72

Beyond the Soul’s Meridian: Healing through Christ Consciousness by the Revelation of Our Inner Mysteries

V

Wisdom, Understanding, & Consciousness Soul

Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. –Hypatia

Hypatia and the Parabolani According to the ancient Greek Christian church historian, Socrates Scholasticus (380 AD - unknown): “There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.” (1)

73

This extraordinary woman was held in high regard not only by the peers of her time but by all free thinking individuals over preceding generations. These peers included the likes of the artist Raphael who prominently place her in his frescoe of The School of Athens at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace as the only female representative. Hypatia has also become a painful reminder if not a martyred symbol of the fall of reason and wisdom at the hands of ignorance and religious fanaticism. Although there are a number of accounts of her life, gifts, and deeds, the general consensus is that she was at least as extraordinary as her historical depictions as she has inspired a considerable number of scholarly and artistic works based on the gifts of her loving, wise and generous soul. Of all the resources to be considered, the film Agora (2009) may be the most practical reference point for modern students to begin a consideration (2). Although the film was criticized for taking artistic liberties, the creators of this film took great efforts to remain historically accurate in portraying her life. To be balanced, it was screened at the Vatican without objection. From all accounts the film illustrates an accurate outline of the events that surrounded her life and death near the chaos and disruptions that were born from the new Christian religion. As this new idea of Christianity fervently spread, not only paganism in its final form of dwindling idolatry and intellectual rationalism (and the Greco-Roman culture that it embodied), but spiritualism (in its Hellenistic Neo-Platonic form) more or less died as Europe was thereafter plunged into the dark ages. Hypatia was the head of the Neo-Platonist school in Alexandria’s Serapeum at the time of its destruction at the hands of an over zealous and violent Christian mob. The Serapeum functioned as a spiritual temple, healing center, university, and library. Hypatia has been traditionally depicted from a historical perspective as the last champion of intellectual and philosophical reason. This popular portrayal is most likely an inaccurate representation, since as a Neo-Platonist she was clearly an initiate of the esoteric mysteries of Orpheus, Homer, and the Chaldean Oracles, and was therefore at least peripherally aware of the hidden spiritual realities embedded within nature and humanity. (3) Her life ended in tragedy, as she was eventually accused of heresy (witchcraft) by Saint Cyril of Alexandria and was violently murdered at the hands of zealots that served as his personal bodyguards. These bodyguards were known as the Parabolani. As we have experienced the expansion over the last few centuries of a far more secular form of reason in virtually all of our life’s endeavors, Hypatia has come to represent to many secular intellectuals the dangers, errors, and perhaps fallaciousness of Western religion and specifically of Christianity itself. Perhaps there is some merit to this claim, but the fact is that Hypatia was never condemned by an intention, word, or idea, uttered by Christ Jesus. Our intellect would serve our soul better to recognize that this incident was never the simple black and white divisive issue that it has now become.

74

From an esoteric standpoint one can see that her life was extraordinarily significant but that the outcome was inevitable, as she was destined to live that life as a symbol and perhaps even the last sacrifice to this inevitable shift in conscious transformation that was now taking place. This process is itself an alchemical one, which always begins with chaos, darkness, and turmoil, which the alchemists termed as the nigredo or masa confusa. As a Neo-Platonist and initiated student of the esoteric mysteries, it is possible that Hypatia may have been one of the few that had the potential to understand the true significance of the change that was taking place. This initiated transformation that was occurring was literally taking something from its most raw and chaotically primitive state—which the alchemists termed as prima materia—and transforming it into its most rarified, truthful, and purified essence. The analogy commonly used was the transformation of a base metal such as lead, into gold, or extracting a precious gem that has been hidden within the deepest recess of a dung heap. The mythology of Western religion, despite the attempt of many of its theologians, is clearly non-linear, and can be at times downright confusing and paradoxical if viewed solely from a logical and rational perspective. If one were to consider the basic truth that Jesus conveyed, the essence would be well aligned with our most human maxim which has come to be known as the Golden Rule. This maxim is simply to treat another as one would treat one self. In an essay written by Peter May entitled Testing the Golden Rule, we find elements of these sentiments within the spectrum of Hinduism to modern Humanism. Yet these sentiments are articulated in either a negative fashion, which is one that prohibits behavior, or is articulated with limitations or qualifiers as to who or what persons it can and should be applied to. The most comprehensive and compassionate application in regards to the Golden Rule maxim is found within the scriptures in the Old Testament of Leviticus, as we not only find a limitless application of treating all other human beings as we would hope and expect ourselves to be treated, but one where the Law of Love is now invoked. (5, 6) Jesus once again articulates this, but places the love of God (as articulated in Deuteronomy 6:5) with your heart, soul, and mind before anything else. Yet, he goes further than all others by stating that we should not only love our neighbors and those that are foreign to us, but that we must love our enemies. (7, 8) This is unprecedented in any form of philosophy or religion before or since.

Some, if not many, have argued that this level of morality is impossible, as no one can ever really be that good. So pray-tell, what could He possibly be invoking? Is Jesus just outdoing all of the other religions and philosophies? Is this just wishful, flowery utopian sentiment? In the Gospel of Thomas he even goes so far as to declare that we should “Love your brother like your own soul, guard him like the pupil of your eye.” (9)

The film Agora illustrates this doubtful sentiment fairly well as the members of the Parabolani, which had now degenerated into the Bishop’s henchmen, question their very

75

actions, yet rationalize that they are just merely men and not the Son of God. They therefore concluded that they are only acting as His instruments and should not be held to such high and unattainable standards.

Well perhaps at that time it was so—but what the Parabolani failed to realize is that we are all Children of God and therefore truly are sons and daughters of the Creator and bothers and sisters to ourselves. This is an essential yet marginalized tenant within our Western religion as we find these statements overtly and covertly contained within scripture and within the teaching of Jesus himself. (10, 11) In the more heretical Christian tradition, Jesus goes so far as to suggest that mere mortals who have achieved enlightenment through the spirit are in fact twins to the Redeemer. (12)

In examining the Parabolani, we find that it was a paradoxical group of the highly inspired to fanatical zealots, and in many instances were both. History suggests that they were an order of monks, yet they never took vows. Paul of Tarsus, labeled them in his comparison to a powerful and devout Christian named Epaphroditus and equating them to risk-takers. (13-15) Generally, these men where recruited from the order of the oppressed, and were generally categorized as coarse, with a tendency to be less enlightened or evolved as those that they transgressed against. Yet, they were also fearless, doing tasks that no one else at the time was prepared to do, such as caring for the afflicted, imprisoned, marginalized, and down trotted. It is clear from the historical descriptions that these men were living within the id or lower astral soul capacities, yet were inspired by something akin to an overwhelming subconscious impulse to recklessly act in such a manner as to release and eventually reveal an entity that began as a fire deep within the recesses of their own souls. This impulsive activity is primitive, yet archetypal and not altogether an unexpected reaction to a slave’s first taste of freedom and justice. This does not absolve those from living outside the Golden Rule, it is just so…

It seems clear that Jesus was aware of this, as we also have these seemingly paradoxical statements from the Prince of Peace in regards to Setting Fire to the World, and longing for it to happen. (16, 17) He clearly knew that the alchemical transformation that He initiated would be one birthed through chaos and struggle as human beings receptive to this message of love were not evolved enough yet to fully comprehend it. Even if there were a significant number of persons living within those times that were capable of understanding the true aspects of his teachings, they would never have been able to manifest it through the pagan culture of oppression and slavery that undeniably came before it. In many ways, the genocide of the heretical Christian Gnostics proves this point.

A very enlightened analysis of violence was written by retired United States Army psychologist Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman, in his work of non-fiction entitled, On Killing. (18) Through this endeavor it is revealed that even after conventional military training, human beings generally are not apt to kill their fellow humans and that in order to drastically potentiate the kill rates a system of conditioning and desensitization must be adopted within the process of military training. Essentially, they must be trained to not only effectively fire their weapons but specifically to kill.

76

This process of desensitization and conditioning has spread not only within the training of soldiers, but has become pervasive throughout our secular and technologically driven culture via the media. Stanley Kubrick’s film Full Metal Jacket touches upon this subject as we begin to see the rise of kill rates rapidly increase from the Korean conflict onward as modern military training took on a more psychologically brutal and dehumanizing characteristic. (19) In the film we see the effects of this process, as one of the recruits succumb to the damages of this mind control and eventually kills his drill instructor and himself.

The effects of this type of military training is now compounded by the violence that soldiers are inflicting upon the enemy and that is reciprocally inflicted upon them through these asymmetric and generally unjust struggles that they are now finding themselves deployed into. More than anything else, this has caused an explosive epidemic of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (20) At the time of this writing the suicide rate among veterans and active duty soldiers was estimated to be about one per hour. In 2012, in a period of time slightly longer than a day, 349 deaths by suicide were officially acknowledged among soldiers on active duty. (21)

In my experience through medical practice, what has always amazed me is that the violent issues embedded within the PSTD never really seem to subside over time, as the victims are just as painfully afflicted with the demons and haunting memories as though the experience just recently happened.

Therefore, it is undeniably clear that most human beings have evolved a soul capacity that is no longer malleable to unjust violence. This could be seen as indirect evidence that something of a transformative expansion of morality and awareness is at work here. These forces can be specifically cited through our higher Western religious principles and influences that are undeniably related to the fire that began approximately two millennia ago with the teachings of Jesus and the budding expansion of our consciousness soul.

It is painfully obvious that Jesus is correct, and that in order to live a whole and healthy life we must come to understand what we do unto others, we reciprocally do (through the realities of the spirit) to ourselves. In order to have any semblance of a healthy society we must realize that the teachings of Jesus are not just sophisticated and unworldly philosophy, but stem from the essential and grounded truth that we are all interconnected at the level of consciousness soul through the spirit. It is extraordinarily rare that any person (with the exception of the sociopath) will not be detrimentally affected by even the least transgression inflicted upon their fellow human souls. This is clearly tied into to the law of Karma, and has universal ramifications for the overall health from our essential soul to our collective global society.

Any teachings that deviate from this essential principle will to a varying degree mutilate the psyche.

77

The Fragility of Knowledge

Figure 5-1. Carl Sagan, the high priest of New Atheism.

In 1980 American Public Television aired a ground breaking series of videos that were released in the form of a 13 part television journal that was entitled Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. It was through these videos where persons of my generation were introduced to the basic concepts of Natural Selection, genetics, greenhouse effect and global warming, errors of astrology, Greek philosophy, time and space relationships, movements of the planets and empirical observation of the universe through the science of astronomy, space exploration, composition and nature of the stars and the galaxies, intelligence and the human brain, UFO’s, and the future of human evolution. (22) This program was created and hosted by the highly respected cosmologist, astronomer, and astrophysicist—the late Carl Sagan.

It is interesting that in two out the thirteen episodes, there is significant material and consideration devoted to the destruction of the Serapeum’s Great Library in Alexandria. Contained within the first episode is a vignette entitled, The Fragility of Knowledge. In this episode, we are given a vivid description of the projected content of the great edifice of the Serapeum and how it was utterly destroyed by a barbaric horde of zealots along with the rabble and tyranny of its undisciplined mob. When I first viewed this vignette as an adolescent in the beginning phase of my secular scientific education, I recall feeling a great sense of loss and outrage as this seemed to be illustrating a great injustice. It also instilled within me a sincere and earnest sense of the importance and duty that a modern scientist must adopt, which is to protect empirical reason and truth at all times by

78

guarding against the ignorance of religion (and specifically Western religion) and the fanaticism that it can and still often harbors.

But is this view really justified? When viewed from a comprehensive and balanced perspective the polar extremes of science and religion can be in error, yet from the vantage point of the person that has aligned themselves within these opposing and polarized spheres they can only see the truth that is contained within that viewpoint. In a sense, it is not that persons within those spheres of influence are wrong, but that the spiritual follower or the secular scientist are actually right albeit within the limitations of their soul’s confined capacities and awareness. Perhaps a simple analogy would be the difference between quantitative and qualitative information and truths.

The language of science is clearly quantitative, as virtually all scientific studies are upheld to such statistical scrutiny. Yet, it has been clearly demonstrated that all empirical scientific observation is tainted with error and bias, in part because there is a lacking of any substantial input from qualitative realities effecting such observations. Data can be analyzed but it is a limited form of truth (which can be manipulated) and is clearly one that is not fully comprehensive. On the other-hand, if a science lacks some form of quantitative input and consideration, it is not really science, yet it may still be truthful.

So in a linear and rational sense we should certainly lament for the lost writings of Sophocles and the myriad of other works that have been transformed into ashes and ground into dust at the hands of those living firmly within their animalistic souls. Yet, there exists another viewpoint that is intrinsic, regenerative, reciprocal, and spiritual in nature. Perhaps it may be useful to begin this consideration artistically through the insight of Robert Burns’ poem, To a Mouse, which was inspired when his plow disrupted a nest of field mice:

But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often awry,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy!

Still you are blessed, compared with me! The present only touches you:

But oh! I backward cast my eye, On prospects dreary!

And forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear!

An esoteric viewpoint would understand that all things within this universe are born, maintained for a period of time, and then die or are destroyed. Change (and most often for us unpredictable change) is inevitable and nothing within this universe—with the exception of love and consciousness—is permanent. We should consider the fact that

79

nothing stored within written text is ever truly secure or even known to us unless it is processed and engraved upon the human heart.

This fallacy of security and instantaneous wisdom is rampant among my students as many believe that when the technology becomes readily available they will simply interface themselves within our electronic matrix of virtual knowledge and instantly become wise and intelligent. Of course, this is absolutely untrue, and once the matrix collapses, or the Serapeum is pillaged and razed again to the ground, they will become as ignorant as the hordes of modern zombies that have come to destroy it if they have not come to understand and assimilate truth within their own souls.

Yes, it would be wonderful for some if not many to read every single work of Aristotle or Aeschylus, yet it is not only impossible, but for most modern persons—even if the potential existed—it would be a highly impractical task. We should not even consider such a daunting task because if we truly understood how nature really works, then we would know that every once in a while a miraculous event occurs, as a Plato, Aristotle, da Vinci, Goethe, Bacon, Mozart, Beethoven, Tessla, Tolstoy, Einstein, or Gandhi is born. This observational fact has always fascinated me and is what I believe to be a profound consideration within a question that I like to use to challenge my students with, which is simply, “What determines the intrinsic capabilities in a person like Mozart from a guy that winds up living a superficial and meaningless life within the confines of his parents’ basement?”

Not only was Mozart technically gifted, but he was playing and creating music at a highly accelerated pace, so that at a very young age he was playing with the soul of a gifted master. Many will argue that it is exclusively related to a combination of breeding, genetics, and nurturing environments. This is a hollow answer, and I would bet that a significant amount of those making such statements have never raised children. The fact is these personalities and talents are apparent at the beginning of all of our lives, and that these materialistic theories cannot account for those highly developed soul capacities that go far beyond average human potentials and capabilities.

Therefore, within the esoteric worldview it is highly likely that Aristotle, Sophocles, and Hypatia are still actively engaged within this process of human reciprocal regeneration, to again create, refine, and further contribute to our personal and collective consciousness to the advancement of all humans here on earth. This type of wisdom is truly indelible.

This consideration is an essential part of esoteric wisdom training. Examples of this would be in the training of Zen Buddhist temple builders, who after mastering their techniques in erecting the edifice ceremoniously raze it to the ground. In other instances pupils may be taught to master skills through a musical instrument, and when the student becomes utterly proficient in the eyes of the master, the instrument is destroyed. In both examples, these lessons illustrate the fallacy of any sense or hope of permanence that has been invested within the by-product of the creational process.

80

Through the artistic process of various mediums an expression occurs but does not (despite popular opinion) in-itself hold any permanent or lasting value, except perhaps by those that have limited or absolutely no ability to create and are fearful and or uninterested within imaginative and creational endeavors. Sadly, those that invest an overt amount of value within this impermanence in a sense become dragon-like in their efforts to guard, sequester, and horde this perceived wealth.

Permanence should never be attached to the by-product as it is critical to understand that what is lasting resides within the idea and truth that inspired it and therefore within the soul that has created it and the souls that have become evolved through their comprehension and understanding of it. True power and freedom is the unlimited ability to willfully create environments that surround and envelope us within the expressions of this inspirational source of love, truth, compassion, and wisdom. Without these creational abilities, we become powerless, subjugated, and enslaved to perceived values and governing theories, creeds, and ideas.

Clearly, anyone who is human cannot help but feel an utter sense of loss and despair at the needless destruction of not only life, but also our sacred and symbolic cultural works, creations, and achievements. Whether this destruction is the razing of Serapeum and its library, the attempted destruction of Michelangelo’s Pieta, the Bombing of Dresden, or the destruction of the Twin Towers, it is all too painful to witness by any enlighten human being. Yet, even like the great Egyptian Sphinx, which through time and the elements is slowly but surely disintegrating back into the environment that birthed it, nothing that has ever been created will outlast consciousness and the creational truth that inspired it.

One could almost say that our earthly human culture was born of destruction as our legends universally convey to us a story of a global catastrophe through the annihilation of a more enlightened and evolved culture on the continent of Atlantis.

Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of our modern existence, and specifically within our modern systems of education is the over-emphasis of rote thinking and therefore the confining and conditioning forces that have been prematurely released upon the mind, and especially upon the souls of our children and adolescents. This appears to be occurring at the cost of creative and imaginative endeavors, which nourishes, develops, and frees the mind soul. As to why we have been handed such a terribly stilted educational system is the subject matter for a lengthy dissertation, but its origins started decades ago, when politicians, administrators, and educators began petitioning for a more technologically based educational system that would supply the projected industrial needs of our country and the technically oriented globalization that soon followed.

In the face of dwindling resources (despite exponential and unprecedented federal expenditures), an abstract argument was made something along the lines of supplying society’s economic and industry’s needs with more technicians and engineers at the expense of having less philosophers, poets, and free-thinkers. At the time (within the

81

decade of the 1970’s and into the 80’s) it may have seemed like a logical argument, but it was an abstraction, and highly false.

We are now straddled with the fallout of such a terrible and short-sited policy with no end to it in sight. From a human health and holistic perspective there was never a legitimate reason to be forced to choose either or, as we could have easily emphasized both, and strove to inspire and educate our children to become poetic engineers, philosophical scientists, and scientifically oriented poets, philosophers, and free-thinkers. This comprehensive approach to education was truly the basis of the school, temple, and library that the Serapeum encompassed.

Despite the perverse fixation on becoming more inhuman, automatonic, soulless, and computer-like through the forces and entities that are promoting this agenda (such as the malignant policies of No Child Left Behind and Common Core), our true destiny may be one that is far more creational. It seems probable if not highly likely that we are at least designed to evolve our consciousness and latent capacities to the point where all persons will possess the abilities that only a few enlightened individuals up till now have demonstrated. This can only be accomplished if we individually seek it out—as the attainment of wisdom through a large part is actively catalyzed through artistic and creational endeavors.

Although art is generally recognized to be highly subjective and individualized, residing within the eye of the beholder, the truth that inspires it is highly objective, as it is up to the individual to discern objective truth within the artist’s subjective expression. It would be hard to find a more durable and accurate definition of art outside of the description found in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay entitled “Society and Solitude, Art” in which he simply and elegantly states, “The conscious utterance of thought, by speech or action, to any end, is art.” Yet, this is only true if thought is inspired through free will, which is thought derived from the more enlightened vantage point of our spirit filled consciousness soul.

The Question of Slavery

At this point, it may be interesting to consider the fact that if the old universities were not destroyed, would a secular understanding of our world embodied within our current form of science ever have developed or would we still have knowledge preserved by the ancient mysteries within their old atavistic form? In the final segment of Cosmos Carl Sagan further discusses this question within the vignette entitled The Great Library of Alexandria and Hypatia. In this segment he again revisits the calamity and destruction that befell the Serapeum with specific references again to the philosopher, Neo-Platonist, astrologer, astronomer, and mystic priestess Hypatia. Astonishingly, Sagan attempts to blame the destruction of the Serapeum and its library (which he refers to as the Great Library) on the philosophies that she embodied at the time of its destruction. In a sense, he blames the philosophies and the inspired teaching of Pythagoras, Plato, and even

82

Aristotle on the root cause of the Hellenistic school’s demise. Sagan frames this within a reference to slavery and suggests that the ideas of these legendary philosophers promoted a culture of mysticism, ignorance, and subjugation, in large part due to their adherence of contemplating and promoting wisdom through an initiated esoteric system of education which emphasizes an awareness of occult spiritual knowledge.

What Carl Sagan is really getting at is the fact that they refused to divorce the physical world from the metaphysical world of the spirit as they intuitively sensed through a higher level of awareness that there are intimate relationships between these two forces, which Sagan and all other materialistic scientists forcefully dismiss. Sagan further promotes an alternative viewpoint from the Ionian school of philosophy that included the likes of Democritus, Theodorus of Samos, and Diogenes that adopted a world view divorced of spiritual influences and suggests that this became the basis of our modern secular science. In Sagan’s view, the Ionian school’s secular and physically oriented approach liberated itself from the enslaving doctrines of religious creeds and superstitions. Perhaps in some ways Sagan is correct, but we are now doing ourselves a great injustice by swallowing this overly simplistic argument.

Within the esoteric wisdom tradition, our trials, tribulations, and perceived mistakes are viewed as necessary and perhaps even ordained events that are not separated from the metaphysical energies that are directing and invariably influencing them. Some scientists, such as Carl Sagan have viewed this as a type of fatalism. Perhaps from a certain vantage point it can be interpreted as such. Regardless, we cannot change history, nor should we condemn ourselves for this world’s sad state of affairs which is undeniably occurring within this forced backdrop of material science devoid of spiritual consideration. The fact is that what has happen and what continues to occur today is not a derivative of a series of unfortunate and tragic mistakes inasmuch as intentionally engineered catastrophes that play themselves out on the worldly socioeconomic and geopolitical planes that truly have origins derived from non-physical influences.

Perhaps it is fatalistic to acknowledge this world view because the outcomes may be ordained to some degree, yet within all of this there are variables that exist. These outcomes are never set in stone and as we have seen time and again, the future is extraordinarily difficult to accurately predict. It becomes imperative to understand that we are ordained to survive this transition into a future of freedom, again guided by spiritual free will through our higher awareness of and within consciousness soul—any other pathway leads to a form of subjugation and death.

For many who have considered adopting a more esoteric world view, the primary obstacle becomes seeing past the conditioned paradigms that have been spoon-fed into us. This pabulum is derived mainly from the modern marriage of the media and material science that has now become accepted as truth. How difficult it is for us to discern truth from fiction when we are not only exposed to the power, beauty, and artistic sincerity of works such as Cosmos, but a myriad of concepts streaming in from additional venues, all hammering into us well worn political messages, artificial desires, abstract values, scientific theories, and incrementally limited technologies? These limited truths and

83

materialistic propaganda are far more dangerous than any of the esoteric philosophies that Carl Sagan claimed fostered a culture of slavery. It is so tragic to witness this, as there is no educational outcome worse than a child, adolescent, or young adult whose mind is closed to ideas, concepts, and realities that are beyond their soul’s limit from this type of conditioned programming.

If nothing else, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos very effectively outlined a working template that generations could easily grasp and adhere to in a world that is becoming increasingly more difficult to comprehend. Yet it is apparent that Carl Sagan is quite disingenuous on many issues.

In considering the issue of slavery: history suggests that none of the Greek philosophers opposed it, at least in the sense that there were no true abolitionists, nor any external movement to support such an endeavor. Even within the Roman Servile Wars and the great slave revolt of Spartacus, there was never an effort by the slaves to oppose let alone eliminate the institution of slavery as the rebels’ opposition to slavery was to free themselves. Even the most stoic and outspoken of all the Ionians, Diogenes (who Plato called, “An insane version of Socrates”) who was born a free man but captured by pirates later in his life and sold into slavery—did not overtly oppose it as an institution. (25) Slavery was an integral and natural fact that was never opposed by ancient pagans, in part because there was an intuitive understanding of the universal law of subjugation and obedience that was intrinsic to the pagan system.

Other reasons can be found in Plato’s dialogs of Timaeus and Critias in his discourses on the lost continent of Atlantis. In Critias he reveals to us an autocratic culture where gods lived among ordinary men. Initially, these god-like human beings harbored a divine nature as ordained through the natural and universal law of love to steward the less evolved:

“For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, and well-affectioned towards the god, whose seed they were; for they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse with one another. They despised everything but virtue, caring little for their present state of life, and thinking lightly of the possession of gold and other property, which seemed only a burden to them; neither were they intoxicated by luxury; nor did wealth deprive them of their self-control; but they were sober, and saw clearly that all these goods are increased by virtue and friendship with one another, whereas by too great regard and respect for them, they are lost and friendship with them.”—Plato, Critias dialog

But eventually a secularization of sort occurred in some of these beings creating an egotistical and narcissistic faction that over time lead to an abusive form of slavery, and eventually their destruction:

“...when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper hand, they then,

84

being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power.”—Plato, Critias dialog

The twentieth century esoteric scholar, Manly P. Hall goes further to suggest that the loss of these divine elements eventually transformed the Atlantean culture into a living hell:

“According to the secret tradition, it was during the later Atlantean epoch that black magic and sorcery dominated the esoteric schools, resulting in the bloody sacrificial rites and gruesome idolatry which ultimately overthrew the Atlantean empire and even penetrated the Aryan religious world.”—Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages

Needless to say, the mythology of Atlantis is fascinating. As to whether there is any merit to the claim that it really existed is a matter for a later discussion. The fact is that whether it did or did not exist is inconsequential in relation to the fact that the ancient world (and specifically the Neo-Platonists) universally believed that it did. When contemplating the tremendous body of modern and ancient mythology that exists on the subject, it is pretty clear that a precedent was established well before the Greeks or even the Egyptians that the origins of slavery emerged through the Atlantean experience.

There has only been one person who emerges through this historical transition that opposed slavery and that soul is Jesus Christ. The later abolitionists were directly inspired by his teachings and the redemption that his teachings offer us is directly related to our ancestral transgressions and the resolution of human slavery in all of its forms.

The Science of the Magi

It is also interesting to observe that contained within the third episode of Cosmos entitle Harmony of the Worlds, there is an eight and a half minute segment which utterly dismisses the science and practice of astrology, labeling it as pious and fraud. (26) Sagan bases this on a quick comparison showing a significant discordance within astrological predictions published in two different newspapers referenced solely on the generalities of Tropical sun signs. Of course, what is demonstrated are very vague and divergent predictions, yet is this really a surprise? Should we sink an entire science based on a superficial consideration of newspaper predictions? Is it possible that the media (and Carl Sagan) have a tendency to oversimplify? As one of the worlds greatest and well recognized astronomers and astrophysicists—a man who harbored such a fire and passion for knowledge—it seems virtually impossible to me that he could be as ignorant about astrological science as he has demonstrated through his videos. For most of us, our knowledge of astrology and the zodiac is superficial to non-existent at best. And why should we care if our sources are limited to video hit pieces, tabloid media, and fortune cookies? Yet the fact remains that a tremendous body of personal and collective insight

85

can be gained through an understanding of these celestial arrangements which are based on the date, location, and the exact time of a person’s birth.

Media predictions are based solely on our external sun signs, which are determined exclusively on the dates that we are born. These are usually familiar to most of us and convey a central archetype (based on the twelve signs of the zodiac) that generally fits within our personality that is projected out into the external world. But this is only a highly superficial observation, and represents a mere fraction of our astral (star) entities.

Despite all of our technological advancements, the ancient astronomers, or Magi, were also astrologers and were far more evolved than we are today when it comes to an understanding and awareness of our own self. The essence of their wisdom can be found within an adherence to the simple yet most profound macrocosmic—microcosmic relationship expressed within the maxim of as above so below which skeptical science has forcefully divorced itself from.

Regardless of how sacrilegious it sounds for a modern physician trained through conventional science to suggest this, it is an obvious fact to those who have sincerely contemplated the celestial observations of astrology that it has significant merit beyond probability (27-30). There are now many who are developing the soul capacities to see a direct relationship between scientific discoveries and metaphysical awareness as a ground-swelling of persons within science are strongly intuiting that the time has arrived for us to once again consider a far more comprehensive and holistic understanding of the physical universe in relation to our metaphysical natures, and to again rightfully marry the science of astronomy and astrophysics to astrology and the intrinsic spiritual natures of our human self.

Currently, there are sixteen celestial bodies (sun, moon, planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids) that are considered in reference to the precise time, date, and location of a specific person’s birth. These local celestial bodies (which are points within the inner circle) lay within the broader and more distal heavenly back-drop that make up the well know constellations which constitute the cosmic delineations and symbolic archetypes within the middle ring of the twelve signs of the zodiac. These relationships are generally slower moving and have been married to the seasonal patterns in the commonly adopted Tropical astrological system of observation. The numbered outer ring represents the houses which are the basic aspects and functions within our life where these energies will have there influences. For example, the fifth house on the outer ring represents health, the sixth creativity, the tenth career, etc. This outer ring is a chronometer married to the Earth’s rotation, completing a 360o cycle in 24 hrs. So it is vitally important to not only accurately record the birth time, but this observation may also help to explain why there is not only a great concordance among twins but also in many instances discordances.

The example below shows the natal chart of arguably the most powerful, outspoken, and greatest sports personality in twentieth century sports, the heavyweight boxer, Muhammad Ali:

86

Figure 5-2. The Tropical astrological chart for Muhammad Ali—The Greatest of All Time.

As we can observe, there is an expansive amount of detailed information that has to do specifically with the nuances and intricacies of our emotional bodies and personality characteristics, in relationship to the activities, achievements, tasks, and goals related to

“…the Sun, Moon and Mercury are all in the 6th house, Virgo’s house of everyday work and technique. There is one thing for sure, Muhammad would not get into the ring unprepared. Here is a propensity to work and work and work on one’s skills, he was the ultimate professional and a real perfectionist. The Moon and Mercury makes an opposition to his ascendant, so these skills were part of his physical make-up and there is square to Ali’s Midheaven so here was a link to his professional career. Now there are many boxers who would have also been technically good, but the signs here bring the key to why Ali was so brilliant. Aquarius confers special talent with quickness of mind and of thought. Combined with the cool Aquarian Moon calming the emotions, Ali was able to outthink his opponents as well as out maneuver them, keeping calm to deliver the knockout blow of an assassin while maintaining his composure. Mercury in Aquarius made him very quick witted and very a guy who could not stop talking, and of course with this aspect he would have had a fabulous sense of humor. Mercury also was trine to Jupiter, so here was someone who made big confident statements; he became famous for predicting exactly in which round he would dispose of his opponent. Moon in Aquarius trine to Jupiter showed a wonderful philanthropic attitude. This was a generous man who cared deeply about those suffering around him…” <http://solarisastrology.blogspot.com/2012/01/muhammad-ali-look-at-horoscope-of.html>

Sun

Venus

Mercury

Moon

Aquarius Capricorn—Ali’s Sun sign

External ring indicates houses which chronologically rotate at the speed of the Earth’s rotation

Geometric patterns (squares and trines) of the celestial bodies indicating significant inter-relationships

Jupiter

Saturn

Ascendant in Leo

Midheaven in Taurus

87

this earthly life. These charts are also inter-related, and comparisons can be made between other persons, events, or even natal charts of persons living today and death charts of persons in past lives. There are some who even claim that through the use of the older and more spiritual oriented Sidereal astrology, one could determine with a high degree of accuracy the identity of a person’s soul in a previous life. (31) Of course, this would take a great amount of intuition in first having an accurate impression as to the identity of whom someone may have been in a preceding life—otherwise this task would be greater than finding the preverbal “needle in a haystack”. Regardless, it appears to be possible as this potential is based upon an understanding that we are influenced by the stars. (32)

Energies from these local celestial bodies have significant influence upon us, but that is not to say that one should live a life overtly married to the zodiac and its predictions. Yet it remains essential for those who are sincerely interested in nurturing a greater level of spiritual awareness by developing an appreciation for it as a resource which can help to clarify and foster not only a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us, but to our heavenly origins. As the great clairvoyant Edgar Cayce accurately states:

“Astrology is a fact, in most instances. But astrological aspects are but signs, symbols. No influence is of greater value or of greater help than the will of an individual ... Do not attempt to be guided by, but use the astrological influences as the means to meet or to overcome the faults and failures, or to minimize the faults and to magnify the virtues in self.”

Arguably, the Sun as the largest and most powerfully of all of our relative celestial bodies individually has the greatest effect upon us (hence the approach to reducing it all down into Sun signs) yet all of the bodies have significant influences. A further example would be to consider the two large celestial bodies of Saturn and Jupiter, as their Yin and Yang opposing energies also reign within us. The body of Saturn is quite an enigma and for all previous civilizations it was considered as a dark or old sun. The rings of Saturn were well known from the depictions of it from aboriginal peoples to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, but it wasn’t until the invention of telescope and Galileo Galilei and Christiaan Huygens’ direct seventeenth observations that confirmed this fact. (33)

So, how did the ancients truthfully know that Saturn is ringed? Still, far more of the planet’s nature was conveyed through mythologies as the Greco-Roman god Saturn and the Egyptian counterpart Osiris were usually depicted swathed, chained or constricted in shackles on the hands and feet. The energy of Saturn is therefore understood to be dark, heavy, restricting, confining, and chronometric. This constricting force could work as either a positive or negative influence determined by where these energies fall and interact.

Jupiter on the other hand is light, jovial, joyful, and expansive, in a sense the Yang or brightness to Saturn’s Yin or dark constraining force. Again, depending on where this energy falls determines its positive or negative properties and interactions.

88

In contrast to our current secular scientific understanding of an individual’s personal and emotional characteristics (which is vague and quite inaccurately explained solely by genetic arrangement) we have always had a far more accurate insight to these soul or astral qualities through a sincere and precise reading of the astrological charts. Not only is this a truthful way to gain insight into our personal and emotional characteristics, but there seems to be an emerging appreciation for additional considerations of a person’s astrological chart which is interestingly based on the same arguments that science draws attention to in their condemnation of the early astronomer-astrologers when they fallaciously concluded that the universe was geocentric.

Today, there are different ways to read the astrological charts, which to begin with, is either geocentric or heliocentric. As to whether Ptolemy and the ancient Greeks where mistaken in viewing the universe from a geocentric view point, at least from the external astronomical reference is unquestionable. But as to whether this was truly a mistake from an intrinsic astrological vantage is debatable, as it is quite clear that not only were the ancients concerned about the movements and external nature of the planetary bodies, but also with the astrological effects that they had upon us.

As humanity was becoming more logically and rationally oriented, we were in a sense truly divorcing ourselves from any direct knowledge of the spiritual. Therefore it may have been no coincidence that an observational reference was taken to view the celestial bodies in a limited fashion that was married to the physical and geocentrically oriented seasonal rhythms of the earth—as we became more egotistical and materialistically aligned to it. Yet, as we have now reached and evolved past this spiritual nadir we have again initiated a rapidly growing appreciation for the spiritual aspect of our life and inner-self in the form of an expanding consciousness soul. From this emerging spiritual perspective it may again become appropriate to esoterically and astrologically view the universe from the heliocentric perspective. As Manly P. Hall has stated, both perspectives are viable and together should be considered for a more comprehensive understanding of our hidden natures:

“There are two distinct systems of astrological philosophy. One of them, the Ptolemaic, is geocentric: the earth is considered the center of the solar system, around which the sun, moon, and planets revolve. Astronomically, the geocentric system is incorrect; but for thousands of years it has proved its accuracy when applied to the material nature of earthly things. A careful consideration of the writings of the great occultists and a study of their diagrams reveal the fact that many of them were acquainted with another method of arranging the heavenly bodies. The other system of astrological philosophy is called the heliocentric. This posits the sun in the center of the solar system, where it naturally belongs, with the planets and their moons revolving about it. The great difficulty, however, with the heliocentric system is that, being comparatively new, there has not been sufficient time to experiment successfully and catalogue the effects of its various aspects and relationships. Geocentric astrology, as its name implies, is confined to the earthy side of nature, while heliocentric astrology may be used to analyze the higher intellectual and spiritual faculties of man.” (34)

89

If these considerations are not enough, there is an additional way of viewing the zodiac which has to do with reference points in relationship to the flow of time which is called Tropical and Sidereal. In the Tropical zodiac which is the method promoted by Ptolemy and the most common way of reading the stars by Western astrologers, the flow of time is determined by the sun’s position in reference to the earth’s horizon at the 2 equinoxes and 2 solstices. This method is married to influences that are seasonal and locally spatial. The other method called Sidereal measures the flow of time in relationship to the position of the sun against the celestial backdrop of the zodiac.

At the beginning of this divergence instigated by Ptolemy, the celestial backdrop of the zodiac correlated within less than 1 degree of measure with the vernal equinox. Over the last 2000 years, this divergence has progressed to 25 degrees off of the original zodiacal reference points due to the retrograde procession of the equinox, which occurs at a rate of 1 degree approx. every 71.6 years. This simply means that if you were born 2000 years ago on October 1st, the distant celestial reference points were in the constellation of Libra. But in modern times, October 1st is now 25 degrees retrograde and is now in Virgo, even though the seasons and the position of the sun in relationship to the earth’s horizon remains the same.

Today all forms of these methods can be employed. The reason that the Tropical approach has not been abandoned is for the simple reason that it is still valued for accurately observing and understanding our earth bound life. Again, as we involuted into a more physical and material existence at the expense of our spiritual awareness, it may have been appropriate to use the earth and the seasons as references to our material involution. Additionally, heliocentric and sidereal charts significantly add additional information that has to do to a greater degree with our spiritual evolution.

Astrological charts can also suggest to us general trends and vulnerabilities within an individual’s health and well-being. Although at this point within our conscious development it may be too archaic and impractical for us to routinely use it to diagnose and treat specific medical afflictions, it is being used successfully to help patients gain a greater understanding of there own internal natures through psychological and spiritual counseling—which undeniably contributes the overall healing process. Many modern approaches are being developed and I truly believe that it is imperative for the medical profession to begin at least a peripheral understanding of the zodiac and incorporate it not only within our medical education but also within our modern medical records and therapeutic considerations.

Disease & Healing through Metaphysical Phenomena

Although there are subjective personal correlations to the usefulness of astrology in medical science, there are also some very interesting empirical studies that may validate the importance of these celestial influences upon our health. At this point in time, medical science if feverishly looking for the elusive and yet unknown cause of what has

90

been labeled as Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although these disorders are clustered together, it may be erroneous to think of all of these afflictions are inter-related, as some, such as Rett syndrome and isodicentric chromosome 15 syndrome or chromosomal 15 duplications (35) are clearly related to known genetic mutations.

Other conditions which include Asperger Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Idiopathic Autism, have not yet been directly linked to such aberrations. Although loosely associated with issues of behavior and socialization, there may be no direct physical link between any of these etiologies. Yet as far as I am aware, science has never really considered (at least in part) a non-physical or metaphysical cause. In considering the fact that at least one child out of a ninety are now born into this world with idiopathic autism (which at the time of this writing may be an underestimation), could it be possible that something is occurring to the incarnating soul before it is born?

There is recent evidence to suggest that manipulating labor through artificial inductions which is accomplished through a substance called pitocin, a synthetic equivalent of an intrinsic human hormone oxytocin, or augmenting labor through intra-vaginal prostaglandins, carries an increased risk of developing idiopathic autism by as much as 40%. (36) Over the last few decades, as the autism epidemic continues to ravage our society, material science has truly hit a brick wall in determining a sole physical unifying cause. Contrary to popular belief it is not immunizations, recurrent infections, GMO foods, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, etc, as research is now suggesting that these children are already afflicted before exposure to these substances. (37) This really comes to no surprise to any parent or practitioner who has directly experience it, as these children are in many instances experiencing developmental and behavioral issues almost from the starting point of their extra-uterine life. So, it is fair to state at this point that science is now looking at factors and events that pre-date the child’s birth and are discovering very interesting relationships. (38)

An additional observation through Canadian researchers published in JAMA Pediatrics December 14, 2015 demonstrates an 87% increase in autism rates in children born to clinically depressed mothers who took medications called Selective Serotonin Receptor Inhibitors (SSRIs) in the second and third trimester of their pregnancies. (39) Although studies have suggested for many years a correlation to the use of SSRIs and autism, many persons within medical research remain unconvinced and feel that there is no convincing evidence that it is the drugs that are causing the problem. This issue has been under legal scrutiny so there is clearly an incentive by pharmaceutically funded research to promote studies that demonstrate a weak and questionable correlation. Regardless, there may be other factors to the cause of autism related to the use of SSRIs that are playing a greater factor in the etiology of this condition.

As to whether substances such as SSRIs to treat depression or pitocin and prostaglandins used to induce pregnancies are the sole contributing factors to autism—is highly unlikely. There are even studies that are suggesting that intra-nasal pitocin may be helpful in treating idiopathic autism. (40) It may be probable that in a general and broader sense

91

there is a genetic link, but it is likely not the solitary reason, as evidence may actually be suggesting it is possible that abnormal genetic arrangements are an effect and not a cause. This invokes the consideration of my patient that I had previously discussed who was suffering from late stage head and neck cancer. Her decision to pursue aggressive therapy (and the fallout of this decision) led to tremendous negative intrinsic disruptions through stress and anxiety within the soul of her daughter, who took on the role of her primary care-giver throughout the nine months of agony that they both found themselves living through. It was throughout this time that my patient’s daughter conceived and gave birth to a child with lethal genetic arrangements (Trisomy 18). Again, these genetic aberrations could be considered an effect of non-physical factors which scientific observations may be validating. If science continues to look for this elusive etiology in this retrograde fashion, at some point we must begin to consider that the cause may indeed be related to non-physical circumstances.

At least from an esoteric view point, non-physical factors make sense as it is understood that we come into this life with karmic purpose and intention which are synchronistically related to everything else around us—including the cosmos. It is possible that when these astral arrangements are significantly altered through artificial manipulations, it could have a detrimental effect upon our soul’s id and intellectual tendencies, which to a high degree describes the essence of idiopathic autism. In contemplating the astrological charts, even a matter of hours could significantly alter personality characteristics and the realms or houses in which they were destined to be engaged within. Perhaps this isn’t the complete explanation for idiopathic autism, but there is a potential that it could be related.

Brain development in the infant is remarkably fast. In the instance of congenital cataracts, blindness occurs within hours to days if the cataract is not removed and the optic nerve stimulated, as the sensation of sight is lost forever. Could something similar to this be occurring within these infants? Perhaps it is possible as empirical scientific studies are now demonstrating that structural brain anomalies involving the interconnectivity of networks associated with social function and inter-hemispheric communication have occurred in children afflicted in autism. (40) In a sense, they are socially and spiritually blinded if not cognitively impaired. It is also possible that other organ systems if not health and energy bodies could be impaired. (41, 42)

Although depression and forced deliveries do not explain all causes of idiopathic autism, it is interesting to note that almost one hundred years ago clairvoyants were predicting that we would be plagued with a neurological epidemic akin to what we are currently experiencing with autism. This was based on other factors which included accelerated disruptions within the time cycles between death and rebirth related to an epic transformation of human consciousness around the 2012 transition. Contributing to these neurological disruptions are the dehumanizing forces exerted upon our culture along with the unprecedented societal transformations that all of it would encompass. It must be understood that this is determined by free will, which means that all persons incarnated are alive here on earth by their own intention and consent. Yet, many aspects of our lives will be riddled with pain, suffering, and trauma, which in most instances are determined by karma. If a soul incarnated into the physical world comes unprepared for this

92

experience, or if these spiritual arrangements are significantly altered, the affects can be nothing less than detrimental to the incarnating soul. These factors may not only be contributing to autism but a myriad of other neuro-psycho-spiritual afflictions that we are now currently dealing with.

Healing and specifically holistic healing was to the ancients esotericists and Neo-Platonists not only affected by the physical world but was also connected to the heavens. The question that simply needs to be asked is, “Should we still ignore the importance of establishing a nurturing maternal environment and the importance of our time of incarnation as it is related to astrological factors, or should we consider the fact that they may indeed play a role in our health and well-being?” Although science has taken an inflexibly harsh stance on this subject, the fact is that an overtly materialistic and physical world view may be a fallacious one grounded solely upon hubris. The only way for us to determine whether non-physical factors are playing a role in all of this is to open our soul’s considerations and begin to sincerely contemplate these additional variables within our cherished (and overtly masculine) science. As a very great man once told me in earnest, “When you think you know everything, you know nothing.” Unfortunately what also seems quite apparent is that embedded within all religions is a resistance to change. This resistance includes to the highest degree the religion of material science, of which the likes of persons such as the late great Carl Sagan can be considered as one of its deputy high priests (43). It remains necessary for us to continuously challenge our faith as truth will in the end always prevail. Understanding will never develop without these confrontations.

The Conceiving Womb of God: Redemption through Marriage of Higher Spiritual Truth to Understanding within the Human

Soul

When considering materialistic science’s overt and mandated ignorance upon the dark, non-physical, esoteric, hidden, intuitive, and therefore feminine realities that all of us undeniably experience, it becomes uncomfortable close to an accurate definition of misogynism. We would be wise to pay heed to the advice of the priestess Hypatia as she states:

“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth – often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable.”

This statement is true, but it is essential to realize that it cuts both ways, as there is the distinct possibility that at least some if not many of the theories that secular science

93

continues to promote may be the equivalent of modern fairy tales. In expanding upon this consideration, it may be appropriate to consider that truth is really not a view point but a constant with an infinite potential—as it is awareness through expanding consciousness which appears to change it. Understanding is therefore married to Truth.

The imagined viewpoints that modern secular scientists are trying to illustrate about the ancients and their wisdom through programming that Cosmos is at best disingenuous. It is a mistake to think the Great library (that Carl Sagan refers to in Cosmos) of Alexandria was just a library. The library was harbored within a structure called the Serapeum, which was an esoteric wisdom school, healing center, and pagan temple built in homage for the practicing mysteries of the god Serapis whose true nature was only revealed to initiates. Serapis was a syncretic or composite god of Osiris (ruler of the dead or afterlife) and Apis (bull god of fertility). The library of the Serapeum housed a generous number of academic and literary works on scrolls of papyrus. Yet in actuality, the Serapeum’s library was actually the smaller daughter library of the larger and greater library of Alexandria, which was within the Temple of the Muses, located on the grounds of the royal palace in the Greek district of the city known as the Bruchion or palace quarter. (44) This was a cultural center which contained shrines dedicated to the nine muses and essentially functioned as an esoteric university containing not only the Great Library but living quarters, dining and lecture halls, laboratories, and gardens. (45) So the library that Carl Sagan refers to is not the Great Library but a smaller sister-library thought to house perhaps one tenth the material that the Great Library at the Bruchion contained. The destruction of the Great Library within the Bruchion occurred over a period of time marking the destruction of Alexandria which began in 48 B.C. with the accidental burning through orders given by Julius Caesar during his occupation of Alexandria and ending around 271 A.D. with the razing of the Bruchion by the military actions of the Roman emperors Aurelian and Diocletian. It is believed by some scholars that remnants of the Great Library still exist buried somewhere near the city. (46)

The Serapeum also housed the great god Serapis (along with his consort Isis) and was a healing center where the ancients such as the highly venerated temple priestess Hypatia practiced, studied, and taught. This institution focused upon learning, teaching, and healing, through the acquisition of knowledge by empirical, philosophical, and creational endeavors, all through the auspices of Serapis and the initiated priests and priestess. For centuries, persons of all cultures and faiths within Alexandria came to respect, revere, worship, understand, and become healed through the powers of the great god. In the Augustan History, from a letter written to Roman Emperor Hadrian by his brother-in-law in Servianus, approximately 131 A.D. he states:

Figure 5-3. An illustration of Serapis from Manly P. Hall’s “The Secret Teachings of All Ages”.

94

“The Egyptians, whom you are pleased to commend to me, I know thoroughly from a close observation, to be a light, fickle, and inconstant people, changing with every turn of fortune. The Christians among them are worshippers of Serapis, and those calling themselves bishops of Christ scruple not to act as the votaries of that God. The truth is, there is no one, whether Ruler of a synagogue, or Samaritan, or Presbyter of the Christians, or mathematician, or astrologer, or magician, that does not do homage to Serapis.”

It was well know that even after the Roman emperor Theodosius outlawed ritualistic pagan practice and blood sacrifices, the Christian community dared not challenge this practice within the Serapeum in fear of angering this highly revered force. (47)

It came to be considered by the Neo-Platonists and the heretical Christian Gnostics that Serapis was the unifying Christ. This became clear when the temple was finally destroyed and Christian symbolism was discovered within the temple’s cavernous recesses, where ritual and sacrifice was performed. (48)

Within the temple, healing was accomplished through the practice of what was called incubation. An afflicted person would bring an offering (generally in the form of an animal) to the temple which was ritualistically sacrificed to the god. The person would then spend time in contemplation within the temple and lie down at the foot of the god to receive instruction and healing by a symbolic vision through a dream (49, 50, 51). What has changed today are the two essential components of the image of God and the element of the sacrifice. Regardless of these transformations, wholeness and healing are still available to us through symbolic and archetypal vision within altered states of heightened awareness and consciousness which can be specifically encountered within the realm of our dreamscape.

Starting as early as the twelfth century A.D., but perhaps as far back as the origins of astrology, it was recognized that our human connection to the transcendental was influenced by the Age of our time, which is determined by the celestial bodies that are collectively influencing human consciousness. As Manly P. Hall states:

“The period of 2,160 years required for the regression of the sun through one of the zodiacal constellations is often termed an age. According to this system, the age secured its name from the sign through which the sun passes year after year as it crosses the equator at the vernal equinox. From this arrangement are derived the terms The Taurian Age, The Aryan Age, The Piscean Age, and The Aquarian Age. During these periods, or ages, religious worship takes the form of the appropriate celestial sign—that which the sun is said to assume as a personality in the same manner that a spirit assumes a body. These twelve signs are the jewels of his breastplate and his light shines forth from them, one after the other.”—The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Although there is no universal consensus as to when we will have precisely entered into this New Age of Aquarius, there is at least a general understanding that we are

95

approaching the threshold of this transition. This evolutionary change is specifically related to the image of God.

Again, when Jesus articulates the Golden Rule, this is prefaced with the injunction of loving God with all your heart, mind, and soul. So where then is all this energy directed towards? We clearly have in the form of Serapis perhaps the best god ever engineered by any known human culture, whose image worked extremely well for centuries—so much so that it became recognized as the image of Christ. Yet, this god was utterly destroyed and replaced with a new image of a human being impaled upon a crucifix. Even within the Christian church, multiple images of God in the image of Jehovah exist which bears a striking resemblance to those ancient pagan images. If one ever ventures into the Vatican and gazes up at the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, or in the Basilica of St. Peter, or through its vast museums, one can easily discover an impressive archetypal image to pay homage to. So is this the image of the entity that we are commanded to love?

We can go further and suggest that for some it may be the image of the savior man-god, the likes of which the ancient church fathers and their Parabolani instated in place of the broken idol of Serapis. Is this the God that we are commanded to love? Well, for those still living within an earlier age, it may be. Yet for many other persons they can no longer see or relate to it—at least from a vantage of gazing at it through the rose colored glass of the institutions that have enshrined, encased, and ossified it. The truth is we really are not suppose to love these images for the simple reason that they are as empty as the long lost edifices that housed those ancient scrolls and texts. Like the long lost libraries of antiquity, they have been gutted of the wisdom and energies that was once invested within them.

It should come to no surprise that of all persons, Jesus knew that over time human consciousness would shift. This transformation of consciousness would not only liberate us from the blood sacrifices that were previously ordained to the conditioned images of the ancient gods, but also to the dependency and subjugation that invariable occurred through an existing level of awareness within our lesser evolved animalistic souls. The process that He initiated reflexively replaced all of that pagan idolatry with his own image. This was clearly no mistake but a necessary point within our personal and collective spiritual transition which now must be replaced by something even greater. This is nothing less than the beginning of a redeemed life now marking the age of Consciousness Soul living within a greater presence of the spirit (Holy Spirit).

This transition and its inevitable existential destruction of the image of God is ordained by Jesus, as he clearly states in the Thomas Gospel (44), Matthew (12:31-32), Mark (3:28-29), and Luke (12:10);

“Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven.”

96

As mentioned earlier, further insight can be gathered from the revelations of Carl Gustav Jung’s Red Book (Liber Novus) as one of the major themes presented to us is the death of the hero, illustrated by the murder of blond warrior hero Siegfried. Later within this work Jung eventually meets his personal god Ishdubar. The simple yet profound message that is being illustrated is that in order for us to see God, we must destroy any preconceived notions, ideas, or images of what we have been conditioned to believe is God—including the image of the Savior himself.

The medieval mystic Meister Eckhart confirms this essential truth over seven hundred years ago when he taught us by stating;

“One should not accept or esteem God as being outside oneself, but as one’s own and as what is within one; nor should one serve or labor for any recompense, not for God or for his honor or for anything that is outside oneself, but only for that which one’s own being and one’s own life is within one. Some simple people think that they will see God as if he were standing there and they here. It is not so. God and I, we are one. I accept God into me in knowing; I go into God in loving.”

We must learn to turn our attention away from all preconceived notions of what God actually is, and focus it within our own inner being—perceiving this within our soul’s capacity for truth, compassion, empathy, and love. When we can perceive the world from this reference we are living within a higher state of consciousness.

When viewing the chaos and struggle of the legacy of our intellectual freedom through this higher state of awareness and deeper level of comprehension, the greatest tragedy of all was not the destruction of any ancient library, which was and still is by universal convention inevitably doomed to such a fate. Really, it was the sacrificial slaughter of Hypatia who embodied our soul’s higher level of understanding and awareness (Gnosis). Although the true identity of her eternal essence is well beyond the feeble capacity of my own soul to speculate upon, we can be sure that it is one of a highly initiated adept whose energies, presence, and love are still affecting us to this day.

Her influence may be far greater than most of us can possible realize, as she can be thought of as one of our better representations of the venerated Sophia herself. The great mystery to all of this being that through our esoteric and alchemical sources she becomes nothing less than the consort of the Logos-Anthropos-Christ spirit—as we can never have understanding without truth, nor can we know truth without understanding. Some would go so far as to state that the salvation of the world depends upon this soul-spirit union which will inevitably help to balance out and erase not only science’s but our culture’s misogynistic tendencies and mistakes.

As a final contemplation upon these issues, I humbly defer to the wisdom bestowed upon us through Carl Gustav Jung:

“Just as the disciples of Christ had recognized that God had become flesh and lived amongst them as a man, we now recognize that the anointed of this time is a God who

97

does not appear in the flesh; he is no man and yet is a son of a man, but in spirit and not in flesh; hence he can be born only through the spirit of men as the conceiving womb of the God.” (52)

The womb being in the truest sense our own consciousness soul as symbolized in Raphael’s painting of the School of Athens as the lone conceiving feminine entity within an ocean of seminal spiritual truth.

Post Script to the Discussion

A sequel to the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was released in April 2014, entitled Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey. This thirteen part video series is hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson covering a multitude of current scientific topics. This series heavily promotes conventional scientific theory and glaring leaves out any mention of Astrology or any of the insights and accomplishments of a more spiritually based science.

References:

(1) Wikipedia, Socrates of Constantinople http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates_of_Constantinople

(2) Agora, the film (2009), directed by Alejandro Amenábar, written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil

(3) Hypatia of Alexandria, Pagan philosopher, scientist, mathematician, and civic leader. Suppressed Histories, http://www.suppressedhistories.net/secrethistory/hypatia.html

(4) Peter May, Testing the Golden Rule, originally published in the Newsletter of the European Leadership Forum, 2010 <http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/introductory/testing-the-golden-rule.htm>

(5) Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"

(6) Leviticus 19:33: "The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt"

98

(7) Matthew 7:12: "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets"

(8) Matthew 5:43-44: “43"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (New International Version)

(9) Gospel According to Thomas, passage 25

(10) Psalm 82: “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’7 But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” (New International Version)

(11) John 10:30: “34Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS '? 35"If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God '?” (New International Version)

(12) Gospel According to Thomas, passage 108: "He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

(13) Philippians 2:25: “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,” (English Standard Version)

(14) Philippians 2:30: “for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me” (English Standard Version)

(15) Clive Calver, Dying to Live: the Paradox of the Crucified Life; Authentic publishing, 2009, page 56, “Paul uses a Greek word here that appears nowhere else in the New Testament, Paraboleuomai; which means “to risk”. Paul indicates that that Epaphroditus risked his life… The same word that Paul employed in regard to Epaphroditus later described a group of Christians who willingly and selflessly exposed them self to danger in the cause of Christ. The risk takers where named the Parabolani.”

(16) Luke 12:49-50: “49"I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! 50"But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (New International Version)

(17) Gospel According to Thomas, passage 10: "I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."

(18) David Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Back Bay Books, published 1996

(19) Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Gustav Hasford, and Michael Herr, Warner Brothers Pictures, 1987

(20) CBS News, July 10, 2012, Study: Suicide rates among army soldiers up 80 percent

99

(21) Forbes, February, 5, 2013, Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day: “Just two weeks ago, the military released data showing that suicides among those on active duty hit a record high in 2012. There were 349 suicides among active duty personnel – almost one a day.”

(22) Cosmos: A Personal Journey, originally televised September 28, 1980, Hosted by Carl Sagan, Written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, directed by Adrian Malone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Personal_Voyage

(23) Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage; The shores of the Cosmic Ocean (Episode 1): The Fragility of Knowledge, 1980

(24) Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Who Speaks for Earth (Episode 13): The Great Library of Alexandria and Hypatia, 1980

(25) Laërtius & Hicks 1925, Ⅵ:54 ; Aelian, Varia Historia, 14.33

(26) Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Harmony of the Worlds (Episode 3): Astrology, 1980

(27) Carl Gustav Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle

(28) Star Wisdom, StarFire Research Group < http://www.starwisdom.org/starfire-research-group.htm>

(29) Sophia Foundation, Journal for Star Wisdom (1991-present) http://sophiafoundation.org/star-wisdom

(30) Percy Seymour, "Astrology: The Evidence of Science," Lennard Publishing Co, 1988

(31) Robert Powell. “Hermetic Astrology” Volume I, Chapter 6 Reincarnation Research, Sophia Foundation Press San Rafael CA, second edition 2006

(32) Rudolf Steiner, “Life between Death and Rebirth,” Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1975, page 97. “When a person passes through the gate of death he dies under a certain configuration of stars. This configuration is significant for his further life of soul because it remains there as an imprint. In his soul there remains the endeavor to enter into the same configuration at a new birth, to do justice once again to the forces received at the moment of death. It is an interesting point that if one works out the configuration at death and compares it with the configuration of the later birth, one finds that it coincides to a high degree with the configuration at the former death.”

(33) Immanuel Velikovsky, In the Beginning, The Rings of Saturn http://www.varchive.org/itb/rings.htm

(34) Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages

(35) Sarah DeWeerdt, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, Duplication of Chromosome 15 Region Mirrors Autism, September 23, 2013

100

(36) JAMA Pediatrics, 2013 Aug 12. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2904. [Epub ahead of print], Association of Autism with Induced or Augmented Childbirth in North Carolina Birth Record (1990-1998) and Education Research (1997-2007) Databases. Gregory SG, Anthopolos R, Osgood CE, Grotegut CA, Miranda ML http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23938610

(37) Steven Novella, Autism and Induced Labor, Science-Based Medicine, August 14, 2013: “The environment of the womb could include delayed delivery, which results in induction, or some other factor that delays delivery. It is therefore plausible that either the delay in delivery itself, some other factor that delays delivery, or the procedures used to induce or augment labor when delivery is delayed can (separately or together) be an environmental trigger in genetically susceptible children…. Evidence is mounting that autism begins in the womb, and not just from genetic evidence. Several studies, although individually small, have all shown that children with autism have significantly more brain cells, especially in their frontal cortex. Other studies indicate that people with autism have abnormal networks in the brain, and specifically there is a deficit of connectivity between different parts of the brain, especially inter-hemispheric connectivity (the two sides of the brain do not talk to each other as robustly as a typical brain). Clinically, the features of autism appear to be present starting at about 6 months. Such early presentation of clinical features is consistent with autism being a congenital disorder (i.e. present at birth).” http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/autism-and-induced-labor/

(38) Medscape Medical News, Conference News, Intranasal Oxytocin Normalizes Core ASD Deficit, Pam Harrison, May 10, 2013 (39) JAMA Pediatrics, December 14, 2015, Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy and the Risk of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Children, Takoua Bokhirus MSc, Odile Sheehy, MSc, et. al., http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2476187 (40) Neuroimage. 2011 May 1;56(1):354-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.031. Epub 2011 Feb 18, Atypical neural networks for social orienting in autism spectrum disorders., Greene DJ, Colich N, Iacoboni M, Zaidel E, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M , Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. djgreene@ucla.edu, “These results indicate that, in the autistic brain, social cues are not assigned the same privileged status as they are in the typically developing brain. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that the neural circuitry involved in social orienting is disrupted in ASD and highlight that normative behavioral performance in a laboratory setting may reflect compensatory mechanisms rather than intact social attention.” <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21334443> (41) Journal of Alternative Complement Med. 1999 Dec;5(6):575-86, The abdominal brain and enteric nervous system., McMillin DL, Richards DG, Mein EA, Nelson CD, Meridian Institute, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454, USA. meridianinst@mindspring.com

(42) Rudolf Steiner, Lecture entitled “Christianity Began as a Religion but is Greater than a Religion”, Berlin May 13, 1908, “The danger is greatest among those who, misguided by external science, have turned away from the spiritual truths. But the emergence of the etheric body is already in process and the nervous symptoms in evidence in our time are a sign of it. These nervous troubles will steadily increase if, in the loosening of our etheric bodies, we do not take with us the greatest of all experiences possible for us in the physical body…”

101

(43) Wikipedia, Sagan [Segan], A Sagan is a deputy high temple priest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segan (the name Carl means free man and/or strong man)

(44) Bede’s Library, The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria http://www.bede.org.uk/library.htm

(45) Encyclopedia Romana, James Grout, copyright 1997-2013, The Library in the Serapeum <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/paganism/daughter.html>

(46) Ancient Encyclopedia History, What Happened to the Great Library at Alexandria?, http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/207/

(47) Edward Gibbon, The Decline and the Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I, chapter 28: “After the edicts of Theodosius had severely prohibited the sacrifices of the Pagans, they were still tolerated in the city and temple of Serapis; and this singular indulgence was imprudently ascribed to the superstitious terrors of the Christians themselves: as if they had feared to abolish those ancient rites which could alone secure the inundations of the Nile, the harvests of Egypt, and the subsistence of Constantinople.” http://platonism347.tripod.com/serapis_religion.htm (48) Charles William King, The Worship of Mithras and Serapis, published 1864, pages 64-68: “In the second century the syncretistic sects that had sprung up in Alexandria, the very hot-bed of Gnosticism, found in Serapis a prophetic type of Christ as the Lord and Creator of all, and judge of the living and the dead. For the response to Nicocreon shows that the philosophers at least understood by Serapis nothing more than the ‘Anima Mundi’, the spirit of whom universal nature was the body, holding the doctrine of the ‘One harmonious whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul.’ Thus at length Serapis had become merely the idea of the Supreme Being, whose manifestation upon earth was the Christ. In this manner we are to understand the curious letter of Hadrian to his friend Servianus, preserved by Vopiscus (Vita Saturnini): ‘Those who worship Serapis are also Christians; even those who style themselves the bishops of Christ are devoted to Serapis. The very Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to adorn Serapis, by others to adorn Christ. There one God for them all; him do the Christiana, him do the Jews, him do the all, the Gentiles also worship.’” < http://platonism347.tripod.com/serapis_religion.htm> (49) Juliette Harrison, The Classic Greek Practice of Incubation and some Near Eastern Predecessors (2009) “…incubation is a practice in which a person performs a ritual act and then sleeps in a sacred place, with the deliberate intention of receiving a divine dream (the dream must be deliberately produced through ritual action).” <http://www.academia.edu/277934/The_Classical_Greek_Practice_of_Incubation_and_some_Near_Eastern_Predecessors> (50) Juliette Harrison, The Classic Greek Practice of Incubation and some Near Eastern Predecessors (2009), “…it was with the rise of the cult of Asclepius and the appearance of temples with special chambers for incubation that the practice reached its fully developed form; a practice which anyone who could afford the sacrificial animal could undertake and which people traveled long distances to a specific temple in order to participate in. As is clear from these examples, incubation in Ancient Greece and the ancient world is particularly strongly associated with healing…” http://www.academia.edu/277934/The_Classical_Greek_Practice_of_Incubation_and_some_Near_Eastern_Predecessors

102

(51) Joseph Ennemoser, The History of Magic, Volume1, page 246-247, published 1856: “Serapis originally meant, according to Sprengel, Kilometer, or Nile measure, or the Lord of Darkness, because the rise of the Nile was traced to the Egyptian horizon; he was therefore the symbol of the sun below the horizon. Serapis was called by the Greeks Osiris, Jupiter Ammon, Pluto, Bacchus, and Esculapius; and he was particularly venerated for his healing powers in the neighbourhood of Athens and Patrae. One of the most celebrated temples was at Canopus, and another at Alexandria. In the temples of Serapis, as well as in those of Isis, a statue was generally erected with its finger on its lips, representing Silence. This silence does not probably mean, as Varro imagines, that none were to speak of these divinities being mortal, but that the secrets of the temple were to be preserved. "In this temple," says Strabo (xvii. 801), "great worship is performed, many miracles are done, which the most celebrated men believe, and practice, while others devoted themselves to the sacred sleep." Eusebius calls Serapis the prince of evil spirits—of darkness (Praparat. Evang. 4), who sits beside a three-headed monster, which represents in the centre a lion, on the right a dog, and on the left a wolf, round which a dragon winds, whose head the god touches with his right hand.” < http://platonism347.tripod.com/serapis_religion.htm> (52) Carl Gustav Jung, Liber Novus, Nox Secunda, page 299