Realization

Before reading this lesson, review the Kabalistic meanings of the letters, Shin, Nun and Zain. Pay particular attention to the paths assigned to these letters on the Tree of the Livings Ones. Then review the analysis of the symbolism of the corresponding Tarot trumps, vis., Judgment, Death and the Lovers. Let a little time elapse between this review work and the study of the lesson. Then you will get a great deal more out of what is herein written.

In the Tarot Key representing the fifth stage of unfoldment, personality was pictured as a little boy, riding the horse of the animal nature, and setting out on his journey from the walled garden of the sense-life. In the Key, entitled Judgement, the same child appears again, but now he has his father and his mother with him. These two represent the objective and subjective minds, and one of the secrets of this picture is that they are rising because the child rises.

What we see here is the stage of unfoldment immediately preceding cosmic consciousness. The scene has some of the features of the material plane, but closer examination indicates that it must be referred to the astral world, so-called. Observe that the figures, though nude, are not flesh-colored, but pale grey. The light that shines here is one that 'never shone on land or sea.' Mountains rise in the distance, but they are mountains of ice. Even the trees are blue, as so is the ground in which they are planted. The whole suggestion is that this is the fluidic region beyond the range of physical sensation.

This is confirmed by the position of the human figures. In this picture they rise from rectangular coffins. The same general suggestion is conveyed by older versions of the same Key. The coffins by their very shape suggest the limitations of third-dimensional consciousness. Now, in symbolism the part is often put for the whole - in this instance for a whole impossible to represent in a picture. The standing figures are at right angles to the coffins. This reminds us of the doctrine of mathematicians who say that the fourth dimension is one which is at right angles to all three of the dimensions we know. The child and his parents are now liberated from the limitations of third-dimensional consciousness.

They have been set free by a trumpet-blast, sounded by an angel whose flaming hair signifies that he is a personification of the cosmic Fire, attributed by Kabalists to the letter Shin. This is to remind us that this stage of spiritual unfoldment is by no means a result of the student's personal effort. It is, indeed, never reached until the states of consciousness represented by the Hanged Man and the boy on the horse have been passed. Not until the seeker for more light thoroughly understands that of himself he can do nothing, is this liberation possible. We do not set ourselves free. The Life-Power, working through us, confers the priceless gift of liberty.

At the same time, we must remember that this Angel is not some celestial being come down to earth. He is no visitor from the skies. His trumpet-call comes from the Great Within. This whole scene is a representation of interior experience.

As the number 300, the letter Shin corresponds to certain Hebrew words that are very well worth considering. One is Yetzir (ITzR), 'formation', the root of the word Yetsirah. This confirms our conclusion that the 20th Key refers to the 'astral plane', because that plane is the same as the 'Yetsiratic World' of the Kabalists. The other Kabalistic term corresponding to 300 is Ruach Elohim (RVCh ALHIM) the 'Life-Breath of the Gods.' The word Ruach has already been sufficiently explained in these lessons. Elohim, or ALHIM, refers to the differentiation into what the Hindus call the 'subtle principles of the senses,' names Tattwas. Of these there are five, and each letter of the word ALHIM corresponds Kabalistically to one of them. The letter A, attributed to Ruach or Spirit, stands for the subtle principle of hearing, the Akasha Tattva. L, because it is the letter of the airy sign Libra, represents Air, the Vayu Tattwa, subtle principle of touch. H, corresponding to the fiery sign Aries, is a symbol of Fire, the principle of sight; and it will be remembered that the 'Sepher Yetzirah' attributes Sight to the letter H. I, to which the earth-sign Virgo is attributed, represents Earth, and the principle of smell, Prithivi Tattva. M is the letter of Water, called Apas-Tattwa in India, and regarded as the principle of Taste.

This five-fold classification of the Tattvas, however, relates only to the physical plane and its five senses. When we get beyond five-sense experiences, two other senses are unfolded. Thus it is said in the Bible that the Elohim are the 'Seven Spirits of God,' and in the 'Secret Doctrine,' Madame Blavatsky says that there are two other Tattvas beyond Akasha. These are Adi Tattva, the divine flame, or primordial universal force (corresponding to the Kabalistic AIN SVP AVR, the Limitless Light), and the Anupadaka Tattva, whose name means 'parentless' (corresponding to the concentration of the Limitless Light in Kether.) These two higher Tattvas are veiled by Akasha or Ruach. In the word RVCh, the Adi Tattva is symbolized by R, the letter of the Sun, and the Anupadaka Tattva, which is the first concentration, or specialization of the Limitless Light, is symbolised by Ch, because Kether is the specialised 'field' for the primary manifestation of the Limitless Light. These two concealed Tattvas are also hinted at by the number of the letter-name ALP, which is 111, in which the digits represent a triad.

Liberation is the result of the unfoldment of the latent potencies of the cosmic fire which is within us. In the 20th Key, the symbolism clearly indicates that the special form assumed by the liberating agency is that of SOUND. This is to be taken in no figurative or allegorical sense. Sound vibration is the liberating power. That is why the tradition of a 'Lost Word', whose pronunciation is the key to magic powers, is mentioned again and again in the literature of Western occultism. That is why in the Egyptian rituals the candidate is challenged again and again, and cannot pass until he has pronounced the challenger's name. To this day, without knowing what it really means, we speak the Great Name Amen (AMN) at the end of prayers; and those of us who know something of Hinduism know what stress is laid throughout the East upon the mystic syllable AUM.

The practical occultist makes daily use of sound-vibration. Even if he has never heard of the greater mysteries of sound, the merest tyro who repeats an affirmation is using this power, whether he utter the words of his affirmation aloud, or merely recite them mentally. In the East the dominant idea of a brief sentence is expressed in a sequence of tones related to that idea, and this Eastern science of the correlation of sound and thoughts is known as 'Mantra Yoga'. I have been preparing you for it all this year, although I do not expect to make use of the Hindu mantras exclusively. You can see, however, that the essence of any thought can be determined, and so connected with one or more Hebrew letters. Thus, since all the letters have tone and color, it is possible, by exercising a little ingenuity, to find a tonal sequence for any idea one seeks to impress upon the subjective consciousness. The law of suggestion is at work in all magic. Combine suggestion scientifically with tone, and you may perform works of true 'enchantment'.

You will recall that this 20th Key emphasizes the fiery Mars-power. Link this up with the Key attributed to Mars, the one called the Tower. Liberation has an aspect of destruction, as Hindus indicate when they say that Shiva, the Destroyer, is the great Lord of Yoga. Every change in consciousness tears down cells. Human life is an invisible conflagration.

Thus the very first character in the letter-name ShIN means tooth. As the office of teeth is to break down the structure of what we eat, that the solar energy in food may be released by further processes of digestion and assimilation; so, in higher aspects of unfoldment, the fiery Life-Breath breaks down cells in our bodies. The liberation of their finer essences is what makes us aware of states of consciousness beyond thought. Long before this can happen however, the Mars-force must burn up cells that have obstructed the free flow of the Life-Power through certain channels.

Let me mention one specific instance. The spinal cord is a tube. In young children it is open at the lower end, so that the serpent-power coiled in the sacral plexus can rise through it. That is why little children not infrequently have astral vision, and why they sometimes have animal and human invisible playmates. As they grow older this tube is closed at the lower end, in order that the greatly increased activity of the Mars-force in the sacral plexus at the time of puberty may not cause the serpent force to rise prematurely and destroy the brain. This is a wise provision of nature; but when the practical occultist seeks to gain astral vision again, he must apply the Mars force to the destruction of the cells that close the lower end of the tube. But opening it again, he becomes 'as a little child'.

Knowledge of this fact has led foolish experimenters into disastrous attempts to open the spinal tube by concentrating on the center at its base. People who have grasped the truth that all this work is not done by personality, but by Life-Power, will not make this mistake. I tell you the process, because I want you to understand it, because I want you to see that it is according to law and no 'miracle' in the false, common-sense significance of this much abused word. On your head be it if you begin to concentrate upon the centers in order to hasten your unfoldment. Nobody knows enough to attempt such a thing, until long after he has passed beyond our present restricted stage of consciousness.

The letters Sh I N which I will reveal to the Kabalist the main factors in the work of the sixth stage of unfoldment. Sh stands for the cosmic Fire. I, or Yod, represents the working of that Fire in what alchemists call the black dragon of peutrefaction, that is, in the intestinal tract, which is ruled by the zodiacal sign of Virgo, attributed in the Sephir Yetzirah to Yod. N is the sign of that Fire after it has been extracted from food, water and air by the various assimilative processes, and, having been converted into nerve-force, is stored up in the sacral plexus. N refers to this because NVN is the letter of the sign Scorpio, ruled by Mars; and this sign governs the reproductive organs.

This nerve-force in the sacral plexus is raised from center to center until it energizes a center in the brain. Then we escape from the physical world of three dimensional consciousness into astral world pictured in the 20th trump. But again I say, we do not do the work ourselves. It is done in us. To be sure, we use both mental and physical exercises, but even these are not our own doing, as we soon find out, when we get to be more or less proficient. And the object of these exercises is, or should be, to deepen our understanding of the truth that of ourselves we do nothing. If any among this class suppose that I shall later give out some practical system 'breathing for development', or some method of 'fixing the mental gaze' at some spot on the body, let me say right here that nothing of the kind is contemplated as a means of spiritual unfoldment. I believe it necessary that breathing be deep and controlled; and I recommend certain kinds of breathing-practice; but the object is not spiritual development, or the awakening of psychic powers. The aim is simply to let the Life-Power exercise its control over the breathing function. Can I speak plainer? All practice of this kind has just one object, and that is to get the inadequate personality out of the way, so that the true Self, which knows just what to do and how to do it, may find no resistance to the free expression of its perfect mastery of mind and body. In the beginning, the student seems to himself to be getting out of the way. Later on, he finds that not even this is his 'own' action. It is the Angel who sets us free, not we ourselves.

I have spoken of the fact that the bodies of the human figures in this picture are gray; and in my analysis of the Key, I directed your attention to the fact that the man is on the left, in a passive posture, while the woman is on the right, and active. At this sixth stage of unfoldment there begins already to be manifest that peculiarity of the consciousness beyond thought for which we have no adequate words. It is the merging of the subjective and objective so that distinguishing between them becomes difficult. That is why the figures are grey, a mixture of black and white, which are the colors of the pillars of the High Priestess. In the astral plane thoughts are known as real things, and at the same time it becomes evident that the solidest things are as fluid, in reality, as ideas. This at first produces more or less confusion, and for this reason we find some contradiction in the records of astral experiences. St. Paul spoke of this when he said that he knew a man who had been caught up into the heavens, and added, 'whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not.'

At this stage of unfoldment the last enemy, Death, is overcome, because the experience itself is a transmutation of the cell-destroying power of death. It is an actual liberation of the higher vehicles of consciousness from the bondage of the physical body, effected by the very force which brings about the decay and destruction of that same body. It is more than this, but at this point in our work I think it unwise to enter into details. Suffice to say that this stage of consciousness when fully completed is the result of the perfection of what St. Paul calls the 'incorruptible body' which is 'sown corruptible.' The secret of sowing and reaping is hidden in the symbolism of the 13th Key and of the letter Nun, which means not only 'Fish', the symbol of resurrection, but also is the very, 'to grow; to put forth a shoot.'

The process which leads to this result is hinted at in the 'Emerald Table,' in these words: 'Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently, and with great diligence. It ascends from earth to heaven, and descends again to earth, and receives the power of the superiors and inferiors.' The principle involved is the gently, gradual and careful separation of a finer vehicle of the Life-Power from the grosser physical body. That separation if the phenomenal outcome of a state of equilibrium between the two modes of consciousness, and this state of equilibrium is depicted in the sixth Key of the Tarot. The symbolism of that Key, as you will readily see, is in many respects similar to that of the 20th. The differences, however, are quite as striking as the similarities, and I recommend careful comparison of the two pictures.

The essential meaning of the 6th Key is derived from the name of the letter to which it is attributed. Zain signifies 'a sword'. It corresponds to the first word of the quotation just made from the 'Emerald Table.' Separation, division, and as shown by the title of the 17th path, to which this picture also refers, disposition in the sense of correct discriminative classification is the primary sequence of ideas suggestions by the Lovers. The whole work of separating the subtle from the gross, of extricating the finer vehicle of forth dimensional consciousness from its bond of flesh, demands the right understanding and use of the two modes on consciousness to which I have referred in my analysis of the sixth trump.

Until this equilibrium is established, there is constant friction between the two modes of consciousness, and the very law of suggestion which brings about such seeming miracles when constructively applied, is responsible for all sorts of disharmony. The subjective mind, it should be remembered, governs the functions of all our bodies, and builds them all. When we grasp our true relation to the universal Life-Power, when we understand that unfailing wisdom finds expression, however inadequate, through our thoughts and words, when we begin to rest our lives upon the foundation of Eternal Being, our perceptions of these truths and our endeavors to live them begin to affect the structure of all our vehicles. For the subjective mode of consciousness eagerly accepts the implicits of these conceptions and perceptions, and immediately sets upon them.

It then becomes, as shown in both the 6th and 20th keys, the immediate recipient of the all-wise direction of the Life-Power. The personal objective consciousness becomes the passive observer of daily experience. This does not mean that the subjective mind becomes the ruler of personality. As I have told you before, nothing is a more mistaken course than to assume that the subjective mind is the superior term of the two modes of consciousness, nor is any error more productive of unfortunate results than the supposition that we are to depend upon the subjective mind for guidance. We are to recognize that it is the channel for guidance, to see that it is just what is suggested by the name of the 13th path, to which the High Priestess is attributed, vis., the Uniting Intelligence.

When we do this, we are truly reborn. The story of the virgin birth told in so many versions of the mysteries is re-enacted in us. The little child of regenerated personality, conceived by the Hold Spirit (the RVCh ALHIM) is born of the liberated woman, because the direct action of the Life-Power upon the subjective mind gradually builds up a new conception of human personality within us. More than this, the 'seed of the woman,' as we read in the Bible prophecy, now crushes the serpent's head, by overcoming the illusion of separateness and the lie of death. For the new man is the little child of the 20th Key, and in the sixth stage of unfoldment he it is who, thought his ability to enter fourth-dimensional consciousness, does truly lead the personal subjective and objective minds into a new world.