The deepest truths taught in the Mysteries relate to the blood, because the very "life of the flesh" is in it. As no two individuals are alike, neither is the blood of any two persons identical. An individualized Ego makes its distinctive impression on its own constituent elements. This difference is sufficiently pronounced in the blood of man and animal to be easily recognized; so, too, is the difference between the blood of man and anthropoid. Again, the blood of major races differs clearly; and among people of the same race, medical science classifies for practical purposes four types. Some of these are sufficiently alike to make transfusions serve the end of life, while the mingling of others causes distress and even death. Looking to the causative, life side of this subject, an occult investigator learns that racial blood type is conditioned by the influence of the Race Spirit. Since each race is guided by a different Spirit, the blood through which each one works shows a corresponding difference.
Medical science is also making discoveries in connections with blood crystals. The more individualized the person, the more distinct are the crystal patterns. The time will come when science will be able to discover in the blood not only hereditary tendencies but the Ego's progression through past incarnations. Then it will be in possession of evidence that will make clear the occult teaching that the blood within the body of man is the Ego's specialized field of activity.
By studying the physical properties and constituents of blood, academic science has discovered important facts. But the causes lying back of the effects it investigates are open only to a qualified researcher in the field of spiritual science. "The mere looking at externals," says Paracelsus, "is a matter for clowns, but the intuition of internals is a secret which belongs to physicians."
The blood may be divided into three parts, each of which governed astrologically by one of the three water signs. The serum comes under Cancer; the red matter under Scorpio; and the fiber under Pisces. But though the blood stream is governed by the water signs, "There would be no blood," in the words of Jacob Boehme "if the Tincture of Fire and Light were not in water."
The blood is essentially a fire element and comes under the influence of Mars and the Sun. Mars governs the physical forces; it rules iron and the warm, red-blooded, passionate nature; the Sun governs the spirit, the Ego that functions in the life stream.
Among animals only vertebrates have red blood because they alone have an individual desire body. The spirit does not come in possession of a separate desire vehicle until it has learned to manufacture red corpuscles. These minute bodies, found in the human body, compose about half the blood content. Their office is attract oxygen through the fire forces of Earth and Sun.
The white corpuscles, contrary to generally accepted teachings on the subject, are not the policemen of the body but germ centers which owe their origin to negative, destructive thinking. There only one white corpuscle to every three or four hundred red. The positive forces that make for life and immortality are in the ascendancy.
The red corpuscles of animals contain a nucleated point not found in human blood. This is the center through which each Group Spirit controls its species. During the prenatal period in which mother is most active in building a body for an incoming Ego, the blood of the fetus is also nucleated; but it ceases to be at the time of the quickening, when the nucleated centers are absorbed by the indwelling spirit, after which it acquires control of its own body. In involuntary mediumship and cases of extreme and prolonged obsession, the blood gradually shows a tendency become nucleated.
The circulatory system displays celestial wisdom and represents aeons of development. If all flesh and bone could be removed from the body, leaving the blood vessels only, there would still remain a human form.
The blood has undergone marked changes in the course of evolutionary development and will undergo yet more transformations in the future as the body gradually outgrows it material expression and puts on immortality. It will become increasingly etherealized until it appears as luminous and as immaterial as the light that flows through neon tubes. Men will then literally "walk in the light as He is in the light" and realize fellowship one with another. An aspirant on the spiritual path endeavors to condition his life stream so that it may radiate more and more of the divine light, by nourishing his body on a clean, fleshless diet, by living chastely and dwelling perpetually on high and noble thoughts; and by giving himself unselfishly in service to the common good. The transmutation of passion into compassion is the most important factor in effecting purification of the blood.
The veil dances performed in ancient Temples were conceived to demonstrate the rhythmic flow of life and light through the human body. Such light glows only from a blood stream that is pure, so these ritualistic dances were performed only by virgin maidens who exhibited in their luminous beings and harmonious expression, qualities which onlooking neophytes were inspired to emulate. Spiritual realization and not sensuous allurement was the objective of these early Temple devotees. They were, therefore, peculiarly fitted to bring the sacred ceremonials to a graceful and inspiring climax. Participants had become so sensitive to the vibratory rhythms of Earth and all the planetary system that cosmic currents literally found embodiment in their supple, radiant forms. So responsive were they to the bidding of spirit that they reflected inner beauties in outward motion. Noble efforts that are being made in this day by spiritually minded and aesthetically gifted individuals to recapture the art of rhythmic motion will in time receive general recognition, and the art will be reincorporated in sacred ceremonials of the New Age.
In man, the microcosm, the heart corresponds to the Sun of the macrocosm. His vital organs are as planets related to and dependent on that central organ. Just as the heart sends the blood circulating through his body, so does the Sun send to the planets magnetic currents that circulate throughout their physical forms. All elements contained in Earth and the solar system are to be found in the body of man.
In early stages of human development the life stream was white and ethereal. This etheric stream reached man from the earth and was under the direction of the celestial Hierarchies then supervising human evolution. A knowledge of this fact leads to an appreciative recognition of a bond with our planet that is not based on dust merely; it is a relationship of life. We are truly children of Mother Earth. Adam, the generic name for humanity, means earth — red earth.
When infant humanity came to birth it was connected with this planetary body by a magnetic cord corresponding to the umbilical cord that unites mother and child. As humanity developed the time came for a severance of that cord; after this it embarked upon a separate existence as does a new born infant. Then man gradually became aware of his independent identity. As self-consciousness grew stronger, the realization of unity with the universal life diminished so that by the time the blood reached its present oxygenated state, all memory of inner-life experiences and of rebirth had virtually disappeared .
When the human body had evolved to its present form under the direction of the Lords of Form, assisted by other Beings, the essence of iron was polarized in the Earth by the martial, fiery Lucifer spirits and their red iron ray was focused on man, stirring him into energetic activity and strengthening the consciousness of his independent existence. He became a red blooded, passionate, fighting creature whose energies needed redirection through purification of the life stream. This is the reason for emphasis placed on the cleansing blood in both the Old and the New Testaments. The meaning of Old Testament ceremonial and New Testament doctrine is inseparable therefrom. Without this, human redemption is impossible. Innumerable beliefs about it may be dispensed with, but not the fact itself.
The blood that flowed on Calvary involves one of the deepest Christian Mysteries. In principle it was of exactly the same significance as the sacrificial blood that flowed in early ceremonial rites of many religions. It was different only in degree, the offering on Golgotha being a reversal of dominant forces operative in human evolution from a downward to an upward course.
With the blood that flowed into the Earth at the time of the Crucifixion of Christ Jesus, a tremendous power entered into the planetary body, penetrating to its very core. From that center continues as an active, regenerative force, not only in mankind but all the kingdoms of nature. It is reshaping planetary conditions an gradually evolving a race with enhanced powers and an illumined state of consciousness.
Generation is associated with the shedding of blood; regeneration with the transmutation of blood. All the world is enmeshed in former: few, as yet, have any concept of the latter part of the secret teaching given by the Master to the Disciples at the Last Supper when He said "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matt. 26:29)
Only those Disciples recognized by the Master as having purified their blood to a sufficient degree to enable them to partake of a high ceremonial were permitted to share with Him the Last Supper. The cup of which they drank was pronounced by Christ Jesus as "the new testament in my blood." The bread and wine pertained to the cleansing of the blood and the consequent illumination of mind.
When blood flows at the time the Ego relinquishes its physical vehicle there is a literal liberation of undesirable elements from very substance. There is an actual cleansing. The burden of its taint will be less when the Ego returns to another earthly body. So important is this fact that every Ego experiences at least one death when the blood flows before attaining to the glories of ascended consciousness, or Initiation.
Blood is the most powerful agent in body regeneration. The heat of the blood must be raised to a degree where it changes into the light of the blood.
There is a cryptic statement which reads: "Many talk of the Lion, few know it." It refers to life that flows from the wounds of the Lion of Judah.
On every plane the process of regeneration has to do with a proper blending of Fire and Water. Considered in its physical aspect, oxygen is a fiery element without which life in the body continues for a few moments only. It is the foremost substance of the present Earth Period. Three-fourths of man's body is composed of oxygen.
When the blood has been transmuted into a golden light essence, oxygen will be superseded by another and more rarified Sun element. A difficulty that will be encountered by large numbers of people making this transition will be due to a taint of alcohol in the blood. Alcohol, like oxygen, is a fiery substance; but unlike the latter, it is of a destructive nature. The current prevalence of alcoholic indulgence will result in an extremely heavy racial liability in generations to come. It will seriously handicap those so afflicted in making the necessary physical readjustments to a new element already filtering into the atmosphere and gradually replacing oxygen as the substance of first importance to life. There will be difficulty in breathing; the lungs will fail to function; the blood will be unable to accommodate itself to the change. And thus the Ego will suffer for want of a vehicle able to function on this physical plane. The life man lives will, in the end, judge him. The Law executes judgment impersonally; it is to each according to his deserts.
Medical science is baffled by its inability to diagnose and cure strange ailments making their appearance for the first time in human history. More such diseases may be expected in the cycle of change now affecting the body of man and his environment. Only those who have kept sufficiently abreast of the steadily advancing evolutionary movement will be able to make the necessary adjustments to survive transitions now in progress. Those who have refined their bodies, kept their blood stream clean, quickened their mental activities, and accelerated generally the rhythm of their whole being, will be able to pass naturally and easily from conditions belonging to an era that is passing into those of the new age now dawning.
As previously stated, the life of the flesh is in the blood. It is the activity of the spirit that causes its circulation and gives it heat. The Ego is so closely identified with this liquid-gaseous substance that modern science claims ability to diagnose disease from a single drop. Not only that, but by submitting a minute specimen of this "peculiar essence" to certain vibratory tests, a skilled practitioner is able to determine the approximate age, race and sex of a person; also, whether the subject be alive or dead. Such is the magic of the modern laboratory findings in connection with the blood.
Spiritual science has gone much further. It is able to contact forces in the blood that lie beyond the reach of physical research. Knowledge of these forces bestows magical powers upon its possessor. Like all knowledge, this may be, and is, used both constructively and destructively. Magic is both white and black. Treatises on this subject, be they by the Brothers of the Shadow or the Brothers of Light, contain information dealing with blood ceremonials. There was white magic in those performed by the, Israelites according to Jehovah's instructions to Moses, and given by him to his people. But the occult side of those ceremonials is veiled to safeguard the ignorant, the curious and the selfish from misappropriating this knowledge and its powers lest they use them to their own detriment, or destruction.
He who has the blood of a person is in possession of a key to the very life of that individual. It is a nucleus through which a magician can influence the Ego to which it once belonged, be it for good or ill. This is why Mephistopheles required Faust to sign the pact made with him in his own blood; it gave him control over Faust's very being.
A black magician uses warm blood and the creative substance of other beings to effect his evil purposes. In ancient Lemuria and Atlantis this practice became so prevalent that it was a major cause of the destruction of these continents and the civilizations developed on them.
Human sacrifice had its origin in like ancient and perverted practices. It is to such that reference is made in Leviticus where it states explicitly that there shall be no more sacrificial offerings "unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring." This, it was emphasized, was no temporary measure. It was to be "a statute forever upon them throughout their generations." (Leviticus 17:7)
Further reference to evil practices connected with the blood is referred to in Leviticus 19:26,31: "Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Regard ye not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them. I Am the Lord your God."
The rites of both white and black magic are founded upon alchemical changes in the blood. A member of the White Brotherhood builds up power by transmuting his own blood; the Black ravishes the forces of another. Black magic led to the sacrifice of virgins before Temple altars in pre-Christian times, and caused the Massacre of the Innocents (to avenge the Holy Birth) in the day of Herod.
The first mystic blood-ceremonial was observed in connection with the separation of the sexes into male and female bodies, at which time there was a "fall" in the quality of the blood, or the life essence within it. The blood rite commemorated the change from the original androgynous state to dual-sexed humanity as now constituted. Teachings and ceremonials concerning this change were given in the earliest Lemurian Mystery Temples.
Paracelsus declares that "many wonderful virtues are in the blood exceeding all belief. Blood exists out of the best root and most potent fountain of the heart." The rites of brotherhood in which there is a mingling of blood was practiced by early races, by the Scotch and Scandinavians among others. It was based on a karmic tie. Literally, there is a merging of life itself. This is true also in case of blood transfusions, a fact well illustrated in the experience a certain person who, having given blood to a number of people, testified that whenever a donee passed out of earthly life, an image of that individual came to his sight. Apropos of this, Madame Blavatsky states that phantoms are able to materialize through the fumes or emanations of blood, and that this fluid furnishes certain spirits with the necessary substance for a temporary manifestation.
The mysterious powers contained in the blood have been explored only in a cornparatively superficial manner, even in the field occult science. Leviticus holds sacred secrets on the subject awaiting further elucidation in the present revelatory days.
— Corinne Heline
