THE CREATIVE WORD

LESSON 31

The ocean of ether . that shoreless, soundless, motionless mirror

of God, reservoir of all the life-essence of all the eternities-is set in

motion by Fohat, the Word, and the Divine Thought. That Eternal All

breaks into ripples and waves of different lengths and intensities,

clothing the souls awaiting embodiment with their first garments of

manifestation. These are called light waves and sound waves by

modern [TT 69] scientists, but the average scientist has not yet

evolved to the point where he becomes conscious that the synthesis of

the individual forms of his many incarnations (namely his personal

self) is, in actu, one of those waves of the etheric ocean, set into

motion countless aeons agone, and so to continue that motion until the

Divine Word of recall is spoken aeons hence, creating and

disintegrating form after form by the power of its own inherent vitality

for the use of the soul . the essence of that Word . sent forth from the

depths of that silent ocean. In the vast, immeasurable spaces of the

heavens, myriads upon myriads of waves are being unceasingly

spoken into motion, garments of souls that will sometime people other

systems of worlds, now in process of building.

The initial impulse is given at the beginning of every great

manvantara, which must eventually manifest in uncountable races of

beings, which will in future ages manifest as sentient lives on this and

other planets. But it would be an error to imagine those synthetic light

and sound waves as something inferior to such a race of human beings

as now inhabit the earth. Far from it, they are the first clothing of

immortal souls, pure and holy, born of God ; and, when the long

cycles of reincarnations are past, and the soul once more is clothed

upon with immortality (after casting off its worn out clothing of

physical forms, retaining only the knowledge, power and experience it

bas gained from its contact with matter), it will pass into that silent

ocean an individualized spirit of power and glory unspeakable. I say

silent, but that is incorrect, for conditions of spiritual life would be

silence only to physical ears, though indescribable by mortal tongue

and pen.

It is because of his knowledge of the real essence of those light

and sound waves or forces, that the Initiate warns his disciple against

the selfish use of what are commonly termed natural forces. The

former often uses the etheric waves in the conduct of varied forms of

Phenomena, but he uses them as a friend might use a friend, not as a

human being would use a slave. He does not use them to gain material

wealth or power for his own gratification or glorification, nor as does

the tyro in occultism, who often ignorantly opens the door to sensual

vampires during his efforts to establish communication with others at

a distance. He does often use them in conveying Messages through his

agents or disciples ; and here again appears a Part of the wonderful

numerical exactness of the divisions of the Universe and their

relations one to the other. A single light wave May have a connection

with a number of people in bodily forms, the combined auras of those

people forming a corresponding wave, and a [TT 70] relationship

existing between them which dates from the establishment of a

Particular hierarchical line. A Master belonging to such a hierarchy

must use a certain division of these etheric waves for any natural

phenomena he may cause, the media for which must also belong to

that hierarchy. If he should attempt to send a message through some

agent or messenger by means of a wave, any part of which has been

weakened by the temporary fall of a soul in incarnation . thus

incapacitating for action that soul and breaking the connection

between it and the wave . his effort would be in vain, communication

would be cut off between himself and the one to whom he would

communicate, and until that soul regained its equilibrium sender and

receiver would be unable to communicate with each other without the

assistance of souls belonging to another hierarchical line. Those

members of the Order of the Seven who occupy certain positions in

the hierarchical line to which I am attached, if able to keep in a

faithful, devoted condition of mind, in other words, in a positive

position to the negative one I must assume in contacting them

(otherwise the force from my own aura would, deprive them of mortal

life), would enable me to transmit force and open methods of

communication with them ; but the instant one drops from the positive

to the negative aspect, he or she breaks the wave motion, and the

current can go no farther than the point formerly held by him or her ;

so all who come after them in that particular wave, are cut off as well

as themselves. Sad instances of such a nature are numerous in all true

groups of disciples, some of whom, because they cannot see spiritual

things with physical eyes, or prefer their own volition, however faulty,

to the practice of the true laws of life, do not hesitate to rob their

brethren as well as themselves of the power of attaining to knowledge

and wisdom.

The glorious, all-powerful groups of suns which lighten the

fathomless depths of space within some of the constellations, such as

that surpassingly marvellous group in the constellation Hercules,

which is known by astronomers as the Omega Centauri, were once but

single wave motions of the ether-the ether en masse . which sprang

into motion at the bidding of Infinite Law, and traveled around and

throughout the etheric ocean, growing into power with every ripple

and wave of their journey through worlds and systems of worlds,

returning through all the kingdoms of fire, earth, air and water

eventually to their starting point, as suns to lighten the great

immensities ; as glorious hosts possessing in themselves the power to

create and sustain universes ; with ability to speak the soundless

creative Word that shall send forth countless myriads of souls on the

same life journey from which they returned ages and ages before.

Could the human eye behold the [TT 71] radiant energy of the

combined glory of such a host of angelic beings, the brain would be

unbalanced by the sight.

By comparing a constellation of stars to a single family of the

common people of earth, and these glorious suns to a council of the

united crowned heads of the same earth, a faint idea might be obtained

of their relative places in the scale of creation ; and yet, you are on

your way to such a great destiny if you will it so. Is there any human

ambition worthy of consideration in the light of such a reality, any

sacrifice too great for such an attainment ? Is there nothing in life

greater than the dregs with which so many are satisfied, when to all 1

have prefigured is added the knowledge, the wisdom, the power of the

Gods which these suns represent and are ?

...

HOW LONG, O LORD !

LESSON 32

"Pity me, all ye who pass this way !" falls from the pallid lips as a

sad refrain, wrung from the almost despairing heart of every advanced

Chela of the Lodge who has reached to any spiritual height above that

attained by the masses of his brethren.

He must have learned how to reach out a brimming cup of

compassion to all others in need, but he must deny himself a draught

from the same cup, and remain comfortless unless some other traveler

on the same path intuitively feels and supplies his need.

He has passed the first gate of the Great White Lodge before

which, with hungry soul and baffled intellect, he has madly sought for

something "worth loving", "worth serving." He has faced up that stony

Sphinx of mystery-the law of self . effacement . whichever way he

has turned in religion or science, and while he has been brought to

accept the truth that there is no help for him outside himself, all that is

mortal in his nature still craves sympathy and understanding.

The unutterable sadness of life, the maddening uncertainty of

death, still fling their gaunt shadows over the narrow path he is

treading, and he looks in vain for power to dispel them, as long as he

yields to the temptation of looking backward. Behind him he beholds

the gaunt Spectre, Insanity, increasing momentarily in size and power,

nourished by false methods of education, and given to drink from the

[TT 72] gourds Selfishness, and Inhumanity ; for the visions of

Mastery which have drawn the lower levels of mediocrity now seem

like the vagaries of an unsettled brain. He is nearing the great gulf

which separates spirit from matter, and is losing hold of all that has

hitherto sustained him. In view of all this, is it surprising that he

should sometimes seek a glance of pity from some passer . by on the

same path, or that he should cry out with the few brave souls who are

always striving to stem the tide of evil . "How long, O Lord !"

But most difficult of all the difficult trials that beset him, are

those which spring from the treachery of those comrades he has tried

to serve. They have failed to understand his actions, and therefore can

find nothing in their hearts but condemnation for him ; nothing but

rebellion against anything he may strive to accomplish ; nothing but

suspicions glances at, and unkind words about him.

Ah, children of the world ! You prate of your duty to Society, to

Religion, Science and Business, but ignore your duty toward the

brother or sister in sound of your voice, within touch of your hand,

who has been viciously attacked by some other poor desperate human

being, maddened by the same curse of selfishness which has wrecked

your own hopes of happiness.

The first law of Occultism is defense of a Master or Teacher. The

Chela who can stand supinely and silently by, and make no effort to

defend such a Master or Teacher, will have no occasion to seek far for

the cause of the closed door which will inevitably meet his eye when

he attempts to enter the "Hall of Learning." For the same law which

renders it impossible for a teacher of occultism to defend himself or

herself, renders it obligatory upon the Chela to stand at that portal of

knowledge which the Teacher represents and is, and hold it against all

intruders . the law of self-protection. The Chela must rise or fall with

his Master, and the first great reality that dawns upon his awakening

consciousness is a recognition of his kinship to . his oneness with .

that Master ; and having once recognized, he cannot repudiate Him ;

his duty, his pleasure, his very life, is bound up with that of the

Master. But alas ! all too many of the disciples of the Secret Science

in the Western world not only idly listen to, and read with avidity all

libelous attacks on their teachers, but, cowardly, turn from them and

run for a safe hiding-place when the arrows of ridicule or abuse are

pointed with personal significance, or fly too rapidly from the quiver

of the assailant, lest some of the mud into which those arrows fall

should splash the garments they have donned and which they believe

to be immaculate. [TT 73]

Such disciples are seemingly incapable of perceiving the truth,

that a warm, brave, loyal defense . a hearty "Y" of all hands, would

send their own life ship, together with their shipmates, out of the range

of those arrows, out of the mud of the cave into which they have

drifted, far out into the open sea beyond, with pennant and banners

flying from prow and stern ; for even the poorest of all poor human

beings admires and loves a brave man, a faithful comrade and friend.

"To the victor is due the guerdon", on the lower as well as on the

higher lines of life and endeavor.

From one here and one there, comes the cry, "If the Initiates are

facts in Nature and in Life, why do They not appear to me ? Why do

They not come out from their concealment and prove themselves to

me ?' . evidently without a suspicion of the fact that the daily lives

they lead would make it impossible for such a one to exist in their

vicinity. I in turn would ask a question, namely, as the Initiates are

tenfold more amenable to natural law than are the masses of humanity

(as They must be to have become Masters), and therefore amenable to

the law of conservation and concentration of energy, would They be

justified in taking the vehicle of that energy, which is so perfectly

attuned to the key of every spiritual impulse or force that it responds

to all vibrations in its environment, as an æolian harp responds to

waves of air . would They be justified, I repeat, in taking such a

vehicle into vibrations of hatred, murder, selfishness, such as now

prevail in the environment of many of the people of this earth, for the

sole purpose of satisfying mere curiosity ? For Them to enter such

lower vibrations, even momentarily, means intense suffering. To go

into them to remain, means dissolution of form, namely, loss of the

vehicles They have been centuries in building. But notwithstanding

the truth of the above statement, They do go, and are almost invariably

killed, as was the Master Jesus and many others before and since His

time, by the ignorance and ingratitude of those They went to serve,

just as are generally killed sooner or later, all those who take up the

burden of their travail-the enlightenment of the world.

The burden of recognition must always rest upon the personally

most interested observer. Not one in ten thousand would recognize a

Master if he met him. When man succeeds in erasing the varied

images of his own lower personality from the reflector or mirror of his

soul, he will have no difficulty in convincing himself of the reality and

existence of the Lodge of Masters. It is a law of physics that no two

things can occupy the same space at the same time. If man would

behold God, he must first destroy the image of self. [TT 74]

...

FIRE AND BLOOD

LESSON 33

One by one the red corpuscles of the blood Stream are broken up

by some one of the interior fires operative in all animal bodies. The

waste fragments are consumed by the leucocytes, the white corpuscle

of spleen, liver, cell walls, etc. The nucleoli of each red corpuscle

receive from the first mentioned interior fire . a form of electricity a

new impulse to a high, rate of vibration than that previously

manifested, which carries each in rotation from one organ of the body

to another, until it reaches the brain and spinal cord, where it receive

another impulse to a still higher rate of vibration, which carries it out

of the realm of physical matter into the finer, ethereal real of astral

matter. On the astral Plane the same nucleoli pass in turn through

every grade of astral matter, being carried from organ to organ of

astral bodies, by the action of finer or more spiritual fires. Such

substance-matter finally becomes a part of the practically

indestructible spiritual body.

Chemistry throws much light on the evolution of physical matter,

as, for instance, in the process of refining coal tar. First comes the

gradual elimination of what are termed waste products. Then the

condensation and conservation of the finer essences, colors and

valuable medicinal products. All such processes are carried on by .

fire or heat, and are analogous to the Processes by which the blood

stream of a physical body is transmuted first into astral, then into

spiritual matter, or vice versa.

The Occult scientist may sometimes observe such Processes

going on in his own body, as, for example, a strong . aspiration for

spiritual development, directed by will, to the Infinite, or Father-

Mother-Son, would call out from the Infinite that which to the

spiritual eye would appear to be a stream of light ; to all appearances

that Stream would seem to issue from a hole in the atmosphere, as

sunlight might issue through a hole in a black wall. The force of that

light would contact and coalesce with the mind or will force of the

thought which prompted the aspiration ; a combination would be

effected that would impart a still more rapid rate of vibration to the

nucleus of every blood corpuscle in the body of such aspirant,

changing its character to a very marked degree. This is the modus

operandi of the transmuting processes brought about by concentration

and meditation, such as is advised by teachers of the sacred science.

The student of physiology knows that the blood corpuscles are

continually breaking up, and that the [TT 75] fragments are taken up

by the white corpuscles, but he does not know what occurs to the

nucleus in those transitional stages. He is not able to see how the life

principle of the nucleus is raised to higher states of substance-matter,

and how it passes from death to life, and from life to death, in

continuous incarnation and excarnation.

The proud in spirit object to having the bodies they have lavished

so much care and thought upon classed as animals. They will

repudiate the statement that they have no human bodies as yet, that

such are only in process of building. Age upon age, life after life, must

yield its quota of substance for that human body, substance which has

been refined by fire from the streams of blood which have passed

through all the long line of animal bodies. Every thought, every

aspiration, leaves an impress upon the nucleoli of the cells of the

physical body. In fact, we may consciously create our own human

bodies.

It is because of his power over that particular grade of substance,

that a Master can create at will, or disintegrate, a physical body ; he

can raise or lower the vibrations of the nucleoli which form the basis

of his real body, and so make it visible or invisible, although it must

not be understood that this is the only way by which lie can perform

the same Phenomenon, for lie also has the power of inhibiting or

increasing the Physical Sense of sight in any given person.

...

FULFILLMENT

LESSON 34

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have

not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

"Though I have the gift of prophecy and understanding, and have

not charity, I am nothing.

"Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my

body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Interpreted by a co-Initiate with Paul, the preceding words of the,

latter would negatively indicate the necessary qualifications for

chelaship, as well as furnish the clue to the failure of so many

applicant, for the same. Charity thus interpreted would indicate

fulfillment . attainment . accomplished by means of implicit

obedience to law. Law and Love are synonymous terms ; therefore

obedience in love fulfills all law. [TT 76]

If it be true that, lacking charity, you or I become as "sounding

brass or tinkling cymbal" ; if, after the cultivation of every attribute

deemed admirable by God or man, you . I . am nothing, is there not

something for us to do, ere the hour strikes that will leave us as mere

instruments of mechanical sound, valueless symbols of noise, in a

living, breathing world, fast whirling onward to a destiny unspeakably

great ; a world in which the one word, USE, will be the open sesame

to every door of endeavor . a world in which the power . substance of

charity, will be the key-stone to every arch of human ingenuity and

triumph ?

Of what avail your strife at the portal of that world, if you attempt

to force a passage with clubs and knives, or with blandishments and

temptations ?

My heart grows sad for those among your number whose

wholesale criticism and condemnation of every creature that does not

fit in to the round or square place created in their intellects, renders

them incapable of charitable judgment ; for those of you whose

opinion is a seat of judgment before which you would have all men

bow, ere passing to that gate above which is written in letters of

flaming fire the words, "Judgmeni in Mercy." The fact that you have

forgotten or are ignoring the underlying principle of that inscription,

will not avail with your judges when your time shall have come to

pass under the same gate. If you, yourselves, were purity personified,

were monuments of wisdom and knowledge combined, you might

(remember I say might) then pass the administrators of Karmic Law,

and be found among the judges of your brethren. But, being what you

are, weak, fallible, mortal, does no thrill of terror ever sweep over

your souls at the thought of judgment to come, when, with the lie of a

broken sacred obligation yet hot on your tongue, when, with a Judas

kiss yet trembling on your lips, you lead out to crucifixion the friend

who bas trusted you, the brother who has put himself defenseless into

your hands ?

Ah ! blinded souls, I have heard your claims for help,

advancement, protection, based upon a few days or years of service to

the Lodge, a few pieces of gold or silver, a handful of worthless gems.

Yet I say to you, not a thousand years' service to the White

Brotherhood ; not all the material gold or silver of the Universe ; not

all the gems of the sea, sky and earth, could purchase one look of such

appreciation as rests on the face of the Great Master when the most

humble chela kneels before Him . could unlock a single one of the

seventy and seven gates which bar off the path to the Dais of the

Hierophant-could wipe out the stain of a single treacherous act for

[TT 77] which no atonement had been made . could wipe up spilled

on the ground by a single unavenged victim.

If you cannot be faithful to the vows you have taken to your

Higher Selves, what security can you give to the Law that you will

remain faithful, if the life and well being of one of the least of the little

cries of God . a chela of the Lodge . is placed in your keeping . if

one of the secrets of the House of Treasures is imparted to you ?

If you cannot obey the laws you have sworn to uphold, how can

you sit among the Law-Givers and hand down just decrees to the

executors of those laws ?

If from the depths of the vileness and putrescence of your own

lower natures, you are led to seek for vileness and putrescence in

others ; if you turn over under your tongues as a sweet morsel every

calumny you may hear and repeat, and stand with itching ears to,

listen to an account of some brother's crime, some sister's loss of

virtue, some weak, tempted soul's downfall from the ranks of the

"highly respectable", how can you receive and carry out to a suffering

world the beloved Master's messages of pity, forgiveness, atonement,

and resurrection ? How can you stand with uplifted head and eager

eyes before the altar of the Lord High Sentinel, and be clothed with

the white robe and golden collar bestowed upon the sons and

daughters of the Third Degree, in token of victory, chastity, unselfish

effort and suffering for others . in token of immortal life and love.

You have passed heedlessly, carelessly by, many of the countless

charges given to you, the messages conveyed to you in pain and

longing. If from only the motive of self-preservation, I implore you to

listen, to heed the words I now speak to you.

...

BREATH CULTURE

LESSON 35

"The child of the West must lie in the East Wind for a time and a

half, ere the Northern and Southern Giants can stand securely on his

navel."

The above aphorism meets the eye of the disciple upon entering

the Portico of one of the Temples of the Mysteries in the far East. In

simple terms it means-the chela or disciple, symbolically the man of

the West, must place himself in a position to absorb the teaching

[TT 78] of the Initiate, symbolically the man of the East, and follow

that instruction long enough to permit the magnetic currents, the

Giants of North and South, to perform their full offices of awakening

to action the hitherto unmanifested or dormant grey matter of the solar

plexus. When the above mentioned giants can stand . that is, when the

grey matter has become firm and active enough to bear the pressure

placed upon it, the chela is prepared for another step in evolution. Part

of the instruction noted above refers to habitual correct breathing, and

the aphorism mentioned is peculiarly applicable to the people of the

western hemisphere, whether or not they be conscious chelas ; for, in a

great majority of cases, the grey matter alluded to has scarcely begun

to manifest in the solar plexus, the Sun of the Body.

So little attention bas been paid by the over-worked, over-

burdened or ignorant and neglectful parents of children in recent ages,

that cultivation of the breath centres has been largely left to chance.

Cultivation of muscle appears to be far more necessary to the average

man, while in truth over-cultivation of muscle, without corresponding

cultivation of the breath centres, is often injurious, and frequently

results in premature disease and death. In such instances too great a

pressure is placed on heart and lungs, and the blood by which such

pressure is induced is insufficiently oxygenated, and therefore

incapable of furnishing the necessary power of resistance to the organs

mentioned above, and suddenly the man or woman falls to the ground,

as may a tree struck by lightning.

I must not be understood as advocating the use or abuse of the

instructions of different Eastern teachers now being publicly

circulated in many parts of America and Europe. While they may be

correct in theory and detail, they are utterly ruinous in practice,

because such teachers have not sufficiently considered, or have

ignored the fact that the people to whom they offer such instruction

are totally unprepared for it as a rule. In individual cases, some few

good results may appear for a time, but it is to the children of this and

other generations to come, that we must look for complete success in a

single life-time. Adults as a rule have neither time, patience, nor

power of application sufficient to overcome the difficulties in the way,

though a beginning must be made in this or some other incarnation ;

and, while the few simple rules 1 purpose giving may seem inadequate

to those who wish to grow more rapidly than Nature has provided

means for doing, they are all that are required, if faithfully followed,

to bring your children to a point where instructions of greater moment

may be imparted to them. [TT 79]

A careful study of the form and functions centres is a first

requisite, and any good modern text book of physiology will supply a

basis of understanding.

While the blood stream of a body is the conveyor of the life

principle, as that stream takes its way through arteries, veins,

capillaries, etc., to every minutest portion of the body, it is also a

sewerage system of wonderful ingenuity, and one to which the

authorities of large cities might well look for information.

The blood flows out from the left ventricle of the heart, a pure,

life giving stream, and returns from its journey through the body,

laden with refuse matter, to the lungs . the way-stations . where it

comes into contact with the life energized oxygen, breathed into the

lungs, and by means of a process of combustion the carbonic acid gas

which has been generated by such contact is liberated. The blood is

thus cleansed or purified as by fire, and is ready to continue its

journey back to its starting-point. As the necessary oxygen is one of

the gases contained in the air breathed into the lungs the necessity for,

and effect of correct breathing, is evident. And, as everything in

manifestation has its correspondence, its pattern or simulacrum, in

every other plane or state of matter, the whole process of breathing,

the air, the organs used, and the blood stream itself, have also their

correspondences.

Within the molecules of air, exists an etheric energy, which is in

turn supplied to the astral body of man at the same time and by similar

methods to those used in supplying oxygen to the blood, and by

bringing into action the power of will, the process of transmuting the

astral substance into a still higher state of matter, and thus liberating

the spirit, may be accomplished, when man has learned that great

secret. But for the present, we will confine ourselves to the purely

Physical function of correct breathing.

If you will note the inaction of the breath centres of the average

child, or even the adult, when in deep thought, and take into

consideration what I have said, you will in part realize the necessity

for some instruction to correct such inaction, which for the time being

robs the blood of the oxygen required for its purification.

You know something of the power of habit, and can readily

understand that if you form the habit of deep and rhythmic breathing

by means of conscious effort, the action will continue indefinitely,

whether you be conscious of it or not. Habitual deep breathing will

tend to develop the grey matter now dormant in the solar plexus, and

prepare the way for the advent and use of finer natural forces. It is the

inaction of this grey matter of the solar plexus which renders [TT 80]

some of the Yoga practices so dangerous to man ; for, by such

practices, too great a pressure is placed upon the cerebrum, cerebellum

and nerves ; whereas, if the solar plexus were fully developed, and the

grey matter abundant and active, distributed throughout the body, and

all danger avoided. In order to produce harmony or health, a perfect

equilibrium must be established between the dominant chords or

organs of the body. The power of solar as important as the Power of

impact, and when the solar Plexus is fully developed, it generates the

power of resistance to a greater degree than it can be generated by the

brain alone. Where there is a lack of this power in any organ, the

impact of the finer natural forces tends to break up the molecules of

matter composing that organ, and to liberate the life energy, which

then escapes, and leaves the organ to gradual decay and death. This is

what occurs when too great a pressure is placed on the brain. When

the blood is perfectly oxygenated, and the grey matter in the head and

the solar plexus is fully developed, there follows a gradual

emplacement of the same kind of grey matter in other organs of the

body, and in time the whole body becomes subject to every thought

vibration ; is, in fact, a thinking instrument in every part. Its

possibilities are increased ten-fold, and life becomes no longer a

burden, but a great privilege and blessing.

1. Teach your children to stand erect, first of all things.

2. Never permit them to dislocate the bones of their feet by

means of heels on their shoes. Let their bare feet rest on the

ground, if possible, some hours of every day, if you do not

feel that they can do so all the time.

3. Keep the thought of full, deep breathing continually in their

minds, by same Simple device, some reminder.

4. Breathe in unison with them a few times each day, and see

that the breaths are deep enough to contract the muscles of

the abdomen.

5. Never breathe in unison with them when you or they are

disturbed or angry, and always keep the idea of harmony

before them.

6. Do not attempt to teach children physical exercises at the

same time you teach deep breathing.

By following these simple rules, you may keep your children in

perfect health, and provide them with bodies capable of withstanding

many of the fiercest trials of life, and at the Same time prepare them

for instructions which will aid in attaining a much higher rate of

development than now obtains among the average races of the earth.

[TT 81]

...

DIVINE LOVE

LESSON 36

Of what value is a problem in Euclid to the scholar who is in

throes of agony because of a broken bone ? Of what value is a on the

constitution of matter, or the auric centres, and the currents of force

which operate through such centres, to the soul-starved disciple whose

life is one great longing for divine love and recognition ? It is not that

such a disciple is unable intellectually to grasp and appreciate the

knowledge thus conveyed to his understanding, but the great gulf

which his longing has created between his intellect and heart has

become impassable for the time being ; the necessity for union with

the Higher Self bas become infinitely greater to his consciousness than

the necessity for mental pabulum ; his soul requires nourishment far

more than his mind requires stimulation or satisfaction. However

valuable such knowledge might be to him at other times, during the

period in which that longing is uppermost, it is not only valueless but

detrimental.

There is corning upon the people of this world a period of

reaction from the stress and strain of intellectual pursuit. Materialism

and kindred "isms" awakened from their siesta somewhat over a

quarter of a century ago, have passed the middle mile-stone of the

path of their cycle, and in their dying throes are awakening once more

the ever-new hunger and thirst for righteousness, for divine love, for

"the Father's face", and, crush it down as they may, fight it back, or try

to satisfy that need with material or mental diet, the souls of men will

only cry out more persistently day by day until the very heavens are

filled with the sound thereof, and the demand thus made can then

bring response and fulfillment, for we must want one particular thing

more than we want all other things combined, be ready to sacrifice all

else for that one thing, before we can demand it with sufficient Power

to compel its manifestation to or for us.

For the business man, the inadequacy of material things for

satisfaction finally becomes appalling. The ever-narrowing horizon of

the average material scientist and scholar eventually leaves his soul, as

it were flattened between the covers of a folio. There may be length

and breadth to such a poorly nourished soul, but there is no thickness,

i. e., no room for expansion, no space in which living things May

grow and blossom and fill with beauty, joy and gladness. And when

all the long, long story of life in manifestation is told, is there aught

worth striving for save as a means to one end . that is, reunion

[TT 82] with the great Father-Mother Life which has loved us into

being and sustains us in the hope of finally "seeing God-face to face" ?

A mystic sentence, by the way, typifying the reunion of Matter and

Spirit.

Be very careful how you tear down the faith of the humblest

creature that lives in the ideal God he worships, whether it be one of

his own creation or otherwise, for with the loss of that faith, the

individual also loses the power of loving. It may be for years, it may

be for ages.

Much scoffing is indulged in by the worldly-wise at the idea of a

possible love for a spiritual principle by an individual. As well might

they scoff at the Great Law which rules the action of the waters of

earth, sky and sea ; for the law of gravitation no more truly draws one

drop of water to and from sky and earth to streamlet, river, and finally

to ocean, than the love of God awakens and draws to itself the love of

man. In the fast coming trying days which the human race has brought

and is bringing upon itself, when the voices of justice, Mercy, and

Charity will be no more heard in the land, when might alone will seem

right, and every man's hand be turned against every other man ; the

saving grace, the one living reality, which will hold the earth in form,

and water and preserve the seed for the new humanity, will be the now

dormant love for God in the hearts of the masses of mankind ; the love

which will awaken from its long sleep as a result of the suffering to be

endured, and when awakened, will behold its own strong, sweet face

in the faces of every other creature and thing, as in a looking glass.

What matters it what name you give it, whether it be God, Love,

Attraction, Gravitation, Law, or Life ? It is all names in one name, all

words in one word. An unpronounceable word by mortal man, and the

last letter of the last word cannot be added to that name until the last

thing in manifestation becomes once more the first, until the serpent's

jaws have closed firmly on its tail.

Do not judge your neighbor as a canting hypocrite because his

actions do not always justify the words be utters, especially when he

sometimes refers to the love of God in his heart. He may be a liar, a

thief, an adulterer, and all else that the world terms evil ; but, at the

same time, there may be an awakening of that wonderful long-

dormant power in his heart which has not yet . had time to change his

lower nature. You would not repudiate or harshly criticise the

statement of an electrician if he told you a certain dynamo was

capable of generating a certain voltage of electricity. You would let

him prove it if you were sufficiently interested, and help him to make

conditions by [TT 83] which he could generate that power, and so

make it perceptible to your consciousness. It might be only a very

little of the power of love the human dynamo was capable of

demonstrating, but the fact of its even entering his consciousness

would prove the possibility Of its awakening, for you cannot imagine

a thing that does not exist for you in some state of life.

The great crying evil of the present age is the seeming

impossibility of uniting in one effective organization the various

bodies of people who are working for the same end. There is

invariably a manifestation of the Judas or Thomas force in each body,

which betrays and doubts, and finally disrupts, and in the process piles

up barriers between its own body and all others. The various national

churches of the world all retain the forms and ceremonies and some

other vestiges of the eternal truth, as well as do many religious and

secular organizations. If all could unite, if it were on but a single

indisputable principle, the history of the world would be changed in

the twinkling of an eye. But the work of the Disintegrator goes on, and

will finally develop a species of madness, when all men will be

striking blindly at everything and every person in sight. When that

period is over, then will come this other period of which I have spoken

. a time when heart . (God) hunger will dominate all other desires .

and then will it become possible again for God to speak to man in the

Silence.

...

THE EFFECTS OF COLOR

LESSON 37

Every student of the secret science has some idea of the

importance and effect of close association with varied vibrations of

colon Instructions on color were issued to the ancient Hebrew high

priests, and before their era to the Egyptian and Aryan priesthoods, by

Initiates of high degree, and similar instructions are of equal

importance to you.

Much of the incompatibility between members of families and

bodies of people closely associated in any line of work or endeavor, is

due to cross vibrations which are aroused by the predominance of

some one or more inharmonious colors within some personal aura or

environment. The same conditions may manifest as a result of the

action of inharmonious sound vibrations. [TT 84]

The constant repetition of some one tone of voice in conversation,

or note sounded on a musical instrument, though it be one of the

creative tones of the material universe, will by rapid repetition awaken

cross vibrations to those of the governing scale of an individual life,

and set into action a host of previously dormant elemental lives, which

will make that particular life a burden.

Every created thing or being bears on its outer semblance, or

body, the key to the color vibrations which will harmonize with his,

her, or its exterior life, as it carries on or in its astral and spiritual body

the key to the vibrations governing its inner life. If the dominating

color vibrations of any two bodies in close proximity to each other are

inharmonious, there is no possible chance for peace and harmony to

exist between those persons unless they can neutralize the

inharmonious vibrations by bringing into action some other rate or

rates of color vibration which will tend to blend or unite the former,

thus awakening another (a neutral) vibration. For instance, if the

dominating color of one individual is a certain shade of red, and the

dominating color of another is a certain shade of yellow which will

not harmonize with that particular shade of red, by close association

with yet another individual whose dominating color vibration is

powerful enough to blend the two first mentioned vibrations, thus

creating a neutral shade, other and better conditions would be brought

about. Or, if the dominating color of their surroundings, apparel,

house furnishings, etc., can be made powerful enough to bring into

active life the same forces that the above mentioned third person

might bring by his or her mere presence in the same environment, a

similar result might be produced.

I have said that the key to the dominating color could be found on

the outer semblance of the man. I will go further, and say, it is

generally found in the eye, though only visible to the close observer.

The complexion and hair furnish the second and third keys, but the

eye is the only sure guide, and the color is perceptible in the early

morning or on first awakening from sleep, in the cases of the masses

of the people of this age. Those people whose eyes, hair and

complexion do not harmonize, are generally erratic, volatile, and

fickle, and their tendencies toward such undesirable characteristics

can only be modified by close association with others whose general

characteristics are the reverse- In nearly all persons belonging to the

Aryan race in the present era, the predominating vibrations are red and

yellow. Many reasons are attributed for wearing the yellow robe or

turban by the East Indian Yogis, but the true reason lies back in the

early ages of the present [TT 85] manvantara. The yellow vibrations

were then required for use in dominating the natural red, and assisting

to create the golden brown, which is also the governing color vibration

of one great degree of the Initiates of the Indian race. Yellow is also

the Buddhi, Christos, the Sun-Son color, and its free use on body or in

environment serves to bring into more active manifestation that

particular principle in man, and as intuition belongs to that principle,

the free use of the same color must also serve more easily to develop

that attribute.

On personal examination of the candidate for chelaship, the

officiating Initiate to any degree of the Lodge always demonstrates by

a method of his own, the particular color or colors the chela requires

to more quickly develop the attributes in which he is most deficient,

and requires that such colors be worn continually on the body in some

form. If the attribute is most strongly connected with some head

center, the candidate must wear the corresponding color on his head.

If with the heart or some other center of the body, the necessary color

must contact that center as nearly as possible, and must be worn until

the creative vibrations have induced the new condition, or

strengthened the necessary centers so they are able to stand more rapid

vibration. The yellow robe and turban of the Eastern Yogis would

prove most harmful to many of the people of the Western races. It is

only in individual cases of the latter that the color yellow could be

worn continually with good results. The vibrations of blue, red, violet

and green are more generally necessary, though in the individual cases

above mentioned some of the last noted colors would prove most

harmful.

Too little attention is given to the cultivation of the right color

vibrations in and around your bodies and homes. You have certain

ideas which you deem artistic or fashionable, and these ideas are

carried out in your apparel and surroundings, regardless of the effect

of the combination so secured on your mental and spiritual

atmosphere, and one of the results is, that nearly all of you are

working at cross purposes, inharmony prevails, and the cultivation of

the attributes most necessary for your higher development is left to

chance. You would deem it the height of imprudence to till the soil,

plant the seeds, and leave to chance the watering of the same, and yet

you are equally imprudent when you make no effort to flood your

souls and bodies with the right color vibrations, vibrations which are

as water to the thirsty soil, to your present physical conditions, and to

the seed which sound has called forth from the eternities and

implanted in your natures as incipient spiritual attributes. [TT 86]

An unusual shade of green will be found in the eyes of blue or green-

eyed People at the time before mentioned, and a similar unusual shade

of red or yellow will be found in the eyes of brown or black-eyed

people. Such shades should be fixed in the mind in some way, and as

soon as possible thereafter the former should find the particular shades

of red and yellow which most perfectly harmonize with the shade of

blue or green he has discovered, and use them as suggested. In the

cases of brown or black-eyed people, the same method should be used

as above, but the color blue should be substituted for the red. Many

people find it difficult to carry any particular shade of color in their

mind, and a color card at hand will serve to fix the shade or refresh the

memory ; and if unable to determine what shades of other colors are

complementary or harmonious shades to that found in the eye, it can

be determined by experimenting with oil or water colors. When any

two of the above mentioned shades have been combined, the color

which will manifest as a result of such combination is the one required

for use on the body, or in its surroundings. For instance, if by

combining certain shades of blue and yellow, you find a certain shade

of green, the vibrations of that shade of green are necessary to your

well being. If the combined shades of red and blue yield a certain

shade of purple, you may feel satisfied you require that shade of

purple, and so on.

In determining the sound or note which will equalize cross

vibrations, and bring into your sphere more helpful forces, you should

ascertain your ruling planet, and by the table of correspondences given

in Temple Teachings determine the note which belongs to that planet.

Sound the note aloud as often as is possible, and keep it in your minds.

...

THE DEFLECTION OF THE EARTH'S AXIS

FROM THE MASTER M.

LESSON 38

Whether or not the average geologist or astronomer concedes the

truth Of the statements made by the sages of past ages, as to the

periodical changes which have occurred in the earth's axis, the fact

remains that such statements, as also the myths and legends of less

intelligent peoples conveying the same information, are literally true.

[TT 87]

The only error lies in the figures given as to the length of the

cycles between such changes, and this error, if error it be, is due to the

sacredness investing numbers, and the secrecy attendant upon the

giving out of the length of certain cycles which have a great bearing

on prophecy, by the Hierophants of the White Lodge, under whom

such sages had been placed by natural selection as well as by choice.

While the knowledge of such changes in the earth's axis is now

widespread, the causes for the same, though simple enough, have not

been correctly determined by the savants who discovered them, and,

as the time is rapidly approaching when another such change will

occur, it may be well to give a little inside information to those

interested ; for even if we cannot prevent a catastrophe, there is a

certain satisfaction in understanding the causes which produce it, and

as the causes for these changes lie far back in what we term the

spiritual planes of life, a resume of the same may prove instructive.

In the archives of one of the great underground temples, lie

parchment after parchment, prepared leaves of papyrus, engraved

tablets and stones innumerable, giving a complete record of all the

ages and peoples who have inhabited the earth and other planets of the

solar system, as well as all the information imparted by the so-called

Gods or Great Masters to those sages and disciples who have reached

a certain point of development that enables them consciously to

contact such Masters.

Each true student at some time, in one or more of his earthly

lives, in either sleeping or walking hours, has access to this temple,

and is enabled to carry away with him more or less of this valuable

information. Oftentimes a dim memory of the same comes back to

him, which he imputes to his researches in other fields of

investigation, and he is enabled to piece together fragment after

fragment, and prepare quite a perfect thesis, while yet unable to

recognize the fact that the binding force which has enabled him to

piece together those fragments, is only at his command because of his

experience in some secret repository of knowledge during his hours of

so-called sleep.

No atom, molecule, man or star, lives to itself alone. Whether it

be atom, star, or constellation, each form or division of the Cosmos

has one central point in which is stored and from which emanates the

energy which moves it to life and action. While that composite energy

in its last analysis is God, Good, Love . its secondary attributes, its

laws, its vibrations, manifest first on the plane of consciousness,

secondly on the plane of forces, and thirdly, as matter or substance.

Action and reaction are not only equal on the physical plane ; they

are also equal and interchangeable on all planes. Therefore, [TT 88]

action on the physical plane incites to action on all other planes, and,

as there is complete inter-dependence and inter-penetration of atoms

and planes, every light, every action, of every manifested atom, must

inevitably cause action and re-action in some other thought, atom or

plane. This by way of preface to the subject under consideration.

In the before-mentioned temple, on one of the engraved tables, is

a record of the last change which occurred in the earth's axis, and

while its ultimate cause, materially speaking, was the vile mental

energy set free by the races which then inhabited the earth, the

precipitation of forces was due to the action of a higher race of beings

which inhabited the sun. There, as elsewhere in the Universe, the

battle between Good and Evil is always being fought, and at the time

in question, there was a great war between the Devas of the right and

left-hand path over the possession and use of certain powers and

positions which largely controlled the solar system. By means of the

tremendous elemental forces set free by the disturbance of the

equilibrium of the sun, great changes occurred in the configuration of

the same (changes that are comparable to those which would occur in

the earth's crust if a great internal explosion occurred), and the sudden

freeing of such undirected elemental forces also disturbed the

equilibrium of the earth, thus deflecting the earth's axis from its

former position. There is a sphere or line of energy connecting the sun

and all planets of the solar system, as sound or light waves may

connect two electrical centres of communication, and through this

means of communication a conscious elemental force may reach and

affect any planet of this system. By the deflection of the true pole the

great waters were released and overflowed the then inhabited

continents. The disturbance in such a large area of the sun had its

effect on the heat vibrations, diminishing the heat vibrations of the

earth, and what is known as the Glacial Age began shortly after the

great floods.

At the point of evolution where the earth had attained its greatest

development . when the Gods looked upon their work and said, "Well

done !" the magnetic pole was coincident with the pole of revolution.

Since that time it has had no fixed habitation, but is continually in

spiral revolution about the true pole. Neither is the latter fixed ; it is in

constant vibration, and is largely subject to the action of magnetic

energy. The magnetic fluids which constitute the substance of the

magnetic pole of any planet, are subject to Will and Mind when

directed by the Planetary Spirits or Gods of a solar system. These

poles correspond to the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna of the human

spinal cord, and the magnetic fluid or energy is carried from centre to

centre, planet [TT 89] to planet, man to man, by conscious elementals

which alternately clothe and unclothe themselves, as it were, garments

of magnetic energy, by which means the pole of revolution of any

planet is deflected when the karma of that planet decrees the

annihilation of the races inhabiting it, and the planetary Spirits set

about carrying out those decrees.

You who are subjects of time and space will find it difficult to

comprehend this truth ; the element of time is bound to present itself

for your consideration, for the action of such elemental forces is so

rapid as to be beyond the power of human appreciation.

...

THE POWER OF THOUGHT

LESSON 39

The tongue is truly a small member, but the amount of suffering

brought upon the human race through its agency is prodigious. The

effects of such action are evident to all as far as the physical plane is

concerned ; but the fundamental causes, the modus operandi of the

generation and distribution of the electro-magnetic forces, which are

primarily responsible for the good as well as the evil action of that

small member, are unknown to or unobserved by the masses of

mankind. There is much less excuse for students of the Secret

Sciences who use such forces to injure their fellow creatures than for

those who have not been taught the power and potency of the invisible

elemental lives which comprise those varied forms of manifested life.

But, at the same time, the advantages secured by the right use of the

same forms of life are correspondingly great. Some of your number

will hastily repudiate or deny the truth of the assertion I am about to

make, but it is nevertheless perfectly true, and serious thought will

bring some realization of its truth to the deeper student. Very much of

the present physical suffering, loss of position and means, separation

of friends and members of families, is primarily due to the wilful

falsehood, the uncharitable and treacherous actions of a few people in

your own ranks. Your inability to accept this statement lies largely in

the difficulty You experience in consciously recognizing your unity,

your existence as one single entity on one plane of life.

I have said before, and now repeat-no individual can be drawn

into The Temple or any other organic body, who does not belong

[TT 90] to that body by karmic right and long association in past

lives. Your mere signature to a pledge or withdrawal from an

organization has no effect on the facts of the case. These are questions

of duty done or undone, of responsibilities assumed or ignored. The

bonds that formerly united you, the fires that welded you into that one

body, were made and * built many thousand years agone ; and, in

order to comprehend the action of such forces, it is essential that you

recognize and accept the fact of your unity, first in one special degree

of the great Lodge, and finally in humanity as a whole. The currents of

thought that are constantly flowing between you, cementing and

intensifying the strength of your unity, are indissolubly binding you to

each other, to the Lodge, to myself. You cannot tell a wilful falsehood,

perform a mean or ungenerous action against another Temple

member, without hurting in some degree every other member of the

Temple, any more than you can stab one finger of your hand without

hurting your whole hand and body ; for the nerves which conduct that

physical pain to every part of your hand, correspond exactly to the

currents of force set up between you by the living mental or thought

energy you have generated and sent through or within those currents.

Take, for instance, a malicious lie uttered by one against another.

First, consider the evil generated by the hatred which preceded the

spoken words-a force so potent and deadly, corrosive and fiery, that,

when directed by a powerful will, it can kill instantaneously. Then

consider the power in sound and form, as evidenced in every letter of

the alphabet which goes to form the words of that lie. Then the power

of number generated by the combination of those letters. Here you

have the material to work with, the path or method of its working, and

the organism on which it works. The currents of thought continually in

action between you, keep open and strengthen the paths, so that good

or evil thought, speech or action, travels almost instantaneously from

one to the other, until every individual is more or less saturated with

the living energy set free. If the lie be repeated, the force is intensified,

additional power sup plied, and the effects are manifested more

pronouncedly. The higher your karmic position in such an organic

structure as I have mentioned, the more surely and swiftly will the

effects of your good or evil thoughts, words and actions be felt by all

the other fragments of yourselves, and the more will you suffer from

the same forces set free by others, be cause you are in those so-called

higher or more interior positions of the Lodge for the reason that you

have become more sensitive to the action of the life forces of interior

planes of manifestation, and the more sensitive you become, the more

acutely can you perceive the action of the "pairs of opposites", until

finally the strings of your harp [TT 91] of life have vibrated so long

and intensely, they sound no longer as separate strings, but as one note

or chord. Then those vibrations have transferred your consciousness

on to another plane of existence, commonly known as the plane of

Soul. The physical body is then disintegrated in the majority of

instances. The power of mastery pre supposes the ability of the

individual to stand these higher or finer vibrations, and keep at the

same time a physical body in manifestation.

...

WOMAN

LESSON 40

There are women who, like unto a certain species of land crab,

which yearly takes a pilgrimage to the shore to bathe and shed its

shell, at stated periods go down into the sea of human love and disport

themselves, shed the callous growth that inaction and over-indulgence

have formed about their hearts, and return to a normal condition

refreshed and revivified by each experience. But alas, there are others,

and they are not in the minority, who, while intellectually capable of

observing the coming storm which is to leave them desolate, are

powerless to guide their frail life boats into sheltered places ; women

who with wide-open eyes drift helplessly, sometimes despairingly,

upon the rocks upon which even they see burning many warning

lights. The hearts of such women never grow old ; the body which

encases them may shrivel up, sight and hearing depart, poverty,

sickness and misfortune of all kinds be their daily portion, yet the

heart in its awful eternal youthful passion beats on remorselessly,

alternately consuming itself and revivifying its embers even into the

great beyond. Other women smile at the seeming incongruity of age

and love, until their time comes also, and a realization of the perpetual

tragedy of the feminine side of life finally dawns upon them.

Give, give, give, cries the opposite pole of life, the embodied

masculinity, and woman gives until her power is exhausted, and in

reincarnation she swings to the opposite side of life and takes a

position with those who demand and receive . that is, the male sex,

until satiety sends her also to the opposite pole. The law of

compensation is exact ; what we sow that we must also reap. The

wheel of the gods grinds slowly, but it grinds exceeding fine. [TT 92]

Out of all this travail, this heart starvation, or over-indulgence, is

born the babe in swaddling clothes, to be laid in a manger . that is,

Spiritual Love for Christ, for God. The manger is the physical plane of

existence, into which the babe is brought, that it may redeem the

substance of that plane, and raise it once more to the estate from

which it bas fallen. It can only redeem it atom by atom, for so it fell.

But let all sore, aching hearts be comforted by the thought that every

bravely endured pang brings it one step nearer its Father's house, its

Father's face. Nation after nation, race after race, goes down and out,

leaving but a few scattered remnants here and there to prove that it

ever existed. The old, old story of ebb and flow, is told over and over

again in different cycles by the same souls in different bodies, to their

less well-informed brethren. The same old ambition, greed, and

avarice is awakened as a result of contact with matter, and the

message of the soul goes on, unnoted, unrecognized. Race after race

suffers from the same old causes and goes out into the silence as a

result of its own inherent selfishness. A few brave souls are born in

every race who are willing to lay down life and all things to teach the

old yet ever-new lesson of Eternal Brotherhood. Each in turn is

crucified on the cross of the world's selfishness. When such souls are

young, the enthusiasm awakened by the divine touch they have felt

may sustain them ; but when old age comes creeping on, their vehicles

are incapacitated for action, and by the time they arrive at the age and

experience that would make them safe guides for younger generations,

they have lost the beauty of face and form which appeals to the

sensuous eye, and which is one of the most powerful levers of world

movement, and so are incapable of impressing their words and actions

upon others with sufficient power to enthuse. And so they are laid

aside or merely tolerated, and the consequence is that each new

generation has to learn the same old lesson over for itself.

...