TESTS ON THE PATH

Some have asked why, when walking a metaphysical Path, that life seems to become a series of frustrations instead of being full of “love and light” as others proclaim. This depends purely on where one is situated on the ladder of evolution and the level of spiritual maturity that one has attained.

An aspirant’s advance is determined by how rapidly he can meet and conquer the forces of his own nature and by the speed with which he may be tested by the destructive elemental forces of the planet. If he manages to pass and conquer the first onset of these forces, he progresses rapidly. If, however, he does not manage to completely conquer the problem, he is tested again and again through the years until he feels he is beset by troubles and frustrations, as indeed he is. He is tested until he overcomes the problem. It is similar to passing a test at school to see if the student is fit enough to go up to the next grade.

The greatest test on the Path is usually one of doubt. If doubt can be cast aside as he strides forward, he will find the reality of the Path, and his resolve will be strengthened. He does not fight because there is no need to fight; he sees beyond the physical. But if he is overcome by doubt, then faith flies out the window, and his struggle can become quite intense as he searches for meaning in his life.

The next greatest test is personal love. Love must become purely unconditional. This is one of the hardest tests along the Path. When a man turns his face to the solitary Path of Discipleship, and he does not do that unless he had heard the call, he must leave behind the mortal ties that bind him to Earth. This does not mean to say that he must leave those he loves but that he must cease to lean upon them or to rely on them. So it becomes that he walks with his loved ones, assisting them through the earth plane phase of their journey, instead of dominating or trying to posses them.

His focus of interest must change, and the one dominating purpose of life, the fulfillment of Universal Law, must order his thought. As he continues to practice unconditional love in all his earthly affairs, he will naturally become more unselfish as he gives all and seeks nothing in return. This also is a hard test and naturally changes his point of view. No longer does he feel that he has the right to posses; indeed, he feels it a privilege to love, to give and to serve. This is the spiritual meaning of the vow of poverty. It does not mean giving away all your earthly goods; it means not having an attachment to them because they are only transient. They are not the things you can take when you pass through the veil. The only thing you can take with you is love. Love is an energy—not an emotion.

Another test on the Path is that of anger or hatred. The disciple must learn to receive betrayal or injustice without anger or hatred; to do so merely causes an imbalance in his energies. It should not be his concern what others may do to him for the Law has its own way of working out and will bring justice to all concerned. What matters most of all is whether attacks by destructive forces through human vehicles can stir destructive forces within him. It matters not about the attitude of others towards him; it is his attitude to others that determines his progress. You only have to look at the great Ones to see how they handled their lives.

We live in difficult times, faced with uncertain circumstances, so live and enjoy each moment that you have.

In relating this short discourse, I am sticking to the dictum of using the masculine gender for both personalities to save the tiresome repetition of constantly writing his/hers, she/he, him/her, man/woman etc.

THE MAGIC OF MERLIN CLASS UPDATE

The Magic of Merlin Class was a huge success. A lot of information about the true identity of Merlin was channelled through and some of the strangeness about the mystery surrounding Merlin was explained in a manner that modern students could understand. This information was relevant and was in agreement with the teachings of the Sirian Mystery School.

The true meaning of some of the tarot cards also came to light; especially the Magician, and the Fool. We discovered that Merlin played the part of both Magician and Fool. The Path of High Magic represented by the two Paths leading from Kether on the Tree of Life.

We also noted his association with the Goddess energy, also represented on the glyph of the Tree of Life in the form of the Empress and the High Priestess, and noted the association between the polarities of wisdom and folly signified by the Empress being balanced by the High Priestess as she sits on the Pillar of Equilibrium.

Everyone had a great visual experience as we pulled down the "Globes of Light" and errected the psychic barrier to strengthen the merkabah before invoking the dragons. Everyone could perceive the dragons as they came forward quite readily, and full of curiosity during the dragon attunement and the meditation that followed.

The Celtic symbols we were given for the Merlin Master attunement were exceedingly powerful healing symbols and everyone enjoyed giving and receiving a treatment.

We then enchanted the wands I made to make them "magical wands." Everyone enjoyed using the wands as part of the healing process as well.

Overall, itwas a great day, and we managed to take some photos showing the spirit guides in the aura.

The wand on the left is before enchanting - the wand on the right is after enchanting.

http://EsotericCollege.org

THE MAGIC OF MERLIN CLASS

On Sunday, 12th November, I will be running a Magic of Merlin Class where we will be considering Merlin's association with certain key Tarot cards, the Magician and the Fool. The Magician Trump shows the mastery of the four elements, while the Trump of the Fool, if you are on a deep metaphysical path, shows an allegory of magical power. The beautifully turned out figure steps, not blindly, but knowingly to where he wishes to go. The Fool is the essence of magic, its actual power; while the magician is aware that every act is a magical act. Possessing that knowledge separates him from his ordinary peers.

We will also be considering the analogies between the four elemental principles of fire, air, water and earth. Another allegory we will be considering is that of the Garden of Eden. This allegory is graphically illustrated on the Trump of the Lovers.

The course is a very practical one and we will be experimenting with many magical powers, such as pulling down globes of light, and erecting psychic barriers.

This will allow us to make a connection to those magical, mystical creatures, the dragons. Dragons are real, and make excellent guardians and friends and can communicate telepathically. So we will be using a meditation to call forth the dragons from their lair.

There will also be an attunement to Celtic Druidism so that the Celtic symbols can be used in a healing manner while creating an enchanted story. The symbols are magically powerful.

We will also be looking at Merlin's association with the Tarot Trumps of the High priestess and the Empress and how the Goddess energy signifies both wisdom and folly. Druids were great respecters of Mother Nature and enjoyed her many gifts and blessings. We can do the same in this day and age.

I have made Druid Wands for the course and we will be enchanting them to make them magically powerful. They can be used in ceremonies, for activating symbols and runes, for charging water or for channelling the vital life force. Their uses are many and varied.

In my next blog I will give some examples of our experiments.

SYMBOLS AND ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

I would like to give you some information on how symbols may be used in mystical exercises and how the symbol may serve as an instrument in the technique of initiation. The aim of all initiation is the integration of an entity’s personality and the elevation of consciousness. There are techniques that assist an integration and elevation of consciousness and how it may be facilitated. At all times since humankind has been on the planet the symbol has served as a powerful tool in that technique. Consider it now from that viewpoint.

The subconscious mind, when permitted to speak through the personality, will express itself in the language of symbols during dreams, visions, or psychic experiences. Such symbols will always emerge spontaneously and unannounced. Usually they will appear quietly, almost casually; at other times, they erupt into consciousness with great force. Most of them are enigmatical and possess multiple meanings. This is one of the many ways the Higher Self has of getting information through to the conscious mind.

These images or symbols must be extensively contemplated, their hidden meaning deciphered, until their concealed message has been comprehended and understood.

But the converse aspect of the situation is of importance also. Inasmuch as the symbol is the language of the subconscious mind, it is also the language which this mind can understand and by means of which it may be reached. Thus, symbols may affect the subconscious mind and arouse it into activity. When used in this manner, the symbol may serve as a powerful tool to stimulate the subconscious mind. Sometimes information will come into the subjective mind, which seems to lie between the subconscious and conscious minds, and this information can then be retrieved through the process of meditation.

It follows that a consideration of the use of symbols in meditation has two aspects: first, the action of symbols upon the subjective mind; second, the proper assimilation of those symbols, which emerge from the subjective or subconscious mind.

Consider the first. It is well known that symbols may be used to awaken realizations that lie dormant within the subjective mind. A Neophyte of the ancient mystical initiation was provided with a symbol and required to contemplate it in solitude, in silence. During a state of contemplation, the objective mind of the candidate was subdued and the subjective mind made receptive to inconiing impressions. Contemplation of the symbol exerted an influence upon the subjective mind through association and suggestion.

Inasmuch as the subjective mind reasons deductively only, the chain of associations awakened by the symbol through resonance stirs into action certain forces, and may arouse ideas or realizations that have lain dormant for several incarnations.

However, in order to unfold, and this is of great importance in modern day meditative training, the seeds of such realization must already have been sown, perhaps in previous incarnations.

Barren soil cannot give growth to rich fruit. Symbols can only reawaken that which is lying asleep. For every mind there will exist certain symbols that will not evoke any response. When this occurs, the effect of a symbol is not that of reawakening, it is the beginning of a new acquaintanceship. In this event, the symbol—so to speak—sows the seeds which may take some time to mature.

Those meditators who have trouble perceiving the required symbols in meditation are therefore asked to consider that they may have to ponder the given symbol for a longer period of time to allow resonance to build and the mind to accept the new information.

A powerful ancient traditional method of permitting a symbol to penetrate required the meditator to draw or paint a prescribed set of symbols with most painstaking care, and to do so in color. This activity forced the symbol to impress itself profoundly upon the subjective mind, and drew it into active participation. In ancient times symbols were also painted upon temple walls or were made part of the architecture. Intensive contemplation upon a symbol enables it to become effective. The ancient mystical philosophers knew this well.

By following the Ancient Wisdom, the method to be used in order to make a given symbol effective should now be patently obvious. First, the student should draw and colour the relevant symbol or symbolss, and do so with most painstaking care, so that the meaning may be absorbed during that preparation time. The symbols thus prepared must then be contemplated: Only ponder one symbol at a time until each symbol has activated.

The student must assume a borderline state or an altered state, simultaneously opening his mind to the power of the symbol. He must be patient. He must permit the symbol to speak to his inner self. Such exercises when faithfully pursued will reap their ultimate reward. Meditation will not be hurried, regardless of whether the student thinks that the symbol should appear rapidly or not.

Next, consider the second aspect of the usefulness of symbols; namely, the permitting of symbols to arise from the subjective mind or even the subconscious mind. The technique of properly accomplishing this is the subject matter of much deeper esoteric instruction which will not be elaborated upon here, except to add a few comments.

All students of mysticism know that during what is known as a borderline state, or an altered state of consciousness, the subjective mind will reveal its symbolic messages as visions or as psychic experiences. Such symbolic messages generally belong to two classes; their nature may be impersonal and reveal a universal law or cosmic truth, or a universal symbol that has been instructed by the teacher of meditation. Or, on the other hand, they may emerge to convey a personal message, relevant to the student's psychic development, for the purpose of guidance.

In each and every case the symbolical message will be cryptic, and it must be deciphered through extensive meditation and contemplation. When finally the symbol has been properly understood and assimilated, then it must be made to react upon the subjective mind and evoke from it a subsequent message.

Permitting the subjective mind to speak, interpreting its symbolical message, and finally allowing the symbol to react upon the subjective mind, results in a state of harmonious cooperation between man's two minds, resulting in an expansion of consciousness and a state of happiness.

The ability of any particular symbol to evoke a response depends largely upon the mental attitude and spiritual maturity of the observer. Any sign may transform into a symbol, provided its observer is in a receptive state of mind. Of this important fact the mystical philosophers were fully aware. The traditional ceremonies of initiation contain elaborate formulae for the express purpose of placing the Neophyte into a receptive state of mind during which the proffered signs could undergo a psychological metamorphosis into mystical symbols.

Only a mind possessed of a firm conviction that life possesses a deeper meaning than that exhibited by external appearances can be receptive to such stimulation. To such a mind, the physical world is like a cloak that covers a hidden treasure. A candidate for esoteric initiation must undergo extensive training to open his mind to this fundamental realization. On the other hand, the mind of one to whom appearance is reality, and to whom there is no distinction between shadow and substance, will be insensitive to the power of the symbol. A mind that functions rationally only will receive only intellectual stimulation from a symbol. The symbol, if sufficiently arresting, may evoke an intellectual or an aesthetic response, if it stimulates at all.

It follows that a given symbol may induce different reactions: it may appear alive to one person, it may be dead to another. Its influence will depend upon the onlooker's attitude toward life. But even then the symbol will evoke no response if there are no seeds that can unfold and mature.

The effectiveness of a symbol depends also upon its universality. Certain symbols seem to affect practically everyone. They contain a basic common denominator, essentially unconscious. They represent a universal human experience, an experience shared and comprehended alike by everyone, formulated in a most evolved, differentiated expression.

A mystical symbol is a living symbol. Symbols are fundamental tools in practical mysticism. The subjective mind speaks in symbols; symbols speak to the subjective mind. The proper use of the symbol facilitates a cooperation between man's two minds and enables him to attain a state of balance or perfect harmony.

Contemplation and meditation, when applied to symbols, serve a dual purpose. a) they permit the symbols to emerge and b) they permit them to act within provided a receptive attitude is maintained in an altered state of consciousness.

NB Tarot Image from "Wheel of the Year" Tarot Deck from Tarotopia.

LOOK WITHIN FOR THE ANSWER

When disaster strikes, people often ask themselves the wrong question, 'Why did this happen to me?” Or “What did I do to deserve this?" Instead, they should be asking themselves, "What can I do about this?"

It's only natural that, at first, to feel crushed and inadequate, and maybe a little resentful, too. Most people turn to family and friends for support, feeling that they can’t cope alone. But those feelings won't help you climb out of the gloom, and there is a limit to what other people can do for you, especially if you refuse to help yourself.

Pull yourself up every time you begin to think negatively – you are only attracting negative conditions into your experience. You will soon learn that life is neutral toward you, neither refusing you anything nor bringing anything to you without your consent, but always responding to your inward convictions when you definitely assume the leadership. Nature is abundant but it will never override your free choice in the matter. The secret to becoming master of your own destiny is through the power of positive thinking and correct imaging. It won’t work for you even if you are saying all the positive things under the sun unless you hold a picture of the desired outcome in your mind as well.

All of your beliefs go into creating your outer circumstances. And the adage: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” bears much pondering. Others also attract to themselves similar problems associated with their own inner thinking processes and experiences and wonder why their life is not working as they think it should.

If you can take a page out of the book of nature, and expect one thing to follow another in ordered fashion, you will take a different viewpoint to the one that has been entrenched within you and begin to relax and let things flow as they should. We do not see any delay in nature – night follows day, the stars come and go and the sun always rises and sets. Likewise with the seasonal changes – summer always follows spring and winter always follows autumn. Babies arrive on time, plants always sprout from seedlings and flowers always open up from buds. Everything flows in natural rhythmic cycles.

The solution lies within you, and you will find it by deliberately turning your mind inside and connecting with your Higher Self. You may receive information about some new venture, finding a new interest to absorb your time and energy, or it may have no immediate bearing on the problem that you're facing, and carry no instant healing for the wound. But what will be given will start the process and you will be given assistance in helping you look at what you might need to change before any progress can be made. Sometimes it will be a tremendous boost in building up your resistance, confidence and courage so that you can lift your energies to prepare you for the things ahead. Perhaps the loss has been financial or emotional, or maybe a mixture of both. The main bread-winner of the family loses his job; you find yourself suddenly single, faced with the trauma and distress of divorce, or bereft of the companion who loved and supported you; your children leave home. One way or another, your supports seem to have been knocked from under you, similar to an injured man having his crutches kicked out from under him.

Under these circumstances, of course you're entitled to sit down and shed a few tears, to turn to friends for sympathy. But one day you must pick yourself up, and set about making a fresh start. You won’t know for sure how it will turn out. You can only be certain that you'll never know unless you make the effort to move forward. But as is so often the case when people are forced to make a change, it turns out to be the best thing that could have happened, and they are far happier than they could ever have anticipated in their darkest moments.

I've known many people who have coped with just such threats to happiness as I have mentioned above and found, to their own surprise, that they have emerged into a different kind of sunshine and have taken a different life path.

Should an unforeseen blow happen when you're younger and more vigorous, find some project, or some opportunity to join like-minded people in some common aim, to do something where you can contribute and where you will fulfill some need. If you have spent your life caring and comforting and guiding others, being deprived of the opportunity to do this often hurts the most, yet the need can be fulfilled in other ways, outside the home.

The first step is to think about what talents you have and how you can put them to good use or what time you have to give. Every charity in the land needs willing, voluntary workers, and anyone who undertakes this sort of work will tell you that the rewards far exceed the effort. There may be some national project that interests you, such as preserving wild life, or assisting in greening the local area. Or closer to home, your practical skills could make you invaluable backstage at a dramatic society.

Of course, no one really expects you to forget completely your worries, nor ignore any grief you have suffered. But the important thing is never to allow yourself to come to a full stop. Life is a flowing current, and you must keep up with it, helping it to run more smoothly by reason of your own special qualities, gifts, personality, and spiritual wisdom.

The Higher Self sees no obstructions. You are of its nature, and do not need to encounter unnecessary obstructions. Begin expecting something good to happen during the course of the day – and learn to look for it; it might not happen immediately because of your mental conditioning or grief, but if you learn to think in this manner, you will begin attract into your life the things that are yours by divine right and so fulfill your destiny.

From Personality to Soul Infused Personality

When you were created, you were given unique qualities in the configuration that only you have. Many others may have similar qualities, but they will be different to yours. You came down onto the earth plane to express and develop certain of these qualities for your journey in this particular lifetime. If you don’t know what qualities you have, look at your talents, what you are good at, what you like doing, or what you would like to do if you had the opportunity. Success in life is much more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life and forming a chart that you refer to, to keep you on track. Similar to taking a journey anywhere on earth, you need to define some details for yourself.

A map has a starting point so we will start from where you are right now. When you are asked to introduce yourself you would normally state your name, maybe your age if you are a young person, and what you do. But this doesn’t tell people who you are; it only tells them what your present occupation is. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional and cultural status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. These insights can only be gained through a process of introspection. People are different – and they respond to different situations in different ways. Personality Analysis using the four elements of fire, air, water and earth, relating to the four fixed signs of the Zodiac and the four holy creatures in Ezekiel’s vision, give excellent insight into the personality you have chosen to work with this incarnation.

Your vision relates to what sort of a person you want to be. This is why it is important to know your temperament and the qualities of the temperaments so that you can have a clearer idea of who you want to be and the traits you want to change into the opposite polarity, whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination or what you want to do should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. If you are following a spiritual path, you probably will want to be in the field of service to humanity. You can be of service simply by doing the right thing every day, white washing yourself of an evening and clearing any negative energy from your auric field.

Your mission is the means by which you can reach your destination. It is really your vocation in life. To some extent, your mission depends on what you know about yourself and the talents you have inherited so that you can make the wisest judgment in your choice of service. Many people during this time want to work in the alternative health field or in some aspect dealing with “saving the planet.”

Your knowledge, skills, and attitude towards people and life all play a part in determining if you need a professional degree or some other qualification to help you achieve your vocation. This will determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you will need to gain along the way. This assessment will give you insights on your measures of success. If you have constantly tuned into your Higher Self and asked for guidance, you will find doorways opening for you to achieve whatever you have listed as needing. In planning out your life chart, you also need to have certain landmarks and a route. These landmarks will indicate your measures of success along the way. These measures must be specific, able to be accomplished, realistic, and within a certain time frame. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a degree in science and studying for an art degree in the same time period. You need to choose which one is of the highest priority for your main function in life, even though both might be appropriate for the type of work you wish to do.

Your life chart was organized before you came down into incarnation with the help of the Council of Twelve and your guides and mentors. If you are successful at making contact with your Higher Self, you will usually be able to map out your life chart quite successfully and fulfill your function while you are here on the earth plane. If you are walking a spiritual path, when you have fulfilled your function, you will usually be called home. You may elect to study the Ancient Wisdom before you incarnate again.

The purpose of trying to create your life chart is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But ofttimes your plans may be modified along the way due to delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, you may encounter turns, detours, and potholes and thus you must anticipate them and adjust accordingly. Delays and other situations can often be karmic so it is no use complaining or wishing it were different. Instead, put all of your energy into making it the best life that you can.

The Birth of a New Age

When someone passes through the veil, it leaves people still on the earth plane miserable and unhappy; and we have to ask, why is this so? Chiefly because it separates us from those we love. The only other reason why death brings grief or fear is because we do not understand it and comprehend the part it plays in human evolution. But the moment our ignorance gives way to comprehension, such fear usually vanishes and a more peaceful attitude of acceptance takes its place. Humanity has now come to the point where it must break through the “thought barrier” if it is to continue on to an enlightened age of peace and true brotherhood.

Why do we have enemies from whose words or acts we suffer? Because in our limited physical consciousness we do not perceive the unity of all life and realize that our wrong thinking acts like a boomerang that returns to us bringing the results we need to experience for our own soul growth. The only way most people learn is through interaction with others, and sometimes through painful interaction, because that is the only way the information can get through.

On a personal level, others will mirror back to you exactly what you have sent out and will continue to do so until you cease to think negatively. This naturally is called the mirror effect and it will dance around you like a shadow until you realize the effects your thinking processes are having, not only in your own life, but in the lives of others also. This will continue for you until the time when the causes you have already generated are fully exhausted. When spiritual illumination comes, and you no longer stumble in the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear and you will no longer be required to incarnate upon the earth plane.

We can be free of all such barriers when we are released from the confines of the physical body during sleep. Many wake up to find themselves out of body and in a different sphere or realm where there is only peace and harmony. Mostly this is forgotten by morning and the person goes on to face another day, but having an unconscious knowing that there is something better somewhere else. We do not have to wait to pass over to experience heaven. Heaven and hell are created right here on the earth plane. It is our choice which one we want to experience.

It is our ignorance that makes poverty and disease able to manifest in our lives because we do not comprehend their meaning or their lessons, nor do we know the correct attitude to assume toward them. If we did, there would not be any poverty or disease on our planet, and we know that this is not the case. Yes, a minority of people are certainly learning the lesson in how to bring about the balance, and walk the middle way.

And so it is with all forms of suffering we experience. They are at once reactions from our ignorant blunderings and instructors that point out the better way. When we have comprehended the lessons they teach they will be no longer necessary and disappear because by then we will have understood why they were essential factors in our evolution. It is not by the outward acquirement of facts that men become wise and great. It is by tapping in to the soul from within until it illuminates the brain centres with a downpouring of that flood of light called brilliance.

When we have reached that point in our evolution, then we will turn from our interest in mastering matter to the instinctive knowledge of a spiritual universe composed of myriad realms, planes and sub-planes and perhaps when a loved one passes through the veil, we may even be permitted to go with them a certain distance. This is happening even now.

Each soul that moves out of the shadows and into the light, out of ignorance into knowledge and out of superstition into truth is helping to dissipate the fog of darkness into which humanity has fallen. The darkness is greatest just before the dawn, but the more people invoke the light, the quicker the energies of the new age will be ushered in. The planet is experiencing the birth pangs of a new age, and like a woman travailing in labour, all the pain will be forgotten when the new age bursts forth and the Christ consciousness is born anew in each one. The chosen ones are those who choose to be chosen.

EASTER - A TIME OF INITIATION

In the days of yore, when the ancient mysteries were taught, there were always teachers who taught their most advanced students about the coming of the Great One; this great Master, in turn, gave these teachings to all who would listen. The conditions that prevailed in those times were much the same as they are in our present time. Few listened then, a few understood and still fewer believed. Today there are relatively few who believe in the Mystery School teachings and the reality of esoteric or metaphysical Temple instruction. Of course, this Temple is not physical, and ofttimes, neither is the language used in the instruction.

When the hour of transition comes, the advanced entities pass into the higher mental realms. But those who are still burdened by the recent experiences of earth life and have refused to clear themselves, along with those who have no belief in an afterlife, will find themselves in the various levels of the astral planes, according to their level of spiritual maturity, which is designated by the various religions as heaven or hell.

It was in these dark lower realms of the astral planes that the Master spent the interval between the afternoon of Good Friday and Easter Dawn. There are some individuals upon earth today who still have the memory of His presence and remember the wonder of His words. Such privileged persons devote their lives to His teachings and His mission and mostly do not teach openly, but reveal the truth quietly to those who are ready for the deeper mysteries.

Please bear in mind that the true Easter Rite was a series of divine mystical Initiations and has nothing to do with Easter bunnies or eggs, which has a Pagan symbology and was used by the early church fathers to bring religion and paganism under one umbrella. (Easter was an old Gaelic Festival in honour of the goddess Ostara whose totem symbol of Spring Fertility was the hare or rabbit with the eggs symbolizing new life.)

Thanks to the work of one of humanity’s greatest psychologists, we have been able to name the divisions of the mind. In modern language, they are called: the conscious, the subconscious and the superconscious.

Experiences related with day to day living are associated with the conscious mind; memory of the past is associated with the subconscious mind and memory of past lives, life between lives and future lives is associated with the superconscious mind. In all truth, this is just one mind divided into three divisions for ease of understanding. Rarely does anyone have any concepts of the powers available when the mind is fully awakened, or of what these powers will mean to humanity in the future.

Most people are unable to access the subconscious or superconscious levels of the mind except through a process of deep spiritual meditation. By this means, spiritual growth can be greatly accelerated. A nightly review of daily events will gradually improve the faculty of memory. It will be stimulated and vitalized, and will become increasingly retentive.

Little by little experiences of the inner world will become clearer and more sequential until at length it will be possible to review events of the sleeping state as easily as those of the waking hours. Memory working through the subconscious will bridge the gap between past and present incarnations. Memory working through the super- conscious will eventually span the chasm of forgetfulness that lies between life and death and life.

The various processes for the development of memory along with other important information was included in teachings given by the Master during that wonderful interval between His Resurrection and Ascension.

From Good Friday to Easter dawn the inner-plane teachings of the Master were pertinent to the beginnings of the Path. Between the Resurrection and Ascension His teachings were concerned with the attainment of work upon the Path of Light. In the coming age a new and illumined race will pass through the sublime experiences of both the resurrection and ascension in its daily living.

When entities on the earth plane have attained to such a level of unfoldment, transition from earth life to the higher realms and planes will be a glorious and conscious adventure instead of the dread felt by humanity today. The beings of the future race, alive and in full consciousness will know no fear, and only in a state of exaltation, will be able to pass joyously into the next and larger life. Such beings will join the chorusing of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in singing "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

A number of the holy men and women prominently mentioned in the Gospels passed through special rites on Easter Saturday night. These rites concluded a lengthy preparation and the consciousness was opened to the inner planes and the soul encountered transcendental experiences which left a lasting impression as the memories were retained consciously.

To undergo such rites unprepared would be to invite a condition fraught with danger since the influx of spiritual power accompanying it, while bringing illumination to the duly prepared, will carry destruction to vehicles not properly cleansed or competent when working with higher energy states. This enabled them to greet that momentous Easter dawn as new-born brothers and sister of the risen Christ. These naturally included the women to whom Christ appeared in that early dawning.

There are some who are familiar today with such rites, but the inner mysteries often remain unrealized. For example the church of this day has retained a ritual observed on Easter Saturday in which a blessing is placed upon the "new fire" as this is carried in an elaborate processional and later "united" with holy water, which is then rightly called the "Easter Water." No water can be so called except that which blends symbolically the blessed fire with the equally blessed water. The light which Initiation bestows upon these mysteries has been lost to our time, not only for the multitudes but for most of those who teach and lead as well. Long since, the priesthood ceased to be recruited from the Initiated, with the result that whereas old and true forms persist, the spirit informing them has been largely lost.

In the Ritual of the Empty Tomb, the Christ as the way shower for all mankind demonstrated to his followers the final and most difficult work to be accomplished on this physical earth. That work is the transmutation of matter into spirit. When this has been learned, man will have gained mastery over sickness, age and death; for He said that death would be the last enemy to be overcome. In esoteric terminology, this attainment comes with the Initiation belonging to the earthy elemental principle, the densest of the four elements. It is the last of the four Great Elemental Initiations, and the most difficult.

When the light of this knowledge has been accepted, once more religion and science will be married as they were in times of old. The spirit behind and within matter will have been recognized.

The Earth Initiation can bring liberation from the wheel of birth and death. The necessity for reincarnation may be over because earth's lessons have been learned. But some elect to remain with humanity in order to help man mount the sooner to the level to which others have attained. Such are the graduates of humanity, the Masters of Wisdom and our Elder Brothers and Sisters.

Through the processes of Initiation mortality puts on immortality. This is its all-inclusive end and aim. To the consciousness of the Initiate, life and death are but different aspects of the spirit's progressive unfoldment. Early Christian graves were cross-shaped in recognition of the fact that the body of mortality which is laid aside is the cross of matter from which the soul is liberated in death as it is the body from which the spirit rises free when attaining to the light of Initiation.

The upper light of the spirit, located in the pineal gland in the brain, can only be made to shine if the lower light puts its electrical energy at its disposal. Herein lies a mystery for those who understand. Remember, the way to the Holy Grail lies over the corpse of your personality “I”. This is the only way to conscious immortality. The more perfect the vehicle of one’s spirit, the greater the power it can exercise over the imperfect crystallization of the material. This fact is responsible for the metamorphosis that may take place in a human body.

During the interval between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the Christ Spirit was active within the earth. "He descended into hell. " Such is the creedal phrase for His entrance into the lower astral or desire realms of this earth, where He went to bring His love and His teachings to discarnate souls still in the realms of darkness. Thus the Christ came to minister not only to incarnate humanity but also to its discarnate members.

In the early morning hours of the first Easter, several women came to the empty tomb beside Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. These included Mother Mary’s sister, also called Mary, the mother of James and Jude, Salome and Joanna. These women were all there in preparation for entering into the Mystic Death and experiencing the illumination that follows upon passing through the Rite of the Resurrection.

The Rite of the Resurrection is the rite of the impersonal life, when the things of the flesh have no more meaning; the desire body holds sway no more. In the experience of the Mystic Death the disciple becomes aware of the illusions of matter and the limitations of the finite life. The Resurrection consciousness brings the realization of the oneness of all life with God. The stone of separation has been rolled away. Henceforth one who has passed into this sublime experience knows that no iII can affect a part without hurting the whole, and that no good can come to the one without at the same time being of benefit to all.

One who comes to know the deeper meaning of the Resurrection Rite can never again wound or kill even his younger brothers of the animal kingdom for they, too, are living expressions of the same divine life that lives and moves and has its being in the body of the creator. Even the rocks, trees streams and mountains have the life force of the creator flowing through them. The planet is rich with elemental life forms and if humanity would take the time to perceive this life stream, the desecration of the planet would immediately stop. As the awareness awakens, so the consciousness becomes transformed into the compassion of the all-embracing spirit and the realization comes that death has been merged into the victory of eternal life.

Meditation upon the transcendent experience of the Resurrection Rite brings a deeper understanding of, and reverence for, the inner significance of that salutation with which the esoteric Christians greeted one another in the early radiance of the mystical Easter dawn: “The Christ is our Light." There will then accrue an increase in knowledge of inner plane work, which will greatly enhance the student’s soul powers. With the increase in power, of course, comes an increase in responsibility.

So as you struggle to understand the mysteries, remember the injunction: “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” 1 Thes. 5:21,22.

May you have a blessed Easter, and remember your heritage as sons and daughters of the Most High.

The Home Study course contains an in-built healing function throughout all modules. It matters not which level you might want to study – all contain some form of healing information. Some modules contain very deep, profound healing information.

Practical courses on the different healing modalities are only available through personal tuition through the College of Esoteric Education. However, the “Books of Wisdom” series, available for download on the website under the various levels of membership will take you into the mysteries of universal energy, the galaxy, the solar system and how our planet Earth is totally integrated. Healing also runs throughout this series of Books. Most of this information has never been publically disseminated.

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WHY YOU CONSIDER HEAT AND COLD IN MEDITATION

Heat is on of the signs of the Withdrawal Path, or those who are travelling back to the Energy Parent and subsequently the Logos. In effect, it is a path of ascension. Cold is the sign of those still on the Path of Projection, or we could say, those forces that attempt to prevent the prosecution of this command in its Withdrawal prosecution.

Now it matters little whether you accept the words heat and cold. What we do need and what we have to have and what we do indeed have are two opposites, but heat is generated on this path by virtue of the energies that channel through the physical body and the excitation that those energies occasion in the particles of the body. It is an excitation of the fiery elemental principle.

They move more swiftly, and they begin to evidence it as a reflection – and we use that word advisedly – they begin to evidence that which is called heat. Conversely, there can be a measure of predominance on the part of the impeding force and in that predominance lies a slowing, a slowing and again a reflection of that which you call cold and so you experience then, heat and cold.

If you are still on the Path of Projection, then you would consider anything connected to the Path of Withdrawal to be wrong, wicked or even evil.

However by the time you walk the Path of Withdrawal back to the Source or God, or whatever term you consider the creative energies to be, you do not consider the Path of Projection to be wrong. You merely consider it as the other polarity that still has its purpose and function.

Now, the reason you may experience heat, or your client may experience heat in healing is because of an excitation of the electrical fluid in the body. If you experience cold, or your client experiences cold, it is because of an excitation of the magnetic fluid in the body.

The electrical fluid is produced by the fiery elemental principle and the cold is produced by the watery elemental principle.

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IS FAITH A BELIEF OR A FACULTY?

Faith is a power – not a blind belief. You exercise faith each time you bring something from the mental plane into physical reality; and of course, some thoughts have a spiritual basis, while others do not.

If we take an obvious illustration as an analogy, it may help to explain this definition.

For example if you wanted to build a house, initially you would build a mental picture in your mind – now thoughts are things; they are made out of a rarefied, tender, almost plastical energy, visible to those who can see them – so this is the substance they are talking about – mental matter.

Mental matter then becomes clothed with the desire of the type of house you want – so astral matter is gathered around the thoughtform and plans are drawn up and chopped and changed until it is just right – this we could say is the evidence of the thoughtform about to become reality. Because it has begun to be created on the astral plane.

If your faith in the outcome is strong, that is if you use your imaging ability and you can see the builders completing the house, despite any setbacks or lack of funding, you will have brought a thoughtform through the astral into reality through the power of your faith.

Another example would be a potter. He has a thoughtform of what he wants to create in a different style of urn or large vase. He has been told that an urn this large is impossible to build. But this does not deter him, he merely sorts out the thoughts and ideas until he is satisfied with the style and approximate design. Then he gathers the appropriate astral matter in the form of the desire to incorporate a new style of glazing that has never been tried before.

His peers again tell him that it is impossible; it has never been done before. But he has seen it in his mind’s eye and he knows that if he can image it, he can create it physically. He has seen the evidence of it on the astral plane.

He fails after many attempts, but his faith in his own ability is strong so he keeps going....until one day.... he produces that which he was told was impossible.

There are many such thought forms clothed with astral matter constantly coming into semi-manifestation and being dissolved. If the faith of the person creating is not strong enough, or the vision not held until completion for whatever reason until physical manifestation, then the power is lost and nothing is created.

We each create our own reality.

Please feel free to add your own comment or other thoughts on the matter.

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WHAT IS AN EARTHBOUND SOUL?

The term "earthbound," is usually applied to a person who commits suicide and is also based on the supposition that there is a specific "time" for everyone to pass through transition to the other side; a time when the separa­tion of soul and body is "scheduled" to happen.

At this "time," the separation is supposed to be definite and complete. If you take this point of view, a separation by suicide does not happen at the “right time” or is not scheduled, and therefore the division of the soul from the body is delayed. A natural resistance to separation is set up, and the aura of the soul sometimes accompanied by thoughtforms and emotional content, lingers in the vicinity of its physical counterpart, although eventually it too separates completely, if not by natural withdrawal over a period of time, then by the time that the soul and body were “due” to separate. So, even according to this point of view, there is an end to being earthbound, and the soul continues its development through further learning, though somewhat belatedly.

There are those who hold other viewpoints on this subject and one in particular disagrees with the idea that there is a "scheduled" time for passing to the other side. Some are of the opinion that there are “various windows of opportunity” for this to occur. The opinion is that there is no predetermined time for passing over for those persons who feel that they are the masters of their own destiny.

The belief is that during the course of a lifetime, a person is constantly adjusting this time of passing by acts, thoughts, prayers and decrees. As the person develops and learns, the karma is adjusted to each new cause that the person puts into his individual Akashic record. Thus, the "time" of such a person's transition is not a factor in being earthbound.

From the standpoint of metaphysics, nothing is ever separated in the universe, and so the whole question of an earthbound soul is clearly academic. Soul is universal and ever present in its mani­festations. As for the apparent separation of soul from the body, this is as effectively complete when the body ceases to function regardless of the manner in which the body reached its demise.

The concept of being earth­bound was, in the past, an allegorical description of a mystical law, and as allegorical descriptions so often go, it came to be regarded literally as some physical habitat. The point in question often relates to what is commonly termed a ghost, a phantom, or a phantasm which has been created in memory of the one who has passed over. It is not the actual soul of the person who has passed.

As it is written in the Holy Books, the Masters teach by parables and allegory because it is often easier to make an impact upon the consciousness of people through allegory than it is to make any impact upon them by the explanation of a natural law. So the concept of "earthbound" evolved as a way to make suicide appear undesirable and as a way to prevent people from committing suicide.