“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” November/December 2001—$5.00

CHRIST AS HEALERTHE POWER OF THOUGHT

TRUTH WITHINROSICRUCIAN EMBLEMS OF DANIEL CRAMER

A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE

Front cover: Rest on the Flight to Egypt, Caravaggio (1573-1610), Planet Art. Back cover: Stained glass, Christ Church Cathedral, 1832, Planet Art. Above: Winter Scene, Corel Professional Photos

CREED

Who asks not , the chambers are darkened

Where his soul sits in silence alone.

Who gives not , his soul never hearkened

To the love call of zone unto zone.

Who prays not , exists, but he lives not ,

A blot and a discord is he.

Who asks not , receives not , and gives not ,

Is as one drowned in the sea.

Ah, the asking, receiving, and giving

Is the soul of the life that we live.

All the beauty and sweetness of living

Is to ask, to receive, and to give.

—Anonymous

This Issue...Feature

Hymn to the Infinite(poem)...Alva Romanes........................................................2

EditorialRosicrucian Teachings, Religion, and Christ........................................................3

Mystic LightMeditation: Christ as Healer...Friedrich Rittelmeyer............................................4The Mystic and the Occult in Max Heindel’s Writings—Part 5...C.W. ...............8The Truth Within...Martie C. Purchase...............................................................15The Power of Thought...Danielle Chavalarias....................................................20The Christmas Rose...Janice Lorimer.................................................................25

From Max Heindel’ s WritingsPractical Precepts for Practical People................................................................27

Readers’ QuestionsSuicide and Salvation; Organ Transplants..........................................................30Killing to Eat; Hypnotism...................................................................................31Exercises for Clairvoyance..................................................................................32

Western W isdom Bible StudyThe Cosmic Pattern in the Life of Abraham...Corinne Heline...........................33

AstrologyAstrological Aphorisms for Healing...Max and Augusta Foss Heindel..............36Astrology Makes Known to Man the Will of God...C.C. Zain...........................39

Religion and ArtRosicrucian Emblems of Daniel Cramer...C.W...................................................44

News PerspectivesLiving Outside the Physical Body......................................................................49

Book ReviewsA Servant in the House...C.W..............................................................................50

Nutrition and HealthToxemia and Health...Leon Patrick, M.D.............................................................53

HealingLet This Mind Be in You...T.M. Notthoff ...........................................................54

For ChildrenChristmas Eve in the Forest...Dagmar Fragme...................................................55

MiscellaneousCreed (poem)...Anonymous........................................................inside front coverGreatness (poem)...Felicia B. Clem....................................................................24The Natal Chart...Isabel Ambler Gilman............................................................43November/December 2001 Ephemerides......................................................61-62

“A Sane Mind,A Soft Heart,

A Sound Body”© 2001 The Rosicrucian Fellowship

A Christian Esoteric Magazine

Established byMax Heindel

June 1913

Volume 93, No. 6

November/December—2001USPS 471080—ISSN 0744-432X

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AS STUDENTS of the RosicrucianPhilosophy, we know enough aboutit that we are intent on knowingmore. What we have thus far foundin the Western Wisdom Teachings,

for so this Philosophy is also called, satisfies a soulhunger, a deep need for reasonable answers tolife’s meaning, a need, we come to realize, thatmany people don’t seem to share. And we wonder,why not?

The answer to this question is also provided bythe Rosicrucian Teachings: Most people don’trequire them. Life as they know it suffices them.The activities, goals, and rewards provided by liv-ing in the material world fully engage their atten-tion. And if it doesn’t, if they have the sense thatthere is a God who makes all life possible and thatwithout this God not anything made could be, thentypically they seek to establish a relationship withthis God through faith, though a belief which isbased on the creeds and doctrines that give rise tothe many Christian denominations. The need forreligion long antedates the advent of Christ, as inHinduism and Judaism. For that matter, the Muslimreligion originated six hundred years after Christ.And the Buddhist religion postulates no God, butrecognizes worlds beyond the physical.

The relationship of Christians with their God isnot the business of the Rosicrucian Fellowship perse. In fact, Max Heindel encourages believers whoare students of the Fellowship to stay with theirChristian churches. Which brings us to the ques-tion, Do the Rosicrucian Teachings constitute areligion? Religions set forth dogmas, a set systemof beliefs which the believer must avow. Thisdemand creates problems for persons who wantintelligible reasons for affirming creeds. They need

to mentally participate in the belief process.Neither of the two dictionary definitions of reli-gion—(1) the service and worship of God or thesupernatural; (2) a personal set or institutionalizedsystem of religious attitudes, beliefs, and prac-tices—describe the substance or purpose of theTeachings. Religions are faith-based.

The Rosicrucian Teachings are knowledge-based.It is both hoped and expected that this scientific,logical, and exhaustive teaching will help a man“believe in his heart that which his head has sanc-tioned and start to live the religious life,” but thatlife is outside the scope of the teachings and is anindividual matter, between the student and his God.

The Rosicrucian Teachings given by MaxHeindel are especially intended for people whoseek knowledge of spiritual worlds. As a science ofspirit, the Teachings reinforce the seeker’s intuitionthat such worlds exist; they are described andman’s relation to them is explained. As a science ofspiritual unfoldment, the Teachings indicate howlatent faculties in each person can be transformedinto dynamic powers, enabling the student to con-sciously enter the worlds of spirit, confirm theirreality, and gain first-hand information .

Rosicrucian Philosophy clarifies the differencesbetween Eastern and Western wisdom, which cen-ters on the Cosmic Being of Christ—as He lived inthe man Jesus and as He radiates life, love, and lightto the entire Earth sphere—Christ as both regent ofthe sun and as our Friend and Eldest Brother.

May our work and our leisure, our pain and ourpleasure, our play and our prayers, may all wethink and do be oriented and conformed to theinner sun of Christ, that He may dawn and rise inour soul’s firmament and through each of us givespiritual healing and and true light to the world. ❐

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Rosicrucian Teachings, Religion, and Christ

EDITORIAL

THE “OTHER SIGN” that Jesus didwas the healing of the nobleman’s son(John 4:46-54). And here now we seeChrist engaged in a special activity,which had great significance in His

life: in healing sickness.If anything is to be done in this sphere, we must

go especially cautiously to work, because inscarcely any other sphere is there such danger thategoism and materialism may thrust themselves in,as in the sphere of healing materialism, to whichthe body is too important, and egoism, to whoseheart its own comfort lies too near. This showsitself clearly in many phenomena of today, wherethere is the will to heal, but in no praiseworthyway. Against these two dangers the meditationbased on Christ’s second sign helps us. We beginin it to find once more that the story becomestransparent, so that we recognize in it a cosmicoccurrence. The nobleman was probably a so-called heathen or half a heathen. At least, he isserving as a soldier in the non-Jewish world. Thereat that time the need was greatest. Humanity real-ly lay dying. This was even true externally. Clair-voyance reveals a scene from the early history ofChrist’s activity: the young Jesus in His wander-ings as carpenter beyond the boundaries ofPalestine came to the site of an ancient temple. Thesacrifice had fallen into decay. Men were plaguedby a dreadful sickness. They beg Jesus to helpthem because they have come to have great trust inHis being. But when He would help, He sees in

spirit that here there have once been great acts ofrevelation, but now all is ruled by demons. Theimpression is so terrible that Jesus falls fainting.Such experiences prepared for the revelation inChrist, also for His activity as healer.

In the nobleman and his son, one sees in twogenerations the evolution of humanity itself. Thefather serves a king. Thus did men pay homage toan old wisdom which was given from above, andwhich was exercised by priest-kings. The son is

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Meditation:Christ as Healer

MYSTIC LIGHT

This is the 14th in a series of articles taken from FriedrichRittelmeyer’s Meditation, Guidance of the Inner Life, pub-lished by Floris Books, Edinburgh. Reprinted with permission.

Oil on canvas, Gabriel Cornelius Max (1840-1915)

Healing the Sick ChildWhile the healing power of Christ can be transmitted by thelaying on of hands, as shown above, it can also be invokedand directed from a distance by intense faith-based willing.

sick unto death. In the father, the old heathendomcomes in a picture to Christ and begs him for help.Christ at first refuses the help, or rather, waits untilHe sees real faith. The necessity for the new helpmust come from within. Then He speaks the word:“Thy son liveth.” It is one hour past mid-day. Thehour of humanity’s meridian has just been passed.

It would be an entire misunderstanding of suchthoughts to see in them cleverly thought out, or tri-fling, improving allegories. Everything in the lifeof Christ is heavy with meaning for the world’shistory. Out of everything human fate is looking atus. And were we ourselves filled with the divine inthe events of our lives, the backgrounds of theworld’s being would everywhere come into view,our life and deeds would everywhere become sym-bolic happenings. All that passes away would, in ahigher sense than Goethe meant, become a parable.

It is the wrong way round if we, because healingwas a part of Christ’s activity, rush straight at somesickness and want to heal it in the name of Christ.It is important that first we should see with cleareyes the world of sickness, the whole fullness ofsickness, and the whole fearfulness of sickness.One must “lift up one’s eyes” and receive intoone’s consciousness the terrible burden of sicknesswhich lies torturingly upon humanity. Most mentake serious notice of sickness only when theythemselves are suffering under it, or when some-one closely related to them has been struck downby it. That is far from being the true cosmic will.When Christ came upon earth, He found men dis-tracted by thousand-fold suffering and in manyacts He set His will with all its force against it.

The first thing that ought to rise up in us againstthe misery of sickness is the will. All this ought notto exist in humanity!All this belongs not tomankind but to the enemy of mankind. All this hasnothing to do with Christ, but is to be overcome byChrist. In Christ is the power which will, and can,make whole everything that “proves ill in earthlybeing” And first the only thing to be done is to seethis fate of humanity clearly, not to pay attentionmerely to what is individual or our own, but tolook at the whole and to unite our will with the willwhich is in Christ, against the whole world of sick-ness, so that the true Christ-Will against sickness

may awake in us. We take the side of Christ againstthe world. We feel Christ’s healing power, out ofwhich can come healing for all the sick in theworld. We see in the son who lies there sick and indanger of dying, the picture of the human being;we see in the father, who comes to Christ, the pic-ture of the longing, and see in Christ, Who speaksthe helping word, the picture of the healing.Simpler or more mighty the picture could not be.The more strongly the Christ Will against sicknessis present, so much the better is it for humanity,even if we cannot yet heal the smallest sickness....

One can actually allow the will of Christ in med-itation also to flow into one as health: and out of itfeel with Christ how he became sorry for the people,how His eyes overflowed, how the power to helpwas opened in Him. With Christ against the world,ultimately, and in everything; that is what we mustbe if we wish to achieve consecration of the will.

To be a healer, directly, through the real powersof Christ, is only possible to-day in exceptionalcases. For it requires not only special gifts and anespecial guidance of destiny, but also a special call.And the possibilities of deceiving oneself and fail-ing in the necessary conscientiousness and mod-esty are very great. A special call must be there forevery single occasion. Professionalism is just asgreat a danger as too great familiarity among men.And the truly Christian insight into the divine willfor man and humanity must ever illuminate suchhealing activity and must become continuallyclearer. Otherwise serious harm would arise.

Every sickness has its special duty in the life ofthe one who is attacked by it. Those who have theultimate feeling of responsibility may heal only ifthey are in a position to procure in some other wayfor the person concerned that which he ought togain through his illness. If, for example, onewished to take away from a man who is given todebauchery his nervous sensitiveness, one would,in some circumstances, rob him of just thatthrough which the fault in his character can behealed. This is often the case. Naturally the practi-cal doctor of today cannot survey the whole net ofa man’s fate and the whole construction of hischaracter. And even for the spiritual healers of thefuture a complete survey will not always be the

RAYS 01 5

single requirement under which they may let theirhealing powers work. But the conscientiousnesswhich must rule in this sphere must be stricter thananything which is today called conscience. No per-sonal wish whatsoever must come into play, norany personal apprehension, only pure obedience tothe divine will and the strict resolve to act onlyaccording to a divine call which has been distinct-ly felt. If we have not more healers, that must bebecause humanity is not yet sufficiently trained forit. The pure streaming acrossof Christ’s powers to heal islimitless. And we must dare tothink such thoughts as these ifwe take the commands ofChrist Himself seriously anddesire to oppose the pervertedphenomena of the times. It isexactly as a result of material-ism and its development thatnew illnesses will arise againstwhich the stronger powers ofhealing from within will berequired. But only when theinward dispositions, of whichwe must speak more explicitlyin regard to this sphere, areright, will blessing come.

Before a man himself wish-es to heal, he must first allowhimself to be very thoroughlyhealed....[I]n the most solitarymeditation Christ can be activein His unrealized power toheal. At first perhaps one experiences it throughfeeling the places in one’s own body where one isnot completely healthy; thenfurther in noticing thathealing power is there, but cannot yet get in touchwith the powers of sickness:then, perhaps, inremarking how the area of health in one’s ownbeing is growing greater, is purifying itself andstrengthening itself, and, lastly, because at leastcertain symptoms of sickness fall away.

But even this, that one wishes to heal oneself ofcertain manifestations of sickness and allows one-self to be healed of them, we would not advise atfirst, but rather that one should let Christ be pre-

sent as health in mind and body, not in the bodyalone, and again, not in body and mind, but inmind and body; so that one feels: “Sick is thedwelling into which Thou enterest, but throughThy word my soul becomes whole.”

Even in ordinary medicine, and in the cure ofsouls, one often advises men to live from thatsphere of life which is whole in them, and that theyshould let this sphere of health grow greater andgreater in them. We can think of such experiences

when we feel health to be likea kingdom of soundness in us,which is always trying toextend itself, and in which wecan live as in our centralbeing. If one feels this so pow-erfully that one thinks thatstreams of living water goforth from us, that one has thefeeling that one’s very clothesmust pour out healing, thenone is on the way in which onemust now wait to see if onedare give bodily help to another.

In the early Christian churchthey healed by the laying on ofhands. And indeed one willnotice how power to healgathers itself in the hands, andwill stream forth from them.

So-called Christian Sciencetries to overcome sicknesssimply by denying it, yes,simply by ignoring matter.

That is a perversion of the truth, even if many heal-ing results are attained by it. The right thing isalways to approach sickness, even in one’s ulti-mate feeling, as something which ought not to be;as something which has only transitory value as atraining; as that to which Christ has opposed Hisbeing. If in early Christian times Christ in His ser-vants still healed by the laying-on of hands, in latertimes at least the Host was still used as a medicine.And the decay of Christianity shows itself in this,that today, on the contrary, people fear to be infect-ed in the Lord’s Supper and with individual cupsand purifying cloths try to avoid the germs of

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In early Christian times the Host was used asmedicine. The decay of Christianity today showsitself in that people fear to be infected in theLord’s Supper, and with individual cups and puri-fying cloths try to avoid the germs of sickness.

Created by A

riel Agem

ian exclusively for the Confraternity of the P

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sickness. The very first thing we have to learntoday is how to enter every sickroom in the rightframe of mind, in no wise to fear the sickness, butalso in no wise to consent to the sickness; to bearabout with us a surrounding sphere of healing, andout of this sphere unconsciously to spread aroundus strength and health, because we belong to theSaviour, the healer. In every single sickness weshould see with eyes that penetrate and shouldfight against the whole world of sickness, againstwhich the divine will itself is directed victoriously.

So again we stand between East and West;between the East, which looks at sickness withfatalistic eyes and all too willingly leaves the fieldto it; and the West which takes it too seriously,lives in fear of infection, fights externally andexclusively in a materialistic way against bacilli,and ends by falling sick through pure hygiene.

When one is near men who spread around thema Christ-filled atmosphere of health when they arein the room, one will usually feel for the first timewhat health is, in a stronger and more spiritualsense than men usually know health today. Weshall not come again to a victorious Christianity ifthis activity is not there. As sunlight heals, so someday will the light of Christ heal.

We have thus before us in our meditation the pic-ture of healing through Christ as an event whichembraces the world, the father representing ancienthumanity, the son, modern humanity, sickness as afact of humanity, Christ as the great helper, and so,after we have brought all before us with intense vivid-ness, we must pass over in our wills to Christ andexperience with Him out of His soul how the willbreaks forth: Thy Son lives!So we become one willwith Christ against the powers of destruction and havenot only life in Christ but create with Christ’s life.

In this it will be of the greatest importance if wealways feel the wonderful holiness of the will. It isso characteristic of the men of our time that theydispute about the freedom of the will, quick-wittedand penetrating, theorizing and psychologizing.But it is much more worth while to feel the royalpower of the willin all its nobility. One cannotadmire enough the Creator of the world, one mightall too humanly say, because he had the courage togive to men a will that can will even against God

Himself. This is the most divine gift which cancome to men. By this above all He has made uskings and given us of His own divinity. Yet not toomuch strength of will ought to be given to man lestgreat evil should follow. But as it is, human willhas the greatest future. And in union with Christ itmay unfold itself, for certainly the Godhead hasgiven Its gifts, not for them to lie fallow, but tocome to flower. Thankful joy over the sublime giftwhich is given to man and over the trust which isshown in him is the right mood in which to exer-cise the will. The will which is given to us is like acall to a divine office in the universe. “Holy is thewill”: let us ponder that within us, and becomestrong and glad because of it. “White will,” onewould like to say—as one, not without reason,speaks of “white magic.” It is a gradual surging upof mighty divine power in men.

For all exercises of the will let still a double hintbe added. The prayer for St. John the Baptist’s Dayin the Act of Consecration of Man speaks of “Johnwho humbly bore the Father-spirit in the sphere ofhis body.” Such words are, in their smallest details,not phrases, but the truest realities. Within thesphere of our bodies we find the cosmic will whichbears us up. Out of this sphere we can draw it in,breathe it in meditatively. This is in accordancewith the fact known to spiritual science that thewill is united to man more loosely and more freelythan thinking, and even than feeling. As it were atthe boundaries of our spiritual bodily existence thewill enfolds us, which can be brought to our con-sciousness and enveloped into pure greatness. Andas in the sphere surrounding the body, so it is alsogood to feel the will especially in our hands andfeet. As something primally sound shall we expe-rience this will, but also as something primallystrong; in the feet more as the power to stand andwalk, also in the spiritual sense; in the hands moreas the power of creating and blessing, again takenin the spiritual sense. We shall feel the being ofman’s will to be richly articulated, and also find“right” and “left” to be different in hands and feet.With it all there opens up before us a premonitionof the coming Christianity: to work with Christ asone Will against all the powers that destroy theworld. (Continued) ❒

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ONE WOULD EXPECT the two vol-umescontaining Heindel’s answersto student’s questions to have manyreferences to the occult becauseintelligible information pertaining to

the higher worlds is being sought. In Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and

Answers, Vol 1 (1Q&A) occult is used forty-threetimes, mysticis used nine times. The author dictat-ed the text of this book to a stenographer in 1910as he read questions from slips of paper submittedduring his earlier lecture tours. We learn that theBible translators “possessed no occult knowledge”(40), but the occultist “has the key” to the Bible’smeaning (149). In “pearls of occult truth are hid-den what are often hideous garments” (156). Alloccult schools are divisible into seven, one foreach class [or Ray] of Spirits (47). In answeringone question on the rejection of Cain’s offering,Heindel narrates part of the “legend of the occultfree masons” (175). The reader is told that “Thefeasts of the year have the very deepest occult sig-nificance” (178). This is Heindel’s earliest descrip-tion of events for which he later gave a “mystical”interpretation (Easter and Christmas). As observedwhen studying these two events, mysticism doesnot give interpretations, certainly not scientificexplanations, as Heindel does in both of theseshort studies. Moreover “occult tradition” requiresthat Easter, a “moveable feast,” be held on a daythat satisfies three criteria (2Q&A 449).

What are “blind laws” to the materialist theoccultist sees as great Spirits (1Q&A 179). Heindelis implying here that the occultist possesses eso-

teric knowledge becausehe sees and hears in theinvisible worlds. Then he processes his supersensi-ble visions and auditions with logic and reason andarticulates his conclusions. Higher “senses or[clairvoyant] faculties are the means of investiga-tion used by occultists. They are their ‘opensesame’in searching for truth” (Cosmo34). In ref-erence to the “music of the spheres,” Heindel says“the occult scientist hears it” (Cosmo122).

We have previously traced the etymology of

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The Mystic and the Occult in

Max Heindel’s WritingsPart 5

MYSTIC LIGHT

Drey Principia, Jacob Böhme, Amsterdam, 1682, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

Under Rosicrucian inspiration, Jacob Böhme’s mystic visionscontained true occult knowledge. Above, Father, Son, andthe Holy Spirit correlate with Chaos, Cosmos, and Creation.

occult. The root of this word is Latin cultus, whichmeans care or cultivation, and derives from colere,meaning to till or cultivate (the earth). The originalmeaning of cult is “a system of religious worshipor ritual.” When it became expedient to conceal orobscure that system, it was occulted or hidden.What is spiritual is by its very nature hidden oroccult. When Max Heindel seeks to reveal factspertaining to the spiritual worlds, his explanationsare occult and yet they are accessible to reason.They are not perceived but conceived. Forinstance, it is “patent to the occultist” that warsserve a positive purpose of cleansing theblood of the races (1Q&A 205). Thisaction can be seen and proved bythe occultist. His explanationgives the results of his first-hand investigations.

In the second volume ofQuestions and Answers, com-piled by Mrs. Heindel andcopyright in 1947, occult is usedsixty times and mystic twenty-fourtimes. In her prefatory remarks, Mrs. Heindelwrites that the book contains “much valuableoccult information.” Again we cite a few of themore notable instances of the two terms in context.

One who has esoteric understanding of the sig-nificance of the initials INRI has the “occult key tothe mystery of crucifixion” (256). Mysteriesremain obscure, mysterious, until, as His disciplestold Jesus, one can speak plainly, rather than figu-ratively, about a matter. Heindel usually implies,and sometimes explicitly states, that the occultist isin possession of positive clairvoyance and clairau-dience. For instance, the “occultist sees” blood asa gas inside the body (257). “In occult orders, likethe Rosicrucians,” musical “keys” or incantationsare intoned at each degree. Such keys “are used inall occult orders and for all occult purposes” (284).Heindel quotes a statement that appeared in TheTheosophist, the official organ of the TheosophicalSociety, written by its editor Annie Besant, that theCosmo“clearly represents a definite occult tradi-tion” (461).

While the Catholic Church serves the need ofmystics by appealing to devotion and faith, the rit-

ual they observe is “occultly inspired” (534) by an“occultly informed Catholic Hierarchy” (537)which was in possession of “occult facts” (536).

If the Rosicrucian initiations “endeavor to blendthe mystic with the occult” by “directing attentionto the Christ,” “a little more stress is laid perhapsupon the mystic side” because Christ is the embod-iment of the Father’s love for his children, human-ity (229). And since Christ Jesus is the ideal of theFellowship student, “perhaps” this point alonewould explain Heindel’s calling the Fellowship“An Association of Christian Mystics.” The fact

remains that the Teachings are fundamental-ly occult in nature. For example,

when “the light of occultism” isdirected on the problem of sor-row, it becomes “one of thestrongest rays of hope to theone who is blessed with thisknowledge” (73). Moreover,

precisely because the occultstudent has chosen consciously to

pursue the straight and narrow path tothe Kingdom of Heaven, he may expect an

acceleration of trials and may regard them as a“sign of progress and a cause for great rejoicing”(LS#72, “The Reason for the Trials That Beset theOccult Student”).

The truths of the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conceptionare described as “mystic teaching” (89). Again weencounter a substitution for the more common andfitting occult, since the teachings can only becalled mysticin that they are not obvious. But theirclarity and intelligibility more correctly identifythem as occult. Likewise, the term “mystic reason”(276) couples antithetical concepts. And the “mys-tic significance” (337) of Jesus apparently eatingfish and honey is really an occult significance, forwhich Heindel gives an occult explanation.Rasputin’s “mystic overlordship of the imperialmind” (509) is better described as “occult”because knowledge and will were used in exertingthis influence. Mystics do not control others in this“magical” way. As Heindel says, the “true mystic”will “look to the God within and pour himself orherself out in voiceless adoration” (560).

Mystics, “led by the devotion to Christ, simply

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Inoccult orders, like

the Rosicrucians, musi -cal “keys” or incanta -tions are intoned at

each degree.

follow the dictates of the heart in their work oflove for their fellows” (GM 17). On the other hand,“mind is the predominating feature” of Rosicrucianoccultists, who practice the exercises of retrospec-tion and concentration to advance “scientificallytoward the goal of initiation” (GM 19).

“Students of the occult philosophies [as WesternWisdom Teachings] ought to familiarize them-selves with the astronomical facts so that they maybe able to give an intelligent reason for theirbeliefs” (2Q&A 356). Mystics cannot give “intelli-gent reasons” for their beliefs because their beliefsare not based on reason but faith, or even indu-bitable intuition. They may know, but their knowl-edge is not in a transmissible form. Heindel firmlystates that our duty is to “give a reason for thefaith” which is within us, as St. Paul exhorts us todo (TI 34).

Christ’s injunction to His disciples was to preachthe Gospel and to heal the sick. This, not surpris-ingly, is also the Rosicrucian Fellowship’s mis-sion. The teachings of occult Christianity couldhave been given without a permanent location, butthe Fellowship’s healing mission required an actu-al site for a healing Temple, a Healing Department,and, at least as originally conceived and used for aperiod of time, a healing facility, called theSanitarium, which opened in 1939. Heindel enun-ciated occult principles of healing in many forms,including books, lectures, and letters. He knew thatthe Rosicrucian Teachings themselves have a salu-tary effect on those who try to understand and usethem. “The study of the highest philosophy willalways tend to better one’s health because...themore we know, the better we are able to cope withall conditions” (1Q&A 286).

Heindel regarded astrology as critical to effec-tive healing. In fact, “this science is the backboneof the teaching” (Letters to Probationers 35).Obviously mystics do not teach astrology. Holymystics, such as some of the saints of the CatholicChurch, possessed healing powers, but these weregifts of the Holy Spirit and were not the result ofthe systematic application of physical sciences andoccult principles. Heindel believed that “all meth-ods of healing are adequate only to the degree thatthey take into consideration the stellar harmonics

and discords expressed in the wheel of life—thehoroscope” (TI 159). The Rosicrucian system ofhealing is based on “a knowledge of the planetarydisharmonies which cause disease and the correct-ing influence” (TI 160).

For Heindel knowledge is absolutely therapeu-tic. The imperative in the old mystery schools to“Know Thyself” is the Rosicrucian student’s firstpriority. Knowledge and health are intimatelyrelated: “Disease is a manifestation of ignorance,the only sin, and healing is a demonstration ofapplied knowledge, which is the only salvation”(TI 131-132). These are categorical terms!

Heindel’s enthusiasm for astrology knows nobounds. It “helps as nothing else can in the devel-opment” of the supreme virtue of love (RM 61).This is certainly not a sentiment or proposition

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Both the occult and mystic paths of initiation transmute theunused sexual energies by raising them through the head andheart, respectively, resulting in the ability to speak the cre-ative word, symbolized by the trumpets. The Rosicrucian initi-ation aims to balance the head and heart paths, as shown bythe heart within the winged (etheric) sign for mental Mercury.

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advanced by a mystic. Astrology teaches under-standing and understanding promotes fellow feel-ing and forgiveness, as in “to know all is to forgiveall.” While the material astronomer regards thezodiacal constellations as aggregates of chemicalelements, “to the occultist the twelve signs [starclusters] of the zodiac are the visible vehicle of thetwelve Creative Hierarchies” (RCL170). Ordinaryhumanity directs prayers to God which “at the pre-sent time are mostly selfish and ignorant.” If theyare answered, it is generally by invisible helpers.The “occult astrologer, however...addresses theambassadors of the star-Angels directly andobtains his desires more easily” (1Q&A 324).

We are now in a position to conclude our studyof Heindel’s thought relative to his own mystic andoccult tendencies and his writing on these two lifeorientations. That both are vital approaches to theone Reality is shown by the Rosicrucian symbol-ism that is depicted on the cover of most editionsof Heindel’s books published by the Fellowship.The two streams of evolving humanity are desig-nated by the lamp and the heart. The creativepower of the occultist ascends directly to the headwhere the intellect is developed. The creative forceof the mystic ascends through the heart. The headpath is considered positive (nine rays issue fromthe lamp) and masculine (right side), while theheart path is negative (the heart is shown emanat-ing eight rays) and feminine.

The union of the head and heart signify thePerfect Man (Human) and it is the ideal of theRosicrucian Fellowship, as it is the purpose ofHeindel’s central work, the Cosmo (18), to pro-mote this union. Even so, its author stated that thepublication of this book “marked a new era in so-called ‘occult’ literature” (RM 11). And theFellowship teachings are preponderantly occult,intended for the intellectual needs of the Mercury(hermetic)-oriented seeker after wisdom. Whilethe Cosmois not “the ultimate of occult knowl-edge” (Cosmo8), it is the most comprehensivevolume of occult knowledge specifically formulat-ed for the developmental needs of Western human-ity. Heindel himself sets the keynote by defining“the first and central requisite the aspirant to occultknowledge must possess—an unswerving desire, a

burning thirst for knowledge” (Cosmo22). Thisburning thirst characterized the author’s own questfor the teachings embodied in in the Cosmo.However, “the supreme motive for seeking thisoccult knowledge must be an ardent desire to ben-efit humanity” (22).

The Cosmois “only for the [then—1910] few”who have “freed their minds from the shackles oforthodox science and religion” and are ready toaccept its truth “until they have proven it wrong”(RCC514). Those who free their minds in pursuitof truth will find it, and that truth will make themfree. For it teaches them “how to escape [all formsof] restraint by mastering self” (TI 143).

For the occultist, it is not enough to say, as doesthe mystic, that he believes. He must know, and hewill know—“there can be no question” (Cosmo47). When Carl Jung was asked why he believed inthe human soul, he replied, “I don’t believe, Iknow.” The occult path is often characterized ascold and heartless. Yet most who pursue it sooneror later realize that they are seeking to fulfill theFirst Commandment of the Christ—to love theLord God with all their mind. The mind is givenhumanity to know the deep secrets of God and inso doing to better give God glory. Knowledge maypuff up—if it is personal knowledge. But wisdom,by its very nature, is mind identified with livingtruth. It is soulful participation in the being ofcelestial Beings, who are expressions of the“thoughts” of God. As Max Heindel writes:“Wisdom, wisdom everywhere! So grand, so greatthat one who looks with an observant eye is filledwith amazement and reverence” (Cosmo79).

While mystics obtain their clairvoyant faculty asa gift from Jehovah, “trained occultists” acquiretheir extrasensory powers “by their own will” (RM74). Speaking of his fellow occultists, Heindelwrites “self-mastery is our goal, and not masteryover others” (RM 74). This is the motto of the eth-ical occultist.

The mystic is a poet. He lives and comprehendsintuitively, unmediated by sequential reasoning. Heknows analogically, in a fell swoop. The archetypalmystic bypasses the Holy Spirit and on Seraphimwings flies directly to the heart of God, to the cen-ter of universal Love abiding in the World of Life

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Spirit. At the same time, the mystic path is fraughtwith its own perils. Since the heart-based aspirantis steeped in emotions and is both subject to greattemptations and, lacking in knowledge, he is preyto every kind of illusion and deception.

The mystic ignores and even seeks to escape theconscious personal self, which attempt oftenresults in his becoming more (not less) involved insubjectivity. He may also try to dissociate himselffrom the dense physical body through variousascetic practices in an after-echo of his mysticEastern brothers. But the occultist subdues anduses the personal self as a tool. Self-mastery is hisgoal, not self-cancellation (Cosmo273).

It was Fellowship practice during Heindel’stenure to hold weekday classes for intellectualnourishment and Sunday evening addresses devot-ed to the heart’s development through ardent exhor-tations, which were meant to apply to the speakeras well as his listeners. In other words, Heindel’svehemence on certain points stemmed from theirpersonal relevance to his own experiences—be itEastern breathing methods (he tried them); to theevils of a carnivorous diet (he partook of meat untilhis mid-thirties); to conservation of the sex force(which up to a crisis point of radical conversion,again in his mid-thirties, he did not observe).

Heindel was a man of action. His actions wereinformed by what he knew, and he suffered fromwhat he didn’t know. The need to know, first-hand,was a driving force in his life. He was a pioneer, anexplorer; he needed to get to the heart of a matter,to master a skill (be it printing, navigation, ormechanics); to know the principle behind the man-ifestation—be it gravity, electricity, harmonics, thephysics of light and color, crystallography, cryo-genics, etc. After all, he was a self-confessed spir-itual son of Lucifer, Cain, and Hiram Abif f. Hewas an epigeneticist, a creator. For him it did notsuffice to have Solomon’s wisdom that can drawthe blueprint, conceive the archetype for theTemple, but cannot build it with earthly materials.For that the wisdom of Solomon had, reluctantly,to defer to the practical expertise, the “masonic”experience, of Hiram, the master builder, the archi-tecton. There is, in other words, a wisdom that isnot from above, that does not pre-exist but must be

generated by applying knowledge to human expe-rience in the physical world. The striving to knowis not an end but a means to do better, and to doand be better for others. Here the heart directs theaction; it is not a doing for self.

In view of the foregoing observations it mayhave occurred to many readers of this study thatMax Heindel and St. Paul have more than a little incommon, including: a radical conversion to theChristian occult path; an intense desire and a tire-less zeal to serve the Lord Christ; the attainment ofinitiate status; the compelling need to bring the

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The Jewel of the Rose CroixThe pelican, wounding itself to feed its young, symbolizes:(1) the Solar Christ whose light rays “feed” the seven planets,and (2) the Incarnate Christ, whose blood redeems sevenfold(by planetary Ray) humanity. In Masonic symbolism the peli-can’s blood stands for the secret Work by which man is raisedfrom the slavery of ignorance to the freedom of wisdom.

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esoteric truth of the Gospel to as many people aspossible; and the commitment to making manifest“the mystery which hath been hid from the agesand from generations...which is Christ in you”(Col 1:26-28). The old man is to be “renewed inknowledge after the image of Him that createdhim: where...Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:9-11).

Paul sought to make public his own specialknowledge in a clear manner that appealed to rea-son. He was disseminating a new teaching; so wasMax Heindel. Since many others were issuingteachings purporting to be true, Paul adjured hislisteners to “prove all things and hold fast to thatwhich is good.” These very words enveloped thetext of the Cosmo’s first twoeditions: “Prove all things”was placed as an epigraph and“hold fast...” functioned as apostscript.

One can prove theTeachings, both Paul’s andHeindel’s, because they arelogical, even if they are occult.In other words, according tothe world’s thinking, they maybe foolishness, but as esotericdoctrine, they are wise. Throughhis occult transmissions, Heindel made possiblethe fulfillment of the words “It is given unto you toknow the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven”(Matt 13:11). LikePaul he would say “I would not,brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mys-tery” (Rom 11:25).

The frequency with which the two terms occultand mystic are used in Heindel’s complete opusmay be seen to fairly reflect the emphasis heplaced on the twin aims of the Fellowship and itsTeachings, and, indirectly, the Rosicrucian Orderitself, as they pertain to the head and heart involve-ment in spiritual development. Simply from thequantitative point of view, the overwhelmingemphasis in Heindel’s writing is on knowledgeintended for implementation—on working truths.The Teachings are a form of spiritual pragmatism.Occult knowledge can be shared and disseminated.Mysticism cannot, not directly, except in figurativeand evocative forms such as poetry, myth, paint-

ing, and music. This does not diminish the impor-tance of the mystic venture. But its light is obscuredto others who want to participate in the mysticexperience. While the heart’s wisdom and the mind’sclear knowing are both essential for fully devel-oped spirituality, in the Aryan Epoch emphasis isplaced on the cultivation of reason and the unfold-ment of the mind’s potential, which is directedtoward the attainment of uttering the Creative Word.

The Rosicrucian Teachings are particularly ear-marked for the disaffected thinker, the rationalistbeleaguered by the meager offerings of theoreticalmaterialism. When the alienated mind is re-engaged and opened to the cosmic truths enunciated

in Western WisdomTeachings,the uncommitted heart mayalso be engaged and a work-ing love for all creation willmanifest as the spontaneousdesire to improve the lot andadvance the cause, throughChrist, of the four life wavesevolving on Earth.

The Aquarian Age, of whichthe Rosicrucian Fellowship isthe herald, “will bring out allthe intellectual and spiritual

potencies in man which are symbolized by thatsign” (RM 12). The watery Piscean mysticism willbe increasingly supplanted by the objectiveoccultism of Aquarius. Impersonal love will suc-ceed a love at once sacrificial and intensely sub-jective. Love is not a feeling, as commonly under-stood. Feelings are not reliable guides to truth andcertainty. “Pythagoras demanded that his pupilsstudy mathematics because he knew the value ofraising their minds above the sphere of feeling,where it is subject to delusion, and elevating ittoward the Region of Abstract Thought, which isthe prime reality” (RM 83).

When the mind is trained in abstract thought it iselevated “above the sordid things of concrete exis-tence, helping the imagination to soar beyond thehampering toils of self-interest” (Cosmo202). TheRegion of Abstract Thought is “beyond the influ-ence of Feeling and the mind is directed upwardtowards the spiritual realms and liberation” (ibid).

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The RosicrucianTeachings are particu -larly earmarked for thedisaffected thinker , therationalist beleaguered

by the meager offer -ings of theoretical

materialism.

“[T]he twin feelings, interest and indifference,obscure the Truth and bias us....[Therefore]remembering that logic is the best teacher in anyworld, it is certain that the individual who suc-ceeds in entering into the superphysical World bymeans of such studies in abstract Thought, will notbecome confused, but will be able to give a goodaccount of himself under all circumstances”(Cosmo203-4).

In answering a student’s question, Heindel wrotethat “it is necessary to be an occultist to...study...the unexplained [mysterious] laws of nature andthe powers latent in man. Therefore, theRosicrucians recommend that all thoughts be cen-tered upon living such a life and practicing suchexercises as will develop the latent powers in eachpupil so that he may see and know the invisibleworlds whence came the causes we see manifestedhere” (1Q&A 359). Here is an explicit statementdescribing the Rosicrucian path, which is in someways opposite from the mystic path, for it is a pathof knowledge, ensouled knowledge. When theRosicrucian student “has become capable of reach-ing the consciousness of the inner worlds,” heattains to at least a partial realization of the mys-tic’s goal, for “the unity of life” is seen by him asa fact, as is universal brotherhood (ibid).

In Mysteries of the Great Operas, Heindelexplains that modes of artistic expression, includ-ing myths and allegorical pictures, work on thehuman subconscious. “Particularly in Europe, wefind still the atmosphere of mysticism broodingover the land. There, people love the ancient mythswhich speak to them in a manner incomprehensi-ble to the Westerner” (73). We recall that the ElderBrother told Max Heindel that he would want torewrite the Cosmoonce he left the mystical envi-ronment of eastern Germany and re-entered theUnited States. Indeed, “in the etheric atmosphereof the Pacific Coast these mythical pictures havealmost faded away” (73). The intellectual needs ofthe contemporary Western human who aspires tohigher knowledge are best served by the logicalpresentation of occult truths. Mystical truths areobscure, impressionistic, allusive, and virtuallyantithetical to scientific formulations, whether theyrefer to visible or superphysical reality.

There are those who feel that the explanation ofa thing demeans or destroys that thing. Many peo-ple do not believe that the deep longings of theirsouls can be answered by anything that can beclearly understood. Their convictions lead them toconclude that beside what can be known in theworld there must always be something that defiescognition. While in absolute terms this feeling mayhave some merit, it acts as a deterrent and impelsthe “subjectivist” to reject what is known by occultscientists as irrelevant, misleading, or sinister.Occult science is not a “hidden” science but onewhose object of inquiry is concealed. It is a scienceof revealed mysteries, and therefore a systematicbody of knowledge of the supersensible worlds. AsHeindel writes, “It is thought that moves every-thing, and when we look upon the hidden or occultside of effects, we get a far deeper understandingof causes” (TI 195).

Let us recapitulate our study by quoting a keypassage from the Cosmo: “The Rosicrucian Orderwas started particularly for those whose highdegree of intellectual development caused them torepudiate the heart. Intellect imperiously demandsa logical explanation of everything—the worldmystery, the questions of life and death. The rea-sons for and the modus operandiof existence werenot explained by the priestly injunction not to seekto know the mysteries of God” (439). To thispriestly injunction the mystic is obedient. Not sothe occultist. The world mystery will be resolved.The reasons for existence will be explained. Theintellect will find answers, occult answers, to itsquestions. The Rosicrucian Order has made thispossible, this occult revelation—and more, hasadvanced the ability to prove the truth of theseoccult facts by providing exercises and describinga way of living that enable the student to enter thespiritual worlds at the earliest time in their devel-opment consonant with safety.

In conclusion, knowledge, as desirable, indeedessential, as it may be, is not the Rosicrucian stu-dent’s final goal. Rather does higher knowledge fitthe student to better serve his or her spiritual Self,to further the well-being of others, and to fulfill theFather’s will through Christ. ❒

—C.W.

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“But this cometh to pass, that theword might be fulfilled that is writtenin their law, They hated me without acause. But when the Comforter is comewhom I shall send unto you from theFather, even the Spirit of Truth whoproceeds from the Father, he shall tes-tify of me, and ye also shall bear wit-ness, because you have been with mefrom the Beginning.”—John 15:25-27

EVER SINCE THE TIMEthat mankind lost con-scious connection withtheir spiritual leaders and began toroam this planet for eons on their own

initiative, truth has been searched for. Once we fellinto the paralyzing grip of the selfish expression ofour human egos, our thoughts, words, actions, andfeelings were used to distort our gift of life into thehorrendous mutations of war, poverty, disease, vio-lence, and death.

Everybody wants to know the truth. Some thinkthey have it, others believe they will find it, butmost people are still searching for truth, manywondering if it even exists.

Truth is conceived and viewed by people fromdifferent vantages and at different levels of con-sciousness. We do not all experience incidents inthe same way, and we do not all remember them inthe same way. We may say and do things that webelieve are true, but yet in actual fact they may befar removed from the truth.

When we look at the life of Paul, an apostle of

Christ Jesus, we see that initially Paul persecutedthe followers of Christ. He did it with all his heartbecause he thought that it was the right thing to do.

While he was journeying to Damascus Paul sawa light from heaven brighter than the sun shiningaround him. He was so frightened that he fell to theground. Then he heard the voice of Christ Jesussaying to him: “Saul, why do you persecute me?”

That day when Paul met Christ his whole lifechanged. He then realized that he had been wrong.He was not acting from inner knowledge of thetruth. Christ Jesus then appointed Paul to bear wit-ness to Himself in the history of the Israelite peo-ple and to His future manifestations. Paul, nowconvinced of the truth within him, was able to dis-tinguish between the real truth and the “truth” hebelieved in before he met Christ Jesus. There aretimes we also believe in a “truth” that we ourselvesfashion to justify our personal thoughts, actionsand words.

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The Truth Within

MYSTIC LIGHT

Oil on canvas, Frederic Shields

“Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”Paul, inspired by the Spirit, addresses King Agrippa (standing), who turnsaway from his advisor. Festus, procurator of Judea, and Bernice, listen raptly.

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Later, Paul appeared before King Festus and toldhim what had happened to him on his way toDamascus—how he was blinded by the light andwas without sight for three days until a disciple,Ananias, put his hands on Paul’s eyes and restoredhis vision. He told the King how he was then ledout of the darkness into the light, not only becausehis sight was restored, but because now he couldsee the difference between living a life in darknessand living life in the light. The King said to Paul,“Paul, you are mad.” But Paul said, “no, I am notmad, I am talking the sober truth.” It was the truthwithin that Paul was referring to.

Once blind and then enlightened, Paul began toproclaim a different truth. The truth he received fromChrist Jesus, which is also the truth within eachone of us. When, like Paul, we become open to theTruth, when we walk in the light as God is in thelight, we cannot help but willingly and consciouslychange our words, thoughts, and behavior patterns.

The moment we shift from a consciousness ofseparation to a consciousness of Oneness, we willknow and understand that we have no choice but toassist each other and learn to live together in Peaceand Harmony. The family of Humanity is totallyand completely interdependent, interconnectedand interrelated. What affects one person affects usall. We cannot harm another human being oranother part of life without harming ourselves.When that truth sinks into our awareness, then war,hatred, prejudice, corruption, selfishness, greed,and every other destructive human behaviorbecomes ludicrous—self-destructive and obvious-ly insane. But, if we do not have a personal rela-tionship with Christ Jesus, we will not be able toaccept and see this truth.

We see that in John 14:6 Christ said, “I am thetruth, the way, and the life.” There will never beanother truth, way, or life besides the Truth, Way,and Life in Christ Jesus.

Many people have asked the question What istruth? Plato with mystic intuition said “God istruth and light is his shadow.”

John said “God is Light,” and as he was closer tothe Master than the other disciples, he undoubted-ly received teachings from Christ that were higherthan those which the other Disciples were capable

of receiving or understanding. Therefore he had atruer, deeper understanding of light. Those of uswho can see the beauty of the numerous shades ofcolor and light are indeed very fortunate. But thenthere are those who have eyes, and yet do not per-ceive the world of color around them, and they gothrough life without experiencing or appreciatingthe beauty of it, because they never take the timeto look at it. So is it with truth. Truth is everywhereand can always be found if we are capable of per-ceiving it. If we walk closely with Christ Jesus, wewill be able to receive it, to listen to His voice inour Hearts, instead of listening to our own expla-nations of truth and our own righteousness in ourwrong thoughts and actions

John writes mystically when he says, “In thebeginning was God, and God was the word and inthat was Life and the life became the light of men.”In the human body there is that light shining fromthe beginning unto this day, the light that shines indarkness, the light that is hidden by the veil ofIsis—unless, through the window of the soul, theGlory of God and the Universe are revealed. Onlythen can we perceive God as Light and everythinggood as radiant with Light, and all that is evilenshrouded in darkness.

Max Heindel has written that a lie in the DesireWorld is both murder and suicide. Do we realizethat by changing the truth to fit our own thoughtsand desires or to justify our own actions is a formof spiritual self-destruction?.

When we alter the truth we can negatively influ-ence and harm other people. We can even strength-en in them thoughts of suicide or murder that theymay hide within themselves.

So we see that lies are the opposite of truth. Liesare in darkness, truth is therefore in the light. Whatis darkness and evil then?

We are taught in the Western Wisdom Teachingsthat there is no evil in God’s world. There is theone Power of God, and that is good. We use it inthe way we want to, and we cannot deny that thereare people who use this power for evil, either con-sciously or unconsciously. The only way that wecan make sure that we are not being used by evilinfluences is to constantly walk the path of Truth ina very close relationship with our Lord: To be

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humble, to serve, to love, and to makesure that we do not harm each other; tokeep the golden rule—do onto others asyou want them to do unto you.

We must always ask ourselves thisquestion: If we are about to spread rumorsor to hurt someone’s feelings, is Christ inthis that I want to do, is this the way Hewould want me to act? And then we willget this answer, through His word:LoveGod your Father with your whole heart,and your neighbor as yourself.

The exercises for soul growth con-tained in the Rosicrucian Teachings giveus a wonderful opportunity to come intouch with truth. As we review ouractions and thoughts each day, if we aretrue and honest with ourselves, we shallimmediately know when we do wrong.We will then walk in the Light from dayto day. And we will know the truth.

Knowing the truth does not mean thatwe must always agree with and acceptwhat others do. We have a duty not toagree with other people when they aredoing things that we know are wrong.Christ Jesus set the example for us inMatthew 21:12 where it is narrated thatJesus entered the Temple of God anddrove out all who sold and bought in the Temple.He overturned the tables of the money changersand the seats of those who sold pigeons. Christ Jesus,the Son of God, who died on the cross for the sinsof the world, did not tolerate wrongdoing. Whilecondemned the deed, he always loved the doer.

To know the Truth within also means that wewill have to take a stand in our daily lives for whatis wrong and for what is right. By doing that wewill only demonstrate that we know the differencebetween what is in the darkness and what is in thelight. We must always distance ourselves fromdark motives and dark practices. If we cannot dothat, or if we cannot see what is of the dark, thenwe cannot be in touch with the Truth within.

Light is not of one color. There are seven Spiritsbefore the throne of God, each one being a lightbearer for a certain Ray. Each one of us can better

respond to one of these Rays. We are graduallymoving towards the same source, which is God. Wewill at different times have different opinions anddifferent points of views about events and people.But we should learn to live together in harmony.

We have all trod different paths in different livesunder the influence of the Mars Ray. We have beenaggressive, passionate, violent, often not caringwho suffered or the effect of our actions on others.

In other lives we have come under the lighterRay of Venus and expressed ourselves in moreamiable, harmonious ways, creating beauty andcultivating the arts.

Still later we have responded to the deep blue orSaturn Ray, learning hard lessons which promotedsoul growth. The path of the lighter blue or JupiterRay brought us a measure of wisdom, abundance,and joy. Ultimately, we all look forward to the

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Oil on canvas, Carl Bloch (1834-1890), Chapel at Fredericksborg Castle, Denmark

Jesus Clears the TempleTaking a public stand for truth has its esoteric counterpart: Here, thehuman body, a temple for the living God, must be kept clean and holy.

higher perception which comes from the yellowUranian Ray. At present, most of us are not capa-ble of receiving it, but must be content with thelower deeper yellow of the Mercury Ray.

We are all evolving to vibrate in unison withsun’s white light, which is the unity of all color.Though we may feel far from our goal, we mustnever forget that we all have an essence of Godwithin ourselves which will teach us the truth andmake divinity manifest.

Please allow me to share with you a personalexperience. When I was first introduced to theteachings, they immediately appealed to me. Allmy life I used to ask questions, and most of themwere never answered. But through studying theTeachings many of my questions were answered.Still busy with the Preliminary Lessons, I cameacross the concept of reincarnation.

Being brought up by a conservative Afrikaans-speaking family, reincarnation was not accepted.But I was raised by loving and caring parents, andmy mother who was a wonderful person, laid thefoundation for my faith in God. For that I willalways be thankful to her. I always loved God, eversince I can remember, and I would not want to doanything that is wrong in the eyes of God. Comingacross reincarnation in the studies bothered me. Iwas not sure I wanted to accept it. I was a singleparent raising my six children and I was very pro-tective of them. I loved and always wanted only thebest for those closest to my heart. The idea of mychildren being born again to another women, whoperhaps might neglect them, hurt them, or evenabusethem, was just too much for me to think about.

So I wrote a letter to Headquarters telling themjust that. I said that I liked most of the teachings,but that I did not like reincarnation. And Iexplained my reasons.

After a while I received new lessons and a fewBible scriptures, which I studied. But still I was nothappy with the idea, so I stopped my studies. Atthat point in my life it was easier not to accept rein-carnation, because I refused to see the truth, I wasmore comfortable with my own ideas about life,and what happens to us after passing over.

Then, a few years later on my way to work onemorning, I passed a tree in the garden. It looked so

dead, and I thought to myself, I must ask my son tocut it down. But as I was passing this tree, my eyenoticed a tiny little fragile baby leaf, shiningbrightly and so full of life. I stood still to look at itcloser and that morning I could hear the voice ofmy Master so clearly in my heart: “Life goes on.After Winter there will always be Spring again.After death, Life. There is no death, only changes.”In the World of God there is no standstill. It willforever progress and evolve, because GOD ISLIGHT AND LOVE AND LIFE. I do not knowhow we can ever thank God for His Love. I did notknow at that time what was still in the future wait-ing for me, but God knew, and that day He sharedwith me also the truth of Life after Death. Thattruth made it possible for me to survive the great-est shock of my life: when, shortly after, three ofmy children which I loved so dearly passed over tothe spiritual world.

Needless to say, I searched for my lessons thatnight, wrote a letter to Headquarters and asked forpermission to go on with my studies. That day Irealized that we can have all the knowledge in theworld, but it is God who will convince us of realtruth, that part of God within each one of us whichis the Truth Within.

Perhaps the following also happens to many ofyou. People will walk up to me and ask me ques-tions. I always quickly pray in my thoughts thatGod will help me to answer their questions well.

But there are times when, after I have answeredtheir questions, I look into their eyes and see con-fusion and emptiness. I will then ask myself thisquestion: Did I say too much or perhaps notenough? But being at peace with myself in this Inever dwell on it for very long.

And so many times the same person I talked towill come back to me with these words, “Do youremember the day when you explained reincarna-tion to me, and how we are supposed to takeresponsibilities for our own actions? Well, that dayit did not make a good impression on me, but sud-denly, this morning, I saw the light. I understood itall, and now I know that it is the truth.” What hap-pened then to these people? I shared my knowl-edge with them, but God from within convincedthem of the Truth, the Truth that is within each one

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of us.Unfortunately for many people it is still easier to

blame God for their own failures and unhappiness.But those who know the truth also know that allour failures and unhappiness come from our ownwrong thoughts and actions. We know that Godnever punishes but only teaches us in love thelessons which are necessary for us to learn so thatwe can experience soul growth. How can we feelcompassion for a person who loses a child if wehave not ourselves experienced the shock, the sor-row, and longing in our own hearts? How can wefeel with people who have been left alone in theirlove if we ourselves have not experienced thatemptiness?

But then again, how can we praise God if we donot allow Him to show us the truth and the way,and allow Him to work wonders in our lives? Howcan we enjoy spiritual experiences if we do nothave the truth in ourselves? That truth whichChrist Jesus promised shall set us free and willallow us to see the Light. Then we will also see the

difference between what is in the light and what isin the darkness.

Please always be aware that you have specialgifts bestowed upon you by our Creator. Thesegifts are your own special unique talents and qual-ities that make you wonderful, You must developyour gifts to acknowledge the goodness and thegreatness that is within you, that is needing tocome forth and be expressed in this world.

I would like to close with this thought:

I am a being of violet fire, I am the purity God desires, That blazes in violet flames, That freedom desires. Strive for forgiveness. Rejoice to give joy.

May the light, the love, and the grace of ourheavenly Father guide us and lead us to the truthwithin. ❒

Martie C. Purchase

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THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTIONBy Max Heindel

Please Use Order Formon page 64

This book gives a complete outline of the Western Wisdom Teachings as far as itmay be made public at the present time. It contains a comprehensive outline ofthe evolutionary processes of man and the universe, correlating science withreligion. The author received this Teaching personally fromthe Rosicrucian Brotherhood.

NEW HARDCOVER EDITION: 717 pages, including a 100-page Alphabetical Index and a 60-page Topical index

PAPER EDITION: 610 pages with 60-page Topical Index. Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

This is the textbook used in the RosicrucianPhilosophy Correspondence Course.

PART ONE: A treatise on the Visible and Invisible Worlds, Man and theMethod of Evolution, Rebirth and the Law of Cause and Effect.

PART TWO: Covers the scheme of Evolution in general and in particular theEvolution of the Solar System, the Earth, and its Humanity.

PART THREE: Treats of Christ and His Mission, Future Development of Man andInitiation, Esoteric Training, a Safe Method of Acquiring First-handKnowledge, Christian Rosenkreuz and the Rosicrucian Order.

WE KNOW that everything thatexists in the Universe was first athought. In Greek “logos”means both word and thought.Thought (mental word) pre-

cedes the spoken word. “In the beginning was theWord and the word was with God, and the Wordwas God. The same was in the beginning withGod. All things were made by him; and withouthim was not any thing made that was made. InHim was life; and the life was the light of man.”(John 1:1) The Cosmic Word may be consideredthe manifested form of creative thought—a hierar-chy of vibrations which builds all forms and,according to occult knowledge, ensouls them.Trees, flowers, mountains, seas—all that exists inthe Universe—was first a thought issuing fromNature Forces.

Everything we use in this world developed froma thought, be it a thought in the mind of an angelor a devil, a woman or a man.

If, in the beginning, the Word expressed thoughtand the Word was with God and was God, we canimagine that, in the end, thoughts will be with Godand constitutive of God.

Rosicrucian Teachings state that in the JupiterPeriod the Earth will become etheric and the vitalbody will be our densest vehicle and the humanmind will vitalized. We shall have an objective pic-ture consciousness and be capable of impressingpictures on other minds. In the Venus Period theessence of the perfected dense and vital bodies willbe compounded in the desire body. The desirebody will be our densest vehicle, the Life Spiritwill absorb the intellectual Soul and the mind will

then acquire feeling and we shall create living andfeeling forms. In the last or Vulcan Period of ourscheme of evolution the mind will be perfected andcompounded with the quintessence of the threefoldbody. We, as evolved Virgin Spirits, will be able topropagate ourselves and create living, movingthinking forms. We shall then have reached a pointof evolution a little higher than that of the presentLords of Mind. Then the densest Globe for ourevolving activity will be in the concrete region ofthe world of Thought, the rarest of Globes in whichcommon humanity currently has experience.

In time the creative word, that is divine thought,will be with and in God as God. In time humanswill be able to create animate forms through thewords “spoken” by our spiritualized larynx.

Man, as a potential God-man, possesses the

20 RAYS 01

MYSTIC LIGHT

Watercolor, William Blake (1789-1853)

And God Blessed the Seventh Day and Sanctified ItAll physical forms issue from, correspond to, and are sus-tained bymental archetypes, living force-Beings (shown bythe artist as six Elohim) existing in the Mind of God.

The Power of Thought

divine creative faculty. He is now learning to cre-ate. He has the capacity to think and he can voicehis thoughts. When he is not capable of carryingout his ideas by himself, he may secure the help ofothers through his speech. Today, through a seriesof physical embodiments we are slowly learningby our mistakes. At present we are spiritual chil-dren. Were we able to create directly by the word,our creations would be imperfect and harmful.What I personally like to remember is the taleabout the two sisters. [See Rays July/August2000—Ed.] One had flowers, diamonds and beau-tiful things coming out of her mouth because shewas always thinking loving thoughts. The othersister had snakes, toads and other repellent thingscoming out of her mouth because her thoughtswere mean-spirited and selfish. This reminds me tospeak kind words and to forgive others when theyuse their thoughts and voice to hurt or harm.

We are made as “sons of God and one day wewill be Gods.” During the Saturn Period the dens-est Globe occupied by nascent humanity waslocated in the same portion of the world ofThought that is occupied by the rarest of Globes ofthe present Period—the Region of concretethought. As Virgin Spirits we were embedded inthis Globe, or perhaps better, the whole Globe wascomposed of Virgin Spirits as a raspberry is madeof a great number of small raspberries. Renaissancepaintings, like Botticelli’s Madonna of thePomegranate, showing the Christ Child holding apomegranate, evoke the same idea.

Today, the great majority of people have devel-oped the habit of listless thinking, which makesthem incapable of holding onto any subject until itis thoroughly mastered. Thought control is diffi -cult but highly to be desired because thought forceis the most powerful means of obtaining knowl-edge. Since thought is our principal power, mas-tery of that power is essential so that we may dis-tinguish between illusions and true ideas generatedby the Spirit within.

Toward the realization of this goal students ofthe Rosicrucian Teachings are urged to perform theexercise of concentration regularly and persistent-ly. We practice fixing our minds unwaveringlyupon a single subject, becoming so absorbed in it

that all else is successfully blotted out of con-sciousness. Once we have learned to do this we areable to see the spiritual side of an object or ideailluminated by spiritual light, and thus we obtain aknowledge of the inner nature of things undreamedof by a worldly person.

We have been placed in this physical world sothat we may learn to think correctly and to nurtureand give expression to epigenesis or the originalcreative impulse with which God has endowed thehuman Spirit. In fact it is the mission of the concretematerial world to make our mistakes manifest.When I was in France, I met the husband of one ofmy friends. He invented machines for firms inSweden. What a job! I asked him, “Can you tell mewhat happened when you conceived the idea of amachine, did it work straight away? He answeredalong the same lines described by Max Heindel:“No! First I had an idea, a sudden insight, which atfirst had no definite shape. In mental vision itappeared in a general sense as what could accom-plish the required work. Then I began to draw theplans for the machine, and had to modify them oftenmany times before it was able to function properly.”

Physical conditions show the inventor where histhought is not correct. Sometimes he has to discardthe first machine and build an entirely differentone. It is the same for everything on the materialplane. Every time we have to face a new condi-tion—a new living environment, a new job, a newrelationship, it takes time and the application oflearned principles. We do our best but know thatwe will have to modify our way of living, of work-ing, of relating to others. There are times we mayeven have to start from scratch, move to a newlocation, start a new relationship, change jobs. Wedo so, hopefully, with more love, epigenesis andimagination. Evolution requires creativity andadaptability. And we have to be patient with oth-ers—and with ourselves.

Thus it is absolutely necessary that we dwell inthis physical world and learn to wield the power ofthought. Everything made by the hand of man iscrystallized thought. Indeed, what we are, what wehave, all our good qualities are the result of ourthoughts! We have to realize that we are responsi-ble for everything we create in and around us.

RAYS 01 21

Between any two earthlyincarnations, the humanSpirit helps create itsfuture environment. So wemay ask, “Are we unhappywith the world as we see ittoday?” If so, we mustrealize that we helped cre-ate this world! Perhaps weenvy a person who has theease of affluence, or isphysically attractive, or issocially graceful, or intel-lectually brilliant. If wevalue these attributes, wecan have them. “What welack in physical, moral ormental excellence may yetbe ours in the future.” Ifwe change our thoughts,we will change ourDestiny. We create our future day by day!

Let us remind ourselves how we develop ourthoughts and what their effects are.

We may take to heart the truism that “as a manthinketh in his heart, so is he.” Here the engine ofchange is described. The saying “thoughts arethings” is true. Every time we think a thought, wemake a thought form, which has a formative(materializing) power proportional to the thought’sforce. This thought has two issues: 1) It can leaddirectly to an act, or 2) it can persist as a motive toaction, floating in the aura as part of our individualmental atmosphere, a part of our life. This creativethought clothes itself in the substance of desire andemotion. It is stored in the memory as a pattern forfuture use. We have access to our thoughts at anytime, and sometimes they assert themselves unso-licited, as it were. Our thoughts take on physicalreality in our environment, making it “good” or“bad” according to their original nature. So we cansay that our environment is a looking glass inwhich we see our thoughts. Therefore if we wish tochange our environment, our fortune, or ourhealth, it is easy to understand that we must changeour thoughts.

We cannot think whatever we want with impunity.

Wicked thoughts, even if not immediately translat-ed into wicked deeds, are harmful. The power ofwicked thoughts, just as the power of good andbeneficent thoughts, is great indeed. Why?Because as a tuning fork is struck and can inducea neighboring tuning fork of the same pitch to ringin concert with it, so, when we think a thought, ifanother person in our environment has been think-ing along the same lines, our thoughts coalescewith his and strengthen it for good or evil, accord-ing to the nature of the thought. If we harbor evil,malicious thoughts, they may be attracted to likethoughts generated by a criminal mind. Andaccording to the same principle whereby a saturat-ed salt solution will require only a single crystal tosolidify, so also, if a man has saturated his brainwith thoughts of murder, the thought of murderthat another person sends out may prove to be thefinal straw and destroy that last barrier whichwould have kept the murderer from committing hisevil act. Therefore our thoughts are of vastly moreimportance than our acts. We are thus most cer-tainly responsible for our thoughts. We are indeedour brothers’keepers, for as we think when wemeet them, so do we appear to them and they reflectour attitude. If we want assistance in cultivating

22 RAYS 01

Originating in the World of Life Spirit as Imagination, new creative impulse is given idea-tional form by the Will, is invested in thought substance through the focus of the mind, andis impelled toward and embodied in the physical world through the motive power of desire.

better qualities, then let us seek the company ofpeople who are already good, for their attitude ofmind will be of immense help to us in calling forthour own finer qualities. And if we do not like theattitude of a person, let us change our thoughtstoward that person and in time, either our response,or the person’s attitude, or both, will change.

It is not always easy to rid ourselves of negativethoughts. We know that we should not fight againstthem directly, for antipathy as well as sympathytend to attract a thought or an idea to us, and theadded thought force which we send out to fightevil thoughts will keep them alive and bring themto our mind more often, in the same way that quar-reling may cause a person we dislike to waylay usfor spite. Instead of fighting, therefore, let us adopt

the tactics of indifference by withdrawing interest.If we stop reinforcing a negative response to a per-son or situation, it will eventually wither. In likemanner, if when evil thoughts come into our mindswe summon indifference and apply our minds tosomething that is good and ideal, we shall find in ashort time that we are rid of the evil thoughts andhave only the good thoughts we desire to entertain.

To avoid harmful thoughts and desires and keepthem out of our minds, we practice thought substi-tution. It is a law of physics that two bodies cannotoccupy the same space at the same time. Similarly,two thoughts cannot occupy the mind at the sametime. When we are bothered by harmful thoughts ofany kind, it is well to substitute another thought andconcentrate on it so positively that the harmfulthought cannot find mental space. This is a simpleand effective strategy. It but requires practice to getthe desired results. Harmful desires are excludedfrom the mind by the same process; thus, by substi-tuting constructive thought in place of the thoughtof wrong desire, the latter is very neatly shut out.

Thought substitution has to be in tune with ourInner Power, which is constantly sending mes-sages into our conscious mind. We flourish whenwe cultivate belief and confidence in the ability ofour Inner Power to transform our lives. And we

can increase this beneficial influence if we listen toand obey the suggestions and directions of thePower Within when we pray to Him. We can talkto this Inner Power and have intimate, unguardedconversations with Him. By praying we are creat-ing new, positive destiny and helping to neutralizeand offset some of the debts of our previous yearsand lives. As we make constructive thought formsthey will be materialized for us by the Spirit insuch a manner and to such a degree as it deemswise. We may inwardly express our ideals andambitions and then leave their materialization tothe Inner Power. But we should not make the mis-take of demanding this or that thing, or entertainwishes which would interfere with the will of oth-ers. Every time we try to change another for pure-

ly personal reasons and seek to enforce our willover theirs we are engaging in selfish behavior,which is a fledgling form of black magic. Self-willis self-love and self-love is a form of hatred to oth-ers. This does not mean that we should do the willof another person if it entails an injustice to our-selves or another. But we should try to sacrificepersonal inclinations and advantage in order toaccommodate the ideas of others, thereby satisfy-ing their sense of equity, establishing friendlycooperation, and fulfilling our Christian ideals.

As we center our lives in the knowledge of theInner Power, affirming the belief and faith thatChrist will work out a perfect result in our lives, allfear and anxiety for the future gradually will dis-appear, and we shall become confident, poised andtranquil. We will prosper by acting from a knowl-edge of the Cosmic Law of Giving and Receiving.And when we want to transform wrongdoing, wepractice the confession to the Higher Self we call“retrospection”.

Finally, a few words about health. To achievetrue health the personality, the mind, and the willmust cooperate with the Ego and refuse to makerestricting thought forms. While we refuse to addto the mental cloud of any past negativity, wemay also forge an instrument that can penetrate

RAYS 01 23

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.— David Starr JordanWisdom is to the soul what health is to the body .—De la Rochefoucauld

and dissipate the existing dark mental nimbus,even as sunlight dispels night. This instrumentconsists of new thought forms of confidence andstrength, of the omnipotence of the Inner Power, ofoptimism, of success, and of the certainty that allgood things are attainable. If we make new thoughtforms along these lines, they will combine them-selves into a composite thought form of greatstrength and potency. This instrument can pene-trate the negative mental cloud and release theEgo. We must realize that only wrong thinking canblock that power. As we eliminate some thoughtsand transform others that power will be releasedand will work a miracle in our lives. It will restoreour health. It will change our mental environment.We can use our imagination to make mental pic-tures of improved health and of the great power ofthe Ego within, and these pictures will blend withother thought forms of strength and courage andbecome a part of the instrument of release. We willfind that we are no longer the slaves of ill health.We will find that health is the normal accompani-ment of poise and a balanced emotional condition.With health will come a greater ability for successin work and in all material pursuits. And we shouldnever forget that happiness resides solely in themind. External conditions have an influence onhappiness only as they are allowed to affect themaking of thought forms through the mind.Thought forms have the property of clothing them-selves with that substance of the invisible planewhich we know as emotion. If we think thoughtsof optimism and happiness, the emotional sub-stance of happiness is built into the mind, and weare happy regardless of all material and bodilyconditions. By thought control and thought substi-tution, we have the key to happiness, health andsuccess at all times.

In conclusion, we offer three self-help formulaswhich are based on sound metaphysical principlesand which have proved their value. First, PositiveThought: Keep the mind habitually positive andalert, not flaccid and inert. Second, the GoldenKey: When in trouble think of God. God includesall desirable things. By refusing to think of misfor-tune and by constantly thinking of God, we aremaking thought forms of strength, beauty, good-

ness, and success, even if unconsciously. These indue time will materialize into good. Third, thePower of Duty: Duty performed one day at a timehas the power to create enough good to get usthrough the day. Tomorrow will be another day inwhich the process can be repeated. Duties per-formed with love are a way of liberation. This is avital key to success over any period of life. Thesuccess which comes as a result of duty performedwill be true success from the standpoint of theSpirit. In due time this will resolve itself into aform of success which will be easily recognizedand admitted as the best kind. In the meantime, wewill be relieved of fear and anxiety because wewill know that everything will come out all right inthe end. Through the power of duty performed wewill become able to live by faith in the InnerPower, which is the key to success in life. Thus wesee how far-reaching and powerful thought reallyis. All things, whether for good or ill, can beaccomplished with it. Indeed the power of thoughtis one of the strongest forces known to man. Whenmankind will come to an understanding of the truenature and proper use of this Divine force, thehuman Ego will free itself from the fetters of mate-riality and further advance on the path towardsbecoming a self-conscious Creative Being. ❐

—Danielle Chavalarias

24 RAYS 01

GREATNESS

To know, yet not announce that knowing;

To let another think he fully knows

And sun his smaller knowledge into growing,

Believing he can greater truth disclose;

To let him tell you what you well have known,

(If he be honest) and to say no word

To mar the pleasure he has frankly shown

In telling what you long before have heard—

O intellect! Your grandest heights you reach!

When you can hide your light as well as burn;

When you, whose special province is to teach,

Will sometimes teach by what you seem to learn!

—Felicia B. Clem

Behold how the Spirit of Christmas grows: It comes as a Bud and blooms as a Rose.

FROM THE MOST ANCIENT timesthe Rose has been the symbol of Lovein its many phases, but it has had a sec-ondary significance also, which is, in asense, derivative; that is, as a symbol of

secrecy, pertaining to mystery or what is hidden,which explains the term sub rosa. In our ownmodern Rosicrucian Mysteries the Rosecarries both of these ancient meanings, forit represents the Christ Love andthe Mysteries of Golgotha andthe Redeeming Blood.Mythologically speaking, the Rose isassociated with the Adonis Mysteries andwith the goddess of love and beauty, VenusAphrodite.

In Egypt the Lotus is the flower sacred to Isis,Isis of the Mysteries signifying Mother Nature;hence, knowledge, as Demeter was so signified inthe Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece. But the Rosewas actually the symbol of the Babe Horus, whomIsis held in her arms. Venus with Eros or Adonis,Isis with the Babe Horus, Demeter with the virginPersephone, Mary of Bethlehem with the ChristChild—all were symbolical of Mother Nature andher Child of Promise, the perfected human being,the God-Man, the Savior-Man, the Adept.

Even in Christian Europe the cult of MotherNature was not wholly forgotten. The circle of thezodiac was the crown of Mary, thus plainly repre-senting the visible world with its crown of stars;

and it was to this Mary, the Wisdom Queen, “OurLady Truth,” that the troubadours addressed theirsongs in the later Middle ages, after the Inquisitionhad driven the Mysteries underground and it wasno longer safe to seek Wisdom openly.

“There is no Rose of such virtue as is the Rosethat bare Jesu, alleluia,” a mystic mantram remi-niscent of the prevailing temper of the medieval

Mysteries, has been illustrated by the figure ofthe Madonna enthroned in the petals of a rose.

The cult of the Christ Child is thus olderfar than Christianity. Ancient Persians

knew and adored Zarvan, theRuler Child—clearly the proto-type of the Christ Child whom the

Magi sought in Bethlehem of Judea,whose coming had been foreseen by the

great prophet Zoroaster.Both Daniel—of the priestly college attached

to the great temple of Bel, the “Word” of ancientChaldea—and Ezra—illumined in the Field of

Ardath, which is in the outskirts of the city ofBabylon—were initiated into the Solar Mysteries,the Mysteries of the Archangelic Christ, whorevealed Himself to His Initiates from the midst ofthe fiery furnace of the Sun, and foretold to themHis own descent upon the earth in the fullness ofthe age.

This is the Mystery of Christmas, the Festival ofthe Great Archangel, who rests clothed in the gold-en fires of the solar orb.

At the time of the autumnal equinox—which theChurch observes with the Feast of St. Michael theArchangel—a Ray of Spiritual Light leaves the

RAYS 01 25

The Christmas Rose

MYSTIC LIGHT

in Cruce

Victoria

Mea

Rosea

From

Geheim

e Figuren der R

osenkreuzer

Sun and descends upon the globe of the earth.Slowly it penetrates deeper and deeper into theearth globe, until at the winter solstice it hasreached its inmost center, its ultimate depth,whence it radiates outward the forces of cosmiclove and wisdom in a great glory of goldenlight.

Human beings respond to this glory,in which they live and move andhave their essential being, in aburgeoning impulse of giving.They, too, have taken firefrom the golden Sun in themidst of them, and glowgoldenly. To the spiritualvision it is as though theearth were transparent ascrystal. All forms upon itare transparent, and atthe root of this trans-parency lies the GoldenSun of Life Eternal.This is the psychicalorigin of the GoldenRose of orthodoxC h r i s t i a n i t y,the badge andemblem of theg r e a t e s th o n o rwhich thechurch canbestow uponher children. It is the Saturn gold of the alchemist,for at the winter solstice the sun is posited in thesign Capricorn.

The Rosicrucian disciple in his alchemical labo-ratory daily manufactures this most precious offlowers, this Golden Rose of the Soul, which hecalls the Golden Wedding Garment, and he isenthroned in the midst of its radiating petals offiery splendor.

At Christmas time the ethers are full of the fieryglow of the Spirit of Christmas, which has unfold-ed from the bud of the autumnal equinox to the fullblossom at the winter solstice, But, as Will Cathahas put it,

This is the joy of the roseThat it blowsAnd goes.

So also the Christ Rose which unfolds goldenstreamers in and about the earth globe, shed-

ding its glory freely, begins to withdrawonce more from the earth, and at the ver-nal equinox ascends once again to theFather where He dwells at the inmostheart of the Sun, the dynamic intelli-gence behind our solar evolution. TheAscension is consummated at the sum-

mer solstice, when again the ChristGlory prepares to descend

into its earthly dungeon.Such is the Mysterytaught “under theRose” from the mostancient times, butwhich became pub-licly and plainlymanifest throughthe descent of

t h e C h r i s tArchangel in

Palest ine,by meanso f t h ei n s t r u-mentality

of the di-vine initiate

whom we know as Jesus the Christ.The Red Rose of Adonis and Horus, in Greece

and Egypt; the Silver Rose of Brahma in mysticIndia; the White Rose of Mary the Immaculate; theGolden Rose of the Christ—all are the flowers ofthe Holy Spirit which grace the garden of the year,blooming in the soul through all seasons, every-where present, everywhere beautiful, in some abud, in some a blossom, in some a seed cup ofpromise, a Grail of Futurity!

Brethren, behold this Rose! For it blossoms inyour own soul-garden, the Rose Garden four-square,as the Masters of the Craft have declared it. ❒

—Janice Lorimer

26 RAYS 01

Silhouette P

aper-Cut by S

ister Mary Jean D

orcy, O.P.

IF I WERE TO DO BUSI-NESS on the principles laiddown in the Sermon on theMount I would be down andout in less than a year,” said a

critic recently. “Why, the Bible isutterly impracticable under our presenteconomic conditions; it is impossible tolive according to it.”

If that is true there is a good reason for the unbe-lief of the world, but in a court the accused isalways allowed a fair trial, and let us examine theBible thoroughly before we judge. What are thespecific charges? “Why, they are countless,”answered the critic, “but to mention only a few, letus take such passages as, ‘Blessed are the poor inspirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’;‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit theearth’; ‘Take no thought for the morrow, what yeshall eat or what Ye shall drink.’Such ideas pointthe way to the poorhouse.”

“Very well,” says the apologist, “let us take thelast charge first. The King James version says ‘Noman can serve two masters. Ye cannot serve Godand mammon, therefore I say unto you, take nothought for your life, what ye shall eat or what yeshall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall puton. Is not the life more than food and the body thanraiment? Behold the fowls of the air: they sow not,neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet yourheavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not muchbetter than they f Which of you by taking thoughtcan add one cubit unto his stature? And why takeye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow: they toil not, neither do theyspin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all hisglory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today

is and tomorrow is cast into the oven,shall He not much more clothe you, Oye of little faith? Therefore take nothought, saying, What shall we eat?or, What shall we drink? or,

Wherewithal shall we be clothed? forafter all these things do the Gentiles

seek; your heavenly Father knoweth thatye have need of all these things. But seek ye

first the Kingdom of God and His righteousnessand all these things shall be added unto you.’”

If this is intended to mean that we should waste-fully squander all we have in prodigal or riotousliving, then it is of course not only impractical butdemoralizing. Such an interpretation is, however,out of keeping with the tenor and teaching of thewhole Book, and it does not say so. The Greekword merimnon means being overly careful oranxious, and if we read the passage with this alter-ation we shall find that it teaches a different lessonwhich is entirely practical. Mammon is the Syriacword for riches, desired by foolish people. In thepreceding paragraph Christ exhorted them not tobecome servants or slaves to riches, which theymust leave behind when the silver cord is brokenand the spirit returns to God, but seek rather to livelives of love and service and lay up treasures ofgood deeds, which they might take with them intothe Kingdom of Heaven. In the meantime, Heexhorted, be not overly anxious regarding whatyou shall eat and drink and clothe yourself with.Why worry? you cannot add a hairbreadth to yourheight or a hair to your head by worrying. Worry isthe most wasteful and depleting of all our emo-tions, and it does no good whatever. Your heaven-ly Father knows you need material things, there-fore seek first His kingdom and righteousness andall else needed will be added. On at least two occa-

RAYS 01 27

for Practical People

FROM MAX HEINDEL’S WRITINGS

PracticalPrecepts

sions when multitudes came to Christ in places farfrom their homes and distant from towns whererefreshment was obtainable, He demonstrated this;He gave them first the spiritual food they soughtand then ministered to their bodily needs directfrom a spiritual source of supply.

Does it work out in these modern days? Surelythere have been so many demonstrations of thisthat it is not at all necessary to recount any specialone. When we work andpray, pray and work andmake our lives a livingprayer for opportunities toserve others, then all earthlythings will come of theirown accord as we needthem, and they will keepcoming in larger measureaccording to the degree towhich they are used in theservice of God. If we regardourselves only as stewardsand custodians of whateverearthly good we possess,then we are really “poor inspirit” so far as the evanes-cent earthly treasures areconcerned, but rich in themore lasting treasures of theKingdom of Heaven; and ifwe are not out and out materialists, surely this is apractical attitude.

It is not so long ago that “caveat emptor,” “Letthe buyer beware,” was the slogan of the merchantswho sought after earthly treasures and regarded thebuyer as their legitimate prey. When they had soldtheir wares and received the money, it did not mat-ter to them whether the buyer was satisfied or not.They even prided themselves on selling an inferiorarticle which would soon wear out, as evident in theshortsighted motto, “The weakness of the goods isthe strength of the trade.” Gradually even peoplewho would scorn the idea of introducing religioninto their business are discarding this caveat emp-tor as a motto, and are unconsciously adopting theprecept of Christ, “He that would be the greatestamong you, let him be the servant of all.”

Everywhere the best business men are insistent intheir claim to patronage on the ground of the ser-vice they give to the buyer, because it is a policythat pays, and may therefore be classed as anotherof the practical precepts of the Bible.

But it sometimes happens that in spite of theirdesire to serve their customers, something goeswrong and an angry, dissatisfied buyer comes blus-tering in, decrying their goods. Under the old

shortsighted regime ofcaveat emptor the merchantwould have merely laughedor thrown the buyer out ofthe door. Not so the modernmerchant, who takes hisBible into business. Heremembers the wisdom ofSolomon that “a soft answerturneth away wrath,” andthe assertion of Christ that“ the meek shall inherit theearth,” so he apologizes forthe fault in the goods, offersrestitution, and sends theerstwhile dissatisfied cus-tomer away smiling andeager to sing the praises ofthe concern that treats him

so nicely. Thus by obeyingthe practical precept of the

Bible, keeping his temper in meekness, the busi-ness man gains additional customers who come tohim in full faith of fair treatment, and the addedprofit in sales made to them soon overbalances theloss on goods which may have caused the dissatis-faction of other customers.

It pays dividends in dollars and cents to keepone’s temper and be meek; it pays greater divi-dends from the moral and spiritual standpoints.What better business motto can be found than inEcclesiastes: “Wisdom is better than weapons ofwar. Be not rash in thy mouth, be not hasty in thyspeech to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosomof fools.” Tact and diplomacy are always betterthan force; as the Good Book says: “If the iron beblunt we must use more strength, but wisdom isprofitable to direct.” The line of least resistance, so

28 RAYS 01

Oil on canvas, 1909, E

velyn de Morgan

The Worship of Mammon

long as it is clean and honorable, is always thebest. Therefore, “Love your enemies, do good tothem that despitefully use you.”

It is good practical business policy to try to rec-oncile those who do us harm lest they do more;and it is better for us to get over our ill feelingthan to nurse it, for whatsoever a man soweth thatshall he also reap, and if we sow spite and mean-ness, we breed and beget in others the same feel-ings. Furthermore, all these things will apply inprivate life and in social intercourse just as inordinary business. How many quarrels could beavoided if we cultivated the virtue of meekness inour homes; how much pleasure would be gained;how much happiness would come into our lives ifin our social and business relations we learned todo unto others as we would that they should dounto us!

There is no need for the great mental strain thatso many of us are working under concerning whatwe shall eat and what we shall drink. Our Father inHeaven does own the earth and the fullness there-

of; the cattle on a thousand hills are His. If we learntruly to cast our cares upon Him, there is no doubtthat the way out of our difficulties will be provided.

It is a fact, acknowledged by all authorities whohave investigated the subject, that comparativelyfew people die from lack of necessities of life, buta great many die because of overindulgence of theappetites. It is the practical experience of the writerand numerous others that if we do our work day byday as it appears before us, faithfully and to thebest of our ability, the wherewithal for the morrowwill always be provided. If we go according to theinstruction of the Bible, doing all “as unto theLord,” it does not matter what line of honest workwe follow; we are then at the same time seekingthe Kingdom of God But if we are only timeservers, working for fear or favor, we cannotexpect to succeed in the long run. Health, wealth,and happiness may attend us for a little while, butoutside the solid foundation of the Bible there canbe no lasting joy in life and no real prosperity inbusiness. ❒

RAYS 01 29

ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHYIN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, VOLUME 1

By Max Heindel

Section Headings:

Life On EarthLife After Death

RebirthThe Bible Teachings

Spiritualistic PhenomenonClairvoyance

AstrologyAnimals

Miscellaneous

Would you like to know more about

How We Can Know That Rebirth is a Fact?The Nature of the Holy Grail?Whether Each Soul Has a Soul Mate?The Causes of Insanity?The Difference Between Black and White Magic?Why Children Die?The Effect of Cremation on the Spirit?What Sinning Against the Holy Ghost Means?How One Can Avoid Being Obsessed?The Difference Between a Vampire and a Werewolf?The Use of Drugs in Gaining Clairvoyance?Western Versus Eastern Schools of Occultism?The Silver Cord and the Trance Condition?

Within these 417 pages is a trove of information on occult subjects. Seven full-pagediagrams. Indexed. Published by the Rosicrucian Fellowship. Order on page 64.

From the occult point of view this book answers 189 questions asked of the author. You willfind lucid resolution for many of your own conundrums expressed in the authoritative yetintimate voice of a Christian mystic and initiate.

Max Heindel

QUESTION: On June 3rd my son killedhimself with a gun. He was sick and onmedication, except we discovered hewas not taking his meds. So now myson who suffered so much is going to

suffer more even though I really thought Godwould release his suffering and he was not in hisright mind. I am trying to understand this. He was44 years old and it was and is a time of grief for meand others. I of course got somewhat angry clean-ing out his car and it was like he could hear me. Iasked why, because we did everything we couldthink of to help him. He was living with us. Pleasetell me, so many have asked me, "was he saved?"I am speechless when that question is asked. Hewas Catholic but for many years attended Missionsand their Chapel services. He wrote poetry to Godabout his love for him. Help!!

Answer: Your son's life served a purpose, hispurpose, God's purpose. You did all you could do,including continuing to be parents to him in a waythat is outgrown by children typically in their lateadolescence. So you did double duty.

He took his life. He will discover that his lifewas not his to take. This will be a learning experi-ence. He will learn that life is sacred, given byGod; that it is to be experienced until the archetypefor it dissolves, an archetype which the Ego knowsand participates in creating in the heaven worldsprior to embodiment.

Was your son saved? Yes. Your son cannot belost. He is, that is his Spirit is, a part of God andeternal. He will have to learn the consequences ofhis actions in purgatory, as will all of us, if we have

not lived our purgatory here on earth while we yetlive in our earthly bodies. This is for our benefit.Else how could we rise to the heaven worlds? Howcan a body float on the surface of the water if it hasa heavy weight tied to it? First we experience thenegative in our past life, balance the ledger. Thenwe experience the positive. We learn from our mis-takes and our good tendencies are fortified. Theseare then instilled into the archetype for our nextearthly body.

Your son is loved by God and can never be out-side that love.

ORGAN TRANSPLANTS

Question: I have been visiting your [web]sitefor several days reading on your beliefs. I have onequestion: How can you accept organ transplants insome cases if you do not believe in using animalsfor research? The possibility of performing organtransplantation today is possible due to this type ofresearch.

Answer: Your letter implies that the RosicrucianFellowship in principle sanctions organ trans-plants. This is not true. We believe that the condi-tions that give rise to impaired organs result fromthe person's own prior actions. Not that all dueefforts should not be taken to ameliorate presentproblems, but typically organ transplants are notamong them. A defective or compromised organ(heart, liver, lung, kidney) is only the symptom ofthe problem, which may have lifetimes of causa-tion behind it. Changing body parts does notaddress the problem. Changing one's life (thinking,feeling, acting) does. Our pamphlet on transplants,on our website (www.rosicrucianfellowship.org) or

30 RAYS 01

Suicide and Salvation; Organ TransplantsHypnotism; Exercises for Clairvoyance

READER’S QUESTIONS

available by mail, discusses this modern and large-ly misguided practice. We are given an individualbody whose condition is of our making and whosecare is our responsibility.

The taking of animal life to prolong human lifeis ethically dubious because the taking of animallife itself is wrong. God gives life, animal orhuman. The more highly evolved or individualizedhumans become, the less possible will be thereplacement of their body parts. The immune sys-tem immunizes each person against the intrusionof many nonhost substances. There are metaphysi-cal as well as biological reasons for an individual’srejection of others' tissues, organs, and fluids. Onlymedical hubris and rank materialism could pre-sume to make improvements on the infinite wis-dom and beneficence of God's plan for His cre-ation by instituting the practice of organ trans-plants, as well-intentioned as they may be (oftenspringing from genuine impulses of love and sac-rifice) and notwithstanding instances of apparentshort-term benefit.

KILLING TO EAT

Question: (follow-up to the preceding answer):Does this mean that, according to your beliefs, Ishould not eat meat, or wear leather, etc.?

Answer: The Western Wisdom Teachings makeit abundantly clear that all the life waves whichappear in earthly form—minerals, plants, animals,and humans—are seeking experience and the spir-itual growth that results from this experience. Butonly the human spirit indwells its dense physicalbody. The group spirits that control animal andplants species and families direct their chargesfrom the higher worlds. The point is that the takingof life removes the material vehicle by which thesespirits evolve. While the plant kingdom nowserves animals and humans not only as its primaryfood source, but as the provider of the very air itbreathes, and will be compensated for this sacrificein the future, humans are no longer dependent onthe flesh of their younger (animal) brothers for sur-vival. On the contrary, human nutritional needs arebetter served by a non-flesh diet, and more foodcan be produced by plants directly than as foragefor grazing to fatten the eventually slaughteredanimal. Acre for acre, the ratio is approximately 9

to 1 (to provide equivalent nutrition from plant vsanimal sources).

The inevitable direction of the human race,developmentally, nutritionally, strategically, prac-tically, is toward complete vegetarianism. Usuallythe transition to a nonmeat diet, together with itsphilosophical underpinnings, is gradual. We wantour actions and our lives to be guided by our ownthinking and typically resist others telling us whatwe should do and believe. As we give thought tothese matters, we will all in time come to the under-standingof what is best for ourselves and for ourplanet, and in accordance with God's will for us.

HYPNOTISM

Question: I recently came across your websiteand was surprised to read your section on hypno-sis. I cannot pretend that I understood all of it. Ididn't, but having studied hypnosis for a while Icould not make any link between the hypnosis thatI have studied and wish to put into practice and thesuggestions that you put forward about hypnosis.

You seem to say that hypnosis is an evil.Certainly the hypnosis that I have studied is notevil. It may be true that hypnosis could in theorybe used for negative things but this is the same inall walks of life. A man could beat someone withhis hand and a man could use hypnosis for nega-tive aspects but the evil is not the hands or the hyp-nosis, it is the person.

You also say that no strong willed person can bedominated by a hypnotist. This is also not true.Anyone can be hypnotized. Hypnotism is not anunnatural evil. It is a natural phenomenon. It issimply a more concentrated state of trance.Trances occur in everyday life. Whilst you arereading this email [as first received] your aware-ness will be different from what it would be wereyou about to jump out of an airplane. While youare reading this email I wonder if you are aware ofthe weight of your feet on the floor or what isgoing on around you. You are not. But while youjump out of an airplane your awareness is height-ened as adrenaline pumps around your body. Youwill be aware of your body. These different statesof awareness naturally induce states of trance inevery mentally capable human being. Hypnotists

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use words and create mental pictures inside theirpatients’heads to intensify these natural trances.

There are two parts to the brain. The uncon-scious and the conscious. We actively think withthe conscious brain and it can process only a hand-full of data at any time. The unconscious braintakes all information from all senses, thousands ofmessages a second, and sends the most importantones to your conscious awareness. For example ifa small icon starts to flash in the corner of the com-puter screen then your attention is drawn to it. Yourunconscious has processed that information andsent it to your conscious attention for it to be dealtwith. Hypnotism is where the conscious part ofyour brain is subdued in an intensified trance. Thehypnotherapist can then use a series of suggestionsto cure his patient.

Hypnotherapy at last is becoming a recognizedform of medical treatment. It is proven to help peo-ple. You argue that in order for a person to have afuller ego they should overcome the problem ontheir own. This comes down to a matter of opinion.This could be said with any medicine. Often theproblem could only be overcome with hypnotism,for example phobias or fear of public speaking,etc. Hypnotism isn't about control. The patientalways has more control than the hypnotherapistand in no way can I see hypnotism going againstGod. (B. W., a 15 year old school pupil)

Answer: You seem to have done considerablestudy and given much thought to hypnotism andwe commend your interest in the subject and wel-come your email to us. The Rosicrucian positionon hypnotism is particularly addressed to thosepersons who desire consciously to advance in self-development, which, of course, includes self-understanding. It is a cardinal precept of WesternWisdom Teachings that the individual will is holyand not to be intruded upon or violated by another.It is true that many persons are not yet veryevolved and can use judicious guidance. Thisassistance may take a medical form when personsare handicapped by problems proceeding from theunconscious mind to which they seem to have nodirect access. Nevertheless, entry into these areasby anyone other than the person him/herself doesmake them susceptible to "foreign" influence and,

to some degree, compromises the most central partof their being, since they themselves are not theconscious, deliberate origin of whatever impulsehas been generated. Generalization of the practiceof hypnotism (putting the person to sleep, in atrance, closing down their day-awake mind), andthe principle behind it, leaves humans not incharge of their destinies, which is our calling.Complete responsibility for our individual destinyis God's will for us. And He has given us thewherewithal to achieve this goal, for we are creat-ed by Him for it. This is spiritual integrity. Thuswe insure that we do not become the plaything ofspirit entities when we enter the superphysicalworlds; or, for that matter, leave ourselves morevulnerable to the innumerable subtle desire andthought currents in our meta-physical environ-ment. Be assured, the more individuals are self-guiding and intentionally self-determining, thehealthier and more confident they become. Ourgoal is to become entirely conscious, to bring allunconscious contents to ego awareness. This routemay seem to take longer than by having others gowhere we cannot, by having more conscious influ-ence over us than we do ourselves, but the resultsare more permanent and authentic. Under hypnot-ic influence, we revert to the older forms of devel-opment whereby the Eastern guru/ Western doctor/spirit guide takes responsibility for part of ourdevelopment which, for the typical Western ego, isnot now appropriate.

EXERCISES FOR CLAIRVOYANCE

Question: Are there any exercises or books Icould read to help attain clairvoyance?

Answer: In a word, yes. However, it would begood to determine your motives for wanting togain clairvoyant abilities: Simply to seek your ownpleasure, gratify curiosity, or boost your self-esteem could create unintended difficulties anddangers for you. When one lives a spirit-directedlife one acquires the faculties relative to that life,including supersensible seeing and knowing. InThe Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures you mayfind the chapter on "Spiritual Sight and Insight”helpful. In The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conceptionthe chapter on "Acquiring First-Hand Knowledge"also directly addresses your interest. ❒

32 RAYS 01

THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM, likethat of every other advanced soulthat has come to Earth to teach andto lead the race on its upward path,conforms to universal principles

and reveals cosmic truth. True to a fundamentalpattern observable in nature everywhere,twelve major events, each marking a progres-sive step on the way to illumination and one-ness with divinity, are embraced in the lifeexperience of Abraham, the first InitiateTeacher to the Fifth Root Race. Since the eventsencountered by Abraham are similar in their essen-tial nature to those experienced by every aspirant onthe path, a study of their spiritual significance can-not fail to bring encouragement and inspiration tothe earnest seeker.

The first of the twelve steps is entrance by birthinto a new life on Earth for the self-elected purposeof bringing to mankind a message of spiritual liber-ation. The arrival on Earth of such an Ego is herald-ed by an angelic annunciation. It is truly a holyevent occasioning wide rejoicing among the heav-enly Hosts, knowing as they do that it will bring therace closer to the light and hasten the day of its ulti-mate redemption. According to apocryphal records,it was so with the advent of Abraham.

At the second step Abram—as he was called untilthe Lord changed his name to Abraham—receivedhis commission as messenger to the peoples of theAryan Race. He was directed by the Lord to leavehis country for another. From Ur in Chaldea, a landin which the esoteric light of the Mysteries shonewith unsurpassed splendor, he was required to go toCanaan where, in centuries to come, the doors were

open to yet greater Mysteries with the advent of theChrist.

The third step outlined in Abram’s life is his ded-ication at Bethel, the “house of God.” Here Abram“called upon the name of the Lord” for he hadawakened to a new realization of the DivinePresence.

The dedicatory step is the most important one inthe life of a true disciple. Progress is measured byhis earnestness. If he be reserved and halfhearted,advancement will be slow. Only when his dedica-tion is complete, as in the case of Abram, can thedesired objectives be attained. When a disciple sur-renders the whole of his life in all its manifold per-sonal and public aspects, his hold on possessions,his attachment to family and friends, his ambitionsfor honors and preferment—in brief, when he will-ingly surrenders all that he is and has to the will ofthe Father, then no obstacle can long delay advance-ment.

The fourth event to be noted is Abram’s conflictwith Pharaoh. It is a test of mortal mind, such asinvariably follows upon dedication to high service,

RAYS 01 33

The Cosmic Patternin the Life of

Abraham

WESTERN WISDOM BIBLE STUDY

Die Bibel in Bildern, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1789-1853)

Abram Enters the Promised Land“The first Initiate Teacher of the fifth root race” journeys to Canaan.

and it challenges the forces of opposition whoseantagonisticactivity directed against an aspirant cre-ates situations that measure the depth and strengthof his self-surrender to the highest. Abram’s victoryis beautifully described in the words: “And they senthim away, and his wife, and all that he had.”

The fifth step came with Abram’s withdrawalfrom Lot. After his complete dedication to the high-er life he could no longer associate with the senselife. “Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.”implores Abram of Lot; “if thou wilt take the lefthand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart tothe right hand, then I will go to the left.”

To effect this separation definitely and decisivelyis never easy. It often involves difficult and compli-cated situations, particularly in personal relation-ships. But when the problem is faced and solvedwith an uncompromising adherence to duty andright, added strength and new opportunities for ser-vice are the reward. Says the Lord Jehovah toAbram at this stage of the journey: “All the landwhich thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thyseed for ever.”

The sixth step in Abram’s life follows. This is hiswar with the five kings. The five kings are noneother than the five senses which continue to offerresistance to the commands of the higher self untiltheir mortal qualities and material tendencies havebeen brought into complete alignment with spiritualpurpose. A highly developed soul discrimination isrequired for rightly judging between the rival claimsof the personal and the impersonal, the illusionaryand the real. The physical senses, the chief meansby which an aspirant advances in the earlier stagesof spiritual development, become his principal hin-drance at later stages unless they are fully sub-servient. To mortality belongs all the goods ofSodom and Gomorrah.

Abram’s seventh step was the redemption of hisbrother Lot, “who dwelt in Sodom.” The former’s“trained servants” were faculties he had disciplinedand made obedient to divine will. Lot was saved byAbram beside Damascus, a city representative ofcertain spiritual qualities which, when awakenedand active, have power to transform man’s lowernature. Abram continued successful at this stage ofhis journey also: “And he brought back all thegoods, and also brought again his brother Lot.”

At the eighth step of his journey toward spiritualunfoldment Abram received instructions concerningtranscendent powers from the high priest Melchizedek.These instructions pertained to conscious operationof the united forces of mind and heart.

At the ninth step Abram reaches the goal of everyaspirant’s ideal—he is new born; he becomes anInitiate. The veil that conceals inner Mysteries fromthe gaze of the profane is lifted and he passes intothe great silence, biblically termed the great dark-ness. Here he receives divine anointing that quali-fies him to become a “father of multitudes” and anIllumined Teacher of the Aryan peoples during thecritical, formative years of their development. In themidst of outer darkness but inner light—the whitelight of the spirit—Abram’s consciousness wasraised to a point enabling him to behold operationson the life side of nature. Invisible causes that lieback of visible effects became apparent to him. Hewas able to look into the past history, present condi-tion and future destiny of the people whom he wascalled to lead. He obtained insight into their funda-mental traits of character and was able to judge howfar guidance and assistance were necessary andhelpful—and beyond which they would interferewith free initiative and the unfoldment of individualresources and capacities. Looking into the immedi-ate future he was able to see the vicissitudes hewould undergo in the performance of his mission:“for the iniquity of the Amorites” was “not yet full.”

Initiation does not relieve a recipient from labor,responsibilities, or grave problems. The power itbestows is not of a nature that ministers to personalinterests, comforts or pleasures. So long as these arethe results sought after and looked for, Initiationremains unattainable. Initiation is for the purpose ofenlarging one’s powers and capacities for service.The true Initiate becomes a servant of servants. Thiswas taught and exemplified by Christ Jesus in theRite of the Footwashing. Abram learned a like les-son from Melchizedek. “He who would be thegreatest among you; let him be the servant of all.”

At the tenth step Abram consummates the mysticmarriage. The deeper meaning of Abram’s unionwith his wife’s Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, isuncovered only as the language of symbolism isinterpreted aright. It is not discernible in a literalrendering of the incident. Nor is it intended to be so.

34 RAYS 01

Referring to this apparent contradictionbetween the outer form and the innercontent, the Thorah declares that “foolssee only the outer garment, and thewise see only the soul.” Thus are thepearls of esoteric wisdom protectedfrom defilement by the profane.

Sarai, who later became Sarah, andHagar represent the feminine principlein its higher and lower aspects respec-tively; Abram and Ishmael, the higherand the lower masculine. Before thathigh experience spoken of mysticallyas the marriage in heaven is attainable,the lower aspects of the feminine andthe masculine must be purified andbrought into union with the higher.This is the mystic marriage.

The eleventh step is the Rite ofCircumcision. This has to do withpurification, outward and inward. Whenthe generative life is cleansed its activity is trans-ferred to a set of higher creative centers located inthe head. The creative organs are duplicated embry-onically in the brain. This is why circumcision isconnected exotericallv with the generative organs.Esoterically, it pertains to the spiritual awakening oftheir higher counterparts. When this had beenaccomplished by Abraham there followed the birthof the cherished son Isaac, whose name means joy.Spiritual illumination is the result of purificationsymbolically enacted in the Rite of Circumcision.

Abraham reached this stage of illumination at theage of ninety-nine. This number reduces to nine, thenumerical power under which the soul of humanityis emancipated. It is the number of the redeemedwho follow the Lamb. The eager “dreamer of a landbeyond the years” was not ready for the Rite ofCircumcision until he had accomplished the exalta-tion of the feminine or love principle—as the addi-tion of the letter “H” to his name signified. The cir-cumcision included that of Ishmael; in other words,the final purging of his desire nature.

The twelfth and last step remains. This was thecall to sacrifice his son Isaac, the object of his deep-est affection. It was the supreme and final test of hislife, one that has a parallel in the Temptation of ChristJesus. It is the test of selflessness, often spoken of as

the Great Renunciation. When this has been passedsuccessfully, doors open on vast power and multi-plied opportunities and responsibilities. The disci-ple’swillingness to serve selflessly has been proved.

Abraham had high aspirations; his trials were cor-respondingly severe. Great tasks call for high quali-fications. Abraham developed these and became aninspired leader of his people. He was richly blessed.From heaven came an Angel bearing the Lord’scommendation and blessing. Saith the Lord, “I willbless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thyseed as the stars of the heaven; and thy seed shallpossess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seedshall all the nations of the earth be blessed; becausethou bast obeyed my voice.”

Abraham called the place where the final step inhis initiatory journey was taken Jehovah-jireh, mean-ing the Lord will see. And we read that to this day itis said, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”

That mount is equally accessible to all who willput forth the effort necessary to scale its heights.Experiences encountered on the ascent are essen-tially the same for everyone. They differ only indetails. The Lord (Law) is no respecter of persons.He who will work with Him (it) will be raised toultimate heights. ❒

—Corinne Heline

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Oil on canvas, 1657. Guercino (Giovan Francesco Barbieri), 1591-1666. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Abraham Casting out Hagar and IshmaelThe mystic marriage of the lower and higher self requires purification of thelower aspects of the candidate’s masculine and feminine nature.

THE MOON may be regarded as thegiver and the taker of life; that is, themoon acts as a medium in carrying thelife forces from the sun to the earthand man, and the moon forces also

eventually produce death.2. When the moon is full, the tides are higher,

the bones are fuller of marrow, and oysters arefuller than at any other time. The temperature isthen also highest in fevers.

3. During the first half of life, particularly in child-hood, the moon has greatest rule, and during thelatter half of life the sun has the strongest influence.

4. The moon has great influence over insanepeople; that is, lunatics, and over hysterical, epilep-tic, and nervous patients. These patients feel thechanges of the moon very greatly; especially arethey very restless during the full of the moon. Theyshould never sleep with the moon shining on them.

5. At the new moon the material forces areweakest. The period of the waning moon, namelybetween the full and the new, is strongest for spir-itual work, for at that time the influence of the sunis greatest.

6.-Do not perform an operation when the moonis in the sign which rules the part of the body to beoperated upon. Ptolemy says, “Pierce not with ironthat part of the body which may be governed bythe sign actually occupied by the moon.”

7. Operations performed at the exact change ofthe moon are rarely successful. Choose the timefor an operation when the moon is waxing or, as itis commonly termed, the light of the moon. Do notoperate when the sun is in the sign which rules the

part of the body to be cut.8. The moon revolves around the zodiac in about

twenty-eight days. Disease reaches a turning pointevery seven days. Starting from the place of themoon at the beginning of the illness, a change maybe expected in seven days (the square), on thefourteenth day (the opposition), and on the twenty-first day (another square).

9. The moon rules acute disease, the sun chronic.10. When operating it is well to watch the

squares and the opposition of the moon to the tran-siting sun, Mars, and Saturn.

11. The moon has greatest rule over the health ofthe woman, while the sun most influences thehealth of the man.

12. From the new to the full moon stimulantsproduce the most effect and sedatives are the weakest;decrease the dose of the one and increase the other.

13. When the increasing moon is in good aspectto the radical Jupiter or Venus, cardiac stimulationproduces most lasting results. Palpitation is mostefficiently treated when the moon is decreasingand aspecting the above planets favorably. Apply

36 RAYS 01

Astrological Aphorismsfor Healing

ASTROLOGY

A. Cellarius, Harmonic Macrocosmica, Amsterdam, 1660. Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim

Phases of the MoonLunar phases, transits, and aspects affect many facets of humanhealth, including vitality, immunity and rates of recovery.

heart stimulants with extreme care when the moonis discordantly aspected to these planets and espe-cially when it is dark or waning.

14. Good aspects to the radical moon from thetransiting Jupiter and Venus are very helpful.

15. When placed in the sixth house of the horo-scope at birth Saturn has a tendency to lower thevitality.

16. The sign in which the sun is at birth is a veryvital locality in the horoscope, its influence vary-ing according as it is cardinal, fixed, or common.Also the house containing the sun, be it cadent,succedent or an angle, is important. From thestrength of the sun you may often judge theresponse which you will get from your patient.

17. Benefic aspects between the radical sun andMars give great vitality and resistance to disease.An evil aspect between the sun and Mars is betterfrom a health standpoint than no aspect at all.

18. Aspects to the Ascendant and the Midheavenare often unreliable unless you are absolutely sureof the minute of birth. As clocks are frequently offtime and there is much confusion in regard to dif-ferent kinds of time, these two points should beused with great discretion

19. Planets that are in critical degrees (the 1st,13th, and 26th degree of Cardinal signs; the 9th and21st degrees of Fixed signs; and the 4th and 17thdegrees of Common signs) have a greater influ-ence either for good or evil than in other degrees.

20. Certain fixed stars have a powerful influenceon disease. Especially should the three followingnebular spots be watched: the Pleiades, 29 degreesof Taurus; Ascelli, 6 degrees of Leo; and Antares,8 degrees of Sagittarius.

21. A child with no aspect between the sun andMars may be more subject to many child’s diseases.

22. A patient with many planets in airy signsrequires more air in the sleeping apartment than oth-ersdo; planets in fiery signs incline one to requiremuch sunlight; and people with planets in wateryor earthy signs suffer from too much sunlight.

23. With fixed signs on the angles and afflictionsin common signs, the native overcomes disease;when common signs are on the angles and theafflictions in fixed signs, he is more apt to suc-cumb to disease.

24. A well aspected sun when in the sign of Ariesor Leo gives great vitality and an ability to throwoff disease.

25. When people with Aries rising or the sun orMars in the sign of Aries at birth are ill, their tem-perature rises much higher than that of otherpatients, and they suffer much more quickly fromfever, for there is a tendency of the blood to rush tothe head and to the skin.

26. An affliction between the sun and Saturn ora square between the moon and the sun gives lowvitality. When this condition is found in the horo-scope, it is well during illness to watch the pro-gressed moon in aspect to these afflicted planets, andalso especially the transits of the new and full moons.

27. Retrograde planets give very little help indisease. Regardless of whether they are in good orevil aspect, their influence is latent until they turndirect; then we may look for their awakened influ-ence.

28. Planets when they turn from retrograde todirect are slow in motion. Their influence while inthis slow motion is not as vital nor as powerful aswhen they are swiftly moving.

29. Planets are strong when in signs of their ownnature, also when in aspect to planets which are incompatible signs.

30. When the hour of birth is not known a fairlyaccurate diagnosis may be obtained by using a flatchart; i.e., by placing Aries on the first house,Taurus on the second, Gemini on the third, etc.

31. Saturn’s influence is contracting, whileMars’ is loosening.

32. The sun rules the vital fluid which is spe-cialized through the spleen. When the sun isafflicted at birth, disease frequently occurs whenprogressions of the planets afflict the sun.

33. When the radical sun or moon is within orbof the Pleiades in 29 degrees of Taurus, the Ascelliin Leo 6, or Antares in Sagittarius 8, trouble withthe eyes is indicated, especially if Saturn, Mars, orUranus is also at one of these spots.

34. Mercury in the twelfth house, afflicted by thesun, Saturn, Uranus, or Mars, also Mercury inCapricorn, the house of Saturn, when afflicted by amalefic, will affect the hearing.

35. Watch the malefic planets when they are

RAYS 01 37

placed in either the sixth or the twelfth house, thesixth being the house which has rule over sickness,and the twelfth having rule over hospitals andplaces of confinement.

36. It is necessary to observe the antipathybetween certain signs and planets. For instance,the fiery Mars may be posited in the watery Pisces,or the cold, earthy Saturn in the fiery sign of Aries.When a planet is in the sign of its detriment, it mayespecially become a menace to health.

37. The place where Saturn is found in the horo-scope is most likely to be a weak place in the phys-ical body, the place most easily affected by disease.

38. The Lucifer spirits from Mars aid in main-taining the heat of the blood by dissolving the iron,a Mars metal, and enabling the blood to attractoxygen, a sun element.

39. A patient with the planet Mercury in squareaspect to Saturn is apt to suffer from gloom. Acheerful, sunny room should be chosen, with rosecolored walls.

40. The sign of Leo on the Ascendant with thesun in its exaltation sign, Aries, gives abundantvitality and the power to throw off disease.

41. If a disease is caused by an affliction ofMars, we may look for help when the progressedmoon reaches a good aspect of Venus. When thedisease is of a Saturnian nature, we may expect thegreatest help when the moon aspects Jupiter. Notethe symbol of Venus, the higher octave of Mars,and that of Jupiter, the higher octave of Saturn; ineach case the latter symbol is the inversion of theformer.

42. If the moon is in conjunction with Saturn atthe beginning of disease, we may expect that thedisease will be of long duration.

43. Disease related to the moon is of an acutenature and may change within twenty-eight days, butwhen the disease is related to the sun, it is of a morechronic nature and likely to be of longer durationand more stubborn in resisting treatment. ❒

—Max and Augusta Foss Heindel

38 RAYS 01

Astro-Diagnosis —A Guide to Healing

by Max Heindel and Augusta Foss Heindel

A treatise on medical astrology and the diagnosisof disease from the natal horoscope.

Astro-diagnosis is the science and art of obtaining scientificknowledge regarding disease and its causes and the means ofovercoming it as shown by the planets.

Ninth Edition. 446 pages. Indexed. Paper. Order on page 64. Published by The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

● A recognized classic in its field, this volume is essential to students of the stellar sciencewho are engaged in healing or nursing, whether they are attached to the orthodox med-ical school or to the nature-cure school.

● Based on thirty years of intensive research, study, and practical experience by theauthors. Special section: How the Rosicrucians Heal the Sick.

● Complete delineations of 94 example horoscopes from the authors’ files.

ASTROLOGY is the science of find-ing and utilizing the natural poten-tialities as indicated in the planetarychart of birth. It also is the religionof utilizing in a spiritual way the

potentialities thus revealed. Religion is not merelya system of faith, or a belief in a Supreme Being,but also a code of individual conduct. Astrologybecomes a religion when, in addition to revealingthe natural potentialities, it shows the individualhow these can, and should, be utilized for the ben-efit of all mankind and the furtherance of the pur-poses of Deity.

If the writer of the 19th Psalm spoke wisdom,the purposes of Deity can be learned not only fromthe prophets who employed ESP, but also fromobserving the positions and movements of theheavenly bodies:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and thefirmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto dayuttereth speech, and night unto night shewethknowledge. There is no speech nor language,where their voice is not heard."

Observation of what happens on earth and of thebroad trends of evolution, as influenced by themovements of the planets in their courses, con-firms the more important teachings of the prophetsof all times and all lands.

These prophets taught, and the writing in the sky

sets forth, that man should observe a code of con-duct which will more and more elevate him abovebrute selfishness, will benefit his fellowmen, andwill enable him to do his part toward the advance-ment of the human race.

Yet thus to live requires vastly more than persistentresolution; it requires also details of the knowledgeof how to live. That is the reason so flew people aresatisfied with their lives. They have spiritual aspi-rations and material ambitions, but lacking theknowledge to realize them they fall far short.

How much better for the aspirant to a spirituallife if, instead of blindly struggling against tenden-cies he fails to understand, through astrology hecomes to recognize within himself the source ofundesirable traits of character and how to directthese energies into channels of action that will per-mit them constructive expression. The very ener-gies which prompt unwise action, which impel himto conduct of which later he is ashamed, and whichin manners usually unrecognized attract to him his

RAYS 01 39

Astrology Makes Knownto Man the Will of God

ASTROLOGY

The author of this article, Elbert Benjamine, who wroteunder the name of C. C. Zain, was an astrologer who found-ed the Church of Light to disseminate his science of lifebased on astrological principles. Reprinted by permission ofThe Church of Light: www.light.com or 800-500-0453

Crab (Cancer) Nebula

Nasa

misfortunes, when properly directed become thatmuch additional power working to assist him torealize his cherished aspirations. How much betterit is for all those an individual contacts if throughastrology he understands them, by that understand-ing is able to avoid sources of strife, and instead isable to assist them in their worthy undertakings,living peacefully and harmoniously with all.

How much better it is for the individual and thecommunity in which he lives if through astrologyhe discerns his natural aptitudes, selects a vocationfor which he is best fitted, and thus follows a call-ing in which he makes a success, rather than bur-den society with another failure. If the success isreal it deprives no man of more than is given, andcontributes to the welfare of the social group.

How much better it is for the individual and forthe community in which he lives if through astrol-ogy he learns the diseases toward which he is pre-disposed, the periods of life when these predispo-sitions will tend to develop into diseases, andthrough diet and thinking specifically selected forthat purpose he remains well, than if he becomes aburden to himself and to others in illness.

Astrology not only reveals the causes of the con-ditions in an individual's life, but it sets forth acode of conduct specifically adapted to the indi-vidual to enable him to live to his highest in allways. No one can utilize energies he does not pos-sess, nor make the most of the energies he haswithout adequate knowledge. The religion of thestars reveals to the individual the energies he pos-sesses, how to acquire new energies, and the mosteffective manner of directing all to the work ofattaining the highest degree possible of true suc-cess, happiness, and spirituality.

Astrology is an essential part of our religionbecause it reveals the will of God. We believe thatGod speaks to man through the Bible, and that Healso speaks to man through the positions of theheavenly bodies. But we hold that the true mean-ing of the Word of God as set down by man in theBible, over which violent controversies have ragedfor ages, can best be ascertained by a study of theWord of God as written by Deity Himself amongthe stars.

In their beliefs, Catholics do not agree in some

respects with Protestants; nor do the variousProtestant denominations agree with one another.Yet all believe, as do we, that the Bible is the Wordof God. But in addition to speaking through theBible, we believe that God reveals His will to manthrough the Laws of Nature. We hold that there isno antagonism between true science and true reli-gion, and that in addition to the Bible mankindneeds astrology to interpret the will of Deity.Those who believe in the Bible and hold to certainother tenets call themselves Catholics. Those whobelieve in the Bible and hold still different tenetscall themselves Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians,etc. We who believe in the Bible and also hold tothe Religion of the Stars call ourselves Stellarians.No doubt those who make the interpretation of theBible their profession are needed, and no doubt thepractice of astrology may be made a valuable andequally honorable profession. But whether or nothe occasionally is counseled by such professionals,we hold that everyone should become personallyfamiliar with his Bible, and that everyone alsoshould learn to erect and read his own chart ofbirth.

There is no essential reason why any goodChristian, to whatever denomination he belongs,may not also be a Stellarian. In fact, many goodChristians are also Stellarians. But whether he thusembraces the religion of the stars or not, becausewe believe in freedom of worship, we have noquarrel with any Christian or Jew.

God spoke to man through the ancientprophets,and through the same faculty of extra-sensory perception employed by those prophets Hereveals His all-pervading presence and speaks toother men of the present day. But with still greaterclearness He speaks to man through the symbolicalpictographs that constitute the 48 ancient constel-lations. Each of these carries a message relative tothe Divine Will traced in the heavens with fierycharacters that can never be erased, and which,because the language of universal symbolism isemployed, cannot be corrupted or twisted by evilmen who try to give other scriptures an interpreta-tion that will enable them to exploit their fellow-man and gain unjust power and wealth and otherselfish advantages.

40 RAYS 01

Each of the 48 constellations of old, whose char-acters were traced where all may see by the handof Deity, sets forth its own spiritual text, fromwhich a sermon of great enlightenment may bepreached, a sermon which is based upon God'sGreat Evolutionary Plan and the part He asksmankind to take in realizing it. These 48 spiritualtexts urge every person to contribute his utmost touniversal welfare, and each reveals informationdesigned to assist him to that end.

These constellations in which the Word of Godhas been set forth for all to see, alsoclearly indicate the true meaning ofthe various stories and points ofcontroversy in other scrip-tures, including the Bible.Astrology does not dis-count the Bible as theWord of God. Instead,spiritual astrology showsjust what the Word ofGod as set forth in theBible truly means.

The Bible, no doubt, wasamply adequate for theillit -eracy and lack of scientificknowledge that marked the PisceanAge. But for the more enlightenedage of Aquarius, Spiritual Astrologyis sorely needed to reveal the will of God as itapplies to all mankind....

Spiritual astrology explains in the language ofsymbolical pictograph that the universe is anorganic whole permeated with the consciousnessof God, and is not, as materialists would have usbelieve, just an aimless collection of material par-ticles obeying blind physical laws. It explains thatthis organic whole, in response to the mentaldesign of God, is marching endlessly towardgreater and greater perfection. And it furtherexplains that the soul of man, both on earth and inthe hereafter, is not just a robot, but is called uponto employ initiative and intelligently to assist incarrying forward the work necessary for the real-ization of God's Great Plan. The nature of thisGreat Evolutionary Plan is clearly revealed by astudy of God's Word which in the language of

symbolical pictograph has been traced among thestars as the constellations.

That God takes an interest in the affairs ofnations is evidenced innumerable times in theBible. We do not dispute the claim of Christian andJew that God often counseled the people of anation what steps they should take. The Bible, asthe Word of God, reveals the repeated counselingof Israel. We believe that God is still interested inthe fate of nations. We believe that He continues tocounsel groups of people at this day, and that thus

to counsel them He employs the lan-guage of astrology. Astrological

energies, through which Godmakes known His will to

groups of people on earth,have affected the courseof evolution at everystep. Invisible streamsfrom the planets exertpressures not only on allliving things, but also

upon inanimate objects.They are influencing the

course of history at thismoment, and they will influ-

ence it during every period of thefuture. Through them God guidesprogress toward the realization of

His aims. And often only by understandingMundane Astrology, through which God counselsgroups of people and nations, can it be determinedwhat actions are, and what actions are not, apt tobring freedom from fear and apt to aid in the real-ization of God's great Plan.

Instances without number are related in theBible where God took an interest in some individ-ual and advised him what not to do and what to do.And we believe He still speaks to individual man,and that for this purpose Natal Astrology is theWord of God.

In the parable of the talents, set forth in Matthew25, the Bible indicates that whatever abilities manpossesses, God expects them to be used in the inter-estof the Lord. Or, as we Stellarians state it, thenatural aptitudes should be developed and used,both to benefit the individual and to benefit all, and

RAYS 01 41

Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

Nasa

thus assist in the realization of God's great Plan. Each individual has some natural aptitudes more

pronounced than others. The natural aptitudeswhich are strongest are those which directed intoproper channels will enable the individual to be ofgreatest use to society. And the counsel of Godwhich natal astrology affords the individual pro-vides not only the best method of vocational selec-tion, but when the individual has still morepronounced natural aptitudes which can-not be used in a business or a profes-sion, it indicates how these can be,and should be, utilized to benefitsociety through some avocation.

Both the Word of God in thestars and the Word of God inthe Bible indicate that peopleshould have freedom fromwant: "Then she came andtold the man of God. And hesaid, Go, sell the oil and paythy debt, and live thou andthy children of the rest."—2Kings 4:7

Every individual who failsin business deprives society ofthe product of his effortswhich, if they had been directedinto other channels, would haveyielded something of value.Astrology should not be used by oneman to take advantage of another, butthis personal counsel of God can andshould be used to indicate the nature of such enter-prises, when they should be undertaken, and thesteps that should be taken in conducting them, tomake them yield highest values both to the indi-vidual engaged in them and to the public as awhole.

Both the Word of God in the stars, and the Wordof God in the Bible also are quite convincing thatGod desires people to have good health. How else,for instance, can we interpret the various healingsaccomplished by Jesus? Astrology, of course, doesnot heal disease. But it does give God's counsel asto the type of diseases toward which the individualis most predisposed, during what periods there is

slight danger the disease will develop, and duringwhat periods there is much danger of the disease.And it gives this divine counsel far enough inadvance that by heeding it and taking proper pre-cautionary actions the individual usually can avoidthe diseases that otherwise would afflict him.

The Word of God in the Bible, over and overagain, eulogizes peace, and the Word of God in the

stars shows how through better understandingof each other, people can attain such

peace. Harmony in the domestic rela-tions, as well as harmony with peo-

ple outside the home, is anadvantage to the individual andthe race. Through astrologyGod gives counsel how bestto get along with anotherindividual, either in thehome or elsewhere. Itenables each to understandthe temperament and view-point of the other, and thusthe more easily to reconciletheir differences and takethose actions which are like-

ly to please. The duties of children are

mentioned in various places inthe Bible, and Christian and Jew

alike consider it essential to theirreligion that their offspring should bereared to reverence God, to deal just-ly, to be honest, and to cultivate other

virtues which shall make of them valuable mem-bers of society. But both Christian and Jew also attimes have great difficulty in bringing up theirchildren in such a manner that when grown theyactually possess these various virtues.

But in the Word of God which is astrology, Godnot only identifies these various virtues, but Heoffers counsel to parents on how best to handleeach child so that it may develop the desiredvirtues. Through natal astrology He indicates thecharacter, the natural aptitudes, and the broad ten-dencies of the child. Through the progressedaspects He reveals the nature of the stresses orstimulation's which at given periods tend to affect

42 RAYS 01

Pleiades Star Cluster

NA

SA

/ES

A/A

UR

A

the child in a given way. The character of a child atbirth is neither good nor bad. Instead, it embracesenergies of given types and given harmonies anddiscords which may be channeled by environmen-tal conditions into either beneficial or detrimentalthoughts and behavior. And through natal astrolo-gy God reveals not only the types of energy, andtheir harmonies and discords, with which a givenchild is born, but also counsels how they may beconditioned by those who who are charged with thechild's training to obtain the desired virtues, and toinculcate other values which shall be of benefitboth to the individual and to the public as a whole.

But cultivation of virtue should not be confinedto childhood years. Both the Bible and the Word ofGod in the stars keep before man the thought thathe constantly should work to improve his charac-ter and become more spiritual. Spirituality dependsupon character, and progress toward spiritualityand the religious life depends upon character-building. Astrology can neither form the characterof the child nor reform the character of the adult.But it can provide a map of the various factorswithin the soul that go into making the character,and indicate the understanding and actions neces-sary for its improvement.

Through astrology God shows people what fac-tors within their souls need changing if they are tobecome more spiritual and He counsels them howbest to apply directed thinking and induced emo-tion to recondition these factors within their soulsso that they shall become more spiritual. Also,through astrology He indicates how induced emo-tion may be most effectively employed in the caseof the particular child to divert its soul energiesinto channels which are constructive and willenable it to lead a better life.

But God's interest in the individual is not limit-ed to reforming the individual's character. TheBible relates that God counseled Jacob, Samuel,David, and various other persons concerning theirpersonal problems. And when they have a seriouspersonal problem God also will counsel individu-als in the present day. Life is a succession of prob-lems, of situations where the individual is calledupon to decide what is the best thing to do. And inmaking decisions of importance God counsels the

individual through Horary astrology. Throughsuch counsel the individual can receive aid in thesolution of the various perplexities with which heis faced. The Religion of the Stars holds that Goddid not cease His interest in man soon after thecommencement of the Christian era. The Religionof the Stars holds that, in the furtherance of HisGreat Progressive Plan, God still speaks to peopleon the earth.

The Religion of the Stars holds that God coun-sels mankind as a whole through spiritual astrolo-gy, counsels groups and nations through mundaneastrology, counsels individuals relative to theirbroader endeavors through natal astrology, andcounsels individuals relative to special perplexitiesthrough horary astrology. Astrology can be usedfora wide variety of purposes, but its most valuablefunction is to reveal the Will of God, to givedetailed information about the structure and poten-tialities of the human soul, and to instruct individ-ual man at each step of life's journey how best hecan develop his own character and most effectivelyassist in the realization of God's Great Plan. ❐

RAYS 01 43

THE NATAL CHART

The Houses are workshops of mortals;

The Cusp Signs relate to the Soul.

But planets are spirit in action

As onward the Life cycles roll.

Squares indicate yesterday’s failures

Obstructions and losses we earned

By over-indulgence in pleasure,

Or lessons despised and unlearned.

The Sextiles and Trines reveal credits

For work we have faithfully done,

For services lovingly rendered,

For honors unselfishly won.

Equipment for all our endeavor

By Elements and Qualities shown,

May help or retard our progression;

The choice remains always our own.

—Isabel Ambler Gilman

The Douai-Reims Catholic EnglishBible was published in 1582 (NewTestament in Reims) and 1609-10 (OldTestament in Douai). Its Protestantcounterpart appeared one year later

(1611) during the reign of King James I. Threeyears after that (the date is disputed) a less tradi-tional document was published. The FamaFraternitatismade the first self-declared referenceto the public emergence of the “Most laudableOrder of the Rosy Cross.” The same year (1614)saw the publication of the Confession FraternitatisR.C.Other documents suggest that 1604, the coverdate of Simon Studion’s Naometria, is closer to thefirst public announcement of the existence andintentions of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood.

The first two aforementioned books are, truth tosay, stellar examples of portentious obscurity.Claiming nothing less than the restoration of theoriginal uncorrupted world order through thisgroup of Rosicrucian adepts, one may read andreread the tracts without gaining much of substan-tive value. They seem to have been deliberateblinds, and achieved greater notoriety preciselybecause of their elusiveness. More interest wasgenerated in who the Rosicrucians were than inwhat was the content of their potent wisdom.Three centuries later this emphasis was reversedwith the publication of The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conceptionby Max Heindel.

At least The Chymical Wedding of ChristianRosenkreutz, unlike its two predecessors of pur-ported Rosicrucian provenance, is a document richin imagery and curious particulars, suggesting that

it is an extended metaphor on the transformation ofthe soul, or initiation. The putative author of thislatter work makes no claim for its veracity; in fact,he later denies responsibility for its creation. It wasabout this time that the German mystic JacobBöhme (1575-1624) began producing his inspiredillustrations under Rosicrucian influence.Likewise Heinrich Khunrath’s mystical drawingspublished in 1609 under the title of Amphitheaterof Eternal Wisdom, included motifs fromCabbalism, Hermeticism, and Alchemy whichlater appeared in The Chymical Wedding.

Several other persons at this time introducedsymbolical drawings combining Christian mysti-cism with occult information , notably TheophilusSchweighardt, whose work, first appearing in1618, suggests that he was actually Johann

44 RAYS 01

Rosicrucian Emblems of Daniel Cramer

RELIGION AND ART

I LOVE

Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow

out.—Song of Solomon

Let me be kindled, Jesus, by your incense and breath;

I flame, let yours be the love;

I am fragrant, let yours be the scent.

Valentin Andreae, the author of The ChymicalWedding. Robert Fludd’s (1574-1637) principalwork, Utriusque Cosmi Historia, released in 1617,shows the Rosicrucian (Hermetic) correspondencebetween macrocosm and microcosm. Fludd’s largeopus also reflects his interest in healing, a primaryconcern of the Rosicrucians. Count Michael Maierpublished his Atalanta Fugiensin 1618. His fig-ures of symbols were intended, through contem-plation, to induce in the subject an experience ofworld geometry and to impart knowledge of howcreative forces have been inscribed into the worldby divine spiritual beings.

Johann Van Helmont (1577-1644) also pub-lished works depicting Rosicrucian cosmology asdid Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670) in hiswork Pansophia, in which he sought through sym-bolism to describe the building of the Temple ofWisdom within each human “according to theideas, measurements and laws of the highest

Master-Builder Himself.”The same year that The Chymical Nuptialswere

published, Daniel Cramer brought forth hisRosicrucian Emblems, with the subtitle “The TrueSociety of Jesus and the Rosy Cross.” Described as“forty sacred emblems from Holy Scripture con-cerning the most holy name and cross of JesusChrist,” the work would seem to be intended as amanual for focusing and guiding Christian medita-tion—forming Christ within by imitating the lifeof Christ in Jesus.

Like many of the symbolical works cited above,Cramer’s Rosicrucian Emblems use Hermetic,alchemical, and Christian terms and images as cor-relatives for inner qualities and processes. In otherwords, they have an esoteric purpose.

Cramer’s “true society of Jesus,” the Rosicrucians,still suggests an influence from the Society ofJesus as founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534,soon after Luther broke ranks with a corrupt

RAYS 01 45

I MEDITATE

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto

all men.—Galatians 6:9

The centuries fly by, the days pass away,

Every man must work for the good,

while there is an hour of time.

I AM ILLUMINATED

In thy light shall we see light.—Psalms 36:9

I see the light in your light.

Let darkness be far away,

He is wise who gains wisdom from the book of the Lord.

The two emblems pictured above constitute a pair whose emphasis is on enlightenment. In “I am Illuminated” it is Christ (armprojecting from the cloud holding a lamp), or the living wisdom from the World of Life Spirit, which informs the heart throughintuition, ensouled by the ever-open eye of God. This living wisdom may also arise from the contemplation of the Word of God,the Holy Bible. In “I Meditate” human consciousness (heart) must “seize the day” (hourglass) and live according to the Word.

Catholic church in sore need of radical house-cleaning. Loyola stayed within the ranks. Hisexercises include strong will-based visualizationsof the violent aspects of Jesus’renunciation andsuffering. They are meant to purge the psyche andsteel the resolve of the practitioner. ThoughCramer wrote a tract against the Jesuits, Loyola’sword-pictures are likely antecendents for hisemblems; they serve as the basis for spiritual exer-cises in what might be called Protestant esotericChristianity.

Cramer’s emblems, informed by occult knowl-edge, seek to establish a balance between chasten-ing and purifying the desire nature through OldTestament disciplines, defined by the “Law ofCommandments,” and regenerating the soul forcesthrough the New Testament “Law of Love.” Thepoint where these impulses meet is the Cross—the

pivot of Scripture, indeed, of historical time, whichreflects, unbeknownst to most, the turning point ofhuman evolution.

Each of Daniel Cramer’s forty plates has a title,together with a verse from the Bible, and two lines,originally in Latin, conveying an assertion of thespirit’s overcoming, through Christ, all worldlyobstacles, including death.

The function of these symbolical representationsis to dissociate the seeker’s mind from a purelymaterial contemplation. Images drawn from thephysical world are abstracted from their familiarcontext and combined in new relationshipsdesigned to awaken the mind to truths free fromand independent of material constraints.

Nevertheless, it is the heart center that is empha-sized in these illustrations. Cramer’s own piety andhumility are evident in a caption below his

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I BECOME SWEET

To the one we are the savor of death unto death, and

to the other the savor of life unto life.—Corinthians 2:16

The cross, the bitterness, the smell of Christ

are deadly to others, but to me they are life,

the cross is love and sweet scent.

SIMPLE WISDOM

Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as

doves.—Matthew 10:16

He whose heart is saved by simplicity,

whose eye by wisdom,

Will be both serpent and dove to God

The two emblems pictured above complement each other. Both show the cross as the way to life in Spirit-consciousness. Theconnection between purifying the desire nature, and thus the blood of the student on the Rosicrucian path, and the bloomingof the roses of the extrasensory faculties on the cross of the physical body, is shown in the emblem entitled “Mellifico”, wherethe honey of wisdom is extracted from flowers (occult eyes and ears) nourished by the blood of sacrifice. “Simple Wisdom”reverses the order of the heart and head (God’s eye) path as given in Max Heindel’s symbolism, where the intellectual (head)path is represented by a lamp and placed on the masculine or right side of the facing cross. Sapience (wisdom) results from theblending of the heart and mind paths, symbolized by the ascending serpent. The five nails (stigmata) may refer to the vital body.

engraved portrait, a common practice at the time: I know nothing, I am capable of nothing,

I am nothing;The fact that by my face and natureI am seen to partake of these three

Is all due to God.

Whereas in Cramer’s time the pictures couldthemselves evoke specific feelings, in the first con-certed and direct exposition of Rosicrucian truthsfor the modern world, the appropriate image oremblem for concentration is completely separatedfrom any trace of naturalism. In fact, this sameevolution can be seen in Max Heindel’s presenta-tion of the Rose Cross. It went through its ownmetamorphosis. Originally it appeared as a black

cross with the more organic or naturalistic depic-tion of the rose as a climbing “twining” plant, withthorns, stems, and green leaves(see Cosmo, p.519). The later, more abstract version, referring towhat is nonmaterial, should also, as far as possi-ble, be divorced from temporal associations.

The composite symbol of the Rose Cross, com-prised of four colors and three forms, shows, forthose who have “eyes” to see, no less than “the endand aim of human evolution, the road traveled, andthe means whereby that end is gained.” In it lies“hidden the solution of the World Mystery—Man’spast evolution, present constitution, and particular-ly the secret of his future development” (Cosmo, p.519). The key words in this passage are hiddenandsecret. What is to be found in the emblem pre-

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I AM TRIED IN THE FIRE

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

—Isaiah 4:10

The Lord burns and tries us in the fire of the furnace.

May you be upright and constant,

and you will be proved good.

SUFFER AND LEARN

The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in

a furnace of earth, purified seven times.—Psalms 12:6

The brick and hearth

Witness to the quality of gold;

The same may testify to the good

The above pair of emblems use alchemical images and terms to refer to phases or experiences in the Self’s development. Inboth depictions the heart or feeling center undergoes trials associated with burning and purification (of the desire body). Theemblem titled “Probor” (Latin, probaretest, prove, from probus, good, honest) indicates why a student seeking to “put on”Christ is called a “probationer”—he is tested by difficult experiences to prove his mettle. His resolve is probed to the core.From selfless service the auric gold (light ether of the soul body )is generated. His probity in all circumstances is proven. Peterreminds us: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing hap-pened to you.” (1Pet. 4:12). As Max Heindel states, “The suffering that comes to us is needed to teach us a lesson or mellow ourcharacter” (2Q&A, p. 485). That is, we develop a “soft heart.” The first of Cramer’s forty emblems shows a heart being ham-mered by “God’s arm” extending from a cloud. It bears the caption Mollesco, “I Gr ow Soft,” as versus being “hard-hearted.”

sumes some prior knowledge. The meaning of what one envisions must

be brought to what one pictures or seespictured. The truth is not in the picturebut in the heart and mind of the per-ceiver. One does not wait for thediscrete elements of the image toconvey their meaning. Rather, onebrings to them their meaning, callsthem by their unique name, and inso doing creates them—as God, inbestowing a name, simultaneouslygives form to what the Logos creates asarchetype. Thus we can only “see” as much aswhat we know, what our own experience disclosesand brings to light in us.

A stanza from the Cramer’s preface to theRosicrucian Emblemsgives a synopsis of theartist’s intent:

And so, Reader, you have the work of death and life,

The embossings of the Holy page, and a short epigram.

These will be able to show and teach your mindWhat your state was once and what it may

become today....The spirit illuminates all corners of the heart,And renews you through the Gospel....Death lays snares for the heart inscribed with

the name of Jesus,But, unharmed, it seeks the kingdoms of the sky.

It is possible to see a path of spiritual develop-ment outlined by these forty emblems. They areseparated into four decades. While only a fewemblems can be pictured in this article, thoughtfulstudy will resolve the images into twenty pairs,each of the two contrasting and complementing theother. These polar pairs can then be combined intolarger groupings, and finally a whole. The heart,the soul’s seat, is the operative center of this innerwork, and its transformation is the work’s objec-tive.

The terms and images used in these exerciseshave much in common with the experiencesdescribed by western mystics. They center more inrealm of feeling than do the scientific exercisesadvocated by the Rosicrucian Order for the modern

student of esoteric Christianity, which take amore mental approach to initiation.

While Max Heindel characterizes theRosicrucian Fellowship’s emblemas “a symbol of God in manifesta-tion” (Cosmop. 522), the use ofCramer’s symbolic images doesnot assume such an advanceddegree of occult knowledge, nor do

they purport to be as comprehen-sive. Nevertheless, they will have

more than an historical value for thosewho are impelled by something other than

casual curiosity or tepid antiquarianism. ❐—C.W.

48 RAYS 01

I OUTWEIGH

For ye are not under the law, but under grace.

—Romans 6:14

The heart, stained on the rosy altar of Christ’s blood,

Overcomes the weight of the law

by the triumphing weight of the cross.

Emblem 18, directly preceding the above illustration, with thecaption “I AM NOTHING,” shows the balance reversed, thetwo stones of the decalogue outweighing a heart unaccom-panied by a cross and a blood-filled chalice. Old Testamentlawbrought us to Christ, but a crucified Christ was necessary tosave man from the weight of sin and the merciless law thatcould punish but neither forgive nor regenerate. Thirty-threeof these forty emblems are I AM assertions: they are affir-mations of the development of individual spirit identity.

CAN HUMANS THINK without abrain? see without eyes? have experi-ences outside their physical bodiesand remember them, even thoughtheir hearts have stopped beating and

their brains show no measurable electrical activi-ty? Yes, according to Sam Parnia, one of the doc-tors from Southhampton General Hospital inEngland who have been studying near-death expe-riences (NDEs) and have publishedthe results of a year long study inthe February 2001 issue of the jour-nal Resuscitation. The study inter-viewed 63 heart attack patientswho were judged clinically deadbut were later revived. 56 of thesepatients had no recollection ofbeing unconscious but reportedhaving vivid memories, whichincluded seeing a bright light,entering another realm, and com-municating with dead relatives.

These findings defy current med-ical reasoning. When the brain is deprived of oxygen,researcher Parnia explained, people become totallyconfused, thrash around and usually have no mem-ories at all. “Here you have severe insult to thebrain but perfect memory.”

So what is happening? Clearly, the seat of con-sciousness is not in the brain but somewhere else.Parnia admitted that the brain, like all the body’sorgans, is made up of cells which in and of them-selves are not capable of producing the subjectivephenomena of thought that people have. He sug-gested that gray matter in the brain is simply amechanism to manifest thought. He added that fur-ther research might reveal the existence of a soul.Here is an open-minded researcher!

As more NDE’s are reported and as the increas-ing laxity between the higher and lower ethers inthe vital body make more common the separationof the soul body (composed of the light and reflect-ing ethers) from the dense physical instrument, thegeneral public will come to accept the truth thatman is a spirit-being who lives in a physical bodyto gain experience.

Since his initial studies, Parnia and his col-leagues have found more than3500 people who had lucid mem-ories while they were pronouncedclinically dead.

One patient was a 2-1/2 year oldboy who “drew a picture of him-self as if out of his body looking athimself. It was drawn like therewas a balloon stuck to him. Whenasked about the balloon the boysaid, ‘When you die you see abright light and you are connectedto it.’”

Students of Western WisdomTeachings may have seen this “balloon” in theRosicrucian Fellowship publication The SilverCord and the Seed Atom, containing the imagefrom a slide which Max Heindel had prepared. Itshows the desire body “floating like a balloon overthe sleeping body, attached by the Silver Cord” (p.17, see figure above). When the higher vehiclesreturn to waking consciousness in the dense andvital bodies, they may impress on the brain centers,through the medium of the reflecting ether, thememory of the out-of-the-body experiences whichoccur when we are “dreaming true.”

Contemporary clinical science is on the thresholdof being compelled to admit the objective existenceof man’s supra-material being. ❐

RAYS 01 49

Living Outside the Physical Body

NEWS PERSPECTIVES

MAX HEINDEL was deeplyimpressed by the living templethat is described in Charles RannKennedy’s five-act play TheServant in the House. Evidently,

Heindel read the entire play. This reviewer, aftertwenty-five years, also decided to read the play. Todo so, one must first find the book, which is noteasy, since it went out of print after the first editionappeared in 1908, the same year the play was per-formed by the Henry Miller Associate Players in theSavoy Theater in New York City. The original castof characters included Tyrone Power, who laterbecame a Hollywood “idol.”

The action is set for an early spring morning,chosen with reference to the Christian liturgicalyear and the theme of death and awakening. Thereader is introduced to the main character, Manson,who appears as a servant in Indian dress. He hasjust arrived in England with excellent recommenda-tions for performing his task. Most of the membersof the household who meet Manson over the courseof the several hours the action covers have thestrange feeling they have seen Manson before, but,they reason, that scarcely seems possible.

So who is Manson? Well, he is a servant. He whowould be the greatest, let him be the servant of all.Manson is such a servant. He is the son of Man,come to serve. As the action of the play developsManson increasingly breaks through the stereotypeassigned him by the characters and is recognizedfor his innate wisdom and authority. At the outset hecarries himself with quiet dignity and is describedby the author as possessing both an “awful sweet-

ness” and “the calm of a great mastery about him.”One room is focus of the play’s entire action. The

household Manson has come to serve in consists ofa Vicar and his wife and their adopted daughter,Mary. This nuclear family is awaiting the arrival ofthree men: the Vicar’s two brothers and a brother-in-law. One brother is named Joshua, who is a bishopin Benares. In fact, he has already come—for it isManson—and they knew him not. The name Joshua,or Jeshua, is a contraction of Jehoshua, Hebrew forthe Greek Jesus. The name means “help of Jehovah”or “savior.” The refreshingly direct and positiveadolescent Mary says to Manson, “Uncle Joshuaisn’t his only name, don’t you think that! He’s avery important person, I can tell you! His name’s oneverybody’s lips!” This is a charming and inadver-tent reference to the Biblical One who was to come.

When the Vicar joins in the conversation regard-ing the arrival of his brother Joshua, Manson allowsthat he knows the Bishop of Benares as “a manmight know his own soul....His work has beenmine, so to speak.” Of the church Joshua has built

50 RAYS 01

A Servant in the House

BOOK REVIEWSM

anson, as played by Walter H

ampden in the original stage version of A

Servant in the H

ouse.

in the East, Manson says that those who have seenit say there is nothing like it on earth. Why?Because it is not an earthly church. Manson, how-ever, implies that he has seen it: “I was there whenhe built it”—from the beginning, one might add.

The Church of England, however, is “in a per-fectly rotten state of decay.” That was at the begin-ning of the twentieth century. How about now? Thatquestion is for another play.

The Vicar is going through a crisis of faith;rather, he feels he is unauthentic, a hypocrite. Heknows the “cursed little pedantries” of his “trade.”But in a seizure of honesty he confesses himself aliar: his words and his actions don’t match. Hestands self-accused.

The Vicar’s other brother is the family’s blacksheep, a disgrace. He is also the scapegoat. He is, infact, the father of Mary, but was adopted by theVicar to save her from bad influences. This brother,Robert, arrives in the play’s first act and has a con-versation with Manson. “Wouldn’t think as I was ‘isbrother would yer—not to look at me?” But Mansonisn’t misled by “unprepossessing exteriors”—Robert’s body ravaged by hardship and dissolution.

The third family member to arrive is BishopMakeshyfte, the Vicar’s wife’s brother. He looksand acts his name. He is a schemer. He needs gog-gles and uses an ear trumpet, calling up the verse,“those that eyes to see and ears to see.”

The bombastic and mercenary Bishop smellsmoney in the advent of the successful Bishop ofBenares. The purblind prelate asks Manson, if theBenares holy man succeeded in establishing hischurch “on the security of his own name, alone.”“No other, I assure you,” answers the servant in thehouse. That is, there is no other name on earth bywhich ye are saved. The Bishop urges, “ForHeaven’s sake, tell me about it.” ThereuponManson describes the familiar passages quoted byHeindel, beginning with:

“ I am afraid you [the Bishop, a rank materialist]may not consider it an altogether substantial con-cern. It has to be seen in a certain way, under cer-tain conditions. Some people never see it at all. Youmust understand, this is no dead pile of stones andunmeaning timber. It is a living thing....When youhear a sound—a sound as of some mighty poem

chanted. Listen long enough, and you will learnthat it is made up of the beating of human hearts, ofthe nameless music of men’s souls—that is, if youhave ears. If you have eyes, you will presently seethe church itself—a looming mystery of manyshapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor todome. The work of no ordinary builder!...The pil-lars of it go up the brawny trunks of heroes: thesweet human flesh of men and women is moldedabout its bulwarks, strong, impregnable: the facesof little children laugh out from every corner-stone:the terrible spans and arches of it are the joinedhands of comrades; and up in the heights andspaces there are inscribed the numberless musingsof all the dreamers of the world. It is yet building—building and built upon. Sometimes the work goesforward in deep darkness: sometimes in blindinglight: now beneath the burden of unutterableanguish: now to the tune of a great laughter andheroic shoutings like the cry of thunder. Sometimes,in the silence of the night-time, one may hear thetiny hammerings of the comrades at work up in thedome—the comrades that have climbed ahead.”

Manson tells the sense-impaired Bishop that he,Manson, was once a working man, a long time ago:“people have forgotten.” And he “told people whereto go,” frequently. “It would shock you to learn thelanguage I really did use.” The prim and properchurchman who has made a fortune out of his reli-gion, was asked to financially support the restora-tion of the Vicar’s church. Perhaps the Benares holyman, evidently a great church builder, can lend hisname to the project. What, Manson inquires, wouldhe gain from this. Bishop Makeshyfte answers, “Weshall have to come to some private settlementbetween ourselves.” Manson: “When?” Bishop:“Oh, hereafter.” Indeed, the Bishop and his Lordwill settle accounts in the hereafter.

An extended double entendre runs throughout theplay in the dialogue between Manson and the othercharacters. Manson is talking on several levels, theothers on a local and literal level—all, exceptRobert, the scavenger, former drunkard, and drain-pipe specialist. Since the reader is not immediatelyinformed of Manson’s identity, the sense of hiswords gain depth and resonance only gradually andin retrospect, when it becomes clear who he really

RAYS 01 51

is. Is this not how it was with Christ Jesus? Onlylater did his disciples understand what he meant asthe Holy Spirit brought all things to their remem-brance. In both cases, the words and intentions ofChrist, and the Christ-like Manson, “grow” on one.

There is one character in the play we do not seeor hear from. It is the “quite blind and very deaf”Granny Durden. She has been “wishing ever solong to see and hear; and at least she says she can.”“I must say,” says the amiable Mary, I didn’t noticeany difference myself.” But then, one cannot tellfrom without whether another has the sixth sense.Another verse from Scripture comes to mind: “I amcome that the blind might see and the deaf hear.”

Mary intuits something special about Manson,since she is pure in heart. There is an echo of theencounter of Mary Magdalene outside the sepul-cher on Resurrection morning when the risen Christcalls her name, “Mary.” We read in Act I,

Manson. [softly] Mary...Mary [in a whisper]. Who are you?...Manson. I am...

[He is interrupted by the great bell of thechurch, which tolls the Sanctus. After thethird stroke, he continues.]

I am the servant in this house. I have my workto do. Would you like to help me?

Manson is the I AM. He is the servant in a housenot made by hands, eternal in the heavens

Toward the end of the fourth Act Manson appearsat a climactic moment and is described in the play-write’s note as having a subtle change in his man-ner, “as of the servant merging into the master.”

The levels of irony in the dialogue are at timesamusing. When the arrogant housewife (“Auntie”)begins to explain matters, Manson interrupts:“There is no need. I know everything already....Acertain gift of divination—mine by birth.” Mansontakes charge and subdues the haughty Auntie. TheVicar says to his wife, “He has been sent to help us!Martha, this is God.” Auntie speaks, perhaps, formany of us when she contends with Manson: “I amhere to work my will, not yours!” The distraughtcouple ask how they can make matters right.Manson replies, “Make me the lord and master of

this house for one little hour!”They agree. Whereupon a process of purgation

begins, starting with the dismissal of the abom-inable Bishop Makeshyfte. In impotent bluster heexits with these words addressed to Manson: “Iwould nail you up, sir, for an example.” To whichManson rejoins, “I have encountered similar hostil-ity before, my lord—from gentlemen very like yourlordship.”

Robert, the outcast, the one who has lived in hell,both self-imposed and applied, knows a thing ortwo, is steeled with the courage of despair, but alsowith the resolve of one who would make a last des-perate effort to right wrongs, to come clean. Thedrain-man describes himself as “someone ‘as to clearup the muck of the world! I’m the one.” Robert, thesewer expert, is himself something of a savior. Hehas been spat upon, abused, misunderstood. He hasa good heart, despite his rough exterior. He releas-es his bitter resentment. A “bloke” changed him,“knowed me better than I knowed myself. ‘Echanged me....’e taught me my own mind.”

The muck (corruption) of the Vicar’s church,caused by a communal grave (dead beliefs) in agreat “beer vault,” got as far as the library in hisown house, an archive of Gospel teachings, whosewords were not made into deeds. The drain mantracked the problem to the bowels of God’s emptyhouse at a time when “The Church’s One Foundation”was being played on the organ above him. TheVicar decides to help in the onerous and dangeroustask of cleaning the pipes, or the collective uncon-scious. The “comrades in the arches” can join handsbecause others are working in the nether regions.

Manson has quietly engineered a family reunionand the prospect of its redemption. In the last fewlines of the play he announces that the Bishop ofBenares has arrived. “He is here.” “What do youmean?” “Here.” “In God’s name, who are you?”Manson: “In God’s name—your brother.” Stage direc-tion end the written version of the play: “Mansonholds out his hand. The Vicar takes it, sinking to hisknees and sobbing as one broken yet healed.”

It is clear from reading this play that the authoralso means to say, “In my Father’s house are manyMansons.” ❐

—C.W.

52 RAYS 01

IN ALL THINGS it is worth while to take acommon sense view, and in the care of thebody, moderation (avoiding fanaticism—which is another name for ignorance) is thesafer practice, and much more conducive to

life and success.The first common cause of disordered digestion

is improper chewing. Next comes overeating, oreating of improper combinations. Parenthetically,it isn’t what we eat, it’s what we digest that buildsfor health.

Individually, digestive capacity is limited. Whenwe overeat, when the intake of food is more thanthe digestive secretions are able to liquefy and pre-pare for absorption, the undigested starches andsweets undergo acid fermentation while the animalproteins undergo putrefaction. The end products ofboth fermentation and putrefaction are a constantsource of toxins which cause enervation with sub-sequent inhibition of secretions and excretions.

A11 excretions carry waste products, the reten-tion of which produces toxemia. Toxins circulatingin the blood (toxemia) is the one condition thatmakes all diseases kin. Toxemia brings on criseswhich are commonly called diseases. Each indi-vidual develops a crisis—disease—that is peculiar tohimself. That is to say, each individual has a diathe-sis,either inherited or acquired, which predisposesthat individual to some particular form of ailment.

This being true, to obtain health or escape theonset of disease requires the giving up of all ener-vating habits until elimination has brought thetoxic state below the saturation point. So long asthe patient continues in this state, there will be nocrisis, no disease. Hence to regain health it is nec-essary to control the enervating habits so as to pre-vent toxic saturation.

Toxin saturation means just that—catabolic tox-ins are diffused throughout every living cell. Whilethe inherent protective powers of the body cells doestablish a certain toleration for toxins (for exam-ple, moderate amounts of tobacco and alcohol), itis always at the cost of a slow and continuous lossof nerve energy—enervation.

So long as toleration exists, toxins are renderedrelatively inactive and the patient (as well as theaverage physician) erroneously believes that hiscondition has improved. To the contrary, if he sud-denly ceases to do wrong and endeavors to doright—if he definitely abandons all enervatinghabits and conscientiously adheres to a rationalcorrective diet, he soon becomes cognizant ( if hebe one of the usual sixty per cent) of functionalaberrations more distressing than those he enduredbefore his dietary reform.

The reason: All corrective diets are eliminating;they contain beneficent enzymes, the catalyticaction of which releases the toxins from the cellprotoplasm and augments their passage into theblood stream. While in the blood stream on theirway to final elimination from the body, these tox-ins often prove more irritating than when they layquasi-dormant in the body cells.

The above is the shortest possible statementexplaining why any radical change of dietaryhabits, though it be from the harmful to the benefi-cial, can and does produce temporary discomfort. Ihope it is not brevity at the expense of clarity.

It should be obvious to the reader that accordingto the Rosicrucian Teachings concerning the causeand cure of disease, that there is no room for drugsor other remedial measures coming under the headof therapeutics. ❐

—Leon Patrick, M.D.

RAYS 01 53

Toxemia and Health

NUTRITION AND HEALTH

PAUL SAID, “Let not sin reign in yourmortal bodies.” That is, let not the illu-sory judgments of the mind on the planeof irrational sense control the corporealexistence or condition. Rather, let grace

“reign through righteousness unto eternal life byJesus Christ our Lord.”

In every case of disease it is incumbent to askwhether it belongs to things that really are, to thosewhich have an existence in our true being, or to theclass of things which includes all our sense per-ceptions, and only appear to be temporarily. It isour privilege to rise above the suggestions of irra-tional sense, with all its phantasms, and seek theguidance of a higher intellectual tribunal, whichtranscends thinking bound to the plane of sense.Then the disease will be classed among illusions,deceptive appearances, or sin, which have no rightto reign in our mortal body.

This is but following the precept of Jesus,“Judge not according to appearance [sight, sense],but judge righteous judgment;” that is, accordingto the true nature of things. Faith in the abovesense, as the perception of truth which is aboveand beyond the grasp of the senses, would seem tobe the divinely appointed remedy for the maladiesof the mind, from which the diseases of the bodyoften arise and of which they are the corporealexpression.

Plato has said that “the disease of the soul isfolly, or a privation of pure intellect. But there aretwo kinds of folly, the one madness, the other igno-rance. Whatever influence therefore introduceseither of these must be called disease.”

Thus we may say that pure thought, uninflu-enced by the senses, is a silent but omnipotentenergy which may be used as a panacea for themaladies of both mind and body. He who strives tomake use of this panacea is obeying Paul’s injunc-tion: “Let this mind be in you, which was also inChrist Jesus.” ❐

—T.M. Notthoff

Visible helpers are just as necessary as InvisibleHelpers, and our friends and patients may share ina high privilege, as well as add much to the powerof liberated healing force, by joining us in prayerfor the sick. Our Healing Service is held everyevening in the Healing Temple at 6:30 (7:30 whenDaylight time is in effect) and in the Pro-Ecclesiaat 4:15 P.M. when the Moon is in a cardinal sign onthe following dates:

November..............................5—12—18—26December........................3—9—16—23—30

Relax, close your eyes, and make a mental pictureof the pure white rose in the center of the RosicrucianEmblem on the west wall of our Pro-Ecclesia, andconcentrate on Divine Love and Healing.

54 RAYS 01

HEALING

“Let This Mind Be In You”

IN A DEEP FOREST, long ago, lived a littlegirl named Simonetta. She was very beauti-ful, and very kind, and very good. Some whoknew her said she should have been aprincess, because she looked as beautiful as

all princesses look, and acted as beautifully as allprincesses should act.

But Simonetta was not the daughter of a king.She was the daughter of a mighty hunter who wasknown far and wide for his prowess. Every morningthe mighty hunter slung his quiver over his shoul-der, picked up his bow, kissed Simonetta good-bye,and departed for the depths of the forest. Every dayhe remained in the haunts of the wild creatures, andevery evening he returned home laden with what hehad killed.

Now, although Simonetta loved her father dearly,she dreaded his return each day. Always he broughthome the body of another deer or rabbit, fox orsquirrel, who had once been her friend. ForSimonetta was friend to all the animals. As much asthe forest creatures feared her father, so much didthey love her.

Every morning after the mighty hunter haddeparted from his cottage, animals crept out frombehind the bushes where they had been waiting andvisited with Simonetta. All day long she tended thosewho were sick, comforted those who were sad, andjoined in the games of those who were merry.

Then, as the twilight of the forest gathered aboutthem, Simonetta would say, “Now you must goquickly, for my father will soon be home. Remainhidden in the forest until morning, and then returnto me.”

And the animals departed and were not seen by

mortal eyes until the following day.So the time went by. The mighty hunter hunted,

and the forest creatures feared him as the worst ofenemies. Simonetta loved, and the forest creaturesadored her.

Winter came early upon the land one year, andhardly had the brilliantly colored leaves of autumncarpeted the ground than they themselves were car-peted by new-fallen snow. It grew bitter cold, and inthe evenings even the mighty hunter was glad toreturn to the warmth of his fireside.

The creatures of the forest, too, were cold, andevery morning Simonetta welcomed them into thecottage where they could warm themselves. Whentwilight gathered, as it did early on those glacialdays, her heart ached as she sent them out into thefrigid air. But she dared not let them stay longer bythe fireside, for great would be the wrath of themighty hunter if he should return to find them so.

Then one morning, as the mighty hunter collect-ed his weapons, Simonetta said, “Father, today isChristmas Eve. Please do not hunt today. Pleasestay home and help me decorate our tree.”

“No, child, I cannot stay home,” replied themighty hunter. “I must get more skins to sell andmore meat to smoke and store. You can decorate thetree by yourself. You have always done it well.”

The mighty hunter slung his quiver over hisshoulder, picked up his bow, and moved toward the

RAYS 01 55

Christmas Eve in the Forest

FOR CHILDREN

door.“Father, Father,” Simonetta cried, catching at his

sleeve, “please do not kill anything today. Not onthe eve of Christ’s birth.”

“What nonsense is this, child?” asked the mightyhunter impatiently, pulling away from her grasp.“We need skins to sell and we need meat to eat,whether it is the eve of Christ’s birth or no. Now, donot look so sad. I will shoot a stag today, and wewill have fresh venison for our Christmas Feast.”

The mighty hunter kissed Simonetta good-byeand strode out the door.

Simonetta looked after him, tears streamingdown her cheeks. “When you return, Father, I willbe gone.” she whispered. But the mighty hunter didnot hear.

Then the animals came in to warm themselves atthe fireside, as they did every cold morning.Simonetta tended those who were sick, and tried tocomfort those who were sad, but did not join in thegames of those who were merry. She had muchwork to do before her father’s return, she told them,but the animals could tell she was deeply troubled.

All morning she cleaned and scrubbed and mend-ed and baked, all the while sighing deeply and wip-ing her eyes with the corner of her apron. The ani-mals watched and wondered, but they could donothing to cheer her.

In the afternoon, Simonetta decorated the treewith the ornaments they had used when she wasvery little, before the time that her mother had goneto Heaven. She hung up strings of bright berries andfastened a candle carefully to the end of everybranch. But even while doing this most joyous ofall tasks, Simonetta did not smile or sing. She con-tinued to sigh deep sighs and wipe her eyes on thecorner of her apron.

Then Simonetta took up a piece of bark kept forthe purpose, and with a stick dipped in the juice ofblackberries she wrote

“To my dear Father, whom I love very much.I have gone away with the animals. I can nolonger stay here, where every day I must lookupon the dead bodies of creatures who oncewere my friends. Please do not try to find me, forliving in the home of a hunter is too hard for meto bear. Maybe Mother will come from Heaven

and get me. I baked a Christmas cake which is inthe oven, and I mended your torn shirt, and Iscrubbed the house as clean as I could. Somedayyou will come to Heaven too, and then we canall be together again. Your loving daughter,Simonetta.”

She put the piece of bark on the table, wrappedher warmest shawl around her shoulders, and saidto the animals, “Come, let us go. My father will behome soon, and I must be far away by then.”

“Simonetta, no!” exclaimed the fox, who realizedat last what she was doing. “It is bitter cold outside,and you will freeze. You are not dressed in warmfur as we are. You must not leave your fireside.”

“Indeed, dear Fox, I must leave my fireside,”answered Simonetta, “for I can no longer live in thehome of a hunter.”

“There is no food for you in the winter forest,”said the squirrel. “If I had not nuts stored away, Iwould have nothing to eat.”

“Very well, kind Squirrel,” answered Simonetta,“I will take some food with me. There are stillapples here, and a few seeds from the sunflowers.But I will not need much food, for I hope that mymother will come from Heaven and take me away.”

56 RAYS 01

The other animals, too, tried to persuadeSimonetta against leaving the warm cottage, but shewould not listen. She gathered a few apples andseeds together in a little sack, and went to the door.

“Now come,” she said. “It is getting late, and wemust hurry.” Simonetta hastened out the door intothe forest, the animals reluctantly following.

The deer, the last to leave, thought first of prop-ping the door open so that the wind would come inand blow out the fire, making the cottage cold forthe mighty hunter’s return. But then the deerthought, “No, I will leave him warmth, for his homewill be bleak enough this Christmas Eve.” So thedeer closed the door and bounded ahead, leapingover the other animals in his haste to catch up withSimonetta.

It was indeed bitter cold. Simonetta shivered anddrew her shawl more tightly around her shoulders.But it was as the fox had said—the warmth of herwoven shawl could not be compared to the warmthof their furs.

“Hurry, hurry,” called Simonetta. “We are stilltoo near my father’s cottage. We must go muchdeeper into the forest.”

So on they went, farther and farther, as the nightgrew dark around them and the very air crackledwith cold. Then, at last, they came to a place whereonly the deer and the fox had been before. EvenSimonetta knew nothing of it, for it lay in the thick-est part of the forest, hidden from most of theworld.

It was, in summer, a grassy grove, shaded bygiant trees and bordered with ferns. In a longbygone age huge rocks had been placed to form acircle, inside which the grove now stood. Whetherthis had been done by a race of giants or by the greatGod Himself, no one now alive on Earth can tell.Here, then, protected from wind by the encirclingboulders, Simonetta and the animals took shelter.

“This is where I will wait for my mother to comefrom Heaven,” said Simonetta. “My father will notfind me here, for if he had known of this place, hewould surely have told me.”

She smiled at the animals who were watching heranxiously. “Thank you for coming so far with me,dear friends,” she said. “I would have been afraid inthe dark forest if you had not been with me, but Iam not afraid here. It is a good place.”

She looked up through the bare branches towhere, high overhead, one brilliant star cast its lightdown upon them.

“I think it is a sacred place,” she whispered. “Iwill be safe here. Go to your own homes now, foryou must be very tired. And remember my love foryou.”

“No Simonetta,” said the raccoon, “we will notleave you. As long as you remain in the forest, wewill be your companions. We will keep watch withyou for the coming of your mother.”

And try as she would, Simonetta could not per-suade the animals to go.

Then, at last, she said, “My best of friends, thankyou for staying with me. Perhaps it is right that weshould be together, for this is Christmas Eve, thenight when enough love for the whole year flowsdown into Earth from our Father in Heaven.”

And then, as the raccoon wrapped his tail aroundher feet to keep them warm, the rabbit and thesquirrel snuggled up on either side of her, and twochipmunks sought shelter in the pocket of her skirt,she leaned back against the wolf, warming her coldears in his fur, and told them the Christmas story.

She told it well, for she long had known it byheart, and even the deer and the fox, who had heardit before, marveled at the sublime gift of Life andLove that the Lord God had given to His Earth.

“And this is the night that Christ comes back toEarth?” asked a chipmunk who, forgetting how coldit was, had crept out of the pocket to hear better.

“This is the night,” said Simonetta, smiling athim. “At this very moment His Light is shining allaround us, and the cold Earth is being warmed withHis Love.”

RAYS 01 57

“Shouldn’t we thank Him?” whispered the rabbit,who never said much because he was too shy butwho sometimes had some very good ideas.

“Indeed we should,” agreed Simonetta, “and oneway to do that is to sing Christmas carols. Do youknow any carols?”

The fox knew some, because he sometimes wan-dered to the outskirts of the village and once hadheard a group of carolers. But to the other animalsChristmas carols were a strange thing about whichthey knew nothing. So Simonetta sang to them and,little by little, they got the idea and joined in. Soon,all the animals had raised their voices in song.

Now if you had been there, and if you had beenlistening with your Earth ears, you would haveheard the wolf howling, the coyote baying at theMoon, the squirrel chattering, and a hodge-podge ofother noises that did not sound at all like Christmascarols. But if you had been listening with yourHeaven ears, you would have heard the sweetestmusic, for it came from the hearts of those whowere truly thankful.

“Oh come let us adore Him, oh come let us adoreHim, oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

Meanwhile, the mighty hunter had returned to hiscottage, the body of a great stag slung across hisshoulders.

“Simonetta,” he called, “Come and see what Ibrought for our Christmas feast.”

He laid the stag on the ground outside the doorand waited for her to come out and greet him, as shealways did. But the door did not open and an unex-plained cold fear began to chill his heart. Thrustingopen the door, he burst into the cottage. The firewas roaring merrily in the hearth, the sweet, spicyaroma of Christmas cake came from the oven, thefloor gleamed in the firelight and the highly pol-ished table caught the reflection of a lone candle. Inthe corner stood the dazzling Christmas tree andneatly folded over the arm of his chair was the tornshirt he had asked Simonetta to mend. ButSimonetta herself was nowhere to be seen.

Then the mighty hunter saw the note on the table.With loudly beating heart and trembling hands hesnatched it up. He read it once and did not believethe words. He read it a second time, and a terriblegroan like the cry of a wounded beast tore itself

from deep within him.He staggered to the chair and buried his face in

his hands. Not then did pictures of his littleSimonetta pass before his eyes. Instead, he saw theform of a wounded stag running through the forest,only to collapse in agony. He saw the form of hun-dreds of wild creatures going about their businesssuddenly felled by arrows perfectly aimed.

How long he remained thus, only the blessed OneWho knows the agonies of all men and, with infi-nite compassion, feels them in His own heart,knows for sure. But when, with tear-stained eyes,the mighty hunter returned to the present, the fire inthe hearth was but a glowing ember and a chill likethat of death was in the room.

Once more he groaned. Then, sinking to hisknees, he clasped his hands and whispered: “I knownow that I have done great harm. I know now thatit is wrong to take life from Your creatures. I amready to make atonement, however You decree. Butdo not let my child suffer for this, I beg You. Spareher. Help me find her.”

He knelt thus a little longer and then, almostimperceptibly, warmth and strength once moreentered his limbs. He had passed through theShadow, and had emerged cleansed. Now there waswork to do.

The mighty hunter leaped to his feet. Grabbing asturdy branch from the stack of firewood, he held itto the ember until, fitfully, a spark caught. Carefullyhe nursed the little flame until it became a brightlyglowing torch. Then he hurried out into the night.With the light of the torch, the mighty hunter plain-ly could discern the tracks made by the departinganimals. Here and there, almost obliterated by theothers, was one of Simonetta’s footprints and, see-ing these, he took further heart. “Keep her warm,”he said, looking up at a brilliant star almost direct-ly overhead. “Keep her safe. Guide me to her, I prayYou.”

With the torch, the tracks were easy to follow,and the mighty hunter hastened onward, deeper intothe forest than even he had ever ventured. Suddenlyhe saw a glow amidst distant trees that seemed torise from behind a wall of rock and fill the wholespace of heaven in that place.

“A fire,” the mighty hunter thought. “She has

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built a fire. She is warm. Thank God.”But the closer he came, the more sure he was that

it was not the glow of a fire. The light was toosteady, too white, too pure. Then he heard sounds.A wolf howled; a coyote bayed at the Moon.

“The animals,” he thought. “If they have harmedher —”

But then the mighty hunter listened again, and heheard, not howling and baying, but music sweeterthan any he had imagined possible.

The words were plain: “Oh come let us adoreHim, oh come let us adore Him, oh come let usadore Him, Christ the Lord.”

The mighty hunter stood his torch in a snowdrift,where it remained upright. Cautiously he movedforward toward the glow. He circled the wall ofrock till he came to an opening, and was dazed bythe sight that met his eyes.

Simonetta leaned trustingly against a wolf,whose eyes were watchful and protective. All man-ner of forest creatures, large and small, clustered

around her. They were singing.Then the mighty hunter saw something else. A

figure—human, yet without vestige of mortality—hovered over Simonetta, sending down upon herand the animals wave after wave of pure, whitelight. As the mighty hunter gazed awestruck at thefigure, she—for it was feminine—turned towardhim, and he gasped. She it was whom he had onceloved, and whose once familiar, tender presencenow was but a poignant memory that only rarelycame to him.

The figure stood beside him, gently stroking hisface with her fingers. He felt no touch, but it was asif a warm spring breeze had played across hischeek. She smiled at him affectionately.

“My dear,” he whispered. “Is it you?”“Yes, “ said the figure. “I received permission to

come to you this night, for I knew I would be need-ed.”

“You guided Simonetta to this place, and kept hersafe?” asked the mighty hunter.

The figure nodded.“Has she seen you?” he went on.“No,” said the figure. “It is better that she not see

me, for my departure may then be too painful. Butshe knows I am near, and is content.”

“Then...then you must again depart,” the mightyhunter said sadly.

“I must,” the figure answered, as gently as shecould. “A great boon has been granted me, and Idare not abuse it. But after tonight, neither of youwill need me so much, for you have learned a terri-ble lesson, and now your ways will change.”

The mighty hunter sighed deeply. “Did you havesomething to do with that, too?” he asked.

“I asked that the slain animals be pictured toyou,” answered the figure, “for when the blow ofSimonetta’s note hit you so deeply, I knew you wereready for your eyes to be opened.

For a long moment, the mighty hunter gazed atthe figure, who returned his scrutiny with tender,loving eyes. Then she said softly, “Now, beloved, Imust go. Take Simonetta home. She will go will-ingly. And remember her words. ‘Someday you willcome to Heaven too, and we can all be togetheragain.’”

With that, the figure once more caressed his

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cheek, and slowly ascended toward the brilliant starhigh overhead. Long after she was out of sight, thepure, white glow remained in that place.

Then the mighty hunter stepped forward.“Simonetta,” he said softly.

“Oh, Father! “she cried, jumping up and runninginto his arms. “Mother was here. I could feel her.She made everything warm for us.”

“I know, child, “ said the mighty hunter. “I sawher.”

“You saw her?” Simonetta’s eyes opened wide.“Was she as beautiful as ever?”

“More beautiful,” he answered simply, his hearttoo full to speak further.

“I’m glad,” she said, hugging him.“And now, child, will you come home with me?

It is very late, and beyond this place it is very cold.”“I will come home,” said Simonetta, placing her

hand in his.“And your friends,” he said, looking at the ani-

mals, “are all welcome to come too. I know theyhave no reason to trust me, but I promise that fromthis night forward, as long as I dwell in the forest,no harm that I can prevent shall come to them.”

With that the wolf, who had been watching cau-tiously, relaxed. Slowly he walked toward the once-mighty hunter and nuzzled his free hand.

As the man patted the wolf’s head, the other ani-mals too came forward. They gathered aroundSimonetta and her father and accompanied them onthe long trek through the forest.

When, at last, they were almost home, the once-mighty hunter remembered with a start the body ofthe stag that he had left lying before the cottage. “Iwould give anything,” he thought, “if I could keepSimonetta from seeing that.”

Dejectedly he trudged on, and Simonetta, sensingtrouble in his heart, looked at him with concern.

But as they approached the cottage, the body ofthe stag was gone. There were no drops of blood inthe snow, and no marks where the body had lain.

As the once-mighty hunter pondered in disbelief,Simonetta suddenly released his hand and racedforward.

“Ramo, Ramo,” she called, “I am so glad to seeyou!”

As her father watched in amazement, Simonetta

threw her arms around the neck of a magnificentstag who had suddenly appeared before them. Itwas the same animal who had been slaughtered forthe Christmas feast.

The stag tolerated Simonetta’s exuberant hugs fora moment, then broke gently away from herembrace. He strode up to the once-mighty hunterand regarded him knowingly.

“I can hardly believe that you live,” said the manhumbly, “but I praise God for it.”

“Yes,” said the stag, “it is for all of us to praiseGod. He has softened your heart and He hasreturned to me that life that had been taken away.May His blessings remain with you all.”

And the stag, with a mighty leap, disappearedinto the darkness.

Then Simonetta and her father and their animalcompanions entered the cottage where, miraculous-ly, the fire in the hearth was again burning brightlyand a comforting warmth filled the room. And onthat night, and on many nights to come, whileSimonetta and the once-mighty hunter slept in theirwarm beds, the animals slept, safe and unmolested,before the warm fire. ❒

—Dagmar Fragme

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