Filename: RC4007.TXT

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               ROSICRUCIAN CHRISTIANITY PHILOSOPHY COURSE:

                              LESSON NO. 44:

                        THE RING OF THE NIEBELUNG:

                     "The Battle of Truth and Error":

   There are no words adequate to convey a conception of what the soul feels
when  it stands in that presence,  far above this world (where the  veil  of
flesh hides the living realities under a mask) also, beyond the world of de-
sire  and illusion where fantastic and illusory shapes mislead us  into  be-
lieving  that they are something very different from what they are in  real-
ity.   Only in the Region of Concrete Thought,  where the archetypes of  all
things unite in that grand celestial choir which Pythagoras spoke of as "the
harmony of the spheres," do we find truth revealed in all its beauty.

   But the Spirit cannot stay there forever.  This truth and reality--so ar-
dently desired by everyone who has been driven to enter the quest by an  in-
ward urge stronger than the ties of friendship,  relationship,  or any other
consideration--is but a means to an end.  TRUTH MUST BE BROUGHT DOWN TO THIS
REALM OF PHYSICAL FORM, IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE OF REAL VALUE IN THE WORLD'S
WORK.   Therefore Siegfried, the truth seeker, must of a necessity leave the
rock of Brunhilde,  return through the fire of illusion and re-enter the ma-
terial  world  to  be tempted and tried, to prove whether he will be true to
the vows of love which pass between himself and the re-awakened Valkuerie.

   It  is  a hard battle that is before him.   The world is  not  ready  for
truth,  and however vehemently it may protest its desire in that  direction,
it schemes and plots,  by all means within its great power,  to down  anyone
who  brings the truth to its doors; for there are few institutions that  can
bear the dazzling brightness of its light.

   Not  even the gods can endure it, as Brunhilde knows to her  sorrow,  for
was  she not exiled by Wotan,  because she refused to use her power  on  the
side of convention!  Any anyone who steps upon conventionalities,  to uphold
truth,  will find that the whole world is against him and that he must stand
alone.   Wotan was her father and he professed to love her dearly.  Yes,  he
did love her in his way,  but he loved the power symbolized by Valhal  more.
The Ring of Creed, whereby he dominated humanity, was more desirable, in his
eyes, than Brunhilde, the spirit of truth; so he put her to sleep behind the
circle flame of illusion.

   If such be the attitude of the gods,  what then may be expected from  men
who do not profess such high and noble ideals as th gods, the keepers of re-
ligion, were supposed to inculcate into them?  All this and more than we can
put  into  words--much  that  it  will  do  the  student  good  to  meditate
upon--flashed upon  the  mind of Brunhilde in the moment of her parting from
Siegfried,  and,  in order to give him at least a chance in  the  battle  of
life,  she magnetizes,  as it were, his whole body to make him invulnerable.
Every place is thus protected save one point on the back between the  shoul-
ders.   Here we have a case analagous to that of Achilles,  whose  body  was
made invulnerable in all places save one of his heels.  Thee is a great sig-
nificance  in  this fact;  for as long as the soldier of  truth  wears  this
armour,  of which Paul speaks,  in the battle of life,  and boldly faces his
enemies,  it is certain that,  however hard he is beset,  eventually he will
win.   Because,  by facing the world and baring his breast to the arrows  of
antagonism,  calumny,  and slander,  he shows that he has the courage of his
convictions,  and a power higher than he,  the power that is always  working
for good, protects him no matter how great the onslaught he faces.   But woe
be unto him,  if at any time he turns his back!  Then, when he is not watch-
ing  the onslaught of the enemies of truth,  they will find  the  vulnerable
spot be it in the heel or 'twixt the shoulders.   Therefore,  it behooves us
and everyone else who loves truth, to take a lesson from this wonderful sym-
bology,  and TO REALIZE OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ALWAYS LOVE TRUTH ABOVE EVERY-
THING.   Friendship,  relationship, and all other considerations should have
no  weight  with  us compared with this one great work with  truth  and  for
truth.  Christ, who was the very embodiment of truth, said to His disciples,
"They have hated me, and they will hate you."

   So let us not deceive ourselves:  The path of principle is a rugged road,
and  strenuous is the labor of climbing.  On the way we shall probably  lose
caste with everyone near and dear to us.   Though the world now professes to
grant  religious freedom,  the day of persecution has not yet ended.   Creed
and  dogmatism are still in power, ready to prosecute and  persecute  anyone
who does not go along the conventional lines.   But so long as we face  them
and  pursue our path regardless of criticism truth will always come out  un-
scathed  from the battle.   It is only when we show ourselves to be  cowards
and cravens,  that these inimical forces can give us our death blow  through
this vulnerable spot.

   Another point:   when Siegfried starts out from the rock of the Valkuerie
to  re-enter  the world,  he gives to Brunhilde the Ring of  the  Niebelung.
this Ring, as you remember, was formed from the Rhinegold,  representing the
Universal Spirit,  by Alberich the Niebelung.  And we also remember that  he
could not shape this nugget until he had forsworn love;  for friendship  and
love ceased when the Universal Spirit was surrounded by the ring of  egoism.
From that time the battle of life has been waged in all its fierceness:  ev-
ery man's hand being against his brother because of his egoism, which impels
each to seek his own, regardless of the welfare of others.

   But when the Spirit has found truth and has come in contact with the  di-
vine realities, when it has entered the Region of Concrete Thought, which is
heaven, an has seen that one great verity--THAT ALL THINGS ARE ONE  and that
though  they  may seem separate here, there is an invisible  thread  uniting
each with all,  when the Spirit has thus regained universality and love,  it
cannot be separate any longer.   So,  when it leaves the realm of truth,  it
leaves behind the feeling of separateness and self,  symbolized by the Ring.

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Thus it becomes universal in its nature.   It knows neither kin nor country,
but feels like the much misunderstood Thomas Paine, when he said, "The world
is my country;  to do good is my religion."   This attitude of mind is alle-
gorically  represented  when Siegfried gives to Brunhilde the  Ring  of  the
Niebelung.

   As you will remember,  the Valkueries were daughters of Wotan,  the chief
god  of the Norse mythology.   they rode through the air on horses at  great
speed,  to any place where deadly combat,  whether between two or a  greater
number,  was in progress.   As soon as a warrior fell dead they  lifted  him
tenderly to their saddles and carried him to Valhal,  and abode of th  gods,
where he was resuscitated and lived in bliss forever after.   You  remember,
also,  that  the name Valkuerie was interpreted as--chosen  by  acclamation.
those who fought the battle of life to the very end were chosen by  acclama-
tion to be the companions of the gods.

   Brunhilde as chief of these daughters of Wotan, and her horse Grane,  was
the swiftest of the steeds.  This animal,  which had thus faithfully carried
the  spirit  of  truth,  she  gave  to  her  husband;  for TRUTH MAY EVER BE
CONSIDERED THE BRIDE OF THE ONE WHO HAS FOUND IT.  The horse, therefore,  is
symbolical of the swiftness and decision wherewith one who has married truth
is able to choose aright and discern truth from error--only, PROVIDED HE RE-
MAINS FAITHFUL.

   Thus with the love of truth in his heart,  and mounted upon the steed  of
discernment, Siegfried starts out to fight the battle of truth and bring the
world  captive to the feet of Brunhilde.  Heaven and Earth hang in the  bal-
ance,  for he may revolutionize the world if he is faithful and  courageous;
but  if he forgets his mission and becomes enmeshed in the sphere  of  illu-
sion,  the last hope of redeeming the world is gone.   The TWILIGHT  OF  THE
GODS IS CLOSE AT HAND,  when the present order of things shall be done away,
when the heavens shall melt in the fiery heat so that out of the travail  of
Nature a New Heaven and a New Earth may be born,  wherein righteousness as a
garment shall clothe all and everything.

   Let  us now turn our eyes from heaven,  from Siegfried and Brunhilde,  to
Earth, where the world, which the truth is to set free, waits for the coming
hero.   The northern myth introduces us to the court of Gunther, a king hon-
est and upright according to the standards of the world.  Gutrune,  his sis-
ter,  is the highest lady in the land,  her brother being unmarried.   Among
the courtiers there is Hagen,  a name which means hook,  signifying inherent
selfishness.   He is scion of the Niebelungs, related to Alberich who formed
the fatal Ring.  Ever since the days when that  Ring  passed  out  of  their
possession,  the  Niebelungs  have kept close  watch  upon  its  possessors:
first,  Wotan, who tricked Alberich and robbed him of the Ring,  then Fafner
and Fasolt, the giants who had built Valhal for Wotan, and who forced him to
give them the Ring in part payment to ransom Freya,  the goddess of love and
youth, whom Wotan had prostituted and sold for the sake of power:  then when
Fafner slew Fasolt,  the Niebelungs watched closed the cave where Fafner lay
concealed,  brooding over the hoard of the Niebelung as a huge dragon.   And
Mime, the foster father of Siegfried, paid with his life for scheming to ob-
tain possession of the coveted treasure.  Nor was Siegfried safe from  their
vigilant  watch,  save  when he was at the rock of  the  Valkuerie;  for  no
Niebelung,  nor one who is a cur or coward,  can ever penetrate  beyond  the
circle flame of illusion into the realm of truth.  Therefore, the Niebelungs
do not know what has become of the Ring when Siegfried emerges anew into the
world, though, of course, they surmise that it has been left with Brunhilde,
and instantly commence plotting how to obtain it.

   The court of Gunther lies directly in the path of Siegfried, and Alberich
speeds ahead and informs Hagen that the last known possessor of the Ring  is
coming.   Together,  they scheme how to find out its whereabouts and  obtain
possession,  but each in his black heart, also plots how to outwit the other
and  obtain  the treasure for himself alone; for there is no  honor  in  the
battle of the separate self; each is against all  others  regardless  of who
they  are.   Though in the world we find co-operation for a common  purpose,
the question that is uppermost in the mind of every one who participates is:
What can I get out of it?   Unless this is plain and a personal reward is in
sight,  the  great majority of mankind are unwilling to work.   The  apostle
tells us, "not to be concerned with the things for self alone, but also,  TO
BE MINDFUL OF THE THINGS OF OTHERS."   and we have given intellectual assent
in the Christian countries, but, alas! how few are willing to live up to the
ideal of unselfish service.

                            [To Be Continued]

                                QUESTIONS:

1] Why was it necessary for Siegfried to leave the rock of Brunhilde and re-
   enter the material world?

2] As long as the soldier of truth wears his armour and boldly faces the 
   world, what is inevitable?

3] What is allegorically represented when Siegfried gives Brunhilde the Ring 
   of the Niebelung?

4] Who were chosen by acclamation to be the companions of the gods?

5] What will be the order of things when the twilight of the gods is at hand?

6] What efforts is made to relieve Siegfried of the ring when he emerges anew 
   into the world?

[PAGE 95]

                               LESSON NO. 45:

                         THE RING OF THE NIEBELUNG:

                       "Rebirth and the Lethal Drink":

         "Birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.
         The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
         Has elsewhere had its setting,
         And cometh from afar." 
                                         --WORDSWORTH.

   When  Siegfried leaves the rock of the Valkuerie and reaches the  worldly
court  of  Gunther,  he is given a drink calculated to make him  forget  all
about his past life and Brunhilde, the spirit of truth,  whom he had won for
his very own.

   It is usually supposed that the doctrine of rebirth is taught only in the
ancient religions of the Orient,  but a study of the Scandinavian  mythology
will soon rout that misconception.   Indeed,  they believed in both  rebirth
and the Law of Cause and Effect as applied to moral conduct,  until Christi-
anity  clouded  these  doctrines,  for  reasons  given  in  THE  ROSICRUCIAN
COSMO-CONCEPTION  (p.  167).   And it is curious to read  of  the  confusion
caused when the ancient religion of Wotan was being superseded by Christian-
ity.  Men believed in rebirth in their hearts,  but repudiated it outwardly,
as the following story told of Saint Olaf, King of Norway, one of the earli-
est and most zealous converts to Christianity,  will show;   when Asta,  the
Queen of King Harold, was in labor but could not bring birth,  a man came to
the  court with some jewels,  of which he gave the following account:   King
Olaf Geirstad,  who had reigned in Norway many years before and was the  di-
rect ancestor of Harold,  had appeared to him in a dream and directed him to
open the great earth-mound in which his body lay, and having severed it from
the head with a sword,  to convey certain jewels, which he would find in the
coffin,  to the queen, whose pains would then cease.   The jewels were taken
into the queen's chamber,  and soon after she as delivered of a male  child,
whom  they named Olaf.   It was generally believed that the Spirit  of  Olaf
Geirstad had passed into the body of the child, who was named after him.

   Many years after,  when Olaf had become King of Norway,  and had embraced
Christianity,  he rode one day,  as he often did, by the mound where his an-
cestor lay, and a courtier, who was with him at the time asked,

   "Is it true, my lord, that you once lay in this mound?"

   "Never," replied the king, "has my Spirit inhabited two bodies."

   "Yet, it has been reported that you have been heard to say, on passing
this mound, 'Here was I. Here I lived.'"

   "I have never so said," returned the king, "and never will I say so."

   He was much discomfited, and rode hastily away,  presumably to avoid dis-
cussion of an inward conviction which all the dogmas of the new faith  could
not eradicate.

   As a matter of fact,  all ancient people,  whether in the East or in  the
West,  knew  much about birth and death which has been forgotten  in  modern
times,  because second sight was more prevalent then.  To this day,  for in-
stance, many peasants in Norway assert ability to see the Spirit passing
out of the body at death, as a long narrow white cloud, which is, of course,
the vital body; and the Rosicrucian teaching--that the deceased hover around
their earthly abode for some time after death,  that they assume a  luminous
body  and are sorely afflicted by the grief of dear ones--was common  knowl-
edge  among the ancient Northmen.   When the deceased King Helge of  Denmark
materialized to assuage the grief of his widow, and she exclaimed in anguish
"The dew of death has bathed his warrior body,' he answered:

         " 'Tis thou, Sigruna,
         Art cause alone,
         That Helge is bathed
         With dew of sorrow.
         Thou wilt not cease thy grief,
         Nor dry the bitter tears.
         Each bloody tear
         Falls on my breast,
         Icy cold.  They will not let me rest."

   Students, when they realize the fact of rebirth, generally wonder why the
memory  of  past lives is blotted out, and many are filled  with  an  almost
overpowering  desire to know the past.   They cannot understand the  benefit
derived from the lethal drink of forgetfulness,  and they look with envy  at
people  who  claim to know their past lives--when they claim  to  have  been
kings,  queens, philosophers, priests, et cetera.  there is, however, a most
beneficent purpose in this forgetfulness,  for no experience is of value  in
life  except for the impress which it leaves by the purgatorial or  heavenly
post-mortem experience.  This impress then acts in such a manner that at the
proper time it directs,  warns, or urges a certain line of action,  and this
warning,  or urge, though dissociated from the experience, or rather for the
reason  that  it  is dissociated from the experience wherefrom  it  was  ex-
tracted, acts with a quickness greater than that of thought.

   To  make this point clear we may perhaps liken this record,  graven  upon
our subtler vehicles,  to a phonograph record,  which playing,  will cause a
battery  of tuning forks placed near it to vibrate as each note  is  struck.
From the outward point of view there seems to be no reason why a certain in-
dentation on a phonographic record should correspond to a certain one on the
tuning fork,  and  when  the  needle falls into that indentation, a definite
sound should be produced which sets the tuning fork vibrating.   But whether
we understand it or not, demonstration shows that there is a tie of tone be-
tween that little indentation and the tuning fork.  And this does not depend
upon  a knowledge of how the impress came to be imprinted on the record,  or
what  caused  the tuning fork to respond to that vibration.   It  is  there,
whether we know all the facts about it, or not.

   Similarly, when we have had a certain experience in life, be it joyful or
the reverse,  it is condensed in the post-mortem experience,  leaving an im-
press upon the soul to warn, if the experience is purgatorial;  to urge,  if
heavenly.   And in a later life,  when an experience comes up similar to the
one which caused the impress, the vibration is sensed by the soul,  it awak-
ens the tone of pain or pleasure,  as the case may be,  in the record of the
past  life,  far more speedily and accurately than if the experience  itself
were called up before our mind's eye.  For we might not, even at the present
time,  be able to see the experience in its true light while we are hampered
by the veil of flesh, but the fruit of the experience, gathered in heaven or
hell, tells us unerringly whether to emulate our past, or shun it.

   Moreover,  supposing we did know our past lives:  that by our present en-
deavors  to live well and worthily we had acquired that faculty.   Supposing
that we had lived lives of debauchery, cruelty, crime, and selfishness!   If
people now despised us accordingly,  we  would then hold that they ought not
to judge us by the past--that they were wrong in ostracizing us.   We  would
contend that our present life of worthy endeavor should be made the basis of
judgment,  to the exclusion of former conditions,  and in this we should  be

[PAGE 96]

perfectly right.   But then,  for the same reason, why should we claim honor
in the present life,  adulation or admiration,  because in the past life  we
were  kings and queens?   Even if it were true that we had held  such  posi-
tions, why should we lay ourselves open to the ridicule of skeptics by tell-
ing such stories?   So, whether we have memory of our past lives or not,  it
is  better to concentrate our efforts upon the highest possibilities of  to-
day.

   There is no doubt,  that one who is able to search the Memory of  Nature,
and  who  does  so  for the sake of investigation  in  connection  with  the
progress and evolution of man, will, at some time or other,  come into touch
with glimpses of his or her own past.   But a true servant who really  feels
himself to be a laborer in the vineyard of Christ,  will never allow himself
to  swerve from the path of service and follow the trail of curiosity.   The
Disciple who receives instructions from the Elder Brothers, is warned at the
first  Initiation never to use his power to gratify curiosity,  and  on  all
subsequent visits to the Temple this idea is dinned into his ears.

   The distinctions between the legitimate and illegitimate use of spiritual
powers  are  so fine and so subtle,  that,  as one grows,  the  restrictions
whereby one seems beset, multiply  to such an extent,  that  were  the  tale
told  to others,  ninety out of a hundred would say:   "But what is the  use
then of having spiritual sight or of being able to leave the body?  When you
are  so restricted,  it seems that the possibility of trespassing is  multi-
plied to such an extent, that there is scarcely any use of having these fac-
ulties."   Nevertheless,  they are of great value, and the responsibility is
only the natural result of added growth.

   An animal takes freely anything that it wishes:  it commits no sin and is
not  held responsible for its action,  because it knows no better.   But  as
soon  as the idea of "mine"  and "thine"  has been imprinted upon  our  con-
sciousness, then also the responsibility comes.  As our knowledge grows,  so
does  our responsibility;  and the finer the soul qualities,  the finer  the
distinctions between right and wrong.   This we observe in our daily  lives,
that  the standards of the permissible or non-permissible vary according  to
the quality of each individual.

   And when we aspire to that power whereby we may know the past,  we  shall
find  that we are no more justified in using this power for  aggrandizement,
than  we would be justified in using it to obtain worldly wealth  or  power.
So the life, or the lives, we have led are hidden from us for a purpose, un-
til we know how to unlock the door;  and when we have the key we shall prob-
ably not want to use it.

   For that reason,  then, Siegfried is given the lethal drink the moment he
enters the court of Gunther, and straightway he forgets about his past  life
with Mime,  the dwarf,  who claimed him as a son.   He forgets how he forged
the  magic sword,  "the courage of despair,"  which stood him in  such  good
stead in the fight with Fafner,  the spirit of passion and desire.   He for-
gets that he had thus won the Ring of the Niebelung,  the emblem of  egoism,
whereby  he gained knowledge of his true spiritual identity and  slew  Mime,
the personality,  who wrongfully claimed to be his progenitor.   He  forgets
how,  as a free Spirit undaunted by fear,  he broke the spear of Wotan,  the
warder  of  creed,  and followed the bird of intuition to the abode  of  the
sleeping  spirit of truth.   The forgets his marriage to her and the vow  of
unselfishness, implied when he gave her the ring.

   But  each  and every one of these important events has left  its  impress
upon his soul,  and now it is to be tested:   whether that impress has  been
deep or superficial.   Temptation comes to us,  life after life,  until  the
treasure  laid  up  in heaven has been tested and  tried  by  temptation  on
Earth--whether or not it will withstand the moth of corruption.   After  the
Baptism,  when  the Spirit of Christ had descended into the fleshy  body  of
Jesus,  it was taken into the wilderness of temptation to prove its weakness
or its strength.  And, similarly, after each heavenly experience we must ex-
pect  to be brought back to Earth,  that it may be learned whether we  shall
stand or fall in the furnace of affliction.

                           [To Be Continued]

                              QUESTIONS:

1] What clouded the doctrines of rebirth in the Scandinavian countries?

2] Why is it a benefit that we do no remember our past lives?

3] What idea is dinned into the ears of one who is able to search the Memory 
   of Nature?

4] To what use should the ability to search the Memory of Nature be put?

5] What determines the fine distinction between right and wrong?

6] Why does temptation come to us life after life?

[PAGE 97]

                               LESSON NO. 46:

                        THE RING OF THE NIEBELUNG:

                       "The Twilight of the Gods":

   When Siegfried reaches the court of Gunther, Gutrune,  the fair sister of
the  king  hands him the magic cup of forgetfulness.   Forthwith,  he  loses
memory of the past and of Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, and stands a naked
soul ready to fight the battle of life.  But he is armed with the sublimated
essence of former experience.  The sword of Nothung, the courage of despair,
wherewith  he fought greed and creed symbolized by Fafner,  the dragon,  and
Wotan the god,  is still with him; also Tarncap,  or the helmet of illusion,
which  is an apt symbol of what we in modern times call hypnotic power,  for
whoever put this magic cap on his head appeared to others in whatever  shape
he desired;  and  he  has  Brunhilde's horse Grane, discernment, whereby he,
himself, might always perceive truth and distinguish it from error and illu-
sion.   He still has powers which he may use for good or evil  according  to
choice.

   As  we  have said previously,  our idea of what truth is  changes  as  we
progress.  We are gradually climbing the mountain trial of evolution, and as
we  do phases of truth appear which we never before perceived;  and what  is
right at one stage,  is wrong at another.   Though,  whenever we are in  the
flesh  we see through the veil of illusion symbolized by Loge's flame  which
encircles  the rock of Brunhilde,  her swift charger Grane,  discernment  is
also with us;  and is we only give him free rein,  the material brain  mind,
which is charged with the lethal drink of forgetfulness,  can never gain the
ascendancy over the Spirit.

   The early Atlantean Epoch,  when mankind lived as guileless "Children  of
the Mist"  (Niebelung) in the foggy basins of the Earth,  is represented  in
the Rhinegold  The later Atlantean time is an age of savagery, where mankind
has forsworn love, as Alberich did, and forms "the Ring" of egoism, where it
devotes  its energies to material acquisitions symbolized by "the hoard"  of
the Niebelung,  over which giants, gods, and men fight with savage brutality
and low cunning, as set forth in the "The Valkuerie."

   The early Aryan Epoch marks the birth of the idealist,  symbolized as the
"Walsungs"  (Siegmund,  Sieglinda,  and Siegfried), a new race which aspires
with a sacred ardor to new and higher things--valorous  knights  who had the
courage of their convictions and were ever ready to fight for truth as  they
saw it, and to give their lives as forfeit to uphold their heartfelt convic-
tions.   Thus the age of realistic savagery gave place to an era of idealis-
tic chivalry.

   We are now in the latter part of the Aryan Epoch.   The truth seekers  of
the past have again left the fire girt rock of Brunhilde.  We have again as-
sumed the veil of flesh and partaken of the lethal drink,  and we are  today
actually playing the last part of the great epic drama, "The Twilight of the
Gods," which is identical in its import with our Christian Apocalypse.  "The
gospel of the Kingdom" has been preached to us, "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life"  has been opened to us,  as it was to Siegfried;  and we are on  trial
now,  as he was at Gunther's court,  to see if we will live as  "married  to
truth," or whether we will drag her from her retreat and prostitute her,  as
Siegfried did.   In order to gain the hand of Gutrune, he wrested the emblem
of  egoism,  the Ring of the Niebelung, from Brunhilde's hand and put it  on
his finger again; he bound her and carried her to Gunther to be his wife; he
prostituted  her,  and himself committed adultery with  Gutrune--for  having
once  married  truth,  it is spiritual adultery to seek the  honors  of  the
world.

   Heaven  and Earth are outraged at this colossal betrayal of  truth.   The
great World-Ash, the tree of life and being, shakes at its root,  where Urd,
Skuld, and Verdande, the past, present, and future, spin the thread of fate.
It grows dark on Earth;  Hagen's  spear  finds  the only vulnerable point in
Siegfried's body--his life is the forfeit,  and as the highest ideal of  the
age  has  failed,  there is no use in perpetuating  the  existing  order  of
things.   Therefore, Heimdal, the heavenly watchman, souls his trumpet,  and
the  gods  ride in solemn procession over the rainbow bridge  for  the  last
time, to meet the giants in final battle involving the destruction of heaven
and Earth.

   This  is a very significant point:   At the opening of the drama we  find
the  Niebelungen "at the bottom of the river."   Alberich later forges  "the
Ring"  in fire,  which can only burn in the clear atmosphere such as we have
in the Aryan age.   During this age the gods also hold their sacred councils
at the rainbow-bridge,  which is the reflection of the heavenly fire.   When
noah brought the original Semites through "the Flood,"  he kindled the fire.
"The  bow"  was then set in the cloud to remain for the age and during  that
time it was covenanted that the alternating cycles,  summer and winter,  day
and night,  et cetera, should not cease.  In the Apocalypse (IV:3),  John is
offered  instruction  concerning "things which must be hereafter,"  by  "One
having a rainbow around Him";  and later (X:160, a mighty Angel with a rain-
bow on its head solemnly proclaims the end of time.   Thus it is plain  from
the northern myth and the Christina teaching,  that the epoch began when the
bow was set in the cloud;  when the bow is removed the epoch will end and  a
new condition of things physical and spiritual, will be ushered in.

   The  other phenomenon attending this time of trouble is set forth in  the
ancient  myth.   Loge,  the spirit of illusion,  has  three  children:   the
Midgaard  Serpent  which encircles the Earth, biting its own  tail,  is  the
ocean which refracts and distorts every object immersed therein.   Men  fear
the  treacherous element;  their cheeks have always paled at the thought  of
what it may do when unleashed.  The wolf Fenris,  the atmosphere,  is also a
child  of illusion (optical),  and the dread roar of the tempest may  strike
fear into the stoutest heart.   Hel, death, is the third of loge's children,
and the "queen of terrors."   Before man entered concrete existence,  as de-
scribed in the beginning of the great myth and in Genesis, his consciousness
was  focused  in  the spiritual worlds where  the  illusive  elements,  Loge
(fire), Fenris (air), and the Serpent (water), are nonexistent; hence, death
also was an unknown quantity.  But during the present epoch when the consti-
tution  of  the human body is subject to the action of the  elements,  death
also holds sway.

   At  the sound of the trumpet of Heimdal,  all the factors of  destruction
press forward to the plain Vigrid, the counterpart of Armageddon,  where the
gods  of  creed  and their sworn supporters have assembled to  make  a  last
stand.   The sons of Muspel (physical fire),  press forward from the  south,

[PAGE 98]

demolishing  the rainbow bridge.   The Frost Giants advance from the  north.
With an awful roar, Fenris, the temptest-driven atmosphere,  rushes upon the
Earth.  So terrific is its velocity that the friction generates fire,  hence
it is said that its lower jaw is upon the Earth,  its upper reaches the Sun,
and fire streams from its nostrils.  It swallows Wotan, the god in charge of
the age of air,  when the bow was in the cloud.  The Midgaard Serpent or wa-
tery  element is vanquished by Thor,  the god of thunder and lightning,  but
when the electrical discharges have finally disposed of the element,  water,
there  can be no thunder and lightning,  hence the northern myth informs  us
that Thor dies of the fumes from the Serpent.   In our Christian  Apocalypse
we  also hear of thunders and lightnings,  and are told that finally  "there
shall be no more sea."

   But  as the Phoenix arises rejuvenated and beautiful from its  ashes,  so
also a New Earth, fairer and more ethereal, was seen by the ancient prophet-
ess to arise from the great conflagration where "the elements melt with fer-
vent  heat"--"Gimle,"  she called it.   Nor was it without  population,  for
while the great conflagration was in progress a man and a woman called  Life
and  Liftharaser  (life means life) were saved and from them springs  a  new
race which lives in peace and close to God.

         "A hall I see,
         More brilliant than the sun,
         Roofed with gold.
         On the summit of Gimle,
         There shall live
         A virtuous race,
         An enjoy blessedness
         To eternity.
         "Thither cometh the Mighty One--all--
             Father,
         To the council of the gods,
         In His strength from above.
         He who thinketh for all,
         Issueth judgments;
         He causeth strife to cease,
         And establisheth peace
         To endure forever."

   Thus  the ancient northern myth teaches, but from a different angle,  the
same  truths as found in greater fullness in the Christian  Scriptures  from
Genesis  to the Apocalypse,  and it is important that we should realize  the
truth of these tales.   There are,  alas, too many in the class described by
Peter as saying:   "Where is the promise of His coming?   For since the  fa-
thers  fell  asleep,  all things continue as THEY WERE  in  the  beginning."
There are few who realize the import of the statement in the second  chapter
of Genesis,  that "a mist went up from the ground and watered the earth  be-
fore  it  rained,"  and that thus the children of the mist  must  have  been
physiologically different from the man of today who breathes air since  "the
Flood,"  when  th mist condensed and became the sea.   But just as  sure  as
these changes happened in the past, so there is now another  change  impend-
ing.  True, it may not come in our time--"that hour knoweth no man,  neither
the Angels,  neither the Son," and repeatedly the warning of Noah is held up
before us in this connection.   In that day they ate and drank,  married and
were  given in marriage,  but suddenly the waters engulfed them and all  who
had not evolved the physiological requisites,  LUNGS,  necessary to live  in
the new condition perished.  The Ark carried the pioneers safely through the
catastrophe.

   To make the next change safely, a Wedding Garment is required,  and it is
of  utmost importance that we should work upon it.   The SOMA  PSUCHICON  or
"soul body"  which Paul mentions (I Cor. XI :44),  is an etheric vehicle  of
paramount importance;  for when the present elements have been dissolved  in
the  impending  change,  how shall we survive if we can function only  in  a
dense body as now!

  It is the mission of the Rosicrucian Order working through the Rosicrucian
Fellowship, to promulgate a scientific method of development suited particu-
larly to the Western people whereby this Wedding Garment may be wrought,  so
that we may hasten the day of the Lord.

                                [The End]

                                QUESTIONS:

1] Although Siegfried loses memory of the past, with what is he armed to fight 
   the battle of life?

2] What did realistic savagery give way to in the early Aryan Epoch?

3] Why was it spiritual adultery for Siegfried to seek the honors of the 
   world?

4] Give the mythological interpretation of Siegfried forfeiting his life at 
   the hands of Hagen.

5] According to the Northern Myth, by whom will the new earth be populated and 
   how will they live?

6] What will be required of us that we may survive the coming of the New Age?

[PAGE 99]

                             LESSON NO. 47:

                              TANNHAUSER:

                     The Pendulum of Joy and Sorrow:

   In  this  drama we deal again with one of the ancient  legends.   It  was
given to humanity by the divine Hierarchies who guided us along the path  of
progress by pictorial terms so that mankind might subconsciously absorb  the
ideals for which, in later lives, they were to strive.

   In ancient times love was brutal; the bride was bought or stolen or taken
as a prize in war.  Possession OF THE BODY was all that was desired,  there-
fore woman was a chattel, prized by man for the pleasure she  afforded  him,
and for that only.   the higher,  finer faculties in her nature were given a
chance  of expression.   This condition had to be altered or human  progress
would have stopped.  The apple always falls close to the tree.   Anyone born
from a union under such brutal conditions must be brutal;  and,  if  mankind
were to be elevated,  the standard of love had to be raised.   TANNHAUSER is
an attempt in that direction.

   This legend is also called "The Tournament of the Troubadours,"  for  the
minstrels of Europe were the educators of the Middle Ages.   They were  wan-
dering knights, gifted with the power of speech and song, who journeyed from
land to land, welcomed and honored in court and castle.  They had a powerful
influence in forming the ideas and ideals of the day,  and in the Tournament
of  Song held in Wartburg Castle,  one of the problems of that  day--whether
woman had a right to her own body or not,  a right to protection against li-
centious abuse by her husband,  whether she was to be considered a companion
to be loved as soul to soul or as a salve bound to submit to the dictates of
her master--was the question to be decided.

   Naturally,  at each change there are always those who stand for  the  old
things against the new, and champions of both sides took part in that battle
of song in Wartburg Castle.

   The question is still rife.   It is still unsettled with the majority  of
mankind,  but the principle enunciated is true,  and only as we  conform  to
this  principle  by elevating the standards of love,  can a better  race  be
born.   This is particularly essential to one who is aiming to lead a higher
life.   Though the principle seems so self-evident it is not even yet agreed
to by all who make high professions.  In time everyone will learn that  only
as  we regard woman as the equal of man can mankind truly be  elevated,  for
under  the Law of Rebirth the soul is reborn alternately in both sexes,  and
the oppressors of one age become the oppressed of the next.

   The  fallacy of a double standard of conduct which favors one sex at  the
cost  of the other should be at once apparent to anyone who believes in  the
succession  of  lives  whereby the soul progresses  from  impotence  to  om-
nipotence.  It has been amply provide that, far from inferior to man,  woman
is at least his equal and very often his superior in many of the mental  oc-
cupations; though that does not appear plainly for the drama.

   The legend tells us that Tannhauser, who represents the soul at a certain
stage  of development,  has been disappointed in love,  because its  object,
Elizabeth,  was too pure and too young to be even approached with a  request
that she yield to him.   Yearning with passionate desire,  he attracts some-
thing of an identical nature.

   Our thoughts are like tuning forks.  They awaken echoes in others who are
capable  of  responding to them,  and the passionate thought  of  Tannhauser
brings him, therefore, to that which is called "the Mountain of Venus."

   Like A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM of Shakespeare, this story of how he finds
the Mountain of Venus, of how he is taken in by this lovely goddess,  and is
kept in passion's chains by her charms,  is not entirely founded upon fancy.
There are Spirits in the air, in the water, and in the fire;  and under cer-
tain conditions they are contacted by man.  No so much perhaps in the  elec-
tric  atmosphere of America,  but over all of Europe,  particularly  in  the
north,  there  broods  a mystic atmosphere which has  somewhat  attuned  the
people to the seeing of these elementals.  The goddess of beauty,  or Venus,
here  spoken  of,  is really one of the etheric entities who feed  upon  the
fumes  of low desire,  in the gratification of which the creative  force  is
liberated  in copious quantities.   Many of the Spirit controls  which  take
possession  of mediums and incite them to laxity of morals and  abuses,  who
act as their soul lovers and seriously weaken their victims,  belong to this
same  class which is exceedingly dangerous,  to say the  least.   Paracelsus
mentions them as "incubi" and "succubi."

   The opening scene of Tannhauser introduces us to a licentious debauch  in
the  cave  of  Venus.  Tannhauser  is  kneeling  before  the  goddess who is
stretched on a couch.   He wakens as if from a dream,  and his dream has in-
culcated a longing to visit the Earth above again.   this he tells the  god-
dess enus who answers:

   "What foolish plaint! Art weary of my love?
   By sorrow once thy heart was crushed above.
   Up minstrel, seize thy harp and sing of bliss divine,
   For love's chief treasure, love's goddess is thine."

   Inflamed with new ardor Tannhauser seizes harp and sings her praise:

   "All hail to thee! Undying fame attend thee.
   Paeans of praise to thee be ever sung.
   Each soft delight thy bounty sweet did lend me,
   Shall wake my harp while time and love are young;
   For love's sweet joy, and satisfaction's pleasure,
   My sense did thirst, my heart did crave;
   And thou, whose love a God alone can measure,
   Gave me thyself, and in this bliss I lave.
   But mortal am I, and a love divine,
   Too changeless is to mate with mine.
   A god can love without cessation,
   But under laws of alteration,
   Our share of pain as well as pleasure,
   We mortals need in changing measure.
   Too full of joy, again I long for pain,
   So, Queen, I cannot here remain."

    When mankind emerged from Atlantis, and came into the air of Aryana, the
rainbow stood for the first time in the sky as the sign of the New Age.   At
that time it was said that as long as this bow was in the clouds the seasons
would not cease to change; day and night, summer and winter,  ebb and flood,
and all the other alternating measures of Nature would follow one another in
unbroken  succession.   In music there may not always be  harmony.   Discord
once  in a while comes in to give appreciation of the melody which  follows.

[PAGE 100]

Thus it is with the question of pain and sorrow, of joy and happiness:  THEY
ARE ALSO MEASURES OF ALTERNATION.  We cannot live in one without craving the
other,  any more than we could remain in heaven and gather experiences  that
are only to be found upon Earth.  And it is this inward urge,  this swing of
the pendulum from joy to sorrow and back again, which drives Tannhauser from
the  cave  of Venus that he may again know the strife and  struggle  of  the
world; that he may there gain the experience which sorrow alone can give and
forget the pleasures which bring to him no soul power.  But it is character-
istic of the lower forces,  however,  that they always seek to influence the
soul against its will;  that they always use every endeavor to keep it  away
from the path of rectitude; and so Venus who stands as the representative of
these powers in the drama of Tannhauser, warningly and dissuasively says:

   "In dust thy soul will soon be humbled,
   Adversity thy pride will fell,
   Then crushed in spirit, ardor crumbled,
   Thou'lt plead again to feel my spell."

   But Tannhauser is firm in his purpose.  the urge within him is so  strong
that nothing can keep him back, and though he still feels the spell,  he ex-
claims with great fervor:

   "While I have life, but thee my harp will praise,
   No meaner theme will e'er my song inspire;
   Thou spring of beauty and of gentle grace,
   With sweetest songs dost quicken love's desire;
   The fire thou kindlest in my heart,
   An altar flame will burn alone for thee,
   An though in sorrow now from thee I part,

   Thy champion I shall ever be.
   But I must forth, the life of earth I crave,
   Here I must aye remain a slave;
   I thirst for freedom though my death it be,
   Therefore, O Queen, from thee I flee!"

   Thus when Tannhauser leaves the cave of Venus he is the pledged  champion
of the low and sensual side of love;  and this he goes out into the world to
teach,  for that is the nature of mankind;  WHATEVER THE HEART  FEELS,  must
out.

   Knowing  the  country well,  he at once turns his steps  toward  Wartburg
where a number of minstrels are always staying with the lord and lady of the
manor,  who to a very large extent are patrons of minstrelsy always  anxious
to be entertained, and always lavish with their gifts.

   After  awhile he meets a band of minstrels who are walking in the  woods,
and these, his former friends, are surprised that they have not seen him for
so long.  They ask him where he has been, but Tannhauser, knowing that there
is a general sentiment against being with the lower elemental forces in  Na-
ture,  hides his whereabouts during the period of his absence from them,  by
giving an evasive answer.  He is then told by the minstrels that there is to
be  a tournament of the troubadours at the castle and is invited to go  with
them.

   Hearing that the subject of the song contest is to be love,  and further-
more,  that the prize will be given to the winner by the hand of the beauti-
ful daughter of the lord,  namely Elizabeth,  (the lady Tannhauser has loved
so  ardently and who so inflamed his soul in past days that it drove him  to
the cave of Venus) he hopes by the ardor with which he is inspired,  to  in-
duce the beautiful maiden to hear his plaint.   As we always reap a  harvest
of pain whenever we go contrary to the laws of progress, Tannhauser, by this
act,  is sowing the seed that will one day bring him the harvest of pain  he
coveted in the cave of Venus.

                           [To Be Continued]

                               QUESTIONS:

1] Why was it absolutely necessary to improve the standard of womanhood of 
   ancient times?

2] In order to truly elevate mankind, why is it necessary to regard woman as 
   the equal of man?

3] Who is the Goddess of Venus, and upon what does she survive?

4] Explain the inner urge of Tannhauser that drove him from the cave of Venus, 
   that he may again know the struggle of the world.

5] Why did not Tannhauser frankly tell his minstrel friends of his sojourn 
   with Venus?

6] What is the result of going contrary to the laws of progress?

[PAGE 101]

                               LESSON NO. 48:

                                TANNHAUSER:

                    Minstrels, Initiates of Middle Ages:

   When  Tannhauser emerged from the cave of Venus one of the  first  sounds
which  greeted him was the chant of a band of pilgrims going to Rome to  ob-
tain forgiveness for their sins,  and this awakened within him an overpower-
ing sense of his own delinquency.   Therefore he kneels and exclaims in deep
contrition:

         "Almighty, praise I give to Thee,
         I pray Thee mercy show to me.
         By sense of sin I am oppressed,
         The load too heavy far for me.
         I have no peace, can find no rest
         Till pardon I receive from Thee."

   While  he  is thus dejected and feels himself accursed,  doomed  to  roam
alone and unblessed through the world because of his unhallowed love for Ve-
nus,  the minstrels come upon him, and recognizing him, endeavor to persuade
him to accompany them to Wartburg, but as said before, it was the PASSIONATE
love of Elizabeth that drove him thence,  and he feels that he dare not  ap-
proach  her.  As  a  last  argument, Wolfram von Eschenbach tells Tannhauser
that Elizabeth loves him.   Elizabeth has never been at the contests of song
since  Tannhauser left,  and Wolfram von Eschenbach,  one of the purest  and
most beautiful characters in medieval history,  endeavors to secure the hap-
piness  of  Elizabeth by bringing Tannhauser back to her though  he  himself
loves her,  and it breaks his own heart to do so.  On hearing this,  PASSION
fires Tannhauser's soul anew, and he sings:

     "Ah, dost thou smile once more upon me!
     Thou radiant world that I had lost!
     O sun of heaven thou dost not shun me
     By stormy clouds so long o'ercrossed.
     "Tis May, sweet May.  Its thousand carols tender,
     Rejoicing set my sorrow free.
     A ray of new, unwonted splendor
     Illumes my soul, O joy 'tis she!"

   On meeting Tannhauser at the castle, Elizabeth tells him:

     "Now the world to me is darkened.
     Repose and joy from me have flown.
     Since fondly to thy lays I've hearkened,
     The pangs of bliss and woe I've known;
     And when this land thou hadst forsaken,
     My peace of heart had also fled.
     No minstrel could my joy awaken,
     To me their lays seem sad and dead.
     In slumber oft near broken-hearted,
     Awake, each pang was oft recalled;
     All joy has from my life departed.
     Oh tell me why I am enthralled!"

   To this Tannhauser replies:

     "All praise to love for this sweet token!
     Love touched my harp with magic sweet.
     Love through my song to thee hath spoken
     And captured, leaves me at thy feet."

   Elizabeth then confesses:

     "O blessed hour of meeting!
     O blessed power of love!
     At last I give thee greeting,
     No longer wilt thou rove.
     Now life anew awakens,
     Within this heart of mine;
     The cloud of sorrow breaketh.
     The sun of joy doth shine."

   Thus  Elizabeth has inspired love in the hearts of two of the  minstrels,
Wolfram and Tannhauser, but how different this love is will be seen from the
way each handles the theme in the contest of song, which follows in the sec-
ond  act,  where the Lord of Wartburg opens the contest with  the  following
words:

     "As oft in war times, death we braved,
     And knightlike battled, honor to maintain,
     So, minstrels, you have fought and virtue saved.
     Upheld true faith with voice and harp's sweet
           strain.
     Tune up again; another lay indite.
     DESCRIBE TRUE LOVE, that we may surely know;
     And who so does most nobly this recite
     The princess shall reward on him bestow."

   In this last verse we gain a true understanding of the relative scope and
mission of knighthood and minstrelsy.   It was the duty of knights to follow
war,  to defend with the sword all who were in need thereof, to fight with a
strong arm the battle of the weak.   In so far as a knight followed the code
of honor then prevailing,  and defended the weak,  keeping faith with friend
and  foe,  he learned the lessons of physical and,  in a certain  sense,  of
moral courage, which are so necessary for the development of the soul.  Any-
one  who  enters upon the path of spiritual attainment is also a  knight  of
noble birth,  and it behooves him to realize that he must have the same vir-
tues  which were required of knighthood, for upon the spiritual  path  there
are also dangers and places where physical courage is required.  The Spirit,
for  instance,  cannot come to liberation  without  physical  inconvenience.

[PAGE 102]

Sickness usually attends soul growth to a greater or a less extent,  and  it
requires  physical courage to endure the suffering incident to that  attain-
ment, after which we all strive, and thus sacrifice the body for the soul.

   It was the mission of minstrelsy to foster this courage and to  inculcate
the finer virtues also.  All minstrels,  therefore, had that poetical strain
which  brings  us in touch with the higher and finer things  in  Nature  not
sensed by ordinary humanity; but more than that, many among the minstrels in
medieval  times were Initiates themselves, or perhaps lay brothers.   There-
fore their words were often found to be pearls of wisdom.   They were looked
up to as teachers, as wise men, and were friends of the true nobility.

   There were,  of course,  exceptions, but Tannhauser was not one of these,
however.   We shall find that he was really a noble soul despite his faults,
and in fact we should remember that we are all Tannhausers before we  become
Wolframs.   We all respond to Tannhauser's definition of love before we grow
to Wolfram's spiritual conception as given at the contest.

   Lots are drawn to see who shall begin the contest,  and the name of  Wol-
fram appears on the slip first taken from the box.   He therefore  commences
as follows:

   "Gazing around upon this fair assemblage
   How does the heart expand to see the scene!
   These gallant heroes, valiant, wise, and gentle,
   As stately forests growing fresh and green,
   And blooming by their side in sweet perfection,
   I see a wreath of dames and maidens fair.
   Their blended glories dazzle the beholder,
   My song is mute before this vision rare.
   I raise my eyes to one whose starry splendor
   In this bright heaven with mild effulgence beams,
   And gazing on that radiance, pure and tender
   My heart is sunk in prayerful, holy dreams.
   And lo, the source of all delight and power
   Is then unto my listening soul revealed.
   From whose unfathomed depths, all joy doth
         shower
   The tender balm through which all grief is healed.
   Oh! never may I dim its limpid waters
   Nor rashly trouble them with wild desires.
   I'll worship thee, kneeling, with soul devoted.
   TO LIVE AND DIE FOR THEE MY HEART ASPIRES.
   I know not if these feeble words can render
   What I have felt of love both true and tender."

   At  the end of Wolfram's song Tannhauser starts as if from a  dream.   He
rises and sings:

   "I, too, drank from that well of pleasure;
   Its waters, Wolfram, well I know;
   Who that has life may dare ignore it?
   Hear how its virtues I will show:
   But I would not draw near its margin
   Unless desire consumed my soul;
   Then only would its wave refresh me,
   My life and heart make new and whole.
   O TIDE OF JOY, LET ME POSSESS THEE!
   All fear and doubt before thee fly;
   Let thy unfathomed raptures bless me!
   For thee alone my heart beats high,
   So that I own thy fiery splendor,
   Let me with longing ever burn.
   I tell thee, Wolfram, thus I render
   What I have known of truest love.

   Here  we have the true description of the two extremes of love;  that  of
Wolfram  being  the love of soul for soul,  Tannhauser's being the  love  of
sense.   One is the love that seeks to give,  the other  demands  possession
that it may receive.  This is only the beginning of the contest, of which we
shall hear fully later,  but these being the definitions first given by  the
two  chief  exponents  of love,  it is well worth noting  that  Wolfram  von
Eschenbach  stands  as the exponent of the new and the more  beautiful  love
which is to supersede the primeval conception.

   Even  to this day,  unfortunately,  the ancient idea is entertained  that
possession is the signature of love.   Those who believe in rebirths in  al-
ternate sexes,  should by this fact be sufficiently convinced that,  as  the
soul is bisexual and our bodies contain rudimentary organs belonging to  the
opposite  sex,  so it is no more than proper and just that each human  being
regardless  of  the  polarity  of the present garb,  should  have  the  same
privileges as the other.

                            [To Be Continued]
 
                                QUESTIONS:

1] What was the duty of the Knight of old?

2] What lessons were learned by the Knights in performing their duty?

3] What virtues are necessary for any one entering upon the spiritual path of 
   attainment?

4] What sacrifice is made to obtain soul growth?

5] Who and what were the Minstrels of medieval times?

6] Why should each human being, male and female, have the same privileges?

[PAGE 103]

                              LESSON NO. 49:

                               TANNHAUSER:

                          The Unpardonable Sin:

   During  the contest the sublime and heavenly ideals of the  companionship
of  soul with soul,  is sung by the majority of the minstrels,  and at  each
presentation  there comes from Tannhauser a passionate retort defending  the
sensual phase of love.  At last, enraged at their seeming insipidity,  which
he regards as sentimental nonsense,  he cries, "Go to Venus.   She will show
you love."

   With  this remark his guilty secret is out.   It is taken by everyone  to
mean that he has committed that which is the worst phase of the unpardonable
sin,  namely, intercourse with an etheric entity; and feeling that he is de-
praved  beyond redemption,  they rush at him sword in hand and would  surely
have  killed him had not Elizabeth interceded,  pleading that he be not  cut
off from life in his sins, but be given a chance to repent.   Then a band of
pilgrims is heard in the distance and the minstrels agree that if he will go
and seek the pardon of the Holy See at Rome, they will spare his life.

   When Elizabeth reveals the grief of her heart in her plea for Tannhauser,
he at last sees the enormity of his sins and is seized with an  overwhelming
sense  of his depravity.   He, therefore,  anxiously grasps  the  suggestion
given him,  joins the band of pilgrims,  and journeys toward Rome.   Being a
strong soul, he does nothing by halves.  His contrition is as sincere as his
sin was brazen.  His whole being yearns to cleanse itself from impurity that
he  may  aspire  to the higher and nobler love awakened  in  his  breast  by
Elizabeth.

   The other pilgrims sang psalms of praise,  but he scarcely dared to  look
to Rome in the distance,  saying,  "God be merciful to me a sinner."   While
they refreshed themselves and slept in hospices on the way,  he made his bed
upon  the  snow.   When they walked over the smooth road,  he  walked  among
thorns,  and when he came to Italy so that no even the fair scenes  of  that
land should give him joy,  he blindfolded his eyes and thus journeyed toward
the Eternal City.

   At last the morn came upon which he was to see the Holy Father,  and hope
rose  in this heart.   During the entire day he stood patiently while  thou-
sands  of others passed by,  the ecstasies of heaven on their  countenances,
and received there the pardon they craved,  going away with lighter  hearts,
gladdened and ready to make a new start.

   At last came his turn.   He stood in that august presence and waited  pa-
tiently for the Holy Father's message, waiting and hoping for a kind word to
send him on his way rejoicing.  Instead there came the thundered  words, "If
you have associated with demons, then there is no forgiveness for you,  nei-
ther in heaven nor on Earth.   Sooner will this dry staff which I hold in my
hand blossom, than that thy sins will be forgiven."

   At  this  heartless  announcement  the last spark  of  hope  died  within
Tannhauser,  and lust,  a thing of blood,  lifted its head.   His  love  was
turned to hate, and blazing with anger he cursed everything in heaven and on
Earth, swearing that if he could not have true love, then he would return to
the cave and seek Venus anew,  and telling his fellow pilgrims to keep back,
he leaves then and journeys back to his native home alone.

   Meanwhile  the prayers of Elizabeth,  the pure and chaste virgin to  whom
Tannhauser's love had gone out,  unceasingly called for forgiveness for  the
sinner.   Hopefully she awaited the return of the pilgrims, but when at last
they  arrived  and Tannhauser was not among them,  despair seized  her,  and
feeling that there was no other way she passed out of this phase of life, to
present  personally her petition at the Throne of Grace before our  Heavenly
Father.   The funeral procession is met by the returning Tannhauser,  who is
bowed with unspeakable grief at this sight.

   Then  another  band  of returning pilgrims arrive,  telling  of  a  great
miracle which has taken place at Rome.   The staff of the Pope had budded to
signify  that  a  sinner refused remission on Earth,  had  found  pardon  in
heaven.

   Though  the legend is clothed in medieval and Catholic  phraseology,  and
though we may discount the idea that any one man has power to forgive sin or
deny remission,  it contains spiritual truths which are becoming more perti-

[PAGE 104]

nent with each passing year.  It deals with the unpardonable sin:   the only
sin that cannot be forgiven, but must be expiated.  As you know,  Jehovah is
the highest Initiate of the Moon Period, the ruler of the Angels, who during
this  present Day of Manifestation work with our humanity through the  Moon.
He is the author of generation and the prime factor in gestation,  the giver
of offspring to man and to beast, using the lunar ray as his vehicle of work
during the times which are propitious to generation.   Jehovah is a  jealous
God, jealous of his prerogative, and, therefore, when man ate of the tree of
knowledge and took the matter of generation into his own hands,  he expelled
him  from paradise to wander in the wilderness of the world.   There was  no
forgiveness.   He must expiate it in travail and in pain,  reaping the fruit
of his transgression.

   Before the Fall,  humanity had not known either good or evil.   They  had
done what they were told,  and nothing else.   By taking matters into  their
own  hands,  and by the pain and the sorrow which followed their  transgres-
sion,  they learned the difference between good and evil:   they became  ca-
pable of choice.   They acquired prerogative.   This is the great  privilege
which more than compensates for the suffering and the sorrow man has endured
in  expiation  of  that  offense  against  the  Law  of  Life, which lies in
performing  the  creative act when the stellar rays are  unpropitious,  thus
causing painful parturition,  and a multitude of other diseases to which hu-
manity is heir today.

   In  this connection I may mention that the Moon is the ruler of the  sign
Cancer, and that cancer, in its malignant form, admits of no cure, no matter
how  many remedies science may bring forward from time to time.   Investiga-
tion of the lives of persons who suffer from this disease has proved in  ev-
ery case that the one involved has been sensual in the extreme during previ-
ous  lives,  though  I am not prepared to say that this is a  law,  since  a
sufficient number of investigations have not been made to establish it.   It
is,  nevertheless,  significant that Jehovah, the Holy  Spirit,  rules  gen-
erative functions through the Moon,  that the moon governs Cancer,  and that
those  who  abuse the sex function in a very marked and bestial  degree  are
later afflicted with the disease called cancer:  that that is incurable  and
thus bears out the saying in the Bible that all things may be forgiven  save
the sin against the Holy Spirit.

   There is a mystic connection between the Cherubim with the flaming  sword
at  the Garden of Eden and the Cherubim with the open flower on the door  of
Solomon's Temple:  between the spear and the Grail cup:  between Aaron's rod
that  budded and the staff of the Pope which flowered and the death  of  the
chaste and pure Elizabeth,  by whose intercession the stain was removed from
the soul of the erring Tannhauser.  Neither can one who  has  never know the
awful  torment  of temptation realize the position of one  who  has  fallen.
Christ, Himself, felt in the body of Jesus all the passion and all the temp-
tations  to which we ourselves are subject, and it is stated that  that  was
for  the purpose of making Him merciful unto us as a High Priest.   That  He
was tempted,  proves that temptation is in itself not sin.  IT IS THE YIELD-
ING THAT IS SIN; therefore, He was without sin.  Whoever can thus be tempted
and withstand, is of course highly evolved; but let us remember that none of
the present humanity has yet arrived at that stage of perfection and that we
are better men and women for having sinned, and suffered in consequence, un-
til  we have become awake to the important fact that the way of  the  trans-
gressor is hard,  and have turned into the pathway of virtue,  whereon alone
is  found inward peace.   Such men and women are on a much higher  stage  of
spiritual development than those who have lived lives of purity because of a
sheltered environment.  This Christ emphasized when He said that there shall
be more rejoicing over one sinner who repents than over the  ninety-and-nine
who need no repentance.

   There  is a very important distinction between innocence and virtue,  and
what is more important still,  is that WE SHOULD REALIZE THE FALLACY OF  THE
DOUBLE STANDARD OF CONDUCT which gives liberties to or rather condones  them
in  a  man,  while  insisting  that  one misstep will ruin a woman for life.
Were  I  to  choose a wife today,  and later learn that her  life  had  been
clouded by a mistake for which she had suffered,  I should know that such  a
one  had learned to know sorrow, and had engendered compassion and  forbear-
ance thereby,  and had thus acquired qualities which would make her a better
and  more  sympathetic  companion than one who  stood  "innocent"  upon  the
threshold of life, liable to fall a prey to the first temptation that befell
her.

                            [To Be Continued]

                                QUESTIONS:

1] What chance was Tannhauser given to redeem himself after being saved from 
   the wrath of the Minstrels by Elizabeth?

2] What was Tannhauser's attitude on his journey toward Rome?

3] What was the Pope's answer to Tannhauser's plea for forgiveness?

4] Since the Pope failed Tannhauser, where was the next petition presented in 
   his behalf?

5] What great privilege compensates for the suffering man has endured because 
   of his offense against the law of life?

6] What was Christ's statement regarding the repentant sinner?

[PAGE 105]

                             LESSON NO. 50:

                              TANNHAUSER:

                          The Rod That Budded:

   In the prologue of Faust,  God is represented as saying,  concerning  the
hero:

   "With vision imperfect he serve me now,
   But soon I'll lead him where more light appears;
   When buds the sapling doth the gardener know,
   That flow'r and fruit will grace its coming years."

   This is the actual fact concerning all mankind.   At the present time  we
all  serve God imperfectly because of our limited vision.   We have not  the
real, true perception of what is wanted and of how we should use the talents
wherewith  we are now endowed.   Nevertheless God,  through the  process  of
evolution  is constantly leading us into greater and greater light,  and  by
degrees we shall cease to be spiritually barren:   We shall flower and  bear
fruit.  Thus we shall be able to serve God as we would and not as we do.

   While the foregoing applies to all in general, it applies particularly to
those who stand in the limelight as teacher; for naturally,  where the light
is the strongest, the shadows are also the deepest, and the imperfections of
those among us, who must take up the burden of teaching,  are naturally more
marked on that account.

   In the story of Tannhauser,  the Pope shuts the door of hope in the  face
of the penitent because the letter of the law requires it,  but not thus  is
God's mercy frustrated.   The Pope's staff blooms to prove that the penitent
has been forgiven because of the sincere penitence whereby the evil has been
washed  from the record made upon the seed atom.   Thus by a higher law  the
lower has been superseded.

   There is in this legend of the Pope's staff,  a similarity to the tale of
the  Holy  Grail  and the spear;  to the story of  Aaron's  rod  which  also
bloomed, and to the staff of Moses that brought the water of life forth from
the rock.   All have an important bearing upon the problem of the  spiritual
life  of  the Disciple who aims to follow the path to the  higher  life  and
seeks,  like Kundry,  to undo the deeds of ill of former lives by a  present
life of service to the higher self.   The legend of the Grail  distinguishes
between the Grail cup itself and the Cleansing Blood which it held.

   The  story  is told of how Lucifer,  when he strove  with  the  Archangel
Michael over the body of Moses, lost the choicest gem in his crown.   It was
dislodged in the struggle.   This beautiful gem, comparable to none,  was an
emerald named "Exilir."   It was thrown into the abyss but was recovered  by
the Angels and from that the chalice or Holy Grail was made which later  was
used to hold the Cleansing Blood that flowed from the Savior's side when  it
had been pierced by the centurion's spear.  Let us first note the fact  that
this jewel was an emerald:  it was green, and green is a combination of blue
and yellow,  and is, therefore, the complementary color of the third primary
color,  red.  In the Physical World red has the tendency to excite and ener-
gize, whereas green has a cooling and a soothing effect, but the opposite is
true  when  we look at the matter from the viewpoint of  the  Desire  World.
There the complementary color is active, and has the effect upon our desires
and emotions which we ascribe to the physical color.   Thus the green  color
of the gem lost by Lucifer shows the nature and effect thereof.   This stone
is the antithesis of the Philosopher's Stone.   It has the power to  attract
passion and generate love of sex for sex,  which is the vice opposite to the
chaste and pure love, symbolized by the apocalyptic white stone,  which lat-
ter is the love of soul for soul.   As this effect of the complementary col-
ors is well know,  though not consciously realized,  we also speak of  jeal-
ousy, which is engendered by impure love, as the green eyed monster.

   The Holy Grail finds its replica in the chalice or seed pod of the plant,
which is green.   The creative fire slumbers within the seed pod.   Likewise
the same phenomenon must become manifest within each one who enters upon the
quest of the Holy Grail.  Will is the male quality of the soul;  imagination
is the female.   When will is the strongest attribute,  the soul wears  male
attire in a certain life, and in another, where the quality  of  imagination
is  greater,  the female garb is taken.   Thus under the Law of  Alternation
which prevails during the present age of the rainbow,  the soul wears a dif-
ferent  garment in alternate lives,  but whether the gender is  feminine  or
masculine, the organ of the opposite sex is present in an undeveloped state.
Thus man is now, and will be so long as the physical body endures, both male
and female.

   In  the hoary past,  when his consciousness was focused in the  spiritual
world, he was a perfect creative unit with both sex organs equally developed
as  are many flowers today.   He was then capable of generating a  new  body
when the old one was worn out, but he was not at that time aware to the same
degree  as  he is now of the fact that he had a body.   Then some  who  were
pioneers--some who saw more clearly than others--told to their compeers  the
astonishing  story that man has a body.  They were often met with  the  same
skepticism which is now shown to those who affirm that we have a soul.

   Thus the symbolical story of Lucifer losing the green gem is the story of
how man ceased to know himself and began to know his wife;  of how the Grail
was lost,  and of how it may only be found through the cleansing of the pas-
sion filled physical blood which was originally contained in that green ves-
sel.

   At a propitious time of the year, but neither before nor after,  the rays
emanating  from the heavenly orbs pierce the planted seed and waken its  la-

[PAGE 106]

tent generative force into activity.  Then a new plant springs  out  of  the
ground  to again beautify the Earth.   Thus the act of generation is  accom-
plished in perfect harmony with the Law of Nature,  and a thing of beauty is
generated to adorn the Earth.   The result is different in humans since  the
feminine quality of imagination was roused by Lucifer.

   Now  the generative act is performed regardless of the  propitious  solar
rays,  and as a result sin and death entered the world.   From that time the
spiritual light has waned, and we are now blind to heaven's glory.

   In the hands of the divine leaders of mankind,  once of them signified by
Aaron,  the living rod was a vehicle of power.  later the blooming rod dried
up and was laid away in the Ark, but we are not to conclude that there is no
redemption  on that account,  for as man was exiled from the heavenly  state
when  the green gem of passion and desire rolled from the crown of  Lucifer,
who  then led mankind through GENERATION TO DEGENERATION;  so also there  is
the white stone,  the Philosopher's Stone,  the symbol of emancipation.   By
using the power of generation for regeneration,  we overcome death and  sin.
It then endows us with immortality and leads us to Christ.

   That  is  the  message of the story of Tannhauser.   Passion  is  poison.
Abuse of generation under the sway of Lucifer, has been the means of leading
us downward into the gloom of degeneration,  but the same power turned  into
the  opposite direction and used for purposes of regeneration is capable  of
lifting us out of the gloom and elevating us to a heavenly  state,  when  we
have thus won the battle.   Through passion the Spirit has been crystallized
into  a body and only by chastity can the fetters be loosed,  for HEAVEN  IS
THE  HOME OF THE VIRGIN and only in so far as we elevate love from  that  of
sex  for  sex to the standard of soul for soul can we shatter  the  shackles
that bind us.   Then,  when we learn to make conception immaculate,  saviors
will be born who will loose the fetters of sin and sorrow that now bind us.

   In carrying out this ideal let us remember, however,  that suppression of
the  sexual desire is not celibacy;  the mind must concur and we must  will-
ingly abstain from impurity.  This can only be done by what the mystic calls
"FINDING THE WOMAN WITHIN HIMSELF."  (Of course for woman, it is to find the
man within herself.)  When we have found that,  we arrive at the point where
we can live the same pure life as the flower.

   In this connection it may also be very illuminating to remember that  the
"Dweller  on the Threshold"  which we must confront before we can enter  the
superphysical worlds always has the appearance of a creature of the opposite
sex.   Yet it seems to be ourselves.  It should also be understood that  the
more licentious or lustful we have been, the worse will be the appearance of
this monster,  and Parsifal standing before Kundry, when his refusal of com-
pliance has turned her into a virago, is in fact at the very point where the
candidate finds himself face to face with the dweller,  before the spear  is
given into his hands.

                               [The End]

                               QUESTIONS:

1] When shall we be able to serve God as we should?

2] Where is the replica of the Holy Grail found?

3] How only may the lost Grail be found?

4] In what way do we overcome death and sin, and what is the reward?

5] How can the fetters of crystallization be loosened?

6] When conception is immaculate, what will be the result which will free 
   humanity from sin and sorrow?

[PAGE 107]

                             LESSON NO. 51:

                               LOHENGRIN:

                         The Knight of the Swan:

                                 PART I:

   Among the operas of Wagner there is,  perhaps,  none which is so  univer-
sally  enjoyed  by the large majority of people who see  it,  as  Lohengrin.
This is probably because the story seems, on cursory examination, to be very
simple  and beautiful.   The music is of an unusually  exquisite  character,
which appeals to all in a manner which is not equalled by the author's other
operas  founded upon myths such as Parsifal,  the Ring of the Niebelung,  or
even Tannhauser.

   Although these last named productions affect people who hear them  power-
fully for their spiritual good (whether they are aware of the fact or  not),
it  if  nevertheless,  a  fact  that  they  are not enjoyed by the majority,
particularly in America,  where the spirit of mysticism is not so strong  as
it is in Europe.

   It is different with Lohengrin.   Here there is a story of the time  when
knighthood was in flower, and although there is an embellishment of magic in
the advent of Lohengrin and the swan in response to the prayer of Elsa, this
is only as a pretty poetical fancy without deeper meaning.   In this myth is
revealed one of the supreme requirements of Initiation--faith.

   Whoever  has not this virtue will never attain;  its possession covers  a
multitude of shortcomings in other directions.

   The  plot is briefly as follows:   The heir of the Duchy of  Brabant  has
disappeared.  He is but a child, and the brother of Elsa, the heroine of the
play,  who is accused in the opening scene by Ortrud and Telramund,  her en-
emies, of having done away with this young brother in order that she may ob-
tain possession of the principality.   In consequence she has been  summoned
before  the royal court to defend herself against her accusers,  but at  the
opening  scene not knight as yet has appeared to espouse her cause and  slay
her traducers.   Then there appears on the river a swan, upon which stands a
knight,  who  comes  up to the place where court is being  held.   He  jumps
ashore and offers to defend Elsa on condition that she marry him.   To  this
she  readily agrees,  for he is no stranger;  she has often seen him in  her
dreams and learned to love him.  In the duel  between the unknown knight and
Telramund, the latter is thrown, but his life is magnanimously spared by the
conqueror, who then claims Elsa as his bride.  He had, however, made another
condition;  namely, that she may never ask him who he is and whence he came.
As  he  appears so good and so noble,  and as he has come in answer  to  her
prayer,  she makes no objection to this condition either, and the couple re-
tire to the bridal chamber.

   Although temporarily defeated,  Ortrud and Telramund do not by any  means
give up their conspiracy against Elsa,  and their next move is to poison her
mind against her noble protector,  so that she may send him away and then be
again at their mercy;  for they hope,  eventually,  themselves to secure the
principality  to  which Elsa and her brother are the rightful  heirs.   With
this end in view both present themselves at Elsa's door and succeed in  get-
ting a hearing.   They profess to be exceedingly penitent for what they have
done, and very solicitous for the welfare of Elsa.  It pains them very much,
they say, that she has been taken in by someone whose name she does not even
know,  and who is so afraid that his identity be known that he has forbidden
her, on pain of his leaving her to ask him his name.

   There must be something in his life of which he is ashamed,  they  argue,
which  will not bear the light of day, else why should he wish to  deny  the
one to whom he is willing to link his whole life,  knowledge of his identity
and antecedents?

   By means of these arguments they arouse a doubt in Elsa's soul, and after
some conversation she goes in to Lohengrin, changed.  he notices the differ-
ence in her,  and asks the cause.  Finally she admits that she feels  uncer-
tain  about him and that she would like to know his name.   Thereby she  has
broken  the condition which he has imposed upon her,  and he tells her  that
now,  having expressed a doubt in him,  it will be impossible for him to re-
main.   Neither tears nor protestations can change this resolve,  so they go
together to the river where Lohengrin calls his trusty swan,  and when  that
appears  he  reveals  his identity,  saying, "I am  Lohengrin,  the  son  of

[PAGE 108]

Parsifal."  The swan which then comes, is changed and stands before them all
as the brother of Elsa.   He then becomes her protector in place of the  de-
parting Lohengrin.

   As said,  the story of Lohengrin contains one of the most important  les-
sons to be learned on the path of attainment.   No one will ever attain Ini-
tiation  till that has been learned.   In order that we may  properly  grasp
this point,  let us first look at the symbol of the swan and see what is be-
hind  it  and  why  the symbol is used.   Those who  have  seen  the  opera,
Parsifal,  or who have read attentively the literature on the Grail, are al-
ready  acquainted with the fact that swans were the emblem worn by  all  the
Knights of the Grail.

   In the opera, itself, two swans are mentioned as preparing a healing bath
for the suffering King Amfortas.  Parsifal is represented as shooting one of
the these swans, and a great deal of sorrow is manifested by the Knights  of
the Grail at this unwarranted cruelty.

                           [To Be Continued]

                               QUESTIONS:

1] Why are these operas not enjoyed by the majority in America as they are in 
   Europe?

2] What supreme requirement for Initiation is revealed in this myth?

3] What is the result of Elsa's doubt in her protector?

4] Who do Lohengrin and the Swan prove to be?

5] What was the emblem worn by all the knights of the Grail?

[PAGE 109]

                             LESSON NO. 52:

                               LOHENGRIN:

                         The Knight of the Swan:

                               PART II:

   The swan is capable of moving in several elements.   It may fly i the air
with  great swiftness;  it also propels itself majestically upon the  water;
and by means of its long neck it may even explore the depths and investigate
whatever may be found upon the bottom of a not too deep pond.  It is, there-
fore,  an apt symbol of the Initiate, who, on account of the power developed
within him,  is capable of elevating himself to higher realms, and moving in
different worlds.   As the swan flies through space,  so may one who has de-
veloped the powers of his soul body travel in that over mountains and lakes;
as the swan dive below the surface of the water, so may also the Initiate go
underneath the surface of the deep in his soul body,  which is not in danger
from fire,  earth,  air, or water.  In fact, that is one of the first things
that the Invisible Helpers have to be taught:  that they are immune from any
danger  which may befall them in the physical body,  when they are  invested
with the Golden Wedding Garment of which we have spoken so much.   Thus they
may enter a burning building with immunity, there assisting those who are in
danger,  sometimes  in a most miraculous manner; or they may be on  board  a
sinking  ship giving encouragement to those who are about to face the  great
change.

   The ancient Norse mythology tells us how noble warriors of old, when they
had  fought  the battle and had finally been overcome or  mortally  wounded,
sang their swan song.  But let it not be supposed for a moment that  it  was
only the brutal fight fought upon the battle field with sword and lace  that
was meant;  rather it was the inner fight, the hidden meaning,  that a noble
soul  who had fought the battle of life well,  at the last when he  had  at-
tained to that which was possible in those days,  sang his swan song:   that
is  he  took his oath of Initiation and became capable of  entering  another
realm to help others there as he had helped them here;  for it was ever  the
sacred duty of a noble knight to succor those who were weak an heavy laden.

   Elsa  is  the daughter of a king.   She is thus of the highest  and  most
noble birth.  No one who is not thus WELL BORN can lay claim to the services
of  such  a knight as Lohengrin in that manner;  that is to say  of  course,
there is in humanity neither high nor low, save as we stand in the scale  of
evolution.   When a soul has been long upon the stage of life,  has gone  to
school for many,  many lives, then gradually it acquires that nobility which
comes from learning the lessons and working along the lines laid down by the
schoolmasters,  our Elder Brothers,  who are now teaching us the lessons  of
life.   The nobility earned by eagerness to do deeds of mercy for  our  less
highly advanced fellow beings, is the key to their favor, and therefore when
Elsa as in distress, a noble soul is sent to teach and guide her.

   In the Book of Revelation we read about the mystic marriage of the  Bride
and the Lamb.  There is that marriage in every soul's experience, and always
under similar circumstances.   One of the first requisites is that the  soul
must  have been forsaken by every one else:   it must stand alone without  a
single  friend in the world.   When that point has been attained,  when  the
soul  sees no succor from any earthly source,  when it turns with its  whole
heart to heaven and prays for deliverance, then comes the deliverer and also
the offer of marriage.  In other words, the true Teacher always comes in re-
sponse to the earnest prayers of the aspirant,  but not till he has forsaken
the  world and been forsaken by it.   He offers to take care of one  who  is
thus anxious for guidance,  and forthwith conquers untruth with the sword of
truth,  but having given this proof, henceforth he requires an absolute  un-
questioning faith.   PLEASE REMEMBER--let it imprint itself upon your  mind,
let  it sear itself into your very being with letters of fire,  that  having
come in answer to the prayer, (which is not only words but a life of aspira-
tion) the indubitable,  unquestionable proof is given of the power and abil-
ity of the Teacher to teach, to guide, and to help; and then the requirement
is  made that henceforth there must be absolute faith in him,  otherwise  it
becomes impossible for him to work with the aspirant.

   That  is the great lesson that is taught by Lohengrin,  and it is of  su-

[PAGE 110]

preme importance, for there are thousands upon thousands walking the streets
in many cities today, looking hither and thither,  seeking  a Teacher.  Some
Teacher.   Some pretend to have found him,  or have deceived themselves into
that belief;  but the requirement that is enunciated in Lohengrin is an  ac-
tual requirement.   The Teacher must, will, and does prove his ability.   He
is know by his fruits;  then in return he demands LOYALTY,  and unless  this
faith,  this loyalty,  this readiness to serve, this willingness to do what-
ever is required, is forthcoming from the aspirant, the relationship will be
terminated.   No matter how hot may be the tears of repentance  which  might
follow  in  the case of the aspirant who had failed in his  loyalty  to  the
Teacher, no matter how sincere his repentance; the next opportunity will not
be forthcoming in the present life.

   Therefore, it is of the very greatest importance that those who are seek-
ing  Initiation should understand that there is something due them from  the
professed teacher,  before they accept him.   he must show the fruits of his
work,  for as Christ said,  "By their fruits ye shall know them."   This the
genuine Teacher always does without being asked,  AND WITHOUT SEEMING TO  SO
SO  or to want to give a sign.   He always furnishes some evidence to  which
the  mind of the aspirant can cling as an indubitable proof of his  superior
knowledge and ability.   When that has then been demonstrated,  IT IS  ABSO-
LUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT LOYALTY TO THE TEACHER MUST FOLLOW;  and no matter who
says this,  that,  or the other thing, the aspirant should not be disturbed,
but cling steadfastly to the proven fact, stick to that which he believes to
be  true  and  faithfully  uphold the one to whom he looks for teaching; for
unless that faith is there, there is no use in continuing the relationship.

   It is very significant,  however,  that Elsa's brother was,  as we  learn
from  the final scene,  the swan which had carried Lohengrin to his  sister,
and  who was changed back to his natural shape when Lohengrin departed.   He
had been through Initiation.  He, no doubt, knew of his sister's plight,  as
one  soul who is advanced and studying along these lines knows of  another's
struggles,  but  although he saw the predicament of this fair  aspirant,  or
sister soul, he had no fear, for was he not the means of bringing to her the
succor that she might have had permanently had she been as faithful as he?

                                 [The End]

                                 QUESTIONS:

1] In what way is the swan an apt symbol of the Initiate?

2] What is one of the first things the Invisible Helpers have to be taught?

3] What is meant in the ancient Norse mythology when they refer to the noble 
   warriors singing their swan song?

4] How do we gradually acquire nobility in the scale of evolution?

5] When does the true Teacher appear?

6] After unquestionable proof is given by the Teacher, what is the requirement 
   made of the aspirant?

7] What is the great lesson taught by Lohengrin?

Continued with file "RC4008.TXT"

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