"CONCERNING GOD AND RELIGION."

"The Craft will only become what its individual members make it. 
If they see in it only a ceremonial procedure, at such it will
remain, and their initiation will be but one in name and not in
fact."

("The Masonic Initiation", by W. L. WILMSHURST.)

"In short I am apt to think that Masonry, as it is now explained,
has in some Circumstances declined from its original Purity;"

("A Defence of Masonry", ANONYMOUS, 1730.)

"Masonry is a Rule of Life, not a convivial club; what we want is
not to get more men into Masonry, so much as more Masonry into
men."

(LORD AMPTHILL, when Pro Grand Master.)


Part Seven: The Immediate Objective of the Craft.

In the development of the subject of this Paper, or rather series
of Papers, we have proceeded upon the supposition that our Masonic
system contains and conceals far more valuable Truth than we as
students and members of the Craft have yet realised.  Indeed, were
it not so, this and other Study Circles would not exist; there
would be no need for them. Moreover, had we each found what, on
entering the Craft, we professed to seek; and had we been actually,
and not merely ceremonially, Initiated, Passed, Raised and Exalted,
there would be no necessity for "study" at all in the form we at
present find it expedient to employ.  To use a paradox, we Brethren
of the Craft in general are uninitiated Initiates; we are
privileged to possess and use a system capable of inducing real
Initiation, but we fail to achieve that Initiation in the spiritual
and only authentic meaning of that word.  We must ask ourselves,
then, does the fault lie with the Craft system or with ourselves ?
The answer to this question involves an understanding of both the
historical expansion of the Craft itself, and the almost
imperceptible growth of the seed of its profound spiritual
doctrine, " veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols", in the
unpromising soil of the modern industrial and mechanical era.  It
is, as a great Master once declared, an occult law of life that
every seed of true being must first fall to the ground and die; if
it die not, it abideth alone; its essence and latent potencies
never get liberated, diffused, or find opportunity for full
function; but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  Is not the
working of that occult law visible in what is now familiar Masonic
history? The essential spiritual principle and doctrine latent in
the Craft system has for more than two centuries suffered almost
complete oblivion in what may be truly described as a formal death
and burial; it has been trampled in the mire, subjected to gross
misunderstanding, and profaned. Despite all this, however, such has
been the vitality and innate potency of the spiritual content of
Freemasonry that the Craft has continued to grow and expand,
flooding the world with an immense Brotherhood, inducing fraternity
and goodwill among men, and administering relief and philanthropy
a vast scale.  But its full spiritual fruition is not yet; it will
come; it is on its way, and in the meantime the Craft is faced with
the immediate objective of understanding and practising its own
system.

There are always various lines of study open to members of the
Craft, but in the concluding part of this Paper we propose to
stress one that is seldom pursued by students, namely the deeper
study of Masonic Ritual. Most of the well known Masonic Study
Groups and Research Lodges devote their energies to examining
things and events relating to the past; to matters of history,
antiquity, anthropology and archaeology.  We can, of course, learn
much of great intellectual and informative interest from them all
because these studies throw helpful side-lights upon the Craft
system, but it must also be borne in mind that their findings and
Transactions cannot aid us to promote Initiation in ourselves.  It
is sometimes asked in this connection, how should one proceed in
order to achieve real Initiation? To this question every detail of
the Craft Ritual and its explanatory Lectures contributes an
answer.

The answers are often themselves deliberately cryptic and require
deciphering, but this is of purpose and to test our powers of
insight and research whilst, at the same time, conceding secret
truths from the unqualified. Moreover, as we have already stated,
they should be supplemented by every possible study and enquiry in
other quarters casting light upon them.  The really earnest
aspirant will find that light breaks in upon him from even unlikely
sources; that every book he reads, every event of his daily life,
and almost everyone with whom he comes into contact, will
contribute something to the attainment of his quest.  He will
discover also, by carefully studying his Masonic Ritual, that there
are other means of grace and help to be sought diligently. 
Throughout the ages the aspirant seeking Initiation has found it
essential to solicit tuition from an expert teacher who knows the
way, and can give him the necessary guidance suited to his personal
requirements.  It is for this reason that the Craft, following the
traditional method, declares (in the First Section of the First
Lecture) that every new Apprentice should, "seek for a Master and
from him gain instruction ". In the Craft the opened Lodge was
never intended to be a place for "instruction" as this is popularly
understood; it is a place for the corporate "realisation" of those
truths in which we are to be instructed privately elsewhere.  Nor
does memorising the Ritual, as this is practised in our Lodges of
Instruction, constitute either valid "instruction" in Freemasonry,
or the making "of a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge". What
the Craft urgently needs today is qualified teachers of the inner
meaning of the Ritual, a more intelligent appreciation of the
spirit of Freemasonry, and far less mechanical repetition in Lodge
work.  The true relation between Master and pupils, which the Craft
system is built upon, is that of spiritual directorship, but
nowadays this task of the advancement of the juniors by the
seniors, except in a very limited sense, is rarely practised.  It
rests not only upon the moral duty of every more advanced Brother
to assist the less advanced, but also upon the spiritual principle
that whoever has freely received must as freely give, and that no
one is initiated for his private advantage.  A qualified Preceptor
in the Craft should, for reasons which ought to be apparent to
students of the Ritual, be an installed Master who in himself
exemplifies "those qualifications which are essential in every
candidate for the Office of Master." Such a Preceptor would, in
practice and not merely in theory, "be well skilled in the noble
science," and able and willing to undertake the management of the
work".

As a true Preceptor, he would take care to educate his pupils
according to their mental and spiritual capacity, realising that no
two minds are alike, and that a method which is suited to one is
quite inappropriate when applied to another.  Each of the pupils
would in practice, as he is now in theory, be directed to "study
such of the liberal arts and sciences as may lie within the
compass" of his "attainments", while periodically he would be
tested by the Preceptor in order to "mark " his "progress in the
science". The novice or Apprentice would be taught what meditation
and contemplation are, and that they involve certain exercises and
postures so that, in the words of some versions of the Ritual, "the
mind may obtain dominion over the passions". He would learn also
that these exercises are intimately related to knowledge of
important physiological truths about himself, and why it is that in
the Lodge "the secrets of the Degree are communicated" only in a
"perfectly erect" posture.

Finally, it would be made dear to every Brother that the whole
course of Craft training under the direction of a Preceptor is for
the sole purpose of awakening his own dormant spiritual powers. No
knowledge worth having on these highly specialised subjects can be
derived from outside communication; it wells up from within the
aspirant himself whenever the proper effort is made and the gates
of spiritual perception are opened.  For this reason Masonic
education does not consist of packing the mind with factual
information obtained from without, but of "e-ducing" (drawing out)
truth that is imprisoned or buried within ourselves. All true
knowledge, as the sages have taught from time immemorial, is the
"recovered memory" of things we once knew, and it is those things
that by the process of Initiation can be brought to our
remembrance.

At this juncture we ought, perhaps, to anticipate an objection
which may be raised by some students of the Craft system, who will
no doubt allege that in this series of Papers we have stepped right
out of Freemasonry into Religion.  Our reply is, on the contrary,
we have been concerned with bridging and unifying them.  They both
deal with the same subject, although in the approach to it there is
a marked difference between the initiated and the uninitiated,
albeit religious, man. It is that difference which is, in the V. of
the S. L., (Mark, chapter 4, verse II), proclaimed in these words:
"Unto you (the initiates) it is given to know the mystery of the
kingdom of God; but unto them that are without (the uninitiated),
all these things are done in parables" (or, as we say, "veiled in
allegory").  The initiation teachings preserved in the V. of the S.
L., under the veil of myth and parable have always been discerned
by those versed in the esoteric philosophy of the ancient Mystery
Schools.  They form part of that Gnosis or Secret Wisdom once only
imparted within esoteric schools and fraternities, by which means
they have been handed down through the ages, fragments of which
however, are to be discovered in all the great World-Scriptures,
more or less veiled from the profane, but plainly to be road by
those instructed in the universal sacred language of symbols. By
the symbolical method of interpretation the V. of the S. L.,
reveals its own presentation of the age old secret doctrine,
confirming the ancient teachings of the Eastern schools and
re-imparting the great inner truths of man's origin and destiny,
the nature of his being, and the way pointed out for his salvation
This mystical under-meaning of the Scriptures was, through the
influence of a group of advanced initiates who in the late 17th
century projected into publicity a few elements of the closely
guarded initiation science, enshrined within and engrafted upon the
simple Ritual of the surviving Lodges of the Guild and Fellowship
of Operative Masonry.

Subsequently, in the year 1723, the advent of Speculative
Freemasonry announced to the world that the Art and Craft of
Masonry which was Operative in an old order of things had now
emerged Figurative in a new.  How the transformation was effected,
and under whose direction, are two problems which still remain to
be solved to the satisfaction of the large majority of Masonic
students, but there is one significant fact of the emergence which
bears witness to the transmission of the ancient mystical tradition
in the modern Speculative system.  The new English Masonic
Constitution placed the Craft under the patronage of St. John the
Divine and thereby identified Freemasonry with the long and
unbroken line of Apocalyptic succession.  An interesting
observation upon the transposition of the Craft dedication under
the aegis of Grand Lodge may be found in the anonymous letter,
printed in "The Daily Journal" of 5th September, 1730, over the
initials " A.Z. ", wherein the writer, criticising the legendary
history included in the 1723 Book of Constitutions, states: "that
'tis but of late Years, (being better inform'd by some kind
Rosicrucian) that they knew John the Evangelist to be their right
Patron, having before kept for his Day that dedicated to John the
Baptist, who we all know, lived in a Desert, and knew nothing of
the Architecture and Mystery, which, with so much Plausibility,
they impute to the Author of the Revelations". (The full text of
this letter is reproduced in "Early Masonic Pamphlets", Edited by
Knoop, Jones and Hamer,
Manchester University Press, 1945).  In what sense, then, are we to
understand that "the Author of the Revelations" is the "right
Patron" of the Craft, and for what purpose? The connection between
what the writer of the anonymous letter terms "the Architecture and
Mystery" and St. John the Divine becomes apparent when it is
pointed out that the Apocalypse teems with Masonic imagery and
allusions to spiritual building.  Further, the work "Apocalypse"
means an "unveiling", a vision imparted of what had heretofore been
hidden.  In the Greek Mysteries, as is well known, those who were
not yet fully initiated were called "Mystai" (veiled ones); they
were not admitted to the inner mysteries, but were permitted
symbolic visions only.  Initiation meant the unveiling of the true
mysteries to them; after which they were called "Epopteia", meaning
"those having vision or supersight" (seers); and to them was
granted the full revelation of that reality which hitherto had been
suggested by symbol.

According to the esoteric tradition, therefore, John the Divine,
the Patron Saint of Speculative Freemasons, is, for the Craft in
general, the seer or diviner who, having experienced the unveiling,
beholds the vision and communicates the knowledge gained of
spiritual realities; and in this sense he is correctly described as
"the Author of the Revelations". The knowledge, however, is
imparted to the Craft in mystical language, comprehensible by those
Brethren instructed in the art of symbology, but to all others
entirely unintelligible.  Yet the imagery is consistent and the
subject-matter systemised and complete in itself, so that once the
principal keys are possessed, a coherent and ordered interpretation
of the whole is made possible.  We offer, then, for the guidance of
Masonic students a brief commentary upon the cryptic text of the
Apocalypse, tracing in the principal passages the "Architecture and
Mystery" according to the tradition transmitted to the Craft by the
Patron Saint of our Order.

The simplest method of analysis is to view the entire work of the
Apocalypse as a drama, divisible into seven main sections or acts,
interspersed with symbolic pictures and a seven-times recurring
chorus.  A prologue and other descriptive and explanatory
interludes complete the whole.  In the action thus depicted the
aspirant himself is the hero who, as the victorious lamb or the
Horseman, passes from one labour to another and successfully
accomplishes the work set before him, vanquishing enemy after
enemy, achieving ever more glorious triumphs, and finally emerging
as conqueror over all.  The various other actors that come upon the
scene, as so often in mystical narrative, are but different aspects
of his own nature. The enemies arrayed against him are the
unredeemed elements of his own lower nature; the divinities and
angles that speak with him and the visions he obtains, are
perceptions awakened and knowledge gained by himself on higher
planes.  While the title of the book "The Revelation of Saint John
The Divine" would indicate that it is John who undergoes the
experiences of initiation, the first verse makes it appear to be
concerned with the initiation of Jesus. In reality these two stand
for the lower and higher principles in the same individual.  In
this first verse :-

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, 
to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come 
to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John
there is presented a triad :-

1. God, who gives the revelation
2. Jesus Christ, who receives it
3. His servant John, to whom it is later communicated.

Here the God is the Hierophant, the One Initiator; Jesus the
Anointed (we must remember that Christ, like Buddha, is a title,
not a name) is the higher mind; John is the lower mind (servant of
the higher), to which the illumination opened up on higher planes
is subsequently brought through.  Verse five explains this
further:-

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the 
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth.  Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood."

In verse five Jesus Christ, standing for mind linked with the
higher intuition (Eastern nomenclature Buddhi-Manas), is the
"faithful witness", i.e., that faculty which brings knowledge of
things as they are and not as they deceptively appear when the
lower mind (the "tuitional" faculty) is active.  It must be clearly
grasped by students of initiation science that almost the entire
content of "normal" human knowledge is based upon assumptions or
hypotheses; in fact, is but a mass of these, and especially is this
true of mathematics, physical science and philosophy.  The outcome
of the natural division of labour between the "tuitional" and the
"intuitional" faculties is the establishment of the fact of man's
relationship both to the phenomenal and the real that in his
psychic nature must reside the faculty of apprehending the real and
that he shall one day ("when time and circumstances permit") awaken
into activity this now latent faculty whereby he may make a direct
and naked contact with the real.  The higher intuition is also "the
first begotten of the dead", because it is the first of man's
spiritual faculties to awaken from the death or unconsciousness of
incarnation, the body being in the earlier stages of progress the
"grave" or "entombment" of spirit.

When awakened and fully active the intuitional faculty is "the
prince of the kings of the earth" (the ruling power in man's life);
the declaration in verse seven that "every eye shall see him"
indicates that the new consciousness shall now make itself felt in
every centre of awareness.  If the reality of things is at present
hidden from us and if we are, therefore, unable to perceive their
real essences it is because our mode of thought and our
consciousness have obscured our vision and limited us to this state
of paucity of perception.  It is not because reality is itself
hidden, inscrutable quantity nor that its "modus vivendi" is
"unknowable"; but because we being multiformly limited, "cabined,
cribbed and confined" are resultantly lacking in the power to
discern that which otherwise would be most obvious to us.  It may
well be set down as axiomatic that when, in the process of our
thinking, we arrive at the inscrutable, the unknowable and the
infinite, it is evident that our thought processes are dealing with
a form of realism which is higher and beyond the possibilities of
our loftiest thought-reaches. And in order to symbolise to itself
this condition the intellect poses such terms as "inscrutable",
"unknowable" and the "infinite" simply because that is the best it
can do.  Infinity is a relative term, and in fact, decreases in
extensity in the proportion that the consciousness expands and
comprehends.  We are intended, then, to understand from the
introductory verses of the Apocalypse that the aspirant, now linked
up consciously with his higher mind, is able to receive certain
instruction and illumination, and to record in the physical brain
experiences undergone on the inner planes. But certain it is that
the intellect, in the pride and arrogance of its traditional
heritage, will not without a great struggle yield the ground and
prestige it has held for an aeon of time ; death for the intellect
will ensue as a result of the conflict but it will be a death
wherefrom it will arise, quickened, revivified and uplifted by its
disposer, the intuition, upon the remains of its dead self to a
higher and grander state than it has ever enjoyed before.

PATMOS here stands for the state of inward-turned consciousness in
which this transmission becomes possible; an island, it points to
the isolation or complete detachment of the self which is necessary
for this high state of introspection, for to be "in the Spirit on
the Lord's day" is an initiation phrase denoting the attainment of
a profound stage of mystic contemplation.  The aspirant thus
prepared, a voice "as of a trumpet" is heard, indicating awareness
awakened on the higher mental planes.  As the physical world is the
realm of form and the emotional the realm of colour, so the mental
world is the realm of sound, graded in quality, tone or intensity
as the higher sub-planes are gained.  The "trumpet" is an ancient
mystery-term for that Inner Voice which issues from the highest
realms of being, and is used here to describe the communicating of
an authoritative command from the Initiator.  He, the
representative of the Logos, and therefore appearing in a
seven-fold aspect (see the description in verses eleven to twenty
inclusive - REVELATION, chapter 1), announces His presence by this
interior trumpet voice, speaking of Himself as "Alpha and Omega".
These are the first and last vowels of the Greek alphabet, which
together with the five intervening vowels, correspond to the seven
creative outbreakings of Deity according to the cosmological
tradition.  In the descriptive language of Initiation science
vowels (which are pure sounds complete in themselves) stand for
life or spirit, while consonants represent form ensouled by that
life. The passage alluded to (verse 8), therefore, might be read as
"I am the beginning and end of all life", or "I am the One Life in
all", which life is the Eternally Present, for it is that "which
is, and which was, and which is to come". Now follows the first
symbolic vision; turning "to see the voice that spake" (verse 12),
the neophyte is granted a vision of the Logos with special
reference to His septenary powers as these are manifested in the
Universe. The figure described is a composite picture of the seven
sacred planets, corresponding to the "seven spirits of God" which
in the Hebrew tradition are identified with the Archangels,
although the usual sequence is not preserved. The interpretation in
planetary order is as follows :-

1. "Countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (verse 16).
The sun, symbol of the Solar Logos, as the source and centre of the
seven. Among the angelic host the sun corresponds to Michael ("like
unto God"), sometimes called the Angel of the Face, or the Angel of
the Presence.

2. "Voice as the sound of many waters" (verse 15).  The moon, in
its association with water, always connected with the soul and the
mysteries of Initiation. It corresponds to Artemis and Isis, and
among the angels to Gabriel, the messenger.

3. "Feet like fine brass, as if they burnt in a furnace (verse 15). 
Molten metal (in a state of ceaseless motion) is here used both as
a reference to the swiftly moving feet of Mercury and to the metal
(quicksilver) which bears his name.  The planet Mercury corresponds
to Raphael, who, like the Greek Hermes, is traditionally the
celestial guide, healer and teacher of men.

4. "Girt about the paps with a golden girdle" (verse 13).  A
reference to the girdle of Venus; this planet corresponds to Angel
("sweet song of God"), the angel of song, beauty and love.

5. "Sharp two-edged sword" (verse 16).  The war-god Mars, bringing
conflict and retribution.  Thereby knowledge is gained and matter
eventually overcome by spirit.  This sword "comes out of the
mouth", in the sense that it is connected with thought and speech,
and therefore signifies the strife and suffering of the inner life. 
The war-god corresponds to the angel Zacchariel.

6. "Eyes were as a flame of fire" (verse 14).  The Allseeing eye of
Judgement, associated with Jupiter and the angel Uriel ("fire of
God").

7. "His head and his hairs were white like wool" (verse 14).
Saturn, invariably depicted as an aged man, the Father Time of
popular association; corresponding to Kronus and the angel Orifiel
("the hour of God").

The vision of this celestial figure depicts, therefore, seven
aspects of Deity as Will, Wisdom, Activity, Beauty, Righteousness
Judgement and Strength.  It is these seven aspects which are
reflected in the traditional seven principles of man's being, and
also in the seven rays or specialised activities through which the
spiritual life finds expression on the outer planes.  The teaching
which follows relates to the divine spirit in man, which was "as
dead" through long cycles of incarnation and which now, through
spiritual awakening, is "alive for evermore". With the knowledge of
his true spiritual being man possesses himself of the keys which
release him from "hell and death" (physical and psychic existence);
thus liberated, he is able to sound forth the Word of Power, the
Mystic AUM (Amen).  In the Apocalyptic allegory Asia is ASSIAH the
lowest of the four Kabalistic worlds, the realm of manifestation,
and the "seven Churches in Asia" represent group activities
("centres") within that realm.

A church or community, indicating a group of people linked together
for some collective work, is here used to describe a nervous
ganglion, which consists of nucleated cells acting as a centre of
force to the fibres connected with it. At first called "churches"
in the allegory, they are later referred to as candlesticks or
"little lampstands", each centre as seen by the clairvoyant vision
appearing as a blaze of light.  Further on again they are called
"seals" because in the unawakened individual these higher powers
are inhibited or "sealed" until such time as, by an effort of
spiritual will, assisted by strenuous training, discipline and
continued mental and moral endeavour, they are one by one released
and gradually brought to full activity.  It is likewise  to be
understood that these particularised centres, as the diffusers of
psychic energy, represent consciousness focused at different
levels, degrees of perception by which man may contact life on all
planes while still in the physical body, since within himself are
the principles corresponding to those planes.  The correspondences
once understood, the cryptic words spoken to the "churches" yield
up their meaning, for in these different phases of consciousness,
each within its own sphere, the regenerative work is operative in
distinctive method.  Each mode of cognition is a door which, with
every expansion of consciousness, opens out a wider field of
perception.  Each presents its own dangers, and offers its peculiar
problems and difficulties each, rightfully used or "conquered"
leads to certain results in the perfecting work.

Prologue: THE VISION OF ATTAINMENT

In the sacred drama of the Mysteries the action was interspersed
with pictorial and choral interludes, explanatory and symbolic,
designed to further instruct the spectators and also to deepen the
impression upon them of the subject portrayed.  The seer of the
Apocalypse has adopted a similar device, and has separated the acts
of the Initiation drama by symbolic visions and choruses of praise. 
The first of these occurs as a prelude to the first act. Here the
neophyte, sunk in profound mystic trance, is permitted to
contemplate the supreme mystery of his own inward nature.  "After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven" (Chapter
4, verse I); i.e., access is given to the higher realms of
consciousness wherein the whole range of his life on every plane is
made visible, and "in the spirit" he sees himself as a sun-like
centre surrounded by all the elements which make up his being,
ranged in concentric circles according to their degree.  The
dazzling vision recorded represents the end to be attained by the
aspirant, the final consummation whereby the Spirit shall become
ruler of his entire nature.

Encircled by personified principles, attributes, manifested powers
and faculties the Higher Self (symbolised by the Lamb) sits
enthroned, the centre of consciousness, the source of illumination,
hailed and recognised by all the lesser elements of being as the
Inner Ruler Divine.  Notwithstanding the fact that the encircling
figures are described as "round about the throne" in an indefinite
order, the student versed in the symbolism employed will readily
perceive the relative positions indicated by the figures chosen.
First in order is the Lamb symbolic of man's highest principle -
Pure Spirit (Atma), and this is therefore accurately placed "in the
midst of the throne"; although enshrined in the inmost recesses of
man's being, it is by this spiritual principle that the whole
nature shall eventually be dominated, and to it all faculties are
to be made subservient, all desires subordinated.  The chorus of
praise (the first in the series of seven choral interludes) chanted
by the beings "round the throne" is expressive of the awakened
recognition and of the co-operation of all man's lesser powers with
the Spirit within.  The next in order, adhering to the seven-fold
classification of the Eastern schools, is the Spiritual Soul
(Buddhi) in man, the vehicle of his higher intuition and purified
emotion.  This is appropriately imaged as the glassy sea, described
as "like unto crystal", that is, as entirely without motion, a
state of absolute calm.  The sea in its natural movement and
restlessness is a constant Biblical symbol for the emotional life
of the lower planes, wherein the soul is ever torn by conflicting
deares, ever restless and storaptossed, ever endangered.  The
journey of the pilgrim-soul from earth to heaven is presented in
many religious systems as a voyage across the sea of life,
turbulent and stormy, subject to sudden gale and the angry waves of
tempest. So do the passions and unsubdued desires of the lower
nature imperil the progress of the soon but when the emotional
nature is purified, controlled and stilled, then the "sea" calmed
and clear, becomes as a mirror, reflecting light from the spiritual
sun and shining itself by that light.

Now comes the Higher Mind (Manas), of which the vehicle is the
causal body, and this appears under the figure of the rainbow, an
allusion to the flashing fire and rapidly changing colours in the
highly developed causal body.  Yet another symbol,  "the seven
lamps burning" represents the projection of the Spirit outwards to
the levels of phenomenal existence (a septenary universe) bringing
the evolving individuality under the planetary order. By a further
projection it reaches the physical realm of time and generation
symbolised by the twenty-four elders, wearing crowns upon their
heads.  They stand for the twelve constellations of the Zodiac,
doubled, (each having its dual aspect); this outermost circle
denotes the realm of incarnation, in which the soul has undergone
long cycles of human experience.  Finally, the four beasts present
the Zodiacal cross as symbolic of the four-fold life of man.

These symbolic creatures are: 1) a calf, 2) a lion, 3) a man or
angel, and 4) an eagle.  They are the astrological signs of TAURUS
the bull, LEO the lion, AQUARIUS the water-bearer, and AQUILA the
eagle (substitute for SCORPIO the serpent), which, placed at the
cardinal points of the Zodiacal circle, form the well-known
celestial cross, sometimes called the four arms of the sun.  They
likewise correspond both to the metaphysical elements of earth,
water, fire and air, and to the four-fold constitution of man as
body, soul, mind and spirit.  In the symbology of the Bible they
are further related to four of the tribes of Israel.  Of similar
significance are the composite creatures described in the vision of
Ezekiel, which had the face of an OX and an EAGLE on one side, and
that of a MAN and a LION on the other, together forming a wheel
with four faces.  Other variants of this imagery are preserved in
the winged Lions and Bulls of Assyrian origin, also in the winged
SPHINX, which has the body of a bull, the claws of a lion, the face
of a man and the wings of an eagle.  Examined separately they may
be tabulated as follows

1. THE CALF (Taurus): corresponds to the element of earth and man's
bodily nature.  Exalted, it is the false worship of Mammon,
symbolised by the golden calf set up by the rebellious Israelites;
mastered and disciplined, it is the strong and serviceable
instrument of the spirit.  As the ox ploughs the fields in
preparation for seed-time and harvest, so man in his physical body
must labour to gain the fruitage of incarnation.  Again, the bull
is the symbol of fertility and creative power, and as such was
revered in India, Egypt, Assyria and Greece. In Old Testament
mythology Taurus is associated with Joseph, designated

" . . . a fruitful bough ...
Whose branches run over the wall."
(Genesis 49, verse 22.)

and later the Ox is proclaimed the standard of his descendants, the
tribe of EPHRAIM.  Of the four creatures here represented, however,
the Calf is the symbol of the outer sense nature and bodily
function.

2. THE LION (Leo): corresponds to fire, an element both destructive
and refining.  In man's nature it symbolises the mind, on lower
levels destructive and ungovernable, while uplifted, purified and
controlled, it is the sun-illumined higher intellect and vehicle of
the spiritual faculties, kingly, noble, strong.  It is the standard
of the tribe of JUDAH, the "lion's whelp" who became a leader and
conqueror, as the higher powers of the mind must eventually achieve
rulership over the lower nature.  In one of the stages of the
Mithraic initiations the neophyte was named "the lion".

3. THE MAN (Aquarius): corresponds to the element of water, and
therefore to the emotional nature and the psychic realm.  At the
lower level it is the passional, desire life; at the higher level
it becomes purified love and intuitional wisdom.  "Water" as the
emotional life is the turbulent and perilous sea of passion and
desire; as the life of the Spiritual Soul (Buddhi) it is the
"glassy sea" (peace and purity) attained in the higher realms of
being.  This sign is the standard of REUBEN, "unstable as water"
(Genesis 49, verse 4), instability and restlessness being
characteristic of the emotional life until transmuted and
controlled by the Spirit.

4. THE EAGLE; the extra-zodiacal substitution for Scorpio,
corresponding to the element of air and to the spirit in man.  It
is the standard of DAN, and is symbolic of spiritual vision and
aspiration.

Each of the four "beasts" is described as having "six wings about
him" (Revelation 4, verse 8) which, including the creature,
symbolises a seven-fold extension or power of direction.  The
"beasts are likewise full of eyes indicating awakened perception on
all levels.

(To be concluded.)