Filename: RC1029.TXT
Source: "The Mystical Interpretation of Christmas" by Max Heindel

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     SIX DISSERTATIONS UPON THE SUBJECT OF CHRISTMAS SHOWING THE OCCULT
                    SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS GREAT EVENT:

                                   PREFACE:

   The contents of this book were sent in lesson form to students from  time
to time by the author.  They comprise six of his ninety-nine epistles.   The
principal  feature  of these lessons is the mystic birth and  death  of  the
great  Christ Spirit,  given from the viewpoint of a seer.   The author  re-
ceived these rare gems of truth through divine illumination.   The most pro-
nounced materialist must become convinced of the divinity of man after read-
ing  this writer's revelations on the inner significance of the  Christ  and
the principles which He proclaimed.

   Seventeen of the ninety-nine lessons have been printed in book form under
the title, "The Web of Destiny";nine have been published under  the  heading
of "Freemasonry And Catholicism"; nineteen on "The Mysteries  Of  The  Great
Operas"; and twenty-four under the title "Gleanings Of A  Mystic."  The  re-
mainder  will appear later in a second volume of "Gleanings."

   We  hope that the perusal of this volume on the holy life of Christ  will
stimulate  a  greater  veneration  for  the  Christian  religion,  now  made

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acceptable  to  the reason through the inspired work of this  author,  whose
greatest  aim  while he lived was to bring the Christ ideal and  the  simple
life of service closer to the hearts of the people.

                                                          --Mrs. Max Heindel
October 28, 1920

                    THE COSMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS:

   Once more in the course of a year we are upon the eve of Christmas.   The
view which each of us takes of this festival is dissimilar to that of  every
one else.   To the devout religionist it is a season hallowed,  sacred,  and
fraught with mystery, none the less sublime because uncomprehended.   To the
atheist  it  is a silly superstition.   To the purely intellectual it  is  a
puzzle, for it is beyond reason.

   In the churches the story is recited of how upon this,  the holiest night
of the year, our Lord and Savior, immaculately conceived, was born of a vir-
gin.   No further explanation is made;  the matter is left to acceptance  or
rejection  by the hearer according to his temperament.   If mind and  reason
dominate him to the exclusion of faith, if he can believe nothing which can-
not be demonstrated to the senses at any moment,  he is forced to reject the
tale as absurd and out of consonance with various immutable laws of nature.

   Various interpretations have been given to satisfy the mind,  these prin-
cipally of an astronomical nature.   They have set forth how,  on the  night
between  the  24th  and  the 25th of December, the sun commences its journey

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from the south to the north.  He is the "Light of the World."  Cold and fam-
ine  would inevitably exterminate the human race if the sun remained  always
in the south.  Therefore it is a cause for great rejoicing when he commences
his northward journey.  He is then hailed as "savior," for he comes "to save
the world,"  to give it "the bread of life,"  as he ripens grain and  grape.
Thus "he gives his life"  upon the cross(ing) of the equator (at the  spring
equinox),  and then commences his ascent into the (northern) heaven.  On the
night  when he commences his northward journey the zodiacal sign Virgo,  the
celestial virgin,  the "Queen of Heaven," stands upon the eastern horizon at
midnight,  and is therefore,  astrologically speaking,  his  "rising  sign."
Thus  he  is  "born of a virgin"  without other  intermediary,  hence,  "im-
maculately conceived."

   This  explanation may satisfy the mind regarding the ORIGIN of  the  sup-
posed superstition, but the aching void which is in the heart of every skep-
tic, whether he is aware of the fact or not, must remain until the spiritual
illumination  is attained which shall furnish an explanation  acceptable  to
both heart and mind.   To shed such light upon this sublime mystery shall be
our  endeavor in the following pages.   The immaculate conception will  form
the  topic of a future lesson;  just now we will show how the  material  and
spiritual forces alternately ebb and flow in the course of the year, and why

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Christmas is truly a "holy day."

   Let us say that we subscribe to the astronomical interpretation as  being
as valid from its point of view,  as the following is true when viewing  the
mystery-birth from another angle.   The sun is born from year to year in the
darkest  night.   The world-saving Christ are also born when  the  spiritual
darkness of mankind is the greatest.  There is a third aspect of supreme im-
portance,  namely,  that it is no mere idle foolishness when Paul speaks  of
Christ  being  "formed  in  you."   It is a sublime fact  that  we  are  all
Christs-in-the-making,  and the sooner we realize that we must cultivate the
Christ WITHIN before we can perceive the Christ without,  the more we  shall
hasten the day of our spiritual illumination.   In this connection we  again
quote  our  favorite aphorism from Angelus Silesius, whose sublime spiritual
perception caused him to say:

   "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
   And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn;
   The Cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain,
   Unless within thyself it be set up again."

   At  the SUMMER SOLSTICE in June the earth is furthest from the  sun,  but
the solar ray strikes the  earth  at  nearly RIGHT ANGLES to its axis in the

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Northern Hemisphere,  hence the high degree of PHYSICAL ACTIVITY  resulting.
Then  the SPIRITUAL radiations from the sun are OBLIQUE to this part of  the
earth, and are as weak as the physical rays when they are oblique.

   At the WINTER SOLSTICE,  on the other hand, the earth is nearest the sun.
The  spiritual rays then fall at right angles to the earth's surface in  the
Northern Hemisphere,  PROMOTING SPIRITUALITY, while physical activities  are
held  in  abeyance on account of the oblique angle at which the  solar  rays
strike the surface of the earth.  On this principle, the physical activities
are  at their lowest ebb and the spiritual forces reach their highest  tidal
flow on the night between the 24th and 25th of December,  which is therefore
the most "holy night"  of the year.  Midsummer,  on the other hand,  is  the
sporting time of the earth-goblins and similar entities concerned in the ma-
terial development of our planet,  as shown by Shakespeare in his  MIDSUMMER
NIGHT'S DREAM.

   If we swim with the tide at the time when it is strongest, we shall cover
a greater distance with less effort than at any other time.   It is of great
importance  to the esoteric student to know and understand the  particularly
favorable conditions which prevail at Yule-tide.   Let us follow Paul's  ex-
hortation  in  the 12th chapter of Hebrews and throw aside  every  hampering
weight as do men who are running a race.  Let  us  strike  while the iron is

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hot;  let us specially bend all our energies at this time to  spiritual  en-
deavor,  and we shall reap a harvest such as we cannot obtain at  any  other
time of the year.

   Let  us  remember also that self-improvement is not our  first  consider-
ation.  We are disciples of Christ.  If we aspire to distinction, let us re-
member  that He said:   "Let him who would be the greatest among you be  THE
SERVANT of all."   There are much sorrow and suffering around us;  there are
many lonely and aching hearts in our circle of acquaintances.   Let us  seek
them out in an unobtrusive manner.  At no time of the year will they be more
amenable to our advances than just now.  Let us strive to spread sunshine in
their path.  Thus we shall earn their blessings and the blessings of our El-
der  Brothers.   The  resulting vibrations in turn will  cause  a  spiritual
growth not to be attained in any other way.

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           SPIRITUAL LIGHT--THE NEW ELEMENT AND THE NEW SUBSTANCE:

   Last  year our correspondence course in Mystic Christianity  was  started
with a lesson on Christmas from the cosmic point of view.   It was explained
that the summer and winter solstices together with the vernal and fall equi-
noxes form turning points in the life of the Great Earth Spirit,  as CONCEP-
TION  MARKS the commencement of the human spirit's descent into the  earthly
body, resulting in BIRTH, which inaugurates the period of growth until MATU-
RITY is reached.   At that point an epoch of mellowing and ripening has  its
inception, together with a decline of the physical energies which terminates
in  DEATH.   That event frees man from the trammels of matter and ushers  in
the  season of spiritual metabolism whereby our harvest of  earthly  experi-
ences is transmuted to soul powers,  talents,  and tendencies,  to be put to
usury in future lives,  that we may grow more abundantly rich in such  trea-
sures,  and  be  found worthy as "faithful stewards"  to  fill  greater  the
greater posts among the servants in the Father's House.

   This illustration rests upon the secure foundation  of  the  great law of

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analogy,  so tersely expressed in the hermetic axiom, "As above,  so below."
Upon this,  the master-key to all spiritual problems,  we shall also  depend
for an "open sesame" to our lesson on Christmas this year, which we hope may
correct, confirm, or complete previous views of the part of our students, as
each requires.

   The bodies originally crystallized in the terrible temperature of Lemuria
were too hot to contain sufficient moisture to allow the spirit free and un-
restricted access to all parts of the anatomy, as it has at present by means
of circulating blood.  Later, in early Atlantic they had, indeed, blood, but
it  moved only with difficulty and would have dried quickly because  of  the
high internal temperature,  save for the fact that an abundance of  moisture
was supplied by the watery atmosphere which then prevailed.   Inhalation  of
this solvent gradually lessened the heat and softened the body until a  suf-
ficient  quantity of moisture could be retained within to allow of  respira-
tion in the comparatively dry atmosphere which later obtained.

   The earlier Atlantean bodies were of a grained and stringy substance, not
unlike  our  present  tendons  and  also  resembling  wood,   but  in   time
flesh-eating  enabled man to assimilate sufficient albumen to build  elastic
tissue necessary for the formation of lungs and arteries so as to allow  un-
restricted  circulation  of  the  blood,  such  as  now obtains in the human

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system.   By the time these changes within and without had taken place,  the
grand and glorious seven-colored bow appeared in the rain-laden sky to  mark
the advent of the KINGDOM OF MEN,  where conditions were to be as varied  as
the  hues  into which its atmosphere refracted the unicolored light  of  the
sun.   Thus  the first appearance of the bow in the clouds marked  the  com-
mencement  of the Noachian age with its alternating seasons and  periods  of
which Christmas is one.

   The  conditions  prevailing in this age are not permanent,  however,  any
more than those of previous ages.  The process of condensation which  trans-
formed the fire fog of Lemuria into the dense moist atmosphere of  Atlantis,
and  later  liquefied it into the water which flooded the  cavities  of  the
earth and drove mankind into the highlands, is still going on.  Both the at-
mosphere and our own physiological condition are changing,  heralding to the
seeing eye and the understanding mind the dawn of a new day upon the horizon
of time, an age of unification called in the Bible the KINGDOM OF GOD.

   The Bible does not lease us in doubt concerning the changes.  Christ said
that as it was in the days of Noah so should it be in the coming day.   Sci-
ence  and invention are both now finding conditions not previously met.   It
is  a scientific fact that oxygen is being consumed at an alarming  rate  to
feed the fires of industry; forest fires are also  drawing  enormously  upon

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our stock of this important element, besides adding to the drying-up process
which  the  atmosphere  is naturally undergoing.   Eminent  scientists  have
pointed out that a day must come when the globe cannot sustain life  depend-
ing  upon water and air for existence.   Their ideas have not  excited  much
anxiety as the day they have named is so far in the future;  but though  the
day be distant,  the doom of Aryana is as inevitable as that of the  flooded
Atlantis.

   Could  an  Atlantean be transferred to our atmosphere,  he would  be  as-
phyxiated as are fish taken from their native element.  Scenes viewed in the
Memory  of Nature prove that the pioneer aviators of that time actually  did
faint when they encountered one of the air streams which gradually descended
upon the land that they inhabited, and their experiences caused much comment
and speculation.  The aviators of today are already encountering the new el-
ement  and  experiencing  asphyxia as did our Atlantean  forbears,  and  for
analogous  reasons--they  have  encountered A NEW  ELEMENT  descending  from
above,  which will take the place of oxygen in our atmosphere.   There is  A
NEW  SUBSTANCE also entering the human frame which will  supersede  albumen.
Moreover,  as the aviators of ancient Atlantis fainted and were prevented by
descending  air  currents from entering Aryana,  the promised  land,  prema-
turely,  so will the new element baffle  present-day  aviators  as  well  as

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mankind  in  general until all have learned to assimilate its  material  as-
pects.   And as the Atlanteans whose lungs were undeveloped perished in  the
flood, so will also the new age find some without the "wedding garment"  and
therefore  unfit to enter until they shall have qualified at a  later  time.
It is therefore of the greatest importance to all to know about the new  el-
ement and the new substance.   The Bible and science combined furnish  ample
information upon the subject.

   We have stated before that in ancient Greece,  religion and science  were
taught  in the mystery temples,  together with the fine arts and crafts,  as
one united doctrine of life and being, but that this condition is now tempo-
rarily abrogated to facilitate certain phases of development.   The unity of
religious and scientific language in ancient Greece made these matters  com-
paratively easy of comprehension,  but today complications have set in owing
to  the  fact that religion has TRANSLATED and  science  merely  TRANSFERRED
their terms from the original Greek, which has caused many seeming disagree-
ments  and  a loss of the link between the discoveries of  science  and  the
teachings of religion.

   To  arrive at the desired knowledge concerning physiological changes  now
going  on in our system,  we may call to mind the teachings of science  that
the frontal lobes of the brain are among the most recent developments of the

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human  structure,  and make that organ in man enormously larger  proportion-
ately than in any other creature.   Now let us ask ourselves:   Is there  in
the brain any substance peculiar to that organ, and, if so,  what may be its
significance?

   The first part of the question may be answered by reference to any scien-
tific   textbook   bearing   upon   the   subject,    but  "The  Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception" on page 452 gives more, and we quote from it as follows:

   The  brain....is build of the same substances as are all other  parts  of
the body,  WITH THE ADDITION OF PHOSPHORUS,  which is peculiar to the  brain
alone.   The logical conclusion is that phosphorus is the particular element
by  means of which the Ego is able to express thought....The proportion  and
variation  of this substance are found to correspond to the state and  stage
of  intelligence  of the individual.  Idiots have  very  little  phosphorus,
shrewd  thinkers have much....It is therefore of great importance  that  the
aspirant who is to use his body for mental and spiritual work should  supply
his brain with the substance necessary for that purpose.

   The indisputable religiousness of Catholics is partly traceable to  their
practice of eating fish on Fridays and during Lent,  which are rich in phos-
phorus.    Though   fish  are  a  low  order  of   life,  "The   Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception" does not approve of killing them but refers the student to
certain  vegetables as a means of PHYSICALLY obtaining an abundance of  this
desirable substance.   There are other and better ways not mentioned in  the
"Cosmo-Conception," as it would have been a digression there.

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   It  was  not by chance that teachers of the Grecian Mystery  School  thus
named that luminous substance which we know as phosphorus.   To them it  was
patent that "God is LIGHT"--the Greek word is PHOS.  They therefore most ap-
propriately named the substance in the brain which is the avenue of  ingress
of the divine impulse, PHOS-PHORUS; literally, "light bearer."   In the mea-
sure  that we are capable of assimilating that substance,  we become  filled
with  light and commence to shine from within,  a halo surrounding us  as  a
mark of sainthood.  The phosphorus, however, is only a physical medium which
enables the spiritual light to express through the physical brain, the light
itself being the product of soul growth.   But soul growth enables the brain
to  assimilate an increasing amount of phosphorus;  hence the method of  ac-
quiring this substance in large quantity is not by chemical metabolism,  but
by an alchemical process of soul growth,  thoroughly explained by Christ  in
His discourse to Nicodemus:

   God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the  world to condemn the world...He that
believeth on Him is not condemned:   but he that believeth not is  condemned
already...And this is the condemnation,  that light is come into the  world,
and  men  loved darkness rather than light...For every one that  doeth  evil
hateth the light,  neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be re-
proved.   But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest, that they are wrought in God.  (John 3:17-21.)

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   Christmas is the season of greatest spiritual light.   During this age of
alternating  cycles there is an ebb and flow of the spiritual light as  well
as  of the waters in the ocean.  The early Christian church marked the  con-
ception in the fall of the year,  and to this day the event is celebrated in
the  Catholic  church when the great wave of spiritual life and  light  com-
mences its descent into the earth.   The flood tide is reached at Christmas,
which  is therefore truly the holy season of the year,  the time  when  this
spiritual  light  is most easily contacted and specialized by  the  aspirant
through deeds of mercy,  kindness, and love.   Nor are opportunities lacking
to even the poorest,  for,  as so often emphasized in the Rosicrucian teach-
ings,  service counts more than financial assistance,  which may be a detri-
ment to the recipient.   From those,  however,  to whom much is given,  much
will be required,  and if any one has been blessed with an abundance of  the
world's goods,  A CAREFUL DISPENSATION OF THE SAME would necessarily  accom-
pany whatever physical service he may render.   Let us further remember  the
words of the Christ:   "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren,  ye have done it unto me."   Thus we shall follow Him  as
burning and shining lights, showing the way to the New Era.

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                       THE ANNUAL SACRIFICE OF CHRIST:

   Have you ever stood by the bedside of a friend or relative who was  about
to pass out of this world and into the beyond?   Most of us have,  for where
is the house that has not been entered by Father Time?   Neither is the fol-
lowing phase of the occurrence, to which we would particularly direct atten-
tion,  uncommon.   The person about to pass out very often falls into a stu-
por,  then awakens and sees not only this world but the world into which  he
is about to enter;  and it is very significant that then he sees people  who
were  his  friends or relatives during the earlier part of  his  life--sons,
daughters,  a wife, anyone in fact near and dear to him--standing around the
bedside and awaiting his crossing over.  The mother will fondly stretch  out
her arms:   "Why, there is John, and how big he has grown!   What a splendid
big boy he is!"  And so she will recognize one after another of her children
who have passed into the beyond.  They are assembled at her bedside, waiting
for  her to join them,  actuated by the same feeling that  possesses  people
were when  a  child is about to be born into this world, making them rejoice

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at  the new arrival because they feel instinctively that it is a friend  who
is coming to them.

   So,  also,  the people who have gone before into the beyond gather when a
friend is about to cross the border line and join them on the other side  of
the veil.  Thus we see that the birth into one world is death from the view-
point  of  another--the  child that comes to us has died  to  the  spiritual
world,  and  the person who passes out of our ken into the beyond  and  dies
here is born into a new world and joins his friends there.

   As above,  so below;  the law of analogy, which is the same for microcosm
and  macrocosm,  tells us that what befalls human beings under given  condi-
tions  must also apply to the superhuman under analogous circumstances.   We
are now approaching the winter solstice,  the darkest days of the year,  the
time  when the light of the sun has almost faded,  when our  Northern  Hemi-
sphere  is  cold and drear.   But on the longest and darkest night  the  sun
turns on its upward path,  the Christ light is born on the earth again,  and
all  the world rejoices.   By the terms of our analogy,  however,  when  the
Christ  is born on earth He dies to heaven.   As the free spirit is  at  the
time of birth finally and firmly encased in the veil of flesh which  fetters
it all through life, so also the Christ Spirit is fettered and hampered each
time He is born into the earth.  This great Annual Sacrifice begins when our

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Christmas bells are ringing, when our joyful sounds of praise and thanksgiv-
ing are ascending to heaven.  Christ is imprisoned in the most literal sense
of the word from Christmas to Easter.

   Men  may  scorn the idea that there is an influx of  spiritual  life  and
light at this time of the year, nevertheless the fact remains whether we be-
lieve it or not.   Every one in the whole world at this time feels  lighter,
feels  different,  feels as if a load were lifted off  his  shoulders.   The
spirit of peace on earth and good will towards man prevails; the spirit that
WE  ALSO  WOULD GIVE something expresses itself in  Christmas  gifts.   This
spirit is not to be denied,  as is patent to anyone who is at all observant;
and this is a reflex of the great divine wave of giving.   God so loved  the
world that He gave His only or alone begotten Son.  Christmas is the time of
the giving, though it is not consummated until Easter; this is the crux, the
turning point, the place where we feel that something has happened which en-
sures the prosperity and continuance of the world.

   How  different is the feeling at Christmas from the one that is  manifest
at Easter!   At the latter there is an outgoing desire,  an energy which ex-
presses  itself  in  sex love with desire for perpetuation of  self  as  the
keynote; how  different  this is from the love which expresses itself in the

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spirit of giving that we find at Christmas time rather than that of  receiv-
ing.

   And look now at the churches;  never does the candle burn so brightly  as
upon this, the shortest and the darkest day of the year.  Never do the bells
sound  so festive as when they ring out their message to the waiting  world,
"The Christ is born."

   "God is Light,"  says the inspired apostle,  and no other description  is
capable  of  conveying so much of the nature of God as  those  three  little
words.   The invisible light that is clothed in the flame upon the altar  is
an apt representation of God,  the Father.  In the bells we have an apt sym-
bol of Christ, the Word, for their metal tongues proclaim the gospel message
of peace and good will,  while the incense brings an added spiritual fervor,
representing the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is thus symbolically
part  of the celebration which makes Christmas the most  spiritually  joyful
time of the year from the standpoint of the human race which is now embodied
and working in the physical world.

   But it must not be forgotten, as was said in an opening paragraph of this
lesson,  that the birth of Christ upon earth is the death of Christ  to  the
glory of heaven;  that at the time when we rejoice at His annual coming,  He
is  invested again with the heavy physical load which we  have  crystallized
about ourselves and which  is  now  our  dwelling place--the earth.  In this

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heavy body He is then encrusted, and anxiously He waits for the day of final
liberation.   You understand,  of course,  there are days and nights for the
greater spirits as for the human beings;  that as we live in our body during
the daytime, work out the destiny which we have created for ourselves in the
physical world, and are then liberated at night into the higher world to re-
cuperate,  so  also  there is this ebb and flow of the  Christ  Spirit.   It
dwells  within  our  earth a part of the year and then  withdraws  into  the
higher  worlds.   Thus Christmas is for Christ the commencement of a day  of
physical life, the beginning of a period of restriction.

   What  then should be the aspiration of the devout and enlightened  mystic
who  realizes  the greatness of His sacrifice,  the greatness of  this  gift
which  is being bestowed upon mankind by God at this time of the  year;  who
realizes  this sacrifice of the Christ for our sake,  this  giving  Himself,
subjecting Himself to a virtual death that we may live,  this wonderful love
that is being poured out upon the earth at this time--what should be his as-
piration?   What  but to imitate in however small a  measure  the  wonderful
works  of  God!   He should aspire to make himself more the servant  of  the
Cross than ever before,  more closely to follow the Christ in every thing by
sacrificing  himself  for his brothers and sisters,  by  uplifting  humanity
within his immediate sphere of work so as  to  hasten  the day of liberation

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for which the Christ Spirit is waiting,  groaning and travailing.   We  mean
the PERMANENT liberation, the day and the coming of Christ.

   To realize this aspiration in the fullest measure, let us go forth during
the  coming year with full self-reliance and faith.   If we have  heretofore
despaired of our ability to work for Christ, then let this despair pass, for
has He not said:  "Greater works than these shall ye do"?   Would He who was
the  Word of truth have said such things if it were not possible to  realize
them?   All things are possible to them that love God.   If we  will  really
work in our own little sphere,  not looking for the greater things until  we
have done the work close at hand,  then we shall find that a wonderful  soul
growth may be attained,  so that the people who are round about us shall see
in  us something which they may not be able to define but which will  never-
theless be patent to them--they shall see that Christmas light, the light of
the new-born Christ,  shining within our sphere of action.   It can be done;
it only depends upon ourselves whether we will take Him at His word so as to
realize this command:   "Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is
perfect."   Perfection  may seem a very long way off;  we may  realize  more
acutely  as  we look upon Him how far we are from living up to  our  ideals.
Nevertheless, it is by striving daily, hourly, that  we  finally attain, and

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every day some little progress can be made,  something can be done,  in some
way we can let our light shine so that men shall see it as a beacon light in
the darkness of the world.  May God help us during the coming year to attain
a greater measure of Christ-likeness than we have ever before attained.  May
we live such lives that when another year has rolled around and we again see
the  candle lights of Christmas and hear the bells that call us to the  Holy
Night service, we shall then feel that we have not lived in vain.

   EACH TIME WE GIVE OURSELVES in service to others we add to the lustre  of
our soul bodies,  which are built of ether.  It is the Christ ether that now
floats this sphere of ours, and let us remember that if we ever want to work
for His liberation, we must in sufficient numbers evolve our own soul bodies
to the point where they may float the earth.  Thus we may take up His burden
and save Him the pain of physical existence.

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                           THE MYSTIC MIDNIGHT SUN:

   Exoterically  the sun has been worshiped as the giver of life  from  time
immemorial,  because the multitude was incapable of looking beyond the mate-
rial  symbol of a great spiritual truth.   But besides those who adored  the
heavenly orb which is seen with the physical eye,  there has always been and
there is today a small but increasing minority,  a priesthood consecrated by
righteousness  rather than by rites,  who saw and see the eternal  spiritual
verities  behind  the  temporal  and evanescent  forms  which  clothe  these
verities  in changing raiment of ceremonial, according to the times and  the
people to whom they were originally given.   For them the legendary Star  of
Bethlehem shines each year as a Mystic Midnight Sun, which enters our planet
at the winter solstice and then commences to radiate from the center of  our
globe,  Life,  Light, and Love, the three divine attributes.   These rays of
spiritual  splendor and power fill our globe with a supernal light that  en-
velops  every one upon earth from the least to the greatest without  respect
of persons.   But all cannot partake of this wonderful gift in the same mea-
sure; some get more, some less, and some, alas! seem  to  have  no  share in

[PAGE 1059]

the great love offering which the Father has prepared for us in His only be-
gotten  Son,  because they have not yet developed the spiritual magnet,  the
CHRIST CHILD within, which alone can guide us unto the Way,  the Truth,  and
the Life.

         What profits it the Sun doth shine,
         Had I not eyes to see?
         How shall I know the Christ is mine
         Save through the Christ in me?

         That soundless voice within my heart
         Is earnest of the pact
         'Twixt Christ and me--it does impart
         To faith the force of FACT.

   This is a mystic experience which will not doubt ring true to many  among
our students, for it is as literally true as that night follows day and win-
ter  follows  summer.   Unless we have the Christ within  ourselves,  unless
thatwonderful  pact of blood brotherhood has been consummated,  we can  have
nopart  in the Savior,  and so far as we are concerned it would  not  matter
though the Christmas bells never ring.   But when the Christ has been formed
in ourselves, when the immaculate conception has become a reality in our own
hearts,  when we have stood there at the birth of the Christ child  and  of-
fered  our gifts,  dedicating the lower nature to the service of the  Higher
Self,  then and then only the Christmas feast is spread for us from year  to
year.  And the harder we have  toiled  in  the  Master's  vineyard  the more

[PAGE 1060]

clearly and distinctly shall we hear that soundless voice within our  hearts
issue the invitation:  "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.   Take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy  and
my burden is light."   Then we shall hear a new note in the Christmas  bells
such as we have never heard before,  for in all the years there is no day so
glad as the day when the Christ is born anew into the earth,  bringing  with
Him  gifts  to  the  children of men--gifts that  mean  the  continuance  of
physical  life;  for without that vitalizing,  energizing influence  of  the
Christ Spirit the earth would remain cold and drear,  there would be no  new
song of spring,  no little woodland choristers to gladden our hearts at  the
approach of summer; the icy grip of Boreas would hold the earth fettered and
mute forever, making it impossible for us to continue our material evolution
which is so necessary to teach us to use the power of thought in the  proper
creative channels.

   The Christmas spirit is thus a living reality to all who have evolved the
Christ WITHIN.   The average man or woman feels it only around the holidays,
but  the illumined mystic sees and feels it months before and  months  after
the culminating point on Holy Night.   In September there is a change in the
earth's atmosphere;  a light begins to glow in the heavens; it seems to per-
vade the whole solar universe; gradually it  grows  more  intense  and seems

[PAGE 1061]

to  envelop  our globe;  then it penetrates the surface of  the  planet  and
gradually  concentrates  itself in the center of the earth where  the  group
spirits  of  the  plants make their homes.   On Holy Night  it  attains  its
minimum  size and maximum brilliancy.   Then it begins to radiate the  light
concentrated,  and gives new life to the earth wherewith to carry on the ac-
tivities of nature during the coming year.

   This  is the beginning of the great cosmic drama "FROM THE CRADLE TO  THE
CROSS," which is enacted annually during the winter months.

   Cosmically  the sun is born on the longest and darkest night of the  year
when Virgo,  the Celestial Virgin,  stands upon the eastern horizon at  mid-
night to bring forth the immaculate child.   During the months next  follow-
ing, the sun passes through the violent sign of Capricorn where, mythically,
all  the powers of darkness are concentrated in a frantic endeavor  to  kill
the Light-bearer,  a phase of the solar drama which is mystically  presented
in the story of King Herod and the flight into Egypt to escape death.

   When  the sun enters the sign Aquarius,  the water-man,  in February,  we
have the time of rain and storms;  and as the baptism mystically consecrates
the Savior to his work of service,  so also the floods of moisture that  de-
scend  upon the earth soften and mellow it so that it may yield  the  fruits
whereby the lives of those who dwell here are preserved.

[PAGE 1062]

   Then  comes the sun's passage through the sign Pisces,  the  fishes.   At
this  time  the stores of the preceding year have been almost  consumed  and
man's food is scarce.   Therefore we have the long fast of Lent which mysti-
cally represents for the aspirant the same ideal as that cosmically shown by
the sun.   There is at this time the CARNE-VALE,  the farewell to the flesh,
for  everyone who aspires to the higher life must at some time bid  farewell
to  the lower nature with all its desires and prepare himself for the  pass-
over which is then near.

   In April,  when the sun CROSSES the celestial equator and enters the sign
Aries,  the Lamb,  the cross stands as a mystic symbol of the fact that  the
candidate to the higher life must learn to lay down the mortal coil and  be-
gin  the ascent of Golgotha,  THE PLACE IN THE SKULL;  thence to  cross  the
threshold into the invisible world.   Finally, in imitation of the sun's as-
cent into the northern heavens, he must learn that his place is with the Fa-
ther  and that ultimately he is to ascend to that exalted  place.   Further-
more,  as  the  sun does not stay in that high  degree  of  declination  but
cyclically  descends again toward the autumn equinox and winter solstice  to
complete the circle again and again for the benefit of humanity, so also ev-
eryone who aspires to become a Cosmic Character,  a savior of mankind,  must
be  prepared to offer himself as a sacrifice again and again for his  fellow
men.

[PAGE 1063]

   This is the great destiny that is before every one of us;  each one is  a
Christ-in-the-making,  if he will be,  for as Christ said to His  disciples:
"He  that  believeth  on  me,  the works that I do shall  he  do  also;  and
greater."   Moreover,  according to the maxim, "Man's necessity is God's op-
portunity,"  there never was so great an opportunity to imitate the  Christ,
to  do the work that He did,  as there is today when the whole continent  of
Europe  is  in the throes of a world-war and the grandest of  all  Christmas
carols,  "On earth peace,  good will toward men,"  seems to be further  than
ever from its realization.  We have the power within ourselves to hasten the
day of peace,  by talking, thinking, and living PEACE, for the concerted ac-
tion of thousands of people does carry an impression to the Race Spirit when
it is there directed, especially when the moon is in Cancer, Scorpio, or Pi-
sces,  which are the three great psychic signs best suited to occult work of
this nature.   Let us use the two and one-half days during which the moon is
in  each of these signs for the purpose of meditation upon  peace--peace  on
earth  and among men good will.   But in so doing let us be sure that we  DO
NOT TAKE SIDES for or against any of the battling nations;  let us  remember
at all times that everyone of their members is our brother.  One is entitled
to our love as much as another.   Let us hold the thought that what we  want
is to see UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD lived upon earth, namely, peace on earth and

[PAGE 1064]

among  men good will regardless of whether the combatants were born  on  one
side  or  the other of an imaginary line drawn upon the map,  regardless  of
whether they express themselves in this, that, or the other tongue.   Let us
pray that peace may come upon earth; everlasting peace,  and good will among
all men, irrespective of all differences of race, creed, color, or religion.
In the measure that we succeed in voicing WITH OUR HEARTS, not with our lips
only,  this  impersonal prayer for peace, shall we further  the  Kingdom  of
Christ,  for  remember  that  eventually that is  where  we  are  all  bound
for,--THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS where the Christ is "King of kings and Lord
of lords."

            THE MISSION OF CHRIST AND THE FESTIVAL OF THE FAIRIES:

   Whenever we are confronted by one of nature's mysteries which we are at a
loss  to explain,  we simply add a new name to our vocabulary which we  then
use in learned juggling to hide our ignorance of the subject.   Such are the
ampere which we use to measure the volume of the electric current,  the volt
which we say indicates the strength of the current, and the ohm which we use
to show what resistance a given conductor offers to the passage of the  cur-
rent.   Thus  by much study of words and figures,  the master minds  of  the
electrical science attempt to persuade themselves and others that they  have
fathomed  the mysteries of the elusive force which plays such  an  important
part in the world's work;  but when all is said and they are in a  confiden-
tial mood,  they admit that the brightest lights of electrical science  know
but very little more than the schoolboy who is just beginning to  experiment
with his cells and batteries.

   Similarly in the other sciences, anatomists cannot distinguish the canine
from  the  human  embryo  for  a long time, and while the physiologist talks

[PAGE 1065]

learnedly about metabolism,  he cannot escape the admission that the labora-
tory  tests whereby he endeavors to imitate our digestive processes must  be
and  are widely different from the transmutations undergone in the  chemical
laboratory of the body by the nourishment we take.  This is not said to dis-
parage or belittle he wonderful achievements of science but to emphasize the
fact    that    there   are   factors   behind   all    manifestations    of
nature--intelligences of varying degrees of consciousness,  builders and de-
stroyers,  who perform important parts in the economy of  nature--and  until
these agencies are recognized and their work studied,  we can never have  an
adequate conception of the way the nature forces work,  which we call  heat,
electricity,  gravity,  chemical action,  etc.  To those who have cultivated
the  spiritual sight,  it is evident that the so-called dead spend  part  of
their  time  in  learning  to build bodies under  the  guidance  of  certain
spiritual  hierarchies.   They are the agents in the metabolic and  anabolic
processes;  they are the unseen factors in assimilation, and it is therefore
literally  true that we should be unable to live save for the important  aid
from those we call dead.

   To grasp the idea of how these agencies work and their relation to us, we
may recall an illustration used in the"Cosmo": Suppose that a mechanic is at
work making a table, and a dog, which is an evolving spirit belonging to an-
other life wave, sits watching him.  It then sees the process of cutting the

[PAGE 1066]

boards;  gradually the table is formed from the material,  and at last it is
finished.  But though the dog has watched the man work, it has no clear con-
ception  of  how this has been done nor of the ultimate use  of  the  table.
Suppose  further that the dog were gifted with only a limited vision,  hence
unable  to perceive the workman and his tools;  then it would have seen  the
boards gradually falling apart in certain places,  then joined and assembled
in another manner until the table took shape and was finished.  It would see
the process of formation and the finished product but would have no  concep-
tion of the fact that the active agency of a workman was necessary to trans-
form the lumber to a table.  If it could speak,  it might explain the origin
of the table as Topsy did her own by saying that it "just growed."

   Our relation to the nature forces is similar to?  that of the dog to  the
invisible  workman,  and we also are apt to explain  nature's  mysteries  as
Topsy did.  We learnedly tell the child how heat from the sun evaporates the
water of the rivers and oceans,  causing it to ascend to the cooler  regions
of  the air where it condenses to clouds which finally become  so  saturated
with moisture that they gravitate towards the earth as rain to replenish the
rivers  and oceans and be again evaporated.   It is all perfectly simple,  a
nice automatic perpetual motion  process.  But is that all?  Are there not a

[PAGE 1067]

number of holes in this theory?   We know that there are,  though we can not
digress too far from our subject to discuss them.   One thing is lacking  to
fully explain it, namely, the semi-intelligent action of the sylphs who lift
the  finely  divided vaporized particles of water prepared by  the  undines,
from  the surface of the sea and carry them as high as they may before  par-
tial condensation takes place and clouds are formed.  These particles of wa-
ter they keep until forced by the undines to release them.   When we say  it
storms,  battles are being fought on the surface of the sea and in the  air,
sometimes  with  the  aid of salamanders to light  the  lightning  torch  of
separated  hydrogen  and oxygen and send its  awe-inspiring  shaft  crashing
zig-zag  through the inky darkness,  followed by ponderous peals of  thunder
that reverberate in the clearing atmosphere,  while the undines triumphantly
hurl the rescued raindrops to earth that they may be again restored to union
with their mother element.

   The little gnomes are needed to build the plants and the flowers.   It is
their  work to tint them with the innumerable shades of color which  delight
our  eyes.   They  also cut the crystals in all the minerals  and  make  the
priceless gems that gleam from golden diadems.   Without them there would be
no iron for our machinery nor gold wherewith to pay for it.  They are every-
where and the proverbial bee is  not  busier.  To the bee, however, is given

[PAGE 1068]

credit for the work it does,  while the little nature spirits that play such
an  immensely important part in the world's work are unknown save to  a  few
so-called dreamers or fools.

   At the summer solstice the physical activities of nature are at this apex
or zenith,  therefore "Midsummer Night" is the great festival of the fairies
who have wrought to build the material universe, nourished the cattle,  nur-
tured the grain, and are hailing with joy and thanksgiving the crest wave of
force which is their tool in shaping the flowers into the astonishing  vari-
ety  of delicate shapes called for by their archetypes and tinting  them  in
unnumbered hues which are the artist's delight and despair.

   On this greatest of all nights of the glad summer season they flock  from
fen  and forest,  from glen and dale, to the Festival of the Fairies.   They
really  bake and brew their etheric foods and afterwards dance in  ecstasies
of  joy--the joy of having brought forth and served their important  purpose
in the economy of nature.

   It is an axiom of science that nature tolerates nothing that is  useless;
parasites and drones are an abomination; the organ that has become superflu-
ous atrophies,  so does the limb or eye that is no longer used.   Nature has
work  to do and requires work of all who would justify their  existence  and
continue as part of her.   This applies to plan and planet,  man and  beast,
and to the fairies as well.  They have  their work to do; they are busy folk

[PAGE 1069]

and their activities are the solution to many of nature's multifarious  mys-
teries, as already explained.

   We  are  now at the other pole of the yearly cycle,  where the  days  are
short  and the nights long;  physically speaking,  darkness hangs  over  the
Northern Hemisphere,  but the wave of spiritual light and life which will be
the  basis of next year's growth and progress is now at its greatest  height
and  power.   On Christmas night at the winter solstice when  the  celestial
sign  of the Immaculate Virgin stands upon the eastern horizon at  midnight,
the sun of the new year is born to save humanity from the cold and the  fam-
ine which would ensue were its beneficent light withheld.   At that time the
Christ  Spirit is born into the earth and commences to leaven and  fertilize
the  millions  of seeds which the fairies build and water that we  may  have
physical food.   But "man shall not live by bread along."   Important as  is
the work of the fairies, it fades into insignificance compared with the mis-
sion of Christ,  who brings to us each year the spiritual food needed to ad-
vance  us upon the path of progress, that we may attain perfection  in  love
with all which that implies.

   It  is the advent of this wonderful love light that we symbolize  by  the
lighted lamps on the altar and the ringing of the Christmas bells which each
year announce the glad tidings of the  Savior's  birth, for to the spiritual

[PAGE 1070]

sense,  light and sound are inseparable;  the light is colored and the sound
is modified according to vibratory pitch.   The Christmas light that  shines
on earth is golden, inducing the feelings of altruism, joy,  and peace which
not even the great war could entirely obliterate.

   The war is past,  and as we always value that most which we have  missed,
it is to be hoped that all mankind will unite this Christmas in the songs of
songs "On Earth Peace, Good Will toward Men."

                             THE NEWBORN CHRIST:

   It has often been said in our literature that the sacrifice of Christ was
not  an event which took place on Golgotha,  and was accomplished in  a  few
hours  once and for all time,  but that the mystic births and deaths of  the
redeemer are continuous cosmic occurrences.  We may therefore conclude  that
this sacrifice is necessary for our physical and spiritual evolution  during
the  present phase of our development.   As the annual birth of  the  Christ
Child is now approaching, it presents again a never old,  ever new theme for
meditation  from which we may profit by pondering it with a prayer  that  it
may  create  in our hearts a new light to guide us upon the path  of  regen-
eration.

   The  apostle  gave us a wonderful definition of Deity when he  said  that
"God is Light," and therefore "light" has been used to illustrate the nature
of  the Divine in the Rosicrucian teachings,  especially the mystery of  the
Trinity in Unity.   It is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures of all times
that God is one and indivisible.   At the same time we find that as the  one
white light is refracted into three primary colors, red,  yellow,  and blue,
so  God appears in a threefold role during manifestation by the exercise  of
the three divine functions of CREATION, PRESERVATION, AND DISSOLUTION.

[PAGE 1071]

   When He exercises the attribute of CREATION, God appears as Jehovah,  the
HOLY  SPIRIT;  He is then Lord of law and generation and projects the  solar
fertility INDIRECTLY through the lunar satellites of all planets where it is
necessary to furnish bodies for the evolving beings.

   When  He exercises the attribute of PRESERVATION for the purpose of  sus-
taining  the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of nature,  God  ap-
pears as the Redeemer, CHRIST, and radiate the principles of love and regen-
eration DIRECTLY into any planet where the creatures of Jehovah require this
help to extricate themselves from the meshes of mortality and egoism in  or-
der to attain to altruism and endless life.

   When God exercises the divine attitude of DISSOLUTION,  He appears as THE
FATHER  who calls us back to our heavenly home to assimilate the  fruits  of
experience  and soul growth garnered by us during the day of  manifestation.
This Universal Solvent, the ray of the Father, then emanates from the invis-
ible Spiritual Sun.

   These divine processes of creation and birth, preservation and life,  and
dissolution,  death, and return to the Author of our being we see everywhere
about us,  and we recognize the fact that they are activities of the  Triune
God in manifestation.  But have we ever realized that in the spiritual world
there are no definite events,  no static conditions;  that the beginning and
the end of all adventures of all ages are present in the eternal "here"  and
"now"?  From the bosom of the Father there is an  everlasting  outwelling of

[PAGE 1072]

the seed of things and events which enters the realm of "time"  and "space."
There it gradually crystallizes and becomes inert, necessitating dissolution
that there may be room for other things and other events.

   There is no escape from this cosmic law;  it applies to everything in the
realm of "time"  and "space,"  the Christ-ray included.   As the lake  which
empties itself into the ocean is replenished when the water that left it has
been evaporated, and returns to its as rain to flow again ceaselessly toward
the sea,  so the Spirit of Love is eternally born of the Father, day by day,
hour  by hour,  endlessly flowing into the solar universe to redeem us  from
the world of matter which enmeshes us in its death grip.   Wave upon wave is
thus impelled outward from the sun to all the planets giving a rhythmic urge
to the evolving creatures there.

   And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense a NEW-BORN  CHRIST
that we hail at each approaching Yule-feast, and Christmas is the most vital
annual  event for all humanity,  whether we realize it or not.   It  is  not
merely a commemoration of the birth of our beloved Elder Brother, Jesus, but
the advent of the rejuvenating love-life of our Heavenly Father, sent by Him
to redeem the world from the wintry death grip.   Without this new  infusion
of  divine life and energy we must soon perish physically,  and our  orderly
progress would be frustrated so far as our present lines of development  are
concerned.  This  is  a  point  we  should endeavor to thoroughly realize in

[PAGE 1073]

order that we may learn to appreciate Christmas as keenly as we should;  and
we may learn a lesson in this respect, as in many others,  from our children
or from reminiscences of our own childhood.  How keen were our anticipations
of the approaching feast!  How eagerly we waited for the hour when we should
receive  the gifts which we knew would be forthcoming from Santa Claus,  the
mysterious  universal  benefactor who brought the toys of the  coming  year!
How  should we have felt had our parents given us the dismembered dolls  and
drums  of yester-year?   It would surely have been felt as  an  overwhelming
misfortune and would have left a deep sense of broken trust which even  time
would  have found it difficult to heal; yet it would be as nothing  compared
with  the cosmic calamity that would befall mankind if our  Heavenly  Father
should  fail to provide the new-born Christ for our Cosmic  Christmas  Gift.
The  Christ of last year cannot save us from physical famine any  more  than
last  year's rain can drench the soil again and swell the millions of  seeds
that slumber in the earth and await the germinal activities of the  Father's
life  to begin their growth;  the Christ of last year cannot kindle anew  in
our  hearts the spiritual aspirations which urge us onward in the quest  any
more than last summer's heat can warm us now.   The Christ of last year gave
us  His love and His life to the last breath without stint or measure;  when
He was born into the earth last Christmas,  He endued with life the sleeping
seeds which have grown and gratefully filled our granaries with the bread of

[PAGE 1074]

physical  life;  he lavished the love given Him by the Father upon  us,  and
when He had wholly spent His life,  He died at Easter-tide to rise again  to
the Father as the river, by evaporation, rises to the sky.

   But endlessly wells the divine love; as a father pitieth his children, so
doth  our Heavenly Father pity us,  for He knows our physical and  spiritual
frailty and dependence.   Therefore we are now confidently awaiting the mys-
tic birth of the Christ of another year laden with new life and love sent by
the  Father to succor us from the physical and spiritual famine which  would
ensue were it not for the annual love-offering.

   Younger  souls usually find it difficult to disabuse their minds  of  the
personality of God,  of Christ,  and of the Holy Spirit,  and some can  only
love Jesus, the man.  They forget Christ, the Great Spirit, who ushered in a
new era in which the nations established under the regime of Jehovah will be
broken to pieces that the sublime structure of Universal Brotherhood may  be
built  upon their ruins.   In time all the world will realize that "God"  is
spirit to be worshiped in "spirit and in truth."   It is well to love  Jesus
and to imitate him; we know of no nobler ideal and none more worthy.   Could
a nobler one have been found,  Jesus would not have been chosen as a vehicle
of that Great One,  the Christ, in whom dwelt the Godhead.   We shall there-
fore do well to follow "in His steps."  At the same time we shall exalt  God
in our own consciousness by taking  the word of the Bible that He is spirit,

[PAGE 1075]

and  that we cannot make any likeness which will portray Him for he is  like
nothing in heaven or on earth.   We can see the physical vehicles of Jehovah
circling as satellites around the various planets;  we can also see the sun,
which is the visible vehicle of the Christ; but the Invisible Sun,  which is
the vehicle of the Father and the source of all,  appears to the greatest of
human seers only as a higher octave of the photosphere of the sun, a ring of
violet blue luminosity behind the sun.   But we do not need to see;  we  can
feel His love,  and that feeling is never so great as at Christmas time when
He is giving us the greatest of all gifts, the Christ of the new year.

Continued with file "RC1030.TXT"

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