{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_55687/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_55687","id":"gutenberg_55687","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55687","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Occultism","Symbolism"],"text":"Dedication\n\n\n_This Special Student\u2019s Edition of \u201cThe Initiates of the Flame\u201d is\ndedicated by the author to the One Thousand Students of the Classes of\n1922, and is limited to one thousand copies of which this one is_\n\n_Number 91_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: _Multiplicatio._]\n\n\n\n\n                                   The\n                                INITIATES\n                                 of the\n                                  FLAME\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                       He who lives the Life shall\n                            know the Doctrine\n\n                            FULLY ILLUSTRATED\n\n                       Copyrighted, October, 1922\n                           All rights reserved\n\n             Permission to copy or translate may be secured\n                            upon application\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                 Page\n\n    Introduction                                    7\n\n    Foreword                                       13\n\n    Chapter One\n        The Fire Upon the Altar                    15\n\n    Chapter Two\n        The Sacred City of Shamballa               25\n\n    Chapter Three\n        The Mystery of the Alchemist               35\n\n    Chapter Four\n        The Egyptian Initiate                      45\n\n    Chapter Five\n        The Ark of the Covenant                    55\n\n    Chapter Six\n        The Knights of the Holy Grail              63\n\n    Chapter Seven\n        The Mystery of the Pyramids                73\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                 Page\n\n    The Cube Altar                                 14\n\n    The Everburning Lamp                           16\n\n    The Masonic Censor                             18\n\n    The Grave Digger\u2019s Spade                       20\n\n    The Candle                                     22\n\n    The Lotus                                      28\n\n    The Rod That Budded                            30\n\n    The Philosopher\u2019s Stone                        34\n\n    The Five Pointed Star                          38\n\n    The Marriage of the Sun and Moon               40\n\n    The Pillars of the Temple                      42\n\n    The Serpent                                    44\n\n    The Masonic Apron                              46\n\n    The Scepters of Egypt                          48\n\n    The Sacred Scarab                              50\n\n    The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant      54\n\n    The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and\n      the Tablets of the Law                       58\n\n    The Holy Grail                                 62\n\n    The Stone and the Sword                        64\n\n    The Rosicrucian Rose                           66\n\n    The Sacred Spear                               68\n\n    Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah    74\n\n    The Pyramid                                    76\n\n    The Sphinx                                     78\n\n    The Key and the Cross                          82\n\n    The White Grail                                86\n\n    The Black Grail                                87\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Initiates of the Flame\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nFew realize that even at the present stage of civilization in this world,\nthere are souls who, like the priests of the ancient temples, walk the\nearth and watch and guard the sacred fires that burn upon the altar of\nhumanity. Purified ones they are, who have renounced the life of this\nsphere in order to guard and protect the Flame, that spiritual principle\nin man, now hidden beneath the ruins of his fallen temple.\n\nAs we think of the nations that are past, of Greece and Rome and the\ngrandeur that was Egypt\u2019s, we sigh as we recall the story of their fall;\nand we watch the nations of today, not knowing which will be the next to\ndraw its shroud around itself and join that great ghostly file of peoples\nthat are dead.\n\nBut everywhere, even in the rise and fall of nations, we see through the\nhaze of materiality, justice; everywhere we see reward, not of man but of\nthe invincible One, the eternal Flame.\n\nA great hand reaches out from the unseen and regulates the affairs of\nman. It reaches out from that great spiritual Flame which nourishes all\ncreated things, the never dying fire that burns on the sacred altar of\nCosmos--that great fire which is the spirit of God.\n\nIf we turn again to the races now dead, we shall, if we look, find the\ncause of their destruction. =The light had gone out.= When the flame\nwithin the body is withdrawn, the body is dead. When the light was taken\nfrom the altar, the temple was no longer the dwelling place of a living\nGod.\n\nDegeneracy, lust, and passion, hates and fears, crept into the souls of\nGreece and Rome, and Black Magic overshadowed Egypt; the light upon the\naltar grew weaker and weaker. The priests lost the Word, the name of the\nFlame. Little by little the Flame flickered out, and as the last spark\ngrew cold, a mighty nation died, buried beneath the dead ashes of its own\nspiritual fire.\n\nBut the Flame did not die. Like spirit of which it is the essence, it\ncannot die, because it is life, and life cannot cease to be. In some\nwilderness of land or sea it rested once again, and there rose a mighty\nnation around that flame. So history goes on through the ages. As long\nas a people are true to the Flame, it remains, but when they cease to\nnourish it with their lives, it goes on to other lands and other worlds.\n\nThose who worship this Flame are now called heathens. Little do we\nrealize that we are heathen ourselves until we are baptised of the Holy\nSpirit, which is Fire, for fire is Light, and the children of the Flame\nare the Sons of Light, even as God is Light.\n\nThere are those who have for ages labored with man to help him to kindle\nwithin himself this spark, which is his divine birthright. It is these\nwho by their lives of self-sacrifice and service have awakened and tended\nthis fire, and who through ages of study have learned the mystery it\ncontained, that we now call the \u201cInitiates of the Flame.\u201d\n\nFor ages they have labored with mankind to help him to uncover the light\nwithin himself, and on the pages of history they have left their seal,\nthe seal of Fire.\n\nUnhonored and unsung they have labored with humanity, and now their\nlives are used as fairy stories to amuse children, but the time will yet\ncome when the world shall know the work they did, and realize that our\npresent civilization is raised upon the shoulders of the mighty demigods\nof the past. We stand as Faust stood, with all our lore, a fool no wiser\nthan before, because we refuse to take the truths they gave us and the\nevidence of their experiences. Let us honor these Sons of the Flame, not\nby words, but by so living that their sacrifice shall not be in vain.\nThey have shown us the way, they have led man to the gateway of the\nunknown, and there in their robes of glory passed behind the Veil. Their\nlives were the key to their wisdom, as it must always be. They have gone,\nbut in history they stand, milestones on the road of human progress.\n\nLet us watch these mighty ones as they pass silently by. First, Orpheus,\nplaying upon the seven stringed lyre of his own being, the music of the\nspheres. Then Hermes, the thrice greatest, with his emerald tablet of\ndivine revelation. Through the shades of the past we dimly see Krishna,\nthe illuminated, who on the battlefield of life taught man the mysteries\nof his own soul. Then we see the sublime Buddha, his yellow robe not\nhalf so glorious as the heart it covered, and our own dear Master, the\nman Jesus, his head surrounded with a halo of Golden Flame, and his brow\nserene with the calm of mastery. Then Mohammed, Zoroaster, Confucius,\nOdin, and Moses, and others no less worthy pass by before the eyes of the\nstudent. They were the Sons of Flame. From the Flame they came, and to\nthe Flame they have returned. To us they beckon, and bid us join them,\nand in our robes of self-earned glory to serve the Flame they love.\n\nThey were without creed or clan; they served but the one great ideal.\nFrom the same place they all came, and to the same place they have\nreturned. There was no superiority there. Hand in hand they labor for\nhumanity. Each loves the other, for the power that has made them masters\nhas shown them the =Brotherhood= of all life.\n\nIn the pages that follow we will try to show this great thread, the\nspiritual thread, the thread of living fire that winds in and out through\nall religions and binds them together with a mutual ideal and mutual\nneeds. In the story of the Grail and the Legends of King Arthur we find\nthat thread wound around the Table of the King and the Temple of Mount\nSalvart. This same thread of life that passes through the roses of the\nRosicrucians, winds among the pedals of the Lotus, and among the temple\npillars of Luxor. THERE IS BUT ONE RELIGION IN ALL THE WORLD, and that\nis the worship of God, the spiritual Flame of the universe. Under many\nnames He is known in all lands, but as Iswari or Ammon or God, He is the\nsame, the Creator of the universe, and fire is His universal symbol.\n\nWe are the Flame-Born Sons of God, thrown out as sparks from the wheels\nof the infinite. Around this Flame we have built forms which have hidden\nour light, but as students we are increasing this light by love and\nservice, until it shall again proclaim us Suns of the Eternal.\n\nWithin us burns that Flame, and before Its altar the lower man must bow,\na faithful servant of the Higher. When he serves the Flame he grows, and\nthe light grows until he takes his place with the true Initiates of the\nuniverse, those who have given all to the Infinite, in the name of the\nFlame within.\n\nLet us find this Flame and also serve it, realizing that it is in all\ncreated things, that all are one because all are part of that eternal\nFlame, the fire of spirit, the life and power of the universe.\n\nUpon the altar of this Flame, to the true creator of this book, the\nwriter offers it, and dedicates it to the one Fire which blazes forth\nfrom God, and is now hidden within each living thing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n_THE GREATEST OF MYSTERY SCHOOLS_\n\n\n_The World is the schoolroom of God. Our being in school does not make us\nlearn, but within that school is the opportunity for all learning. It has\nits grades and its classes, its sciences and its arts, and admission to\nit is the birthright of man. Its graduates are its teachers, its pupils\nare all created things. Its examples are Nature, and its rules are God\u2019s\nlaws. Those who would go into the greater colleges and universities must\nfirst, day by day, and year by year, work through the common school of\nlife, and present to their new teachers the diplomas they have won, upon\nwhich is written the name that none may read save those who have received\nit._\n\n_The hours may seem long, and the teachers cruel, but each of us must\nwalk that path, and the only ones ready to go onward are those who have\npassed through the gateway of experience_,\n\n_GOD\u2019S GREAT SCHOOL FOR MAN_.\n\n[Illustration: The Cube Altar:\n\nOf the elements of the earth is this altar composed. It is the great\ncube of matter. On or in this altar burns a Flame. It is this Flame that\nis the spirit of all created things. =Man, know thyself.= Thou art the\nFlame, and thy bodies are the living altar.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE FIRE UPON THE ALTAR\n\n\nAs far back as our history goes we find that fire has played an important\npart in the religious ceremonial of the human race. In practically every\nreligion we find the sacred altar fires, which were guarded by the\npriests and vestals with greater care than their own lives. In the Bible\nwe find many references made to the sacred fires which were used as one\nform of devotion by the ancient Israelites. The Altar of Burnt Offerings\nis as old as the human race, and dates from the time when the first man,\nlifting himself out of the mists of ancient Lemuria, first saw the sun,\nthe great Fire Spirit of the universe. Among the followers of Zoroaster,\nthe Persian Initiate, fire has been used for centuries in honor of the\ngreat Fire God, Ormuzd, who is said by them to have created the universe.\n\n[Illustration: The Everburning Lamp:\n\nKnow that the Flame that burns within thee and lights thy way is the\never burning lamp of the ancients. As their lamps were fed by the purest\nof oil, so thy spiritual Flame must be fed by a life of purity and\naltruism.]\n\nThere are two paths or divisions of humanity whose history is closely\nrelated to that of the Wisdom Teachings. They embody the doctrines of\nfire and water, the two opposites of nature. Those who follow the path of\nfaith or the heart, use water, and are known as the Sons of Seth, while\nthose who follow the path of the mind and action are the Children of\nCain, who was the son of Samael, the Spirit of Fire. Today we find the\nlatter among the alchemists, the hermetic philosophers, the Rosicrucians,\nand the Freemasons.\n\nIt is well for us to understand that we ourselves are the cube altar upon\nwhich and in which burns the altar fire. For many centuries the Initiate\nof fire has been nourishing and guarding the Spiritual Flame within\nhimself, as the ancient priests watched day and night the altar fires of\nVesta\u2019s temple.\n\nThe ever burning lamp of the alchemist, which having burned thousands of\nyears without fuel in the catacombs of Rome, is but a symbol of this same\nspiritual fire within himself. In the picture we see the ever burning\nlamp which was carried by the Initiate in his wandering. It represents\nthe spinal column of man, at the top of which is flickering a little\nblue and red flame. As the lamp of the ancients was fed and kept burning\nby the purest of olive oil, so man is transmitting within himself and\ncleansing in the laver of purification the life essences, which, when\nturned upward, provide fuel for the ever burning lamp within himself.\n\n[Illustration: The Masonic Censor:\n\nAs the perfume rising from the incense burner was acceptable in the\nsight of the Lord, so may our words and actions ever be a sweet incense\nacceptable in the sight of the Most High.]\n\nUpon the altars of the ancients were offered sacrifices to their gods.\nThe ancient Hierophant offered up sacrifices of spices and incense. The\nMasonic brother of today still has among his symbols the incense burner\nor censer, but few of the brothers recognize themselves in this symbol.\nThe ancients symbolized under such things as this the development of the\nindividual, and as the tiny spark burning among the incense cubes slowly\nconsumes all, so the Spiritual Flame within the student is slowly burning\naway and transmuting the base metals and properties within himself, and\noffering up the essence thereof as the smoke upon the altar of Divinity.\nIt is said that King Solomon, when he completed his temple, offered bulls\nas a sacrifice to the Lord, by burning them upon the temple altar. Those\nwho believe in a harmless life wonder why so many references are made in\nthe Bible to animal sacrifice.\n\nThe student realizes that the animal sacrifices are those of the\ncelestial zodiac, and that when the Ram or the Bull was offered upon the\naltar, it represented the qualities in man which come through Aries, the\ncelestial Ram, and Taurus, the Bull in the zodiac. In other words, the\nInitiate, passing through his tests and purification, is offering upon\nthe altar of his own higher being the lower animal instincts and desires\nwithin himself. Among the Masonic brothers we also find what is called\nthe Symbol of Mortality. It is a spade, a coffin, and an open grave,\nwhile upon the coffin has been laid a sprig of acacia, or evergreen.\nIn the picture we see the spade of the grave digger, which has been\nconsidered the symbol of death for centuries.\n\n[Illustration: The Grave Digger\u2019s Spade:\n\nLet us take the spade that now digs our grave through the passions and\nemotions of life and use it to unearth the secret room far below the\nrubbish of the fallen temple of the human soul.]\n\nIn the Book of Thoth, that strange document which has descended to man at\nhis present stage of evolution as a deck of playing cards, we find a very\nwonderful symbolism. Of all the suits of cards, that of the spade is the\nonly suit in which all the court cards face away from the pip. In all the\nother kings and queens, the faces are looking at the little marker in the\ncorner of the card, but in the spade suit, they look away from it. Now\nit is said that the spade has been taken from the acorn, but the occult\nstudent has a different idea. He sees in the spade, which has for ages\nbeen the symbol of death, a certain part of his own anatomy. If you will\nagain turn to the picture of the spade, you will see, if you have ever\nstudied anatomy, that the grave digger\u2019s spade is the spinal column, and\nthe spade-shaped piece which is used on the deck of cards, is nothing\nmore nor less than the sacrum bone.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThis bone forms the base of the spinal column, and is also the spear of\nthe Passion. Through it and the foramana which pierce it, pass the roots\nof the spinal nerve, which indeed are the roots of the Tree of Life. It\nis the center through which are nourished and fed the lower vertebrae\nof the spine, and the sacrum and coxygeal bones that dig the graves for\nall created things. This point has been beautifully symbolized by the\ngrave digger\u2019s spade, which has been used by the brothers of many mystic\norganizations for ages. The currents and forces working through these\nlower spinal nerves must be transmuted and lifted upward to feed the\naltar fire at the positive or upper end of the spine.\n\n[Illustration: The Candle:\n\nThis is the light that has gone out. It is the candle that is hidden\nunder the bushel. This is the true light that forever dispels the\ndarkness of ignorance and uncertainty. Let the light shine forth through\na purified body and a balanced mind. For this light is the life of our\nbrother creatures.]\n\nThe centering of thought or emotion upon higher or lower things, as the\ncase may be, determines where thin life energy will be expended. If\nthe lower emotions predominate, the flame upon the altar burns low and\nflickers out, because the forces which feed it have been concentrated\nupon the lower centers. But when altruism predominates, then the lower\nforces are raised upward and pass through the purification which makes\npossible their being used as fuel for the ever burning lamp. Thus we\nsee why it was a great sin to let the lamp go out, for the pillar of\nflames which hovers over the Tabernacle, purified and prepared after the\ndirections of the Most High, is the Spiritual Flame that, hovering above\nman, lights his way wherever he may go.\n\nThe sun of our solar system, that is, the Spiritual Sun behind the\nphysical globe, is one of these Flames. It began no greater than ours,\nand through the power of attraction and the transmuting of its ever\nincreasing energies it has reached its present proportions. This flame\nin man is the \u201clight that shineth in darkness.\u201d It is the Spiritual\nFlame within himself. It lights his way as no exterior light can. This\nradiating out from him brings into view, one by one, the hidden things\nof the cosmos, and his ignorance is dispelled in exactly the same\nproportion as his light is spread, for the darkness of the unknown can\nonly be removed by light, and the greater the light, the further back\nthe darkness is driven. This is the Lamp of the Philosopher, which he\ncarries through the dark passageways of life, and by the light of which\nhe walks among the stones and along the narrow cliff edge without fear.\nBut although he gain all other things and have not this light within\nhimself, he cannot know where he goes; he cannot watch his footsteps; and\nhe cannot dispel his ignorance with the light of truth.\n\nTherefore let each student watch the fire that burns upon his altar.\nLet him also make that altar, his body, as beautiful and harmonious as\npossible, and let him also sacrifice upon that altar the frankincense\nand myrrh, his actions and his deeds. As in the Tabernacle he offers all\nupon the altar of divinity, so let him day by day dispel the symbols of\nmortality--the coffin and the open grave by which he prepared himself\nthrough the mastery of the lower emotions within himself--and recognize\nthat no matter how crystallized or dead his life may be, the fact that\nhe exists at all proves that the sprig of acacia, the promise of life\nand immortality, is somewhere within himself; and although the flame of\nlife may appear faint or cold, if he will supply the fuel by his daily\nactions, he will kindle the altar flame once more within himself, which,\nshining forth, will also help his brother to kindle this flame, which is\na living sacrifice to the living God.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE SACRED CITY OF SHAMBALLA\n\n\nIn every mythology and legendary religion of the world there is one spot\nthat is sacred above all others to the great ideal of that religion. To\nthe Norseman it was Valhalla, the City of the Slain, built of the spears\nof heroes, where feasting and warfare was the order of the day. Here the\nheroes fought all day and reveled by night. Every day they killed the\nwild boar and feasted on it, and the next day it came to life again.\nIn the Northland they tell that Valhalla was high on the top of the\nmountains, and that it was connected to the earth below by Befrost, the\nRainbow Bridge; that up and down this bridge the Gods came, and Odin, the\nAll-father, came down from Asgard, the City of the Gods, and worked and\nlabored with mankind.\n\nAmong the Greeks, Mount Olympus was held sacred, and here the gods are\nsaid to have lived high on the top of a mountain. The Knights of the\nGrail are said to have had their castle among the crags and peaks of\nNorthern Spain on Mount Salvart. In every religion of the world there is\na sacred spot: Meru of the oriental, and Mount Moriah and Mount Sinai\n(upon which the tablets of law were given to man); all those are symbols\nof one universal ideal, and as each of these religions claimed among the\nclouds a castle and a home, so it is said that all the religions of the\nworld have their headquarters in Shamballa, the Sacred City in the Gobi\nDesert of Mongolia.\n\nAmong the oriental peoples there are wonderful legends of this sacred\ncity, where it is said the Great White Lodge or Brotherhood meets to\ncarry on the governing of world affairs. As the Assirs of Scandinavia\nwere twelve in number, as Olympus had twelve gods, so the Great White\nBrotherhood is said to have twelve members, which meet in Shamballa and\ndirect the affairs of men. It is said that this center of universal\nreligion descended upon the earth when the polar cap, which was the first\npart of the earth to crystallize, became solid enough to support life.\nScience now knows that not only does the earth have two motions, that of\nrotation upon its axis and revolution around the sun, but that it has\nnine other motions, according to Flammarion, the French astronomer. One\nof these motions is that of the alternation of the poles; in other words,\nsome day that part of the earth\u2019s surface which is now the North Pole\nwill become the South Pole. Therefore it is said that the Sacred City\nhas left its central position and after much wandering is now located in\nMongolia.\n\nThose who are acquainted with the Mohammedan religion will see something\nof great interest in the pilgrimage to the Kabba at Mecca, where\nthousands go each year to give honor to the Stone of Abraham, the great\naerolight, upon which Mohammed is said to have rested his foot. Old and\nyoung alike, some even carried, wind through desert sands and endure\nuntold hardships, many coming from great distances, to visit the place\nthey cherish and love. In India we find the same thing. There are many\nsacred places to which pilgrims go, even as the Templars went in our\nChristian religion to the Sepulcher of Christ. Few see in this anything\nmore than an outward symbol, but the true student recognizes the great\nesoteric truth contained therein. The spiritual consciousness in man is a\npilgrim on the way to Mecca. As this consciousness passes upward through\nthe centers and nerves of the body, it is like the pilgrim, climbing the\nheights of Sinai, or the Knight of the Grail returning to Mount Salvart.\n\nWhen the spinal fire of man starts upward in its wanderings, it stops at\nmany shrines and visits many holy places, for like the Masonic brother\nand his Jacob\u2019s Ladder, the way that leads to heaven is upward and\ninward. The spinal fire goes through the centers or seed ground of many\ngreat principles, and worships at the shrine of many Divine Essences\nwithin itself, but it is eternally going upward, and finally it reaches\nthe great desert. Only after pain and suffering and long labor does it\ncross that waste of sand. This is the Gethsemane of the higher man, but\nfinally he crosses the sacred desert, and before him in the heart of the\nLotus rises the Golden City, Shamballa.\n\n[Illustration: The Lotus:\n\nMay your consciousness be lifted upward through the Tree of Life within\nyourself until in the brain it blossoms forth as the Lotus, that rising\nfrom the darkness of the lower world, lifts its flower to catch the rays\nof the Sun.]\n\n[Illustration: FRONTAL SINUS]\n\nIn the spreading of the bone between the eyes called the frontal sinus,\nis the seat of the divine in man. There, in a peculiar gaseous material,\nfloats, or rather exists, or is, the fine essence which we know as the\nSpirit. This is the Lost City in the Sacred Desert, connected to the\nlower world by the Rainbow Bridge, or the Silver Cord, and it is to this\npoint in himself that the student is striving to rise. This is the Sacred\nPilgrimage of the Soul, in which the individual leaves the lower man and\nthe world below and climbs upward into the Higher Man or Higher World,\nthe brain. This is the great pilgrimage to Shamballa, and as that great\ncity is the center for the direction of our earth, so the corresponding\ngreat city in man is the center for his governmental system.\n\n[Illustration: The Rod That Budded:\n\nThe buds in the Rod are the seven centers within yourself, which when you\ndevelop their spiritual powers shine out as centers of fire within your\nown being. The ancients have taken flowers to symbolize these centers,\nwhich when they shine out show that the dead stick, cut from the Tree of\nLife, has budded.]\n\nWhen any other thing governs man, he is not attuned to his own higher\nself, and it is only when the gods, representing the higher principle,\ncome down the Rainbow Bridge and labor with him, teaching him the arts\nand sciences, that he is truly receiving his divine birthright. In the\nOrient the student looks forward with eager longing to the time when he\nshall be allowed to worship before the gates of the sacred city; when he\nalso shall see the Initiates in silent conclave around the circular table\nof the zodiac; when the veil of Isis shall be torn away, and the cover\nlifted from the Grail Cup.\n\nLet the student remember that all of these things must first happen\nwithin himself before he can find them in the universe without. The\ntwelve Elder Brothers within himself must first be reached and understood\nbefore those of the universe can be comprehended. If he would find the\ngreat Initiates without, he must first find them within; and if he would\nsee that Sacred City in the Lotus Blossom, he must first open that Lotus\nwithin himself, which he does, petal by petal, when he purifies and\nattunes himself to the higher principles within. The Lotus is the spinal\ncolumn once more; its roots, deep in materiality; its blossom, the brain;\nand only when he sends upward nourishment and power, can that Lotus\nblossom within himself--blossom forth with its many petals, giving out\ntheir spiritual fragrance.\n\nSometimes you will see in store windows funny little Chinese gods or\noriental Buddhas sitting on the blossom of a lotus. In fact, if you\nlook carefully, you will find that nearly all of the oriental gods are\nso depicted. This means that they have opened within themselves that\nSpiritual Consciousness which they call the Shushuma. You have seen the\nfunny little hats worn by the Hindu gods. They are made to represent a\nflower upside down, and once more, like the rod of Aaron that budded, we\nsee the reference made to the unfolding of consciousness within. When\nthe lotus blossom has reached maturity, it drops its seed, and from\nthis seed new plants are produced. It is the same within the spiritual\nconsciousness, which, when the plant is finished and its work is done, is\nreleased to work and produce other things.\n\nIn the Western World the lotus has been changed to the rose. The roses\nof the Rosicrucian, the roses of the Masonic degrees, and also those of\nthe Order of the Garter in England, all stand for the same thing, the\nawakening of consciousness and the unfolding into full bloom of the soul\nqualities of man. When man awakens and opens this bud within himself,\nhe finds, like the gold pollen in a flower, this wonderful spiritual\ncity, Shamballa, in the heart of the lotus. When this pilgrimage of his\nspiritual fire is accomplished, he is liberated from the top of the\nmountain, as in the ascension of Christ, and the spiritual man, freed\nby his pilgrimage from the Wheel of Bondage, rises upward from among\nhis disciples, the convolutions of the brain, with the great cry of the\nInitiate, which has sounded through the Mystery Schools for ages when\nthe purified student goes onward and upward to become a pillar in the\ntemple of his God. With that last cry the true mystery of Shamballa, the\nsacred city, is understood and he joins the ranks of those who in white\nrobes of purity, their own soul bodies, gaze down upon the world and see\nothers liberated in the same way, and who also sound the eternal tocsin,\n\u201cconsumatum est\u201d (it is finished).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: The Philosopher\u2019s Stone:\n\nThis is the true stone of the philosopher, which gives him power over all\ncreated things. This stone is himself. The experiences of his evolution\nhave cut and polished the rough stone until in the Initiate it reflects\nthe light of creation from a thousand different facets.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE MYSTERY OF THE ALCHEMIST\n\n\nThere are very few occult students today who have not heard of the\nalchemist, but there are very few who know anything about the strange men\nwho lived during the Middle Ages and concealed under chemical symbolism\nthe history of the soul. At a time, when to express a religious thought\nwas to court annihilation at the stake or wheel, they labored silently\nin underground caves and cellars to learn the mysteries of nature which\nthe religious opinions of their day denied them the privilege of doing.\nLet us picture the alchemist of old, deep in the study of natural lore.\nWe find him among the test tubes and retorts of his hidden laboratory.\nAround him are massive tomes and books by ancient writers; he is a\nstudent of nature\u2019s mystery, and has devoted years, lives maybe, to the\nwork he loves. His hair has long since grayed with age.\n\nBy the light of his little lamp he reads slowly and with difficulty the\nstrange symbols on the pages before him. His mind is centered upon one\nthing, and that is the finding of the Philosopher\u2019s Stone. With all\nthe chemicals at his command, their various combinations thoroughly\nunderstood, he is laboring with his furnace and his burners to make of\nthe base metals the Philosopher\u2019s Gold. At last he finds the key and\ngives to the world the secret of the Philosopher\u2019s Gold and the Immortal\nStone. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the answer to his problem; from\nthem he makes the Philosopher\u2019s Stone; from them he extracts the Elixir\nof Life; with the power that they give him he transmutes the base metals\ninto gold. The world laughs at him, but he goes on in silence, really\ndoing the things the world believes impossible.\n\nAfter many years of labor he takes his little lamp and silently slips\naway into the Great Unknown. No one knows what he has done, or the\ndiscoveries that he has made, but he, with his little lamp, still\nexplores the mysteries of the universe. As the close of the fifteenth\ncentury clouded him with mystery, so the dawn of the twentieth century\nis crowning him with the glory of his just reward, for the world\nis beginning to realize the truths he knew, and to marvel at the\nunderstanding which his years of labor had earned for him.\n\nMan has been an alchemist from the time when he first raised himself,\nand with the powers long latent pronounced himself as human. Experiences\nare the chemicals of life which the philosopher is experimenting with.\nNature is the great book whose secrets he seeks to understand through her\nown wondrous symbolism. His own Spiritual Flame is the lamp by which he\nreads, and without this the printed pages mean nothing to him. His own\nbody is the furnace in which he prepares the Philosopher\u2019s Stone; his\nsenses and organs are the test tubes, and incentive is the flame from\nthe burner. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the chemicals of his craft.\nAccording to the ancient philosophers, salt was of the earth earthy,\nsulphur was a fire which was spirit, while mercury was nothing, only a\nmessenger like the winged Hermes of the Greeks. His color is purple,\nwhich is the blending of the red and the blue--the blue of the spirit and\nthe red of the body.\n\nThe alchemist realizes that he himself is the Philosopher\u2019s Stone, and\nthat this stone is made diamond-like when the salt and the sulphur, or\nthe spirit and the body, are united through mercury, the link of mind.\nMan is the incarnated principle of mind as the animal is of emotion.\nHe stands with one foot on the heavens and the other on the earth. His\nhigher being is lifted to the celestial spheres, but the lower man\nties him to matter. Now the philosopher, building his sacred stone,\nis doing so by harmonizing his spirit and his body. The result is the\nPhilosopher\u2019s Stone. The hard knocks of life chip it away and facet it\nuntil it reflects lights from a million different angles.\n\n[Illustration: The Five Pointed Star:\n\nThis picture, known to all Masons, is that of the Soul. It is the Star of\nBethlehem, which heralds the coming of the Christ within. The two clasped\nhands are the spirit and body united in the marriage of the Lamb. It is\nfrom the union of the higher with the lower that the Christ is born.]\n\nThe Elixir of Life is once again the Spirit Fire, or rather the fuel\nwhich nourishes that fire, and the turning of the base metal into gold\nis accomplished when he transmutes the lower man into spiritual gold.\nThis he does by study and love. Thus he is building within himself the\nlost panacea for the world\u2019s woe. The turning of the base metal into gold\ncan be called a literal fact, as the same chemical combination which\nspiritually produces gold, will also do this physically. It is a known\nfact that many of the ancient alchemists really did create the precious\nmetal out of lead, alloy, etc. But it was upon the principle that all\nthings contain some part of everything else; in other words, every grain\nof sand or drop of water has in some proportion every element of the\nuniverse therein. Therefore the alchemist did not try to make something\nfrom nothing, but rather to extract and build that which already was, and\nthis the student knows is the only possible course of procedure.\n\nMan can create nothing from nothing, but he does contain within, in\npotential energy, all things; and like the alchemist with his metals,\nhe is simply working with that which he already has. The living\nPhilosopher\u2019s Stone is a very beautiful thing. Indeed, like the fire\nopal, it shines with a million different lights, changing with the mood\nof the wearer. The transmuting process, whereby the spiritual fire\npassing through the furnace of purification radiates from the body as the\nsoul body of gold and blue, is a very beautiful one.\n\n[Illustration: The Marriage of the Sun and Moon:\n\nThis takes place in man when the heart and mind are joined in eternal\nunion. It occurs when the positive and negative poles within are united,\nand from that union is made the Philosopher\u2019s Stone.]\n\nThe Masons have among their symbols that of a five-pointed star with\ntwo clasped hands within it, and in that we have the mystery of the\nPhilosopher\u2019s Stone. The clasped hands represent the united man in which\nthe higher and the lower are working for their mutual betterment, by a\nco-operative rather than a competitive system. The five-pointed star is\nthe soul body, born of this co-operation; it is the living Philosopher\u2019s\nStone, more precious than all the jewels of earth. From it pour the\nrivers of life spoken of in the Bible; it is the Star of the Morning that\nheralds the dawn of Mastery, and is the reward that comes to those who\nfollow in the footsteps of the ancient alchemist.\n\nIt is well for the student to realize that the alchemy of life produces\nin natural sequence all of the states of progression which are explained\nin the writings of the alchemist, until finally the sun and the moon are\nunited as described in the Hermetic Marriage, which is, in truth, the\nmarriage of the body and the spirit for the mutual development of each\nother. We are the alchemists who centuries ago carried on in secret our\nstudies of the soul, and we still have the same opportunity that we had\nthen, even more than then, for now we can state our opinions with little\ndanger of personal injury. The modern alchemist thus has an opportunity\nthat his ancient brother never had. On a busy street corner he daily sees\nnature\u2019s experiments carried on. He sees the mixing of metals, and from\nthe everyday book of life, through the power of analogy, he may study\nDivinity. Through experience and often suffering the steel of his spirit\nis tempered by the flame of life. As the moon in the zodiac touches off\nlike a fuse the happenings of life, so his own desires and wishes touch\noff the powers of his soul, and the experiences may be transmuted into\nsoul qualities when he has developed the eye which enables him to read\nthe simplest of all books--everyday life.\n\n[Illustration: The Pillars of the Temple:\n\nThese pillars symbolize the heart and mind, the positive and the negative\npoles of life. Those who would enter the temple must pass BETWEEN\nthe pillars. Every extreme is dangerous. It is the point between all\npoles that is safe to stand upon. You cannot enter the temple by the\ndevelopment of either the heart or mind alone, but only by the equal\ndevelopment of both.]\n\nThe alchemist of today is not hidden in caves and cellars, studying\nalone, but as he goes on with his work, it is seen that walls are built\naround him, and while he is in the world, like the master of old, he is\nnot of it. As he goes further in his work, the light of other people\u2019s\nadvice and outside help grows weaker and weaker, until finally he stands\nalone in darkness, and then comes the time that he must use his own lamp,\nand the various experiments which he has carried on must be his guide.\nHe must take the Elixir of Life which he has developed and with it fill\nthe lamp of his spiritual consciousness, and holding that above his head,\nwalk into the Great Unknown, where if he has been a good and faithful\nservant, he will learn of the alchemy of Divinity. Where now test tubes\nand bottles are his implements, then worlds and globes he will study, and\nas a silent watcher will learn from that Divine One, who is the Great\nAlchemist of all the universe, the greatest alchemy of all, the creation\nof life, the maintenance of form, and the building of worlds.\n\n[Illustration: The Serpent:\n\nThis is the serpent crown of the ancient Gods. It shows that the two\npaths or parts of the spirit fire have been united. This crown is the\nsymbol of mastery and the union takes place within the student when the\nlife forces are lifted to the brain.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE EGYPTIAN INITIATE\n\n\nMany ages have elapsed since the Egyptian Priest King passed through\nthe pillars of Thebes. Ages before the sinking of Atlantis, thousands\nof years before the Christian Era, Egypt was a land of great truths.\nThe hand of the Great White Brotherhood was held out to the Empire of\nthe Nile, and the ancient pyramid passages resounded with the chants\nof the Initiates. It was then that the Pharaoh, now called half-human,\nhalf-divine, reigned in ancient Egypt. Pharaoh is the Egyptian word for\nking. Many of the later Pharaohs were degenerate and of little account.\nIt is only the early Pharaohs we now list among the Priest Kings.\n\n[Illustration: The Masonic Apron:\n\nIn the triangle we see spirit descending into the square of matter. Let\nus so purify matter that spirit may shine through it and make of us\nlights to guide the footsteps of humanity.]\n\nTry to picture for a moment the great Hall of Luxor--its inscriptive\ncolumns holding up domes of solid granite, each column carved with the\nhistories of the gods. There at the upper end of the chamber sat the\nPharaoh of the Nile in his robes of state; around him his counsellors,\nchief among them the priest of the temple. An imposing spectacle it was:\nthe gigantic frame of the later Atlantean, robed in gold and priceless\njewels; on his head the crown of the North and South, the double empire\nof the ancient; on his forehead the coiled serpent of the Initiate, the\nserpent which was raised in the wilderness that all who looked upon\nit might live; that sleeping serpent power in man, which coiled head\ndownward around the tree of life, drove him from the garden of the Lord,\nbut which raised upon the Cross, became the symbol of the Christ.\n\nThe Pharaoh was an Initiate of Scorpio, and the serpent is the transmuted\nScorpio energy, which working upward in the regenerated individual is\ncalled the Kundalini. This serpent was the sign of Initiation. It meant\nthat within him the serpent had been raised, for the true Pharaoh was a\npriest of God, as well as a master of men. There he sat upon the cube\naltar throne, indicating his mastery over the four elements of his\nphysical body--a judge of the living and of the dead, who in spite of\nall his power and glory, having about him the grandeur of the world\u2019s\ngreatest empire, still bowed in humble supplication to the will of\nthe gods. In his hands he carries the triple sceptre of the Nile, the\nShepherd\u2019s Crook, the Anubis-headed Staff and the Flail or Whip. These\nwere the symbols of his work. They represent the powers which he had\nmastered. With the whip he had subjugated his physical body; with the\nShepherd\u2019s Crook he was the guardian and keeper of his emotional body;\nwith the Anubis-headed Staff he was master of his mind and worthy to\nwield the powers of government over others, because, first of all, he\nobeyed the laws himself.\n\n[Illustration: The Sceptres of Egypt:\n\nThese are the three bodies that are the tools with which we are to build\nour temple. When they are mastered they are the living proof of our right\nto kingship.]\n\nWith all his robes of state and with the scarab upon his breast, and with\nthe All-seeing Eye above his throne, there was still nothing as precious\nor as sacred to the ancient Egyptian Priest King as the triangular\ngirdle or apron which was the symbol of his initiation. The apron of\nthe ancient Egyptian carried with it the same symbolism as the Masonic\napron of today. It symbolized the purification of the bodies, when the\nseat of the lower emotions, Scorpio, was covered by the white sheepskin\nof purification. This symbol of his purification was the most precious\nbelonging of the ancient Pharaoh; and this plain insignia, worn by many\nothers below him in rank and dignity, but equal to him in spiritual\npurification, was the most precious of all things to the Priest King.\nThere he sat, written upon him in the words of the Initiate, the symbols\nof his purification and mastery, a wise king of a wise people. And it\nwas through these Priest Kings that the Divine worked, for they were of\nthe order of Melchisedec. Through them was formed that doctrine which\ndegeneracy has not been able to entirely obliterate, which we know as the\ndivine right of kings--divine because through spirituality and growth God\nwas able to manifest through them. They were conscious instruments in the\nhands of a ready writer, willing and proud to do the work of those with\nwhom through knowledge and truth they had attuned themselves.\n\n[Illustration: The Sacred Scarab:\n\nIn this form the ancient Egyptians worshiped Khepera, the rising Sun, and\nthe sacred scarab was buried with the dead as the symbol of resurrection.\nFor as the sun rises from the darkness of night, so the divine spirit\nrises from the body that is no more. The life is eternal.]\n\nBut the time came, as in all nations, when selfishness and egotism\nentered the heart of king and people alike, and slowly the hand from the\nGreat White Brotherhood that fed ancient Egypt was withdrawn, and the\npowers of darkness transformed the land of glory into one of ruins, and\nthe names of mighty kings were buried beneath the oblivion of degeneracy.\nMighty cataclysms shook the world, and out of the land of darkness the\nGreat White Brotherhood carried the chosen people into the promised land;\nEgypt, the land of glory, disintegrated into dust.\n\nThe great temples of the Pharaohs are ruins, and the temples of Isis are\nbut broken heaps of sandstone. But what of the priest kings who labored\nthere in the days of its glory? They are still with us, for those who\nwere leaders before are leaders now, if they have continued to walk the\npath. Although his sceptre is gone, and his priestly vestments have\nmoulded away, the Priest King still walks the earth with the dignity and\nthe power and the childish simplicity that before made him great. He no\nlonger wears the robes of his order. Although he bears no credentials,\nhe is as much a priest king now as then, for he still bears the true\ninsignia of his rank. The coiled serpent has given place to knowledge\nand love. The hand that bestowed the riches of the past does little\nacts of kindness now. Although he no longer carries the sceptres of\nself-mastery, still he manifests that mastery in his daily life. Although\nthe altar fires within the temple at Karnac have long been dead, the\ntrue fire within himself still burns, and before that he still bows as\nhe bowed in the days of Egypt\u2019s glory. Although the priest no longer is\nhis counsellor, and the wise ones of his country no longer aid him in\ngovernmental problems, still he is never alone, for the priests in white\nand the counsellors in blue still march with him and whisper words of\nstrength when he needs them.\n\nHave you seen people that somehow you liked regardless of appearances?\nHave you seen other charming people whom you hated in spite of their\ncharms? Have you seen learned people who were fools or impressed you\nas such, or people who knew little and yet you felt were wise? Those\nare the insignia of rank, which the loss of title or position cannot\ndestroy. Kings with or without crowns they were--not puppets dressed\nin tawdry tinsel. And they still are kings and will be to the end of\ntime, and they still manifest their rank, not by their superiority, and\ntheir high-headedness, but by the soul qualities which they radiate from\nthemselves. The purity of their lives still radiates outward from those\nwho wore the apron of the Initiate, for while that triangular apron with\nits serpent drawn upon it has long since rotted away, still the spiritual\ncounterpart of that symbol radiates in their daily lives, proving beyond\nall dispute that they were Priest Kings and are today. We find them in\nevery walk of life--in high places and down in the mire of life. But\nwherever we find them, they are still the mouthpieces of the gods, and\nthrough them comes the promise to all who strive. They are kings, not of\nthe earth but of heaven, and in the life of our own Master we find one\nwho joined himself to those who served, and was a true King even when\nhis only crown was a wreath of thorns.\n\nStill in the pyramid of Gizeh, the initiations continue; still the\nInitiate receives the insignia of his rank. Before that Fire within\nhimself he makes his vows, and upon the burning altar of his own higher\nbeing he lays his crown and his sceptre, his robes and his diamonds, his\nhates and his fears, and sanctifies his life as a Priest King, and swears\nto serve none but his own higher self, the god within. His robes are his\nsoul body; and his crown is his life, and in the streets of life he is\nenthroned. The dusky towers and factory chimneys around him fade into\nthe templed pillars of Luxor, and with a lunch pail on his arm, his face\nbrown with honest dirt, he is as much a king as when the crown of the\ndouble Nile rested upon his brow, and the priest of the temple made him\none with his God and his fellowman.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant, and the Spirit\nover the Mercy Seat.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE ARK OF THE COVENANT\n\n\nOne of the most interesting symbols that has come down to us from the\nancients is that of the Ark, or the box that was said to contain the\nsacred relics. Many people believe that this belongs particularly to\nthe Jewish nation, but this is a great mistake, because it has been the\nbirthright of every country to have the Ark. All have, like the Jewish\npeople, lost much of their power and glory when they lost the sacred\nArk. In ancient Chaldea and Phoenicia the Ark was well known. India\ncelebrates it as the Lotus, and the ancient Egyptians tell how the moon\ngod Osiris was imprisoned in an ark. In all the Mystery Religions of the\nworld, individually and cosmically, the ark represents the fountain-head\nof wisdom. Over it the Shekinah\u2019s glory hovers, as a column of flames\nby night and a pillar of smoke by day. Every country has seen and felt\nits presence when the Priest Kings and Initiates bring out of an old\ncivilization, lost because of crystallization, the sacred Ark, and\nsurrounded by those faithful to the truth carry it into other lands and\namong other peoples.\n\nIn every creed and religion we find crystallization. We find small groups\nof people separating themselves from their brother man. We find those\nwho, clinging to the old, refuse to advance with the new, and whenever\nwe find this crystallization, we find the spirit of truth carried away\nto other people and embodied in other doctrines. The ancient Ark of the\nIsraelite never had removed from it the staves by which it was carried\nand moved, until finally it was placed in Solomon\u2019s temple. Neither does\nthe spirit fire in man rest until finally it is enthroned in the holy\nplace of his solar temple. Ever towards the rising sun its bearers carry\nthis sacred truth.\n\nNations are born of those who love the truth, and are buried when they\nforget it. The time has come when its silent bearers have taken the\nsacred Ark and the Shekinah\u2019s glory, and in solemn file have moved across\nthe waters and brought it to the new world. The call has sounded through\nthe universe, and those who are true to their own higher principles have\nsurrounded the sacred chest. Those who have sworn alliance to their own\nhigher being are following the priests and their sacred burden, and a\nbeautiful mystery temple is being built in this beautiful land of ours,\nloved and guarded by those who are laboring for humanity. The staves are\nstill in the Ark, however, and only when real good can be done by it will\nit remain.\n\nThe opportunity is now confronting the Western World. The knowledge of\nthe ancients, the wisdom of the ages is knocking at the door and seeking\nthose who will follow it. The bearers of the Ark have stopped and are\ngathering a nucleus of spiritual souls to carry on their work, and\nwhether or not the word of the Lord will remain with a nation depends\nupon its own actions, and the actions of a nation are the collective\nactions of its individuals. If it finds nothing here attuned to itself,\nif it finds few that will answer to its call, the call of service and\nbrotherhood, then will its priests lift again the staves and the sacred\nwork will go out into other lands.\n\nThe life of a country thus gone, like the ancient city of the Golden Gate\nit will be swallowed up in oblivion. The call is sounding, and those who\nlove the Truth and think and care for the Light must join that band of\nservers who have for centuries dedicated themselves to the preservation\nof Truth. Their lives they have given a thousand times, their happiness\nhas been second to their duty. They are the keepers of the sacred Word,\nand the law of attraction draws to them all who love and live the Truth.\nA great influx of spiritual light comes to those who live the life and\nhave learned the doctrine, and regardless of clan or country they have\njoined the silent file of watchers and workers around the sacred Ark of\nthe Covenant. Every individual by his daily actions is expressing more\nplainly than by words his ideals, his desires, and his attitude towards\nthis great work. The composite attitude of a certain number of people\neither shuts out or lets in the light. Therefore every individual has a\ngreat duty, a great work has to be done, and to that the true student\nmust dedicate his life. Then wherever he may go, whatever he may do, he\nis being led, and the Shekinah\u2019s glory directs his footsteps.\n\n[Illustration: The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tablets of\nthe Law:\n\nIn these three things contained within the Ark we see the threefold\nspirit contained within the ark of man\u2019s bodies.]\n\nIn the brain of man, between the wings of the kneeling cherubim, is\nthe mercy seat, and there man speaks with his God as the priest of the\ntabernacle spoke to the spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings\nof the Angels. Man is again the Ark, and within him are the three\nprinciples, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--the tablets of the\nlaw, the pot of manna, and the rod that budded. But as in the case of the\nancient Israelites, when they became crystallized the pot of manna and\nthe rod that budded were removed from the Ark, and all that was left were\nthe tablets or the letters of the law. When the individual crystallizes\nand excludes various sidelights from his mind, he excludes the life force\nwhich was flowing to him. In shutting out strangers, he shuts out his own\nlife, and all that he has left are the tablets of the law, the material\nreasons from which the spiritual life has gone.\n\nSolomon\u2019s temple, or the perfected temple of the human body, the\nperfected temple of the universe and the perfected temple of the soul,\nfinally forms the perfect shrine for the living Ark. There at the head\nof a great cross it is placed, and there in man it becomes permanently\nfixed. The staves of polarity upon which it was carried are removed,\nand it becomes a living thing, a permanent place where man converses\nwith his God. There man, the purified priest, arrayed in the robes of\nhis order, the garments of his soul, converses with the spirit hovering\nover the Mercy Seat. This Ark within is always present, but man can only\nreach it after he has passed through the outer court of the Tabernacle,\nafter he has passed through all the degrees of initiation, and after he\nhas taken the Third Degree and becomes a Grand Master. Then and then only\ncan he enter into the presence of his Lord, and there in the darkened\nchamber, lighted by the jewels of his own breast plate, he converses with\nthe Most High, the true spiritual essence within himself.\n\nWe are working towards this, and the time will come when each person\nfor himself will know the mystery of the Ark, when the student through\npurification shall be led through the door of the Holy of Holies and\nthere be enveloped by the Light of Truth. This was his birthright which\nhe sold for a mess of pottage. \u201cTo this end came he into the world that\nhe might bear witness to this truth, that through this light all men\nmight be saved.\u201d The Ark, that great spiritual principle, surrounded by\nits loving workers, is calling all to follow it.\n\nWhen through materiality and degeneracy a great people are destroyed or\na continent sinks beneath the ocean, then those that are true are called\naround the Ark, and as its faithful servers are led out of the land of\ndarkness into the new world and a promised paradise. All great teachings\nset forth the same thing. The student will find that it is true, and\nwhen he allies himself with the powers of light, when he becomes a\nchannel for its expression, and when he radiates it from himself to all\nwho need it, then indeed will the Light protect him and he shall become a\nSun of God.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: The Holy Grail:\n\nSee in this cup your own body within which is the life blood of the Sun\nSpirit of the Universe. Each day that we live we perpetuate the Last\nSupper, and in all that we do we drink again the blood of Christ, the\nlife power of the Cosmos.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nKNIGHTS OF THE HOLY GRAIL\n\n\nBefore starting to take up the study of the Grail legends, it will be\nwell for all who are interested to read those tales that are now listed\nunder the heading of children\u2019s fairy stories. For example the story of\ngood King Arthur and his Round Table is a cosmic myth, and while there\nis little doubt that he as a man also lived, the real mystery as in the\nstory of the Christ, is not the literal tale, but the great mystic or\noccult truth that it concealed under allegory and parable. It is the\nsame with the story of Parsifal which can never be really understood and\nappreciated until the student sees in the Knight and later King of the\nSacred Cup, his own spiritual development and the temptations he must\nalso master if he would become a King of the Grail.\n\n[Illustration: The Stone and the Sword:\n\nWHOEVER CAN DRAW THIS SWORD FROM THIS STONE IS THE MASTER OF THE\nUNIVERSE.]\n\nIn Lohengrin also the same truth is shown to the world. It is the path\nof Initiation along which each must pass on his road to self-mastery. To\nevery nation and in every tongue sacred legends have been given to teach\nman the path he must follow. The blind Homer of the Greeks who told of\nthe wanderings of Ulysses gave the same great truths to the world. The\nScalds of ancient Norway and Sweden and the Prophets of the Jews used\nthe same means, and everywhere from the Sacred Books of the East to the\nlegends of the American Indians we find one great connected truth told to\nmany different people in ways that were best suited for their development.\n\nSuch a truth is the legend of the Round Table, given to King Arthur as a\nwedding gift. All true students know what wedding that was. Not of earth\nbut the wedding of the Spiritual and Intellectual within the Initiate\nhimself, when the spirit and the body are united eternally, each swearing\nto honor and protect the other. Of such a marriage was the union of\nArthur and Guinevere in the legend of the King.\n\nLet us first of all consider the coming of Arthur the King. We read in\nthe legend of Arthur regarding Merlin the Magician, the wise man who it\nis said had charge of the coming King during his youth. Merlin represents\nthe hand of the Elder Brothers, who realizing that a great ego had come\ninto the world, had consecrated themselves to the work of preparing him\nfor his mission.\n\n[Illustration: The Rosicrucian Rose:\n\nIn this flower, which was painted upon the center of King Arthur\u2019s Table,\nwe see the soul of man, which through purification and service has\nblossomed out with all the grandeur of the Initiate.]\n\nIt was under the direction of Merlin, the master mind, that the anvil and\nstone with the sword thrust into it were raised in the square of the city\nwhen it became necessary for a new king to be selected. It was he also\nwho called all of the brave knights of the country and told them that the\none who could draw forth the sword would be king of all the land. And of\nall the knights in the land, Arthur the half-grown boy was the only one\nwho could release the sword.\n\nThere is a very wonderful mystery of the soul contained within that\ndivine allegory. Let us read the letters that were engraved upon the\nsword. \u201cWHO SO PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS STONE AND ANVIL IS\nRIGHT-WISE KING BORN OF ENGLAND.\u201d\n\nThe cube stone is the body; it has been so symbolized for centuries, and\ntoday among the Masons the Ashler is the symbol of Man. Experience is the\nanvil, and it is upon this anvil that the sword is tempered. The sword is\nspirit, and he who would be King in the true spiritual sense of the word\nmust first show his divine power by freeing the Sword of Spirit from the\ncasings of the lower man and the world.\n\nIt is the same symbol as that later used by Sir Galahad, the guileless\nknight, the personification of the purified man, who comes without a\nsword but who later arms himself with the sword of spirit that he draws\nfrom the cube block which was floating down the river (of life) past\nCamelot. Sir Galahad had the strength of ten because his heart was pure,\nand the Knight of today must follow in the same path.\n\n[Illustration: The Sacred Spear:\n\nThis is the spear of Passion that pierces the side of the Christ, the\nhigher principle in man. But when in the hand of the pure of heart this\npower can heal the very wound it caused.]\n\nIf you have read the story of King Arthur, you will remember how he was\ngiven Excalibur, the enchanted sword, how it came up out of the water\nheld by a hand draped in white. Excalibur represents light and truth,\nwhich is the weapon of the true Initiate.\n\nIn England there still hangs on a courthouse wall the Round Table of\nKing Arthur. In the very center of the table is a beautiful rose painted\nin natural colors. This symbol is that of the Rosicrucians, the ancient\nalchemists, and there is a direct connection between the legend of the\nBritish King and the ancient philosophers of fire.\n\nNow let us turn our attention for a moment to the history of the Holy\nGrail, or the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and which\nwas said to have caught his blood when he was dying upon the cross.\nAncient legends tell us that this cup was made from a sacred stone which\nhad been the crown jewel of Lucifer, the dynamic energy of the universe.\nIt was said that the green stone had been struck from the crown of\nLucifer by the archangel Michael during the famous battle in heaven.\n\nAfter the death of Christ it is said that Joseph of Arimathea took the\nsacred cup and the spear of the Passion and carried them into a distant\nland. He wandered with his sacred relics through Europe and is said to\nhave finally died, and those who came after him after many centuries of\ntribulation carried the sacred relics to Mount Salvart in northern Spain\nwhere they remained until Parsifal finally took the grail and spear back\nto the East where it is to be now preserved.\n\nIt is around this cup and spear that the legends of Parsifal and King\nArthur have been written, and it is through study of this fact that we\nare able to better understand the mystery of the Great White Lodge of\nwhich the Round Table of Arthur and the circular temple of the knights of\nthe Grail is a symbol.\n\nAlthough we no longer have the cup as a physical symbol, it is not gone\nfrom among us, and as in the days of old the brave knights of the Round\nTable went out to fight for right, so those knights of today who belong\nto the Great White Brotherhood go out into the world in the name of truth\nand labor with mankind and seek to right the wrongs of the world. It is\nsaid that the knights of Arthur\u2019s court always fought for virtue and\npurity, and so did those who rode out of Mount Salvart.\n\nThe grail cup is the symbol of the creative force of nature; it is also\nthe symbol of the human race which is slowly learning the mysteries of\ncreation. Within the cup is the blood of Christ, that force which is\ntransmuting the body into soul, fast or slowly as we give it greater or\nlesser opportunity.\n\nIn the sacred spear we find symbolized again the creative force, which\nin the hands of Klingsor, the evil one, wounds and causes suffering, but\nwhich when held by the pure Parsifal heals the very wound that it caused.\n\nA great lesson is being taught to man through these allegories, but the\naverage person is unwilling to stop and consider them. They do not\nrealize that they themselves are the ones whom the Elder Brothers of\nhumanity must use in the fight against the forces of evil. They do not\nrealize that the dragons and ogres of the legends are their own lower\nnatures which they must overcome. They do not see in the hand to hand\ncombat of the knights of old for a lady\u2019s hand the higher and lower man\nfighting for the soul within.\n\nThe knight of today does not realize that the white armor that he wears\nis his own purified body which is proof against all the attacks of vice\nand passion, but nevertheless this is the meaning of the legend. His\nshield is truth, which is a perfect protection to the inner man. His\nstrong right arm is the knowledge and spiritual power he has developed\nwithin, and the sword that he uses is the spiritual light with which the\npure flame of the spirit fire dispels the darkness of ignorance and the\ndemons of lust.\n\nThe sacred spear and the cup which he serves are the two poles of the\ncreative life force within, the development of which he gains as he daily\nserves his fellow men.\n\nFar from the uninitiated the twelve Elder Brothers of mankind sitting\naround the circular table of the universe watch the knights in their\nbattle of life, and the time comes when the student having finished his\nwork here is liberated at the foot of the Grail. There the candidate\nstands robed from head to foot in the armor of spirit and in the pure\nwhite of a body that has been cleansed. Then the cloth is lifted from\nthe sacred cup, and he is illuminated by the light which would have\nkilled him had he seen it without purification. He then takes his place\namong the knights of the Round Table, and joins those who give up all and\nlabor for humanity.\n\nWhen in sickness and in suffering we beg of the great unknown that he\nsend us help, then indeed our knight comes to us as Lohengrin came to\nElsa. When our loved ones pass into the great unknown, there stands the\nbrother of the Grail, the invisible helper, who through days of labor has\nearned the right to become a member of that great band of servers who\ngather around the table of the King, and while their bodies are asleep\nstill labor in their great search for light and truth, and pray for the\nday when they shall also become Kings of the Holy Grail.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMID\n\n\nThere comes a time in the development of the occult student when he\nunderstands one of the great secrets of the Initiates, and that is that\nevery sacred thing outside of himself stands for some organ or function\nwithin himself. This is, of course, true in the case of the Great\nPyramid, except that this particular pile of stone said by many to be\nthe oldest building on the surface of the earth, is the great symbol of\ncomposite man. In other words it stands for man as a unit.\n\nLet us first consider it simply from the exterior standpoint. When we\nfirst look at it in the distance it seems to be one great stone, but as\nwe come closer we see that it is made of thousands of smaller stones,\neach one carefully fitted into place. Here we see the first likeness\nbetween the pyramid and man. We consider man to be a unit, but when we\nexamine more closely, we find that he is a great number of small units,\neach working in harmony with the others. It is the same with everything.\nWe take a successful life and we think of it as an entirety, but when\nwe examine it, we find that it is a number of small achievements joined\ntogether.\n\n[Illustration: Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah.]\n\nAs thousands of workmen were used in the building of the pyramid, so\nthere are unnumbered workmen at work in the building of our bodies, which\nare symbolical of the same building.\n\nThere are many pyramids all over the world. We find them in South America\nand in Mexico; we find mounds which were made to represent them among\nthe American Indians, and in Europe and Britain we find remnants of the\nsame things. But there is only one real pyramid in all the world. Even\nthe others in Egypt are but copies of the Great Pyramid, and were used\nas tombs for the Pharaohs, but nobody was ever found in Cheops, nor were\nthere ever any signs that it had been so used.\n\nNow let us continue our analogy between the pyramid and man. If you\nwill look at the accompanying illustration, you will see the pyramid\nlaid flat, and you will notice it is made of four triangles laid around\nthe base square. The four-sided base of the pyramid represents the\nfour elements of which man\u2019s bodies are composed. These are hydrogen,\nnitrogen, oxygen and carbon, or earth, water, fire, and air. These are\ncalled the base of all things, and upon this base the four bodies of man\nare raised, each from its own element. Thus the physical body is raised\nfrom the earth. The vital body is raised from the water, the emotional\nbody from the fire, and the mental body from the air.\n\n[Illustration: The Pyramid:\n\nHere we see the pyramid laid out so that the four triangles and the\nsquare are clearly seen. This represents man once again, and the ancient\nPyramid is man offering his higher being upon the altar of the Great Fire\nSpirit.]\n\nThere are twelve lines used in the drawing of the four triangles, which\nstand for the twelvefold constitution of man when it is complete: the\nthreefold body, the threefold mind, the threefold soul, and the threefold\nspirit. It also gives us the twelve signs of the zodiac, divided into\ntheir respective groups.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOut on the desert stands the Sphinx, the Guardian of the Threshold\nmentioned by Bulwer Lytton. It stands for the bodies of man, and is that\nstrange being which must be passed before the student can go on in his\ndevelopment. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx is a symbol are\nTaurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man,\nor the human head.\n\n[Illustration: The Sphinx:\n\nThis is that mysterious being suspended \u2019twixt heaven and earth, which\nhas the head of a human being and the body of an animal. In other words\nthe Sphinx symbolizes man.]\n\nI have already given you some work on the sacrum bone, and I told you\nthat it was the grave digger\u2019s spade. Here is a picture of the head of\nthe Sphinx, and the inverted sacrum bone when it has been turned upward.\nWe see the Sphinx in the inverted sacrum and also in it the inverted\nMasonic keystone. All this is very interesting, but unless we realize the\ninner meaning of it, its true value is lost. But it is not chance that\nthese things should be so.\n\nYou have most of you heard of the Dweller on the Threshold, that creature\nbuilt by our own actions and mistakes. Well out on Egypt\u2019s desert it\nstands and bars the way to the pyramid, the temple of the higher man. And\nthe message that it gives to the world is:\n\n=\u201cI am the bodies. If you would go on to the temple you must master me,\nfor I am within you.\u201d=\n\nThe Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and spirit of the human\nrising out of the animal desires and emotions. It is the riddle of the\nages, and man is once more the answer.\n\nIt is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the gateway of the\npyramid, and that there was an underground passage which led from the\nSphinx to Cheops. This would make the symbolism even more perfect, for\nthe gateway to the spirit is through the bodies according to the ancients.\n\nLet us now enter the pyramid and passing through the corridors come\nto the King\u2019s Chamber as it is called. There are three great rooms in\nthe pyramid which are of great interest to the student. The highest is\nthe King\u2019s Chamber, then below that is the Queen\u2019s Chamber, and down\nbelow the surface of the earth is the Pit. Here we again find the great\ncorrelation between the pyramid and man. The three rooms are the three\ngreat divisions in man which are the seats of the threefold spirit. The\nlower room is the generative system under the control of Jehovah. The\ncenter room or Queen\u2019s Chamber is the heart, under the control of the\nChrist; and the upper room or the King\u2019s Chamber is the brain, which is\nunder the control of the Father. In this upper room is the coffer made\nof stone, the meaning of which has never been explained, but which the\nstudent recognizes as the third ventricle in the brain.\n\nIt is quite certain also that this coffer was used as a tomb during\ninitiation, when as is the case in the Masonic initiations of today,\n(which are the remnants of the ancient mysteries) the candidate was\nburied in the earth and resurrected, a symbol of the death of the lower\nman and the liberation of the higher.\n\nIt is said that Moses was initiated in the Great Pyramid, and some also\nsay that Jesus was instructed there also. Be that as it may, we know that\nfor thousands of years since the time it was built by the Atlanteans it\nhas been the greatest temple of Initiation in the world. It seems also\nthat its work is not yet done, for mutely it is teaching those who will\nsee the mysteries of creation.\n\nIt is said by many that it is the original Solomon\u2019s Temple, but this we\nknow is not true, for while it may be the first and original material\ntemple, the true temple of Solomon is the universe, the Solarman\u2019s\ntemple, which is slowly being rebuilt in man as the temple of the Soul of\nMan.\n\nThere is probably no point that is as important in connection with the\npyramid as that of the corner stone. On the very top of the great pyramid\nis a comparatively flat place about thirty feet square. In other words\nthe TRUE STONE WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL THE CORNERS IS MISSING. If we\nlook at the reverse side of the United States seal, we find again the\npyramid from which the top is separated. Omar Khayyam, the Persian Poet,\ngives us the secret of the keystone when he says:\n\n    \u201cFrom my base metal shall be filed a =key=,\n    Which shall unlock the door he howls without.\u201d\n\nThe value of the stone is better understood when you understand that it\ncompletes all of the triangles at once, and without it none of them are\ncomplete.\n\n[Illustration: The Key and the Cross:\n\nUpon the cross of matter that forms our bodies, hangs the key to all the\nmysteries of creation. It is our duty to take this key and with it unlock\nthe door that conceals from us the unknown. This key is the spirit.\nRelease it.]\n\nThis stone is the spirit in man, which fell from its high position, and\nhas been lost beneath the rubbish of the lower man. This is the true cap\nstone that is now hidden in the pit of man\u2019s temple, and which he must\nexhume and place again as the true crown of his spiritual pyramid.\n\nHe can only do this when he calls the thousands of workmen within himself\ntogether and binds them to the service of the higher man. There must\nbe no traitors to murder the builder this time. And Lucifer, the one\nrejected by man as the devil, is the one who must through the planet\nMars send man the dynamic energy which man himself must transmute from\nthe fire of passion to the flame of spirit. He then must take the tools\nof the craft and cut and polish his own being into the cap stone of the\nUniversal Temple.\n\nIt is interesting to note how the casing stones that once made the\npyramid so beautiful and true were carried away to build the cities\nnearby, and in connection with that it is interesting to note how the\nsoul and body of man, the casing stones of his spiritual temple, have\nbeen sacrificed in order that he might have material things.\n\nAs we look at pictures of the ancient pyramid and Sphinx which have stood\non Egypt\u2019s sands for ages, let us see in them our own mystery temple,\nmade without the sound of hammer or the voice of workman. And as we sadly\nthink of this mighty ruin, broken by ages of neglect, let us remember\nour temple, and that its corner stone is missing also and our walls are\nfalling with neglect. Let us learn the lesson which it teaches, hasten\nto perfect our pyramid, cap it with the stone of spirit, offer upon its\naltars our sacrifice to the Great Sun Spirit, and bury our lower nature\nin its ancient coffer. Then for us will its mysteries be revealed, and\nthe sealed lips of the Sphinx give up their secret.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE WILL YOUR HEART BE ALSO.]\n\n\nTHE WHITE GRAIL\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Choose now your path_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n  Service.\n    Self-Sacrifice.\n      Purification.\n        Love.\n          Study.\n\n\nTHE BLACK GRAIL\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Choose now your path_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n  Prosperity at others expense.\n    Selfishness.\n      Short-cuts.\n        Mastered by appetite.\n          Comfort.\n\n\nFINIS\n\n    PREMIER PRINTING COMPANY\n    512 West Twelfth Street\n    Los Angeles","title":"The Initiates of the Flame","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":13670}