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“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” September/October 2000—$5.00 MEDITATION: THE PURIFICATION OF LOVE, FROM THE “GROUND UP” THE VIRGIN MARYAND THE EVANGELION FOUNDATIONS OF COSMIC CHRISTIANITY: RECURRING ASPECTS OCCULTKNOWLEDGE IN RAPHAEL’S PAINTINGS A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE

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Page 1: MEDITATION: THE PURIFICATION OF LOVE, FROM THE “GROUND … 2… · meditation: the purification of love, from the “ground up” the virgin maryand the evangelion foundations of

“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” September/October 2000—$5.00

MEDITATION: THE PURIFICATION OF LOVE, FROM THE “GROUND UP”THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE EVANGELION

FOUNDATIONS OF COSMIC CHRISTIANITY: RECURRING ASPECTSOCCULT KNOWLEDGE IN RAPHAEL’S PAINTINGS

A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE

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The Law

It is a truth, old as the soul of things—Whatever ye sow, ye reap.It’s the cosmic law that forever springsFrom the unimagined deep.It’s shown in the manifold sorrowingsOf the race; in remorse with its secret sting,That he who grief to his brother brings,In his turn shall some day weep.

To the man who hears his victim cryAnd hardens his heart at the sound,At last a nemesis dread shall riseFrom out of the world profound.

Who sows in selfishness and hate Shall gain his deserts in the years that wait,For slow and remorseless wheels of FateForever turn round and round.

If ye give of mercy and love and light,The same shall return to you;For the standards of right are infiniteAnd the scales of God are true.By its good or evil each life is weighed;In motives and deeds is its record made,When your wages at last fall due.

—Unknown

Above: Engraving (Raphael Instructing Adam and Eve), from Illustrations for “Paradise Lost,” Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Dover Pictorial Archive Series

Front Cover: Autumn scene, Corel Professional Photos. Back Cover: The Coronation of the Virgin, Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510), Uffizi, Florence, Planet Art

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This Issue...Feature

Leaving the Flowers for the Crown...George MacDonald....................................2

EditorialThe Value of Temptation.......................................................................................3

Mystic LightMeditation: The Purification of Love, from the “Ground up”...

Friedrich Rittelmeyer................................................................................4The Mystery of Golgotha—The Defeat of the Ahrimanic;

The Risen One...Valentin Tomberg ..........................................................11The Virgin Mary and the Evangelion—Part 1...C.W. .........................................16The Language of Flowers...Corinne Dunklee.....................................................22The Spiritual Aspect of Birth Control...Maude Edgren and Max Heindel.........24

From Max Heindel’ s WritingsThe Nobility of All Labor ...................................................................................28

Readers’ QuestionsSickness, Pain, and Cosmic Law; the Barren Fig Tree; Changes in Religion;...29Power Over the Animal Kingdom; Manner of Baptism.....................................30

Western W isdom Bible StudyRitual, Repetition, and the Soul Body...Max Heindel.........................................31

AstrologyFoundations of Cosmic Christianity: Recurring Aspects...Robert Powell..........32Wake up America—Stars Over the New Administration...AProbationer..........38Cosmodynes—An Astrological Tool...Allen Edwall..........................................40

Spiritual Science and ArtOccult Knowledge in Raphael’s Paintings...Max Heindel..................................46

News PerspectivesAnimal vs Human “Intelligence”.........................................................................51

Book ReviewsMetaphysical Healing of the Physical...C.W.......................................................52

Nutrition and HealthHeal Thyself...Dr. Edward Bach...........................................................................54

HealingMusic, the Divine Healer...Dorothy B. Cameron................................................58

For ChildrenKing Thrushbeard; The Lady and the Lion...Brothers Grimm...........................59

MiscellaneousThe Law (poem)...Author unknown...........................................Inside front coverLove’s Horoscope (poem)...Henry Victor Morgan.............................................42Paracelsus (poem, excerpt)...Robert Browning...................................................57

“A Sane Mind,A Soft Heart,

A Sound Body”© 2000 The Rosicrucian Fellowship

A Christian Esoteric Magazine

Established byMax Heindel

June 1913

Volume 92, No. 5

September/October—2000USPS 471080—ISSN 0744-432X

Subscription in U.S.: one year, $20.00; twoyears, $38.00. Your Zip Code must containnine (9) digits (five + four). California resi-dents add applicable sales tax to all orders.Canada, Mexico and all other countries: oneyear, $25.00; two years, $43.00. Prices are inU.S. dollars and include postage. Foreign sub-scribers: please check current exchange rates forproper amount. Current single copies: $5.00.Second class postage paid at Oceanside, CA,92049-0713, U.S.A. Postmaster: Send addresschange to Rays from the Rose Cross, P.O. Box713, Oceanside, CA92049-0713, U.S.A.

Writers of published articles are alone responsi-ble for statements made. Typed manuscripts arewelcomed for all departments of theRays.

Issued bi-monthly. Change of address must reachus by the 1st of month preceding any issue. AddressALL correspondence and make ALL remit-tances payable to The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BYTHE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP

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Telephone: (760) 757-6600Fax: (760) 721-3806

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www.rosicrucian.com

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OBEDIENCE

I said, “Let me walk in the field.”He said, “No, walk in the town.”I said, “There are no flowers there.”He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,There is nothing but noise and din.”And He wept as He sent me back.“There is more,” He said; “there is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thickAnd fogs are veiling the sun.”He answered, “Yet souls are sick,And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,And friends will miss me, they say.”He answered, “Choose tonightIf I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.He said, “Is it hard to decide?It will not seem hard in HeavenTo have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,Then set my face to the town;He said: My child, do you yield?Will you leave the flowers for the crown?

Then into His hand went mine;And into my heart came He;And I walk in a light divine,The path I had feared to see.

—George MacDonald

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Leaving the Flowers for the Crown

FEATURE

Oil on canvas, Paul Hippolyte Flandrin, (1856-?)

Christ Mourns Over the City

© B

raun & C

o.

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IN THE EVENING at all events you musttake a portion of Holy Scripture with you inyour thoughts to bed, which you may rumi-nate like a clean animal, and go softly tosleep. But it ought not to be much, but rather

quite a small portion, thoroughly well-ponderedand understood; and when you rise in the morningyou shall find it as a bequest from yesterday.”

How many readers will recognize that we havehere before us a saying of Luther about meditation?He writes it to the pastor in his “ratio vivendi sacro-rum” (how priests ought to live). In this saying, asoften in Luther’s writings, two periods of timemeet. From his Catholic past he had still a connec-tion with meditation, which was practiced veryearnestly in the monasteries. But in this saying acomfortable bourgeois Christianity also revealsitself, which afterwards became the danger ofProtestantism. Not much can be felt in it of theheroic effort, which distinguishes every real medi-tation. Luther indeed knew this heroic effort espe-cially in prayer. But still, it is quite obvious thatsomething else pushes its way in.

And yet the figure of rumination is noteworthy,although the sphere from which it is taken is lowly.In meditation a saying or a picture is actually per-meated with the substance of our own human being,and permeates us with the substance of its ownbeing. The more strongly we are able to meditate,the more does the latter permeation occur. A spiri-tual process of taking in takes place.

It is the same process as in Luther’s picture, onlyupon a higher plane. Therefore many a figure likethis can reveal exactly the right way to meditate.And when one adds “thoroughly well-pondered andunderstood,” that also is something which belongsto true meditation.

Luther’s summons was not, certainly, the impulseto a new age of meditation. But many a one who hasloved, and who still loves, evangelical Christianityin its best form may be helped by the indication thatwe in this place see a new religious age growing outof Luther, which Luther himself could not bring in,but to which there was an approach in him. With thephrase “ruminating like a clean animal,” Luther

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Meditation: The Purification of Lovefrom the “Ground up”

MYSTIC LIGHT

This is the seventh in a series of articles taken from FriedrichRittelmeyer’s Meditation, Guidance of the Inner Life, pub-lished by Floris Books, Edinburgh. Reprinted with permission.

Created by Ariel Agemian exclusively for the Confraternity of the Precious Blood

“In meditation a saying or a picture is actually permeated withthe substance of our own human being, and permeates us withthe substance of its own being. The more strongly we areable to meditate, the more does the latter permeation occur.”

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calls already to the far-off Darwin. Instead of it onemust say “penetrated with being, like an angel” andone would then call up a new age.

Here let us go into the question which a youngreader of these letters who has power in meditationasks, namely, whether meditation immediately onawakening from sleep is not dangerous, becauseman in a horizontal position is quite different fromman in an upright position. Being more in a state ofmetabolism, of change and repair in his system, inthis position he may indeed easily have spiritualexperiences, but they come in a dreamlike way outof his lower life system. This danger is certainlythere, and it is good to be aware of it. In ancientIndia this would have been still more clearly felt.But the result of European [occidental] develop-ment is such that man becomes to a high degreeindependent of outward things, and also of his bod-ily position. The question is simply if one isable tomeditate strongly in a spiritual way when lyingdown. And it is a fact of experience that it is possi-ble to do so, though in most cases not without prac-tice and effort. One will notice oneself that it is ahelp if one at least lays one’s head higher, withoutbringing oneself out of the spiritual mood of thenight. Especially, in so far as one wants to bring thedeeper experiences of the night into one’s con-sciousness, it will be well not to change the bodilyposition too much. Let each seek to find out what ispossible for him. In any case, the right thing is thatthe meditation should take place, not in a con-sciousness below the level of the daily conscious-ness, but in a stronger, more awakened, clearer con-sciousness than the everyday consciousness, or thatit should lead into such a consciousness. And towhat degree the human consciousness can becomeclear and spiritual, one has at first no idea.

This is above all true for the meditations to whichwe are now coming. If the seven “I ams” wereabove all a sanctifying of thought, we now turnespecially to the sanctifying of feeling. What is tak-ing place today to ennoble human feeling? Much isdone unconsciously by art. And it would be possi-ble, from the great works of art to build up a systemof self-training similar to that which we have justbuilt up out of John’s Gospel. He who would dailyallow the Sistine Madonna of Raphael, in color if

possible, to work upon him for five minutes, wouldbe completely changed in three years. The puredivine-humanity of this picture—one can call itnothing else—would pour its essence into him.

If pictures have a very strong action upon the lifeof feeling, yet the strongest pictures, those that actmost powerfully, are the occurrences which thegospels afford us in the form of the acts of Christ.No master in the world has ever painted themworthily. We shall have clearly recognized this atthe end of our studies. But it is perhaps good thatwe must ourselves inwardly picture these scenes.They thus become freer, more stirring, more per-sonal and still richer in mystery than if a master hadfirst passed them through his soul for us.

By nothing can our life of feeling be morecleansed, changed, made divine, than when we gothe old well-trod way through the seven last stationsof Christ’s perfecting. But we go this way quite dif-ferently from the medieval monks. In the clois-ters, before one plunged into the sorrows and resur-rection of Christ, one had first for twelve weeks toallow the twelve preceding chapters of John’sGospel to act upon one. In them, the first five “Iams” were contained. But it is something differ-ent when one has first conquered the “I” for one-self, as we have sought to do. One remains thenmore protected against what is merely feeling, andenters much more into what is spiritual.

Simply because free thinking was still dulled,Christian feeling in the Middle Ages was developedto a height which was marvelously great and pure.That was exactly the task of this period of history.If we wish not to lose this, but to win it anew, it canonly proceed today from the awake, conscious,strong “I,” which the new age has made possible. Inthis way the whole life of feeling receives anothercharacter, a greater spirituality and an inclusivenessof the world.

If we look at our life of feeling, we soon seeclearly that it is very much in need of cleansing andof self-training. And out of the feeling proceeds thewill. Although the life of feeling seems to be verymuch our own individual possession, entirely shutup in ourselves, yet it is just as much the motherearth from which our whole life grows up. A soulwhich is filled with noble feeling, if these feelings

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are healthy and strong, does not need to troubleabout leading a good life.

Now a man might train his inner life by takingone feeling after another and to some extent visu-alizing it. But it is much more profitable and surerto guide powerful new feelings into the soul, andlet them wash away or wash through what isalready there. Even to him, to whom Christ is notyet what he is to us, the passion of Christ willbring that reverence which makes it possible to gowith Christ in some wise.

The new feeling which has come into the worldthrough Christianity is called Love. Let one onlyread writings of pre-Christian times and noticethat his sun had simply not yet risen. Even inBuddhism, in its benevolent kindness to all crea-tures, there is only the first red of the morning.But love has entered into the souls of men in sucha way that it has intermingled with everythingwhich was already there. And so it has itselfbecome clouded, so that it is scarcely recogniz-able. That is true of very much which is called“Christian Love.” Often enough to-day one hasthe impression that it is not Christian love whichhas changed hearts, but that hearts have changedChristian love. Often it is a false zeal for prosely-tizing which takes no heed of another’s freedom,and so neither sees nor reaches his real ego; oftena sentimental feeling which only spoils the word“love” for men. Sometimes it is a new kind of occu-pation, in which a man is really escaping from him-self; sometimes, also, an evil curiosity which push-es itself into everything. Not seldom it is a slavishlosing of one’s self, which one then calls “selflessdevotion”; not seldom also an assertion of one’sself, in which, under the name of Christlikeness,one wishes to have all men the same as oneself. Itis sad to observe how, under the mask of Christianlove, the most hateful egotism spreads itself abroad,and never thinks of putting itself into other men’splace, much less of dying into them. Nothing todaymore requires thorough cleansing than Christianlove itself.

The high, pure spirit of the love of Christ has asyet been scarcely seen or felt. And yet, just inrespect of love, Christ has most deliberately andmost clearly given definite teaching, as if he had

foreseen all the dangers of which we are speaking.We need only think of how seldom He takes theword love into His mouth, and in what connectionHe then uses it. How, when love is the subject of thetalk, He at once tells the parable of the GoodSamaritan, the parable in which is contained awhole catechism of love, but tells it not in the formof teaching, but as a picture, as an action. Or howHe Himself, at the end of His life, before He speaksof love itself as of a new commandment for His dis-ciples, gives as practical instruction to His disciplesthemselves the Washing of the Feet.

All this may help us to draw near with right atten-tion to the first station of Christ’s way. Here again,as we have done up till now, we shall not enter toomuch into the details of the building up of the med-itation, but will only give hints. Thus the individualis left free to build up meditation as he chooses.And he will have his own experiences and find hispersonal way. If, as some would like, we carried out

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The Good SamaritanLove is a doing, a demonstrating. The parable of the GoodSamaritan contains “a whole catechism of love,” which is toldnotin the form of teaching, but as a picture, as an action.

La Vista C

hurch of Christ

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the suggestions into their exact details, the readerwould have difficulty in getting away from thedetails, would experience a kind of stereotyping ofthe pictures, and would not so easily make thementirely his own, so that they can develop further ina living way. The reader cannot be spared the trou-ble of doing this. But this advice may be given: thatone should first place the story of the Washing ofthe Feet (John 13:1-35) before one’s soul in a livingway and take it into oneself. It is given to us for thispurpose. With all its details, the narrator hasstamped it upon his own soul: Jesus rose, laid asideHis upper garment, took a towel and girdedHimself. So was the Master dressed like a slave. Allthese details have gradually become significant andtransparent for the evangelist.

But all the details ought only to lead on to thegreat chief event, to the wonderful spirit of service,which there reveals itself in Christ. If one has pen-etrated to a lively feeling of this spirit, one may rep-resent to oneself that one is breathing this spirit in,as one drinks in the air when one breathes deeply.According to the investigations of spiritual sci-ence, feeling is most nearly connected with the so-called “middle man,” with the man who lives aboveall in the “rhythmic” system of the lungs and heart.One can indeed with this very meditation on feelinggo actually through all the five senses, raising themall to a higher plane. In the Jesuit exercise, theexercitia spiritualia of Ignatius Loyola, hell isexperienced in all the senses successively, as onefirst sees in imagination the torment of the damned,then hears their crying, then smells the smoke, andso on. But here, in such meditations as the foot-washing, one can really perceive heaven as withhigher senses. And one is not obliged to think thatone must have first passed separately through hell ifone is to become fully capable of receiving heaven,but with heaven one experiences a hell at the sametime, as far as one carries it within oneself, thebeing in which evil rages, the being which is cer-tainly not heaven.

When one has first made the picture of theWashing of the Feet clear for the spiritual eye, thenone may seek to receive the being of Christ with thespiritual ear as a marvellous sound, then to breath inthe smell of the sacrifice, then—as in the biblical

saying: “Taste and see how gracious the Lord is”—to experience the taste of such an action as if withthe tongue, and lastly, to touch the act quite con-cretely and spiritually and pass into the warm feel-ing of its life. All this requires practice. But then itgives to man a living impression of a higher world,in which his senses also change. We say this here asbeing applicable to all meditations on pictures, andnow turn again to the picture before which we arestanding.

As a motto beneath the Washing of the Feet standsthe saying in the Bible: “The princes of this worldexercise dominion—but the Son of Man is come notto be ministered unto but to minister and to give Hislife a ransom for many”; only that in the place of“Son of Man” in Matthew’s Gospel, in the sense ofJohn’s Gospel the word “I” might be placed, “I amcome not to be ministered unto but to minister.”

In such a word as this, Christ places Himself overagainst Caesar, who, at the same point of time in theworld’s history, appeared in the world to rule it. Ifwe think of this coincidence in time, we begin tosee that the ego, as it has to develop in the world,sees before itself two ways—either the way throughwarfare to power, or the way through freedom tolove. Christ and Caesar are opposed to each otheruntil the end of the days and fight for the ego ofman. This historic warfare is waged on our behalfalso. The saying of Christ just quoted contains afinal historic decision and a challenge to Caesarwhich could not be more evident. In this decisiveopposition we have in a sublime way the same thingwhich, perhaps out of the mysteries, was represent-ed to men as the opposition between heavenly andearthly love. And one can find this strugglenowhere more impressively than in the history ofRome itself!

Christ has driven Caesar from his throne inRome, but in spite of this, Caesar has again andagain fallen upon Christ in Rome and driven Himaway. The papacy is a battle between Caesar andChrist. Caesar, the household tyrant, the terror tosubordinates, the self-asserter and self-avenger,must be rooted out of every corner of our lives.After ascending the throne, princes issue a procla-mation to their peoples. Also, after Christ hasascended the throne a royal message follows to all

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who are willing to belong toHim, “a new commandmentgive I to you, that ye loveone another, as I have lovedyou. By this shall all menknow that ye are my disci-ples, if ye have love one toanother.” If one activelyplaces oneself before thisdecision, one has the samedecision to make with theworld as the Jesuits have intheir placing King Lucifer inBabylon over against KingChrist in Jerusalem. In itsconnection with the Gospelsthis decision is more inwardand has greater content.

We do not wish to givehere an exposition of theBible, but only to create amood as background for themeditation upon theWashing of the Feet. One ought to feel very strong-ly the kingliness of this love. Then love will lose thesmallness, the pettiness, the slavishness which itstill has in the Christian world. Christ was anxiousthat this kingliness should be felt, “Ye call me mas-ter and lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then,your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, yeought also to wash one another’s feet.” Only hewho feels this kingliness, this divineness of Loveitself, will become quite free from that secret desirefor recognition and gratitude. He knows that suchlove is the only possible divine attitude towards allbeings. For the highest God has nothing above him,but everything under him. His life can only consistin this—that he turns to those who are under him.One has not yet any real divine life within one ifone does not feel that God seeks in us also thosewho need help. Only in the kingdom of love doesone find that God is really in us.

If through this a new kind of pride could bearoused in man as he is, a pride which would be byreason of this the more horrible, Christ does awaywith this pride by setting about the most humbleaction with this royal love, yes, by first doing this

most humble act before he speaks. He does not firstsay: “Ye ought to love one another,” but “Ye oughtto wash one another’s feet.” As if to guard for everagainst all pride, He sets His example before thedisciples: “That ye do as I have done to you.” In justsuch fine traits one feels the spirit of Christ.

“As I have done to you”—the words sound sofull of meaning. Can one perhaps grasp the mean-ing of the whole of Christ’s deed for humanityunder the figure of the Washing of the Feet? Thiscan best be done by calling in the help of certainconcepts of spiritual science. Man, through his fall,has sunk down to earth, having before been muchless developed but much more spiritual. The earth,upon which he now wanders, is the place of sin.From beneath, from the earth, which has becomethe sphere of his life, man as a spiritual being soilshimself ever more and more—even if evil did notassail him, even if it were not present in himself.And in this way also it comes about that the state ofa man’s will expresses itself especially in his feet,as well as in his hands. If a man is angry, he clencheshis fists and stamps his feet. In a man’s walk thestate of his will is more clearly visible than he

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J. James Tissot, Oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum of Art

Jesus Washes the Disciples’Feet“The highest God has nothing above him, but everything under him. His life can onlyconsist in this—that he turns to those who are under him.”

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commonly observes. For example, there is theshort, masterful step, and the weak, shambling shuf-fle. It is not without significance that one speaksofan “impure walk.” But Christ came to earth to helpmen from the very bottom upward. He heals theground on which man goes. He heals also the feetwith which he goes. Follow me! I am the Way!

As if for a sign that here are deep secrets, twoquite different kinds of feet are placed in oppositionto one another in the story of the Washing of theFeet. “He that eateth bread with me hath lifted uphis heel against me.” One need only take this wordin the most obvious sense ofthe words in the Hebreworiginal: “He who is myguest lifts his heel againstme.” It is also a picture ofCaesar. He sits at the divinetable, a guest, like all theothers, but in his self-exal-tation he at the same timespurns the earth upon whichhe lives, and thus insults thespirit of the earth.

From this we understandthe remarkable fact, which Rudolf Steiner mentionsin his lectures on John’s Gospel, that the mystics ofthe Middle Ages, when they entered fully into theexperience of the Washing of the Feet, reallybelieved that they felt water poured around theirfeet. The modern psychologist will here have nohesitation in talking about suggestion. It may haveoccurred here and there. In reality, another process,which is entirely holy, is often at the bottom of this.When a man unites himself entirely to Christ, heloses this egotistical spurning of the mother earthupon which he stands. He plunges, particularly withhis feet also, into an active spirituality. For only fora purely external way of thinking are the feet sounspiritual and merely corporeal, as one today con-siders them. In them man is united to strong earthforces which he can feel especially in them.

Since Christ has been present in earthly being,these earth forces can be entirely Christianized, canentirely become agents through which the spirit ofChrist can work. The picture of this is given in thevision of Christ in the Revelation of John. Christ

Himself appears there with feet like molten brass:the strongest of earth forces with the fire of loveglowing through them. These mystics experiencedthe beginning of this; and the men of today canexperience it. Then one has the experience of purifi-cation from the “ground up.”

Some will at first be able only to listen to suchevidence. They may, indeed, guess from it that suchBiblical pictures contain nothing that is accidental,even in their details. If one surrenders oneself tothem, one has not only religious moral experiencesin the heart, but goes towards a new world.

But first of all everyonecan hear out of the storyitself the voice of Christ—Love means to wash thefeet, to take man in hisearthly circumstances, andthrough this deed to helphim upwards from beneath.It is still child-like to imi-tate Christ’s example out-wardly, as the kings ofBavaria on Holy Tuesdaycollected some old men in

the royal palace, and poured water over their feet—which had been thoroughly cleansed beforehand. Itwas better when in the Middle Ages certain com-munities really celebrated the washing of the feet asa sacrament. It is best of all if we, at moments whenwe have an opportunity of showing love, let thispicture arise before our souls: Washing of theFeet—that is the great act of Christ Himself. That isHis divine example. We shall then come to havequite other thoughts than if we were wishing tohave love as a pleasing feeling in our hearts. Frombelow upwards, to sanctify men from the groundupwards through the act of service: that is Christianlove. Many orders of monks in the past had exer-cises in humility. But the wonderful word humilityhas many stains on it today. We must win it back asa royal will to serve.

If this will lives in us, then we may alwaysstrengthen and inspire it again from the picture ofChrist, from the example of the Washing of theFeet. Let us then, after we have brought about aright feeling inwardly from a study of the details,

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When a man uniteshimself entirely to Christ,he loses this egotisticalspurning of the mother

earth upon which hestands. He plunges, par-

ticularly with his feet also,into an active spirituality.

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look solely at the principal feature,Christ as, in this divine will to serve,He washes men’s feet—men’sfeet. Let us drink into ourselvesthis will, this frame of mind,till we are filled with it—ifpossible so strongly that wethink that now through alleternity nothing else couldlive in us.

During this exercise and thefollowing exercises of this sec-ond group, we may feel our ego,as we have gained it from the firstgroup of exercises, to be at lastexactly like the vessel of the Grail,which lets itself be filled from above with thenoblest content, with the life-blood of Christhimself. It is not that we should outwardly enter afellowship of the Grail and play with thoughts ofthe Grail, but that we should inwardly gain theexperience of the Grail. The ego can, like an inverted

vessel, shut itself off from above, andovershadow others below; then it

becomes a Caesar. Whether agreater Caesar or a less,depends upon its gifts. Theego can also open itselftowards what is above, andgive itself as an offering towhat is beneath; then itbecomes a disciple of Christ.John the Baptist stood at the

door to new things; the egofelt itself lonely and empty and

called for content. Then cameChrist and said, “I am,” and now we

take into ourselves the essential contentof this “I am.” That is the experience of the

Grail.Here one sees clearly indeed that this has nothing

to do with “mystical” feeling, as one understandsmysticism today, but is a fundamental form of train-ing for man as man requires it today. ❐

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Engraving, detail, T

he Last Supper, M

arvin Hayes, ©

Oxm

oor House, Inc.

THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTIONBy Max Heindel

Please Use Order Formon page 64

This book gives a complete outline of the Western Wisdom Teachings as far as itmay be made public at the present time. It contains a comprehensive outline ofthe evolutionary processes of man and the universe, correlating science withreligion. The author received this Teaching personally fromthe Rosicrucian Brotherhood.

NEW HARDCOVER EDITION: 717 pages, including a 100-page Alphabetical Index and a 60-page Topical index

PAPER EDITION: 610 pages with 60-page Topical Index. Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

This is the textbook used in the RosicrucianPhilosophy Correspondence Course.

PART ONE: A treatise on the Visible and Invisible Worlds, Man and theMethod of Evolution, Rebirth and the Law of Cause and Effect.

PART TWO: Covers the scheme of Evolution in general and in particular theEvolution of the Solar System, the Earth, and its Humanity.

PART THREE: Treats of Christ and His Mission, Future Development of Man andInitiation, Esoteric Training, a Safe Method of Acquiring First-handKnowledge, Christian Rosenkreuz and the Rosicrucian Order.

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AHRIMAN’S “HOPE” † (or, morecorrectly, what Ahriman reckonedon—for he has no soul-life) beforethe Mystery of Golgotha was that hemight karmically “inherit” the whole

Luciferic territory. For all that is Luciferic neces-sarily leads, if it is carried through to a certaindegree, to what is Ahrimanic. The hatred of theLuciferic for all that is Ahrimanic is essentially thehatred of its own karmic future. But such a hatredconstitutes one of the strongest of bonds. And thisdoes not apply to spiritual beings only, but tomankind and the nations of Earth. Even on Earth,those men and groups of men are the most hatedwho serve to illustrate what the karmic future ofthe others will be.

And this bond grows ever closer and closer, untilthe Luciferic has slipped over into the realm of theAhrimanic and has been swallowed up by it.Devouring of all that is or has become Lucifericwould mean not only the success of Ahriman’splan, but also the fulfillment of that towards whichhis nature urges him. For Ahriman would be onlya kind of spiritual machine if he could not con-stantly devour other beings and forces as a sort ofsubstitute for the soul-life which he lacks. ThatAhriman can have any kind of living experience atall—to fill the void within him—he owes to hisability to exercise that devouring activity.

But now, by reason of Lucifer’s inward conver-sion, not only has a limit been set to this activity ofAhriman’s, but also the boundaries of the region inwhich he can practice the devouring have begun to

contract. For new Luciferic beings continually attachthemselves to the standpoint of Lucifer and thusdiminish the effective sphere of Ahriman’s activity.Hence, it is a fact that cosmicallyAhriman is alreadyconquered in principle. But seen from the terrestrialpoint of view, it is otherwise. There the decisiondoes not lie with the Luciferic spirits, but withMan, on whose freedom it now depends whetheror not Ahriman will be overcome in the terrestrial(that is, the physical-elemental) sphere also.

Ahriman, however, cannot be overcome byattackingthe Ahrimanic element, nor by endeavor-ing to convert it inwardly. The Ahrimanic influencecan neither be coerced by force nor inwardly trans-formed. The point is, to recognize the Ahrimanicelement as such, and not to be afraid of it. A coura-geous glance of recognition is the spear whichkeeps Ahriman within bounds in the outer world,and the courage of self-knowledge is the forcewhich renders the Ahrimanic Double powerless inthe human subconsciousness. For as regardsAhriman, the point is that he should not be grantedpower over the soul, and that all his attacks are,with the weapon of recognition, ruined through theuncompromising courage of Man.

Stability, rocklike firmness, is what is needed—neither to attack, nor to wish to flee from theAhrimanic onslaught. For the Ahrimanic elementis powerless unless it can influence Man, either byfear or by bribery. And in this condition of power-lessness, it receives no nourishment and disappearsfrom the region whence it cannot exercise itspower. Ahriman will be defeated because he willnot be given nourishment. His power in the uni-verse looks overwhelming, enormously great, butit is a mere illusion, designed either to buy or tofrighten. It is an objective illusion—that is, an

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The Mystery of Golgotha—The Defeat of the Ahrimanic; The Risen One

MYSTIC LIGHT

† This is the third and final part of Valentin Tomberg’s studyof the Mystery of Golgotha. Reprinted with permission of theAnthroposophic Press, Hudson NY 12534. Refer to the July/August‘00 Raysfor an explanation of Ahriman.

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illusion made up of real external phenomena—butone which immediately shows itself as such whenit is confronted with courageous recognition andincorruptibility (that is, refusal to compromise, forall compromise is a consequence of bribery).

This has been shown as a fact of cosmic experiencein that spiritual event belonging to the Mystery ofGolgotha which is traditionally called Christ Jesus’“Descent into Hell”. For just as the agony on theCross resulted in the inward conversion of Lucifer,so the kind of death which Christ Jesus sufferedbrought about the disclosure of the secret ofAhriman. It was, as it were, an unmasking, a layingbare of the disguise, of Ahriman’s power, both forthe Spiritual World and for those men who stand ina right relationship to the Spiritual World. And thiswas so because Christ Jesus died in a different wayfrom any other man. For when a man dies he hasbefore him, for about three days, his life-tableau.This is what he sees during that period, and it hidesfrom his eyes the abyss, the Kingdom of Ahrimanin the Subterranean Spheres.

As, by the goodness of the Gods, the man wasprotected from seeing before his birth the Lucifericsphere, so at the moment of death he is protected bythe same divine goodness from seeing the sphereof Ahriman. And as before birth the Luciferictemptation to remain in the Spiritual World iswarded off by the sight of the karmic tableau of theman’s upcoming life, so is the soul preserved fromthe confusion and perplexity which the vision ofthe Ahrimanic sphere would call forth by thetableau of the past life unfolded before it like ascreen.

But Christ Jesus at His death renouncedthevision of the tableau; He gave it up to humanity,and it became the content of what the discipleslater “remembered” in the light of the Pentecost-flame. It was also that which the Evangelists con-templated from different points of view, the visionfrom which they wrote their records. The normallife-tableau is given over to the Gods, the Angels,Archangels and Archai, by the man who has beheldit. The life-tableau of Christ Jesus was given overnot to the Gods, but to humanity—in the first placeto the Apostles, the “eye-witnesses and ministersof the word,” and the Initiates. Since then it has

been the common karmic property of mankind; itis the unwritten “fifth Gospel” which may be readin the aura of the Earth. A time will come, however,and it will be on the day on which death comes tothe Earth, when the whole of mankind will havethe vision of this tableau; and the contemplation ofit will be the beginning of the “Last judgment.”

Thus, Christ Jesus, as representative ofmankind, presented humanity with the tableau ofHis life as showing the path of Man to the Spirit.But in doing so, He renounced for Himself thescreen which conceals the Subterranean Spheres,the spheres of “hell.” It is recorded that at the hour

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Jacobello Alberegno, polyptych of the Apocalypse (central panel),1360-90,Tempera on panel, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The life-tableau of Christ Jesus was given to humanity—firstto the Apostles and Evangelists, the “eye-witnesses and min-isters of the word,” and the Initiates. Since then it has beenthe common karmic property of mankind; it is the unwritten“fifth Gospel” which may be read in the aura of the Earth. Thefour gospels narrating Christ’s life are indicated above bytheir traditional emblems—bull, lion, eagle, and angel/man.

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of His death “the veil of the tem-ple was rent in twain.” This is anexpression of the fact that a newkarmic balance was establishedbetween Good and Evil. Whenthe curtain was lifted from“Hell,” then also the curtain (the“veil”) was lifted from the “Holyof Holies.” But now the conse-quence of this new karmic rela-tionship is that when the mysteryof Good and the secret of Evilhave both become accessible tothe experiential knowledge ofmankind, Goodnessgains bybeing known, but Evil loses whenit is recognized as such. For this isthe essential difference betweenGood and Evil: Good gains bybeing recognized, but Evil loseswhen it is recognized.

That Christ Jesus shouldrenounce the “Veil of Hell” and,instead of beholding the life-tableau, should descend with hiswhole being into the darkness ofthe Subterranean Spheres, was the most sublimeact of cognitive courage. That “Descent into Hell”was an event that no human speech can character-ize. There is nothing more unsettling than the dis-appearance of Christ Jesus into the darkness of theLower Spheres, out of sight of the Beings whowere watching from the Spiritual World. A breath-less expectation was maintained in the SpiritualWorld. The World of the Hierarchies became silentand breathless in expectation of either the most tri-umphant victory, or the most disastrous catastrophe....During those days only one thought, only onequestion filled the whole World of the Hierarchies:Will He come back? Will He emerge from the abyss?

And, again, all human speech is powerless toreproduce even the faintest reflection of cosmicexultation when the risen Christ appeared out ofthe darkness of the abyss in the sphere of twi-light....Then was the cosmic Easter celebrated inthe spheres of Heaven, and that cosmic festival is,and will continue to be for all time, the archetype

and model of all human festivals on Earth. By that event it was proved, cosmically and his-

torically, that, even in his own kingdom, Ahriman ispowerless in face of the cognizant courage of Christ—the courage which He pours into the souls ofthose who are in spiritual union with Him and Hiswork. By the same means, too, the road has beenlaid and trodden for the cognizance of the secrets ofthe Subterranean Spheres. From that time theAhrimanic secret of the Interior of the Earth hasbeen accessible to experiential knowledge. But notonly to knowledge did the Earth’s Interior becomesaccessible; it had become accessible also to theinfluence of the forces of the Christ-impulse. The“Gardener,” who appeared to the woman madeclairvoyant by grief, was not a “gardener” from herpoint of view only. He was, in a deeper sense, real-ly a Gardener. For He now acquired the power tomake the soil of Earth productive for the fruits ofGoodness. And from that time forth the highestInitiates of mankind have likewise become “gar-

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Oil on panel, c.1482, French School, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Descent of Christ into LimboWhen Christ descended into the Earth He liberated captive souls in limbo (Adamand Eve and Old Testament patriarchs are usually represented in EasternOrthodox iconography) and “harrowed hell”—overcoming Death and Hades,associated with the numbing materializing powers of Ahriman.

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deners”; that is, they carry out awork for the well-being of human-ity which not only concernsmankind directly, but also reachesindirectly by way of Nature andthe soil of Earth.

Christ Jesus’ “Descent intoHell” was the deed which over-came Ahriman—not by superiori-ty of power (that was not the ques-tion), but by exposing the extentof Ahriman’s real power over thealert and uncompromising con-sciousness. Since the time ChristJesus trod that path, it has been aproven fact that Ahriman’s workin the world is hopeless—so longas men are willing to recognizeand resist it.

Such an attitude will exist in thefuture among those beings who donot fall prey to Ahriman, and by itAhriman will be “shackled”; hewill no longer have a point of attack for his activityand will thus become ineffective—passive. Therewill no longer be a motive for the kindling of activ-ity, even in his consciousness, and (during thefuture Venus-existence) it will sink into a kind ofsleep. True, this will not be the end of Ahriman’sdestiny; but, for the purpose of this Study, his“falling asleep” may be regarded as the last stageof man’s conflict with him. For then Ahrimanenters the realm of the karma which is fulfilled inhim; he who has always tried to lull the conscious-ness of Man into a spiritual sleep, and whosewhole work was based on the hope that Man wouldnot be on the alert, will now himself succumb to asleep during which the things that happen to himwill be the karmic counterpart of what he hadintended to do with the beings who became his prey.

Thus the fate of the Ahrimanic element is, inprinciple, already sealed through the Descent intoHell and the Resurrection: the Prince of this Worldis defeated.

The Risen OneThe Risen One was a Being who united in

Himself experience of the Heavens, of life and suf-

fering on Earth, and of the Subterranean Spheres.These three experiences represented in Him whatis present in us as the nerve-system, the rhythmicsystem, and the metabolic system. But with us theyare “systems”; that is, they contain an unconscious,automatic element, whereas the “body” of the risenChrist consisted solely of moral, conscious cur-rents. His risen body had nothing mechanical,nothing automatic in it, for the Ahrimanic elementwas overcome in it. Yet his body had not becomemerely soul and thus alien in nature to the sphereof earthly activity, for the Luciferic element wastransformed in it. It was at least as capable ofactivity and influence as the physical body of a liv-ing man, and likewise, at least as full of moral soullife as the spirit-body of a dead man in thedevachan [mental world] state. For in the risenbody, the gulf between life and death is definitelybridged; it is death become life. It bears withinitself the “tree of life” of which the Paradise legendspeaks; and those who “eat of its fruit” will haveovercome the antithesis between life and death.

There is no other way of approaching to anunderstanding of the resurrection-body than by

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J .James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum of Art

Jesus Appears to the Holy WomenThe artist depicts what only Matthew describes (28:1-10). Christ first appeared toMary Magdalene, who thought he was the gardener (John 20:11-17). The Gardenof the etheric world is made more accessible and the garden of the earth has beenmade more fruitful for good works through the revivifying blood of Christ Jesus.

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continuous and profound Meditation. For it isimpossible to obtain an inwardly clear and correctknowledge of the resurrection-body with conceptsand concept-relationships drawn from “ordinary”experience; that is, from experience within thesphere which lies on this side of the threshold ofresurrection. Therefore, the path of intimate spiritualconcentration must be adopted, a path which mayhave to be trodden for many years before aninward comprehension of the resurrec-tion-body shines forth. And abeginning may be made from apassage which occurs indefinite connection withit in the Revelation of St.John: “These thingssaith the Amen, thefaithful and true wit-ness, the beginning ofthe creation of God.”(Rev. 3:14)

In repeated medita-tive concentration, thissentence may do morefor the understanding ofthe resurrection-body thanmany abstract definitions.And the passage will be foundespecially fruitful if it is con-centrated into the wordAMEN. Then a start may bemade from the human Saturnbody, consisting entirely of warmth of will, whichis “the beginning of the creation of God.” Again,the object of concentration may be the fact that thisSaturnine body alone has been, from the verybeginning of the world, a witness of the whole cos-mic evolution. Finally, after having studied it withrespect to spaceand time, its nature may be con-sidered in detail in relation to the word AMEN,whichgives expression to its being. Here the specialpoint is the moral concentration in the phoneticsound of the word. For the individual sounds ofwhich it consists can lead to the inner recognitionof the individual currents of the resurrection-body.Thus, the A sound leads to the understanding of the“risen head”—that is, of the current of relationship

to the cosmic heights. The M sound reveals the“risen hands”—that is, the current in cosmic space.The E sound leads to the inner life of the resurrec-tion body; and the N sound reveals the force of itsdenial of Evil, the strength of its resistance to Evil,as shown in the Descent into Hell.

The individual forces indicated by the individualsounds manifest with special power in particularsituations of the life and work of Christ Jesus: as

the N force was specially revealed in theDescent into Hell, so was the E

force revealed in the Passion,and especially on the night

of Gethsemane. The Mforce showed itself par-ticularly in the healingsand miracles; and theparticular point atwhich the A force isclearly perceptible, isthe Jordan Baptism.

Thus the wordAMEN is the epitome

of the work of Christ,just as the resurrection-

body is the epitome of thecosmic evolution. This sig-nificance of AMEN wasknown to the Evangelists,and St. John summarizes hisGospel by concluding withthis word, which comprises

the contents of all those books which must still bewritten in order to give a complete description ofthe work of Christ—books, which, however, neverhave been written because “even the world itselfcould not contain them.”

This word, therefore, forms a link in the chain ofepitome with what has been offered in theseStudies of the New Testament as a contribution toChristology. For the next, and last, chapter* will bedevoted to the Pentecost-event, an event which isnot only the fruit of the happenings recorded in theGospels, but also forms an introduction to thefuture events of the Apocalypse. ❐

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*Tomberg’s study of the Pentecost will constitute a series ofthree articles beginning with the next issue of the Rays.

Fresco, M

onastery Kaona, S

erbia

A pantocratic Christ crowns the summit of thebeliever’s sight and consciousness—in glory, in power and in prospective judgment.

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THE VIRGINMARY may getshort shrift fromstudents of theoccult, seekers on

the “head path” of spiritualdevelopment. For Mary, what weknow of her, seems to exemplifythe path of the mystic. In fact, shewas all heart. Hers was the way ofluminous obedience, high devotion, andeloquent silence.

Yet how unintelligent was the mother of one ofthe most advanced members of the human lifewave? The strongly patriarchal emphasis to the lastthree millennia of Western culture is currentlyundergoing some revision. The popular imagina-tion has always intuited an imbalance in the exclu-sively masculine Christian Trinity and has soughtto rectify the error through devotion to and eleva-tion of the Virgin, most notably in Roman andEastern Catholicism. Long before it was fashionableCorinne Heline, a student of Max Heindel, soughtto dignify the whole human by rehabilitating thedivine feminine, and while Heindel personallyrejected the relative passivity of the the Catholicpath, he increasingly emphasized the importanceof the heart nature in spiritual development.

If all occult development begins with the vitalbody, we must conclude that strengthening thatvehicle is our primary objective and we note that inwomen the vital body is positive, making them

naturally more readily dis-posed to spiritual pursuits andattainments, and frequentlybecoming better examples ofChristian faith and charity.

The cult of the Virgin beganto pervade Christian piety in the

middle of the first millennium.She was addressed by myriad hon-

orifics, including Mother of Truth,Mother and Daughter of Humility,

Mother of Christians, Mother of Peace, andCity of God. Since she was “the one by whom theSavior came,” she increasingly came to be regard-ed as the one “through whom we ascend to Him,”that is, as Mediatrix—for both the Incarnation andthe Redemption.

The universal esteem in which the Virgin Maryis held has its roots in Scripture. To better appreci-ate her appeal to large numbers of the world’shumanity we will consider Mary’s ImmaculateConception, the Annunciation and Virgin Birth,and briefly review the understanding of Mary byChurch fathers, saints, and clairvoyants.

For centuries the Jewish people were expectingthe Messiah, God’s Anointed. Isaiah prophesiedhow he would come: “Behold, a virgin shall con-ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his nameImmanuel.” (7:14. This passage is also quoted byMatthew in 1:22-23.) The Virgin did conceive andbear a son, to whom the Angel of the Annunciationgave the three names of Jesus, “the Son of theMost High,” and “the Son of God.” He, Mary’sson, was to “reign over the house of Jacob for ever;

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The Virgin Mary

MYSTIC LIGHT

This study of the Virgin Mary is in two parts and will be con-cluded in the November/December 2000 issue of the Rays.

and theEvangelion

Pietà (detail), M

ichelangelo, Vatican, photo S

cala

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and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” This was good news, was it not? Yes, literally.

As is well known, the word “gospel” (from AS.godspell, good story) is a translation of the Greekeuangelion, or good tidings. Though the AngelGabriel certainly spoke to Mary in Aramaic andnot Greek, the New Testament was written inGreek. The Greek word for “Annunciation,”euangelismos, is the same root for the word“gospel.” And what is this gospel, this good news?The Angel salutes Mary: “Hail, thou that are high-ly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thouamong women” (Luke 1:28). The good news isthat through Mary, a Savior, Christ the Lord, willbe given to the world. When the Angel says, “theLord is with thee,” it is Jehovah, the Holy Spirit,Who is signified, Who, by “overshadowing” Mary,initiates conception. This “overshadowing,” how-ever, is not a unique event. Rosicrucian philosophyteaches that the Holy Spirit rules the creative prin-ciple in nature, the life ether, and has the power tofructify the human ovum. As the bearer of this vitalbody or etheric matrix, which is a body of forma-tive forces that organize atomic matter and imbueit with life, Mary is the mother of God on earth. So,potentially are all mothers. The esoteric perspectiverequires that all truth have a personal or individualapplication. The Gospels themselves are formulaof initiation, and, indeed, as the entire Bible por-trays the account of human genesis in, separationfrom, and eventual reunion with God, all biblicalcharacters and events describe specific facets ofthis entire process of human involution and evolu-tion in the single individual.

The Virgin Mary is both the paragon of chastityand the Blessed Mother. The believing lay publichas no problem with this oxymoron. They accept iton faith. The significance of chastity (as distin-guished from virginity), has been fully expoundedby Max Heindel. It is a requisite for attainment inthe higher stages of initiation, for it is by the reten-tion and transmutation of the holy creative forcethat the soul body can serve as an independentvehicle for the soul and spirit. Philo of Alexandria,a theologian and contemporary of Jesus and Paul,wrote about the Therapeutae, Jewish ascetics wholived in monastic communities in Egypt. They

included women who were “virgins in respect oftheir purity...out of an admiration for and love ofwisdom...indifferent to the pleasures of the body,desiring not a mortal but an immortal offspring.”

Esoterically, this is how Mary is identified. Sherepresents our purified soul nature whereby theChrist, our immortal Self, is conceived and nur-tured in us. As Heindel has also made clear, it ispossible to be a virgin and unchaste, and chaste asa mother or father. In other words, true virginity orchastity is a condition of the soul. It designates apurity of heart and mind which are not sullied bythe act of generation when it is dispassionately per-formed as a sacrament.

There is a distinction, often overlooked, betweentwo Marian dogmas affirmed by orthodox RomanCatholics. Virgin Birth refers to how Jesus wasconceived, while the Immaculate Conceptionrefers to how Mary was conceived. As MaxHeindel writes, “purity of purpose” (AMI, p. 72) inthe preparation for and act of procreation preservesthe parent’s virginity, for true virginity is of theheart and mind. The dogma of the ImmaculateConception states that Mary was not tainted by theoriginal sin bequeathed to all humanity throughwillful and ignorant abuse of the generative forceby Adam and Eve. Again, esoteric science explainsthat Mary’s exemption from the stain of original sinwas not unique, though it is rare, for it required thather parents, Anna and Joachim, be celibate andchaste and perform the generative act as a sacrament.

Giving virgin birth to Jesus was in part a func-tion of Mary’s age (14), a time when her chastevital body, which produces the life-giving forces,had fully matured and her her individual desirebody had just been born, which, though sinless andpure, should have been tainted by the intrusion ofthe luciferic element through Eve into the plane-tary desire substance, from which human desirebodies are specialized. It is this passional elementwhich is the perpetual cause of degeneration anddeterioration of the human race, while it is throughChrist that purification of the planetary desire sub-stance is effected, making possible the building ofpurer desire bodies. In Catholic theology Mary’sImmacu-late Conception in her mother Annaexempted her from this “guilt” of Original Sin.

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While Mary’s birth by immaculate conceptionwas well established in the popular mind bymedieval times, it did not become dogma until1854. Less than four years later, in the French vil-lage of Lourdes in the Pyrenees, a “lovely lady”appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubiroux,and announced, in the vernacular dialect, “I am theImmaculate Conception.”

As to why Mary is called the BlessedVirgin, theprescription is given in Luke’s account of theMagnificat: “For, behold, from hence forth all gen-erations shall call me blessed” (1:48).

At the time of the Annunciation, according to theAustrian clairvoyant Anne Catherine Emmerich,Mary was “a little over fourteen years old.” Theseer’s vision of this event is memorable: After theAngel Gabriel appeared bearing his momentoustidings and Mary uttered the words “May it bedone unto me according to thy word,” Emmerich

saw an apparition and the whole apparitionenvironed by dazzling splendor, as if surround-ed by wings. From the breast and hands, I sawissuing three streams of light. They penetratedthe right side of the Blessed Virgin and unitedinto one under her heart. At that instant Marybecame perfectly transparent and luminous. Itwas as if opacity disappeared like darknessbefore that flood of light.

While the angel and with him the streams ofglory vanished, I saw down the path of light thatled up to heaven, showers of half-blown rosesand tiny green leaves falling upon Mary. She,entirely absorbed in self, saw in herself theIncarnate Son of God, a tiny, human form oflight with all the members, even to the little fin-gers perfect. It was about midnight that I sawthis mystery.

As Eve is the mother of all living on a downwardinvolutionary path, Mary is the newmother of allliving, those on the upward evolutionary path,those born again in Christ. Mary as the chaste soulconceives and gives birth to the Christ within. IfChrist Jesus is the second or new Adam, Maryis the second or new Eve. Although the termatonementis usually applied to the deed of Christthat offsets human transgressions, Mary’s life of

sacrificial purity could also be called vicariousatonement. Moreover, she suffered crucifixionvicariously with her Son, becoming the first andforemost instance of Christian overcomingthrough her Son’s and Savior’s example.

Eve used the generative principle for self-centered motives. Mary’s creative power was usedfor God-centered and God-directed purposes.Irenaeus, in his second century treatise AgainstHeresies, extended this parallel: “Eve [had neces-sarily to be restored] in Mary, that a Virgin, bybecoming the advocate of a virgin, should undoand destroy virginal disobedience by virginal obe-dience.” As Eve “was led astray by the word of anangel [Lucifer], so that she fled from God whenshe had transgressed His word,” so did Mary “byan angelic communication, receive the glad tidingsthat she would be a bearer of God, being obedientto His word”—perfectly obedient: “Behold, the

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The Annunciation

© A

nna May M

cCallum

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handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according tothy word” (Luke 1:38). As expressed by Irenaeus,the second century Bishop of Lyons, “the knot ofEve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedi-ence. What Even bound through her unbelief,Mary loosed by her faith.”

We recall that as a result of the Fall, Eve and allsubsequent women were destined to bring forthchildren in pain. The “curse,” as that proclamationhas sometimes incorrectly been called, is also aslang term for a woman’s monthly flow of blood, ausage which retains an insight of folk wisdom.Upon conception or fertilization, a woman’smonthly flow stops and the blood is used to givesubstance and nourishment the growing embryo.

The relation of female menses to the Grail leg-end, specifically to Amfortas, the Grail king, ishighly instructive. Amfortas, the guardian of theGrail, suffered from a wound that would not stopbleeding, resulting from using the creative force(represented by the holy spear) for selfish purpos-es. Amfortas waited for one holier than he toreconsecrate the Grail and to confer spiritual heal-ing. The esoteric significance of woman’s men-strual flow tells her that she has not yet spirituallyconceived, just as the wounded Grail king contin-ued to bleed until he could be redeemed byParsifal, who, by subduing his desire nature, hadmastered the creative force. It is this Christ-evoking power of chastity that inspired the trouba-dours to call Mary the “Grail of the World.”

In Grail symbolism the chalice is emblematic ofthe calyx (cup) or seed pod of the flower whichcontains the ovary that is chastely fertilized bymale pollen. It represents the transmuted life ether.

While the Holy Grail was a vessel that containedsome of the divinity of God, it is also the womb ofMary and by extension emblematic of the marvelof human formation. In the great medieval Litanyof Loretta, Mary is praised as the “spiritual vessel,vessel of honor, singular vessel of devotion.”Further, it calls the Virgin “Cause of our Joy, Arkof the Covenant, Tower of David, Tower of Ivory,House of Gold, Seat of Wisdom, Mirror of Justice,Queen of Prophets.”

The pure soul, the forming Mary of each aspi-rant, seeks to bring forth the inner Christ. The

Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross, through theirown attainments, preview the recovered state of anhermaphrodite humanity that can generate theirown physical bodies by transmuting their ethericlife energies. When humanity has collectivelyattained to this ability, the “curse” will have beenlifted, the flow of blood shall cease, the stigmaticwounds shall bleed no more, for the sidereal vehi-cle, the soul body, formerly locked at five points(plus a sixth), will be liberated from the cross of thephysical body. Then shall the planetary Christ begiven birth fromthe Earth as humanity itself assumesthe power and responsibility for its upliftment.

Mary’s supreme symbol is the rose. It figures inmany of her honorifics, including Rose of theWorld, Rosa Alchemica, and Queen of the MostHoly Rose Garden, in which the Grail lies hidden.The mysteries of Mary are represented in Catholictradition by the rosary. Following a devotionalpractice that appeared in Hinduism, Buddhism,and Islam, the rosary is a string of beads used as amnemonic aid for the recitation of prayers. Thevery word “bead” comes from the German wordfor “to pray,” and is retained in the English “bid.”It was transferred from “prayer” to the beads them-selves, used for counting prayers or “tellingbeads.” Prayers of the rosary consist of fifteenrecitations of The Lord’s Prayer, fifteen sets of tenrecitations of the Ave Maria(Hail Mary, etc.), andfifteen recitations of the Gloria Patria, each of thefifteen sets of prayers being concentrated on one ofthe fifteen Mysteries of redemption, which aredivided into the Five Joyful, Five Sorrowful, andFive Glorious Mysteries. Here is a potent methodfor focusing the mind, strengthening the memory,and deepening the devotional nature.

Esoterically, the rosary, a chain of fifty beads,represents the circuit of blood in the body, whichdevotional meditation calms and purifies, leadingto the blooming of the roses on the cross of thebody and the filling of the chalice of the heart withlight and love. Prayer’s beaded path leads to a stateof recollectedness that builds an etheric tabernacleof security and draws down the power to achieveobjective peace.

For Dante, Mary was “the Rose in which theWord of God became flesh,” thus identifying her

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with the occult aspirant’s goal—to so puri-fy the blood (which is “the highest expres-sion of the vital body” and “the seat of thesoul”) and desire nature that the roses ofspiritual sensing will bloom or becomeactive and usable by the indwelling Spirit,the Ego. In the Protestant hymn byMatthew Bridges, Christ is saluted as“Fruit of the mystic Rose,/ As of that Rosethe Stem”; that is, Christ as God is Creator(Stem or Vine), but as the creature Jesus, heis the fruit of creation, the child of Mary(Rose). Five is the number of Marian devo-tion and the number associated with thevital body. As symbol the rose is usuallydepicted with five petals.

The Greek for “rose,” rhodon, as inrhododendron, or rose tree, derives fromrheein, meaning to flow. In this context therelation between the rose and bloodbecomes clear. It is possible, indeed essen-tial, that one becomes a virgin, in order togive birth to Christ. This requirement issymbolized by the “soft heart” of theRosicrucian motto. It is the sacred heart ofJesus whose pericardium was pierced by the lanceof Longinus, enabling Christ’s purified blood toflow into the heart of the earth bearing His Ego.The white rose in the Rosicrucian Emblem repre-sents the purified heart of the Invisible Helper.

The creative imagination, the image-shapingcapability which is every female’s in special mea-sure, is reflected in the creative role of the motherin forming her child, even if at present it be large-ly unconscious. Mary is the esoteric paradigm forthe conception and birth of the individual Christthrough the twin forces of will and imagination.We form images of God’s will for us and weresolve, we will, to realize that will.

Red roses in the Rosicrucian emblem symbolizepurity. The Rose Cross and Star symbolize the pathof spiritual attainment, just as orthodox Catholicsregard the Virgin Mary as the vestibule, as it were,through which one may come into Christ’s pres-ence. The occult student is in the process of interi-orizing Mary. She is the precondition for the con-ception of Christ consciousness. As Heindel states

it, “purity is the key by which alone he [the aspi-rant] can hope to unlock the gate to God” (AMI, p.52). Mary possesses the positive vital body of thefemale whose life, light, and reflecting ethers arestronger and more readily serve the developingEgo. Evolved Egos who take a male body also tendtoward a more positive vital body.

The abundance of Mary’s services to her sonJesus and her Lord Christ Jesus evoke her paradig-matic role as Virgo (Latin for Virgin), the Server,she who harvests the staff of life. As mother Marybore the Bread of Life and, as mater dolorosa, sheheld yet again the deposed body of the Bread of Life in her lap.

The words stabat mater dolorosa, “there standsthe mother of sorrows,” which has inspired muchsacred music during the Christian era, aroseanonymously during the twelfth and thirteenthcenturies, a time characterized as the Age of theVirgin, so prominently did Mary figure in the artsand consciousness of this period. If she experiencedvicarious crucifixion, she also knew exaltation and

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Oil on canvas, 1922, Joseph Stella (1877-1946), The Brooklyn Museum of Art. Gift of Adolph Lewisohn

The VirginThe artist beautifully captures the simultaneous purity and fruitfulnessof the Blessed Virgin and her Cosmic counterpart, the celestial Virgo.

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became, through the Assumption and Coronation(roughly paralleling her Son’s Resurrection andAscension to the right hand of His enthronedFather) the mater glorioso.

A more esoteric insight into the mater dolorosais found in an earlier classical threnody, theKontakionof Romanos Melodos, in which Christfrom the Cross instructs Mary: “Lay aside yourgrief, mother, lay it aside./ Lamentation does notbefit you who have been called ‘blessed.’Do notobscure your calling withweeping. Do not liken your-self to those who lack under-standing, all-wise maiden./You are in the midst of mybridal chamber.”

The gold of wisdom is crys-tallized pain. Saint Birgitta ofSweden hears Jesus say to hismother: “You are like the pre-cious gold that has been beat-en on the iron anvil, for youhave been tried with countlesstribulations. Through my suf-fering, you have sufferedmore than anyone else”—and,we may add, that sufferinghas gained for Mary the goldof wisdom wrought in the cru-cible of her heart.

Mary has been sought as anintercessor or mediatrix to Christ and the Fatherprecisely because she was, in the words of theAngel of the Annunciation, “full of grace.” Shepossessed God’s grace in its fullness and wastherefore authorized to act as its dispenser—between man and God. After all, if she gave Jesusto the world, how could she not give lesser graces,being so favored, being, as the Eastern Churchcalls Mary, the Mother of God, Theotokos, a des-ignation canonically established at the Council ofEphesus in 431.

Supporting testimony for Mary’s intercessoryrole is given in the words John the Evangelistrecords as spoken by Christ Jesus on the Cross toMary: “Woman, behold thy son! Behold thy moth-er.” This is the charter pronouncement for entrust-

ing into Mary’s maternal care not only the onewhom Jesus loved, but the whole ecclesia ofChristian believers.

Iconoclasts in the last three centuries of the firstmillennium objected to the veneration of icons ofMary. Defenders of the practice distinguishedbetween adoration (latria), proper devotion to theTrinitarian God, and reverence (dulia), which wasdirected to the spirit of the holy person depicted, adistinction first made by Augustine in the sixth

century. Aquinas amended thisdistinction by stating thatMary deserved more than thereverence due the saints,which he termed hyperdulia.This qualification served todeflect accusations ofMariolatry advanced byProtestants.

Fellowship students whofavor a less visual or iconicdevotional environment maybe reminded of the picture ofthe child Jesus, son of Mary,that graces the wall behind thereader’s lectern in the Pro-Ecclesia, Mt. Ecclesia’s Chapel.He is preparing, as are we, tomake his person fit to receivethe Christ. This picture hasiconic significance for some

of us. And rightly so. Marian icons carry no lesssignificance for thousands of Christians.

Possibly the most dramatic portrayal of theVirgin Mary in Byzantine art was the Deesis, theGreek word for entreaty or intercession. As an artform the deesis was divided into three sections orpanels. Christ is in the center, flanked by John theBaptist and the Mother of God, both of whom arepleading with Christ on behalf of sinners.

According to Jaroslav Pelikan in his balancedstudy, Mary Through the Centuries (YaleUniversity Press), “devotion to Mary found itssupreme expression in the Byzantine liturgy,” andearly Church fathers transmitted Greek Mariologyto the Latin Church. (Continued) ❐

—C.W.

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detail, Rogier van der Weyden (1400-1464), Beaune Hospice, France

The Virgin as IntecessorMary is invoked in the Catholic Church asAdvocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.

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“My soul, there is a countrieAfar beyond the stars Where stands a winged sentrieAll skillkful in the wars. There above noise and danger,Sweet peace sits crowned with smiles And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files.”

—Henry Vaughn

AS MAN IS LEARNING to under-stand and commemorate the mysteryof the changing seasons, so also theangels know and keep sacred vigil atthese holy times. We must ever

remember, however, that the angelic life wavetouches a much higher plane of spiritual con-sciousness than that of the human. Consequentlythe angels know a deeper meaning and receive agreater inflow of spiritual ecstasy at the time of thefour seasonal solar festivals.

As man worked in ages past with the animalkingdom, and helped in the formation of animalbodies, so are the angels giving their ministrationsto the kingdom of plants.

One of their most joyous tasks has been toembody within the flower kingdom the highestideals and noblest conceptions of man. Joyouslythey have woven all the fragrance and beauty ofhis highest thoughts and deeds into flower-symbolsof tender loveliness.

How gladsome is their rejoicing when they dis-

cover one who, though still wearing a garment offlesh, is able to see and understand their work withthe flowers, and to interpret the mystic messageswhich are inscribed upon each colorful petal.

There is a time of the year which the scientiststerm the autumn equinox and which the mysticknows as the season of the great spiritual inflow.The angels, too, reverently observe this sacred fes-tival, for they are privileged to see from their highplace in the etheric realms that great Ray of Lightwhich gradually descends upon the earth, envelop-ing and suffusing the planet until, to eyes notblinded with the veil of mortality, it appears to

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The Language ofFlowers

Peace: A Legend of the

Golden Rod

MYSTIC LIGHT

Oil on canvas,1809-10, Philipp Otto Runge, Kunsthalle, Hamburg

The Great Morning“Our joy in flowers is derived from paradise. Thus everyflower has for us a special significance, assuming humanfeatures which we associate with our joy.”—Philipp Runge

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become a body of radiant, vibrant gold. This light grows brighter and more powerful

until it penetrates into the very heart of the earth. Itis then that the angels can no longer contain theirgreat joy for the work of redemption which theyknow is being accomplished both for man and theplanet upon which be dwells. And so they fill allthe world with their songs of rejoicing.

Sometimes there are those who are pure enoughto glimpse this great Light and to catch an echo ofthis angelic chorus, and have called this time ofspiritual ecstasy the Holy Night.

The angels labored long and reverently in thework of transmitting a bit of the essence of thisDivine Light into its spiritual prototype, the flow-ers. At last their work was complete and in soft,feathery plumes of golden radiance there bloomseach year in the autumn time the flower that sym-bolizes the Great Impulse. Gleaming in the yellowtones of the Christ’s own color, the golden rodbreathes forth a reflection of the rays from the Sun.

An ancient Gaelic legend gives to September thesynonym of peace because this was the month ofthe Immaculate Conception of Him whose name isPeace. To commemorate this truth in flowers theangels have given to the earth a preponderance ofgolden blossoms in the autumn time.

A poet has caught this message and sings: “Oh,Peace! the fairest child of heaven,/ To whom thesylvan reign was given.”

During the months in which the golden light ofthe Christ is suffusing the earth, the angels havewreathed it in blossoms of the same lovely hue.Chief among these is the golden rod which carriesthe message of the new ingress of Life and Light,when “peace is on the earth and in the air.”

These brilliant blossoms, woven by the angels tobear the message of the annual sacrifice of theChrist, were aptly chosen as the national flower bya great pioneering people of the new world whoseideal is Peace and whose dream is Fellowship. Andso it is that during the sacred months of the ingress,this lovely symbol of its coming gives forth the gladtidings in showers of blossoms, and heralds in itsbeauty that angelic chorus so soon to be sounding:“Peace on earth and good will among men.” ❐

—Corinne S. Dunklee

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T eachings of an Initiate contains some ofthe last findings of Max Heindel’s exten-

sive investigations into the invisible realms asthey are incorporated into the final lessons tohis students. Topics include:

The Sign of the Master

The Way of Wisdom

Esoteric Significance of Easter

Scientific Method of SpiritualUnfoldment

The New Sense of the New Age

The Death of the Soul

Religion and Healing

As an Initiate of the Rosicrucian Order,Max Heindel was well qualified to impart

esoteric knowledge.

Please order on page 64

Seventh Edition. 212 Pages. Indexed. Paper. Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship

Teachings of an Initiate

by Max Heindel

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AFEW WORDS, first, about aboutthe morality of birth control, for,ignorantly and unfortunately, theidea of birth control has been associ-ated with immorality.

Theodore Roosevelt emphasized the importantduty to one’s country of keeping up the number ofits population, and this duty he puts on the shoul-ders of those able to produce and care for sound,healthy, offspring. Obviously it is the duty of therace to humanity to keep the population regulated ina normal, healthy and progressive manner. Whenthe wealthy, educated and ecclesiastical membersof society neglect to reproduce the adequate num-ber of offspring for the good of the society of whichthey form a part, they are immoral. They areneglecting a spiritual duty. They are putting selfishindulgence ahead of community welfare. Such peo-ple, in my opinion, are immoral and are practicingimmoral birth control, no matter how religiouslythey are living up to all the conventions of societyand the church.

On the other hand, the poor families who arebreeding diseased offspring or more children thanthey can support in a healthy, normal, sanitary man-ner are immoral. Theirs is the immorality of igno-rance—ignorance of the laws of birth control. Anyinstitution encouraging such over-production ofoffspring is immoral.

The State itself is not free from blame regarding

these things. A State that allows its citizens alreadyborn to suffer privations and become exposed tounhealthful and criminal environments is immoral.A State that does not protect the rights of the help-less baby citizens is immoral, even brutal. Would itnot increase and improve the population enormous-ly if the State snatched every infant out of diseasedand sordid environments and supplied it with every-thing a normal, healthy, growing baby citizen need-ed: nursing, education, comforts, recreation up tothe time he or she could be self-supporting?

Thus, the State itself, the wealthy, the educated,

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The Spiritual Aspect ofBirth Control

MYSTIC LIGHT

The two statements in this article first appeared in theFebruary 1918 Rays. Currently, the subject of birth control isa controversial, if not polemical, issue. We include the firstauthor’s somewhat dated opinions with the balanced andinstructive comments of the Rays’ first editor, Max Heindel.

Oil on canvas. Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674). The Wallace Collection, London

The AnnunciationAs this painting makes clear, conception and birth are asmuch spiritual events as material and mundane occurrences.

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the unmarried ecclesiastics are all, generally speak-ing, shrinking from their duty to humanity inrespect to producing, and rearing healthy, desirablecitizens. They are all immoral and most of them areindulging in the immoral use of birth control.

Roosevelt calls the poorer and more unfortunatemembers of our population the “Submerged Tenth,”perhaps because they are unable to rise above thedepressing clouds of fear, ignorance and povertysettled about them. Workers for the welfare ofhumanity should ever be on the alert to send rays oflight through these heavy clouds. Even Rooseveltadmits that to this class, perhaps, birth controlwould be a benefit. Indeed, teaching these peoplethe knowledge of the laws of birth control is notonly advisable and moral, but necessary to the wel-fare of the race. A new-born babe has rights whichdefective parents world be unable to give him. Andif we knew a little more about the laws of Causationand Rebirth, we could plainly see that children borninto unfortunate environments would often be bet-ter had they not been born at all.

This brings us to the deeper spiritual aspect of thematter. It is a mistake to think that when parentsgive birth to a child they are creating a new soul.The soul, or spirit, of the newborn babe is a divinespark, divinely created. It is blasphemy to supposethat mere human beings could do anything so won-derful as give birth to spirit. Parents can only initi-ate the process whereby a child’s body—its physi-cal abode during this particular earth life—is pro-duced. The parents could not even do this were notthe seed atom supplied by the incoming soul itself.Actually the parents supply the soil in which, or outof which the seed atom develops into a humanphysical form. This seed atom is the unique posses-sion of the incarnating Ego. It is entirely indepen-dent of the parents. But before the child can beginan earth life, its seed atom must take root and growin the body of its mother. The mother, therefore, isthe gate through which an individual enters a newlife on earth.

When a mother refuses to help build a body foran individual desiring to enter earth life throughher, she is depriving that individual of her assis-tance in the matter. She is by no means killing thatindividual, who may gain a body through the help

of some other mother. If a mother refuses admit-tance to an undesirable being, she is right in sodoing and benefits humanity thereby. There are allclasses of individuals clamoring to be received by awoman’s body. It is for the mother to stand on guardlest the unworthy enter.

A mother can determine what sort of child shewill give birth to. A woman whose thoughts arepure and noble and whose life is devoted to theupliftment of humanity would, by the law of attrac-tion, draw to her a child with similar inclinations.The attitude of a mother’s mind just prior to thereception of the seed atom is all important in deter-mining what sort of child she will bring into theworld. A fit of temper or violent passion at thissacred moment leaves the gateway unguarded andinvites the wrong sort of entity to enter. Prospectivemothers shoulder a tremendous responsibility, andthe sooner they learn all there is to know about thelaws of generation, the better it will be for humani-ty.

Before a human being is reborn into an earth life,he or she is permitted to choose certain parents. Noone can choose an environment which is notdeserved or previously earned in former lives. Weare told that there are many highly evolved peoplewho are unable to enter into earthly existencebecause no worthy parents will supply bodies forthem. On the other hand, less evolved individualsare entering the bodies of ignorant women and theninto lives of crime, disease, imprisonment or insan-ity. It is wrong to give birth to such children.

How can the afflicted woman in poverty anddarkness guard against this? That she should be onguard is beyond question. She should be instructedregarding the laws of birth control. She should learnthat she has absolute control over her own bodyirrespective of adverse conditions. She must knowthat no child can come through her portals of lifewithout her consent. The laws of birth control pre-vent involuntary motherhood which, to the sensi-tive, is always immoral.

If guarding the gateway of life against undesir-able intruders is a woman’s duty, how much greateris it her duty and privilege to open the doorway tothe child who will be a worthy and helpful memberof society. The prospective mother, realizing her

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sacred duty, will guard her every thought, word anddeed prior to receiving the sacred seed atom whichwill eventually develop into the body of her child.By prayer she will strive to make her gift to human-ity a blessed one. Willingly, joyously, and with pro-tecting mother love, she will help the baby to growand flourish. In this way motherhood fulfills thehighest ideals of morality.

Until all women are in a position to realize theabove ideal, it is well, for the good of humanity andthemselves, that they learn to bar their gateways oflife. Human progress is accelerated as man learns tocontrol the forces of nature. They thus become hisservants rather than his dark masters. It is the samewith birth control. The proper use of this knowledgewill always bless and benefit. It is always the abuse,not the proper use, of power that is immoral.

—Maude Durand Edgren

MAX HEINDEL’S REMARKS

The foregoing article on birth control hasprompted us to add a few facts to Mrs. Edgren’silluminating remarks, so that our readers mayunderstand this subject from the Cosmic viewpoint.In the first place we should remember that there areabout sixty billions of spirits in our life wave, goingthrough the cycle of life and death, living part of thetime in the visible and part in the invisible worlds.At the present time there are only fifteen hundredmillions of people in physical existence. This isabout the lowest ebb and that usually happens at theend of an Age. During the million years or moresince we came out of Atlantis the average has beenfifty to sixty millions of people. It may also be stat-ed that the Western people are the cream of thisevolution and therefore it has fallen to our lot tograpple with the great problems which are alwaysincidental to a transition stage.

Woman has been the arbiter of the world’s des-tinies in past civilizations, while man has had hissway in others, as is now the case, and we are uponthe eve of a transition to a new Age where womanwill again wield the scepter of power and man willhave to submit to her dictates. But before thatcomes to pass an era of equality will come. This iscalled the Aquarian Age by occultists, and we havebegun to feel its effects since the middle of the last

century when the Sun by precession came withinorb of the cusp of Aquarius. It is however, at thepresent time, still in ten degrees of Pisces. So at theslow rate of travel of the Equinox the Sun will notreach the last degree of Aquarius until about sixhundred years have passed. But during that timethere will of course be so many wonderful changesin our physical, moral and mental status that we areunable at the present time to conceive what we shallbe like then.

We who are now in the body will be followed bygroups of spirits still more evolved than we, whowill bring about great reforms, and by the time thepeople on earth at the present time are reborn aboutfour hundred years of the Aquarian Age will bepast, so that the world will be well started on theline of development peculiar to that time, and thebackward spirits who are born into that atmosphereof great intellectual attainment will thereby gain animmense uplift, on the same principle that an elec-tric conductor which is brought into close proximi-ty to a highly charged wire will automaticallyreceive a charge of a lower voltage. Thus each classor group which rises helps also to raise those whoare below it in the scale of evolution.

The matter of population, then, is not entirelygoverned by individuals or by man-made laws, butthe Divine Hierarchs who guide our evolutionarrange the matter as required for the highest goodfor all concerned and the number of the populationis in their hands rather than in our own. This doesnot mean that we cannot or should not exercisebirth control in some degree as suggested by thosewho are responsible for that movement. It is alsotrue that one must help people where they are andnot where they ought to be.

The Rosicrucian teachings have always empha-sized the fact quoted by Mrs. Edgren that likeattracts like, and therefore it is a duty upon the partof those who are well developed physically, moral-ly and mentally to provide an environment for asmany incoming spirits as their physical and finan-cial circumstances will permit. This duty is stillmore binding upon those who are also spirituallydeveloped, for a high spiritual entity cannot enterinto physical existence through a vile parentage.But when a couple has reached the point where it is

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deemed either dangerous to the health of the moth-er to bear more children, or where the financial bur-den would be above their means, then they shouldlive a life of continence, not indulging the passion-al nature, seeking by artificial means to bar the wayfor incoming Egos to take advantage of the oppor-tunity for rebirth offered them by the sexual indul-gence of such a couple.

This naturally requires considerable spiritualadvancement and self-control. There are few whoare capable of living such a life, and onemight as well preach continence toa stone wall as to the averagespecimen of humanity. Hecannot understand that it isnecessary; he evenbelieves that it wouldinterfere with his health,for false statements aboutthe necessity of exercisingthis natural function haveled to many deplorableresults. Even if he could bepersuaded that he ought to denyhimself for the good of his mate andthe children he has already brought into theworld, he would probably be utterly unable torestrain himself, particularly because people in suchmoderate circumstances can not usually afford tohave separate sleeping quarters.

Therefore it may be necessary to teach these peo-ple birth control by scientific means. But we submitthat though they are unable to understand the reasonwhy continence should be practiced and unable topractice it because of lack of self-control, the spiri-tual teachings should be given repeatedly so that asthe steady drop wears the stone, in time the cominggenerations will learn to depend upon their ownwill power to accomplish the object of keeping theirlower nature in check. Without this educational fea-ture looking towards a spiritual emancipation,information concerning physical methods of limit-ing the birth rate in families that are overburdenedis dangerous in the extreme.

There is another phase of the matter whichdeserves elucidation. Mrs. Edgren says truly, “theattitude of the mother’s mind just prior to the recep-

tion of the seed-atom is all-important in determin-ing what sort of child she will bring into the world.A fit of temper or violent passion at this sacredmoment leaves the gateway unguarded and invitesthe wrong sort of entity to enter.”

Besides the people in the world we see, the wholeatmosphere about us teems with different otherentities who are attracted to beings of a like nature.Just as musicians congregate in music halls, sports-men in yacht clubs and on race tracks, etc., so do

these entities gather around people of anature similar to their own. As

drunkards and gangsters gatheraround our physical saloons,

as immoral men and womenmeet in so-called redlightdistricts, so also immoralspirits gather around ahome where the passionsof the lower nature are

indulged perhaps manytimes during the day or

night. There is a certain classof beings, male and female

demons living in the ether, who werecalled by the ancient alchemists incubi and

succubi,which feed upon the passions of others.What chance has a prospective mother in such anenvironment of attracting a desirable spirit to takerebirth through her?

And although conception is almost never syn-chronous with the union of the parents but may takeplace at any moment within two weeks or more ofthat event, a mother surrounded by such influencesin the home is never free from them. Some of thereligions of some of the people we call savagesrequire to this day that the generative act be per-formed in the temple, and that is what it ought to be.There is no more important act in life, and insteadof being condemned as a shame it ought to be exalt-ed to the dignity of a sacrament and performedunder the holiest and most inspiring circumstancespossible.

Were this done today, as in the so-called GoldenAge, we should find an upliftment and an improve-ment in the conditions of the world as we would notdeem possible to accomplish in centuries. ❐

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Oil on canvas, lunette painting in the R

osicrucian Fellow

ship’s Pro-E

cclesia by Mary H

anscom

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ACORRESPONDENT enthusiasticover the beauty, grandeur, and soul-satisfying nature of the Rosicrucianteachings bemoans the fate whichhas fettered her to a cook stove, a

dishpan, the care of children, and the drudgery ofhousework; were she only free to take this new-found gospel, she would go into the wide worldwith the glad tidings for which she knows untoldthousands are praying and seeking.

That would be well for our friend and thosethousands, but what about the little childrendeprived of their mother’s care? Do not forget thevery important point that all who were hired towork in the Master’s vineyard were standing idlein the market place. They had no hampering ties tohinder them from working there the whole day,and no one who is not free from former obligationsmay take up a life work of teaching others. If weaspire to that work by being faithful in the perfor-mance of our present duties, the way will opensometime and give us the legitimate call.

But about “drudgery”; the use of that word is alltoo common. The teacher talks of the drudgery ofdrumming the same lessons into the heads of chil-dren year after year; the mother talks of thedrudgery of housework; the father complains ofthe drudgery of office or shop work; and so ondown the line. Each thinks that if he or she were inthe shoes of some one else, life would at oncechange to a grand, sweet song.

This is a fallacy. “Man that is born of woman isof few days and full of trouble.” No matter wherehe is placed, there is only one method of relief,

one way to over-come, and that isby adoption ofthe right attitudeof mind.

A great gas enginegoing at full speedmight defy an army ofstrong men to stop it, but atiny speck of carbon deposited on the ignitionpoint, or a small cam working loose, would quick-ly quell its energy. Thus a little soot, which wedespise as dirt, can under certain circumstancesaccomplish more than many men. Therefore weshould not extravagantly eulogize some as heroesand despise others as drudges. There are as noblesouls mending stockings as ever graced presiden-tial chairs. It all depends upon whether they putlove into their work or not.

But what many really mean when they say“drudgery” is monotony. All work is routine moreor less, and the constant performance of the sametasks often becomes monotonous. There is a verygood reason why the present phase of our develop-ment includes this principle of routine. We are nowgetting ready for the fast approaching AquarianAge with its great intellectual and spiritual devel-opment. This requires an awakening of the dor-mant vital body, whose keyword is repetition. Theroutine of our daily work furnishes this. If werebel, it breeds monotony and retards progress. Butif we leaven our labor with love, we shall advanceourselves greatly in evolution and reap the rewardof contentment. ❐

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The Nobility of All Labor

FROM MAX HEINDEL’S WRITINGS

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SICKNESS AND PAIN VS. COSMIC LAW

QUESTION: If it is true that sicknessand pain are the result of our own mis-deeds, then is it not interfering withcosmic law to try to heal the sick andremove pain?

Answer: In reply to a similar question MaxHeindel gave this paraphrased reply: Such aquestion reveals an attitude of mind that isextremely deplorable. One might as well askif it is right to try to save one’s self if drown-ing, for falling in the water is also an effectof some self-generated cause. Certainly it isour duty to call for qualified help when insickness or distress, or to attempt to cure theills from which we suffer. We should bedoing decidedly wrong if we allowed ourphysical instrument to suffer or deterioratefor lack of proper care or attention. It is themost valuable instrument that we possess andunless we use it circumspectly and care for itto the best of our ability, we are amenable tothe law of cause and effect for that neglect.

Such a question as this reveals an altogethererroneous conception of the law of cause andeffect. It is our duty to try to rise above adverseconditions instead of allowing them to dominateour lives. If we endeavor to direct our lives aright,we shall always be able to modify, if not to alto-gether change, conditions and make them what wewill instead of sitting down and supinely waitingfor adverse circumstances to pass by, simplybecause we ourselves have brought them intobeing. The very fact that we have made them oughtto fire us with courage and energy to unmakethem,or to overcome them as quickly as possible.

THE BARREN FIG TREE

Question: I do not understand why Christ Jesusdestroyed the barren fig tree, an account of whichis given in the Bible. Will you please explain?Answer: The fig is a symbol of generation. TheChrist was teaching His disciples the dire results ofthe misuse of the creative force and illustrated itswithering, degrading effect on mankind in thedestruction of the physical form of the fig tree,which symbolizes the human body. What theChrist really did was to release the life force in thetree, whereupon its physical form began to with-er—to disintegrate. In so doing he gave a concreteexample of the way in which the misuse of the cre-ative force (life force) ultimately brings on somekind of disease which in time releases the spirit(life force) from the body that then disintegrates(withers).

CHANGES IN RELIGION

Question: Why have there been changes in thereligions of the world? If one religion were true,why should it not be satisfactory for all ages? Answer: In Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians(13:11), he says: “When I was a child, I spoke as achild, I understood as a child, I thought as a child,but when I became a man, I put away childishthings,” and his message is so plain and clear thatit cannot be misconstrued when applied to the indi-vidual. Yet there is a broader application implied,the application to all mankind in the process of itsevolution. One often speaks of the childhood of arace or the infancy of a people, meaning in its earlystages of growth.

In one of His last meetings with His disciplesbefore His betrayal and subsequent crucifixion andresurrection Christ says, “ I have yet many things

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Miscellaneous Questions

READERS’ QUESTIONS

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to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now.”Who will venture to deny that He has been givingus the message from that time to this through themultitudinous voices of nature, yet, “We have eyesand see not, ears and hear not, neither do we under-stand.” Sometimes we have to be knocked down,so to speak, by the truth before we see it and rec-ognize it as such.

Literature, art, music, invention, and religionhave evolved side by side with the development ofman. They are all expressions of his innerconsciousness, and by a careful analysisof any representative ofits period, itstime in the world’s history may bedetermined.

So religion has evolved sideby side with man and thus itmust ever continue to do or itwill be cast aside as the out-grown garments of a grow-ing child.

POWER OVER THE ANIMAL

KINGDOM

Question: How is it thatsomemen, as mentioned inthe Bible,are able to controlthe various members of theanimal kingdom? Also whatwas the source of the power ofSt. Francis, who was ableto com-municate with the birds?Answer: Man possesses powerover the animals in exactly thesame degree that he possesses mas-tery over his own inner nature, thatis, over his desire body and mind.

There is a certain correlation between the desirebody of the animal and that of man, the lowerphases of man’s desire body being symbolized bysavage beasts. When man has mastered his desirebody (spiritualized it) he has mastered fear withinhimself, and likewise he has mastered fear ofthings without. Then the group spirit of the animalrecognizes man’s power for good, that he is nolonger inimical to its charges. Hence, throughthepower of instinct it instructs them to obey.

The ability to commune with birds, and other

animals as well, comes through spiritual develop-ment. This alone enables man to contact the groupspirit of the animal, and by this contact to holdcommunication with its charges.

MANNER OF BAPTISM

Question: To be baptized right should one besprinkled with water while he is a babe or beimmersed completely in water when grown up, asChrist and His Apostles received it?

Answer: The rite of baptism is symbolical, andtherefore it does not actually matter

whether a person be sprinkled orimmersed. In Gleanings of a Mystic

Max Heindel writes the following:

“When a person is admitted tothe church, which is a spiritualinstitution where love andbrotherhood are the main-springs of action, it is appro-priate to carry him under thewaters of baptism in symbolof the beautiful condition ofchildlike innocence and lovewhich prevailed when man-kind dwelt under the mist inthat bygone period. At that

time eyes of infant man hadnot yet been opened to the

material advantages of thisworld. The little child which is

brought up into the church has notyet become aware of the allurementsof life either, and others obligatethemselves to guide it to lead a holylife according to the best of their

ability, because experience gained since the Floodhas taught us that the broad way of the world isstrewn with pain, sorrow, and disappointment; thatonly by following the straight and narrow way canwe escape death and enter into life everlasting.

Thus we see that. . .the sacrament of baptism.. .isto remind us of the blessings attendant upon thosewho are members of a brotherhood where self-seeking is put into the background and where ser-vice to others is the keynote and mainspring ofaction.” ❐

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St Francis Preaching to the Birds

Fresco (detail), B

enozzo Gozzoli, C

hoir Chapel, M

useo Com

munale of S

an Francesco, M

ontefalco, Photo-A

ntonio Quattrone

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AT THE PRESENT TIME all human-ity has evolved so far that they areabove law in some respects. Mostpeople obey the law “Thou shalt notsteal,” for instance.

Law is a curb on the desire nature, but whereoccult or rather spiritual advancement is contem-plated, the spiritualization of the vital body mustalso be accomplished. And that is attained by meansof art and religion, in oft-repeated impacts, for thekeynote of the vital body is repetition, as we can seeby looking at plants which have only a dense bodyand a vital body. There stem and leaf follow eachother in upward succession; the plant keeps ongrowing them alternately. It was the vital body thatbuilt the vertebrae of the human spine one afteranother by constant repetition. And memory, forinstance, which is one of the faculties of the vitalbody, is strengthened and developed by constantiteration and reiteration.

When the Protestants left the Catholic Churchthey truly left many of the abuses behind, but theyalso left almost everything of value. They aban-doned the ritual which everyone may know andunderstand regardless of poor enunciation upon thepart of the preacher. Knowing the ritual, the laitycould send their thoughts in the same direction asthe thought of the priest who was reading, and thusan enormous volume of identical spiritual thoughtwas massed together and projected upon the com-munity for good or evil. Nowadays the congregationin a Protestant church listens to the extemporaneousprayer or sermon of their minister, who usually doesnot think so much of the spiritual work before himas he does of how he may turn out the most eupho-nious phrases to tickle the ears of his congregation.They forget what he has said before they leave thechurch.

Those who go to a Catholic church understandingthe ritual are still today able to unite their thoughtsin spiritual conclave and keep within memory thatwhich has been gone through. Thus they are everytime adding a little to the spiritualization of theirvital bodies, while the Protestant church membershave been affected only in their emotional natures,and that effect is soon thrown out. The Bible tells usto pray without ceasing, and many have scoffed say-ing that if God is omniscient He knows whereof wehave need without our prayer, and if He is not, Hecan most likely not be omnipotent, and therefore ourprayers are not granted, so that it is useless to pray.But that command was indited from a knowledge ofthe nature of the vital body, which needs that repeti-tion in order that it may be spiritualized.

So much for the ritual. As to the use of the Latinlanguage, it is stated in the first chapter of John thatin the beginning was the word and without it wasnothing made that was made. Word is sound. Everysound produces a different form. Thus, if a certainsound produces a certain effect, we cannot changethe sound without also changing the effect. If we saythe word “Deum” then translate Deum and say “God,”the sound is very different, and as sound producescertain effects upon our invisible bodies, the effectsthat were produced by the original Latin ritual havebeen lost to the Protestant churches which changedit into English or dropped it altogether.

It is often a wonder to people how the CatholicChurch retains its power over its people, and it maybe said that were they to abandon the Latin ritualthere would not be one of their followers left in tenyears. Moreover, their truly occult rituals have notbeen transposed into English, and even among theRosicrucians, Latin rituals, though not those used inthe Catholic Church, are in vogue at the services. ❐

—Max Heindel

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Ritual, Repetition and the Soul Body

WESTERN WISDOM BIBLE STUDY

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WE ARE NOW approaching thebeginning of a new millennium,and January 1, A.D. 2000, willbe the 2,000th “cosmic” anni-versary of the birth of the

Nathan Jesus.† What depth this gives to our under-standing of this turning point! Cosmic Christianity,as here developed—and we are only at the begin-ning of this work—will allowus to live more and moreconsciously with the verypulse of Christ’s heart. It isthis heartbeat that connectsour lives with that of Christ—a union that we have alsobegun to discern in the scriptof the stars, the visibleemblems of Divine messen-gers, the choirs of angels.

In speaking of CosmicChristianity, it is only fittingat this juncture to mentionWilli Sucher (1902-1985).Readers already familiarwith his work will knowhow much this book owes tohim. It is a kind of “white magic”: one looks intothe future, becomes aware of certain approachingcosmic configurations, brings them into con-sciousness in connection with the correspondingChrist event, and tries to make oneself receptive to

the flowing in, from the etheric, of the Christimpulse—this was Willi Sucher’s concern. Howopposed this is to certain degenerate forms of mod-ern astrology, where some astrologers—under theinfluence of destructive, negative beings —projectthe most terrible doomsday predictions into thefuture, effectively paralyzing the human will! Thepractice of Christian star wisdom counteracts this

negative approach by forg-ing a conscious connectionto the new unfolding of theChrist impulse that has beentaking place through theprogressive incorporation ofChrist’s etheric body sincethe year 1933. The aim ofthis star wisdom is to active-ly live with the events pro-ceeding out of the currentmanifestation of this 33 1/3-year rhythm, with theresolve to participate, out-wardly and inwardly, withall that this implies for thefuture of humanity. Thispath, which is ultimately a

true path of healing—for humanity, the Earth, andall Creation—entered a new phase through thetrail-blazing work of Willi Sucher, and we renderhomage to him here—a true disciple of the CosmicChrist.‡

Readers of Sucher’s work will know that,although he did work with traditional astrology, healso turned to the sidereal zodiac and worked withthe movements of the planets through the zodiacalconstellations (sidereal zodiac) in contradistinction

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Foundations of Cosmic Christianity:Recurring Aspects

ASTROLOGY

† This is the second article excerpted and reprinted with per-mission from Robert Powell’s Chronicle of the Living Christ,The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ: Foundations ofCosmic Christianity, published by the Anthroposophic Press.‡ Willi Sucher, Cosmic Christianity and the ChangingCountenance of Cosmology, Anthroposophic Press, 1993

Westphalian altar, c. 1370/80, Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Cologne

“The outer sun hungers for the inner one”—J. Böhme

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to modern astrology, which generally takes noaccount of this approach. A second pointto mention with regard to Sucher’swork is his attention to the helio-centric movements of the plan-ets; that is, the movements ofthe planets not as viewedfrom the Earth (geocentric),but from the Sun. It was adeep intuition that ledWilli Sucher to this step.

When one looks at thec o r r e s p o n d e n c e sbetween cosmic eventsand the life of Christ,the extraordinary factemerges that it is aboveall the heliocentricplan-etary movements that areof significance. As anexample, let us look at thecosmic configuration at themoment of the baptism in theJordan, when heliocentricallythere was an exact conjunctionbetween Mercury and Saturn at the feetof the Twins. What might this mean? Whatcould be the significance of this heavenly configu-ration? Saturn can be described as the “portal tothe Kingdom of the Father,” and Mercury, the plan-et closest to the Sun, as the “Messenger.” Further,the Twins symbolize the linking of the heavenlyHigher Self (Christ) and the Earth-self (Jesus).

The conjunction between Mercury and Saturn atthe moment of the baptism came to expression inthe opening of the cosmic portal: the will of theFather was then fulfilled in the words, “This is mybeloved son whom today I have begotten” (Luke3:22). This was the birth of Christ, the Son of theFather, in union with Jesus, to whom Christ camefrom heavenly realms as the Messenger of theFather. “The words that I say to you I do not speakon my own authority; but the Father who dwells inme does his works” (John 16: 10).

In a new, Christianized star wisdom not onlywill it be important to turn again, as the Magi did,to the zodiacal constellations, but it will also be

necessary to take account of the heliocentricmovements of the planets. Further, account mustbe taken of the fact that, through the Mystery ofGolgotha, the Earth has become, in a moral-spiri-tual sense, the center of the solar system and thattherefore a heliocentric conception with the Sunat the physical center is—on a higher, moral-spiritual level—not really true. For Christ, theSpiritual Sun, is now united with the Earth.Certainly, the heliocentric system will still have avalidity from the point of view of the physical rela-tionships between the planets; but as we humanbeings incarnate again and again on the Earth, it ishere that we may enter fully into a relationshipwith Christ, the Spirit-Sun.

Indeed, in a profound sense, full of significancefor the future, the Earth itself is becoming a Sun, sothat, in a higher sense, “geocentrism” is only a new“heliocentrism.” Therefore, we have the somewhat

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complicated circumstance that the heliocentricmovements of the planets—though of pro-found significance for entering into arelationship with the unfolding ofthe Christ impulse—must alsobe viewed from an Earth-cen-tered perspective. The impli-cations of this view havebeen systematically pre-sented in Vol. I of theauthor’s Hermetic Astro-logy, where attention isdrawn to the astronomi-cal system of TychoBrahe, which, thoughheliocentric in onesense, also places theEarth at the absolute cen-ter. The Tychonic systemthus helps provide a basisfor a new Christian star wis-dom....In taking this step[from the Copernican system tothe Tychonic] we begin to enterfully into the Christ-centered realityof our solar system and are offered theprivilege of participating in the great work ofredemption.

Before giving some examples of the significanceof the modified heliocentric (or Tychonic†) per-spective, something else should be addressed.Mention was made earlier of the negativeworkingof the planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto; butother, more positive, aspects should also be point-ed out. And the fact that these planets were onlydiscovered within the last 200 years or so does notpreclude our investigating their influence prior totheir “discovery.” Nero, for example, was born at aconjunction between the Sun and Pluto; and theculmination of the temptation in the wilderness,looked at cosmically, also corresponded to a con-junction between the Sun and Pluto. In the case ofNero we clearly have an individual who had fallen

prey to the will to power, one aspect of Pluto; butthis negative aspect was, for example, counterbal-anced by the raising of the daughter of Jairus,which also took place during a conjunction of theSun and Pluto. In fact, this raising occurred twice:on November 18, A.D. 30, and then again onDecember 1, A.D. 30....The second was the occa-sion on which the Sun was in conjunction withPluto. Here we have a preliminary indication thatthe Christ Being worked also with impulses fromthe planet Pluto, but in a positive sense (and a sim-ilar case could be made for Uranus and Neptune).

Having alluded, at least briefly, to the impor-tance of the three outer planets, let us now returnto the modified heliocentric (or Tychonic) perspec-tive, prepared to consider them also in relation tothe more traditional inner planets. To give a betterpicture, let us look again at the configuration at thebaptism in the Jordan from the perspective of the

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† Planet positions in these horoscopes are computed for boththe heliocentric—Tychonic or hermetic—system (outer circle)and the geocentric system (inner circle). Dates are given interms of the Julian calendar, in use at the time of Christ. Thesidereal zodiac (not the tropical) is used for all longitudes.

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Sun, at which time the planet Mercury, whichis closest to the Sun, and the planet Saturnlined up together in the feet of theTwins, at 7° sidereal Gemini. Herewe have the alignment Sun-Mercury-Saturn, and theremarkable thing is that thisalignment occurs over andover again at other impor-tant events in Christ’slife—for example, at theAdoration of the Magi.

At the Adoration ofthe Magi, on the even-ing of December 26, 6B.C.,† there was aheliocentric conjunctionbetween Mercury andSaturn in sidereal Aries.In studying these cosmiccorrespondences, what seemsmost important is the fact ofalignment. A heliocentric con-junction between Mercury andSaturn means that Mercury andSaturn are in a line with the Sun on thesame side of the Sun. A heliocentric opposi-tion would take place if Mercury were on one sideof the Sun and Saturn on the other: Mercury-Sun-Saturn. And in fact, at the healing of the noble-man’s son, the second miracle in the Gospel ofSaint John, precisely this Mercury-Sun-Saturnalignment occurred [see chart above]. In otherwords, at the time of this miracle, which took placeat 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, August 3, A.D. 30...therewas a heliocentric opposition between Mercuryand Saturn. This same opposition occurred again atthe feeding of the five thousand, which...tookplace between 4:00 and 6:00 P.M. on Monday,January 29, A.D. 31.

Another example: we know that the resurrectiontook place on the morning of Sunday, April 5, A.D.33, and that the ascension followed forty dayslater. Adding these forty days, we arrive at

Thursday, May 14, A.D. 33. Looking at the cosmicconfiguration at this time, midday May 14, therewas, heliocentrically, an opposition of Mercuryand Neptune: that is, Mercury-Sun-Neptune.Neptune was at 1° sidereal Aquarius and Mercuryat 1° sidereal Leo. Now, exactly the same cosmicconfiguration took place at the wedding at Cana[see chart above]. Again we have the alignment:Mercury-Sun-Neptune. The wedding at Cana tookplace on the morning of Wednesday, December 28,A.D. 29, at 9:00 A.M. Since the wedding mealdirectly followed, the time of the transformation ofwater into wine was about midday. At that timeMercury was, heliocentrically, at 24° Cancer andNeptune was opposite at 24° sidereal Capricorn.These few examples must suffice to illustrate thegeneral point. Perhaps one day a more detailedstudy can be made of the close connection betweenChrist’s life and astrological events as viewed

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† This date is in relation to the birth of the Matthew Jesus.Refer to “The Luke Jesus and the Matthew Jesus” in the March/April 1998 Rays for information on the two Jesus children.

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from the Tychonic-heliocentric perspective.Having considered the importance of

the heliocentric perspective, let us goa step further; needless to say, tra-ditional geocentric configura-tions are also significant in thelife of Christ. For example,at the end of the forty daysin the wilderness, asdescribed in the Gospelof Saint Matthew (4:11),“angels came and min-istered unto him.” Whatis signified by thesewords? According tothe spiritual tradition ofthe Knights of Malta,these were the angels ofthe twelve who were tobecome his apostles. Nowwe know—also from RudolfSteiner—that the Moon sphereis the realm of the angels. So wewould expect to find, at thismoment, a planetary configurationinvolving the Moon; and, in fact, on thatoccasion—toward the evening of Wednesday,November 30, A.D. 29, at the end of the forty daysin the wilderness—there was indeed a conjunctionbetween the Moon and Jupiter. What took place?The angels poured out their blessing, signified cos-mically by the alignment with Jupiter, planet ofwisdom. They bestowed a cosmic benediction:asource of nourishment and sustenance radiatedforth to fortify Christ Jesus at this moment just afterhe had met and overcome the three temptations.

One month later, Christ Jesus, together withabout one hundred people, attended the wedding atCana in Galilee. During the celebration followingthe wedding that morning, at which many of hisown relatives were present, he performed his firstpublic miracle—the transformation of water intowine. At that moment the Moon was again in con-junction with Jupiter, a fact that casts a remarkablelight on this miracle. For what took place? Thewater—one could say the water of wisdom—issymbolized by the conjunction between the Moon

and

Jupiter. This water had flowed through theprophets of the people of Israel. Christ then cameas the one who would fulfill this prophetic tradi-tion. And what new thing did he bring to the water,the wisdom, the power of Yahveh that had flowedlike a channel of inspiration since the time ofAbraham and Melchizedek? He brought the fire oflove. The water that was distributed to the weddingguests was mixed, not just with angelic blessing,as at the end of the temptation in the wilderness,but with the Being of Christ himself, the power oflove, the fire of lovethat transforms water intowine. When the guests drank of this water, theywere imbued with the inner fire of love and devo-tion to the Christ. Those present recognized him asthe emissary of the Divine. And this his first pub-lic miracle was followed by its “octave,” the lastmiracle, when—at the Last Supper on the night of

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Thursday, April 2, A.D. 33—with his twelve disci-ples he inaugurated the holy mystery of the sacra-ment of bread and wine; this spans the life of Christ.

In living with the movements of the planets, thisfact can inspire us: every month there is a recurringaspect when the Moon comes into conjunctionwith Jupiter; this aspect allows an echoing orreawakening inwardly of the mystery of the trans-formation of water into wine. In living with thecosmic correspondences of the Christ events, wecan find a completely new relationship with theheavenly configurations taking place each month.

There are many other examples thatwe could observe: for example,the descent of the Holy Spiritat Whitsun, which is cele-brated ten days after theascension. In the Hebrewcalendar, the correspond-ing festival day is calledthe “Feast of Weeks.” Thisevent takes place fifty daysafter the Passover, whichbegins on the 15th day of the monthof Nisan, the first month in the Jewish cal-endar. Fifty days later comes Pentecost, on Sivan6/7, in the third month in the Jewish calendar.Many people were gathered together in Jerusalemfor this festival of the Feast of Weeks, fifty daysafter the Passover in the year 33. The apostles anddisciples, the holy women, and the Virgin Marywere gathered together in the Coenaculum, thehouse of the Last Supper on Mount Zion inJerusalem. They were gathered together to unite inprayer. On that night, May 23, A.D. 33, the start ofthe sixth day of Sivan, the Feast of Weeks began.

They met in the room of the Last Supper: theeleven apostles plus the newly chosen Matthias,who came in place of Judas Iscariot, together withthe Blessed Virgin Mary. The other disciples andholy women were together in other parts of thehouse. During the night something very specialbegan to take place—a mystery connected with theBlessed Virgin Mary. This then led to the descentof the Holy Spirit at dawn the next day, Sunday,May 24, A.D. 33—fifty days after Easter.

At the Whitsun event, the Moon and Uranus

were conjunct in the constellation of Leo. Eachmonth there is a recurring aspect when the Moonagain comes into conjunction with Uranus. Whenthis aspect occurs, we can inwardly reawaken forourselves this important event that actually signi-fied the founding of the Church. We know thatPeter and the apostles went down to the pool ofBethesda thatday and baptized three thousand peo-ple (Acts 2:41).

Living with these cosmic configurations andcorrespondences to the time of the life of Christcan intensify our inner connection with the unfold-

ing of the Christ impulse. In our dailylives we can cultivate an intimate

relationship with these eventsof eternal significance.Christ said: “Heaven andEarth shall pass away, butmy words will never passaway” (Matthew 24:35).

How much more is thistrue, not just for the words

of Christ, but for his deeds.These deeds were imprinted in the

cosmic-etheric configuration of the uni-verse; and through grace we can become attuned tothem through the appropriate inner knowledge andorientation of will.

This modern spiritual path is a metamorphosisof the path followed by the Magi two thousandyears ago, just as the Magi—fulfillers of the spiri-tual stream inaugurated by Zoroaster in Babylon inthe sixth century B.C.—bore witness to the firstcoming of Christ, so there is today the need for anew path of the Magi leading to CosmicChristianity, to a Christianized star wisdom, repre-senting a metamorphosis of that ancient path.

A true spiritual star wisdom, a true astrology, isneeded in our time to enable us to draw closer tothe second coming of Christ—to the coming ofChrist in the etheric realm—just as the path of theMagi led to the coming of Christ in the physicalrealm. This is the true significance of the Christianstar wisdom arising in our time, for which theChronicle of the life of Christ provides a securefoundation. May our efforts stimulate others tojoin in the quest. ❐

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Christ’ searthly deeds were

imprinted in the cosmic-etheric configuration of the

universe; through graceand knowledge we can

become attuned tothem.

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THERE ARE TIDES in the affairs ofmen,” Shakespeare wrote, and somepertain to the U.S. For instance, seventimes, starting in 1840, the men enter-ing the White House every two

decades did not depart alive. In 1980 Reagan, hadthe assassin’s bullet come a smidgen closer to hisheart, may have become number eight. Let us hopethe person taking over on January 20, 2001 canevade this pattern.

Another pattern seems to be that the first admin-istration in a new century changes the nation’scourse. In 1801 Jefferson’s accession marked theend of the Federalist Party and a move toward amore powerful government. The story of theLouisiana Purchase may be the chief example ofthis power surge from the center. On September14, 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt took overafter McKinley was assassinated, “Progressivism”became the new policy and the government’s sphereof activity was vastly expanded. Will there be arepetition of this expansion after 2001? Let’s see.

One of the 2001 Inauguration chart’s most obvi-ous message is the fact that 2001-5 will not be atime of 100% peace. Mars is strong in its own signand the 7th house of war. Another message thatlooms most visibly, and at the map’s very top, isthe four-planet cluster in Aquarius. If merely theSun and Mercury were there, and in the 11th sign,that wouldn’t mean much. Since inaugurationsbegan to be held in 1937, the solar orb has alwaysbeen in Aquarius, and Mercury is never more than32 degrees distant. But this time two “heavies” arealso there. Uranus takes approximately 84 years to

complete its circuit, and Neptune about 165 years,so they join up every 16-1/2 decades.

But the last time they were together, December1834 to January 1836,1 not only was there no pres-idential inauguration, but Neptune had not yetbecome visible to human eyes.2 Hence its influ-ence was far weaker than it is now. But we doknow what was going on in the U.S. during thetime of their conjunction—highly idealistichumanitarian reform movements inspired by sin-cere altruism, perhaps the best known being aboli-tionism and educational reform. This time wit-nessed the birth of Transcendentalism, America’sfirst major New Age movement. Aquarius and itsruler Uranus are identified with the New Age, sowe can confidently expect New Age-type reformsat the start of the new millennium.

Anything wrong with that? Of course not. Butall things earthly are in some way(s) imperfect.And as we view the 1/20/2001 chart, we find avery basic problem. Saturn is opposite Mars, bothare in fixed signs and angular. Nativities with thisconfiguration tend to “build...on a false premise,and it (what they build) collapses beneath them.”3

Also in the U.S. natus, during January 2001Pluto is transiting opposite Uranus, calling formajor regeneration of some sort.4 And in the inau-gural map, Uranus’degree carries the danger ofself-deception.5

What sort of regeneration is called for to avertself-deception? The M.C. in Capricorn 26 is in adegree “warning to re-evaluate plans before rush-ing ahead.”6 We further note that this natus is abowl, and its “house position...reveals a maximum

38 RAYS 00

Wake Up America—Stars Over the New Administration

ASTROLOGY

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of self-emptying.”7

In a bowl, the cutting and trailing planetsare significant. Here they are Pluto of intensi-ty and Jupiter—especially if in detriment andretrograde, as here, which inclines to overdo-ing.8 Overdoing is an intrinsic ingredient ofthe American way of life.9 The Moon, planetof action, is conjunct intense Pluto. What allthe above adds up to is this: the basic flaw ofthe 1/20/2001 chart is the strong tendency ofoverdoing a “good.”

Overdoing what and how? Neptune is theorb of inflation.10 It “just naturally” expandsall it touches.11 And it is more powerful in thismap than may be obvious.12 It is a “master ofillusions.”13 It tends to “promise pie in thesky, reward without work.”14 Doesn’t thissound like the welfare state?

There’s also this: since the previous NewMoon was not in Aquarius, this augments theSaturn-ruled Capricorn influence, especiallywith Saturn in the first house, in a compatiblesign and its own decan, and lord of the M.C. AndSaturn concentrates; on the mundane/political level,this applies to power.”15 Concerning welfare statesit has been said, the government that can give youeverything can also take away everything. A wel-fare state by its very nature must be one that gath-ers/collects maximum power under its control.

One can’t object to government helping the trulyneedy, especially to help themselves. And SocialSecurity, begun in the 1930’s while Neptune wastransiting its natal place in the U.S. map, and hencethe strongest, has undoubtedly done much good.But as things stand at this time, if it is to be savedfrom bankruptcy, are not taxpayers going to haveto pay more, as the ratio between workers andretirees continues to widen?16 Other nations, withwelfare systems similar to the American, are fac-ing similar problems.17

Neptune also rules slavery.18 And the welfarestate produces two kinds of “slaves”: those behold-en/addicted to its hand-outs and those who toilextra hours to finance them.19

Neptune rules sleep.20 Does this not lend impetusto the urgent clarion call, Wake Up America? ❐

—A Probationer

1. Astrology, the Divine Science, Marcia Moore and MarkDouglas, pp. 235, 278.

2. Neptune became visible in 1846. The Compleat Astrologer,Derek and Julia Parker, p. 417.

3. Astrology for the Millions, Grant Lewi, p. 36.4. Pluto, Fritz Brunhubner, Chapter 6.5. The Sabian Symbols, Marc Edmund Jones, p. 289.6. A Spiritual Approach to Astrology, Myrna Lofthus, p. 251.7. The Guide to Horoscope Interpretation, Marc Edmund Jones, p.

66.8. Predictive Astrology, Frances Sakoian and Louis S. Acker,

Chapter 10.9. The Washington Monthly, Vol. 31, No. 3, March 1999, p. 18.

10. A to Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator, Llewellyn George, p.562.

11. Neptune’s Sabian symbol, “Achild born of an eggshell.” MarkEdmund Jones, op. cit., p. 277. This is against nature!

12. It is conjunct a critical degree, closest the Sun, semi-sextile theMoon, in nonagen to Venus and Fortuna, in midpoint configu-ration with Sun and M.C., septile to Mars: small items, but theyadd up!

13. Marcia Moore and Mark Douglas, op. cit., p. 700.14. Sex and the Outer Planets, Barbara H. Watters, p. 96.15. Astrology: A Cosmic Science, Isabel M. Hickey, p. 42.16. A recent headline: “ARising Din Over Social Security” had this

subheading: “Fixing the System has Become No. 1 Issue. Butno Consensus Exists on the Best Way.” The Christian ScienceMonitor, January 22, 1999, p. 23.

17. See U.S. News and World Report cover story for March 1, 1999,“The Global Aging Crisis.” Also The Gray Dawn, Peter G.Peterson.

18. Barbara H. Watters, op. cit., p. 95.19. No one will deny slavery is cruel, and Saturn, closest to the

Ascendant, is conjunct the fixed star Algol, described as “evil.”Marcia More and Mark Douglas, op. cit., p. 736.

20. Llewellyn George, op. cit., p. 563.

RAYS 00 39

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12

10 98

7

6

543

2

1

14h

14b

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26j

21k

12l

5j

10c

d5

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e21

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Washington,D.C.

January 1, 200112 Noon

Johndro Chart

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01.30

+6.30

B16.4

^19.4

19.0Yé

14.24 ;

16.17F

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K1.14R

L24.50R

P15

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HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED at anastrological chart and wonderedwhich planets were the strongest?Have you ever gazed at a wheelwanting a quick thumbnail sketch of

just what this person was all about? Or what aboutthe case where you have two charts displayedtogether in a bi-wheel, have you ever thoughtabout having a quick way to gauge the compatibil-ity between them? Well, as the saying goes, if yousee a need, fill it. The author decided to do justthat, to elaborate on a little known existing tech-nique that can respond to these needs. The tech-nique is called cosmodynes.

Cosmodynes, also called astrodynes, are an astro-logical measure of strength and harmony. The orig-inal techniques were developed in 1946 by ElbertBenjamine (aka C.C. Zain) of the Church of Lightin Los Angeles and W.M.A. Drake. The methodsused to calculate astrodynes have been published inseveral books (see references at end of article).

Cosmodynes are units of astrological power.Just as electric power is measured in watts andphysical energy is measured in joules or ergs,astrologers use cosmodynes to measure astrologi-cal power. Each planet, sign, and house in anyastrological chart has power associated with it.Cosmodynes quantify that power and give younumbers that can be related to the cosmodynenumbers of the other planets, signs, and houses.From a listing of these cosmodynes you can veryquickly tell which planets, signs, and houses inyour chart are more powerful and which are rela-tively weak.

The amount of power a planet has is determinedby the house the planet resides in and the aspectsthe planet makes or receives. The Church of Lightuses only the following ten aspects in their deter-mination of planetary power: conjunction, semi-sextile, semi-square, sextile, square, trine, sesqui-quadrate (135°), inconjunct (150°), opposition andthe parallel of declination. The orb for the aspectvaries depending on which planets are involved,from which houses the aspects originate, and whataspect is being considered. Complete details on thecalculations for planetary power can be found inthe referenced sources at the end of this article.

These calculations are not easy to do by handand they are very time consuming. The author’sfirst cosmodyne calculations took 8 or 9 hours tocomplete. Now, these calculations can be done bycomputer programs.

Cosmodynes can be either harmonious or dis-cordant. All planets, signs, and houses have a har-modyne or discordyne component as well as a cos-modyne (or power) component. In other words,there is always a harmony or discord associatedwith the power of each planet, sign, or house.

40 RAYS 00

Cosmodynes—An Astrological Tool

ASTROLOGY

Michael Maier, Atalanta fugiens, Oppenheim, 1618, Stadtbibliothek Mainz

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Harmodynes measure the amount of harmony aplanet, sign, or house has, while discordynes mea-sure the amount of discord or inharmony. This isimportant information when reading a chartbecause you need to know how the energies ofplanets, signs, and houses are likely to work out.To the extent those energies are expressed harmo-niously or inharmoniously will determine thedegree to which they bring positive results or neg-ative results, respectively.

The harmony or discord of a planet is deter-mined by three factors: 1) the nature of the planetitself; 2) the nature of each of its aspects; and 3) itsessential dignity, including mutual reception.House position does not affect harmony or discord,it only affects power. We shall not go into furtherdetail here on how harmodynes and discordynesfor the signs and houses are calculated. All thisinformation is found in the cited references. Thewriter is mainly interested here in explaining howcosmodynes can be used, as well as presenting anew technique that he has not seen in any of thereference works up until this time and thinks thereader may find useful.

With the above basic background in place, let usconsider some further points regarding cosmo-dynes. The planet with the most cosmodynes is theruler of the chart, since it depicts the strongestenergy potential. Why is power so important?According to Benjamine and Doane, the strongestplanets in a chart indicate those energies that canbe most easily cultivated into specific abilities.You can see that if this is true, it has powerful andimmediate benefits for those who do vocationalastrology.

What about harmony and discord? What practi-cal use can be made of this distinction? Again,according to Benjamine and Doane, the most har-monious planets indicate the areas and activitiesthrough which the individual can most readilyexperience good fortune. Similarly, the most har-monious houses identify environments or areas oflife where the person will find it easier to practicehis vocation and the harmony or discord he mayexpect from that area. What about the signs? Thesigns give a picture of the natural, instinctive moti-vations (likes and dislikes, attitudes and reactions)

and enable one to judge whether or not a vocation,among other things, will bring personal satisfac-tion.

To give an example from Doane’s bookAstrology—30 Years Research, research has shownthat in order for a person to be successful as awriter, that person should have a strong Mercury(the planet of communication and writing), astrong third house (the house of writing) and astrong 9th house (the house of publishing).Remember, strength in a chart is shown by thenumber of cosmodynes assigned to a planet, signor house. In our example, it would also be helpfulif Mercury and the 3rd and 9th houses had as manyharmodynes (units of harmony) as possible. This,of course, would tend to make all efforts andactions work out along positive rather than nega-tive lines. That is, there would be less resistance

RAYS 00 41

Love’s Horoscope

0 soul! be still, be strong, have hope;

The stars within thy horoscope

Will answer to thy sovereign will

When thou canst bid thy mind be still.

The Power that framed each heavenly world,

And on their course the planets hurled,

Is thine to use. Be still and know

The mighty God ordained it so—

That every star in heaven above

Is subject to the Law of Love.

Blame not the heavens for thine ill,

It lies within thine unused will.

Within thy soul is power to know

Dominion o’er the starlit show.

Then listen deep and thou wilt hear

God’s wondrous footsteps drawing near,

And feel again thy heart grow strong.

0 soul! be still, oh, tarry long,

In silence brooding o’er the deep,

Where God’s strong angels vigil keep,

And hear them say, “Let Faith and Hope

Work out for thee Love’s Horoscope.”

—Henry Victor Morgan

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from the environment. Going with the flow is eas-ier than trying to go against it, right? Ms. Doaneand the Church of Light have identified what theycall birth-chart constants that need to appear inorder for the things signified by them to work outalong various lines. You can learn about these con-stants in the cited publications.

Now that we have a better idea of what we areconsidering (the power and harmony or discord ofeach planet, sign, or house in a chart), it might beinstructive to look at some of the meanings ofthese cosmodynes in a natal horoscope. The writerwill use his own chart here because he knows him-self much better than he knows any other person.No doubt the first chart you will apply this conceptto will be your own. Here is the writer’s birth datafrom his birth certificate: 22 Sep 1949, 10:43 AMCST, 95W23, 29N45 (27 Scorpio 10 rising).

This data generates the following cosmodynes:

By the way, you can also use cosmodynes todetermine the power and harmony of your ele-ments, quadruplicities, house combinations, angles,etc. The author’s are given to suggest a range ofnumbers you might reasonably expect to see:

A positive number under Har/Dis indicatesharmony and a negative number represents dis-cord. The forgoing numbers are only valid for thechart to which they refer. Cosmodyne calculationsfor an individual chart cannot be compared withanother’s calculations, at least not by using thetechniques described above. However mutual

42 RAYS 00

PLANET

MOON

SUN

URANUS

MCASC

MERCURY

PLUTO

NEPTUNE

JUPITER

VENUS

SATURN

MARS

POWER

61.6860.2641.8839.0636.6336.1533.8530.3228.7526.0325.0523.98

HAR/DIS

-6.161.58

-5.920.745.652.881.941.437.621.907.17

-6.34

%

13.913.69.48.88.38.17.66.86.55.95.65.4

SIGN

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

POWER

142.44141.1691.5887.9657.3035.0226.0318.0816.7314.7714.3811.99

HAR/DIS

10.92-0.915.35

-3.62-7.469.421.901.440.312.263.81

-3.17

%

21.721.513.913.48.75.34.02.72.52.22.21.8

HOUSE

109

11812

1234765

POWER

204.1287.9679.4875.3751.0949.3940.4916.7314.7713.0213.0211.99

HAR/DIS

4.76-3.625.25

-6.02-4.5513.230.800.312.260.950.95

-3.17

%

31.013.412.111.57.87.56.22.52.22.02.01.8

SIGNS

FIRE

EARTH

AIR

WATER

CARDINAL

FIXED

COMMON

POWER

114.33203.49175.97163.65

245.46222.31189.66

HAR/DIS

-2.9722.240.840.15

-2.123.94

18.43

HOUSES

PRIVATE

FRIENDSHIP

COMMUNITY

VITALITY

SUCCESS

RELATIONSHIP

INTUITION

POWER

151.7152.79

446.93151.04266.53109.23130.63

HAR/DIS

18.890.990.37-224

22.240.840.15

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cosmodynescan be generated whereby two people’scharts can be compared using these principles.

Referring to the above information, which plan-ets are strongest? Which are most harmonious?How about the signs and the houses? Attempt aquick delineation based on what the cosmodynestell you. Take a moment and do some thinking.

Now the writer will tell you a few things abouthimself so that you get a better idea of the ways inwhich you can possibly use cosmodynes.

Let’s look at the houses first. Where do youthink the writer puts most ofhis energy? That’s right,into working (career—10thhouse). In fact, that’s all heever seems to do! The rea-son for this is that his 10thhouse has much greaterpower than any other house.Now, where do you supposehe puts little energy, whatarea of his life gets very lit-tle attention? That’s correct,the 5th house of fun andamusements. He rarely goesout for entertainment sincethe work he does is so muchfun that it is almost notwork at all. Do you see howhe channels things into the 10th house becauseit has all the power? You can imagine whatother areas of life are important to him.Philosophy and outlook on life (9th house),doing things to help better the world (11th),ideas and attitudes toward death and dying (8thhouse). Well, you get the idea.

Now what about the signs? Can you tell why thewriter tends to be an analytical fuss-budget? Yes,it’s because his Virgo has more power than anyother sign. But he can also be indecisive and tendsto look for analogies when he thinks about things.Sound like Libra to you? Well, Libra is his secondstrongest sign. And why is he so intense, so unwill-ing to let go of things, so fanatical about the thingshe loves? Well, Scorpio is the 3rd strongest sign.

Perhaps you’re thinking, Well, of course he’s aVirgo, his Sun and Saturn are there and Virgo is on

the MC. And of course, he’s going to be Libranwith all three mental planets in that sign. And yes,his scorpionic tendencies will always be therebecause he has Scorpio rising. All that is true, butsometimes a chart isn’t as clear-cut to read as thisone and that’s where cosmodynes can really comein handy. Try it for yourself.

Now what about the planets? Well, as you cansee, the Moon, the Sun and Uranus are the writer’sstrongest planets. This suggests that his naturalaptitudes lie in those things ruled by these planets.What does this suggest to you? Do you see apti-tude here for electronics, circuit design, astrology,

RAYS 00 43

WRITER

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

SUN

FIRST WIFE

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

MARS

JUPITER

SATURN

PLUTO

MOON

ASC

HARMONY

1.55-0.799.04

-0.03-2.06-2.56-0.03-0.613.48

Power

1.550.797.230.024.125.120.030.613.48

HARMONY

7.22 -3.73 28.65-6.33 12.71

-17.60 -10.87

2.14-3.59-8.598.74

-------8.75

( 4)( 7)( 1)( 8)( 2)(11)(10)( 5)( 6)( 9)( 3)

POWER

28.6433.48 35.7438.3851.40 32.87 36.4832.4335.9963.6728.94-------

417.92

(11)( 7)( 6)( 3)( 2)( 8)( 4)( 1)( 5)( 9)(10)

HARMONY

7.22 -3.73 28.65-6.33 12.71

-17.60 -10.87

2.14-3.59-8.598.74

-------8.75

( 4)( 8)( 2)(11)( 1)( 5)( 7)(10)( 6)( 9)( 3)

POWER

28.6433.48 35.7438.3851.40 32.87 36.4832.4335.9963.6728.94-------

417.92

(11)( 7)( 6)( 3)( 2)( 8)( 4)( 1)( 5)( 9)(10)

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

MARS

JUPITER

SATURN

URANUS

NEPTUNE

PLUTO

MOON

ASC

---------TOTALS

WRITER FIRST WIFE

MUTUAL RECEPTIONS

WRITER FIRST WIFE

SUN MOON - add 5 points harmony to each planetMOON VENUS - add 5 points harmony to each planet

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computer programming, umpiring, softball teammanager, adult continuing education teacher ofelectronics, bridge, horary astrology and comput-ers, mailman, grocery store clerk, wanting to be apoliceman when he was younger? You get the idea.

The use of cosmodynes has real potential in thearea of relationships and compatibility assessment.If cosmodynes can point to the real strength and

harmony or discord in an individual chart, thenwhy can’t they show the strength and harmony anddiscord between two people? The writer set out toexplore this area, having found nothing about it inthe general literature. What he came up with is atechnique he calls dual cosmodynes. The techniquetries to gauge the strength and harmony or discord

between the planets in one chart and how theyaffect the planets in another chart. Below is anexcerpt of a sample listing of the dual cosmodynesbetween the writer and his first wife.

The first table (previous page) shows how thewriter’s Sun is affected (aspected) by his first wife’splanets and what sort of power and harmony (orlack thereof) his Sun has because of her. This com-parison is made with all the planets, but only theSun is shown here in the interest of saving space.

The tables showing planetary comparisons (pre-vious page and top right) is not really the meat of

the issue, although theinformation seen there canbe quite interesting. Thereally interesting section isthe summary where all theplanets are listed, includ-ing the very importantAscendant. To tell thetruth, the writer has notfound much meaning inthe power total. The har-mony total is the one weare concerned with. Thisharmony total (+8.75) sug-gests that the writer andhis first wife had prettygood harmony. For the

record, they got along relatively well. They arefriends to this day even though they have bothmoved on. They simply got married when theywere very young and were not mature enough atthe time to make it through all the difficulties thatevery marriage poses.

Contrast that +8.75 harmony with the writer and

44 RAYS 00

WRITER

SUN

MERCURY

MERCURY

VENUS

VENUS

MARS

MARS

JUPITER

URANUS

URANUS

NEPTUNE

MOON

FIRST WIFE

VENUS

MERCURY

NEPTUNE

SATURN

MOON

SATURN

MOON

SUN

MERCURY

PLUTO

URANUS

JUPITER

HARMONY

9.046.450.000.603.641.14

-16.467.24

-4.68-3.56-7.59-2.66

Power

7.236.45

13.000.81

14.544.55

20.6814.484.689.097.595.31

PLANETS ASPECTINGEACH OTHER WITHIN 1 DEGREE

HARMONY

-25.03-3.796.483.07

11.17-31.53-2.501.68

-2.859.718.49

--------25.09

(10)( 9)( 4)( 5)( 1)(11)( 7)( 6)( 8)( 2)( 3)

POWER

52.1246.4037.7229.1129.4745.2241.6026.8235.6435.2140.02-------

419.33

( 1)( 2)( 6)(10)( 9)( 3)( 4)(11)( 7)( 8)( 5)

HARMONY

-13.3510.109.37

-4.2010.264.16

-2.35-7.69-1.06

-21.83-8.50--------25.09

(10)( 2)( 3)( 7)( 1)( 4)( 6)( 8)( 5)(11)( 9)

POWER

43.4651.8616.0110.9826.9321.8471.1327.1650.7757.0142.18-------

419.33

( 5)( 3)(10)(11)( 8)( 9)( 1)( 7)( 4)( 2)( 6)

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

MARS

JUPITER

SATURN

URANUS

NEPTUNE

PLUTO

MOON

ASC

---------TOTALS

WRITER SECOND WIFE

WRITER

SUN

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

VENUS

MARS

MOON

ASC

FIRST WIFE

VENUS

MOON

MERCURY

MAR

MOON

VENUS

VENUS

ASC

HARMONY

9.04-0.616.450.003.640.005.837.64

Power

7.120.616.45

19.0014.540.904.667.64

IMPORTANT FACTORS IN SYNASTRY (10 TOTAL)

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his second wife’s harmony (actually discord) of-25.09 (previous page).

They fought like cats and dogs, over everything.In the writer’s experience these numbers meansomething. Perhaps they don’t mean everything(and that is why the other sections are includedbelow the summary), but they seem to tell at leastpart of the story of the writer’s life.

Just to share with you one more example beforeyou go off and try all your charts and see theresults, the writer’s parents were married for 49years before his mother passed away in 1995. Aboveis a summary of the dual cosmodynes between bothparents. What do you think? Not bad for 49 years,eh? A +57.03 (harmony) confirms the writer’s ownexperience of his parent’s relationship.

One other item of possible interest. The abovesummary table also indicates which energies inone person are most likely to be set off positivelyor negatively by the energies in the other person. Inother words, it would appear that the writer’sfather’s Uranian energies tended to come out neg-atively because of his wife’s presence. Likewise, itappears that her affection (Venus), self-expression(Sun) and sense of security (Saturn) find positiveexpression because of her husband’s influence.The writer remembers his mother once telling himthat when she married she didn’t know whether ornot she loved his father, but she absolutely knewshe could grow with him. Well, with all that posi-

tive harmony for Venusand 49 years betweenthem, there must havebeen quite a bit of lovethere as well as growth.And the writer’s experi-ence with them confirmsthat assessment.

This brief introductiongives you an idea of whatcosmodynes are and howthey might be very usefulin helping you determine acouple’s compatibility orlack thereof. Of course, noone technique, howeverpromising or powerful,

can give all the answers to every situation, but cos-modynes and dual cosmodynes can be very usefultools in our individual toolboxes to help us unravelthe mystery and message of the stars.

For a final twist, the writer’s initial investigationinto composite chart cosmodynes does not showthat cosmodynes calculated for a composite chartgive much indication of compatibility, one way orthe other. However more study needs to be done inthis area before accepting that statement as gospel.

❐—Allen Edwall

References and Bibliography

1. BENJAMINE, Elbert, Astrodyne Manual, Church of Light, LosAngeles, CA, 1950

2. DOANE, Doris Chase, Astrology - 30 Years Research, AFA, Inc.,Tempe, AZ, 1956, ISBN 0-86690-070-5

3. DOANE, Doris Chase, How To Read Cosmodynes, AmericanFederation of Astrologers, Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1974, ISBN 0-86690-073-X

4. STONE, Ken Delineation with Astrodynes, American Federationof Astrologers, Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1972, 1981, ISBN 0-86690-002-0

5. ZAIN, C.C., Course 16, Stellar Healing,Astrological Predisposition,Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease, Church of Light, LosAngeles, CA, 1947 and 1996

Ken Stone’s Delineation with Astrodynesgives perhaps more inter-pretation of the various astrodynes than any of the other booksmentioned.

If you have access to the internet, you can download a copy of thewriter’s cosmodyne program for yourself (it does all of the cal-culations!). Web address is:http://ourworld.compuserve.com/ homepages/allen_edwall

Look for the files called ASTROWIN.ZIP or MATCHMKR.ZIP.Download the file and try cosmodynes for yourself.

RAYS 00 45

HARMONY

16.357.50

13.158.15

16.9019.44-1.29-4.74-8.45

-13.493.49

-------57.03

( 3)( 6)( 4)( 5)( 2)( 1)( 8)( 9)(10)(11)( 7)

POWER

116.4378.2925.5763.4521.9346.1028.5926.3343.6448.1345.23-------

419.33

( 1)( 2)(10)( 3)(11)( 5)( 8)( 9)( 7)( 4)( 6)

HARMONY

6.22-12.2212.313.88

52.403.13

-24.194.045.139.25

-2.91-------57.03

(10)( 2)( 3)( 7)( 1)( 4)( 6)( 8)( 5)(11)( 9)

POWER

77.4171.6566.2618.6193.9133.0841.1641.2639.6240.8919.87-------

543.71

( 2)( 3)( 4)(11)( 1)( 9)( 6)( 5)( 8)( 7)(10)

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

MARS

JUPITER

SATURN

URANUS

NEPTUNE

PLUTO

MOON

ASC

---------TOTALS

WRITER’S FATHER WRITER’S MOTHER

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MUCH IS SAID in certainclasses of the WesternWorld about Initiation. Thisin the minds of most peopleseems usually to be associ-

ated with the occultism taught in the religionsof the far East; something that is peculiar tothe devotees of Buddhism, Hinduism, andkindred systems of faith, and which in nowiseappertains to the religion of the WesternWorld, particularly to the Christian religion.

We have shown in the preceding series on“Symbols of Ancient and Modern Initiation”†

that this idea is entirely gratuitous, and thatthe ancient Tabernacle in the Wilderness pic-tures in its symbolism the path of progressionfrom childlike ignorance to superhumanknowledge. As the Vedasbrought light to thedevotees who worshiped in faith and fervoron the banks of the Ganges in the sunnySouth, so the Eddaswere a guiding star to thesons of the rugged Northland, who sought theLight of life in ancient Iceland where the stur-dy Vikings steered their ships in frozen seas.“Arjuna,” who fights the noble fight in the“Mahabharata,” or “Great War,” constantly beingwaged between the higher and the lower self, dif-fers in nowise from the hero of the northern soulmyth, “Siegfried,” which means, “He who throughvictory gains peace.”

Both are representative of the candidate under-going Initiation. And though their experiences inthis great adventure vary in certain respects called

for by the temperamental differences of the north-ern and southern peoples, and provided for in therespective schools to which they are referred forsoul growth, the main features are identical, and theend, which is enlightenment, is the same. Aspiringsouls have walked to the Light in the brilliantlyilluminated Persian temples where the sun god inhis blazing chariot was the symbol of Light, as wellas under the mystic magnificence of the iridescenceshed abroad by the aurora borealis of the frozenNorth. That the true Light of the deepest esoteric

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Occult Knowledge inRaphael’s Paintings

SPIRITUAL SCIENCE AND ART

Oil on panel, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), 1483-1520, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

The Sistine MadonnaAlso known as the Madonna of St. Sixtus, the Virgin and Child areshown with St. Barbara and the former Pope Sixtus, later canonized.

Planet A

rt

† The first segment of this article’s text is excerpted fromMax Heindel’s Ancient and Modern Initiation, pp. 63-66

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knowledge has always beenpresent in all ages, even thedarkest of the so-called dark,

store. In the original there isa peculiar tint of golden haze

behind the Madonna and Child,which, though exceedingly crude to

one gifted with spiritual sight, is nev-ertheless as close an imitation of the

basic color of the first-heaven world as it is possi-ble to make with the pigments of earth. Closeinspection of this background [detailed above] willreveal the fact that it is composed of a multitude ofwhat we are used to call “angel” heads and wings.

[“In the lower regions of the Desire World thewhole body of each being may be seen, but in thehighest regions only the head seems to remain.Raphael, who like many other people in theMiddle Ages, was gifted with a so-called secondsight, pictured that condition for us in his SistineMadonna, now in the Dresden Art Gallery, wherethe Madonna and the Christ-child are representedas floating in a golden atmosphere and surroundedby a host of genie-heads: conditions which theoccult investigator knows to be in harmo-ny with the facts.”—The RosicrucianMysteries, p. 54]

This again is as literal a pictorialrepresentation of facts concerningthe inhabitants of that world ascould be given, for during theprocess of purgation which takesplace in the lower regions of theDesire World the lower parts of thebody are actually disintegrated sothat only the head, containing theintelligence of the man, remains

when he enters the first heaven, a factwhich has puzzled many who have hap-pened to see the souls there. The wingsof course have no reality outside the

picture, but were placed there to show ability tomove swiftly, which is inherent in all

beings in the invisible worlds. The Popeis represented as pointing to theMadonna and the Christ Child, and aclose examination of the hand [atleft] wherewith he points will showthat it has six fingers. There is no

historical evidence to show that thePontiff actually had such a deformity,

neither can that fact be an accident;the six fingers in the painting musttherefore have been due to design onthe part of the painter.

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there is ample evidence to show.Raphael used his won- derful skill

with the brush to em- body it in twoof his great paintings, The SistineMadonnaand The Marriage ofthe Virgin, which we wouldadvise the interested reader toexamine for himself. Copies of

these paintings are pro-curable in almost any art

Detail, The Sistine Madonna,showing the Pope’s six fingers,symbolizing his clairvoyance.

Oil on panel, Raphael, 1504, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

The Marriage of the Virgin (Il Sposalizio)

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What its purpose was we shall learnby examination of the Marriage of theVirgin, where a similar anomaly maybe noted. In that picture Mary andJoseph are represented together withthe Christ Child under such conditionsthat it is evident they are just on theeve of departure for Egypt, and aRabbi is in the act of joining them inwedlock. The left foot of Joseph[right] is the foremost object in thepicture, and if we count we shall find itrepresented as having six toes. By thesix fingers in the Pope’s picture and the six toes ofJoseph, Raphael wants to show us that both pos-

sessed a sixth sense such as is awakened byInitiation. By this subtle sense the foot ofJoseph was guided in its flight to keepsecure that sacred thing which had beenentrusted to his care. To the other was givena sixth sense that he might not be a blindleader of the blind but might have the “see-ing eye” required to point out the Way, theTruth, and the Life. And it is a fact, thoughnot commonly known, that with one or twoexceptions when political power was strong enoughto corrupt the College of Cardinals, all who have sat

upon the so-called throne of Peterhave had the spiritual sight in a great-er or lesser degree. (End of first quote)

Raphael employed the same picto-rial device for indicating the posses-sion of spiritual sight in what was prob-ably his first fresco painted in theVatican, the monumental Disputà(TheDisputation on the Holy Sacrament),commissioned by Pope Julius II, whois also depicted (at left and below)with a hand bearing six fingers.

THE PROBLEM OF LIFE†

Among all the vicissitudes of life, which varyin each individual’s experience, there is oneevent which sooner or later comes to every-

one—Death! No matter what our station in life:whether the life lived has been a laudable one or thereverse; whether great achievements have markedour path among men; whether health or sickness hasbeen our lot; whether we have been famous and sur-rounded by a host of admiring friends or have wan-dered unknown through the years of our life; at sometime there comes a moment when we stand alonebefore the portal of death and are forced to take theleap into the dark.

The thought of this leap and of what lies beyondmust inevitably force itself upon every thinking per-son. In the years of youth and health, when the barkof our life sails upon seas of prosperity, when allappears beautiful and bright, we may put the thoughtbehind us, but there will surely come a time in thelife of every thinking person when the problem oflife and death forces itself upon his consciousness and

refuses to be set aside. Neither will it helphim to accept the ready-made solution ofanyone else without thought and in blindbelief, for this is a basic problem whicheveryone must solve for himself or herselfin order to obtain satisfaction.

Upon the eastern edge of the Desert ofSahara there stands the world-famousSphinx with its inscrutable face turnedtoward the East, ever greeting the Sun as

its rising rays herald the newborn day. It was said in

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Fresco, detail, Raphael, La Disputà, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican

Speaking ex cathedra, Pope Julius II dictates canonicalchurch doctrine which has been informed by spiritual vision.

† Text is from Heindel’s The Rosicrucian Mysteries, pp. 16-18.

Detail, Marriage of the Virgin,showing six toes on Joseph’sfoot, indicating Initiate powers.

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the Greek myth that it was the wontof this monster toask a riddle of each traveler. She devoured thosewho could not answer, but when Oedipus solved theriddle she destroyed herself.

The riddle which she asked of men was the riddleof life and death, a query which is as relevant todayas ever, and which each one must answer or bedevoured in the jaws of death. But when once aperson has found the solution to the problem, it willappear that in reality there is no death, that whatappears so, is but a change from one state of exis-tenceto another. Thus, for the man who finds thetrue solution to the riddle of life, the sphinx of deathhas ceased to exist, and he can lift his voice in thetriumphant cry, “O death, where is thy sting? Ograve, where is thy victory?” Various theories oflife have been advocated to solve this problem of

life. We may divide them into two classes, namelythe monistic theory, which holds that all the facts oflife can be explained by reference to this visibleworld wherein we live, and the dualistic theory,which refers part of the phenomenon of life toanother world which is now invisible to us.

Raphael in his famous painting, The School ofAthens, has most aptly pictured to us the attitude ofthese two schools of thought. We see upon that mar-velous painting a Greek Court such as those where-in philosophers were once wont to congregate.Upon the various steps which lead into the buildinga large number of men are engaged in deep conver-sation, but in the center at the top of the steps standtwo figures, supposedly of Plato and Aristotle, onepointing upwards, the other towards the earth, eachlooking the other in the face, mutely, but with

RAYS 00 49

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Fresco, Raphael, 1510, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican

The School of AthensRaphael painted four frescoes in the library of Pope Julius II to show the four aspects of human culture—philosophy, theology,law, and poetry, all inspired by their ideal of the true, the good, or the beautiful. The truth is shown in two manifestations: revealedtruth, in the theology of the Dispute of the Holy Sacrament, and rational truth in the philosophy of the School of Athens.

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deeply concentrated will; each seeking to convincethe other that his attitude is right, for each bears theconviction in his heart. One holds that he is of theearth earthy, that he has come from the dust and thatthereto he will return, the other firmly advocates theposition that there is a higher something which hasalways existed and will continue regardless ofwhether the body wherein it now dwells holdstogether or not.

The question who is right is still an open one withthe majority of mankind. Millions of tons of paperand printer’s ink have been used in futile attemptsto settle it by argument, but it will always remain,open to all who have not solved the riddle them-selves, for it is a basic problem, a part of the lifeexperience of every human being to settle that ques-tion, and therefore no one can give us the solutionready-made for our acceptance. All that can be doneby those who have really solved the problem, is toshow to others the line along which they have foundthe solution, and thus direct the inquirer how he also,by his own efforts, may arrive at a conclusion. ❐

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Plato, the metaphysician, points to the sky (his Timaeusis heldvertically); Aristotle, the “realist,” directs his flat hand towardthe earth (his Ethicsis held in a horizontal position). In onesimple gesture each illustrates the essence of his philosophy.

THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTIONBy Max Heindel

Please Use Order Formon page 64

This book gives a complete outline of the Western Wisdom Teachings as far as itmay be made public at the present time. It contains a comprehensive outline ofthe evolutionary processes of man and the universe, correlating science withreligion. The author received this Teaching personally fromthe Rosicrucian Brotherhood.

NEW HARDCOVER EDITION: 717 pages, including a 100-page Alphabetical Index and a 60-page Topical index

PAPER EDITION: 610 pages with 60-page Topical Index. Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

This is the textbook used in the RosicrucianPhilosophy Correspondence Course.

PART ONE: A treatise on the Visible and Invisible Worlds, Man and theMethod of Evolution, Rebirth and the Law of Cause and Effect.

PART TWO: Covers the scheme of Evolution in general and in particular theEvolution of the Solar System, the Earth, and its Humanity.

PART THREE: Treats of Christ and His Mission, Future Development of Man andInitiation, Esoteric Training, a Safe Method of Acquiring First-handKnowledge, Christian Rosenkreuz and the Rosicrucian Order.

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IN AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “CanAnimals think?” Time Magazine (9/06/99)quoted an excerpt from Eugene Linden’sbook Parrot’s Lament (Dutton), in whichthe author describes how animals demon-

strate aspects of intelligence that enable them toescape from, cheat, and outfox humans.

For instance, Fu Manchu, an orangutan in theOmaha Zoo, climbed down some air-vent louversinto a dry moat where, by brute force, he pulledback a furnace door far enough to slide a wire intothe gap, slip a latch, and pop the door open. Toavoid detection, he shaped the wire like a toothbrace and fit it between his lip and gum, ready touse for his next zoological gambit. A female chimpnamed Washoe learned more than 130 words bysign language.

The foregoing feats might not be too surprisingif one is in possession of the occult knowledge thatthe anthropoids are actually laggard members ofthe human life wave who inhabit bodies that havedegenerated from the animal-like forms today’shumanity used in Lemuria. The ape’s prowess isthus actually regressive rather than progressive.

Most animals belong to a later life wave andthus, as spirits, are truly the younger brother ofhumanity. Yet they display remarkable abilitieswhich would seem to involve cognitive powers.While esoteric science recognizes that the higheranimals do possess consciousness (because theyhave desire bodies), they lack both the individual-ized mind and Ego that enable self-consciousness.

A bee may be brainless, but its actions are farfrom unintelligent. When scientists fooled bee

scouts by taking them to flowers in a boat in themiddle of a lake, few bees flew out over the waterafter the scouts performed their direction-encodeddance.

And what actuates the migration of birds andenables many species to return to the same hauntof previous years after having flown over thou-sands of miles?

While animals cannot think, they behave as ifthey were directed by thought. In their case, how-ever, the “thoughts” come from their Group Spirit,which is directing, from the Desire World, thespecies under its charge.

As the human mind and will can control themovements of its physical body, so the archangelicGroup Spirit transmits impulses to its “members”whose actions material scientists attribute to“instinct” or memory in the blood.

In fact, for that very reason, animals may oftendemonstrate more “intelligence” than humans,causing the beaver to be excel in feats of structuralengineering and the honey bee to fashion itshexagonally-shaped honey reservoirs with wonder-ful precision.

Humans must think and choose for themselves.They are not as open to the cosmic wisdom thatinforms the animal world.

The universal Spirit has become individualizedas an indwelling Ego, and the light of wisdom isobscured, due to the dulling effect of matter. Butwhen, through trial and error, logic, and intuition,we have “found the light,” wisdom will shine forthin human action and far surpass the wisdomexpressed by the animal Group Spirit. ❐

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Animal vs Human “Intelligence”

NEWS PERSPECTIVES

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THE NAME OF LOUISE HAY maybe familiar to some of the Rays read-ers. She has been a Science of Mindminister since 1981. She has writtenover twenty books on healing and pos-

itive living. Perhaps her best known book is HealYour Body: The Mental Causes of Physical Illnessand the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them(Hay House, Inc., Carlsbad, CA92018).

By “metaphysical” Ms. Hay means “mental.”Her approach to healing is direct and simple—some might say simplistic. But what she pro-pounds is the product of first-hand experience,both as a recovered self-“treated” cancer patientand as a therapist who has assisted thousands ofpeople in discovering and actualizing the fullpotential of their own creative powers for personalgrowth and self-healing.

The book’s dedication (to her clients, friends,teachers, and “the Divine Infinite Intelligence forchanneling through me that which others need tohear”) gives the basis for her observations andhealing prescriptions: “I have long believed thefollowing: ‘Everything I need comes to me.’‘All iswell in my life.’” Some readers might take excep-tion to one or both of these statements. Put bluntly,they are but metaphysical whistling in the dark. Infact, these affirmations are grounded in both bibli-cal and esoteric tradition.

The question that must follow is, if these state-ments are true, how can we explain our perceptionof personal ignorance, lack, sickness and suffer-ing? In so many words, Hay would say, “As a manthinks in his heart, so is he.” We think ourselves towhere and what we are. In her own case, she hadheld on to deep and unacknowledged resentments

for being raped when she was five and for being abattered child. In her adult life she was diagnosedwith vaginal cancer. If she wanted healing, Hayintuitively knew that a “lot of forgiveness workwas in order.” So was its physical counterpart—detoxification. Six monthsafter intensive “meta-physical” work on herself, a lab report confirmedwhat she already knew: “I no longer had any formof cancer.”

Hay had empirical warrant for generalizing fromher personal recovery: “I KNOWif they [others]are WILLING to do the mental work of releasingand forgiving, almost anything can be healed.” Theword “incurable” is for Hays a misnomer.Conventionally interpreted, it describes a hopelesscondition, in some cases tantamount to a deathsentence. For Hays it “really only means that theparticular condition cannot be cured by ‘outer’methods and that we must GO WITHIN to effectthe healing.”

We can assent to this assertion with two impor-tant qualifications. A person must be capable ofboth willing and thinking; which means that youngpeople—perhaps from infancy to middle adoles-cence, are not likely to avail themselves of thishealing recourse. Also, persons who are mentallydeficient or indolent, or who have no understand-ing of or faith in their own God-conferred healingpowers, are likewise unable to initiate innerchanges.

The second point we would make is thatalthough we may be able to (actually, must) healourselves, it will be in God’s time, not ours. Themetaphysical cause of our illness may be annulledor liquidated, but the somatic effects might not berealized in this life.

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Metaphysical Healing of the Physical

BOOK REVIEWS

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When do we begin healing? “Right here andnow.” Where do we begin? “In our own minds.”As a brief chapter title in the book puts it: “Poweris in the Present Moment.” It does not matter howlong we have had negative patterns, we can beginto make a change today. A dynamic with which weare familiar is invoked by Hay: “We have learnedthat for every effect in our lives, there is a thoughtpattern that precedes and maintains it. Our consis-tent thinking pattern creates our experiences. There-fore, by changing our thinking patterns, we canchange our experience. What a joy it was when Ifirst discovered the words metaphysical causation.”

Students of Rosicrucian Fellowship teachingswill view health and healing through an even widerlens, to include multiple lives. Therefore, some ill-nesses are the result of a prior life’s thinking, whilepresent negative thinking may not manifest inimpaired function or illness until a later embodi-ment. For all that, the principle is the same:thought is the architect of matter. For all the cruel-ty, suffering, and apparent injustice we see in theworld, there are no mistakes.

Hays implies an ordering Omni-Intelligence,without naming or personalizing It. And she positsthe invincible power of love, again without citingWho Love is. But the results are the same: “I havelearned that for every condition in our lives, thereis a NEED FOR IT. Otherwise, we would not haveit.” Here is a liberating thought. Furthermore, thecondition is but the symptom of a mental cause,which must be addressed and undone if the symp-tom is to permanently disappear. So we do not tryto get rid of the symptom—the cancer, the fever,the stiff neck. That is “like cutting down the weedinstead of getting the root out.”

For Hay the “roots” that cause the most diseasesin the body are criticism, anger, resentment, andguilt. And let us not wait until our body is mortallychallenged before we attempt to release negativethinking patterns, which at first may seem innocu-ous or merely annoying.

For instance, the probable cause of arthritis isgiven as feeling unloved, criticism, and resent-ment. The new thought pattern is “I am love. I nowchoose to love and approve of myself. I see otherswith love.”

Gout’s probable cause is “the need to dominate,impatience, anger.” Its corrective thought is “I amsafe and secure. I am at peace with myself andwith others.” For Hay tumors show that one is“nursing old hurts and shocks. Building remorse.”The remedy is the mental disposition characterizedby the affirmation “I lovingly release the past andturn my attention to this new day. All is well.”

It is clear that rigorous honesty and fearlessopenness to chronic (often subconscious) thoughtpatterns are requisite for embarking on effectivemental healing.

A suggestive addendum to Hay’s book showsthe human spinal column, each of whose vertebrais correlated with a body area or structure and aspecific array of problems associated with it,including their probable emotional and mentalcauses. For instance, the second thoracic vertebrais related to heart problems and their “metaphysi-cal” antecedents, particularly impatience, anger,and pride.

Hay proposes a4-step approach for using herchart of correlations:

1) Look up the mental cause [of your physicalproblem]. See if this could be true for you. If not,sit quietly and ask yourself, “What could be thethoughts in me that created this?”

2) Repeat to yourself (aloud if you can), “I amwilling to release the pattern in my conscious thathas created this condition.”

3) Repeat the new thought pattern to yourselfseveral times.

4) Assume that you are already in the process ofhealing—and whenever you think of the condition,repeat the steps.

Hay ends her book with a meditation entitled“Loving Treatment,” from which we quote twosentences: “DEEPAT THE CENTER OF MYBEING, there is an infinite well of love. I nowallow this love to flow to the surface. It fills myheart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, myvery being, and radiates out from me in all direc-tions and returns to me multiplied. I am a belovedChild of the universe and the universe lovinglytakes care of me now and forever more. And so itis. I love you.” ❐

—C.W.

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TO UNDERSTAND the nature of dis-ease certain fundamental truths have tobe acknowledged.† The first of these isthat man has a Soul which is his realSelf, a Divine, Mighty Being, a Son of

the Creator of all things, of which the body,although the earthly temple of that Soul, is but theminutest reflection: that our Soul, our DivinityWho resides in and around us, lays down for us ourlives as He wishes them to be ordered and, so faras we will allow, ever guides, protects and encour-ages us, watchful and beneficent to lead us alwaysfor our utmost advantage: that He, our Higher Self,being a spark of the Almighty, is thereby invinci-ble and immortal.

The second principle is that we, as we know our-selves in this world, are personalities down herefor the purpose of gaining all the knowledge andexperience which can be obtained through earthlyexistence, of developing virtues which we lack andof wiping out all that is wrong within us, thusadvancing towards the perfection of our natures.The Soul knows what environment and what cir-cumstances will best enable us to do this, andhence He places us in that branch of life most suit-ed for that object.

Thirdly, we must realize that the short passageon this earth, which we know as life, is but amoment in the course of our evolution, as one dayat school is to a life, and although we can for thepresent only see and comprehend that one day, our

intuition tells us that birth was infinitely far fromour beginning and death infinitely far from ourending. Our Souls, which are really we, areimmortal, and the bodies of which we are con-scious are temporary, merely as horses we ride togo [on] a journey, or instruments we use to do apiece of work.

Then follows a fourth great principle, that solong as our Souls and personalities are in harmony,all is joy and peace, happiness and health. It iswhen our personalities are led astray from the pathlaid down by the Soul, either by our own worldlydesires or by the persuasion of others, that a con-flict arises. This conflict is the root cause of dis-ease and unhappiness. No matter what our work inthe world—bootblack or monarch, landlord orpeasant, rich or poor, so long as we do that partic-ular work according to the dictates of the Soul, allis well; and we can further rest assured that inwhatever station of life we are placed, princely orlowly, it contains the lessons and experiences nec-essary at the moment for our evolution, and givesus the best advantage for the development of our-selves.

The next great principle is the understanding of

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Heal Thyself

NUTRITION AND HEALING

† This article is from Dr. Edward Bach’s book Heal Thyself,published by The C.W. Daniel Company, Ltd., 1 Church Path,Saffron Walden, Essex, England. Reprinted with permission.

While we live in sea of physical and supersensible energies,our ability to specialize them and to maintain health requiresthat we think and act in harmony with spiritual principles.

© E

lizabeth Auer

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the Unity of all things: that the Creator of all thingsis Love, and that everything of which we are con-scious is in all its infinite number of forms a man-ifestation of that Love, whether it be a planet or apebble, a star or a dewdrop, man or the lowliestform of life. It may be possible to get a glimpse ofthis conception by thinking of our Creator as agreat blazing sun of beneficence and love and fromthe center an infinite number of beams radiate inevery direction, and that we and all of which weare conscious are particles at the end of thosebeams, sent out to gain experience and knowledge,but ultimately to return to the great center. Andthough to us each ray may appear separate and dis-tinct, it is in reality part of the great central Sun.Separation is impossible, for as soon as a beam oflight is cut off from its source it ceases to exist.Thus we may comprehend a little of the impossi-bility of separateness, as although each ray mayhave its individuality, it is nevertheless part of thegreat central creative power. Thus any actionagainst ourselves or against another affects thewhole, because by causing imperfection in a part itreflects on the whole, every particle of which mustultimately become perfect.

So we see there are two great possible funda-mental errors: dissociation between our Souls andour personalities, and cruelty or wrong to others,for this is a sin against Unity. Either of these bringsconflict, which leads to disease. An understandingof where we are making an error (which is so oftennot realized by us) and an earnest endeavor to cor-rect the fault will lead not only to a life of joy andpeace, but also to health.

Disease is in itself beneficent, and has for itsobject the bringing back of the personality to theDivine will of the Soul; and thus we can see thatit is both preventable and avoidable, since if wecould only realize for ourselves the mistakes weare making and correct these by spiritual andmental means, there could be no need for thesevere lessons of suffering. Every opportunity isgiven us by the Divine Power to mend our waysbefore, as a last resort, pain and suffering have tobe applied. It may not be the errors of this life,this day at school, which we are combating; andalthough we in our physical minds may not be

conscious of the reason of our suffering, whichmay to us appear cruel and without reason, yetour Souls (which are ourselves) know the fullpurpose and are guiding us to our best advantage.Nevertheless, understanding and correction ofour errors would shorten our illness and bring usback to health. Knowledge of the Soul’s purposeand acquiescence in that knowledge means therelief of earthly suffering and distress, and leavesus free to develop our evolution in joy and happi-ness.

There are two great errors: first, to fail to honorand obey the dictates of our Soul, and second, toact against Unity. On account of the former, beever reluctant to judge others, because what isright for one is wrong for another. The merchant,whose work it is to build up a big trade not only tohis own advantage but also to that of all thosewhom he may employ, thereby gaining knowledgeof efficiency and control and developing thevirtues associated with each, must of necessity usedifferent qualities and different virtues from thoseof a nurse, sacrificing her life in the care of thesick; and yet both, if obeying the dictates of theirSouls, are rightly learning those qualities neces-sary for their evolution. It is obeying the com-mands of our Soul, our Higher Self, which welearn through conscience, instinct and intuition,that matters.

Thus we see that by its very principles and in itsvery essence, disease is both preventable and cur-able, and it is the work of spiritual healers andphysicians to give, in addition to material reme-dies, the knowledge to the suffering of the error oftheir lives, and of the manner in which these errorscan be eradicated, and so to lead the sick back tohealth and joy.

What we know as disease is the terminal stage ofa much deeper disorder, and to ensure completesuccess in treatment it is obvious that dealing withthe final result alone will not be wholly effectiveunless the basic cause is also removed. There isone primary error which man can make, and that isaction against Unity; this originates in self-love.So also we may say that there is but one primaryaffliction—discomfort, or disease. And as actionagainst Unity may be divided into various types, so

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also may disease—the result of these actions—beseparated into main groups corresponding to theircauses. The very nature of an illness will be a use-ful guide to assist in discovering the type of actionwhich is being taken against the Divine Law ofLove and Unity.

If we have in our nature sufficient love of allthings, then we can do no harm; because that lovewould stay our hand at any action, our mind at anythought which might hurt another. But we have notyet reached that state of perfection; if we had, therewould be no need for our existence here. But all ofus are seeking and advancing towards that state,and those of us who suffer in mind or body are bythis very suffering being led towards that idealcondition; and if we will but read it aright, we maynot only hasten our steps towards that goal, butalso save ourselves illness and distress. From themoment the lesson is understood and the erroreliminated, there is no longer need for the correc-tion, because we must remember that suffering isin itself beneficent, in that it points out to us whenwe are taking wrong paths and hastens our evolu-tion to its glorious perfection.

The real primary diseases of man are suchdefects as pride, cruelty, hate, self-love, ignorance,instability and greed; and each of these, if consid-ered, will be found to be adverse to Unity. Suchdefects as these are the real diseases (using theword in the modern sense), and it is a continuationand persistence in such defects, after we havereached that stage of development when we knowthem to be wrong, which precipitates in the bodythe injurious results which we know as illness.

Pride is due, firstly, to lack of recognition of thesmallness of the personality and its utter depen-dence on the Soul, and that all the successes it mayhave are not of itself but are blessings bestowed bythe Divinity within; secondly, the loss of the senseof proportion, of the minuteness of one amidst thescheme of Creation. As Pride invariably refuses tobend with humility and resignation to the Will ofthe Great Creator, it commits actions contrary tothat Will. Cruelty is a denial of the unity of all anda failure to understand that any action adverse toanother is in opposition to the whole, and hence anaction against Unity. No man would practice its

injurious effects against those near and dear tohim, and by the law of Unity we have to grow untilwe understand that everyone, as being part of awhole, must become near and dear to us, until eventhose who persecute us call up only feelings oflove and sympathy.

Hate is the opposite of Love, the reverse of theLaw of Creation. It is contrary to the whole Divinescheme and is a denial of the Creator; it leads onlyto such actions and thoughts which are adverse toUnity and the opposite of those which would bedictated by Love.

Self-love again is a denial of Unity and the dutywe owe to our brother men by putting the interestsof ourselves before the good of humanity and thecare and protection of those immediately aroundus.

Ignorance is the failure to learn, the refusal tosee Truth when the opportunity is offered, andleads to many wrong acts such as can only exist in

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Oil on panel, 1507, Albrecht Durer, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Adam and EveSuffering, the result of ignorance and error, “is in itselfbeneficent, in that it points out to us when we are taking wrongpaths and hastens our evolution to its glorious perfection.”

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darkness and are not possible when the light ofTruth and Knowledge is around us.

Instability, indecision and weakness of pur-pose result when the personality refuses to beruled by the Higher Self, and lead us to betrayothers through our weakness. Such a conditionwould not be possible had we within us theknowledge of the Unconquerable InvincibleDivinity, which is in reality ourselves.

Greed leads to a desire for power. It is adenial of the freedom and individuality of everysoul. Instead of recognizing that every one of usis down here to develop freely upon his ownlines according to the dictates of the soul alone,to increase his individuality, and to work freeand unhampered, the personality with greeddesires to dictate, mould and command, usurp-ing the power of the Creator.

Such are examples of real disease, the originand basis of all our suffering and distress. Each ofsuch defects, if persisted in against the voice ofthe Higher Self, will produce a conflict whichmust of necessity be reflected in the physicalbody, producing its own specific type of malady.We can now see how any type of illness fromwhich we may suffer will guide us to the discov-ery of the fault which lies behind our affliction.For example, Pride, which is arrogance and rigid-ity of mind, will give rise to those diseases whichproduce rigidity and stiffness of the body. Pain isthe result of cruelty, whereby the patient learnsthrough personal suffering not to inflict it uponothers, either from a physical or from a mentalstandpoint. The penalties of Hate are loneliness,violent uncontrollable temper, mental nervestorms and conditions of hysteria. The diseases ofintrospection—neurosis, neurasthenia and similarconditions—which rob life of so much enjoyment,are caused by excessive Self-love. Ignorance andlack of wisdom bring their own difficulties ineveryday life, and in addition, should there be apersistence in refusing to see truth when theopportunity has been given, short-sightedness andimpairment of vision and hearing are the naturalconsequences. Instability of mind must lead to thesame quality in the body with those various disor-ders which affect movement and coordination.

The result of greed and domination of others issuch diseases as will render the sufferer a slave tohis own body, with desires and ambitions curbedby the malady.

Moreover, the very part of the body affected isno accident, but is in accordance with the law ofcause and effect, and again will be a guide to helpus. For example, the heart, the fountain of life andhence of love, is attacked when especially the loveside of the nature towards humanity is not devel-oped or is wrongly used; a hand affected denotesfailure or wrong in action; the brain being the cen-ter of control, if afflicted, indicates lack of controlin the personality. Such must follow as the law laysdown. We are all ready to admit the many resultswhich may follow a fit of violent temper, the shockof sudden bad news; if trivial affairs can thus affectthe body, how much more serious and deep-rootedmust be a prolonged conflict between soul andbody. Can we wonder that the result gives rise tosuch grievous complaints as the diseases amongstus today?

But yet there is no cause for depression. The pre-vention and cure of disease can be found by dis-covering the wrong within ourselves and eradicat-ing this fault by the earnest development of thevirtue which will destroy it; not by fighting thewrong, but by bringing in such a flood of itsopposing virtue that it will be swept from ournatures. ❐

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Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise

From outward things, whate’er you may believe.

There is an inmost center in us all,

Where truth abides in fullness; and around,

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,

This perfect, clear perception—which is truth.

A baffling and perverting carnal mesh

Binds it, and makes all error: and, to know,

Rather consists in opening out a way

Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,

Than in effecting entry for a light

Supposed to be without.

—Robert Browning

from Paracelsus

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TO THE AWE-INSPIRING vers-es with which St.John opens hisGospel must we

turn if we would seek the foun-dation that makes the work ofmusical therapy possible: “In thebeginning was the Word.” No ordi-nary, casually spoken word was this,but one so sublime, so mighty, that thewhole of infinite space gave joyous, eagerresponse and was stirred into life. Thus didCosmos begin to emerge from Chaos; thus, count-less ages past, was begun that which is marvelousbeyond all man’s comprehension—our universe.By it innumerable stars are governed; by it isordered the majestic sweep of the planets about theSun; by it everything in creation is made. It is thesource of all life, and to it we owe our being.

Long ago Pythagoras spoke of “the music of thespheres,” saying it was an actual fact, as each plan-et sings its own sublime note. To each one heassigned one note of the scale and compared thedistances between them to tones and semi-tones,the whole forming the seven notes of the scale. Theentire scheme of evolution of our solar system canbe related to the seven and one-third octaves of thekeyboard of the piano, even that one-third being ofvital significance.

By the singing wonder of those celestial tones isbuilt the archetype of each human body. When itbegins a new life cycle, the Ego descends from theThird Heaven into the Region of Concrete Thoughtwhere the music of the spheres sets the seed atomsof its future vehicles into vibration. The tones ofthis music form vibratory lines of force which laterattract and arrange physical particles in a manner

similar to that by which grainsof sand on a glass plate formgeometrical patterns when abow is drawn across the plate’sedge. All the planets assist inthis work of building the arche-

type, but the one which vi-bratesin particular harmony with the

keynote of the physical seed atombecomes the life ruler, and the tones

of each of the other planets are modi-fied by the Father Star. During the period

of construction of the archetype not all tones givenforth by the planets as they form varying aspectscan be used by the seed atom, but only those towhich the previous work of the Ego has enabled itto respond. Thus each person’s keynote is individ-ual.

Hence we see why music, the highest of the arts,has such power for healing. ❐

—Dorothy B. Cameron

Visible Helpers are just as necessary as InvisibleHelpers, and our friends and patients may share in ahigh privilege, as well as add much to the power ofliberated healing force, by joining us in prayer for thesick. Our Healing Service is held every evening inthe Healing Temple at 6:30 (7:30 when Daylight timeis in effect) and in the Pro-Ecclesia at 4:15 P.M.when the Moon is in a cardinal sign on the followingdates:

September............................7—15—21—28October................................5—12—19—26

Relax, close your eyes, and make a mental pictureof the pure white rose in the center of the RosicrucianEmblem on the west wall of our Pro-Ecclesia, andconcentrate on Divine Love and Healing.

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Music, the

HEALING

Divine Healer

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IN A DISTANT KINGDOM, years ago,there lived a king with an arrogant andhaughty daughter. When it came time for theprincess to marry, the king held a banquet towhich he invited many eligible young

princes. The princess scorned them all, especiallyone she named King Thrushbeard, for his pointedbeard reminded her of the beak of a thrush.

Soon after, the king lost his patience with hisdaughter. A beggar was passing the castle and, in afit of temper, the king gave the princess to him ashis wife. The princess screamed and cried, but tono avail. The beggar grasped her firmly by thehand and took her home with him. On the way,they passed a fine city. “Whose city is this?” askedthe princess. “It is King Thrushbeard’s, and mighthave been yours,” said the beggar, and the princessdropped a tear. Later they passed a fine forest.“Whose forest is this?” asked the princess. “It isKing Thrushbeard’s, and might have been yours,”replied the beggar, and the princess dropped a tear.Finally they came to a dreadful little hovel.“Whose wretched hovel is this?” asked theprincess. “It is mine, and you will live in it withme,” said the beggar, pushing her inside.

Life was hard for the princess. Not only did shehave to do all the household tasks, but because oftheir great poverty, she also had to try to makesome extra money. Her fingers were too delicate toweave baskets. She had not the skill to make pot-tery. So the beggar got her a position as kitchenmaid at the castle, where she had to do all the dirtywork. Occasionally scraps from the table weretossed her way. These she would store in little iron

pots which she hid in her dress and took home tofeed herself and her beggar husband. This was theonly way the two of them were able to survive.One day, as she was about to return to her hovel atthe end of the day’s work, she heard the sound ofmusic and laughter coming from the great hall ofthe castle. Quietly she crept upstairs to see what washappening. A great feast was being given to celebratethe marriage of the eldest princess. The hall wasbright, and filled with nobles in rich silks, gleam-ing gold and flashing jewels. Hiding behind a cur-tain, the princess watched and wept, thinking of howher proud nature had brought her to such a sad state.

Suddenly a prince, who seemed to the princess

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King Thrushbeard

FOR CHILDREN

Rendering by Ed Sibbett, Jr. of illustration by Arthur Rackham

The Beggar leads the Princess to his hovel

Dover P

ublications, Inc.

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the most handsome man she had ever seen, noticedher hiding behind the curtain. He went to her, andtold her that he wanted to dance with her. Greatwas the princess’s embarrassment when she sawthat he was none other than King Thrushbeard! Buthe did not seem to recognize her. As she dancedwith him, the iron pots fell from her ragged dressand clanged against the floor, spilling food allover. Everyone laughed at her. The princess weptwith humiliation, and tried to run away. But theguards caught her as she ran down the stairs, andbrought her back to King Thrushbeard.

“Do not be afraid,” he told her, “for I and thebeggar whom you married are the same person.Out of love for you I put on the disguise to teachyou humility. You have learned your lesson.” Theweeping princess sobbed, “I am unworthy to beyour wife.” But King Thrushbeard kissed her,dried her tears, and the two lived in great happi-ness. ❐

The Lady and the Lion

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a fatherwho had three daughters. One day, beforehe went on a trip, he asked them what pre-

sents they wanted him to bring back. The two elderdaughters wanted jewelry, which was simpleenough for the father to get. But the youngestwanted a singing, soaring lark. Before his return,the father had bought the jewelry, but he had notfound a lark. As he was passing through a dark for-est, he spied one in a tree, climbed up and caughtit. At that very moment a lion, howling with rage,came bounding out. “How dare you take my lark,”he roared. “Prepare to die!” The man begged to bespared and the lion let him go, on the conditionthat his youngest daughter be given to him.

When the man returned home, there was greatwailing as he told his story. But the youngestdaughter did not fear, and went alone into the for-est. There she was met by the lion, who took her tohis castle, where other lions dwelt. He was a princeunder a spell, and took his human form at night, asdid his companions. The lion and the maid fell inlove, and lived happily together.

One day the lion told the maid that her eldest sis-

ter was about to be married, and gave her permis-sion to visit home if she so wanted. The maidrefused, unless the lion would come with her. Hetold her that he dared not, for were a single ray oflight to touch him, he would turn into a dove andbe forced to fly about the world for seven years.The maid promised she would protect him fromthe light.

The lion went to the wedding feast, but, as fatewould have it, even though the maid tried to shieldhim from the light, a beam touched him. He turnedinto a dove and flew away. For seven years themaid endured great hardship trying to find him.Then she found that, human again, he had marriedan evil princess, who had taken his memory fromhim. She went to the princess, who envied themaid’s gown, which had been given to her by thesun during her wanderings. The princess asked themaid if she would sell it. The maid said she wouldgive it only if she were allowed to enter theprince’s room that night. The bargain was struck,but the princess put a drug in his drink. When themaid entered the prince’s room, she was unable torouse him.

The next day the maid showed the princess threeeggs which the moon had given her during herwanderings. She broke them open and out ranthree golden chicks. The princess wanted them,and the maid gave them on the condition that sheagain be allowed into the prince’s room. But thatnight the prince did not drink the drug, so when themaid was let into his chamber, he recognized herand told her how he had been enslaved by theprincess.

Now the princess’s father was a powerful sor-cerer, so the prince and the maid quietly slippedaway from the palace. They mounted a griffinwhich bore them over the Red Sea. When the beastbecame tired, the maid dropped a nut the nightwind had given her. At once a tall nut tree grewfrom the water, and the griffin was able to rest inits branches for the night. In the morning hereturned the prince and the maid home safely, andthey lived in peace and contentment for the rest oftheir lives. ❐

The foregoing two tales by the Brothers Grimm were adapt-ed by James Spero.

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