[PAGE 473]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE

                  THE PITUITARY BODY AND THE PINEAL GLAND.

   In the brain, and in approximately the positions shown in diagram 17, are
two  small organs called the pituitary body and the pineal  gland.   Medical
science  knows but little about these,  or the other ductless glands of  the
body.   It calls the pineal gland "the atrophied third eye,"  yet neither it
nor  the pituitary body are atrophying.  This is very perplexing  to  scien-
tists, for nature retains nothing useless.  All over the body we find organs
which are either atrophying or developing,  the former being milestones,  as
it were, along the path which man has traveled to reach his present stage of
development,  the latter pointing out the lines for future  improvement  and
development.   For instance,  the muscles which animals use to move the ears
are  present in man also,  but as they are atrophying,  few people  can  use
them.   The heart belongs to the class indicating future development; as al-
ready shown, it is becoming a voluntary muscle.

   The pituitary body and the pineal gland belong to still another class  of
organs, which at the present time are neither evolving nor degenerating, but
are  dormant.   In  the far past,  when man was in touch  with  the  "inner"
Worlds,  these organs were his means of ingress thereto, and they will again
serve that purpose at a later stage.   They were connected with the involun-
tary or sympathetic nervous system.   Man then saw the inner Worlds,  as  in
the Moon Period and the latter part of the Lemurian and early Atlantean  Ep-
ochs.   Pictures  presented themselves quite independent of his  will.   The
sense  centers  of his desire body were  spinning  around  counter-clockwise
(following negatively the motion of the Earth, which revolves on its axis in
that  direction)  as the sense centers of "mediums" do to this day.  In most


[PAGE 474]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

people these sense-centers are inactive,  but true development will set them
spinning clockwise,  as explained elsewhere.  That is the difficult  feature
in the development of positive clairvoyance.

   The development of mediumship is much easier,  because it is merely a re-
vival of the mirror-like function possessed by man in the far past, by which
the outside world was involuntarily reflected in him, and which function was
afterward  retained by inbreeding.   With present day mediums this power  is
intermittent,  which  explains  why they can sometimes "see"  and  at  other
times,  for no apparent reason, fail utterly.  Occasionally,  the strong de-
sire of the client enables them to get into touch with the information he is
seeking, on which occasions they see correctly, but they are not always hon-
est.   Office rent and other expenses must be paid,  so when the power (over
which they have no conscious control) fails them,  some resort to fraud  and
utter  any absurdity that occurs to their minds,  in order to satisfy  their
client  and get his money,  thus casting discredit upon what they really  do
see at other times.

   The  aspirate to true spiritual sight and insight must first of all  give
proof of unselfishness,  because the trained clairvoyant has no "off  days."
He is not in the least mirror-like, dependent upon the reflections which may
happen to come his way.   He is able to reach out at any time and in any di-
rection, and read the thoughts and plans of others, provided he particularly
turns his attention that way--not otherwise.

   The  great danger to society which would result from  the  indiscriminate
use of this power if possessed by an unworthy individual,  can be easily un-
derstood.  He  would be able to read the most secret thought.  Therefore the


[PAGE 475]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE

                                DIAGRAM 17:

                   THE PATH OF THE UNUSED SEX CURRENTS


[PAGE 476]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

initiate  is bound by the most solemn vows never to use this power to  serve
his individual interest in the slightest degree, nor to save himself a pang.
He  may feed five thousand others if he will,  but he must not turn a  stone
into bread to appease his own hunger.   He may heal others of palsy and lep-
rosy, but by the Law of the Universe, he is forbidden to stanch his own mor-
tal wounds.  Because he is bound by his vow of absolute unselfishness, it is
ever true of the Initiate that although he saves others,  himself he  cannot
save.

   So  the trained clairvoyant who really has something to give  will  never
hang out a sign offering to exercise his gifts for a fee,  but will give and
give freely where he considers it consistent with the ripe destiny generated
under the law of consequence by the person to be helped.

   Trained clairvoyance is the kind used for investigating occult facts, and
it is the only kind that is of any use for that purpose.   Therefore the as-
pirant must feel,  not a wish to gratify an idle curiosity,  but a holy  and
unselfish desire to help humanity.  Until such a desire exists,  no progress
can be made in the attainment of positive clairvoyance.

   In  the ages that have passed since the Lemurian Epoch humanity has  been
gradually  building the cerebro-spinal nervous system,  which is  under  the
control of the will.  In the latter part of the Atlantean Epoch, this was so
far  evolved that it became possible for the Ego to take full possession  of
the dense body.   That was the time (previously described) when the point in
the  vital body came into correspondence with the point at the root  of  the
nose  in  the  dense  body and the indwelling spirit  became  awake  in  the
Physical  World but,  so far as the greater part of humanity was  concerned,
lost consciousness of the inner Worlds.


[PAGE 477]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

   Since  then,  the connection of the pineal gland and the  pituitary  body
with the cerebro-spinal nervous system has been slowly building,  and is now
all but complete.

   To  regain contact with the inner Worlds, all that remains to be done  is
the  reawakening of the pituitary body and the pineal gland.   When that  is
accomplished, man will again possess the faculty of perception in the higher
worlds,  but on a grander scale than formerly, because it will be in connec-
tion  with the voluntary nervous system and therefore under the  control  of
his Will.   Through this inner perceptive facility all avenues of  knowledge
will  be opened to him and he will have at his service a means of  acquiring
information  compared with which all other methods of investigation are  but
child's play.

   The awakening of these organs is accomplished by Esoteric Training, which
we will now describe, as far as may be done in public.

                              ESOTERIC TRAINING

   In  the majority of people,  the greater part of the sex force which  may
legitimately   be  used  through  the  creative  organs  is   expended   for
sense-gratification;  therefore in such people there is very little  of  the
ascending current shown in diagram 17.

   When  the aspirant to the higher life begins to curb these excesses  more
and more, and to devote his attention to spiritual thoughts and efforts, the
trained clairvoyant can perceive the unused sex force commencing to  ascend.
It surges upward in stronger and stronger volume,  along the path  indicated
by the arrows in diagram 17, traversing the heart and the larynx or the spi-
nal cord and the larynx or both, and then passing directly between the pitu-
itary  body  and  the  pineal gland toward the dark point at the root of the


[PAGE 478]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

nose where "The Silent Watcher," the highest spirit, has its seat.

   These currents do not usually take one of the two paths indicated in  the
diagram  to  the entire exclusion of the other,  but generally one  path  is
traveled  by the greater volume of the sex-currents,  according to the  tem-
perament of the aspirant.   In one who is seeking enlightenment along purely
intellectual lines the current travels particularly over the spinal cord and
only a small part goes over the path through the heart.   In the mystic  who
feels  rather than knows,  the currents find their way upwards  through  the
heart.

   Both are developing abnormally, and each must sometime take up the devel-
opment  he  has neglected,  so as to become fully  rounded.   Therefore  the
Rosicrucians aim to give a teaching that will satisfy both classes, although
their  main efforts are expended in reaching the intellectually minded,  for
their need is the greater.

   This current of itself,  however,  even though it assumes the proportions
of a Niagara and flows until the crack of doom, will be useless.  But still,
as  it  is  not  only a necessary  accompaniment,  but  a  pre-requisite  to
self-conscious work in the inner World, it must be cultivated to some extend
before  the real esoteric training can begin.  It will thus be seen  that  a
moral life devoted to spiritual thought must be lived by the aspirant for  a
certain length of time before it is possible to commence the work that  will
give his first-hand knowledge of the super-physical realms and enable him to
become, in the truest sense, a helper of humanity.

   When the candidate has lived such a life for a time sufficient to  estab-
lish  the current of spiritual force,  and is found worthy and qualified  to
receive  esoteric  instruction,  he  is taught certain exercises, to set the


[PAGE 479]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

pituitary  body in vibration.   This vibration causes the pituitary body  to
impinge upon and slightly defect the nearest line of force (See diagram 17).
This, in turn, impinges upon the line next to it, and so the process contin-
ues until the force of the vibration has been spent.   It is similar to  the
way  in which the striking of one note on a piano will produce a  number  of
overtones,  by  setting  up a vibration in the other strings  which  are  at
proper intervals of pitch.

   When by the increased vibration of the pituitary body, the lines of force
have been deflected sufficiently to reach the pineal gland,  the object  has
been accomplished, the gap between these two organs has been bridged.   This
is the bridge between the World of Sense and the World of Desire.   From the
time it is built,  man becomes clairvoyant and able to direct his gaze where
he will.   Solid objects are seen both inside and out.  To him space and so-
lidity, as hindrances to observation, have ceased to exist.

   He is not yet a TRAINED clairvoyant,  but he IS a clairvoyant AT WILL,  a
voluntary clairvoyant.   He is a very different faculty from that  possessed
by  the medium,  who is usually an involuntary clairvoyant and can see  only
what comes;  or who has,  at best, very little more than the purely negative
faculty.  But the person in whom this bridge is once built is always in sure
touch  with the inner Worlds,  the connection being made and broken  at  his
will.  By degrees, the observer learns to control the vibration of the pitu-
itary body in a manner enabling him to get in touch with any of the  regions
of  the inner Worlds which he desires to visit.   The faculty is  completely
under  the control of his will.   It is not necessary for him to go  into  a
trance  or do anything abnormal,  to raise his consciousness to  the  Desire
World. He simply WILLS to see, and sees.


[PAGE 480]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

   As we explained in the earlier part of this work, the neophyte must learn
to see in the Desire World,  or rather, he must learn how to understand what
he sees there.   In the Physical World objects are dense, solid,  and do not
change in the twinkling of an eye.   In the Desire World they change in  the
most erratic manner.   This is a source of endless confusion to the negative
involuntary clairvoyant, and even to the neophyte who enters under the guid-
ance of a teacher,  but the teaching soon brings the pupil to a point  where
the  Form  may change as often as it will;  he can perceive  the  Life  that
causes  the change,  and knows it for what it is,  despite all possible  and
puzzling changes.

   There  is  also another and most important distinction to be  made.   The
power  which enables on to PERCEIVE the objects in a world is NOT  identical
with the power of ENTERING that world and FUNCTIONING there.   The voluntary
clairvoyant,  though he may have received some training, and is able to dis-
tinguish from true from the false in the Desire World, is in practically the
same  relation to it as a prisoner behind a barred window is to the  outside
world--he  can  see it,  but cannot function  therein.   Therefore  esoteric
training  not  only opens up the inner vision of the aspirant,  but  at  the
proper  time  further exercises are given to furnish him with a  vehicle  in
which he can function in the inner Worlds in a perfectly self-conscious man-
ner.

                       HOW THE INNER VEHICLE IS BUILT

   In  ordinary  life  most  people live to ear,  they  drink,  gratify  the
sex-passion in an unrestrained manner, and lose their tempers on the slight-
est provocation.   Though outwardly these people may be very  "respectable,"
they are, nearly every day of their lives, causing almost utter confusion in
their organization.  The entire period  of  sleep is spent by the desire and


[PAGE 481]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

the  vital bodies in repairing the damage done in the day time,  leaving  no
time for outside work of any kind.  But as the individual begins to feel the
needs of the higher life, control sex force, and temper, and cultivate a se-
rene  disposition,  there is less disturbance caused in the vehicles  during
waking hours; consequently less time is required to repair the damage during
sleep.   Thus it becomes possible to leave the dense body for  long  periods
during  sleeping hours,  and function in the inner Worlds in the higher  ve-
hicles.   As the desire body and the mind are not yet organized, they are of
no  use as separate vehicles of consciousness.   Neither can the vital  body
leave the dense body,  as that would cause death, so it is evident that mea-
sures must be taken to provide an organized vehicle which is fluidic and  so
constructed  that it will meet the needs of the Ego in the inner  Worlds  as
does the dense body in the Physical World.

   The vital body is such an organized vehicle,  and if some means could  be
found  to loosen it from the dense body without causing death,  the  problem
would  be solved.   Besides,  the vital body is the seat of memory,  without
which  it would be impossible to bring back into our physical  consciousness
the remembrance of super-physical experiences and thus obtain the full  ben-
efit of them.

   We  remember that the Hierophants of the old Mystery  Temples  segregated
some  of  the  people into castes and tribes such as the  Brahmins  and  the
Levites,  for the purpose of providing bodies for use of such Egos  as  were
advanced enough to be ready for Initiation.  This was done in such a  manner
that the vital body became separable into two parts, as were the desire bod-
ies  of  all  humanity  at the beginning of  the  Earth  Period.   When  the
Hierophant took the pupils out of their bodies he left one part of the vital


[PAGE 482]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

body,  comprising the first and second ethers,  to perform the purely animal
functions  (they are the only ones active during sleep),  the  pupil  taking
with him a vehicle capable of perception, because of its connection with the
sense-centers of the dense body;  and also capable of memory.   It possessed
these  capabilities because it was composed of the third and fourth  ethers,
which are the mediums of sense-perception and memory.

   This is,  in fact, that part of the vital body which the aspirant retains
from life to life, and immortalizes as the Intellectual Soul.

   Since Christ came and "took away the sin of the world," (not of the indi-
vidual) purifying the desire body of our planet,  the connection between all
human  dense and vital bodies has been loosened to such an extent  that,  by
training, they are capable of separation as above described.  Therefore Ini-
tiation is open to all.

   The finer part of the desire body,  which constitutes the Emotional Soul,
is capable of separation in most people (in fact, it possessed that capabil-
ity even before Christ came) and thus when,  by concentration and the use of
the proper formula, the finer parts of the vehicles have been segregated for
use during sleep,  or at any other time,  the lower parts of the desire  and
vital bodies are still left to carry on the processes of restoration in  the
dense vehicle, the mere animal part.

   That  part  of the vital body which goes out is highly organized,  as  we
have seen.   It is an exact counterpart of the dense body.   The desire body
and  the mind,  not being organized,  are of use only because they are  con-
nected  with the highly organized dense body.   When separated from it  they
are but poor instruments, therefore before man  can  withdraw from the dense


[PAGE 483]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

body, the sense-centers of the desire body must be awakened.

   In  ordinary life the Ego is INSIDE its bodies and its force is  directed
OUTWARD.   All man's will and energy are bent upon the task of subduing  the
outside  world.   At no time is he able to get away from the impressions  of
his  outside environment and thus be free to work on himself in  his  waking
hours.   During sleep, when such an opportunity is afforded,  because of the
dense  body having lost consciousness of the world,  the Ego is OUTSIDE  his
bodies.   If man is to work on his vehicle at all,  it must be when the out-
side world is shut out as in sleep,  but yet the spirit still remains within
and in full control of the faculties, as it is in the waking state.  Not un-
til such a state can be attained will it be possible for the spirit to  work
inwardly and properly sensitize its vehicles.

   Concentration is such a state.   When in it, the senses are stilled and a
person is outwardly in the same condition as in the deepest sleep,  yet  the
spirit  remains within and fully conscious.   Most people  have  experienced
this state, at least in some degree, when they have become interested in ab-
sorption in a book.   At such times they live in the scenes depicted by  the
author  and  are  lost  to their environment.   When  spoken  to,  they  are
oblivious to the sound, so to all else transpiring around them, yet they are
fully  awake to all they are reading, to the invisible world created by  the
author,  living there and feeling the heart-beats of all the different char-
acters in the story.   They are not independent,  but are bound in the  life
which some one has created from them in the book.

   The  aspirant to the higher life cultivates the faculty of  becoming  ab-
sorbed AT WILL in any subject he chooses,  or rather not a subject  usually,
but a very simple object, which he imagines.  Thus when the proper condition


[PAGE 484]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

or  point  of absorption has been reached where his  senses  are  absolutely
still,  he concentrates his thought upon the different sense centers of  the
desire body and THEY START TO REVOLVE.

   At first their motion is slow and hard to bring about, but by degrees the
sense centers of the desire body will make places for themselves within  the
dense  and vital bodies,  which learn to accommodate themselves to this  new
activity.   Them some day,  when the proper life has developed the requisite
cleavage  between the higher and lower parts of the vital body,  there is  a
supreme effort of the will;  a spiral motion in many directions takes place,
and  the aspirant stands OUTSIDE HIS DENSE BODY.   He looks at it as at  an-
other person.  The door of this prison house has been opened.  He is free to
come  and  go,  as much at liberty in the inner worlds as  in  the  Physical
World, functioning at will, in the inner or outer World, a helper of all de-
siring his services in any of them.

   Before  the aspirant learns to voluntarily leave the body,  he  may  have
worked  in the desire body during sleep, for in some people the desire  body
becomes  organized before the separation can be brought about in  the  vital
body.   Under those conditions it is impossible to bring back these  subjec-
tive  experiences to waking consciousness,  but generally in such  cases  it
will be noticed,  as the first sign of development, that all confused dreams
will cease.   Then,  after while, the dreams will become more vivid and per-
fectly logical.   The aspirant will dream of being in places and with people
(whether  known  to him in waking hours or not matters  little),  conducting
himself  in as reasonable a way as if he were in the waking state.   If  the
place of which he dreams is accessible to him in waking hours,  he may some-
times get proof of the reality of his dream if he will  note  some  physical


[PAGE 485]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE


detail of the scene and verify his nocturnal impression next day.

   He will next find that he can, during sleeping hours,  visit any place he
desires  upon  the face of the Earth and investigate it a  great  deal  more
thoroughly than if he had gone there in the dense body,  because in his  de-
sire body he has access to all places, regardless of locks and bars.   If he
persists,  there will at last come a day when he need not wait for sleep  to
dissolve the connection between his vehicles,  but can consciously set  him-
self free.

   Specific  directions for freeing the higher vehicles cannot be given  in-
discriminately.   The separation is brought about, not by a set  formula  of
WORDS, but rather by AN ACT OF WILL, yet the manner in which the will is di-
rected  is  individual,  and  can therefore be given  only  by  a  competent
teacher.   Like all other real esoteric information,  it is never sold,  but
comes  only as a result of the pupil qualifying himself to receive it.   All
that can be done here is to give an indication of the first steps which lead
up to the acquirement of the faculty of voluntary clairvoyance.

   The most favorable time to exercise is on first awakening in the morning,
before any of the worries and cares of daily life have entered the mind.  At
that  time  one  is fresh from the inner Worlds and  therefore  more  easily
brought back into touch with them than at any other time of the day.  Do not
wait  to dress,  or sit up in bed, but relax the body perfectly and let  the
exercises  be the first waking thought.  Relaxation does not mean  simply  a
comfortable position;  it is possible to have every muscle tense WITH EXPEC-
TATION and that of itself frustrates the object,  for in that condition  the
desire  body is gripping the muscles.   It cannot do otherwise till we  calm
the mind.


[PAGE 486]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

                                CONCENTRATION

   The first thing to practice is fixing one's thoughts upon some ideal  and
holding them there WITHOUT LETTING THEM SWERVE.   It is an exceedingly  hard
task,  but,  to some extend at least, it must be accomplished before  it  is
possible to make any further progress.   Thought is the power we use in mak-
ing images, pictures, thought forms, according to ideas from within.   It is
our  principal power,  and we must learn to have absolute control of it,  so
that what we produce is not wild illusion induced by outside conditions, but
true imagination generated by the spirit from within (see diagram 1).

   Sceptics say that it is ALL imagination but,  as said before,  if the in-
ventor had not been able to imagine the telephone, etc.,  we would not today
possess those things.   His imaginings were not generally correct or true at
first,  otherwise the inventions would have worked successfully from the be-
ginning,  without the many failures and apparently useless experiments  that
have nearly always preceded the production of the practical and  serviceable
instrument  or machine.   Neither is the imagination of the  budding  occult
scientist  correct at first.   The only way to make it true is  by  uninter-
rupted practice,  day after day, exercising the will to keep the thought fo-
cussed upon one subject, object, or idea, exclusive all else.   Thought is a
great power which we have been accustomed to waste.   It has been allowed to
flow on aimlessly, as water flows over a precipice before it is made to turn
the wheel.

   The rays of the Sun, diffused over the entire surface of the Earth,  pro-
duce only a moderate warmth,  but if even a few of them are concentrated  by
means of a glass, they are capable of producing fire at  the focusing point.


[PAGE 487]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

   Thought-force is the most powerful means of obtaining knowledge.   If  it
is  concentrated upon a subject,  it will burn its way through any  obstacle
and solve the problem.   If the requisite amount of thought-force is brought
to bear,  there is nothing that is beyond the power of human  comprehension.
So long as we scatter it, thought-force is of little use to us,  but as soon
as we are prepared to take the trouble necessary to harness it,  all  knowl-
edge is ours.

   We often hear people exclaim petulantly, "Oh, I cannot think of a hundred
things at once!" when really that is exactly what they have been doing,  and
what  has caused the very trouble of which they complain.   People are  con-
stantly  thinking of a hundred things other than the one they have in  hand.
Every success has been accomplished by persistent concentration upon the de-
sired end.

   This  is something the aspirant to the higher life must positively  learn
to do.   There is no other way.   At first he will find himself thinking  of
everything  under the sun instead of the ideal upon which he has decided  to
concentrate,  but he must not let that discourage him.  In time he will find
it  easier to still his senses and hold his thoughts  steady.   Persistence,
PERSISTENCE,  and always PERSISTENCE will win at last.   Without that,  how-
ever,  no results can be expected.  It is of no use to perform the exercises
for two or three mornings or weeks and then neglect them for as long.  To be
effective they must be done faithfully every morning without fail.

   Any subject may be selected, according to the temperament and mental per-
suasion of the aspirant, so long as it is pure and mentally uplifting it its
tendency.   Christ will do for some; others,  who flowers particularly,  and
most easily helped by taking one as the subject of concentration.   The  ob-
ject matters little, but whatever it is we must imagine  it  true to life in


[PAGE 488]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

all details.   If it is Christ,  we must imagine a real Christ,  with mobile
features,  life in His eyes,  and an expression that is not stony and  dead.
We must build a living ideal, not a statue.  If it is a flower, we must,  in
imagination,  take the seed and having buried it in the ground, fix our mind
upon  it  steadily.   Presently we shall see it burst,  shooting  forth  its
roots, which penetrate the Earth in a spiral manner.  From the main branches
of the roots we watch the myriads of minute rootlets, as they branch out and
ramify  in all directions.   Then the stem begins to shoot upward,  bursting
through the surface of the earth and coming forth as a tiny green stalk.  It
grows,  presently there is an off-set;  a tiny twig shoots out from the main
stem.   It grows;  another off-set and a branch appears;  from the branches,
little stalks with buds at the end shoot out;  presently there are a  number
of leaves.   Then comes a bud at the top;  it grow larger until it begins to
burst and the red leaves of the rose show beneath the green.   It unfolds in
the air,  emitting an exquisite perfume,  which we sense perfectly as it  is
wafted  to  us on the balmy summer breeze which gently sways  the  beautiful
creation before the mind's eye.

   Only when we "imagine"  in such clear and complete outlines as these,  do
we enter into the spirit of concentration.  There must be no shadowy,  faint
resemblance.

   Those who have traveled in India have told of fakirs showing them a seed,
which was planted and grew before the eyes of the astonished witness,  bear-
ing fruit which the traveler tasted.   That was done by concentration so in-
tense that the picture was visible, not only to the fakir himself,  but also
the spectators. A case is recorded where the members of a committee of sci-
entist all saw the wonderful things done before their eyes, under conditions
where  sleight-of-hand  was  impossible,  yet  the  photographs  which  they


[PAGE 489]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

obtained while the experiment was in progress, came to naught.  There was no
impression on the sensitive plates, because there had been no material, con-
crete objects.

   At  first the pictures which the aspirant builds will be but shadowy  and
poor  likenesses,  but in the end he can,  by concentration,  conjure up  an
image more real and alive than things in the Physical World.

   When the aspirant has become able to form such pictures and has succeeded
in  holding his mind upon the picture thus created,  he may try to drop  the
picture suddenly and,  holding his mind steady without any thought,  wait to
see what comes into the vacuum.

   For a long time nothing may appear and the aspirant must carefully  guard
against  making visions for himself,  but if he keeps on faithfully and  pa-
tiently every morning,  there will come a time when,  the moment he has  let
the imaged picture drop,  in a flash the surrounding Desire World will  open
up to his inner eye.   At first it may be but a mere glimpse,  but it is  an
earnest of what will later come at will.

                                 MEDITATION

   When  the aspirant has practiced concentration for some  time,  focussing
the mind upon some simple object, building a living thought form by means of
the imaginative faculty,  he will,  by means of Meditation,  learn all about
the object thus created.

   Supposing that the aspirant has, by concentration, called up the image of
the  Christ.   It is very easy to meditatively recall the incidents  of  His
life,  suffering and resurrection,  but much beyond that can be  learned  by
meditation.  Knowledge  never  before  dreamed of will flood the soul with a


[PAGE 490]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

glorious light.   Yet something that is uninteresting and does not of itself
suggest  anything marvelous,  is better for practice.   Try to find out  all
about--say, a match, or a common table.

   When  the image of the table has been clearly formed in the  mind,  think
what kind of wood it is and whence it came.  Go back to the time when,  as a
tiny seed,  the tree from which the wood was cut first feel into the  forest
soil.   Watch it grow from year to year,  covered by the snows of winter and
warmed by the summer Sun,  steadily growing upward--its roots meanwhile con-
stantly spreading under the ground.   First it is a tender sapling,  swaying
in  the breeze;  then,  as a young tree,  it gradually stretches higher  and
higher  toward the air and the sunshine.  As the years pass,  its girth  be-
comes greater and greater, until at last one day the logger comes,  with his
axe and saw gleaming as they reflect the rays of the winter Sun.   Our  tree
is felled and shorn if its branches, leaving by the trunk;  that is cut into
logs,  which  are hauled over the frozen roads to the river bank,  there  to
await the springtime when the melting snow swells the streams.  A great raft
of the logs is made, the pieces of our tree being among them.  We know every
little peculiarity about them and would recognize them instantly among thou-
sand,  so clearly have we marked them in our mind.   We follow the raft down
the  stream,  noting the passing landscape and become familiar with the  men
who  have  the care of the raft and who sleep upon little  huts  built  upon
their floating charge.  At last we see it arrive at a sawmill and disbanded.
One by one the logs are grasped by prongs on an endless chain and hauled out
of the water.   Here comes one of our logs, the widest part of which will be
made  into  the top of our table.  It is hauled out of the water to the log-


[PAGE 491]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

deck and rolled about by men with peavies.   We hear the hungry whine of the
great  circular saws as they revolve so fast that they appear as mere  blurs
before our eyes.   Our log is placed upon a carriage which is propelled  to-
ward one of them, and in a moment those teeth of steel are tearing their way
through its body and dividing it into boards and planks.   Some of the  wood
is  selected to form part of a building,  but the best of it is taken  to  a
furniture factory and put into a kiln, where it is dried by steam so that it
will not shrink after it has been made into furniture.  Then it is taken out
and put through a great planing machine with many sharp knives,  which makes
it smooth.  Next it is sawn off into different lengths and glued together to
form table-tops.   The legs are turned from thicker pieces and set into  the
frame which supports the top;  then the whole article is smoothed again with
sandpaper,  varnished and polished,  thus completing the table in every  re-
spect.   It is next sent out,  with other furniture,  to the store where  we
bought it,  and we follow it as it is carted from that place to our home and
left in our dining room.

   Thus,  by meditation, we have become conversant with the various branches
of  industry necessary to convert a forest tree into a piece  of  furniture.
WE  have seen all the machines and the men,  and noted the peculiarities  of
the  various places.   We have even followed the life process  whereby  that
tree  has  grown from a tiny seed, and have learned that back  of  seemingly
very  commonplace things there is a great and absorbingly  interesting  his-
tory.  A pin; the match with which we light the gas; the gas itself; and the
room in which that has is burned--all have interesting histories, well worth
learning.


[PAGE 492]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

                                 OBSERVATION

   One of the most important aids to the aspirant in its efforts is observa-
tion.   Most people go through life blind-folded.   Of them it is  literally
true that they "have eyes,  and see not; .  .  .  have ears,  and hear not."
Upon the part of the majority of humanity there is a deplorable lack of  ob-
servation.

   Most people are, to some extent, excusable for this,  because their sight
is  not normal.   Urban life has caused untold damage to the eyes.   In  the
country  the child learns to use the muscles of the eye to the full  extend,
relaxing of contracting them as required to see objects at considerable dis-
tances  in  the  open,  or close at hand in and about the  house.   But  the
city-bred child sees practically EVERYTHING close at hand and the muscles of
its eyes are seldom used to observe objects at any great distance, therefore
that  faculty  is  to a great extent lost,  resulting  in  a  prevalence  of
near-sightedness and other eye troubles.

   It  is very important to one aspiring to the higher life that he be  able
to see all things about him in clear, definite outlines, and in full detail.
To one suffering from defective sight, the use of glasses is like opening up
a new world.   Instead of the former mistiness,  everything is seen  clearly
and definitely.  If the condition of the sight requires the use of two foci,
one should not be content with having two pairs of glasses, one for near and
one for far seeing,  thus necessitating frequent changes.   Not only are the
changes wearisome, but one is very apt to forget one pair when leaving home.
The two foci can be had in one pair of bi-focal glasses,  and such should be
worn, to facilitate observation of the minutest details.


[PAGE 493]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

                               DISCRIMINATION

   When the aspirant has attended to his eyesight,  he should systematically
observe everything and everybody, drawing conclusions from actions,  to cul-
tivate the faculty of logical reasoning.   logic is the best teacher in  the
Physical World, as well as the safest and surest guide in any world.

   While practicing this method of observation, it should always be kept  in
mind  that  it  must be used only to gather facts and not  for  purposes  of
criticism,  at least not wanton criticism.   Constructive  criticism,  which
points  out  defects  and  the means of remedying  them,  is  the  basis  of
progress;  but destructive criticism, which vandalistically demolishes  good
and bad alike with aiming at any higher attainment, is an ulcer on the char-
acter  and must be eradicated.   Gossip and idle tale-bearing are clogs  and
hindrances.   While it is not required that we shall say that black is white
and overlook manifestly wrong conduct, criticism should be made for the pur-
pose  of helping,  not to wantonly besmirch the character of a  fellow-being
because we have found a little stain.   Remembering the parable of the  mote
and the beam,  we should turn our most unsparing criticism toward ourselves.
None is so perfect that there is no room for improvement.   The more  blame-
less the man, the less prone he is to find fault and cast the first stone at
another.   If we point out faults and suggests ways for improvement, it must
be  done without personal feeling.   We must always seek the good  which  is
hidden in everything.  The cultivation of this attitude of discrimination is
particularly important.

   When the aspirant to first-hand knowledge has practiced concentration and
meditation  exercises  for  some  time,  and has become fairly proficient in


[PAGE 494]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

them, there is a still higher step to be taken.

   We have seen that concentration is focusing thought upon a single object.
It is the means whereby we build a clear, objective, and living image of the
form about which we wish to acquire knowledge.

   Meditation  is the exercise whereby the history of the object of our  in-
vestigation is traced and,  so to say, entered into, to pick out of it every
shred of evidence as to its relation to the world in general.

   These two mental exercises deal, in the deepest and most thorough manner,
imaginable,  with THINGS.   They lead up to a higher, deeper and more subtle
stage of mental development, which deals with the very SOUL OF THINGS.

   The name of that stage is Contemplation.

                                CONTEMPLATION

   In  contemplation there is no reaching out in thought or imagination  for
the sake of getting information, as was the case in Meditation.   It is sim-
ply the holding of the object before our mental vision and letting the  soul
of it speak to us.   We repose quietly and relaxed upon a couch or  bed--not
negatively,  but thoroughly on the alert--watching for the information  that
will surely come if we have reached the proper development.   Then the  FORM
of the object seems to vanish and we see only the LIFE at work.   Contempla-
tion  will teach us about the Life side,  as Meditation taught us about  the
Form side.

   When we reach this stage and have before us,  say,  a tree in the forest,
we  lost sight of the Form entirely,  and see only the Life,  which in  this
case is a group spirit.  We shall find, to our astonishment,  that the group
spirit of the tree includes the various insects which feed upon it; that the


[PAGE 495]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

parasite and its host are emanations from one and the same group spirit, for
the  higher we ascend in the invisible realms,  the fewer the  separate  and
distinct forms, and the more completely the One Life predominates,  impress-
ing  upon  the  investigator  the supreme fact that there  is  but  the  One
Life--the Universal Life of God, in Whom it is an actual fact that "we live,
and move, and have our being."  Mineral, plant, animal, and man--all,  with-
out exception--are manifestations of God,  and this fact furnishes the  true
basis of brotherhood--a brotherhood which includes everything from the  atom
to the Sun, because all are emanations from God.  Conceptions of brotherhood
based upon any other foundation,  such as class distinctions, Race affinity,
similarity of occupation,  etc.,  fall far short of this true basis,  as the
occult scientist clearly realizes when he sees the Universal Life flowing in
all that exists.

                                  ADORATION

   When this height has been reached by Contemplation,  and the aspirant has
realized  that he is in truth beholding God in the Life that  permeates  all
things, there remains still to be taken the highest step, Adoration, whereby
he  unites himself with the Source of all things,  reaching by that act  the
highest goal possible of attainment by man until the time when the permanent
union takes place at the end of the great Day of Manifestation.

   It is the writer's opinion that neither the heights of Contemplation, nor
the  final step of Adoration can be attained without the aid of  a  teacher.
The aspirant need never fear, however, that for want of a teacher he will be
delayed in taking these steps;  nor need he be concerned about looking for a


[PAGE 496]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

teacher.   All that is necessary for him to do is start to improve  himself,
and to earnestly and PERSISTENTLY continue therein.  In that way he will pu-
rify  his vehicles.   They will commence to shine in the inner  Worlds,  and
cannot fail to attract the attention of the teachers,  who are always watch-
ing for just such cases and are more than eager and glad to help those  who,
because of their earnest efforts to purify themselves, have won the right to
receive  help.   Humanity is sorely in need of helpers who are able to  work
from the inner Worlds,  therefore "seek and ye shall find,"  but let us  not
imagine  that by going about from one professed teacher to another,  we  are
seeking.   "Seeking,"  in that sense of the word, will avail nothing in this
dark world.   We ourselves must kindle the light--the light which invariably
radiates from the vehicles of the earnest aspirant.   That is the star which
will lead us to the teacher, or rather the teacher to us.

   The time required to bring results from the performance of the  exercises
varies with each individual and is dependent upon his application, his stage
in  evolution and his record in the book of destiny;  therefore  no  general
time can be set.   Some,  who are almost ready, obtain results in a few days
or weeks; others have to work months, years, and even their whole life with-
out  VISIBLE results,  yet the results will be there,  and the aspirant  who
faithfully persists will some day,  i this or a future life,  behold his pa-
tience  and  faithfulness rewarded and the inner Worlds open  to  his  gaze,
finding himself a citizen of realms where the opportunities are immeasurably
greater than in the Physical World only.

   From that time--awake or asleep, through what men call life,  and through
what  men  call  death--his  consciousness will be unbroken.  He will lead a


[PAGE 497]                                    ACQUIRING FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

consciously continuous existence,  having the benefit of all the  conditions
which make for more rapid advancement to every higher positions of trust, to
be used in the unlifting of the race.
[PAGE 498]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

                               CHAPTER XVIII.

                 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH; AND VOLCANIC
                                 ERUPTIONS.

   Even  among  occult scientists it is counted amount  the  most  difficult
problems to investigate the mysterious construction of the Earth.  Every oc-
cult scientist knows how much easier it is to thoroughly and accurately  in-
vestigate the Desire World and the Region of Concrete Thought and bring back
the  results into the Physical World than to investigate completely the  se-
crets of our physical planet, because to do that fully, one must have passed
through the nine lesser Mysteries and the first of the Great Initiations.

   Modern scientists know very little about this matter.   So far as seismic
phenomena are concerned, they very frequently change their theories, because
they  are constantly discovering reasons why their previous hypotheses  were
untenable.   They have, with all their usual splendid care, investigated the
very  outside shell,  but only to an insignificant depth.   As for  volcanic
eruptions,  they try to understand them as they try to understand everything
else, in a purely mechanical way, depicting the center of the Earth as a fi-
ery  furnace and concluding that the eruptions are caused by the  accidental
admission of water and in other similar ways.

   In a certain sense, their theories have some foundation, but in this case
they  are, as always, neglecting the spiritual causes which to the occultist


[PAGE 499]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

appear to be the true ones.  To him, the world is far from being "dead."  On
the contrary,  its every nook and crevice is permeated by spirit,  which  is
the leaven that causes changes in and upon the planet.

   The different kinds of quartz, the metals, the disposition of the various
strata--all have a much higher significance than the materialistic investi-
gator has ever been able to grasp.  To  the  occult  scientists,  the way in
which these materials are arranged is full of meaning.  On  this subject, as
on every other, occult science stands in the same relation to modern science
as physiology does to anatomy.  Anatomy  states with minute detail the exact
position of every bone, muscle, ligament, nerve,  etc., their relative posi-
tions to one another and so forth,  but does not give any clue to the use of
any  one of the different parts of which the body is composed.   Physiology,
on the other hand,  not only states the position and structure of every part
of the body, but also tells their use in the body.

   To  know the different strata of the Earth and the relative positions  of
the  planets  in the sky without having also a knowledge of  their  use  and
meaning  in  the life and purpose of the Cosmos,  is as useless as  to  know
merely  the positions of bones, nerves,  etc.,  without  understanding  also
their use in the functional economy of the body.

                          THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

   To the trained clairvoyant sight,  of the Initiate of the various degrees
of the Mysteries,  the Earth appears built in strata,  something like an on-
ion,  one layer or stratum outside another.   There are nine such strata and
the central core,  making ten in all.  These strata are revealed to the Ini-
tiate  gradually.  One stratum becomes accessible to him at each Initiation,


[PAGE 500]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

so  that at the end of the nine lesser Initiations he is master of  all  the
layers, but has not yet access to the secrets of the core.

   In  ancient parlance these nine steps are called the "lesser  Mysteries."
They  take  the neophyte consciously through all that relates  to  his  past
evolution,  through the activities of involuntary existence,  so that he  is
able to understand the manner and meaning of the work he then performed  un-
consciously.   He is shown how to present ninefold constitution (the  three-
fold body,  the threefold soul,  and the threefold spirit) was brought  into
existence;  how the great creative Hierarchies worked on the virgin  spirit,
awakening in it the Ego,  helping it to form the body;  and also the work he
himself has done,  to extract from the threefold body as much of the  three-
fold  soul as he now possesses.   One step at a time is he led  through  the
nine steps of the lesser mysteries, the nine strata.

   This  number nine is the root number of our present stage  of  evolution.
It  bears a significance in our system that no other number does.   It is  a
number of Adam, the life which commenced its evolution as Man, which reached
the  human stage during the Earth Period.  In the Hebrew,  as in the  Greek,
there  are no numerals,  but each letter has a numerical value.   In  Hebrew
"Adam"  is called "ADM.)  The value of "A" is 1; of "D," 4; and of "M,"  40.
If we add these figures, we get 1+4+4+0=9--the number of Adam, or humanity.

   If we turn from the Book of Genesis, which deals with the creation of man
in the hoary past,  to the Book of Revelation,  which deals with his  future
attainment, we find that the number of the beast which hinders is 666.  Add-
ing these figures, 6+6+6=18; and further, 1+8=9--we have again the number of
humanity,  which  is  itself the cause of all the evil which hinders its own


[PAGE 501]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

progress.   Going further, to the point where the number of those who are to
be  saved  is  stated,  we  find  it  to  be  144,000.   Adding  as  before,
1+4+4+000=9--again the number of humanity, showing that practically it  will
be  saved in its totality,  the number incapable of progress in our  present
evolution  being negligible in comparison to the grand total,  and even  the
few who fail are not lost, but will progress in a later scheme.

   The consciousness of the mineral and the plant is really unconsciousness.
The  first glimmering dawn of consciousness begins with the animal  kingdom.
We  have seen also that according to the most modern  classification,  there
are thirteen steps in the animal kingdom:  three classes of Radiates;  three
classes of Mollusks;  three classes of Articulates; and four classes of Ver-
tebrates.

   If we regard ordinary man as a step by himself,  and remember that  there
are  thirteen Initiations from man to God, or from the time he commenced  to
qualify himself for becoming a self-conscious Creative Intelligence, we have
again the same number, Nine: 13+1+13=27 2+7=9.

   The number 9 is also hidden in the age of Christ Jesus, 33; 3+3=9, and in
a similar manner in the 33 degrees of Masonry.  In olden times Masonry was a
system of Initiation into the lesser Mysteries which, as we have seen,  have
9 degrees, but the Initiates often wrote it as 33.  Similarly we read of the
l8th  degree  of  the  Rosicrucians,  which  was  only  a  "blind"  for  the
uninitiated,  because there are never more than 9 degrees in any lesser Mys-
tery, and the Masons of today have but very little of the occult ritual left
in their degrees.

   We have also the nine months of gestation, during which the body is built


[PAGE 502]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

up   to   its  present  efficiency;   and  there  are  in  the   body   nine
perforations-two eyes,  two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, and the two lower
orifices.

   When  the advancing man has passed through the nine  lesser  Initiations,
gaining thereby entrance to all the layers of the Earth,  entrance into  the
core is yet to be won.  That is opened to him by the first of the four Great
Initiation, in which he learns to know the mystery of the mind, that part of
his being begun on Earth.   When he is ready for the first Great  Initiation
he has developed his mind to the degree all men are destined to attain to at
the end of the Earth Period.   In that Initiation he is given the key to the
next stage,  and all work done by him after that will be such as humanity in
general will do in the Jupiter Period, and does not concern us at present.

   After his first Great Initiation, he is an Adept.  The second,  third and
fourth Initiations pertain to the stages of development to be arrived at  by
ordinary humanity in the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan Periods.

   These thirteen Initiations are symbolically represented in the Christ and
His twelve Apostles.   Judas Iscariot  is the traitorous propensities of the
lower nature of the neophyte.  The beloved John is the Venus Initiation, and
Christ Himself symbolizes the Divine Initiate of the Vulcan Period.

   In different schools of occult science the rites of Initiation vary, also
their statement of the number of Initiations, but that is merely a matter of
classification.   It will be observed that such vague descriptions as can be
given become that such vague descriptions as can be given becomes more vague
as one proceeds higher and higher.   Where seven or more degrees are  spoken
of,  almost nothing is said of the sixth Initiation, and nothing whatever of
the ones beyond.  That  is  because  of  another  division--the six steps of


[PAGE 503]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

"Preparation." and the four Initiations which bring the candidate to the end
of the Earth Period, to Adeptship.  Then there must always be three more, if
the philosophy of the school or society goes so far.   The writer,  however,
knows of none but the Rosicrucians who have anything to say of the three Pe-
riods  which preceded the Earth Period, save the bare statement  that  there
were such Periods.   They are not brought very definitely into  relationship
whti our present phase of existence, however.  Likewise, other occult teach-
ings simply state that there will be three more schemes of evolution, but no
particulars are given.  Of course, under those circumstances, the three last
Initiations are not mentioned.

   Diagram  l8 will give an idea of the arrangement of the  Earth's  strata,
the central core being omitted to indicate more clearly the lemniscate  for-
mation of the currents in the ninth stratum.   In the diagram the strata are
represented  as being of equal thickness, thought in reality some  are  much
thinner than other.   Beginning at the outside, they appear in the following
order:

   (l)  The Mineral Earth:  This is the stony crust of the Earth, with which
Geology deals as far as it is able to penetrate.

   (2)   The Fluid Stratum:   The matter of the stratum is more  fluid  than
that  of the outside crust,  yet it is not watery,  but rather more  like  a
thick paste.   It has the quality of expansion,  like that of an exceedingly
explosive  gas,  and is kept in place only by the enormous pressure  of  the
outer crust.  Were that removed, the whole of the fluid stratum would disap-
pear  in  the space with a tremendous explosion.   These correspond  to  the
Chemical and Etheric Regions of the Physical World.

   (3) Vapor Stratum:  In  the  first  and  second strata there is really no


[PAGE 504]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

conscious life.   But in this stratum there is an even-flowing and pulsating
life, as in the Desire World surrounding and inter-penetrating our Earth.

   (4)   Water Stratum:   In this stratum are the germinal possibilities  of
the  that  exists upon the surface of the Earth.   Here are  the  archetypal
force which are back of the group spirits; also the archetypal forces of the
minerals,  for this is the direct physical expression of the Region of  Con-
crete Thought.

   (5)   Seed Stratum:   Material scientists have been baffled in their  ef-
forts to discover the origin of life, how the first living things came forth
from previously dead matter.

   In reality,  according to the occult explanation of evolution,  the ques-
tion should be how the "dead" things originated.   THE LIFE WAS THERE PREVI-
OUS  TO THE DEAD FORMS.   It built its bodies from the attenuated,  vaporous
substance long before it condensed into the Earth's solid crust.   ONLY WHEN
THE LIFE HAD LEFT THE FORMS COULD THEY CRYSTALLIZE AND BECOME HARD AND DEAD.

   Coal is but crystallized plant bodies;  coral is also the crystallization
of animal forms.   The life leaves the FORMS and the FORMS die.   Life never
came into a form to awaken it to life.  Life departed from the forms and the
forms died.  Thus did "dead" things come to be.

   In this fifth stratum is the primordial fount of life from which came the
impetus that built all the forms on Earth.   It corresponds to the Region of
Abstract Thought.

   (6)  Fiery Stratum:  Strange as it may seem, this stratum is possessed of
sensation.    Pleasure and pain,  sympathy and antipathy have here their ef-
fect  on  the  Earth.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  under  no possible


[PAGE 505]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

circumstances can the Earth have any sensation whatever.   The occult scien-
tist,  however, as he watches the harvesting of the ripe grain and the gath-
ering  of fruit from the trees in the autumn,  or the plucking  of  flowers,
knows  the pleasure experienced by the Earth itself.   It is similar to  the
pleasure felt by the cow when its bursting udders are being relieved by  the
sucking calf.  The Earth feels the delight of having yielded nourishment for
its progeny of Forms,  this delight reaching its culmination in the  harvest
time.

   On the other hand, when plants are torn out by the roots, it is patent to
the occult scientist that the Earth senses a sting of pain.  For that reason
he  does not eat the plant-foods which grow under the Earth.   In the  first
place they are full of the Earth force and deficient in Sun force,  and  are
additionally poisoned by being pulled up by the roots.   The only  exception
to  this  rule  is  that  he may partake  sparingly  of  the  potato,  which
originally grew on the surface of the earth,  and has only in  comparatively
recent times grown beneath the soil.   Occultists endeavor to nourish  their
bodies on fruits which grow toward the Sun, because they contain more of the
higher Sun force, and have not caused the Earth pain.

   It might be supposed that mining operations would be very painful to  the
Earth,  but the reverse is the case.  Every disintegration of the hard crust
causes  a sensation of relief and every solidification is a source of  pain.
Where  a  mountain torrent washes away the soil and carries  it  toward  the
plains,  the earth feels freer.  Where the disintegrated matter is again de-
posited,  as in a bar outside the mouth of a great river,  there is a corre-
sponding sense of uneasiness.

   As sensation in animals and men is due to their separate vital bodies, so


[PAGE 506]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the feeling of the Earth is particularly active in this sixth stratum, which
corresponds  to the World of Life Spirit.   To understand the pleasure  felt
when mining operations are disintegrating the hard rock,  and the pain  when
deposits  gather,  we must remember that the Earth is the dense  body  of  a
Great Spirit,  and to furnish us with an environment in which we could  live
and  gather  experience,  it had to crystallize this body into  its  present
solid condition.

   As evolution proceeds,  however, and man learns the lessons pertaining to
this acme of concretion,  the Earth will softer and its spirit more and more
liberated.   This  is what Paul meant when he spoke of  the  whole  creation
groaning and travailing, waiting for the day of liberation.

   (7)  Refracting Stratum:  This part of the Earth corresponds to the World
of Divine Spirit.  There are, in occult science what are known as "The Seven
Unspeakable Secrets."   For those who are not acquainted with these secrets,
or  have  not as least an inkling of their import,  the properties  of  this
stratum must seem particularly absurd and grotesque.   In it all the  forces
which are known to us as the "Laws of Nature" exist as moral,  or rather im-
moral  forces.   In the beginning of the conscious career of man  they  were
much worse than at present.   But it appears that as humanity progresses  in
morals,  these forces improve correspondingly; also that any lapse in morals
has  a  tendency to unleash these Nature forces and causes  them  to  create
havoc upon the Earth;  while the striving for higher ideals makes them  less
inimical to man.

   The forces in this stratum are thus, at any time,  an exact reflection of
the  existing  moral status of mankind.  From the occult point of  view, the


[PAGE 507]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

"hand of God"  which smites a Sodom or a Gomorrah is not a foolish supersti-
tion, for as surely as there is individual responsibility to the law of Con-
sequence  which brings to each person the just results of his deeds  whether
for  good or evil,  so is there also community and national  responsibility,
which  brings upon groups of men corresponding results for their  collective
acts.   Nature  forces are the general agents of such  retributive  justice,
causing flood,  s or earthquakes, or the beneficent formation of oil or coal
for various groups, according to their deserts.

   (8)   Atomistic Stratum:   This is the name given by the Rosicrucians  to
the eighth layer of the Earth,  which is the expression of the World of Vir-
gin  Spirits.   It seems to have the property of multiplying many  fold  the
things in it;  this applies,  however,  only to those things which have been
definitely formed.   An unshapen piece of wood,  or an unhewn stone has  not
existence there,  but upon anything which has been shaped,  or has life  and
form (such as a flower or a picture),  this stratum has the effect of multi-
plication to an astonishing degree.

   (9)  Material Expression of the Earth spirit:   There are here lemniscate
currents,  which are intimately connected with the brain,  heart and sex or-
gans of the human race.  It corresponds to the World of God.

   (l0)   Center  of Being of the Earth spirit:   Nothing more can  be  said
about this at present except that it is the ultimate seed ground of all that
is in and on Earth, and corresponds to the Absolute.

   From the sixth or fiery stratum to the surface of the Earth are a  number
of shafts in different places.  The outer ends of these are called "volcanic
craters."  When  the  Nature  forces in the seventh stratum are unleashed so


[PAGE 508]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

that they can express themselves through a volcanic outburst,  they set  the
(sixth)  fiery  stratum in motion and the agitation spreads outward  to  the
mouth of the crater.   The bulk of the material is taken from the  substance
of the second stratum, for that is the denser counterpart of the sixth stra-
tum as the vital body, the second vehicle of man,  is the denser counterpart
of the life Spirit,  the sixth principle.   This fluidic stratum,  with  its
expansive and highly explosive quality, insures an unlimited supply of mate-
rial at the point of eruption.   The contact with the outer atmosphere hard-
ens that part of it which is not blown away into space,  thus forming a lava
and dust,  until,  as the blood from a wound congeals and stanches the flow,
so the lava finally seals the aperture from the inner parts of the Earth.

   As  might be gathered from the fact that it is the  reflected  immorality
and  anit-spiritual tendencies of manking which arouse the Nature-forces  in
the seventh stratum to destructive activity,  it is generally profligate and
degenerate peoples who succumb to these catastrophes.   They,  together with
others  whose  destiny,  self-generated under the law  of  consequence,  for
various reasons,  involves a violent death, are gathered from many lands  by
the superhuman forces, to the point where the eruption is to occur.   To the
thoughtful,  the volcanic outbursts of Vesuvius,  for instance,  will afford
corroboration of this statement.

   A  list of these outbursts during the last 2,000 years shows  that  their
frequency has been increasing with the growth of materialism.   In the  last
sixty years,  especially,  in the ratio that materialistic science has grown
arrogant  in its absolute and sweeping denial of everything spiritual,  have
the eruption increase in frequency.  While  there  were but six eruptions in


[PAGE 509]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

                                DIAGRAM l8:

                          CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH


[PAGE 510]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the first l,000 years after Christ, the last five have taken place within 5l
years, as will be shown.

   The first eruption during the Christian Era was that which destroyed  the
cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, in which the elder Pliny perished, A.  D.
79.   The older eruptions followed in A. D. 203, 472, 5l2, 652,  982,  l036,
ll58, l500, l63l, l737, l794, l822, l855, l872, l855, l89l, l906.

   In  the first thousand years,  there were six eruptions;  in  the  second
thousand there have been twelve,  the last five occurring in a period of  5l
years, as before stated.

   Of  the  entire number of l8 eruptions,  the first nine occurred  in  the
so-called "dark ages," that is to say, the l600 years during which the West-
ern World was dominated by what are commonly termed the "heathen," or by the
Roman  Church.   The remainder have taken place in the  last  three  hundred
years,  during which the advent and rise of Modern Science, with its materi-
alizing tendencies, has driven almost the last vestige of spiritually to the
wall,  particularly  in the last half of the l9th  Century.   Therefore  the
eruptions for that period comprise nearly one-third of the total number that
have taken place in our Era.

   To counteract this demoralizing influence,  a great deal of occult infor-
mation has been given out during that time by the Elder Brothers of  Wisdom,
who  are ever working for the benefit of humanity.   It is thought  that  by
giving  out this knowledge and educating the few who will still receive  it,
it  may  be possible to stem the tide of materialism,  which  otherwise  may
bring  about very serious consequences to its advocates who,  having so long
denies the existence of the spiritual,  may be unable to find their  balance
when  they discover that though still living, they have been deprived of the


[PAGE 511]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

dense body.   Such persons may meet a fate too sad to contemplate with equa-
nimity.   One of the causes of the dread "white plague" is this materialism,
not traceable to the present incarnation perhaps, but the result of previous
materialistic beliefs and affirmations.

   We have spoken of the demise of the elder Pliny,  at the time of the  de-
struction of Pompeii.  It is interesting to follow the fate of such a scien-
tist,  not  so much for the sake of that particular individual  as  for  the
light it throws upon the manner in which the memory of Nature is read by the
occult scientist,  how the impressions are made upon it,  and the effect  of
past traits upon present tendencies.

   When a man dies,  his dense body disintegrates,  but the sum total of its
forces can be found in the seventh or reflecting stratum of the Earth, which
may be said to constitute a reservoir in which,  as forces,  past forms  are
stored.   If,  knowing the time of the death of a man, we search this reser-
voir,  it is possible to find his form there.   Not only is it stored in the
seventh stratum, but the eighth or atomistic stratum multiplies it,  so that
nay one type may be reproduced and modified by others.  Thus it is used over
and  over again in the formation of other bodies.   The brain-tendencies  of
such a man as Pliny the elder may have been reproduced an thousand years af-
terwards,  and have been partly the cause of the present crop of materialis-
tic scientists.

   There is still much for modern,  material scientists to learn and to  un-
learn.   Though they fight to the last ditch what they sneeringly  term  the
"illusionary ideas" of the occult scientist, they are being compelled to ac-
knowledge their truth and accept them one by one, and it is only a matter of
time when they will have been compelled to accept them all.


[PAGE 512]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

   Mesmer, who was sent by the Elder Brother, was worse than ridiculed,  but
which  materialists  had changed the name of the force  discovered  by  him,
calling  it "hypnotism"  instead of "Mesmerism,"  it at once became  "scien-
tific."

   Twenty  years ago Madame Blavtsky,  a faithful pupil of Eastern  Masters,
said that the Earth had a third movement,  in addition to the two  producing
day and night and the seasons.   She pointed out that the inclination of the
Earth's axis is caused by a movement which,  in due time,  brings the  north
pole to where the equator is now and still later,  to the place now occupied
by the sought pole.  This, she said, was known to the ancient Egyptians, the
famous  planisphere at Dendera showing that they had records of  three  such
revolutions.   These statements,  in common with the whole of her unexcelled
work, "The Secret Doctrine," were hooted at.

   A few years ago, an astronomer, Mr. G. E. Sutcliffe,  of Bombay,  discov-
ered and mathematically demonstrated that Laplace had made a mistake in  his
calculations.   The discovery and rectification of this error  confirmed  by
mathematical  demonstration the existence of the third motion of the  Earth,
as  claimed  by Madame Blavatsky.   It also afforded an explanation  of  the
theretofore puzzling fact that tropical plants and fossils are found in  the
polar regions,  as such a  movement would necessarily produce,  in due time,
tropical and glacial periods on all parts of the Earth, corresponding to its
changed position in relation to the Sun.  Mr.  Sutcliffe sent his letter and
demonstration to NATURE, but that journal refused to publish them,  and when
the  author made public the discovery by means of a pamphlet,  he drew  upon
himself  an appalling storm of vituperation.  However, he is an avowed and a


[PAGE 513]                                         CONSTITUTION OF THE EARTH

deep student of "The Secret Doctrine," and that explains the hostile  recep-
tion according his discovery and its inevitable corollaries.

   Later,  however, a Frenchman, not an astronomer, but a mechanician,  con-
structed  an apparatus demonstrating the ample possibility of the  existence
of such a movement.   The apparatus was exhibited at the Louisiana  Purchase
Exhibition at Saint Louis, and was warmly endorsed by M. Camille Flammarion,
as  worthy of investigation.   Here was something concrete,  something  "me-
chanical,"  and the editor of THE MONIST,  thought he described the inventor
as a man laboring somewhat under "mystic illusions"  (because of his  belief
that  the  ancient Egyptians knew of this third motion),  nevertheless  mag-
nanimously overlooked that feature of the case and said that he had not lost
faith in M.  Beziau's theory on that account.   He published an  explanation
and an essay by M.  Beziau, wherein the motion and its effects upon the sur-
face  of the Earth were described in terms similar to those used  by  Madame
Blavatsky and Mr. Sutcliffe.  M. Beziau is not definitely "billed" as an oc-
cultist, therefore his discovery may be countenanced.

   Many  instances  might be cited showing how occult information  has  been
corroborated  later  by  material science.   One of them  is  the  atomistic
theory,  which  is  advocated in the Greek philosophies and  later  in  "The
Secret Doctrine."  It was "discovered" in l897, by Professor Thomson.

   In Mr. A. P. Sinnett's valuable work, "The Growth of the Soul," published
in  l896,  the author stated that there are two planets beyond the orbit  of
Neptune,  only one of which,  he thought,  would be discovered by modern as-
tronomers.  In NATURE for August, l906, the statement is made that Professor
Barnard, through the 36-inch Lick refractor, had discovered such a planet in


[PAGE 514]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

1892.   There had been no mistake about it, yet he waited fourteen years be-
fore he announced his discovery!  One need not be concerned about that, how-
ever.   The main point is that the planet is there,  and that Mr.  Sinnett's
book said so ten years before Professor Barnard's claim to prior  discovery.
Probably,  previous to l906 the announcement of the newly discovered  planet
might have tended to disarrange some popularly accepted theory!

   There  are many such theories.   The Copernican theory is not  altogether
correct, and there are many facts that cannot be accounted for by the lauded
Nebular  theory  alone.    Tycho  Brahe,   the  famous  Danish   astronomer,
refused to accept the Copernican theory.   He had a very good reason for re-
maining  true to the Ptolemaic theory because, as he said,  by it the  move-
ments  of  the  planets figured out correctly,  while  with  the  Copernican
theory, it is necessary to use a table of corrections.  The Ptolemaic system
is correct from the standpoint of the Desire World,  and it has points  that
are needed in the Physical World.

   By  many  the statements made in the foregoing pages will  be  considered
fantastic.   Be  it so.   Time will bring to all a knowledge  of  the  facts
herein  set forth.   This book is only for the few who,  having freed  their
minds from the shackles of orthodox science and religion,  are ready to  ac-
cept this until they have proven it wrong.


[PAGE 515]                                         THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

                                 CHAPTER XIX

             CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUZ AND THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

                       ANCIENT TRUTHS IN MODERN DRESS

   Having  encountered among the public a widespread desire to  learn  some-
thing of the Order of Rosicrucians,  and as there is a lack of understanding
of  the  important place occupied by the Brothers of the Rose Cross  in  our
Western civilization, even among our students, it may be well to furnish au-
thentic information upon the subject.

   Everything in the world is subject to law, even our evolution is thus en-
compassed;  spiritual and physical progression go hand in hand.   The sun is
the physical light bringer and, as we know,  it apparently travels from east
to west bringing light and life to one part of the earth after another.  But
the  visible  sun is only a part of the sun as the visible body is  a  small
part of composite man.   There is an invisible and spiritual sun whose  rays
promote soul growth upon one part of the earth after another as the physical
sun promotes the growth of form,  and this spiritual impulse also travels in
the same direction as the physical sun; from east to west.

   Six  or seven hundred year B.C.,  a new wave of spirituality was  started
near  the western shores of the Pacific Ocean to give enlightenment  to  the
Chinese nation and the religion of Confucius is embraced to this day by many
millions in the celestial kingdom.  Later we note the effect of this wave in
the  religion  of  Buddha,  a  teaching  designed to stir the aspirations of


[PAGE 516]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

millions  of Hindus and western Chinese.  In its westward course it  appears
among  the more intellectual Greeks in the lofty philosophies of  Pythagoras
and Plato,  and at last it sweeps over the western world, among the pioneers
of the human race, where it takes the lofty form of the Christian religion.

   The Christian religion has gradually worked its way to the westward, even
to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and thither the spiritual aspirations are
being  massed and concentrated.   There they will reach a point of  culmina-
tion,  prior to taking a new leap across the ocean and inaugurating a higher
and  more  lofty spiritual awakening in the Orient than now exists  in  that
part of the earth.

   Just  as day and night,  summer and winter,  ebb and flood,  follow  each
other  in unbroken sequence according to the law of alternating  cycles,  so
also  the  appearance of a wave of spiritual awakening in any  part  of  the
world is followed by a period of material reactions, so that our development
may not become onesided.

   Religion,  Art  and Science are the three most important means  of  human
education, and they are a trinity in unity which cannot be separated without
distorting our viewpoint of whatever we may investigate.   TRUE RELIGION em-
bodies both science and art, for it teaches a beautiful life in harmony with
the laws of nature.

   TRUE  SCIENCE  is  artistic and religious in the highest  sense,  for  it
teaches us to reverence and conform to laws governing our well-being and ex-
plains why the religious life is conducive to health and beauty.

   TRUE  ART is as educational as science and as uplifting in its  influence
as religion.   In architecture we have a most sublime presentation of cosmic
lines  of  force  in  the  universe.  It fills the spiritual beholder with a


[PAGE 517]                                         THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

powerful  devotion and adoration born of an awe-inspiring conception of  the
overwhelming grandeur and majesty of Deity.   Sculpture and painting,  music
and  literature inspire us with a sense of transcendent loveliness  of  God,
the immutable source and goal of all this beautiful world.

   Nothing short of such an all-embracing teaching will answer the needs  of
humanity permanently.  There was a time, even as late as Greece,  when RELI-
GION,  ART and SCIENCE  were taught unitedly in Mystery temples.  But it was
necessary to the better development of each that they should separate for  a
time.

   RELIGION held sole sway in the so-called "dark ages."   During that  time
it  bound both Science and Art hand and foot.   Then came the period of  Re-
naissance and ART came to the fore in all its branches.  Religion was strong
as yet,  however,  and Art was only too often prostituted in the service  of
Religion.   Last came the wave of modern SCIENCE,  and with iron hand it has
subjugated Religion.

   It  was a detriment to the world when Religion shackled  Science.   IGNO-
RANCE and SUPERSTITION caused untold woe, nevertheless man cherished a lofty
spiritual ideal then;  he hoped for a higher and better life.   It is  infi-
nitely more disastrous that Science is killing Religion,  for now even HOPE,
the only gift of the gods left in Pandora's box, may vanish before MATERIAL-
ISM and  AGNOSTICISM.

   Such a state cannot continue.  Reaction must set in.  If it does not, An-
archy will rend the Cosmos.   To avert a calamity RELIGION,  SCIENCE and ART
must reunite in a higher expression of the GOOD,  the TRUE and the BEAUTIFUL
than obtained before the separation.

   Coming  events cast their shadows before, and when the Great  Leaders  of
humanity  saw  the tendency towards ultramaterialism which is now rampant in


[PAGE 518]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

the Western World, they took certain steps to counteract and transmute it at
the auspicious time.   They did not wish to kill the budding Science as  the
latter has strangled Religion, for they saw the ultimate good which will re-
sult when an advanced Science has again become the co-worker of Religion.

   A spiritual Religion,  however, cannot blend with a materialistic Science
any  more  than  oil can mix with water.   Therefore  steps  were  taken  to
spiritualize Science and make Religion scientific.

   In the thirteenth century a high spiritual teacher, having the symbolical
name Christian Rosenkreuz--Christian:   Rose:  Cross--appeared in Europe  to
commence  that work.   He founded the mysterious Order of Rosicrucians  with
the  object of throwing occult light upon the misunderstood Christian  Reli-
gion and to explain the mystery of Life and Being from the scientific stand-
point in harmony with Religion.

   Many centuries have rolled by since the birth,  as Christian  Rosenkreuz,
of the Founder of the Rosicrucian Mystery School,  and by many his existence
is  even regarded as a myth.   But his birth as Christian Rosenkreuz  marked
the  beginning of a new epoch in spiritual life of the Western World.   That
particular Ego has also been in continuous physical existence ever since, in
one or another of the European Countries.   He has taken a new body when his
successive  vehicles have outlived their usefulness,  or circumstances  ren-
dered  it expedient that he changes the scene of his activities.   Moreover,
he is embodied today--an Initiate of high degree, an active or potent factor
in all affairs of the West--although unknown to the World.

   Her  labored  with the Alchemists centuries before the advent  of  modern
science.  He,  through, an intermediary, inspired the now mutilated works of


[PAGE 519]                                         THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

Bacon.   Jacob Boehme and others received through him the inspiration  which
makes their works so spiritually illuminating.  In the works of the immortal
Goethe and the masterpieces of Wagner the same influence meets us.   All un-
daunted spirits who refuse to be fettered by either orthodox science or  or-
thodox  religion,  who fling away the husks and penetrate to  the  spiritual
kernel  regardless of vilification or of flattery,  draw  their  inspiration
from  the  same  fountain as did and does the great  spirit  which  animated
Christian Rosenkreuz.

   His  very name is an embodiment of the manner and the means by which  the
present day man is transformed into the Divine Superman.  This symbol,

                           "Christian Rosen Kreuz"
                         [The] Christian Rose Cross,

shows the end and aim of human evolution,  the road to be traveled,  and the
means whereby that end is gained.   The black cross,  the twining green stem
of the plant,  the thorns, the blood red roses--in these is hidden the solu-
tion of the World Mystery--Man's past evolution,  present constitution,  and
particularly the secret of his future development.

   It hides from the profane,  but reveals to the Initiate the more  clearly
how he is to labor day by day to make for himself that choicest of all gems,
the Philosopher's Stone--more precious than the Kohinoor; nay,  than the sum
of  all earthly wealth!   It reminds him how mankind,  in its ignorance,  is
hourly wasting the actual concrete material that might be used in the forma-
tion of this priceless treasure.

   To  keep him steadfast and true through every adversity,  the Rose  cross
holds aloft, as an inspiration,  the  glorious consummation in store for him


[PAGE 520]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

that  overcometh,  and  points to Christ as the Star  of  Hope,  the  "first
fruits,"  Who  wrought  this marvelous Stone while inhabiting  the  body  of
Jesus.

   Upon investigation it has been found that there was in all systems of Re-
ligion a teaching reserved for the Priest-craft and not given to the  multi-
tude.  The Christ also spoke to the multitude in parables, but explained the
inner  meaning of these parables to the disciples,  to give them  an  under-
standing more suited to their developed minds.

   Paul  gave "milk"  to the BABES or younger members of the community,  but
"meat"  to the STRONG who had studied more deeply.   Thus there  has  always
been  an INNER and an OUTER TEACHING, and this inner teaching was  given  in
so-called  Mystery Schools which have changed from time to time to suit  the
needs of the people among whom they were designed to work.

   The  Order of Rosicrucians is not merely a secret society;  it is one  of
the Mystery Schools,  and the Brothers are Hierophants of the lesser Myster-
ies, Custodians of the Sacred Teachings and a spiritual Power more potent in
the  life of the Western World than any of the visible  Governments,  though
they  may  not interfere with humanity so as to deprive them of  their  free
will.

   As  the path of development in all cases depends upon the temperament  of
the  aspirant,  there are two paths, THE MYSTIC and THE  INTELLECTUAL.   The
Mystic is usually devoid of intellectual knowledge;  he follows the dictates
of his heart and strives to do the will of God as he FEELS it,  lifting him-
self upward without being conscious if any definite goal,  and in the end he
attains knowledge.  In the middle ages people were not as intellectual as we
are nowadays,  and those who felt the call of a higher life usually followed
the mystic path.  But in the last few  hundred  years,  since  the advent of


[PAGE 521]                                         THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

modern science, a more INTELLECTUAL humanity has peopled the earth; the head
has completely overruled the heart, materialism has dominated all  spiritual
impulse and the majority of the thinking people do not believe anything they
cannot  touch,  taste or handle.   Therefore,  it is necessary  that  appeal
should be made to their intellect in order that the heart may be allowed  to
believe what the intellect has sanctioned.  As a response to this demand the
Rosicrucian Mystery teachings aim to correlate scientific facts to spiritual
verities.

   In  the past these have been kept secrete from all but a  few  Initiates,
and even today they are among the most mysterious and secret in the  Western
World.   All so-called "discoveries" of the past which have professed to re-
veal the Rosicrucian secrets, have been either fraudulent,  or the result or
treachery upon the part of some outsider who may, accidentally or otherwise,
have  overheard fragments of conversation, unintelligible to all  but  those
who have the key.   It is possible to live under the same roof and on  terms
of the closest intimacy with an Initiate of any school,  yet his secret will
always  remain hidden in his breast until the friend has reached  the  point
where he can become a Brother Initiate.   The revealing of secrets does  not
depend upon the Will of the Initiate, but upon the qualifications of the as-
pirant.

   Like  all other Mystery Orders,  the Order of Rosicrucians is  formed  on
cosmic lines:   If we take balls of even size and try how many it will  take
to cover one and hide it from view, we shall find that it will require 12 to
conceal  a thirteenth ball.   The ultimate division of physical matter,  the
true atom,  found in interplanetary space, is thus grouped in twelve  around
one.  The twelve signs of the Zodiac enveloping our Solar System, the twelve


[PAGE 522]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

semi-stones of the musical scale comprising the octave,  the twelve Apostles
who clustered around the Christ,  etc., are other examples of this  grouping
of 12 and 1.   The Rosicrucian Order is therefore also composed of 12 Broth-
ers and a 13th.

   There are other divisions to be noted, however.  We have seen that of the
Heavenly  Host of twelve Creative Hierarchies who were active in our  scheme
of evolution,  five have withdrawn to liberation, leaving only seven to busy
themselves with our further progress.   It is in harmony with this fact that
the man of today, the indwelling Ego, the microcosm,  works outwards through
seven visible orifices in his body:  2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils and a mouth,
while five more orifices are wholly or partially closed. the mammae, the um-
bilicus and two excretory organs.

   The  seven roses which garnish our beautiful emblem and the five  pointed
radiating star behind, are emblematical of the twelve Great Creative Hierar-
chies  which  have assisted the evolving human spirit through  the  previous
conditions   as  mineral,   plant  and  animal,   when  it  was  devoid   of
self-consciousness  and unable to care for itself in the  slightest  degree.
Of  these twelve hosts of Great Beings,  three classes worked upon and  with
man of their own free wills and without any obligation whatever.

   These  are  symbolized by the three points in the star  upon  our  emblem
which points upwards.   Two more of the Great Hierarchies are upon the point
of  withdrawal,  and these are pictured in the two points of the star  which
radiate  downward  from the center.   The seven roses reveal the  fact  that
there  are still seven Great Creative Hierarchies active in the  development
of  the  beings upon earth,  and as all of these various  classes  from  the
smallest to the greatest are but parts of One Great Whole whom we call  God,
the whole emblem is a symbol of God in manifestation.


[PAGE 523]                                         THE ORDER OF ROSICRUCIANS

   The Hermetic axiom says:  "As above so below," and the lesser teachers of
mankind  are also grouped upon the same cosmic lines of 7,  5 and 1.   There
are  upon earth seven schools of the lesser Mysteries,  five of the  Greater
Mysteries and the whole is grouped under one Central Head Who is called  the
Liberator.

   In  the Order of Rosicrucians seven Brothers go out into the World  when-
ever occasion requires; appearing as men among other men or working in their
invisible  vehicles with or upon others as needed;  yet it must be  strictly
kept in mind that they never influence people against their will or contrary
to their desires; but only strengthen good wherever found.

   The  remaining five Brothers never leave the temple;  and though they  do
possess physical bodies all their work is done from the inner Worlds.

   The Thirteenth is Head of the Order, the link with a higher Central Coun-
cil  composed of the Hierophant of the Greater Mysteries,  who do  not  deal
with ordinary humanity at all, but only with graduates of the lesser Myster-
ies.

   The  Head  of the Order is hidden from the outside world  by  the  twelve
Brothers,  as the central ball mentioned in our illustration.   Even the pu-
pils of the School never see him,  but at the nightly Services in the Temple
His presence is FELT by all,  whenever He enters,  and is the signal for the
commencement of the ceremony.

   Gathered around the Brothers of the Rose Cross,  as their pupils,  are  a
number  of "lay brothers";  people who live in various parts of the  Western
World,  but are able to leave their bodies consciously,  attend the services
and  participate in the spiritual work at the temple;  they having each  and
every  one been "initiated"  in the method of so doing by one of  the  Elder
Brothers.  Most of them are able to remember all that happens, but there are


[PAGE 524]                                      ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION

a few cases where the faculty of leaving the body was acquired in a previous
life  of well-doing and where a drug habit or a sickness contracted  in  the
present  existence has unfitted the brain to receive impression of the  work
done by the man when away.


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