A booklet of B5 size, cardboard cover. Written on the cover is:
Personal Preparation of a Candidate for Grades 6-5 & 7-4.
Copied by S.S. Sept. 1951
Personal Preparation of a Candidate for the Grades 6-5 and 7-4 of the Order of the R.R. et A. C.
(Note:- What follows may later need some revision. The information dates from about 1625.)
Before the candidate can proceed with the Great Work, or gain from the Highest, fresh signs of help and further powers to overcome and to attain it is needful that some very definite bodily and Spiritual preparation should be undertaken in order that the candidate may be in a receptive state, to, with all humility and with a mind free from care and a body purged from gross material surfeit, receive the next initiation without undue strain or danger either to body or Spirit.
A trinity of method is indicated. The method affects the external, internal and Spiritual nature.
Consider well then oh candidate the 14 days work which it is thy duty - in the fear of God to endure. (No of Sephira - 5. 14 - 5.) the 7-4 is 16-7.) For work precedes rest. Effort alone deserves success. Those that ask shall have, but they must knock as well.
The date for the ceremony being known - which date shall be fixed according to ancient rule.
On the first day the candidate shall truly purge his body of all inconvenient dross, by means of a saline water of any convenient natural spring. Also be it noted that if need be from time to time repeat this draught and definitely upon the 14 day at Sunrise.
The candidate shall too upon this first day take five hours during which to meditate in silence apart from al1 worldly distractions he shall duly consider the plan of the preparation and the results to be sought for.
The material body shall be clean, therefore at sunrise and at noon and at sunset let ceremonial ablutions take place.
During the which pray the Lord of Light to cleanse the heart even as the body is outwardly purified.
These ablutions shall take place daily.
The meditation shall be to recall the path hithero trodden, the knowledge gained shall be recalled.
The desires of the candidate shall be fixed upon progress and the life examined, so that the Soul. s progress may be weighed in the balance of a fair but strict Judge.
And now regard with regard to the candidates food.
It shall be sufficient to keep the body in health, but no kind of' surfeit may be present.
And the Divine food shall be partaken of for the seven days before the ceremony of initiation.
Now the sacred elements are ten in number and are divided thus into a three and a seven.
A
Trinity Divine and a Hexagram.
(3. - Laudes Wine, pure claret I think.)
(Sacred elements from another source, it was no use writing out a list of forbidden food.
e.g: - Wild Boar etc.)
Preparation for the 7 - 4 Grade.
This should extend over a period of Four Weeks
Earthborn
and bound our bodies close us in,
Clogged
with red clay and shuttered by our sin - We must arise.
Flowers
bind us round and grasses catch our feet,
Bird
songs allure and blossom scent is sweet - We must arise.
Mountains
may beckon and the seas recall,
Cloud-forms
delude, and rushing streams enthrall - We must arise.
Planets
encircle with their spiral light,
Stars
call us upward to our :faltering flight - Thus we arise.
Sunrays
will lead us higher yet and higher,
Moonbooms
our Souls scorch with their purging fire - Thus we arise.
Into
the darkness plunge, fearless of pain,
Coldness
and silence cleanse us again - Still we arise.
Open
ye gates of Light - Doors open wide!
Gaze
we within at the glories ye hide - We have arisen!
Preparation during Four Days Immediately Preceding Advancement.
This time should be spent in isolation or retreat, if possible on a height.
Bathe ceremonially with hot water and a little soda or ammonia.
Learn correctly so as to use without prompting during the ceremony: -
(An indication will be given by an officer at which time of the ceremony these sentences should be spoken.)
Cues for Postulant.