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The Faust myth presents a curious situation in the meeting of the hero, who is the seeking soul, with different classes of spirits. The spirit of Faust, inherently good, feels drawn to the higher orders; it feels akin to the benevolent Earth Spirit, and bemoans the inability to detain it and learn from it. Face to face with the Spirit of Negation, who is only too willing to teach and to serve, he finds himself master in a certain sense, because that spirit cannot leave, over the symbol of the five pointed star in the position it is placed upon the floor. But both his inability to detain the Earth Spirit and obtain tuition from that exalted Being, and his mastery over the Spirit of Negation, are due to the fact that he has come into contact with them by chance and not by soul power evolved from within.
When Parsifal, the hero of another of these great soul myths, first visited the Castle of the Grail, he was asked how he had come there, and he answered "I know not." He just happened to enter the holy place as a soul sometimes gets a glimpse of the celestial realms in a vision; but he could not stay in Mount Salvat. He was forced to go out into the world again and learn his lessons. Many years later he returned to the Castle of the Grail, weary and worn with the quest, and the same query again was asked: "How did you come here?" But this time his answer was different, for he said, "Through search and suffering I came."
That is the cardinal point which marks the great difference between persons who happen to come in contact with Spirits from superphysical realms by chance or stumble upon the solution of a law of nature, and those, who by diligent research and particularly by living the life, attain to conscious Initiation into the secrets of nature. The former do not know how to use this power intelligently and are therefore helpless. The latter are always masters of the forces they wield, while the others are the sport of anyone who wishes to take advantage of them.
Faust is the symbol of man, and humanity was first led by the Lucifer spirits and the angels of Jehovah. We are now looking to the Christ Spirit within the earth as the Saviour to emancipate us from their selfish and negative influence.
Paul gives us a glimpse of the further evolution designed for us, when he says, that after Christ has established the kingdom, He will turn it over to the Father, who will then be all in all.
Faust, however, first seeks communication with the macrocosm, who is the Father. Like the heavenly centaur, Sagittarius, he aims his bow at the highest stars. He is not satisfied to begin at the bottom and work his way up gradually. When spurned by that sublime Being, he comes down one step in the scale and seeks communion with the Earth Spirit who also scorns him, for he cannot become the pupil of the good forces until he has conformed to their rules, so that he may enter the path of Initiation by the true door. Therefore, when he finds that the pentagram at the door holds the evil spirit, he sees a chance to drive a bargain. He is ready to sell his soul to Satan.
As said before, however, he is too ignorant to successfully retain the mastery, and spirit power quickly away the obstructions and leaves Lucifer free. But though he departs from the chamber of Faust, he soon returns ready to barter for the seeking soul. He paints before Faust's eyes glowing pictures of how he may live his life over, how he may gratify his passions and desires. Faust, knowing that Lucifer is not disinterested, inquires what compensation he requires. To this, Lucifer answers:
Faust himself, adds a seemingly singular condition, regarding the time when the service of Lucifer shall terminate and his own earth life come to an end.
Strange as it seems, we have in the agreement of Lucifer and the clause proposed by Faust basic laws of evolution. By the law of attraction we are drawn into contact with kindred spirits both here and hereafter. If we serve the good forces here and labor to lift ourselves, we find similarly minded company in this world and in the next, but if we love darkness rather than light, we find ourselves associated with the underworld here and hereafter also. There is no escape from this.
Furthermore, we are all "temple builders" working under the direction of God and His ministers, the divine Hierarchies. If we shirk the task set us in life, we are placed under conditions which will force us to learn. There is no rest nor peace upon the path of evolution and if we seek pleasure and joy to the exclusion of the work of life, the death knell soon comes. If ever we come to a point where we are ready to bid the passing hour stay, where we are so contended with conditions that we cease our efforts to progress, our existence is quickly terminated. It is a matter of observation, that people who retire from business to live only for the enjoyment of that which they have accumulated, soon pass out; while the man who changes his vocation for an avocation generally lives longer. Nothing is so apt to end an existence as inactivity. Therefore, as has been said, the laws of nature are enunciated in the bargain of Lucifer and the condition added by Faust:
Lucifer requests Faust to sign with a drop of blood. And when asked the reason, he says cunningly, "Blood is a most peculiar essence." The Bible says it is the seat of the soul.
When the Earth was in process of condensation the invisible aura surrounding Mars, Mercury and Venus penetrated the earth and the spirits of these planets were in peculiar and close relation with humanity. Iron is a Mars metal, and by the admixture of iron with the blood, oxidation is made possible; thus the inner heat required for the manifestation of an indwelling Spirit was obtained through the agency of the Lucifer spirits from Mars. They are therefore responsible for the conditions under which the ego is immured in the physical body.
When blood is extracted from the human body and coagulates, every particle is of a peculiar form not duplicated by the particles of any other human being. Therefore, the one who has blood of a certain person has a connecting link with the spirit that built the blood particles. He has power over that person if he knows how to use this knowledge. That is the reason why Lucifer required the signature in Faust's blood, for with the name of his victim thus written in blood, he could hold the soul in bondage according to the laws involved.
Yes, indeed! Blood is a very peculiar essence, as important in white magic as in black. All knowledge in whatever direction used, must necessarily feed on life which is primarily derived from the extracts of the vital body: that is to say, the sex force and the blood. All knowledge that is not thus fed and nurtured, is as dead and as powerless as the philosophy Faust extracted from his books. No books are of themselves sufficient. Only in the measure that we take that knowledge into our lives and nourish it and live it, is it of real value.
But there is this great difference: that while the aspirant in the schools of the Sacred Science feeds his soul on his own sex force and the lower passions in his own blood which he thus transmutes and cleanses, the adherents of the black school live as vampires on the sex force of others and the impure blood drawn from the veins of victims. In the Castle of the Grail we see the pure and cleansing blood working wonders upon those who were chaste and aspired to high deeds, but in the Castle of Herod, the personification of voluptuousness Salome causes the passion filled blood to race riotously through the veins of the participants, and the blood dripping from the head of the martyred Baptist served to give them the power they were too cowardly to acquire through suffering, by cleansing themselves of impurities.
Faust aims to acquire power quickly by the aid of others, hence he contacts the danger point, just as everyone does today, who runs after self-styled "adepts" or "masters," who are ready to pander to the lowest appetites of their dupes — for a consideration — as Lucifer offers to serve Faust. But they can give no soul powers no matter what they claim. That comes from within, by patient persistence in well-doing, a fact which cannot be too often reiterated.
(You are welcome to e-mail your answers and/or comments to us. Please be sure to include the course name and Independent Study Module number in your e-mail to us. Or, you are also welcome to use the answer form below.)
1. Why is Faust, the seeking Soul, unable to detain the Earth Spirit or to be master over Lucifer?
2. What is the great difference between persons who happen to contact spirits of the other realms and those who by living the life attain to conscious Initiation?
3. What is to emancipate humanity from the leadership of Jehovah and Lucifer?
4. Can Faust become a pupil of the good forces without conforming to their rules?
5. Why is Lucifer able to escape from Faust's seeming control?
6. What is the basic law of evolution as signified in the agreement between Lucifer and Faust?
7. What is the one condition which tends the most toward crystallization?
8. Why is blood a most peculiar essence?
9. Can a soul be held in bondage through allowing another control over his blood?
10. What is the difference in the use of the blood between the white and black magician?
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