PART I:

              INITATORY HIGHLIGHTS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
 



FOREWARD



  The Bible is the wonder book of the ages. Within its pages is found a
message for every seeking soul, regardless of where he may be on the path of
spiritual attainment. There is hope, counsel and inspiration for the narrowest
and most conservative of minds; while at the same time there are glorious
words of light for the liberal and questing intellect. There is comfort and
instruction for the simplest, and exalted cosmic doctrine for the highest
Initiate this earth planet is able to produce.

  It is an error to say that the Bible is nothing more than an antiquated
book belonging to a time two thousand years in the past. The Bible is a
mystery book, a wisdom book of tremendous power, a continuous running cipher
created by great Initiates and their helpers through millenia of effort. It
belongs equally to the Past, the Present, and to the Future.

  So carefully have its secrets been inscribed 9in the Bible text, coil
within coil, that the more spiritual man becomes the profounder are the
meanings which this book reveals to him.

  As it is written in the Zohar, "Woe to the man who sees in the Thorah (the
Law) only simple recitals and ordinary words!...Each word of the Thorah
contains an elevated meaning and a sublime mystery...The simple take notice of
the garments and recitals of the Thorah alone...The more instructed do not pay
attention to the vestment, but to the body which it envelopes."

  The Bible will accompany man to the very gates of the New Age, where he
will discover that its pages reveal an entirely new concept of the mysteries
of spiritual life; for this marvelous book is the true Book of Life upon which
will be based the soul sciences of the New Aquarian Age.

  When the Bible story is read in the light of New Age interpretations, which
relate all characters and events to the individual human being as qualities
and attributes to be either cultivated or eradicated, the Scriptures become a
LIVING WORD indeed, immediately applicable to personal problems in daily life,
in the present moment of time. The historical aspects then recede into the
background. The Bible ceases to be a book of a dead and different past and
becomes a guide to the living, pulsating present.





 CHAPTER I

ABRAHAM


        THE COSMIC PATTERN FOR THE MAN OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE



  Abraham, whose name means "father of multitudes" was the first of the
Initiate teachers sent to the new Fifth Root Race which inhabited the earth
after the destruction of the Atlantean continent by the Flood. He came from
Ur, the city of "light", and settled in Haran, "a high place." Sarah and Lot
traveled with him. Sarah, meaning "princess," signifies the feminine or love
principle, and Lot, identified chiefly with Sodom, represents the lower
nature. Thus, Abraham journeys into the new land accompanied by both the
higher and the lower elements within his nature.

  As a pioneer, Abraham represents, astrologically, Saturn, who presides over
beginnings of manifestation, and whose forces mold form out of the substance
emerging from Chaos.

  To the spiritually enlightened it has always been held that every place
mentioned in the Bible is here and now, and that every person mentioned is
you, yourself. Thus, for example, Abraham's two wives, Sarah and Hagar typify
man's higher and lower natures, respectively, and the two sons which they bore
represent the attributes and deeds which result from the activities of these
two opposing natures in man. Hagar and her son Ishmael, typify the lower self,
Sarah and her son Isaac, typify the higher. The name Isaac means joy, the joy
that comes with living true to the higher self.

  Abraham was first known as Abram and his wife Sarah as Sarai. With
Abraham's First Initiation the letter H was added to their names. H, a
feminine letter, when added to the names Abram and Sarai, indicates that in
their initiatory experiences they had awakened within them the feminine or
intuitive principle. The quickening of this principle gives birth to Isaac
which, in the present context signifies the joy the soul experiences when it
establishes right and harmonious relations with the Over-Soul.

 
  Abraham embodied what may be called the archetype of the Fifth Root Race.
Hence the principal events which occurred in his life as recorded in the Bible
are to be emulated in their essential significance by each and every
individual belonging to the present Aryan Root Race.

  Abraham reached that high place in spiritual attainment which permitted him
to commune face to face with the very Lord of Hosts. But the higher the soul
ascends, the more subtle the temptations, and the more severe the ests and
trials to be met and overcome. This being so, "many turned back, and walked
with the Christ no more."

  In his spiritual progression Abraham eventually encountered one of the
greatest of all tests on the initiatory path, the one known as the Great
Renunciation. Thus it reads in Genesis 22:7-12:

  "And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My Father: and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the
lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together. And they came
to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and
laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar
upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to
slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."

  This passage reveals Abraham's complete surrender of self. He had the will,
the courage and the fortitude to meet the test successfully. In so doing he
opened the door to an influx of power and illumination little dreamed by those
who have not been so tried and proven. He had unquestioned faith to obey the
command of the Lord (law), whatsoever the cost. Such is the course that
qualifies one for carrying out some major part in God's great plan for man.
Christ's assertion that "He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that
loseth his life for my sake, shall find it," is a Temple teaching belonging to
the ages.

  Again we read in Genesis 22:13:

  "Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him
up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son."

  The ram is the symbol of Aries. This sign was called "the lamb bearing one"
by the ancients. In its highest aspects, the keywords for Aries are purity,
service and sacrifice. It is a sign of the resurrection. Pisces, the last sign
in the Zodiac, is the place of sorrow, the garden of tears, the Gethsemane on
the Path. Its gate closes, but only to open on the first zodiacal sign, Aries,
heralding the arrival of one new-born. Abraham had now arrived at this place
in his initiatory development.

  One of the supreme spiritual experiences in the life of Abraham was his
meeting with Melchizadek, who was one of the world's highest initiatory
teachers. He was one of the Chief High Priests of Atlantis and Teacher of the
remnant which survived the destruction of Atlantis by the Flood. Noah and his
family are generic terms for that remnant.

  Melchizadek gave to Abraham the profound spiritual mystery teachings which
later became known in the Christian world as the Christ-mass, and which
orthodox Christianity speaks of as the Holy Communion. A higher version of
this same spiritual mystery was the last and most sublime teaching which the
Lord Christ gave to his most advanced disciples during his three year ministry
upon Earth. A still higher revelation of this sacred mystery will become
central to the teaching and the ritualism of the New Aquarian Age religion.

  "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, Fear
not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said,
Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing that I go childless, and the steward
of my house is this Eliezar of Damascus?" --Genesis 15:12

  It was after Abraham's meeting with Melchizadek that the Lord came to him
in a vision. The question he then asked of the Lord: "What wilt thou give me
seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezar of
Damascus?"

  This question holds the key to an understanding of one of the most occult
chapters in the Bible. To interpret briefly: The name Eliezar means "help of
God." It signifies the awakened powers of divinity within. Eliezar is the
pious and faithful steward of Abraham's household, which here signifies the
body. He is of Damascus, a city which in biblical symbology signifies a center
of illumination and a place where flowers are in perpetual bloom. Hitherto
barren of progeny, what Abraham now asks the Lord is, in effect, what is he to
bring forth, seeing that the God within is now functioning in a center of
light, and that the spirit is in command of his personal attributes and
faculties.

  That this was an experience in the inner realms is indicated in the
statement that his meeting with the Lord was in a VISION. The spiritual aspect
of the entire experience is, moreover, indicated by the Lord's promise to
Abraham that the heir he sought would come forth out of his own "bowels," or
interior being. His spiritual offspring was to be without number, as the very
stars in heaven. Abraham believed, for the "mortal mind," the physical senses,
the unbelieveing part of man, gave way to the soul's clear perception of truth
on the plane of consciousness to which he had now ascended.

  The Lord also promised Abraham that unto his seed would be given the land
that stretches "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphates." Abraham then asked whereby he would know that such was to be his
inheritance. The Lord replied enigmatically: "Take me an heifer of three years
old and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a
turtle-dove, and a young pigeon." (Genesis 15:9)

  He did so. But it was not a bloody sacrifice that he was called upon to
perform. The entire experience recorded in this chapter occurred on a
superphysical level, and the words describing it must be considered in terms
of symbols if their inner menaings are to be apprehended in even the slightest
degree. It must always be remembered that the deepest spiritual truths are
never committed to writing but conveyed by word of mouth from Teacher to
disciple in accordance with the latter's worthiness and understanding. Insofar
as they are or can be transcribed in writing, symbols and ciphers of various
kinds must convey as best they can what words alone cannot do.

  Since this is so, such written references as are made to the highest
experiences of the soul are by their very nature obscure and enigmatic to all
except those who have attained a state of consaciousness that penetrates into
the soul of things and makes first-hand observation and corroboration
possible. The ceremonialism of the exoteric religionist is but a mutilated
fragment of the glorious ritualism to be found in thye Bible when this is read
in the light of its esoteric content.

  Returning to the question of animal sacrifice, such was not the offering of
Abraham at this time. The "wing which the soul fashions for high ascent" are
not built of the agony and death of any living thing, but by sympathy,
compassion, and an all-embracing, unifying love which includes all God's
creatures from the highest to the lowest. The inner soul qualities requisite
for the high attainment reached by an Initiate like Abraham can be formed in
no other way.

  Let us apply the astrological key to the sacrifices required of Abraham.
The heifer is a symbol of Taurus, and its sacrifice means renunciation of all
base desires and selfish love. The goat is the symbol of Capricorn; it
signifies the sacrifice of wordly power and ambition. The sheep is the symbol
of Aries and represents the resurrection of the life powers through chastity
and transmutation. The turtle-dove and pigeons are symbols of Libra, the
Balance, and refer to the subtle experiences that test judgment at this stage
of attainment.

  It is also to be noted that Abraham's sacrifices was made in Mamre, meaning
strength, and near Hebron, meaning unity.

  "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; an lo, an
horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a
surely that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and
shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years." --Genesis
15:12, 13

  Here is an outline of all that can be given publicly concerning the process
of a certain Initiation. It tells of the ecstasy of spirit which accompanies
the "great darkness." When Abraham lost consciousness on the physical plane he
was awake in the inner or etheric realms. In God's Book of Remembrance he then
reads in cosmic pictures the future events connected with the Aryan peoples
whom he is being prepared to lead. Abraham's seed, the fruits of the spirit,
are not in their home world when on Earth. They are strangers, passing through
and serving matter, and subject to its limitations until the lower quartenary
of form (400 years) has been transcended by the triune powers of spirit.

  "And it came to pass, when the sun went dosn, it was dark, behold a smoking
furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces."--Genesis 15:17

  Heat, smoke and fire are inseparable from the refining processes that lead
to Illumination. That Abraham passed through the "furnace" successfully and
qualified himself for higher service is clear from the covenant which the Lord
made with him "in the same day" saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land,
from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."

 CHAPTER II

 JACOB AND MOSES

INITIATE SONS OF THE ANCIENT WISDOM



  The hidden power of the fruit of the vine was realized by the early
Fathers, as the following passages from Justin Martyr indicates: "The word
blood of the grape was used purposely to express, that Christ has blood, not
from the seed of man, but from the power of God. For in the same manner that
man does not produce the blood of the vine, but God; so also this passage
foretold, that the blood of Christ was not to be of human origin, but from the
power of God and this prophecy shows that Christ is not a man, begotten of men
according to the common law of men."

  Eusebius, a fourth century ecclesiastical historian, makes this comment on
the foregoing passage; "...Men are redeemed by the blood of the grape which
has God dwelling in it, and is spiritual."

  From statements such as these it is clear that what is referred to as "the
blood of the grape" has a deep significance. It refers to the purification and
transmutation of the blood. Christ told His disciples: "I am the vine, ye are
the branches." A faithful aspirant places himself into a closer and more
perfect attunement with Christ by means of the bread and the wine, and is
thereby able to develop and manifest greater Christed powers within himself.

  Both Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria assert that it was Christ who
appeared to Jacob in the dream in which he beheld a ladder reaching from earth
to heaven, with Angels of God ascending and escending upon it. Above it stood
the Lord, who said, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of
Isaac" (Gen. 28:13). Cyprian, quoting from Genesis 35:1 writes: "...Believing
as all the Fathers did that the God there spoken of who appeared to Jacob when
he fled from Esau was Christ."

  As mentioned in the third volume of our NEW AGE BIBLE INTERPRETATION,
illumined Masters down through the ages have taught their disciples that the
work of Mystery Schools and the various forms of their Initiation were but
preparatory steps for the coming of the supreme World Teacher, the Lord
Christ. This statement holds true regarding seer-teachers of the Old Testament
Dispensation. They were preparing themselves and their followers to later
serve the Christ. In his Dreams Jacob was being taught to read in the Memory
of Nature. There he saw the involutionary-evolutionary ladder which extends
from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven, with multitudes of spirits
descending into incarnation and reascending into heaven after earth's lessons
have been learned.

  The Path of Discipleship has been similar in all ages. Aspeirants must meet
the same tests and make the same over-comings. Only particulars change in the
course of succeeding epochs. This initiatory Path is outlined with exceptional
fidelity in the life of Jacob. It is recorded in Genesis 32:24 that when Jacob
was left alone "there wrestled with him a man until the breaking of day." At
the conclusion of this incident it was made clear that the One who prevailed
over Jacob the new name of Israel, meaning one who preserves. "For," said He,
"as a prince hast thou power with God and with men." The experience here
related is a most meaningful one. That the Lord Christ was herein the Teacher
and Guardian of Jacob is noted by Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria and
Irenaeus.

  Jacob's experience of wrestling all night with the Angel and refusing to
let it go until he received a blessing is a familiar one upon the Path of
Discipleship. Spiritual powers latent within each aspirant thereby become
sufficientlyaroused for him to manifest them within his life. "Let the Christ
be formed in you," was St. Paul's admonition to his disciples. This was a
necessary attainment before one could become a pioneer of the Christ
Dispensation.

  In the life of Jacob this was accomlished. He parted from Esau (the lower
nature) for all time. In conformity with the inner change that then occurred
he was no longer called Jacob, but Israel, a name which also means "one who
sees God." Jacob was now an heroic conqueror and a dedicated server. He was
qualified to become a worker in the vineyard of the Lord Christ, who declared:
"Whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all".

  Referring again to the verse in Genesis which says that "Jacob was left
alone and there wrestled a man with him," Origen writes: "Who else could it be
that is called at once man and God, who wrestled and contended with Jacob,
that he who spake at sundry times and in divers manners unto the Father (Heb.
1:1) the holy Word of God who is called Lord and God, who also blessed Jacob
and called him Israel, saying to him 'Thou hast prevailed with God.' It was
thus that the men of those days beheld the Word of God, like our Lord's
apostles did, who said, 'That which was from the beginning, which we have seen
with our own eyes, and looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
Life (Jno. 1:1) which Word of Life Jacob also saw and added 'I have seen God
face to face.'"

  After his wrestling experience, which ended in victory for him, Jacob
ascended into Bethel, there to build an altar and dedicate his life to God.
Many who pass through this exalting experience are conscious of the presence
of the Christ, and of the out-pouring of His tender blessing upon their
endeavors. Bethel means "the house of God," and there it is that a victorious
candidate makes a complete dedication.

  Hyppolytus, an ecclesiastical writer of the third century, and a pupil of
Trenaeus, made the following statement with reference to Christ as described
in Jacob's prophecy (Gen. 49:9) and also in Revelation (5:5) "Now since the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, on account of his kingly and glorious state,
was spoken of before as a lion."


MOSES


  Four of the most distinguished Church Fathers--Justin Martyr, Clemment of
Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian, assert that it was none other than the
Christ who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This phenomena was a
reflection of the Cosmic Christ as He drew closer and closer to the earth
prior to His human incarnation. Christ is the Lord of the Sun and Chief among
the Fire Spirits, the Archangels. The Christian Dispensation is intimately
guided by the Hierarchy of Leo, the Lords of Flame. Hence, the Fire Initiation
is directly connected with the Christ Mysteries. This Fire is not a flame that
burns but a light that purifies and transmutes. The bush that "burned" became
ablaze with light but it was not consumed. This experience of Moses is a
veiled account of the exaltation accompanying the Fire Initiation.

  For the disciple the preparation for the Initiation by Fire deals largely
with the processes of Purification and Transmutation. All of the high
initiatory processes are accompanied by celestial music. Richard Wagner, truly
a musical Initiate, brought to earth something of the magnificence and
splendor which accompanies the Initiation by Fire in the glory of his Fire
Music which he gave to the world in his music-dramas, THE VALKYRIE and
SIEGFRIED. The sublimity of these celestial strains, and also those of the
final chords of THE GOTTERDAMMERUNG, sound like echoes and re-echoes from the
tonal realms in the high heavens.

  In agreement with many Church Fathers, Justin Martyr believed that it was
Christ who talked with Moses out of the bush, and he took issue with those who
confounded God the Father with His Son. "Those who think that it was always
God the Father who spoke to Moses, whereas He who spoke to him was the Son of
God, who is also called an Angel (and an Apostle), are justly convinced both
by the prophetical spirit, and by Christ himself, for knowing neither the
Father nor the Son. For they who say that the Son is the Father, are convinced
of neither knowing the Father nor of understanding that the God of the
Universe has a Son, who, being the first-born Word of God, is also God. And
formerly He appeared to Moses and to the prophets in the form of fire as an
incorporeal image."

  Clement of Alexandria is another authority for the claim that it was Christ
who said to Moses: "I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the
land of Egypt." It is this Christ power which always delivers an aspirant out
of Egypt, the symbolical land of bondage to the senses and to the darkness of
mortal mind.

  Moses was permitted to view the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk
and honey (the Christ Dispensation of the Aquarian-Leo cycle). The saintly
Origen tells us that it was the Christ who gave Moses on the holy mountain the
Tables of the Law, when Moses was being taught to read the Akashic Records. He
saw that the civilization of the Fifth Root Race was to have its foundation in
the laws that became known as the Ten Commandments. He saw further that the
Christ Himself would bring an extension of these laws, which He did by the
precepts enunciated in the Sermon on the Mount. Humanity of the Fifth Root
Race is still far from the development scheduled for it in the divine plan.
Only a few of its members have reached the evolutionary status where they live
in full accord with the Ten Commandments, and fewer still have any conception
of the spiritual import of the Sermon on the Mount.

  As stated throughout the NEW AGE INTERPRETATION series, polarity is the key
word of mystic Christianity. The two columns of polarity are formed by the Ten
Commandments (the masculine column) and the Sermon on the Mount (the feminine
column). For the Christed man of the coming Aquarian-Leo Race, the Ten
Commandments will be the foundation on which he establishes his daily life,
while the Sermon on the Mount will be its superstructure as he rises into
higher dimensions of unfoldment.

  Elijah's ascent into heaven in a chariot of fire is the description of
another illumined spirit who was being prepared through the Fire Initiation to
work on both inner and outer planes in preparation for the coming Christ. This
was likewise the Initiation of the three holy men who were cast into a fiery
furnace and yet remained unharmed as recorded in the Book of Daniel. In its
entirety this Book contains much information relative to Initiation by Fire.

  The Book of Daniel is closely related to the work of the Hierarchy of the
Fire Sign Leo. It was the Initiation by Fire, as it guards the Threshold of
the Christ Mysteries that the Supreme Teacher referred to when he told
Nicodemus "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit [Fire], he cannot
enter the kingdom of God," the new Christed order.

CHAPTER III

DAVID AND SOLOMON

 INCREASING REVELATIONS OF TRUTH AND WISDOM



  We have frequently referred to the Bible as the "Wonder Book of the Ages."
This is evinced by the fact that the further one advances spiritually, the
more the Scriptures reveal their marvelous hidden secrets. Also, as previously
stated, as man enters into the enlightenment of the Aquarian Age he will
realize that the Bible is not only the supreme textbook of Light, but that it
opens to his unfolding consciousness deeper mysteries and more profound truths
than he can imagine at the present time.

  Many timeless truths are concealed in the biblical record of David and
Solomon, both of whom possessed initiatory powers of a high degree. To prevent
spiritual truths which they gave to the world from being misused or desecrated
by persons not yet able to grasp and apply them rightly, they were couched in
unattractive symbols or embodied in stories that were in keeping with the
primitive and sensual development then prevalent.

  An ancient teaching declares: "If you would know the doctrine, you must
live the life." This being true, one must conclude that David and Solomon--two
illumined souls qualified for assuming spiritual leadership of their people--
were not guilty of such reprehensible conduct as a literal interpretation of
some biblical stories attributes to them. For example, the women in the life
of David really indicate definite stages of his spiritual development rather
than various polygamous matings as would appear from a literal reading. Now
Solomon is said to have had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
Numerically 7 and 3 add to 10, the number of spiritual attainment. Such is the
significance of this number as used throughout the entire Old Testament.

  Solomon is referred to as the highest initiate of the Old Testament
Dispensation. The great love he appeared to have for women must not be
interpreted as personal infatuation, but as a means of conveying the spiritual
fact that he experienced the ecstasy that comes from having attained to union
with the exalted Feminine Principle, a state requisite for the high initiatory
degree ascribed to him. On the other hand, the several women in the life of
David esoterically represent various steps in the progress of an aspirant.
Thus, Michal stands for Mars' martial powers, given to be a snare to David:
Eglah, the intimate personal love of Venus; Chimham, expansiveness of the
Jupiterian consciousness. Hagith, the law and order of a well developed
Saturnian nature; Abital, the enhanced attributes of faith and wisdom
generally associated with Mercury. David's marriage to Abigail symbolizes a
high state of spiritual consciousness (I Samuel 25:2-42).

  Abigail pleads for Nabal, the fool, who represents man's lower nature. The
foods Nabal refused to share with David signify certain spiritual qualities
about which a foolish mortal has no comprehension. After having sent David's
men away and then partaken of a drunken orgy, he lived only ten days. The
death of Nabal (lower nature) was followed by the union of Abigail (joy of
God) and David (the Beloved). This again signifies a union with the "eternal
feminine, that draws us ever upward and on"--in this instance to the crowning
of David in Hebron (unity) as King of Judah (love and praise). It was not
until after this MYSTIC MARRIAGE that David began the really great work of his
career.

  During a seven-year period as King of Judah. David was being prepared for a
still higher position as King of Jerusalem, the City of Peace. He was taught
to read the Akashic Records (the Memory of Nature) and to study therein the
pattern for the world's most glorious Mystery Temple, later externalized by
his son Solomon.

  Just as there are certain spiritual centers in the body of man so are there
corresponding centers of spiritual energy within the planet earth. For untold
thousands of years the locations of these earthly centers have been the sites
of Mystery Temples. From each one advanced spiritual truths have been
disseminated to the peoples within its area of radiation. Jerusalem, the City
of Peace, was the site of such a power release.

  Esoterically, Jerusalem is at the very heart of the earth. According to the
testimony of extended vision, at the very dawn of civilization it was chosen
and consecrated by Wise Ones under the guidance of angelic leaders. Here
Melchizedek, the Mystery Priest and one of the most exalted members of the
White Brotherhood, worked and taught. He brought over into Aryana the sacred
wisdom from Atlantis before its final inundation--recorded biblically in the
story of the Flood. It was in this sacred area--called by him Salem, City of
Peace--that he initiated Abraham, the first of the Mystery observances which
culminated in the Lord's Supper, the Feast of Bread and Wine. Later this same
eminence became the site for Solomon's Temple, and thereon Abraham passed the
supreme test in the Rite of Detachment when he was commanded to sacrifice his
son Isaac.

  When this holy city had passed into the hands of the Jesuits, they renamed
it JEBU and established therein a Temple devoted to the cult of Astarte. About
1000 B.C., after his becoming King of both Judah and Israel, David was
inspired to make the city his capital, and he renamed it the CITY OF DAVID.
From Jerusalem, located at an elevation that overlooked a wide surrounding
territory, there has ever been a mighty inflow and outflow of spiritual
energies. And besides being the heart-center of the whole earth and the home
of Judah, he of the royal sign Leo, it appropriately became the CITY OF THE
KING.

  What is more, Jerusalem was the focal center of the early Christian
Mysteries--for which the work of David and the services held in the Temple of
Solomon were a preparation. And it is destined to become the center of the
Christian Mysteries in preparation for the second coming of the Christ as it
was for His previous appearance. In fact, this holy place was the MECCA of the
Initiates of both the Old and the New Testament Dispensations. It was the
scene of activity for all of the Old Testament prophets excepting Amos and
Hosae. Within its environs the Books of the Old Testament were conceived if
not actually written. Both Joseph and the Holy Mother were Acolytes of the
Jerusalem Temple.

  Jerusalem was also the scene of the major part of the Master's work and
that of His immediate disciples and followers, many of the latter having their
training in communitites located in nearby areas of high spiritual radiation--
as, for instance, the Mount of Olives where David passed one of his tests of
regeneration and where Christ Jesus made His final and complete renunication
in accordance with the will of the Father. And it was in this highly charged
city that the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ Jesus took place.


                     SOLOMON'S MISSION TO THE WORLD


  Legend states that the birth of Solomon was attended by Hosts of Angels
singing triumphant chorals just as they did at the birth of Jesus. It is also
said that the Archangel Gabriel, guardian of mothers and children, was present
to bestow his blessing upon the infant.

  Nathan, a prophet of God who guided David in ways of Truth, was appointed
teacher and guardian of the youthful Solomon. So the child grew and devloped
in an environment of righteousness and wisdom, thus qualifying him to perform
his great work for the upliftment of mankind.

  One day, when Solomon was about thirteen years of age, the Court was
assembled in the majestic Hall of Cedars when an Angel appeared and placed a
golden leaf in the hands of King David. Upon this leaf was inscribed questions
in mystic characters. David announced, "Whoso answers these questions shall
become king of Israel after me." Then he read: "What is everything? what is
nothing." Breaking the silence that followed, Solomon only made reply: "God is
everything, the world is nothing." David continued reading: "What is of most
account, and what is of least?" Once more it was Solomon who made reply:
"Peace is of most account, and fear is of least."

  Solomon's foremost work was to build the great Mystery Temple. Teachings
emanating therefrom were to serve the entire present Fifth Root Race
throughout its evolutionary span. Mt. Moriah, like the Mt. of Olives
previously referred to, was an area of great spiritual power. On it Solomon
was instructed to erect a magnificent Temple and dedicate it in service to the
divine purpose of bringing about the redemption of mankind. It was ordained
that the Lord Christ should be received into this Temple, and that the
wondrous meaning and mission of His coming to us should be relayed to the
world therefrom. Mankind, however, did not live up to the divine precepts of
Solomon; and later Temple servers did not recognize the expected Messiah when
He did come. Hence, the day of the Crucifixion inaugurated the doom of the
Temple. It was only a matter of time before its complete destruction.

  Jesus, foreseeing the fate of Jerusalem and the Temple, wept over the
tragedy that was to overtake botrh. He knew that the city's inhabitants had
failed to achieve the high destiny which had been prepared for them. As He
beheld the long centuries lying ahead, He saw a future filled with strife and
ravaging wars, with their aftermath of sorrow, pain and death, before the day
of their redemption. David and Solomon, both high Initiates, came to earth to
work for the regeneration of the human race in anticipation of the glorious
coming of the Blessed Lord. It was not they who failed. Rather, it was the
entire Firth Root Race.

  Solomon, by means of his initate powers, was able to control denizens of
both the upper and nether realms. The foty-nine paths of wisdom were open to
him, so mystic legends state. (4 plus 9 gives 13, the initiatory number
belonging to the then approaching Christian Dispensation.) He even transmuted
the vicious powers of demons into those serving the good of man. He controlled
Nature Spirits and, at will, could send them to the furthermost confines of
the world. He delivered many persons from bondage to the evil of obsession.

  The macrocosm is a reflection of the microcosm. Man's physical body, his
temple, is a reflection of the solar Temple of the universe. The Master taught
that it was this human temple which might be destroyed and then, through
Initiation, be raised up again in three days. In mystic Masonry it is the
temple built by two kings and a widow's son. The latter, Hiram or Khurum by
name, becomes the Master-Builder--his name meaning HIGH, WHITE, LIFTED UP.
King Solomon represents the heart. King Hiram of Tyre the head. Hiram, the
master workman and a widow's son, symbolizes an aspirant who is working to
unite the love power of the heart with the intellect of the head.

  Every masonic candidate is admonished to keep his working tools in the
column of Jachin, the head. Boaz, the feminine heart column, is the fallen
pillar which cannot be raised until the power of love balances that of reason.
Only when love is truly "the fulfilling of the law" will the column of Boaz
resume its upright position. These are the two columns that guard the entrance
to all initiatory Temples, and every neophyte must pass between them on his
quest for Light.

  Many are the legends connected with the Molen Sea. This sea, in the form of
a flower, was (and is) supported by twelve oxen. As a "widow's son" (neophyte)
becomes a "master-builder" by the alchemy of transmutation within himself, his
"molten sea" becomes a crystal wherein the outlines of past, present and
future are indelibly impressed. This ability enables him to transform his
physical vehicle into the "flower body" of an Initiate--a work done under the
guidance and instruction of the twelve zodiacal Hierarchies. It was such
attainment that placed Solomon among the the Wise Men of all ages. And the
"lake" upon which he stood to welcome the Queen of Sheba symbolizes his own
personal "molten sea."

  Solomon's throne was fashioned of the fine gold of Ophir inlaid with marble
and incrusted with rare jewels. On each of the six steps to it were two golden
lions and two golden eagles standing face to face, indicative of the Leo-
Aquarian Age and its pioneers who have learned to builds the glorious light
body typified by Solomon's Temple. No workman was ill during the seven years
that the Temple was under construction, nor was the perfect condition of their
tools impaired. "When completed, the Temple shone like a golden hill set upon
a silver mountain. The altar of bronze increased so that it might embrace the
EARTH. The molten sea encompassed the spirit of all WATERS. The curtains
caught and held the shimmering shadows of blue AIR; and the candlestick, the
glory of celestial FIRE." Surrounding the Temple was a grove of golden trees
bearing perpetual fruits that fell only when approached by an enemy. Within
the sanctuary was an ivory wand, the touch of which gave injury to the unclean
but proved harmless to the pure. A transparent wall within the interior of the
sanctuary remained crystal clear on the approach of the righteous but darkened
when the unworthy came near.

  At the dedication of the Temple, these words were spoken by the Lord, the
manifestation of spiritual law: "I have hallowed this house, which thou hast
built, to put my name there forever; and mine yes and mine heart shall be
there perpetually"--1 Kings IX:3. Legends state that Solomon placed a golden
key in the door of the Holy of Holies to the rhythms of heavenly music and
chanting: "Open wide the doorway of the Holy of Holies, that the King of Glory
may go unto his rest."


SOLOMON'S SUPREME INITIATION


  "And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.

  "And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare
spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she came to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

  "And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from
the king, which he told her not." I Kings X:1-3

  The coming of this beautifulk queen of wisdom is the triumphal crowning of
Solomon's life. The wisdom, of which he sings as being above the price of
rubies, was at last his own possession. Before its attainment he never could
have penned the matchless SONG OF SONGS, the Song of the Mystic marriage--
described as "a love song set to lilies." It proclaims the final blending of
the lower nature with the higher, the sublimation of the material into the
spiritual. This is the highest achievement of divine alchemy. It must take
place within the consciousness and life of a disciple, for it brings him into
communion with those celestial planes whereon the glory of the song becomes
his own personal experience.

  The name Sheba means SEVEN with its sevenfold interpretation: "the
Beautiful, the Old, the One, the Giver, the Dangerous, the First, the Last."
She was the queen of all Arabian flowers; Balkirs, her name, means
BENEDICTION. Solomon spent three years in preparation for her coming. He built
two mighty walls that began at the frontier of Israel and ended at the gates
of Jerusalem. One was of silver and the other of gold, and between them was a
crystal lake in which the entire world was mirrored. It was thereon that he
awaited her arrival. Sheba came arrayed in seven robes as subtle as woven air,
and she approached Solomon as he was standing on this crystal "lake" as though
he were in water. Her gifts to the king were priceless pearls while his to her
were eight green rose trees of mystic Damascus, all starry with blossoms, and
jars containing the waters of eternal life from the well of Siloam--the last
being a phrase from an old Egyptian Mystery Temple.

  "And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house
that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers,
and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no
more spirit in her.

  "And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own
land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I
came, and mine yes had seen it; and behold, the half was not told to me: thy
wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame of which I heard.

  "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, whcih stand cotinually
before thee, and that hear thy wisdom." I KIngs X:4-8

  In the great tent of the king, guests who were assembled for the reception
of the gifts were overshadowed by invisible hosts of the angelic choir.
Solomon saluted the fair queen with the words: "You are holy as the Ark of
God; your body is His house." At these words the king's salutation, many of
the guests wavered and departed; but Balkris, Queen of Sheba, swayed and stood
upright and alone in the middle of the royal tent.

  "Many are called but few are chosen."

  Others also wavered and turned away, unable to walk longer in the Master's
way--the straight and narrow path of Initiation which leads to the portals of
the mystic Temple where gifts are bestowed upon a successful aspirant who is
wedded to wisdom and has learned the glory of the house not made with hands,
but eternal in the heavens. It is as the completion of this "house" that he
earns the wages of the Master and acquires ability to travel in foreign
countries, the supreme attainment for pioneers of the human race.

  From Jerusalem, Solomon reigned over all Israel the cabalistic period of
forty years. At the time of his transition his eyes beheld a vision of the
future: the destruction of the earthly tabernacle because it was impermanent,
transitory. Said another great Christian Initiate: "Things seen are temporal;
things unseen, eternal." Solomon, King of peace, rasining aloft the sacred
ring bearing the ineffable name, admonished: Build ye the Temple invisible and
eternal."




CHAPTER IV

SONGS OF INITIATION
               
THE PSALMS


  Both the Psalms and the Proverbs of the Old Testament were used in a number
of ways in the magnificent Temple ceremonials. However, they were neither read
nor spoken, but were sung or chanted, and were usually accompanied by the
graceful rhythms of the sacred dance. The aspirants were taught that sound, or
intonation, was the emanation or blessing from God, the Father; that harmony
was the emanation or blessing of the Cosmic Christ; and that rhythm and
rhythmic motion were the emanation or blessing of the Holy Spirit. Thus it was
that the threefold power of the Holy Trinity was expressed in all Temple
ceremonials.

  The Psalms express various degrees of spiritual attainment. The Ninety-
first Psalm is a song of protection. By its use the disciple was taught how to
flood his body with pure white light of such power that no harm could touch
it, by repeating again and again the powerful affirmation of protective
security: "A thousand shall fall at thy right side and ten thousand at thy
right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee."

  The Twenty-third Psalm is one of promise. "Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies." These enemies are not merely personal
enemies who wish us ill; they are also the more dangerous enemies that exist
within oneself--wrong thinking, false appetities, and uncontrolled emotions,
especially the destructive emotions of fear, hatred, malice and the coarser
desires of the unregenerated personality.

  "Thou anointest my head with oil" (the awakening of the spiritual organs in
the head). "My cup runneth over." "Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord (spiritual
Law) forever."

  Psalm XXIV is a Song of Jubilation. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and
the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory?" The answer to the
question is that the Lord is the King of Glory; but the aspirant understands
that this also refers to the "Christ Within," for every man is spiritually
made in the image and likeness of God.

  In our writings we have referred many times to the glorious processionals
which take place within the inner realms and which are led by the Christ
Himself. Those who are worthy are permitted to witness these processionals and
sometimes to take part in them. This, however, can never be until the Christ
is awakened within the aspirant's own nature. And so it is that this psalm of
jubilation carries two meanings: the joy that is known when the Christ Spirit
has entered into the heart of the disciple, and the recognition that by this
event he has become worthy to stand in the Presence of our supreme Lord Christ
Himself, while he hears the jubilant chorusing of Angels: "Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in."



                      PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES


  The Proverbs, as used in the anceint Temple, were powerful healing
mantrams. The occult scientist understands that the human body is composed of
certain groups known as feminine, or negative. The former are under the
rulership of the brain and cerebro-spinal nervous system. The latter are under
the rulership of the heart and the sympathetic nervous system. It is the
inharmonious interaction of these two systems that causes most disease. As the
disciple progresses spiritually these two systems are brought into ever closer
harmony. Aperfect relationship between the two systems is known as the
attainment of Balance, or Polarity in the spiritual sense, and with it the
body becomes impervious to disease. This is the secret of the perfect bodies
possessed by the Masters of Wisdom and high Initiates who have risen in
spiritual stature above and beyond disease and death.

  Proverbs say truly, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her
seven pillars." And for the ready and eager disciple the injunction is
given: "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine that I have mingled."

  It is because Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are especially the textbooks of
illumination that Wisdom, personified as a feminine principle of God, while
Understanding, as used in Proverbs, is the masculine. Wisdom is the inflow of
cosmic revelation, but Understanding is achieved through reason and initiatory
work. Therefore Proverbs opens with the command: "Get wisdom and understand-
ing." This is really the keynote of the entire work. Solomon repeatedly
declares that Wisdom is the principal object of the quest.

  It is significant that the esoteric Temple music was both masculine and
feminine, and was played upon instruments attuned to their respective rhythms.
For the Temple aspirant, the cantillation used in Proverbs was designed to
play directly upon the two chief currents which flow within the etheric body.
Thus the musical theme of both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes may be termed
polarity and equilibrium.

  The perfect Balance between the two poles of the human spirit can never be
effected, however, until the lower feminine has been lifted up through pure
and aspirational living. This term, "lower feminine," refers to the emotional
nature as still held in subjection by the sense life, and in bondage to
selfish aims and purposes. In most ancient writings the human "soul" or
"spirit" (ego) was called feminine, and thus the lower aspect of the soul
nature was termed the "fallen feminine" which must be lifted up and redeemed.

  In the early Church the cantillations of Proverbs were used principally on
Sundays between the Winter Solstice (Christmas) and the Spirng Equinox
(Easter), this being the most favorable transmutation time of the year and the
most holy of seasons.

  The rhythmic dualism of Proverbs which plays upon the dual currents of the
soul body and two nerve systems is clearly discerning in many of its verses;
for example:

Proverbs 14:1; 15:20; 19:26; 6:20, 21.

  "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with
     her hands.
   A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
   He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that
     causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.
   My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake no the law of thy
     mother;
   Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck."



              THE SONG OF SOLOMON--A MYSTIC MARRIAGE CHANT


  The word Sheba means seven, and Sheba's coming to Solomon constitutes the
preparation for the soul delights of the Mystic Marriage, which is the
spiritual motif of the Song of Songs.

  For those whose eyes are open to the true meaning of the Quest, this
ancient legend legend of Sheba and Solomon contains many hints as to its
purpose and the preparation necessary to its successful conclusion. Solomon,
the Wisdom-Seer, had found the Way and had learned to walk therein, preparing
for the future embodiment of that One who was to come as a more complete and
perfect demonstration of "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." This sublime
"Song of Songs" attributed to Solomon sings in its inspired measures of the
preparation and the Way.

  In this song the alchemist-author has expressed in allegory the formula for
making the Philosopher's Stone. The story itself is quite simple. It tells of
King Solomon who, upon visiting his vineyard on Mt. Lebanon, comes by surprise
upon a fair Shulamite maiden. She flees from him. Later he visits her
disguised as a shepherd, and wins her love, after which he comes in state to
claim her for his queen. The poem opens with a recital of their marriage in
the royal palace.

  The Song of Solomon has two principal characters, one masculine, the other
feminine. The first bears the name Shelomah (peaceable), the second Shulamith
(perfect). It is significant that both names are variations of the same root
word, the terminology varying to indicate the gender. Shulamith is the
feminine form of Solomon. In the English translations the two characters
cannot be differentiated as they are in the Hebrew.

  The two poles of spiritual being were recognized in all ancient Temple
teachings, and they were symbolized in the two columns or pillars which stood
before the Mystery Temples. At the entrance of Solomon's Temple stood the two
pillars Jachin and Boaz, together symbolizing Strength and Stability, and also
Beauty; they are also known as the two Columns of Victory. Always the
candidate must pass between these two pillars in his search for Light, the
Light which is in the East.

  Solomon's mystic Song is a poetic and allegorical delineation of the steps
or degrees which which lead to the development of Cosmic Consciousness, partly
evidenced in seership. These degrees, sometimes termed "veils" in the early
Mystery Schools, are seven in number and are enumerated thus:

  First Degree: The Quest
  Second Degree: The Awakening of Love (the Mystic)
    Third Degree: The Attainment of Knowledge (the Occult)
  Fourth Degree: Detachment
  Fifth Degree: Unification
  Sixth Degree: Annihilation
  Seventh Degree: Consummation

  The exultant note which is sounded in King Solomon's Song takes form in the
lovely words repeated so often throughout: "My beloved is mine and I am His,"
while the phrase which completes the chant, "and he feedeth among the lilies,"
is descriptive of the Path which culminates in the divine Consummation.

  This ultimate cosmic blending of the two poles of Spirit which constitutes
the Mystic Marriage is represented in the verses with which St. John opens his
Gospel: "The Word was with God"; and its music accompanies every verse of
Solomon's beautiful marriage song. Veiled, for him who is not ready to essay
the Quest, under the likeness of a tenderly human love song, the Song of Songs
is to the illumined a revelation from the very Holy of Holies, wherein he
stands in the Light Eternal, now no longer seen "as through a glass, darkly,"
but with transcendant clearness, "Face to Face."


THE BOOK OF JOB


  The Book of Job is unique in the Old Testament in that it is, more than any
other book, adapted to the needs and requirements of the disciple in the
modern world, just as it stands. The disciple can accept this book as a manual
of instruction, a textbook for meditation, and as an example of holiness and
spiritual strength for emulation day by day.

  There are two supreme laws which govern the earth planet. One is the Law of
Spirit; the other the Law of Materiality. Every man possesses free will and
the ability to choose which law he will live under, whether the causation of
materiality or the freedom from all bondage in Spirit. The fruitage of his
life will give evidence of his choice.

  In that illuminating mystic picture book of life, the Tarot system, these
two paths are shown. A youth stands between two maids, each of whom is
endeavoring to persuade him to follow her. One is crowned with the fruit of
the vine, the other is crowned with stars. The latter sings: "Every man must
make his choice, the way his soul shall go."

  In the Book of Job the two paths are represented by Elihu--the Way of
Spirit, and by Job's Three Friends--the Way of Materiality. The three friends
are familiar to all of us, for they represent the lure of the sense life as
expressed through the physical body, the desires (or desire body), and the
material or "mortal mind."

  The Bible states that God loveth him whom he chasteneth, but this is not by
way of punishment, it is to bring about rgeneration of the individual. The
Book of Job may well be termed the Cosmic Type Pattern of the perfecting of
man through affliction. Members of his family were taken from him. All of his
worldly possessions were lost, and so also his reputation and good name; and
finally he was stricken with a loathsome disease. It was at this place that
even his wife advised him to "curse God and die." This represents the narrow
place upon the Path where many would-be suicides mistakenly try to escape from
their life problems.

  But at this point a most wonderful thing happened to Job. This was the
coming of Elihu, who typifies the awakening or spiritualizing of the mind,
which is referred to in esoteric Christianity as the Christing of the mind.
Here the Christian learns to think only Christ thoughts, to speak only Christ
words, and to perform only Christ-like deeds. St. Paul spoke of this great
transformation as "putting off the old man, and putting on the new." For him
it occurred on the road to Damascus. He entered upon this road a bitter enemy
and persecutor of Christ and Christians. He left it as their most devoted
servant, and his name will remain for all time as one of the brightest lights
of Christianity.

  With Job's transformation his family was returned to him, his worldly goods
were restored and increased tenfold, his reputation was regained and his body
completely healed. He now understood the meaning of the words, "Man made in
the image and likeness of God."

  God is Love--God is All-Good--and the more Godlike man becomes the more
all-good will be manifested in his life. When one finds himself surrounded by
uncongenial companions or in an inharmonious environ,ment, if he be truly
wise, he will not seek to change these conditions by merely external means,
but will find a solution for them by going more deeply within himself. Like
always attracts like, and that which we give forth will unerringly return
again to us.

  And so we repeat that of all the books of the Old Testament, the Book of
Job best meets the needs of the modern disciple for meditation and for
emulation. For today the disciple, like Job, lives in the midst of trials and
confusion. He is assailed by the forces of evil within and without, and those
questions which Job asked of life he also asks; and again like Job he will
receive an answer from on high, and will reap the reward of mastery over
himself and his world through continued communion with the Wisdom of the
Eternal.

  PART II: INITIATORY HIGHLIGHTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT


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