A4 pages in cardboard cover.

Syllabus 6 = 5

Study the obligation and plan how to carry out the Twofold life literally. This is a Mystical Grade and has no lectures or Examinations.

2.   Copy 4 Trees in their Appropriate Colour Scales.

3.   Copy and practise 6 = 5 Exercises.

4.   Try to find your own Path for the Inner Life.

5.   Now is the time to fill in gaps of the 5=6 syllabus and to choose your special subject in which to qualify.

6.   Study and work at the Auric Egg.

7.   Climb the Tree, i.e. Meditate on each Sephira and Path in order beginning with Malkuth, clairvoyantly if possible.

8.   Paint Tarot Pack and Consecrate same.

9.   Paint Telesmatic Figure of Rising Sign or Sign of Sol, see Schemahamphorasch.

10.Practise Prithivi Akasa Tatwas to find out your past lives so as to gain a sense of continuity.

DAILY RHYTHM FOR THOSE OF THE GRADE OF GEBURAH.

On awakening make this affirmation.

I will arise and shine for my Light has come, and the Glory of the Lord has risen upon me.

Before leaving the room in the morning say:-

The Life of the Trees is mine, I will arise and walk,
The Life of the Man is mine, I will receive and give,
The Life of the Word is mine, I will utter and love,
The Life of the World is mine, I receive the Spirit,
The Life of the Stars is mine, I am filled with joy,
ELOHIM GEBUR guards me, ELOHIM GEBUR strengthens my hands, yea He guards my feet.

About Noon, as an intercession for the dying, especially those in zones of war or catastrophe say:-

O Lord of strength, Elohim Gebur, in all humility of spirit I invoke Thy Blessing. Look down I implore Thee upon those dying in warfare or catastrophe, & knocking at the gate of the grave. Grant Thine aid, O God of Israel, who givest power unto Thy people. Pour forth Thy benediction we beseech Thee. O Thou Fire-hearted One who does send death that we attain unto Life everlasting: Thou at Whose Word the thunders roll and the lightning flashes forth, grant that in the midst of storm we may find peace. Master of the Diadems of Fire crown them with Light that emerging from the darkness of the Tomb they may enter upon the Dawn of Endless Day.

Alternative for those undergoing operations.

O Thou who makest perfected souls to enter into everlasting glory, cause now we beseech Thee the perfected Soul of & & & & to be victorious over death. Having ears may he hear with understanding, having eyes may he perceive with the Spirit: having lips may he speak the truth: having a heart may he love righteousness. Quicken in him O Divine Creator. the Life Divine: draw him with cords that he may run after Thee: bind him to the Altar that he may evermore serve Thee.

On going to bed repeat:-

Mother of Life, Mother of all, Matrona, we would be even as the Burning Bush which was not consumed - a sign to those who have eyes to see. Star of the Sea, in Thy hands is the Lamp of Understanding, show us if for an instant Thine ineffable fragrance. Tower of Ivory enclose us in Thy protecting Purity. Strengthen me who seek enlightenment. through the gates of darkness that passing through the valley of bitterness I may find therein the Well of Living Water. Reflect upon my soul those visions of the Spirit which awaken the understanding and beckon us to the Pisgah Heights of Holiness. There may I find the Pearl of great price which is also the loadstone of the wise.

SHEKINAH
THE FOUR SCALES OF COLOUR. 

THE FOUR SCALES OF COLOUR        PAGE 2.

NOTE.

The 5=6 Tree gives Sephiroth in the Queen Scale and Paths in the King Scale.

The Prince Scale is usually a blend of King and Queen.

The Princess Scale is very often flecked or rayed.

LECTURE ON THE FOUR SCALES OF COLOUR.

By G.H. Chief M.C.

You have in the Order notes a list of the 7 rainbow colours & their corresponding notes in the Scale, but I would like to suggest that while the King Scale of Colour is cognate to the Major Scale of sound, the Queen Scale is akin to the Minor, and the Prince to the chromatic. That leaves the Princess unaccounted for unless we seek out the half or quarter tones of the East; are they not related to the flecked and rayed colours of the Princess, blurred let us say one imposed on the other.

In actually depicting this scale the colours are represented as sharply divided, but if you consider them clairvoyantly you will see that they waver and mingle as the colours of moving water shift and blend as you look at them, or as lights interplay with the movement of clouds.

So on a windy day in Spring have you seen colours interchange in a wood as the young leaves rustle, and the shadows play over a mass of wild hyacinths or primroses.

The Princess must always be taken as something changing, unstable, evanescent; the flecked and rayed colours should actually be so cunningly interwoven that they would change with each movement of the canvas like shot silk.

Now as you consider the Four Scales of Colour, passing imperceptibly from one to another, so must you also learn to pass from one Plane to another, gradually raising and transmuting that upon which thoughts and desires dwell.

As the colours of the Princess scale are mingled, and those of the Prince clear, the Queen Scale soft and negative, but those of the King deep and rich, so it Is with other things. If, for instance, you concentrate on Love, you will see how mixed and doubtful a thing earthly love is. But if you raise it up through the aspects of loyalty and devotion, you presently become aware that above all these lies the pure and selfless ardour of Divine Love.

Of the Four Trees you must further consider that two are positive, two negative, two masculine, two feminine. Therefore it follows that two correspond to the waking consciousness, two to the sleeping. But while at the first glance that seems perfectly simply and clear, a little reflection will show you that it is less so than you thought.

We have already seen that the Princess scale which belongs to the lowest of the four is negative, must therefore belong to the sleeping consciousness.

Let us examine this statement more clearly, closely. The Princess in the Taro is represented as a young person; but a young person from the Occult standpoint is one who is yet unawakened, therefore the Princess Scale and lowest Tree must correspond to one who is as yet immersed in the material.

From that it will follow that the Scale of the Prince signifies on one who has awakened, how are we to interpret the Queen Scale? This takes us a step farther into psychology. An ordinary undeveloped man dreams very little, his dreams are fragmentary; they have no spiritual significance. But when a man awakens to the underlying realities of life, he becomes sensitised, his soul is set free, and he begins to stretch out groping hands in search of guidance.

The response comes through dreams, and though he may be unable to bring through clear consecutive memories of his sleep experiences to the physical brain, yet he can and does receive as much teaching as he can assimilate. This is the vitalising of the Queen Scale.

Therefore when you wish to receive teaching on a particular subject during sleep, it is a good plan to dwell upon the appropriate Sephira or Path in the Tree of the Queen.

Of the King Scale it Is more difficult to speak, for it belongs to the region of pure light, the source of all colour and music. To that region only the Initiate has access, and that which he receives is in the nature of light and life.

LECTURE ON MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATION

6 = 5

By G.H. CHIEF M.C.

You do not practise rising in the planes sufficiently, you should form the habit of doing this daily, until it becomes so natural as to be spontaneous. Learn to look, not only at daily life, but more especially at ceremonies, from this point of view.

But to do this you must fully understand that . rising in the planes. is not a kind of mental aeroplane; if you are in an aeroplane the higher you go the flatter the landscape appears, until it is veiled by clouds or becomes indistinguishable through the layer of atmosphere; your horizon widens, but to all intents and purposes your view becomes two dimensionable.

But where you . rise in the Planes. you do not go up in the sense of looking down on things, you move into the midst, and enter upon multi-dimensional consciousness.

Remember that when Christ appeared to the Disciples after His Resurrection, He was in their midst. From this viewpoint you perceive the interior life and meaning of all things; instead of becoming small and flat they gain an entirely new significance; and this is true, not only in relation to space and life, but also to time, and what we are accustomed to calling inanimate objects. 

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

The 1st. Exercise: To begin with polarise your own sphere of sensation; visualise as clearly as you can the four Trees, one within the other, but all with the axis coinciding with your own plummet line.

Now gradually withdraw your consciousness into the centre of Tiphareth and hold it there while you breathe 6 times; then rise up into Daath (coincides with the pineal gland) and from there look out as from a watch tower through the rainbow network of your sphere as it revolves slowly round you. Do this each day until it ceases to demand effort. That is the 1st. exercise.

2nd. Exercise (not to be attempted until you have attained to a degree of ease in the 1st.)

Look at an inanimate object (table) seek for the inner force which holds it together, and see with your inward eye the tremendous unceasing movement which is necessary to produce the apparent immobility of the outward form.

Stand in the garden and look at the house with the same inner vision. If that ordered activity should cease or no longer co-ordinate the whole would crumble to dust before your eyes, as our bodies crumble when the governing soul withdraws.

Learn to look through the external form to the interior force. The true craftsman does this unconsciously, and uses this internal force to guide his hand in sympathy with it, so as to produce the harmonious expression; that is why the great craftsman select certain woods to work with. The activity of each wood is fitly expressed in certain lines and types.

3rd. Exercise: A natural sequence to the last.

Concentrate upon a series of living things one by one. A tree, a flowering shrub in bloom, an animal, an insect. In each case try to follow out the life processes, first from without then from within, so that you look at the world from their point of view.

When you have done this say for one month, return to the 1st. exercise of folding up into your own Tiphareth, and rising into Daath, only now you must look out from Daath and reach out to all these other forms of existence until you fully realise the unity in diversity that exists in all around you; not to lose yourself in them but so that you are in perfect harmony with their rhythm, just as you instinctively keep in step with a passing band.

When you have caught the cadences of life immediately surrounding you then you can reach out further.

The next step is more difficult for now you have to reach out from the known to the unknown. Just as you begin by formulating the four trees in your own sphere, so now you must formulate them in the sphere of the earth. In doing this you should be conscious of other Trees beyond those with which you are familiar. You cannot see them for they belong to planes as yet beyond your knowledge, and their range of colour is beyond your vision but you may be dimly aware of their presence.

Polarise your own central pillar with that of Earth; conceive Earth's Tiphareth to correspond to the equator while Daath lies within that zone which we call temperate. When you have done this, then as before withdraw into Tiphareth and thence ascend to Daath and look out, not through your own personal sphere, but through the sphere of earth, and gaze abroad till the inner sight penetrates to the depths of space, then turn to your text books and assure yourself of the direction in which the particular fixed star you seek lies. Be sure you have a clear general idea of the relative positions of earth and star, at what ever time you propose to follow up this step in our series.

Find the position of earth, sun and star in relation to each other from the point of view of Daath of Earth. Having this clear in your mind then at the appointed time withdraw as I have described into Tiphareth of Earth, pause there breathing quietly and rhythmically while you count 36, then ascend to Daath, breath quietly counting 12, and turn your vision toward that Path which corresponds to the Sign through which we must travel to reach the Star.

Project your consciousness along that Path, first in the Princess then the Prince, then the Queen, then the King Scales. Then bid your consciousness pursue the same Path through the successive Scales beyond your vision but not altogether beyond your comprehension, since they exist also in your own finer Sphere.

Do not attempt this all at once, go slowly step by step, practise Princess Scale until you have mastered it, then going through that attack the next, each day a little farther, until at last you can speed along swiftly and surely beyond Earth's Sphere & cast your vision out to the Star itself. Then reverse the process & penetrate further and further to the heart and essence of its life.

THE CROSS.

0=0. P.1.

Rejoicing I come to thee, thou Cross, the Life-Giver, Cross whom I now know to be mine. I know thy mystery, for thou hast been planted in this world to make fast things unstable.

Let us strive to understand the divine Ideas underlying these ceremonies, and the use of the Cross as the Master-Symbol by which all transmutation is effected. Our Lord said: 'Ye must be born again of water and the spirit, and He referred, no doubt, to Initiation, and the great Master-Symbol of initiation is the Cross.

As a symbol it is as old as the planet for it has been used in one form or another by almost every nation, in every civilisation. The 3rd Root Race formed it from the ash-tree, whence issued the men of Bronze. They called it the Tzite Cross. There was also the Swastika, the most sacred symbol of India, sometimes called by the Masons the Jaina Cross, the Greeks the Tau Cross.

In our Order in the 0=0 Ceremony, we see the cross of the four elements in perfect balance. It is balanced because it holds at its centre the spiritual power of the Hegemon, the symbol of balance in the Piscean Age as shown by the fish-headed sceptre - in Egypt by the feather of Truth head-dress, in the Aquarian Age no doubt, by the symbol of balance.

There are four lustrations, markings of the Cross upon the candidate; his bodies, physical and psychic, are consecrated simultaneously. Eventually, the lustrations flower upon the altar, for he himself handles the Cross of the Four Elements. There are four lustrations, and in the middle of the Temple is the Cubical Cross: the Candidate as yet unfolded for service - nevertheless he flowers In the Mystic Repast.

1=10

The Order by Its drama, enacts the evolution of the race - from animal man to divine man, and its magic is in the Tree - the Cross, by the Cross, which in a certain sense represents the personality of man, the slow emergence of the useful and proper faculties takes place.

After the first purification, we rise from our knees and seal our promises by the oblation of salt - the emblem of purified earth. We are beginning to grow the wood of the Cross - its upright beam; in the choice of the central pathway we know that the arms of the Cross are still beyond our ken.

The Master Symbol junctions in the 1=10 by means of the whirling Cross, the Swastica, the Hermetic Cross, which bears upon its arms 17 squares as the ritual explains; the Sun, the Four Elements and the 12 Signs of the Zodiac - all the powers requiring integration by the initiate on his long journey. Such a symbol, by its whirling brings to life the latent powers within those who contemplate it. And so we start our journey.

Therefore, with Jesus Christ, true God, ascend the Cross, the One and only Word.

2=9

The Word in truth is symbolled forth, by that straight stem on which I hang.

Lo! The Central Cross, the cubical Cross is unfolded, it bears upon it all the signs and powers for thy redemption!

The Candidate has within him a stirring, a budding of life, he has purified the soil where the tender roots of the cross shall sojourn and grow. He can be trusted to contemplate a glyph of its perfected man, his powers unfolded, to which he is pledged to attain; his mind therefore must be purified before a further step on the journey can be attempted. The Light-bearer, therefore, guides him to the abode of the Kerubim, the guardians of the arms of the Cross, with whose symbols he is sealed. He begins to hear the sweet voice of the Master as he chants the litany of the Cross: 'Thy head stretched forth and up into heaven that thou mayest symbol forth the Heavenly Logos, the Head-of all things. Thy middle parts are stretched forth as it were hands to right and left, that thou mayest gather together into one thoses that are scattered abroad.'

Thy foot is set in the earth, sunk in the deep, the abyss - that thou mayest draw up those that lie beneath the earth, and mayest join them to those in heaven.

Hear, therefore, my brothers, the Truth expounded; the path Tau is the Ladder of Jacob, and the sure testimony that man was made for the heights.

In the Cubical Cross the whole destiny of man is revealed, every path is indicated, every Sephirah named.

So by the Path Tau does the candidate finally emerge from Malkuth, and begins his outward and upward Journal. 

3=8

Our candidate has become the poet, the artist, discovers in himself hidden faculties; from the solid Greek Cross he gains balance, from one arm power, another vision, another strength, another energy, from the Sun in the midst he rises like Casmillos to the trumpet call of the Archangel; on the bitter Cross of his personality he may place the great symbol of the Star of the Grade, the Planet Mercury - he must learn to hold his soul sup-like to receive the divine-love, that he may give of its fulness to others, From the portals of Shin, Tau and he gains balance in diversity, he begins to hear the voices of the elementals: the organ-like notes of the water, the flute-like notes of air, the sibilant sighing of air, the drum-like beat of the heart of the Mother of the earth.

He has a great vista before him, for in this grade he can find power in perfect balance, but he must hold the Cross with both hands! 'For power in no way differs from thought, and yet are one; from the things above is discovered power, from those below Thought.' We presume that the candidate can now be trusted with power, for he is given the first of the planetary symbols to contemplate, the planet Mercury - the Messenger of the gods. Upon the Cross of his own weak personality is superimposed this mighty symbol. Dedicated power is of the armour of God.

Light looked down and beheld darkness, Thither shall I go said Light. Peace looked down and beheld war; Thither shall I go said Peace! Love looked down and beheld hate, Thither shall I go, said Love! So came Light and shone, So came Peace and gave ease, So came Love and brought Life! And the Word was made flesh And dwelt among us. 

4=7

The Candidate has become the Warrior, he is one of the great company of Warriors; those who wrested from the Tree, the Cross, the Sword, to fight for righteousness. He aspires to be one with the Warriors of the past.

Arthur and his gallant company, the Black Prince, Baldwin, first King of Jerusalem, whose body was buried near the Holy Sepulchre, Coeur-de Lion, who is entrusted with the Sword Excalibur, which he gave to Tancred - the Maiden - Knight Sir Galahad. ALL those who fought for the Cross, with Divine fire.

The Calvary Cross of 12 squares to my poor mind the symbolism is lost in the Waters of Nu! Perhaps the ancients juggled with the Zodiac, and the symbol settled hap-hazard! 

The Calvary Cross of 10 squares refers to the ten Sephiroth in balanced disposition as the ritual sets forth - therefore, we assume that the candidate's Sephiroth, those peaceful Chakras are in active motion - the candidate is ready for service because he has attained to a certain degree of equilibrium.

There is much profound teaching hidden in this symbol, and the Candidate has now access to their treasures, and it is a very beautiful Cross for contemplation.

I kneel at its feet and feel the stability of our Lord In Malkuth; in Yesod I see His exalted Vision; in Hod I gather His tears for the purification of mankind; in Netzach I bathe in His purifying fire, in Tiphareth I feel the beat of His Heart, in Kether I am filled with the perfume of roses - therefore I say: 

O fairest Queen of Roses! flower
Bedew our parched ground from out Thy Heart
Whence soul-reviving Waters flow increasing
Till Mercy. s dower makes each of as a part
Of Thy true Self - each soul a pure reflection
Of Love's red, flaming Rose, its own Perfection.

The Calvary Cross of 6 squares is a tremendously powerful symbol containing as it does, the old form of the Cubical Cross and the unfolded Calvary Cross. This grade is a synthesising of the Candidate. s powers in the fires of the Spirit, enabling him to lift the small cross of his personality to receive the exalted symbol of Venus, for only through the door of Love can he pass into the heights. All the great mystery traditions set forth chiefly the mystery of Man; and the Order in its wisdom chooses the greatest of the four great Initiations: the Egyptian, Jewish, Chaldean and Persian to bring the Candidate from darkness to light, to give him a glimpse of his past, and by the power of the Cross to correct those ancient failings - by the power of the Cross to overcome them. By the fire in the heart which purifies the fires of the mind which enlightens the fire of the will when the Spirit is turned to God, may you be carried up the Holy Mountain. 

THE PORTAL.

The candidate. s Cross has budded, put on colour, turned inwards for service - he carries the dedicated Cross of the great human Orders the Knights of Malta, of St. John of Jerusalem - the Maltese Cross.

He advances alone, he is ready for his personal Gethsemene, he sees three strange officers, and one Valiant one the Hiereus, his own dedicated self.

By the power of his Cross he is permitted to invoke the Deity Names of the four Elements, and be sealed by that great ancient form of the Cross, the Qabalistic Cross - to have the 4 Elements of his body consecrated and strengthened for service. He is ready in the Spirit of Sacrifice for service, but can he face the World Karma, the world Gethsemene?

Slowly the great monsters of the world's subconscious arise - with such he must be willing to cope.

He who would dare beyond his strength, the Path of Kaph - Beware! thunders the Valient One, his own purified lower self. He who would dare beyond his strength the Path of Nun. Beware! Again - He who would dare along the middle path armed with a bright and glowing Cross, the Spirit in its centre, receives the confirmation of his aspirations, buries his old self beneath the Cross' shadow. 

The-5=6.

And then at the dawn of the cosmic year, when the Cross of wood has become the Cross of Light, we shall discern them - on not only the radiant figure of our Lord, but our own features mingled with His, and the features of our friends; then the divine secret shall have been revealed, and the Cross of transmutation become the weapon of the Warrior of Christ.

This is a stark drama, this drama of the Cross; men flee from it in horror because they cannot bear this tragedy of love. Let as learn the secret of this divine alchemy. 

We see the sins of the nations before the judgment seat of Pilate, staggering along the Via Dolorosa, becoming absorbed in a multitudinous figure, even you and I my brothers, and countless brothers and sisters, striving to mount Golgotha, striving to lay ourselves upon the Cross.

 This meditation upon the drama of the crucifixion is no new philosophical speculation, it is a preparation we are receiving, those added spiritual powers enabling mankind to pass from the state of self-seeking to the stage of enlightenment. By the contemplation of the life and passion of Christ the divine Love is engendered in the crucible of the heart, and in that crucible all that is unworthy perishes. - In therefore the secret of transmutation!

But we, who have been in turn the mystified women, the careless onlookers, the blaspheming thief, if we be content to bear our burdens to carry our Cross, shall see, when that Cross is lifted up on the Golgotha of our woe, our own dear shining Christ appear, and shall pass, with Him into the Paradise of a new day!

Gethsemene.

Four timid disciples went to the Mount of Olives - they had an Arab guide, a tall, quiet, dignified man who had a special devotion to our Lord.

They passed by the sleeping disciples, penetrated deeper into the wood, where the young olive trees blustered about a large stone, and there they saw Him lost in an agony of prayer: 'Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me!' Whereon a great multitude arose, the poor, the forlorn, the forsaken, the sinner, the criminals, and a great murmuring, a great cry met our ears - and then - the Golden Voice: 'Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.' And He was among them - the Healer, the Comforter.

 There was a flash of light and a drawn sword: 'Come no closer said a voice,' Your Lord has conquered. 

We saw no more - not the bewildered disciples, nor the miracle of the High Priest's servant, nor the trial, nor the scourging - but we saw the Cross being lowered, and Jesus received into His Mother's arms -- then the slow descent along the stony path to the Garden - and we heard the piercing wailing of the Magdalene. 

Once more we were In the Garden - the moon was rising serene and milk-like, shadowy and gentle like the early Church, and the almond trees were in bloom. 

Presently there arose a little gurgle of water from the brook near by, the birds stirred, there was a sound of running feet, and the great stone moved away. 

This then, fratres and sorores is the ardour and the vision the Order gives its children, and those who form His bodyguard in the past, the present and the future have in their hearts the passion and pain of the Cross, the triumph and the majesty of His Resurrection - for all such we give thanks. 

To us, Fratres and Sorores, we who are cross-bearers, await the touch of Pentcostal Fire, that Fire which touched the Tree, the Cross, and turned it to a Rose - whose shining petals are the adoring saints; Whose stem we are, Whose thorny stem mayhap - yet carrying the sap of everlasting Love. 

We have studied the Fatherhood of God, speaking. through the Cross - now let us picture the Method of God on the descending Cross-bearers.

ARRANGEMENT OF CANDLES.           In Second Point               6=5

One White

                  (I)                  (III)                 (II)                  (IV)                  (V)                 (I)

One Blue                  Two                  Four                  Four                  One                  Green                  Brown                  One

                  Brown                  Green                  Red                  Red                  Four                  Two                  Blue

                  (VI)                  (V)                  (VI)

                  Three Yellow                  Seven Violet                  Three Yellow

Note. The Roman figures above each set indicates the order of extinguishing.

Behold now, the mystery of the thirty-three lights upon the white and gold Altar. The Altar itself you may perceive is of rhomboidal form, implying thereby that you have consecrated your whole being to the Divine inspiration. The five lights in the midst are the five senses and their red colour denotes the passions of which in the past they have been the vehicle, while their exalted position signifies their purification through sacrifice.

The two pairs of brown candles are the four somatic divisions while the two sets of four are the four Zoa and the Four Archangels of the Revelation which are their counterparts in the Yetziratic and Briatic Worlds, as green is the etherial counterpart of Earth.

The two threes symbolise the six divisions of Ruach in the Kabalistic divisions of the soul, the Logos or Microprosopus.

The seven are the seven chakras, the seven steps to the Throne. And finally the three single lights are the three divisions of the Higher Soul or Spirit - Neschamah, Chiah, and Yechidah.

6 = 5 ADDRESS BY M.C.   6.8.25.

I want you to consider the preparation of the Light which the Shekinah carries. Before the Shekinah comes at all into the Rubric she has to prepare the Light. She has to pour forth the oil; she has to mingle the oil with her own blood, and kindle the light in the oil. As she pours forth the oil she says: 'The oil is the life of the Tree, let the Tree give its Life.' As she mingles her blood with the oil she says: 'The blood is the life of the Man, let the Man give his Life..' As she kindles the light in the oil she says: 'The Light is the Life of the World, let all the living rejoice. 

Consider the sequence of those three aspects of life. First, the Life of the Tree is the symbol of the whole visible world. Second, the Life of Man represents all living beings on the Earth. Third the Light which enlightens every man coming into the world. In each case life must be given, must be poured forth in holy sacrifice. For only through giving can we reach joy. 

Now consider what Shekinah says as she administers the oil to the Postulant. She touches his feet and says: . The oil is the Life of the Tree, arise and walk.. She touches his solar plexus which represents the whole life of man, and says: 'the life of the man is thine, receive and give.' She touches his lips and says: 'The Life of the Word is thine, receive the Spirit.' And last, she touches his upraised hands and says: 'The Life of the Stars is thine, be filled with joy.' So you have the giving from the lowest up to the highest blossoms out into joy. 

We are all accustomed to the thought that oil is the symbol of joy and peace: and the the cup, the Alabaster cup, which the Shekinah carries, is the essence of the peace which passes understanding. But if we are truly receiving the Ritual, if we are not only passing through it as a curious and interesting experience, we must take the peace of the Shekinah into our hearts and out into the world, it is only for a little time that We can stay withdrawn in the Palace of Mars, in the absorption of the Pastos: we must go forth again: we must arise and shine because the Light has come to us. We must be the alabaster lamps of joy, bearing peace and the light of holy living. It is not the mere passing through of a Ritual which can enable any of us to do these things. We do not in the vault end the old and begin the new. Each ceremony, each Ritual we pass through on the Path of initiation marks the awakening of a new Chakra, a stage in the rising of Kundalini. And as the seed takes weeks, or even months to germinate, so these rituals must germinate in our hearts and thoughts before they can grow up and blossom. Yet if we pass through with understanding, that seed is -planted: it is watered, and it lies with us to cherish its growth. A seed can only grow if it is given peace, quiet and nourishment. If it is too roughly stirred about, if neglected and left dry and unwatered, it will perish. So with us, we must cherish the growth. We must remember that the alabaster lamp is within us as it is within the hand of the Shekinah. 

The path of Mars is war, but the Palace of Mars is Peace. It is only when we are ready to fight that we are also ready to dwell in peace. The man who says he is too proud to fight, the pacifist who refuses to fight, while profiting by the battles of others, has no true peace within or without. 'I came not to bring peace, but a Sword.'

We must fight with the Sword of the Spirit before we can enter the Peace of the Lord. Only when we are ready to fight, to pour out our own blood it need be, may we dwell in perfect peace. Then the sword of the spirit becomes a shaft of Light, no longer for the wounding of others, but for their enlightenment. The sword must pierce our own hearts if we are to become truly sanctified. Each of us is not only a son of God, but the Mother of God, for within each of us the Christ must be born. Therefore, when the Shekinah withdraws, the Postulant is raised up his bonds loosened, he is brought out of the Pastos, he is drawn forth from the Palace of Peace. And that he may have strength and wisdom he is given the secret food of the Spirit, milk, honey and butter. It Is not only by bread and wine that man should live but by the Word of God and the Holy Wisdom.

Bearing that Light within him, the Postulant goes out into his daily life prepared to grow into the fulness of the stature of Christ.

Sunday 4 November,_34.

To go more slowly, to think more kindly, to speak more truly, are the prerogatives of old age. 1 say prerogatives for when old age has arrived one should be free to choose what is best. To hurry is to miss the tiny things of beauty which strew the way: To think other than kindly is to inflict upon others little pinpricks of pain: Not to think more truly is to deface the wonderful form of Christ which old age must at least begin to build up in itself.

This is a vignette, of old age - a cameo beaten out of the solid rock of the life now fading behind you. There are some lives beaten out of the rock, some wrought and chiselled in gold and there are some others of each exquisite beauty that it takes a magnifying glass to see their manifold attractions and of this last the mystic is the best exponent. Despise not the contradictions of life - its lights and shades which make character. Seek rather to see in every individual the great personal ideal towards which he is striving and if you do so your own idea of GOD will become more and more many sided and with that appreciation will come a variety of power which you did not before possess. For you must apprehend before you can use, you must see before you can transmit, you must feel before you can love. 

During this week look upon the tomb as a well of water into which you can plunge not only your bodies for cleansing but your souls for regeneration. Look upon this 6=5 ceremony as a great cleansing breath of GOD sweeping away all difficulties in your lives with the impact of that cleansing springlike freshness which the Shekinah brings in her two hands and be ready to receive each day and every day all along the line the blessing of the moment. The Shekinah moves, spring is here, the Shekinah speaks, the buds burst, the Shekinah shows her lamp and the celestial fires and the terrestrial fires begin to glow in unison. Who are we to be out of focus - out of harmony with the Divine Plan? Gather round our frater, like a close band of brothers that he may feel the impregnable wall of your friendship and your love, in this journey to the grave and let the Chief remember that though he is small and weak, yet he is great and strong; though he is tired and old yet he is young and virile. He has cast about him the cloak of Christ and upon his head is the seal of Knowledge and Understanding. He is no more the lower personality, he is one with the Gods, not in a spirit of vaunting, but in a spirit of loving fellowship. The 2nd. Ad. is as the Chief though different in that he fixes forever in the candidate's sphere of sensation the clearest truth. The 3rd. Ad. bears the trembling body, sealing it to the triumphant Ego. 

Now this fresh influx of power which you will receive at dawn will be different in character and you must ray it forth as a child scatters blossoms - a subtlety and fragrance about it which will act as a compelling attraction drawing those who seek to the feet of the Teacher. Strive therefore to scatter its fragrance and its beauty as a child scatters flowers. The Christ of the new age is the eternally young & the eternally beautiful - the Apollo of the Christian faith. One to whom the young will be able to turn in adoration and joyous service.

Sunday 29th November,_36.

With the approach of the 6=5, the thought of transmutation must be present in the minds of the initiates. Year by year as the soul advances on its quest it is more and more aware of a change of vibration which occurs within the psychic aura of the initiate. 

The first bell sounding at the beginning of the Ceremony is an indication that the vibrations of Earth have ceased and the vibrations or the abode between Tiphareth and Geburah are stealing over the consciousness of the disciple. It is with something of a shock that the bell reaches the conciouness of the waiting postulant. He feels it within the heart because the heart centre is the abode of Tiphareth, and with St. John of the Cross he ventures forth alone unseen, upon the purgatorial path which is also the path of balance, towards the unexpected goal. There are great saints who have trodden this path who have made it their special abode, and a study of St. John. s writings will reveal to you that he was one of the guardians of this exalted path.

In fear and trembling he leaves his cherished abode. He leaves his known surroundings: he ventures forth unseen, unknown, but within him his heart has become a lantern - a burning light of love which lights his way. It is with anguish that he tries to find familiar landmarks. He is, as it were, disintegrated. There is only a shadowy part of him which treads the path. He is, as yet, unaware that this great drama is the enactment of a secret play between himself and GOD. He sees before him only dimly his other higher bodies, and it is only when he has time to reflect in the silence of the pastos that these other parts of him return and become unified. lt is a painful and at the same time a great experience. Slowly the lights are dimmed and the centres of life are muted. There is a little thread only of consciousness which responds to the increasing urgency of the sounding, clanging bells. But with the first sentence the sound of which is wafted to him from Earth as he speeds on his celestial journey he realises that there is for him no way of escape into this bliss, but rather that he must ponder upon the urgency of the tasks he should accomplish on his return. It is only when the soul has made that supreme renunciation that the MOTHER appears. It is only then he is fit to receive the Divine Food. So slowly and silently she withdraws, and he returns to life and to the task of living. 

The swathing bands go back to the ancient custom of the embalmers, but they have a deeper significance for they protect the body from too rapid disintegration which would follow it the etheric body were severed too rapidly. They are the shadow of the etheric and serve to affect a more gradual severance than would occur were it ommitted. In Egypt the bands were dipped in herbs, spices and gums on which the etheric was fed, for we are dependent on the purity of the atmosphere than you have any conception of. Therefore is the binding a bar to disintegratlon as are also the sentences. The Lantern contains a light that can never be extinguished. Hold it high in your hands that its light my fall on all and sundry that more may follow the gleam.

Sunday 14th November,_1936.

Every Secret Order expressed some aspect of the Earth's consciousness. As the years advance the aspect may gain deeper and more varied scope, but it is always confined to one aspect, that is the undertone to that great sea of consciousness which is the Divine. The work of this Order is to illustrate demonstrate the varied and many wonderful characteristics of the four elements & the countless influences bearing upon them. To do this it is necessary that the member should in his path of initiation be content to learn, not only humbly, but patiently, the elementary knowledge to do with the scientific aspect as well as the more profound Kabalistic and esoteric. When the esoteric knowledge is superimposed upon an already trained and equipped member we have as a rule a balanced and useful adept, but when this is not so, the result is slow and only painstaking care can accomplish much in this incarnation. It may be that the technical knowledge, such as a professional man acquires, is purposely withheld so that more sympathy may be engendered, but whatever the mental equipment, the adept can always, if he strives, attain to a high degree of spiritual light, and that is a treasure which he acquires in this treasure house. From the many coloured planes the Light is focussed upon each candidate at a certain grade and especially after the 6=5, and the spiritual power attained there is so blended and scintillating that thereafter the adept needs to be a centre of life in whatever assembly he chooses to enter. This state of spiritual radiation is always present, but can be increased at will, but there comes with it a great responsibility for it must always command the attentive attitude of the adept. You have been told that the sentences are as spirals in the ascending consciousness of the postulant, in reality, they are knots in the rope ladder on which he mounts to spiritual realms, and at each group of sentences the consciousness alters and becomes more illuminated with the Divine, less responsive to the human, so that when the least sentence is proclaimed the postulant is in the proper spiritual condition to contact the Divine Mother.

This ceremony is elaborate and carefully worked out, and you will notice there is nothing left to chance, in other words, the postulant's interior powers are so carefully externalised that the proper results must accrue from such an initiation. The experience of the postulant in the pastos is a foretaste of the experience of the soul at death, when it passes on to that place which has been prepared for it, hence the soul treads no untried path, but when called upon to leave the body swiftly ascends to its rightful place in peace and gladness. 

To some is given the vision of St. Stephen, to others whose eyes are not sufficiently opened on the Spiritual Plane is given nevertheless a consciousness of life after death in realms beyond this Earth, which sinking deep into the sub-consciousness remains for ever there.

May the Peace of GOD which passes understanding fill the hearts of all who have passed through this valley of the shadow of death and bring to them illumination and enlightenment.

8th November,_1936.

Peace profound. In the profound gloom of the tomb the candidate undergoes a complete transformation. Indeed, in that short space of time a recapitulation of all his former deaths is undergone, nay more, for he feels in himself the death of all humanity on this planet. Therefore is the 6=5 Grade a much greater and deeper experience than would appear even to the eye of one who views in it the death of the self and resurrection of a new type of Life. The 6=5 grade actually accomplishes the flowering of life on this planet - it is the apotheosis of initiations on your earth. The higher grades can only be given to older initiates because they are, as it were, the habiliments which would only fit on the shoulders of those initiates who have borne them before. The 7=4, the 8=3, the 9=2 do not belong to this Earth as we understand it, but are suggestions great and beautiful, portrayed in ritual as an illustration to which the flower of humanity its pressing. 

Therefore, when the candidate enters the pastos, strive if you can to help her, that against the retina of her aura may be etched the profound lessons which not only she has learnt in the past, but which she has been previewing in the dim ages of the Earth. s history. It is a great expansion of consciousness, also a tremendous restriction of consciousness in a sense - it is both and then with the aid of and through the power of Elohim Gebur she is given the strength to return to Earth, which she would not do of her own volition, and to take up the new resurrection life. Elohim Gebur mighty and terrible, that intangible backbone of personality which defies dissection, is potent to help, but difficult of understanding, and his work in this grade is purposely veiled that it may become an inner secret intercourse between Him and the candidate, that not even a sign or a regretful feeling may cloud the mirror of the candidate's mind and soul.

There are two forces operating in the Vault representative of the Fatherhood and Motherhood of God, without which no birth on any Plane can take place. But the MOTHER is the deliverer from darkness and the MOTHER must nourish the child with the Divine food and mystery of mysteries, the MOTHER is purposely veiled. Why? That veiling sets the trail for a long process of meditation. Strive, therefore, to lift yourselves from the things of Earth with its restrictions and its inhibitions and move freely and graciously in the beautiful plane which the 6=5 symbolises.

DEDICATED TO THE DIVINE MOTHER

With my mantle I compass the Earth,
I am the Star of Night,
I am the Pearl of Ocean:
I am the Sea:
By my compassion
I fill the seas and the rivers,
The brooks, lakes and rivulets.

I have gathered from the swelling tides, -
From the ebbing, fainting tides, -
From the passionate, raging waters, -
Billow heaped upon billow, -
Wave shattered against rock, upon shore, -
Roaring, thund. ring flood echoing unto flood:
I have gathered all my children to my breast,
Soothed them to the rhythm of a lullaby,
E'en by my down-stealing, soft-distilling tears.

All the griefs and patient suffering,
All the hopes and hidden birth-pangs,
I have drawn up as a cloud mist,
Melting into gladness in the sunlight:
Till my joy is consummated
My cup runs over with the crimson wine
Of my heart-blood, for lo! The Spirit's sword
Pierced through and through - a gleam of Light!
Whence spring the vital Flame, the Heaven born SON.

G.H.S.M.C.MEDITATION   6=5 Dec. 5^th, 1939

I will ask you to try to trace the correspondence between the Postulant passing through this Grade and the World to-day. 

Look back on the immediate past and compare the nations to the Postulant preparing for the Initiation of Death; not knowing what to expect, but feeling that the inevitable experience must be Death and the Grave. 

Look at the Earth itself and see how in every direction are floods, fire, earthquakes, tidal waves. Every catastrophe to which Earth is subject, she has been and is passing through. Trials by fire and water, the two pillars on either side of the entrance. 

Compare the attitude of those nations we call Democracies - the British Empire, U.S.A., France - with the Candidates seated before the two Keys; The Hanged Man - enforced self-sacrifice - submerged of all self-will in the great Ocean, and the Key of Justice - holding the balance and seeking a just way. 

Even if you come to individuals, what an extraordinary parallel between the Queen on the throne holding the seals, with the British Premier with the ultimate decision in his hands, who strove, and strove in vain for peace. 

We are apt to put the whole blame on the shoulders of the German Nation, and especially on their leader; but remember that we ourselves must bear a share; such a state of things could not be if we, and other nations, had not again and again shown indecision when we should have gone straight forward. 

Who knows what Karma of the nations are working out if we look back, or how they are interwoven! 

If we are to establish Right and Liberty in the World, we must see that we have our foot on the neck of Covetousness and Desire. We can hear if we listen attentively, the sound of the bell marking the passing of Time, and that bell is in the hands of the recording Angels. We have to look out on one conflict after another and compare them - the destroying of nation after nation, and people after people - compare them with the extinguishing of Lights on the Altar. 

It is said that every nation represents a Principle of Humanity; and each Principle must be first evolved, then established, and then extinguished. It is only by the extinction of the Lower that the Higher can burn with a clear uninterrupted light. No one nation can stand alone, no one nation can dominate the others. We must learn that Humanity is One. There may be Head, Hands and feet; but the head cannot carry out work if it is not obeyed by the hands and feet, and taken where the work is to be done. 

St. Paul said: 'That which is least honourable is given the greatest honour.' Little nations of to-day - Poland, Finland, Abyssinnia, have been given the privilege of suffering for the whole of humanity. 

Surely we must compare these with the extinction of the dark candles of the Flesh, and the scarlet candles of Passion and the green candles of Psychic Vision. We have still candles of the Mind (Lower and Higher), the candles of the Soul, and those of the two great Principles which are symbolised by the Twin Serpents. 

It may be that we must yet watch the extinction of at least the Candle of the Mind. 

Looking today, we cannot fail to be impressed by the lack of any great outstanding intellectual Leaders in every country. 

Yet the three candles of the great forces and the Christ Principle are left unextinguished and inextinguishable. Not even when the Candidate is laid in the Pastos, not even when the salt of the sublimated Body is sprinkled on him, not even then are these three lights put out. The Light of the Spirit goes with him to the grave itself and bums there. We are to remember that Christ descended to Hell, and while there His Spirit illumined Hell itself! 

It would seem that we must be very near to the moment when the Candidate is laid in the Pastos and waits the Coming of the Great Mother. Therefore, I ask you all to look forward to the time when the Great Mother will come with the Word of Power on her lips . Arise, shine, for thy light is come. . And then it depends on us to see we are ready to obey. 

Remember, we are but one small group of' an organism far greater than we know. We have been told that even now those great Masters in charge of the destiny of humanity are preparing for coming forth by day. If the Work is to be efficient, those privileged to partake of training and preparation, whether in this Order or in others must be ready to obey and co-operate when the sign comes. 

The Masters are human, though far in advance of us, but they require and demand the help of all able and willing to work for and with them. They ask :for no enforced service, but all who are willing may now proclaim their allegiance and willingness. 

I will ask you to study the 36 sentence which mark the passing of the Hours whilst the Postulant remains in the Pastos and apply them to our work in this time of preparation. 

Remember the four statements made as a warning and an injunction. 

Before the eyes can see they must be incapable of tears 

Before the ears can hear they must have been desensitised. 

Before the voice can speak in the presence of the Masters, it must have lost its power to wound 

Before the feet can stand in the presence of the Master, they must be bathed in the heart's blood.

Die Sol 7-5-16           Michael Sothis Baldur Persis Hyacintha.

A.B.S. came in a grey-blue cloak and hood that he has worn once or twice before. 

Can he give us any teaching about the 6=5? 

He speaks of the whole system of the Order as it corresponds with the Life Cycle. Of the 0=0 as being the first awakening; and the four minor grades as corresponding to the four seasons of the year. But those grades are all as it were bringing things to the candidate. All given to t he candidate on this material plane. The Portal and 5=6 are so to speak the opening of a door or window and showing the Candidate something which he looks at. But the 6=5 is the actual raising of the candidate to a different plane himself. 

Persis got a picture of the candidate looking two ways. In the 6=5 he looks a different way for the first time.

The 33 Lights correspond to some Cosmic process. As the 33 lights on the Altar correspond to the 33 segments of Kundalini and the corresponding divisions of the man, so also they correspond to each 33 centres of Life in the Cosmic Man, Adam Cadmon, Adonai, and those also govern the 33 Races and Geographical divisions of the Globe.

Psychically as the lights of the lower divisions are extinguished their light passes on to the higher ones, so that if we could see the process on the higher plane we would see that whereas to begin with the White Light burned dimly smothered underneath the others, and the two blue ones only glimmered faintly, as the others were voluntarily extinguished by the Will which is the third Adept, so the higher lights burn more and more brightly and steadily and the Second Adept who corresponds to the Soul responds to the demand of the Will by helping.

The 3^rd Ad. is the Will and gives the command to extinguish, and the 2^nd Ad. is the Soul or Desire who passes it on and vivifies it. The Chief is the Higher Genius the Christ Principle, but also the Great High Priest who with the swinging incense consecrates the offering of the lower Principles. The Cosmic correspondence of the Three Adepti is Sandalphon, Michael and Metatron the whole being Adonai just as the three Adepti form the one whole Candidate.

The Ceremony could be done in a way to effect the Cosmic Process. 

We five are sitting here moving as one to some point - moving cosmically as it were. This is in the Adam Cadmon form. Stand in Vault in 5 Pent. The person in this grade is beginning for the first time to entering into the pastos, being the conscious muting of humanity which therefore the candidate is then in the position of the Blessed Virgin when she said . Behold the Handmaid of the Lord,. therefore the next process is the preparation for the Divine Birth which will no longer react upon the Candidates themselves but on those who come to them as disciples not of themselves but of the Divine Child of Whom they are the spiritual guardians. It is the dim and confused perception of this spiritual truth which is manifested in those high grades, which is continually being distorted by those clairvoyants and psychics who have neither the intelligence, intellectual training nor the spiritual development to be able to grasp the true signification, and try to give it a material interpretation, which may become an obsession. For this reason it is necessary to be careful as to those to whom the grades are given.