Mystery of the Cosmic Sacrifice

It is with his inner life that the practical occultist is most concerned….when it comes to dealing with the forces of his own inner life, he must work out his own methods and build his own instruments. This is the real secret veiled in the words describing the thirty-second path [‘Administrative’ or ‘Assisting Intelligence’].

It must be remembered that subconsciousness works wholly by deduction. Give it a premise, and if the premise is false, it will work out so orderly a sequence of consequences from the initial false statement that only the keenest critics can detect the error.

On the other hand, subconsciousness is just as orderly in its development of the seeds of the right knowledge. Thus, invention ever follows close on the heels of observation. No sooner do we perceive, for example, that our thoughts, words and deeds are integrated with an inseparable from the whole cosmic process than subconsciousness begins to elaborate the consequences of this perception.

She does this in two ways: firstly by developing a philosophy of life; second, by helping us to invent means for better expression of our relation to the whole. These means include methods and instruments for dealing with the forces of our inner life, as well as for controlling the forces and conditions in our environment. It is with his inner life that the practical occultist is more concerned.

Out of the fury and bondage of the Great Work, which has Time (Saturn) for its primary condition, shall come peace and rest.

The Fall into manifestation is to be followed by the Redemption from the misery that our misunderstanding now brings. The power that brought about the Fall is identical with that which is to bring about the Redemption. This, in very truth, is the mystery of mysteries that Jesus revealed in his parable of the Prodigal Son.

The fifteenth path begins in the sixth sphere of the Tree of Life, in the grade of Lesser Adept, for the Magus must be perfected in imagination, and must be able to make definite mental patterns. Yet when he does so, it is not of himself, as in the case of the Lesser Adept.

The Magus’ vision is the creative sight attributed to the letter Heh and The Emperor. He sees the world with God’s eyes, and sees it always, therefore, as proceeding in orderly sequence from the centre that is within himself.

The path of the letter Heh is said by Qabalists to be that of the Constituting Intelligence, “because it constitutes creation in the darkness of the world.” Qabalists also say that creation took place with the letter Heh.

The Secret Wisdom of Israel says that the fifteenth path bears the name MOMID, Ma’amiyd (Constituting), because it constitutes the substance of creation in pure darkness. A hint of similar import is in the Gospel of St John. “That which hath been made was life in Him (the Logos), and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not.” (John 1:4,5)

The same L.V.X. (ie, light), appears in Bible symbology under the figure of the Lamb, borrowed from the Hindu symbol of Agni, god of fire. The Lamb refers to the mystery of the cosmic sacrifice. In one sense the wise have always regarded creation as a self-sacrifice of the Life Power.

By traversing this fifteenth path, the aspirant to the grade of Magus associates himself mentally with the cosmic sacrifice. Thus, he unifies his being with the current cosmic, creative impulse. Levi says, you recall, that he who can master the currents of the Astral light becomes the depository, even of the power of God.

Paul Foster Case, The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order, The Grade of Zelator and The Grade of Magus

Twelve Wise Men

In these twelve men who came together to perform a special mission, the twelve different streams in the spiritual development of mankind were represented. The fact that all possible religions and all possible philosophies belong to the twelve basic types is in itself a mystery.

Buddhism, Brahmanism, Vedanta philosophy, materialism, or whatever it may be – all of them can be traced to the twelve basic types; it is just a matter of being quite exact. And so all the different streams of man’s spiritual life – the religions, the philosophies and world conceptions that are spread over the earth – were united in that council of the twelve.

After the period of darkness had passed and spiritual achievement was possible again, a thirteenth came in remarkable circumstances to the twelve. I am telling you now of one of those events which takes place secretly in the evolution of mankind once and once only. They cannot occur a second time and are mentioned not as an indication that efforts should be made to repeat them but for quite other reasons.

When the darkness had lifted and it was possible to develop clairvoyant vision again, the coming of the thirteenth was announced in a mysterious way to the twelve wise men. They knew that the time had come when a child with significant and remarkable incarnations behind him was to be born. Above all they knew that one of his incarnations had been at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha.

It was known, therefore, that one who had been a contemporary of the events in Palestine was returning. And the birth of the child in these unusual circumstances during the thirteenth century could not have been said to be that of a person of renown.

Rudolf Steiner, Intimate Workings of Karma

Shore of Gitche Gumee

By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shown the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Aparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
And the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and triumph,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha.

Hiawatha’s Departure, from The Song of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Who is He?

My line of vision connected directly with the eyes of the Eagle in the very first instant; joy welled up inside me so powerfully in the same moment that I quickly leapt from the bed and ran towards the window.

Precisely as I moved, the Eagle spread his wings and flew towards me in a perfect horizontal line, as if our eyes were joined by invisible threads that were pulling us together.

I was just aware that my ‘other self’ – my reason – generally present with me during experiences of this kind, was with me on the left, just outside the reach of my peripheral vision. We reached the window exactly as the Eagle did and for a split second it crossed my mind that I might be a form of prey for this great creature.

I gave not pause to the doubt, however, for I was simply ecstatic to see him, no matter what else happened. As my hands reached the glass of the window the Eagle had to bank upwards – unable to fly through – and I saw the entire underside of its massive body. Only the very bottom edge of the window was open. I was frantically dismayed that he couldn’t get in and put my hand outside, longing to at least touch its tail feathers.

While I was disappointed he had been unable to stay – painfully so – my last feeling was that I felt very lucky to have seen him at all. I sensed it was a rare occasion for anyone.

Guardian angel, soul mate, who is he?

A White Cat

I’d been awake all night after something had happened to deeply disturb me, as if an iron fist in a velvet glove had delivered a powerful blow to body, mind and soul. I was not so much in tears as torment until the very early hours, whereupon I exhausted myself and peace set in. I lay in bed staring out of the window at the shadowy treetops against the inky sky.

A split second later my attention snapped to a hallucinatory vision of a small white cat walking with it’s tail in the air, for all the world a strange distraction. In the next split second I was back in my bedroom, still lying in the same position, with my eyes wide open. I could see the wall beneath the window ledge as if it were light.

Before I had chance to look around I felt something brush over my face, as if someone was passing a cloth of light over it, wiping my face clean. It felt almost like fabric and had substance in the sense that I could feel it, but it was lighter than light and softer than petals. It felt as if the hem of an angel’s robe had touched me.

My eyes were closed while that happened and when it passed I opened them again, onto a sky beyond the window that was dazzling, azure blue, like a Summer’s afternoon. Sitting in the tree directly opposite my room was a huge Sea Eagle.

The Bird of Vision

Our death is our wedding with eternity.

What is the secret? “God is One.”

The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.

This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;

It is not in the juice made from the grapes.

For he who is living in the Light of God,

The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.

Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,

For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.

Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,

So that he may place another look in your eyes.

It is in the vision of the physical eyes

That no invisible or secret thing exists.

But when the eye is turned toward the Light of God

What thing could remain hidden under such a Light?

Although all lights emanate from the Divine Light

Don’t call all these lights “the Light of God”;

It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,

The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh.

…Oh God who gives the grace of vision!

The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire

Rumi

Ancient Script

The scene changed again and we were in a completely dark chamber. All I was aware of was a kind of book she placed in my hands, but it was not like an ordinary book. I’m not sure what it was made of but it was white and a double ‘page’ and at first it was completely blank.

As I peered at it, somewhat puzzled, writing began to appear, just a few letters, which I could not understand at all. The words just materialized as if they were being written or carved in front of me, from right to left. The only thing I could think was that it was all in triangles, apart from one letter that was comprised of three short diagonal lines in parallel.

I spent a fair bit of time afterward looking up ancient scripts for something that might have matched it, and found a few things that might have fit the bill. I can only really remember two of the letters for sure: The complete triangle and the one with 3 diagonal lines on the left of it, which was like an epsilon.

I felt a bit below par for not understanding and a moment after that the scene changed again. My entire vision was filled with a smooth, grey, soothing and pleasantly curved object. Lifting my head I soon realized I was lying face down staring at a big pebble and, as I got to my feet, it was to find myself on the shore of a very clear, calm, green-grey sea in daytime.

I looked out to sea and was struck with a sense of profound wonder and mystification, because there was nothing but calm sea in front of me, but I felt certain I had just been somewhere beneath the waves.

I was not thinking of Atlantis at this point, I was just wondering where this place had come from or gone to. I wondered how it was that I’d seen the sky so clearly if the place was underwater. I had an impulse to dive back into the water and on impulse started to move forwards, intending to do just that, but then a face suddenly appeared in front of me which made me jump out of my skin.

It was a very friendly, smiling black man with shining eyes and short dark hair, but he made me jump so much I was scared. It was like I’d never seen a black man before! A moment later I felt guilty for being scared and gave him a hug, apologizing quite profusely. I had a kind of feeling he may have rescued me in some way, or found me on the sea shore – chances are it was him that had pulled my head up.

The next moment I was back in my bedroom and shortly afterward I fell asleep.

Pisces – Capricorn

Even with my understanding of myths, astrology and so on I was flabbergasted. I have been in some odd situations and seen some really strange things – in lucid dreams, visions or astral projections – and those experiences always give you something to be surprised about, but nothing like this. If it had just been a second-sight it wouldn’t have been so weird, but by this point I was completely out of it, I wasn’t with my body.

This being was about 20 feet away and I saw him in profile. He was dark because it was dark down there, he had short dark curly hair and his arms were kind of outstretched at right angles as if he was holding something.

His torso was like a muscular man and his bottom half was a very long, corkscrew-shaped tail. I was slack jawed with amazement and my very first thought was, oh my God, if I can see him, can he see me?! I pretty much never get scared in these types of situations, but I was on the edge of panic, terrified in case he saw me. What would have happened!

I didn’t feel I was invisible like I am sometimes in potentially dangerous places. It didn’t help that I have for long had a morbid fear of deep water (I have vertigo) and could feel myself on the edge of losing control; not what you want in that state.

Fervently praying that I would not be spotted, after about 10 or 15 seconds of staring at this thing (it felt like forever) I had a sudden and bizarre ‘Eureka!’ moment that came from absolutely nowhere. For some reason the word ‘Capricorn’ sprang to mind and for some other reason this made me feel as if I’d somehow fathomed a massive secret or puzzle.

I was instantly elated – like one of those people in a film who against all odds escapes the flooding room as the water reaches the ceiling – and another split second later popped back into my body in the bedroom. Of course I was relieved as well as euphoric, with the unaccountable feeling that I’d passed some sort of test.

Charms: Emerald

Looking through the space for Hermes –

Author of a timeless vision –

King Osiris clicks his fingers,

Summons then a great revision.

‘‘Thoth the Ancient – Time Atomic –

Step beyond the cloak of Hades.

You have made a greater promise;

Once, upon a time, you made it.

Show me now the emerald shining

Deep within your mind, the word press.

Show my wife the sacred Ibis,

Let us all forgive. Today’s blessed.”

Hermes gives himself a second

And a third, so time is taken –

Rather than make haste, unreckoned –

Pauses while the epochs waken.

When his memory serves him rightly,

Thoth the ancient speaks: “Osiris!

Fare thee well? The bits and pieces

Are as one; she loves thee, Isis.

How might I now be of service?”

Asks the one with dispensation.

“Should I write it as I heard it,

So to speak, unite the nations?”

King Osiris, King of Egypt,

Smiles at this and kisses Isis.

“See, my love, he’ll keep the remit,

Make our endless story timeless!’

Thoth, now, phrase the hidden secrets –

Thoth the priest, the Master builder –

Write the way.” The sun-mind keeper,

Brings to light what Earth held deeper.