The gate of obedience, the gate of prayer, and the gate of discernment.Renounce thine own will, and let the law of God only be within thee: renounce doubt: pray always and faint not: be pure of heart also, and thou shalt see God.And within the soul is the Spirit: and the Spirit is One, yet has it likewise three elements.And these are the gates of the oracle of God, which is the ark of the covenant;The rod, the host[76], and the law:The force which solves, and transmutes, and divines: the bread of heaven which is the substance of all things and the food of angels; the table of the law, which is the will of God, written with the finger of the Lord.If these three be within thy spirit, then shall the Spirit of God be within thee.And the glory shall be upon the propitiatory, in the holy place of thy prayer.These are the twelve gates of regeneration: through which if a man enter he shall have right to the tree of life.For the number of that Tree is Thirteen.It may happen to a man to have three, to another five, to another seven, to another ten.But until a man have twelve, he is not master over the last enemy.
The gate of obedience, the gate of prayer, and the gate of discernment.
Renounce thine own will, and let the law of God only be within thee: renounce doubt: pray always and faint not: be pure of heart also, and thou shalt see God.
And within the soul is the Spirit: and the Spirit is One, yet has it likewise three elements.
And these are the gates of the oracle of God, which is the ark of the covenant;
The rod, the host[76], and the law:
The force which solves, and transmutes, and divines: the bread of heaven which is the substance of all things and the food of angels; the table of the law, which is the will of God, written with the finger of the Lord.
If these three be within thy spirit, then shall the Spirit of God be within thee.
And the glory shall be upon the propitiatory, in the holy place of thy prayer.
These are the twelve gates of regeneration: through which if a man enter he shall have right to the tree of life.
For the number of that Tree is Thirteen.
It may happen to a man to have three, to another five, to another seven, to another ten.
But until a man have twelve, he is not master over the last enemy.
(5) Concerning the Passage of the Soul[77].
Evoi, Father Iacchos, Lord God of Egypt: initiate thy servants in the halls of thy Temple;Upon whose walls are the forms of every creature: of every beast of the earth, and of every fowl of the air;The lynx, and the lion, and the bull: the ibis and the serpent: the scorpion and every flying thing.And the columns thereof are human shapes; having the heads of eagles and the hoofs of the ox.
Evoi, Father Iacchos, Lord God of Egypt: initiate thy servants in the halls of thy Temple;
Upon whose walls are the forms of every creature: of every beast of the earth, and of every fowl of the air;
The lynx, and the lion, and the bull: the ibis and the serpent: the scorpion and every flying thing.
And the columns thereof are human shapes; having the heads of eagles and the hoofs of the ox.
All these are of thy kingdom: they are the chambers of ordeal, and the houses of the initiation of the soul.For the soul passeth from form to form; and the mansions of her pilgrimage are manifold.Thou callest her from the deep, and from the secret places of the earth; from the dust of the ground, and from the herb of the field.Thou coverest her nakedness with an apron of fig-leaves; thou clothest her with the skins of beasts.Thou art from of old, O soul of man; yea, thou art from the everlasting.Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as vesture dost thou fold them up.They perish, but thou remainest: the wind rendeth and scattereth them; and the place of them shall no more be known.For the wind is the Spirit of God in man, which bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.Even so is the spirit of man, which cometh from afar off and tarrieth not, but passeth away to a place thou knowest not.
All these are of thy kingdom: they are the chambers of ordeal, and the houses of the initiation of the soul.
For the soul passeth from form to form; and the mansions of her pilgrimage are manifold.
Thou callest her from the deep, and from the secret places of the earth; from the dust of the ground, and from the herb of the field.
Thou coverest her nakedness with an apron of fig-leaves; thou clothest her with the skins of beasts.
Thou art from of old, O soul of man; yea, thou art from the everlasting.
Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as vesture dost thou fold them up.
They perish, but thou remainest: the wind rendeth and scattereth them; and the place of them shall no more be known.
For the wind is the Spirit of God in man, which bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.
Even so is the spirit of man, which cometh from afar off and tarrieth not, but passeth away to a place thou knowest not.
(6) Concerning the Mystic Exodus[77].
Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the Sphinx; who linkest the lowest to the highest; the loins of the wild beast to the head and breast of the woman.Thou holdest the chalice of divination: all the forms of nature are reflected therein.Thou turnest man to destruction: then thou sayest, Come again, ye children of my hand.Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth: Lord of the cross and the tree of salvation.Vine of God, whose blood redeemeth; bread of heaven, broken on the altar of death.
Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the Sphinx; who linkest the lowest to the highest; the loins of the wild beast to the head and breast of the woman.
Thou holdest the chalice of divination: all the forms of nature are reflected therein.
Thou turnest man to destruction: then thou sayest, Come again, ye children of my hand.
Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth: Lord of the cross and the tree of salvation.
Vine of God, whose blood redeemeth; bread of heaven, broken on the altar of death.
There is corn in Egypt; go thou down into her, O my soul, with joy.For in the kingdom of the Body, thou shalt eat the bread of thine initiation.But beware lest thou become subject to the flesh, and a bond-slave in the land of thy sojourn.Serve not the idols of Egypt; and let not the senses be thy taskmasters.For they will bow thy neck to their yoke; they will bitterly oppress the Israel of God.An evil time shall come upon thee; and the Lord shall smite Egypt with plagues for thy sake.Thy body shall be broken on the wheel of God; thy flesh shall see trouble and the worm.Thy house shall be smitten with grievous plagues; blood, and pestilence, and great darkness; fire shall devour thy goods; and thou shalt be a prey to the locust and creeping thing.Thy glory shall be brought down to the dust; hail and storm shall smite thine harvest; yea, thy beloved and thy first-born shall the hand of the Lord destroy;Until the body let the soul go free; that she may serve the Lord God.Arise in the night, O soul, and fly, lest thou be consumed in Egypt.The angel of the understanding shall know thee for his elect, if thou offer unto God a reasonable faith.Savour thy reason with learning, with labour, and with obedience.Let the rod of thy desire be in thy right hand: put the sandals of Hermes on thy feet; and gird thy loins with strength.Then shalt thou pass through the waters of cleansing, which is the first death in the body.The waters shall be a wall unto thee on thy right hand and on thy left.
There is corn in Egypt; go thou down into her, O my soul, with joy.
For in the kingdom of the Body, thou shalt eat the bread of thine initiation.
But beware lest thou become subject to the flesh, and a bond-slave in the land of thy sojourn.
Serve not the idols of Egypt; and let not the senses be thy taskmasters.
For they will bow thy neck to their yoke; they will bitterly oppress the Israel of God.
An evil time shall come upon thee; and the Lord shall smite Egypt with plagues for thy sake.
Thy body shall be broken on the wheel of God; thy flesh shall see trouble and the worm.
Thy house shall be smitten with grievous plagues; blood, and pestilence, and great darkness; fire shall devour thy goods; and thou shalt be a prey to the locust and creeping thing.
Thy glory shall be brought down to the dust; hail and storm shall smite thine harvest; yea, thy beloved and thy first-born shall the hand of the Lord destroy;
Until the body let the soul go free; that she may serve the Lord God.
Arise in the night, O soul, and fly, lest thou be consumed in Egypt.
The angel of the understanding shall know thee for his elect, if thou offer unto God a reasonable faith.
Savour thy reason with learning, with labour, and with obedience.
Let the rod of thy desire be in thy right hand: put the sandals of Hermes on thy feet; and gird thy loins with strength.
Then shalt thou pass through the waters of cleansing, which is the first death in the body.
The waters shall be a wall unto thee on thy right hand and on thy left.
And Hermes the Redeemer shall go before thee; for he is thy cloud of darkness by day, and thy pillar of fire by night.All the horsemen of Egypt and the chariots thereof; her princes, her counsellors, and her mighty men:These shall pursue thee, O soul, that fliest; and shall seek to bring thee back into bondage.Fly for thy life; fear not the deep; stretch out thy rod over the sea; and lift thy desire unto God.Thou hast learnt wisdom in Egypt; thou has spoiled the Egyptians; thou hast carried away their fine gold and their precious things.Thou hast enriched thyself in the body; but the body shall not hold thee; neither shall the waters of the deep swallow thee up.Thou shalt wash thy robes in the sea of regeneration; the blood of atonement shall redeem thee to God.This is thy chrism and anointing, O soul; this is the first death; thou art the Israel of the Lord,Who hath redeemed thee from the dominion of the body; and hath called thee from the grave, and from the house of bondage,Unto the way of the cross, and to the path in the midst of the wilderness;Where are the adder and the serpent, the mirage and the burning sand.For the feet of the saint are set in the way of the desert.But be thou of good courage, and fail thou not; then shall thy raiment endure, and thy sandals shall not wax old upon thee.And thy desire shall heal thy diseases; it shall bring streams for thee out of the stony rock; it shall lead thee to Paradise.Evoi, Father Iacchos, Jehovah-Nissi[78]; Lord of the garden and of the vineyard;
And Hermes the Redeemer shall go before thee; for he is thy cloud of darkness by day, and thy pillar of fire by night.
All the horsemen of Egypt and the chariots thereof; her princes, her counsellors, and her mighty men:
These shall pursue thee, O soul, that fliest; and shall seek to bring thee back into bondage.
Fly for thy life; fear not the deep; stretch out thy rod over the sea; and lift thy desire unto God.
Thou hast learnt wisdom in Egypt; thou has spoiled the Egyptians; thou hast carried away their fine gold and their precious things.
Thou hast enriched thyself in the body; but the body shall not hold thee; neither shall the waters of the deep swallow thee up.
Thou shalt wash thy robes in the sea of regeneration; the blood of atonement shall redeem thee to God.
This is thy chrism and anointing, O soul; this is the first death; thou art the Israel of the Lord,
Who hath redeemed thee from the dominion of the body; and hath called thee from the grave, and from the house of bondage,
Unto the way of the cross, and to the path in the midst of the wilderness;
Where are the adder and the serpent, the mirage and the burning sand.
For the feet of the saint are set in the way of the desert.
But be thou of good courage, and fail thou not; then shall thy raiment endure, and thy sandals shall not wax old upon thee.
And thy desire shall heal thy diseases; it shall bring streams for thee out of the stony rock; it shall lead thee to Paradise.
Evoi, Father Iacchos, Jehovah-Nissi[78]; Lord of the garden and of the vineyard;
Initiator and lawgiver; God of the cloud and of the mount.Evoi, Father Iacchos; out of Egypt has thou called thy Son.
Initiator and lawgiver; God of the cloud and of the mount.
Evoi, Father Iacchos; out of Egypt has thou called thy Son.
To vindicate the suppressed mysteries of the pre-Christian churches by disclosing them as the trueoriginesof Christianity, and to replace the false doctrine of the exclusive divinity of one man by the true doctrine of the potential divinity of all men,—these are among the foremost objects of the New Gospel of Interpretation. And it is especially in order to reinforce the last named, that it has restored the following hymn in celebration of the supreme results of regeneration, which formed part of the ritual of the greater mysteries of the Greeks. It is addressed to the first of the Holy Seven, the Spirit of Wisdom, as represented by his "angel," the angel of the sun, even "that light which Adonai created on the first day," "whose name is, in the Hebrew, Uriel, and in the Greek, Phoibos, the Bright One of God." Breathing both the Spirit and the letter of the Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, the hymns, of which this is one, indicate unmistakeably the identity in source and substance of the Hebrew and the Christian with the other sacred mysteries of antiquity, and the derivation of the laterthrough the earlier from their common source in the world celestial when once again they have been restored. And they supply also the motive which led the Christians to destroy the second Alexandrian library, showing that motive to have been the desire to conceal, first, the derivation of the Christian presentment from its predecessors, and next, the perversion of their doctrine in the interests of an unscrupulous sacerdocy.
Taken in connection with its fellow-hymns, similarly recovered, to others of the "Holy Seven," the hymn to Phoibos throws a flood of light on the creative week of Genesis, showing it to be no mere proem to Scripture, or concerned with the world physical merely, but an integral portion of Scripture, being an epitome of eternal verities ever in process, and appertaining both to Creation and to Redemption. The Hymn to Her who is mystically the fourth, but really the third of the Gods, the "Spirit of Counsel" of Isaiah, is especially notable for its solution of the problem of the inversion of the order of the third and fourth days of creation. These hymns, moreover, show indubitably that the order of the solar system was no secret to the hierophants of the sacred mysteries of antiquity.
(7) Hymn to Phoibos, the First of the Gods.
"Strong art thou and adorable, Phoibos Apollo, who bearest life and healing on thy wings, who crownest the year with thy bounty, and givest the spirit of thy divinity to the fruits and precious things of all the worlds.Where were the bread of the initiation of the Sons of God, except thou bring the corn to ear; or the wine of their mystical chalice, except thou bless the vintage?
"Strong art thou and adorable, Phoibos Apollo, who bearest life and healing on thy wings, who crownest the year with thy bounty, and givest the spirit of thy divinity to the fruits and precious things of all the worlds.
Where were the bread of the initiation of the Sons of God, except thou bring the corn to ear; or the wine of their mystical chalice, except thou bless the vintage?
Many are the angels who serve in the courts of the spheres of heaven: but thou, Master of Light and of Life, art followed by the Christs of God.And thy sign is the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and of the Just made perfect;Whose path is as a shining light, shining more and more unto the innermost glory of the day of the Lord God.Thy banner is blood-red, and thy symbol is a milk-white lamb, and thy crown is of pure gold.They who reign with thee are the Hierophants of the celestial mysteries; for their will is the will of God, and they know as they are known.These are the sons of the innermost sphere; the Saviours of men, the Anointed of God.And their name is Christ Jesus, in the day of their initiation.And before them every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and of things on earth.They are come out of great tribulation, and are set down for ever at the right hand of God.And the Lamb, which is in the midst of the seven spheres, shall give them to drink of the river of living water.And they shall eat of the tree of life, which is in the centre of the garden of the kingdom of God.These are thine, O Mighty Master of Light; and this is the dominion which the Word of God appointed thee in the beginning:In the day when God created the light of all the worlds, and divided the light from the darkness.And God called the light Phoibos, and the darkness God called Python.Now the darkness was before the light, as the night forerunneth the dawn.These are the evening and the morning of the first cycle of the Mysteries.
Many are the angels who serve in the courts of the spheres of heaven: but thou, Master of Light and of Life, art followed by the Christs of God.
And thy sign is the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and of the Just made perfect;
Whose path is as a shining light, shining more and more unto the innermost glory of the day of the Lord God.
Thy banner is blood-red, and thy symbol is a milk-white lamb, and thy crown is of pure gold.
They who reign with thee are the Hierophants of the celestial mysteries; for their will is the will of God, and they know as they are known.
These are the sons of the innermost sphere; the Saviours of men, the Anointed of God.
And their name is Christ Jesus, in the day of their initiation.
And before them every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and of things on earth.
They are come out of great tribulation, and are set down for ever at the right hand of God.
And the Lamb, which is in the midst of the seven spheres, shall give them to drink of the river of living water.
And they shall eat of the tree of life, which is in the centre of the garden of the kingdom of God.
These are thine, O Mighty Master of Light; and this is the dominion which the Word of God appointed thee in the beginning:
In the day when God created the light of all the worlds, and divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Phoibos, and the darkness God called Python.
Now the darkness was before the light, as the night forerunneth the dawn.
These are the evening and the morning of the first cycle of the Mysteries.
And the glory of that cycle is as the glory of seven days; and they who dwell therein are seven times refined;Who have purged the garment of the flesh in the living waters;And have transmuted both body and soul into spirit, and are become pure virgins.For they were constrained by love to abandon the outer elements, and to seek the innermost which is undivided, even the Wisdom of God.And wisdom and love are one.
And the glory of that cycle is as the glory of seven days; and they who dwell therein are seven times refined;
Who have purged the garment of the flesh in the living waters;
And have transmuted both body and soul into spirit, and are become pure virgins.
For they were constrained by love to abandon the outer elements, and to seek the innermost which is undivided, even the Wisdom of God.
And wisdom and love are one.
In view of the restoration of the Gods to recognition by the New Gospel of Interpretation, it must be explained that the doctrines of Monotheism and Polytheism are not necessarily incompatible. This has already been shown in Chapter IV., in the utterance commencing—"In the bosom of the Eternal were all the Gods comprehended, as the seven spirits of the prism contained in the Invisible Light." For as light is one though its rays are seven and each ray is light, so is God one though His spirits are seven and each spirit is God.
And yet further. The deities recognised under various names or by various peoples are not necessarily different Gods, but may be either the same God or different modes or aspects of the same God. Notably is this the case with the Gods of the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Christians. For while by the term Elohim is denoted the two principles, masculine and feminine, of Force and Substance, which constitute Original Being, by Jehovah or Yahveh, Adonai and Shaddai, is denoted the resultant of the interaction of these two principles as Father and Mother, who is called therefore their word, expression, and Son. By theHoly Ghost is denoted the same two principles in activity, having procession from the "Father-Mother" through the "Son," to be the constituent principles of creation, being Deity dynamic as distinguished from Deity static. By the Seven Spirits of God—as by the seven great Gods of the Greeks,—are denoted the seven potencies into which Deity differentiates on emerging as Holy Ghost from the prism constituted of Father, Mother, and Son, which are to each other as the force, substance, and phenomenon of which every manifest entity consists. For "Every entity that is manifest, is manifest by the evolution of its trinity." And by Christ is denoted the ultimate issue of such procession of Deity into manifestation, namely, divinity individuated by means of its passage through matter, and elaborated by co-operation of the Seven Spirits of God, into a perfectedspiritualEgo, who is at once God and man, and subsists under two modes—the microcosmic or individual, and the macrocosmic or universal, and who is always in process of increase, because, in manifestation, "the Father is greater than the Son;" and "the manifest never exhausts the unmanifest."
Now the process of the Christ is by regeneration, and of this, as has been said, reincarnation is the condition. The New Gospel of Interpretation contains an utterance of Jesus on this subject which will fitly conclude this series of examples. It was recovered by "Mary" under illumination early in 1880, and consequently when we had not fully come to realise the actuality of the doctrine and the possibility of the recovery of the memories of past lives. Henceshe sought from her illuminators confirmation of the genuineness of the experience, when she was distinctly and positively assured that the incident had actually occurred, and that she had borne part in it, though no record of it survives. Such is the extrinsic testimony on which it rests. We found the intrinsic no less satisfactory, whether as regards the substance or the form.
(8) Concerning the previous lines of Jesus, and Reincarnation.
This morning between sleeping and waking I saw myself, together with many other persons, walking with Jesus in the fields round about Jerusalem, and while He was speaking to us, a man approached, who looked very earnestly upon Him. And Jesus turned to us and said, "This man whom you see approaching is a seer. He can behold the past lives of a man by looking into his face." Then, the man being come up to us, Jesus took him by the hand and said, "What readest thou?" And the man answered, "I see Thy past, Lord Jesus, and the ways by which Thou hast come." And Jesus said to him, "Say on." So the man told Jesus that he could see Him in the past for many long ages back. But of all that he named, I remember but one incarnation, or, perhaps, one only struck me, and that wasIsaac. And as the man went on speaking, and enumerating the incarnations he saw, Jesus waved His right hand twice or thrice before his eyes, and said, "It is enough," as though He wished him not to reveal further. Then I stepped forward from the rest and said, "Lord, if, as thou hast taught us, the woman is the highest form of humanity, and the last to be assumed, how comes it that Thou, the Christ, art still in the lower form of man? Why comest Thou not to lead the perfect life, and to save the world as woman? For surely Thou has attained to womanhood." And Jesus answered, "I have attained to womanhood, as thou sayest; andalready have I taken the form of woman. But there are three conditions under which the soul returns to the man's form; and they are these:—"1st. When the work which the Spirit proposes to accomplish is of a nature unsuitable to the female form."2nd. When the Spirit has failed to acquire, in the degree necessary to perfection, certain special attributes of the male character."3rd. When the Spirit has transgressed, and gone back in the path of perfection, by degrading the womanhood it had attained."In the first of these cases the return to the male form is outward and superficial only. This is my case. I am a woman in all save the body. But had My body been a woman's, I could not have led the life necessary to the work I have to perform. I could not have trod the rough ways of the earth, nor have gone about from city to city preaching, nor have fasted on the mountains, nor have fulfilled My mission of poverty and labour. Therefore am I—a woman—clothed in a man's body that I may be enabled to do the work set before Me."The second case is that of a soul who, having been a woman perhaps many times, has acquired more aptly and readily the higher qualities of womanhood than the lower qualities of manhood. Such a soul is lacking in energy, in resoluteness, in that particular attribute of the Spirit which the prophet ascribes to the Lord when he says, 'The Lord is a Man of war.' Therefore the soul is put back into a man's form to acquire the qualities yet lacking."The third case is that of the backslider, who, having nearly attained perfection,—perhaps even touched it,—degrades and soils his white robe, and is put back into the lower form again. These are the common cases; for there are few women who are worthy to be women"[79].
This morning between sleeping and waking I saw myself, together with many other persons, walking with Jesus in the fields round about Jerusalem, and while He was speaking to us, a man approached, who looked very earnestly upon Him. And Jesus turned to us and said, "This man whom you see approaching is a seer. He can behold the past lives of a man by looking into his face." Then, the man being come up to us, Jesus took him by the hand and said, "What readest thou?" And the man answered, "I see Thy past, Lord Jesus, and the ways by which Thou hast come." And Jesus said to him, "Say on." So the man told Jesus that he could see Him in the past for many long ages back. But of all that he named, I remember but one incarnation, or, perhaps, one only struck me, and that wasIsaac. And as the man went on speaking, and enumerating the incarnations he saw, Jesus waved His right hand twice or thrice before his eyes, and said, "It is enough," as though He wished him not to reveal further. Then I stepped forward from the rest and said, "Lord, if, as thou hast taught us, the woman is the highest form of humanity, and the last to be assumed, how comes it that Thou, the Christ, art still in the lower form of man? Why comest Thou not to lead the perfect life, and to save the world as woman? For surely Thou has attained to womanhood." And Jesus answered, "I have attained to womanhood, as thou sayest; andalready have I taken the form of woman. But there are three conditions under which the soul returns to the man's form; and they are these:—
"1st. When the work which the Spirit proposes to accomplish is of a nature unsuitable to the female form.
"2nd. When the Spirit has failed to acquire, in the degree necessary to perfection, certain special attributes of the male character.
"3rd. When the Spirit has transgressed, and gone back in the path of perfection, by degrading the womanhood it had attained.
"In the first of these cases the return to the male form is outward and superficial only. This is my case. I am a woman in all save the body. But had My body been a woman's, I could not have led the life necessary to the work I have to perform. I could not have trod the rough ways of the earth, nor have gone about from city to city preaching, nor have fasted on the mountains, nor have fulfilled My mission of poverty and labour. Therefore am I—a woman—clothed in a man's body that I may be enabled to do the work set before Me.
"The second case is that of a soul who, having been a woman perhaps many times, has acquired more aptly and readily the higher qualities of womanhood than the lower qualities of manhood. Such a soul is lacking in energy, in resoluteness, in that particular attribute of the Spirit which the prophet ascribes to the Lord when he says, 'The Lord is a Man of war.' Therefore the soul is put back into a man's form to acquire the qualities yet lacking.
"The third case is that of the backslider, who, having nearly attained perfection,—perhaps even touched it,—degrades and soils his white robe, and is put back into the lower form again. These are the common cases; for there are few women who are worthy to be women"[79].
(9) Concerning the "Work of Power."
You have asked me if the Work of Power is a difficult one, and if it is open to all.It is open to all potentially and eventually, but not actually and in the present. In order to regain power and the resurrection, a man must be a Hierarch; that is to say, he must have attained themagicalage of thirty-three. This age is attained by having accomplished the Twelve Labours, passed the Twelve Gates, overcome the Five Senses, and obtained dominion over the Four Spirits of the elements. He must have been born Immaculate, baptised with Water and Fire, tempted in the Wilderness, crucified and buried. He must have borne Five Wounds on the Cross, and he must have answered the riddle of the Sphinx. When this is accomplished he is free of matter, and will never again have a phenomenal body.Who shall attain to this perfection? The Man who is without fear and without concupiscence; who has courage to be absolutely poor and absolutely chaste. When it is all one to you whether you have gold or whether you have none, whether you have a house and lands or whether you have them not, whether you have worldly reputation or whether you are an outcast,—then you are voluntarily poor. It is not necessary to have nothing, but it is necessary to care for nothing. When it is all one to you whether you have a wife or husband, or whether you are celibate, then you are free from concupiscence. It is not necessary to be a virgin; it is necessary to set no value on the flesh. There is nothing so difficult to attain as this equilibrium. Who is he who can part with his goods without regret? Who is he who is never consumed by the desires of the flesh? But when you have ceased both to wish to retain and to burn, then you have the remedy in your own hands, and the remedy is a hard and a sharp one, and a terrible ordeal. Nevertheless, be not afraid. Deny the five senses, and above all the taste and the touch. The power is within you if you will to attain it. The Two Seatsare vacant at the Celestial Table, if you will put on Christ. Eat no dead thing. Drink no fermented drink. Make living elements of all the elements of your body. Mortify the members of earth. Take your food full of life, and let not the touch of death pass upon it. You understand me, but you shrink. Remember that without self-immolation, there is no power over death. Deny the touch. Seek no bodily pleasure in sexual communion; let desire be magnetic and soulic. If you indulge the body, you perpetuate the body, and the end of the body is corruption. You understand me again, but you shrink. Remember that without self-denial and restraint there is no power over death. Deny the taste first, and it will become easier to deny the touch. For to be a virgin is the crown of discipline. I have shown you the excellent way, and it is theVia Dolorosa. Judge whether the resurrection be worth the passion; whether the kingdom be worth the obedience; whether the power be worth the suffering. When the time of your calling comes, you will no longer hesitate.When a man has attained power over his body, the process of ordeal is no longer necessary. The Initiate is under a vow; the Hierarch is free. Jesus, therefore, came eating and drinking; for all things were lawful to Him. He had undergone, and had freed His will. For the object of the trial and the vow is polarisation. When the fixed is volatilised, the Magian is free. But before Christ was Christ He was subject; and His initiation lasted thirty years. All things are lawful to the Hierarch; for he knows the nature and value of all[80].
You have asked me if the Work of Power is a difficult one, and if it is open to all.
It is open to all potentially and eventually, but not actually and in the present. In order to regain power and the resurrection, a man must be a Hierarch; that is to say, he must have attained themagicalage of thirty-three. This age is attained by having accomplished the Twelve Labours, passed the Twelve Gates, overcome the Five Senses, and obtained dominion over the Four Spirits of the elements. He must have been born Immaculate, baptised with Water and Fire, tempted in the Wilderness, crucified and buried. He must have borne Five Wounds on the Cross, and he must have answered the riddle of the Sphinx. When this is accomplished he is free of matter, and will never again have a phenomenal body.
Who shall attain to this perfection? The Man who is without fear and without concupiscence; who has courage to be absolutely poor and absolutely chaste. When it is all one to you whether you have gold or whether you have none, whether you have a house and lands or whether you have them not, whether you have worldly reputation or whether you are an outcast,—then you are voluntarily poor. It is not necessary to have nothing, but it is necessary to care for nothing. When it is all one to you whether you have a wife or husband, or whether you are celibate, then you are free from concupiscence. It is not necessary to be a virgin; it is necessary to set no value on the flesh. There is nothing so difficult to attain as this equilibrium. Who is he who can part with his goods without regret? Who is he who is never consumed by the desires of the flesh? But when you have ceased both to wish to retain and to burn, then you have the remedy in your own hands, and the remedy is a hard and a sharp one, and a terrible ordeal. Nevertheless, be not afraid. Deny the five senses, and above all the taste and the touch. The power is within you if you will to attain it. The Two Seatsare vacant at the Celestial Table, if you will put on Christ. Eat no dead thing. Drink no fermented drink. Make living elements of all the elements of your body. Mortify the members of earth. Take your food full of life, and let not the touch of death pass upon it. You understand me, but you shrink. Remember that without self-immolation, there is no power over death. Deny the touch. Seek no bodily pleasure in sexual communion; let desire be magnetic and soulic. If you indulge the body, you perpetuate the body, and the end of the body is corruption. You understand me again, but you shrink. Remember that without self-denial and restraint there is no power over death. Deny the taste first, and it will become easier to deny the touch. For to be a virgin is the crown of discipline. I have shown you the excellent way, and it is theVia Dolorosa. Judge whether the resurrection be worth the passion; whether the kingdom be worth the obedience; whether the power be worth the suffering. When the time of your calling comes, you will no longer hesitate.
When a man has attained power over his body, the process of ordeal is no longer necessary. The Initiate is under a vow; the Hierarch is free. Jesus, therefore, came eating and drinking; for all things were lawful to Him. He had undergone, and had freed His will. For the object of the trial and the vow is polarisation. When the fixed is volatilised, the Magian is free. But before Christ was Christ He was subject; and His initiation lasted thirty years. All things are lawful to the Hierarch; for he knows the nature and value of all[80].
This chapter may appropriately terminate with a few remarks in reply to the inevitable question, why our country and language were selected as the place and tongue of the new revelation in preference to all others.
It is, as we were enabled to see, because the British people are recognised in the celestial world, as possessing that peculiar quality of soul which, in spite of their many and grievous limitations, has made them to be the foremost witness among the nations to God and the Conscience, in such wise as to constitute them the counterpart of Israel in the modern world. Others besides ourselves have recognised this characteristic. Said Milton, speaking of a crisis which, momentous as it was, pales in presence of that which now is, seeing that Religion itself as Religion was not menaced then as in our time—
"Now once again, by all concurrence of signs, and by the general instinct of devout and holy men, as they daily and solemnly express their thoughts, God is beginning to devise some new and great period in His Church, even to the reforming of Reformation itself. What does He then, but address Himself to His servants, and—as His manner is—first to His Englishmen."
To which we may add in reference to the present, "And having by the hands of His Intellectualists, beaten down the false interpretation of His holy Word, accomplishing the work of destruction, is about by the hands of His Intuitionalists, to establish the true interpretation, accomplishing the work of re-construction."
Nor are there wanting specific historical facts pointing in the same direction. To Britain it was given by a timely act of revolt against a domination at once foreign and sacerdotal, to rescue theletter of Scripture from suppression and virtual extinction at the hands of an order bent only on exalting itself at whatever cost to truth and humanity. Meanwhile, for three centuries and a half—period suggestive of the mystical "time, times, and half a time,"—Britain has faithfully and lovingly, albeit unintelligently and mistakenly, guarded and cherished the letter thus rescued, even to the erecting of it into a fetish. And it may well be that she has now, for her guerdon, been further commissioned to be the recipient and minister of its interpretation.
Moreover, as Mistress of the Sea, the especial symbol of the Soul, she has a prescriptive claim to be the vehicle of the latest and crowning message to earth, of which the Soul herself is at once the source, the subject, and the object.
Nor are the universality of her language and the grandeur of her literature elements to be left out of consideration. All things point to her language as destined to become, practically, the language of the world; and hence its peculiar fitness to be the vehicle of that "eternal gospel" which it is declared should, at the end of the age, be proclaimed "unto them that dwell on the earth, even unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people."
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROMULGATION AND RECOGNITION.
As will readily be imagined, the interest was intense with which we watched the progress of our work, in order to see whether the crucial event of its promulgation would coincide with the date prophesied for the turning point between the outgoing and the incoming dispensations. The predictions covered a period of six years, namely from 1876 to 1881 inclusive. In this period was to be laid the foundation of a universal kingdom of justice and knowledge, which should constitute the reign of Michael, and spring from a new illumination, one feature of which was to be the "return of the Gods" in 1876. It was in the autumn of this year that they first came to us, and the intimation was given us that the reign of Michael was then actually commencing; we having no knowledge either of the meaning or of the fact of such predictions. For, while the Bible references to Michael were altogether unintelligible to us, we had not learnt to refer the event to any assignable period. The fulfilment of this prediction disposed us to attach value to those which pointed to the year 1881 as that in which our work—supposing our estimate of its significance to be correct—ought to see the light. For our illuminators observed silence respecting times and seasons, contenting themselves with bringing under our notice the books containing the predictions, the application being left to our own perspicacity. We were powerless to influence events, even had we desired to do so. We could but work steadily on, as we did, "without haste, without rest," until my colleague had finished her university course and obtained her diploma. This she accomplished in the summer of 1880, soon after which we returned to England; and in the summer of 1881 we delivered in London, to a private audience, the lectures which constituted the first promulgation of our work. These were published in the following winter under the title of "The Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ," our excellent friend at Paris faithfully fulfilling the mission she had accepted in relation to us and our work[81]. Thus were fulfilled exactly all the predictions respecting the dates, the character, and the manner of our work.
There were many other coincidences of a kind so remarkable as to make us feel that to ascribe them to accident would require a larger measure of credulity than to ascribe them to design. Among the most striking were those which concerned "Mary's" names, and which were in this wise.
When first the significance of the Apocalyptic utterance concerning the river Euphrates and the kings of the East was flashed on my mind, I asked her if she knew that she was mentioned, even to her very name, in the book of Revelation. To which she replied, smiling, that she had known it for some time, but which of her names did I mean? I said that I meant her married surname, whichfitted exactly a way made for kings across a river, by the drying up of its waters, namely aking's ford; the "Kings of the East," meaning those principles in man whereby he has knowledge of divine things—the East being the mystical expression for the place of the dawn of spiritual light, such as that of which she was the revealer. While the Euphrates means, in the Apocalypse as in Genesis, the highest principle in the fourfold kosmos of man, the Spirit or Will[82]. Only when this principle in man is "dried up," or sublimated by being made one with the divine Will, is man accessible to the divine knowledges brought by the "Kings of the East." As the channel by which these knowledges were being restored to the world, she was thekings' fordimplied. She then told me, what I had not yet observed, that her baptismal and maiden names were equally appropriate, as the Latin for the "acceptable year of the Lord," orgood time, announced as to follow the restoration of the knowledges brought by the Kings of the East, is—allowing for difference of gender—Annus Bonus. The coincidence of names did not end here, for we shortly afterwards, in the course of our researches, came upon an old prophecy declaring that the initials of the "Messenger" of the new Avâtar, due at this time, would be A. K.!
She further identified the "Kings of the East" as functions of the three principles in man, the Spirit, the Soul, and the Mind; being respectively, right aspiration, which is of the Spirit; rightperception, which is of the Soul; and right judgment, which is of the Mind; the combination of which is the necessary and sufficient condition of divine knowledge.
Had we been sanguine of a favourable reception of our book by the press at large—which we were not—our disappointment would have been great. But we were by no means prepared either for the gross misrepresentation and even vulgar ribaldry with which it was treated by the few organs in the literary press which noticed it at all, or for the complete neglect of it by that portion of the press which especially concerns itself with religious exegesis. In no instance was any attempt made to exhibit its plan, purpose, and real nature, or any recognition accorded to its luminous solutions of the profound problems dealt with. The very claim to have experiential knowledge of things spiritual was accounted an offence; and it seemed as if the word had gone forth to adopt towards it an attitude which should effectually restrain the public from making its acquaintance, even though it met absolutely the need recognised on all hands as the world's supreme need, and vindicated its claim thereto by the presentation of teachings avowedly of divine derivation and demonstrating their divinity by their intrinsic character to all who are in the smallest degree spiritually percipient. To this day that attitude has never been abandoned or relaxed; and notwithstanding the assiduous endeavours made to counteract its influence, the whole mass of our people, saving only a few select circles, have yet to learn that the longed-for New Gospel of Interpretation has actually been vouchsafed, having been for years in their midst waitingbut to be recognised of them,—a "light shining in darkness and the darkness comprehending it not"[83].
In compliance with the injunctions of our illuminators, we had withheld our names from our first edition, in order to secure for it a judgment unbiased by any personal element. But though we ourselves thus escaped the opprobrium attaching to our book, "Mary" was at first inclined to repent of having exposed her pearls to such profanation; and was only reassured by the suggestion that it showed how desperate was the need for precisely the change our work was designed to accomplish, and how exactly was fulfilled the prophecy which foretold the wrath of the dragon and his angels at the advent of the "Woman" Intuition, their destined destroyer, and the consequent shortness of their own time. We knew of course better than to regard such criticism as being in any sense a measure of our work. For us it was, like criticism in general, a measure not of the thing criticised but of the critics themselves. And these, in our case, but truly represented the condition of the age, and knew not what they were doing.
Such is the reason why so many will hear for the first time from this book that a New Gospel of Interpretation has been received. To turn to the other and compensating side. With those who were specially qualified to judge, it was far otherwise. And among the most notable of the recognitions received from this quarter was the weighty utterance which appears in the preface to the secondand succeeding editions, coming from that veteran student of the "Divine Science," the friend, disciple, and literary heir of the renowned Kabalist and magian, the late Abbé Constant ("Eliphas Levi"), namely, Baron Spedalieri of Marseilles, who though then an entire stranger to us, wrote to us as follows—for I think it may with advantage be reproduced here:—
"As with the corresponding Scriptures of the past, the appeal on behalf of your book is, really, to miracles, but with the difference that in your case they are intellectual ones, and incapable of simulation, being miracles of interpretation. And they have the further distinction of doing no violence to common sense by infringing the possibilities of Nature; while they are in complete accord with all mystical traditions, and especially with the great Mother of these, the Kabala. That miracles such as I am describing are to be found inThe Perfect Way, in kind and number unexampled, they who are the best qualified to judge will be the most ready to affirm."And here,aproposof these renowned Scriptures, permit me to offer you some remarks on the Kabala as we have it. It is my opinion—"(1) That this tradition is far from being genuine, and such as it was on its original emergence from the sanctuaries."(2) That when Guillaume Postel—of excellent memory—and his brother Hermetists of the later middle age—the Abbot Trithemius and others—predicted that these sacred books of the Hebrews should become known and understood at the end of the era, and specified the present time for that event, they did not mean that such knowledge should be limited to the mere divulgement of these particular Scriptures, but that it would have for its base a new illumination, which should eliminate fromthem all that has been ignorantly or wilfully introduced, and should re-unite that great tradition with its source by restoring it in all its purity."(3) That this illumination has just been accomplished, and has been manifested inThe Perfect Way. For in this book we find all that there is of truth in the Kabala, supplemented by new intuitions, such as present a body of doctrine at once complete, homogeneous, logical and inexpungnable."Since the whole tradition thus finds itself recovered or restored to its original purity, the prophecies of Postel and his fellow-Hermetists are accomplished; and I consider that from henceforth the study of the Kabala will be but an object of curiosity and erudition, like that of Hebrew antiquities."Humanity has always and everywhere asked itself these three supreme questions: Whence come we? What are we? Whither go we? Now, these questions at length find an answer, complete, satisfactory, and consolatory, inThe Perfect Way"[84].
"As with the corresponding Scriptures of the past, the appeal on behalf of your book is, really, to miracles, but with the difference that in your case they are intellectual ones, and incapable of simulation, being miracles of interpretation. And they have the further distinction of doing no violence to common sense by infringing the possibilities of Nature; while they are in complete accord with all mystical traditions, and especially with the great Mother of these, the Kabala. That miracles such as I am describing are to be found inThe Perfect Way, in kind and number unexampled, they who are the best qualified to judge will be the most ready to affirm.
"And here,aproposof these renowned Scriptures, permit me to offer you some remarks on the Kabala as we have it. It is my opinion—
"(1) That this tradition is far from being genuine, and such as it was on its original emergence from the sanctuaries.
"(2) That when Guillaume Postel—of excellent memory—and his brother Hermetists of the later middle age—the Abbot Trithemius and others—predicted that these sacred books of the Hebrews should become known and understood at the end of the era, and specified the present time for that event, they did not mean that such knowledge should be limited to the mere divulgement of these particular Scriptures, but that it would have for its base a new illumination, which should eliminate fromthem all that has been ignorantly or wilfully introduced, and should re-unite that great tradition with its source by restoring it in all its purity.
"(3) That this illumination has just been accomplished, and has been manifested inThe Perfect Way. For in this book we find all that there is of truth in the Kabala, supplemented by new intuitions, such as present a body of doctrine at once complete, homogeneous, logical and inexpungnable.
"Since the whole tradition thus finds itself recovered or restored to its original purity, the prophecies of Postel and his fellow-Hermetists are accomplished; and I consider that from henceforth the study of the Kabala will be but an object of curiosity and erudition, like that of Hebrew antiquities.
"Humanity has always and everywhere asked itself these three supreme questions: Whence come we? What are we? Whither go we? Now, these questions at length find an answer, complete, satisfactory, and consolatory, inThe Perfect Way"[84].
He subsequently wrote:—
"If the Scriptures of the future are to be, as I firmly believe they will be, those which best interpret the Scriptures of the past, these writings will assuredly hold the foremost place among them"[85].
"If the Scriptures of the future are to be, as I firmly believe they will be, those which best interpret the Scriptures of the past, these writings will assuredly hold the foremost place among them"[85].
For those who are unacquainted with the Kabala, its origin, nature, and intent, it will be well to state that it represents the transcendental and esoteric doctrine of the Hebrews, as handed down from the remotest times. In recognition of its divine origin, the Rabbins describe it as having been communicated by God, first, to "Adam inParadise," and, next, to "Moses on Sinai." By which expressions they implied that its doctrine was due to the highest possible illumination.
It was also in recognition of this element in our book that Mr. MacGregor Mathers dedicated his learned work, "The Kabala Unveiled," to us, saying—
"I have much pleasure in dedicating this work to the authors ofThe Perfect Way, as they have in that excellent and wonderful book touched so much on the doctrines of the Kabala, and laid such value on its teachings.The Perfect Wayis one of the most deeply occult works that has been written for centuries."
"I have much pleasure in dedicating this work to the authors ofThe Perfect Way, as they have in that excellent and wonderful book touched so much on the doctrines of the Kabala, and laid such value on its teachings.The Perfect Wayis one of the most deeply occult works that has been written for centuries."
As the foregoing testimonies represent theconsensusof the Kabalists, Hermetists, and other great ancient schools of spiritual science in the West, so the following represents theconsensusof the corresponding schools of the East. As will be seen, it involves a coincidence so notable as to point to a source transcending the human and terrestrial, as that of the great spiritual revival which our age is witnessing. That coincidence is in this wise:—
Within two years of the commencement of our collaboration in the work which proved to be that of the restoration of theGnosisof the West—the divine doctrine of which, as we had come to learn, Christ was the personal demonstration, and the religion called after Him ought to have been the expression; a collaboration was commenced which had for its end the like exposition in regard to the religious systems of the East. This is the collaboration, also of a woman and a man, which had its issue in the Theosophical Society. The twopairs of collaborators worked simultaneously through the succeeding years in entire ignorance of each other and their work, until the commencement of the publication of our results in 1881, at which time the Theosophical Society was still so far from having completed the system of its doctrine, that neither of its two now fundamental tenets had yet been recognised by it, the tenets, namely, of Reincarnation and Karma—its chief text-book, the "Isis Unveiled" of its foundress, not containing them. We, on the contrary, had both of these doctrines, having derived them, as already stated herein, directly from celestial sources and wholly independently of human authority and tradition, of spiritualism, and of our own prepossessions.
It was clear, both by this fact and by the avowals of the parties concerned, that up to this time the chiefs of the Theosophical Society had been unable to obtain from those whom they claimed as their masters more than a very meagre instalment of their doctrine. But after the arrival of our book in India this state of things was changed. It was then declared on behalf of the "masters" that we had obtained, from original and independent sources, a system of doctrine substantially identical with that of which they had for ages been, as they supposed, in exclusive possession, but had never been permitted to divulge, as it had always been reserved for initiates. The revelation of it through us, we were further informed, had "forced the hands of the masters," by showing them that the time had come when secrecy was no longer possible, and compellingthem, if only in vindication of their own claims, to relax their rule of silence in regard to their mysteries.
The coincidence between their doctrine and ours comprised sundry particulars the most recondite, including—besides the two great tenets already named—the multiplicity of principles in the human system, and their separation and respective conditions after death,—a subject lying outside the cognisance of "Spiritualism." Among other points of agreement was that of their recognition of the great antiquity of the soul of "Mary," whom they pronounced to be "the greatest natural mystic of the present day, and countless ages ahead of the great majority of mankind, the foremost of whom—the most civilised—belong to the last race of the fourth round, while she belongs to the first race of the fifth round."
In presence of these and other proofs of the possession by the Eastern occultists, of knowledges which we had obtained directly at first hand from celestial sources, we could not but pay respectful heed to the claims of the representatives of the Theosophical Society, and welcome any token which might indicate it as a destined fellow-agent in the great spiritual revival of the age. So might it constitute, with "Spiritualism" and the work represented by us, a threefold power for accomplishing the promotion predicted for this era, of the consciousness of the race to a level which should transcend any yet reached by it as a race. With Spiritualism to represent the phenomenal and personal, Theosophy the philosophical and occult, and our own work the mystical and divine, every region of man's higher nature would find its duerecognition and unfoldment. Meanwhile, the organ of the Society in India thus expressed itself respecting "The Perfect Way":—
"A grand book, keen of insight and eloquent in exposition; an upheaval of true spirituality.... We regard its authors as having produced one of the most—perhaps the most—important and spirit-stirring of appeals to the highest instincts of mankind which modern European literature has evolved"[86].
"A grand book, keen of insight and eloquent in exposition; an upheaval of true spirituality.... We regard its authors as having produced one of the most—perhaps the most—important and spirit-stirring of appeals to the highest instincts of mankind which modern European literature has evolved"[86].
We had a yet further warrant, derived from Scripture itself, for looking to the Theosophical Society as possibly a divinely appointed factor in the spiritual evolution of the time. The unsealing of the World's Bibles was upon us, and not of that of Christendom only. And we saw in the following saying of Jesus an obvious allusion to the present epoch, "In those days many shall come from the East, and the West, and the North, and the South, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." Not that the terms East, West, North, and South, denoted for us the quarters of the physical globe. We had learnt to understand them in their mystical sense, wherein they denote the various human temperaments, the intuitional, the traditional, the intellectual, and the emotional, all of which would find satisfaction in the doctrine then to be recovered. It was in the terms Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that the significance of the utterance lay for us; these being in one aspect the Hebrew equivalents for Brahma, Isis, and Iacchos, and denoting the mysteries respectively of India, Egypt, and Greece, of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body, and thereinof the whole Man. For these mysteries together comprised the perfect doctrine of Existence, called also in Scripture the "Word of God," the "Law and the Prophets," and the "Theou Sophia," "Wisdom of God," and "hidden Wisdom," of which the Christ, as the typical Man regenerate, is the fulfilment and personal demonstration. This is to say, they constituted that Gnosis, or Knowledge, with the taking away and withholdment of the key of which Jesus so bitterly reproached, in the Ecclesiasticism of His time, that of all time, and, therefore, that knowledge to the restoration of which, in our day, through the faculty by means of which it was originally obtained and can alone be discerned, the prophecies one and all pointed, as to mark and to make the "time of the end" of the "adulterous," because idolatrous, "generation," hitherto in possession in the Church, and to introduce the "kingdom of God with power."
Having warrant so high for anticipating the restoration at this time of the faculties and knowledges represented by the various movements in question, and knowing also, if only by the example of ourselves, that the divinity of a mission is not invalidated by the limitations, real or supposed, of its instruments, but that these must be educated by experience, and in such sense "perfected through suffering" to be fitted for their appointed tasks;—we had no doubt as to the attitude it was our duty to maintain towards all candidates for a share in that which we recognised as the greatest of all the endeavours yet made by the human soul to regain her long-lost rightful dominion over the minds and hearts ofmen, leaving it to time to determine that which was of divine appointment, and that which was not.
It will have been observed that I have used the terms "mystical" and "occult" in such wise as to imply a distinction between them. It is important to the purpose of this book to define and emphasise that distinction. The instructions received by us from our illuminators were explicit and positive on this point.
This is because they refer to two different domains of man's system. Occultism deals with transcendental physics, and is of the intellectual, belonging to science. Mysticism deals with transcendental metaphysics, and is of the spiritual, belonging to religion. Occultism, therefore, has for its domain the region which, lying between the body and the soul, is interior to the body but exterior to the soul; while Mysticism has for its domain the region which, comprising the soul and the spirit, is interior to the soul, and belongs to the divine. Of course, the terms themselves, which are respectively the Latin and the Greek for the same thing, and mean hidden from the outer senses and also from non-initiates, do not imply such distinction, but they have come by usage to be thus referable.
The following citations are from the teachings received by us in this connection. They account for the scientific part of the training imposed on us.