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"Loving, self-forgetting service to others is the shortest, the safest, and the most joyful road to God. The recognition of the fundamental unity of each with all, the Fellowship of the spirit, is the realization of God. To reach that realization let us endeavor each day to forget the often unprepossessing exteriors of our brothers and seek to serve the divine essence hidden within, which is the basis of Fellowship." |
The Rosicrucian Order is an ancient Mystic Fraternity formed in the year 1313, by a high spiritual teacher having the symbolical name "Christian Rosen Kreuz: Christian Rose Cross. It was his mission to prepare a new phase of the Christian religion to be used during the Coming Age now at hand, for as the world and man evolve so also must religion change. The system of worship suited to the spiritual needs of our forebears is unsuited to our altered intellectual condition. Therefore the great spiritual entities in charge of evolution, change the religions of the world in harmony with the passage of the marching orbs in the heavens.
The Rosicrucian Philosophy is entirely Christian, striving to make religion a living factor in the land — and to lead to Christ those who cannot find Him by faith alone.
1. Sing the Rosicrucian Hymn — four stanzas. (Distribute separate song cards on seats before service.)
3. A member reads aloud the following Rosicrucian Temple Service:
Once more we have withdrawn from the material world and are entering into the living temple of our own inner natures in spiritual conclave. As a symbol of this withdrawal from the visible world we have darkened our meeting place.
We are looking for spiritual light along the lines of the Rosicrucian teaching, and we therefore reverently fix our eyes upon the Rose Cross while we listen to the Rosicrucian greeting:
"My dear Sisters and Brothers: May the Roses bloom upon your Cross."
Response by People: "And upon yours, also."
One coal will not make a fire, but where a number of coals are heaped together, the heat which is latent in each my be kindled into a flame, emitting light and warmth; and it is in obedience to the same law of nature that we have gathered here tonight, that by massing our spiritual aspirations we may light and keep ablaze the beacon light of true spiritual Fellowship, which is the balm of Gilead, the only panacea for the world's woe.
The Bible has been given to the Western World by the Recording Angels, who give to each and all exactly what they need for their development. They are above mistakes, and if we seek the Light, we shall find it there.
Let us read from the first epistle of John, also from Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Philippians, where Fellowship is the theme:
God is Light; if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have Fellowship one with another. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth,...(for) though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not herself, is not puffed up, doth not behave herself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoices not in evil but in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things.
Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, and whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For now we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part; but then we shall know even as we are known. And now abideth Faith, Hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him; but if a man say, "I love God," and hateth his brother, he prevaricates, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort in love, if any Fellowship in spirit, look not every man on his own things but also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man.
And being found in fashion of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death upon the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name; that at the name of Christ Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Christ Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
My dear sisters and brothers, let us strive to follow the example of Christ and live up to his definition of greatness, namely, "He who would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all."
Loving, self-forgetting service to others is the shortest, the safest, and the most joyful road to God. The recognition of the fundamental unity of each with all, the Fellowship of the spirit, is the realization of God. To reach that realization let us endeavor each day to forget the often unprepossessing exteriors of our brothers and seek to serve the divine essence hidden within, which is the basis of Fellowship.
We will now enter the silence together and concentrate on service for a few moments.
(After the concentration the emblem is veiled, the lights are turned on, and the lecture for the evening is delivered by a member who is of the opposite sex to the reader if possible.)
5. At the conclusion of the lecture the reader returns to the platform and reads —
6. All rise and sing the Roscicrucian Closing Hymn — four stanzas.
And now, my dear sisters and brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of our Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.
2. A member reads aloud the following Rosicrucian Healing Service, beginning with the Rosicrucian Greeting:
"My dear Sisters and Brothers: May the Roses bloom upon your Cross."
Response by People: "And upon yours also."
It is our custom to meet here once a week for the purpose of carrying out the second commandment of the Christ, to heal the sick. One coal will not make a fire, but where a number of coals are heaped together, the heat which is latent in each may be kindled into a flame, emitting light and warmth.
We are now massing our coals in an endeavor to generate thoughts of help and healing, and to focus them in one direction so that they may be available to aid the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order in their beneficent work for humanity.
If we wish to be real helpers in the work which the Elder Brothers have started, we must make our bodies suitable instruments; we must purify them by clean living, for an unclean vessel cannot contain pure and wholesome water nor can a spotted lens give a true picture. Neither can pure and strong healing force be sent out from here unless we keep our minds and bodies clean and pure.
It is a privilege to be here in the midst of all these thoughts of love and prayer, and to offer ourselves as channels to receive and liberate the healing force which comes direct from the Father. But before this power can be transmitted, it must have been generated; and to do this efficiently, we should understand accurately what the method is. It is not enough that we know in a vague way of the sickness and suffering which are in the world, and that we have a dim and hazy idea of helping to alleviate this suffering, whether it be bodily or mental. We must do something definite to attain our object. Disease, we may say, is really a fire, the invisible fire which is the Father, endeavoring to break up the crystallized conditions which we have gathered in our bodies. We recognize fever as a fire, but tumors, cancers, and all other diseases are really also the effect of that invisible fire which endeavors to purify the system and free it from conditions which we have brought about by breaking the laws of nature. This very same power which is endeavoring slowly to purge the body can be greatly augmented by proper concentration (that is what prayer really is) provided we have the proper conditions.
To illustrate what these conditions are, we will take the water spout as an example. We may not have seen this phenomenon of nature, but it is wonderful and awe inspiring. Usually at the time when it occurs the sky seems to hang very low over the water; there is a tense feeling in the air of depression or concentration. Gradually it seems as if a point in the sky reaches down toward the water, and the waves in a certain spot seem to leap upward until both sky and water meet in a swirling mass.
Something similar takes place when a person or a number of persons are in earnest prayer. When a person is intensely in earnest in supplication to a higher power, his aura seems to form itself into a funnel shaped form which resembles the lower part of the water spout. This leaps up into space a great distance and, being attuned to the Christ vibration of the interplanetary world of Life Spirit, it draws thence a divine power which enters the man or company of men, and ensouls the thought-form which they have created. Thus the object for which they have united will be accomplished.
But let this be borne thoroughly in mind, that the process of praying or concentrating is not a cold intellectual process. There must be an amount of feeling adequate to accomplish the desired object, and unless this intensity of feeling is present, the object will not be realized. This is the secret of all the miraculous prayers which have been recorded: the person who prayed for something was always intensely in earnest; his whole being went into the desire for this or that thing for which he prayed, and thus lifted himself up into the very realms of the divine and brought down the response from the Father.
Let us now concentrate upon the Rosicrucian Emblem on the wall. The pure white rose is symbolical of the heart of the Invisible Helper; the red roses stand for his cleansed blood; the white cross brings to mind his body; and the golden star represents the golden wedding garment which is made by pure living.
Let us, by our prayers to the Father, who is the great Physician, liberate the force for healing, that we may reach those who are looking to us for help, and also those who may not have been able to ask for assistance. Let us put all the intensity of feeling possible into this prayer that we may indeed form a funnel that shall bring down the divine power from the Father. But there is a great danger of misusing this wonderful power; therefore, we should always qualify our supplications for others with the words of the Christ: "Not my will but Thine be done."
We will now concentrate for a few minutes on Healing.
3. After the concentration all rise and sing the last verse of the closing hymn.
4. Conclude the service by reading the following parting admonition:
We will now leave the liberated healing force with Christ, the Elder Brothers, and the Invisible Helpers, to be used where it is most needed.
(Only a person who has been ordained as a Minister may perform the Marriage Ceremony.)
Friends: We are gathered together in the sight of God and in the presence of this company to join together this man and this woman in the bonds of holy Matrimony.
Into this holy estate these two persons are come to be joined. Therefore if any man can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now declare it, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.
This state into which these two are about to enter is a sacred and a spiritual trust, where each vows to love and cherish the other and with reverence consider each other in loving and unselfish consideration, realizing this as a religious obligation which they have taken in the presence of God and man.
(The man and woman joining their right hands, the minister shall say:)
Wilt thou (Mr.) have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her?
(Then the minister shall say:)
Wilt thou (Miss) have this man to thy wedded husband? Wilt thou love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health; and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him?
The woman shall answer, I will.
(When a ring is used the man shall put the ring on the third finger of the woman's left hand, and, holding it there, the man shall say after the minister:)
With this ring I thee wed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Then the minister shall say:)
Dost thou (Mr.) give this ring in pledge that thou wilt keep this covenant and perform these vows?
Dost thou (Miss) receive this ring in pledge that thou wilt keep this covenant and perform these vows?
(Omit above if a ring is not used.)
(Then the minister shall say:)
Forasmuch as you (Mr.) and you (Miss) have consented together in wedlock, and have plighted your faith and truth to each other in the presence of God and this company (and have confirmed the same by giving and receiving a ring); now, therefore, I proclaim you husband and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Talk)
May the blessings of our Lord rest upon you, and may you ever remember that blessings shared bring happiness and success.
Order of Funeral Service conducted by students of The Rosicrucian Teachings, and by friends desiring to use it.
Song: Third verse of "Nearer, my God, to Thee."
Unveil Emblem — White Cross with white rose in center.
Rosicrucian Greeting by Reader: "My dear Sisters and brothers: May the Roses bloom upon your Cross."
Response by People: "And upon yours, also."
Reader: Let us devote a moment to silent meditation upon the thought of love, peace, and tranquility.
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (I Thess. 4:13-14.)
"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?...That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be: ...but God, giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every (man) his own body.
"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of fishes, and another flesh of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead....It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." (I Cor. 15:35-44.)
One of the tests of the value of religion is the comfort it gives us when sorrow and trouble try the heart. To fulfill its mission it must bring comfort in sorrow, particularly at the time of the final separation from our loved ones. When the reaper Death strikes, when it pleases God to end the present earth life of our relatives and friends, when our human resources have been exhausted, then we look to religion for courage and fortitude to bear the burden of our great loss and our sorrow.
How do the Rosicrucian Teachings meet these requirements? They tell us in the first place that death is not the end; also how, under the Law of Consequence, the fruit of our actions in this life, whether good or bad, must at some future time be harvested, for the Bible says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
We know that it is as impossible to cancel our good or evil deeds by merely passing out of this body as it is to compensate our debtors by removal to another city. The debt still remains, and sometime, somewhere, it must be liquidated.
We rejoice when a soul is born, that is, encased in a robe of clay; but we weep when this form is cast off at death because we do not realize that such conduct is the exact reverse of what it ought to be. The spirit is imprisoned in this coat of clay at its birth into this physical world, to be subject for many years to the pains, aches, and infirmities to which all flesh is heir. This physical life, however, is necessary that the soul may learn its lessons in the school of life.
If weeping is to be indulged in, then we should weep when the spirit is born into this world; but we should rejoice when death comes to liberate it from the pain and discomfort of physical existence. if we could see and know the relief which our loved ones feel when they are freed from a suffering body, we should truly rejoice, and no longer weep. Think of a poor soul, who has been chained to a bed of sickness, when it awakens in the invisible world where it is able to move about freely whither it will, and free from pain. Should we not bid such a soul Godspeed and not weep?
It has pleased God to call our friend,................................, to a greater work, to broader fields, in another world where he (or she) has no need for a physical body, and he (or she) has therefore laid this garment away.
(Short talk here relative to the qualities and past activities of the departed person.)
As a child goes to school day after day for the purpose of gaining knowledge, with nights of rest between the school days, meanwhile growing a body from childhood to the full stature of manhood or womanhood, so also the spirit attends the school of life during a succession of life-days, and inhabits a series of earthly forms of gradually improving texture in which to gain experience. As Oliver Wendell Holmes says:
We know that our friend will come back sometime, somewhere, with a better and nobler body than the garment which he (or she) has discarded. We know that under the immutable law of causation he (or she) must return so that by repeated lives and friendships his (or her) love nature may be widened and deepened into an ocean of love.
Death has lost its sting so far as we are concerned, not because we are callous and love our friends and relatives less, but because we are convinced that we have absolute proof that there is no death. We have no cause for grief because the silver cord has been loosed and the body is about to return to the dust from whence it came, for we know that the spirit of our friend is more alive than ever, is present with us now though unseen by most of us.
The garment which this spirit inhabited we consign to the fire, that its elements may be transferred to other forms by the alchemy of nature.
Let us send up a prayer asking the aid of God in speeding our departed brother (or sister) on his (or her) way to take up his (or her) new work on the other side.
(Close by singing the last verse of the Rosicrucian Closing Hymn.)
We now commit this robe of flesh which has been worn by and has become too small for the spirit who was known to us as........................, to the elements from which it came. Our friend has not gone away, he (or she) has not left us; he (or she) is in our midst although unseen by those whom he (or she) loved. He (or she) is free and clothed in the Body best fitted for the higher life unto which he (or she) has gone, so let us wish him (or her) Godspeed to that new environment.
During life in the physical world the human Ego works through its four vehicles, namely, the physical, vital, desire, and mental bodies, all of which are connected to one another by the silver cord. At night the Ego withdraws into the inner worlds taking with it the mental and desire bodies, leaving the physical and vital bodies lying on the bed. The Ego first brings about harmonious rhythm of the mind and desire body, which, in turn, work upon the vital body. The vital body then commences to restore the tired and worn-out physical atoms to health and vitality. This restoration can only be done during the time the desire body and mind are removed, for it is their activities which use up the physical energy during the day, and in order that the vital body may be free to rebuild the broken down physical vehicle, the Ego separates itself with the two higher vehicles (the desire and mental bodies) from the two lower vehicles but remains tied by the silver cord. At death when the physical body can no longer hold on to its higher vehicles, when disintegration must ensue, the Ego is forced to vacate its house, made of clay, which it has built and used for an allotted length of time, and in which it has learned many helpful and soul-building lessons. It has now reached a period on the path of evolution where it must take time for the assimilation of the lessons which were learned while functioning in the world of matter. Death is to the soul what sleep is to the physical body, a time of rest and recuperation so that the spirit may draw from these experiences greater soul power.
At death the Ego leaves the physical body by way of the parietal-occipital sutures, but instead of the vital body remaining with the physical body as is the case during sleep, it also leaves the physical body, together with the desire and the mental bodies, for the spirit's work in the physical body is finished for this earth life. The vital body now has a different work to do; it is no longer called upon to keep the physical atoms in health.
At death the vital, desire, and mental bodies are seen to leave the physical body through the head, and the spirit, which is leaving its earthly prison house to decay, takes with it its most cherished belonging, the only part of the physical which cannot die and which it brings back with it at each earth life. During earth life there is a tiny atom in the apex of the left ventricle of the heart which is called the permanent seed-atom. This seed-atom of the physical vehicle has been used as a nucleus for a physical body ever since the spirit possessed a physical vehicle. When we speak of a permanent seed-atom we do not mean that the physical atom is used, but the forces which flow through it. These forces remain with the Ego through rebirth after rebirth, or until this particular spirit has finished its evolution in the physical world at the close of this period. Then these forces will be transferred to the seed-atom of the vital body which will become the permanent seed-atom of the next period.
Going back to our discussion of the Ego as it leaves its physical body at what is termed death, we find that the spirit is passing through a very vital and extremely important period; friends and relatives should be most careful that their loved one is left free from excitement, grief, and disturbances of any kind. The body should not be mutilated and embalming fluids should not be used until 84 hours after the spirit has ceased functioning in the body. The reason for this is as follows:
There is a snapping of the silver cord at death which the Bible speaks of in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes. This cord holds the higher and lower vehicles together and at death the rupture takes place in the heart which causes this organ to cease beating. When this occurs the Ego with its three bodies, namely, the vital, desire, and mental bodies, is seen by the clairvoyant floating above the head of the physical body for three and one- half days. During this period the spirit is engaged in reviewing the scenes of its past life which have been impressed on the permanent seed-atom in the heart. These impressions have been left on this seed-atom by the blood. We are again taught from the Bible that the spirit is in the blood; and the blood is the direct vehicle of the spirit.
The heart and lungs are the only organs through which all the blood in man's body passes, and the heart is the stronghold of the human ego; as the blood courses through the heart the scenes of every passing moment are carried through the blood to the heart and engraved on the tiny seed-atom. This seed atom is also impregnated with the experiences of all past lives, and from it many impressions come to man. These teach him the differences between good and evil, and they become the voice of conscience.
Now the reason we hold it is necessary that quietness reign in the house of death is as follows: The vital body is the vehicle used immediately after death to transfer the impressions of the seed-atom in the heart onto the seed atom of the desire body; during this work the silver cord is not yet broken and the Ego is still conscious of its vehicles, it still feels and suffers to some extent when mutilation of its body takes place. When the spirit is disturbed during this etching, the impressions are very dim and the spirit as it returns to rebirth in the next embodiment does not bring with it a keen sense of conscience because it did not feel the remorse for wrong doings nor the joy of good actions as keenly as it should in the after-death life.
When the panorama has been fully etched into the desire body the silver cord breaks and the Ego is free of its earthly house. The body should then be cremated. Cremation is very helpful to the spirit, for it is attracted to, and often hovers over, its decaying body, while burning frees it; this method is also more sanitary.
Let us hope that humanity will soon awake to the proper care of its dead, and that we will have a science of death as well as a science of birth.
The body is to be placed in an ice pack for preservation during a period of 3 1/2 days or 84 hours after death. Embalming is absolutely not to be performed before the end of this time. The body is to be left in perfect quiet, away from all disturbing noises during this period — no postmortem operations are to be performed previous to the expiration of the 84 hours.
At the end of this period the body is to be cremated. Particular care is to be exercised that cremation is not performed previous to 84 hours after death for the reason that during this time the spirit still maintains connection with the body and pain from burning is felt to some extent if cremation is carried out before the end of the 84 hours.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are again at the time of Easter. Once more we have reached the final act in the cosmic drama involving the descent of the solar Christ Ray into the matter of our Earth, the mystic Birth celebrated at Christmas, and the Mystic Death and Liberation. The life impulse from the Cosmic Christ which entered the Earth last fall came to mystic birth at Christmas, performed its wonderful magic of fecundation during the months between autumn and the present Easter time, and is now liberating itself from the cross of matter to rise again to the throne of the Father, leaving the Earth clothed in the verdant glory of spring ready for the physical activities of the summer season. The spiritual Ray sent out by the Cosmic Christ each fall to replenish the smoldering vitality of the Earth is about to ascend to the Father's Throne. At this time of the year a new life, an augmented energy sweeps with an irresistible force through the veins and arteries of all living things, inspiring them, instilling new hope, new ambition, and new life, impelling them to new activities whereby they learn new lessons in the school of experience. Consciously or unconsciously to the beneficiaries, this outwelling energy invigorates everything that has life. Even the plant responds by an increased circulation of sap, which results in additional growth of the leaves, flowers, and fruits whereby this class of life is at present expressing itself and evolving to a higher state of consciousness.
Wonderful as these outward physical manifestations are, and glorious though the transformations may be called which changes the Earth from a waste of snow and ice into a wonderful, blooming garden, it sinks into insignificance before the spiritual activities which run side by side therewith. The salient features of the cosmic drama are identical in point of time with the material effects of the Sun in the four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, for the most significant events occur at the equinoctial and solstitial points.
It is really and actually true that "in God we live and move and have our being." Outside Him we could have no existence; we live by and through His life; we move and act by and through His strength; it is His power which sustains our dwelling place, the Earth, and without His unflagging, unwavering efforts the universe itself would disintegrate. We are taught that man was made in the likeness of God, and we are given to understand that according to the law of analogy we have certain powers latent within us which are similar to those we see so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe. This gives us a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama involving the death and resurrection of the Sun. The life of the God Man, Christ Jesus, was molded in conformity with the solar story, and it foreshadows in a similar manner all that may happen to the Man God of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied when He said, "The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall ye do; whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards."
Nature is a symbolic expression of God. She does nothing in vain or gratuitously. There is a purpose behind everything and every act. Therefore we should be alert and regard carefully the signs in the heavens, for they have a deep and important meaning concerning our own lives. The intelligent understanding of their purpose enables us to work much more efficiently with God in His wonderful efforts for the emancipation of our ace from bondage to the laws of Nature, and for its liberation into a full measure of the stature of the sons of God crowned with glory, honors, and immortality, and free from the power of sin, sickness, and suffering which now curtail our lives by reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the laws of God. The divine purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it is to be accomplished by the long and tedious process of evolution or by the immensely quicker pathway of Initiation, depends upon whether or not we are willing to lend our cooperation.
During the last six months we have been more thoroughly impregnated with the spiritual vibrations which predominate in winter. There came to us in the fall a new impulse toward the higher life; it culminated on Holy Night and has worked its magic in our natures according to the way in which we have embraced our opportunities. According to our diligence or dilatoriness in the past season, progression will be accelerated or retarded in the next, for there is not truer word than that which teaches us that we are just what we have made ourselves. The service we rendered or failed to render determines whether a new opportunity for greater service will give us added impulse heavenward; and it cannot be said too often that it is useless to expect liberation from the cross of matter until we have used our opportunities here and thus earned a larger sphere of usefulness. The "nails" which bound the Christ to the cross of Calvary will fetter you and me until the dynamic impulse of love flows out from us in waves and rhythmic swells like the tide of love which yearly enters the Earth and imbues it with renewed life.
During the winter moths the Christ suffers agonies of torture, "groaning, travailing, and waiting for the day of liberation," which comes at the time we speak of in orthodox churches as the passion week. But we realize according to the mystic teaching that this week is just the culmination or crest wave of His suffering and that He is then rising out of His prison; that when the Sun crosses the equator, He hangs upon the cross and cries: "Consummatum est!" — It has been accomplished. It is not a cry of agony. It is a cry of triumph, a shout of joy that the hour of liberation has come, and that once more He can soar away a little while, free from the fettering clod of our planet.
We should rejoice with Him in that great, glorious, triumphal hour, the hour of liberation when He exclaims: "It has been accomplished." Let us attune our hearts to this great cosmic event; let us rejoice with the Christ, our Saviour, that the term of His annual sacrifice has once more been completed; and let us feel thankful from the very bottom of out hearts that He is now about to be freed from the Earth's fetters; that the life wherewith He has now endued our planet is sufficient to carry us through the time until next Christmas.
Life is a school, and through learning its many lessons humanity is slowly evolving from a divine spark to Godhood. Had we learned life's lessons as they were given to us there would have been no necessity for the great sacrifice which was made and is annually being made by the Christ Spirit, who is the embodiment of love. Through selfishness, disobedience to law, and evil practices we were fast crystallizing not only our own bodies, but also the Earth on which we lived, to such a degree that as means for evolution both were fast becoming unusable. When nothing else could save us from the results of our own wrongdoing the compassionate Christ offered Himself and His great love power to break up the crystallized condition of man's bodies and the Earth, and He does not leave the Earth at Easter until He has given of Himself to the uttermost.
For those who have chosen to work knowingly and intelligently with cosmic law, Easter has a great significance. To them it means the annual liberation of the Christ Spirit from the cramping confines of the Earth and His joyful ascent into His true home world, there to remain for a season resting in the bosom of the Father. It is also the annual sign given the aspirant of the cosmic basis of his hopes and aspirations. And if the eyes are truly open, one beholds angelic hosts waiting, ready to accompany Him on His heavenward journey; if the ears are attuned to heavenly sounds one hears celestial choirs chanting His praise in glad hosannas to the risen Lord. When taken as a cosmic fact in connection with the law of analogy that connects the macrocosm with the microcosm, it is symbolical that some day we shall all attain the cosmic consciousness and know positively for ourselves by our own experience that there is no death, but that which seems so is only a transition into a finer sphere.
It is an annual symbol to strengthen our souls in the work of welldoing that we may build the Golden Wedding Garment required to make us sons of God in the highest and holiest sense. It is literally true that unless we walk in the light as God is in the light, we do not have fellowship; but by making the sacrifices and rendering the services required of us to aid in the emancipation of our race we are building the soul body of radiant golden light which is the special substance emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the Cosmic christ. When this golden substance has clothed us with sufficient density, then we shall be able to imitate the Easter Sun and soar into the higher sphere.
With these ideals fixed firmly in our minds, Easter time becomes a season when it is in order to review our life during the preceding year and make new resolutions for the coming season to serve in furthering our soul growth. it is a season when the symbol of the ascending Sun should lead us to a keen realization of the fact that we are but pilgrims and strangers upon Earth, that as Spirits our real home is in heaven, and that we ought to endeavor to learn the lessons in this life school as quickly as is consistent with proper service. Easter Day marks the resurrection and liberation of the Christ Spirit from the lower vibrations of the Earth, and this liberation should remind us to look continually for the dawn of the new day which shall permanently free us from the meshes of matter, from the body of sin and death, together with all our brethren in bondage. No true aspirant could conceive of a liberation that did not include all who were similarly placed.
This is a gigantic task, the contemplation of it may well daunt the bravest heart, and were we alone it could not be accomplished; the divine hierarchies who have guided humanity upon the path of evolution from the beginning of our career are still active and working with us from their worlds, and with their help we shall eventually be able to accomplish this elevation of humanity as a whole and attain to an individual realization of glory, honor, and immortality. Having this great hope within ourselves, this great mission in the world, let us work as never before to make ourselves better men and women, so that by our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that brings liberation.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Reader veils Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of our Elder Brothers in the service of humanity."
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are now at the time of the Summer Solstice, the season during which physical manifestation on Earth reaches its height.
Each year a spiritual wave of vitality enters the Earth at the winter solstice to impregnate the dormant seeds in the frozen ground, to give new life to the world whereon we live, and this work is done during the winter months while the Sun is passing through the zodiacal signs Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
Cosmically the Sun is born on the longest and darkest night of the year when Virgo, the Celestial Virgin, stands upon the eastern horizon at midnight to bring forth the immaculate Child. During the months next following, the Sun passes through the violent sign Capricorn where, mythically, all the powers of darkness are concentrated in a frantic endeavor to kill the Light-bearer, a phase of the solar drama which is mystically presented in the story of King Herod and the flight into Egypt to escape death.
When the Sun enters the sign Aquarius, the waterman, in February, we have the time of rain and storms; and as the Baptism mystically consecrates the Saviour to His work of service, so also the floods of moisture that descend upon the Earth soften and mellow it so that it may yield the fruits whereby the lives of those who dwell here are preserved.
Then comes the Sun's passage through the sign Pisces, the fishes. At this time the stores of the preceding year have been almost consumed and man's food is scarce. Therefore we have the long fast of Lent which mystically represents, for the aspirant, the same ideal as that cosmically shown by the Sun. There is at this time the carnevale, the farewell to the flesh, for everyone who aspires to the higher life must at some time bid farewell to the lower nature with all its desires and prepare himself for the Passover which is then near.
In April, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator and enters the sign Aries, the Lamb, the cross stands as a mystic symbol of the fact that the canidiate to the higher life must learn to lay down the moral coil and begin the ascent of Golgotha, the place in the skull; thence to cross the threshold into the invisible world. Finally, in imitation of the Sun's ascent into the signs of the northern heavens, to foster with its warming rays the growth of the seed in the soil which has been revitalized by the Christic wave during the winter months, he must learn that his place is with the Father and that ultimately he is to ascend to that exalted place.
So it is that at the present time, during the season culminating June 21st, the Great Christ Spirit has reached the World of Divine Spirit, the throne of the Father. During July and August, while the Sun is in Cancer and Leo, He is rebuilding His Life Spirit vehicle which He is to bring to the world and with it rejuvenate the Earth and the life kingdoms evolving in and upon it.
Without this annual mystic wave of vital energy from the Cosmic Christ, physical life would be an impossibility. There could be no physical bread and wine, nor the trans-substantiated spiritual tincture prepared by alchemy from the heart blood of the disciple. Physical existence is the school of laboratory in which we learn to transmute the base metal of our lower natures into the shining luster of the Philosopher's Stone, and thus make possible our liberation into the higher spheres, where our exalted Ideal, the Christ, is at present.
There are factors behind all manifestations of Nature — intelligences of varying degrees of consciousness, builders and destroyers, who perform important parts in the economy of Nature. Midsummer is the sporting time of the earth-goblins and similar entities concerned in the material development of our planet, as shown by Shakespeare in his "Midsummer Night's Dream."
The semi-intelligent action of the sylphs lifts the finely divided vaporized particles of water prepared by the undines, from the surface of the sea and carries them as high as they may before partial condensation takes place and clouds are formed. These particles of water they keep until forced by the undines to release them. When we say it storms, battles are being fought on the surface of the sea and in the air, sometimes with the aid of salamanders to light the lightning torch of separated hydrogen and oxygen and send its awe-inspiring shaft crashing zigzag through the inky darkness, followed by ponderous peals of thunder that reverberate in the clearing atmosphere, while the undines triumphantly hurl the rescued raindrops to earth that they may again be restored to union with their mother element.
The little gnomes are needed to build plants and flowers. it is their work to tint them with the innumerable shades of color which delight our eyes. They also cut the crystals in all the minerals and make priceless gems that gleam from golden diadems. Without them there would be no iron for our machinery nor gold wherewith to pay for it. They are everywhere and the proverbial bee is not busier. To the bee, however, is given credit for the work it does, while the little Nature Spirits that play such an immensely important part in the world's work are unknown save to a few so-called dreamers and fools.
At the summer solstice the physical activities of Nature are at their apex or zenith, therefore "Midsummer Night" is the great festival of the fairies who have wrought to build the material universe, nourished the cattle, nurtured the grain, and are hailing with joy and thanksgiving the crest wave of force which is their tool in shaping the flowers into the astonishing variety of delicate shapes called for by their archetypes and tinting them in unnumbered hues which are the artist's delight and despair.
On this greatest of all nights of the glad summer season, they flock from fen and forest, from glen and dale, to the Festival of the Fairies. They really bake and brew their etheric foods and afterwards dance in ecstasies of joy — the joy of having brought forth and served their important purpose in the economy of Nature.
It is an axiom of science that nature tolerates nothing that is useless; parasites and drones are an abomination; the organ that has become superfluous atrophies, and so does the limb or eye that is no loner used. Nature has work to do and requires work of all who would justify their existence and continue as a part of her. This applies to plant and planet, man and beast, and to the fairies as well. They have their work to do; they are busy folk and their activities are the solution to many of Nature's multifarious mysteries.
These are points which we should endeavor to realize thoroughly in order that we may learn to appreciate this season of the year as keenly as we should. What a cosmic calamity should our Heavenly Father fail to provide the means for our physical existence and sustenance each year! The Christ of last year cannot save us from physical famine any more than last year's rain can drench the soil and swell the millions of seeds that slumber in the Earth and await the germinal activities of the Father's life to begin their growth; the Christ of last year cannot kindle anew in our hearts the spiritual aspirations which urge us onward in the quest any more than last summer's heat can warm us now. The Christ of last year gave us His love and His life to the last breath without stint or measure; when He was born into the Earth last Christmas, he endued with life the sleeping seeds which have grown and gratefully filled our granaries with the bread of physical life; he lavished the love given Him by the Father upon us, and when he had wholly spent His life, He died at Easter-tide to rise again to the Father, as the river, by evaporation, rises to the sky.
But endlessly wells the divine love; as a father loveth his children, so doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He knows our physical and spiritual frailty and dependence.
May we so take advantage of the opportunities offered us during this season that the coming of the Christ Spirit again in the autumn shall find us with greater facility for responding to the powerful spiritual vibrations with which we shall be infused at that time.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Music. (Stanza of Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And no, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to reenter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of our Elder Brothers in the service of humanity."
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
Each time we sink ourselves in these three words we lave in a spiritual fountain of inexhaustible depth, and each succeeding time we sound more thoroughly the divine depths and draw more closely to our Father in heaven.
To get in close touch with this subject, now that the Christ Light is beginning anew to permeate the Earth, let us go back in time to get our bearing and the direction of our future line of progress.
The first time our consciousness was directed toward the Light was shortly after we had become endowed with mind and had entered definitely upon our evolution as human beings in Atlantis, the land of the mist, deep down in the basins of the Earth, where the warm mist emitted from the cooling Earth hung like a dense fog over the land. Then the starry heights of the universe were never seen, nor could the silvery light of the Moon penetrate the dense, foggy atmosphere which hung over that ancient land. Even the fiery splendor of the Sun was almost totally extinguished, for when we look in the Memory of Nature pertaining to that time, we find that it was exceedingly dim, having an aura of various colors, very similar to those we observe around an arc light.
But this light had a fascination. The ancient Atlanteans were taught by the divine Hierarchs who among them to aspire to light, and as the spiritual light was then already on the wane, they aspired all the more ardently to the new light, for they feared the darkness of which they had become conscious through the gift of mind.
Then came the inevitable flood when the mist cooled and condensed. The atmosphere cleared, and the "chosen people" were saved. Those who had worked within themselves and learned to build the necessary organs required to breathe in an atmosphere such as we have today, survived and came to light. it was not an arbitrary choice; the work of the past consisted of body building. Those who had only gill clefts, such as the fetus still uses in its prenatal development, were as unfit physiologically to enter the new era as the fetus would be to be born were it to neglect to build lungs. it would die as those ancient people died when the rare atmosphere made gill clefts useless.
Since the day when we came out of ancient Atlantis our bodies have been practically complete, but from that time and from now on those who wish to follow the Light must strive for soul growth. The bodies which we have crystallized about us must be dissolved, and the quintessence of experience extracted, which as "soul" may be amalgamated with the spirit to nourish it from impotence to omnipotence. Therefore, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was given to the ancients, and the light of God descended upon the altar of sacrifice. This is of great significance: The Ego had just descended into its tabernacle, the body. We all know the tendency of the primitive instinct toward selfishness, and if we have studied the higher ethics we also know how subversive of good the indulgence of the egotistic tendency is; therefore, God immediately placed before mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of Sacrifice.
Upon this altar they were forced by dire necessity to offer their cherished possessions for every transgression, God appearing to them as a hard taskmaster whose displeasure it was dangerous to incur. But still the Light drew them. They knew then that it was futile to attempt to escape from the hand of God. They had never heard the words of John, "God is Light," but they had already learned from the heavens in a measure the meaning of infinitude, as measured by the realm of light, for we hear David exclaim, "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence?...If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me...Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day, for the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."
To render permanent this condition of being in the Light was the next step in God's work with us, which culminated in the birth of the Christ, who as the bodily presence of the Father, bore about in Himself that Light, for the Light came into the world that whosoever should believe in Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life. He said: "I am the Light of the World." The altar in the tabernacle had illustrated the principle of sacrifice as the medium of regeneration, so Christ said to His disciples: "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends." And forthwith He commenced a sacrifice, which was not consummated in a few hours of physical suffering upon a material cross, but is as perpetual as were the sacrifices made upon the altar of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, for it entails an annual descent into the Earth conditions must mean to such a great Spirit.
This must continue until a sufficient number have evolved who can bear the burden of this dense lump of darkness, which we call the Earth, and which hangs as a millstone about the neck of humanity, an impediment to further spiritual growth. This is the task facing each of us.
We are now at the fall equinox where the Sun is leaving the northern hemisphere, after having provided us with the necessities of life for the coming year; and the spiritual tide which carries on its crest the life which will find physical expression in the coming year is now on its way toward our Earth. The half-year directly before us is the holy part of the year. From the feast of the Immaculate Conception to the Mystic Birth at Christmas (while this wave is descending into the Earth) and from that time to Easter (while it is traveling outward) a harmonious, rhythmic, vibratory song, not inaptly described in the legend of the Mystic Birth as a "hosanna" sung by an angel choir, fills the planetary atmosphere and acts upon all as an impulse to spiritual aspiration.
You know the analogy between man — who enters his vehicles in the daytime, lives in them and works through them, and at night is a free Spirit, free from the fetters of the dense body — and the Christ Spirit dwelling in our Earth a part of the year. We all know what a fetter and what a prison this body is, how we are hampered by disease and suffering, for there is not one of us who is always in perfect health so that he or she never feels the pang of pain, at least no one on the higher path.
It is similar with the Cosmic Christ, who turns His attention toward our little Earth, focusing His consciousness in this planet in order that we may have life. He has to enliven this dead mass (which we have crystallized out of the Sun) annually; and it is a fetter, a clog, and a prison to Him; therefore our hearts at this time should turn to Him in gratitude for the sacrifice He makes for our sakes during the winter months, permeating this planet with His life to awaken it from its wintry sleep, in which it must remain were He not thus born into it to enliven it.
Without this yearly infusion of Divine Life and Energy all living things on our Earth would soon perish, and all orderly progress would be frustrated so far as our present lines of development are concerned. It is the "fall" of the spiritual Ray from the Sun in autumn which causes resumption of the mental and spiritual activities in winter. The same germinative force which leavens the seed in the Earth and prepares it to reproduce its kind in multiple, stirs also the human mind and fosters altruistic activities which make the world better.
So it is that the powerful spiritual vibrations of the life-giving Christ wave are in the Earth's atmosphere during the months now before us and may be used by us to a much greater advantage if we know it and redouble our efforts than if we were unaware of the fact. The Christ is still groaning and travailing, waiting for the Day of Liberation, for the "manifestation of the sons of God"; and truly do we hasten that day every time we partake of food for our finer bodies symbolized by the mystic bread and wine.
Each time we give ourselves in service to others we add to the luster of our soul bodies, which are built of the two higher ethers. It is the Christ Ether that now floats this sphere of ours, therefore let us remember that if we wish to hasten the day of His liberation, we must in sufficient numbers evolve our own soul bodies to the point where they may float the Earth. Thus we will take up His burden and save Him the pain of physical existence. May we each take advantage of the spiritual vibrations with which we will be infused during the coming months so that another autumnal equinox will find us nearer the Day of Liberation.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Reader veils Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, let us go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of the Elder Brothers in their service for humanity.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
We are now at the winter solstice, the time when the light of the Sun has almost faded, when our Northern Hemisphere is cold and drear. But on the longest and darkest night the Sun turns on its upward path, the Christ Light is born on Earth again, and all the world rejoices. The wave of spiritual light and life which will be the basis of next year's growth and progress is now at its greatest height and power. Th Earth is now nearest the Sun. The spiritual rays fall at right angles to the Earth's surface in the Northern Hemisphere, promoting spirituality, while physical activities are held in abeyance on account of the oblique angle at which the solar rays strike the surface of the Earth. it is of great importance to the esoteric student to know and understand the particularly favorable conditions which prevail at Yule-tide, so that he may bend all his energies at this time to spiritual endeavor and thus cover a much greater distance with less effort than at any other time.
The apostle gave us a wonderful definition of Deity when he said that "God is Light," and therefore "light" has been used to illustrate the nature of the divine in the Rosicrucian Teachings, especially the mystery of the Trinity in Unity. It is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures of all times that God is one and indivisible. At the same time we find that as the one white light is refracted into three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, so God appears in a threefold role during manifestation by the exercise of the three divine functions of creation, preservation, and dissolution.
When He exercises the attribute of creation, God appears as Jehovah, the Holy Spirit; He is then Lord of law and generation and projects the solar fertility indirectly through the lunar satellites of all planets where it is necessary to furnish bodies for the evolving beings.
When He exercises the attribute of preservation for the purpose of sustaining the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of Nature, God appears as the redeemer, Christ, and radiates the principles of love and regeneration directly into any planet where the creatures of Jehovah require this help to extricate themselves from the meshes of mortality and egoism in order to attain to altruism and endless life.
When God exercises the divine attribute of dissolution, He appears as The Father Who calls us back to our heavenly home to assimilate the fruits of experience and soul growth garnered by us during the day of manifestation. This Universal Solvent, the Ray of the Father, then emanates from the invisible Spiritual Sun.
These divine processes of creation and birth, preservation and life, and dissolution, death, and return to the Author of our being, we see everywhere about us, and we recognize the fact that they are activities of the Triune God in manifestation. But have we ever realized that in the spiritual world there are no definite events, no static conditions; that the beginning and end of all adventures of all ages are present in the eternal "here" and "now"?
From the bosom of the Father there is an everlasting outwelling of the seed of things and events which enters the realm of "time" and "space." There it gradually crystallizes and becomes inert, necessitating dissolution that there may be room for other things and other events.
There is no escape from this cosmic law; it applies to everything in the realm of "time" and "space," the Christ Ray included. As the lake which empties itself into the ocean is replenished when the water that left it has been evaporated, and returns to it as the rain to flow again ceaselessly toward the sea, so the Spirit of Love is eternally born of the Father, day by day, hour by hour, endlessly flowing into the solar universe to redeem us from the world of matter which enmeshes us in its death grip. Wave upon wave is thus impelled outward from the Sun to all the planets, giving a rhythmic urge to the evolving creatures there.
And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense a new-born Christ that we hail at each approaching Yule-tide feast, and Christmas is the most vital annual event for all humanity, whether we realize it or not. It is not merely commemoration of the birth of our beloved Elder Brother, Jesus, but the advent of the rejuvenating love-life of our Heavenly Father, sent by Him to redeem the world from the wintry death grip. Without this new infusion of divine life and energy we must soon perish physically, and our orderly progress would be frustrated so far as our present lines of development are concerned.
But endlessly wells the divine love, as a father loveth his children, so doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He knows our physical and spiritual frailty and dependence. Therefore we are now confidently awaiting the mystic birth of the Christ of another year laden with new life and love sent by the Father to succor us from the physical and spiritual famine which would ensue were it not for the annual love-offering.
In time all the world will realize that "God" is spirit and to be worshiped in spirit and truth. We cannot make any likeness which will portray Him for He is like nothing in heaven or on Earth. We can see the physical vehicles of Jehovah circling as satellites around the various planets; we can also see the Sun, which is the visible vehicle of the Christ; but the Invisible Sun, which is the vehicle of the Father and the source of all, appears to the greatest human seers only as a higher octave of the photosphere of the Sun, a ring of violet blue luminosity behind the Sun. But we do not need to see; we can feel his love, and that feeling is never so great as at Christmas time when He is giving us the greatest of all gifts, the Christ of the New year.
It is from the visible Sun that every particle of physical energy comes. And it is from the spiritual invisible Sun that all our spiritual energy comes. At the present time we cannot bear to look directly at the Sun. it would blind us. But we can look at the reflected sunlight that comes from the Moon. In the same way man cannot stand the direct spiritual impulse that comes from the Sun, and therefore it had to be sent by way of the Moon, through the hands, and through the mediumship of Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon, as a race religion. Only by initiation was it possible to get into direct touch with the spiritual solar impulse. A veil hung before the temple.
So on Holy Night, which we call Christmas, it was usual for the Wise Men — those who were beyond ordinary humanity — to take the ones who were also becoming wise, and therefore entitled to initiation, into the temples. Certain ceremonies were performed and the candidates entranced. They could not at that time be given an initiation in their full waking state, it had to be done in a trance. When the spiritual perception was awakened in them, they could look through the Earth — not seeing any detail but the Earth became transparent, as it were — and they saw the Star at Midnight.
Later came the time when man could take the spiritual impulse more directly, and when the time arrived that the Christ Spirit could be entertained on the Earth — when we had risen so far — then a Ray from the Cosmic Christ came here, and incarnated here in the body of our Elder Brother, Jesus. The Christ Spirit, then, is the first incoming of a direct spiritual impulse.
Exoterically the Sun has been worshiped as the giver of life from time immemorial, because the multitude was incapable of looking beyond the material symbol of a great spiritual truth. But besides those who adored the heavenly orb which is seen with the physical eye, there has always been and there is today a small but increasing minority, a priesthood consecrated by righteousness rather than by rites, who saw and see the eternal spiritual verities behind the temporal and evanescent forms which clothe these verities in changing raiment of ceremonial, according to the times and the people to whom they were originally given. For them the legendary Star of Bethlehem shines each year as a Mystic Midnight Sun, which enters our planet at the winter solstice and then commences to radiate from the center of our globe, Life, Light, and Love, the three divine attributes. These rays of spiritual splendor and power fill our globe with a supernal light and envelopes everyone upon Earth, from the least to the greatest, without respect of person.
At the time when the days are shortest and the nights are the longest on that Holy Night that we speak of, when the Christ was born, as a Sun who was to lighten our darkness — the spiritual influence is then strongest, and can be reached easiest. it was the great truth that was at the bottom of the Satr in the Holy Night, illuminating the longest and darkest night in the year. When Christ came he altered the vibrations of the Earth and is changing them all the time since. he "rent the temple veil." He made the Holy of Holies — the place of initiation — open to "Whosoever will." From that time on, there is no more trance needed, no more subjective states in order to go through initiation. There is a conscious going forth in the Temple by everyone who wills to come.
In the Rosicrucian order the nine Lesser Mysteries, or Lesser Initiations, deal only with the evolution of mankind during the Earth Period, the 5th degree taking the candidate to the very end of the Earth Period when a glorious humanity is gathering the fruits of this Period and taking it away from the 7 globes upon which we evolve during each day of manifestation, into the first of the 5 dark globes which are our habitation during the cosmic night. After being shown the end in the 5th degree the candidate is made acquainted with the means whereby that end is to be attained during the remaining three and one-half revolutions of the Earth period; the 4 remaining degrees being devoted to his enlightenment in that respect. The 9th, or last of these degrees, is held in the summer and winter solstices, the candidate at this time having gained entrance to all the layers of the Earth.
This is the great destiny that is before each one of us. The Christ said to His disciples: "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also....and greater." It is a sublime fact that we are Christs-in-the-making, and the sooner we realize that we must cultivate the Christ within before we can perceive the Christ without, the more we shall hasten the day of our spiritual illumination. Each one will in time be led by the Star to the Christ. But let us emphasize this very strongly: not to an exterior Christ, but to the Christ that is within.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Music. (Rosicrucian Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of the Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
When the candidate entered at the eastern gate of the Temple looking for light, he was confronted by the fire on he Altar of Burnt Offerings, which emitted a dim light enveloped in clouds of smoke. He was then in the spiritually darkened condition of the ordinary man; he lacked the light within and therefore it was necessary to give him the light without. But when he has arrived at the point when he is ready to have evolved the luminous soul body in the service of humanity. Then he is thought to have the light within himself, "the light that lighteth every man." Unless he has that, he cannot enter the dark room of the Temple.
What takes place secretly in the Temple is shown openly in the heavens. As the Moon gathers light from the Sun during her passage from the new to the full, so the man who treads the path of holiness by use of his golden opportunities in the East Room of selfless service gathers the materials wherewith to make his luminous "wedding garment," and that material is best amalgamated on the night of the full Moon. But conversely, as the Moon gradually dissipates the accumulated light and draws nearer the sun in order to make a fresh start upon a new cycle at the time of the new Moon, so also according to the law of analogy those who have gathered their treasures and laid them up in heaven by service are at a certain time of the month closer to their Source and their Maker, their Father Fire in the higher spheres, than at any other time. As the great saviors of mankind are born at the winter solstice on the longest and darkest night of the year, so also the process of Initiation which brings to birth in the invisible world one of the lesser saviors, the Invisible Helper, is most easily accomplished on the longest and darkest night of the month, that is to say, on the night of the New Moon when the lunar orb is in the westernmost part of the heavens.
All esoteric development begins with the vital body, and the keynote of that vehicle is "repetition." To get the best out of any subject repetition is necessary. In order to understand the final consummation to which all this has been leading up, let us take a final look from another angle at the three kinds of fire within the Temple.
Near the eastern gate was the Altar of Burnt Offering. On that altar smoke was continually generated by the bodies of the sacrifices, and the pillar of smoke was seen far and wide by the multitude who were instructed in the inner mysteries of life. The flame, the light, hidden in this cloud of smoke was at best but dimly perceived. This showed that the great majority of mankind are taught principally by the immutable laws of nature, which exact from them a sacrifice whether they know it or not. As the flame of purification was then fed by the more coarsely constructed and baser bodies of animal sacrifices, exacted under the Mosaic law, so also today the baser and more passionate mass of humanity is being brought into subjection by fear of punishment by the law in the present world — more than by apprehension of what my follow in the world to come.
A light of a different nature shone in the East Room of the Tabernacle. Instead of drawing its nourishment from the sinful and passionate flesh of the animal sacrifices, it was fed by olive oil procured from the chaste plant kingdom; and its flame was not shrouded in smoke, but was clear and distinct, so that it might illuminate the room and guide the priests, who were the servants of the Temple, in their ministrations. The priests were endeavoring to work in harmony with the divine plan, therefore they saw the light more clearly that the uninstructed and careless multitude. Today also the mystic light shines for all who are endeavoring to really serve at the shrine of self-sacrifice-particularly for the pledged pupils of a Mystery School such as the Rosicrucian Order. They are waling in a light not seen by the multitude, and if they are really serving, they have th true guidance of the Elder Brothers of humanity, who are always ready to help them at the difficult points on the Path.
But the most sacred fire of all was the Shekinah Glory in the West Room of the Tabernacle above the Mercy Seat. As this West Room was dark, we understand that it was an invisible fire, a light from another world.
Now mark this, the fire that was shrouded in smoke and flame upon the Altar of Burnt Offerings, consuming the sacrifices brought there in expiation of sins committed under the law, was the symbol of Jehovah the Lawgiver; and we remember that the law was given to brings us to Christ. The clear and beautiful light which shone in the Hall of Service, the East Room of the Tabernacle, is the golden-hued Christ light, which guides those who endeavor to follow in His steps upon the path of self-forgetting service.
As the Christ said, "I go to my Father," when He was about to be crucified, so also the Servant of the Cross who has made the most of his opportunities in the visible world is allowed to enter the glory of his Father Fire, the invisible Shekinah Glory. He ceases then to see through the dark glass of the body, and beholds his Father face to face in the invisible realms of nature.
The church steeple is very broad at the bottom, but gradually it narrows more and more until at the top it is just a point with the cross above it. So it is with the path of holiness; at the beginning there are many things which we may permit ourselves, but as we advance, one after another of these digressions must be done away with, and we must devote ourselves more and more exclusively to the service of holiness. At last there comes a point where this path is as sharp as the razor's edge, and we can then only grasp at the cross. But when we have attained that point, when we can climb this narrowest of all paths, then we are fitted to follow Christ into the beyond and serve there as we have served here.
Thus this ancient symbol shadowed forth the trial and triumph of the faithful servant, and thought it has been superseded by other and greater symbols holding forth a higher ideal and a greater promise, the basic principles embodies in it are as valid today as ever.
In the Altar of Burnt Offerings we see clearly the nauseating nature of sin and the necessity of expiation and justification.
By the Molten Sea we are still taught that we must live the stainless life that of holiness and consecration.
From the East Room we learn today how to make diligent use of our opportunities to grow the golden grain of selfless service and make that "living bread" which feeds the soul, the Christ within.
And when we have ascended the steps of Justification, Consecration, and Self-Abnegation, we reach the West Room, which is the threshold of Liberation. Over it we are conducted into greater realms, where greater soul unfoldment may be accomplished.
But though this ancient Temple stands no longer upon the plains where the wandering hosts pitched their camps in the hoary past, it may be made a much more potent factor for soul growth by any aspirant of today that it was by the ancient Israelites provided he will build it according to pattern. Nor need the lack of gold wherewith to build distress anyone, for now the true tabernacle must be built in heaven – and "heaven is with you." To build well and true, according to the rules of the ancient craft of Mystic Masonry, the aspirant must learn first to build within himself the altar with its sacrifices, then he must watch and pray while patiently waiting for the divine fire to consume offering. Then he must bathe himself with tears of contrition till he has washed away the stains of sin. Meanwhile he must keep the lamp of divine guidance filled that he may perceive how, when, and where to serve; he must work hard to have abundance of "bread of shew," and the incense of aspiration and prayer must be ever in his heart and on his lips. Then Yom Kippur, the Great Day of At-one-ment, will surely find him ready to go to his Father, and learn how better to help his younger brothers to ascent the Path.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Music. (Rosicrucian Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of the Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.
Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.
Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, also.")
Let us now consider the Path of Initiation as symbolically shown in the ancient Temples with the Ark, Fire, and Shekinah, and in the later Temples where Christ taught. Note first that when man was expelled from the Garden of Eden because he had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, Cherubim guarded the entrance with a flaming sword. Passages like the following, "Adam knew Eve, and she bore Abel"; "Adam knew Eve, and she bore Seth"; "Elkanah knew Hannah, and she bore Samuel"; also Mary's question to the angel Gabriel, "How shall I conceive seeing that I know not a man?" all show plainly that indulgence of the passions in the creative act was meant by the phrase, "eating the Tree of Knowledge." When the creative act was performed under inauspicious planetary rays it was a sin committed against the laws of nature, which brought pain and death into the world, estranged us from our primal guardians, and forced us to roam the wilderness of the world for ages.
At the gate of the mystic Temple of Solomon we find the Cherubim, but the fiery sword is not longer in their hand; instead they hold a flower, a symbol full of mystic meaning. Let us compare man with a flower that we may know the great import and significance of this emblem. Man takes his good by way of the head, whence it goes downward. The plant takes nourishment through the root and forces it upward. Man is passionate in love, and he turns the generative organ toward the earth and hides it in shame because of this taint of passion. The plant knows no passion, fertilization is accomplished in the most pure and chaste manner imaginable, therefore it projects its generative organ, the flower, toward the Sun, a thing of beauty which delights all who behold it. Passionate fallen man exhales the deadly carbon dioxide; the chaste flower inhales this poison, transmutes it, and gives it back pure, sweet, and scented, a fragrant elixir of life.
This was the mystery of the Grail Cup; this is the emblematic significance of the Cup of Communion, which is called "kelch" in German "Calix" in Latin, both names signifying the seed pod of the flower. The Communion Cup with its mystic blood cleansed from the passion incident to generation brings to him who truly drinks thereof eternal life, and thus it becomes the vehicle of regeneration, of the mystic birth into a higher sphere, a "foreign country," where he who has served his apprenticeship in Temple building and has mastered the "art and crafts" of this world may learn higher things.
The symbol of the Cherubim with the open flower placed upon the door of Solomon's Temple delivers the message to the aspirant that purity is the key by which alone he can hope to unlock the gate to God; or as Christ expressed it, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." The flesh must be consumed on the Altar of self-sacrifice, and the sold must be washed in the Laver of Consecration to the higher life where it may approach the Temple door. When "naked," "poor," and "blinded" by tears of contrition it gropes in darkness, seeking the Temple door, it shall find entrance to the Hall of Service, the East Room of the Tabernacle, which is ablaze with light from the Seven-branched Candlestick, emblematic of the luminosity of the Full Moon, the Moon changing in cycles of seven days. In this Hall of Service the aspirant is taught to weave the luminous vesture of flame which Paul called "soma psuchicon," or soul body (1st Cor., 15:44), from the aroma of the shewbread.
When we speak of the soul body we mean exactly what we say, and this vehicle is in nowise to be confused with the soul that permeates it. The Invisible Helper who uses it on soul flights knows it to be as real and tangible as the dense body of flesh blood. But within that golden "wedding garment" there is an intangible something cognized by the spirit of introspection. It is unnameable and indescribable; it evades the most persistent efforts to fathom it, yet it is there just as certainly as the vehicle which it fills – yes, and more so. It is not life, love, beauty, wisdom, nor can any other human concept convey an idea of what it is, for it is the sum of all human faculties, attributes, and concepts of good, immeasurably intensified. If everything else were taken from us, that prime reality would still remain, and we should be rich in its possession, for through it we feel the drawing power of our Father in Heaven, that inner urge which all aspirants know so well.
To this inner something Christ referred when He said: No man cometh to me except my Father draw him. Just as the true fire is hidden in the flame that encloses it, so that unnameable, intangible something hides in the soul body and burns up the frankincense extracted from the shrewbread; thus it lights the fire which makes the soul body luminous. And the aroma of loving service to others penetrates the veil as a sweet savor to God, who dwells in the Shekinah Glory similar created above the Ark in the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.
Music. (Rosicrucian Closing Hymn.)
Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings of the Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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