Filename: "RC1015.TXT"
Source: "Freemasonry & Catholicism" by Max Heindel

[PAGE 433]

           THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE--WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT IS MADE:

   Those who have studied the writings of the ancient alchemists have always
been  much mystified by what is said concerning the philosopher's stone  and
the  process of transmuting the base metals into gold.   These  claims  have
naturally  given rise to a great deal of vague speculation.   From  time  to
time,  students have asked for a direct statement from the writer concerning
this  subject  of  paramount importance,  and as we are  standing  upon  the
threshold of a new age where this precious jewel with all its power will  be
evolved and possessed by a considerable number of people, we feel that it is
important  to  divest the subject of all the mystery that surrounds  it  and
speak  in plain terms concerning the matter.   Then all who really  wish  to
take the trouble involved, for it involves arduous labor, nothing worth hav-
ing being ever gained without cost, may know how to make for themselves this
great gem.

   We  are  taught that in the beginning God created Heaven  and  Earth--the
whole  universe  in  fact,  and we understand that this great creative force

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expresses  itself either as WILL or IMAGINATION.   By imagination the  Great
Architect  of the Universe must first have visualized everything as  it  now
is, or as it was first created, and then by His will the physical atoms were
marshaled into this matrix of thought,  thus gradually bringing the universe
into  manifestation as designed by its creator.   Nor is this  process  com-
plete,  but will continue until the whole has become perfect  as  originally
designed.

   The divine Hierarchies who have carried out the plan of the great Creator
also  use  the same dual creative force when fashioning the crystal  in  the
mineral,  the leaf of the plant, or the shape of the animal.  Their powerful
imagination  pictures in the archetypal region of the earth that which  they
desire to create, and their concentrated will moulds the coarser matter into
this matrix until it assumes a definite physical form as desired.

   Man, the spirit, has a like creative power, and has through the ages, un-
der the guidance of the Gods, learned to build bodies of increasing value as
instruments for his expression.   But his pilgrimage through matter was  un-
dertaken for the purpose of making him an independent creative intelligence,
and  to attain that end it was necessary that he should at the proper  time,
be emancipated from the guardianship of the Gods,  so that he might learn to
create,  not only for himself,  but also to aid and to teach others  in  the
great School of Life.

   During  the  course  of  his evolution, Man has become more and more  en-

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lightened  concerning  the mystery of Life; but nevertheless,  it is only  a
few  hundred years ago when life and liberty were endangered by the  expres-
sion of opinions in advance of the commonly accepted views.  It was for this
reason  that the alchemists who had studied more deeply that  the  majority,
were  forced to embody their teachings in highly allegorical and  symbolical
language.   Their  teaching concerning the spiritual evolution of  man,  and
their use of the terms SALT, SULPHUR, MERCURY,  and AZOTH,  so mystifying to
the masses,  were nevertheless rooted in cosmic truths,  highly illuminating
to the Initiate.  The students of the Rosicrucian teachings who have learned
how  the  world came into being and the process of gradual  creation  should
have  no difficulty in properly understanding every part of the  alchemist's
language.

   We know in the first place,  that there was a time when Man-in-the-making
was a hermaphrodite,  male-female,  and able to create from himself,  and we
remember  also  that at that time he was like the plant in  other  respects.
His  consciousness  was like that which we possess in  dreamless  sleep  and
which  is possessed by the plant.   The vital energy which he absorbed  into
his  body  was used solely for the purpose of growing,  until  the  time  of
propagation came, when a new budding body was cast off to grow also.   There
was  no incentive to action,  but if there had been,  Man would have had  no
mind or will to direct it.

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   For  the emancipation of humanity from this negative condition,  one-half
of  the creative force was turned upward under the direction of  the  angels
for  the purpose of building a larynx and a brain,  that man might learn  to
create  by thought as do the divine Hierarchies,  and express  the  creative
thought in words.  Thus man ceased to be physically hermaphrodite and became
uni-sexual.   He can no longer create from himself PHYSICALLY as do the her-
maphrodite plants,  nor PSYCHICALLY as do the Elohim,  the male-female Hier-
archs,  in whose image he was originally made,  and thus he occupies at  the
present time,  an unenviable intermediate position between the plant and the
God.

   At  the  time when one half of the human sex force was diverted  for  the
purpose of building a brain,  men were helpless and lacking in knowledge  of
how  to overcome conditions.   They did not even have the  consciousness  to
know  that there was a difficulty,  and had no outside help been  given  the
race must have died out.   Therefore the Angels from the Moon,  who were the
guardians  of mankind,  herded the sexes together in great temples at  times
when  the interplantetary lines of force were propitious to propagation  and
thus  they perpetuated the race.   It was also proposed that when the  brain
had been completed,  the Lords of Mercury, Elder Brothers of our present hu-
manity who excelled in intelligence, should teach us how to use the mind and
make  it  truly  creative  so  that we would no longer be dependent upon the

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separate  sexual process of generation now in vogue.   Thus by the  work  of
these  two  great Hierarchies,  we were raised from unconsciousness  to  the
first stage of creative intelligence, FROM PLANT TO GOD.

   We  have also learned that this plan was frustrated by the Lucifer  Spir-
its,  stragglers from the humanity of the Moon Period,  who lived  upon  the
planet  Mars.   They needed a physical field of action,  but were unable  to
create  one for themselves,  hence for selfish reasons they taught  humanity
how  by cooperation of the sexes a new body may be created at any time;  and
in  order to give an incentive they instilled into mankind  the  animalistic
passionate nature which we now possess.

   Thus to the ancient alchemists,  the Angels from the Moon which rules the
saline tides of the sea were designated by the term "SALT."   They had found
that  a certain amount of salt in the blood is necessary to the mental  pro-
cesses, also that excess salt in the blood produces insanity, as best proven
by  the  experiences of shipwrecked sailors who become  LUNATICS  when  they
drink water containing the lunar element SALT.  Thus also they established a
connection between the Moon and mind.

   The  fiery  Lucifer Spirits who have taken such a baneful part  in  man's
evolution  became associated with the fiery element "SULPHUR."   The  alche-
mists  said that man is rendered unconscious and dies by continuous  inhala-
tion  of  this  element; so man, the spirit, was rendered unconscious of and

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dead to the spiritual realms by the teachings which were instilled into  him
by the Lucifer Spirits.

   The metal MERCURY, they contended, is the most elusive of all metals.  It
will  penetrate  and  evaporate through most substances  with  which  it  is
brought  in contact;  and therefore they likened it to the Lords of  Mercury
who are past masters in penetrating the secrets of nature by the mind.  Mer-
cury is also capable of freeing the spirit from its physical prison house.

   By  the process of GENERATION carried on at a propitious time  under  the
guidance of the Angels, man was treading the path from plant to God, follow-
ing the highway of evolution as originally planned.

   From this path he strayed into the byways of DEGENERATION, led by the Lu-
cifer  Spirits,  and is therefore now as it were in a slough from  which  he
cannot extricate himself save with the help of others further advanced  than
he.

   When  this becomes apparent to him and he starts to search for light,  he
stands  at the pathway of REGENERATION guarded by the Lords of  Mercury  who
with  their wisdom will guide him toward the desired goal.   The  method  as
outlined  by the ancient alchemists we shall discuss when we have summed  up
in a few words the points made.   These must be firmly fixed in mind to  ap-
preciate the full value of what follows.

   The  creative force used by God to bring a solar system  into  manifesta-
tion,  and  the  force  used  by the divine Hierarchies to form the physical

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vehicle  of  the  lower  kingdoms over which they  rule  as  group  spirits,
expresses itself in a dual manner as WILL and IMAGINATION,  and is the  same
as the UNITED creative force of the male and the female which results in the
creation of a human body.  At one time man was bi-sexual,  male-female,  and
therefore  each  was able to propagate his species without  assistance  from
anyone  else.   But one-half of the creative force has been temporarily  di-
verted  upwards to build a brain and larynx in order to enable him  sometime
to create by his own mind, to form thoughts and speak the word of power that
shall make his thoughts flesh.   Three great creative Hierarchies were  par-
ticularly  concerned  in bringing about this change:   the ANGELS  from  the
Moon,  the MERCURIANS,  and the LUCIFER SPIRITS from Mars.   The  Alchemists
connected the Angels from the Moon,  which rules the saline tides,  with the
element  SALT,  the Lucifer Spirits from Mars with the element SULPHUR,  and
the Mercurians with the metal MERCURY.  They used this symbolic presentation
partly because of the religious intolerance which made it unsafe to  promul-
gate any other teaching than that sanctioned by the orthodox church of  that
day,  and partly because humanity as a whole was not yet ready to accept the
truths which were embodied in their philosophy.  They also spoke of a fourth
element, AZOTH, a name composed of the first and last letters of our classi-
cal  languages  and  intended  to  convey  the  same  idea  as  "alpha   and
omega"--that of all-inclusiveness.  This referred to what we now know as the

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spiritual  ray of Neptune,  which is the octave of Mercury and which is  the
sublimated essence of spiritual power.

   The alchemists knew that the moral and physical nature of man had  become
gross and coarse on account of the passions inculcated by the Lucifer  Spir-
its,  and that, therefore, a process of distillation and refinement was nec-
essary  to  eliminate these characteristics and elevate man to  the  sublime
heights where the splendor of the spirit is no longer obscured by the coarse
coating which now hides it from view.  They therefore regarded the body as a
laboratory  and  spoke of the spiritual processes in chemical  terms.   They
noted  that these processes have their inception and their particular  field
of activity in the spinal cord that forms the link between the two  creative
organs,  THE  BRAIN,  which is the field of operation for  the  intellectual
Mercurians,  and THE GENITALS,  which are the vantage ground of the sensuous
and passionate Lucifer Spirits.

   This  tripartite spinal cord was to the alchemists the crucible  of  con-
sciousness; they knew that in the sympathetic section of the cord which gov-
erns the functions that have to do particularly with the upkeep and  welfare
of  the body,  the Lunar Angels were specially active and this  segment  was
therefore designated as the element SALT.   The segment governing the  motor
nerves  which expend the dynamic energy stored in the body by our food  they
saw  clearly  to  be under the dominance of the Martial Lucifer Spirits, and

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they,  therefore, named that segment SULPHUR.  The remaining segment,  which
marks and registers the sensations carried by the nerves, was named MERCURY,
because it was said to be under the dominance of spiritual beings from  Mer-
cury.   THE SPINAL CANAL, contrary to the ideas of anatomists, is NOT filled
with  fluid,  but with a gas that is like steam in that it may be  condensed
when exposed to the outside atmosphere,  but may also be super-heated by the
vibratory  activity of the spirit to such an extent that it becomes a  bril-
liant and luminous fire, the fire of purification and regeneration.  This is
the  field  of action of the great spiritual Hierarchy from Neptune  and  is
designated AZOTH by the alchemists.  This spiritual fire is not alike in ev-
ery man nor is it as luminous in one as in another.   The state thereof  de-
pends upon the spiritual advancement of the person in question.

   When the aspirant to the higher life had been instructed in these myster-
ies of symbolism and the time had come to speak to him plainly,  the follow-
ing  teachings were communicated to him, not necessarily in these words  nor
in this manner.   But at any rate he was given to understand and it was made
clear to him that--"anatomically man belongs to the animals,  and that below
that  kingdom in the scale of evolution are the plants.   They are pure  and
INNOCENT,  their propagative practices are untainted by passion,  and  their
WHOLE creative  force is turned UPWARDS toward the light, where it manifests

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as the flower, a thing of joy and beauty for all to behold.   Yet the plants
are unable to do otherwise, for they have no intelligence,  no consciousness
of  the outside world and no free-will in action.   They can only create  in
the physical world, however.

   "Above  man  in the scale of evolution are the gods,  creators  upon  the
spiritual and physical planes.  They also are pure as the plants,  for their
WHOLE creative force is also turned UPWARDS and is expended in whatever man-
ner their intelligence directs;  and knowing good and evil,  they always  do
good by choice.

   "Between the gods and the plant kingdom stands man,  a being endowed with
intelligence,  creative power and free-will to use it for good or  ill.   At
present,  however,  he is dominated by the passion instilled by the  Lucifer
Spirits and sends one-half of his creative force DOWNWARD from the light  to
gratify his senses.   In his innermost soul he realizes that this is  wrong,
and hence he hides his creative instinct in shame and is outraged when it is
dragged  into  the  light.   This condition must be  altered  ere  spiritual
progress  can  be made,  and,  therefore,  you must carefully  consider  the
similarity  between  the chaste plant and the pure spiritual gods  who  BOTH
TURN THEIR WHOLE CREATIVE POWER UPWARDS TOWARDS THE LIGHT.  In the course of
evolution you have risen above the plant,  which has creative power only  in
the physical world, and have become like the gods possessing creative power,

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on  both the mental and the physical planes of being,  besides  intelligence
and  free-will  to direct it.   This was accomplished by  the  diversion  of
one-half  of your sex-force UPWARDS for building a brain and larynx,  organs
which  are still fed and nourished by this uplifting half of the  sex-force.
But while the gods direct their WHOLE creative force to ALTRUISTIC  PURPOSES
by  the power of mind,  you still squander one-half of your divine  heritage
upon  desire and sense-gratification.   If, therefore,  you would become  as
they,  YOU MUST LEARN TO TURN YOUR WHOLE CREATIVE ENERGY UPWARD TO  BE  USED
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF YOUR INTELLIGENCE ENTIRELY.  Thus only can you become
as the gods and create from yourself by the power of your mind and the GREAT
WORD whereby you may speak the creative fiat.   Remember that PHYSICALLY you
were  once  hermaphrodite like the plant and able to create  from  yourself.
Look  into  the future now through the perspective of the past  and  realize
that  your present uni-sexual condition is only a temporary phase of  evolu-
tion and that in the future your WHOLE creative force must be turned UPWARDS
SO THAT YOU SHALL BECOME A HERMAPHRODITE SPIRITUALLY,  and thus able to  ob-
jectify  your  ideas and speak THE LIVING WORD which shall endue  them  with
life and make them vibrant with vital energy.  This DUAL creative force thus
expressed through the brain and larynx is the `ELIXIR-VITAE'  which  springs
from THE LIVING STONE of the spiritually hermaphrodite philosopher.  The al-
chemical process  of kindling and elevating it is accomplished in the spinal

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cord where the SALT, SULPHUR, MERCURY and AZOTH are found.   It is raised to
incandescence by high and noble thought,  by meditation upon spiritual  sub-
jects,  and by altruism expressed in the daily life.  The second half of the
creative  energy  thus  drawn upward through the spinal canal  is  a  SPINAL
SPIRIT-FIRE,  the  serpent of wisdom.   Gradually it is  raised  higher  and
higher  and when it reaches the pituitary body and the pineal gland  in  the
brain,  it sets them to vibrating,  opening up the spiritual worlds and  en-
abling man to commune with the gods.  Then this fire radiates in all  direc-
tions and permeates the whole body and its auric atmosphere, and man has be-
come a LIVING STONE, whose lustre surpasses that of the diamond or the ruby.
HE IS THEN THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE."

   There are many other symbols and similes taken from the world of  chemis-
try and applied to the processes of spiritual growth  which eventually makes
men  living stones in the temple of God.   But enough has been said  in  the
foregoing to show what was meant by the ancient alchemists by such terms and
the reason why they clothed their teachings in symbolical language.  The way
of initiation is,  however,  and has always bee open to anyone who really an
truly seeks for enlightenment and is willing to pay the price in the coin of
self-denial  and self-sacrifice.   Therefore,  seek the temple door and  you
shall find it;  knock and it shall be opened unto you.   If you SEEK prayer-
fully,  if  you  KNOCK  persistently  and  if you LABOR manfully you will in

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time reach the goal and you will BECOME The Philosopher's Stone.

                            CELIBACY AND MARRIAGE:

   In  order to avoid misunderstanding,  it should be said that this  lesson
was only given to the aspirant to discipleship to show him the reason why it
is necessary for him to live a pure and chaste life.   It does not apply  to
the  masses who have no spiritual aspirations and are as yet unable  to  re-
strain  their passions.   The Rosicrucians do not even advocate an  entirely
celibate  life for their pupils;  indeed they regard it as a religious  duty
for  the enlightened mystic,  man or woman, to wed a kindred spirit if  such
can  be found,  and thus furnish incoming souls a particularly  advantageous
opportunity for rebirth.   When such a devoted couple perform the generative
act  in  a spirit of aspiration to serve a waiting ego,  when  the  prenatal
conditions are pure mentally, morally and physically,  when the early child-
hood  days of the ego thus born are spent in a home atmosphere of  high  and
noble thought, both parents and children are making wonderful progress.  And
as  great  souls cannot be born to ignoble parents any more than  water  can
sink below its level,  it would, indeed, be very wrong for aspirants to dis-
cipleship to live an entirely celibate life for the sake of self-advancement
when conditions permit them to wed; furthermore, the expenditure of the cre-
ative force at the few times in a life when  it is LEGITIMATELY REQUIRED for

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propagation would not seriously interfere with the spiritual development un-
dertaken  to BECOME The Philosopher's Stone,  and the soul-growth gained  by
assuming the duties of parenthood would far outweigh any possible loss.

   What the Rosicrucians teach then is that marriage between people who will
limit  their use of the creative function to the purpose of  propagation  is
eminently good,  noble and productive of great soul-growth,  but that unmar-
ried aspirant should live an absolutely celibate life if they wish to attain
the highest.

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                           THE PATH OF INITIATION:

   In an earlier chapter we noted that the transition of the Adept from  the
dominion of death to the realm of immortality was foreshadowed in the daring
leap of Hiram Abiff, the Grand Master-Workman of Solomon's Temple,  into the
seething  sea  of molten metal and his passage through  the  nine  arch-like
strata   of the earth which form the path of Initiation.   We also  remember
that at the end of that journey Hiram Abiff, the son of Cain,  received from
his ancestor A NEW HAMMER AND A NEW WORD for use in the New Age.   According
to the Gospels we also find that Jesus,  the son of Seth,  immediately after
his descent from Golgotha entered the subterranean strata where he  remained
for  some  time  in communion with the spirits who dwell  there.   Thus  the
various  strata of the earth from the circumference to the center  form  the
path of Initiation, both for the sons of Seth and the sons of Cain, and that
is the reason why little or nothing is said of the inner construction of the
earth  in the multitude of books dealing with subjects of occultism.   Those
who  are  simply  psychics do not know, and those who do know are not saying

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much.  There is a chapter on the subject in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
which gives about all that one dares to tell,  and to that the reader is re-
ferred for further information than here given.

   The  path of Initiation is guarded in various ways.   While we  walk  the
earth in our physical bodies, we are drawn toward the center of the earth by
the force of gravitation; but our bodies being solid, that is to say, of the
same density as the material whereof our globe is composed, we are thus pre-
vented  from sinking through the earth by displacement as we would  sink  in
water,  or by interpenetration as we would pass through ether.   When  death
comes and we shed this so-called mortal coil,  we find ourselves in vehicles
that  are finer than the elements of the earth.   A person clothed in  these
finer  vehicles  could easily penetrate through the various  strata  of  our
globe to the center if there were no other obstacles.  Having shed the dense
body, he is no longer subject to gravitation, but to levitation, and on that
account he usually finds it sufficiently difficult to stay upon the  surface
of the earth.  Only during the first part of his post-mortem experience when
he  is  still loaded down with the coarsest ether and desire stuff  is  this
possible for him.   The more he has gathered of that denser substance by in-
dulgence  of his lower nature and cultivation of the habit  of  drunkenness,
covetousness, hatred, malice, immoral emotions, and disreputable vices,  the
easier it is for him to stay around low saloons, gambling houses,  red-light
districts,  and  kindred  places.  But  the  man  of  high  ideals and lofty

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aspirations,  who  would be the one likely to seek the path  of  Initiation,
feels  the impelling force of levitation drawing him outward into the  purer
strata of the air where the First Heaven is located, and is thus effectually
prevented from trespassing upon the path of Initiation.  Stories are told of
Initiates having overcome the law of gravitation in order to RISE IN THE AIR
at certain times for a definite purpose while still in the dense body.  Ini-
tiates are also taught how to suspend the law of levitation when they are in
their soul bodies, and how to pass through the nine strata of the earth.  It
is said that Jesus was the son of a carpenter, but the Greek word is TEKTON,
and means builder; ARCHE is the Greek name of primordial matter.  It is also
said  that Jesus was a carpenter (tekton) himself.   It is true,  he  was  A
TEKTON,  builder or Mason, a Son of God, the Grand ARCHETEKTON.   At the age
of THIRTY-THREE, when he had taken the three-times-three (9) degrees of Mys-
tic Masonry,  he descended to the center of the earth.   So does every other
TEKTON,  Mason  or PHREE MESSEN,  (CHILD OF LIGHT,) as the  Egyptian  called
such, descend through the NINE arch-like strata of the earth.  We shall find
at the time of the first advent of Christ both Hiram Abiff, the son of Cain,
and Solomon,  the son of Seth,  reborn to take from Him the next great  Ini-
tiation into the Christian Mysteries.

   In  the last chapter we saw while considering "The  Philosopher's  Stone"
that the spinal cord is the principal laboratory for the alchemist, and that

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the  SPINAL  SPIRIT FIRE,  generated by turning the  creative  force  upward
through the spinal canal,  passing it between the pituitary body and the pi-
neal  gland in the brain,  gives to man a third eye as it were wherewith  to
see in the spiritual worlds.  When this serpentine spirit fire has been suf-
ficiently evolved, he may read by its light the wisdom of the ages.   There-
fore  Christ  exhorted His Disciples to be wise as serpents.   The  Egyptian
word NAJA, which means serpent, is used at least once in the Hebrew Bible in
the 58th Psalm.  In ancient Egypt the Pharaohs were Kings and Priests, hold-
ing a double office, and they therefore wore a double crown with a URAEUS or
serpent  head  so placed that when wearing this crown the URAEUS  seemed  to
protrude from the Emperor's forehead between the eyebrows.   The  serpentine
Uraeus was therefore an apt symbol of the wisdom of the wearer.

   It  will  be  remembered that according to the Bible  story  the  Lucifer
Spirit appeared to Eve as a serpent, a son of Wisdom.  Cain according to the
Masonic legend,  was born from this union with Eve.   It is also stated that
the Lucifer spirit then left Eve, who thus became a widow, and Cain was thus
the son of the Lucifer Spirit,  the serpent of Wisdom,  and Eve,  the widow.
Every  Initiate to this day has the serpent symbol on his brow and is  known
to  his fellows by that token as a SON OF THE WIDOW AND THE LUCIFER  SPIRIT.
Therefore  we  shall  trace Hiram Abiff to his next embodiment by that mark,

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and  as evidence given by a party against his own interest  is  particularly
valuable according to law, we call special attention to the following points
gained from the Catholic Latin Testament:

   In  1st  Samuel 19,  King James Version, NAIOTH is spoken of as  a  place
where a school of prophets and seers dwelt, Samuel among others.   NAIOTH is
the feminine plural of NAJA,  a serpent,  which we have already mentioned as
being  an Egyptian word used in the Bible.   In the Latin version  the  same
place is spoken of as NAIM, and Eusebius says it was located near Endor, fa-
mous  as the abode of the witch,  through whose instrumentality  Saul  spoke
with  Samuel after the latter had passed on.   But it is not to be  supposed
that  NAIOTH  and NAIM are places, or that they were  used  interchangeably.
They  describe  two widely different classes of spiritually  gifted  people,
which the ancient Egyptians had marked by placing the URAEUS upon the  BROWS
of one and at the NAVELS of the other.  The latter were mediumistic persons,
receiving  impressions from spirit controls through the solar plexus.   They
were properly designated Naioth by the Hebrews who used the feminine  suffix
to indicate their negative qualities.  But the voluntary clairvoyant and the
Initiate,  represented by the Egyptians as having the serpentine  URAEUS  in
the  forehead,  were called NAIM by the Hebrews who used the male suffix  to
designate the positive spiritual faculty which they possess.   And the Latin
Catholic version of  the New Testament (Luke, chapter vii, verses 11 to 15,)

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speaks of the person raised by Christ as the widow's son of NAIN.

   As  the serpent is not fully unfolded until the ninth arch of the  Lesser
Mysteries has been passed and the candidates become aspirants to the Greater
Mysteries, and further because the Lodge of PHREE MESSEN (Children of Light)
of  Ancient  Egypt  are  now transferred to  the  various  branches  of  the
Anglo-Saxon race,  where the sound NAIN means "nine,"  the original word has
been corrupted to mislead all not entitled to the knowledge.

   But all things change on this terrestrial sphere,  and this applies  also
to  the  methods of Initiation and the requirements  thereof.   Hiram  Abiff
failed  in his great effort to make the molten sea at the time when  he  was
building Solomon's Temple, because he, the son of the fiery Lucifer Spirits,
did  not know how to blend the element fire with the water poured  into  his
mold by the sons of Seth, the creatures of the water God, Jehovah.   At that
time he was given A NEW HAMMER AND A NEW WORD.   The Hammer was in the  form
of a CROSS.   The Word was written upon a DISC,  before he was finally slain
by his adversaries.   And so he slept until as LAZARUS,  THE WIDOW'S SON  OF
NAIN, he was raised by THE STRONG GRIP OF THE LION'S PAW, the Lion of Judah.
Then the disc was found,  also the new cruciform Hammer,  and upon the  disc
the mystic symbol,  THE ROSE.  In these two symbols lie hidden the great se-
cret of life, the  blending  of  water and fire, as symbolized by the earth-

[PAGE 453]

born  fluidic sap ascending through the stem and calyx of the flower to  the
fire tinted petals,  born in the purity of the Sun, but still guarded by the
thorns of the martial Lucifer spirits.

   Exoteric MASONRY,  which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed  by
the Sons of Cain,  has in modern times attracted the MASCULINE element  with
its  positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them  in  industry
and STATECRAFT, thus controlling the material development of the world.  The
sons  of Seth,  constituting themselves the Priestcraft,  have worked  their
spell  over  the positive vital bodies of the FEMININE element  of  dominate
spiritual development.   And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Free-
masonry  and kindred movements,  have openly fought for the temporal  power,
the  Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more  effectively  by
stealth to retain their hold upon the spiritual development of the  feminine
element.

   To  the  casual onlooker it would seem as if there were  no  decided  an-
tagonism between these two movements at the present time; but though Freema-
sonry  of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self,  and  though
Catholicism  has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time,  in this  one
thing there is no difference, namely, that the war is as keen as ever.   The
efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses, however, as much
as upon those who are seeking to  live the higher life so that they may gain

[PAGE 454]

admission  to  the Mystery Temple and learn how to  make  the  Philosopher's
Stone.

   As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently
positively polarized,  giving to both sexes a greater desire for  spiritual-
ity,  and though we change from the masculine to feminine in  alternate  em-
bodiments,  positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more  pronounced
regardless of sex.   This accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism
which  is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great  war
we  are now fighting,  (1918) for all agree that the nations are seeking  to
obtain a LASTING PEACE where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the
spears into pruning hooks.   In the past, humanity has been claiming univer-
sal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to being
in  full  accord  with the Christ.   He said to His  disciples  "YE  ARE  MY
FRIENDS."   Among  brothers  and sisters,  hate and enmity  may  exist,  but
friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that.  Uni-
versal  Friendship is therefore the magic word which will  eventually  level
all distinctions,  bring peace upon earth and good will among men.   This is
the great Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the  New
Earth,  where  the  sons of Cain and the sons of  Seth  will  eventually  be
united.

[PAGE 455]

                ARMAGEDDON, THE GREAT WAR, AND THE COMING AGE:

   The  chart  shown  above  shows  that  there  was  an Age  when  humanity
lived in peace and happiness under the guardianship of a ruler who held  the
DOUBLE OFFICE of King and Priest,  being both temporal and spiritual head of
the DOUBLE SEXED human race.   He is called Melchisedec in the Bible  termi-
nology,  and  it  is said that he was King of Salem,  Salem  meaning  Peace.
Since  then humanity has been divided into TWO sexes,  male and female,  and
placed under the dual rulership of a King having dominion over their  tempo-
ral  affairs  and aiming to advance them by industry and STATECRAFT,  and  a
Priest, head of the priestcraft, exercising a SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY, in such a
manner as they considered for the ETERNAL good of their charges.

   The  statecraft  employed by the sons of Cain holds up  the  MALE  ideal,
HIRAM ABIFF,  the Master craftsman, the Son of FIRE,  while the sons of Seth
as priestcraft uphold the FEMALE ideal in the VIRGIN MARY,  the lady of  the
sea.

   Thus fire and water,  male and female,  Church and State,  are opposed to
each other, with the inevitable  result that a great war has been waged ever

[PAGE 456]

since the separation,  that sin, sorrow and death are rampant,  and that hu-
manity is praying for the day of redemption,  when the two streams shall  be
united  in the Kingdom of Heaven where there is NEITHER MARRYING NOR  GIVING
IN MARRIAGE, and where reigns Christ, the King of Peace, exercising the DUAL
office  of King and Priest after the order of Melchisedec,  for the good  of
all.

   But  this  new order can not come into existence in a day.   It  requires
ages of preparation,  not only of the land itself, but of the people who are
to inhabit it.  And in order to gain an idea of what that land is like,  and
how  the people are constituted,  it will be helpful to consider the  evolu-
tionary  career of humanity which has brought us the land where we  live  to
our present status; that will then give us the perspective to see what is in
store for us in the future.

   The  Biblical and occult traditions agree with science that there  was  a
time  when darkness brooded over the deep of space,  where the material  for
the coming earth planet was being gathered together and set in motion by the
Divine  Hierarchs;  that this stage was followed by a period of  luminosity,
when the dark cloud of matter had become a fire mist; that this was followed
by a period when the cold of space and the heat of the  planet-in-the-making
generated  an atmosphere of steam close to the fiery core and  mist  further
from the fiery center.  When the mist had cooled sufficiently, it fell again

[PAGE 457]

as rain upon the fiery core, to be re-evaporated, and this continued in end-
less cycles,  until by repeated boiling of the waters, an incrustation began
to  form around the fiery core.   Upon the islands of crust in the ocean  of
fire we first learn of humanity dwelling in solid physical bodies,  where of
course  very dissimilar to those we have today.   During the next stage  the
crust of the earth became sufficiently strong to cover the whole inner core,
and  humanity lived then in the basins of the earth,  in the land  of  mist,
which  was so dense that breathing was accomplished by means of gill  clefts
similar to those of the fishes and still seen in human embryo.

   When the mists of Atlantis commenced to settle,  some of our forbears had
grown  embryonic lungs and were forced to the highlands years  before  their
compeers.  Therefore they wandered in the wilderness while the promised land
as we know it today was emerging from the lighter fogs, and at the same time
their growing lungs were fitting them to live under the present  atmospheric
conditions.   Two more races were born in the basins of the earth after  the
pioneers  had left it.   Then a succession of floods drove them all  to  the
highlands.  The last flood took place when the Sun by precession entered the
watery sign Cancer about ten thousand years ago,  as told Plato by the Egyp-
tian Priests.  Thus we see that there is no sudden change of constitution or
environment for the whole human race when a new epoch is ushered in,  but an
overlapping  of  conditions  which  makes  it  possible  for the majority by

[PAGE 458]

gradual adjustment to enter the new conditions,  though the change may  seem
sudden to the individual when the preparatory work has been accomplished un-
consciously.  The metamorphosis of a frog from a denizen of the water to the
airy element give an analogy of the past emergence of humanity from the con-
tinent of Atlantis to the Rainbow Age of Aryana.   And the transformation of
an earth worm to a butterfly soaring the skies is an apt illustration of the
coming  change  from  our present state and condition to those  of  the  New
Galilee where the Kingdom of Christ will be established; and what the change
in the human constitution and environment is to be, may be seen by examining
the past conditions as outlined in the Bible,  which agrees with the  occult
traditions in the main points.   This New Heaven and New Earth is now in the
making.   When the heavenly time marker, the Sun, came into Aries by preces-
sion,  a new cycle commenced and the glad tidings were preached  by  Christ.
He  said by implication that the New Heaven and Earth were not  ready  then,
when  He told his disciples "whither I go,  you cannot NOW follow,  but  you
shall follow afterwards; I go to prepare a place for you and will come again
and receive you."   Later, John saw in a vision the New Jerusalem descending
from Heaven,  and Paul taught the Thessalonians BY THE WORD OF THE LORD that
those  who  are Christ's at His coming shall be caught up IN THE AIR to meet

[PAGE 459]

Him and be with Him for the Age.  This is in line with the tendencies  shown
by past developments.   The Lemurians lived very close to the fiery core  of
the earth.   The Atlanteans inhabited the basins somewhat further away  from
the center.   The Aryans were driven by the flood to the hilltops where they
are  now  living.   And analogously,  the citizens of the  coming  Age  will
inhabit the air.

   But  we  know that our dense body gravitates towards the  center  of  the
earth,  therefore,  a change must take place;  also Paul tells us that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.  But he also points out that
we have a SOMA PSUCHION (mistranslated natural body,) a SOUL BODY,  and this
is made of ether, which is lighter than air and therefore capable of levita-
tion.   This is the Golden Wedding Garment, the Philosopher's Stone,  or the
Living Stone,  spoken of in some of the ancient philosophies as the  Diamond
Soul,  for it is luminous, lustrous, and sparkling--a priceless gem.  It was
also  called  the ASTRAL BODY by the Mediaeval Alchemists,  because  of  the
ability it conferred upon the one who has it to traverse the starry regions.
But it is not to be confounded with the Desire Body which some of the modern
pseudo-occultists mistakenly call the Astral Body.   This vehicle,  the Soul
Body,  will  eventually be evolved by humanity as a whole,  but  during  the
change  from the Aryan epoch to the ethereal conditions of the New  Galilee,
there  will  be  pioneers who precede their brethren as the original Semites

[PAGE 460]

did in the change from Atlantis to Aryana.   Christ mentioned this class  in
Matthew,  11th chapter,  12th verse,  when He said:  "The Kingdom of  Heaven
suffereth violence,  and the violent take it by force."   That is not a cor-
rect translation.   It ought to be "The Kingdom of the Heavens has been  in-
vaded"  (the Greek is biaxetai,) "and invaders seize on her."  Men and women
already have learned through a holy,  helpful life to lay aside the body  of
flesh and blood, either intermittently or permanently, and to walk the skies
with winged feet,  intent upon the business of their Lord, clad in the ethe-
real wedding garment of the new dispensation.

   This change may have been accomplished through a life of simple  helpful-
ness  and  prayer as practiced by devoted Christians,  no matter  with  what
church  they  are affiliated if they follow the path of the  Sons  of  Seth.
Others  have  attained  by following the specific  exercises  given  by  the
Rosicrucians.  And thus the process of the unification of the two streams is
already  under way.   But the war between the flesh and the spirit is  still
raging  in the breast of most people as fiercely as it was in the days  when
Paul  gave vent to his pent up feelings, and told us how the flesh was  war-
ring  against  the spirit within himself,  and how he did the  wrong  things
which he would not do, and omitted good deed which he aspired so ardently to
perform.  Nor will the struggle ever cease for the Mystic Mason until he has
learned to build the Temple made without hands, which is not completed until

[PAGE 461]

he has come to the Eighteenth (1 plus 8) Degree,  which is the Degree of the
Rose  Croix.   This is the ultimate of the Thirty-third  Degree,  for  three
times three are nine,  and one plus eight are nine.   Nine being the highest
degree in the Lesser Mysteries, he who has passed this degree of the genuine
Mystic Order is then, and then only, the WIDOW'S SON OF NINE, or NAIN, ready
to  be  raised by the strong grip of the paw of the Lion of  Judah,  to  the
Kingdom  of  the Heavens,  there to receive the "well done,  thou  good  and
faithful servant,  enter into the joy of your Lord" for "Him that overcometh
will I make A PILLAR in the House of God,  thence he shall no more go  out."
He is then immortal, loosed from the wheel of Birth and Death.

                                   SUMMARY:

   In conclusion,  it may be well to sum up the points which have been  made
in these articles on Freemasonry and Catholicism,  it being understood  that
the  term "Catholicism"  as here used does not refer to the  Roman  Catholic
Church alone,  "Catholic" being taken in the sense of UNIVERSAL, so that the
term   includes  all  movements  inaugurated  by  the  Sons  of  Seth,   the
Priestcraft.

   The origin of the temporal and spiritual streams of evolution is as  fol-
lows:

   Jehovah created Eve, a human being.

   The  Lucifer  Spirit  Samael united with Eve and begat a semi-divine son,

[PAGE 462]

Cain.   As he left Eve before the birth of the child,  CAIN WAS THE SON OF A
WIDOW, AND A SERPENT OF WISDOM.

   Then Jehovah created Adam, a human being like Eve.

   Adam and Eve united and begat a child, human like themselves,  whose name
was Abel.  Jehovah, being the Lunar God, is associated with the water, hence
there was enmity between CAIN, THE SON OF FIRE, and ABEL,  THE SON OF WATER.
So Cain slew Abel and Abel was replaced by Seth.

   In time and through generations, the Sons of Cain became the CRAFTSMEN of
the  world,  skilled in the use of fire and metal.   Their ideal  was  MALE,
Hiram Abiff, the Master workman.

   The Sons of Seth, on the other hand, became the CHURCHMEN,  upholding the
FEMININE ideal,  the Virgin Mary, and ruling their people by the magic WATER
placed at their temple doors.

   Various attempts have been made to unite the two streams of humanity  and
emancipate them from their progenitors, Jehovah and the Lucifer Spirits.

   With  this end in view the symbolical TEMPLE was built according  to  the
instruction of SOLOMON, the Son of Seth and the Molten Sea was cast by HIRAM
ABIFF,  the Son of Cain; but the main object was frustrated as we have seen,
and the attempt at unification proved abortive.

   Moses,  the divinely appointed leader of the old dispensation,  afterward
reborn as Elijah,  guided humanity through its ages of infancy,  and was fi-
nally embodied as John the  Baptist, the herald of the new dispensation, the

[PAGE 463]

Christian  Era.   At the same point in time the other actors  in  the  World
Drama were also brought to birth that they might serve their brothers.

   At  the casting of the Molten Sea HIRAM ABIFF had been given the  baptism
of fire by Cain, which freed him from the LUCIFER SPIRITS; he was also given
a  new  Hammer and a new Word.   When the new Era dawned,  he  was  born  as
Lazarus,  the  widow's son of Nain,  and raised by the strong  grip  of  the
lion's paw to the rank of Immortals as Christian Rosenkreuz.

   SOLOMON,  the Son of Seth, was reborn as JESUS.  The BAPTISM OF WATER ad-
ministered by John as representative of Jehovah freed him also.   He yielded
his  body at that moment to the descending Christ Spirit and ranged  himself
with the new leader.

   Religion has been terribly tarnished in the course of time,  its pristine
purity  has  long since vanished under the regime of creed,  and  it  is  no
longer CATHOLIC, that is to say, UNIVERSAL.  Sects and "isms"  have branched
out in one direction and another,  but still JESUS from the invisible worlds
enfolds  in  his love all THE SONS OF SETH who will call upon  his  name  BY
FAITH, and he will eventually unite the scattered churches in the Kingdom of
Christ.

   CHRISTIAN  ROSENKREUZ was given charge of the Sons of Cain who  seek  the
light  of KNOWLEDGE at the sacred fires of the Mystic Shrine.   As the  cre-
ative energy implanted by  their  divine ancestor Samael caused Cain to work

[PAGE 464]

out  their own salvation through the fire of tribulation,  and  fashion  for
themselves the Golden Wedding Garment, which is the "Open Sesame" to the In-
visible World.   And though the cleansing blood of Jesus is an absolute  ne-
cessity  to millions of weaker brothers, there can scarcely be any  question
when  we assert that THE MORE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ENGAGE IN MYSTIC MASONRY  TO
CONSCIOUSLY BUILD THIS TEMPLE OF THE SOUL, THE SOONER WE SHALL SEE THE  SEC-
OND ADVENT OF CHRIST,  AND THE STRONGER WILL BE THE RACE WHICH HE SHALL RULE
BY THE LAW OF LOVE.

Continued with file "RC1016.TXT"

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