Filename: "RC1118.TXT"

             ROSICRUCIAN CHRISTIANITY DEVOTIONAL SERVICES:

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                            THE TEMPLE SERVICE:

                             (SUNDAY EVENINGS) 

                              THE OPENING HYMN:

                           Words by Max Heindel 

                     (Tune: "Sweet Hour of Prayer.") 

Each star that in its orbit goes
Law steadfast and eternal shows.
Expressions, are the stars, of God,
Unchangeable as ebb and flood.
The marching orbs in circle dance,
Trhough time and space each year advance.
The harmony of rolling spheres
Resounds in cosmos through the years.

Man's ignorance of Cosmic Law
Caused discord, then came death and woe;
Now trouble, sorrow, grief must reign
Till harmony prevails again.
We've met to study Nature's Law,
We seek eternal truth to Know,
And with such truth as we may find
We hope to serve and free mankind.

Let's strive to know that we may do.
What lifts, ennobles, is right and true.
With love to all and hate to none.
Let's shun no duty that should be done.
For knowing how to act aright,
And doing it from morn till night,
From day to day and year to year,
We conquer self and sin and fear.

With reason's torch we search for truth
To restore the harmony, life, and youth;
For reason's torch when thus applied
In wisdom's quest is safest guide.
If we persist, though oft we fail,
In time our efforts shall prevail
To end the discord and dispel
All evil with harmony's rhythmic swell.

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                             THE TEMPLE SERVICE:
 
             Order of the Sunday Evening Devotional Service

   1. Sing the Opening Hymn--four stanzas. (Distribute separate song cards
on seats before service.) 

   2. Unveil the Emblem.

   3. A member reads aloud the following TEMPLE SERVICE: 

MY DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS: 

   Once more we have withdrawn from the material world and are entering into 
the living temple of our own inner natures in spiritual conclave. As symbol of 
this withdrawl from the visible world we have darkened our meeting place.

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   We are looking for spiritual light along the lines of the Rosicrucian 
teaching, and we therefore reverently fix our eyes upon the Rose Cross while 
we listen to the Rosicrucian greeting:

   "My dear Sisters and Brothers: May the Roses bloom upon your Cross." 

   Response by People: "And upon yours, also."

   One coal will not make a fire, but where a number of coals are heaped 
together, the heat which is latent in each my be kindled into a flame, 
emitting light and warmth; and it is in obedience to the same law of nature 
that we have gathered here tonight, that by massing our spiritual aspirations 
we may light and keep ablaze the beacon light of true spiritual Fellowship, 
which is the balm of Gilead, the only panacea for thr world's woe.

   The Bible has been given to the Western World by the Recording Angels, who 
give to each and all exactly what they need for their development. They are 
above mistakes, and if we seek the Light, we shall find it there.

   Let us read from the first epistle of John, also from Paul's letters to the 
Corinthians and Philippians, where Fellowship is the theme:

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   God is Light; if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
Fellowship one with another. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, 
but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth 
because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

   Let us not love in WORD, neither in TONGUE, but in DEED and in 
TRUTH,...(for) though I speak with the tongues of mena nd of angels and have 
not LOVE, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I 
have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and 
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not LOVE, 
I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to the poor, and though I give 
my body to be burned, and have not LOVE, it profiteth me nothing.

   Love suffereth long an dis kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not 
herself, is not puffed up, doth not behave herself unseemly, seeketh not her 
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoices not in evil but in the 
truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and 
endureth all things.

   Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they sahll fail, and 
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For now we know in part and 

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we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfact is come, then that which 
is in part shall be done away. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but 
then face to face. Now we know in part; but then we shall know even as we are 
known. And now abideth Faith, Hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is 
Love.

   If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us. 
God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him; but 
if a man say, "I love God," and hateth his brother, he prevaricates, for he 
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he 
hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God 
love his brother also.

   If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort in love, if 
any Fellowship in spirit, look not every man on his own things but also on the 
things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who 
made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant, and 
was made in the likeness of man.

   And being found in fashion of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient 
unto death, even the death upon the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted 
him and given him a name that is above every name; that at the name of Christ 

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Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Christ 
Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

   My dear sisters and brother, let us strive to follow the example of Christ 
and live up to his definition of GREATNESS, namely, "He who would be the 
greatest among you, let him be the SERVANT of all."

   Loving, self-forgetting SERVICE to others is the shortest, the safest, and 
the most joyful road to God. The recognition of the fundamental unity of each 
with all, the Fellowship of the spirit, is the realization of God. To reach 
that realization let us endeavor each day to forget the often unprepossessing 
exteriors of our brothers and seek to serve the divine essence hidden within, 
which is the basis of Fellowship.

   We will now enter the silence together and concentrate on SERVICE for a few 
moments. 

                         ------------------

   (After the concentration the emblem is veiled, the lights are tunred on, 
and the lecture for the veening is delivered by a member who is of the 
opposite sex to the reader if possible.)
   
   4. Lecture

   5. At conclusion of lecture the reader returns to the platform and reads--

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Not more of Light we ask, O God, 
But eyes to see what is; 
Not sweeter songs, but ears to hear
The present melodies;
Not greater strength, but how to use
The power that we possess;
Not more of love, but skill to turn
A frown to a caress;
Not more of joy, but how to feel
Its kindling presence near,
To give to others all we have
Of courage and of cheer.
No other gift, dear God, we ask,
But only sense to see
How best the precious gifts to use
We have received from Thee.
Give us all fears to dominate,
All holy joys to know,
To be the friends we wish to be,
To speak the truth we know;
To love the pure, to seek the good,
To lift with all our might,
All souls to dwell in harmony
In Freedom's perfect light.

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   6. All rise and sing the Closing Hymn--four stanzas.

                          THE CLOSING HYMN:

                         Words by Max Heindel

            (Tune: "God Be with You Till We Meet again.")

God be with you till we meet again;
In His love each day abide you,
That His wisdom's Light may guide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

REFRAIN:

   Till we meet, till we meet,
   Till we meet, the Rosy Cross to greet,
   Till we meet, till we meet,
   God be with you till we meet again.


God be with you in your hour of joy;
With life's choicest gifts to bless you,
With no sorrow to oppress you,
Then may SERVICE give you added joy.

God be with you in your hour of pain,
When temptations surge around you,
With helpful thoughts we will surround you,
Till your darkness turns to light again.

God be with you till we meet again
At the Cross with Roses garnished;
May our lives be pure, untarnished,
Till the Rosy Cross we greet again.

   7. THE PARTING ADMONITION:

   And now, my dear sisters and brothers, as we part to re-enter the material 
world, may we go out with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the 
high spiritual ideals we have received here, so that day by day we may become 
more worthy men and women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels 
for the beneficial workings of our Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.

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                          THE HEALING SERVICE:

                     Order of the Healing Service.

   1. Unveil the Emblem. 

   2. A member reads aloud the following HEALING SERVICE, beginning with 
the Rosicrucian Greeting: 
 
   "My dear Sisters and Brothers: May the Roses bloom upon your Cross." 
 
   Response by People: "And upon yours also." 
 
  It is our custom to meet here once a week for the purpose of carrying out 
the second commandment of the Christ, to heal the sick. One coal will not 
make a fire, but where a number of coals are heaped together, the heat 
which is latent in each may be kindled into a flame, emitting light and 
warmth. 

  We are now massing our coals in an endeavor to generate thoughts of help 
and healing, and to focus them in one direction so that they may be 

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available to aid the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order in their 
beneficent work for humanity. 

  If we wish to be real helpers in the work which the Elder Brothers have 
started, we must make our bodies suitable instruments; we must purify them 
by clean living, for an unclean vessel cannot contain pure and wholesome water 
nor can a spotted lens give a true picture. Neither can pure and strong heal- 
ing force be sent out from here unless we keep our minds and bodies clean and 
pure. 

  It is a privilege to be here in the midst of all these thoughts of love 
and prayer, and to offer ourselves as channels to receive and liberate the 
healing force which comes direct from the Father. But before this power can 
be transmitted, it must have been generated; and to do this efficiently, we 
should understand accurately what the method is. It is not enough that we 
know in a vague way of the sickness and suffering which are in the world, and 
that we have a dim and hazy idea of helping to alleviate this suffering, 
whether it be bodily or mental. We must do something definite to attain our 
object. Disease, we may say, is really a fire, the invisible fire which is 
the Father, endeavoring to break up the crystallized conditions which we 
have gathered in our bodies. We recognize fever as a fire, but tumors, 

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cancers, and all other diseases are really also the effect of that invisible 
fire which endeavors to purify the system and free it from conditions which 
we have brought about by breaking the laws of nature. This very same power 
which is endeavoring slowly to purge the body can be greatly augmented by 
proper concentration (that is what prayer really is) provided we have the 
proper conditions. 

  To illustrate what these conditions are, we will take the water spout as 
an example. We may not have seen this phenomenon of nature, but it is 
wonderful and awe inspiring. Usually at the time when it occurs the sky 
seems to hang very low over the water; there is a tense feeling in the air 
of depression or concentration. Gradually it seems as if a point in the sky 
reaches down toward the water, and the waves in a certain spot seem to leap 
upward until both sky and water meet in a swirling mass. 

  Something similar takes place when a person or a number of persons are in 
earnest prayer. When a person is intensely in earnest in supplication to a 
higher power, his aura seems to form itself into a funnel shaped form which 
resembles the lower part of the water spout. This leaps up into space a great 
distance and, being attuned to the Christ vibration of the interplanetary 
world of Life Spirit, it draws thence a divine power which enters the man or 
company of men, and ensouls the thought-form which they have created. Thus the 

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object for which they have united will be accomplished. 

  But let this be borne thoroughly in mind, that the process of praying or 
concentrating is not a cold intellectual process. THERE MUST BE AN AMOUNT OF 
FEELING ADEQUATE TO ACCOMPLISH THE DESIRED OBJECT, AND UNLESS THIS INTENSITY 
OF FEELING IS PRESENT, THE OBJECT WILL NOT BE REALIZED. This is the secret of 
all the miraculous prayers which have been recorded: the person who prayed for 
something was always INTENSELY IN EARNEST; his whole being went into the 
desire for this or that thing for which he prayed, and thus lifted himself up 
into the very realms of the divine and brought down the response from the Fa- 
ther. 

  Let us now concentrate upon the Rosicrucian Emblem on the wall. The pure 
white rose is symbolical of the heart of the Invisible Helper; the red roses 
stand for his cleansed blood; the white cross brings to mind his body; and the 
golden star represents the golden wedding garment which is made by pure liv- 
ing. 

  Let us, by our prayers to the Father, who is the great Physician, liberate 
the force for healing, that we may reach those who are looking to us for 
help, and also those who may not have been able to ask for assistance. Let us 
put all the intensity of feeling possible into this prayer that we may 

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indeed form a funnel that shall bring down the divine power from the Father. 
But there is a great danger of misusing this wonderful power; therefore, we 
should always qualify our supplications for others with the words of the 
Christ: "Not my will but Thine be done." 

  We will now concentrate for a few minutes on Healing. 
 
  3. After the concentration all rise and sing the last verse of the closing 
hymn. 
 
   God be with you till we meet again
   At the Cross with Roses garnished;
   May our lives be pure, untarnished,
   Till the Rosy Cross we greet again.

REFRAIN:

   Till we meet, till we meet,
   Till we meet, the Rosy Cross to greet,
   Till we meet, till we meet,
   God be with you till we meet again.

  4. Conclude the service by reading the following PARTING ADMONITION:
 
  We will now leave the liberated healing force with Christ, the Elder Bro- 
thers, and the Invisible Helpers, to be used where it is most needed. 

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                         SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGE:

(Only a person WHO HAS BEEN ORDAINED as a Minister may perform the Marriage 
                            Ceremony.)

                   ORDER OF SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGE:

                       (The Minister shall say:)

   Friends: We are gathered together in the sight of God and in the presence 
of this company to join together this man and this woman in the bonds of holy 
Matrimony.

   Into this holy estate these two persons are come to be joined. Therefore if 
any man can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, 
let him now declare it, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.

   This state into which these two are about to enter is a sacred and a 
spiritual trust, where each vows to love and cherish the other and with 
reverence consider each other in loving and unselfish consideration, realizing 
this as a religious obligation which they have taken in the presence of God 
and man.

   (The man and woman joining their right hands, the minister shall say:)

   Wilt thou (Mr.) have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after 
God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort 

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her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, 
keep thee only unto her?

   The man shall answer, I WILL

   (Then the minister shall say:)

   Wilt thou (Miss) have this man to thy wedded husband? Wilt thou love him, 
honor and keep him in sickness and in health; and forsaking all other, keep 
thee only unot him?

   The woman shall answer, I WILL.

   (When a ring is used the man shall put the ring on the third finger of the 
woman's left hand, and, holding it there, the man shall say after the 
minister:) 

   With this ring I thee wed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

   (Then the minister shall say:)

   Dost thou (Mr.) give this ring in pledge that thou wilt keep this covenant 
and perform these vows? 

   The man shall say, I DO.

   Dost thou (Miss) receive this ring in pledge that thou wilt keep this 
covenant and perform these vows? 

   The woman shall say, I DO.

   (Omit above if a ring is not used.)

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   (Then the minister shall say:) 

   Forasmuch as you (Mr.) and you (Miss) have consented together in wedlock, 
and have plighted your faith and truth to each other in the presence of God 
and this company (and have confirmed the same by giving and receiving a ring); 
now, therefore, I proclaim you husband and wife, in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.   [Talk]

                              BENEDICTION:

   May the blessings of our Lord rest upon you, and may you ever remember that 
blessings shared bring happiness and success.   

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                            THE FUNERAL SERVICE:
 
   Order of Funeral Service conducted by The Rosicrucian Fellowship and its 
            Centers, and by friends desiring to use it. 

   Organ or Piano Voluntary.

   Song: Third verse of "Nearer, my God, to Thee."

                       NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE 

                    3. There let the way appear
                       Steps unto heav'n;
                       All that Thou sendest me
                       In mercy giv'n;
                       Angels to beckon me,
                       Nearer, my God, to Thee,
                       Nearer, my God, to Thee,
                       Nearer to Thee!

   Unveil Emblem--White Cross with white rose in center.

   Roscicrucian Greeting by Reader: "My dear Sisters and brothers: May the 
Roses bloom upon your Cross."

   Response by People: "And upon yours, also."

   Reader: Let us devote a moment to silent meditation upon the thought of 
love, peace, and tranquility.

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                                ADDRESS:

   "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren concerning them which 
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we 
believe that Jesus diead and rose again, even so them also which sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with Him." (I Thess. 4:13-14.)

   "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do 
they come?...That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall 
be:...but God, giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every [man] his 
own body.

   "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, 
another flesh of beasts, another flesh of fishes, and another flech of birds. 
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the 
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

   "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another 
glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also 
is the resurrection of the dead....It is sown in weakness, it is raised in 
power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a 
natural body, and there is a spiritual body." (I Cor. 15:35-44.)

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   One of the tests of the value of religion is the comfort it gives us when 
sorrow and trouble try the heart. Ti fulfill its mission it must bring comfort 
in sorrow, particularly at the time of the final separation from our loved 
ones. When the reaper Death strikes, when it pleases God to end the present 
earth life of our relatives and friends, when our human resources have been 
exhausted, then we look to religion for courage and fortitude to bear the 
burden of our great loss and our sorrow.

   How do the Rosicrucian Teachings meet these requirements? They tell us in 
the first place that death is not the end; also how, under the Law of 
Consequence, the fruit of our actions in this life, whether good or bad, must 
at some future time be harvested, for the Bible says, "Whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap."

   We know that it is as impossible to cancel our good or evil deeds by merely 
passing out of this body as it is to compensate our debtors by removal to 
another city. The debt still remains, and sometime, somewhere, it must be 
liquidated.

   We rejoice when a soul is born, that is, encased in a robe of clay; but we 
weep when this form is cast off at death because we do not realize that such 
conduct is the exact reverse of what it ought to be. The spirit is imprisoned 

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in this coat of clay at its birth into this physical world, to be subject for 
many years to the pains, aches, and infirmities to which all flesh is heir. 
This physical life, however, is necessary that the soul may learn its lessons 
in the school of life.

   If weeping is to be indulged in, then we should weep when the spirit is 
born into this world; but we should rejoice when death comes to liberate it 
from the pain and discomfort of physical existence. if we could see and know 
the relief which our loved ones feel when they are freed from a suffering 
body, we should truly rejoice, and no longer weep. Think of a poor soul, who 
has been chained to a bed of sickness, when it awakens in the invisible world 
where it is able to move about freely whither it will, and free from pain. 
Should we not bid such a soul Godspeed and not weep?

   It has pleased God to call our friend,................................, to 
a greater work, to braoder fields, in another world where he (or she) has no 
need for a physical bdoy, and he (or she) has therefore laid this garment 
away.

   (Short talk here relative to the qualities and past activities of the 
departed person.) 

   As a child goes to school day after day for the purpose of gaining 
knowledge, with nights of rest between the shcool days, meanwhile growing a 

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body from childhood to the full stature of manhood or womanhood, so also the 
spirit attends the school of life during a succession of life-days, and 
inhabits a series of earthly forms of gradually improving texture in which to 
gain experience. As Oliver Wendell Holmes says: 

   "Build thee more stately manisons, O my soul,
    As the swift seasons roll!
    Leave thy low vaulted past!
    Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
    Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
    Till thou at length art free,
    Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

   We know that our friend will come back sometime, somewhere, with a better 
and nobler body than the garment which he (or she) has discarded. We know that 
under the immutable law of acusation he (or she) must return so that by 
repeated lives and friendships his (or her) love nature may be widened and 
deepened into an ocean of LOVE.

   Death has lost its sting so far as we are concerned, not because we are 
callous and love our friends and relatives less, but because we are convinced 
that we have absolute proof that there is no death. We have no cause for grief 

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because the silver cord has been loosed and the body is about to return to the 
dust from whence it came, for we know that the spirit of our friend is more 
alive than ever, is present with us now though unseen by most of us.

   The garment which this spirit inhabited we consign to the fire, that its 
elements may be transferred to other forms by the alchemy of nature. 

   As the poet Arnold says:

  "Never the spirit was born!
   The spirit shall cease to be never!
   Never was time it was not,
   End and beginning are dreams.
   Birthless and deathless remaineth the spirit forever;
   Death has not touched it at all,
   Dead though the house of it seems.

  "Nay! but as one layeth
   A worn-out robe away,
   And taking another, sayeth:
   This will I wear today,
   So putteth by the spirit
   Lightly its garment of flesh
   And passeth on to inherit
   A residence afresh."

[PAGE 4284]

   Let us send up a prayer asking the aid of God in speeding our departed 
brother (or sister) on his (or her) way to take up his (or her) new work on 
the other side.

(Close by singing the last verse of the Rosicrucian Fellowship Closing Hymn.)

                 GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 

                God be with you till we meet again 
                At the Cross with Roses garnished;
                May our lives be pure, untarnished,
                Till the Rosy Cross we greet again.

         REFRAIN:

                Till we meet, till we meet,
                Till we meet, the Rosy Cross to greet,
                Till we meet, till we meet,
                God be with you till we meet again.  

                        SERVICE AT THE CREMATORY:

   We now commit this robe of flesh which has been worn by and has become too 
small for the spirit who was known to us as........................, to the 

[PAGE 4285]

elements from which it came. Our friend has not gobe away, he (or she) has not 
left us; he (or she) is in our midst although unseen by those whom he (or she) 
loved. He (or she) is free and clothed in the Body best fitted for the higher 
life unto which he (or she) has gone, so let us wish him (or her) Godspeed to 
that new environment.

                         "THERE IS NO DEATH" 

There is no death. The stars go down
   To rise upon another shore,
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
   They shine forevermore.

There is no death. The ofrest leaves
   Convert to life the viewless air;
The rocks disorganize to feed
   The hungry moss they bear.

There is no death. The dust we tread
   Shall change beneath the summer showers
To golden grain or mellow fruit,
   Or rainbow tinted flowers.

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There is no death. The leaves may fall,
   The flowers may fade and pass away--
They only wait through wintry hours
   The warm, sweet breath of May.

There is no death, although we grieve
   When beautiful familiar forms
That we have learned to love are torn
   From our embracing arms.

Although with bowed and breaking heart.
   With sable garb and silent tread,
We bear their senseless dust to rest,
   And say that they are dead--

They are not dead. They have but passed
   Beyond the mists that blind us here,
Into the new and larger life
   Of that serener sphere.

They have but dropped their robe of clay
   To put a shining raiment on;
They have not wandered far away,
   They are not "lost" or "gone."

[PAGE 4287]

Though unseen to the mortal eye,
   They still are here and love us yet;
The dear ones they have left behind
   They never do forget.

Sometimes upon our fevered brow
   We feel their touch, a breath of balm:
Our spirit sees them, and our hearts
   Grow comforted and calm.

Yes, ever near us, though unseen,
   Our dear, immortal spirits tread--
For all God's boundless Universe
   Is Life--there are no dead.
                        (By John McCreery)

[PAGE 4288]

              THE ROSICRUCIAN METHOD OF CARING FOR THE DEAD:

   During life in the physical world the human Ego works through its four 
vehicles, namely, the physical, vital, desire, and mental bodies, all of which 
are connected to one another by the silver cord. At night the Ego withdraws 
into the inner worlds taking with it the mental and desire bodies, leaving the 
physical and vital bodies lying on the bed. The Ego first brings about 
harmonious rhythm of the mind and desire body, which, in turn, work upon the 
vital body. The vital body then commences to restore the tired and worn-out 
physical atoms to health and vitality. This restoration can only be done 
during the time the desire body and mind are removed, for it is their 
activities which use up the physical energy during the day, and in order that 
the vital body may be free to rebuild the broken down physical vehicle, the 
Ego separates itself with the two higher vehicles (the desire and mental 
bodies) from the two lower vehicles but remains tied by the silver cord. At 
death when the physical body can no longer hold on to its higher vehicles, 
when disintegration must ensue, the Ego is forced to vacate its house, made of 

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clay, which it has builded and used for an allotted length of time, and in 
which it has learned many helpful and soul-building lessons. It has now 
reached a period on the path of evolution where it must take time for the 
assimilation of the lessons which were learned while functioning in the world 
of matter. Death is to the soul what sleep is to the physical body, a time of 
rest and recuperation so that the spirit may draw from these experiences 
greater soul power.

   At death the Ego leaves the physical body by way of the parietal-occipital 
sutures, but instead of the vital body remaining with the physical body as is 
the case during sleep, it also leaves the physical body, together with the 
desire and the mental bodies, for the spirit's work in the physical body is 
finished for this earth life. The vital body now has a different work to do; 
it is no longer called upon to keep the physical atoms in health.

   At death the vital, desire, and mental bodies are seen to leave the 
physical body through the head, and the spirit, which is leaving its earthly 
prison house to decay, takes with it its most cherished belonging, the only 
part of the physical which cannot die and which it brings back with it at each 
earth life. During earth life there is a tiny atom in the apex of the left 

[PAGE 4290]

ventricle of the heart which is called the permanent seed atom. This seed atom 
of the physical vehicle has been used as a nucleus for a physical body ever 
since the spirit possessed a physical vehicle. When we speak of a permanent 
seed atom we do not mean that the physical atom is used, but the forces which 
flow through it. These forces remain with the Ego through rebirth after 
rebirth, or until this particular spirit has finished its evolution in the 
physical world at the close of this period. Then these forces will be 
transferred to the seed atom of the vital body which will become the permanent 
seed atom of the next period.

   Going back to our discussion of the Ego as it leaves its physical body at 
what is termed death, we find that the spirit is passing through a very vital 
and extremely important period; friends and relatives should be most careful 
that their loved one is left free from excitement, grief, and distrubances of 
any kind. The body should not be mutilated and embalming fluids should not be 
used until 84 hours after the spirit has ceased functioning in the body. The 
reason for this is as follows:

   There is a snapping of the silver cord at death which the Bible speaks of 
in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes. This cord holds the higher and lower 
vehicles together and at death the rupture takes place in the heart which 

[PAGE 4291]

causes this organ to cease beating. When this occurs the Ego with its three 
bodies, namely, the vital, desire, and mental bodies, is seen by the 
clairvoyant floating above the head of the physical body for three and one-
half days. During this period the spirit is engaged in reviewing the scenes of 
its past life which have been impressed on the permanent seed atom in the 
heart. These impressions have been left on this seed atom by the blood. We are 
again taught from the Bible that the spirit is in the blood; and the blood is 
the direct vehicle of the spirit.

   The heart and lungs are the only organs through which all the blood in 
man's body passes, and the heart is the stronghold of the human ego; as the 
blood courses through the heart the scenes of every passingmoment are carried 
through the blood to the heart and engraved on the tiny seed atom. This seed 
atom is also impregnated with the experiences of all past lives, and from it 
many impressions come to man. These teach him the differences between good and 
evil, and they become the voice of conscience.

   Now the reason we hold it is necessary that quietness reign in the house of  
death is as follows: The vital body is the vehicle used immediately after 
death to transfer the impressions of the seed atom in the heart onto the seed 
atom of the desire body; during this work the silver cord is not yet broken 

[PAGE 4292]

and the Ego is still conscious of its vehicles, it still feels and suffers to 
some extent when mutilation of its body takes place. When the spirit is 
disturbed during this etching, the impressions are very dim and the spirit as 
it returns to rebirth in the next embodiment does not bring with it a keen 
sense of conscience because it did not feel the remorse for wrong doings nor 
the joy of good actions as keenly as it should in the after-death life.

   Whne the panorama has been fully etched into the desire body the silver 
cord breaks and the Ego is free of its earthly house. The body should then be 
cremated. Cremation is very helpful to the spirit, for it is attracted to, and 
often hovers over, its decaying body, while burning frees it; this method is 
also more sanitary.

   Let us hope that humanity will soon awake to the proper care of its dead, 
and that we will have a science of death as well as a science of birth.

                                THE METHOD:

   The body is to be placed in an ice pack for preservation during a period of 
3 1/2 days or 84 hours after death. Embalming is absolutely not to be 
performed before the end of this time. The body is to be left in perfect 

[PAGE 4293]

quiet, away from all disturbing noises during this period--no postmortem 
operations are to be performed previous to the expiration of the 84 hours.

   At the end of this period the body is to be cremated. Particular care is to 
be exercised that cremation is not performed previous to 84 hours after death 
for the reason that during this time the spirit still maintains connection 
with the body and pain from burning is felt to some extent if cremation is 
carried out before the end of the 84 hours.

[PAGE 4294]

                            SPRING EQUINOX SERVICE:

   Music. 

   Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.

   Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, 
may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, 
also.")


   We are agin at the time of Easter. Once more we have reached the final act 
in the cosmic drama involving the descent of the solar Christ Ray into the 
matter of our Earth, the mystic Birth celebrated at Christmas, and the Mystic 
Death and Liberation. The life impulse from the Cosmic christ which entered 
the Earth last fall came to mystic birth at christmas, performed its wonderful 

[PAGE 4295]

magic of fecundation during the months between autumn and the present Easter 
time, and is now liberating itself from the cross of matter to rise again to 
the throne of the Father, leaving the Earth clothed in the verdant glory of 
spring ready for the physical activities of the summer season. The spiritual 
Ray sent out by the Cosmic Christ each fall to replenish the smoldering 
vitality of the Earth is about to ascend to the Father's Throne. At this time 
of the year a new life, an augmented energy sweeps with an irresistible force 
through the veins and arteries of all living things, inspiring them, 
instilling new hope, new ambition, and new life, impelling them to new 
activities whereby they learn new lessons in the school of experience. 
Consciously or unconsciously to the beneficiaries, this outwelling energy 
invigorates everything that has life. Even the plant responds by an increased 
circulation of sap, which results in additional growth of the leaves, flowers, 
and fruits whereby this class of life is at present expressing itself and 
evolving to a higher state of consciousness.

   Wonderful as these outward physical manifestations are, and glorious though 
the transformations may be called which changes the Earth from a waste of snow 
and ice into a wonderful, blooming garden, it sinks into insignificance before 

[PAGE 4296]

the spiritual activities which run side by side therewith. The salient 
features of the cosmic drama are identical in point of time with the material 
effects of the Sun in the four cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra, and 
Capricorn, for the most significant events occur at the equinoctial and 
solstitial points.

   It is really and actually true that "in God we live and move and have our 
being." Outside Him we could have no existence; we live by and through His 
life; we move and act by and through His strength; it is His power which 
sustains our dwelling place, the Earth, and without His unflagging, unwavering 
efforts the universe itself would disintegrate. We are taught that man was 
made in the likeness of God, and we are given to understand that according to 
the law of analogy we have certain powers latent within us which are similar 
to those we see so potently expressed in the labor of Deity in the universe. 
This gives us a particular interest in the annual cosmic drama involving the 
death and resurrection of the Sun. The life of the God Man, Christ Jesus, was 
molded in conformity with the solar story, and it foreshadows in a similar 
manner all that may happen to the Man God of whom this Christ Jesus prophesied 
when He said, "The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works shall 

[PAGE 4297]

ye do; whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me 
afterwards."

   Nature is a symbolic expression of God. She does nothing in vain or 
gratuitously. There is a purpose behind everything and every act. Therefore we 
should be alert and regard carefully the signs in the heavens, for they have a 
deep and important meaning concerning our own lives. The intelligent 
understanding of their purpose enables us to work much more efficiently with 
God in His wonderful efforts for the emancipation of our ace from bondage to 
the laws of Nature, and for its liberation into a full measure of the stature 
of the sons of God crowned with glory, honors, and immortality, and free from 
the power of sin, sickness, and suffering which now curtail our lives by 
reason of our ignorance and nonconformity to the laws of God. The divine 
purpose demands this emancipation, but whether it is to be accomplished by the 
long and tedious process of evolution or by the immensely quicker pathway of 
evolution or by the immensely quicker pathway of Initiation depends upon 
whether or not we are willing to lend our cooperation.

   During the last six months we have been more thoroughly impregnated with 
the spiritual vibrations which predominate in winter. There came to us in the 
fall a new impulse toward the higher life; it culminated on Holy Night and has 

[PAGE 4298]

worked its magic in our natures according to the way in which we have embraced 
our opportunities. According to our diligence or dilatoriness in the past 
season, progression will be accelerated or retarded in the next, for there is 
not truer word than that which teaches us that we are just what we have made 
ourselves. The service we rendered or failed to render determines whether a 
new opportunity for greater service will give us added impulse heavenward; and 
it cannot be said too often that it is useless to expect liberaqtion from the 
cross of matter until we have used our opportunities here and thus earned a 
larger sphere of usefulness. The "nails" which bound the Christ to the cross 
of Calvary will fetter you and me until the dynamic impulse of love flows out 
from us in waves and rhythmic swells like the tide of love which yearly enters 
the Earth and imbues it with renewed life.

   During the winter moths the Christ suffers agonies of torture, "groaning, 
travailing, and waiting for the day of liberation," which comes at the time we 
speak of in orthodox churches as the passion week. But we realize according to 
the mystic teaching that this week is just the culmination or crest wave of 
His suffering and that He is then rising out of His prison; that when the Sun 

[PAGE 4299]

crosses the equator, He hangs upon the cross and cries: "Consummatum est!"--It 
has been accomplished. It is not a cry of agony. It is a cry of triumph, a 
shout of joy that the hour of liberation has come, and that once more He can 
soar away a little while, free from the fettering clod of our planet.

   We should rejoice with Him in that great, glorious, triumphal hour, the 
hour of liberation when He exclaims: "It has been accomplished." Let us attune 
our hearts to this great cosmic event; let us rejoice with the Christ, our 
Saviour, that the term of His annual sacrifice has once more been completed; 
and let us feel thankful from the very bottom of out hearts that He is now 
about to be freed from the Earth's fetters; that the life wherewith He has now 
endued our planet is sufficient to carry us through the time until next 
Christmas.

   Life is a school, and through learning its many lessons humanity is slowly 
evolving from a divine spark to Godhood. Had we learned life's lessons as they 
were given to us there would have been no necessity for the great sacrifice 
which was made and is annually being made by the Christ Spirit, who is the 
embodiment of love. Through selfishness, disobedience to law, and evil 
practices we were fast crystallizing not only our own bodies, but also the 

[PAGE 4300]

Earth on which we lived, to such a degree that as means for evolution both 
were fast becoming unusable. When nothing else could save us from the results 
of our own wrongdoing the compassionate Christ offered Himself and His great 
love power to break up the crystallized condition of man's bodies and the 
Earth, and He does not leave the Earth at Easter until He has given of Himself 
to the uttermost.

   For those who have chosen to work knowingly and intelligently with cosmic 
law, Easter has a great significance. To them it means the annual liberation 
of the Christ Spirit from the cramping confines of the Earth and His joyful 
ascent into His true home world, there to remain for a season resting in the 
bosom of the Father. It is also the annual sign given the aspirant of the 
cosmic basis of his hopes and aspirations. And if the eyes are truly open, one 
beholds angelic hosts waiting, ready to accompany Him on His heavenward 
journey; if the ears are attuned to heavenly sounds one hears celestial choirs 
chanting His praise in glad hosannas to the risen Lord. When taken as a cosmic 
fact in connection with the law of analogy that connects the macrocosm with 
the microcosm, it is symbolical that some day we shall all attain the cosmic 

[PAGE 4301]

consciousness and know positively for ourselves by our own experience that 
there is no death, but that which seems so is only a transition into a finer 
sphere.

   It is an annual symbol to strengthen our souls in the work of welldoing 
that we may build the Golden Wedding Garment required to make us sons of God 
in the highest and holiest sense. It is literally true that unless we walk in 
the light as God is in the light, we do not have fellowship; but by making the 
sacrifices and rendering the services required of us to aid in the 
emncaipation of our race we are building the soul body of radiant golden light 
which is the special substance emanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the 
Cosmic christ. When this golden substance has clothed us with sufficient 
density, then we shall be able to imitate the Easter Sun and soar into the 
higher sphere.

   With these ideals fixed firmly in our minds, Easter time becomes a season 
when it is in order to review our life during the preceeding year and make new 
resolutions for the coming season to serve in furthering our soul growth. it 
is a season when the symbol of the ascending Sun should lead us to a keen 
realization of the fact that we are but pilgrims and strangers upon Earth, 
that as Spirits our real home is in heaven, and that we ought to endeavor to 

[PAGE 4302]

learn the lessons in this life school as quickly as is consistent with proper 
service. Easter Day marks the resurrection and liberation of the Christ Spirit 
from the lower vibrations of the Earth, and this liberation should remind us 
to look continually for the dawn of the new day which shall permanently free 
us from the meshes of matter, from the body of sin and death, together with 
all our brethren in bondage. No true aspirant could conceive of a liberation 
that did not include all who were similarly placed.

   This is a gigantic task, the contemplation of it may well daunt the bravest 
heart, and were we alone it could not be accomplished; the divine hierarchies 
who have guided humanity upon the path of evolution from the beginning of our 
career are still active and working with us from their worlds, and with their 
help we shall eventually be able to accomplish this elevation of humanity as a 
whole and attain to an individual realization of glory, honor, and 
immortality. Having this great hope within oursleves, this great mission in 
the world, let us work as never before to make ourselves better men and women, 
so that by our example we may waken in others a desire to lead a life that 
brings liberation.

   We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.

[PAGE 4303]

   Concentration. 

   Music.  (Closing Hymn.) 

   Reader veils Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters 
and Brothers, as we aprt to re-enter the material world, may we go out with a 
firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have 
received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, 
more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings 
of our Elder Brothers in the service of humanity."

[PAGE 4304]

                          SUMMER SOLSTICE SERVICE:

   Music.

   Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.

Service.

   Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, 
may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, 
also.")

   We are now at the time of the Summer Solstice, the season during which 
physical manifestation on Earth reaches its height.

   Each year a spiritual wave of vitality enters the Earth at the winter 
solstice to impregnate the dormant seeds in the frozen ground, to give new 
life to the world whereon we live, and this work is done during the winter 

[PAGE 4305]

months while the Sun is passing through the zodiacal signs Capricorn, 
Aquarius, and Pisces.

   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 midnight 
to bring forth the immaculate Child. During the months next following, the Sun 
passes through the violent sign 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 Auqarius, the waterman, in February, we have 
the time of rain and storms; and as the Baptism mystically consecrates the 
Savious to His work of service, so also the floods of moisture that descend 
upon the Earth soften and mellow it so that it may yield the fruits whereby 
the lives of those who dwell here are preserved.

   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 mystically 
represents, for the aspirant, the same ideal as that cosmically shown by the 

[PAGE 4306]

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 Passover 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 
canidiate to the higher life must learn to lay down the moral coil and begin 
the ascent of Golgothat, THE PLACE IN THE SKULL; thence to cross the threshold 
into the invisible world. Finally, in imitation of the Sun's ascent into the 
signs of the northern heavens, to foster with its warming rays the growth of 
the seed in the soil which has been revitalized by the Chistic wave during the 
winter months, he must learn that his place is with the Father and that 
ultimately he is to ascend to that exalted place.

   So it is that at the present time, during the season culminating June 21st, 
the Great Christ Spirit has reached the World of Divine Spirit, the throne of 
the Father. During July and August, while the Sun is in Cancer and Leo, He is 
rebuilding His Life Spirit vehicle which He is to bring to the world and with 
it rejuvenate the Earth and the life kingdoms evolving in and upon it.

[PAGE 4307]

   Without this annual mystic wave of vital energy from the Cosmic Christ, 
physical life would be an impossibility. There could be no physical bread and 
wine, nor the trans-substantiated spiritual tincture prepared by alchemy from 
the heart blood of the disciple. Physical existence is the school of 
laboratory in which we learn to transmute the base metal of our lower natures 
into the shining luster of the Philosopher's Stone, and thus make possible our 
liberation into the higher spheres, where our exalted Ideal, the Christ, is at 
present.

   There are factors behind all manifestations of Nature--intelligences of 
varying degrees of consciousness, builders and destroyers, who perform 
important parts in the economy of Nature. Midsummer is the sporting time of 
the earth-goblins and similar entities concerned in the material development 
of our planet, as shown by Shakespeare in his "Midsummer Night's Dream."

   The semi-intelligent action of the sylphs lifts the finely divided 
vaporized particles of water prepared by the undines, from the surface of the 
sea and carries them as high as they may before partial condensation takes 
place and clouds are formed. These particles of water they keep until forced 
by the undines to release them. When we say it storms, battles are being 

[PAGE 4308]

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 craching zigzag 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 again be restored to union with their mother element.

   The little gnomes are needed to build plants amnd 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 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 everywhere and the proverbial bee is 
not busier. To the bee, however, is given 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 and fools.

   At the summer solstice the physical activities of Nature are at their apex 
or zentih, therefore "Midsummer Night" is the great festival of the fairies 
who have wrought to build the material universe, nourished the cattle, 

[PAGE 4309]

nurtured 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 
variety 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 superfluous 
atrophies, and so does the limb or eye that is no loner used. Nature has work 
to do and requires work of all who would justify their existence and continue 
as a part of her. This applies to plant and planet, amn and beast, and to the 
fairies as well. They have their work to do; they are busy fdolk and their 
activities are the solution to many of Nature's multifarious mysteries.

   These are points which we should endeavor to realize thoroughly in order 
that we may learn to appreciate this season of the year as keenly as we 

[PAGE 4310]

should. What a cosmic calamity should our Heavenly Father fail to provide the 
means for our physical existence and sustenance each year! The Christ of last 
year cannot save us from physical famine any more than last year's rain can 
drench the soil 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 greatefully filled 
our granaries with the bread of 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 loveth his children, so 
doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He knows our physical and spiritual 
frailty and dependence.

   May we so take advantage of the opportunities offered us during this season 

[PAGE 4311]

that the coming of the Christ Spirit again in the autumn shall find us with 
greater facility for responding to the powerful spiritual vibrations with 
which we shall be infused at that time.

   We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.

   Concentration.

   Music. (Stanza of Closing Hymn.) 

   Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And no, my dear 
Sisters and Brothers, as we part to reenter the material world, may we go out 
with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals 
we have recived here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and 
women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the benefical 
workings of our Elder brothers in the service of humanity."

[PAGE 4312]

                            AUTUMN EQUINOX SERVICE:

   Music.

   Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.

   Reader uveils Embelm and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, 
may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, 
also.")

   "God is Light."

   Each time we sink ourselves in these three words we lave in a spiritual 
fountain of inexhaustible depth, and each succeeding time we sound more 
thoroughly the divine depths and draw more closely to our Father in heaven.

   To get in close touch with this subject, now that the Christ Light is 

[PAGE 4313]

beginning anew to permeate the Earth, let us go back in time to get our 
bearing and the direction of our future line of progress.

   The first time our consciousness was directed toward the Light was shortly 
after we had become endowed with mind and had entered definitely upon our 
evolution as human beings in Atlantis, the land of the mist, deep down in the 
basins of the Earth, where the warm mist emitted from the cooling Earth hung 
like a dense fog over the land. Then the starry heights of the universe were 
never seen, nor could the silvery light of the Moon penetrate the dense, foggy 
atmosphere which hung over that ancient land. Even the fiery splendor of the 
Sun was almost totally extinguished, for when we look in the Memory of Nature 
pertaining to that time, we find that it was exceedingly dim, having an aura 
of various colors, very similar to those we observe around an arc light.

   But this light had a fascination. The ancient Atlanteans were taught by the 
divine Hierarchs who among them to aspire to light, and as the spiritual light 
was then already on the wane, they aspired all the more ardently to the new 
light, for they feared the darkness of which they had become conscious through 
the gift of mind.

   Then came the inevitable flood when the mist cooled and condensed. The 
atmosphere cleared, and the "chosen people" were saved. Those who had worked 

[PAGE 4314]

within themselves and learned to build the necessary organs required to 
breathe in an atmosphere such as we have today, survived and came to light. it 
was not an arbitrary choice; THE WORK OF THE PAST CONSISTED OF BODY BUILDING. 
Those who had only gill clefts, such as the foetus still uses in its prenatal 
development, were as unfit physiologically to enter the new era as the foetus 
would be to be born were it to neglect to build lungs. it would die as those 
ancient people died when the rare atmosphere made gill clefts useless.

   Since the day when we came out of ancient Atlantis our bodies have been 
practically complete, but from that time and from now on THOSE WHO WISH TO 
FOLLOW THE LIGHT MUST STRIVE FOR SOUL GROWTH. The bodies which we have 
crystallized about us must be dissolved, and the quintessence of experience 
extracted, which as "soul" may be amalgamated with the spirit to nourish it 
from impotence to omnipotence. Therefore, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was 
given to the ancients, and the LIGHT OF GOD DESCENDED UPON THE ALTAR OF 
SACRIFICE. This is of great significance: The Ego had just descended into its 
tabernacle, the body. We all know the tendency of the primitve instinct 

[PAGE 4315]

toward selfishness, and if we have studied the higher ethics we alos know how 
subversive of good the indulgence of the egotistic tendency is; therefore, God 
immediately ploaced before mankind the Divine Light upon the Altar of 
Sacrifice.

   Upon this altar they were forced by dire necessity to offer their cherished 
possessions for every transgression, God appearing to them as a hard 
taskmaster whose displeasure it was dangerous to incur. But still the Light 
drew them. They knew then that it was futile to attempt to escape from the 
hand of God. They had never heard the words of John, "God is Light," but they 
had already learned from the heavens in a measure the meaning of infinitude, 
as measured by the realm of light, for we hear David exclaim, "Whither shall I 
go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence?...If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there 
shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me...Yea, the darkness 
hideth not from Thee, but the night shienth as the day, for the darkness and 
the light are both alike to Thee."

   To render permanent this condition of being in the Light was the next step 
in God's work with us, which culminated in the birth of the Christ, who as the 
bodily presence of the Father, bore about in Himself that Light, for the Light 

[PAGE 4316]

came into the world that whosoever should believe in Christ should not perish, 
but have everlasting life. He said: "I am the Light of the World." The altar 
in the tabernacle had illustrated the principle of sacrifice as the medium of 
regeneration, so Christ said to His disciples: "Greater love hath no man than 
this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends." And 
forthwith He commenced a sacrifice, which was not conusmmated in a few hours 
of physical suffering upon a material cross, but is as perpetual as were the 
sacrifices made upon the altar of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, for it 
entails an annual descent into the Earth conditions must mean to such a great 
Spirit.

   This must continue until a sufficient number have evolved who can bear the 
burden of this dense lump of DARKNESS, which we call the Earth, and which 
hangs as a millstone about the neck of humanity, an impediment to further 
spiritual growth. This is the task facing each of us.

   We are now at the fall equinox where the Sun is leaving the northern 
hemisphere, after having provided us with the necessities of life for the 
coming year; and the spiritual tide which carries on its crest the life which 

[PAGE 4317]

will find physical expression in the coming year is now on its way toward our 
Earth. The half-year directly before us is the holy part of the year. From the 
feast of the Immaculate Conception to the Mystic Birth at Christmas (while 
this wave is descending into the Earth) and from that time to Easter (while it 
is traveling outward) a harmonious, rhythmic, vibratory song, not inaptly 
described in the legened of the Mystic Birth as a "hosanna" sung by an angel 
choir, fills the planetary atmosphere and acts upon all as an impulse to 
spiritual aspiration.

   You know the analogy between man--who enters his vehicles in the daytime, 
lives in them and works through them, and at night is a free Spirit, free from 
the fetters of the dense body--and the Christ Spirit dwelling in our Earth a 
part of the year. We all know what a fetter and what a prison this body is, 
how we are hampered by disease and suffering, for there is not one of us who 
is always in perfect health so that he or she never feels the pang of pain, at 
least no one on the higher path.

   It is similar with the Cosmic Christ, who turns His attention toward our 
little Earth, focusing His consciousness in this planet in order that we may 
have life. He has to enliven this dead mass (which we have crystallized out of 

[PAGE 4318]

the Sun) annually; and it is a fetter, a clog, and a prison to Him; therefore 
our hearts at this time should turn to Him in gratitude for the sacrifice He 
makes for our sakes during the winter months, permeating this planet with His 
life to awaken it from its wintry sleep, in which it must remain were He not 
thus born into it to enliven it.

   Without this yearly infusion of Divine Life and Energy all living things on 
our Earth would soon perish, and all orderly progress would be frustrated so 
far as our present lines of development are concerned. It is the "fall" of the 
spiritual Ray from the Sun in autumn which causes resumption of the mental and 
spiritual activities in winter. The same germinative force which leavens the 
seed in the Earth and prepares it to reproduce its kind in multiple, stirs 
also the human mind and fosters altruistic activities which make the world 
better.

   So it is that the powerful spiritual vibrations of the life-giving Christ 
wave are in the Earth's atmosphere during the months now before us and may be 
used by us to a much greater advantage if we know it and redouble our efforts 
than if we were unaware of the fact. The Christ is STILL GROANING AND 
TRAVAILING, WAITING FOR THE DAY OF LIBERATION, for the "manifestation of the 
sons of God"; and truly do we hasten that day every time we partake of food 

[PAGE 4319]

for our finer bodies symbolized by the mystic bread and wine.

   EACH TIME WE GIVE OURSELVES in service to others we add to the luster of 
our soul bodies, which are built of the two higher ethers. It is the Christ 
Ether that now floats this sphere of ours, therefore let us remember that if 
we wish to hasten the day of His liberation, we must in sufficient numbers 
evolve our onw soul bodies to the point where they may float the Earth. Thus 
we will take up His burden and save Him the pain of physical existence. May we 
each take advantage of the spiritual vibrations with which we will be infused 
during the coming months so that another autumnal equinox will find us nearer 
the Day of Liberation.

   We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.

   Concentration.

   Music. (Closing Hymn.)

   Reader veils Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear Sisters 
and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, let us go out with a 
firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals we have 
received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and women, 
more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial workings 
of the Elder Brothers in their service for humanity.

[PAGE 4320]

                          WINTER SOLSTICE SERVICE:

   Music.

   Third stanza of Rosicrucian Opening Hymn sung by audience.

   Reader unveils Emblem and gives salutation: "My dear Sisters and Brothers, 
may the roses bloom upon your cross." (Answer from audience: "And upon yours, 
also.")

   We are now at the winter solstice, the time when the light of the Sun has 
almost faded, when our Northern Hemisphere is cold and drear. But on the 
longest and darkest night the Sun turns on its upward path, the Christ Light 
is born on Earth again, and all the world rejoices. 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. Th Earth is now nearest the Sun. The 

[PAGE 4321]

spiritual rays 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. it is of great importance to the esoteric student to 
know and understand the particularly favorable conditions which prevail at 
Yule-tide, so that he may bend all his energies at this time to spiritual 
endeavor and thus cover a much greater distance with less effort than at any 
other time.

   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.

   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 

[PAGE 4322]

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 
sustaining the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of Nature, God 
appears as the redeemer, Christ, and radiates the principles of love and 
regeneration DIRECTLY into any planet where the creatures of Jehovah require 
this help to extricate themselves from the meshes of mortality and egoism in 
order to attain to altruism and endless life.

   When God exercises the divine attribute 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 
invisible 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 

[PAGE 4323]

are no definite events, no static conditions; that the beginning and 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 the seed 
of things and events which enters the realm of "time" and "space." There it 
gradually srystallizes 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 verything 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 it as the 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-tide feast, and Christmas is the most 
vital annual event for all humanity, whether we realize it or not. It is not 

[PAGE 4324]

merely 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.

   But endlessly wells the divine love, as a father loveth his children, so 
doth our Heavenly Father love us, for He knows our physical and spiritual 
frailty and dependence. Therefore we are now confidently awaiting the mystic 
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.

   In time all the world will realize that "God" is spirit and to be 
worshipped in spirit and truth. 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 human seers only as a higher octave of the photosphere 

[PAGE 4325]

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.

   It is from the visible Sun that every particle of physical energy comes. 
And it is from the spiritual invisible Sun that all our spiritual energy 
comes. At the present time we cannot bear to look directly at the Sun. it 
would blind us. But we can look at the reflected sunlight that comes from the 
Moon. In the same way man cannot stand the direct spiritual impulse that comes 
from the Sun, and therefore it had to be sent by way of the Moon, through the 
hands, and through the mediumship of Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon, as a 
race religion. Only by initiation was it possible to get into direct touch 
with the spiritual solar impulse. A veil hung before the temple.

   So on Holy Night, which we call Christmas, it was usual for the Wise Men--
those who were beyond ordinary humanity--to take the ones who were also 
becoming wise, and therefore entitled to initiation, into the temples. Certain 
ceremonies were performed and the candidates entranced. They could not at that 
time be given an initiation in their full waking state, it had to be done in a 
trance. When the spiritual perception was awakened in them, they could look 

[PAGE 4326]

through the Earth--not seeing any detail but the Earth became transparent, as 
it were--and they saw the Star at Midnight.

   Later came the time when man could take the spiritual impulse more 
directly, and when the time arrived that the Christ Spirit could be 
entertained on the Earth--when we had risen so far--then a Ray from the Cosmic 
Christ came here, and incarnated here in the body of our Elder Brother, Jesus. 
The Christ Spirit, then, is the first incoming of a direct spiritual impulse.

   Exoterically the Sun has been worshipped as the giver of life from time 
immemorial, because the multitude was incapable of looking beyond the material 
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 

[PAGE 4327]

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 and envelopes everyone 
upon Earth, from the least to the greatest, without respect of person.

   At the time when the days are shortest and the nights are the longest on 
that Holy Night that we speak of, when the Christ was born, as a Sun who was 
to lighten our darkness--the spiritual influence is then strongest, and can be 
reached easiest. it was the great truth that was at the bottom of the Satr in 
the Holy Night, illuminating the longest and darkest night in the year. When 
Christ came he altered the vibrations of the Earth and is changing them all 
the time since. he "rent the temple veil." He made the Holy of Holies--the 
place of initiation--open to "Whosoever will." From that time on, there is no 
more trance needed, no more subjective states in order to go through 
initiation. There is a conscious going forth in the Temple by everyone who 
wills to come.

   In the Rosicrucian order the nine Lesser Mysteries, or Lesser Initiations, 
deal only with the evolution of mankind during the Earth Period, the 5th 
degree taking the candidate to the very end of the Earth Period when a 

[PAGE 4328]

glorious humanity is gathering the fruits of this Period and taking it away 
from the 7 globes upon which we evolve during each day of manifestation, into 
the first of the 5 dark globes which are our habitation during the cosmic 
night. After being shown the end in the 5th degree the candidate is made 
acquainted with the means whereby that end is to be attained during the 
remaining three and one-half revolutions of the Earth period; the 4 remaining 
degrees being devoted to his enlightenment in that respect. The 9th, or last 
of these degrees, is held in the summer and winter solstices, the candidate at 
this time having gained entrance to all the layers of the Earth.

   This is the great destiny that is before each one of us. The Christ said to 
His disciples: "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do 
also....and greater." It is a sublime fact that we are 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. Each one will in time be led by the Star to the 
Christ. But let us emphasize this very strongly: not to an exterior Christ, 
but to the Christ that is WITHIN.

[PAGE 4329]

   "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
    And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn."

   We will now concentrate on Divine Love and Service.

   Concentration.

   Music. (Rosicrucian Closing Hymn.)

   Reader veils the Emblem and gives parting admonition: "And now, my dear 
Sisters and Brothers, as we part to re-enter the material world, may we go out 
with a firmer resolve to express in our daily lives the high spiritual ideals 
we have received here, so that day by day we may become more worthy men and 
women, more worthy to be used as self-conscious channels for the beneficial 
workings of the Elder Brothers in the service of humanity.

End of File

