The Arterial Objective of the Work - 21st March 1998

EVERY sentient being collaborates directly with Father God personally and firstly. All relationships twixt and in twain are secondary to the first and prominent relationship held between 'they and Thee'. In spiritual splendor our audacious beings have constant rapport with our Supreme Father without severance or interruption. Let no man argue this. Not in argument against our own self's knowing, or in argument with the right we hold to have our arterial connections.

That a man is incorporated with God gives him his 'independence' also, in respect to his own sense of selfhood. As men we are not subjected to a system but rather supported by a cosmic system which we navigate on our own. Spiritually our freedoms about the relative spheres enable us to prosper wherever we choose. If a man is incarnating within this world, being given to a certain country and time, it is because he (with arterial consent and choosing) has decided this and so advanced. It is not moreover, a system in which we are given to flow with - like amoebae coursing the drain pipe - even though we can add here also that from the spiritual vantage this physical world at present is the most difficult of places to be in!

Being both hazardous and awkward, this stubborn atmosphere being but mid-evolution, is confusing to the human nature and soul who can and does suffer 'entrapment' here, once committed to the body. Although this is relieved in either nightly sleep or through astral disassociation, men and women are at this point uncomfortably contained in measure. For one thing there is deterioration and death - something which is not understood by the soul to the degree as it is experienced within the body. Also, the physical world has a hardness to it which cracks and crumbles - it is a crusty compaction which pretends permanence but dies away repeatedly.

Of course all of this will alter and develop, leaving valuable remnants to seed future rounds of same corruptible world we already know. However, in this time it is not surprising that there is suspicion given where the consciousness is floundering. We can look therefore to the greatest needs there are within our modern (yet not so modern) humanity.... amidst the ecology of hardship.

The shoes don't fit,
They pinch the toes,
The smile is weak
True happiness gone,
The faith misspent –
When Christ is not known,
The self unloved,
Unproven and alone.

Frequently we use occult means to address spiritual and essential problems, yet this is not to promulgate occultism itself as the very answer to these problems. Not all men are required to be pharmacists before taking their medication. Our pharmacopoeia is expansive and incomprehensible to most of the souls who can yet benefit from it. So given this analogy we suggest that as far as the work goes, which comes from our dissertations, there shall be doctors, chemists, on-field prescribing administrators and the ailing - Hospitallers of St. John. 

The physical existence demonstrates in clarity many of the problems experienced within a given temperament and constitution; and a spiritual poverty, akin to a physical dearth, inevitably leads to a spiritual sickness eventually made apparent. We have about us men who suffer from one or from both, and it is our desire to bring supplication to these wanting souls and ease the wretchedness of all consuming afflictions.

It is not by choice that we are secreted away - albeit with the glamour of a cartoon hero (as infallible and empty) - as unknown and removed. If given the decision, each of us would (and will some day) have license to leave this 'sterile bubble' of existence for that of the popular community.

Reason before the Law

Men adore laws. This is most natural. They seek them out, they test their strength against them, they sit comfortably amongst them, they define their lives in the conciseness of them. Men adore laws.

'Law' in the Spiritual Worlds indicates 'freedom' because it offers the greater path to any given freedom. A law determines its worth by enabling freedoms which would otherwise not be able to operate: distinction, through law, gives both being and beingness protection. The fact that another being cannot overstep into our own selfhood and forcibly change our being is one of the greatest and purest examples of the freeing effect laws do provide. I am free to know I am, and remain who I am, untainted and unimpinged upon, unalterably - unless by my own choosing to change, and this shall be effected with consent only from Father God.

Now it is that some men and women enjoy lesser laws (as implied in the material world) to the extent that they trust in them as they would any other. This can be law for law's sake. Although appearing safe and uncontestable, with frame upon frame upholding the surface thoughts of identity, it is dangerous for such validity to be unquestioned by heart or good reason.

We have looked and found that Christ overturned the worldly theme of all Law - exacting the higher freedoms which require a conscious participation - an internalized validation as it were. We, with He, are minor applicants of His Love and Being, and create and re-value the laws according to their intrinsic worth - for their usefulness, their purposefulness, and their determination from the soul's perspective. 

As a Lodge of Christian Teachers we do not comply with rules and laws specific to the Lodge upholding its identity. We work and move around in the world according to need at all times. We have long lost the terms stipulatory, and replaced them with carefulness (and caring), consideration and constancy - but above all ... love.

The Lodges who oppose our work have such laws and rules that are not to be questioned or contrasted, and penalties are enforced (repeatedly) which deter the freedom of attempting to reason them. Most hold to the attitude that they may 'do as they will' but in practice their wills are so slackened that invariably they are 'doing it' for another.

What might have been charity in the correct circumstances becomes as an evil when the willfulness of an individual overbearingly demands said charity. Therefore our Order is not answerable to anyone's demands or wishes if we do not choose to see good purpose that the charity be forthcoming. Such choice is never compelled by law, because by compulsion it would cease to be a choice therefore. If it ceases to become a choice and a matter of who has the strongest will and ego it is then a matter of an evil, an inequality, an inept love with no self-appraisal. A hollow act - whatever that act be.

In most relationships (even the student will find this) the stronger will concerned will be most likely be that of our own (or yours in relation to others), and so it is doubly important to respect the above and not even attempt to motivate another artificially with the energy that is your own. Even if the best possible outcome succeeds from this in the immediate, the inert purpose within the other individual is spoiled and sometimes to the detriment of their ever achieving it on their own in a single lifetime.

Teachers cannot do for their students. They cannot:

• will laws to keep their virtues lively,

• will love,

• will discrimination,

• will perspective,

• will solidarity,

• will development.

On the right hand path it would simply be counter-productive and on the left hand path it is mandatory.

The love of Father God is unconditional, and so is ours. We have watched the panorama of time prove that men are much loved continuously through episodes of great travail - as well as in their goodness. The love remains and is ever stronger, being inextricably attached to the life force itself which is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Such love loves and does not concern itself with any preliminary qualifying laws.

Further to this, all things are known for what they are, not what they should be or claim to be, or by title suggest. Although it is simply put, in relation to esoteric work it is valuable to remember. If a teacher amongst us ceased to teach well, no matter what his name or former historical identity, then he would simply be a teacher no more. There is no greater entitlement than reality itself. The reality of who we are speaks more than by name's subscription. And this becomes relative in the minute, in the meeting, in the conduct, in the translating, in the praying, and even in the willing.

Occultism & Esotericism

Remember back to the differences as described between the Principle (and working power) of something and its Persona (in being primarily and in quality secondarily)? [See Within Reason - the Fire of the Twelve ]

The occult perspective studies and implicates principles and powers which comprise the underpinning realities (also manifest in the physical existence). It enters into the dynamics of influence, the correspondence and conjoining of powers (contrary or sympathetic) and it comprehends the greater and lesser cosmology in operation throughout its many examples.

Being a science it is plain and not given to opinion, when studied or presented as is. Although the observation of consequences plays an integral part in the science of occultism, there is no means through it alone to arrive at a further knowledge of that which is being studied. There can be a materialistic approach and overview to the machinations of law, invocation and consequence. Also there can be but a maze of detail, yet not the kernel of discernment provided - neither the wherewithal to know pertinence, aptness or distinction.

Esotericism seeks out the planes of the soul and spirit and knows them as the foremost reality:

• determining, preferring, weighing, perceiving the beauteous characteristics;

• being able to spiral inwardly to the core of a truth and travel further again;

• understanding the hidden factors present;

• accounting for those things which make all other things different and outstanding;

• appreciating the presence of the Holy Power in Persona,

• coming to significance, rather than by being adrift in fact.

In Occultism one can put a name to a Master so that he is:

1. known for who he has been historically, or
2. is known as who he is best representing currently.
   

Representing as such, is not out-and-out forgery, for many teachers have had a Great One envelop their persona with properties passed on and assumed to the extent that the emanatory forces are almost coincidental. In this way we can have one hundred Master Jesuses on any given sphere, all cooperating with the essential soul who has them organized. (The number 'one hundred' here is an extreme example of possibility, whereas in fact there is seldom more than just the one.)

From the esoteric perspective we may look to a Master and have with him the associative impression (knowing his signatory feeling inspired within his presence), realizing that his true name is only known to himself and all other names are borrowed or spent, but inaccurate anyway. 

It is flattering and at times uplifting to be well thought of (deservedly or no), but it is also disabling to a complete relationship for someone to try to adapt another into the projected images they may hold of that person, and prefer their own egoic attachment to that of the complete reality. So in this context also, names given to Masters can be presumptuous and damaging, whilst the student is no better informed by it, but separated afurther from the teacher (who, we might add here, is not dispassionate about their own identity!).

As the abstraction that they are, names often promise to qualify, but cannot of their own. Yet it is reasonable to ask of affiliates and co-transgressing streams of influence. In this we can answer:

Amongst a comedy of errors we have publicly presented in the past - each time being matched by an eventide of cross-purpose. One has to wonder at the delicate sensitivities which comprise the thought-membrane of this world at large. If change is introduced it becomes quite electric with the new thought to pass - then, alike to a sky tense with the radiant charge, until the random and intermittent strikes release and expose the powerful light. Briefly there and then largely gone, dissipated abruptly, the thought environment returns to its sultry, sulky broodiness, as the new thought is then dismissed back to its source. For thought to remain it needs to incarnate with versatility through men. It cannot remain, like an unread library book upon the world shelf, for then its life expires. With 'new' thought the life expires most rapidly.

So as a spiritual movement which has as one objective - to help marry the Earth with its spiritual empire - we have found that only through living men who commute with living thoughts, which they transact with living currency amongst their own - only through this singular effort seeding the world, have the entries begun to find existence for all others to follow. For there are some men who receive new thought more capably than their fellows; and this has to do with factors previous to any one given lifetime.

For one, they require the ability to reason well, which invariably evolves into imaginative receptivity. Though it is a divine contrast the two are not incompatible, as it is that both do come from the same source and return us also back to the same place. The operating forces achieving the pure reason and that of the imaginative cognition are one of the same. This occurs in the highermost spiritual principles, yet also is evident in the much lesser contaminated context of men's thought (being subjective in preference to objective) as well. In the Physical World this then translates as opinion, whereas in the spiritual realms the purity of both are objective fact - imagination being an expansive-by-nature substance, reason being a containing material.

It is through the etheric body that both cooperate. In males the reasoning presides, which mirrors their characteristic aspect of imaginative cognition (i.e. that which goes forth). In females there becomes the intuitive imaginative receptive thought process, which mirrors their characteristic impulse to reason (being containment and order).

Now as souls develop their etheric bodies (regardless of physical gender), they begin to function with both influences equal to each other. They will then be capable of a fine and precise reasoning which contentedly holds place alongside in the same consciousness, the projections of an imaginative mind. At this level of ability we then have an individual who is therefore capable of receiving, translating and delivering new thought into the world - having both the capability of comprehending and containing the esoteric thought, that thereafter the men and women who predominate in just the one phase of thinking can go on to receive and give further life to the thought as it has been refined by its disseminators.

Physical substance is etheric substance without the imaginative forces manifestly expressed within it. This was not always so. In former episodes of the Globe (even this planet), there were plastic times imbued with imaginative properties - empathetic and responsive to the creative faculties of humankind. Now, following alongside the course of the egoic development and the prevailing consciousness, we have a physical world which is contained with certain frames of reference - giving to structures of mineral forces, duty bound. Physical life is inseparable to its higher counterpart in the Etheric existence. Of its own it cannot replenish or renew or welcome any manner of future.

Reason unemployed is static - truth nonetheless, yet static. This world is now in danger of becoming a mausoleum of itself (thoughtfully), if not for the etheric influences still feeding life which not only promotes what has been before, but of that which will come as well.

Plants everywhere are as the living antennae to Man. They are responsive to his soul-condition, and also impressionable to the projected imaginations occurring out from him as well. It is a common enough notion to equate the emotions with astrality, and true to say that the confluence of desire is often expressed there, however the initial wonderings, stirrings and projected desires are sparked in the etheric medium of the imaginative forces - not being responsive to a specific reality at the time (unless there is a sensory reality provoking a response) - and this forecasting is itself a supernatural event. This be so with many conditions of being which become a subjective reaction (though begun in fact, the individual goes on to experience more than the situation itself has provoked) - and our interpretations are largely imaginative. Across the spectrum from despair to great joy, this is so.

The wording regarding imagination does not mean to imply that it is a nonsense or without reality - but rather that the consciousness through its forces, has the means to creatively and spiritually navigate a higher insight than the obvious. It is this form of consciousness that the plants themselves do live with here - when someone said that it is as though they were asleep, yes, except to add that the plant life dreams too. They babble on and chatter to themselves amidst their expirations of 'thoughts at play' - often contended with the enchantment of a happy sleep, unless disturbed by the saturation of a man's imagination nearby. It is particularly because the plant lives in this imaginative condition that it reacts so to the projections of men, both collectively and in the singular.

The attendant insect hosts are given moreso to the configurations of reason - once again responsive to men's thoughts (as representatives thereof), and with astrality also, which determines their usefulness or poisonousness within the world.

Creativity does not denote disorder, disharmony or chaos. The disruptive influences are known for being just that, whether they be manifest in Man or concurring against Man from the outer - perverting an otherwise natural process within him or within the world. The creative imaginative forces as borne in the Etheric realm are firstly and in all aspects, of Christ Himself. For although He is well qualified with the Divine Reason which underpins all things, it is that of the holy curiosity which demonstrates the powers Father God has given to Man - the freedoms, the very places to go, in both subjective and objective surveillance.

How privileged we are to be able to touch and know what we can through the transport of a good imagination! As a connective tissue, the fiber and filament of all thought aspires out through our egoic shell and rays into our beings as well on a return path. True creativity promotes good and useful outcome; blessed by our Father - for where Christ is, He is. Where hopeful design requests the cooperation of the eager and awaiting Cosmos, there too becomes the Holy Spirit to empower each detail.

An example of a body which has an astral life, physical existence, yet no etheric correspondent, is a vampire. This yet again makes a valuable example, for the being here is an automaton caught within unreceptiveness, with desire present (even satisfied in episodes), but with no capability for achieving new life further without bleeding others. Also there is no aspect of imaginative thinking to be had either. No humor, foresight, empathy, sympathy, optimism etc. - all which require the forces of the etheric imagination to live within the consciousness. To a lesser extent the deficits of vampirism can be found in individuals who are receding in etheric vitality (though by appearances are living tolerably within the world).

In regards to the Work it is imperative that for those who are capable, that the reasoning and the esoteric comprehension are arrived at by their own effort. If an individual does not exercise his own thinking he is not in any way helping that thought to take hold in the world and incarnate properly; and nor is he therefore truly equipped to pass it on or benefit from it himself long term.

Much good learning requires effort. Within reason and beyond, there requires a healthy flexing of selfhood, which arterially determines the value and place of a given truth - over and over again we work the surrounding cosmos in, that the incarnating Christos become in Man.

When our dear friend disseminates the teachings as he does to unknown locations - giving out the words, offering these thoughts - some are received with such love as is offered to a newborn - the arms outstretched, the heart aglow. And it is of great importance to this work and the waiting world that he himself has worked it over and comprehended the points it presents. For the thoughts and the parent concepts distributed are living entities which only find perpetuation in life through those who give life back to them expired in the processes of the actual thinking (and later in egoic resonance). If an individual passed on esoteric work that he himself had no idea about, then the reality of their work would be lifeless by the time the recipients came to it.

Now this is not so when it comes to the exoteric information printed and passed on - being received and comprehended by folk who simply purchase from an unknowing bookshop for example. However, when it comes to the nature and life of ALL esoteric thought, it is an entirely different matter. Spiritual thought (streams, teachers, teachings, and spirito-religiosity) may only survive when the links are unbroken and there are men who may knowingly pass it on. Because of this much wisdom is safeguarded in respect to what it might well evolve into if given an exoteric status in the world.

It is regretful to think that the printed word itself cannot ever offer a legacy for some to find at a later date - and yet if one could see the shadowy forms about the pages they would know that there is a ghoulish corpseness to a loved-no-more expired thought. Yes, a reader may come to a given author and know his influence in his present day being, providing that the affinity is there. However, when it comes to this work as it is, there must always be an individual responsible and available, who may lead the other (if asked) to the temple door.

There must always be a succession of thought proceeding through the world. When calling our students the torchbearers of such wisdom, it means, also sadly, that were one flame to go out ere it was passed over, the whole chain of the future would then go unlit. Thought can be traced back through its chain of torchbearers, its benefactors, to the original source (who are still with us to this day). A body of thought likewise can be attributed. To begin with we give you the names of Herodotus and Zechariah.

New thought challenges the world, and is inspired solely by Christ in His Etheric existence. The inpouring is attributable to Him now firstly, and all is good. Although it is, that the old thought may protest its appearance (and stay, adding such connotations that imply suspicion and subversive intention), we have entered into a time now which requires the esoteric infill and life-giving properties it affords. Souls are desperate for insight, and are weary with procedural practice. Canny and waiting, it is both our belief and our hope, that humanity is ready for the happy adjustments ahead.

This is our cause, and our arterial objective: that by Christ, men shall come to find Father God apparent in all things - as they are to Him.
Amen

Living Intimately with Father God- 18th March 1998

-with Ease, Simplicity & Plainness

CLARITY - being the objective of both the higher mind and heart-known reason - is always and ever present. Hard earned by you, it shall come and be known.

To sense the presence of Father God, can in aspect, be firstly most terrifying ... for who in wakefulness goes a'knocking at His door? This is why most make their approach to Him with their innate childlike aspect of soul, receiving their impressions like so; deliberating their ideals in such a way therefore, that that reality need not bear down upon the soul-discourse relayed. The prayer life may be vivid or condescending, but does not meet within the incarnating ego in full circumspect.

There is another approach yet, to knowing our Father, one which begins with an earnest man who has now such a catalog of experience and retrospection, that his manhood requires that he meet with His Father 'I to I' so to speak - that he would rise up and return His gaze - that he would gather himself through his own ego and look therein for the Divine Presence.

To be answered in equal, and in difficult chambers! Here one can realize that this is no small transition ... for within the soulic approach to prayer we brought comfort in the very discourse, whereas within the egoic transaction we are redefining the nature of the ego as it has been.

It is most natural for the soul to rest with our Father and translate for us the heavenly satisfaction gleaned from an eternal (and general) happiness. The soul knows of continuance, it understands the spirit in all - perceiving the glorification of our Father within and about each presence, each particle. Our own souls hold pre-eternal recollections of such early love as was first known by us and in return - and because of the overview there is much to content and little to disparage within their immortal psyche. 

When a man refers to Father God directly through his heart (and to his soul) he has immediately sensed the answer in just the beginnings of his prayer, hasn't he? You know the experience - the moment you step the threshold of that prayer into His World, the contentedness of the soul's understanding brings His comfort. And we can no more reconcile this to the outer circumstances necessarily, and furthermore, we do not try. The contradictions of life as we know it to that of our spiritual realities, seem unapparent. The eternal now is fortified in the very apparition of a prayer.

Now in respect to the grappling of the ego and its entrance to Father God, this is not merely a question of intellect, but rather such a consequence to development overall, with the assumption of our Christhood, with the purity and direction of intention.

Through a man who is well-seasoned by spiritual effort and decided by his inner qualities so worked upon, he asks that by Christ his approach to Father God will be proven in him - consciously proven - with all of the simplicity and purity of spirit.

The personality strains beneath the higher current's pull; being both cunning and rehearsed, our 'plastic' selves are imbued with quality and weakness twofold; and we are decidedly uncomfortable when we begin to reassert our higher ego's desires against the bent and the broad of the habitual personality.

You see it is a difficult (though not impossible) task to import the idea of being open to divine possibility (i.e. anything could happen) and furthermore to trust in its occurrence, outcome and sanctity ... awkward to recondition a personality who is wrought from behavioral expectations, into the freedoms our Father God incurs - and doubly difficult to introduce into one's ego the same, but on its higher and distinctual level!

The Soul lives in the company of Father God yet needs the Ego to illumine His presence to her that she may see the Face of He who she loves.
 
Arterially a man may take stock and recount his time before; arterially he may make his approach with such a mindful intent that now rests consciously on the fact that his spiritual life is utterly dependent upon the grace of Father God's continuance. His recognition of this fact, as it comes to him throughout his daily existence, is as an initiatory portal wherein he is now to circumnavigate and trace new bearings - becoming, within his egohood (his Christ-self) reborn!

Initiation denotes the passage into new life, and as implied there are great merits won in the outcome. The endeavor to quell impossibilities as perceived, with the savory straight simplicity of Father God's propriety; to ease one's way through all conjunctures; to glide into life with the gracefulness of gentle landings - this we may do when we become practiced in discerning our own relation to the life and happenings around us.

The exercise of reviewing the day which has just passed (working backwards until morning) in an arterial context is useful in the strengthening of our personal discernment. The exercise in general holds good purpose when employed with other emphases besides (conclusions and corrections of conduct).

However, prescriptive to this we ask for a singular application - not one of secondary response, but becoming acquainted with the primary responses to the day. For example: when we reflect on past happenings it is a primary position to find one's place amongst them, and decide and then know if we hold aversion, antipathy or wellbeing in relation to those happenings. It would be a secondary process were we to examine whether or not we could have done differently (an abstract exercise - albeit useful morally and imaginatively, nonetheless as abstract in thought). For the purpose of this we are trying to reaffirm the reality of the day in regards to our own person.

So when we go back we may honestly take issue with that and those which made an impact upon us ... how were we affected by a sight, or substance, a word, an exchange, a surprise, an expectation delivered, a face, a hand, a motion, a voice, a fragrance etc.? With every presentation of memory it is to be asked: "Arterially, what is my position to this?"

• Are you disturbed, violated, repulsed, rebuked?

• Do you feel weakened in your tolerance or strengthened in your soul?

• Are you enlivened, awakened, made jubilant, resourceful?

• Do you recoil or rejoice?

What is the natural and innermost reaction - honestly and in heart? Learn to observe in recollection and thereby strengthen your signature in being.

Although these responses are most private, few folk will review even unto themselves in true qualifying scrutiny. It is not a matter of criticism either, but in attitude simply of placing, of acknowledging, and dismissing each and every one with a resolve to refer to Father God, or a gratitude to refer the same.

Now the reasoning of this exercise is to maintain our Arterial Self's discretion rather than to deny it. Arterially (and egoically) it is natural to a man to prefer goodness in all of its examples. Men are excited by holiness; and yet it is usually the ugliness of a mundane world which seeks to further itself, that enters most of the 'complications and impossibilities' which present in greatest dilemma without.

Arterially the path to Father God is simple! For it is our main vein to Him as is to ourselves! That which decides - circulates through the divine mind of the soul into the heart, coursing the blood, flexing the lungs, dancing with the ego, pervading the extremities (and further bodies out from them) ... is the arterial nature which traverses all of a man coherently and conductively. So it is asked how it is that men and women can disregard their arterial discriminations and forego their selfhood, adhering moreover to a personality which is pliant to expectations beyond itself, corruptible and permeable, held aloft like an umbrella with holes throughout the fabric!

When men emulate others or seek to be similar, it is because they have drawn much useful instinctual knowledge from the mass (pneu) and thus continually identified. Individual karma eventually goes on to teach each man differently that he is not, as he may perceive or wish for, completely and totally so part of the collective to the exclusion of self. Only recently in the ego development of Man, has this been brought to him as a reality. (Of course there is also the reality that we are but part of the collective - however and nonetheless, we stride single-file along this one procession.)

By this karma we are awakened to the responsibility there is in evidence when it comes to our actions and deferments thereof. Our souls perceive the reasoning of karma and our egos eventually (after death) are given the opportunity to tie in all of the connections; the 'why-wherefores' and fiz-gibits, to put it bluntly.

As a man goes onto to properly incorporate certain attributes to him - working with intention upon himself in spiritual reform - as he pours into himself both inspiration and source, he learnedly passes into the world that which he has loved, and emanates verily those main axioms by which he would now live by. He gives by his presence, most loudly. All that he may consciously endorse he will impart and give out to an, as yet, less intentional world of thought.

By this he helps then the path of others in their thought and further inspiration. The quick and easy access trod is usually come by because of the folk who did cut the road before them. Just that, this man has brought to many. When the apt thought passed from his being or his lips to where it was most needed in the quick ... where, in relative terms, the others who did not work so hard to win the concept were just so inspired .... because of him, because of intention he worked through with and did earn with much more effort than perceived or known.

There are degrees of self-consciousness, and for those who are motivated by others' opinions or impressions before that of their own experienced, we find that eventually (over lifetimes) discomfort provokes their wills into being; and at least in small but important measure folk learn to say "No!" (and mean it). That is to say, not to say "no" as an automatic response to everything, but to deliver with evaluation the divisions between self and impingement. Our beloved saints were strong enough in their arterial selfhood that they could rebuke pain, and even at times gravity, with a "No!". And then further to this comes the "Yes!" - once again resounding in definity!

Prominent holy men and teachers are often distinctive in behavior and sense of self, and quite apart from even the groups they may associate in. They needs keep a strong identity in order that they may be as close to Father God, not closer to other men who might disrupt that working rapport.

The decision into the ascetic incline, stipulates that beauty and purity live well in spiritual strength alone. Although there appears a paradox in saying that by the development of true selfhood shall we also develop our senses for our extraordinary Selfhood in Father God, it does teach us also that to prize one, is to worship the other, and then this too flows on into all of Creation remaining. The drive to commune with Father God in such a way that He livingly determines the length and breadth of one's output within this world and beyond, will be answered, shall be fulfilled.

Before the soul and ego of a man, present choices - their presence felt, their invisible faces staring 'I to I' - and when questioned a man can have an inner pledge secured, when the Arterial Self acknowledges its readiness. However the transition involved is no small matter! The foci has not moved, but has so enlarged that the heart itself wants to burst with readiness! The desire to love our Father to the fullest is expressing our gratitude for existence. Revelations will follow. Clarity will come. Trusting will prove itself worthwhile!

Remember also that as pioneering men, unique paths are cut; not the least perhaps in those just in the making- ways within, that we have not seen, further openings then for all men to follow. The psyche of individual men differs according to their spiritual history; and what one man may bring may offer such a mix and mirth unparalleled by others who have, in their own way, also sought distinction.

This subject heralds the newest phase of the cement between our Father God and our refurbished ego activity. Oh that we may feel His Hand at our shoulder at all times! That loving itself becomes most simple - and all else does fall away!

The Internship-11th March 1998

FLEDGINGS know, just as young saints know, just as transparent gems hidden in clumps of rock deposit, dark-filled and earth covered, also do know, of the purpose within them - not yet apparent but there and in waiting, urging them to find that time when their innate glory shall materialize.

The desire for discipleship is no small matter! When a man is moved by the internal awakening which proves his very manhood, he is awash with the longing for his own self-perfection. Ennoblement follows such desire, for it is entranced by the calling of this lover's cry. The spirit recognizes the wanting deep within the tender souls of all fellow men and seeks to heal them with courageous valor; such is the path to one's betterment.

We work for all, or not at all. We strive for Life, and even in this shall Death survive and be reborn! We must contrast opinion with truth and thus decide ... and find truth where truth is, wherever that may be; pray God we acquire His eyes that we may see it, and a heart as large that we shall live it.

A pupil may work out from one of two positions within: either that of discomfort or that of the calling from a higher motivation. This has to be said firstly and established, because in teaching we do further the principle which maintains that a man works best out from joy than he does from ill - that beginnings do make for the endings; and so we take care with all seedling issue. The primary position sets the placing of the future and all which bears accordingly to follow.

Discomfort in itself can be honorable, and if not that, quite understandable. There is enough within the outer world, and much within our inner selves which can aggravate and inflame our sensibilities. Many spiritually inclined individuals work hard because of their displacement so felt ... and as grit is to pearl, they gather much virtue because of it. However, although a certain dissatisfaction or even pain may alert us as to what we do not want, it will tell us very little of the reality we might say we prefer - in itself it can be a catalyst, but there needs more for us to know, before we may move out from it.

The calling from a higher motivation awakens in a man the actual strength and sustenance to carry him on to that level beyond his immediate reach. When a man may work out from an internal joy or experience a love, he is opened within his self (his ego) to receive the strength that is required that he may indeed continue to develop a'further. Remarkably there is often the notion that men can deny their own spiritual ecstasies and still yet bring a joyous laughter into this Globe; or further still, some believe that they can artificiate joy in a pretence. However, moreso do the spiritual realities call for actuality, and a dry drab man within makes only for a dry drab man in perpetuity! Do we water the tree of life with a poison? No! And this is our point.


So the contemplations and study are best kept to those which may enhance our beings with some positive measure or addition, rather than concede to gloom or despair. If we admit within ourselves much of the unhappiness which abounds without (and there is enough there to study over lifetimes, true enough) then we would surely become as wretched and misplaced in the very attempting. For also, there are beings (and demons) which dwell amongst all thought as well. 

We must become particular in whom it is that we should call to and give our attention's vitality to. We invest ourselves into that which will impart a governing supplication to woe. We attribute our divinity to Christ and to Father God, and we honor them in joy, not in sorrow. Every sadness undergone is known by Christ - that purse of silver is spent the world round, and He still hurts for each man who is betrayed to great sorrow; and then accordingly our Father God shudders in like pain about.

True joy is not to be found in heartless pursuits. In point of fact, those who do give themselves over to the heartless passions (where there is no soul communion, no soul connection, no soul combining - i.e. the astral passions devoid of the higher life) they are defacing their happiness with the replace of a gorgon; and in time, such expenditure of vitality there will sicken the individual that he can no longer withstand true joy about him.

So when we recommend that a good student come to know love in the world, we qualify that love with the enlivening which follows. Astral passions devoid of soul conjunctures and empathetic connections are as small deaths to the soul (insofar as the heart/soul is interrupted from its preferred expression and communication into the physical body). If a man is excited to gambling (in any form), stimulated to alcohol or a narcotic, active in lust without soul-love and connection, exaggerated in fiery episodes of anger or willful malign, if he excites his appetite with foods that contain little or no etheric life, if he knits together falsehoods which he works to maintain and project, if he commits to a social priority before acknowledging that of his spiritual own, if he deceases himself in the maintaining of appearance of another .... he stifles his soul life and severs himself accordingly, he stifles also his soul.

And the ego of a man warrants his soul as governor. That which injures the affections of soul also injures the ego in the long term. As we develop we grow in love - love will tend us, feed us, secure us and be for us, providing we do not depart from the callings of our own soul.

Not one man may decide this for another. There are precious moments of great choosing, when before the mind's eye is placed a possible future for the man to take hold of and accept if he will. And in these explicit askings from within, so echoed back in resonant agreement the man himself will know his upright time when the motivations of a greater love have called him.

We as teachers have adapted to some extraordinary means of physical and future existence. As needs be we are purpose built - and were that a 'normal' man sought our presence (let alone prolonged company) for a time he would find that there is a tension between the two, even though we are but brothers. Those who would join us leave much more behind than one does in ordinary death. To incarnate in these bodies devised, brings about both capability and deficit when compared with the standard model of today.

However, we can see something else there which has more reckoning for you, and that in is this dear soul: have you forgotten the others? Not a few, but many, have you such karmic dealings with as yet - those who will need your physical presence here in this time and from your vantage. We can see individuals relying upon your being amongst the community, that when the time is apt your constellations shall concur.

This is not so unusual, and particularly when there becomes an earnest soul (and hopefully others also), that karmicly folk are drawn into your orbit for long enough to become renewed, enstrengthened; and in the instance of a would-be master, that certain dealings are fulfilled and completed before moving on.

This personal assumption of matters has no definite time period, nor does the adept in progress guarantee himself ever an evolutionary 'win' as such. Yet what can be said is that each and every individual who puts himself to the task of joining the greater service to humanity, with whatever abilities he has to offer, then in kind and by their supplication to us, shall we be conjoined and of assistance to each other. No man is above failing, ever, however there is one consideration of hope though: that is when we ask for genuine help involving such service; then through the support that entitles our affiliated fellowship we shall be corrected and carried when need be. It goes without saying, perhaps.

The invisible helpers who cross over the conjoining spheres do not involve themselves with matters of personal karma. They do not interfere, judge, comment, direct, or have use for another's personal dealings. What we can help with (and other beings besides) is in that which individuals choose to take on on behalf of their brothers as a collective; and in this widened band of karma (one which we share of course) we can then play a part in the support and the outcome. Do you see? So in the course of your struggles, if ever help is asked and required concerning your development and environment (psychic environment) in respect to your advancement in service, then there will be assistance (and love) to follow.

As for the physical representation or projection of the Masters, it can be said: you may think of us as ferrymen (not of the accursed variety!) who will one day take you on board ... but for this moment realize that a boat is no good to you if you are far from the water; you must first make it to the river for us to come to you.

This is in no way a dissuasion. Much is achieved through patient striving and continual affirmations of intent, purpose and future plan. The in between phase in this is essentially more important to you than the arrival; because as we pointed to earlier, good beginnings are essential to good and thorough outcomes. If a man comes to greet us prematurely (or we to him) he is absorbed (literally) in our presence to the extent of forgetting his own! Do not ever wish to relinquish your selfhood! We would not have that for you, nor should you either.

As you learn, whether it be under our guidance here or elsewhere (or from others still) we ask this alone: prize your being and take care of it that you may go on to do also with others. Do not injure yourself, negate yourself, condemn yourself or indulge in false pride. Know that Christ lives in your word, heart and grasp, and with your brothers we will endeavor to help raise all beings above the pain of not knowing Him, and knowing therefore each other. 

Egoic wisdom takes time. The keys are there within you, and you already know the strength and presence of these thoughts just put before you. Yes you have briefly met already with one of us - and that is significant. Most do not know of the times when this is so, but it is important because we renew our friendships in this manner, friendships which hearken back to past efforts in lives we can recall.

The drive to work again and the esoteric comprehension, does not just come of itself all of a sudden to this degree. Men take preparation and usually previous connections to find it returned, in the context that the desire now works within you. The personality may wrestle with this, and that is common enough, whilst the mind is mystified at the soul-pictures and hearkenings with which it endures.

Every individual holds a convoy of differing lessons to carry, and when they have approached and reconciled their given problems to inspiring solutions, they are then so empowered as to assist yet further all men thereafter who are afflicted with the same difficulties. They are invaluable in this accomplishing and the collective need, and require it to be managed by those who have a spiritual conceptualization to work through what can only be dealt with on multifarious levels from a whole and complete perspective. It is not enough to address the human condition from the physical and obvious perspective alone.

Added to this we require men to be as clear, receptive and prayerful as is possible (to them). If they are contaminated with intoxicants then the knowledge imparted, or experience which follows, is likewise contaminated - sullied with a false ego which betrays Man as it is wont to do.

There are only a few, proportionately, who would enter into this work. Each is needed (and known) and although conditions may appear lonely at times and without, there is much being gained for a future right here in the making. No wishes go unanswered or unfulfilled in time. Sincerity is everything. And although we cannot dwell in the physical company of all of those who represent us throughout the various continents (and beyond), we do effectively cooperate as one dear vision, begun and most certainly born from our Lord, who would have us united in Love.

In time, what you sincerely desire shall eventuate. Meanwhile dear friend, know that there is much goodness as an undergirth, which shall uphold and support you throughout.. 

God Bless!
-Raven

 

Ceremonial Magic- 27th February 1998

Dear Teachers,
The following statements and questions have been put to you by C.W. in reply to some of your instruction. For the sake of those reading I have kept your writing in standard type, and the questions are those in italic.

Quote from Tradition:

"Ceremony, performed in earnesty, works magic, undeniable magic which calls upon devic forces - not the angelic, as is misunderstood. It is from the elemental influences, upon which we are so closely bound together with, that answers to the ceremonies of men."

Comment by C.W.:

I'm not sure what you mean by "devic forces". I've worked with elemental forces and angelic forces - they are decidedly different. I've had to deal with demonic forces which I discern as being more akin to angelic than elemental. Granted, most ceremonial magic, a la Golden Dawn, speaks to angelic forces but essentially deals with elemental. Therein may lie the source of confusion. Certainly the Pagan and most Gnostic ceremonies I've seen, can only grasp at elemental, if even that.

Quote from Tradition:

"Men cannot, through ritualistic means, command those who are from comparatively higher realms. Such contact is not possible, and contradictory. Men may beseech and plead those from higher spheres, but never can conjure, or create manifestive appearances."

Question by C.W.:
But just what is a "higher realm"? Are we speaking of closer proximity spiritually to God? Expanded consciousness? Higher tax bracket? The demons have a far greater consciousness than most, if not all, men yet are spiritually very far from the Divine. So, consciousness of itself means nothing. If we are talking about closeness to the Divine, then I argue that man has the potential to reach far above the levels of angels, archangels, powers, thrones and dominions. Contact along the way is not only possible but our divinely given right. The unique construct of man is that he is made "in the image and likeness of God" but through Original Sin falls to a starting point in Malkuth. As Hebrews[2:7-8] tells us:

"You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet." Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control."

Hebrews goes on to remind us that before Christ we were limited to the earth (and by implication elemental forces) but through Jesus Christ we gain salvation and, more importantly in this regard, are brothers with Him.
Again citing Hebrews[1:14]:

"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

The angels are like royal servants who have charge over the little princes and princesses. At first the royal children are under the control/ protection/ ministering of these servants but later come into parity.

Eventually the royal children "come into their own" and rule over these faithful servants. So it is with us and our divine royalty. Many do not realize their full potential, some harden their hearts against it and ignore or reject the price that was paid for them.

There is much more to this but I defer those interested in their divine heritage to review Paul's letter to the Hebrews and rejoice!

Quote from Tradition:
"And there are realms to be respected of elemental origin, but also those too, who for reason of design, are best left without overly much attention.

Even the primal beings which are so incorporated within the air (wind), the fire, the earth, are as such, cosmic brothers, who are quick to respond.

Tradition is sympathetic, and seeks to re-establish relations with such forces that abound. The close connection between man and his elemental sphere is indisputable. . ."

Comments from C.W.:

I have to disagree here. The elementals are not so much our cosmic brothers as they are our servants. The children of paupers and kings may play together as equals unknowingly but their parents know who is who and one day so will the children. The more likely analogy I find is that elemental forces, like other forces of nature are powerful and deadly at times but can be harnessed to bend to man's will. This is not done without regard and respect for the power of these forces. Many people have lost their lives underestimating such forces.

Connection, harmony, and relations with elemental forces, even rulership over them is fascinating to be sure. It is a spiritual aspect modern man has lost touch with. But too often I find people chasing down this side path after some spiritual bauble losing sight of the True path that leads one into full realization of their divine heritage.

The Brother's reply:

Good Evening,
In speaking of Paul we can recall those famous lines:
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

May the royal children consolidate their knowledge, grow fit for their inheritance, and secure their discernments in Christ, within His Charity! May we become as true Men, worthy of such entitlement.

Whilst it is both marvellous and true to say that Man (unlike the other Kingdoms without) holds keys to every realm potentially - in both being and experience, in substance (the passport in), in capability of ego comprehension - Man has also a qualifying reasoning that can and shall bring him closer to Christ.

Divinity impinges upon us everywhere. We are saturate in regality, yet not forsworn to any one conclusion as yet. And as Paul commits [1 Corinthians 13], we may have prophetic powers, we may have a knowledge all wise, but without charity we are still nothing.

Charity in the material sense usually is afforded to those who have less and are without. An act of charity is perceived as a kindness, when also there becomes an implication that the charitable are in the 'envious' position of having more than whom they are attending their graces to.

How so, one may ask, when it comes to that of the Heavens; given that there is a constant replenishment and never a need such is known here in physical existence. What does it mean to have a charity of spirit so developed that our disposition is one of humility, nay gratitude - and never presumptuous in the context of the lesser living to serve us as we are but entitled?

Within soul as well as ego, we go on to develop such dispositions of attitude which address the cosmological deities with either a regard or an arrogance, depending upon our royal manners so acquired. It is essential to the wellbeing of any individual that good manners are adopted early on within their development, so that in future being their natural inclinations are so worked upon that they are strong within this true ennoblement.

When we revere Creation, we rejoice and revere our Father God. When we insult another being with an untoward behaviour we insult also their Creator. If we are greedy for our own concerns to the detriment of theirs, if we are abusive in our conceptualisation and haughty in our opinion of ourselves; if we are so established in our conceit as to believe that we are above any one condition we perceive to be lesser than that of our own, then we do solemnly call upon the very karma that will answer us otherwise. For thereby are we expressing a need for further experience; for that of an empathy, so needed.

Rulership is a crock when the 'servants' are unruly demons! Picture it if you will - we have seen such mayhem, and it is not one any man would be choosing - to be as monkey-king! Let us go to the questions now, in order.

Firstly: "I am not sure what you mean by devic forces".
Ah! There is something here to mention, which is for the most part left undiscussed, perhaps even unheard, and that is this: in ceremonial magic, all ceremonial magic, the forces implied come in deficit out from a man. Whether they are by nature and influence drawn from an elemental or its higher form, understand that it comes in the vitality taken out from a man.

For this reason the dark path has always endeavored to employ enspirited bodies to sacrifice - and beings who feed from such activity require humans to perform their ritualistic milkings through fleshly representation - for it is through men that these vital substances are seeped and bled. This is a very important consideration when the full reality of the cost involved is weighed, because the expenditure is not, in any circumstance, redeemable.

Our connections with other related beings (angel, elemental and demon) are inextricably mingled. We have a co-dependency with evolutionary developments and very personal relationships with representations of all of the above. If by will or by another's magic we work to suck the powers out from one of these beings, we do not achieve this directly but rather through that of our own. It shall be our devic essences, our elemental powers, our demonic utterances that will be made manifest.

This shall probably be in accordance with the reckoning of a man who perceives all men to be central to the universal plan anyhow. We have always regarded Man to be the appellagram to which all appendage ... so think also of the responsibility given to him, for each and every one, depending on, trusting, in a hard won future merit.

We have had the abilities to disengage ourselves from many cooperatives and have done so in the past ... however, all parts and particles (alike to the dust from the Moon) return. We are answerable for all.

Question 2- "But just what is a 'higher realm'?"

How does one effectively command another who is more capable than thyself to do thy will? It is a contradiction before we start. A higher realm is a term given relatively to demonstrate "that which is beyond the immediate reach" of the lower. Through prayer a man is elevated all the way up to Father God, but yet his position when it comes to willfully petitioning is as it was, no higher than before. That is how it goes.

To suggest that demons have a far greater consciousness than most men is demonic in perspective. They might have you believe it, but it is worth questioning all the same! They hold a limited perspective and because they are without egos, they are without self-consciousness, self-knowledge and self-reflection. They are incapable of empathetic reasonings, therefore cannot interpret with a consciousness the life and beings around them. They have neither compassion nor self-sacrifice embossed in their psyche. What they do have is a hunger, a cleverness, a dependence on Man, and access to intelligence which sits in the thought-world in attendance to the minds at large. Such intelligence, though used and demonstrated, is not individually comprehended with distinction.

We have essayed once that there are two distinct characteristics given to beings - namely that of the angelic and that of the creative. We have also maintained that there becomes a definition of evil when one being becomes overridden with the impulses of another. In this instance the demons are elemental beings who are given to a 'creativeness' which is not within their license to take part in. They have departed as being faithful servants to man and to God, in angelic countenance, and have begun to make changes into chaos. Rather than replicating the past and maintaining it (the Angel's trait), they have an intelligence borrowed from Man. Man also must redeem his demons - call them to being and encourage them to repent.

You might say that Man subjects the World itself under his feet, doesn't he? And with about as much impetus as he does the lesser. If the Angels are to be regarded as royal servants, it is best kept in mind that it is Father God they serve first. Their gracious attendance to us, supports and sustains us ... and we in return endear ourselves to them. They do not even glean experience directly from our findings, but delight for us. How can we presume to own them? To rule them? What would we have them do that they do not do already? An important question.

Yes, as co-creators alongside our Christ, we do hold the power to override the repetitions of the past (angelic influence) and co-script the futures. However, in the spiritual worlds we needs be heirs apparent - our worth and worthiness is evident (is quite apparent by that which we have made of ourselves). Not by claim alone, but by Christ-likeness shall we become so adept.

The primal beings as described in the text of question were meant, as our cosmic brothers, in the literal meaning, not just with a loose generosity. Whilst we encourage a charitable consideration to be given to all of the associated kingdoms, the issue here is of those individual souls who remain with the world, but are kept from the physical existence - never incarnating, never dying also, manifesting in the etheric world as beings in kind from a long ago time.

When the gates closed to the worldly intake, there were as many men held back as there were those who went forth. Nature holds reserves everywhere. Innocence of a kind ensures a continuation - although in this instance we have parallel evolutions occurring also.

Admittedly our difficulty here lies in the word 'elemental' insofar as it is used with many differing applications. It does of course, actually mean 'a being of the nature', which can be an astral thought-form, an etheric deva, a spirit of the ethers, of the fire, of the water, of the earth (or their lower counterparts), into the 'higher' spheres, and so forth.

Claims to authority are impotent when there is no resounding reality to substantiate them. The matters either are, or are not - and each may decide this for himself. We can equal ourselves with others if we love well, and become comforters, servants in kind. Perhaps this more gentle perspective appears deflationary, but it is not. Love enters in and wins when will cannot.

Though the fiery action of the Divine Will and all lesser wills that pursue their course, is awesome in its glory, will lives in obeisance to Love first and foremostly. Therefore the true path to empowerment lies not in the contentions of will and in privilege, but rather in he who loves best loves most. If this is considered a 'side path ' to some, then they must ask which path indeed, they are then on.

'Spiritual baubles'? It takes real balls to love well!
Amen!

- B.Hive 

Imagine certain secret societies carrying on a form of ceremonial magic directed towards its grey or black aspects. Imagine they influence their members in a way that affects even their physical body, even the delicate vibrations and weavings of their physical body, so that something spiritual flows into this physical body.
       What is the consequence? The consequence is that something now comes about which was suitable in earlier periods of human evolution but is no longer permissible today. Such procedures make it possible for the spiritual world to influence those human beings who participate, even though they do not turn towards it along the path I have described. This means that it becomes possible for the dead, as well as other spirits, to influence the members of a circle created by ceremonial magic. In this way today's materialism can be made hypermaterialistic.

*****

 This is that the more a person gains by way of materialistic immortality, or rather ahrimanic immortality, the more he loses of the consciousness of true, genuine immortality. Yet materialism has taken such a hold on many souls today that they remain unconcerned about this and are tricked into striving for ahrimanic immortality. It could indeed be said that societies exist today which, from a spiritual or occult point of view, could be called 'insurance companies for ahrimanic immortality'!

-Rudolf Steiner