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Title: The Initiates of the Flame

Author: Manly Palmer Hall

Release Date: October 6, 2017 [EBook #55687]

Language: English

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 Dedication
This Special Student’s Edition of “The Initiates of the Flame”
is dedicated by the author to the One Thousand Students of the
Classes of 1922, and is limited to one thousand copies of which
this one is
Number 91
 Multiplicatio.

The
INITIATES
of the
FLAME
 He who lives the Life shall know the Doctrine

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

Copyrighted, October, 1922

All rights reserved
Permission to copy or translate may be secured upon application
 CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 7
Foreword 13
Chapter One
The Fire Upon the Altar 15
Chapter Two
The Sacred City of Shamballa 25
Chapter Three
The Mystery of the Alchemist 35
Chapter Four
The Egyptian Initiate 45
Chapter Five
The Ark of the Covenant 55
Chapter Six
The Knights of the Holy Grail 63
Chapter Seven
The Mystery of the Pyramids 73
 ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
The Cube Altar 14
The Everburning Lamp 16
The Masonic Censor 18
The Grave Digger’s Spade 20
The Candle 22
The Lotus 28
The Rod That Budded 30
The Philosopher’s Stone 34
The Five Pointed Star 38
The Marriage of the Sun and Moon 40
The Pillars of the Temple 42
The Serpent 44
The Masonic Apron 46
The Scepters of Egypt 48
The Sacred Scarab 50
The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant 54
The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tablets of the Law 58
The Holy Grail 62
The Stone and the Sword 64
The Rosicrucian Rose 66
The Sacred Spear 68
Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah 74
The Pyramid 76
The Sphinx 78
The Key and the Cross 82
The White Grail 86
The Black Grail 87
The Initiates of the Flame
 INTRODUCTION
Few realize that even at the present stage of civilization in this world,
there are souls who, like the priests of the ancient temples, walk the earth and
watch and guard the sacred fires that burn upon the altar of humanity. Purified
ones they are, who have renounced the life of this sphere in order to guard
and protect the Flame, that spiritual principle in man, now hidden beneath the
ruins of his fallen temple.
As we think of the nations that are past, of Greece and Rome and the
grandeur that was Egypt’s, we sigh as we recall the story of their fall; and we
watch the nations of today, not knowing which will be the next to draw its
shroud around itself and join that great ghostly file of peoples that are dead.
But everywhere, even in the rise and fall of nations, we see through the
haze of materiality, justice; everywhere we see reward, not of man but of the
invincible One, the eternal Flame.
A great hand reaches out from the unseen and regulates the affairs of man.
It reaches out from that great spiritual Flame which nourishes all created
things, the never dying fire that burns on the sacred altar of Cosmos—that
great fire which is the spirit of God.
If we turn again to the races now dead, we shall, if we look, find the cause
of their destruction. The light had gone out. When the flame within the body
is withdrawn, the body is dead. When the light was taken from the altar, the
temple was no longer the dwelling place of a living God.
Degeneracy, lust, and passion, hates and fears, crept into the souls of
Greece and Rome, and Black Magic overshadowed Egypt; the light upon the
altar grew weaker and weaker. The priests lost the Word, the name of the
Flame. Little by little the Flame flickered out, and as the last spark grew
cold, a mighty nation died, buried beneath the dead ashes of its own spiritual
fire.
But the Flame did not die. Like spirit of which it is the essence, it cannot
die, because it is life, and life cannot cease to be. In some wilderness of land
or sea it rested once again, and there rose a mighty nation around that flame.
So history goes on through the ages. As long as a people are true to the
Flame, it remains, but when they cease to nourish it with their lives, it goes
on to other lands and other worlds.
Those who worship this Flame are now called heathens. Little do we
realize that we are heathen ourselves until we are baptised of the Holy Spirit,
which is Fire, for fire is Light, and the children of the Flame are the Sons of
Light, even as God is Light.
There are those who have for ages labored with man to help him to kindle
within himself this spark, which is his divine birthright. It is these who by
their lives of self-sacrifice and service have awakened and tended this fire,
and who through ages of study have learned the mystery it contained, that we
now call the “Initiates of the Flame.”
For ages they have labored with mankind to help him to uncover the light
within himself, and on the pages of history they have left their seal, the seal
of Fire.
Unhonored and unsung they have labored with humanity, and now their
lives are used as fairy stories to amuse children, but the time will yet come
when the world shall know the work they did, and realize that our present
civilization is raised upon the shoulders of the mighty demigods of the past.
We stand as Faust stood, with all our lore, a fool no wiser than before,
because we refuse to take the truths they gave us and the evidence of their
experiences. Let us honor these Sons of the Flame, not by words, but by so
living that their sacrifice shall not be in vain. They have shown us the way,
they have led man to the gateway of the unknown, and there in their robes of
glory passed behind the Veil. Their lives were the key to their wisdom, as it
must always be. They have gone, but in history they stand, milestones on the
road of human progress.
Let us watch these mighty ones as they pass silently by. First, Orpheus,
playing upon the seven stringed lyre of his own being, the music of the
spheres. Then Hermes, the thrice greatest, with his emerald tablet of divine
revelation. Through the shades of the past we dimly see Krishna, the
illuminated, who on the battlefield of life taught man the mysteries of his own
soul. Then we see the sublime Buddha, his yellow robe not half so glorious
as the heart it covered, and our own dear Master, the man Jesus, his head
surrounded with a halo of Golden Flame, and his brow serene with the calm
of mastery. Then Mohammed, Zoroaster, Confucius, Odin, and Moses, and
others no less worthy pass by before the eyes of the student. They were the
Sons of Flame. From the Flame they came, and to the Flame they have
returned. To us they beckon, and bid us join them, and in our robes of self-
earned glory to serve the Flame they love.
They were without creed or clan; they served but the one great ideal. From
the same place they all came, and to the same place they have returned. There
was no superiority there. Hand in hand they labor for humanity. Each loves
the other, for the power that has made them masters has shown them the
Brotherhood of all life.
In the pages that follow we will try to show this great thread, the spiritual
thread, the thread of living fire that winds in and out through all religions and
binds them together with a mutual ideal and mutual needs. In the story of the
Grail and the Legends of King Arthur we find that thread wound around the
Table of the King and the Temple of Mount Salvart. This same thread of life
that passes through the roses of the Rosicrucians, winds among the pedals of
the Lotus, and among the temple pillars of Luxor. THERE IS BUT ONE
RELIGION IN ALL THE WORLD, and that is the worship of God, the
spiritual Flame of the universe. Under many names He is known in all lands,
but as Iswari or Ammon or God, He is the same, the Creator of the universe,
and fire is His universal symbol.
We are the Flame-Born Sons of God, thrown out as sparks from the wheels
of the infinite. Around this Flame we have built forms which have hidden our
light, but as students we are increasing this light by love and service, until it
shall again proclaim us Suns of the Eternal.
Within us burns that Flame, and before Its altar the lower man must bow, a
faithful servant of the Higher. When he serves the Flame he grows, and the
light grows until he takes his place with the true Initiates of the universe,
those who have given all to the Infinite, in the name of the Flame within.
Let us find this Flame and also serve it, realizing that it is in all created
things, that all are one because all are part of that eternal Flame, the fire of
spirit, the life and power of the universe.
Upon the altar of this Flame, to the true creator of this book, the writer
offers it, and dedicates it to the one Fire which blazes forth from God, and is
now hidden within each living thing.
 FOREWORD
THE GREATEST OF MYSTERY SCHOOLS

The World is the schoolroom of God. Our being in school does not make
us learn, but within that school is the opportunity for all learning. It has
its grades and its classes, its sciences and its arts, and admission to it is
the birthright of man. Its graduates are its teachers, its pupils are all
created things. Its examples are Nature, and its rules are God’s laws. Those
who would go into the greater colleges and universities must first, day by
day, and year by year, work through the common school of life, and present
to their new teachers the diplomas they have won, upon which is written
the name that none may read save those who have received it.
The hours may seem long, and the teachers cruel, but each of us must
walk that path, and the only ones ready to go onward are those who have
passed through the gateway of experience,
GOD’S GREAT SCHOOL FOR MAN.

The Cube Altar:

 Of the elements of the earth is this altar composed. It is the great
cube of matter. On or in this altar burns a Flame. It is this Flame
that is the spirit of all created things. Man, know thyself. Thou art
the Flame, and thy bodies are the living altar.
 CHAPTER I.
THE FIRE UPON THE ALTAR

As far back as our history goes we find that fire has played an important
part in the religious ceremonial of the human race. In practically every
religion we find the sacred altar fires, which were guarded by the priests and
vestals with greater care than their own lives. In the Bible we find many
references made to the sacred fires which were used as one form of devotion
by the ancient Israelites. The Altar of Burnt Offerings is as old as the human
race, and dates from the time when the first man, lifting himself out of the
mists of ancient Lemuria, first saw the sun, the great Fire Spirit of the
universe. Among the followers of Zoroaster, the Persian Initiate, fire has
been used for centuries in honor of the great Fire God, Ormuzd, who is said
by them to have created the universe.

The Everburning Lamp:

Know that the Flame that burns within thee and lights thy way is
the ever burning lamp of the ancients. As their lamps were fed by
the purest of oil, so thy spiritual Flame must be fed by a life of
purity and altruism.
 There are two paths or divisions of humanity whose history is closely
related to that of the Wisdom Teachings. They embody the doctrines of fire
and water, the two opposites of nature. Those who follow the path of faith or
the heart, use water, and are known as the Sons of Seth, while those who
follow the path of the mind and action are the Children of Cain, who was the
son of Samael, the Spirit of Fire. Today we find the latter among the
alchemists, the hermetic philosophers, the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons.
It is well for us to understand that we ourselves are the cube altar upon
which and in which burns the altar fire. For many centuries the Initiate of fire
has been nourishing and guarding the Spiritual Flame within himself, as the
ancient priests watched day and night the altar fires of Vesta’s temple.
The ever burning lamp of the alchemist, which having burned thousands of
years without fuel in the catacombs of Rome, is but a symbol of this same
spiritual fire within himself. In the picture we see the ever burning lamp
which was carried by the Initiate in his wandering. It represents the spinal
column of man, at the top of which is flickering a little blue and red flame.
As the lamp of the ancients was fed and kept burning by the purest of olive
oil, so man is transmitting within himself and cleansing in the laver of
purification the life essences, which, when turned upward, provide fuel for
the ever burning lamp within himself.
 The Masonic Censor:
As the perfume rising from the incense burner was acceptable in
the sight of the Lord, so may our words and actions ever be a
sweet incense acceptable in the sight of the Most High.

Upon the altars of the ancients were offered sacrifices to their gods. The
ancient Hierophant offered up sacrifices of spices and incense. The Masonic
brother of today still has among his symbols the incense burner or censer, but
few of the brothers recognize themselves in this symbol. The ancients
symbolized under such things as this the development of the individual, and
as the tiny spark burning among the incense cubes slowly consumes all, so
the Spiritual Flame within the student is slowly burning away and
transmuting the base metals and properties within himself, and offering up the
essence thereof as the smoke upon the altar of Divinity. It is said that King
Solomon, when he completed his temple, offered bulls as a sacrifice to the
Lord, by burning them upon the temple altar. Those who believe in a
harmless life wonder why so many references are made in the Bible to
animal sacrifice.
The student realizes that the animal sacrifices are those of the celestial
zodiac, and that when the Ram or the Bull was offered upon the altar, it
represented the qualities in man which come through Aries, the celestial
Ram, and Taurus, the Bull in the zodiac. In other words, the Initiate, passing
through his tests and purification, is offering upon the altar of his own higher
being the lower animal instincts and desires within himself. Among the
Masonic brothers we also find what is called the Symbol of Mortality. It is a
spade, a coffin, and an open grave, while upon the coffin has been laid a
sprig of acacia, or evergreen. In the picture we see the spade of the grave
digger, which has been considered the symbol of death for centuries.

The Grave Digger’s Spade:

Let us take the spade that now digs our grave through the
passions and emotions of life and use it to unearth the secret room
far below the rubbish of the fallen temple of the human soul.
 In the Book of Thoth, that strange document which has descended to man at
his present stage of evolution as a deck of playing cards, we find a very
wonderful symbolism. Of all the suits of cards, that of the spade is the only
suit in which all the court cards face away from the pip. In all the other kings
and queens, the faces are looking at the little marker in the corner of the card,
but in the spade suit, they look away from it. Now it is said that the spade has
been taken from the acorn, but the occult student has a different idea. He sees
in the spade, which has for ages been the symbol of death, a certain part of
his own anatomy. If you will again turn to the picture of the spade, you will
see, if you have ever studied anatomy, that the grave digger’s spade is the
spinal column, and the spade-shaped piece which is used on the deck of
cards, is nothing more nor less than the sacrum bone.

This bone forms the base of the spinal column, and is also the spear of the
Passion. Through it and the foramana which pierce it, pass the roots of the
spinal nerve, which indeed are the roots of the Tree of Life. It is the center
through which are nourished and fed the lower vertebrae of the spine, and the
sacrum and coxygeal bones that dig the graves for all created things. This
point has been beautifully symbolized by the grave digger’s spade, which has
been used by the brothers of many mystic organizations for ages. The currents
and forces working through these lower spinal nerves must be transmuted and
lifted upward to feed the altar fire at the positive or upper end of the spine.
 The Candle:
This is the light that has gone out. It is the candle that is hidden
under the bushel. This is the true light that forever dispels the
darkness of ignorance and uncertainty. Let the light shine forth
through a purified body and a balanced mind. For this light is the
life of our brother creatures.

The centering of thought or emotion upon higher or lower things, as the

case may be, determines where thin life energy will be expended. If the
lower emotions predominate, the flame upon the altar burns low and flickers
out, because the forces which feed it have been concentrated upon the lower
centers. But when altruism predominates, then the lower forces are raised
upward and pass through the purification which makes possible their being
used as fuel for the ever burning lamp. Thus we see why it was a great sin to
let the lamp go out, for the pillar of flames which hovers over the
Tabernacle, purified and prepared after the directions of the Most High, is
the Spiritual Flame that, hovering above man, lights his way wherever he
may go.
 The sun of our solar system, that is, the Spiritual Sun behind the physical
globe, is one of these Flames. It began no greater than ours, and through the
power of attraction and the transmuting of its ever increasing energies it has
reached its present proportions. This flame in man is the “light that shineth in
darkness.” It is the Spiritual Flame within himself. It lights his way as no
exterior light can. This radiating out from him brings into view, one by one,
the hidden things of the cosmos, and his ignorance is dispelled in exactly the
same proportion as his light is spread, for the darkness of the unknown can
only be removed by light, and the greater the light, the further back the
darkness is driven. This is the Lamp of the Philosopher, which he carries
through the dark passageways of life, and by the light of which he walks
among the stones and along the narrow cliff edge without fear. But although
he gain all other things and have not this light within himself, he cannot know
where he goes; he cannot watch his footsteps; and he cannot dispel his
ignorance with the light of truth.
Therefore let each student watch the fire that burns upon his altar. Let him
also make that altar, his body, as beautiful and harmonious as possible, and
let him also sacrifice upon that altar the frankincense and myrrh, his actions
and his deeds. As in the Tabernacle he offers all upon the altar of divinity, so
let him day by day dispel the symbols of mortality—the coffin and the open
grave by which he prepared himself through the mastery of the lower
emotions within himself—and recognize that no matter how crystallized or
dead his life may be, the fact that he exists at all proves that the sprig of
acacia, the promise of life and immortality, is somewhere within himself; and
although the flame of life may appear faint or cold, if he will supply the fuel
by his daily actions, he will kindle the altar flame once more within himself,
which, shining forth, will also help his brother to kindle this flame, which is
a living sacrifice to the living God.
 CHAPTER II.
THE SACRED CITY OF SHAMBALLA

In every mythology and legendary religion of the world there is one spot
that is sacred above all others to the great ideal of that religion. To the
Norseman it was Valhalla, the City of the Slain, built of the spears of heroes,
where feasting and warfare was the order of the day. Here the heroes fought
all day and reveled by night. Every day they killed the wild boar and feasted
on it, and the next day it came to life again. In the Northland they tell that
Valhalla was high on the top of the mountains, and that it was connected to
the earth below by Befrost, the Rainbow Bridge; that up and down this
bridge the Gods came, and Odin, the All-father, came down from Asgard, the
City of the Gods, and worked and labored with mankind.
Among the Greeks, Mount Olympus was held sacred, and here the gods are
said to have lived high on the top of a mountain. The Knights of the Grail are
said to have had their castle among the crags and peaks of Northern Spain on
Mount Salvart. In every religion of the world there is a sacred spot: Meru of
the oriental, and Mount Moriah and Mount Sinai (upon which the tablets of
law were given to man); all those are symbols of one universal ideal, and as
each of these religions claimed among the clouds a castle and a home, so it is
said that all the religions of the world have their headquarters in Shamballa,
the Sacred City in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.
Among the oriental peoples there are wonderful legends of this sacred
city, where it is said the Great White Lodge or Brotherhood meets to carry on
the governing of world affairs. As the Assirs of Scandinavia were twelve in
number, as Olympus had twelve gods, so the Great White Brotherhood is
said to have twelve members, which meet in Shamballa and direct the affairs
of men. It is said that this center of universal religion descended upon the
earth when the polar cap, which was the first part of the earth to crystallize,
became solid enough to support life. Science now knows that not only does
the earth have two motions, that of rotation upon its axis and revolution
around the sun, but that it has nine other motions, according to Flammarion,
the French astronomer. One of these motions is that of the alternation of the
poles; in other words, some day that part of the earth’s surface which is now
the North Pole will become the South Pole. Therefore it is said that the
Sacred City has left its central position and after much wandering is now
located in Mongolia.
Those who are acquainted with the Mohammedan religion will see
something of great interest in the pilgrimage to the Kabba at Mecca, where
thousands go each year to give honor to the Stone of Abraham, the great
aerolight, upon which Mohammed is said to have rested his foot. Old and
young alike, some even carried, wind through desert sands and endure untold
hardships, many coming from great distances, to visit the place they cherish
and love. In India we find the same thing. There are many sacred places to
which pilgrims go, even as the Templars went in our Christian religion to the
Sepulcher of Christ. Few see in this anything more than an outward symbol,
but the true student recognizes the great esoteric truth contained therein. The
spiritual consciousness in man is a pilgrim on the way to Mecca. As this
consciousness passes upward through the centers and nerves of the body, it is
like the pilgrim, climbing the heights of Sinai, or the Knight of the Grail
returning to Mount Salvart.
When the spinal fire of man starts upward in its wanderings, it stops at
many shrines and visits many holy places, for like the Masonic brother and
his Jacob’s Ladder, the way that leads to heaven is upward and inward. The
spinal fire goes through the centers or seed ground of many great principles,
and worships at the shrine of many Divine Essences within itself, but it is
eternally going upward, and finally it reaches the great desert. Only after pain
and suffering and long labor does it cross that waste of sand. This is the
Gethsemane of the higher man, but finally he crosses the sacred desert, and
before him in the heart of the Lotus rises the Golden City, Shamballa.
The Lotus:
May your consciousness be lifted upward through the Tree of
Life within yourself until in the brain it blossoms forth as the Lotus,
that rising from the darkness of the lower world, lifts its flower to
catch the rays of the Sun.
 FRONTAL SINUS

In the spreading of the bone between the eyes called the frontal sinus, is
the seat of the divine in man. There, in a peculiar gaseous material, floats, or
rather exists, or is, the fine essence which we know as the Spirit. This is the
Lost City in the Sacred Desert, connected to the lower world by the Rainbow
Bridge, or the Silver Cord, and it is to this point in himself that the student is
striving to rise. This is the Sacred Pilgrimage of the Soul, in which the
individual leaves the lower man and the world below and climbs upward
into the Higher Man or Higher World, the brain. This is the great pilgrimage
to Shamballa, and as that great city is the center for the direction of our earth,
so the corresponding great city in man is the center for his governmental
system.
 The Rod That Budded:
The buds in the Rod are the seven centers within yourself, which
when you develop their spiritual powers shine out as centers of
fire within your own being. The ancients have taken flowers to
symbolize these centers, which when they shine out show that the
dead stick, cut from the Tree of Life, has budded.

When any other thing governs man, he is not attuned to his own higher self,
and it is only when the gods, representing the higher principle, come down
the Rainbow Bridge and labor with him, teaching him the arts and sciences,
that he is truly receiving his divine birthright. In the Orient the student looks
forward with eager longing to the time when he shall be allowed to worship
before the gates of the sacred city; when he also shall see the Initiates in
silent conclave around the circular table of the zodiac; when the veil of Isis
shall be torn away, and the cover lifted from the Grail Cup.
Let the student remember that all of these things must first happen within
himself before he can find them in the universe without. The twelve Elder
Brothers within himself must first be reached and understood before those of
the universe can be comprehended. If he would find the great Initiates
without, he must first find them within; and if he would see that Sacred City
in the Lotus Blossom, he must first open that Lotus within himself, which he
does, petal by petal, when he purifies and attunes himself to the higher
principles within. The Lotus is the spinal column once more; its roots, deep
in materiality; its blossom, the brain; and only when he sends upward
nourishment and power, can that Lotus blossom within himself—blossom
forth with its many petals, giving out their spiritual fragrance.
Sometimes you will see in store windows funny little Chinese gods or
oriental Buddhas sitting on the blossom of a lotus. In fact, if you look
carefully, you will find that nearly all of the oriental gods are so depicted.
This means that they have opened within themselves that Spiritual
Consciousness which they call the Shushuma. You have seen the funny little
hats worn by the Hindu gods. They are made to represent a flower upside
down, and once more, like the rod of Aaron that budded, we see the
reference made to the unfolding of consciousness within. When the lotus
blossom has reached maturity, it drops its seed, and from this seed new
plants are produced. It is the same within the spiritual consciousness, which,
when the plant is finished and its work is done, is released to work and
produce other things.
In the Western World the lotus has been changed to the rose. The roses of
the Rosicrucian, the roses of the Masonic degrees, and also those of the
Order of the Garter in England, all stand for the same thing, the awakening of
consciousness and the unfolding into full bloom of the soul qualities of man.
When man awakens and opens this bud within himself, he finds, like the gold
pollen in a flower, this wonderful spiritual city, Shamballa, in the heart of the
lotus. When this pilgrimage of his spiritual fire is accomplished, he is
liberated from the top of the mountain, as in the ascension of Christ, and the
spiritual man, freed by his pilgrimage from the Wheel of Bondage, rises
upward from among his disciples, the convolutions of the brain, with the
great cry of the Initiate, which has sounded through the Mystery Schools for
ages when the purified student goes onward and upward to become a pillar
in the temple of his God. With that last cry the true mystery of Shamballa, the
sacred city, is understood and he joins the ranks of those who in white robes
of purity, their own soul bodies, gaze down upon the world and see others
liberated in the same way, and who also sound the eternal tocsin,
“consumatum est” (it is finished).
The Philosopher’s Stone:
This is the true stone of the philosopher, which gives him power
over all created things. This stone is himself. The experiences of
his evolution have cut and polished the rough stone until in the
Initiate it reflects the light of creation from a thousand different
facets.
 CHAPTER III.
THE MYSTERY OF THE ALCHEMIST

There are very few occult students today who have not heard of the
alchemist, but there are very few who know anything about the strange men
who lived during the Middle Ages and concealed under chemical symbolism
the history of the soul. At a time, when to express a religious thought was to
court annihilation at the stake or wheel, they labored silently in underground
caves and cellars to learn the mysteries of nature which the religious
opinions of their day denied them the privilege of doing. Let us picture the
alchemist of old, deep in the study of natural lore. We find him among the test
tubes and retorts of his hidden laboratory. Around him are massive tomes and
books by ancient writers; he is a student of nature’s mystery, and has devoted
years, lives maybe, to the work he loves. His hair has long since grayed with
age.
By the light of his little lamp he reads slowly and with difficulty the
strange symbols on the pages before him. His mind is centered upon one
thing, and that is the finding of the Philosopher’s Stone. With all the
chemicals at his command, their various combinations thoroughly
understood, he is laboring with his furnace and his burners to make of the
base metals the Philosopher’s Gold. At last he finds the key and gives to the
world the secret of the Philosopher’s Gold and the Immortal Stone. Salt,
sulphur, and mercury are the answer to his problem; from them he makes the
Philosopher’s Stone; from them he extracts the Elixir of Life; with the power
that they give him he transmutes the base metals into gold. The world laughs
at him, but he goes on in silence, really doing the things the world believes
impossible.
After many years of labor he takes his little lamp and silently slips away
into the Great Unknown. No one knows what he has done, or the discoveries
that he has made, but he, with his little lamp, still explores the mysteries of
the universe. As the close of the fifteenth century clouded him with mystery,
so the dawn of the twentieth century is crowning him with the glory of his just
reward, for the world is beginning to realize the truths he knew, and to
marvel at the understanding which his years of labor had earned for him.
Man has been an alchemist from the time when he first raised himself, and
with the powers long latent pronounced himself as human. Experiences are
the chemicals of life which the philosopher is experimenting with. Nature is
the great book whose secrets he seeks to understand through her own
wondrous symbolism. His own Spiritual Flame is the lamp by which he
reads, and without this the printed pages mean nothing to him. His own body
is the furnace in which he prepares the Philosopher’s Stone; his senses and
organs are the test tubes, and incentive is the flame from the burner. Salt,
sulphur, and mercury are the chemicals of his craft. According to the ancient
philosophers, salt was of the earth earthy, sulphur was a fire which was
spirit, while mercury was nothing, only a messenger like the winged Hermes
of the Greeks. His color is purple, which is the blending of the red and the
blue—the blue of the spirit and the red of the body.
The alchemist realizes that he himself is the Philosopher’s Stone, and that
this stone is made diamond-like when the salt and the sulphur, or the spirit
and the body, are united through mercury, the link of mind. Man is the
incarnated principle of mind as the animal is of emotion. He stands with one
foot on the heavens and the other on the earth. His higher being is lifted to the
celestial spheres, but the lower man ties him to matter. Now the philosopher,
building his sacred stone, is doing so by harmonizing his spirit and his body.
The result is the Philosopher’s Stone. The hard knocks of life chip it away
and facet it until it reflects lights from a million different angles.
 The Five Pointed Star:
This picture, known to all Masons, is that of the Soul. It is the
Star of Bethlehem, which heralds the coming of the Christ within.
The two clasped hands are the spirit and body united in the
marriage of the Lamb. It is from the union of the higher with the
lower that the Christ is born.

The Elixir of Life is once again the Spirit Fire, or rather the fuel which
nourishes that fire, and the turning of the base metal into gold is
accomplished when he transmutes the lower man into spiritual gold. This he
does by study and love. Thus he is building within himself the lost panacea
for the world’s woe. The turning of the base metal into gold can be called a
literal fact, as the same chemical combination which spiritually produces
gold, will also do this physically. It is a known fact that many of the ancient
alchemists really did create the precious metal out of lead, alloy, etc. But it
was upon the principle that all things contain some part of everything else; in
other words, every grain of sand or drop of water has in some proportion
every element of the universe therein. Therefore the alchemist did not try to
make something from nothing, but rather to extract and build that which
already was, and this the student knows is the only possible course of
procedure.
Man can create nothing from nothing, but he does contain within, in
potential energy, all things; and like the alchemist with his metals, he is
simply working with that which he already has. The living Philosopher’s
Stone is a very beautiful thing. Indeed, like the fire opal, it shines with a
million different lights, changing with the mood of the wearer. The
transmuting process, whereby the spiritual fire passing through the furnace of
purification radiates from the body as the soul body of gold and blue, is a
very beautiful one.
 The Marriage of the Sun and Moon:
This takes place in man when the heart and mind are joined in
eternal union. It occurs when the positive and negative poles
within are united, and from that union is made the Philosopher’s
Stone.

The Masons have among their symbols that of a five-pointed star with two
clasped hands within it, and in that we have the mystery of the Philosopher’s
Stone. The clasped hands represent the united man in which the higher and
the lower are working for their mutual betterment, by a co-operative rather
than a competitive system. The five-pointed star is the soul body, born of this
co-operation; it is the living Philosopher’s Stone, more precious than all the
jewels of earth. From it pour the rivers of life spoken of in the Bible; it is the
Star of the Morning that heralds the dawn of Mastery, and is the reward that
comes to those who follow in the footsteps of the ancient alchemist.
It is well for the student to realize that the alchemy of life produces in
natural sequence all of the states of progression which are explained in the
writings of the alchemist, until finally the sun and the moon are united as
described in the Hermetic Marriage, which is, in truth, the marriage of the
body and the spirit for the mutual development of each other. We are the
alchemists who centuries ago carried on in secret our studies of the soul, and
we still have the same opportunity that we had then, even more than then, for
now we can state our opinions with little danger of personal injury. The
modern alchemist thus has an opportunity that his ancient brother never had.
On a busy street corner he daily sees nature’s experiments carried on. He
sees the mixing of metals, and from the everyday book of life, through the
power of analogy, he may study Divinity. Through experience and often
suffering the steel of his spirit is tempered by the flame of life. As the moon
in the zodiac touches off like a fuse the happenings of life, so his own desires
and wishes touch off the powers of his soul, and the experiences may be
transmuted into soul qualities when he has developed the eye which enables
him to read the simplest of all books—everyday life.

The Pillars of the Temple:

These pillars symbolize the heart and mind, the positive and the
negative poles of life. Those who would enter the temple must pass
BETWEEN the pillars. Every extreme is dangerous. It is the point
between all poles that is safe to stand upon. You cannot enter the
temple by the development of either the heart or mind alone, but
only by the equal development of both.
 The alchemist of today is not hidden in caves and cellars, studying alone,
but as he goes on with his work, it is seen that walls are built around him,
and while he is in the world, like the master of old, he is not of it. As he goes
further in his work, the light of other people’s advice and outside help grows
weaker and weaker, until finally he stands alone in darkness, and then comes
the time that he must use his own lamp, and the various experiments which he
has carried on must be his guide. He must take the Elixir of Life which he has
developed and with it fill the lamp of his spiritual consciousness, and
holding that above his head, walk into the Great Unknown, where if he has
been a good and faithful servant, he will learn of the alchemy of Divinity.
Where now test tubes and bottles are his implements, then worlds and globes
he will study, and as a silent watcher will learn from that Divine One, who is
the Great Alchemist of all the universe, the greatest alchemy of all, the
creation of life, the maintenance of form, and the building of worlds.

The Serpent:
This is the serpent crown of the ancient Gods. It shows that the
two paths or parts of the spirit fire have been united. This crown is
the symbol of mastery and the union takes place within the student
when the life forces are lifted to the brain.
 CHAPTER IV.
THE EGYPTIAN INITIATE

Many ages have elapsed since the Egyptian Priest King passed through the
pillars of Thebes. Ages before the sinking of Atlantis, thousands of years
before the Christian Era, Egypt was a land of great truths. The hand of the
Great White Brotherhood was held out to the Empire of the Nile, and the
ancient pyramid passages resounded with the chants of the Initiates. It was
then that the Pharaoh, now called half-human, half-divine, reigned in ancient
Egypt. Pharaoh is the Egyptian word for king. Many of the later Pharaohs
were degenerate and of little account. It is only the early Pharaohs we now
list among the Priest Kings.

The Masonic Apron:

In the triangle we see spirit descending into the square of matter.
Let us so purify matter that spirit may shine through it and make of
us lights to guide the footsteps of humanity.
 Try to picture for a moment the great Hall of Luxor—its inscriptive
columns holding up domes of solid granite, each column carved with the
histories of the gods. There at the upper end of the chamber sat the Pharaoh
of the Nile in his robes of state; around him his counsellors, chief among
them the priest of the temple. An imposing spectacle it was: the gigantic
frame of the later Atlantean, robed in gold and priceless jewels; on his head
the crown of the North and South, the double empire of the ancient; on his
forehead the coiled serpent of the Initiate, the serpent which was raised in the
wilderness that all who looked upon it might live; that sleeping serpent
power in man, which coiled head downward around the tree of life, drove
him from the garden of the Lord, but which raised upon the Cross, became the
symbol of the Christ.
The Pharaoh was an Initiate of Scorpio, and the serpent is the transmuted
Scorpio energy, which working upward in the regenerated individual is
called the Kundalini. This serpent was the sign of Initiation. It meant that
within him the serpent had been raised, for the true Pharaoh was a priest of
God, as well as a master of men. There he sat upon the cube altar throne,
indicating his mastery over the four elements of his physical body—a judge
of the living and of the dead, who in spite of all his power and glory, having
about him the grandeur of the world’s greatest empire, still bowed in humble
supplication to the will of the gods. In his hands he carries the triple sceptre
of the Nile, the Shepherd’s Crook, the Anubis-headed Staff and the Flail or
Whip. These were the symbols of his work. They represent the powers which
he had mastered. With the whip he had subjugated his physical body; with the
Shepherd’s Crook he was the guardian and keeper of his emotional body;
with the Anubis-headed Staff he was master of his mind and worthy to wield
the powers of government over others, because, first of all, he obeyed the
laws himself.
 The Sceptres of Egypt:
These are the three bodies that are the tools with which we are
to build our temple. When they are mastered they are the living
proof of our right to kingship.

With all his robes of state and with the scarab upon his breast, and with the
All-seeing Eye above his throne, there was still nothing as precious or as
sacred to the ancient Egyptian Priest King as the triangular girdle or apron
which was the symbol of his initiation. The apron of the ancient Egyptian
carried with it the same symbolism as the Masonic apron of today. It
symbolized the purification of the bodies, when the seat of the lower
emotions, Scorpio, was covered by the white sheepskin of purification. This
symbol of his purification was the most precious belonging of the ancient
Pharaoh; and this plain insignia, worn by many others below him in rank and
dignity, but equal to him in spiritual purification, was the most precious of all
things to the Priest King. There he sat, written upon him in the words of the
Initiate, the symbols of his purification and mastery, a wise king of a wise
people. And it was through these Priest Kings that the Divine worked, for
they were of the order of Melchisedec. Through them was formed that
doctrine which degeneracy has not been able to entirely obliterate, which we
know as the divine right of kings—divine because through spirituality and
growth God was able to manifest through them. They were conscious
instruments in the hands of a ready writer, willing and proud to do the work
of those with whom through knowledge and truth they had attuned themselves.

The Sacred Scarab:

In this form the ancient Egyptians worshiped Khepera, the rising
Sun, and the sacred scarab was buried with the dead as the symbol
of resurrection. For as the sun rises from the darkness of night, so
the divine spirit rises from the body that is no more. The life is
eternal.

But the time came, as in all nations, when selfishness and egotism entered
the heart of king and people alike, and slowly the hand from the Great White
Brotherhood that fed ancient Egypt was withdrawn, and the powers of
darkness transformed the land of glory into one of ruins, and the names of
mighty kings were buried beneath the oblivion of degeneracy. Mighty
cataclysms shook the world, and out of the land of darkness the Great White
Brotherhood carried the chosen people into the promised land; Egypt, the
land of glory, disintegrated into dust.
The great temples of the Pharaohs are ruins, and the temples of Isis are but
broken heaps of sandstone. But what of the priest kings who labored there in
the days of its glory? They are still with us, for those who were leaders
before are leaders now, if they have continued to walk the path. Although his
sceptre is gone, and his priestly vestments have moulded away, the Priest
King still walks the earth with the dignity and the power and the childish
simplicity that before made him great. He no longer wears the robes of his
order. Although he bears no credentials, he is as much a priest king now as
then, for he still bears the true insignia of his rank. The coiled serpent has
given place to knowledge and love. The hand that bestowed the riches of the
past does little acts of kindness now. Although he no longer carries the
sceptres of self-mastery, still he manifests that mastery in his daily life.
Although the altar fires within the temple at Karnac have long been dead, the
true fire within himself still burns, and before that he still bows as he bowed
in the days of Egypt’s glory. Although the priest no longer is his counsellor,
and the wise ones of his country no longer aid him in governmental problems,
still he is never alone, for the priests in white and the counsellors in blue still
march with him and whisper words of strength when he needs them.
Have you seen people that somehow you liked regardless of appearances?
Have you seen other charming people whom you hated in spite of their
charms? Have you seen learned people who were fools or impressed you as
such, or people who knew little and yet you felt were wise? Those are the
insignia of rank, which the loss of title or position cannot destroy. Kings with
or without crowns they were—not puppets dressed in tawdry tinsel. And they
still are kings and will be to the end of time, and they still manifest their rank,
not by their superiority, and their high-headedness, but by the soul qualities
which they radiate from themselves. The purity of their lives still radiates
outward from those who wore the apron of the Initiate, for while that
triangular apron with its serpent drawn upon it has long since rotted away,
still the spiritual counterpart of that symbol radiates in their daily lives,
proving beyond all dispute that they were Priest Kings and are today. We find
them in every walk of life—in high places and down in the mire of life. But
wherever we find them, they are still the mouthpieces of the gods, and
through them comes the promise to all who strive. They are kings, not of the
earth but of heaven, and in the life of our own Master we find one who joined
himself to those who served, and was a true King even when his only crown
was a wreath of thorns.
Still in the pyramid of Gizeh, the initiations continue; still the Initiate
receives the insignia of his rank. Before that Fire within himself he makes his
vows, and upon the burning altar of his own higher being he lays his crown
and his sceptre, his robes and his diamonds, his hates and his fears, and
sanctifies his life as a Priest King, and swears to serve none but his own
higher self, the god within. His robes are his soul body; and his crown is his
life, and in the streets of life he is enthroned. The dusky towers and factory
chimneys around him fade into the templed pillars of Luxor, and with a lunch
pail on his arm, his face brown with honest dirt, he is as much a king as when
the crown of the double Nile rested upon his brow, and the priest of the
temple made him one with his God and his fellowman.
The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant, and the Spirit over the Mercy Seat.
 CHAPTER V.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

One of the most interesting symbols that has come down to us from the
ancients is that of the Ark, or the box that was said to contain the sacred
relics. Many people believe that this belongs particularly to the Jewish
nation, but this is a great mistake, because it has been the birthright of every
country to have the Ark. All have, like the Jewish people, lost much of their
power and glory when they lost the sacred Ark. In ancient Chaldea and
Phoenicia the Ark was well known. India celebrates it as the Lotus, and the
ancient Egyptians tell how the moon god Osiris was imprisoned in an ark. In
all the Mystery Religions of the world, individually and cosmically, the ark
represents the fountain-head of wisdom. Over it the Shekinah’s glory hovers,
as a column of flames by night and a pillar of smoke by day. Every country
has seen and felt its presence when the Priest Kings and Initiates bring out of
an old civilization, lost because of crystallization, the sacred Ark, and
surrounded by those faithful to the truth carry it into other lands and among
other peoples.
In every creed and religion we find crystallization. We find small groups
of people separating themselves from their brother man. We find those who,
clinging to the old, refuse to advance with the new, and whenever we find
this crystallization, we find the spirit of truth carried away to other people
and embodied in other doctrines. The ancient Ark of the Israelite never had
removed from it the staves by which it was carried and moved, until finally it
was placed in Solomon’s temple. Neither does the spirit fire in man rest until
finally it is enthroned in the holy place of his solar temple. Ever towards the
rising sun its bearers carry this sacred truth.
Nations are born of those who love the truth, and are buried when they
forget it. The time has come when its silent bearers have taken the sacred Ark
and the Shekinah’s glory, and in solemn file have moved across the waters
and brought it to the new world. The call has sounded through the universe,
and those who are true to their own higher principles have surrounded the
sacred chest. Those who have sworn alliance to their own higher being are
following the priests and their sacred burden, and a beautiful mystery temple
is being built in this beautiful land of ours, loved and guarded by those who
are laboring for humanity. The staves are still in the Ark, however, and only
when real good can be done by it will it remain.
The opportunity is now confronting the Western World. The knowledge of
the ancients, the wisdom of the ages is knocking at the door and seeking those
who will follow it. The bearers of the Ark have stopped and are gathering a
nucleus of spiritual souls to carry on their work, and whether or not the word
of the Lord will remain with a nation depends upon its own actions, and the
actions of a nation are the collective actions of its individuals. If it finds
nothing here attuned to itself, if it finds few that will answer to its call, the
call of service and brotherhood, then will its priests lift again the staves and
the sacred work will go out into other lands.
The life of a country thus gone, like the ancient city of the Golden Gate it
will be swallowed up in oblivion. The call is sounding, and those who love
the Truth and think and care for the Light must join that band of servers who
have for centuries dedicated themselves to the preservation of Truth. Their
lives they have given a thousand times, their happiness has been second to
their duty. They are the keepers of the sacred Word, and the law of attraction
draws to them all who love and live the Truth. A great influx of spiritual light
comes to those who live the life and have learned the doctrine, and
regardless of clan or country they have joined the silent file of watchers and
workers around the sacred Ark of the Covenant. Every individual by his
daily actions is expressing more plainly than by words his ideals, his
desires, and his attitude towards this great work. The composite attitude of a
certain number of people either shuts out or lets in the light. Therefore every
individual has a great duty, a great work has to be done, and to that the true
student must dedicate his life. Then wherever he may go, whatever he may
do, he is being led, and the Shekinah’s glory directs his footsteps.
 The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tablets of the
Law:
In these three things contained within the Ark we see the
threefold spirit contained within the ark of man’s bodies.

In the brain of man, between the wings of the kneeling cherubim, is the
mercy seat, and there man speaks with his God as the priest of the tabernacle
spoke to the spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings of the Angels.
Man is again the Ark, and within him are the three principles, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit—the tablets of the law, the pot of manna, and the rod
that budded. But as in the case of the ancient Israelites, when they became
crystallized the pot of manna and the rod that budded were removed from the
Ark, and all that was left were the tablets or the letters of the law. When the
individual crystallizes and excludes various sidelights from his mind, he
excludes the life force which was flowing to him. In shutting out strangers, he
shuts out his own life, and all that he has left are the tablets of the law, the
material reasons from which the spiritual life has gone.
 Solomon’s temple, or the perfected temple of the human body, the
perfected temple of the universe and the perfected temple of the soul, finally
forms the perfect shrine for the living Ark. There at the head of a great cross
it is placed, and there in man it becomes permanently fixed. The staves of
polarity upon which it was carried are removed, and it becomes a living
thing, a permanent place where man converses with his God. There man, the
purified priest, arrayed in the robes of his order, the garments of his soul,
converses with the spirit hovering over the Mercy Seat. This Ark within is
always present, but man can only reach it after he has passed through the
outer court of the Tabernacle, after he has passed through all the degrees of
initiation, and after he has taken the Third Degree and becomes a Grand
Master. Then and then only can he enter into the presence of his Lord, and
there in the darkened chamber, lighted by the jewels of his own breast plate,
he converses with the Most High, the true spiritual essence within himself.
We are working towards this, and the time will come when each person
for himself will know the mystery of the Ark, when the student through
purification shall be led through the door of the Holy of Holies and there be
enveloped by the Light of Truth. This was his birthright which he sold for a
mess of pottage. “To this end came he into the world that he might bear
witness to this truth, that through this light all men might be saved.” The Ark,
that great spiritual principle, surrounded by its loving workers, is calling all
to follow it.
When through materiality and degeneracy a great people are destroyed or a
continent sinks beneath the ocean, then those that are true are called around
the Ark, and as its faithful servers are led out of the land of darkness into the
new world and a promised paradise. All great teachings set forth the same
thing. The student will find that it is true, and when he allies himself with the
powers of light, when he becomes a channel for its expression, and when he
radiates it from himself to all who need it, then indeed will the Light protect
him and he shall become a Sun of God.
The Holy Grail:
See in this cup your own body within which is the life blood of
the Sun Spirit of the Universe. Each day that we live we perpetuate
the Last Supper, and in all that we do we drink again the blood of
Christ, the life power of the Cosmos.
 CHAPTER VI.
KNIGHTS OF THE HOLY GRAIL

Before starting to take up the study of the Grail legends, it will be well for
all who are interested to read those tales that are now listed under the
heading of children’s fairy stories. For example the story of good King
Arthur and his Round Table is a cosmic myth, and while there is little doubt
that he as a man also lived, the real mystery as in the story of the Christ, is
not the literal tale, but the great mystic or occult truth that it concealed under
allegory and parable. It is the same with the story of Parsifal which can never
be really understood and appreciated until the student sees in the Knight and
later King of the Sacred Cup, his own spiritual development and the
temptations he must also master if he would become a King of the Grail.

The Stone and the Sword:

 WHOEVER CAN DRAW THIS SWORD FROM THIS STONE
IS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE.

In Lohengrin also the same truth is shown to the world. It is the path of
Initiation along which each must pass on his road to self-mastery. To every
nation and in every tongue sacred legends have been given to teach man the
path he must follow. The blind Homer of the Greeks who told of the
wanderings of Ulysses gave the same great truths to the world. The Scalds of
ancient Norway and Sweden and the Prophets of the Jews used the same
means, and everywhere from the Sacred Books of the East to the legends of
the American Indians we find one great connected truth told to many different
people in ways that were best suited for their development.
Such a truth is the legend of the Round Table, given to King Arthur as a
wedding gift. All true students know what wedding that was. Not of earth but
the wedding of the Spiritual and Intellectual within the Initiate himself, when
the spirit and the body are united eternally, each swearing to honor and
protect the other. Of such a marriage was the union of Arthur and Guinevere
in the legend of the King.
Let us first of all consider the coming of Arthur the King. We read in the
legend of Arthur regarding Merlin the Magician, the wise man who it is said
had charge of the coming King during his youth. Merlin represents the hand of
the Elder Brothers, who realizing that a great ego had come into the world,
had consecrated themselves to the work of preparing him for his mission.
 The Rosicrucian Rose:
In this flower, which was painted upon the center of King
Arthur’s Table, we see the soul of man, which through purification
and service has blossomed out with all the grandeur of the Initiate.

It was under the direction of Merlin, the master mind, that the anvil and
stone with the sword thrust into it were raised in the square of the city when
it became necessary for a new king to be selected. It was he also who called
all of the brave knights of the country and told them that the one who could
draw forth the sword would be king of all the land. And of all the knights in
the land, Arthur the half-grown boy was the only one who could release the
sword.
There is a very wonderful mystery of the soul contained within that divine
allegory. Let us read the letters that were engraved upon the sword. “WHO
SO PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS STONE AND ANVIL IS
RIGHT-WISE KING BORN OF ENGLAND.”
The cube stone is the body; it has been so symbolized for centuries, and
today among the Masons the Ashler is the symbol of Man. Experience is the
anvil, and it is upon this anvil that the sword is tempered. The sword is
spirit, and he who would be King in the true spiritual sense of the word must
first show his divine power by freeing the Sword of Spirit from the casings
of the lower man and the world.
It is the same symbol as that later used by Sir Galahad, the guileless
knight, the personification of the purified man, who comes without a sword
but who later arms himself with the sword of spirit that he draws from the
cube block which was floating down the river (of life) past Camelot. Sir
Galahad had the strength of ten because his heart was pure, and the Knight of
today must follow in the same path.

The Sacred Spear:

This is the spear of Passion that pierces the side of the Christ,
the higher principle in man. But when in the hand of the pure of
heart this power can heal the very wound it caused.

If you have read the story of King Arthur, you will remember how he was
given Excalibur, the enchanted sword, how it came up out of the water held
by a hand draped in white. Excalibur represents light and truth, which is the
weapon of the true Initiate.
In England there still hangs on a courthouse wall the Round Table of King
Arthur. In the very center of the table is a beautiful rose painted in natural
colors. This symbol is that of the Rosicrucians, the ancient alchemists, and
there is a direct connection between the legend of the British King and the
ancient philosophers of fire.
 Now let us turn our attention for a moment to the history of the Holy Grail,
or the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and which was said to
have caught his blood when he was dying upon the cross. Ancient legends
tell us that this cup was made from a sacred stone which had been the crown
jewel of Lucifer, the dynamic energy of the universe. It was said that the
green stone had been struck from the crown of Lucifer by the archangel
Michael during the famous battle in heaven.
After the death of Christ it is said that Joseph of Arimathea took the sacred
cup and the spear of the Passion and carried them into a distant land. He
wandered with his sacred relics through Europe and is said to have finally
died, and those who came after him after many centuries of tribulation
carried the sacred relics to Mount Salvart in northern Spain where they
remained until Parsifal finally took the grail and spear back to the East where
it is to be now preserved.
It is around this cup and spear that the legends of Parsifal and King Arthur
have been written, and it is through study of this fact that we are able to
better understand the mystery of the Great White Lodge of which the Round
Table of Arthur and the circular temple of the knights of the Grail is a
symbol.
Although we no longer have the cup as a physical symbol, it is not gone
from among us, and as in the days of old the brave knights of the Round Table
went out to fight for right, so those knights of today who belong to the Great
White Brotherhood go out into the world in the name of truth and labor with
mankind and seek to right the wrongs of the world. It is said that the knights
of Arthur’s court always fought for virtue and purity, and so did those who
rode out of Mount Salvart.
The grail cup is the symbol of the creative force of nature; it is also the
symbol of the human race which is slowly learning the mysteries of creation.
Within the cup is the blood of Christ, that force which is transmuting the body
into soul, fast or slowly as we give it greater or lesser opportunity.
In the sacred spear we find symbolized again the creative force, which in
the hands of Klingsor, the evil one, wounds and causes suffering, but which
when held by the pure Parsifal heals the very wound that it caused.
 A great lesson is being taught to man through these allegories, but the
average person is unwilling to stop and consider them. They do not realize
that they themselves are the ones whom the Elder Brothers of humanity must
use in the fight against the forces of evil. They do not realize that the dragons
and ogres of the legends are their own lower natures which they must
overcome. They do not see in the hand to hand combat of the knights of old
for a lady’s hand the higher and lower man fighting for the soul within.
The knight of today does not realize that the white armor that he wears is
his own purified body which is proof against all the attacks of vice and
passion, but nevertheless this is the meaning of the legend. His shield is truth,
which is a perfect protection to the inner man. His strong right arm is the
knowledge and spiritual power he has developed within, and the sword that
he uses is the spiritual light with which the pure flame of the spirit fire
dispels the darkness of ignorance and the demons of lust.
The sacred spear and the cup which he serves are the two poles of the
creative life force within, the development of which he gains as he daily
serves his fellow men.
Far from the uninitiated the twelve Elder Brothers of mankind sitting
around the circular table of the universe watch the knights in their battle of
life, and the time comes when the student having finished his work here is
liberated at the foot of the Grail. There the candidate stands robed from head
to foot in the armor of spirit and in the pure white of a body that has been
cleansed. Then the cloth is lifted from the sacred cup, and he is illuminated
by the light which would have killed him had he seen it without purification.
He then takes his place among the knights of the Round Table, and joins those
who give up all and labor for humanity.
When in sickness and in suffering we beg of the great unknown that he send
us help, then indeed our knight comes to us as Lohengrin came to Elsa. When
our loved ones pass into the great unknown, there stands the brother of the
Grail, the invisible helper, who through days of labor has earned the right to
become a member of that great band of servers who gather around the table
of the King, and while their bodies are asleep still labor in their great search
for light and truth, and pray for the day when they shall also become Kings of
the Holy Grail.
 CHAPTER VII.
THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMID

There comes a time in the development of the occult student when he

understands one of the great secrets of the Initiates, and that is that every
sacred thing outside of himself stands for some organ or function within
himself. This is, of course, true in the case of the Great Pyramid, except that
this particular pile of stone said by many to be the oldest building on the
surface of the earth, is the great symbol of composite man. In other words it
stands for man as a unit.
Let us first consider it simply from the exterior standpoint. When we first
look at it in the distance it seems to be one great stone, but as we come closer
we see that it is made of thousands of smaller stones, each one carefully
fitted into place. Here we see the first likeness between the pyramid and
man. We consider man to be a unit, but when we examine more closely, we
find that he is a great number of small units, each working in harmony with
the others. It is the same with everything. We take a successful life and we
think of it as an entirety, but when we examine it, we find that it is a number
of small achievements joined together.

Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah.

 As thousands of workmen were used in the building of the pyramid, so
there are unnumbered workmen at work in the building of our bodies, which
are symbolical of the same building.
There are many pyramids all over the world. We find them in South
America and in Mexico; we find mounds which were made to represent them
among the American Indians, and in Europe and Britain we find remnants of
the same things. But there is only one real pyramid in all the world. Even the
others in Egypt are but copies of the Great Pyramid, and were used as tombs
for the Pharaohs, but nobody was ever found in Cheops, nor were there ever
any signs that it had been so used.
Now let us continue our analogy between the pyramid and man. If you will
look at the accompanying illustration, you will see the pyramid laid flat, and
you will notice it is made of four triangles laid around the base square. The
four-sided base of the pyramid represents the four elements of which man’s
bodies are composed. These are hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, or
earth, water, fire, and air. These are called the base of all things, and upon
this base the four bodies of man are raised, each from its own element. Thus
the physical body is raised from the earth. The vital body is raised from the
water, the emotional body from the fire, and the mental body from the air.

The Pyramid:
 Here we see the pyramid laid out so that the four triangles and
the square are clearly seen. This represents man once again, and
the ancient Pyramid is man offering his higher being upon the altar
of the Great Fire Spirit.

There are twelve lines used in the drawing of the four triangles, which
stand for the twelvefold constitution of man when it is complete: the
threefold body, the threefold mind, the threefold soul, and the threefold spirit.
It also gives us the twelve signs of the zodiac, divided into their respective
groups.

Out on the desert stands the Sphinx, the Guardian of the Threshold
mentioned by Bulwer Lytton. It stands for the bodies of man, and is that
strange being which must be passed before the student can go on in his
development. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx is a symbol are
Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man, or
the human head.
 The Sphinx:
This is that mysterious being suspended ’twixt heaven and earth,
which has the head of a human being and the body of an animal. In
other words the Sphinx symbolizes man.

I have already given you some work on the sacrum bone, and I told you
that it was the grave digger’s spade. Here is a picture of the head of the
Sphinx, and the inverted sacrum bone when it has been turned upward. We
see the Sphinx in the inverted sacrum and also in it the inverted Masonic
keystone. All this is very interesting, but unless we realize the inner meaning
of it, its true value is lost. But it is not chance that these things should be so.
You have most of you heard of the Dweller on the Threshold, that creature
built by our own actions and mistakes. Well out on Egypt’s desert it stands
and bars the way to the pyramid, the temple of the higher man. And the
message that it gives to the world is:
“I am the bodies. If you would go on to the temple you must master
me, for I am within you.”
The Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and spirit of the human
rising out of the animal desires and emotions. It is the riddle of the ages, and
man is once more the answer.
 It is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the gateway of the pyramid,
and that there was an underground passage which led from the Sphinx to
Cheops. This would make the symbolism even more perfect, for the gateway
to the spirit is through the bodies according to the ancients.
Let us now enter the pyramid and passing through the corridors come to the
King’s Chamber as it is called. There are three great rooms in the pyramid
which are of great interest to the student. The highest is the King’s Chamber,
then below that is the Queen’s Chamber, and down below the surface of the
earth is the Pit. Here we again find the great correlation between the pyramid
and man. The three rooms are the three great divisions in man which are the
seats of the threefold spirit. The lower room is the generative system under
the control of Jehovah. The center room or Queen’s Chamber is the heart,
under the control of the Christ; and the upper room or the King’s Chamber is
the brain, which is under the control of the Father. In this upper room is the
coffer made of stone, the meaning of which has never been explained, but
which the student recognizes as the third ventricle in the brain.
It is quite certain also that this coffer was used as a tomb during initiation,
when as is the case in the Masonic initiations of today, (which are the
remnants of the ancient mysteries) the candidate was buried in the earth and
resurrected, a symbol of the death of the lower man and the liberation of the
higher.
It is said that Moses was initiated in the Great Pyramid, and some also say
that Jesus was instructed there also. Be that as it may, we know that for
thousands of years since the time it was built by the Atlanteans it has been the
greatest temple of Initiation in the world. It seems also that its work is not yet
done, for mutely it is teaching those who will see the mysteries of creation.
It is said by many that it is the original Solomon’s Temple, but this we
know is not true, for while it may be the first and original material temple,
the true temple of Solomon is the universe, the Solarman’s temple, which is
slowly being rebuilt in man as the temple of the Soul of Man.
There is probably no point that is as important in connection with the
pyramid as that of the corner stone. On the very top of the great pyramid is a
comparatively flat place about thirty feet square. In other words the TRUE
STONE WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL THE CORNERS IS MISSING. If
we look at the reverse side of the United States seal, we find again the
pyramid from which the top is separated. Omar Khayyam, the Persian Poet,
gives us the secret of the keystone when he says:

“From my base metal shall be filed a key,

Which shall unlock the door he howls without.”

The value of the stone is better understood when you understand that it
completes all of the triangles at once, and without it none of them are
complete.

The Key and the Cross:

Upon the cross of matter that forms our bodies, hangs the key to
all the mysteries of creation. It is our duty to take this key and with
it unlock the door that conceals from us the unknown. This key is
the spirit. Release it.

This stone is the spirit in man, which fell from its high position, and has
been lost beneath the rubbish of the lower man. This is the true cap stone that
is now hidden in the pit of man’s temple, and which he must exhume and
place again as the true crown of his spiritual pyramid.
 He can only do this when he calls the thousands of workmen within
himself together and binds them to the service of the higher man. There must
be no traitors to murder the builder this time. And Lucifer, the one rejected
by man as the devil, is the one who must through the planet Mars send man
the dynamic energy which man himself must transmute from the fire of
passion to the flame of spirit. He then must take the tools of the craft and cut
and polish his own being into the cap stone of the Universal Temple.
It is interesting to note how the casing stones that once made the pyramid
so beautiful and true were carried away to build the cities nearby, and in
connection with that it is interesting to note how the soul and body of man,
the casing stones of his spiritual temple, have been sacrificed in order that he
might have material things.
As we look at pictures of the ancient pyramid and Sphinx which have
stood on Egypt’s sands for ages, let us see in them our own mystery temple,
made without the sound of hammer or the voice of workman. And as we
sadly think of this mighty ruin, broken by ages of neglect, let us remember our
temple, and that its corner stone is missing also and our walls are falling
with neglect. Let us learn the lesson which it teaches, hasten to perfect our
pyramid, cap it with the stone of spirit, offer upon its altars our sacrifice to
the Great Sun Spirit, and bury our lower nature in its ancient coffer. Then for
us will its mysteries be revealed, and the sealed lips of the Sphinx give up
their secret.
WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE WILL YOUR HEART BE ALSO.
 THE WHITE GRAIL

Choose now your path

Service.
Self-Sacrifice.
Purification.
Love.
Study.

THE BLACK GRAIL

 Choose now your path

Prosperity at others expense.

Selfishness.
Short-cuts.
Mastered by appetite.
Comfort.

FINIS

PREMIER PRINTING COMPANY

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Los Angeles

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