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Imagination is the source of all magical action.
The imagination dwelling in the brain is the moon of the microcosm. — Paracelsus
As a preparatory exercise in the study of this lesson, the student is recommended to meditate upon the Annunciation, Luke 1:26-38. It will do much to open his understanding to the spiritual significance of what follows.
The Immaculate Conception represents the highest achievement of womanhood. It signifies an attainment so wondrously mysterious and sacredly beautiful that mere words are inadequate to reveal its true meaning. We can know it fully only in the deep silence of the soul.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, symbolizes the Eternal Feminine, the love principle. Eve, the Universal Mother, in whom this principle fell, becomes Mary, the mother of the immaculately conceived, when this fallen love principle is uplifted and redeemed.
Mary was an earthly woman, but "Behold, I tell you a mystery." She had so purified her nature that the child she conceived, and to whom she gave birth, was of such purity and perfection that He qualified to become a vehicle for the Christos.
The life and works of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are prophetic of the New Age, when every Ego shall be well-born, wooed in love by parents who are pure and chaste. Only then will a race of new beings, united in fellowship and brotherly kindness, unfold wings of immortality and make manifest a world wherein will abide peace, joy, health, and plenty. It will truly show forth "Holiness unto the Lord."
In the first chapter of this book, The Archetype, we learned how it was built in the heaven world for a "dip into matter." The power used by the Ego in constructing the archetypal pattern is the dual creative force, often designated "archetypal forces" in occult terminology. The field of action of these archetypal forces is the highest plane of the mental world, the point where spirit is reflected into the worlds of form. The archetypal forces are, in turn, emanations from the Third Heaven, or World of Abstract Ideas, for in the germinal idea is the primary source of all phenomena.
Cosmically, the archetypal forces are the life essence poured out by that Great Being known as the Holy Ghost, Jehovah. The Angels are His messengers in this work. Western Wisdom teaches us that Jehovah's "world" is this same Third Heaven or "Chaos," from which all Creation came forth when spirit moved upon its "waters;" for these are the "waters" in which Life germinates, as Idea. They are the home world of human Spirits or Egos; but only the most advanced Egos remain there any length of time before descending to rebirth. For the great majority, this Heaven is virtually non-existent.
When an Ego begins its descent for rebirth, its first task is building the archetype in the Second Heaven, by means of the two archetypal forces. If the Ego has wasted its life substance in "riotous living" in previous incarnations, it must necessarily fashion the heavenly pattern for a new body from a minimum of creative force-substance (the two terms are almost interchangeable in spiritual realms), and this will be reflected in a physical vehicle of impaired vitality. Thus, the Spirit learns through painful limitations the error of its previous indiscretions. This limitation lasts until the Ego has, by living in harmony with cosmic Law, again attracted a sufficiency of creative life essence to strengthen the lines of force that are rayed through the archetypal pattern, and so determine its strength and beauty.
The sin against the Holy Ghost is unforgivable in that it must be expiated through suffering until a sufficient supply of divine life essence has been accumulated to compensate for what was lost through wrongdoing. It is the greatest of all sins in that it is a desecration of the pure Christ force within man, the force which unites him with the spiritual universe, and without which all creation would be resolved once more into "Chaos and old night."
This great creative force is rayed out upon Earth by the Cherubim, Hierarchy of Cancer. By this means they awaken in man his own cosmic or universal life spirit, the receptacle of his inner Christ essence (Leo). Cancer is therefore termed the "star of Mothers," for "deep within her mystic heart lies the well of life, fathomless as the ocean of eternity, nurturing in the sheltered depths of its sacred waters the seeds of all forms that from the dawn to the twilight of a cosmic day move over the earth in a rhythmic succession."
When man was guided by the stellar Hierarchies prior to the evolution of his own individual will, the union of man and woman took place in accordance with stellar harmony as a sacred ceremony, so pain and discord were unknown.
These truths were transferred for safekeeping to Temples of Initiation for the guidance of the few as the masses stepped down into denser materiality and held the sacred secrets in ridicule and disbelief. That this remains the general attitude is to be seen in the heavy toll of pain, disease and death which is, and must inevitably be, the accompaniment of childbirth so long as humanity forgets the divine Plan with its ministry of Angels.
Among the cherished few Illumined Ones who retained these priceless truths were the Essenes, who lived in their own private communities in Egypt and the Holy Land. These high teachings were a part of their Temple work, and were brought into objective manifestation in their daily lives.
Conception is a threefold process involving body, mind, and Spirit. The processes of purification involve long periods of study and rigorous training. Today there are many advanced Egos awaiting the opportunity of rebirth through pure and chaste parents that they may further this knowledge among men and so bring in the New Age.
In order that a high Initiate may come to earth and inhabit a physical vehicle sufficiently sensitized to be of use to him, it is necessary to begin preparation with the grandparents. Such were chosen for the Holy Birth. The parents of the Blessed Mary were high Initiates of the Essenian Order, Joachim and Anna by name. Their lives were pure and chaste, devoted to the service of the Essenian Order.
Mary the Virgin was thus conceived and born through an Immaculate Conception, in full and conscious cooperation with the angelic ministry. She was dedicated to service of the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of three, and was reared in its holy environs. From birth her most intimate counsellors and companions were not human beings, but Angels.
Her love dream and mating with another Initiate of highest rank in the Essenian Order is a story of incomparable beauty. An early Greek hymn speaks of Joseph as more than a saint, "for only such could espouse Mary who was privileged beyond an Archangel's dream." St. Ambrose writes, "They were one in mind, heart and spirit, for Joseph had also taken the vow of perpetual virginity. Her holy Virgin heart could only mate with a holy Virgin heart." He states further that Joseph left Mary not because of her unworthiness (as intimated by critics of the Christian legend), but because he felt unworthy to remain in her presence.
As the High Priest Joachim and his Initiate wife Anna watched in adoration the angelic hosts attending upon the birth of their holy child, they saw vast emanations of light pour from wing-shaped auras, and listened to the triumphant chorusing as Angels sang of the new era that was dawning with the birth of Mary: "The Angels in Heaven and Earth salute thee for the new life which thou bringeth to Earth."
The angelic songs referred not only to her Divine Son, but also to the archetype of the Immaculate Conception which the blessed Madonna was to inaugurate for the eventual redemption of the entire human race.
An incoming Ego often effects great changes in the life of its prospective mother. This strange influence was notable in the life of the Initiate mother of the Holy Mary. When she entered a sick room the suffering forgot their ills and were healed. If dissension occurred among neighbors, her very presence seemed to inspire peace, and enemies soon became friends.
The harvests of Joachim and Anna, so pathetically sparse till this momentous time, now filled their bins to overflowing. Peace, harmony, plenty, and happiness were heralds of the coming to Earth of the blessed child whom her mother named Mary, which, in Hebrew, means a god-bearer.
When Anna first beheld the beautiful babe she declared, "She shall be blessed above all others for she shall open the doors of the East that the Desired of all Nations shall appear."
After puberty every human being, during the monthly moon cycle of twenty-eight days, develops within himself a sacred seed formed of divine creative brain substance. This work is completed each month as the Moon enters the sign that the Sun occupied at the person's birth.
The Essenes were divided into two groups, the Householders and the Temple Initiates. The former married and set up homes in the outer world, where they made practical demonstration of the holy Temple teachings by preparing themselves for immaculate parenthood and thus attracting advanced Egos from the heaven worlds to further the work of the Essenian Order.
Temple Initiates who had taken the vow of perpetual virginity remained within Temple precincts to carry on higher initiatory work. These Temple workers were taught how to lift their seed to the head and thus illumine its spiritual organs, the pituitary and pineal glands, and make their powers available for various forms of mental and spiritual creative activities.
Each Spirit prepared for birth by hosts of Angels, comes to Earth radiant and fragrant with the love and blessing of the holy Mother Mary and her special band of ministrants.
The masculine, or will, force crystallizes in the embryo primarily in the spinal cord and brain cells. The feminine, or image-making, force centers in the heart. All the organs of the fetus are formed by the intermingling of these masculine and feminine powers. The principal organs and systems of the body are twofold. This is true of the brain, the creative organs, the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys, the glandular system, and the two nervous systems.
When equilibrium is achieved between these two forces the body is transformed into the glorious vehicle of the Initiate, that body which passes unharmed through fire, air, water, and earth, and is described by the Initiate Paul as the "body celestial."
Prenatal education of a child is the most important phase of education; and it is also the most neglected and misunderstood. If the incoming Ego is unwanted and unwelcome, its physical body is built under great difficulties. If the child is not wanted by the father only, the brain consciousness is apt to be slowed below normal and mental perception retarded. If the mother resents the child's coming there is liability to a weakened heart and uncertain or imperfect heart functioning.
Intricate and complicated are the skeins of human causation which entangle life with life; long and bitter will be the years and lives occupied in their unravelling!
The Holy Mary remains close to the earth sphere and works with man in an endeavor to mitigate to some degree the far-reaching results of his ignorance and sin. In the words of an unidentified writer: "A string of pearls is not grown in a month, neither is the beauty of a single pearl formed in a day. Man's experiences, strivings, sorrows, joys, failings, and attainments, through many days of life, ever add lustre and expansion to his innermost being. Only when he has become a Pearl of Great Price and of surpassing loveliness has he earned the right to adorn the Brow of the Holy Mother."
Angels always surround an expectant mother. She is truly set apart, and receives the blessings of many. It is vitally essential that her surroundings be of peace, harmony and if possible beauty. Every prospective mother can increase her service to the incoming Ego by having at least one picture that expresses a high idealism whereon to meditate daily, thus keeping her mind attuned to noble and beautiful thoughts. In this way she follows Mary into the hill country of consciousness, and there assists in fashioning a physical vestment suitable to the requirements of an advanced soul, one old in experience, good and wise in attainment.
With the help of his mother, Jesus made of his body a pure, holy and beautiful sanctuary for the indwelling Christ Spirit. He demonstrated for humanity the high degree of perfection to which a physical body may be raised, and provided mankind with the supreme pattern upon which to mold a new and perfect race. This Christ pattern remains in the Hall of Archetypes as an aid to all human Egos in body building. Gazing upon it, they know passion generates bodies that decay while love builds for eternity. The one erects a house upon the sands of time, against which the winds and floods of the emotional life will eventually prevail; the other builds upon the rock of Spirit where such storms have no power.
Virginity is a state of consciousness, capable of attainment by anyone willing to work for its priceless possession. It is possible, through complete dedication to the mission of parenthood, to attract an Ego from the heaven worlds without awakening the fires of passion; and to bear it beneath a heart knowing only pure and sexless love. In the words of a medieval poet:
As the sunbeam through the glass
Passeth, but not staineth,
So the Virgin as she was
Virgin still remaineth.
This was the attainment of the Holy Mary, and was the reason for the salutation of the angelic messenger Gabriel: "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee."
There are many Christian idealists who long to follow in the footsteps of the immaculate Mary and Joseph, but because they are not virgins feel that it is useless even to try. But virginity begins with the mind and is essentially a condition of the soul. When that is achieved, as it had been in the case of Joseph and Mary, the physical act of bringing forth a child in no way violates that virginity.
Woman is the chief exponent and expression of the feminine or Word principle of God in its physical manifestation. This is the imagination, the image-building faculty of spirit. Because this faculty is particularly active in woman, her responsibility as a mother is very great, especially during the prenatal periods of her offspring.
Discussing this image building power of woman, Paracelsus writes: "The imagination of a pregnant woman is so active, that in conceiving seed into her body, she can transmute the fetus in different ways, since her interior stars are so strongly directed to the fetus that they produce impressions and influences. Wherefore, an infant in the mother's womb is, during its formation, as much in the hands and under the will of the mother as clay in the hands of the potter, who from it makes whatever pleases him.
"Any strong desire, appetite, or inclination can be impressed upon the fetus. It is also possible for such a woman by persistently thinking upon a wise and great man such as Plato or Aristotle, a great musician like Hoffhammer, a painter like Durer, so to work upon the plastic tendencies of her offspring that it will exhibit similar qualities. But there must be also something in the mother which shall correspond to the special talents which she has imagined. Imagination can also distort and deform the fetus and in this manner many wonders are produced where there are no physical peculiarities in the parents."
Cornelius Agrippa states in his Occult Philosophy that "many monstrous generations proceed from the monstrous imagination of a woman with child. " He gives ail instance of a woman who was rough and hairy all over her body, like a wild beast, as a consequence of a kind of religious horror felt by her mother upon seeing and contemplating a picture of the hairy John the Baptist which hung in the room she occupied during the period of pregnancy for this daughter.
The importance of a peaceful environment and particularly sensitive condition for the incoming parents, cannot be too strongly emphasized. Formation of the organs of a fetus always marks a particularly sensitive condition for the incoming Spirit; it is a time when any unfavorable condition in the environment of the mother reacts most harmfully, often causing a retardation in the development of an organ which, in turn, causes a deformity. Parents may thus ignorantly create a heavy indebtedness to their unborn children, such as may require more than one earth life for liquidation. Conception is a sacred and holy adventure of spirit. When rightly realized as such, it will never be undertaken lightly or without a sense of appropriate responsibility.
Celestial Beings assist an Ego in its preparation for an earthly pilgrimage. The Lords of Destiny, under whose direction the Law of Consequence is administered, impress upon the seed atom of its vital or etheric body the basic pattern of the earth life to come. This pattern is determined by the Ego's own past. We reap as we sow. At this stage this reaping finds expression in the seed atom of the etheric body; later it manifests in the etheric body grown from that seed; and still later, in the body which is the physical counterpart of the more tenuous etheric body, in the likeness of which it is formed. The effects of past lives also extend to circumstances and conditions. A clairvoyant can observe the full picture of a man in the seed atom of his vital body.
At the time of conception the matrix of the vital body, fashioned by the Angels from material attracted by the Ego's vital body seed atom, is placed within the body of the mother; the seed atom of the dense body, procured in the same manner, is placed in the spermatozoa in the father's semen. We have here the reason for the vital body being positive in woman and negative in man, whereas the physical body is positive in man and negative in woman.
Paracelsus avers that "man, although born of woman, is never derived from woman, but always from man." In this statement he is referring to man's physical or dense body. The vital body or life force is the gift of the mother. The secret of fruitful unions is the feminine gift of the matrix of the vital body and the masculine gift of the seed atom of the dense body. In the blending of masculine and feminine forces, the fire and water principles, is to be found the secret of life.
Paracelsus also states that "semen is the essence of the human body, containing all the organs of the latter in ideal form. This semen is not the visible seminal fluid of man, but a semi-material principle contained in the sperma and for which the sperma serves as a vehicle. It is developed in the same way in which fire is produced from wood.
"Semen is composed of essences of the entire body, and if organs are missing or malformed, their especial essence is missing from the seminal extract." This is due to past causation, worked out true to law under the supervision of the Lords of Destiny.
Paracelsus also tells us that "imagination of the male produces semen; imagination of the mother exerts great constructive influence upon the development of the fetus, and upon this fact is based the similarity existing between parents and children." This also emphasizes the great importance of pure living and high and holy thinking on the part of the parents during the time an Ego is being prepared for a new Earth experience.
The first twenty-one days after conception are especially important. During this time the desire of the mother is focused upon the matrix continuously, and the Ego hovers near the mother, but it is not yet within its own growing form. There is a transmutation of colors in the seminal fluid at this time. The mother here may fashion as she will. Mary spent this period in communion with hosts of Angels.
At the expiration of the first twenty-one days, the Ego enters the body of the mother and its influence is added to that of the mother until the time of birth. The time of entrance is a crucial one for the Spirit; both the mother and child should have the benefit of the utmost peace and quiet. The day will come when this sacred time will be observed with all the solemnity now accorded the christening. Inharmony between parents at this time may produce serious consequences, sometimes even of a fatal nature. A large percentage of disease is caused by the misuse of the sacred life force, by feeding the body animal flesh, and by the use of false nerve stimulus of alcohol and nicotine. This mode of living is invariably accompanied by negative and destructive thinking. Science claims that many still births and abortions are caused by an excessive use of alcohol and nicotine. Such causation must be paid for in the agony of further tears and suffering.
The mass consciousness of man was not able to receive the lofty concept of the Immaculate Conception before the Christian Era. Few even now will accept it and live true to its high idealism. Upon those few will devolve the glorious privilege of ushering in the New Race — a race of advanced souls waiting to bring to man the demonstration of the powers of the Christos.
When prospective parents prepare themselves through prayer and holy aspiration without thought of self-gratification, the resulting Sacrament of Conception is immaculate. This was the high ideal shadowed forth by those illustrious beings, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, upon this weary, waiting world.
Madame Blavatsky says: "As the fetus develops from the fluid in the womb, so worlds germinate from universal ether in the womb of the universe. Also, these cosmic children are first nuclei, then ovules, gradually mature, become mothers and bring forth children of mineral, plant, animal, and man. Embryo in prenatal state, individual in family, family in state and state in mankind, earth in system, system in universe, universe in cosmos, and cosmos in Absolute — this is Evolution."
The creative energy of Spirit is bi-polar, or positive and negative, on all planes of manifestation. Metaphysically, we term this dual expression Will and Imagination; physically, the masculine and feminine poles of the creative (archetypal) force. In these operations and activities is to be found the spiritual origin of life's manifestations.
On any plane of being the work of the mother, the feminine or image-building principle, is that of moulding an archetype or pattern, minute in every detail, of the object to be created; this is the "pattern made in the heavens." It is fashioned of mind substance, and is not only formed but overshadowed and nourished into manifestation on the more material planes of being by the Divine Feminine.
The functions of the Will or masculine pole are vitalization, creation, activity. In body building this masculine aspect of Spirit pours into the etheric matrix the necessary quantity of physical atoms to give it form on the physical plane.
The human race is unisexual in its present stage of development. In the remote past the race was androgyne; it will be so again in the distant future. In all individuals the organs of the opposite sex are now present in germinal form. These, facts bear witness to the universality of the law of polarity. It operates in every sphere of being from atom to God. The lower reflects the higher; as above, so below.
The sex of the body which an incoming Spirit is to inhabit is determined by guardian Angels long before the Ego comes into incarnation. This matter is determined in accordance with "ripe fate" to be liquidated in the coming life. When this choice is made the Spirit is above and beyond the limitation circumscribed by sex; it is in the pure light of spirit.
The descent of a Spirit is set to celestial music. From each plane it attracts a certain amount of material, of a low or high vibratory rate in strict accordance with its past causation. The substance of each and every plane possesses a certain polarity, positive or negative. If a feminine body is to be fashioned, the Ego draws negative atoms from the desire and physical planes and positive atoms from the etheric and mental. If a masculine body is to be built, negative atoms are attracted from the etheric and mental realms and positive atoms from the physical and desire worlds. A birth is thus foretold in the music of the spheres.
The divisions of sex are impermanent. "Every man is complete within himself and nothing is there lacking if he will but search the depths. Love is but the soul's desire for a portion of itself which it has lost and without which its joy is incomplete. That which we possess, yet are not conscious of, is lost, latent, present but unmanifest. The perfect being is fully self-conscious of all his parts and attributes, and perfection must be our end and aim. Know then that thou art in me and I in thee, and through you I become self-conscious of myself in thee. This is the Virgin Marriage, the only union known in heaven" (Esoteric Mysteries). "And the Spirit and the bride say 'Come . . . And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely' " (Rev. XXII:17).
The divine Mother Mary works eternally with the mothers of the world that their glorious heritage may be realized. The two Great Mothers of the zodiac, Cancer and Virgo, have placed upon her work and life their radiant impress. Cancer, as the fructifying Mother, is represented by the Madonna and Child — the theme which has immortalized the world's master-artists. Virgo, the spirit of the Immaculate Conception, is typified by the Madonna enthroned and surrounded by multitudes of Angels singing gladsome hallelujahs for that high destiny which awaits the mothers of the world. The story of the "fall" and redemption of the Divine Feminine (the imagination or image-building faculty of the soul) has been the theme of all mystic literature. This subject has also comprised the inner teachings of all Initiatory Schools. Hers are the secrets that Isis conceals beneath her veil of time. Until man approaches her altar with clean hands and pure heart this veil cannot be lifted so he can begin to comprehend and demonstrate its secret meanings.
In its true meaning the Holy Ghost has been but little understood by adherents of the Christian Church. It is the highest aspect of the third or Activity power of the Godhead. All evolving life is under its guidance. Its force is positive-negative, or will and image-building. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost for the reason that she, the supreme Initiate of all earthly women, had most nearly perfected within herself this image-building feminine faculty. Therefore she was able to aid a great Master Spirit in building the most perfect human body ever to manifest upon the earth plane.
The highest feminine Initiates have always been instructed in the work of perfecting this image-building faculty of the Spirit by the Hierarchy of Virgo, the Lords of Wisdom. Hence it is that Virgo is represented as perfected woman, bearing a sheaf of wheat in her band.
Wheat has borne a mystic significance in all Schools of Initiation, being representative of the sacred life essence, conserved and lifted to the head, as a source of mental and psychic power.
The Holy Mary, under this divine tutelage, was born when the Sun, centered in Virgo, was flooding the Earth with its sacred force.
On that most mystic night, when the rays of the Sun in Capricorn encircle the Earth and the new "Sun Child" is born to redeem the world from winter's darkness and death, the starry Madonna Goddess of Virgo stands upon the eastern horizon, holding aloft her gleaming sheaf of wheat — symbol of eternal life — in greeting to the holy Babe.
Within man must the conserved and transmuted life essence form the radiant staff of life that "buds" before he can know the glorious joys of the holiest of all nights.
Since the loss of spiritual understanding in relation to the holy mysteries of conception and birth, the race idea has been built about thoughts of pain and fear and death. These are all crystallizing in their effect, and have caused childbirth to become the dreaded ordeal it is at present.
In the coming age the pain of physical labor will be exchanged for mental and spiritual labor, which will be beautiful and inspiring. Generation must be accompanied by regenerative living. Conception must first of all be a mental process. When these ideals have been generally accepted and demonstrated, imperfect, mal-formed, and diseased, bodies will be a thing of the past. The birth of children will be like the coming of spring flowers.
Walt Whitman, America's foremost seer-poet, expressed motherhood's high calling thus:
— Corinne Heline
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