of true learning merges disparate elements separated only because of the looking-glass view of the inverted self which mediates between the world and ourselves in a muddled manner. The clearest perception of sattva involves pure ideation.
Frontpiece of the oldest known treatise on the Mensa Isiaca; first edition 1605; Lorenzo put himself in the picture as the artist/scholar Part 2 A Mysterious Artifact At about the time we first hea […]
Grand Temple of Horus Behdety 