The voice of Isis : by the teacher of the Order of Christian mystics;

GIFT OF

~£

THE VOICE OF ISIS

THE VOICE OF ISIS

By the Teacher of
(Writer of tlj* 15

Transcribed by
HARRIETTE AUGUSTA CURTISS, P. O. IS

and

F. HOMER CURTISS, B. S., M. D., F. O. 15
Secretary of the Order.

PUBLISHED FOR THE ORDER
BY

THE CURTISS BOOK COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, 1912

Copyrighted 1912

by

F. HOMER CURTISS, M. D.
Los Angeles, Cal.

J

The Hicks-Judd Company
Printers and Bookbinders
51-65 First St., San Francisco

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
LIFE'S DUTIES.

Physical weariness preventing study — real duties and
assumed duties — household or business cares — make
all yield their lessons — how to find time for meditation
— the attitude of mind to hold — your real duty — joining
organized movements — carrying the Silence with you
— what you really worship — highest duty that which
is nearest — doing others' duties depletes you and robs
them — attainment of self-poise — nothing confronts you
that is not a step — watch for the little joys — each heart
a deep well — your star of destiny — thought-currents
moulding the body — the sanctuary, what should occupy
it — the Place of Peace.

CHAPTER II.

THE CYCLE OF FULFILLMENT.

1912 begins an important cycle — solar system enters
Aquarius — the Year of Jubilee — the lower must be
reaped first — influence of Uranus in Aquarius — cyclic
cataclysms — the Law of Divine Harmony — the swas-
tika— illustration of the dough — key-note of a storm
— every planet is tested — origin of comets — alchem-
ical changes within the earth — the effect of the stars
on each other — certain forces only now reaching the
earth — planets destined to become suns — thought-force
of a planet its key-note — Saturn the Initiator — earth the
new note — the Sign of the Son of Man — reign of
Aquarius 2170 years — cycle of fulfillment for each
nation and organization — reasons for poverty and
sickness — earth evolving toward sunhood — find the
Place of Peace.

255383

Contents
CHAPTER III.

DEGREES AND ORDERS.

The seven-fold division of the cosmos — the geom-
etry of Nature — geometrical law in the mental world
— the Great White Lodge, how constituted — what is
a Master? — Masters affinitized to all stages of evolu-
tion and classes of thought — the seven Degrees of Hu-
manity— seven Orders in each Degree — the great
Fourth Degree — it includes all advanced movements —
its Orders — how the Orders are formed — positive and
negative Orders — the Order of the 36 — the Order of
the 28— the Order of the 21— The Order of the 15—
its former manifestations — the Holy Grail — the Order
of the 10 — the higher Orders as yet unmanifested —
the great Third Degree, Divinity.

CHAPTER IV.

THE WISDOM RELIGION.

Originally given to all mankind — existed many cen-
turies before Christianity — the esoteric doctrines — the
reasons for esoterism — the Wisdom still preserved —
how to seek — fearlessness required — "when the pupil
is ready the Teacher appears" — how to come close —
disciples must be proved — compassion the result — the
union with the Divine, how accomplished — the Path of
Attainment — realization in the flesh.

CHAPTER V.

CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF HELL FIRE.

The Bible an allegory — scriptures universally true —
teachings of the Johannites — use of myths — the Path

Contents

of At-one-ment — Hebrew symbols — journey of the
awakened Soul — the Master Jesus, a historical person-
age— Our Lord crucified in Sodom — hell-fire a bogie —
its significance — the lake which burneth — symbology
of brimstone — gases gathering for cataclysms — body
sees corruption — all pass through karmic burnings —
The Christ must descend into hell — hell-fire consumes
only the false — must weave immortal garments — the
New Jerusalem.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT

After the awakening a depression — fear of the step
taken — the valley of the shadow of death — the eleventh
commandment — the duodecimal system — choosing
your standard of life — find out your business and mind
it — definition of the subconscious mind — the Super-
conscious mind — the human mind — the reason for
periods of depression — latent faults revealed — tempta-
tion to pick flaws — fight your own battles — mansions
in heaven — not a post-mortem state — aim of physical
existence — why waste time ? — set your own world right
— Universal Brotherhood — results according to the law
of harmony.

CHAPTER VII.

NARCOTICS, ALCOHOL AND PSYCHISM.

Vital centers — building of the spiritual body — oily
sheathes protect centers — opening of the centers —
must be controlled by the will — the Holy Ghost — the
sin against — no such thing as a "lost Soul" — soulless
entities — composition of alcohol — effect on the centers
— Zanoni's "dweller on the threshold" — tobacco, tea

Contents

and coffee — Masters cannot contact drug fiends-
drunkards and the Bible — karmic results — mediums —
one reason for imbeciles — "sitting for development" —
difference between spiritual communication and sub-
jective mediumship — Yogi practices — astral entities
not spiritual — Bible references to the centers or gates
— story of Job an initiation — those who climb up some
other way — this Order is the Church of Philadelphia,
the Open Door — every movement a door for certain
forces — this Order the heart-center — members respon-
sible for a movement — do not accept any teaching with-
out the confirmation of your own Divine Guidance.

CHAPTER VIII.

A STUDY OF KARMA.

Explanation of — illustrations — karma not a Neme-
sis— the Lords of Karma — karma not a punishment —
Soul-qualities to be gained — storms and disasters
agents of karma — sorrows to teach lessons — object of
karma is harmony — danger of invoking karma — Race
and World-karma — Masters must work with karma —
Souls are cells — Heavenly Man — Soul chooses its Path
— number of incarnations — Prodigal Son — humanity
compared to the blood — awakening of the personality
— each Soul in its proper place.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SELF.

The I AM — personal self not to be despised—-
necessary to the Real Self — but not all-important —
symbol of the diver — bestriding the Bird of Life —
symbol of the I and the i — faith in your Self — the

Contents

Paramhansa and the World-Egg — the Soundless Sound
— the Silent Thinker — your work for humanity limited
by the little self — take account of stock, your per-
sonality— do your own thinking — seeming humble and
real humility — claims to holiness — be up and doing —
do not dwell on your troubles — life but a school of
the Soul — pinning the self to earth — symbol of the
barnacles — spiritual ambition — the Fourth Gate — the
Soul is Divine — the self becomes the True Self.

CHAPTER X.

THE DOCTRINE OF AVATARA.

Definition — Jesus an Avatar — not a mortal — method
of appearance — advent determined by humanity —
necessity for an inspired priesthood — sacrament of
marriage — lesser manifestations — Avesha Avataras —
each movement to have an Avesha — qualifications and
limitations of an Avesha — an Avatar comes to human-
ity not to any one sect — Bible references — time of His
coming — law of cycles — cycles of the century — signs
of His coming — the 144,000 — mission of The Order of
the 15.

CHAPTER XL

A STUDY OF REINCARNATION.

A world-old teaching — proof acceptable to all im-
possible— illustrated by actor in Hamlet — what hap-
pens after death — definition of the astral-plane — Soul
chooses to reincarnate — incarnates among old asso-
ciates— how the "why" is forgotten — more Souls ex-
carnate than incarnate — many wait for special
stages of civilization — incarnate under their own sub-
ray — time between incarnations — change of sex in

Contents

incarnation — reasons for change of sex — possibility
of attaining androgynous condition — incarnation to
work for humanity — voluntary incarnation of a Great
Teacher — complex personality of H. P. B.

CHAPTER XII.

POWER.

The image of God — "All power is given unto me"
— cosmic centers of power — only man correlates all
powers — Eastern teachings — the seven mystic powers
— the supreme power — power of intellect — power of
will — power of thought — power of the life-principle —
power of speech — the sub conscious mind and its func-
tions— dreams of three classes — animals governed by
a Group-soul — use of imagination — the Kundalini or
serpent-power — overcoming fear — speech is creative —
the power of a tone — power of words of love and en-
couragement— our responsibility for idle words — how
to attain the use of your powers — not a far-off possi-
bility— must begin now.

CHAPTER XIII.

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF EVOLUTION.

DETAILS OF THE RELATION OF THE MASTERS TO
HUMANITY.

Evolution from above — spiritual ancestors — raw
materials for the earth — evolution a redemption —
seven groups of the Elohim — the seven Hierarchies —
how the Rays blend and co-operate — relation of hu-
manity to its Progenitors — early Races taught face to
face — Red Ray now manifesting — symbology of blood
— use of blood in the Bible — the Blood of The Christ.

Contents
CHAPTER XIV.

THE LAW.

But one Law, Love — descent of the Light — path of
the rocket — laws of vibration — seven manifestations
of the Law — Order, everything in orderly sequence —
Compensation from every experience — Karma not a
Nemesis but an opportunity — Vibration, working to-
ward harmony — Cycles, day and night periods of the
Soul — Balance, necessary for peace — Polarity, human
love the lower pole, Divine Love the higher pole —
illustration of the spectrum — Jesus and the Law —
love the fulfilling of the Law — polarizing to human
love-atom — lessons brought by Love — temptations
through love — conquering by polarizing to Divine
Love — the Book of Life — what will you write in it?

CHAPTER XV.

WORLD CHAINS.

Whirling, glowing ether — spirits of the Great Ones
descend — a Master's description of the cooling of the
globe — definition of a World-Chain — seven planets to
each chain — visible worlds the fourth globe of their
chains — response of consciousness — the world of De-
sire— seven Rounds or day-periods — mineral domi-
nated the First Round — vegetable dominated the
Second Round — animal dominated the Third Round —
man dominates the Fourth Round — analagous periods
in man's evolution — the vegetative period — the animal
period — the mental period — the spiritual period — the
role of suffering — the work or regeneration — man
must now stand alone — seek the Soul World — you can
function in the Divine — the Law must bring about
your spiritual evolution as surely as the evolution of
the planet. *

Contents
CHAPTER XVI.

PURITY.

The body a temple — animal desires normal to the
animal — animals guided by a Group-soul — all func-
tions pure when not perverted — become impure only
through impure thoughts — human love an expression
of Divine Love — thoughts express as bodily acts —
how to keep thoughts pure — do not investigate impur-
ity— love expressed through sex — sex forces always
creative — pure thoughts essential during union — crea-
tion takes place upon all planes — sickness, disease and
blood-sucking parasites man's own creation — sex rela-
tions permissible between legally married only — man's
law must not be violated — true marriage — marriage
holiest relation between man and woman — reason for
ceremony — creation of a body — the curse not a pun-
ishment— necessity for the pure and advanced having
children — power to create good where evil now exists.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ORIGIN OF MAN.

Orthodox idea — scientific theory — occult teaching
of Those Who Know — man not from a monkey — man's
body to climax of physical evolution, his Soul from
above— seven Great Races — seven sub-races, many
nations and tribes — the cyclic laws — majority of man-
kind belong to the Fourth Race, western nations to
the Fifth — the First Great Race, the Polar — humanity
sexless and ethereal — the Second Great Race, the
Hyperboreans — still non-physical — the Third Great
Race, the Lemurians — the egg-born race — the sexes
separate — the "fall of man" — the mindless Race — the
allegory of Genesis — the ape a degenerate offspring

Contents

of man — man endowed with the Divine Spark of mind
— the Fourth Great Race, the Atlantean — the degrada-
tion of sex — the Divine Instructors withdraw — the
flood — tower of Babel — the Fifth Great Race, the
Aryan — the equality of the sexes — the birth of the
sixth sub-race — the Sixth Great Race — the reign of
The Christ — the Seventh Great Race — the Golden Age
—the call of the prophets — the work of The Order of
the 15.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE SYMBOL OF THE SERPENT.

Serpent is Saturn, the Initiator — all Masters called
Serpents of Wisdom — serpent also the spx-force —
symbol of Adam's rib — the Garden of Eden — the
kundalini-force — its degradation by the Atlanteans —
personification of Satan — an entitized thought-rform —
transmutation — ancient serpent-worship — teachings of
sex sacred — results of celibacy — true esoteric teach-
ings must be pure — rules far more strict for the ad-
vanced— killing out results in perversion — highest
function today — woman the priestess to man — the
seven veils of Isis — woman must be the uplifter of
man.

CHAPTER XIX.

PURIFICATION VS. DEIFICATION.

The need of this lesson — the forbidden fruit — purity
and modesty must be preserved — the "queen of this
world" — misleading astral entities — creating sickness
and disease — meaning of Peer Gynt — the Ancient One
— pre-Adamite races symbolized by Lillith — truth
back of the world's conventions — the twain who are
one flesh — forming the Trinity — absolute privacy re-

Contents

quired — misled through flattery — excuses for license
— impurity reverses the triangle — apply the test of
common-sense — add something to the world's stand-
ards— the woman in purple and scarlet — marriage a
symbol of the Divine marriage — Divine Love over-
laps human love — attainment not a dream — lessons of
the unmarried — spread thoughts of purity — re-enter-
ing Eden.

CHAPTER XX.

THE MEMORY OF PAST LIVES.

Destiny of each Soul — warnings by memory of past
mistakes — why memory of past lives is not more com-
mon— memory of trials of one life enough — live in
the present — other reasons — how the memory is
awakened — illustration of Abraham Lincoln — psychics
told they were the Virgin Mary, Moses, Solomon, etc.
— how to distinguish the true — innate qualities will
manifest — law of reasonability — example of an Egyp-
tian priestess — object of re-birth — those who are told
of their great mission — the preparation necessary —
false astral teachings — how to guard against — blind
obedience never required by the Masters.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CYCLE OF NECESSITY.

The Higher Self — chooses environment — personal-
ity has free-will — all experiences in the One Life — ani-
mals lack free-will — each Soul has a special work —
may learn by experience of others — how Soul gains
control — spiritualization of the centers — danger of
opening psychic centers — rules for psychic protection
— how to test psychic messages — masters of evil and

Contents

their methods — flattery a feature — how the Masters
contact a pupil — temptations in the wilderness — fast-
ing forty days — first temptation, power — second temp-
tation, self-righteousness — third temptation, ambition
—judge leniently — cultivate the fruits of the Spirit.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE PATH.

Reality of the Path of Discipleship — renunciation —
the four Gates — First Gate, charity and tolerance —
Second Gate, harmony, conquering of fear — Third
Gate, patience — Fourth Gate, mastery of thought — the
Silent Thinker — three classes of dreams — how to con-
trol dreams — how to remodel your life — contacting
thought-currents from above — the goal of attainment.

CHAPTER XXIII.
EARTH'S FINER FORCES.

The foot esteemed in the Orient — use of silk on
feet — earth-forces contacted through feet — how the
earth breathes — effect of locality on character — mascu-
line force from mountains, feminine from sea — Kunda-
lini force and Tree of Life — allegory of Moses and the
burning bush — crops without rain — magnetic action
of sun and moon — reason for having largest meal at
noon — use of shoes.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE LIGHT.

Four days of creation — same for the student — first
day the light — second day, the firmament — third day,

Contents

dry land — period of transmutation — descent of Spirit
into matter — the end seen from the beginning — creep-
ing things of the darkness — the Star of Initiation —
light of Divine Love — effect in your life — do not be sur-
prised at trials and tests — never say "I cannot" — cour-
age necessary — Jewel of Great Price — "Let there be
Light."

CHAPTER XXV.

THE TWO TABLES OF STONE.

Law of spiritual evolution — guided by the Elohim
— force of Saturn the first to emanate — the Law writ-
ten on two tables of stone — Moses is Mikael-Jehova
— the Philosopher's Stone — law heretofore read from
the positive stone — markings on the negative stone
covered up — stone rejected by the builders — human-
ity facing its initiation — children of earth making
mock — a new cycle, an advanced step — man's boasted
supremacy unsatisfying — the woman-question a burn-
ing one — man positive on physical-plane, woman on
spiritual-plane — male Souls in feminine bodies — femi-
nine equalities must balance masculine — the two tables
of stone equal — both needed.

CHAPTER XXVI.

HEALING PRAYER.

Office of the Master, Jesus — power of a name —
effects on higher planes — the angels draw near — angels
complementary to humanity — prayer like a projectile
— the rationale of healing — the One Life.

Contents
CHAPTER XXVII.

THE SILENCE.

The Law of Growth — distinctions between concen-
tration, meditation, prayer and the Silence — How to
meditate — concentration required — importance of
breathing — rhythmic breathing — the complete breath —
directions — rules for inhalation and exhalation —
thought to be held while breathing — you are but a
channel for the Divine — entering the Silence — Dare,
Do, Keep Silent — the Voice of the Silence.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
NATURE'S MYSTIC ALPHABET.

x

Relations of sound, number, color, form — God
geometrizes — law of correspondence — Nature-shapes
geometrical — sound the first letter — how to find your
key-note — selecting your color — sorrow the base clef
in the Psalm of Life — primary colors, red, yellow,
blue — others supplementary — colors born of white — •
no pure white — red the key-note of man — yellow the
Soul-color — blue is feminine, color of the auric en-
velope— orange the color of prana — orange foods —
green the Nature-color — why Nature is green — indigo,
spiritual mind — violet not an earthly color. — 1 is unity
—2 separation — 3 the trinity — 4 the earth-plane — 5
humanity — 6 The Christ-force — 7 Divine Wisdom — 8
evolution — 9 initiation — 10 unity — the One Law.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE WORD.

Esoteric teaching — Bible not literally true — the
Word is the Voice of the Higher Self — a Ray from the

Contents

Divine — sunbeam imprisoned in the fruit — "as an Ape
in the World-forest" — the Guardian Angel — fruit im-
prisoned sunshine — The Christ-consciousness — brain
centers spiritualized — conscience and human desire —
how to distinguish — the Lost Word — Bible mentions
many gods — Epicurus' definition of an infidel — crea-
tive aspect of the Word — redemption through the
Word — the Word in Nature — how to pronounce the
Word.

CHAPTER XXX.

ILLUMINATION.

The demand for occult formulas — demanding money
for spiritual gifts — what illumination is — the story of
Jesus — the development of Will — law of plant life ap-
plied to man — we do not create power — free-will to
choose — this Order gives no formulas — control of
selfishness a great step — "Know Thyself" — occult
formulas emphasize selfishness and spiritual pride —
John the Baptist — intellectual development necessary
— the example of a life — rules for spiritual attainment.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE SYMBOL OF THE SALT.

Role of salt in Nature — synbology of salt — cata-
clysms and the salt seas — rise of continents as deserts
— cataclysms in the Soul-life — the brine of tears — the
Salt covenant — the cleansing through salt — "Ye are
the salt of the earth" — "Have salt in yourselves and
have peace one with another."

Contents

CHAPTER XXXII.
\

THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

The vision of Peter — the One Life — no such thing
as killing in its real sense — killing is shutting off the
life-force — Yogi practices — mortifying the flesh —
mental torture — cleansing the Augean stables — cruelty
of the Hindus — sacrifice human life to insects — killing
vermin — killing animals for food — spiritual growth
does not depend upon the stomach — does vegetarianism
produce greater tolerance and love — vegetarian races
not more spiritual — meat does not contain the desire
— body — passions must be controlled not starved — per-
fect man must have all functions at fullest power —
Masters who ate meat — the thought-force most im-
portant— when thinking continually of food you dwell
in the stomach — each kingdom sacrifices its life to the
higher — a change in the form only in which the life-
force expresses — this is the scheme of evolution — per-
verted by man's selfishness — their commercial value
perfects the animals — the cruelty of Nature — effect on
butchers — killing flies and mosquitoes — killing for
sport or vanity — man's responsibility to the lower
kingdoms — decide the question for yourself.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION. CONCENTRATION HOURS.

Power of mantra — the prayer of consecration —
comprehension of self necessary — the key to the mys-
teries— concentrating at noon — correlating with the
Heart Center of the Order — realization of personal
communion with the Teacher — special healing services.

Contents
CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE MEANING OF THE SYMBOL.

A symbol tells the source and object of its teachings
— the meaning of the circle — the Open Eye — the mean-
ing of the triangle — the five-pointed stars — the mean-
ing of 15 — the Motto — meaning of DARE — meaning
of DO— meaning of KEEP SILENT.

APPENDIX.

A. How to form a study-class.

B. Announcement.

C. Special Information Concerning the Order.

D. How to join.

E. Requirements.
Index.

PREFACE.

The Path to Mastery is marked by the severest self-
discipline, absolute obedience and unswerving allegi-
ance to the chosen Teacher or Guru. Throughout the
ages this training has been administered most rigor-
ously by various teachers, societies and brotherhoods,
so much so that the neophyte, once having pledged
himself to any one occult school or teacher, was domi-
nated as to what he should eat, wear, do, think and be-
lieve, having almost no freedom of body or mind.
Such training was necessary in the past — and still is
for some. The helpfulness of that method consisted
in bringing the student to a realization of the great-
ness of his calling, the littleness of the personal self,
the emptiness of the pleasures of sense and the barren-
ness of physical life as compared with the fullness and
glory of spiritual attainment.

While The Order of the 15 recognizes that the occult
law back of the outer observances required by former
movements is as true today as ever, and that discipline,
obedience and faithfulness are as requisite today as of
old, still being an advanced Order it must employ ad-
vanced methods for attaining the same ends.

OBJECTS OF THE ORDER OF THE 15.

OBJECT I. COMPLETE INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH UNION
WITH THE HIGHER SELF.

The Order of the 15 is put forth to gather together
those who are willing to face themselves and who are
sufficiently advanced to consciously take into their own
hands the responsibility for the disciplining of their
lives. Those Souls who are earnestly attracted to its
teachings and will ultimately be drawn into its ranks

xxii Preface

are those who in former lives have passed through
the severe disciplining and personal training men-
tioned above and hence should be ready to recognize
the necessity for discipline and desire the conscious
realization of the higher life so sincerely as to be will-
ing to make its attainment their chief aim in life.
They must give the same implicit obedience — not blind,
but that which is born of perfect confidence — and the
same unswerving allegiance to their Teacher as of old,
this time not because of vows to an earthly teacher or
Brotherhood enforced by penalty, but voluntarily and
gladly, with no human voice to command and no great
personality to follow. For in this case the Teacher
whom they must learn to recognize and obey is their
own divine Father-in-heaven, their Higher Self, who
speaks to them in the sanctuary of their own hearts.

The ideal put forth by this Order is therefore one
of constant self-mastery in obedience to the personal
guidance from within and prompted by the earnest
desire for spiritual growth and the ability to help
humanity to a greater realization of The Christ-con-
sciousness. The teachings of this Order are en-
tirely constructive, for if only the true is persistently
put forth the false will disappear of itself. This
teaching is the acme of individualism — Mastery, the
manifestation of the Real Self — for the individual,
and the acme of oneness for the Race. Necessarily
the fundamental assumption of this teaching is the
possibility of each Soul coming into conscious personal
touch not only with his own Father-in-heaven but
also with those Great Souls, the Masters of Love and
Wisdom, who are the Elder Brothers and Guardians
of the Race. The Order of the 15 is one of the ave-
nues through which those Great Souls are working
to lead their followers into personal relationship. It

Preface xxiii

is a testing ground for those who have passed the
tests of enforced discipline, an opportunity for them
to prove their ability and willingness to follow the
guidance that comes from within.

Naturally many are called but few are chosen, for
only those are finally chosen and admitted to full
membership who have proved their ability to stand
firm and be trained to work unselfishly for humanity
along the special lines laid down by this Order through
its agents. It is a far more advanced step to volun-
tarily give love, fidelity and obedience to a teacher
because your1 own Soul recognizes the source of the
teachings, the objects of the movement and the sacri-
fice necessarily made by the agents that you may re-
ceive the teachings, than to give such allegience be-
cause of any form of compulsion.

OBJECT 2. PERSONAL TRAINING IN THE PHILOSOPHY
OF LIFE.

The personal training of each pupil is carried on
partly on the inner planes and partly by correspond-
ence with the Teacher of the Order through the Sec-
retary. Such correspondence is open to all who need
personal help with the problems of their Soul life.
The answers will contain explanations of the spiritual
laws which apply to the individual needs of the pupil.
Definite commands will not be given, for the training
is designed to foster in the individual perfect freedom
of choice and to develop the strength of will necessary
voluntarily to apply the Law to his own problems.
The letters are signed by the Secretary merely as the
Agent of the Teacher, and only if the intuition of
the pupil can grasp the fact that the instruction given
is more than the human wisdom of the agents can
its real significance be appreciated. Necessarily such

xxiv Preface

letters are more or less cryptic and hence require
meditation that the light of intuition may reveal their
true meaning. The method of teaching employed by
the Teacher of this Order is one in which praise and
flattery of the pupil plays little part, rather the Teacher
points out the stumbling blocks in the pupil's Path to
Realization and tests both his intuition, his sincerity
and his humility. Only the determined and the cour-
ageous can win final victory.

OBJECT 3. A HIGHER STANDARD OF PURITY ON ALL
PLANES.

It is comparatively easy for one who is determined
to lead The Christ-life to curb his grosser passions,
refrain from acts of impurity and injustice and lead
what the world calls an upright life. But the require-
ments for entering the Mysteries are far more exact-
ing. Ere he can safely enter the more advanced
stages of occultism he must learn to control the cur-
rents of his thoughts, as well as his words and acts.
Hence The Order of the 15 helps its pupils to gain
a higher conception of purity on all planes, especially
in their ideas in regard to the use of the Great Cre-
ative Force.

OBJECT 4. THE ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION OF THE
BIBLE.

While many orders, societies and organizations
base their teachings upon various Eastern scriptures
or medieval teachings, this Order teaches that the
Christian Bible contains the same spiritual teachings
and the same occult philosophy found in the older
scriptures. Futhermore, it is couched in terms which
appeal to the Western type of mind, once the esoteric
key to its symbology and mysticism is known. This

Preface xxv

key The Order of the 15 gives to its students, thus en-
abling them to apply the underlying laws of every
parable, allegory and miracle to their own spiritual
growth.

OBJECT .5. TRAINING THE SENSES TO RESPOND TO
VIBRATIONS FROM ALL PLANES.

This Order offers no formulas or exercises for de-
veloping psychic powers, teaching that all such facul-
ties should evolve gradually as a natural result of
normal spiritual growth, hence they should not be
sought for or forced through special forms of con-
centration, ''sitting for development," etc. But as
the Soul evolves the senses must respond to higher
notes of vibration and awaken to higher states of con-
sciousness. When this occurs the pupil must be taught
both how to protect himself from the many dangers
of the psychic realm and also how to make the best
use of the newly acquired powers in furthering his
spiritual growth. Perhaps the earliest recognition
the pupil has of the divine guidance of his Father-in-
heaven is through symbolic dreams and visions. The
Teacher of the Order aids the pupil in interpreting
such spiritual lessons until he is sufficiently versed in
the language of symbology and methods of interpre-
tation to grasp the lesson for himself. This work is
a part of the personal correspondence with the Teacher
of the Order.

OBJECT 6. PREPARATION FOR THE COMING WORLD
TEACHER, THE AVATAR.

Like nearly all advanced thinkers along spiritual
lines and all advanced spiritual movements of today,
The Order of the 15 expects a great spiritual Teacher
to appear on earth during the early years of this cen-

xxvi Preface

tury. Hence one of the main objects of this Order is so
to train its pupils that, through their own intuitions
they may learn to recognize and respond to the influ-
ence of that Great Teacher upon the higher planes so
that when the days of the famine come, "not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord," the days when "they shall run
to and fro to seek the word of the Lord," the days
which precede the coming of the Avatar, they shall not
be deceived but shall find and know. Only by a recog-
nition of that Great Teacher upon the higher planes
or by recognizing Him through His teachings can hu-
manity hope to know Him when He appears in the
flesh.

OBJECT 7. SPECIAL TRAINING IN RECOGNIZING THE
ONENESS OF TRUTH WHEREVER FOUND.

While we have heard much of Universal Brother-
hood and its various methods of attainment, from the
Reign of Terror to the present day, still this Order
teaches a new conception of this much to be desired
state. Since the human race reflects Truth, like a
diamond reflects light, through many facets, Universal
Brotherhood can never be achieved by all men think-
ing alike. Nor do we believe such an achievement de-
sirable, for in Nature we find perfect Brotherhood
expressed in many forms, the oak and the violet at its
root receive the life-force from the same soil, air,
water and sunshine, yet each develop to perfection. In
the same way The Order of the 75 strives to send out
the One Life and permits each Soul to assimilate it
and grow to the perfection of his own individuality in
perfect freedom. Hence our idea of Universal Broth-
erhood is universal recognition of the oneness of
Truth in its various expressions or unity in diversity,
thereby manifesting perfect tolerance toward all.

INTRODUCTION.

"How often would I have gathered thy children
together, as a hen doth gather her brood under
her wings, and ye would not !" St. Luke XIII. 34.

The Egyptians recognized and adored the Produc-
tive Principle, both in Nature and in man, under the
symbol of Isis, the Universal Mother, the power of
bringing forth in humanity the Divine Child or The
Christ. The title of this volume indicates that its
teachings are designed to bring forth in humanity a
new conception of the spiritual life through the devel-
opment of the Mother-love, that divine feminine-prin-
ciple of the Soul which brings forth in the daily life.

Isis was also called the "Mother of God," the "Ce-
lestial Virgin" and the "Queen of Heaven," just as
her counterpart, the Virgin Mary, is among Christian
peoples, and was usually represented carrying in her
hand the crux ansata. It was none other than Cyril,
Bishop of Alexandria, who openly embraced the
cause of Isis and anthropomorphized her into Mary,
Mother of God.1 While we do not worship Isis or
Mary as a personality, yet we recognize that which
they symbolize. For it is only by a recognition of
the Mother-principle of Love and Compassion that we
can bring forth The Christ-child individually in our
hearts and lives, and collectively in humanity.

Heretofore most teachings of a religio-philosophic
character have been given out as from the intellectual
or Father aspect of Truth, and have in a measure
appalled humanity by a sense of the great gulfs to be
crossed and the great heights to be attained ere the
Father's house is reached. But in this volume the
teachings are presented as from the lips of a loving,

(1) Isis Unv?,iled, Blavatsky, Vol. II; 41.

xxviii Introduction

tender mother taking her children into her arms, weak,
sinful and disobedient though they be, and helping
them over the hard places by teaching them at her
knee how, by the mastery of the little things of daily
life, they shall, step by step, attain to the status of the
Divine Manhood exemplified in the Father.

This volume is composed of the monthly lessons sent
out by The Order of the 15, considerably elaborated
and enlarged. The lessons in this volume will no longer
be issued separately in pamphlet form. These teach-
ings are presented in Love and Compassion with the
earnest desire to sympathize with and help upward
and onward the Mother's struggling sons and daugh-
ters. The Great Mother holds out her arms to all her
children, be they Pagan, Jew, Christian or non-Chris-
tian, recognizing that each child must feed at its Moth-
er's breast and partake of the milk of her love and sym-
pathy no matter what the circumstances of his or her
physical life, or what their religious training.

These teachings will appeal most strongly to those
whose hearts can recognize the great Mother-love
now being poured out upon the world to prepare it
for the coming of the great spiritual Teacher or Avatar
who is soon to appear and who will promulgate the
teachings for the coming sixth sub-race and prepare a
nucleus for the Sixth Great Race.

THE VOICE OF ISIS

CHAPTER I.

LIFE'S DUTIES.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might." — Eccelesiastes, IX- 10.

"Believe thou not that sitting in dark forests, in
proud seclusion and apart from men ; believe thou
not that life on roots and plants, that thirst as-
suaged with the snow from the great Range — be-
lieve thou not, O Devotee, that this will lead thee
to the goal of final liberation." — The Voice of the
Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment I.

Many students of the higher life find themselves
surrounded by conditions which absolutely preclude
their devoting themselves to study and to the ob-
servances which seem necessary for self-development.
Life often seems to press so heavily upon them that
both body and mind are wearied to the point of ex-
haustion, and both men and women are reduced to a
state of beasts of burden. Yet even here let us seek a
remedy.

There are two classes of duties, the real duties
which must be performed and the mere superfluities
of life which we are wont to call duties but which
we voluntarily impose upon ourselves. No real
duty is given you which you have not the strength
to perform or without a purpose to be gained by its
performance. Real duties do not exhaust you, for
"as thy days, so shall thy strength be." Instead of
letting any duty arouse in your mind the thought that
it can by any possibility separate you from the Inner

30 The Voice of Isis

Light or from your spiritual development or your
real advance along the Path or prevent you from
drawing close and learning Wisdom at the Master's
feet, realize that it would be impossible for you to
take one step onward while you were leaving any real
duty undone. "But to attain true renunciation of
action without devotion through action is difficult, O
thou of mighty arms; while the devotee who is en-
gaged in the right practice of his duties approacheth
the Supreme Spirit in no long time." 1

The second class are imaginary duties, or self-
imposed tasks, which cater only to superfluities and
are fulfilled simply to propitiate the world's opinion.
The first duty of each student of the higher life is to
make a careful analysis and decide what are real and
what are superficial duties, then to so order his life
that the real, vital and first duty of caring for his Im-
mortal Soul will not be crowded out. To do this he
must look upon duty in a new light. Many persons,
recognizing the false light in which duty has been pre-
sented, strive to do away with it altogether, saying
that nothing should be done that is not a joyful
service. While we agree with this view for a certain
stage of development, still it is often necessary to re-
quire children to perform duties which later in life
they find to be joyful service. All real duties con-
front you because in your evolution you have set up
conditions which make just these tasks necessary to
build into your Soul certain qualities in which you
are lacking. In short, they are the result of the
great Law of Karma, and without the lessons they teach
your character is incomplete. Hence, they are the
things which, when they are performed and the qual-
ities they are meant to develop are incorporated into

1 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter V.

The Voice of I sis 31

your being, will give you the strength and ability
to take your next step.

We hear many say that household cares or business
duties occupy so much of their time that they can-
not find time to enter the Silence, hence, there is
no use trying to live the higher life, since the many
interruptions make it impossible. Instead of taking
such an attitude of mind, realize that such duties and
interruptions are your task and make them yield you
their lesson. Every morning select some text or
thought and fix your mind upon it during the day,
making every task, be it ever so trifling, yield some-
thing toward the main idea. If you are seeking poise,
take for your daily meditation the thought of Divine
Love. Think of this expressing itself as calmness,
unchanged and unmoved by anything. If constant
interruptions occur, realize that perhaps they furnish
just the lesson you need i. e., the power to remain calm
interiorly in the face of outward activity. Since all
real duties are your task, in them lies your opportunity)
and in their proper performance lies your victory.
Not in the performance merely, but in the attitude of
mind you hold toward them and the manner of their
performance. If you perform a duty because you
are compelled to and fail to incorporate its lesson in
your heart, at your next step you will find yourself
confronted by another duty of the same general char-
acter but far more difficult of performance, and this
will continue until you not only perform the duty
but gain the lacking quality of Soul this duty is in-
tended to inculcate. If business cares seem to hold
you in a net of sordid money getting, learn from them
the lesson of persistence; that just as no complica-
tion in business life can daunt you, so in your spiritual
life nothing shall prevent you from obtaining spiritual

32 The Voice of Isis

gold. Teach your subconscious mind to know and
realize that only that which can be brought to The
Christ for His blessing is legitimate. Learn to have
faith that you shall achieve if you learn this lesson.
There is one real duty which confronts all students
of the higher life that cannot be ignored, i. e., to de-
cide just what avenue of help is most beneficial, not
only to their own advancement, but also the one which
brings the greatest amount of practical help to hu-
manity. It is not enough to say that you can gain
good from all sources, for while that may be true,
still your personal development is not the first duty
that confronts you, for that comes as a result of living
The Christ-life and trying to help humanity. While
you should do the individual duties presented to you,
you should also lend your forces to increase the power
of the organized movements put forth by the Masters
of Wisdom for the help of humanity. Such organ-
ized movements are like great rivers which although
they depend upon tiny springs and streamlets for vol-
ume, yet unite these into something far different from
and of far greater usefulness than the individual
springs and streamlets contributing to them. Hence,
your first duty is conscientiously, prayerfully and
earnestly to seek for the special channel through
which you desire to help humanity, and when found
throw into that channel all you have to give, whether
it be money — the easiest of all things to give — or love,
devotion and thought, or service. Fear not to seek.
"The pilgrim who would cool his weary limbs in run-
ning waters, yet dares not plunge for terror of the
stream, risks to succumb from heat. Inaction based
on selfish fear can bear but evil fruit." No Soul can
consciously advance who is not helping in the up-
lifting of all.

The Voice of Isis 33

If you cannot find time to enter the Silence, still
no power in heaven or earth can keep the Silence from
entering into you if you will let it, for the Silence is
the peace of God that passeth understanding. While
doing the duties of the day your mind need not be
chained to them. It is not what your hands are do-
ing, but what your heart is worshiping that determines
your growth. If you make business or household cares
your God, you will, of necessity, retard your more
rapid spiritual advance; for as long as you are wor-
shiping a false God your spiritual evolution is being
retarded. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me/'
If, on the contrary, you make of your duties step-
ping-stones to the real worship of your heart, you will
find them a great help. Hands and mind may both
be occupied, but while using them, and in the very
performance of the task, and because it is hampering,
you must dive deep into the Divine and seek in your
own heart for the sustaining power and not depend
upon earthly surroundings to bring it to you, just as a
tree which finds itself planted in a crevice of a rock
must send its roots down deep to seek the streams
that are hidden from sight ere it can maintain its
growth. Under such circumstances, the tree often
attains greater perfection than one planted on the
plain, for the streams that run deep are refreshing and
uncontaminated, and are unfailing.

If you are persistent and determined in this seek-
ing you will gain more growth from meeting every-
thing as it comes to you than one who can sit for hours
in silence, yet who has not learned to control the chil-
dren of his own brain. There is no duty higher than
the one which lies nearest, provided it be a real duty.
It is not a real duty to try to relieve another from
doing his plain duty, for "It is better to do one's own

34 The Voice of Isis

duty, even though it be devoid of excellence, than to
perform another's duty well. It is better to perish in
the performance of one's own duty ; the duty of another
is full of danger." * Like the children of Israel who
had each to gather manna for himself alone and could
gather only enough for one day, so is each one
given strength to perform all the real duties of each
day. But if this strength is wasted in assumed duties or
is used up in doing for another that which it is neces-
sary for his development that he do for himself, then
you are depleted and your duties, like the manna gath-
ered in excess,2 become a menace to your growth
rather than a help.

The object of evolution is to gain Wisdom out of
every condition. Whatever the condition that con-
fronts you, know well that it will never leave you until
you have gained the Wisdom it is intended to teach.
Everything that comes to you in the way of trouble
and sorrow is simply the result of your own shortcom-
ings, or a lack of some Soul-quality which only such
experiences can teach you. In fact, this is the under-
lying idea of Karma; not that it is a punishment or
even an inevitable law of suffering which you must
endure to the end, but that in the course of your evolu-
tion your Higher Self finds that you lack certain Soul-
qualities, hence chooses to incarnate in certain families
and under certain conditions which will bring out the
Soul-qualities which are lacking. If you refuse to rec-
ognize the lesson, or run away from the conditions ere
they are conquered, you will have to meet them again
and again in various forms in this and other lives un-
til the victory is gained. Remember, that the hard
conditions of the environment are deliberately chosen

1 The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter III.

1 "But some of them left of it until the morning and it -bred worms,
and stank." — Exodus, XVI-20.

The Voice of Isis 35

by the Soul that it may quickly gain the qualities
needed. The instant this is done the Law is fulfilled,
hence there is no Karma or anything else that can hold
you to those conditions.

Only thus can you find self-poise, for self-poise is
the result of self-knowledge. The instant you begin
to see that it is yourself who is responsible for all the
disturbing influences that are around you and that it
rests with you to correct them, then you have begun
in the right way to gain self-poise. The first thing to
be gained is self-recognition. When buffeted by cir-
cumstances you are apt to blame your sufferings upon
your conditions or upon others, or to think some Divine
Power is punishing you, for it is most difficult to face
yourself and recognize that the trouble lies in you. But
while this is difficult to realize, still it is comforting
to know that if the fault is within, the remedy also lies
within. Once recognize this and really learn the lesson
— not only mentally but intuitively — and you no longer
have to experience the adverse conditions.

When an earthen vessel is to be used, only a cer-
tain amount of fire is needed to harden and prepare
the clay. But if it is a golden vessel to be placed upon
the King's table it must pass through a seven-times
heated furnace and be hammered and tested and puri-
fied until the gold is without a flaw; then it must be
fashioned into the shape best adapted to its purpose.
So is it with the vessel of clay which we call our per-
sonality. There must be all kinds of vessels and each
must have the preparation best adapted to its uses.

All Wisdom gained from earthly experience is meant
to help unfold your dormant faculties and make the per-
sonality one with its Father-in-heaven. There is noth-
ing that confronts you that is not a step in this great
journey called the "Cycle of Necessity." Therefore,

36 The Voice of Isis

realize that it is not your tasks or duties that weary
you or retard your evolution, but your attitude of mind
toward them, the permitting of everyday trifles to so
occupy your mind that you never let them go.

The little joys of life are just as satisfying as the
little cares are annoying. While you are facing the lit-
tle cares watch out for the little joys. Many little
joys wake the heart until like a glorious blossom it
opens to the sun. If you dwell in the little joys they
run together and soon break out into a mighty soul-
satisfying happiness which will be like a strong, deep
undercurrent of joy bearing you through all the cares
and sorrows of life. Remember this and begin at once
to look for every ripple of sunshine — open the doors
and let it in.

In every heart there is a well so deep and still that
it can reflect only one star at a time, and this star, what-
ever it be, is, for the time it is reflected there, the
guiding star of your destiny. Just as a great telescope
can sweep the heavens and focus upon any star de-
sired, so can you have for your ruling star anything
you determine to focus upon. If your star be house-
hold worries, a desire to live in the same style as your
neighbors, to expand your business, or the love and
worship of money, or any other condition, even the
worship of a personality, while it reigns it shuts out
the light from all other stars. "Ye cannot serve God
and mammon." Whatever it is that is reflected in this
deep well of your inmost heart is the God you are
worshiping; for worship is constant thought of the
thing worshiped, a constant filling of the under-cur-
rents of your mind with it, laying upon the shrine and
offering to that which you worship of your best efforts
and thoughts. Whatever it is that occupies these deep
undercurrents, whatever is poured into the deep places

The Voice of I sis 37

of your nature, even subconsciously — something that is
always there no matter how busy you may be on the
surface — that is what you are worshiping, for it is that
for which you are giving your life- and thought-force
to create. By these currents of force you are literally
moulding the atoms of your bodies into vehicles
through which that which you worship can manifest.
You also create around yourself an auric world in
which your dominant thought will be king and all
else subservient, no matter how much lip-service is
given to other things.

There is only one thing that you can rightly place
in the Holy Sanctuary and hope that it will dwell
there forever, and that is The Christ. Let The Christ
be king over all your thoughts, aspirations and de-
sires and all things shall be cared for. "He who
seeth me in all things and all things in me looseneth
not his hold on me and I forsake him not. And
whosoever, believing in spiritual unity, worshippeth
me who am in all things, dwelleth with me in what-
soever condition he may be." *

The little things of life may occupy the surface of
your thoughts, but underneath all, in the Holy Sanctu-
ary, The Christ dwelleth, and The Christ careth for
all things. Your home, your children, your business,
your petty cares are all but ripples on the surface,
while deep down in the shrine of your heart dwells
The Christ. Once having found this Holy of Holies
and placed therein the One who alone is worthy of
your worship, no matter how busy you are or how
occupied with worldly cares, in an instant your con-
ciousness can enter that sacred place and find rest
and peace and communion. Then nothing can really
fret you, for you carry the Silence within you. The

1 The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter VI.

38 The Voice of Isis

winds and tempests of earth only ripple the surface.
In the deep places all is peace and calm. You have
no fear, for you have entered the Silence and have
felt the strength and comfort and power of The Christ
within. You know that His love pervades your life
and all are safe in His keeping. All things are safe
and sure. The trials of your business and your home
do not upset you now, for you know how to keep calm,
where to find peace.

The moment you find yourself getting disturbed,
slip back into this calm, quiet interior place and find
refreshment. Let the radiance of this center fill your
life. The Christ is there, and no matter how the
storm rages on the surface or how you rock in the
little boat of your personality on the storm-tossed sea
of life, still you know that at the first call for help
you will see The Christ walking on the water and will
hear the command, "Peace, be still/*

CHAPTER II.

THE CYCLE OF FULFILLMENT

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of
man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory." St. Matthew XXIV. 30.

The year 1912 marks the beginning of a most im-
portant era in the history of the world. As the earth,
in its yearly journey around the sun, passes through
a sign of the zodiac each month, so does our solar
system during its great journey around the central
sun of this universe (Alcyone), pass through each
sign of the zodiac; but in this greater cycle, instead
of a month, our solar system requires approximately
2170 years to traverse each sign. In this great jour-
ney our solar system has reached and is now entering
the sign Aquarius, the Man from the East, one of
the four sacred animals of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse,
also one of the four great divisions of the mundane
cross. On February seventh, 1912, the mystic planet
Uranus also entered this sign, its own house, where
it will remain about seven years. Hence the year 1912
marks the beginning of the first period of the Cycle
of Fulfillment for this present sub-race.

The word fulfillment sends a thrill of joy through
the heart, but let us consider a wider meaning of the
word. A fulfillment is a just compensation for that
which has been accomplished or attempted, a reaping
of that which has been sown, both good and evil.
A fulfillment is not a recompense for mere suffering
endured, for suffering of itself has no purifying or

40 The Voice of Isis

uplifting power, it is uplifting1 only when the lesson
which necessitated it has been learned and the lacking
Soul-quality has been built into the character. This
planet has passed through much suffering and has
had its lessons to learn, both as a living entity (the
informing principle of the planet) and through its
inhabitants.

Moses the great law-giver commanded the Lord's
chosen people that, after the completion of every
seventh sabbath of years, they should celebrate the fol-
lowing year as a Year of Jubilee. This mystic cycle ob-
served literally every fiftieth year has the same sig-
nificance as the Cycle of Fulfillment. During the Year
of Jubilee all debtors were released from prison and all
slaves set free, and in this Cycle of Fulfillment all the
forces, powers and capacities within the individual,
the Race and the planet, which have been imprisoned
for indebtedness to the Law, will be released. This
does not mean, however, that any will be exempted
from paying karmic debts, but that those who were
in prison to the Law for debts will be released or given
an opportunity to work them out during this period.

The lower aspects of all these powers and forces
must first be reaped and the adjustment made upon
the lower planes ere the higher phases of the fulfill-
ment can be brought about. The reaping of the har-
vest has already begun, but ere it can be garnered into
the great granary it must pass through the winnowing ;
the chaff and dirt must be blown away and only the
golden grain remain. The elements have been cast into
the crucible and the fires must burn until all the baser
elements rise to the surface and are removed ere the
gold can be purified for the King's use.

The influence of Uranus in Aquarius will bring to
the world many great and sudden changes, both in the

The Voice of Isis 41

physical conditions of the planet and in the mental
and psychic realms of its inhabitants. "A partial cat-
aclysm occurs at the close of every 'age' of the world,
they say, which does not destroy the latter, but only
changes its general appearance. New races of men
and animals and a new flora evolve from the dissolu-
tion of the precedent ones."1 The earth will have to
endure not only changes in climate, terrible storms and
disasters of every sort, but also cataclysmic changes in
its crust ere the adjustment to the new vibration is
accomplished and the earth is prepared as a dwelling
place for the New Humanity.

The great Law of Divine Harmony2 is forever work-
ing in a seven- fold manner, as (1) order, (2) com-
pensation, (3) karma, (4) vibration, (5) cycles, (6)
polarity and (7) balance. It will be noted that vi-
bration stands in the center of these manifestations
of the Law. It is Fohat, the Breath of Eternal Mo-
tion or Thor's Hammer, the Swastika, by the action
of which the sparks of life are thrown off. The seven
aspects are like separate ingredients put into a vessel
that bread may be made. Until the motion of mixing
(vibration) brings about an amalgamation and change
of conditions in the ingredients they do not become
dough but remain flour, yeast, salt, water, etc. Thus
through vibration must the Law in its entirety bring
about the fulfillment of all earth conditions. Every-
thing, from the planets to the tiniest grain of sand of
microscopic bacterium, has its rate of vibration (key-
note) and its cyclic motion. The orbits of the planets
may be called their cycles of vibration, the wave-
length of their oscillation, but within those great oscil-
lations there are many, many lesser vibrations (cycles)
as the minute and the second vibrate within the hour.

1 Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky, Vol. II, 424.
3 See Chapter XIV.

42 The Voice of Isis

A wind storm has its rate of vibration or key-note,
and everything within its path, while vibrating to its
own keynote, must vibrate in harmony with the domi-
nant note of the storm or be swept away. This planet
in fulfilling the Law as vibration and cycles has reached
a point in the zodiac where it is entering into new con-
ditions ; where it must respond to a new key-note, its
Cycle of Fulfillment, and fulfill the Law in its entirety
or be swept away. As it responds to this new vibra-
tion everything upon it must accommodate itself to the
new conditions. The failure of certain factors to adapt
themselves will bring about the storms and cataclysmic
changes which will adjust conditions to the new note
with startling suddenness, just as a tree which remains
rigid and refuses to adapt itself to the storm will be
suddenly broken off or uprooted.

Every planet in its course of development has to
meet the forces sent forth from all the starry worlds
and systems. Those which are in advance of it will
send to it overwhelming force, almost greater than it
can bear, while those which are less advanced will draw
from it with a grasping force. But there comes a time
in the life of every planet, as well as in the life of
every individual, when a crisis is reached. In the
case of a planet this point is generally reached toward
the close of the Fifth or the beginning of the Sixth
Great Race. Then every effort is made to tear it to
pieces; all the forces, both within and without, are
exerted in an attempt at disruption, an attempt to
tear the planet or individual into separate fragments.
Only those who can endure this great cosmic testing
and come out of the fiery ordeal alive can survive and
continue their evolution. The heavens are full of wan-
dering comets, asteroids and fragments of planets, all
that is left of worlds which have gone to pieces under

The Voice of Isis 43

this great test. These fragments are destined to spend
eons of time wandering in space ere they can once more
be gathered together and obtain the force necessary
to become a planet, or until they are drawn into some
evolving planet whose vibrations are in harmony with
theirs.

Great alchemical changes are transpiring within and
around the earth that will terminate in cataclysms of
periodic activity. These are not altogether malign in-
fluences, for among the stars astronomy and astrology
agree that there are no malign and no beneficent plan-
ets, in the ordinary accepted meaning of the terms, all
is Cosmic Law. The peculiar force exerted by every
star in the firmament upon every other star is just that
force which is needed for each particular star's well
being at the time. The earth today, in entering the
first period of its Cycle of Fulfillment, is meeting the
influence of planets whose force and light have been
traveling for ages and ages, but which are only just
now beginning to penetrate its atmosphere. Some of
these forces might be called malign and some bene-
ficient, but the influence of each is necessary to the
earth's evolution. The coming of these forces is not
accidental, nor are they coming in a haphazard manner.
Millions and millions of eons ago, ere this earth was
reborn, ere the Sons of Mind breathed into the evolu-
tion of this planet the Breath of Divine Life, those
distant firmaments were set in their particular and ap-
pointed places and the influences sent out from their
centers were so timed as to reach the newborn earth
at the exact period when those particular forces would
be needed to push it on toward its fulfillment. Con-
ceive of a constant pressure exerted upon the earth's
surface from all the planets and stars, and at the same
time a pressure from within, a force going outward to

44 The Voice of Isis

impinge upon all the stars. As long as these forces are
evenly distributed the result is that the earth's crust
becomes more and more consolidated and at the same
time purified. Because of this pressure many alchemi-
cal changes are taking place. Liquids are being trans-
formed into solids; solids are being transmuted into
gases and gases are becoming luminous ether and so
forth. Thus the earth is slowly being prepared to be-
come a sun. In its present state, were the earth sub-
jected to the forces which operate through a sun, it
would be instantly volatilized into a cloud of gaseous
matter. It must be tested and tried ; not as a punish-
ment, but as a necessary preparation for its work as
a sun. No planet can become a shining, burning sun
until it has passed this crucial test, until the without
and the within are perfectly balanced and have com-
pacted it into a state that nothing can destroy or, in
occult parlance, until it has become the "Diamond
Heart." Only when a planet has obtained at-one-
ment or has assimilated all the forces of the stars and
planets and all the inter-stellar spaces, can it be said
to have conquered and become a sun, ready to take
its place in the grand procession around the Central
Sun. The sun of this solar system is such a con-
queror and all the planets and stars of our cosmos
are in varying stages or degrees of development to-
ward this great end.

So must it be with you. The pressure from with-
out cannot harm you if the within be properly bal-
anced. When the forces from within are balanced
the outer pressure will only strengthen the individual-
ity and make you better fitted to become Sons of God.
Keep the within balanced and, like the needle to the
pole, steadily polarized to The Christ-force, so that
nothing can move you. Gather the forces that are

The Voice of I sis 45

sent against you, recognize them as necessary for
your evolution, and turn them to your advantage.

The influence which each star exerts is determined
by the thought-force generated by its inhabitants, just
as the influence of each individual is the sum total of
the thoughts he continually harbors; for the aura of
a man or a planet is the sum total of the thought-at-
mosphere created by or attracted to it. The influence
of the earth upon the cosmos is said to be malign.
The struggle for supremacy, the selfishness, the greed
for gold and the vileness into which the misuse of the
serpent-power has plunged its inhabitants naturally
emanate a malign influence; but nevertheless the
earth has a great potency for good, owing to the won-
derful possibilities residing in a characteristic that is
only just beginning to be comprehended, i. e., the
result of the great test which the humanity of this
globe must pass through. The earth is said to be
malefic because upon her bosom is fought out the
great struggle between good and evil. It is here
that the Great Initiator (Saturn) stands. This is
his plane of manifestation. Here it is that human-
ity is confronted with the great problem of the crea-
tive power of sex and its higher possibilities, to-
gether with its temptations and its power to degrade
and debase. But through the lessons learned by its
terrible suffering humanity is raised to a higher state.
The overcoming and the learning of the lessons of the
creative power will give not only to man, but also
to the planet upon which this battle is waged, a glo-
rious place in the cosmos. Therefore, instead of the
earth being malign, the influence it sends out is one
of patient endurance and determined victory. Vic-
tory over discouragement is one of the greatest
victories man can win. For this reason this planet

46 The Voice of Isis

sends out into space the most wonderful melody of
all the planets, for only here is the chord of suffering
endured and discouragement conquered blended with
the key-note of the globe, the earth being the only
planet that has a base clef of suffering to complete
its chord.

The earth is the eighth note in the celestial scale,
and like the eighth note in music, while it completes
one octave it becomes the first note in a new and
higher octave. Ultimately the earth will stand forth
as the brightest sun in this system, in fact it will be-
come a Pole Star and reach into an advanced system.
It will send forth an influence without which the per-
fect evolution of all the other planetary bodies would
be incomplete. This earth is the stage upon which
is to be enacted a new and grander drama of life, and
today the characters in the drama are being assem-
bled and the stage is being set.

The year 1912 is therefore but the dawn of the
Cycle of Fulfillment, the time prophesied in the text
quoted at the head of this lesson, the Sign of the Son
of Man. This sign is none other than the celestial
sign Aquarius into which we are now entering. The
Son of Man comes in heaven because our solar system,
for the next 2170 years will be passing through this
sign, during which the forces symbolized by Aquarius
will be focused upon it. And only after the purifica-
tion, when all "the tribes of the earth mourn" can
come the "power and great glory" of the fulfillment
or the attainment of the Wisdom of the Divine Man.
This sign is represented by a man pouring water upon
the earth, symbolic of the fulfillment which comes as
a result of the pouring out of the Mother-force
(water). In Nature water is the chief factor which
makes the earth bring forth, while in man that which

The Voice of Isis 47

is symbolized by water — the great Mother-principle —
brings forth spiritual fruits.

Since this is the Cycle of Fulfillment for the planet,
the same conditions must necessarily affect its inhab-
itants. As man is the .microcosm of the macrocosm he
has within himself centers which should respond to
every vibration of the planet. Hence as the earth
strikes its new key-note man must vibrate or attune
himself to it or be storm swept by his failure, just as
the fruit and leaves of certain trees are stript from the
branches by a storm which only strengthens other
trees.

All nations are today feeling the necessity of ad-
justing themselves to the new conditions upon which
humanity as a whole is entering. This is especially
noticeable in the political conditions in China, Persia,
Turkey, Portugal and Mexico and in the industrial con-
ditions in England, Germany, France and America.
We may expect such turbulent conditions to continue
until every nation makes the necessary adjustment
to the note of the Brotherhood of Man or is swept
away, as the ancient government of China has been.

Within the nations every organization and move-
ment, whether political, economic, philanthropic, phil-
osophical, religious, mystical or whatnot, must be
shaken to its foundations, must have all the dead leaves
of old ideas and conditions stripped from it and prove
whether it be founded upon the eternal principles of
truth, justice, unselfishness, love and brotherhood or
upon the dictates of selfishness, ambition, injustice
and greed. And within the ranks of all organized
efforts of mankind each individual will have to face
similar testings and adjustments, modified by his or
her Karma, to prove the nature and worth of the
principles of life he or she is following. But above

48 The Voice of Isis

all, the new conditions will affect all those who have
devoted themselves to the study of the occult, who are
delving into the deeper mysteries of Being, who are
trying to live The Christ-life. For out of these must
be gathered the mystic hundred and forty and four
thousand who shall have the Father's name written in
their foreheads (opening of the Third Eye).

Many individuals find themselves suffering from
poverty, sickness or persistent adversities until hope
seems dead. This is because they have turned their
backs upon the world and hence find all the world
against them. They no longer serve the world and it
no longer rewards them. They suffer because, having
turned from the world, they have not yet sounded the
key-note of the new life by which alone they can enter
into its rewards. They are passing over the interval
between the two notes, and it will be longer or shorter
according to their ability to awaken to the new vibra-
tion. This period is symbolized in occult literature
by the Great Abyss. There is, however, a narrow
bridge over this Abyss builded of naked swords, which
leads to the Eternal City, over which all must walk with
bleeding feet. But there is a Hand to guide and a
Voice to cheer you if you but seek them in the darkness.
It is always darkest just before the dawn. All old kar-
mic conditions must be swept away ere the new era
can manifest. Let no earnest seeker after Wisdom
grow discouraged, but hold fast to the guiding Hand
and trust to the Power which shall bring him safely
through.

The earth could no more bear the whole force of a
sun without being consumed than you, as individuals
or this Movement today as a unit, could express that
which you are destined to express. Nor could you
now stand in the fires of spiritual force which you must

The Voice of I sis 49

ultimately transmit any more than the inhabitants of the
earth could live upon it were it suddenly to take its
place as a sun. At some period you must be Sons of
Righteousness, but you must grow into it. You must
be brave to endure the growing pains ; for you will
never find the Place of Peace which will balance and
hold all the forces under perfect control if you cannot
endure the testing, learn the Wisdom and gain the
blessings that every battle holds for you. Find the
Place of Peace. Make the pressure within evenly and
perfectly balanced that the pressure from without may
strengthen you. Be calm and rest in the midst of
the storm. Realize the absolute calm and rest which
dwells in the midst of a vortex. Repeat constantly : "I
am strong. I can conquer. My forces are not scat-
tered because they are evenly balanced and under per-
fect control." Then will the forces that come against
you form a protecting aura of strength and power
which nothing harmful can enter. Let this be your
watchword: "I am balanced. I am calm. If the Law
be with me who can be against me?" If you can gain
this realization, have no fear for the result.

Once let your consciousness realize, if only for a
moment, the peace and power of Divine Love, and
you have donned a shield and buckler which shall
preserve you in the day of trial. Some day you will
find your consciousness functioning within that radi-
ant center where Love is all-creative, and Power
is omnipotent, and Glory is unspeakable. There you
shall meet the Great Mother face to face.

CHAPTER III.
DEGREES AND ORDERS

DEGREES OF EVOLUTION.

Before taking up the spiritual aspects of the teach-
ings of The Order of the 15, it is necessary to give
a brief summary of its philosophical and geometrical
basis.

This chapter is necessarily somewhat mathematical
and technical and hence will be more or less difficult
for some minds, but if any who find it so will care-
fully re-read it after studying the chapters which fol-
low they will have little trouble in grasping its de-
tails. Its importance at the beginning of the book
is that in it is set forth an outline of The Order of the
75, the reasons for its existence and its name, its re-
lations to other Orders and its special work in the
Grand Plan.

It is said that "God geometrizes." This is a truth
founded on the fact, already well demonstrated by
science, that all forces flow and act along geometrical
lines. This is as true of the forces which create a
world as of those which create a snow crystal. The
cosmos — the known universe — is composed of seven
degrees or states of matter. These states of matter
correspond to the seven states of consciousness into
which all manifestations of the One Life are divided,
— etheric, mineral, vegetable, animal, human, super-
human and Divine.

This seven-fold division of the cosmos is illustrated
by a plant. It first exists as a seed, in which are latent
all the powers and possibilities of the mature plant.

The Voice of I sis 51

As a seed (its 7th degree) it has only the power to
imbibe two kinds of food, water (1st kind) and heat
(2nd kind). These it assimilates and builds into
growth which bursts the confining shell and permits
the sprout to be born into the earth (its 6th degree)
outside its shell. With the development of the sprout
and roots it is able to select various classes of a new
food (3rd kind), earth, and develops the strength
and stability that enables it to be born into the new
world of air (its 5th degree). Here it puts forth
special organs, the leaves, to assimilate the new food
(4th kind), the gases of the air. It thus acquires the
strength and ability to put forth a bud which soon
unfolds into a blossom. This blossom opens its heart
to another world (4th degree), the light, where it
assimilates still another food (5th kind), the emana-
tions from the sun. This enables the plant ta replace
its beautiful blossom by the fruit and be born into
a still higher degree (the 3rd). The fruit now ab-
sorbs a new food (6th kind) life-essence, which gives
it the power to sustain life when eaten and thus enter
a higher degree (the 2nd). As it ripens it absorbs
still another food (7th kind), the creative power of the
One Life, which enables it to enter the First Degree,
manifest the intelligence necessary to register every
step of its growth and development within the seed,
store up the potency and create after its kind.

The matter composing a stone manifests the geo-
metrical forms of the crystals composing it ; the matter
composing a daisy will manifest in the geometrical
form of a daisy; the matter composing an animal fol-
lows the lines of that particular species, etc. In the
expression of these various geometrical forms, states
of matter and consciousness, each has its own numer-
ical value. A crystal has a certain characteristic num-

52 The Voice of Isis

her of sides and angles, a daisy a certain number of
petals, an animal a certain number of tissues, organs,
senses, etc. The expiession of the geometrical law
of the universe can thus be traced in all the kingdoms,
for all nature-forms can be analyzed into a few single
geometrical figures and their combinations. Every
plant that grows follows certain geometrical lines,
sending its roots in one direction, its trunk in another
and its branches in diverse other directions, yet all
combining to make the perfect tree.

All growth must be along these lines ; for there
is but one law of growth behind all manifested forms
of the One Life. The above illustrates perfectly the
stages of your own growth ; so, study it carefully
when you are inclined to be impatient at your prog-
ress, and realize that all advance is but a growth
resulting from the assimilation of such food as you
are able to digest.

Man the thinker carries this same law into the
mental world and we find mankind separated into
seven great classes called Degrees, their sub-divisions
being called Orders. But it must be remembered that
these are but convenient terms used to represent the
conditions under which, and the lines along which,
evolution takes place just as a daisy is divided into
root, stalk, leaf and blossom according to its stage of
growth or degree of evolution, yet all are but parts
of the one plant.

Those great spiritual Beings — our Elder Brothers —
who have evolved through the Orders of the four
lower great divisions or Degrees and have attained all
the wisdom to be gained therefrom are now evolving
in the Orders of the Degrees above the human and
hence are called Initiates, Adepts, Mahatmas or
Masters of Wisdom according to Their stage of spir-
itual evolution.

The Voice of Isis 53

The Great White Lodge — which is the aggregate
of all these Great Souls who, through repeated experi-
ences and determined effort through many earth lives,
have obtained Mastery, firstly, over the passions, ap-
petites and desires of the personal self, and secondly,
over the forces of their bodies and the life-currents of
the cosmos — is working back of and within every
movement in any way benefiting mankind, and is con-
stantly manipulating currents of force for the advance-
ment of evolution. This body of Masters is called
a Lodge because, like a lodge, it is divided into De-
grees and Orders corresponding to and directly
connected with the various Degrees and Orders
of humanity. Every Order in each Degree is
thoroughly organized for its particular work. The
Lodge must work in humanity through Degrees
and Orders corresponding to the lines of its own
divisions and each Master must work through the
Degree and Order which corresponds to the one
in which He finds Himself in the Great White
Lodge, for such is the geometrical plan of the
universe, and evolution can advance only along these
general lines. Every avenue for aiding humanity is
taken advantage of and every channel is utilized to
the extent to which it makes its use possible, for
there is an Order of Mastery affinitized to every stage
of human evolution. Therefore every movement,
whether spiritual, ethical, social or political, that is
working toward the betterment of mankind receives
inspiration and help from the great Spiritual Beings
who are affinitized to that particular avenue of help-
fulness. No matter what lines of constructive thought
you may be interested in it will be possible for you to
receive divine inspiration from these Great Teachers
couched in terms comprehensible to you. In Revela-

54 The Voice of Isis

tion we read that there were twelve thousand sealed
out of every tribe. This symbol illustrates the above
mentioned law, namely, that it is possible to reach
the heights of spiritual attainment (Mastery) out of
every condition of life, for the twelve tribes of Israel
symbolize the twelve classes of humanity born under
the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Each great Degree of humanity is divided into seven
steps or Orders, which correspond to the seven notes
of the musical scale, and the seven color rays of the
solar spectrum, hence manifest perfect harmony or the
pure white light of the sun. They are determined
mathematically and arranged geometrically in accord-
ance with the One Law, i. e., Divine Harmony, which
must necessarily act along geometrical lines. Every
human being manifesting during the present cycle finds
itself in its proper Order in one of these seven great
divisions or Degrees.

THE SEVENTH DEGREE OF HUMANITY.

This Degree is composed of seven Orders and com-
prises all entities who have reached the self-conscious
stage of evolution, but who have not yet progressed
very far above the animal kingdom. It includes the
lowest types of savages. The lower Orders of this 7th
Degree are, as it were, the kindergarten of The Lodge,
and are just as truly under its guidance and protec-
tion as are the higher Orders. In fact the lowest Order
of this Degree overlaps the animal kingdom in that it
embraces those anthropoid apes which, as the degen-
erate descendants of certain Lemeuro-Atlantean races,
contain a spark of the Divine Fire. "Such anthropoids
form an exception because they were not intended by
Nature, but are the direct product and creation of
'senseless' man" x of those early races. "After the mid-
dle point of the Fourth Race in the Fourth Round on

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky Vol. 1, p. 207.

The Voice of Isis 55

our globe — no more Monads can enter the human
kingdom. The door is closed for this Cycle, and the
balance struck."1 Since every spark of the Divine
Fire is an emanation from a great Master, all en-
tities containing such a spark, no matter how ob-
tained, must necessarily be a part of the pody of their
Parent-Master, and their evolution must be watched
over and guided by Him until they are fitted to become
one with him. The higher Orders of this Degree include
the more advanced members of the lower races and
those members of the advanced races who may have
made physical and intellectual progress but who still
have only a low degree of spiritual development.

THE 6TH DEGREE.

The Sixth Degree, with its seven Orders, comprises
all those in the position of teachers or leaders among
the different races who are working consciously to-
ward the betterment of humanity, but who have not
yet realized their divine guidance or the assistance
given them by the Masters of Wisdom, and who, per-
haps, have never heard of The Lodge of Masters. Its
lowest Orders are composed of those untutored sav-
ages who, nevertheless, are leading and guiding those
under them toward their highest conception of Truth,
while the highest Orders embrace those humanitarian
or philanthropic workers among the more advanced
races who are earnestly seeking the physical, moral,
intellectual, or social betterment of the Race.

THE 5TH DEGREE.

The seven Orders of the Fifth Degree include
those who are more or less interested in esoteric mat-
ters ; who are not satisfied with the outer manifesta-
tions of life, but who are seeking for the Soul of
things ; who have some knowledge of The Lodge as

llbid, p. 205.

56 The Voice of Isis

a fact, and who are studying along general occult or
mystical lines.

THE 4TH DEGREE.

This Degree is graded in sequence according to
its Orders, and embraces all those earnest students
and teachers who have taken their lower nature in
hand and are deliberately striving to lead such a
spiritual life as will bring them into personal touch
with the Masters of The Lodge.

The Third, Second and First Degrees are most
sacred and above our present comprehension, so it
will be impossible to consider them at this time. For
when one enters the Third Degree he has become
more than human, he has entered the super-human.
Yet this Degree overlaps the human (Fourth Degree)
just as the human overlaps the animal.

THE ORDERS OF THE FOURTH DEGREE.

Since it is in the Fourth Degree that all who are
drawn into this Movement are now functioning we
will consider in some detail the seven steps or Orders
into which it is divided. The highest Order of the
lower (Fifth) Degree overlaps the lowest Order of
the Fourth Degree, just as the eighth note in music is
the completion of the lower octave and the beginning
of the succeeding higher octave.

Admission to the organized work of these Orders
does not rest with any organization save the Great
White Lodge, and it alone can grant or withhold
membership, and it does this upon the inner planes
with often no outward recognition on the physical
plane. The object of these Orders of Evolution is the
spiritualization of matter after the crucifixion is com-
pleted.

The mathematical law for the formation of the
Orders is as follows, each Order taking its name
from the sum of the digits composing its number:

The Voice of Isis 57

FIG. No. 1. FIG. No. 2.

ORDERS THE CROSS OF

MATTER

1. 1= :1 Positive Negative

2. 1+2-3

3. 1+2+3=6

4.. 1+2+3+4=10

5. 1+2+3+4+5=15

6. 1+2+3+4+5+6=21 21

7. 1+2+3+4+5+6+7-28

8. 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=36

28
36

The cross was not first introduced in the Christian
Era, but is the most primitive of all symbols, repre-
senting the real crucifixion or involution or the descent
of Spirit into matter where it must be crucified upon
the mundane cross and pass along the geometrical
lines of evolution. The cross, being the fourth geomet-
rical figure, represents the completion of involution,
the turning point where evolution begins, or the
Fourth Degree. This cross is also the Tree of Life,
planted in the midst of the Garden when mankind
fell into generation, by whose fruit, if ye eat thereof,
"ye shall become as Gods." We will therefore begin at
the foot of the cross with the Order of the 36 which
may be said to be the root of the Tree of Life, or the
Guardian Wall around the foot of the cross.

NEGATIVE ORDERS

THE ORDER OF THE 36.

This Order is the negative aspect of the highest
Order (1) of this Degree or is the point where the
force of the 1 enters the earth-plane. Naturally the
persons composing this Order are those who through
their normal evolution have become aware of The

58 The Voice of Isis

Christ-force working in them and in humanity as
a whole and who have lifted up their eyes to the
cross and realized something of the meaning of the
crucifixion upon it. As long as Christendom worships
The Christ crucified it is but driving the nails more
firmly, for The Christ is crucified by being immersed
in matter that matter may be redeemed; a voluntary
sacrifice to which man's disobedience has added cruelty
and suffering.

The Master Jesus is the great Hierarchical Ruler of
the Order of the 1 and consequently must overshadow
its negative expression, the Order of the 36. That
which is known as the Christian religion is a manifes-
tation of this Order on earth, but this Order also em-
braces all those, in whatever church, society or organ-
ization, who have recognized the divine Christ-force
within them and are determinately seeking to balance
this force in their lives.

This Order receives its name from the sum of the
first eight numerals. Eight is the number of evolu-
tion and therefore, according to mathematical laws,
evolution alone can admit a candidate to this Order.
The promulgation of the Wisdom Religion in this
country is an attempt to build up a strong Guardian
Wall around the cross, by teaching the vital truths
back of the symbols of Christianity ; an attempt to cul-
tivate and to water the tap-root of the Tree of Life
in humanity.

Today the Order of the 36 includes all who have
imbibed anything of the esoteric truths, and are en-
deavoring to both live and teach them, be they called
Christians, Theosophists or by any other name. It is
the preparatory school of the followers of The Christ.
It also stands for the great Universal Church (not
necessarily orthodox) and embraces all who are will-

The Voice of Isis 59

ing to sanctify themselves and work consciously for
humanity. The Order of the 36 is the first Order in
which the candidate consciously decides to enter "The
Path" which leads to Mastery. All of its members
have been acquainted with poverty and suffering, if
not of body and estate, then of mind, through which
they have gained such a realization of the difference
between The Christ-force and the man Jesus that they
can recognize the universal Christ-principle working in
humanity even when expressing itself through other
avenues than the teachings of the Master Jesus. This
realization is the first step up the Mount of Initiation.

THE ORDER 'OF THE 28.

After candidates have entered the Order of the 36
and have proved themselves worthy to continue by the
character of their subsequent lives, at once a new Order
forms itself and grows naturally out of this Order,
just as new lines are added to a crystal. This new
Order is composed of those Souls who have advanced
a little beyond their fellows, and would correspond to
the inner section of any occult organization put forth
previous to The Order of the /f.1 It includes those
in the orthodox churches who are no longer satisfied
with the dead-letter interpretations of the Scriptures,
but who have listened to the voice of their own Father-
in-heaven and are willing to express a greater toler-
ance and accept broader ideas on spiritual matters.

This is the Order of the 28. It is the sum of the
numerals of 7, the mystic feminine number. The end
and aim of this Order is the unfolding of the teachings
of Isis — the Mother side of the Godhead — and the
evolution of the feminine nature or Soul-principle
through the power of love, in contradistinction to in-
tellectual attainments.

Van. 1, 1908, at Philadelphia, Pa.

60 The Voice of Isis

Isis represents the power to bring forth in humanity.
Hence the geometrical figure symbolizing this Order is
the square or the sacrificial stone on which the lower
self is sacrificed that the power to bring forth The
Christ-man may be attained.

It will be noticed that the Orders thus far considered
are upon the negative side of the cross. (See Fig. 2.)
They must therefore be developed and given to human-
ity by the negative action of natural development. In
other words, a Soul will grow into these two Orders
(36 and 28) unconsciously as it advances toward free-
dom, with very little individualized help; but both
Orders are advanced collectively by the Masters of The
Lodge.

Admission to these Orders depends upon natural
law — the Law of Growth. A person enters them as
soon as he becomes fit, either by the preparation af-
forded by life itself, or after the successful passing of
well defined initiations upon the inner planes, often
without the consciousness of the personality.

POSITIVE ORDERS.

In accordance with the laws of evolution whenever
Souls advance beyond the general development of an
Order, naturally a new Order forms itself, just as a
bud springs from a branch. In fact two new Orders
(21 and 15) form themselves simultaneously, both be-
ing on the positive side of the cross.

THE ORDER OF THE 21.

The Order of the 21 is the sum of the numerals of
6. The 6 is the number of The Christos-principle or
the generative power of the Great Creative Force of
the Father, manifesting in and through the universe,

The Voice of I sis 61

bringing forth all forms along geometrical lines. The
6 indicates the harmonizing of Nature, in its highest
possibilities, through the operation of The Christos or
the informing principle, the laws of which are taught
in this Order. As Nature grows geometrically and
in harmony, so this Order teaches man to evolve in
harmony by a study of the laws of geometry and
music as expressed through form, color and number,
all of which are governed by the Law of Vibration.
This, therefore, is pre-eminently the Order concerned
with the laws of Nature and their bearing on the
evolution of humanity. The persons drawn into this
intellectual Order are those who have a natural trend
toward geometry, music, color, or mathematical
studies.

THE ORDER OF THE 15.

\ •''

Many Souls grow naturally from the Order of the
28 into the Order of the 21, while those who have
specially developed their love-nature pass into The
Order of the 15, it being the Order that reaches into
the higher octave of love, i. e.t Divine Love, yet it is
possible to be in both Orders at the same time.

These two Orders (21 and 15) are put forth sim-
ultaneously because they are closely interwoven, the
one (21) representing the Head, or the development
of the Intellect, and the other (15) representing the
Heart or the development of Intuition; the one the
masculine, the other the feminine force.

The Order of the 15 is the sum of the numerals of
5. The 5 is the great mystical number of humanity,
and was held most sacred by the ancients. On their
Temples where the numerals were carved in stone the
number 5 was inlaid with pure gold. The numeral
5 stands for humanity, hence this Order ordains to
help humanity to reach the highest state of evolu-

62 The Voice of I sis

tion. Its teachings deal with the human every-day
problems which must be mastered ere man becomes
more than man.

This is the Order of Transmutation or Alchemy.
And while geometry and music are touched upon, more
attention is given to the transmutation of all the baser
qualities, including the elements or inner forces of
all life, into the spiritual gold of Regeneration through
the power of Divine Love.

The Order of the 15 has always existed, and traces
of its various manifestations can be found in ancient
and medieval history. The Order of the Annuncia-
tion, held in such high esteem by royalty today, is
said to have been founded by Count Amadeus of
Savoy, but long before that, and all through the Mid-
dle Ages, the number 15 was celebrated with many
religious ceremonies and observances, the Order of
the Annunciation being but an adaptation to Romish
ideas of the ancient Order of the 15. The emblem
of the Order of the Annunciation is a star on which
is represented the annunciation surrounded by fifteen
love-knots. This also symbolizes The Order of the 15,
for its mission has always been, even in the darkest
periods of the world's history, to announce the possi-
bility of bringing into manifestation (birth) The
Christ-force, which is brought about by the spread of
tolerance, liberty and brotherly love. The Masons,
also, retain a degree of this Order, called the Degree
of the Fifteen, its main objects being devoted to the
spread of "Toleration and Liberty, against Fanaticism
and Persecution, political and religious; and to that
of Education, Instruction and Enlightenment against
Error, Barbarism and Ignorance."1 These instances
all show that The Order of the 15 has always been

1 Morals and Dogma, Pike, p. 160-171.

The Voice of Isis 63

the Open Door through which the Light of the Great
Law has reached humanity and shown it how to evolve
above the light of any one candlestick, be it ever so
golden or its light ever so brilliant, and how to behold
the Divine Law which imparts the Light to all, giv-
ing to each as much as his candle is able to manifest
in the world.

The Order of the 15 is the Order of the Holy Grail
whose lessons prepare for the final Initiation into the
Order of the Flame. It is an expression of the
Mother-force, the power of bringing forth. It is not
what you know or believe, but what you bring forth
in your life that admits you into full membership in
this Order.

The two Orders (21 and 15) have already been
formed on the earth-plane, and as they are upon the
positive side of the cross (Fig. 2) the members of
these Orders must come into direct personal touch
with the workers of the Great White Lodge. This
has already been done and a personal contact has
been established. Like all other Orders, however,
membership does not depend upon recognition by any
embodied teacher or teachers, but must be a conscious
step taken voluntarily by each Soul alone.

Having taken this step alone, apparently in the
darkness, the pupil will be brought to the initiation
which his demand will surely bring about. He will
meet this initiation either unconsciously through nat-
ural worldly events (events, however, which he will
have no difficulty in connecting with this great step),
or consciously in the higher astral. The experiences
met with at this period will not consist of a few great
Soul-stirring events, which when once passed entitle
him to admission, but will consist of events which will
bring to him a repetition of experiences which will

64 The Voice of Isis

force him to face himself and bring to his conscious-
ness every secret and open fault; events which will
force him to gaze into the eyes of the self that he has
created out of the personality which his Real Self (or
Ego) has created to train and function through; the
self built up out of the thought-forms he has created.
It therefore contains the essence of the desires, am-
bitions, passions and aspirations of his personality. It
is the Dweller on the Threshold that each must meet,
recognize as his own creation, and conquer.

There can be no dodging the issue or turning back
from these events, for it is a mathematical law that
he cannot pass on until he has acquired strength to
conquer these faults, one by one, as they are presented
to him. If he refuses, or is unable to conquer, his
Soul must wait and work in the lower Orders until it
grows stronger, and until another cyclic opportunity
for advance is afforded.

It is not a matter of pledges or words. He can
never obtain membership in this Order until he is
able to live the earlier teachings and demonstrate to
the world by his life that he has at least passed the
earlier tests, and has made some successful attempt
to "Let your light shine before men," and that he has
been "born again," and has been marked with the
"New Name" given by his Father.

HIGHER ORDERS.

The Order of the 10 has not yet been openly estab-
lished upon the earth-plane, although its teachings have
been given esoterically for many centuries. It was
from a Master guiding this esoteric Order that the
teachings of the Wisdom Religion were first given out
to the Western world.

The Order of the 10 is the Order in which the
teachings of The Christ receive their completion upon

The Voice of Isis 65

the earth-plane. It is necessarily composed only of
those who can receive direct teachings from the Mas-
ters of Wisdom. These are the disciples who "sit at
the feet of the Master."

The Order of the 6 is the sum of the numerals of
3 and will be brought to humanity by the coming
Avatar.

The Order of the 3 and the i. These perfected
Orders are beyond the comprehension of man in
his present state of spiritual development, the Order of
the I overlapping a new (Third) Great Degree, the
Divine.

CHAPTER IV.

THE WISDOM RELIGION.

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom; and with all thy getting get understand-
ing. . . . She shall give to thine head an orna-
ment of grace : a crown of glory shall she deliver

to thee."

Proverbs IV. 7-9

The Wisdom Religion is the one original religion
given to all mankind. The Greeks called it Theophania1
or "the science of the manifestation or appearance of
the gods to men." It is the heritage of the human race
and no one nation or people can claim it as theirs to
the exclusion of others. All so-called religions—
which are racial and limited — are but the various hu-
man interpretations of the one Wisdom Religion by
various peoples, each adapting it, according to their
racial type of thought, to their particular point of
view, and limiting and overlaying it with their hu-
man misconceptions. It is the one or first and Supreme
Wisdom. Pythagoras termed it, "The Gnosis or
Knowledge of things that are." This seems to be the
best definition, for it makes the great distinction be-
tween the teachings of many modern so-called re-
ligions— which deal almost entirely with theories about
things which even the propounders thereof do not pre-
tend to know, but which they expect their followers to
accept because these theories have been accepted by
their denomination for ages — and the One Religion
which was taught to man only by those who absolutely
knew.

1 Theos, gods; phaenomai, appear.

The Voice of Isis 67

Many centuries before the origin of the Christian
religion, there existed in the ancient land of Atlantis,
and later in Asia, a Wisdom Religion which spread
over the then known world. Fragments of this re-
ligion, carved upon temples, pillars and tablets by the
ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese and Hindus,
also by the Persians and Mesopotamians, are still de-
cipherable. In the beginning this one Wisdom Re-
ligion was taught by the Divine Instructors, the Sons
of God mentioned in Genesis, and later by the Sages
of India, the Magians of Babylonia and Persia, the
Prophets of Israel, the Hierophants of Egypt and
Arabia, the Seers and Philosophers of Greece, and
by the Master Jesus and the initiated disciples of the
early Christian Church, all of whom acquired this
wisdom and knowledge through the regular channels,
i. e f through the mastery of the flesh and conscious
communion and union with the Divine. Nor has it
ever ceased to be taught by advanced Souls who gained
their knowledge of this divine wisdom in the same
way. Never, even during the darkest ages, has the
world lacked the testimony of some Great Soul who
attained to this divine knowledge in the one and only
way, nor will the time ever come when this testimony
is lacking. But "as usual, that which is and was from
its beginning divine, pure and spiritual in its earliest
unity, became — by reason of its differentiation through
the distorted prism of man's conceptions — human and
impure, as reflecting man's own sinful nature." x One
application of the law "So the last shall be first, and
the first last," is that the one Wisdom Religion shall
prevail upon the earth during the last Races of human-
ity, as it did during the first. The great difference
is that in the beginning humanity was like a child

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. 1, p. 631.

68 The Voice of Isis

learning the great truths from the Gods direct, much
as a child learns to lisp its prayers at its mother's knee.
Later, when humanity grew up and entered the
world's arena, it had to put into practice the lessons
inculcated in its childhood. And at the last, when hu-
manity has reached the stage of manhood, we have the
promise that the Race shall become once more pure
and innocent, not, however, with the purity and inno-
cence of ignorance, but of Wisdom. In other words,
it will again practice the precepts of the Wisdom Re-
ligion given by the Father in the beginning, so that
the condition at the last shall be as it was at the first,
completing the old and becoming the first step of a new
and grander dispensation as yet undrempt of by man.

"There was in every ancient country having claims
to civilization, an Esoteric Doctrine, a system which
was designated WISDOM, and those who were devoted
to its prosecution were first denominated sages, or
wise men." 1

The Wisdom Religion has always been divided into
two parts; that which — while essentially divine, per-
tained, nevertheless, to matters comprehensible even
to the unenlightened and necessary for their progress
and daily life — was called the Exoteric or Outer Doc-
trine, and that which was given only to initiated disci-
ples, called the Esoteric or Inner Doctrine. The Wisdom
Religion deals with "things that are," and hence is not
a religion of ritual and dogma, although it gives to
them their soul. It takes but little thought to realize
that all "things that are" must have deep, under-
lying causes which produce the effects. These
causes, naturally, can be known and understood
only by the few. In every science, while much
can be given to the world at large, still the

1 Quoted by The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. Ill, p. 55.

The Voice of I sis 69

deep, mysterious workings of the science — be that
science what it may — can be discovered only by
one who has made it a life study, devoting all his time,
thought and enthusiasm to its inner and less apparent
causes. Unless there were some who could and did
thus study, no true idea of that science could be given
to the world. Every experiment must be proved in the
laboratory ere it can be given to the world — the sci-
entist must know. If the many confusing technicali-
ties were laid before the general, untrained public, they
would tend not only to confuse, but also to discourage,
and perhaps work great harm. For instance, a poi-
sonous drug, which in the hands of a trained physician
may be wisely experimented with and its greatest po-
tencies and powers to save life discovered — as well as
its dangers — if given to the general public might prove
disastrous.

Thus it is with the Wisdom Religion. It can reveal
its inner truths only to those few who have devoted
many lives to its study and who have thereby evolved
to a point where it can be taught them direct from
God, for it would be unwise and dangerous to give
many of its mysteries to untrained disciples, be they
ever so earnest and sincere. Hence the Esoteric or
Inner has always gone hand in hand with the Exoteric
Doctrine. The Esoteric when mentioned outwardly
at all, is set forth in parables and symbols so that only
those whose hearts are illumined by the light of The
Christos can understand the deeper meanings, yet such
parables always contain an obvious moral precept which
is helpful to all who receive it.

Many ask, if the Wisdom Religion is so true and of
such benefit to humanity, and is possessed in its full-
ness by the Masters of Wisdom, why is it hedged about
by so many apparently unsurmountable difficulties?

70 The Voice of Isis

and why have the Masters permitted so much misun-
derstanding and error to be given to the world as
truth? and many similar questions. We read, "Yet
there must have been some very good reason for it,
since from the very dawn of History such has been the
policy of every Hierophant and 'Master.' . . . From
the very day when the first mystic, taught by the first
Instructor of the 'Divine Dynasties' of the early races,
was taught the means of communication between this
world and the worlds of the invisible host, between
the sphere of matter and that of pure spirit, he con-
cluded that to abandon this mysterious science to the
desecration, willing or unwilling, of the profane rabble
— was to lose it. An abuse of it might lead mankind
to speedy destruction ; it was like surrounding a group
of children with explosive substances, and furnishing
them with matches. The first Divine Instructor initi-
ated but a select few, and these kept silence with the
multitudes." 1 That is, only those were initiated who,
of their own free-will and desire had shown a deter-
mination to penetrate into the hidden mysteries, and
a capacity to use the knowledge gained for the good of
all, under the direction of their Instructors. When,
however, seekers whose motives are pure and selfless
are determined to penetrate into the Inner Mysteries
and earnestly ask for guidance, the way to the desired
knowledge always opens. For while it is dangerous to
reveal the Inner Mysteries to those whose hearts are
unprepared, it is equally dangerous to withhold them
from those whose hearts are ready.

There must be absolute fearlessness, for "the path-
way to the Gods" leads through the horrors of the
lower astral world, whose debasing influences and
obsessing entities will and must wreck their will upon

1 The Secret Doctrine, Vol. Ill, p. 52.

The Voice of Isis 71

the disciple who opens his doors to that world unless
he has grown strong and fearless through a special
training which has brought about an influx of suf-
ficient divine Power and Wisdom to enable him under-
standingly to cope with such forces instead of being
used by them. The allegory of Daniel cast into the
lion's den, also the three prophets in the fiery furnace,
are illustrations of this point. Each walked unharmed
amidst his fearful surroundings because The Christ-
force — "the Angel of the Lord" — protected him.

No matter how eagerly disciples desire these secrets
it was, and still is, the duty of every Teacher of the
Mysteries to withhold all esoteric instruction from
them until, by the character of their lives, they have
proved that they are ready to be entrusted with it.
It is not enough for them to intend to do their best;
it is absolutely necessary that they acquire Wisdom
to cope, like Daniel, with all conditions and forces
of life. Such Wisdom can only be acquired after
many lives of experience and severe testing. Hence
no mortal can tell when he or any other is ready for
initiation into the Mysteries. Only those Divine
Instructors who have watched him life after life, and
have noted how he has borne himself in the various
vicissitudes of mortal experience, can judge as to his
attaining Mastery in a particular incarnation. Hence
the occult axiom, which is literally true and has never
failed, "When the pupil is ready the Teacher appears."
The Teacher here referred to is usually not a super-
human Being, but is that person, teaching or thing
which will give the seeker the knowledge needed
for his next step. And only when no human being
or accessible teaching can fulfill that need does a
more than human Teacher appear. The pupil is not
the judge of his readiness for this step, for he is not

72 The Voice of Isis

ready until he has gained the ability to recognize his
Teacher on the inner planes. Until that time it is
his duty to take the steps, one by one, as life presents
them, until a next step brings him into the presence
of his Teacher. To come close to the Masters strive
to do the works of the Masters, for the more you
strive to do those works the closer you come. An
apprentice works apart from the Master-workman
while learning the preliminaries, but when he be-
gins to do master-work he works under the direct
supervision of the Master-workman and becomes his
helper.

Solomon, referring to this Esoteric Doctrine says,
"with all thy getting, get understanding," and David
emphasizes this point when he says, "The fear of the
Lord (or the Law) is the beginning of Wisdom."
For until we gain a wholesome fear or, to speak more
correctly — awe, of the Great Law which the Wisdom
Religion teaches, the disciple is not ready even to set
out consciously on the Path of Attainment. The first
conscious step upon the Path is a comprehension of
the sacredness and the desirability of the spiritual
Wisdom which is spoken of in the Bible as the Pearl
of Great Price, for the attainment of which the dis-
ciple gladly sells all that he — the personal self — has.
When he has thus gladly sacrificed his all for it he will
realize that it is not something to be talked about idly
or displayed before men, but something to be sought
for in the inner sanctuary of the heart.

The disciple must be willing to be proved worthy
ere he can hope to receive. Solomon says, "When
Wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is
pleasant into thy soul ; discretion shall preserve thee,
understanding shall keep thee." Every candidate for
initiation must feel within himself the Great Self, the
Mighty Lord and Protector. The I Am or Ego Suum

The Voice of Isis 73

shows His full power to each one who can recognize
the Still Small Voice, and this recognition can only
come through the cultivation of the spirit of Love.

We attain to a knowledge of this Mighty Lord, our
Father-in-heaven, when we do the works of our Father.
First and foremost of these works are the manifesting
in our lives of Divine Love and Compassion. He who
says he has realized the Divine within himself, yet only
as power for his own upliftment and who uses it only
for his own advancement, has never even approached
that realization. Such receive the condemnation of
those who prophesied and did many wondrous works in
His name: "I know you not whence ye are; depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity." 1 The first action
of the Divine in the heart is to awaken Love and
Compassion for the Race. God is Love, and the dis-
ciple cannot draw near to or have a realization of
God without an awakening of that divine Love and
Compassion which is not limited to individuals, but
which is poured out for all the world — for God so loves
the world that He continually gives His only begotten
Son — the emanation from Himself, Love — that whoso-
ever believeth on this Son shall have eternal life.

He who feels another's sorrow, who forgets self for
others, has realized, in a measure at least, the Divine.
And while the works of the Father are what the world
would call magic, still the greatest miracle of all is
the miracle of loving. How few there be who really
and truly love their fellow man ! How few there be
who forget themselves, their own pleasures, their own
so-called rights, their own happiness for another, for
the meanest of God's "little ones," for perhaps even a
dumb brute. He who feels another's sorrow has
touched somewhere upon the Divine within. There-

lSt. Luke, XIII. 27.

74 The Voice of Isis

fore when you would attain to this realization, empty
out the personal and let the Divine Father overshadow
you and shelter and feed you with the mystic Bread
of which when ye eat thereof ye shall hunger no more,
neither thirst.

The Wisdom Religion teaches the means of accom-
plishing this union of the human with the Divine ; for
there is no possibility of attaining Mastery or of en-
tering the kingdom of heaven unless the human is in-
dissolubly linked to the God within. It is the firm be-
lief in the possibilities of such union that helps one to
attain it. This is the only possible Path of Attainment.
The more this truth grows upon the candidate the
greater the power of the Immortal God to manifest
through him. And as the manifestation of the God
within grows and waxes strong the Man of Sin, or
the mere animal man, dies or is literally consumed in
the divine ardor. As St. Paul says : "The first man is
of the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from
heaven .... and as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." l
The Wisdom Religion not only teaches this, but the
Esoteric Doctrine signifies much more, for it teaches
the possibility of the recognition by initiated mortals,
not only of the actual presence on earth of a God or
Gods, but the actual blending of the Higher Self, the
personal God, with man, His representative on earth.
But to accomplish this, the candidate must feed his
spiritual body on this divine realization just as the
physical body is fed with mortal food ; for the bread
of God is that which cometh down from heaven and
giveth life unto the world.

*/ Corinthians, XV. 47-50.

CHAPTER V.

CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF HELL FIRE.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented
day and night forever and ever." — Revelation,
XX. 10.

The Christian Bible, like all great scriptures, is an
inspired setting forth of the one Divine Wisdom in
symbolic language. It deals with principles, not things.
It describes qualities, forces and spiritual events, not
historical men, places or physical events. It is "A rep-
ertory of invented personages in its older Jewish por-
tions, and of dark sayings and parables in its later
additions, and thus quite misleading to anyone igno-
rant of its Esotericism."1 It is less understood than
more ancient scriptures, because all so-called study of
it has proceeded upon the hypothesis that it is intended
to present historical facts. In reality, no great scrip-
ture is historically true, nor is it supposed to be by
those who, having been initiated into its mysteries,2 un-
derstand something of their inner meaning. It is time
this fact is more widely known.

All scriptures and myths are collections of allegories
and parables, grouped and arranged to illustrate sym-
bolically some feature of the growth of the Soul.
Hence, while not historically true, as modern re-
search has abundantly shown, they are universally true,
because they illustrate phases of experience through
which every Soul passes during its evolution toward
conscious union with the Divine. As far back as the
early Gnostic sect of the Johannites — the forerunners

* The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. Ill, p. 81.
3 See Matthew XIII. n.

76 The Voice of Isis

of the Crusaders — who claimed to be the only true
initiates into the secret mysteries of Jesus and who
claimed direct apostolic descent from St. John, it was
taught that the stories as narrated in the Gospels were
but allegories. Whenever possible, familiar historical
incidents, names and places are used to illustrate the
points more clearly, and also to inculcate a moral les-
son for "them that are without," i. e.f not initiated,1
who are able to grasp only surface truths. Since
scriptural stories and events do not agree with the
proven facts of history (except incidentally, here and
there), the Bible has either been accepted in a literal
sense and slavishly followed, even against all common
sense and justice, or it has been mutilated and only
such parts as can, seemingly, be "proved" accepted,
and the rest rejected or discredited. Bloody wars have
been waged in efforts to harmonize its discrepancies,
and sanction found in it for everything from debauch-
ery to the buying and selling of brothers and sisters in
slavery.

In studying the seemingly preposterous myths and
legends of gods and goddesses found in more ancient
scriptures, we have no difficulty in understanding that
they are not supposed to have an accurate histor-
ical basis, even though referring to historical or as-
tronomical events. We do not attempt to pin them
down to actual facts, but seek for the hidden meaning
pertaining to the spiritual development of mankind
which we know they must contain. The Bible, instead
of dealing with gods and goddesses, deals in exactly
the same way with personages and places, some of
which are taken from history, not because their use
in this way pretends to be history, but because the his-

1 "And he said unto them, unto you it is given to know the
mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all
these things are done in parables." — Mark IV. n.

The Voice of Isis 77

torical facts readily lend themselves to the illustration
of the lesson intended. Other names and places used
are just as fictitious as those used in the ancient myths ;
but they all have their inner, occult significance — the
numerical value of the very words themselves have a
definite meaning — and are purposely selected to indi-
cate steps in the Path of At-one-ment up which each
Soul must journey.

The Old Testament, written for the purpose of teach-
ing the Divine Truths to the Hebrews draws its sym-
bology largely from Hebrew or Chaldean history, and
expresses its symbols in terms of Hebrew thought.
But like the scriptures given to other nations, while
the symbols used are expressed in a particular race-
thought, nevertheless the true meaning or the hid-
den lesson applies to all mankind. The New Testament
is the symbolic history of The Christ-force or prin-
ciple1 in each heart — the journey of the awakened Soul
from the time of the birth of The Christ in the heart
to the crucifixion on the cross2 of material desires, the
final victory of the spiritual over the physical and the
resurrection and immortality of the flesh — all of which
must be experienced in some incarnation by every re-
deemed Soul.

It makes very little difference, as far as the truth
of the teachings is concerned, whether or not a man
by the name of Jesus ever lived. It is the teaching
that counts. The multitude see the beautiful story,
which is filled with living truth, and those who are
ready sense the inner meaning, thus each one gets
exactly what he is ready to receive. As a matter of
history, there was a Great Master by the name of
Jesus — the greatest Avatar yet come to earth — who did

1 See St. Matthew XXII. 41-4.

2 See lesson on "The Meaning of the Cross."

78 The Voice of Isis

pass through the experiences symbolized in the Bible
during the pilgrimage of His Soul toward Mastery.
The stories are woven about this great Initiate and
historic events and places are adapted to carry out the
symbology. And His teachings remain today the most
sublime ever given to man. The Christian Bible is the
deepest treatise on esoteric or Divine Wisdom ever
given to man ; for it contains all the accumulated wis-
dom of past ages together with a prophecy of times to
come. A passage characteristic of the esoteric mean-
ing of the Bible is found in Revelation XI, 3-8 : "And
I will give power unto my two witnesses. . . . And
when they have finished their testimony, the beast that
ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them, and shall overcome them and kill them.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also our Lord was crucified." x This text alone
should convince the most skeptical that only a symbolic
meaning is intended. It scarcely needs to be pointed
out that "our Lord" was crucified neither in Sodom
nor yet in Egypt, but that both names were accepted
symbols for that state of darkness in which the un-
redeemed Soul wanders, and in which The Christ
(Higher Self) is daily crucified. Our Lord, or the
Great Law of Divine Love was and is today crucified
both in Sodom and Egypt, or in the states of impurity
and darkness symbolized by those names.

There is no doctrine that has caused so much con-
troversy as the doctrine of hell-fire. As the Race out-
grows the repugnant idea of an everlasting physical
punishment, there is a tendency to sweep this whole
teaching into limbo as being a bogie used to scare man-
kind in its childhood, but not to be dignified by seri-

1 See explanation in the lesson on "The False Prophet," p. 2.

The Voice of I sis 79

ous consideration in its mature years — a something
that pertained to the age of superstition and the child-
hood of the Race. But back of the ignorant and repel-
lant misconception of this doctrine there is a pertinent
and deeply occult significance; for such a doctrine
would not be given the prominent place it occupies un-
less it contained the germ of a vital truth necessary for
the growth of the Soul. When hell is mentioned in
the Bible it means one of three things, viz. : occasionally
the suffering of earthly experience, but usually the un-
seen state, Sheol, the lower sub-planes of the astral, a
state of consciousness or Hades. More correctly it re-
fers to the Eighth Sphere, the place of transmutation
where evil is transmuted into good. When hell-fire is
mentioned it refers to the purifying fires of Karma.
Hence, to say that the gates of hell shall not- prevail
against you means, firstly, that if your intuition is de-
veloped so that you can be guided by The Christ-con-
sciousness neither the state of consciousness designated
as hell nor the sufferings of earthly conditions nor the
denizens of the lower astral can deceive or prevail
against you; secondly, that by the creative power of
The Christ within you create within yourself a Divine
World so that there is nothing of you to be cast into
the crucible of transmutation and be disintegrated, but
that all shall be immortalized and rise with the Risen
Lord, that where He is there ye may be also; thirdly,
that your Intuition being centered in The Christ "no
evil thing can come nigh thy dwelling," no falsehood
can lead you astray, no astral entity can deceive you
and no false teaching appeal to you. All of which
things are gates of hell which cannot prevail against
the Risen Christ-consciousness.

The devil, as explained in the lesson on The False
Prophet, is the accumulated evil thought-force of the

80 • The Voice of Isis

world seeking expression in humanity and deceiving
all men. The inner meaning of the following passage :
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. . . . When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, and the father of
it," 1 is that men are children of the devil in that they
are born under the great delusion, the one great, para-
mount lie, that the physical body, together with
material existence, is the great reality. Instead realize
that the personality2 is but a garment or mask assumed
by the Real Self, and that material existence is but
the stage upon which but a single scene in the drama
of the Soul's life is enacted. Nothing is true that is
not from eternity to eternity, hence the evil (the devil)
which blinds the eyes of the personality and throws its
illusive glamour over all mankind is the creator or
father of all lies. This great lie, together with every-
thing that tends to strengthen it and make it seem de-
sirable, is like a mill-stone around the neck of every-
one born into earth life. In occult parlance it is the
world's Karma which all must bear. In this sense hu-
manity is a child of the devil or, as Job expresses it,
"man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
But in this very lament we see the remedy; for it is
only by the hammering on the anvil of life, and the
burning of the karmic fires, that the Divine Sparks
are released to fly upward to unity in the Godhead.
The "lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,"
into which the False Prophet and the Beast are cast,
is one of the seven manifestations of the Great Law
(acting in its aspect of Karma)3 which permits noth-
ing to endure that is false, that cannot withstand the vi-
brations of Divine Truth. Its fires are the fires of pu-

*St. John VIII, 44.

2 Per, through; sonar e, to sound; personality, a mask to speak

through.
8 See Chapter VIII.

The Voice of Isis 81

rification and transmutation that consume all that is
impure or false ; all that maketh a lie. And that which
maketh a lie is not limited to the utterance of a false-
hood, but includes everything that tends to create a
false impression ; everything that represents itself to
be that which it is not. Fire is the highest earthly ele-
ment, and its action transforms or raises all substances
to a higher condition. While the substances burned
cease to exist on the physical-plane they still exist in a
higher state, leaving behind only that which belongs
to earth in the form of ashes.

Brimstone or sulphur is used in daily life for purify-
ing, bleaching and subliming. Salt purifies and pre-
serves, but brimstone sublimes and raises to a higher
condition. It represents the earth-plane also^that stage
in which the novice is cast into the flame to be sub-
limed ; where he has the dross of earth consumed that
his spiritual pneuma may be released and rise to a
higher manifestation. The fires are the blazing fires
of Karma that the personality itself has lit, and in
which it must stand until all is transmuted into gold.
Brimstone is the means by which the other elements
cast into the burning are prepared for their next step
in evolution. But in accomplishing this the brimstone
must sacrifice its bodily form and be sublimed. This
action is the foundation for, and the real meaning
of the symbol of fire and brimstone used in our text.
And like all such symbols it survives because it con-
tains a germ of truth. The lake, of course, is not a
physical lake of fire and brimstone any more than the
so-called hell is a physical place; but it is an actual
condition and a real burning through which each Soul
must pass. The earth itself is passing through this
same burning and purification that its substance may
be prepared for the future and higher conditions which

82 The Voice of Isis

will prevail during the coming new Race. The gases
generated by the subliming action of the sulphur are
gathering in certain areas preparatory to the great ex-
plosions of the future, and the humanity that is to sur-
vive those great cataclysms must have passed through
the burning and purifying flames of Karmic Law that
they may be enabled to breathe the rarified atmosphere
resulting from the changed physical conditions which
will then exist.

Hell is separation from God. The Psalmist cries,
"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt
thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." 1 The
physical body is in hell and does see corruption ; for
hell is made up of the fermenting, corroding and cor-
rupting influences which act upon the physical and
mental bodies from birth until final dissolution. In
the case of the mental body these influences may last
through many incarnations, until all that is false in
habits, ideas, beliefs and understandings is completely
consumed and the mind illumined by spiritual under-
standing.

All must willingly stand in this burning, but they
must also perform the much harder task of standing
aside and permitting others, even their own loved ones
to be sublimed; to stand in the burning and suffer
through the conditions which Karma presents to
them. How many would gladly attempt to bear the
hardships and sufferings of their loved ones rather than
stand aside and permit them to fulfill their karmic des-
tiny in exact justice! But their loved ones cannot be
purified and pass on to higher things if their burdens
are borne for them and they are not allowed to meet
their tests and stand in the fiery furnace which they
in ag-es past have lighted, for only when they can

1 Psalms, XVI. 10.

The Voice of Isis 83

enter this fiery furnace and find the Lord Christ walk-
ing with them — by this recognition the fires lose their
power to harm — are they ready to pass on. If sen-
timental reasons are permitted to interfere with
the loved ones' performance of duty, the time of the
purification is pushed back and more fuel is accumu-
lated for the burning. Stand aside then, and while
giving all love, sympathy and encouragement, allow
all to meet their tests and burnings that they may be
purified and advance to higher things. It is into this
hell that The Christ-principle descends after the cruci-
fixion, and it is into this hell that each Soul must
descend that all that belongs to the lower self (person-
ality) may be consumed, leaving only the purified
Spirit to rise to the heights beyond.

This is the meaning of the doctrine of hell-fire ; and
it manifests on the four lower planes. The Soul, how-
ever, as the Psalmist says, will not be left in hell, but
will garner from it the experience necessary to clothe
itself in immortality. Hell endures forever and ever,
for there is no end to eternity or evolution and there
will always be something to burn and be purified and
transmuted. This does not mean that any Soul will
stand in hell forever, but that each Soul must pass
through it. No one remains in it one moment longer
than is required to transmute the base metal of per-
sonality into the pure gold of spiritual attainment. For
Karma is not a punishment or even an inevitable law
of suffering which we must endure to the end; but
rather in the course of evolution our Higher Self
finds that we lack certain Soul-qualities, hence chooses
to incarnate in certain families and under certain con-
ditions which will bring out the Soul-quality which is
lacking. Everything must pass through the burning
that it may be transmuted into love to lay at the

84 The Voice of Isis

Master's feet, while selfishness and all earthly dross
is left behind like ashes.

Every sincere seeker should gladly stand in the
flames of the karmic hell, for only the faults, only
that which is impure or false can burn. All the false
teachings, false doctrines, false love, false living; all
misunderstandings and misconceptions, being but
transitory, will be consumed, but nothing that is real,
that is immortal can burn; the true will emerge as
pure gold. In that day we will know as we are
known; for the coverings of falsehood and pretense
will have disappeared in the burning.

Therefore, let this realization of the fire that burn-
eth and the worm that dieth not, remain with you as
the greatest comfort to your Soul. Realize that all you
have to do is to wait and trust and pray that everything
that holds you back from your true spiritual advance
may be quickly consumed that the burning may come
to an end. That which burns is mortal and transitory
and has no part nor lot in your real life. Realize that
the burning cannot last one moment longer than you
give fuel to the flames. As soon as the dross is burned
away the dawning of the resurrection morn will come.
As soon as you cease to deceive, cease to lie, cease to
be false, you cease to furnish fuel to the flames, hence
the burning will last only until that which has been
accumulated is consumed.

Stand still, then, in the burning that you may be
purified. Weave for yourselves immortal garments
of Purity and Truth. Lay up for yourselves treasures
in immortal habitations, "where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal." And when the fires of hell have become the
crown of glory that shall illumine the saints, then shall
they walk the streets of the New Jerusalem (the puri-

The Voice of Isis

85

fied earth) in white raiment. "And there shall be no
nig-ht there ; and they need no candle, neither light of
the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light ; and they
shall reign for ever and ever." x For these are they
that have come out of great tribulation.

1 Revelation, XXII. 5.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT.

"But we beseech you, brethren, . . . that
ye study to be quiet, and to do your own busi-
ness." i Thessalonians, IV-11.

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's
business?" St. Luke, 11-49.

"Beware of fear that spreadeth, like the black
and soundless wings of midnight bat, between
the moonlight of thy Soul and thy great goal that
loometh in the distance far away." The Voice
of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment III.

In the life of every earnest seeker after Truth, after
the first enthusiasm of the awakening to his spiritual
possibilities and the wonder of his newly found joy,
there comes a period of depression in which every-
thing seems to fail him, and a shadow of discourage-
ment, almost lack of faith, seems to spread over him.
In his mind questionings arise at first fleeting, then
growing more persistent. "After all, is this great
change that has come into my life worth the effort I
have made to give up old ideals and conditions and
remodel my life? Are these new ideas practical or are
they mere ephemeral sophistries which fail me in my
hour of need? And the teachers to whom I have lis-
tened, are they not human beings, full of frailties like
myself, with no higher wisdom for my guidance ; with
nothing to give me that I have not already of myself?"
A great fear possesses him, lest conditions beat him
back and compel him to resume the old treadmill of
his former life, without hope and without being able
to contact the spiritual power that sustained him at
first. All his beautiful soul experiences, looked at

The Voice of Isis 87

from this Slough of Despond, now seem to have been
but fantastic imaginings, and the cry goes forth : What
is the use of all this struggling? At this point, unless
some understanding of the Law is grasped, the seeker
is apt to slip back, apt to repudiate all the good resolu-
tions and vows he has made to his Higher Self and,
like the man from out whom the unclean spirit was
cast, he then takes unto himself seven other unclean
spirits of worry, doubt, fear and discouragement, and
his last state is worse than the first. If, however, it is
pointed out to him at this time that this depression is
but a natural phenomenon, through some phase of
which most seekers pass and which is just as natural
as a night of darkness after a day of sunshine, he will
be able to take advantage of this night period of the
Soul to strengthen his courage and faith.

If he turns to the Bible for comfort he will find it
in the twenty-third Psalm. "Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me." The period of depression is indeed
"the valley of the shadow of death," i. e., the shadow
of the death of his high ideals ; a valley in that it is
a depression between two heights. And just as surely
as he has descended from one height into this valley,
so must he, if he persevere, climb the height beyond.
But if he insists on walking up and down the valley,
for lack of courage to essay the height ahead, the
shadow will descend and enwrap him. "Beware, Dis-
ciple, of that lethal shade. No light that shines from
Spirit can dispel the darkness of the nether Soul, un-
less all selfish thought has fled therefrom. . . . It is
the shadow of thyself outside the PATH, cast on
the darkness of thy sins."1 The rod and staff are

1 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment III.

88 The Voice of Isis

given to every disciple, not only to lean upon, but also
as an alpen-stock with which to climb the Mountains
of Attainment.

There is an old injunction often used in a spirit of
impatience and anger or flippantly alluded to as the
llth commandment, yet which contains a deep occult
significance, i. e.} "Mind your own business." The
ten commandments given to Moses seem to cover all
phases of mortal life so that he who keeps that deca-
log does his whole duty to God and man, yet while the
10 and the decimal system is accepted as perfection in
worldly affairs; the duodecimal (12) is a system often
used in the computation of occult periods. Hence, the
seeker who is striving to live above mere worldly
affairs, who is striving to shape his life in accord
with the deeper mysteries of existence, has need
of two more commandments to make up his duo-
decalog. Whereas, the ten commandments were
delivered on Mt. Sinai, amidst thunderings and
lightnings, the eleventh and twelfth command-
ments are given by the Still Small Voice that
speaks in the Silence. The eleventh commandment
may sound irreverent, but in its occult significance it is
far from being so, for if obeyed it covers the period of
depression referred to above. The significance of the
twelfth commandment can only be grasped when the
eleventh has become a part of your life.

Each one of you who chooses, after due deliberation
and meditation, to set for yourself a divine standard
of life, has entered upon a new business, one which
vitally concerns yourself. And at the very outset of
this new business you must meet yourself face to face,
take account of stock and find out what your real
business is. To mind your own business does not
mean merely negatively to refrain from interfering

The Voice of Isis 89

with the business of others, although that is included.
The deeper meaning is to find out what your own
business is, then actively to be about it. This applies
particularly to you who have determined to live the
higher life, you who have passed through the ecstasy
of the awakening and are now passing through the
natural reaction, the Slough of Despond, "the valley
of the shadow of death." The reason for the depres-
sion is that the moment you say to your Higher Self
that you will henceforth live in accord with the will of
that Self working through you, you find yourself
face to face with your old personality. This personal-
ity is composite, the aggregate of the factors and
forces of the age in which you live. That is, it is
made up of elements from all the lower kingdoms —
mineral, vegetable, animal — as well as the mental traits
and tendencies that are the Karma, not only of the
Soul, but also of the age, the race, the nation, the
community and the family in which you live, all of
which are literally built into your physical, astral, de-
sire and mental bodies, a microcosm in very truth. Be-
cause this personality and its traits are not altogether
your own, but are taken from the various kingdoms
and other sources, the instant you determine to break
away from the bonds of the flesh and express your
Real Self, you take all these varied factors out of
their customary vibration and impose upon them the
will of the higher Being, your True Self. The new
key-note is resisted by all the elements in the per-
sonality as well as in the environment, and the com-
bined opposition of all is focused upon you. There
is aroused within you every sleeping tendency ; tenden-
cies which heretofore you did not recognize nor even
suspect. Many of these are but the reflex effects of the
thought-currents of the community. Others are ten-

90 The Voice of I sis

dencies stimulated by the influences of the zodiacal
sign in which you were born acting in a negative way,
also the negative aspect of your planetary influences,
all acting upon the atoms of your personality through
your subconscious mind uncontrolled by the human
consciousness, to say nothing of inspiration from the
Super-conscious Mind. You find yourself in the con-
dition St. Paul speaks of: "I find then a law, that,
when I would do good, evil is present with me." x And
the more determined you are to do the will of the
Divine Self the more unsuspected tendencies you find
within you to transmute, tendencies which were qui-
escent or sleeping as long as you advanced passively
with the current of the community, but which are now
awakened and fighting for life.

Do not confuse the sub-conscious with the Super-
conscious Mind as is so commonly done. The sub-
conscious is the animal mind, that which is below the
threshold of human waking consciousness, as sub
means under or below. It is the sum total of the con-
sciousness of all the cells, organs, ganglia and centers
of consciousness in the animal body synthecised by the
animal Soul. It controls all the vegetative functions
such as respiration, circulation, digestion, reflex action,
etc. It is also this mind that automatically reproduces
that which is impressed upon it by human conscious-
ness such as an harmonious or inharmonious attitude
toward life, ideas of health or disease, weakness or
power, etc. Hence it can be called upon to adjust
only such conditions as come within its domain, for
it is but the servant of man's human consciousness,
just as man's human consciousness should be the
servant of the higher or Super-consciousness.

The Super-conscious mind is the intelligence of the

1 Romans, VII. 21.

The Voice of I sis 91

Real Self overshadowing its human personality. It is
man's touch with the Divine. To come into touch
with the Higher Consciousness the activities of the
human consciousness must be stilled, for when the
mind is controlled it becomes like a mirror to reflect
and record that which comes to it from the Higher
Self.

It is the awakening into activity of these unrecog-
nized forces that makes the darkness of the night
period so depressing and awful. Each Soul must face
this darkness alone. Your attention is called to this
because "scarce one passes through without bitter
complaint .... your Teacher or your prede-
cessor may hold your hand in his, and give you the
utmost sympathy the human heart is capable of. But
when the silence and the darkness come, you lose all
knowledge of him ; you are alone and he cannot help
you, not because his power is gone, but because you
have invoked your great enemy. By your great enemy
I mean yourself. If you have the power to face your
own Soul in the darkness and silence, you will have
conquered the physical or animal self which dwells in
sensation only." x When the light of The Christ has
illumined your heart and has awakened a recognition
of your divine possibilities it must also awaken all
the latent propensities in your composite personality,
for the same sun which causes the good seed to sprout
in the garden of your heart will also stimulate in even
greater profusion the growth of the weeds which, un-
less ruthlessly uprooted, will choke out the life of the
good seed. The business then that you must mind
is to pull up the weeds or conquer the foes within
one by one as they appear. Make no compromise.
You must conquer or be overcome. For the very rec-

1 Comments on Light on the Path,

92 The Voice of Isis

ognition of your divine birthright lashes into fury
all those forces of the lower self which have held you
in bondage so long. However, while this step brings
out every latent fault it also awakens every latent
power for good. In fact, you never know what you
really are until the light of The Christ has illumined
every corner of your being. Ofttimes the unexpected
beauty and strength revealed is quite as overwhelming
as the shortcomings. The battle is not onesided. In
fact, "He that is with you (your Higher Self) is
greater than he (the personality or lower self) that is
against you."

When you find this state of depression and lethargy
approaching, instead of trying to mind the business of
another, understand that it is never another's business
you are to mind nor outside conditions you are to fight,
but the very forces within that are bringing the doubts
upon you. The first temptation, when confronted by
this apparent disillusionment, is to pick flaws, first in
the teachings which have so greatly helped heretofore,
then in the personalities of others, hoping thereby to
excuse your own shortcomings. But you can never
find truth or happiness by dissecting it, only by turn-
ing your attention to yourself and finding out why
you now doubt and criticize that which brought you
so much happiness and satisfaction at first. Then
set to work to conquer with a full realization that
every one of the awakened forces of the lower self
are fighting to overcome the manifestation of the Real
Self and make you sink back once more into the passive
condition in which you were but one of the many and
your life but the result of the ebb and flow of the
thought-currents common to your family and environ-
ment, a creature ruled by circumstances and a slave to
outward conditions. You never have to fight another's

The Voice of Isis 93

battles, only your own. Because your personality is
made up of atoms from the entire community and en-
vironment in which you dwell, as you overcome your
own faults by creating their opposites you add strength
to the power that is striving to conquer the same faults
in the whole community. Moreover, you cannot thus
sink back without lending your forces to swell the tide
that will overwhelm you and all who are near and dear
to you. Every time you mind another's business or
waste force striving with enemies outside yourself you
are adding strength to the things you would conquer.
The Christ, speaking through the Master Jesus, has
said : "In my Father's house are many mansions :
. . . I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may
be also." l The Christ-power is the creative power of
Divine Love that has brought you up out of the dark-
ness and set your feet upon a rock; that has literally
gone before you to prepare your Path. The place The
Christ is preparing for you is not some post-mortem
heaven inhabited by beings suddenly perfected through
the experience called death, but is the place, conditions
and personality you are now in. If you have been
called by The Christ to face these particular condi-
tions rest assured that The Christ has gone before to
prepare the place for you. But while the mansion or
dwelling place is chosen and prepared by The Christ
within, still it is you who must furnish and equip and
dwell in it. This is the business which you must mind.
All worldly dwelling places must be shared by all the
elements of confusion which go to make up the nerson-
ality — a confused and imperfect reflection of the Real
Self. Your real mansion is prepared for you by The

»S*. John, XIV. 2,3.

94 The Voice of Isis

Christ, but ere you can dwell in it The Christ must
come again in your heart and life and receive you unto
Himself. The first step must be to drive out the aliens
who are now dwelling in your mansion.

Since the great aim of physical existence is not per-
sonal salvation, but the redemption (spiritualization)
of physical matter and the ultimate evolution of all
humanity from its lower and merely human state of
consciousness to oneness with The Christ-conscious-
ness, each individual Soul finds itself confronted with a
certain amount of matter from the various kingdoms
which it is its business to spiritualize and redeem ;
a certain personality with particular traits, tenden-
cies, passions and desires, out of which, as raw ma-
terial, the Soul must fashion the furnishings of its
mansion in the Father's house. How is this to be
accomplished? Here you are concerned with the
little physical inequalities and disquietudes of life,
and you ask over and ever again, "If The Christ has
called me to this higher life, why do not conditions
immediately change? why is there anything for me
to do but open my heart and receive the blessings
promised by the Father?" One reason is that if
your Father-in-heaven gave you all the conditions you
now deem so necessary — wealth to use for good, leis-
ure to study, opportunity to teach, etc. — you would
either find that when obtained they did not satisfy
your Soul hunger or that you would sit down exactly
as you are today with all your faults and deficiencies
nicely covered over and would never recognize them,
grow or advance, and be about your Father's business
— the redemption of the world. Hence you must mind
your own business ; must empty, cleanse, purify and
refurnish your mansion or "temple of the living God," J

1 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" I Cor. III. 16.

The Voice of Isis 95

that "where I am ye may be also." In t)ther words
to so prepare your mansion that the Father shall dwell
with you and The Christ shall be the light thereof.

Why then waste time and force striving for the
things of the outer world? Why fret and fume over
the little difficulties you meet in preparing your man-
sion? why weep and ask for this or that thing? Why
not just rest in the thought that The Christ has pre-
pared this place for you and that you must be about
your business, i. e., using the materials found in your
personality and environment to furnish the dwelling
place for Him when He returns to take you unto Him-
self. For your Father's business is the redemption of
the world and each apparently separated individuality
has a special part of that business to perform.

Each of you have your own problems, and each
problem brings you up against your own lower self
and forces you to recognize just what it is that keeps
your mansion in an unfinished state. Like Hamlet, so
many feel "The time is out of joint ; — O cursed spite !
That ever I was born to set it right I"1 If you study
Hamlet you will find that in his attempt to set the
world aright he only brought sorrow and suf-
fering to himself and those he loved, and sacrificed
not only his own personality but also the personality
of others in his misguided attempt. No person has
ever been born to set the world aright except so
much of it as he finds expressed in his own personality.
If you mind your own business and let the faults of
others go, trusting to the Law to straighten them out,
and confine yourself to straightening out your own
faults, you will realize the joy that comes from such
conquering. When you cease to worry over the faults
of others, it will be like a physical burden rolling from

1 Hamlet, end of Act I.

96 The Voice of Isis

your shoulders. If you have never done this, try it
merely as a physical experiment for your own happi-
ness, and the results will prove its truth.

The world can never be redeemed by preaching,
talking or even by ministering to the sorrows of others,
relieving their distress, building model tenements or
libraries or by changing economic conditions. While
all these things are necessary factors they are only
really helpful as they are the result of a true minding
of the business of the Father, recognizing the absolute
oneness of all, not only in a metaphysical sense, but
also in the personality and the elements composing it.
When mankind realizes this, Universal Brotherhood
will be an accomplished fact. You will then realize in a
practical way that everything you do to or for another
will react upon yourself. Then the injunction, Do
unto others as you would they should do unto you, will
become the law of life, for you will realize that as you
do unto others you literally do unto yourself ; that you
must share the sorrows and joys, the privations and
honors of even your most distant brothers and sisters.
This will not be fighting another's battles or minding
another's business, except as your own conquering
helps all. It is as though a great building were being
erected in which each worker by strictly minding his
own business — which is his part of the great plan,
whether he be bricklayer or architect — is making the
work of all easier and advancing the completion of the
entire structure. Each must share the results of the
success or failure of any one to mind his own busi-
ness.

These results can be attained only by elevating
to a higher rate of vibration first the thought-forces
and then the physical conditions of the self, the family,
the community. This must be accomplished accord-

The Voice of Isis 97

ing to the natural law of harmony. If you were in
a congregation which was singing out of tune, the best
way to bring about harmony would be not to stop the
singing and talk about it, but to sing steadily and firmly
in perfect tune yourself. Those next to you would
catch and spread the harmony until all were singing in
tune. It will be only the working out of this law of
harmony that will ultimately redeem "the round world
and all that dwell thereon."

Only the manifestation of The Christ in your heart
and life can bring peace on earth, goodwill toward
men. Any line of conduct that really brings peace
and goodwill is therefore an expression of The
Christ or Divine Harmony.

CHAPTER VII.

NARCOTICS, ALCOHOL AND PSYCHISM.

The human body is the Temple of the Living God.1
Within it are certain vital centers comparable to
doors 2 which open into inner shrines. Using these
centers as points of contact, the life forces from the
higher planes flow into the physical body through
them as an electrical current flows through a wire.
And it is through these centers that The Christ-
force must flow to reach and spiritualize man's va-
rious bodies before their redemption or resurrection
can take place. By resurrection we mean the ulti-
mate building up of a spiritual body within the physi-
cal by a process of gradually raising the vibrations
of its particles to respond to the key-note sounded
by the Divine or Higher Self.

These centers or doors are normally protected by
nature with oily coverings or sheaths (composed
of both astral and physical matter) which permit
the flow of the normal life-forces and protect them
from all others. These doors should be opened only
by a gradual purification and development of the
protecting sheaths. Normally this takes place as a
natural growth resulting from a life of mental and
bodily purity, and intense spiritual aspiration. It
should not be a forced or hothouse growth, for each
door must be opened and closed under the absolute
control of the will. Each individual has been given
these doors to guard, and is held responsible for

1 I Corinthians VI. 19.

* In ancient times a door meant a passage way leading into a
chamber and was not used as commonly as now to mean that which
closed the passage way.

The Voice of Isis 99

their keeping. Only as he can master them, and in
full knowledge open them to the knock of The Christ,
and close them to His enemies, can he hope to con-
quer. It is only after long training and great spirit-
ual growth that the entities of the astral world can
be mastered and held at bay when the doors are
opened. In fact the first and most important work
of the advanced disciple is to stand faithful watch
over these doors. "Keep thou the door of thine
heart."

The Holy Ghost is the Mother-principle or the
power of bringing forth, hence, the destruction of
the sheaths prevents the bringing forth or manifest-
ing of The Christ-force within you. The sin against
the Holy Ghost, the "unpardonable sin," (unpardon-
able only because irreparable) is the separation of
the personality from the guidance of the Higher
Self through the destruction of the means of con-
tact. This takes place through the breaking down of
the doors or the destruction of the oily sheaths that
protect the centers leading from the physical into the
astral and psychic bodies. Once these sheaths are
destroyed, the person is no longer able to close the
doors and so becomes an easy prey to the denizens
of the astral. Such an one becomes a helpless victim
to any and all sorts of psychic imposition and decep-
tion.

There is no such thing as a "lost Soul," but it is
possible for the personality to persistently refuse the
guidance of the Higher Self and ultimately break
away from it entirely and become a lost human-ani-
mal. The animal life-force of such a soulless entity
may incarnate several times, each time growing
more degenerate, until it has finally exhausted the
force obtained during its contact with the Soul and

100 The Voice of I sis

the aggregated atoms disintegrate and return to the
elements from which they were gathered. The Soul
in such cases is not lost but is indrawn to await a
new opportunity to gather up the materials neces-
sary to clothe itself in a personality.

There are several abnormal ways in which the
oily protecting sheaths can be broken down and the
doors thrown open, chief among which are the use
of alcohol and narcotic drugs. Chemically speaking,
ordinary alcohol is ethyl-hydroxide. The ethyl (the
spirit) vibrates to the highest rate reached by mere
physical matter, the point where matter transcends
the physical and enters the astral, the ethyl actually
functioning on both planes. Narcotic drugs also con-
tain an ethyl element. The ethyl when taken into
the body immediately seeks to escape into the astral,
and it naturally follows the usual avenues of com-
munication between the two planes. But in escap-
ing it passes through the centers in a reverse direc-
tion to the normal current and gradually burns off
the insulating sheaths until in time they are utterly
destroyed, just as an electrical insulation might be
burned off by interference with the normal flow of
the current.

This breakdown may be very rapid, as in the case
of an habitual drunkard or drug fiend, or it may be
insidious and not show markedly for several incar-
nations, but the result is certain and every indul-
gence in the substances mentioned is a step toward
the end. Ultimately this leaves the doors unguarded
and open for all the horrors of the lowest astral-plane
to rush in and take possession of the "Temple of the
Living God" thus desecrated. Bulwer-Lytton gives
a realistic description of some of these horrors in
his occult novel, "Zanoni." In that story the student

The Voice of his 101

opened the doors abnormally by the use of drugs and
being unable to close them through fright at the
sights that met his gaze, was haunted until his death.

Tobacco although classed as a narcotic does not
contain the elements so destructive to the psychic
centers, in fact when not used to excess is rather
soothing. It does however, injuriously affect the
heart and nervous system. From an occult stand-
point one of the greatest objections to its use is its
tendency to form a habit. It goes without saying
that the aspirant for the spiritual life must be master
of all conditions and functions and a slave to none.
Hence while tobacco is not rigidly prohibited in the
earlier stages of growth, its use is strongly advised
against.

Tea and coffee are stimulants but not narcotics
in the sense we use the term, as they do not contain
the injurious elements. Their excessive use does
affect the nervous system injuriously, although many
sensitive persons find that their moderate use has a
beneficial and tonic effect, but their use should not
be abused.

The drunkard and the drug habitue open the doors
while in a state of debauchery, and in such a con-
dition, being particularly unable to defend themselves,
they practically invite all the fiends of the under-
world to enter and take possession.

It is our duty to give our sympathy and help
to this class of sorely afflicted ones, for since it took
many lives to break down the protective sheaths, it
will require a long hard fight to rebuild them. Hence
do not let such unfortunate ones become discouraged.
No matter how many times they may fall back into the
old habits, every effort to conquer aids in the rebuild-
ing. And the very fierceness of the struggle will ulti-

102 The Voice of Isis

mately strengthen the Soul. But no matter how sin-
cerely they repent, or what spiritual advance they
make as a result of the sufferings they undergo, when
the aura is tainted with narcotics or rilled with fumes
of alcohol, and until the protective sheaths of these
centers are rebuilt, it is utterly impossible for a Master
or Messenger from The Great White Lodge to contact
(or come anywhere near), such an one, no matter
hozv great the student's psychic or spiritual develop-
ment. On the contrary they will have a bitter fight
to keep out of their auras entities from the astral-
plane, and it will require many incarnations of such
fighting ere the sheaths can be rebuilt. These sheaths
are not broken down in one incarnation, but since in
each incarnation there is a tendency to repeat the
same old mistakes until they are conquered, so in each
incarnation there is a tendency to increase the weak-
ness brought over from the past until the final break-
down comes. The rebuilding must necessarily follow
the same law, *. e., be brought about by gradual accom-
plishment through determined and persistent con-
structive effort.

We read in the Bible that no drunkard can inherit
the Kingdom of Heaven.1 In this sense the Kingdom
of Heaven means the highest spiritual-plane, which
can be reached only by the perfect control of the
doors or centers through which alone communion is
possible. The Bible does not say that no drunkard
can be saved, but that he cannot reach into the higher
spiritual realms and come into conscious touch with
his Father-in-heaven until he has conquered. He has
destroyed the means of communication, and it is only
after earnest and persistent effort, through many lives,
that such an one can gradually rebuild the sheaths,

1 I Corinthians. VI. 10.

The Voice of Isis 103

purify the centers, and again make the body a fit
Temple for the coming of The Christ. Many drunk-
ards desire to stop drinking but, being open to the
astral-plane, they are unable to resist the urge of those
disembodied ones who have passed out of physical
life while addicted to drink and have no means of
gratifying their desires in the astral world. In order
to gratify them they must come into touch with the
physical-plane by entering into or obsessing someone
on the physical-plane ere they can again experience
the effects of the drug. On the other hand there
are drinkers who simply say "I am done with drink"
and never touch it thereafter. In such cases they
are unconsciously rebuilding the centers until finally
a point is reached where the doors can be closed at
will, and it only requires some strong emotion to put
the will into effect. This will is often aroused in a
dramatic manner at the sudden "conversions" which
so frequently result from various forms of religious
excitement.

It is onfy in a normal, purified, strong and healthy
body, with every function at its highest degree of
development and every center under perfect control
that The Christ can fully manifest on earth. You can
live The Christ-life and attain to a high degree of
spirituality and take many advanced steps without
meeting all these requirements, but you cannot reach
Mastery without fulfilling all the Law.

One of the most noticeable karmic results of the use
of narcotics and alcohol in past incarnations can be
seen in the numerous non-spiritual, subjective me-
diums, of the irresponsible type, who are to be found
xm every hand. Their doors, destroyed in past lives,
now stand wide open leaving theni at the mercy of any
and every entity who desires to gratify its animal

104 The Voice of I sis

senses upon the physical-plane. Truly, their lot is a
pitiable one; the more so because they know not the
terrible dangers they run.

Another karmic result of the action of alcohol and
drugs is to be found in a certain class of congenital
imbeciles whose psychic centers cannot even connect
with the ordinary centers of the physical body ; in fact
many of them are the reincarnations of the soulless
entities mentioned above. They have almost no vol-
untary control of any but the lowest animal functions,
and must finish out their incarnation in a sort of veg-
etative animal existence.

Still another way in which the doors are frequently
broken open is by placing yourself in a passive, non-
resisting state and making the demand for psychic ex-
periences, or "sitting for development" as it is called.
In this practice you are placing yourself in a negative
state in which any entity dwelling on the lower astral-
plane can help you break open the doors. This either
destroys the doors or abnormally forces the develop-
ment of the psychic centers instead of unfolding them
as a natural accompaniment of spiritual growth.
When results have been thus obtained, since the doors
are not under the control of your will, they are open
to any entity who desires to obsess you. Even if the
obsessing entity is a disembodied friend of good moral
character your condition is not altered, for he must
be near you constantly to protect you from the fiends.1
This is what takes place in ordinary subjective me-
diumship. As we said in Letters From The Teacher2
"The difference between spiritual communication and
subjective mediumship is a difference both of vibra-
tion and method. The right way to contact the higher
planes is to raise the vibrations of your physical and

1 See The Shadow Land, by Hamlin Garlin.
3 Page 44.

The Voice of Isis 105

psychic bodies and their centers until they vibrate in
harmony with the key-note of the Soul-plane, at which
pitch "no evil thing can come nigh thy dwelling."
As we can only become aware of a thing when some
part of our organism responds to its vibrations, the
psychic must have the proper development to come
into harmony with the spiritual-plane ere he can con-
tact the Masters or respond to things which touch upon
or vibrate within the octave of their key-note.

"On the one hand — spiritual communication — the
psychic, through spiritual living, loving thoughts and
helpful actions in many lives, must build into his or
her character enough of the divine principle of Com-
passion for all humanity to raise the vibrations of all
the bodies, either temporarily or continuously, to the
note of spiritual love to which the Masters of Com-
passion naturally vibrate. On the other hand — sub-
jective mediumship — the psychic, through various
means, either mentally by stilling the thoughts, or
phvsically by various Yogi practices such as gazing
at a crystal, a black spot, or sitting in a constrained
position, through breathing exercises and many other
still more objectionable practices — has gained the
power of stilling the physical vibrations and becom-
ing negative; or when through the oily sheaths hav-
ing become weakened or destroyed the psychic is nat-
urally negative. In such a state the physical atoms, not
being held together by the vibratory rhythm to which
they naturally respond, slow down and fly off to such
an extent that any discarnate entity clothed in atoms
of, and vibrating to the note of, the astral-plane —
which is next to and in its lower degrees overlaps the
earth-plane — can gather up and clothe himself in suf-
ficient of the physical atoms thus thrown off to tem-
porarily vibrate to the key-note of the physical-plane
and become temporarily recognizable on that plane.

106 The Voice of Isis

"In the first instance the whole desire of the psychic
is to uplift humanity; he is filled with compassion for
the Race and desires to give himself as a willing sac-
rifice to bring enlightenment to the world. This is
true spiritual development. The Teachers and Mas-
ters whom he contacts do not see the little individ-
ual difficulties, or if They do, They understand the
Law and know that all is working out for the best,
that only Wisdom can really help. Given Wisdom,
Love and sustaining help, the disciples can, and indeed
must, work out their own personal problems. As
Paul says: "Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling." All spiritual communication is up-
lifting, and the spiritual atoms which the psychic has
contacted and drawn into his body will rejuvenate
and strengthen the physical, uplift the mental and ad-
vance him on the Path of Spiritual Attainment.

"In the second instance, by giving up the command
over the life-forces and throwing open or breaking
down the doors of the sacred centers, the vitality is
drawn upon and the atoms thrown off are used to
bring to the physical-plane the denizens of the astral.
These may be pure or vile, and are attracted to the
medium in exact ratio to the state of the atoms which
he or she gives off during the negative "sitting." If
you understand this, and the fact that most of the
entities contracted upon the astral plane are not
Spiritual Beings, but merely men and women with
their most dense and outer garment (the physical
body) removed, you will understand the danger of
giving yourself up to their use. Since they are using
astral senses they can see farther ahead than those
of the earth-plane, but such advice as they have to
give should be taken just as you would take the ad-
vice of any earthly friend — subject to your own good

The Voice of I sis 107

judgment and common-sense. Usually such entities
are interested in the daily life of the sitters rather than
their true spiritual advance, but, if evilly disposed or
lacking Wisdom and a knowledge of the Law, they
can and often do deceive. They can only come to earth
as they left it, i. e., clothed in physical atoms ; the fact
that to manifest on the physical-plane they must steal
physical atoms from the medium and sitters is proof
positive of this. Often their desire is to help alleviate
earthly conditions, but their advice, while valuable in
many cases, is still in accord with worldly standards.
In fact their activity is much like that of a well-mean-
ing but over-meddlesome friend on the earth-plane.
They desire to help their friends out of difficulties,
over hard places, and often give advice which helps
to make money out of the credulity of their fellow-men.
This, as you can see, but helps to sink the Race deeper
into the mire of earthly affairs. The first is the Con-
structive, the second the Destructive method of com-
munication. In no case — unless they are Masters, in
which case they will manifest quite differently, as we
will explain later — are they different from the people
on earth, except that they are functioning in a body
composed of finer matter.

"You can not always tell which of the above men-
tioned methods have been used by the teachings re-
ceived, for even in subjective mediumship the teach-
ing may be of a higher moral character, just as some
friend might give you a highly moral address. But no
matter who the entity claims to be, he will not be a
Master of Wisdom if the subjective method is used,
for no Master of the Right Hand Path ever uses that
method. In this case it is not a question of what
teachings are given, but how they are given.

"One absolute test as to which method a psychic is

108 The Voice of Isis

using and from whence the messages come is the effect
on the physical body. In spiritual communication the
psychic is clothed upon by spiritual atoms which self-
effacement and compassion have drawn to him, and
he grows more spiritual. If after the experience his
vitality is augmented and a peaceful, happy and vig-
orous feeling remains, even for days afterward; if life
seems fuller, trials easier to bear and love more abun-
dant, you can rest assured that he has risen above
earthly things and has been clothed upon by the Spirit,
and has brought back lessons for the benefit of human-
ity. This is the form of communion with the higher
planes that should be desired. But do not strive for it ;
let it come as a natural growth resulting from a life
filled with loving, unsefish thoughts and deeds.

"In subjective mediumship, however, owing to the
loss of physical atoms and vitality, the psychic is de-
pleted and weakened, and soon shows it, not only in
bodily health, but also in mental power. His nervous
system is enervated, his mentality is dulled and a great
stumbling-block has been placed in his path. If, after
communicating, the psychic is exhausted, tired, nerv-
ous, cross, fretful and uneasy, even for days, you can
rest assured that he has allowed some astral entity to
absorb his vitality and contact him by the second and
destructive method. It must be remembered, how-
ever, that even the psychic who uses the constructive
or correct method of communication is far more highly
sensitive than the average and hence is easily affected
by any lack of harmony in surrounding conditions,
either physical or mental, and often suffers from such
conditions, although later is able to conquer or rise
above them. This is one reason why in all ancient
religions the Sibyl or inspired Priestess was always
surrounded by love, beauty and harmony and sacredly
protected against all forms of inharmony."

The Voice of Isis 109

We are now nearing the end of the Fifth Root-Race1
of the Fourth Round (having just entered its sixth
sub-race) and are reaching a point where, if we have
been diligent, we should begin to lift up our eyes and
see our Father afar off and say : "I will arise and go to
my Father." Many are beginning to unfold their in-
ner faculties and realize the presence or perhaps hear
the voice of their Divine Guide and Teacher, and re-
ceive messages and teachings from Him. While the
teachings of the Masters are always true — for there
can be no confusion, since they are all One, and give
out identical teachings — yet psychics who have never
studied the philosophy of evolution and rebirth, or
the laws of communication with such Beings, cannot
always grasp, hence cannot correctly interpret, the les-
sons given, and much confusion results owing to the
intellectual limitations of the instrument they must use
i. e., the physical brain. The physical brain cannot
grasp or respond to ideas of which the pictures, or
at least some conception — the seed, so to speak — has
not been acquired through the outer sense organs, i. e.,
through study, observation, etc. At this point there
are many, many avenues of deception, hence the great
necessity for the pupil to come under proper instruc-
tion, and above all to learn that strict obedience to the
laws which ages of occult training have proved to be
the only safeguards, is a necessity, which laws he can-
not find out for himself in one incarnation. Nor can
he find them out through the guidance of astral teach-
ers, for no matter how well-intentioned such teachers
may be, they are still limited to the stage of their own
evolution. Hence only those who have passed through
all stages of evolution and have mastered the Law
can give such training. Such great Teachers do not

1 For an account of the Rounds and Races, see Chapters XV and
XVII, also the Theosophical text books, such as "Ancient Wisdom,"
"The Ocean of Theosophy," etc.

110 The Voice of I sis

impart this training through astral means, for they
have left well-authenticated records and text-books of
their philosophy. Hence like any other scientific study,
only when the student has familiarized himself with
the fundamentals of the science will the advanced
Teacher attempt to communicate with him, for those
great Teachers know only too well the temptations and
deceptions of the astral-plane and their great desire
is to protect humanity from these dangers rather
than to lead into them. Much better for a teacher to
throw a pupil into the water ere he had been told how
to swim.

Just as a college contains the accumulated wisdom
and experience of all who have made discoveries in
any line of study, while an individual experimenting
alone has only his own experience to guide him and
must make many blundering mistakes which a col-
lege training would have prevented, so it is in occult-
ism.

The Bible is full of references to these psychic cen-
ters. Whenever doors or gates are mentioned in the
Scriptures the reference is to these sacred centers.
The following are a few of the many references : "Lift
up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye
everlasting doors ; and the King of glory shall come
in." 1

The Children of Israel were told to take the blood
of the sacrificial lamb (symbolizing The Christ-force
sacrificed in humanity) and "strike the lintel and the
two side posts with the blood that is in the bason ; and
none of you shall go out at the door of his house until
the morning'' 2 as a sign that "the Lord will pass over
the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into
your houses to smite you."

1 Psalms, XXIV, 7.
2 Exodus, XII, 22-23.

The Voice of Isis 111

The whole story of Job is but a history of an initia-
tion. In it Job laments as his chief sin that he opened
his door to the "traveler"1; and again he asks, "have
the gates of death been opened unto thee ? or hast thou
seen the doors of the shadow of death?"2 Both of
these statements are incomprehensible from any lit-
eral point of view, but are plain in the light of the
above. Wisdom is spoken of as "she crieth at the
gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the
doors." 3 In Isaiah we have the invitation : "Come,
my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut
thy doors about thee." * This is a condition necessary
to entering into communion with the spiritual-plane,
for the doors must be shut to the lower ere they can
be opened to the higher. In the New Testament we
have these directions as to prayer (spiritual commu-
nion), "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou has shut thy door (i. e., shut
out all worldly and astral conditions), pray to thy
Father which is in secret; and thy Father which see-
eth in secret shall reward thee openly." 5

A most significant allusion to the necessity for mas-
tery over the doors is given in St. Luke.Q "Strive
to enter in at the straight gate : for many, I say unto
you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When
once the master of the house is risen up, and hath
shut to the door. . . . But he shall say, I tell you,
I know not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye
workers of iniquity." To whom can this dismissal ap-
ply but to those without the gates? This plainly al-
ludes to that state of development in which we have
gained such mastery over the doors that we can shut
them to all undesirable influences, even though they

*Job, XXXI.32. « Isaiah, XXVI.20.

2 Job, XXXVIII.17. 'St. Matthew, VI.6.

* Proverbs, VIII.3. 8 St. Luke, XIII.24-27.

112 The Voice of I sis

have supped with us, and say, "Depart all ye work-
ers of iniquity," and make them depart. For you must
be the master of your house.

Ag-ain, in St. John X, 1-3, we read, "Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth
in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him
the porter openeth : and the sheep hear his voice : and
he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them
out."

Note carefully the promise given to the angel of the
Church of Philadelphia, in Revelation III, 7-13 : "Be-
hold I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my name." This
promise is now being literally fulfilled as these are the
last days of the cycle, and this Movement is the "open
door" referred to. The cry of The Christ rings in
the ears of every student who reads this lesson: "Be-
hold, I (The Christ-force) stand at the door, (the
heart center) and knock: jf any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will
sup with him, and he with me."

Just as there is danger in opening the doors of the
individual, so it is with all spiritual movements. Every
movement really sent out by the Great White Lodge
is a vital center or door in the great body of humanity,
and as such doors are opened it becomes the duty of
every student who enters therein to sacredly guard
his door, and see to it that only The Christ-force shall
enter, else, just as with individual doors, evil psychic
forces will pour in.

The door which this Movement symbolizes is a door
for all humanity. It is the door of the heart center

The Voice of I sis 113

through which the love-force is poured out to all the
centers. If a movement be established through mere
psychism, emotionalism, or the desire of some person-
ality to shine as a teacher, then the evil forces of the
lower astral-planes are poured out upon its followers
instead of The Christ-force, even if some of the teach-
ings given out are seemingly helpful. It will be
noticeable, however, in such movements that the spirit
of loving fellowship is absent and in its place is a ten-
dency for their leaders to demand personal aggran-
dizement.

Therefore, all students of the higher life, when con-
fronted with a spiritual movement should seek in the
Silence the guidance, not of any mortal, but of
their own Higher Self in regard to it. The question
is not merely whether they find in the movement cer-
tain things which they can accept while rejecting
others, but that they must determine what force is
being poured out through that door (movement). For
every person belonging to a spiritual movement (as
well as its leaders), is absolutely responsible for the
force that enters the body of humanity through them,
as well as for the force they bring into the movement.

If any movement is brought to your attention, and
it be a true spiritual movement, it is the open door for
you, and comes to you in response to your prayers for
more light and help. If it be not a true spiritual move-
ment then it comes to you as a test of your ability to
use your intuition and judgment. Therefore do not
accept the teachings of this or any other spiritual or
occult movement until through prayerful considera-
tion and meditation you receive the confirmation of
your own Divine Guidance that it is the open door for
your next step.

CHAPTER VIII.

A STUDY OF KARMA.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Galatians VI. 7.

The word Karma is of Eastern origin and has no
exact equivalent in the English language. It signifies
the working of a great fundamental law. "This law
— whether conscious or unconscious — predestines
nothing and no one. It exists from and in Eternity
truly for it is Eternity itself; and as such, since no
act can be coequal with Eternity, it cannot be said
to act, for it is Action itself. It is not the wave which
drowns a man, but the personal action of the wretch
who goes deliberately and places himself under the
impersonal action of the laws that govern the ocean's
motion. Karma creates nothing, nor does it design.
It is man who plans and creates causes, and Karmic
Law adjusts the effects, which adjustment is not an
act, but universal harmony, tending ever to resume its
original position, like a bough, which, bent down too
forcibly, rebounds with corresponding vigor. If it
happen to dislocate the arm that tried to bend it out
of its natural position, shall we say that it is the bough
which broke our arm, or that our own folly has
brought us to grief? ... It has not involved its
decrees in darkness purposely to perplex man; nor
shall it punish him who dares to scrutinize its myster-
ies. On the contrary, he who through study and medi-
tation unveils its intricate paths, and throws light on
those dark ways, in the windings of which so many
men perish owing to their ignorance of the labyrinth

The Voice of I sis 115

of life — is making for the good of his fellowmen.
Karma is an Absolute and Eternal Law in the World
of Manifestation; and as there can only be one Abso-
lute, as One eternal ever-present Cause, believers in
Karma cannot be regarded as Atheists or Material-
ists— still less as Fatalists, for Karma is one with the
Unknowable, of which it is an aspect, in its effects
in the phenomenal world."1

While Karma is the implacable Law of Cause and
Effect, bringing to you in exact justice the net re-
sults of your past thoughts, desires and acts, it does
not do so in detail and hence is not the avenging
Nemesis it is so frequently represented to be. "For
the only decree of Karma — an eternal and immutable
decree — is absolute Harmony in the world of Matter as
it is in the world of Spirit. It is not, therefore, Karma
that rewards or punishes, but it is we who reward or
punish ourselves, according as we work with, through
and along with Nature, abiding by the laws on which
that harmony depends, or — breaking them."2 It is not
your acts that are the cause of your Karma, but the
possession or lack of certain Soul-qualities which is
the cause both of your thoughts, desires and acts,
whose effects are brought to you by the great Law
of Harmony for readjustment. The "Lords of
Karma,"3 spoken of so frequently in the Oriental
teachings would mean, in European parlance, the con-
scious forces which bring about the natural sequence
of events. These forces, however, are not blind, un-
intelligent streams of force against which you must
hopelessly battle, but are the conscious, intelligent Ex-
ecutors of the Law of Divine Harmony (Love). Their
sole object is to spiritualize and perfect both the planet

* The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II, p. 319.

2 Ibid, Vol. I, 704-5.

3 Referred to in Esekiel I, 5, as the "Four living creatures. And
this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man."

116 The Voice of I sis

and its inhabitants. Hence disobedience to the Law
is not punished but is adjusted, even though the ad-
justment brings about sorrow and suffering.

The decrees of Karma are not something to be en-
dured as a punishment, but if in ages past you have
made mistakes and failed to gain certain Soul-qual-
ities which are necessary for your further progress,
these great entitized Powers place before the Soul
the conditions — which are made necessary by your
past disobedience or inaction — which the Soul itself
chooses as the best means of learning the needed les-
sons and acquiring the needed qualities. The per-
sonality may suffer during the experiences it under-
goes in the conditions selected by the Soul; but just
as a tornado brings destruction yet is beneficial in
purifying the atmosphere and sweeping away old ac-
cumulated conditions which were detrimental, so with
the karmic storms which sweep over the personality;
for their purpose is to sweep away old false ways of
thinking that new Soul-qualities may put forth and
bear fruit. Although the tornado is a result of the in-
harmony and impurity created by man, still it is used
as an agent of Karma to dissipate the accumulated
forces of evil and to readjust the atmosphere and per-
mit new conditions more advantageous for the evo-
lution of the planet and its inhabitants to manifest.
Thus the tornado was not the cause of the destruc-
tion of life and property in its path, it was merely the
agent for adjusting the causes set up by man.

So with the storms of sorrow, disaster, and pov-
erty in your life. Everything that comes to you as
trouble or sorrow is simply the result of your own
shortcomings, your failure to learn the lessons which
less painful experiences should have taught you. The
fundamental idea of Karma is Harmony. It is not a

The Voice of I sis 117

punishment; not even an inevitable law of suffering
which you must endure. But in the course of your
evolution your Higher Self chooses to incarnate in
certain families and under certain conditions which
will bring out the Soul-quality which is lacking. The
conditions chosen may be the result of causes set up
by you in past lives, owing to a lacking quality, or if
all those previous causes have been worked out, they
may be chosen by the Soul de novo to develop a new
Soul-quality, without having had any previous con-
nection with them. The main idea of Karma then
is not one of punishment for past failures, but that
you may learn your lessons and gain as quickly as
possible the Soul-qualities needed, that you may ful-
fill your destiny, your special place and work in the
Grand Plan. When the lessons have been learned
and the quality gained the Law is fulfilled and there
is neither Karma nor anything else to hold you to the
old conditions, except your own free-will. And if
you hold to them after you have learned the lesson
you are but setting up fresh Karma.

Therefore, instead of sitting down dejectedly and
saying that you will bear everything as your Karma,
much as a child might stoically bear a whipping, rather
be like the child who recognizes the justice of the whip-
ping and sees behind it the loving desire of its parents
to inculcate a needed lesson and whose heart is filled
with sorrow that it has made the whipping necessary.

It is foolish to invoke your past Karma with the
idea of working it out more quickly, for the Law will
bring it to you as fast as you are able to conquer and
learn the lessons from it. To thus demand that your
Karma be precipitated is to be overwhelmed by ter-
rible sufferings in order to learn the lessons which a
little later you would be strong enough to learn with

118 The Voice of I sis

little or no suffering. To thus demand your Karma
would be to set up your judgment as superior to that
of the Lords of Karma, thus showing a lack both of
discretion and humility. Hence special trials might
have to come to you to teach you the lessons which
otherwise you might have learned happily while wrork-
ing out the Law normally as life brought it to you.

While you must learn poise and calm under all con-
ditions, at the same time you must seek earnestly with-
in yourself for the Soul-quality which your trials are
most fitted to bring to the surface. And when you have
recognized it strive earnestly to cultivate that quality
and manifest it in your life. Then the old conditions
will quickly begin to fall away from you, although
you will pass through a period of severe testing to
prove whether or not you have really learned the les-
son and built the desired quality into your Soul. Learn-
ing the lesson, however, does not mean merely recog-
nizing it or gaining an intellectual conception of what
is lacking, but gaining the power to manifest that qual-
ity, for the change must be within, not merely on the
surface. Recognition of what is lacking is a necessary
step in attaining it, but when recognized then comes
the testing to see if you have really gained the quality
or merely recognized the lack. For instance, if you
know that your great lack is impatience or lack of con-
trol of your temper, as long as only its outward mani-
festation is controlled you will still suffer from the
effects of anger, for your friends will say, "He man-
aged to control his temper, but I could see he was
boiling inside."

If your lacking quality is generosity and you
recognize the necessity of being generous but give
merely because you believe it your duty or because
you expect gratitude in return, those who receive

The Voice of I sis 119

your gifts will instinctively feel the grudging atti-
tude of Soul back of the gift and will not send out
the feeling of gratitude you are seeking. You will
thus suffer from ingratitude until you can give with
true generosity of Soul. It is not your Karma to
suffer from specific acts of anger or ingratitude, but
it is your Karma to learn control of your temper and
generosity of Soul. If you are driving an automobile
and notice something wrong with the engine and stop
and adjust it, no harm results. But if you are careless
and do not correct the trouble and the machine is
wrecked and you are injured, it was not your Karma
to be injured by an automobile, but it was your Karma
to be taught carefulness and common-sense. Hence
it is not your specific acts that bring your Karma to
you but the lacking of Soul-quality ; and any available
events, conditions or circumstances are used to teach
you the necessary lessons. Your acts are like leaves
on a tree, the result of the amount and character of
the sap. If the sap is lacking in life-force or is dis-
eased, the leaves will wither and fall ; but if the follow-
ing season the sap is enriched and regains its lack-
ing quality the tree will put forth perfect green leaves.
It was not the fault of the leaves that they dropped,
but a lacking quality in the trees. As you realize that
it is yourself who is responsible for all the disturbing
influences which surround you and that it rests with
you to overcome them by eliminating their causes, you
have begun in the right way to work with the Law
and gain Self-knowledge and Self-poise. Make your-
self one with the Law and all its manifestations will
work in harmony.

The above is but one phase of the Law. In addition
to personal Karma there is the Karma of the family,
the community, the nation, the country, the Race and

120 The Voice of I sis

the world, all of which modify and are modified by
the personal Karma. For instance, we all suffer from
the storms and rigors of climatic conditions, yet some
have ample shelter while others have none; we all
endure the economic conditions of society, its inequal-
ities, its injustices, etc., yet some suffer more acutely
than others according- to their personal Karma. All
members of a family are subject to the same environ-
ment, but individual members modify or rise above
it.

Thus the individual, the family, the nation, and
the planet are, both individually and collectively,
learning their lessons. The lesson for the individual
is to recognize his responsibility in bringing about
such conditions ; also the necessity for doing all in his
power to bring about better conditions, not only for
himself alone but for all. For he cannot gain the
Soul-qualities he is here to learn without advancing
the evolution of the entire planet to a certain extent.

Many students of life feel that a great injustice has
been- done them in that the Masters whom they are
trying to serve do not remove their physical burdens
and push them into positions of ease where they will
be able to devote their time and thought to the
Master's work. The Masters are just as sub-
ject to the Law of Karma as is the lowliest of earth's
children — They can work with it but not control it. A
farmer does the best he can to cultivate his fields, but
he cannot make a grain of wheat grow where a grain
of rye has been planted. He can enrich the soil and
cultivate it so it can bring forth a perfect crop of
rye, but the environment (the field) and the climate
will still be the same, and the grain will still be rye,
not wheat. This law is a benign and beneficent one,
for it is only by reaping what we have sown, and eat-

The Voice of Isis 121

ing of the fruits thereof, that we can ever learn to
plant wheat instead of tares.

Karma is looked upon by many as merely the re-
sult of their actions in past lives which determine
their present condition and environment. It is this
and much more. With the separation of humanity
into the sexes at the close of the Third Race, or as
the church puts it, "The fall of Man," 1 the Lords of
Karma took charge of the evolution of the personal-
ized infant humanity and personal Karma became
operative ; the socalled "fall" of man being in reality
not a fall but a necessary descent into physical em-
bodiment.

Considering humanity as one, as the great body of
the Heavenly Man reflected upon the lowest earth-
plane and broken up into myriad expressions, each
Soul or cell of this Great Body starts out with but one
primal controlling desire, namely, to gain the neces-
sary experience to fit it to take its proper place and
perfectly fufill its function in the Grand Plan and be-
come one with its Father-in-heaven. With this end
in view the Soul marks out a path that influences it
in all its future incarnations, the local Karma of each
incarnation being but eddies along the main stream.
While the Soul, in its higher aspect, always realizes its
destiny, it must gain its experience in and work
through various personalities and is responsible for
the actions of those personalities. It must build them
up from life to life and is responsible for their creation,
even to the matter of which they are composed. Thus
the Soul2 becomes the Higher Self or personal God
and Saviour of the various personalities. The per-
sonality may not heed the "still small voice" of the

1 Genesis I, 27; "In the image of God created he (the Elohim) him;
male and female, created he them."

- Do not confuse the term "Soul" with the astral body. It is
used herein as synonymous with the Higher Self.

122 The Voice of Isis

Soul and may fail and fall and sin, but each failure
must be corrected and redeemed and the personality
brought back to its real work.

The number of incarnations depends upon how
swiftly the Soul gains its experience and learns its
lessons, or in how many by-paths the personality is
allowed to wander, only to retrace its steps to the
main path. It is the retracing of these wandering
steps that is ordinarily referred to as Karma — cause
and effect — the cause being the going astray, violating
the Law, the effect the retracing of the steps, the re-
turn to harmony. This is beautifully condensed in
the Bible story of the Prodigal Son.1 Often incarna-
tion after incarnation is spent in a sort of a lethargy,
experiencing again and again the same things with-
out learning the lesson they are intended to teach.
Sorrow and suffering and loss are often the only
weapons that can awaken the personality from its
lethargy to ultimately accomplish the main work.

No two Souls have or need precisely the same ex-
perience. If we take the circulation of the blood, from
the time it is propelled outward from the heart to per-
form its work, to the time it returns again to the
center, we will have a fair illustration of the work-
ing of the Law of Karma. Humanity as a whole is
the blood stream composed of myriads of personalized
corpuscles, all propelled by the one living force and
vitalized by the one Breath to accomplish its great
work in the Heavenly Man. Man is possessed of free-
will in that his Higher Self has the will to accomplish
its great work, but the will of the personality is only
free in a limited sense. It is free to stray from the
path, and the Higher Self cannot compel obedience
but can only take advantage of every experience to

1St. Luke XV, 11-32.

The Voice of I sis 123

mould the personality and ultimately bring it into the
main channel.

The Soul, being complex in its nature, must seek
for experience upon the plane of differentiation (phys-
ical-plane) through masculine and feminine personal-
ities. Just as the blood corpuscles start out from the
heart to accomplish their work in the tissues, and after
having been purified by the breath return to the heart,
so these separated expressions of the Soul start out
from the center upon their great journey (called in
the Eastern teachings, "the cycle of necessity"), and
having been purified by the Spirit, return to their Fath-
er-in-heaven. The blood may have a long tedious
journey and be met by apparently insurmountable
obstacles ere it can accomplish its work and enter the
stream that is returning to the heart, just so the Soul
may have to overcome great obstacles before it can
return to the heart center. This point of return is the
awakening of the personality to its Higher Self. It
may be called "conversion" or what you will, but it
is a recognition of its immortal destiny and a deter-
mination to walk consciously in the chosen path, its
will one with that of its Higher Self. This, however,
does not mean that the old Karma has been wiped out,
for as the Master Jesus plainly stated, "For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled." 1

Many ask how the doctrine of Karma can be recon-
ciled with the doctrine of forgiveness of sins, but a
simple illustration will explain. If a beloved child
through disobedience should pull down upon itself
some heavy object and break a limb, its parents would
forgive the disobedience, soothe its suffering and lav-

1 St. Matthew V, 18.

124 Tht Voice of I sis

ish love upon it, but the forgiveness could not prevent
the child from reaping the results of its acts, i. e., could
not restore the broken limb, for that could be brought
about only by slow and painful readjustment — the
knitting of the bones — perhaps with some deformity
remaining, no matter how great the forgiveness and
love.

All the obstacles encountered are not necessarily
the result of the Soul's minor Karma, but may be a
necessary training to fit it for its chosen work. For
instance, if you wished to train a horse to be a hunter,
you would take it into the fields, put obstacles in its
path and teach it to jump, but if you desired it to be
a staid family horse you would teach it not to jump,
but to jog quietly along the smooth, beaten roadway.

You can see this Law exemplified everywhere in
Nature. The seed contains the future tree, and if it
germinates beneath a rock, or if its growth is impeded
by any untoward condition, it will struggle to overcome
that condition, and no matter how distorted the growth
of its form, it will finally develop into the exact species
of a tree oictured within the seed, even though its out-
ward form is imperfect.

Therefore, going back to our first simile, if the
stream of your Karma carries you to the feet or the
hands, to the brain or heart of the Heavenly Man, do
the duty that lies nearest you cheerfully and to the
best of your ability, and diligently learn the lessons
that its perfect accomplishment will teach. It is the
duty of the feet to support and carry ; the hands to
execute; the brain to plan and direct; the heart to
furnish the life-force to all parts ; but unless each per-
forms its duty in its own place, and performs it well,
the whole man must suffer.

Th* Voice of Isis

125

Let go then, the things that are holding you back.
Throw yourself into the stream. Push out into the
current where you will not get stranded in the eddies.
Cease to cling so desperately to the rocks and snags
against which you are tossed, for they are a sign of
shallow water. Have faith to believe that your brothers
and sisters are also in the stream in their proper place,
and are learning the lessons they have incarnated to
learn. Have faith that your Father-in-heaven knows
their needs as well as your own, and is watching over
them as well as you, and has promised that "no good
thing will He withhold from them that love Him."

CHAPTER IX.

THE SELF.

"I AM, the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die." St. John, XL 25-26.

"Saith the Great Law : 'In order to become the
knower of ALL SELF, thou hast first of SELF
to be the knower.' To reach the knowledge of that
SELF, thou hast to give up Self to Non-Self, Be-
ing to Non-Being, and then thou canst repose be-
tween the wings of the GREAT BIRD. . . .
Bestride the Bird of Life, if thou would'st know."
The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment 1.

The I AM which is the resurrection and the life is
the True Self.

We are "dead" when our consciousness is identified
with the lower personal self and bounded by the mortal
body and its functions.

The personal self, however, can be made a good and
faithful servant, hence it is not to be despised, killed
out and swallowed up in the way so frequently inter-
preted, for without it the Real Self could not gain the
experiences of physical existence. It is a garment
worn to protect the Real Self from the coarse and
harsh vibrations of physical life, just as a diver dons
a diving suit to protect him from the pressure of the
water when he wishes to explore the ocean's depths.
But if it loses touch with the Higher Self it is doomed,
just as is the diver when he loses touch with the upper
world and his supply of air is cut off.

If you are wedded to the idea of the lower personal
self and consider it all-important or all there is, you
must reach a stage of growth in which your ideals,

The Voice of I sis 127

your enthusiasm and zest in life, which at one time
gushed forth like a mountain freshet, must die or lose
themselves in the sands of earth conditions or be dried
up by the hot scorching sun of criticism and worldly
disapproval. But if you bestride the Bird of Life or
hold for your central idea the thought of the I AM —
not the mere personality but the Higher, Divine Self
or The Christos — even those former ideals though
dead, shall rise again, be spiritualized and never die.
Just as the diver, if he holds fast to his source of sup-
ply, will be enabled to do his work and when it is
accomplished, will rise into the upper air and take off
his clumsy accoutrements. Should he think, however,
that the diving-suit was himself, or should he lose
his memory of the higher world, he could never rise
from the depths and return to his real home.

If in the face of all obstacles you go on trusting and
centering your ideals on the True Self which is im-
mprtal, your faith can never die, for you will know
that the Real Self can never be affected by the chang-
ing conditions of earth life. This is bestriding the Bird
of Life. As long as you hold firmly to this idea you
hold the reins which shall guide the Bird of Life
throughout eternity.

The I is the only symbol in the alphabet that stands
both for Deity — the straight vertical line symbolizing
Spirit descending into matter — and for personality. As
you advance along the Path and reach up through and
above the personality and follow the straight line
upward into Divinity, the personality blends into and
becomes the Individuality;1 the son becomes one with
the Father. The small letter i symbolizes the person-
ality before its spiritual awakening, the self (perpen-
dicular line) overshadowed by the Higher Self (the

1 Individuality, that which is indivisible. Personality, literally to
sound through; a vehicle; a mask.

128 The Voice of I sis

dot) who as yet cannot manifest on earth except as
the germ of that which the lower self can reach up and
merge into. The perpendicular line must reach up
and merge into the dot before it can become the I.

Even the materially minded recognize that the only
path to worldly success is implicit faith and belief in
yourself. This is but the lowest octave of the true
success which results when you raise your belief from
the personal self to the Real Self. The relative value
of the Real Self and the personal self may be repre-
sented by a capital I painted in gold upon a dark
shadowy background designed to make the golden let-
ter more conspicuous. The personality must always be
the shadow on earth of the Real I, its office being to
emphasize and give perfect expression to the Real Self
and make its golden light stand out the more brilliantly
because of the shadow.

Manifested life is compared to the Great Bird (Pa-
ram-hansa), for just as a bird grows to maturity and
lays an egg out of which hatches another bird, so the
cycles of manifestation emerge from the World-Egg,
mature and deposit their laya-c enters (eggs) out of
which new manifestations (manvantaras) of activity
emerge. The winged globe and the winged wheel have
the same symbology, namely, that Time is fleeting but
is forever progressing. This symbol is often called the
Winged Eternity, eternity only in its eternal renewal
of manifestation. The Bird of Life called Kalahamsa
or Black Swan — black because unmanifested — symbol-
izes the Higher or Divine Self, the "I AM THAT I
AM." Hence, to "bestride the Bird of Life" means
to be master of all the manifesting expressions through
which this great bird or winged wheel is passing, just
as a rider must control and master his fiery steed. Our
text therefore points out the possibility of such mas-

The Voice of I sis 129

tery and the only way by which it can be attained, i. e.,
by an understanding of the Self, merging the person-
ality into the Individuality over the straight line of
your awakened spiritual consciousness.

To accomplish this think of yourself as one with the
Silent Thinker, the Great Over-Soul, the Self, the
Bringer-Forth of all things, and swallow up the little
personal self in this greater conception of Selfhood.
Always think of the Real Self as an emanation from
or an expression of the Divine, of which you, the per-
sonal self, are but the shadow. While you should
make the personal self a perfect shadow or reflection
of the Divine, still even after that is accomplished it
must take its proper place as the humble servant of
the Self. If you make a sincere effort to do this, how
much of misery, of unhappiness, of trouble will fall
away from your life ! As we have said in 'another
work, "O ye seekers for the Way! ... To you
comes a message from all the spheres through which
the Spirit of Life Eternal presses onward pulsating,
rising, falling, beating the outward form into noth-
ingness, that the immortal Spirit of all things may
be revealed to you, the Soundless Sound." 1 What
does this mean, this "beating into nothingness ?" What
is this "outer form?" It is the personality, your life
in the outer world. But must all these things, my
business, my pleasures, my friendships be beaten into
nothingness? Yes, if they so completely occupy your
attention that they prevent the Real Self from mani-
festing. For once you have set out upon the Path to
Mastery, once having chosen to live the Higher Life,
you have registered your desire and your willingness
to let that Self manifest and all the forces of the uni-
verse work together to fulfill your vow. Therefore,

1 The Soundless Sound, Curtiss, p. 9.

130 The Voice of I sis

be not amazed at anything that happens to the little
self, but instead ask Why? Why?

That which holds you back is the personal self. Al-
most every trouble that confronts you is centered in
this little self and what others think of that self. Per-
haps you are so humble that you think constantly of
how little you are and dwell upon it so that it is im-
possible for the Silent Thinker to inspire you, per-
haps to do a great work. Perhaps you magnify every
little deviation from that conduct which you have de-
cided makes for spiritual growth. Perhaps, instead of
keeping your mind on your Higher Self, you are watch-
ing to see what others think of your beliefs, striving
to shape your life to meet their approval or trying to
live up to what others consider a spiritual life instead
of listening to the Silent Speaker and following your
own divine guidance. Perhaps you are following some
great ambition, trying to accomplish some great thing
for humanity. Perhaps some slight to the little self
occupies your whole attention, perhaps some grief.
There may be many seemingly laudable excuses given
for allowing the little self to occupy the center of
the stage in your life, but whatever they are, if you
are honest with yourself, true and serious in your de-
sire to be united to the mind of the Silent Thinker, you
must admit that it is self that is occupying your at-
tention and bringing about your troubles. This is
comparable to the ignorance of the illiterate person
who uses a small letter i where a capital I is indicated,
for the little i is always subordinate and should never
stand alone. You would not long fret or worry if,
instead of focusing your attention upon the little se,lf,
its needs, its joys, its sorrows, its slights or perhaps
its honors, you permitted it to be swallowed up in an
effort to realize your Divine Self, to think of the per-

The Voice of Isis 131

sonal self only as a vehicle or expression or shadowy
background on the physical-plane, of the Great Self,
the Higher Self.

Many dream of a grand work for humanity, but
the little self sets boundaries upon it or decides what
the work is to be, thus allowing many opportunities
to go by while waiting for what they have decided is
to mark the beginning of their great work. While
the great work which each Soul has to accomplish is
born from the Higher Self it must be accomplished
through the little self or personality. Hence the events
which mark its beginning will be just those which the
little self can accomplish and by such accomplishments
grow into greater things. To sit with folded hands
for a miraculous beginning is just as disastrous as to
try to use a capital I where the small i is needed. Again
it must borne in mind that the work of each self will
be brought to that personality by the Great Law, and
that it will never be another's work.

Each personality is in very truth a ray from its
Higher Self but in passing through earth conditions it
has become clouded, obscured, distorted, just as a ray
of light becomes distorted by passing through a dense
medium. Therefore no person should try to pattern
his life after that of another or after another's ideals,
but after the ideal life of the Soul as set forth in the
allegorical life of the Christ-man, Jesus.

He should take account of his own disposition and
idiosyncracies and seek to find the original intent of
each characteristic or the germ of good within every
fault. For this reason "know thyself" is the watchword
rather than to pattern after another, be that other ever
so godlike. For in the Grand Plan, while all are one in
the unity of the godhead, still each atom or personality
has its own part to play and is endowed with tendencies

132 The Voice of I sis

and characteristics which when corrected and sublimed
will fit it to take its own place, a place no other can
ever fill. Since your personality is the distorted image
of your Higher Self it should be your first duty to
straighten it out and discard the awryness due to the
illusiveness of the medium through which it is function-
ing and permit it truly to express the. Real Self. The
important point to remember therefore is not to copy
the actions of others or try to square your life with
the ideals of others, but bravely seek deep within your
own being for the germs of action emplanted in the
personality by the Higher Self and make the person-
ality measure up to the ideal given you by your own
Higher Self. In other words find yourself, do your
own thinking and live true to your own divine guid-
ance.

We are wont to consider selfish those who desire only
happiness for the self or who refuse to let others have
what they desire. We think ourselves very unselfish if,
perchance, we strive to appear meek, seem humble,
eager to talk about our littleness and the greatness of
others and to prefer others to ourselves. But the truth
is — and would we could speak it in tones that would
vibrate from pole to pole — that it is just as selfish to
permit your humility to occupy the foreground in your
thoughts and continually impose it upon the thoughts
of others as to continually seek your own pleasure.
For even though you are dwelling upon your own un-
worthiness, nevertheless it is the little self that is occu-
pying your attention. The little self is your servant
and must be set to work in the vineyard of your life
and not stand all day idle waiting for The Christ to
come and give it work in the great vineyard of hu-
manity.

On the other hand, many teachers gain a consid-
erable following by reiterating their own greatness,

The Voice of I sis 133

sanctity and claims to holiness. They talk much of
their wonderful experiences, their illumination and
their Christ-like character, and followers like sheep
flock to them. But if each Soul will do his or her own
thinking such claims to sanctity will at once arouse
suspicion, for all scriptures and occult authorities pro-
claim in no uncertain way that "whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased." The true teacher must have
evolved beyond the little personal self and to some ex-
tent merged his consciousness into the Divine, hence
neither seeks nor permits adulation or worship for
himself, but lets the Divine in him speak through his
teachings.

Let your deep, abiding aims, your aspirations, be
ever upward. In fact, bestride the Bird of Life and
soar into heavenly realms. Forget to look down to
earth. If you stumble, do not waste a moment's
thought over it, but remember the lesson from it and
say : "I must be up and doing. That is past and gone
and it shall not hold me back." Truly nothing can
hold you back unless you hold to it. If the Bird of
Life is chained to a perch it cannot fly. "It warbles not,
nor can it stir a feather; but the songster mute and
torpid sits, and of exhaustion dies." If you were
running a race and tripped and fell, would you waste
time carefully inspecting the spot where you fell and
wondering how it happened? No! you would be up
and on, intent only on reaching the goal, not even
conscious of the bruises you have received. Thus must
you run this race which ends in Mastery. Be so intent
on climbing the mountain that you have no time to
think of your hurt feelings, no time to sit and cry, no
time to enumerate either your personal grievances and
slights, or your honors and exaltations, no time to
grieve over lack of appreciation of your efforts by
those around you.

134 The Voice of I sis

While you are not to go over and over in your mind
the things belonging to the little personal self, still
you must not waste your opportunities. Do your full
duty in life, be kind, loving, just and true, yet always
have your gaze fixed on high, and the realization of
your oneness with the Real Self like a thread of fire
forever penetrating your being and filling your con-
sciousness. The little self continually seeks to sit upon
the throne of the Higher Self, and when you think
you have made it the servant in regard to earthly
things, it begins to assert itself on the higher planes
as spiritual selfishness and spiritual pride.

Determine that you will not remain identified with
the servant (the personality) but will identify yourself
with the Master (the Higher Self).

This life is but one day in the school of the Soul.
Your real life is not at school but at home in your
Father's house. If things in school do not go just
as you would have them, nevertheless realize that
everything that belongs to you or is a part of your
Soul is yours upon the Soul-plane. There are many
expressions of the Soul and these expressions may
manifest in absolutely different ways upon the diff-
erent planes. That which belongs to you is yours upon
the Soul-plane, therefore accept it upon the Soul-
plane, but do not insist upon its physical expression
also until the Great Law brings it to you, for its physi-
cal expression may not be for the personal self during
this day at school. And if it does not belong to the
personal self, why pin the Self down to the little self
which, while learning its lessons in school must have
many of its beautiful possessions kept from it until
study hours are over? You only prolong the depri-
vation by refusing to pay attention to your lessons.
For you thereby attract earthly atoms which do not

The Voice of Isis 135

belong to the Real Self and which must be taken from
you, making the little self bleed and suffer. You are
like a ship which, while in the ocean, even if blown
temporarily from its course, is still victor over cur-
rents, winds, tides and storms. But if this same
ship anchors for a time in ever so beautiful a harbor
it will become covered with barnacles, things that do
not belong to it. And the longer it lies there the
greater the encrustation. The only way it can be set
free is to have the barnacles scraped off — a painful
process. Try to understand and realize that any-
thing you cling to for the mere gratification of the
personal self, no matter how desirable it may seem, is
but a barnacle holding back your spiritual advance.
Your Higher Self has now everything necessary for
its perfection and will and must scrape off the bar-
nacles ere it can indraw the little self into its own Di-
vine Consciousness and perfection. Dwell then in the
Higher Self which does not need the physical expres-
sions you desire but has the Reality in the oneness of
the immortal Soul of All, forever in the Godhead.

One of the greatest temptations of those who are
progressing and beginning to develop the higher con-
sciousness is to think that they have reached the point
where the divine illumination of conscious oneness with
the Higher Self is soon to take place. So instead of
merging their consciousness into the Divine they de-
velop a great spiritual ambition for the little self to
have an experience which shall lift them above their
fellows and give them prestige. This is one of the
most subtle temptations of the little self which must
be carefully guarded against.

You can carry the burdens of the little self only
along the first steps on the Path. Long ere you enter
the Fourth Gate x you must have left them behind.

1 See Chapter XXII.

136 The Voice of I sis

Like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, you must find
them falling from your shoulders into the abyss and
be able to let them go without a murmur. The abyss
is the only place for that of the lower self which can-
not be swallowed up, digested, transmuted and per-
mitted to manifest under and within the great Divine
Self. Tear from your eyes the bandages of darkness
and ignorance! why will you suffer so long? why put
between you and all the loving Great Souls who are
anxious to help you such a barrier, such a tremendous
barrier as this lower self and its petty concerns?

The Spirit within you is immortal, Divine. The
Soul of you is part of the Soul of the Heavenly Man,
and you owe it to your own Soul to work with all
your powers for humanity. This you cannot do
while your horizon is filled with the little self, while
you remember that you are a separate entity or any-
thing but an expression of your true Higher Self who
is one with Divinity. The Real Self, being one with
all, is concerned only that the personal self learn the
lessons necessary to bring it into conscious at-one-
ment with the Divine, hence refuses to be turned aside
from its purpose by the little trials and tests the per-
sonal self has to pass through. It sees only the great
end, only the Divine Power working through the little
selves and leading humanity up to the Divine. The
self must become the True Self, the Higher Self.

CHAPTER X.

THE DOCTRINE OF AVATARA.

"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward
is with me, to give every man according as his
work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the be-
ginning and the end, the first and the last." —
Revelation XXII. 12-13.

The Order of the 75 was put forth by the Great
White Lodge for a definite work in helping to pre-
pare the way and make a place for the coming of the
great World Teacher, the Avatar. For ere such a
Divine Being can appear on earth there must be a
nucleus formed of awakened Souls who not only
ardently long for His advent, but who are sufficiently
instructed in the Law and developed through love,
to recognize Him when He comes. The time has
now come to give to our pupils such further infor-
mation concerning this great event as the times permit.

"What is an Avatar ? for the term being used ought
to be well understood. It is a descent of the manifested
Deity, . . . into an illusive form of individual-
ity, an appearance which to men on this illusive plane
is objective, but it is not so in sober fact. That illu-
sive form having neither past nor future, because it
had neither previous incarnation nor will have sub-
sequent rebirths, has naught to do with Karma, which
has therefore no hold on it."1 In other words a true
Avatar is a focusing of the universal cosmic Christ-
principle into and through the individuality of a Great
Soul who has reached divinity — hence has no Karma.
Such a Great Soul must be an Initiate into the Mys-
teries, one who has overcome and reached nirvanic

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. Ill, 364.

138 The Voice of Isis

bliss, but who voluntarily incarnates in the flesh for
the purpose of becoming a vehicle for an individual-
ization of The Christos, that it may accomplish a spe-
cial definite mission in humanity. Such an one sac-
rifices His life in the spiritual realms and offers Him-
self as a vehicle because of His great love for suff-
ering humanity and in answer to its great need for a
more direct manifestation of Divine Love and Wisdom.
The whole doctrine of Avatara is so hedged about
with mysteries whose elucidation belongs to the higher
initiations, that only a more or less imperfect out-
line can be given here. Generally speaking, however,
an Avatar is not a mortal, but a Divine Being, who
descends from the spiritual realms and suddenly ap-
pears on earth in a body composed of atoms which
vibrate to the rhythm of the spiritual-plane and hence
are immortal. The Ophites and Nazarenes taught
that, 'Therefore, Christos, the perfect,1 uniting him-
self with Sophia (divine wisdom) descended through
the seven planetary regions, assuming in each an anal-
ogous form . . . (and) entered into the man
Jesus at the moment of his baptism in the Jordan.2
From this time forth Jesus began to work miracles ;
before that time he had been entirely ignorant of his
own mission." 3 This is the true interpretation of the
symbol in which Jesus is said to be born of a virgin,
i. e., he descended from the great Celestial Virgin,
Sophia, as a direct Avatar. From the life of Jesus

1 "The Western personification of that power, which the Hindus
call the Vija, the 'one seed' or Maha- Vishnu — a power not the God —
or that mysterious Principle that contains in Itself the Seed of Ava-
tarism."

! "The Baptism in the Jordan is the Rite of Initiation, the final
purification, whether in sacred pagoda, tank, river, or temple lake
in Egypt or Mexico. The perfect Christos and Sophia . . . enter
the Initiate at the moment of the mystic rite, by transference from
Guru to Chela, and leave the physical body, at the moment of the
death of the latter, to re-enter the Nirmanakaya, or the astral Ego
of Adept." — Ibid, Vol. III., p. 159.

*Ibid, Vol. Ill, p. 158.

The Voice of Isis 139

as given in the Bible it may be inferred that he was
not a direct Avatar, having been born of woman.
Nevertheless He was a direct Avatar, for that story
is not a history of His physical life, but an allegorical
account of the Soul-life of every great Initiate.

As above indicated, The Christos becomes individ-
ualized upon all planes, beginning with the highest
spiritual-plane and gradually descending to earth. In
the case of the coming Avatar this individualization
has already reached the higher astral-plane, the next
above the earth-plane.

When the mission of an Avatar requires an appear-
ance upon the physical-plane His spiritual body re-
sponds to His will, lowers its rate of vibration to the
key-note of the physical-plane (somewhat similar to
the way steam can be condensed into ice), and He
appears among men in a body to all intents physical,
"an appearance which to men, on this illusive plane, is
objective, but is not so in sober fact/' in that it is
not a mortal body confined to the physical-plane and
subject to death and decay. Such a divine Being is
not born of woman, but simply appears in a body
far more glorious, sensitive and powerful than any
mortal body could be. Such a body can manifest upon
any plane of consciousness in response to the will of
its possessor. Since such a Great Soul is one with His
Father-in-heaven He has all knowledge and all wisdom,
hence would require no earthly instruction or school-
ing, for His consciousness would be one with The
Christ-consciousness, hence all-knowing.

His manifested personality would transcend all ra-
cial characteristics and limitations, would be the type
of perfected man. Hence He could not be pointed
out as belonging to a particular Race, but would em-
body the perfections of all Races and therefore would

140 The Voice of I sis

not arouse the race-prejudice of even the most ad-
vanced.

The appearance of an Avatar is determined by the
needs of humanity and the manifestation is as great
as the highest ideals of the most advanced of mankind
demand. He comes in answer to the cry of many, many
hearts for more love and light, for higher ideals and
for a clearer understanding of the universal spiritual
truths contained in the one Wisdom Religion. As
more and more hearts send up their cries the demand
creates a vacuum or a negative vortex into which the
positive complementary force of The Christ-principle
must flow and find an embodied manifestation in hu-
manity. In The Bhagavad Gita1 Krishna — the Christ —
says : "I produce myself among creatures, O son
of Bharata, whenever there is a decline of virtue and
an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world; and
thus I incarnate from age to age for the preservation
of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the es-
tablishment of righteousness." This law is illustrated
by the popular saying, "The darkest hour is just be-
fore the dawn." Therefore, when we find that hu-
manity has reached a point of great spiritual, mental
and social unrest, during which the established and
recognized spiritual teachers have gotten so far away
from their true spiritual guidance that the great mass
of humanity are like sheep without a shepherd, and
are sending out their heart-cries without ceasing,
What is Truth? Who shall show us the Way? "How
long, O Lord, how long?" this cry must bring forth
its answer. In other words, when the enlightened
thought of the day recognizes — as it does today — that
its spiritual teachers are no longer in personal touch
with the higher realms and are no longer divinely

1 Chapter IV.

The Voice of Isis 141

called, guided and appointed to their offices, a new
regime is demanded. When the ceremonies employed
and the sacraments administered by priests and min-
isters no longer carry divine potency, it is time for a
true priesthood to be established. When the covenant
of marriage is no longer a sacred sacrament, but has
degenerated into the mere recital of a few words be-
fore one who has no spiritual power to discern whether
or not the man and woman belong to each other spirit-
ually— as all divinely ordained priests have — and when
through such ignorance the resulting mistaken mar-
riages degrade the Divine Creative Power into mere
sex gratification, impurity and lust, then there must
com€ a fresh outpouring of Divine Love, Purity and
Wisdom. For there is never a sincere prayer uttered \
by the children of men that does not, by the very law
of the universe, create its answer. Neither social, po- /
litical nor economic injustice and inharmony can ever
be truly adjusted and regulated and graft abolished
until the divinely appointed priesthood, who are un-
der personal conscious direction of the Progenitors
and Guides of the Race, is re-established. The ques-
tion of the marriage sacrament alone demands a di-
vinely appointed and trained body of spiritual teach-
ers— a true priesthood — who have the power to know
who should partake of that sacrament together and
who should not. If there were no other need in hu-
manity for an Avatar this alone would be suffcient to
call one into manifestation, that a new order of true
priests of the Lord or the Divine Law might be es-
tablished. But there are many other crying needs ex-
pressed in present-day social, economic and political
conditions, as well as the awakening of many, many
hearts to the need of more direct spiritual teach-
ings. Hence all the signs of the times point to the

142 The Voice of Isis

necessity for a fresh outpouring of Divine Love and
Wisdom in this present age.

As the Avatar descends through the higher worlds
and draws near the earth-plane, all hearts who are
open to His influence or respond to the key-note of
His message come into more or less conscious touch
with Him interiorally through the illuminating power
of His Divine consciousness and feel an unquenchable
desire and an irresistible urge to purify, uplift and
make more harmonious that phase of work for hu-
manity in which they are interested. And today all
classes, types and conditions of mind are feeling the
influence of a great spiritual awakening which is giv-
ing them a greater vision, a greater realization of the
needs of humanity and the possibility of their filling a
wider range of usefulness and accomplishing greater
results. And this no matter whether they are more
or less blindly following the urge to do good along
philanthropic, humanitarian, sociological or political
lines of endeavor, or whether they are occultists who
understand the Law and are working more or less
consciously under the inspiration and direction of
those Great Souls, the Masters of Wisdom, whose
Love, Wisdom and Power is back of and working
through every effort for the betterment of the Race
in direct proportion to the ability of the various chan-
nels to assimilate and make use of Their help.

An Avatar then is the focusing and embodiment
of the same Christ-principle that has manifested in all
ages in all Avatars, each of whom thus became The
Christ for the age in which He appeared. Each direct
descent of Deity into physical embodiment, however,
is preceded by many lesser and incomplete manifesta-
tions called Avesha Avatars. In these cases an ad-
vanced Soul who has not yet reached full Mastery, but

The Voice of Isis 143

who is sufficiently pure, loving and compassionate, is
chosen and overshadowed by The Christ-principle for
a certain time and for a certain purpose. In every
organization, society, order or movement working
along truly spiritual, occult or mystic lines, there will
be certain advanced members who will be able to
reach up into the spiritual realm and come into con-
scious communion with the Avatar. From these ad-
vanced Souls one who is especially pure, gifted, well-
trained and worthy, will be chosen as the mouthpiece
through whom the message of the Avatar will be given
out to his particular society or movement. It is nec-
essary, however, that this vehicle be capable of re-
ceiving and transmitting as much of the Divine Wis-
dom, in its purity, as the stage of evolution and de-
gree of spiritualization of his bodies is capable of ex-
pressing. Hence such a vehicle must be carefully
trained, disciplined and prepared that his faculties and
powers may reach their greatest perfection. In each
case the chosen one is a Christ only during the period
of the overshadowing, at all other times being but the
human and mortal personage. Not that there is any
limit to possible revelation, for the overshadowing is
always The Christos which is not a being, but that
Essence of Divinity which is Everlasting Law, Ever-
lasting Wisdom, the Essence of Truth from the begin-
ning, from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus speaks
of this overshadowing Power as "the Comforter" and
tells His disciples that it is expedient for Him to go
away that the Comforter might come. This simply
means that, being the Avatar, He condensed or focused
The Christos in Himself which at His departure would
be perceived by mankind apart from its manifestations
through His personality and shine in every heart pre-
pared to correlate with it. "But the Comforter, which

144 The Voice of I sis

is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you."

In other words each truly spiritual, pure and sincere
society and movement will have some illumined Soul
who will be an Avesha Avatar to that society or move-
ment to prepare his followers for the coming of the
Avatar, as John the Baptist prepared the Hebrews
for the coming of Jesus. No doubt in many instances
such an Avesha Avatar will be considered by his fol-
lowers to be the Avatar in person. But this is easily
determined if you remember that an Avatar is not a
mortal. When such a claim is made for any human
being, however great or wise, you may know that he
could not be more than an Avesha Avatar and be
mortal. Nevertheless the essence of his message
would be that of the Avatar, for water is still water
whether measured by a thimbleful or by an ocean.
Furthermore, if he be a pure and enlightened Avesha,
he will not only refuse the title of Avatar, but will
exclaim with John the Baptist : "One mightier than I
cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose." He will also discountenance all adulation and
personal worship. The characteristics of his teach-
ings will include not only the much abused "uni-
versal brotherhood" but also the true tolerance that
arises from a recognition of the divine guidance of
other teachers and Aveshas. For one evidence of a
true Avesha must be a recognition of the divine mis-
sion of others.

Necessarily the messages of the various Avesha
Avataras will differ in details, methods of presenta-
tion, etc., for the ability of such a channel to give
out the teaching depends upon such factors as the

The Voice of Isis 145

line of endeavor he is interested in, his race-thought,
his mental and spiritual capacity, his habits of life,
his knowledge of the laws and philosophy of the
higher life and the intellectual training his mind —
through which all the teachings must pass — has re-
ceived. In this way the members of every Society and
movement shall hear the divine truths spoken in their
own language wherein they were born, i. e., couched
in the terminology, symbols and characteristic methods
of expression peculiar to their own avenue of truth.
Thus all classes of humanity will be given the oppor-
tunity to do their part in preparing for the coming
of the Great One by forming an universal Center in
which He can manifest. This does not necessarily
mean a Center in the sense of a segregated commu-
nity, but an universal Center in the thought-world
from which the currents of force will radiate that
shall affect the minds and hearts of the whole
world. Each Avesha Avatara will no doubt found
a community for his own followers and out of
each community there must ultimately be chosen
those advanced disciples who have been able to
recognize The Christ "in the air" or on the higher
planes and hence are able to recognize Him when He
manifests in the flesh. These will be gathered together
to be His immediate disciples and body-guard. The
Avatar will not come to any one society, movement,
order or sect, but will come to humanity. His truths
will be so divine and perfect, yet so simple, unbiased
and unprejudiced by the characteristics of any cult,
that they will be equally applicable to all, no matter
what their Race, creed or special trend of thought
may be.

We have in the Gospel of St. John, in language so
simple as to be a complete and incomprehensible blind

146 The Voice of I sis

to all but the initiated, the whole doctrine of the Ava-
tara. We read : "In the beginning was the Word (The
Christos) and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God," God in that it was and is the totality of
Spiritual Wisdom, the creative Word, the manifested
Christ. "The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; ... In him was
life; and the life was the light of men." The Christ-
principle is the essence of Divine Life without which
there can be no life, and being Divine this life is "the
light of men" and is distinct from mere animal life
which is but the outward and densest covering of Di-
vine Essence. "And the light shineth in the darkness ;
and the darkness comprehended it not," i. e., it is hid-
den in a human body. These verses also bear testimony
that this Light of the Christos is once more to be man-
ifested in humanity as it has been manifested periodi-
cally "from the beginning." This is but another and
more compact statement of a deep esoteric truth, and
a most sacred mystery, which has filled volume after
volume in more ancient scriptures.

In all religions now on earth there is an exoteric
or public and an inner or secret teaching. Something
analogous is true of the manifested Christos ; it has its
exoteric manifestations and its inner Essence. Here-
tofore, in every manifestation of an Avatar, it has
been the outer covering, as it were, of this Power that
has manifested through the vehicle ; and even this has
been more than humanity could grasp or understand.
In the coming Avatar will be manifested more of the
inner Essence of The Christ than has ever before been
possible, because thousands in the world today are
shaking off the garments of their dense materialized
conceptions of life and are responding to the higher
spiritual ideals.

The Voice of Isis 147

Every Great Teacher, such as Zoroaster, Gautama,
Jesus, etc., has founded a new religion or at most,
a new expression of the One Religion. They have
all taught the Wisdom Religion, but in ways which
appealed to the different peoples to which they came.
While each of those Great Teachers has taken the
world a step onward and emphasized some one phase
of Divine Truth, still they have founded but larger
sects, rather than brought the world into one Univer-
sal Brotherhood. The Christian religion is universally
acknowledged to be the greatest factor in modern
civilization, and the time has now come for it to take
an advanced step through the awakening of a sense
of the deep, underlying, vital truths common to all
religions in the hearts of all earnest seekers among
Christian people; thus taking: the first step on the
return journey to the one Wisdom Religion.

There are many prophecies in the Bible, and else-
where, relating to the Avatar who closes this cycle,
which have never been fulfilled in any sense. The Book
of Revelation is distinctly a history of the preparation
for the coming of such an Avatar. In it is allegori-
cally set forth all that must occur in the world dur-
ing an avataric cycle. A careful study of this book
will prove trfat it contains teachings identical with
the above, as well as with those of all ancient revela-
tions pertaining to the Mysteries. This will easily be
understood if the student will remember that the
Bible covers the whole period of an avataric cycle, i. e.,
from the first coming to the reappearance of the Avatar
at the close of the cycle. Jesus, speaking of The Christ-
principle within Him, said, "I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, . . . which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty," 1 a

148 The Voice of I sis

most blasphemous assertion if referring to His human
personality. This emphasizes the fact that it was not
the man Jesus, but The Christos that manifested, and
that it was the same Power in all ages and in all mani-
festations, and that the same Divine Power which
manifested through the personality called Jesus will be
the Power to manifest through the Avatar who closes
this Messianic cycle and plants the seed for the new.
But instead of this return being merely the founding
of new religion or sect, — humanity, having passed the
lowest point of the downward arc of the cycle and
begun laboriously to climb the upward arc — the com-
ing Avatar must fulfill the prophecies already given,
bring to earth as much as the Divine Wisdom as hu-
manity can attain to by the end of the sixth and sev-
enth sub-races, and plant the seed for the future Sixth
Great Race, whose manifestation will usher in the
Golden Age.

The time of His coming cannot be given out ; but it
will be in exact accord with the astronomical and
numerical cycles hinted at elsewhere. Moreover, all
who will be drawn into the coming Brotherhood will
find that they are in some mysterious way connected
with the secret cycles of the Messiah. The Avatar
cannot come until the cycle is fulfilled ; until the stars
are in their proper positions. As we said in a former
lesson :

"It is a fact that the creative force flows in cyclic
waves, and in a cycle corresponding closely to a cen-
tury of earth life. The ebb and flow of this great
force is first downward. The first quarter of the
century it passes from the spiritual world into the
mental and psychic ; the second quarter down into the
physical, and then, in the last half of the century, back
again into the spiritual-plane, following the reverse

The Voice of Isis 149

order. But the deductions that have been drawn from
these facts by some, are arbitrary and misleading.

"As the force descends from the spiritual-plane
into psychic in the first quarter of the century (1 to 25),
it causes great creative activity in the psychic and
mental worlds, and the Masters take advantage of
this fact to work with the tide. Consequently all
those who have developed their faculties so they can
reach the higher psychic-plane can meet the Masters
upon that plane (not upon the astral) and can benefit
correspondingly by the great activity of that period.

"Later, during the second quarter of the century (25
to 50), the force descends into the physical world and
touches the lowest point of its arc; but it is still spir-
itual creative force. The natural deduction from this
is, therefore, that the first quarter of the century .(1 to
25) is, most emphatically, the planting and growing
time, corresponding to the springtime of the year. It
would be during this quarter of the century that an
Avatar would first manifest Himself to His more ad-
vanced disciples and plant in their hearts the seed of
His teachings.

"The second quarter of the century (25 to 50) cor-
responds to summer ; the time when this spiritual crea-
tive force, having penetrated to the earth-plane, must
bring forth its fruit upon that plane. Whatever has
been planted must bring forth its fruit, provided it
has been a fruitful season ; that is, providing the work
has been faithfully done and the spring growth care-
fully nurtured. Should this part of the cycle of the
century coincide with certain greater cycles, it would
be possible at this period for the Avatar to manifest
openly among men, He being the fruit of the culmin-
ating cycles. The Master Jesus was spoken of as 'The
first fruits of them that slept/ the word 'slept' in-

150 The Voice of I sis

dicating not in manifestation. Should the Avatar come,
the result of His teachings, and His contact with the
earth would mature during this period. At the end
of this quarter of the century the force, having reached
its lowest point, would turn upward, and His teach-
ings would raise humanity with it.

"The third quarter (50 to 75) corresponds to the
autumn when the fruit is harvested; when 'we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and
so shall we be ever with the Lord/ '

"The last quarter (75 to 100) corresponds to the
winter time, when the ground is frozen. At that time,
after the harvest has been gathered and the spiritual
forces indrawn and the world has again fallen away
from the true teachings, it becomes necessary for The
Lodge of Masters again to send out an agent, or
agents, on the physical-plane, to break the ground and
prepare for the new springtime. At such a time much
of the activity of The Lodge is directed to the physical-
plane through physical embodiments.
. . . . "Consequently these early years of the
century are pregnant with power. As the years go
on this Great Creative Force of Love must be brought
down to earth by those who can receive it; for only
as we are able to reach up into the higher psychic
realm, and there meet and correlate with the Great
Teachers, is it possible to prepare for the coming to
earth of the Fruit, or the embodied power of The
Christ-force, in the person of the Avatar whose com-
ing the culminating of many cycles now makes pos-
sible. 'And then shall appear the sign of the Son of
Man in heaven/ 1 Already the Watchers have seen
The Christ-star — the star that has announced to all

1 St. Matthew XXIV, 20.

The Voice of I sis 151

wise men, in all ages, the appearance of an Avatar.
Consequently we believe that the Avatar will soon
come, not in a physical body born of woman, but
in a more ethereal or spiritual body, capable, never-
theless, of appearing objectively as a physical body as
occasion demands.

"Instead of this being a time to sit down and con
old lessons, it is time to be up and doing ; but on lines
altogether different from those suitable to the period
of the breaking of the ground and the sowing of the
seed. This is why The Order of the 15 is now put
forth ; to enable all who are ready, to grow to the point
where they can, through special instruction, come into
personal touch with the Masters and the Avatar."

"It is asserted by many advanced thinkers that the
present wave of pyschic unrest is a sign of the near
advent of the Avatar, and that a widespread develop-
ment of psychic faculties will usher in His coming.
This is, indeed, a sign of the coming; but it is not
strictly correct to say that it will be the the character-
istic; for, although there will be a period of great
psychic activity (not, however, due to new senses,
but to the use of the present faculties upon the inner
planes) it will but serve to prove that mere psychic
development is not the end to be desired. 'Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send
a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from north even to the east, they shall run to and fro
to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.1
The spiritual understanding of the people shall be
darkened and they shall wander from sea to sea seek-
ing the word of the Lord. Today many are running

1 Concerning Various Misconceptions. Now out «f print.

152 The Voice of I sis

to and fro after self-advertised teachers, seeking to
develop their psychic faculties. And many who have
begun to use these faculties on even the lowest stratum
of the astral-plane set themselves up as teachers or
write books giving the world minute directions cov-
ering the whole field of thought and action, from
the feeding of their animal bodies to the attainment of
Adeptship. With the fragments of knowledge thus
obtained such teachers claim that every other psychic
who has gleaned a few different fragments is wrong.
This psychic awakening, conflict and confusion will
come as the first step in a wonderful wave of activity
in all walks of life, tending to extreme selfishness and
unbrotherliness ; for each will claim the Truth and
start sect after sect, and, like a pack of wolves tear-
ing a carcass in pieces, each one will be ready to fight
to the death to maintain and guard his bone against
the whole pack. Then shall begin 'wars and rumours
of wars' and the struggle for supremacy. 'Now the
brother shall betray the brother to death, and the
father the son ; and children shall rise up against
their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.'1
This will be but the beginning of the end; and the
prospect would be hopeless, indeed, did we not know
that out of those who 'run to and fro,' one by one
there will come the few who will open their spiritual
faculties, sweep away the mists of prejudice, and see
the Light of The Christos shining in their brother's
heart. These few will band together to help spread
the Light rather than to increase the confusion ; and
thev will be the remnant who will survive the physical
catastrophes and usher in the golden period of the
present Kali Yuga age. These will not seek the King-
dom through psychic development, but, through the

1 St. Mark XIII 12.

The Voice of I sis 153

awakening of their love and compassion, they will
find The Christ-light illumining their hearts and
opening all the psychic doors normally and without
effort. " These will be the 144,000 who will 'meet the
Lord in the air,' i. e., in the higher spiritual-plane to
which they can penetrate because of the love and com-
passion developed. Only when The Christ-love has
manifested and has thus awakened the hearts of a con-
siderable number of disciples can a center be formed
in which this power can be focused and individualized
in the person of the coining Avatar." *

When the birth of Jesus was announced, it was
only after a particular Angel had announced The
Christ that the angelic hosts of heaven joined in the
chorus. So today all who are faithfully guarding their
flocks upon the mountain top will first hear the an-
nouncement and then the response.

The Order of the 15 is put forth in an effort to
awaken The Christ-love in hearts of men, rather than
to cater to the intellect or the desire for psychic devel-
opment. For only those who can correlate with this
Christ-power can be gathered together as His disci-
ples. The aim of this Movement is especially to help
all Christian people to find the deep, underlying vital
truths common to all religions in their own, and thus
truly, and in the only way possible, prepare for an
Universal Brotherhood on earth in which each Soul
shall find the same vital truths spoken in his own
language, i. e.} couched and taught in terms of the
religion in which he was born.2 This is the only
real way of bringing about Brotherhood. For to
dream of a Brotherhood in which all classes of hu-

1 Since the above was written (1908) many of the prophecies have
been fulfilled, as even a superficial study of the signs of the times
will show.

* 3ee Acts II, 6.

154 The Voice of I sis

manity and all varieties of race-thought are forced to
flow in one direction and accept as final Truth couched
in one set form — no matter how lofty the form or
how beautiful its trend — is but a fantastic chimera
born of the human mind, and whose attempted prac-
tical establishment has always ended, and always will
end, in confusion, antagonism, and unbrotherliness
far more intense than before the attempt was made.
It is only by touching the deep, underlying springs of
Universal Love that Universal Brotherhood can be
attained. Therefore, we ask one and all to seek to
develop The Christ-love in their hearts, remembering
that only when it shows in their lives and makes
them more Christ-like, can it be said to have germin-
ated. A seed may lie dormant for ages, but the instant
it opens its heart to the life of the sun it begins to
grow. So it is with The Christ-seed. The Christ-light
is in every man, but we can say the Christ-star has
arisen only when it shines forth and illumines our
daily life. The Christ-love is a consuming fire, and
all fire spreads. If the life remains cold and dark
and selfish the Fire is not yet lit. This is the first step
toward Universal Brotherhood, for when we find The
Christ in our own hearts we seek for it in every other
heart.

CHAPTER XL

A STUDY OF REINCARNATION OR REBIRTH.

"He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men
say that I, the Son of man am? And they said,
Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,
Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the
prophets."— St. Matthew, XVI. 13-14.

When the old teaching of reincarnation was re-
vived in the Western world, it was necessary to bring
to bear all the powers of logic to prove its reasonability,
and its ancient and world-wide acceptance. Today
this truth has permeated all classes of society, filling
the world's literature and furnishing the motif for
many successful stage productions — thus proving that
the public is eager for the subject. This itself is an evi-
dence of rebirth, for what else can this widely re-
newed interest in the subject be but a reincarnation of
an ancient world-wide belief? For detailed proofs
of its reasonability we refer the student to other
authorities.1

Like many other things that are true and gener-
ally accepted, proof that would convince all is out of
the question, for what is proof to one is not to an-
other. For instance, a spiritualist might say that,
if he had lived before, something might be given him
by discarnate entities about a former life that could
be verified by historical records. This would be no
proof at all, for it would be an easy matter for any
discarnate entity capable of communicating, to secure
the information from any records accessible to the
investigator. As far as absolute proof goes each one

1 Reincarnation, Walker. Reincarnation and the Law of Karma,
Atkinson. Reincarnation, Anderson.

156 The Voice of I sis

must take this law as he takes many other laws — upon
its reasonability. If it fails in this or in its ability
to afford a rational explanation for the many discrep-
ancies of life which are otherwise unexplainable, he
is at liberty to reject it. But for those who do accept
it we will make an effort to remove some of the mis-
conceptions and clear up some of the vagaries which,
like barnacles, have attached themselves to this truth.

"Intimately, or rather inclissolubly, connected with
Karma, is the law of Re-birth, or of the reincarnation
of the same spiritual Individuality in a long, almost
interminable, series of Personalities. The latter are
like the various characters played by the same actor,
with each of which the actor identifies himself and is
identified by the public, for the space of a few hours.
The inner, or Real Man, who personates those char-
acters, knows the whole time that he is Hamlet only
for the brief space of a few acts, which, however, on
the plane of human illusion, represent the whole life
of Hamlet. He knows also that he was, the night be-
fore, King Lear, the transformation in his turn of
the Othello of a still earlier preceding night. And
though the outer, visible character is supposed to be
ignorant of the fact, and in actual life that ignorance is,
unfortunately, but too real, nevertheless, the perma-
nent Individuality is fully aware of it, and it is through
the atrophy of the 'spiritual' Eye in the physical body,
that that knowledge is unable to impress itself on the
consciousness of the Personality." *

When the physical body is left in the tomb the Soul
is clothed in an astral2 body and lives for a time upon

» The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II, p. 320.

" Axh-al: A finer state of matter than the physical, the etheric; the
next kingdom 'above the physical; the state between the intensest
physical activity and the slowest mental activity; the region of the
play of all feeling and desire of the human Soul, whether incarnate or
excarnate; the state in which it becomes conscious on leaving the
physical,

The Voice of I sis 157

the astral-plane, in the exact environment for which
its development fits it. A period of time is passed in
digesting and assimilating the lessons of the past life,
in the reverse order of their acquirement, and in realiz-
ing the inevitable trend of all its desires and actions
while on earth. The progress made is in the growth
and development of the seeds of good and evil sown
during earth life. For this reason, unless reincarna-
tion had been brought to one's attention upon earth,
he would be very unlikely to know anything about it or
come in contact with those who did, for there is nothing
in his astral environment to suggest it any more than
there was in his physical environment. After having
passed through the various subdivisions of the astral
world and passed on to higher states of conscious-
ness, there comes a time in his evolution when,
after a long period of rest — during which he has ex-
hausted or experienced the spiritual bliss resulting
from the realization of all his earthly ideals — he real-
izes his limitations and chooses once more to clothe
himself in flesh. He does this firstly, from a compre-
hension of the great work of the redemption of human-
ity and the globe which he has gained upon the higher
planes and of the necessity of fitting himself, through
further earthly experience, for his necessary part in
that work; and secondly, because of a strong desire
to help on the evolution of the Race, which evolu-
tion can only be accomplished by the purified Soul
clothing itself in fleshly atoms that it may train and
purify them. The Soul realizes that its lack of ex-
perience limits its usefulness, and a deliberate choice
is made once more to function through a physical
body.

Being one with God the Soul has the power of
choosing its path and its environments, subject to the

158 The Voice of I sis

Law of Karma, the one desire being to quickly fulfill
the "cycle of necessity" and return to the Father's
heart. Therefore it chooses an environment, not as a
personality would choose — for wealth, ease or happi-
ness, for it realizes that spiritual happiness must be
born of earthly experience ; must be the giving up
of self for the upliftment of all — but an environment
which will give it the best opportunity to gain the ex-
perience it lacks — the best environment that its Karma
will permit. It naturally incarnates among its old
associates unless, as sometimes happens, there is some
Karma or needed lesson that takes it temporarily into a
new set of associations (a side issue). This clothing
itself in flesh involves the training of a new instrument
(brain and body) which is not correlated with the
memory of the Real Self, and thus the "why" is for-
gotten, for otherwise the lessons would be no lessons
at all. This experience of the Soul might roughly be
compared to a person away on a pleasure trip in a
foreign country where he suddenly realizes there is
some task he has failed to perform ere leaving or
that there is some loved one who needs his help,
and he returns to take up the duty, even though the
task be sordid and repulsive, and the loved one un-
appreciative. There is no person, therefore, who can
say that at the present time he is having his last in-
carnation; for only when the Soul reaches the stage
where it weighs itself in the balance and realizes that
there still lacks something of earth's experience to fit
it to take its destined place in the Grand Plan; only
then can it be known whether or not the earth urge will
draw it back into incarnation. This urge is not always
from karmic necessity, except during the earlier stages
of evolution, for many Souls return through pure love
and compassion to help the world, even after they,

The Voice of I sis 159

as separated individuals, have gained all the necessary
experience and wisdom. Therefore it is foolish for
pupils or disciples to talk about this being their last
incarnation; for were they advanced in wisdom they
would know that their attitude proclaimed aloud that
they were lacking in even ordinary discretion and
common-sense.

We must also bear in mind that there are many
more Souls excarnate than incarnate. Many of them
are waiting for the wave of civilization to rise to the
special point that will permit them to fulfill their des-
tiny in accord with karmic law. If the student will
refer to what was said about the color Rays in the
chapter on Evolution, it will be found to apply here.
Since all Souls belong to one of the seven Great Rays
they must wait for incarnation until the Ray and sub-
ray to which they belong is in manifestation. Thus,
if a Soul started its special work during the manifes-
tation of a certain sub-ray of the Red Ray, while un-
der special conditions hinted at elsewhere, it might
incarnate and work out side-issues in other sub-rays,
yet the main work could not be continued until the
same sub-ray was again manifesting.

There is no regular set time during which Souls re-
main excarnate. It depends upon many conditions,
and ranges all the way from almost immediate rebirth
to five hundred years, and in some cases far more.
There is almost as great a diversity in times and
seasons for rebirth as is found in the affairs of men.

When it is taught that a Soul incarnates sometimes
in one sex and sometimes in another, or in each sex
for seven incarnations alternately, only a very small
fragment of a great truth was hinted at. This par-
tial truth as time passed has developed some ridiculous
and irrelevant conceptions. Again it is asserted by

160 The Voice of I sis

many that sex does not inhere in the Soul, but the fact
is that sex inheres in every manifestation of con-
sciousness, although on the higher planes sex mani-
fests in quite a different way from that which we
know as sex in the physical body. While the great
mystery of sex, in its fulness, is as sacredly guarded
today as it has ever been, still, as this is the beginning
of a new cycle or the reincarnation of a period of the
manifestation of this great mystery, it becomes the
duty of those Masters and Teachers connected with
this special line of work to again give to the world a
suggestion of the inner truths connected with sex.
But alas, the time is not yet ripe to entirely tear aside
the veil and reveal the mysteries of this subject al-
though an effort is being made from the higher side
of life to open the understanding of the few who
can realize the divine possibilities of sex, that they
may penetrate behind the veil.

It is not the rule for a Soul to change its sex when
incarnating, but is rather the exception. Since the
separation of the sexes during the Third Race the
positive and negative rays always retain their char-
acteristics and tend to incarnate in a body corre-
sponding to their polarity. The exception occurs prin-
cipally for two reasons. The first one, which alas, at
this period, is only too common, is that if a Soul
gaining experience either through a male or a female
body fails to appreciate the lessons of the opposite sex ;
if it despises the other and either cruelly treats it,
or holds itself superior to it, such a Soul at its
next incarnation may find itself in a physical body of
the despised sex ; for this would be the only way that
such a Soul could learn the lessons of that sex and
reap the Karma it had created. However, the sex
of the incarnating Soul would not be changed. It would

The Voice of Isis 161

always be a male Soul in a female body or vice versa.
The world has no trouble in recognizing this, for
such misfitted Souls are frequent in every community,
and there is no difficulty in noting the discrepancy
between the sex of the incarnating entity and its body.
Every male contains the potentiality of the female,
and every female that of the male, and while we
would not speak of this duality as sex upon the spirit-
ual-plane, as we use the term sex on the physical-plane,
still, if the student will remember what was said in
the chapter on Karma in regard to each Soul being
a part of the Great or Heavenly Man and having a
special work to do and a special place in which to
fulfill its destiny, comparing it to the body as we have
done, it will be seen that some organs (Souls) must
fulfill the function of the positive expression (mascu-
linity) while others express the negative (femininity).
Any other condition would be unthinkable, for while
we know that all expressions of life, from molecule
to God, are perfect epitomes of the Cosmos and contain
the two opposite poles (positive and negative) within
each, yet in the aggregation of either atoms, organs
or Souls, each must function with either the positive
or negative expression predominating. It is just as
though you took a horseshoe magnet and cut it up
into pieces. Each piece would be a perfect magnet with
positive and negative poles, and if you could separate
it into atoms each atom would have its positive and
negative poles. But when you put the atoms to-
gether to form a Grand Magnet, each would take its
place on either the positive or negative side and express
either attraction or repulsion. To carry this simile
further, by reversing the current through the magnet
it would be easy to make that which was the positive
pole become the negative, and vice versa. This is

162 The Voice of I sis

what takes place when a masculine entity clothes itself
with a feminine body.

As to man evolving into an androgynous being in
which both sexes manifest coequally, as long as man-
kind is manifesting in separated sexes it is a waste
of time and energy to try to imagine such an exist-
ence; for until you have learned all the lessons pos-
sible in separated bodies you can have no realization
of what such a manifestation would be like. And
you will never learn those lessons as long as you
despise any function and refuse to master it. The
two sexes can never blend into one until each has
reached a perfect expression of his or her sex and they
have learned to work together in perfect harmony
while separated. The lesson is not for one sex to
avoid or ignore the other, but to learn how the twain
may become one in all things, in heart, mind and body,
thus fulfilling the great Law of Sex.

The second and rare cause for a change of sex is that
a Soul may have reached a degree of Mastery, yet,
owing to the World-Karma, and to the restrictions of
conventionality, such a Soul may never have fully
grasped or understood the opposite sex. For instance,
a Soul expressing the masculine principle might be
deeply desirous of entering into the experience of the
inmost depths of the opposite Soul-expression so as to
see its temptations, feel its oppression and learn its
limitations, and thus be ready to take up a special
work in the coming age, whose key-note is the equal-
ization of the sexes and the liberation and the res-
toration of woman to her proper place. Theref6re, a
Great Teacher in preparing to take the place of Leader
in such an age might naturally desire to be clothed
for one life period with a female outer covering. But
even in this case it would be evident to all thinkers that

The Voice of Isis 163

the sex of the entity differed from that of the body.
Such*a Great Teacher, moreover, might use that period
(which would be her last earth experience), in enter-
ing into all phases of life. She might use the power
possessed by all such Teachers to merge the apparent
personality into various other personalities. Thus, for
a time, she might have to become one with and ap-
parently manifest the qualities of a depraved sister,
a swearing, roistering, swashbuckler, a pirate, a
learned scholar or any other phase of humanity. She
would thus, in a measure, be gaining the experience
of humanity in the only way that would make the
experience her very own, knowing all the tempta-
tions and also the inner germ of love and hope that
even the most degraded hide somewhere within. Such
a Great Teacher might be compared to an author who,
in gathering data for a coming work, lives for a time
in each class of society. But in the case of the Great
Teacher the power would be hers to absolutely be-
come, for a time, the personality she desired to study.
Thus when her Great Work began she would know
just how to deal with all types of brothers and sisters,
and from the higher planes be ready to direct the
reaping of the golden grain sprung from the seeds of
Divine Truth planted during her last earthly incarna-
tion. Such a complex personality was she who
planted the seed of the Wisdom Religion in the West-
ern world. And she is still directing its garnering
from the higher planes.

CHAPTER XII.

POWER.

"Alas, alas, that all men should possess Alaya
(Divine Essence), be one with the Great Soul,
and that, possessing it, Alaya should so little avail
them." — The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky,
Fragment II.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
hut of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
// Timothy, 17.

Man is made in the image of God. This image,
however, is not the corporeal likeness of a personal
God, for God has no personality which can be imitated.
But if we take God to mean that Supreme Power
which is sent forth from the Absolute, and through
whose many manifestations all things are brought
forth, then we must recognize that this God must
have all power. It is in the image of this All-power
that man is made. Jesus, who stands as a symbol of
perfected man, said : "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth/'1 If this be true of the highest
type of man, it is potentially true of all men, for all
power is given unto man because he is created in the
image of God, although in most men this power is
latent because man in the aggregate has not yet come
into his birthright, at-one-ment with his Father-in-
heaven or Higher Self. The omnipotent powers of
God operate through intelligent centers of power in
the manifested universe. And to make it possible for
perfected man to have "all power in heaven and in
earth" and to fulfill the prophecy that he shall "become
as one of us" (the gods), these centers of power must

*St. Matthew XXVIII. 18.

The Voice of Isis 165

have their more or less active reflections in man, for
man is truly the microcosm of the macrocosm. All
the lower kingdoms have certain powers but only man
has the powers of the Godhead, with which, when
he manifests them as his own, he can create the new
heaven and the new earth of the Apocalypse, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. When man awakes to a real-
ization that all powers in heaven and in earth are la-
tent within himself — in heaven the powers of the God-
head, in earth the powers of all creatures and all Na-
ture— he will begin to reclaim his lost heritage, lost
only in the sense of his having deserted it.

In most Eastern teachings we find hints of these
wondrous powers and are told that they represent
steps up which every candidate for Mastery must la-
borously climb. The Western world is awakening to
the use of some of these powers, especially the powers
to control disease and dominate environment. The
powers of man are six in number, synthesised in a
seventh — the Astral Light of Eliphas Levi — and cor-
respond to the seven principles of man.1 Each power
has its seat in a certain sacred center in the body.
These seven centers, each with its seven subsidiary
centers, are sometimes called the "forty-nine crucified
saviors," signifying that the vital power of these centers
is at present misused and crucified, and ere they can
become man's Saviors they must be resurrected from
the tomb of matter and made to function in a higher
state. They are called the forty-nine fires because
their light guides man to super-man.

These powers are (1) the Supreme Power (Para-
shakti) ; (2) the power of Intellect (Jnana-Shakti) ;
(3) the power of Will (Ichchha-shakti) ; (4) the power
of Thought (Kriya-shakti) ; (5)the power of the Life-

1 See The Seven Principles of Man, Besant.

166 The Voice of I sis

principle (Kundalini-shakti) and (6) the power of
Speech (Mantrika-shakti) . Each power is an emanation
from one of the Elohim, hence must be reflected in
man to make him the image of God, for God, like the
white light, in passing through the prism of matter,
manifests in a seven-fold manner. Each power has
its positive and negative aspects, and until we can
correlate with the positive ray of its Progenitor we
are buffetted by its negative aspect.

It is impossible to consider these powers separately,
for without the cultivation of all none can be truly
operative. The Supreme Power is the power which
man has of correlating with Divinity through the
breath. All creatures breathe, and we are accustomed
to say that "breath is life," and ordinarily when man
ceases to breathe he ceases to live objectively, but man
alone, because he can bring his other powers to bear
upon it, can make the breath more than the mere draw-
ing in of physical life. Within the auric zone of the
earth there are many subtle forces unknown to science
and barely mentioned by even the deeper students of
mysticism because so sacred, so potent and so powerful
that their very names must scarce be whispered.
Breath, combined with Will and Thought, is the power
by which man reaches up to the higher worlds and
opens an avenue through which these potent forces may
reach his Inner Self and lift him above mundane things,
and at the same time regenerate his physical body.
There are those who, holding the thought of health,
breathe for physical health and obtain it, but it is
possible to use the breath to obtain far more than mere
physical health. Its misuse or negative aspect can also
bring disasters undreamed of by the pseudo-occultist.
Realize that you are responsible for every breath that
you breathe, for through the breath you are spreading

The Voice of Isis 167

either God-love or disease. It is commonly thought
that the outgoing breath contains a virulent poison,
and so it does if 'you permit it, for it carries off certain
effluvia from the decaying atoms within you. Are you
willing to be a source of infection? If this is your will
and your thought then it is what you become. When
the breath is foul you are abusing your body, it is sick
and out of order. It is within your power to be healthy,
to be a source of inspiration and life to all. For health
and life and love are as infectious as their opposites.
Therefore, every time you become conscious of it, use
your power of the breath to breathe in Divine Love, to
breath in Spiritual Life that it shall so cleanse and
transmute your physical atoms that your breath shall
become as that of a little child.

Mind or intellect should not be confused with the
power of thought. The human mind is the reflection in
man of the reat Universal Mind, the Divine Ideation
or what some call Cosmic Consciousness. It is the
vehicle through which thought operates. In man mind
manifests in a threefold manner, the subconscious or
animal mind, the conscious or human mind and the
super-conscious or Divine Mind. The subconscious
mind is composed of the consciousness of every cell,
organ and nerve ganglia synthesized and overshadowed
by the animal soul. A reflection or shadow of this
power can be traced in all the kingdoms, even those in
which it is still latent and which have no power of
thought. Being the mind of the animal soul it is below
the consciousness of the human reincarnating Ego.
To its control are relegated all those functions which
operate without man's conscious control, i. e., respira-
tion, circulation, secretion, excretion, etc. But when
these functions are deranged beyond the power of the
subconscious to restore it appeals to the human con-

168 The Voice of I sis

sciousness for aid through pain or discomfort and man
becomes aware that something is wrong. The sub-
conscious mind is the vehicle of the passions and desires
normal to the animal soul and which it seeks to gratify,
but which must be controlled and directed to their
highest uses by the will of the human Ego. This
lower or animal mind functions through centers in the
medulla oblongata, the cerebellum and also in the solar
plexus and other nerve ganglia containing gray matter.
When these centers are upset by inharmony or the
baser emotions — fear, hate, envy, jealousy, sorrow, etc.
— the functions controlled by them are inhibited or
perverted, and the physical, mental and moral health
suffers, while if they are stimulated by peace, tran-
quility and harmony or exalted by. joy and love their
normal functions are activated or increased with corre-
sponding welfare of the whole organism. Habits are
the result of training the subconscious mind to act in a
certain way. Most vague and illogical dreams are the
result of the subconscious mind wandering about in the
astral world during the absence of the human Ego from
the body during sleep and therefore without its guid-
ance or supervision. Hence it is comparatively easy to
train the subconscious mind not to wander so that only
the spiritual lessons given by the Higher Self through
symbolic visions or logical, well-remembered dreams
will be brought back to the waking consciousness.

From the above we will see that we should treat the
subconscious mind — as well as the body — as a good and
faithful servant, but should not look to it for a higher
degree of intelligence than we could expect from the
highest animal, and certainly should never look to it
for guidance in moral or spiritual problems.

The conscious or human mind (manas) is the con-
sciousness of the human reincarnating Ego inhabiting

The Voice of Isis 169

the body and limited by its faculties. It functions
through the cortex of the brain, through whose centers
it controls the subconscious. It is the great battle-
ground where the Ego is influenced from below by the
animal mind and from above by the Divine Mind, yet
having free-will to choose its own course of action. It
is called lower or higher manas according as it identifies
itself with the desires of the animal mind or the desires
of its Father-in-heaven. Its characteristic is self-con-
sciousness, the feeling of I AM I. 'The following are
some of its manifestations when placed under the influ-
ence or control of material conditions, (a) The power
of the mind in interpreting our sensations, (b) Its
power in recalling past ideas (memory) and raising
future expectation, (c) Its power as exhibited in what
are called by modern psychologists 'the laws of associa-
tion,' which enables it to form persisting connections
between various groups of sensations and possibilities
of sensations, and thus generate the notion or idea of
an external object, (d) Its power in connecting our
ideas together by the mysterious links of memory, and
thus generating the notion of self or individuality. The
following are some of its manifestations when liberated
from the bonds of matter: (a) Clairvoyance, (b)
Psychometry." 1

The super-conscious or Divine Mind is the mind of
the Higher Self or Father-in-heaven, one with God.
This Divine Consciousness overshadows the human
mind much as the human overshadows the sub-
conscious. It is from this source that the higher
guidance called conscience and intuition comes, arid
its Voice is often mistaken for the voice of some
Divine Being or Master. It functions through the
pineal gland and pituitary body located in the middle
of the brain.

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I., p. 312, I. & II.

170 The Voice of I sis

The power of Will is truly a godlike one, for it
enables man to follow the will of God or, setting up
his own will, to follow his own desires in opposition
to the will of God, or the Great Law of Good. If
God's will were merely reflected in or imposed upon
man, he would of necessity have to follow that will,
which would then be not a power given him to use
as he would, but a leading-string which he must
follow. Man alone has free-will. The animals are
subject to the will of the Entity governing the
Group-soul of their species. An animal acts because
of instinct, not because of free-will. Man, through
his power of Will can reach up into the world of
Divine Mind and bring to himself all the power of
Mind, or he can grovel with the beasts in the World
of Desire and by his superior powers intensify its
evils. Thus it is that in a world created by a God of
Love man has the power to create evil. Will is a
power bestowed upon man, for the use of which man
alone is responsible — he is not a mere puppet,
forced to follow the will of God.

Thought is the power by which man creates
images or moulds within which Divine Ideation
manifests, while imagination is the power by which
he comprehends the subjective ideal, the outer sem-
blance of which may come into objective manifesta-
tion through thought. For instance, a painter may
in imagination comprehend ideal love, but he must
use thought to mould the details in his effort to
represent it on canvas. Psychology says that "every
thought tends to express itself in terms of muscular
activity unless counteracted by a more powerful
thought of opposite character." Thus through the
powers of Thought man creates his world, or, as the
Bible expresses it, "As he thinketh in his heart, so

The Voice of Isis 171

is he." And because of this mould-making power,
that which is repeatedly thought of will ultimately
manifest. If we think continually of ourselves as
poor or sick or unhappy we are making it more
possible for poverty, sickness and unhappiness to
manifest. In fact we are creating a mould into which
they must flow. Conversely if we think of peace,
plenty, health and happiness they are just as certain to
manifest.

Thought manifests in a dual way. It is the middle
principle and together with Mind and Breath, can be
used to draw inspiration from the Divine or it can be
dragged down and made to waste its force on triviali-
ties, self-pity, etc. When you recognize its power to
make images or moulds into which the life-forces
naturally flow and shape themselves and become
objective, it is not to be wondered at that if wasted on
every ache and pain or poverty, troubles or petty
worries they grow apace and become objective.

The power of the Life-principle is that magneto-
dynamic force which correlates man with Nature and
through which he either dominates it or is dominated
by it. It works in Nature to readjust and harmonize
Spirit and matter. It is the power of rhythm, the power
of all forces which take a serpentine path. Frequently
persons say they know a storm is coming by their
aches and pains, and we know that all animals are
warned by this same power to protect themselves from
the approaching storm. In man this power is far more
than a common consciousness with Nature, for by it,
if he wills so to be, he is literally the ruler of Nature
or the Lord of Creation. It is through this power
that he impresses his state of development upon the

172 The Voice of I sis

Cosmos. When storms, earthquakes, tidal waves, vol-
canoes or catastrophes of other kinds take place, many
say, "Behold the work of God! How insignificant is
man !" This is false. God never made a storm, an
earthquake or a catastrophe of any kind, for God is
the great Law of Love. They are all evidences of
man's power. Had man never sent out evil thoughts,
wicked words, blasphemies and curses, the earth's
aura could never be so charged with destructive forces
that a catastrophe was necessary to dissipate them
and bring about equilibrium. Had man never exer-
cised demoniacal cruelty to his brother man, neither
the animate nor inanimate Worlds would be at enmity
with him. When a cataclysm takes place, instead of
saying that man is but a helpless atom before the
manifestations of Nature we should say, Behold how
powerful is man ! For it is by the misuse of this
power of the Life-principle, exercised through free-
will, that man has brought suffering and destruction
into a world created by love. So is it with man's
body. Unless it has been purified through love and
spiritual aspiration this power of the Life-force —
which in ordinary man is almost dormant — will bring
about readjustments in his body comparable to earth-
quakes and cyclones. Therefore to meditate upon
this force or its center in the body and strive to rouse
it into activity is extremely dangerous, for such prac-
tices have been known to cause insanity and instant
death. The disciples said of Jesus, "What manner
of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey
him !" This indicates what perfected man can do
when he uses his powers according to the Law of Love.
To overcome fear is the first step on the Path, for
fear can be conquered only by love. If fear were
conquered absolutely, ere man learned to correlate his

The Voice of I sis 173

powers with God-love, conditions would be far worse
than today, for even fear is the servant of God. Fear
is a paralyzing and disintegrating force, and if it were
not that the catastrophes caused by man's disobedience
engendered fear, the mistakes of man would become
a solid wall of darkness shutting him away from God.
Fear is continually working as the Great Disintegrator,
in reality helping the force of the evil created by
man, which is like a miasmic mist, to precipitate and
exhaust its power upon the earth in the form of
storms and catastrophes, and in the human body as
sickness, disease and death, instead of accumulating
indefinitely. When mankind learns the Law of Love,
fear will have no more work to do, and will cease to
appall man at every step. God did not give man fear.
Man himself brought it into manifestation. From an-
other aspect fear is love perverted. In one sense
fear is the Angel of the Flaming Sword guarding
the entrance to Eden, Eden being a perfected earth
and a perfected physical body, with its trees bearing
every manner of fruit good for man, /. c., his powers.
It was the tree which grew in the midst of the Garden,
or this Kundalini or serpentine force which functions
in the spinal column, that proved man's undoing.1
Only when this force is mastered and fear vanquished
can man re-enter Eden, cultivate the trees and eat
of .the fruit thereof as a faithful husbandman. To
conquer fear you must resolutely use all your powers
to create Good, for as long as you create evil you
must have fear to help disintegrate and dissipate it.
"Beware of fear that spreadeth, like the black and
soundless wings of midnight bat, between the moon-
light of the Soul and thy great goal that loometh in
the distance far away. Fear, O Disciple, kills the
will and stays all action The Path that

rSee Chapter XVIII.

174 The Voice of I sis

leadeth on is lighted by one fire — the light of daring
burning in the heart. The more one dares, the more
he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that
light shall pale — and that alone can guide." x Dare,
Do, Keep Silent. Become one with the Silence in
which all forces are potent.

Speech is one of the greatest powers, for it includes
the powers of sound, number, color and, when written,
form. We are all more or less familiar with the
power of sound, both in the spoken word and in the
chanting of mantra, etc. One who masters this power
has the world at his feet. This is illustrated to a
slight degree by the ease with which an eloquent
speaker can sway an audience. In this chapter but a
hint can be given, for it would require a separate
lesson to even outline this subject. The point of
development each Soul has reached is revealed in the
tones of the voice, just as nature-tones indicate Nature's
stage of evolution. We may carefully control our
words and manner of expression, but the tones of
the voice will reveal the true feeling back of the
words. This inner attitude is quickly recognized,
especially by children and animals. In fact, tone is
the key-note of man's power over the animal kingdom ;
for by the tone he either arouses enmity or love and
obedience. The spoken word can never die, but will
go on working out the potency and power, not only
of its tone, but also of its color, number and form
and the thought-pictures created by it in the minds
of its hearers, together with the power of the Will
which sent it forth. Every word and tone spoken
by man is registered upon the etheric substance of
the Akashic Records. This principle has been dem-
onstrated and its truth verified in a physical way in
the phonograph. Speech is the first power for man

1 The Voice of the Silence, Fragment III, Blaratsky.

The Voice of I sis 175

to master as a medium through which all his powers
may be made operative on earth.

It is said that, "Before the voice can speak in the
presence of the Masters, it must have lost the power
to wound." To speak in the presence of the Masters
means speaking as a Master or that the spoken word
will carry with it the mastery of conditions. To
bring to your minds some of the practical effects of
this power we would ask you for one day to note
carefully the effect your words have on those about
you. Many pupils ask for something practical to do
to develop occult powers and manifest the higher life.
Noting the effect of your words is practical and most
important and a practice which can be indulged in
without fear of dangerous consequences. And until
at least some conception of the power of speaking
kindly and lovingly but to some purpose and some
degree of mastery over it -has been attained the devel-
opment of all other occult powers will be retarded
if not actually prevented.

God spake the word and the world was created.
Man speaks one little word and a new world of glad-
ness is created in his brother's life, or man speaks a
word and a brother is disheartened and gives up the
fight, or a sister's good name is taken from her and
she is pushed out into the darkness, is pushed down
under the feet of the multitude. Think what one
kind word can do ! How it can bring sunshine and
peace and courage into your own life and the lives of
others ! Waste no force in frivolous or negative
chatter, speak only positive words, words of love,
words of power. If your brother offend you, speak
words of love that your heart may send back nothing
but love. Never withhold a sincere word of love or
endearment or a word of help, encouragement or

176 The Voice of Isis

health. A kind word spoken even to a stray dog
will not return to you void. Know well that until you
have mastered this power and can speak words of
health, strength, cheer, courage and love you would
better follow the injunction, "Let your communication
be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay." For remember well, "what-
soever is more than these cometh of evil." The mean-
ing of this is that any unkind, boastful or untrue word
is bound to return for you to prove and adjust, prob-
ably just when you think you have conquered. Be
especially careful in regard to written words. When
the world begins to understand this power there will
be fewer misleading statements sent out under the
guise of occult teaching which become snares and
wiles to mislead those who are seeking enlighten-
ment. We cannot emphasize too strongly this fact:
"That every idle word (either spoken or written) that
men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment."

As to how to attain and use these powers : They are
yours now. They are in constant activity and, unless
consciously directed toward the unification of man-
kind in God-love, they are adding their force to the
misery of life, both in your own body and in the whole
Cosmos. Hence, there is but one thing to do — realize
that God is Love, and that Love is the one great Law
of all Life, manifesting in you in this seven-fold Path
of Power. If this realization seems difficult, set to
work at it in earnest. Repeat it to yourself again
and again. Breathe it. Vitalize it with the Life-
principle. Think of it. Will it. Grasp it. Impress
it upon every atom of your manifested expressions of
being. And the ultimate result can only be Victory.

When you synthesise your six powers in the seventh,
the power of becoming one in consciousness with God-

The Voice of I sis 177

love — which is the power proceeding from the heart
and always spoken of as the power of the Diamond
Heart or the Heart Doctrine — then you can have noth-
ing to fear, for "perfect love casteth out fear." This
is the power of becoming one with your Higher Self.
Its seat is in the heart, for in the heart are centers
corresponding to and connected with all the centers,
as an electric switch-board may be connected with
many sub-stations. Therefore by cultivating the heart
qualities and dwelling in peace and love you can
awaken and dominate all the centers and make their
cultivation easier.

This is not some far-off possibility, for the instant
you synthesise all your powers in the heart and seek
to subserviate your life and action to the Law of Love
you are one in aim with your Higher Self, and this
Higher Self will manifest more and more through
you. Then will there be no death, for death will be
swallowed up in victory. You have nothing to fear
for you are all-powerful. You have but to direct your
powers in accord with the universal Law of God
which is Love.

Look around you and see the evil man's powers
have wrought when working contrary to the Law !
Then think what they could accomplish if they had
this Great Law working back of and through
them ! If but two or three are gathered together
"in my name" (The Christ-love), ready to believe
the spoken word of power as herein delivered to
you, i. e., that you are today as gods and that all
power is given unto you in heaven and in earth if
you really will to become one with the great Law
of Love, then the regeneration of the world would
quickly be accomplished. And if but seven Souls, or
even three, can be gathered together and work con-

178 The Voice of I sis

sciously in a perfect realization of this truth, making
a determined effort to work with the Law, soon there
will manifest on the earth-plane a practical Center of
Right Living of such force and social magnitude that
the whole earth will feel its influence, and the deplor-
able conditions under which the world now suffers
will begin to adjust themselves.

There is no use reading a lesson such as this and
thinking it a mere theory, for it is more than mere
theory. It comes to you as the Word of Power. It
says to each Soul : What are you going to do about
it? On which side of the battle will you fight? Into
whose coffers will you pour your substance, God's
or Mammon's? Choose ye this day whom ye will
serve. "O fearless Aspirant, look deep within the well
of thine own heart, and answer. Knowest thou of
Self the powers, O thou perceiver of external shadows?
If thou dost not — then art thou lost." 1

1 The Voice of the Silence, Fragment III, Hlavatsky.

CHAPTER XIII.

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF EVOLUTION — THE RELATION OF
THE MASTERS TO HUMANITY.

Just as the Law of Karma is indissolubly con-
nected with the Law of Reincarnation, so is reincar-
nation indissolubly connected with the Law of Evo-
lution ; for without reincarnation, evolution could
not be carried on. Hence, a brief outline of the chief
factors in evolution, on this planet, will first be con-
sidered. But in this s'hort chapter we do not at-
tempt to cover all phases of the subject. We merely
view it from one angle, with a full recognition that
it may be viewed from many angles.

As correctly stated by the naturalist, Agassiz :
"All things had their origin in Spirit — evolution
having originally begun from above and proceed-
ing downwards, instead of the reverse, as taught
in the Darwinian theory/'1 At the first rebirth of
our earth — for the law of cyclic rebirth applies to
planets and systems as well as to men — it was
brought into manifestation, or "created"2 by a ray
of pure white light from the Absolute penetrating
into the chaotic debris of previous world-periods.
As a ray of light in passing through a prism is sep-
arated into seven color-rays, so this Ray of spirit-
ual light in passing through the prism of manifes-
tation was separated into seven great differentia-
tions or color-rays called Hierarchies. These are
composed of spiritual Beings manifesting the cre-
ative power of their color. For just as science has

1 Principles of Zoology, p. 154.
• Not, however, out of nothing.

180 The Voice of Isis

demonstrated that every color has its special and
characteristic work in the world, so each of these
spiritual color-rays has its own part to play in the
evolution of both man and the lower kingdoms.
Each Ray is presided over by one of the manifes-
tations of Deity collectively spoken of in the Bible
as the Elohim and in Eastern teaching as the Rishis,
Sons of Wisdom, etc., who needed this manifesta-
tion to perfect their experience, and to prepare
conditions to further the evolution of the lower be-
ings— the humanity of this globe — under their
charge.

The great Spiritual Masters, constituting the
higher degrees of each Ray, gained their god-like
perfection in previous world-periods1 of almost im-
measurable length, and gained mastery over the
cosmic forces while upon the lunar chain of globes.2
Hence, they are called our Lunar Ancestors or
Fathers (Pitris). But they still needed the experi-
ence of guiding the evolution of this darkest, be-
cause lowest, of planets, the earth, to perfect them
in wisdom. After they had enjoyed a rest, or pe-
riod of withdrawal from activity in manifestation,
for incalculable aeons, they took up the formation
and evolution of this planet. By the power of con-
centrated Divine Will and Wisdom, they con-
sciously formed and brought into manifestation our
earth as an advanced field wherein to train and
further the evolution of humanity. They did this

1 Great Life Cycles or Manvantaras. See Chapter XV.

2 "The Sun is the Giver of Life to the whole Planetary System;
the Moon is the Giver of Life to our Globe; and the early races un-
derstood and knew it, even in their infancy." — The Secret Doctrine,
Blavatsky, Vol. I., p. 415. "It is, then, the Moon that plays the largest
and most important part, as well in the formation of the Earth itself,
as in the peopling thereof with human beings. The Lunar Monads, or
Pitris, the ancestors of man, become in reality man himself." — Ibid, Vol.
I., p. 206.

The Voice of I sis 181

by first projecting from themselves into the centers'
where the inert matter for the new planet was sleep-
ing in darkness, the thought-forms of that which
was to be, and later projected their astral bodies.
This inert matter comprised all that material on
all planes which they, in the course of their evo-
lution toward Goclhood, had thrown off and had
not had the opportunity to spiritualize and redeem.
Hence it was laid aside until they had gained the
godlike power which would enable them con-
sciously to redeem all their emanations and crea-
tions. If each Soul was required to redeem in one
life all its mistakes and spiritualize every atom
with which it had been connected in even one life,
the Cycle of Necessity would be never ending. In-
stead of this all tasks that are beyond the strength
of the Soul in any one incarnation are held back
until it has grown strong enough little by little to
work them out. However, the essence of all the
mistakes remains with the evolving planet as a part
of the World Karma, so that when the evolving
Soul reaches the pdint where it can begin con-
sciously to redeem its leftovers it will also help
to redeem the same influences in the World Karma.
During the first two cyclic day-periods2 of the
earth the Elohim are said to have passed "through
the whole triple cycle of the mineral, vegetable and
animal kingdoms, in their most ethereal, filmy and
rudimentary forms, in order to clothe themselves
in, and assimilate, the nature of the newly formed
Chain." 3 After ethereal human forms had been
evolved by these Lunar Fathers, at the close of the
third day-period, they gradually became so dense

1 Called laya-centers.

2 Periods of activity called Rounds. See Chapter XV
* Ibid, Vol I., p. 197.

182 The Voice of Isis

that it may be said that they clothed themselves in
flesh — "coats of skin," as the Bible puts it.1 This
was done consciously for the sake of evolution and
experience, and not, as theology teaches, as a result
of a "fall" through disobedience. It was a "fall"
only in the sense of a descent into matter. These
human forms, created and informed by the Lunar
Fathers, had no self-conscious (only animal) mind
(instinct), and could not continue their evolution
until they had been endowed with human mind
(self-consciousness) .

Animal consciousness attains to its ultimate per-
fection in reason while human consciousness attains
to its ultimate perfection in the direct knowledge
gained through intuition. As the whole of a species
is guided by one Group-soul, instinct is the power of
the animal to respond directly to the consciousness
of the Group-soul. The human-animal being guided
by his own Father-in-heaven or his own individual
Soul, in intuition consciously recognizes the direct
guiding voice of his divine Higher Self. Hence
intuition stands exactly over instinct on the spiral
path of evolution. Both are the voices of their re-
spective Souls, in the animal imparted collectively
to the species, in man personally to the individual.

The gift of mind was accomplished at the begin-
ning of the Fourth Root Race, by the projection into
man of the Divine Spark from a still higher class
of Spiritual Beings, the Solar Father (Pitris). It
was at this time that the history of man as a cor-
poreal being began.

There are three streams of evolution going on in
man at the same time, each advancing along its own
path and each inextricably interwoven with and as-

1 Genesis, III, 21.

The Voice of Isis 183

sisting the other.1 It is this complexity that makes
so much confusion in the study of reincarnation.
There is the evolution of the animal body, evolved
and informed by the Lunar Fathers; the evolution
of mind emplanted in the bodies by the Sons of Mind,
the Solar Fathers ; and the evolution of character,
which is the result of the overshadowing Spirit — a
Divine Emanation from the Absolute — working
through both the Solar and Lunar Fathers and
forming the Divine Indwteller, the God-within-us.
The history of humanity shows that each of these
lines of evolution has been made the object of wor-
ship, (a) There are those who worship the perfection
of the animal body, holding that their first duty is
to bring it to perfection, maintain its health and pro-
long its life upon the physical-plane. Yet prolonged
life in a physical body, without spiritual perfection,
would be a curse rather than a blessing. This doc-
trine reached its greatest perfection among the
Greeks, many of whom are now reincarnating and
are putting forth the old ideas, (b) There are those
who worship the mind, considering it the supreme
power. The so-called age of reason in reality is the age
of the worship of mind, (c) There are those who give
exclusive worship to the studies which make for spir-
itual advance, even at the expense of physical and intel-
lectual life, hermits and yogis for example. Perfect
evolution, however, can be obtained only when the
three go hand in hand, for spiritual evolution can
manifest perfectly only as a result of the harmonious
blending of all three, a perfect mind in a perfect
body, illumined by spiritual intuition. The above
accounts for the many discrepancies in life and evo-
lution, for it is impossible for any human being to

1 The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I., 9. 203.

184 The Voice of Isis

say that one is more advanced than another; one
may be advanced along one line while another may
be equally as advanced along another line.

Although we speak of the Lunar Fathers as our
physical Progenitors, it must be borne in mind that
they are Divine, having attained at-one-ment ere
the evolution of this planet began. After the astral
forms or models were produced by the Lunar Fath-
ers, ''The evolution of the external form, or body
round the astral, is produced by the terrestrial forces,
just as in the case of the lower kingdoms; but the
evolution of the internal, or real, Man is purely spir-
itual. It is now no more a passage of the impersonal
Monad through many and various forms of matter
. . . but a journey of the 'Pilgrim-Soul' through
various states, not only of matter, but of self-con-
sciousness and self-perception." 1 Thus it was that,
aided by the Emanations from their Progenitors,
the Celestial Solar Fathers — who stand to the Lunar
Fathers as our Higher Self stands to us — the Lunar
Fathers become the Progenitors of humanity. These
great classes of Spiritual Fathers, who are still liv-
ing and guiding human evolution from the higher
realms, are the Divine Men known to us as the
Masters of Wisdom. There are many accounts of
the presence of these Divine Men — the gods — on
earth, founding nations, establishing laws, teaching
and guiding humanity face to face, to be found in
the sacred writings of all ancient peoples, many of
whom still claim to have sprung from the "gods."

The seven great groups of these Spiritual Beings
are classified in a manner similar to the groups of
colors in our solar spectrum, each group being
called a Ray, bearing the name of one of the seven

llbid, Vol. I., p. 198.

The Voice of I sis

185

DIAGRAM III.*

The Seven Hierarchies and their Subdivisions.

Color-rays

Sub-rays

VIOLET

VIOLET
Indigo
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red

1

INDIGO

Violet
INDIGO
Blue §,
Green ^
Yellow £
Orange
Red

BLUE

Violet
Indigo
BLUE
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red

§
pq

GREEN

Violet
Indigo
Blue
GREEN
Yellow
Orange
Red

a

e

o

YELLOW

Violet
Indigo
Blue
Green
YELLOW
Orange
Red

Yellow

ORANGE

Violet
Indigo
Blue
Green
Yellow
ORANGE
Red

1

c

0

RED

Violet
Indigo
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange
RED

&

*The Secret Doctrine, Vol. III., 483.

186 The Voice of Isis

colors, viz., the Red Ray, Yellow Ray, Violet Ray,
etc. Just as the colors of the spectrum are emana-
tions from the one White Light, so are these Spirit-
ual Creators emanations from the Divine One —
the Absolute.1 These Rays constitute seven great
Hierarchies, which are presided over by seven still
greater Celestial Beings,2 each of whom is called
the Progenitor or Father of His Ray. It must be
borne in mind, however, that each Ray contains rep-
resentatives of all the other Rays. (See Diagram III.)
In looking at the sun we see a halo composed of the
seven colors in concentric rings. These rings repre-
sent the Hierarchies and in reality conserve the forces
of the colors composing them. The same law is illus-
trated in the rainbow although only one segment of
the circle is visible.

Each great Ray, or Hierarchy of Masters mani-
fests in turn, and, like the notes in the musical scale,
in rhythmic cadence, its Progenitor or Father pre-
siding during its manifestation as Captain of the
Host. All the Masters belonging to a Ray are most
active during the manifestation of their Ray, while
those belonging to all the other Rays, even the Pro-
genitors, are, for that period, subservient to the Ray
that is manifesting in activity. This does not mean
that the other Rays are dormant, but, like a grand
symphony, when one note or Ray is dominant, all
the others are complementary. Thus absolute har-
mony results. While we say a certain Ray or color

1 While there can be but one God, the Absolute, there are many
gods, t. e., Spiritual, Creative, Emanations.

• The Seven Creative Spirits, the Dhyan Chohans, who correspond
to the Hebrew Elohim. It is the same Hierarchy of Archangels to
which St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and others belong, in Christian The-
pgony." — Ibid, Vol. I., p. 73. "The Seven Spirits of God sent forth
into all the earth." — Revelation V. 6, "The seven spirits which are be-
fore his throne." — Ibid, I, 4. "And I saw the seven angels which stood
before God."— Ibid, VIII. 2.

The Voice of Isis 187

is presiding, in reality it is man's consciousness that
is passing through that band of color or Ray of force
and consciousness, learning its lessons and gaining
its forces. For example, a Celestial Being *
is the Progenitor or Father of the Red Ray or Hier-
archy of Masters. Under Him are the masters of
His sub-rays and lesser sub-rays, and so on down to
those Souls who are achieving mastery and enter-
ing the ranks from the races now on earth. It is
the aggregate of all these Masters that is known to
us as the Great White Lodge. It is called the White
Lodge because, like the white light, it is the har-
monious blending of all the seven Rays.

The Great White Lodge is divided, just as is human-
ity, into seven great classes or Degrees, each of which
is sub-divided into seven Orders. The seventh or
lowest Order of The Lodge overlaps or blends into
humanity, just as humanity overlaps or blends into
the animal kingdom.1 Not that the Masters of the
lowest Order are not human, but more than human.
The Masters of this lowest Order are still upon the
physical-plane, using physical bodies and working
with and teaching humanity. There are also certain
Orders of Masters who are guiding evolution below
the human kingdom as Group-souls.

Each of the Masters composing the higher De-
grees is the Progenitor or Father of many human
beings ; for, while gaining the perfected wisdom of
former planets during their long periods of evolu-
tion, they were consciously creating, both by the
power of Divine Will and by emanation. Every
emanation of their life-substance, and every cell
composing their various bodies, has now evolved
into the human kingdom, and the Master of Wis-

^See Chapter III.

188 The Voice of I sis

dom who originally sent out the emanation or cell,
is called its spiritual Father, no matter what its
present stage of evolution. Hence, all mankind are
the children of one of these great Spiritual Crea-
tors. In the same manner we are the Progenitors,
and sometime must become the Guides and Saviors,
of .every cell that has composed our various bodies
in all our incarnations, as well as all the creatures
created by our thoughts and desires, when, aeons
hence, they have evolved to a point analogous to
present humanity ; for they are the children of our cre-
ation. They are not, however, redeemed as individ-
ual atoms, but as more or less composite units.
Each separate cell does not evolve into a separate
human being, but according to its nature and stage
of evolution when cast off will it become a part of
an organ in a human body. Man's body therefore
is an aggregation of many sentient lesser centers of
consciousness, hence the necessity of man's ruling
his subconscious mind as it is the synthetic prod-
uct of the consciousness of the lesser centers.

In the early days of the Fourth Root Race, when
humanity were but children, having newly received
the gift of self-consciousness (mind), they were
guided and taught face to face by the Fathers — the
Elohim — just as a father and mother (for these
great Beings were both Father and Mother — an-
drogynous)1 might guide and teach a child. But
when the child has grown to manhood it must leave
its parents' guiding care and go out alone to meet
the trials and temptations of the world and prove
how much of the parents' teachings it has built into
character. This is \vhat humanity has been doing

1 "In the days that God created man, in the likeness of God made
he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and
called their name Adam." — Genesis V, 1-2. It was from the androgynous
first Adam that Eve was taken /. e., the sexes were separated.

The Voice of I sis 189

ever since that time ; for by the end of the Fourth
Root Race humanity had grown up and become dis-
obedient. With the destruction of Atlantis began
the individual working out of that disobedience, and
an endeavor to put into practice the lessons learned.
The Red Ray is now manifesting through human-
ity, and has been for an immense period of time
(Fourth Round), the whole Bible being but a his-
tory of this Ray. Consequently the Great Being
* * * who is the Progenitor of that Ray, is what
might be called the Commander-in-chief of the
forces of evolution operative throughout this cycle.
Humanity has to evolve all the way through this
Red Ray, from its lowest sub-ray to its highest.
Having passed the middle point of its densest mani-
festation, humanity is now upon the upward arc to-
ward more spiritual states of Being. As the occult
maxim, "As above, so below," and vice versa, holds
good for all planes and all laws — in reality there be-
ing but one Great Law — to form a conception of
what lies before us we have but to consider what the
lower aspects of red stand for. Red is the color of
the blood which, in the body, carries the life-force.
Hence, in its lower aspects, red is expressed by
anger, passion, war, anarchy and bloodshed. It is
through these expressions of the force of the Red
Ray that humanity has been struggling until it has
reached the point where the lessons of the lower
octave must be registered in the higher. The life-
blood of humanity has reached the point where,
laden with the vileness and the effluvia of animal
man, it is being purified by the Breath of the Spirit,
and henceforth must take on a new tint, just as the
physical blood is purified and changes its color in the
lungs. Anger purified becomes love-force and en-

190 The Voice of I sis

ergy that will conquer all difficulties ; passion must
be turned to fervor and ardor for spiritual union ;
war turned to spiritual warfare, where good tri-
umphs over evil, light over darkness ; anarchy be-
comes the one Law of Brotherhood ; bloodshed be-
comes the pouring out of the spiritual life-force, for
as blood carries the physical life-force its corre-
spondence on the higher planes is the vehicle for the
spiritual life-force. The highest tint will be reached
when the Spiritual Sun shines through this Red Ray,
and permeates it and brings out the rose tint of Christ-
love and Brotherhood.

The vision of St. John, as portrayed in the Book
of Revelation, and commonly accepted as a descrip-
tion of the end of the world, is simply the winding
up of the dominance of the Red Ray. Although the
same symbolic teachings are given in the Book of
Enoch, it does not mean that St. John copied from
Enoch, but that both were teaching the same uni-
versal truths received from the same divine Progen-
itor.

In the Bible much prominence is given to the
word blood and "The blood of the Lamb which was
slain from the foundation of the world." This refers
to the force of the Red Ray, which is the life-blood
of humanity, predominating as it does at the begin-
ning of every sub-race, and thus running through
and permeating the whole Root Race. Those
"which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb" J are the ones who have learned
the lessons of the Red Ray — the lessons of the vital
life-force — and have thus washed their garments
(body) white and pure in the stream of living spir-

1 Revelation VII, 13-14.

The Voice of Isis 191

itual force. They are those who have fought the
good fight and are crowned victors, ready to take
up the lessons of the next dominant Ray. Only by
evolution through all that pertains to the Red Ray
(spiritual life-force of the Soul — its blood, so to
speak) can humanity be washed in the blood of the
Lamb and be redeemed.

Certain texts in the Bible regarding blood which
which are repulsive1 and inhuman in their exoteric
meaning, if looked at in the light of the above ex-
planation, at once take on a new significance. Even
that most abused and revolting hymn —

"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins,

And sinners plunge beneath that flood
Loose all their guilty stains"

becomes quite comprehensible when viewed from
this standpoint. You have no real spiritual life in
you until you have correlated with the higher as-
pect of the Red Ray which is, indeed, the Blood of
The Christ.

1 "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you." — St. John VI, 53-55.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE LAW.

"Love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans.
XIII. 10.

"Study the hearts of men, that you may know
what is that world in which you live and of
which you will be a part. Regard the constantly
changing and moving life which surrounds you,
for it is formed by the hearts of men ; and as you
learn to understand their constitution and mean-
ing, you will by degrees be able to read the larger
word of life (Law)."— Light on the Path, Rule 12.

All life is law. There is but one law, Love. All
life and all law is vibration. Hence the Law of Love
must manifest through the whole gamut of vibration,
becoming thus both the Law and the fulfilling of
the Law.

When God (Love, Law) sent His only begotten Son
(the Light) to earth, there shot forth a great shaft of
living fire, vibrant with creative force, into the dark-
ness (the germs of unmanifested life) where at once
a cyclic motion was begun in every atom, and all
things began their cyclic evolution — worlds, creatures,
atoms, each with its own innate potency awakened
to activity by the light,1 the Spirit or Breath which
moved on the face of the waters. Some faint concep-
tion of how this ray of force cleaves the darkness can
be gathered by watching a skyrocket shooting up into
the blackness of the night. For some distance it is
apparently a solid shaft of fire, yet in reality every
particle is in rapid cyclic vibration; every molecule
is swirling at a high rate, and only because of this
vibratory force is the rocket propelled onward. The

1 See Chapter XXIV.

The Voice of I sis 193

law followed by the tiny atoms of fire in the path of
the rocket is the same law that governs worlds, planets,
suns and systems. Each turns around its own axis,
yet all continue upon their own appointed paths upward
and onward into new regions. While each turns upon
its own axis and circles around its own sun, still the
whole universe is being propelled onward through
space, changing conditions through which it passes
and by the very force of its cyclic vibration setting all
it contacts into a motion of its own. It is this great
Law, Divine Love, which creates all things and holds
them to their appointed paths, that they may evolve
their germs of good and transmute their germs of evil,
for evil is but opposition to the Law.

The Light is the first-born and only begotten Son
of God for it is the first expression of God-force or
Love to manifest, just as terrestrial light is the primeval
manifestations of our visible sun — and light includes
within itself all vibrations. Just as the rays of the sun
start the seed to growing in the earth and ultimately
draw back again the force of the perfected tree, so
the only begotten Son of God, through Love, both
plants the seed of Immortality in earth conditions,
matures it and brings it to perfection, that it may be
indrawn into the Father.

The Law manifests in seven major aspects: (1)
Order, (2) Compensation, (3) Cause and Effect or
Karma, (4) Vibration, (5) Cycles or Periodicity, (6)
Polarity, and (7) Balance or Poise. No one aspect
manifests alone, but while each may predominate in
turn all the others manifest at the same time as
subordinate factors.

( 1 ) Order. Not a grain of sand blown by the wind
on the seashore but is following the Law as order, for
the wind acts as the servant of the Law, there being no

194 The Voice of Isis

such thing as chance. Everything in life comes in or-
derly sequence. Nothing can come into your life out-
side of this law. There is always a place and a time
for everything and a reason why it comes. It is ac-
cording to the Law as orderly sequence. Everything
is brought to you at just the right time and place to
bring to you the help or the lesson needed to take
your next step. All comes to you through Divine
Love.

(2) Compensation. The Law works as compensa-
tion in that in every experience, be it painful or other-
wise, there is a compensating power to be gained or
a reward which is well worth the suffering necessary
to build it into Soul-growth. This is also Love. "A
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her
hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the
child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy
that a man is born into the world." 1 In the lower
forms of life when an eye, for instance, is needed, it
is gradually developed by the extreme sensitiveness
acquired by the repeated stimulations given to the
nerves of a certain part by the continual bumping of
the organism into objects which it cannot see to avoid.
The compensation is an organ of sight.

(3) Cause and Effect or Karma. Inextricably
blended with the Law as Compensation is that aspect
known as Karma. That is, effects of causes set up in
previous times or former lives are brought to you in
orderly sequence to be worked out, and in turn to set
up fresh causes. The great point to understand in
this manifestation of the Law is that Karma is neither
a reward nor a punishment for past deeds — and still
less is it an avenging Nemesis remorselessly exacting
"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" — but is

*St. John XVI., 21.

The Voice of I sis 195

the effect of causes in the sense that it brings to the
Soul the opportunity to learn certain lessons which it
has not learned in a past life, hence which the Law
of Love brings to it through this manifestation that it
may gain the Soul-quality needed for further progress.

(4) Vibration. All the events which are brought
into your life in orderly sequence with the intention of
compensating you are brought through the aspect of
cause and effect by the Law as Vibration. This
teaches you to correlate and attune yourself to the
infinite vibrations of Divine Harmony so that through
the Law as Vibration the evil or inharmonious aspects
of life may be dissipated and the rhythm of all life
be attuned to the Infinite.

(5) Cycles or Periodicity. There can be no con-
cept of life outside of or apart from vibration, and all
vibration is cyclic. Everything manifests in cycles
from the sprouting of the tiniest blade of grass, its
fruition and decay to the times and seasons of suns
and systems (manvantaras and pralayas). Every event
is governed by cycles, a period of activity, a period of
rest, corresponding to the downward and upward
sweep of manifestation and obscuration or the out-
breathing and inbreathing of the Great Breath of
Brahm. The life of each individual is also governed
by cycles within cycles. All students notice periods of
great spiritual uplift followed by periods of depression
and deadness. These extremes can only be overcome
by a knowledge of the Law as Periodicity or Cycles.
When the period of depression comes balance it with
the force received during the exaltation. Recognize
that it is the period of inbreathing, the time to indraw
and digest the lessons of the active period. Only thus
can Balance or Poise be attained.

196 The Voice of Isis

(6) Polarity. Until all the aspects of the Law have
been brought into perfect oolarity and attuned
to the divine rhythm of the great Law of Love, Polarity
is broken up into many lesser polarities which manifest
under the Law of Opposites, good and evil, light and
darkness, male and female, etc. If we break a magnet
into a thousand pieces each piece will have its positive
and negative pole, but its power will be but a faint
reflection of the power manifested in the one. When
true Polarity is attained all will be in perfect harmony
with the positive pole of Divine Love, the negative
pole of human love reaching up unwaveringly and
merging itself into that Love, and all the forces inter-
acting in perfect rhythm from pole to pole. The
polarity of the Law has literally been broken and sep-
arated into its various aspects instead of manifesting
in its entirety. Man through his disobedience has
broken the Law, yet he must become one with the
Law, or the Hammer of Thor will break him in pieces.
Just as a ray of white light in passing through a
prism is broken up into its seven aspects or colors, each
manifesting an individual force, so the Law of Love
in passing through the dense darkness of physical life
is broken up and deflected so that its seven aspects
work individually, bringing about chaotic conditions.
If we isolate the red ray, at one extreme of the solar
spectrum, its effect would be heat and over-excitement
tending toward feverish and inflammatory conditions,
with little illuminating power. At the other extreme
of the spectrum the action of the violet ray would be to
kill low forms of life — both bacterial and organized
cell life — and in higher forms to cause disorganiza-
tion and insanity. And each of the other color rays
has been found to have its own special action which
when separated from the others is inimical to man;

The Voice of Isis 197

but each vhen used with wisdom or synthesised into
white light contains a quality of helpfulness. In fact,
these various ajpects are the forces, each with its own
individual work to do, alluded to as the "seven Sons
of Fohat" or the seven differing manifestations of
Force, all of them contained within the one white
light of Divinity. Only when these seven Sons are
united in their parent ray can there be light, for while
separated they manifest color rather than light. So it
is with the Law of Divine Love. When the Law is
broken and its differing aspects strive to work indi-
vidually-, as they do in this world of effects, there is con-
fusion, darkness and a turning away from God or
a manifesting of the opposite pole of Good, evil. But
in reality this is only a lack of positive polarization.

(7) Balance or Poise. The heart of these various
activities of the Law is Balance or Poise. For only
when Poise is attained or that center where vibration
is so rapid as to be peace can all the aspects of the
Law be synthesised and perfected.

All temptations met with on the Path come through
the various aspects of Love, even Jesus in the wilder-
ness, being obliged to face and conquer the love of
power, dominion and ambition.1 On earth we see Love
manifesting as love of gold, love of power, love of
self, love of pleasure, love of animal gratification and
so forth, all perverted or negative polarizations of
Divine Love. Divine Love and human love are often
thought of as quite separate while in reality they are
but opposite poles of the One Force. There is no
manifestation of the Law on earth capable of touching
the depths, or reaching the heights in its cyclic sweep
as Polarity or human love when not wedded to Wis-
dom. Through Love perverted has man touched the

1 St. M aft hew IV.. 1-11.

198 The Voice of Isis

depths of degradation, yet because Love is the Divine
Law, One from the beginning, it must forever sweep
upward and onward, and like a mighty whirlwind
gather up all it touches. In its journey back to
its source Love gathers up and synthesises its seven
manifestations and thus fulfills the whole Law of Being.
"God is Love" and God so loved the world that He
sent His only begotten Son ( Light or Love made mani-
fest) to descend into the darkness of the unmanifested
mass of substance (matter) that out of it Love might
work the fulfillment of the Law. From the earliest
dawn of creative thought to the present moment has
Love thus worked its way up through matter.

Many say that before Jesus came there was but
the thundering of the inexorable Law of the Old Testa-
ment or what the Hindus call Karma, but that Jesus
came to substitute for the Law the glad tidings of
redemption through Love. But Jesus Himself says:
"I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it." The
Law which we are wont to call inexorable justice in
reality could be neither just nor inexorable were
Love left out, for Love is the one and only reality
which endures from eternity to eternity. Hence Jesus
the perfected man did not come to do away with the
Law but to straighten out man's misconceptions of it ;
to emphasize the fact that justice becomes injustice and
cruelty when Love is left out ; that Law is Love, and
that which we look upon as an awful inexorable pun-
ishment is in reality but the force of Love striving to
counteract man's disobedience to the Law and lead
him back into the path where Love alone can redeem.
Hence the glad tidings of Jesus were simply to point
out to the world that Love is the fulfillment of the
Law ; is the recognition that the Law is Love, and that
only through Love can it be fulfilled. There can be no

The Voice of Isis 199

punishment, injustice or fear for those who recognize
and live at one with the Law of Love.

A careful analysis will show that every test, trial
or temptation is brought about through the nega-
tive polarization of Love, by a breaking up of the
Law, a refusing to find balance and a consequent
revolving around an individual center, a getting out
of harmony with that which keeps all things in their
appointed paths. This negative polarization is the
cause of so many unhappy marriages. Man feels the
stirring of the Divine Love-force within, pushing his
whole nature onward toward God-consciousness, and
instead of at once polarizing himself to this Divine
Love he often seeks to polarize himself to some human
love which the Law does not bring to him and thereby
forces both himself and that other out of harmony
with the Law. And sooner or later the Divine Fire in
both atoms must die out and like burned out cinders
they fall back to earth filled with disappointment, sor-
row and coldness. He fails to realize that just as he
focuses his consciousness upon the positive pole, all
that belongs to him — his own, the little swirling love-
atom that is his earthly complement — must come to
him as he becomes one with the Law, for its lawful
place is by his side and without its help he could not
fulfill the Law of Love.

Heretofore man has been misapplying the Law and
placing himself under its negative aspect — evil — and
through the ensuing suffering has been learning to
lift up his eyes afar off and long for his Father's
home. But the time will come when man must bal-
ance the effect of the negative aspect — suffering — by
manifesting under the positive aspect — Love — and reap
his reward. The suffering may be the means^of turn-
ing man God-ward, but the ultimate knowing of God

200 The Voice of Isis

can only come through Love. The negative aspect of
Divine Love has evolved up through humanity until
the turning point was reached, and now the positive
aspect must come into manifestation. Jesus outlined to
the world a grander conception of the Divine Law in
what is known as the New Dispensation, but it takes
very little thought to realize that this New Dispensa-
tion has never yet manifested in humanity as a whole ;
it has never been more than a grand ideal to which
only a few isolated examples have attained. This
New Dispensation can never be realized until man
begins to polarize his whole life to Divine Love and
manifest its positive or good aspect as he has its
negative or evil, thus gaining perfect equilibrium.

This is the esoteric meaning of the injunction, "Seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ;
and all these things shall be added unto you." In
other words when you have polarized all your life and
love to Divine Love and when you are living thus
harmonized to your proper place in the stream all
that is yours must be swept onward with you. As
long as you refuse to understand the Law and think
of yourself as an atom separated from the mass or
pick out for yourself another atom to revolve around
you are destined to remain in the negative polarization
and fall to earth again and again, as do the sparks
in the sky-rocket which have lost their oneness with
its fiery heart.

"Men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil." Their deeds may not be
absolutely wicked but thev tend away from the positive
pole of Light (Divine Love) and hence must mani-
fest darkness rather than light. The lesson to be
learned is that you do not have to seek for something
afar off or foreign to your nature, for you are living

The Voice of Isis 201

in a world of love, created by a Love which embraces
every atom in the universe in its fiery Heart ; that you
will suffer until you learn to desire the Light; that
Light (Love) is turned into darkness as long as it is
broken up into lesser loves. There is but one way,
the way of The Christ, the only begotten Son (the
Light) which is the way, the truth and the life. You
must deliberately turn your heart toward Divine Love
and realize that the instant you thus turn you are
vibrating with the stream and must of necessity be
swept onward and upward and must draw with you
every other atom that is in any way harmonized to
you. Then help, strength, power, comradeship and
love must come to you because you are harmonized
to the stream of Divine Love which is ever working
toward perfection. You suffer only as you get out of
harmony with the Law by passing it through the prism
of your lower personality and hence producing various
colors rather than light.

The world is struggling in the stream. The rocket
has been shot from its mortar and cleaves the darkness
in one swirling stream of fiery particles. Many in
the stream know not whither they are bound, but
they are in the fiery current. They whirl round and
round, each little Soul a vortex of fire, each cycle of
each spark .seeming to be a complete universe shutting
out all else, apparently vibrating to some force whose
center is within the atom, yet in reality all are being
drawn onward and upward in Love in a straight line
back to the source whence they came, as the fire and
force of the rocket are drawn to their source, the
sun — the storehouse of both light and force — while
that which belongs to earth — the stick and the ashes —
fall back to earth. Love fulfills the Law for each
atom, for each Soul. The lessons of each are brought

202 The Voice of Isis

by Love. Only the hearts that are cold and dead to
Divine Love and persistently seek some human polar-
ization fall back to earth as cinders, those that are
alive and glowing sweep ever on.

As you go out into the world you must dwell in
this current of Divine Love, and as you feel its force
thrilling through you know well that its center is
not in the little puny life round which you revolve, but
in the Heart of the One Life ; that the main lesson is
not that you find satisfaction in being in the stream, but
that you lend the fire in your heart toward propelling
the rocket ever higher, and that fire within must be
the indwelling Christ-force. The positive pole cannot
manifest without the negative pole ; the Divine cannot
manifest without stirring up earth conditions. Your
temptations will come through Love; that which is
purest will seem to stir up the most impurity; that
which is Divine will bring sorrow and discourage-
ment. How then shall you become one with the
Law? By polarizing your love to Divine Love, by
merging your spark into the heart of the vortex where
all is rest and harmony and peace.

This is the work of this Order, and this is your
work. You cannot expect the world to attain peace
and love unless you manifest peace and love, not
merely to one atom, but to all. You must demon-
strate your ability to stand still amid the swirling
currents of life and hold on to the center of the
whirlwind, the Heart of Love. Recognize that the
turbulence and disasters and sufferings are but the
results of the outpourings of Divine Love; that they
come not as karmic retribution but that through the
vibrations of Love the Law may be fulfilled. You
must lend your love to make this Order a great fiery
stream of Divine Love that shall draw to it and make

The Voice of Isis 203

glowing all the little fiery hearts that are following
crooked paths and growing cold and falling back into
the darkness. Your mission is to point out how that
which is apparently evil can be polarized to good,
how discouragement can be turned into ardor, how
suffering can be turned to joy.

Study the lessons in the Book of Life. On every
page will you find the word Love. Many pages may
be clouded and obscured, many may be almost obliter-
ated with tears, many may be besmirched with mire,
but because you have been drawn into this fiery
stream of Divine Love you will have the power to
decipher the pages, to trace the story of the Love that
has been guiding you through all the darkened, sor-
rowful pages. You can show the stricken ones and
the heart-hungry that they are still in the stream;
that it is Love that is leading and guiding them;
that the Law is whirling them round and round only
to bring them and theirs back to God ; that there are
other pages in the book, pure and unsullied, whereon
they may learn to write their names.

CHAPTER XV.

WORLD CHAINS.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made." —
Genesis, II, 1-2.

"Whirling, glowing ether, fluidic but cohesive,
throwing off sparks. Encountering moist air it sends
up clouds of vapor in its rapid motion. The Great
Mother sends out her breath to blow cool and moist
upon the fiery offshoots of the Father. Little by little
it gathers density until the children suited to its
condition begin to move in its fiery heart like tiny
flames, yet flames that have life and independent
motion. All life is now 'gaseous light.' The spirits
of the gases hover over the glowing vapory mass.
They fan it with their wings that- it may cool and
harden. Within the womb of the World Mother
an infant globe slowly takes form. At last upon this
whirling sphere there descends, in one great rush, the
spirits of the Great Ones destined to prepare this
ethereal dwelling place for humanity. These are men
indeed, MEN, Divine Men, Manus, who reached
their godlike state on former chains of worlds. They
begin their work on the first and earliest globe of this
chain in its most ethereal condition. Their work is
to inform and prepare this life-essence for future use.

"They blow their cool breath upon the glowing
vapory globe and lo! it solidifies into the prototypes
of that which becomes rock and mineral, imprisoning
the Spirit of Life. Their life blood becomes currents
of living force. They hover over the face of the

The Voice of Isis 205

Great Deep. Into the waters they breathe their life
breath and the waters are filled with innumerable
living forms. From the waters and the cooling rocks
a great mist arises.1 It is the Spirit or life-element
of the coming humanity. It separates into masses.
They take form and become ethereal beings floating
like clouds over the still ethereal planet. Through all
this first Round the Creators are engaged in pre-
paring the earth, informing the prototypes of that
which is to be. It is the breath of their nostrils, the
blood-stream of their life forces that is both trans-
forming and reappearing in the life of the elements.
"Ere the earliest types are ready to take on denser
ethereal forms they pass into a sleep, which in this
early stage is but a slight cooling down of the globe.
Then a new day dawns, the Second Round. A new
form of life appears, the vegetable. Once more must
the Parents of the Race guide the pure but as yet
incorporeal beings, the Second Race, and teach them
how to inform the planet. The Manus must enter,
through the breath of their nostrils, into the forma-
tion of the new globe. They must permeate the min-
eral to give it consciousness and penetrate the vege-
table, very like the water of the ocean flowing through
coral or some spongy substance, leaving behind its
informing principle. As yet humanity is globular and
ethereal, but must become acquainted with the globe
on which it dwells. It becomes the mineral, the stone,
the water, the air. The oceans are of carbonic acid,
and the air is saturated with its evaporation. Gigantic
trees form from the carboniferous exhalations of the
early Races. The immense coal beds were thus cre-
ated by the informing Beings, the Progenitors of the
coming humanity.

1 See Genesis II., 6.

206 The Voice of Isis

"After a pralayic night of short duration they are
ready for a new globe ; they awaken to a new condi-
tion, the Third Round. Different strata have been
formed. The earth's crust has formed over the min-
erals and the giant trees. Now gigantic reptiles and
beasts roam the earth, with bodies and functions
adapted to the existing conditions. Humanity is not
yet ready to take solid form.

"In the Fourth Round humanity falls into genera-
tion ; is endowed with mind by the Sons of Mind.
God breathes into man's nostrils the breath of life and
he becomes a living Soul. As humanity reaches the
lowest point of this Fourth Round, the human body
solidifies. The spiritual powers and psychic faculties
are now limited and all but lost in the dense physical
envelope; mind begins to develop. From this point
onward man must work out his own redemption, to-
gether with that of the earth. Up to this time his
evolution and that of the earth had been guided and
directed by the Manus or the Rishis, the Progenitors
of all that lives and breathes on Earth."

The above is an extract from a cryptic lesson given
by the Master to the Order explaining the formation
of a World Chain, but which the limits of this lesson
are far too short to fully explain. However, although
there has been much speculation and much confusion
in the minds of students concerning these World
Chains, we will endeavor to explain herein only certain
of their most practical phases, for a complete under-
standing of the subject belongs to the Mysteries of
the higher Initiation.

Just as man's body is the lowest expression of his
seven-fold constitution, so is each visible planet but
the lowest, densest aspect of a seven-fold Chain, called
by occultists a "World Chain." A World Chain is

The Voice of Isis 207

composed of seven globes of differing states of matter
and consciousness, all existing at the same time and
all interpenetrating. The globes of any one Chain
must not be identified with the visible planets, for
only one globe of each Chain is visible, each physically
visible planet being the physical globe of its own
Chain, just as the Earth is the physical globe of the
Earth Chain. The other six globes of each Chain are
composed of finer and more ethereal states of matter
to which our physical senses do not respond. They are
invisible and hence to us apparently do not exist.

In its descent (involution) into physical manifesta-
tion life appears successively on each of the seven
globes during one day-periods called a Round, seven
of such day-periods or Rounds being required to com-
plete the cycle of manifestation (involution-turning
point — evolution). "Our Earth, as the (now) visible
representative of its superior fellow-globes, . . .
has to live, as have the others, through seven Rounds.
During the first three, it forms and consolidates ;
during the fourth (our present Round), it settles and
hardens ; during the last three, it gradually returns to
its first ethereal form ; it is spiritualized, so to say." x

It may appear as though the evolving lives stepped
from globe to globe of the Chain, but in reality they
merely evolve into new states of matter and conscious-
ness. A new globe or plane of consciousness mani-
fests when the consciousness evolved in the preceding
Round can no longer express itself on the old globe.
In passing from globe to globe a new principle is
developed on each. Man can penetrate into the con-
sciousness of the states through which he has passed,
but can not penetrate into the realms that embody
principles which he has not yet evolved. As man

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I., 183.

208 The Voice of I sis

evolves, his consciousness is born into a new globe
or state of consciousness, literally born into a new
world which did not exist for him before, where
all the familiar things of his daily life and of Nature
appear in a new and hitherto unsuspected light. This
is due to an expansion of consciousness which enables
him to respond to the vibrations of a higher globe,
enabling him to grasp deeper meanings and under-
stand teachings which he formerly regarded as mere
vagaries of unbalanced minds or mystical word pic-
tures of no practical value. "Cycles and epochs depend
upon consciousness : we are not here for the first time ;
the cycles return because we come back into conscious
existence. Cycles are measured by the consciousness
of humanity and not by Nature. It is because we are
the same people as in past epochs that these events
occur to us." J

Undeveloped man responds chiefly to the vibrations
of the physical globe, those things which he can see,
hear, taste, handle, etc., and can not comprehend or
function in the globes belonging to the psychic- and
spiritual-planes. Many so live in and for the grati-
fication of their animal appetites, desires and passions
that although they are living on earth they are
dwelling in the World of Desire or the globe em-
bodying the desire-principle, where desire reigns su-
preme. For such, every thought, act and experience
of life is interpreted from the standpoint of animal
desire. Others dwell so completely in the mental
world that the desire world, and even the physical
world, has little power over them. Many function in
a dream world, the astral envelope of the physical
earth, in which the physical, desire and mental worlds
are all reflected. Some are able to reach up into the

1 Ibid, Vol. Ill, 563.

The Voice of Isis 209

Soul World and receive their mystic Soul birth, while
a few receive their birth into the Spiritual World
where their consciousness becomes one with their
Father-in-heaven. The phenomenon of true "conver-
sion" is but the birth of the consciousness into the
Soul globe or plane. The majority of humanity, how-
ever, function in the three lower worlds (physical,
mental, desire) at the same time or vibrate from one
to the other. The mental world, however, has two
aspects, a high and a low, and since man is endowed
with free-will, he can chain mind to the lower worlds
and make of this great gift but a servant to gratify
desire and intensify physical life, or he can use his gift
of mind to reach up into the higher worlds of Soul
and Spirit. Man must ultimately function and gain
experience on all seven globes at the same time, check-
ing up, balancing and perfecting the experience of
one by that gained on the others, thus rounding out
his seven-fold nature into the Real Man. Only thus
can he gain Mastery over the portion of goods given
him by his Father-in-heaven.

What is referred tc in the above quotation as taking
place in each Round is the ultimate characteristic
evolved while the life-wave was passing around the
Chain of seven globes during that Round, and what
is referred to as "humanity" or "man" is, of course,
not man as we know him today, but stages in the
involution or descent into matter of that which be-
came man at the middle point of the Third Race of
the present Fourth Round. During the First Round
the center of the stage of action was occupied by the
mineral kingdom; the mineral dominated the entire
Chain, reaching its greatest density on the fourth
globe. In the rocks formed during that period science
finds no traces of either vegetable or animal forms.

210 The Voice of I sis

During the Second Round the vegetable kingdom
occupied the center of the stage and dominated the
Earth Chain, the mineral kingdom being subservient.
It was upon the fourth globe of that Round that
giant vegetation flourished in an atmosphere of car-
bonic acid gas. The remains of that vegetation are
still preserved to us in the form of coal. The rocks
formed during and after that period record the char-
acteristics of the vegetation but no trace of animal
life, for the animals had not yet taken on or descended
into solid physical form. During the Third Round
animal life dominated the globe in the form of giant
reptiles and monstrous animals whose remains science
has found preserved in many places. During this
period both mineral and vegetable kingdoms were
subservient to the animal. The rocks of that time
contain traces of both vegetable and animal life but
not of man, for he was still astral or super-physical.
During this present Fourth Round it is man who
descends to the physical-plane and dominates the globe
through the power of mind, all the lower kingdoms
being subservient to him.

Since man is the microcosm of the macrocosm, in
his spiritual evolution he must pass through stages
analogous both to his own physical evolution and
that of the planet, just as during his inter-uterine life
he passes through the evolutionary stages of the early
Races — vegetative, animal, human. The first three
Rounds would be represented in man's spiritual evo-
lution by the innocence of ignorance. During this
period he goes on his way actively doing neither good
nor evil, vegetating, indifferent to the higher ideals
yet not groveling in the lowest. Persons in this stage
take life as they find it, with little thought as to its
significance or its deeper problems. They are happy

The Voice of I sis 211

and carefree, neither very good nor very bad — average
good natured persons with whom the world goes well
and who experience little sorrow or suffering. There
must come a time, however, when, like the planet, the
evolutionary urge involves them in still deeper, denser
conditions. Their carefree condition changes. Since
they pay little attention to the higher ideals of life
and concentrate all their efforts on physical gratifica-
tion, they come to live more and more in their animal
natures. They become carried away with animal de-
sires, with the love of money for the gratification of
creature comforts, with ambition, with great selfish-
ness resulting in extreme cruelty to their brother men.
All these conditions gradually plunge them into the
denser animal realm where, like the immense animals
that roamed the earth during the Third Round, they
prey upon one another, living only to enhance and
gratify their animal natures and prolong their animal
pleasures.

In this period of spiritual growth the animal pas-
sions dominate. Man now seeks to escape sorrow
and suffering through indulgence in animal desire.
In obeying the inner urge toward harmony (happi-
ness) he madly plunges into all manner of animal
excesses and self-indulgences with little regard for
the rights of others ; but freedom from suffering still
eludes him. Ultimately he reaches a point where the
Real Man begins to control, corresponding to the
period when man began to dominate the earth. As
with the planet so with the Race and the individual.
The vegetative and animal stages lead steadily toward
a condensation of conditions. Just as the passing of
the gigantic vegetation of the Second Round added
to the density of the globe in the form of coal and the
enormous animals of the Third Round by their de-

212 The Voice of I sis

posits of bone, so during the corresponding periods
of his evolution has man helped to create for himself
denser physical conditions, karmic conditions of suf-
fering and sorrow which he must experience and
redeem.

Little by little, through sorrow and suffering, he
awakes to the realities of life. Sorrow and suffering
are to man what matter is to Spirit, the sinking into
the densest and most limiting conditions of expression.
And the object is the same, i. e., for Spirit, to gain
experience in physical conditions and thereby redeem
matter; for man, to gain his Soul experience and
thereby redeem the causes in the world which produce
sorrow and suffering, namely sin and disobedience, as
well as to redeem the matter in which he clothes him-
self. Hence, while the Law as Karma will bring to
all the suffering they have earned, at the same time as
they conquer they become redeemers for the Race, for
they can not conquer for themselves alone. They
have been born from the world of thoughtless action
into the realm corresponding to the period when man
was endowed with mind. They have begun to respond
to their Higher Mind. Once having reached this
point they can go no more back. Life no longer flows
smoothly. They can no longer be thoughtless and
carefree, for they must henceforth take in their own
hands the working out of the great problems of their
spiritual lives, just as man at the corresponding stage
took over the guidance of his physical life. They
must seek for themselves the solution of life's
problems.

When you have reached this stage you have entered
the Fourth Degree * of humanity where you con-
sciously take up the work of spiritual regeneration.

1 See Chapter III.

The Voice of Isis 213

In this Degree you consciously start out upon the Path
and must conquer all the kingdoms below you, both in
yourself and in the world. All who are interested in
these teachings, for example, have reached this point.
And to you we will say that you are not mere crea-
tures of impulse, driven hither and thither by a relent-
less fate, but are children of your Father-in-heaven.
You have reached your majority and are being tested.
You are encouraged to take up the great work of your
own redemption. Your guidance is now no longer that
given a schoolboy, but rather the supervision of a
loving parent over one who must of his own free-will
follow the principles taught by that parent. It is
comforting, however, to realize that you have this
power to walk alone or you would not be where you
are today. If you were still a child in spiritual
leading-strings the great problems of life would not
confront you, for the Law of Divine Love brings to
the Soul only such problems as it has the strength
to meet and conquer. Your Heavenly Father would
not that any perish. Yea, not one sparrow falleth to
the ground but the Father knoweth.

Seek then to reach up in consciousness to the Soul
World, to the globe of Divine Love, a new world in
which you can dwell if you will. Your Heavenly
Father has prepared a mansion for you in that world
which you do not have to pass through the change
men call death to enter. But you do have to let go
and cease clinging to the things of the lower worlds,
for that to which you cling and in which you permit
your mind to dwell is the world in which you must
function. You may do your duty in the lower worlds
and still dwell with your Father in His world of love
and glory. Realize that He is watching over you
and that His world envelopes you and will manifest

214 The Voice of Isis

to you if you will but open your heart to let it in.
Like a human parent, but in a degree far transcending
the human, your Father suffers with you, yet under-
stands the necessity for you to conquer alone. The
greatest gift to man is free-will. It must be your
will to reach out for the guiding hand that is always
within reach, even in the darkest night, ere you can
find it.

All is Law, and all Law is Love. It is the life-essence
of this Law — The Christ-force — which has overcome
the world or which has brought about the physical
evolution of the planet. Hence it must also bring
about your spiritual evolution and bring to perfection
all who choose to work in harmony with The Christ.
Nothing can overwhelm you if you make this great
truth the foundation on which you build your life.

CHAPTER XVI.

PUKiTY.

"What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For
ye are bought with a price : therefore glorify God
in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
— / Corinthians, VI 19, 20.

Your body is the Temple of the Living God. It is
your duty to see that in every way it is kept a fit
dwelling-place for the God within. The chief requisite
for this is absolute purity of body, mind and heart.
When we speak of a Temple it naturally suggests the
idea of sacredness, hence you should not only look
upon your body as something to be kept clean and
wholesome and in perfect health and strength that
it may be a fit instrument, but you should also sanctify
it and keep it holy and undefiled. Nothing must be
allowed to enter it, either as food or drink, that will
injure it, make it unhealthy or lessen your control
over it.

This animal body of yours has certain desires and
tendencies which are perfectly natural to it, just as
they are to any animal, but since you, the Immortal
Self, are dwelling in it, you, the Immortal Self must
control the animal with its desires and tendencies, and
make it subservient to the Law of Being. The lower
animals — having no individualized spark of the Divine
dwelling in them — receive their touch with the Divine
through a Group-soul which guides the evolution of
each particular species collectively, through instinct.
Hence the animals follow their natural tendencies

216 The Voice of Isis

when not perverted by contact with man, and these
tendencies, not being perverted, are necessarily right
and proper, but man having a higher guidance than
instinct must control the animal tendencies instead of
being controlled by them.

No natural function of the body but is pure and
wholesome when used for its proper purpose. No
natural act is, of itself, impure. It becomes impure
only through impure thoughts concerning it. The
animal can follow only its normal instincts but you, by
debasing your God-given intelligence, have the power
to sink lower than the beasts, or by claiming your
birthright and asserting your manhood, to rise far
above them.

Love in its highest expression is the one power
which you possess in common with the gods. It is
a divine force of attraction which seeks equilibrium
in the union of the masculine and feminine expres-
sions of the Divine. It is a natural force expressing it-
self in perfect purity on all planes, spiritual, mental
and physical. When it is confined to the physical-plane
you are apt to lose control of it, and the animal body,
through which it is expressed physically, is left to
follow its own devices. Thus the animal perverts this
divine force, and by the aid of intellect devises ab-
normal ways of gratifying its appetites instead of
expressing the pure love of a spiritual being for its
mate. What was Divine Love becomes debased and
impure, the body is defiled and the Temple of the
Living God desecrated.

Not alone impure acts but also impure thoughts,
even if only subconsciously held, are a source of defile-
ment. Science has demonstrated that thoughts are
things, forces which create ethereal forms that attach
themselves to their creators seeking expression through

The Voice of I sis 217

their bodies. The science of psychology (the science
of the mind) teaches that every thought tends to ex-
press itself in a bodily act, and does so express itself
unless counteracted by a stronger thought of opposite
character. Therefore your impure or evil acts are
not committed because some devil stands at your elbow
urging you to do the impure or evil deed, but you
yourself are responsible, for you have created the
impure thought-forms that are but striving to express
themselves through their creators. Or you have so
attuned your mind to impurity that the impure
thought-forms created by others are drawn to you.
The normal animal passions when excited and inflamed
by impure thoughts find abnormal, and necessarily
impure, expressions. The whole problem rests upon
your ability to purify your thoughts concerning all
the forces and functions of your bodies. Learn that
there is no natural function of your body that is
not normal and right if put to its proper use and
governed by pure thoughts.

"Thou shall not let thy senses make a playground of
thy mind." 1

To keep the thoughts pure you must fight every
impure thought the instant it appears. Learn to
take an interest in pure things and fill your mind
with thoughts concerning them. Determinately con-
quer the tendency to investigate impurity. Do not be
always hovering on the borderland of suggestion, see-
ing in every word and look some hidden suggestion
of impurity. Expend as much energy and take as
much interest looking for Pearls of Purity as is gen-
erally spent in seeking for the impure; for what ye
seek ye shall surely find. Determine not to entertain
an impure thought any more than an impure visitor

1 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment III.

218 The Voice of his

would be entertained in the bosom of your family.
By interesting yourself in purity and filling your mind
with pure thoughts you cut off the supply of life
and energy from the impure thought-forms and, if
you persistently create their opposites, after a fierce
struggle for life, they will soon cease to trouble you,
for you have created thought-forms of purity which
will transmute the impure, and will and must express
themselves in pure thoughts and actions. These pure
creations will become the Warrior who fights for
you. Often it is a great surprise to find that the thing
you looked upon as such a dire temptation a short
time ago will now scarce attract a passing glance.
You have conquered it.

This divine creative force of Love, which is the
link that unites you with God, finds its greatest
earthly expression in the sex forces. It also has a
corresponding expression on all planes, spiritual,
mental and physical. The sex forces are always cre-
ative and cannot be brought into operation without a
definite creation on all planes, their higher aspects
creating upon the higher planes, their lower upon
the physical-plane. The spiritual essence will create
upon the spiritual-plane ; the mental will create upon
the mental-plane, following out the patterns set by
the thought-forms which are fashioned by the desires,
thus making them conscious living entities which at-
tach themselves to man, their creator, express through
him, and demand that he sustain them. Thus if only
gross animal thoughts are held at the time the forces
are used>you create gross animal thought-forms which
drag you down, so that you grow more and more
animal. But if pure love and high aspirations as for
a holy sacrament are held at the time, you will be
able to express more and more clearly the ideal held.

The Voice of Isis 219

The physical essence will create upon the physical-
plane, but if denied its natural expression on that
plane, i. e., the creation of a body in which a
divine Soul can incarnate, it will still create upon the
physical-plane. Being perverted from its normal and
thrown into abnormal channels, it will send its quota
of creative energy toward the creation of disease, death
and pestiferous plagues, for its natural function is
completely perverted and that which should have been
put to the highest use and which should bring the
greatest blessing- to mankind has now become its curse.
When the creative life-force is brought into activity
in purity and love, as it finds embodiment in the lower
kingdoms it will clothe itself in forms helpful to man,
but since the opposite conditions are too often the rule
the creative force adds its power to those forms which
are antagonistic to and prey upon man.

These evil things, however, are not a direct crea-
tion, but are the result of the impure thoughts and
perverted creative force of man permeating the at-
mosphere of the earth and filling its aura with life-
force expressing itself through living entities working
in a reverse way, seeking avenues through which to
bring forth evil instead of good in all parts of the
earth, even where man has never trod. The entities
thus created, being man's perverted physical creations,
must draw their sustenance from mankind. Just as
a child draws its life and nourishment from its mother's
breast so these unnatural creations must also flourish
and in some way draw their life from man's blood
(blood sucking parasites, cancers and all pathological
bacteria, for example). Do not blame God for sick-
ness and disease. They are man's creations.

Humanity as a whole has created these conditions
for ages, until the aura of the earth is saturated with

220 The Voice of Isis

what is known to science as disease breeding germs,
bacteria, parasites, etc. Scarcely anything you eat or
come in contact with is free from these enemies to
human life, making every one born under the flesh
in bondage to the flesh, as the Bible puts it or, in occult
parlance, subject to the world's Karma to a greater
or lesser degree. Nevertheless, although the micro-
scope shows that the germs of disease are constantly
entering your body through air, water and food, to
the pure in heart and mind and body these abnormal
creations will prove harmless. Thus is literally ful-
filled the promise "Behold, I give unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy : and nothing shall by any means
hurt you." 2 Know well there are no evils created to
tempt or diseases to harm you but those of man's own
creation. Since man has thus proved himself a creator
of evil it is time for him to realize this fact, recognize
his power and determine to create good instead of evil.
Cohabitation must never take place except between
persons legally married to each other. There can be no
possible exception to this ride. Legally married means
that the law of the land in which they dwell must
legalize in the eyes of the world any sexual union. But
unless the union has already been made in heaven
through pure love, the physical union cannot bring
about peace and happiness, for like all true sacraments
it must be entered into and registered upon all planes.
Nothing can be gained by breaking the laws of the
land ; if they are crude or inadequate your effort should
be to uplift them. Every principle which evolution has
proved to be for the benefit of mankind must ultimately
bemused for its highest purpose. Cohabitation outside
the legal married state is but breaking the law and

1 St. Luke X., 19.

The Voice of I sis 221

adding complications to be worked out later in sor-
row and suffering. Even though the marriage law is
but a man-made law and is far from perfect, it is
nevertheless a shadow on earth of the Divine Law,
the divine Marriage of the Soul. Man's marriage
laws have many objectionable features, but the
lesson for humanity to learn is that marriage is a holy
sacrament, not to be lightly entered into or lightly set
aside. Hence if through ignorance and perversion
man degrades this sacrament he will never learn its
sacredness, especially by ignoring it or refusing to
bear the consequences of his acts.

The fundamental teaching of this Order is that
in every Soul there is a Divine Guidance which, if
the human personality will listen, will clearly indicate
what is right and what is wrong. Hence no one is
forced into an unhappy marriage without going
against this inner urge ; they either enter it because
they are blinded by passion, because of a desire
for worldly position or for some reason other than
the one great reason, namely, because the Soul speaks
to its mate in Divine Love. The Law of Divine Love
will bring to each Soul its true mairiage, a union
in perfect purity on all planes. This according to the
one life-theory is of course impossible for all ; but since
reincarnation is a fact, the Soul, through repeated ex-
periences, learns to follow its Divine Guidance, hence
will ultimately find its true mate. But they can be
spiritually as well as physically married to their mate
only when the old accounts of both have been balanced
and the old complications set up through the mistakes
of the past have been worked out. To ignore the les-
sons necessary to be learned is but to prolong the period
of separation between the two, for they can never come
together in perfect purity until each has learned the

222 The Voice of Isis

lessons which keep them apart and have found out how
to fulfill the Law on all planes; that is, have reached
a point where nothing but the spiritual attraction or
true love leads them into a physical marriage. To
break the Law on any plane by refusing to bear the
results of your acts simply results in your having to
come back and take up the same old lessons where you
left them and continue in them until they are learned.

The marriage state is the highest and holiest rela-
tion between man and woman. Anything that detracts
from its holiness should not be tolerated. The idea
that it is inherently wrong is an insult to an institution
which was placed before man as the earthly expression
of his highest attainment, the union of the Soul with
the Divine. Until you have grasped at least some-
thing of the holy reflection on earth of this Divine
Marriage, your consciousness can never enter into it
upon the higher planes. Hence if you are not ready
to enter into this holy sacrament with a realization of
its sacredness, its purity and the possibility of over-
coming the vile ideas which the world has cast upon it,
you would better not swear falsely before God and man
by taking upon yourself its vows. If mere companion-
ship or a so-called "spiritual mate" is all that is desired
that can be attained without physical contact. But mark
well that mere companionship or "spiritual union" does
not include the privilege of personal contact or physical
union.

It is not the words pronounced by minister, priest,
or magistrate which bind you, no written documents,
but the spiritual potencies of the Law which you in-
voke by your vows and the intent of your Soul in
making the vows. And it is these forces which will
demand the fulfillment of the vows, no matter what
verbal or written contracts to the contrary you may

The Voice of I sis 223

make or what mental reservations you may hold. If you
refuse to fulfill them in one way you must pay the price
in another, for you will be free only when the debt is
fully paid. It makes no difference whether the cere-
mony be Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan, Mormon
or civil. Whatever land you are in and whatever
law you invoke to bind your Soul is the one with which
you should comply, for it is the power of one Divine
Law you invoke no matter what the ceremony em-
ployed. Whatever law vou accept at the time of the
marriage as a representative of the Divine Law, and
make your vows accordingly, that is the law that holds
you.

There are three parties to the marriage vow, the
man, the woman and the law of the land. This vow
can be annulled and withdrawn with the consent of all
three parties. Also if one of the parties has violated
the vow, he or she cannot hold the others to it unless
they choose to overlook the violation and thus in effect
renew the vow. If, however, one overlooks the viola-
tion and accepts the resulting conditions let him not
complain and seek sympathy for his hard lot, for he
has deliberately chosen that lot and must abide by
his choice, work out its Karma and learn its resulting
lessons.

If man and wife cannot fulfill the vow by living in
love and harmony, it is far better for their Soul-growth
to ask the third party — the law of the land — to release
them from it. For there is nothing more detrimental
to spiritual advance than nuptial inharmony, because
of the perpetuation of the inharmony through the
creative power and because of the inharmonious and
impure creations brought forth. It is also far better
for the children of such a union to pass through the
experience a legal separation of the parents might

224 The Voice of Isis

entail than to be brought up in an atmosphere where
love, trust and understanding were lacking and in-
harmony reigned.

When the Laws of God and man have been com-
plied with, the consummation of the union in pure and
holy love is a sacrament.1 Under such conditions, if
at the time the thoughts are exalted and pure, and
the creative energy is permitted to function through
its normal and natural channel, there will be upon
the spiritual-plane a creation which will correlate with
the Divine Creative Force and draw to the participants
a wonderful blessing and help, while upon the mental-
plane thought-forms of purity will gather as a pro-
tecting band around the unborn child to ward off all
inimical and evil influences, and a perfect body should
result. Also, through the spiritual force drawn upon,
an advanced Soul may be attracted to the body. If
the desire is to create the body of a child it should
be looked upon as a sacred and religious rite; for
there is nothing more important to the Race than
the perfecting of the vehicles for its continuance and
its upliftment. This is far more important than build-
ing churches, preaching sermons or sending mission-
aries to the "heathen." The thoughts of both parents
should be concentrated upon an exact mental picture
of the body they desire and the creative act should
be carried out with this ideal in mind, and in the
greatest purity of thought. Thus there can be created
a beautiful love-child which will be a blessing and a
joy throughout life. If a physical body is created when
it is not wanted it is created by the mere husks of the
creative force, while the real power of creation is ex-
pended on other planes in following out whatever

1 "A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and
spiritual grace."

The Voice of Isis 225

pattern is set by the desires. Since the thoughts were
not concentrated on the physical-plane to produce a
perfect body, such a child is robbed, and will naturally
lack a part of its birthright, the whole Race being
proportionately defrauded.

All life comes from the One Life of the Absolute
and normally should evolve back to God in perfect
purity and harmony, but instead everything that grows,
be it herb or animal, has to contend with the malign
influence of the perverted currents of life-force, the
result of man's misuse of the creative power. This is
a literal fulfillment of the curse recorded in Genesis,1
"Cursed is the ground2 for thy sake." The curse was
not pronounced because of the act of one man and
woman, nor was it because the Third Race (symbolized
by Adam and Eve) fell into generation, for the power
to create was the great gift given to the humanity of
this globe by the Elohim. With the gift the Divine
Guidance to use it aright was also given, but as early
as the latter part of that Race in direct disobedience to
that Guidance mankind began to abuse and pervert it.
And humanity has perpetuated that mistake ever since.
The curse was not pronounced as a punishment, but
was merely a statement of the natural consequences
which would follow the use of the creative power in a
perverted way. "Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee," and also "in sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life." Even in eating our
choicest fruits, when partaken of ere they have gained
the victory (ripened) over the adverse conditions re-
sulting from currents of perverted life-force, we suffer.

If the Race is to be propagated in vileness, every
child that is born must bear the burden of a thought

1III, 17.

3 Meaning the entire planet, mistranslated "ground."

226 The Voice of Isis

of something vile and impure connected with its birth.
It is no wonder that children so conceived have little
love or respect for their unwilling parents. Children
born in love and purity, while subject to this world
Karma or "in bondage to the flesh," will still be over-
shadowed by a mantle of purity which will ward off
many temptations to impurity and vileness, and will
find their environment such as to lead them in paths
of purity rather than in by-ways of evil. For this rea-
son the salvation of the Race depends upon the pure
in heart conceiving children in love and purity, for
if the perpetuation of the Race is left to the impure
and ignorant, conditions must errow worse.

Without this thing which we are wont to look upon
as vile and impure the Race would very soon become
extinct. And if mankind continues to debase and de-
grade this great gift the Race will still become extinct,
for, as we have said above, nearly all diseases can be
traced to the perverted activity of the creative force.

In reality sexual desire is but the effort of the Soul
to express Divine Love through the physical vehicle
and should be looked upon as the lower or negative
pole of that Love, and God is Love. When we debase,
degrade and befoul sexual desire we are debasing the
highest physical expression of the God within us. Just
so long as parents fail to fill their children's minds
with thoughts of the purity and the holiness of the
sex relations, the thought that it is evil or vile will be
perpetuated in the Race. Just so long as it is thought
of as something unclean and vile, just so long will
it be so ; for the creative power of thought will clothe
itself in the vile garments of the impure ideas, and the
sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation.

The Voice of Isis 227

Purify, then, not only your acts, but your thoughts.
Persistently refuse to entertain impure ideas. Combat
them with ideas of Purity and Divine Love. This does
not mean, however, that you should deliberately close
your eyes and refuse to admit or recognize that there
is evil in the world. For a wise physician must rec-
ognize the first symptoms of a disease that he may
combat it ere it gains a foothold. Remember, always,
that knowledge is power. Learn to look things in the
face with a full consciousness of your power to create
good where evil now exists. For, "As a man thinketh
in his heart so is he."

NOTE: For the methods of transmuting the sex-forces in those
who are not married, see the chapter on "The Sex Problem" in
Letters from The Teacher, Curtiss.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ORIGIN OF MAN.

"In the day that God created man, in the like-
ness of God made he him; male and female cre-
ated he them; and blessed them, and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created."
— Genesis, V. 1-2.

"Man is a little world — a microcosm inside the
great universe." — I sis Unveiled, Blavatsky; Vol.
I; 212.

There is much speculation among students of
all schools in regard to the origin of man. Some
hold to the orthodox idea that God literally fash-
ioned a man out of clay and in some mysterious
manner animated him with breath. Others hold
to the Darwinian theory that man and the ape
descended from a common ancestor, both being the
result of a wholly physical and more or less mechan-
ical evolution. Between these extremes the great
mass of thinking people are seeking something
more satisfying to a rational mind than the former
and more elevating than the latter. To this great
class there comes from out the ages the arcane
teachings of those Great Souls who reached their
godlike state before this world was born and who
have been the manipulators of the evolutionary law
under which this planet and its inhabitants have
reached their present state. These Great Souls
have always been and still are the Guides and
Teachers of mankind, hence those whose reason
postulates or whose intuition recognizes such god-
like Beings can safely accept Their teachings, for
They are in a position to know. This ancient wis-

The Voice of Isis 229

dom has never been lost, but because of man's
gradual refusal to accept and follow it during his
ages of darkness and ignorance it has been tem-
porarily withdrawn from the public teachings and care-
fully preserved, although always accessible to every
Soul who seeks it by the right method and in the right
spirit.

There are reasonable grounds for both the above
mentioned theories. Man has both a spiritual evo-
lution which comes from above and a material evo-
lution which belongs to the earth. His physical
body is the highest attainment of a physical evolu-
tion through all the lower kingdoms where it has
passed through stages analogous to the mineral,
vegetable and animal, in an ethereal form corre-
sponding to the stages through which the planet
passed in previous Rounds.1 His spiritual evolu-
tion is the result of the voluntary descent of Im-
mortal Egos into more or less perfected human-animal
bodies, and Their subsequent effort to control and
spiritualize those animal organisms. These arcane
teachings, preserved in their purity upon imperishable
records through all the ages, tell us that during each
Day-period or Round seven Great Races followed
each other successively, each being made up of seven
sub-races which in turn are composed of many tribes,
kingdoms and nations. These Races and sub-races
do not begin suddenly or end abruptly to make way
for the next, but overlap for untold ages ere the old
gives way to the new. For example : "The majority
of mankind belongs to the seventh sub-race of the
Fourth Root-Race. The . . . Chinaman and their
off-shoots and branchlets (Malayans, Mongolians,
Tibetans, Hungarians, Finns and even the Esquimaux)

i See Chapter XV.

230 The Voice of Isis

are all remnants of this last off-shoot," * although
humanity is already entering the sixth sub-race of
the Fifth Great Race of the Fourth Round. And some
few children are even now being born who will be-
come the teachers and prophets who will prepare
for the coming of the Sixth Great Race.

Following the cyclic Law, each of the tribes, nations,
sub-races and Great Races has its humble birth, its
youth, its maturity (during which it reaches the zenith
of its power) then its gradual decline, decay, and final
disappearance, as the recorded history of nations known
today clearly shows. All that a Race acquires, how-
ever, is stored up to reappear in its purity in the next
Race. The reason for the decay is that the Race has
acquired all that its physical evolution enables it to
express. Further accumulation of knowledge must be
postponed until a finer and more responsive organism
has been evolved. Therefore while an entirely new
Race seems to appear, in reality it is but the reincar-
nation of those Souls who composed the former Races.
In this Round the majority of persons in the western
nations have evolved through the Fourth Great Race
and through the sub-races of the Fifth (Aryan) to the
point where they are now just entering its sixth sub-
race, although among all nations there are laggards
belonging to less evolved sub-races.

During the first Great or Root- (Polar) Race, the
germs of that which was to become man were sleeping
as it were through the chaotic conditions of the then
ethereal world, a sleep of oblivion in the waters of
the uncreate. Hence man today can have little com-
prehension of this First Race. As the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters misty or cloud-
like forms composed of but two elements — air and

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II; 188.

The Voice of Isis 231

water — arose, having a sentient life yet not human
intelligence. These cloud-like forms "composed of
the most ethereal matter compatible with objectivity"
took the shape of "gigantic semi-human monsters, the
first attempt of material nature at building human
bodies." x This was the Second or Hyperborean Race.
This Race was sexless, their mode of reproduction
being by fission or division, just as a cloud might
separate into two parts. These misty forms became
more and more dense by the gradual absorption of
a new element, earth, until "The Second Race . . .
being also sexless, evolved out of itsdf, at its be-
ginning, the Third, Androgyne Race by an analogous,
but already more complicated process. . . . The
emanations that came from their bodies during the
seasons of procreation were ovulary ; . . . devel-
oping into a large soft, egg-like vehicle, which gradu-
ally hardened, when, after a period of gestation, it
broke and the young human animal issued from it
unaided, as the fowls do in our Race." 2 Not a strange
procedure when we remember that even today a
child is born in a membraneous sack or "a large soft
egg-like vehicle." At the middle point of this Second
Race "He is still gigantic and ethereal, but growing
firmer and more condensed in body; a more physical
man yet still less intelligent than spiritual, for mind
is a slower and more difficult evolution than is the
physical frame." 3 These primitive beings were still
composed of astral matter and today would not be
visible, hence they left no physical traces by which sci-
ence might discover them. "The evolution of the physio-
logical man out of the astral races of the early Lemu-

*Ibid, Vol. II; 146.
2 Ibid, Vol. II; 175.
•Ibid, Vol. I; 211.

232 The Voice of Isis

rian age — the Jurassic age of Geology — is exactly
paralleled by the 'materialization' of 'spirits' (?) in
the seance room." l Only toward the middle of the
Third Race (Lemurian) did solid bones develop, the
sexes separate, the body become "clothed with coats
of skin" and take on the human form as we know
it today, although at that time it was of gigantic pro-
portions.2 It was from this point onward that truly
human evolution began, as symbolized in the Bible
by Adam and Eve. Previous to this time the Races
were cold-blooded like the present day amphibians,
reptiles, fishes and the invertebrates, taking on the
temperature of their surroundings, but from this point
on humanity gradually became warm-blooded and
maintained a constant body temperature. Thus
it will be seen that man is truly the microcosm of
the macrocosm. For in his physical development
and in his modes of procreation he has passed through
all the stages Nature has used and still uses in the
lower kingdoms. The mineral reproduces by exuding
its essence ; the vegetable by budding or by seeds, each
part of the plant as a slip being capable of reproducing
the entire plant just as a part of Adam's body (his
rib) reproduced Eve; and the animal by the sexual
process.

The above refers merely to the evolution of the
animal body of man, and in some respects may re-
semble the Darwinian hypothesis, the great difference
being that according to these teachings the beginnings
of man were not upon the physical-plane and all stages
were not passed through in physical matter. This is
why science has ever failed in its search for the "miss-
ing link" or the "common ancestor" of man and the

*Ibid, Vol. II; 778.

a "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after
that." — Genesis, VI; 4.

The Voice of Isis 233

ape. Man did not descend from the ape or from a
common ancestor, but the ape descended from man,
being the perverted and degenerate offspring resulting
from the sins of the latest Third and early Fourth
Races.1

After the middle of the Third Race a dual evolu-
tion begins. Spiritual Beings (called Solar Fathers
or Pitris) who had reached their high estate on pre-
vious World Chains, consciously descended to earth
and breathed into the human-animal forms "the
breath of life," as recorded in Genesis. That which
is called the breath was something with which animal
man was then endowed, a power and capacity added to
the mere animal consciousness he possessed before;
for it was the breath of Divine Life, a human Soul, a
spiritual overshadowing. This same teaching is repre-
sented in Genesis by the Adam of the first chapter
being created but a sexless animal, the culmination
and last of animal creation; the Adam of the second
chapter first being created a bi-sexual animal, then
being endowed with a human Soul. This Adam (the
early Third Race) was created before the animals and
each animal was brought to him to be named. Later
on this Adam evolved out of his bi-sexual state into
that of the separated sexes, Adam and Eve. Then
"the Sons of God (semi-divine Beings) saw the
daughters of men (the evolved human-animal forms)
that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose," 2 and begat the future sub-races.
The union of the Sons of God with the daughters of
men added to the elements in humanity (air, water,
earth) a new element, fire, or intellect. Fire is a sacred
and higher element which only comes to earth as the
gift of the gods to man and man alone of all creation

1 See Chapter III.

2 Genesis, VI; 2.

234 The Voice of Isis

can control it and use it unafraid. But only the highest
of the human forms were ready, hence comparatively
few received the divine incarnation, while many re-
ceived the spark of self-consciousness and still more
received but an overshadowing of the semi-divine
Beings who in future stages of evolution were ulti-
mately to become their Fathers-in-heaven. " 'Some
projected a Spark. Some deferred till the Fourth.
. . . Those who entered became Ahrats. Those
who received but a Spark, remained destitute of
(higher) knowledge. . . . The Third remained
mindless.' This stanza contains, in itself, the whole
key to the mysteries of evil, the so-called Fall of the
Angels, and the many problems that have puzzled the
brains of the Philosophers from the time that the
memory of man began. It solves the secret of the
subsequent inequalities of intellectual capacity, of birth
and social position, and gives a logical explanation of
the incomprehensible Karmic course throughout the
eons which followed."1 These differences were not
the result of injustice, but were due to the inequalities
of the animal organisms, just as we find today in a
field of wheat — all of which was planted at the same
time, with the same seed, and in the same soil — vary-
ing degrees of perfection, some ripe for the harvest,
others unripe, others not yet begun to head out. The
great Law shows no partiality. All will reach their
perfection in due season.

As involution progressed the response of matter to
the molding and guiding power of Spirit became
less and less, proportionate to the increasing density
of the forms through which it had to act. And
only when the human brain had evolved into a
fit instrument to respond to the Divine Spark could

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II; 170-171.

The Voice of Isis 235

man become a rational self-conscious being. Until
then he was merely a human-animal, begetting his
kind according to animal instinct but unable consciously
to create according to his will and desire. "He has
now a perfectly concrete or compacted body, at first
the form of a giant-ape, and now more intelligent, or
rather cunning, than spiritual. For, on the down-
ward arc, he has now reached a point where his pri-
mordial spirituality is eclipsed and overshadowed by
nascent mentality. In the last half of the Third (Race)
his gigantic stature decreases and his body improves
in texture, and he becomes a more rational being,
though still more an ape than a Deva." l

The Fourth Race, like the Fourth Globe or Round,
is the lowest point of involution, or the turning point.
The gift of mind having evolved through all the ages
of the Third, and the first part of the Fourth Race,
reached its truly human stage about the middle point
of the Fourth. "The (hitherto) dumb races acquired
our (present) human speech on this Globe, on which,
from the Fourth Race, language is perfected and
knowledge increases." 1 At that time the psychic
powers held sway but were beginning to be dominated
by the rapidly developing intellect and will. Under
the guidance of his Divine Ancestors man had been
taught all the arts and sciences as well as the control
and proper use of all the powers within himself and in
Nature. When he had grown up as it were, his divine
Instructors withdrew leaving him free to use his pow-
ers as he would, and of his own free-will put into prac-
tice the precepts They had inculcated. But with the
exercise of free-will the temptation to use his great
knowledge for his own sensuous pleasure and for his
selfish aggrandizement was too great and gradually

*Ibid, Vol. I; 211.
2 Ibid, Vol. I; 211.

236 The Voice of his

he chose to follow the lure of the senses rather
than the call of the Spirit. It was during this
period of evolution that the seeds of Karma were
sown, whose terrible harvest the world as a whole has
been and still is reaping even unto this day. His spir-
itual Progenitors, seeing the awful results of man's
failure, in love and mercy, temporarily removed the
greater part of the Race from the scene of its debase-
ment through the great cataclysms which destroyed
the continent of Atlantis, a memory of which is re-
corded in the scriptures of many nations today as the
Great Flood.

Many legends are extant concerning the nations of
that Fourth or Atlantean Race. And today a new
interest in their histories is awakening in the minds
of all classes of thinkers, and many theories and even
circumstantial accounts are being given out concern-
ing their civilizations. The reason for this is that
those Souls who formerly composed the Atlantean
Race are now reincarnating in large numbers in the
western world where they must re-acquire their former
knowledge, redeem the failures of the past, and rise to
a higher stage of spirituality than ever before.

The Atlantean Race was the culminating point in
the evolution of the physical, mental, and psychic
powers. Their intellectual powers had reached as
great perfection as their physical and psychic powers,
but spirituality was more or less dormant. The result
was that they controlled and manipulated the physical
and psychic currents of force and dominated both the
animal and elemental worlds. They thus reached a
stage of civilization in some respects far higher than
man has subsequently attained. In our present Race,
however, this same degree of perfection must again
be attained, but dominated by the higher spiritual evo-

The Voice of Isis 237

lution. It is this culmination that we are now rapidly
attaining and for which the advanced Souls of the
former Race are again incarnating. It is the
Atlantean civilization which is symbolized by the
Tower of Babel, a civilization whose base rested
on earth but whose top reached into the higher realms
farther than man of that day was entitled to go. By
the perversion and debasement of their powers, their
impurity and selfishness, they fell into monstrous evils.
Striving only for personal power and gratification
many became terrible black magicians, misusing and
perverting the forces of life.

All, however, were not wicked, some followed the
precepts of their divine Teachers and used their great
powers for good. Certain of these were gathered
together — especially out of the fifth sub-race — and dur-
ing the sixth and seventh sub-races were taught by
the "Sons of God" how to perpetuate the sacred teach-
ings and carry them over the period of the cataclysms
which marked the close of the Race. They thus be-
came the teachers and guides of future Races, as
symbolized by the Bible story of Noah. During the
sixth and seventh sub-races all classes were warned of
the coming disasters by their spiritual Teachers and
were exhorted to repentance and a change of life. All
who listened and believed escaped and settled in various
distant mountainous regions. This teaching is cor-
roborated by the discovery today, in such widely
separated countries as Egypt, India, Central and South
America, of similar and even identical hieroglyphics,
symbols, architecture, etc. The reign of the black
magicians grew worse and worse and the enslavement
of their fellow men and the perversion of their forces
became more awful until the earth's crust could no
longer withstand the perverted currents of force,

238 The Voice of Isis

and after a series of cataclysms lasting through the
sixth and seventh sub-races it finally sank beneath the
waves. Owing to these cataclysms great numbers
emigrated to distant lands and became the seed from
which sprung the great masses of the present Race.
In fact, the yellow races of Eastern Asia today are
their direct descendants.

History repeats itself, and the same thing is hap-
pening today. Humanity is being warned through
various sources. Prophets today as of old are pro-
claiming the near approach of catastrophes and
cataclysms and the call to repentance, love, and
brotherhood is heard in the land. The approach-
ing cataclysms, however, will not be as widespread
as those of Atlantis, the close of this cycle being
but the close of a sub-race (fifth) instead of a Great
Race.

The Fifth Great Race is our present red or white
Aryan Race, the characteristic of which is the in-
creasing spiritualization of matter through man.
Up to the turning point at the middle of the Fourth
Race spirit was being involved into matter, but
from that time on matter has been evolving toward
Spirit. We have evolved through the sub-races of this
Fifth Race until we are now just entering upon its
sixth sub-race. During this coming sub-race the
seed will be planted of that which will be reaped
by the Sixth Great Race, just as the fifth sub-race
of the Atlanteans planted the seed of this present
Fifth Great Race. This Fifth Race, however, has
some sixteen thousand years of its cycle still left ere
the close of its seventh sub-race and the great cata-
clysms which will mark its end.

In the Sixth Great Race the Christ-principle will
find its greatest expression, and its greatest power

The Voice of I sis 239

in and over matter, thus spiritualizing and lifting
both life and matter on all planes into a higher
state. This Race must also witness the culmination
and fulfillment through Divine Love of all the
efforts put forth during all previous Races. Thus
will it usher in the Golden Age. This Race will
cover but a short period of time as compared with
the earlier Races.

The Seventh Race will bring into manifestation
the Golden Age and synthesise all that has been
gained, thus becoming the great Fulfillment, the
culmination of man's evolution in this Day-period or
Round. During this Race the highest attainments of
man's evolution will be gathered up preparatory to
informing the humanity of a new Globe or Day-period,
the Fifth Round.

As in the days of Atlantis, so today. Those whose
hearts can respond to the higher note today being
imparted to humanity through the various avenues
of teaching utilized by the Progenitors of man, will
first be prepared then gathered together into a defi-
nite Center of civilization where they can have an
opportunity to receive the direct teaching and guid-
ance of the same Great Souls who have always pre-
pared for the re-unfoldment of wisdom at certain
cyclic intervals. This great Center, however, will
not be limited to any one sect, avenue of teaching
or any one organization, society, or order, but will
be composed of all those symbolized in Revelation
by the mystic "hundred and forty and four thousand"
who stood on Mount Sion "having their Father's
name written in their foreheads." In other words,
those who have received their mystical name and
through the power of The Christ have developed
their spiritual perceptions. Every movement which

240 The Voice of Isis

is striving to give out pure spiritual teachings is an
avenue used by the Great Ones to reach a certain
class of persons, but only those who are ready and
have received the mystic mark in their foreheads
will be able to enter in.

The Order of the 15, being composed largely of the
reincarnated Souls who in the days of ancient
Atlantis were entrusted with the task of preparing
a place of refuge and promulgating the arcane
teachings, must again take up the reincarnated
work; for ideas, teachings and movements incarnate
as well as Souls. All who at that time responded to
its call will naturally be attracted to this particular
movement today, and according to their point of
development and the work they accomplished then
will they be given a special place and a special work
to do in the preparation for the coming of the new
sub-race. Many who repudiated the teachings in
those days and through the resulting suffering have
learned their lessons will through this Order be
given another opportunity to retrieve the past and
take an advanced step in their spiritual life.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE SYMBOL OF THE SERPENT.

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any
beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : but
of the fruit of the tree which is .in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely
die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." — Gen-
esis, III. 1-5.

In that remote period, during which both sacred
and profane history admit the fact that the gods
confabulated with infant humanity, the serpent was
the symbol of the god Saturn (in Egypt Sat-An,
later Saturn), giver of esoteric Wisdom, one of the
Elohim, the Sons of God. He is referred to in Job
as the Great Initiator sent by the Lord to test Job,1
the whole book of Job being the story of an initia-
tion. From the earliest ages the serpent was recog-
nized as the symbol of Esoteric Wisdom. Many
nations worshiped it as the symbol of the Sun, the
Giver of Life. Only during the Dark Ages of medi-
aeval history was it degraded and limited to signify
the force of evil or D-evil. Jesus recognized the
serpent as a symbol of good when He admonished
His disciples : "Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as doves." The Assyrian priests were
called Serpents, as were also the Druid priests. The

lJob I., 6.

242 The Voice of I sis

Masters of Wisdom, and all Initiates into the Sa-
cred Mysteries, are called Nagas, or Serpents of
Wisdom, because, by overcoming temptation they
are said to have cast off their outer skin and to
have been "born again," thus becoming Sons of
Will and Wisdom, and immortal ; they have met
the Great Initiator and have wrested from him his
Rod of Power. Again the serpent is an old glyph
for the Astral Light, the medium of both white and
black magic, good in its spiritual aspect, but evil in
its lower. "The primitive symbol of the serpent symbol-
ized divine Wisdom and Perfection, and has always
stood for psychical Regeneration and Immortality." l
Hermes called the serpent the most spiritual of all
creatures. Moses, initiated into the wisdom of
Hermes, called it, "More subtil than any beast of
the field." "The strange veneration in which the
Ophites held the serpent which represented Christos
may become less perplexing if the students would
but remember that at all ages the serpent was the
symbol of divine wisdom, which kills in order to
resurrect, destroys but to rebuild the better. Moses
is made a descendant of Levi, a serpent-tribe.
Gautama-Buddha is of a serpent-lineage, through
the Naga (serpent) race of kings who reigned in
Magadha. Hermes, or the god Taaut (Thoth),
in his snake-symbol is Tet; and according to the
Ophite legends, Jesus or Christos is born from
a snake (divine Wisdom or Holy Ghost) i. e.,
he became a Son of God through his initiation into
the 'Serpent Science.' " z

From time immemorial the serpent has symbol-
ized the sex-force, good when lifted up — as Moses

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I. page 102. The Sacred
Dragon of China and Japan, indicating the divine origin of the rulers,
has the same significance.

*Isis Unrciled, Blavatsky, Vol.11, 484.

The Voice of Isis 243

lifted it up in the wilderness, that all who were suf-
fering and dying from the stings of the poisonous vi-
pers (perversions of the sex-force) might be healed by
the vision of Purity revealed by Brazen Serpent —
evil when allowed to crawl in the mire of earth,
biting the heel of the woman and placing enmity
between her seed and it. It is said that: "Before
our globe became egg-shaped — and the Universe
also — 'a long trail of cosmic dust (or fire-mist)
moved and writhed like a serpent in space.' " 1 Thus
our globe was prepared by the serpent-force for the
great test humanity came to this planet to exper-
ience, i. e., the ability to control the creative power
and create "in the image of God," through the spir-
itualization and perfect blending of the separated
sexes. This great lesson when learned will enable
man to become "as one of us" or Divine.

After man became involved in matter (as out-
lined in Chapter XIII) and the androgynous Third
Race had gradually evolved through its various stages
the separation of the sexes took place. This, how-
ever, was not a sudden change affecting the entire
Race, but was the result of a gradual evolution
lasting through the entire latter half of that Race.
This is symbolized by the story of Eve being taken
from Adam, solus, while he was in a deep sleep, the
deep sleep being the pralaya or night-period be-
tween the Third and Fourth Races, during which
the separation was perfected. The word Adam
means "red earth" and refers to the Third Race in
which the humanity of the Red Ray was first
clother in an earthly body. The Adam and Eve
spoken of later as one man and one woman, sym-
bolize the sexes functioning separately in the great

1 The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I., p. 103. Many ancient people believed
that the earth was hatched from a serpent's egg.

244 The Voice of his

Atlantean or Fourth Race. Hence at the dawn of
the Fourth Race the androgynous forms of the early
Third Race had disappeared and only the separated
sexual forms known to us today remained.

In one sense the Garden of Eden symbolizes the
pure and perfect physical body in which infant hu-
manity was originally clothed. According to the
same symbology the Tree which is in the midst of
the Garden is the spinal cord, the sap of which
is the Kundalini- force1 (serpent- force), a dynamic
creative power functioning through the spinal cord,
its lower aspect being expressed through the sex
organs, and its higher aspect functioning through
the pineal gland.2 The Fruit of this Tree is the
spiritual power gained as is the result of the open-
ing of that what is known as the Third Eye. As man,
through experience,' gains Wisdom he uses this
mystic power gradually to bring about its higher
physical manifestations as well as the psychic and
spiritual. It slowly ascends the spinal cord through
the central canal until it reaches and stimulates
into activity the pineal gland, the functioning of
which is called the opening of the Eye of Wisdom.
It is not, however, the physiological change in this
organ which opens man's consciousness to Divine
Wisdom, but — following the biological law "func-
tion makes structure" — it is the attainment of the
higher function which results in the anatomical and
physiological change. Only through the function-
ing of this Kundalini power can mankind gain the
experience that both good and evil have to teach.

A moment's thought as to these early symbol-

1 "The 'power' and the 'World-Mother' are names given to the kun-
dalini — one of the mystic 'Yogi powers.' .... It is an electro-spiritual
force, a creative power which when aroused into action, can as easily
kill as it can create." — The Voice of Silence, Blavatsky. Note to page 9.

2 The Third Eye, or Seat of the Soul.

The Voice of I sis 245

isms will show that there is an underlying mean-
ing common to all (Saturn the Initiator, Satan the
Tempter, the Astral Light, the Creative Power of
sex, et cetera), namely, that it is, in very truth, the
power to become "as gods" that is indicated. Being
the distinctive heritage of the Fourth Race, this
power to create sexually became at one and the
same time the great temptation and the great
opportunity. In fact, it was the one experience for
which this globe was created and for which human-
ity fell into generation and became clothed with
"coats of skin."

The infant Race at its outset was confronted by
the Initiator, Saturn, the Serpent, who was commis-
sioned to impart, as the crowning gift, the creative
power — which humanity only then was prepared to
receive. The so-called "temptation" was but a test
of man's ability either to use or abuse this divine
gift. Ever since that time man and woman, indi-
vidually, have had to meet the same test. Man
created in the image of God, and endowed with the
God-power of creativeness, must prove his ability
to use this power wisely, or, through its abuse,
learn the lesson and gain through suffering the ex-
perience that physical existence in separated sexes
alone can teach. The power was given him not as
a temptation but as a step in evolution through
which he must pass in perfect purity. Just as in
this day a teacher who gives out a new advanced
truth is condemned for the evil resulting from its
misuse, so Saturn (Satan), has had to bear the
responsibility arising from the failure of man to use
the creative power in purity and holiness. Man has
chosen to become "as gods" knowing the evil
through the misuse of this power, but, ere the cycle

246 The Voice of I sis

closes, must become "as gods" to know the good.

The culmination of his degradation was reached by
the Atlanteans, who not only used this force for
animal gratification, but also perverted it to ac-
complish their horrible practices of black magic.
It was for this sin that the continent of Atlantis
and most of its inhabitants were destroyed.1 While
the sinking of Atlantis destroyed much of the dan-
gerous knowledge of how to pervert this force into
black magic or evil, yet enough remained to per-
petuate evil and misery on earth and make a hell
out of what was given to man to be his Paradise.
The whole experience, including the sin and suf-
fering which the perversion of this force has created,
is an initiation, not only for the Race, but also for
the planet, which when successfully passed will
make the planet the completion of the octave of
this system and the beginning of a new and greater
system.

The banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden
was due to the fact they could not face the Flaming
Sword of Purity, which turned every way and
barred them from obtaining the Fruit of the Tree.
This banishment meant that man could no longer
dwell in the etherealized body (Eden) with his spir-
itual faculties freely functioning and able to talk
face to face with God. Instead, the Immortal Soul
is forced to dwell in a body of dense physical mat-
ter with the spiritual centers dormant, so that only
by the sweat of his brow can he obtain spiritual
bread. This means that only by laborious effort
can man open the inner doors that communicate
with the higher planes and consciously bring to
himself the spiritual food upon which his Soul

1 The destruction recorded in Babylonian, Chaldean, Hebrew and
other Scriptures, in the story of the great flood.

The Voice of Isis 247

must live. At every attempt to re-enter Eden man
is met by the Angel of the Flaming Sword placed
by God to guard the Tree of Immortal Life from
man's impurity.

"Thou shalt surely die" is usually considered a
penalty for man's defilement of Eden, but in reality
even this death sentence was but the working of
the immutable Law of Divine Love ; for immortal-
ity under conditions of impurity, sickness and suf-
fering, would be a punishment far surpassing even
the medieval conceptions of a physical hell. Only
when man can face this Sword of the Spirit and
allow it to cleave from him every cloak of impurity
and once more enter the Garden naked but not
ashamed, can he meet "The Lord God walking in
the Garden in the cool of the day." "The cool of
the day" refers to the close of the cycle of wander-
ing outside the Garden, the "day-period" the period
of stress and strain, of heat and passion, which both
the individual and the Race must face and conquer
ere they can attain poise or cool, quiet perception,
in which state alone they can become aware of the
Lord God or the Law of Good manifesting in the
garden of their human personality.

The so-called temptation was the act of one of
the Sons of God who was the direct channel
through which the power to create reached human-
ity. The giver of this gift, Saturn, or Lucifer, Star
of the Morning, is a bright Archangel, who "fell"
or descended from heaven to confer this gift of im-
mortality upon man. Saturn or Satan is that aspect of
Jehovah which brought humanity its great test, and in
this sense may be regarded as its tempter or Initiator,
while Lucifer is the aspect of that same force which
confers the crown of victory on those who conquer.

248 The Voice of Isis

There are many passages referring to him as one of
the Elohim.

"This personification denominated Satan is to be
contemplated from three different planes: the Old
Testament, the Christian Fathers, and the ancient Gen-
tile attitude. He is supposed to have been represented
by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden; nevertheless,
the epithet of Satan is nowhere in the Hebreiv sacred
writings applied to that or any other form of ophid-
ian." 1 His so-called "fall" was by no means one of
sin or failure, but a voluntary descent to earth to
bring to man the Creative Fire, the gift of the
gods; for only through the mastery and proper use
of this force can immortality be obtained. The
story of Prometheus is but another expression of
this ideograph.

There is no evil outside mankind that can pro-
duce a Satan in the orthodox sense of a devil. It
is only through terrible perversions of the creative
power that it has become the Evil or D-evil. As
time passed, by his vile, lustful thoughts on this
subject and his misuse of the life-force, man has
created a composite thought-form which may be
said to be entitized into a living force of evil (com-
monly called the devil), which, with an army of so-
called lesser devils, arrayed in serried ranks, con-
tinually fights against the power of Good (God).
These are the vipers that tormented the Children of
Israel, and all other races. This army must be met
by Good, and will be annihilated only when
thought-forms of Purity are sent forth by man in
sufficient numbers and force to overcome the evil
creations. Being the creation of man, functioning
in his lowest aspect, this evil can be conquered

*Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky, Vol. II, 481.

The Voice of Isis 249

only by man, its creator. The conquering must
take the form of a transmutation, i. e., the substitu-
tion of vitalized thoughts of love and purity for
those of lust and evil.

In the childhood of the Race a great wave of ser-
pent worship, originally intended to symbolize this
truth in its purity, spread over the world. This,
however, in time became degraded, and the reptile
itself was finally worshiped as a god. It was kept
in a filthy den and the youth and beauty of the
land were thrown to it for prey. It was fed on
human beings until it grew fat and the stench of it
filled all the Temple, even to the outer courts.
Humanity is again walking in the same old paths,
according to the law of cycles, and today is but re-
peating the sad story upon a higher plane (the
mental). First, undue exaltation and worship, as
witnessed in the days of phallicism. then materiali-
zation and consequent defilement, until today the
world's idea of the serpent-power (sex) is that of a
monster grown fat upon the youth and beauty of the
land.

The teachings in regard to the sex-function have
always been held most sacred, and for this reason
they have been veiled from humanity in general and
revealed only to those whose purity of heart and
life permitted them to grasp something of their
deeper truths. Because of this veiling of the truth,
there have sprung up in the minds of those not
instructed in the Mysteries many misconceptions,
chief of which is that this great God-given power is
in and of itself inherently impure and accursed.
This belief has given rise to doctrines which teach
man to despise and try to kill out this greatest of
gifts. But as Jong as this serpent of sex is accursed

250 The Voice of Isis

and degraded by man's thought, it is doomed to
crawl upon the ground and bring forth its progeny
of vipers in darkness and filth, and woman is doomed
to conceive and bring forth in pain and suffering
instead of Purity and Joy. Woman has suffered the
most, but by that suffering she should have developed
her spiritual intuition.

The sex-force is considered impure only because the
spiritually blind have decreed that it shall be considered
impure. They assume that they are wiser and
holier than He who created them, He who breathed
into them the Living Fire of creative force. Being
wiser than the gods, they have decreed that the nor-
mal expression of the sex-function (within the mar-
ried relation) shall be considered vile and that it
shall be suppressed. The result is already appar-
ent. Go over the world's history and you will find
that, after every period1 during which the marriage
relation, consummated in pure and holy love, was
relegated to second place in gaining spiritual de-
velopment, and the normal sex-function was taught
to be inherently impure and calculated to hold back
the participants from spiritual growth and final
liberation, that it was something to be suppressed
and killed out, there invariably followed a wave of
licentiousness in which filthy substitutes, practiced
for so-called "mere physical relief," were not only
condoned, but taught as preferable to the normal
relation ! and taught in the name of religion ! or
spiritual development ! or "occult" or "esoteric" sci-
ence !

If such practices were advocated by the outcasts
of humanity the world would stand aghast, and
societies for the suppression of the vice would
quickly spring up. But when such perverted teach-

Periods during which celibacy was held to be the ideal.

The Voice of I sis 251

ings are given out under the name of "spiritual" or
"esoteric" truth (as though secrecy could make
impurity pure!) by those who are well advanced
upon the Path, many, many blinded ones forget
even the common standards of morality and de-
cency, and eagerly clutch at such an excuse for the
gratification of inherent vileness under the cloak
of "esoteric teaching" which lends to it an air of
respectability. "The greater the height attained
the more disastrous the fall." The greater the
influence of such a teacher the more serious and far-
reaching the effects of the lapse from Purity.
Instead of there being any latitude permitted to
those who are advanced upon the Path of Attain-
ment, the rules are far more strict. What would be
but a slight lapse from virtue in a savage or in the
ignorant, becomes a cyclone of iniquity sweeping
many before it, in one who has entered the inner
degrees of occultism ; for upon each inner step
every vibration is multiplied a thousand fold. This
is why the disciple should absolutely master (gain
perfect control of, not suppress) all life-forces ere he
attempts to enter the inner degrees, or his failure
is foreordained. Let this point be clearly under-
stood, there can be no spiritual teachings, of any kind,
either esoteric of exoteric, that are not founded upon
absolute Purity, not only of body but of mind. The
higher and more esoteric the teaching, the more
rigid the standard of Purity. All planes interblend,
and all acts upon the physical-plane have their cor-
respondences upon all other planes. Therefore,
what is impure on the lowest plane is a thousand
times more so upon each successive inner plane. If
a pilgrim were approaching a sacred shrine he
would not knowingly enter with his feet slimed

252 The Voice of Isis

with the mud of the public highway, and hope to
leave no stain upon the pure alabaster floor of the
inner court, for even the faintest footprint would be
more noticeable there than the filth that covered
the public highway an inch deep.

This subject has been the greatest stumbling
block for many teachers who are otherwise trying
to uplift humanity because it is the greatest test of
the humanity on this globe. Only when this lesson
is learned will others await it under different condi-
tions. But there must be some brave Souls who are
willing now to face the world's misconceptions and
slander and stand boldly for the uplifting and puri-
fying of this subject. The world must be taught
the difference between the wise, normal use of this
function in perfect purity, in the married relation
only, and killing it out or suppressing it. Many
talk loudly about "overcoming" and "killing out"
this force, but if you could look into their hearts
you would see that their "overcoming" is usually
but satiety. They have crawled through the filthy
places of life and have slimed their impure ideas of
sex over everything until they have grown sick.
Then they put on monkish habits, and talk loudly
about having "outgrown all such animal instincts."
Many others have never known anything but the
impure side of sex. Their ideals have been so shat-
tered by contact with the world's misconceptions
that they, in their natural purity, have put the
thought of it from them as something too vile to
be considered. This shrinking from the subject
is the natural result of the world's attitude. For,
alas, even those who set themselves up as teachers
on this subject are apt to but stir up the filth and
leave things worse than they were before. This is

The Voice of Isis 253

invariably the rule if the world's standards of mor-
ality are ruthlessly set aside, especially those per-
taining to the legal marriage relation, which is not
only a sacred sacrament — a symbol of the Marriage
of the Soul, the union with the Higher Self, becom-
ing one with the Father-in-heaven — but is also a bul-
wark of safety to society that must never, under any
pretext, be weakened.

As to the final disuse of this function : As long as
man has his present anatomical structure and phys-
iological functions he must learn how to bring to
perfection, purify and use for its highest purpose the
body and functions he now possesses and not waste
time speculating on what conditions will obtain in
future world-periods. For only when new condi-
tions are given him can he grasp more advanced
lessons. "It doth not appear what we shall be; . . .
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy like-
ness." But we cannot "awake" until we have puri-
fied and used every function we possess for the
glory of God. Hence The Order of the 15 desires
to teach humanity how to prepare for the future
by taking the next step here and now.

The time has come when woman must take her
place as the Priestess of the Most High, the Re-
vealer of Purity and Truth to man. She it is who
must lift the corner of the veil that hides the face of
the Divine Mother, Isis. Isis is called the Divine
Mother because hers is the force, both in Nature
and humanity, that brings forth. She is spoken of
as having seven veils, alluding to the protection
thrown around the sacred mysteries connected
with the bringing into manifestation of the creative
force (God-the-Father) sent out through the mas-
culine expression. The seven veils are the mys-

254 The Voice of Isis

teries upon the seven planes of consciousness and
manifestation. The first and lowest of these veils,
the mystery of physical birth, has never yet been
lifted, nor can it be by profane hands. In the an-
cient Temples of Isis it was death to so much as
touch the veil before Her shrine, and on many tab-
lets recently unearthed a carven serpent has been
found having seven heads, which symbolizes the
same mystery. The Phoenicians are said to have
originated the alphabet from the symbols made by
the writhing of the sacred serpents. This was an-
other advance (creation) in evolution attributed to
the serpent-god Saturn, for letters serve to manifest
ideas, and their invention placed man upon a new
step in evolution.

Since through the ages woman has been made the
plaything of man and taught to use her powers to
entice and beguile him, as the only method by which
she could attain her ends, in this new woman's era she
is confronted with the task which her training makes
most difficult, i. e., the facing of herself and her real
motives. For she must turn her feminine powers of
love, intuition and beauty to the upliftment of the Race
instead of to the beguilement of man that she may
satisfy her vanity, love of conquest and desire for
creature comforts. Although man, being the positive
pole upon the earth-plane, by his superior physical
powers has throughout the ages enslaved woman,
still woman, upon the more subtle plane of desire, has
dominated and enslaved man. Hence it is woman
who must break the shackles, first of her own desires
and then for the Race. This she can never do by
playing upon man's chivalry to attain the gratification
of her own ends, be those ends love, ambition, vanity,
ease and comfort or whatnot. Many otherwise admir-

The Voice of Isis 255

able women have debased their god-given instincts —
love of home and desire for children — first by awaken-
ing and playing upon man's animal passions to satisfy
their ambition and then, by appealing to his chivalry,
forcing him into what must inevitably prove an un-
happy marriage. For quite as many men are blinded
and led from the path of purity because of woman's
ambitions and desires as women are led astray through
man's passion. And until woman awakens to her
responsibility and understands her real mission, i. e.,
her power to play upon man's heart, stimulate his
noblest aspirations and thus lead him to the heights
of spiritual attainment instead of into mere physical
union without love, she will continue to be the slave
she is today in spite of any political or social liberties
she may obtain.

It is woman who must lift up the world's ideas
of the sex-force from the mire and degradation of
man's misconceptions and give this great power its
proper place in the Temple of the Living God (the
body) as the highest expression of the Divine in
man. Just as it was woman who gave to man the
apple of discord, so must woman pluck the golden
apples that grow at the top of the Tree of Life
and give them to man to eat.

CHAPTER XIX.

PURIFICATION VERSUS DEIFICATION.

"Hokhmah Wisdom is the Father, and Bina
Understanding is the Mother. When they con-
nect one with the other, they bring forth and
diffuse and emanate Truth." — Zoahr, III, 290.

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and
scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and nlthiness of her
fornication." — Revelation XVII, 4.

We have had so many inquiries from earnest
students as to our teachings on the subject of sex,
in addition to those given in former lessons,1 and
as this subject has been the stumbling block for
mankind since its fall into matter (middle of the
Third Race), and as once more a cyclic wave of the
old phallic worship is sweeping over the earth, it
seems necessary that we define our teachings on
this subject so clearly and concisely that the ear-
nest seeker after truth may have no doubt of the
Path which we point out. Many pupils may feel
that the conditions herein outlined are exagger-
ated, that this lesson is uncalled for, and is touch-
ing a subject it is well not to mention; but if there
are any such, we advise them to lay this lesson aside
and permit us to be the judge of its necessity and
of the great cry from so many hearts to be shown
the straight and narrow way, and have some clear
and sound understanding of this subject.

As we stated in the previous chapter, the fall into

1 Purity; The Symbol of the Serpent; Celibacy; The Meaning of
the Cross.

The Voice of Isis 257

generation was simply an opportunity given humanity
to meet and conquer a new and advanced step ; that the
temptation by the serpent recorded in Genesis was
the great test for which the whole scheme of evo-
lution on this planet (the middle or turning point
of evolution), and the planet itself was created;
that only when man, through the experience reaped
by wading through the lower aspects of this prob-
lem, had reached a conception of its higher possi-
bilities, could he fulfill the prophecy and become
as the gods. Concerning the forbidden fruit the
serpent told Eve that "In the day ye eat thereof
. . . ye shall become as gods." This is applied
to the life-essence or the ripened fruit of the tree.
Adam and Eve had been expressly forbidden to eat
of the tree until through their enlightened and puri-
fied love they had been able to lift up the serpent-
force and eat of the fruit with a godlike under-
standing of its sacredness. Their disobedience was
that they plucked and ate the unripened fruit in
ignorance and merely for the gratification of their
animal appetites. As the sex question is the one
great issue of the whole evolution of this planet,
he who is misled on this subject takes a path that
can lead only to destruction. Many well-meaning
teachers as they gain some idea of the sacredness
and purity of the interchange of the sex-forces are
easily led into giving the subject undue promi-
nence, into tearing down the veil which hangs be-
fore the altar of all sacred mysteries, thus throwing
themselves open, not only to the world's ridicule
and censure, but also to the inrush of the hordes of
the world's accumulated impure thoughts of phallic
worship. This is inevitably true if their uncon-
quered secret desires tend toward any form of self-

258 The Voice of Isis

indulgence. And very soon we find them permit-
ting their minds to temporize with the world's
standard of purity. Then departing little by little
from the sacred instincts of purity and the innate
modesty emplanted in each heart to guide it — un-
less ruthlessly torn out, smothered or argued down
by the high-sounding sophistries so readily fur-
nished by the worshipers at the shrine of sex-
uality— they at length advocate either secret or semi-
public orgies under the guise of spiritual ecstasy
or some "advanced" conception of the sacredness
of sexual intercourse. Others again make this sub-
ject a cloak under which they can revel in licentious
thoughts and make their pretended desire an excuse
for promiscuous intercourse, claiming to be above
the Law, yet all the time in bondage to the "old
queen of the world/' the most tyrannous and ruth-
less of all rulers.

There are today many, many entities on the
astral-plane, some of them literally masters of evil,
and others well-meaning but misled and misleading

-called astral "guides" — who, taking advantage of
this misconception of the symbol, are ready to give
the most subtle teachings upon this subject to
those who are awakening to the allurements of the
astral-plane and who think everything that comes
from that plane must necessarily be Divine. Hence,
there are many well-meaning persons who are to-
day unthinkingly taking the first steps on the down-
ward path by letting their minds dwell continually
upon this subject, thus being drawn into vortices
of sex-thought which very quickly obsess them so
that they can think and talk of little else. They are
desirous of doing right but disregard the voice of
Intuition and fail to use common-sense and hence

The Voice of Isis 259

are misled on this point. There is nothing that so
quickly leads to obsession as the constant dwelling
upon the thoughts of sex.

This whole symbol has been grossly misunder-
stood. The serpent was Saturn the Initiator, and the
day spoken of in which the Race should become as the
gods has never yet dawned. To eat of the Tree of
Life has nothing to do with the degradation of the
physical creative act. The promise given to the Third
Race — symbolized by Adam and Eve — that has been
and still is being fulfilled was "cursed is the ground
. . . in sorrow shalt thou bring forth." This was
not an unjust punishment, for they were not left in
ignorance. It was the wilful disobedience of the
Third Race acting in spite of the teachings of their Di-
vine Instructors — and brought to its greatest degrada-
tion during the Fourth Race — which fastened the curse
upon humanity. From the beginning of recorded his-
tory, yea, even before recorded history, man has floated
on a sea whose motive-power was this force, and
whose tides alternated between the lowest depth of
degradation and the uplifting and deification of this
function under various forms of phallic worship. "It
was only in the Fourth Race that man, who had lost
all right to be considered Divine, resorted to body
worship, in other words, Phallicism." x

Whenever there has been an attempt to lift this sub-
ject out of the mire, immediately some few have gone
to the extreme and have placed it upon a pinnacle for
worship. This, however, is even more disastrous to
humanity than its degradation. The sex-force is
always creative, and, when degraded and perverted
from functioning according to the law of generation
will create upon the astral-plane monsters which, by

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II, p. 297.

260 The Voice of Isis

their precipitating upon man sickness and disease —
especially disorders of the mental and psychic facul-
ties— will the more quickly bring about his bodily
dissolution. It's deification creates a tempter, who,
being clothed in garments of self-righteousness and
absolute contentment with his own state, is endowed
with an immense longevity which the monster does
not possess, and therefore has the power to delude
the unwary victim with plausible sophistry.

This law is graphically illustrated in Richard Mans-
field's version of the drama Peer Gynt, in which he
meets his perverted astral creations upon the moun-
tain. These entities follow him and call him father
until his reason totters. All such creations man must
face and redeem either in this or some future incar-
nation, for like Peer Gynt he is their father. Their
mother is that perverted feminine force an entitization
of which is so graphically described by Eliphas Levi.
"Knowest thou that old queen of the world who is
on the march always and wearies never? Every un-
curbed passion, every selfish pleasure, every licen-
tious energy of humanity, and all its tyrannous weak-
ness, go before the sordid mistress of our tearful val-
ley. . . . That queen is old as time, but her skeleton
is concealed in the wreckage of women's beauty, which
she abstracts from their youth and their love. ...
Her livid and frozen body is clothed in polluted gar-
ments and tattered winding sheets. . . . When she
goes by, doors open of themselves ; she passes through
walls; she penetrates to the cabinets of kings; she
surprises the extortioners of the poor in their most
secret orgies; she sits down at their board, pours
out their wine, grins at their songs with her gum-
less teeth, takes the place of the lecherous courtesan
hidden behind their curtains. She delights in the

The Voice of Isis 261

vicinity of sleeping voluptuaries; she seeks their ca-
resses as if she hoped to grow warm in their embrace,
but she freezes all those whom she touches and her-
self never kindles." This seemingly fanciful picture
refers to a great reality, for there is an entitized
thought-form, born of man's lustful imaginings and
woman's desires, which casts a glamour of youth
and loveliness over man and appears in his dreams
in the form of his most cherished ideal of woman-
hood to tempt him and draw from him the creative
life-force upon which she lives. She appears espe-
cially to test those who are striving to purify their
lives and conquer sex desire. If she is resisted and
foiled in her purpose the glamour disappears and she
is revealed as she is, the Ancient One, the Old Hag.
To get at the truth underlying this question we
must separate the Divine Creative Essence entirely
from its physical vehicles and get away from all its
lower manifestations. Up to the middle of the Third
Race humanity was androgynous, but soon after the
separation of the sexes the early Atlanteans made
their first departure from right living by worshiping
form, or the human body and its functions. This
period is alluded to in the Bible,2 where it says that
"The Sons of God saw the daughters of men that
they were fair ; and they took them wives of all which
they chose." 3 Those called "sons of God" were the
descendants of the first great spiritual Teachers
(Rishis), while "the daughters of men" were what
history refers to as the pre-Adamite races, which in
the Bible were embraced under the symbol of Lillith.
They were the mindless Races or the Races which had
not yet received the divine spark from the Mind-

1 Transcendental Magic. Levi.

2 Genesis VI, 1-4.

3 See also "The Death of Lillis" in Thomas Moore's The Loves of the
Angels.

262 The Voice of Isis

Born. To bring the spark of mind to the mindless
Races by taking them to wife was the duty of the
"Sons of God." The sin was in using the power of
mind to enhance the pleasures of mere sex con-
tact. This was the beginning of the perversion and
worship of sex. "The Demon of Pride, Lust, Re-
bellion and Hatred, had no being before the appear-
ance of physical conscious man. It is man who has
begotten and nurtured the fiend, and allowed it to
develop in his heart; it is he, again, who has con-
taminated the Indwelling God in himself, by linking
the pure Spirit with the impure Demon of Matter."
Since that early day, with every attempt to reform
the thought of humanity on the sex question, there
comes up this old mistake of man's deification of
matter in his worship of the mere physical expres-
sion rather than the Divine Creative Force. But such
attempts to reform are necessary, for only by a right
understanding of this vital problem can man attain the
ultimate goal of his evolution.

Therefore we wish to make it very clear to our stu-
dents that, although the world is wrong in its atti-
tude of looking upon this whole relationship as vile
and wicked, and while we most ardently desire to
purify the world's polluted stream of thought on
this subject, still it is nevertheless true that the
world's rules of conduct, established as a minimum
after ages of experience, must be observed. Under-
neath every law of morality and every convention
of society there stands a Divine Truth from which
the law or conventionality has grown. Nothing can
endure from generation to generation which is not
rooted in Truth, although much evil may be grafted
upon this root. Although from time to time, through

*The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. II., p. 287.

The Voice of Isis 263

the rebellion of great reformers against conventions
and man-made laws, humanity has advanced, still in
every such instance the rebellion was not so much
against the convention or law itself as against the
abuses and evils which were grafted upon it.

All that pertains to the sex relations belongs to
the deep, mysterious workings of Divinity and is
not to be brought publicly before the world. Hu-
manity must travel the path of generation, until
by conquering — which means learning all its lessons —
it finds the gate of regeneration. Just as this was
symbolized by Noah's ark, into which the animals
went two by two, so must humanity enter the Ark
of Safety — the Temple not made with hands, the
ark built after the pattern given by God, the only
thing that can ride the tempestuous sea of humanity —
two by two, male and female. Until these twain,
whom only God can make one flesh have literally
deified, not the physical organs of generation, but
the Divine Creative Force and by together learning
the lessons of love and sacrifice, have discovered that
there is Something apart, above and beyond mere
physical union which can be brought forth only by
the twain, and that this Something can never be
brought down into matter, they can never say "It
is finished." The very thought of opening the door
of the sanctuary where this holy Something shines
above the tabernacle, to an outsider or to a third
party, let alone the gaze of the multitude, absolutely
destroys it; for this Something is an emanation from
the Omnipotent Creative Force of Divinity making
the twain one in heaven although on earth they still
manifest as two. It is this Divine Force which com-
pletes the Trinity; for that which completes the
Trinity must always be Divine, never human. The

264 The Voice' of I sis

top of the triangle must always be pointing up with
the flame of the Divine Creative Force rising from
its apex. To debase this symbol and try to represent
it in matter by three human personalities ; to permit
any but the twain to enter the ark, is to point the
apex of the triangle toward earth. In such a case
the Divine Flame or the Fire of the Lord at once be-
comes the burning, consuming fire of passion which
destroys the false worshipers. In other words, if
through sexual excesses indulged in under the name
of worship an attempt is made to create earthly fires,
i. e., sex-passion, upon the altar, you are like the
priests of the false Baal — worshipers of perverted
sex-force — unable to call down the Fire of the Lord
to consume your sacrifice; but if, through devotion,
pure love, and in the sanctity of absolute privacy,
two Souls reach up to heaven and ask the divine bless-
ing upon their union the Fire of the Lord descends
and makes their sacrifice complete.

These departures from Purity — which, alas, almost
everyone who has had much experience among so-
called occult teachings has no doubt met with to a
greater or lesser degree — do not take place all at once ;
they are insidious. The evil astral entities having
once gained an entrance to the aura of the pupils,
usually over the line of ambition, vanity, etc., at first
flatter them with the idea that they are chosen to be
great world-leaders or teachers, then their animal
nature is stirred up and its manifestations disguised
with high-sounding terms ; or perhaps some mys-
terious relationship is hinted at to make the first
departure from Puritv seem natural and necessary,
such as dual personalities requiring more than one
vehicle to express the same Soul, etc. But no matter
how brought about, the end is as sure as it is pitiful,

The Voice of Isis 265

pitiful because the deluded one thinks the guidance is
Divine. Such entities, animated by their own designs
and given increased power by the perversion of the vic-
tims' sex-forces, teach them that there is some special
reason why they are exempt from laws that are well
enough for less evolved humanity; that true "free-
dom" includes freedom in sex relations, even that
such sexual excesses are the only path to the heights
of spiritual attainment. The instant such a departure
from the one Law of Purity takes place the Divine
Triangle is pointed downward ; they have attempted
to confine Spirit in matter, and like a consuming fire
it will spread and will feed upon, first their higher
ideals, then upon all their principles of right thought
and conduct, until all that was beautiful in their na-
tures is consumed, leaving only their gross and
material nature which, no matter how they cloak it
with the garments of sanctity and hypocrisy, the world
will have no difficulty in recognizing. If the physical
body of such a victim is coarse and strong its
grossness becomes more and more apparent, but if
the body is sensitive and finely organized such prac-
tices quickly bring about various nervous and mental
affections, especially epilepsy, and in some cases
insanity.

This brings us to one of our fundamental teach-
ings which we repeat and emphasize here, namely,
no matter what the apparent source of any teaching
and no matter how beautiful the language used, DO

NOT ACCEPT IT UNLESS IT MEETS THE TEST OF PURITY

AND COMMON-SENSE, — does not violate the moral code
and is confirmed by the Intuition of your own Soul. It
is only common-sense to demand that teachings which
professes a higher standard of purity than that of the

266 The Voice of Isis

world must at least include what the experience of
the world holds as essential.

The woman referred to in our opening text sym-
bolizes the mother-force or sex-force degraded. The
cup of pure gold which she holds symbolizes some-
thing sacred which through her impurity is defiled
and filled with abominations. In this case the cup
symbolizes the place of generation through which the
Divine Creative Force should manifest as regenera-
tion, but which instead is filled with the abominations
of man's own imaginings. She was ultimately con-
sumed by the karmic fires spoken of above.1

As to our definite teachings on this subject we
would say to our pupils USE COMMON-SENSE. Avoid
both the Scylla of degradation and the Charybdis of
undue exaltation of this force. Obey what the world
calls the moral code, but infuse into the dead-letter
of that code the Spirit of Divine Love. Realize that
physical marriage is but the gross and earthly coun-
terpart of the Divine Marriage of the Soul and that
mistaken marriages which are not marriages of the
Soul can be avoided if you will prayerfully listen to
the Voice of Intuition and are not carried away by
emotion, passion or desire for worldly gain. Above
all examine your own heart and drive out all lustful
desires and imaginings, for only the pure in heart
shall see God. Purity of heart and mind will be a
shield and buckler to protect you in the hour of
temptation and guide your feet in safety over the
narrow bridge which separates animal desire from
spiritual ecstasy.

Sexual union is but the physical expression of man's
ability to reach up to Divinity. For in the union of
perfectly affinitized Souls there is a force brought into

^Revelation XVII, 16.

The Voice of I sis 267

action which is greater than the physical senses can
express, the senses are transcended and the Souls are
lifted from human into Divine Love. This is the point
where Divine Love touches and overlaps human love,
but only when human love has grown so pure and
sacred and holy that nothing human can express it,
because it transcends the powers of the human mind'
to grasp. Only then is a new force brought into
manifestation, a force which is the vehicle for a direct
manifestation of the Divine. This force at one end
unites into one flesh the twain, and at the other end
unites them to the Godhead, or their mutual Father-
in-heaven, thus making the perfect triangle. In such
a union God is manifested through perfected and
purified human love.

Let no one, however, be discouraged or think the
day of attainment so far distant that there is no use
trying, for the first step is right thinking on this sub-
ject; and the next is so to live as to be ready and
worthy, for literally ye know neither the day nor
the hour when the Son of Man cometh in His
glory. The glory is the illumination which comes to
every Soul who reaches this ideal conception of love,
where the Divine overlaps and perfects the human.
Some, having taken steps on this Path in past incar-
nations, have now to learn certain minor parts of
the Law. They may find themselves compelled to
learn these lessons alone, without an earthly com-
panion to help them, but this does not prevent them
from learning the lessons. If karmic Law has
brought some close to the borderland between the
human and the Divine through suffering, disappoint-
ment or ideal love trampled in the mire, nevertheless
they can learn their lessons and often learn them
more thoroughly than those more blessed, although

268 The Voice of Isis

forced to seek love only in the Divine because the
human has failed them. There will come an incar-
nation when each Soul must step over the threshold
between ideal mortal love and Divine Love hand in
hand with the companion best fitted to make that
correlation perfect. Nothing can be gained, however,
by fretting or chafing at the Law, for what is really
yours can only come to you when both are ready to
receive.

Each can help himself best by helping all human-
ity; for as Nature abhors a vacuum, the more
love and purity you pour out for humanity the more
rushes in to take its place. Help by spreading the
thought of Purity regarding this subject; by giving
this subject its proper place, for it was never intended
to be considered publicly or mentioned lightly. True
love must be nurtured in modesty and privacy, fed
on the unseen forces from Divinity and grow natur-
ally. It must be the culmination of natural develop-
ment rather than the point from which development
starts.

It is not possible in this age for all to reach this
point of spiritual as well as physical union, for, alas,
too rriany have walked in the world's by-paths until
their garments (bodies and minds) are polluted with
the vileness which man has created around this holy
function. Therefore such must willingly stand still
in the burnings of karmic Law until all that is impure
is consumed, and until their own true companion, who
is also being purified, is brought to them in fulfill-
ment of the law of exact Justice, that they two, hand
in hand, having faced and successfully passed the
Angel of the Flaming Sword, may enter into the
Garden and there meet the Lord face to face.

CHAPTER XX.

THE MEMORY OF PAST LIVES.

"Both thou and I have passed through many
births. . . . Mine are known unto me, but
thou knowest not of thine." The Bhagavad-Gita,
Chapter iv.

"Tell him, O Aspirant, that true devotion may
bring him back the knowledge, that knowledge
which was his in former births." The Voice of
the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment II.

The memory of past lives is given not for amuse-
ment, nor to satisfy vain curiosity, but to inculcate
a needed lesson. As we stated in the chapter on
Karma, the destiny of each Soul is ultimately to
take its proper place in the Divine Plan. While
the Soul may spend many lives in perfecting its
powers and working out minor Karma, still at cer-
tain cycles — usually every seventh life — the destiny
of the Soul will be its main task, retarded or accel-
erated according to the Karma to be worked out,
just as the seventh wave of the sea rises higher on
the shore than the other six. When a person is
ready to take a decided step in his work of destiny
he must see what he has accomplished toward it in
the past, and how to avoid the mistakes and side
issues that led him astray in former lives. He may
not remem'ber all the details, but, step by step as
he needs them, the main lessons will be revealed to
him. If he is about to repeat a previous blunder,
the memory of it will be given him, often in a dream
or vision. And if he is not carried away by the
mere remembering, or does not push it aside as a
fantasy or delusion, and if he sincerely desires light

270 The Voice of Isis

and help, and is striving to follow his intuitions, he
will see the lesson and understand its application to
his present condition. There is no chance remem-
bering. All follows an exact law. It comes when
the Higher Self sees that the personality is ready-
when the physical brain has been trained to vibrate to
some extent in response to the will of the Higher
Self.

Many ask, "Why is not the memory of past lives
more common?" There is a deep reason for this.
In our evolution we have passed through many sad
and embittering experiences which, if remembered,
would so depress our spirits, so discourage and
hamper us that we would make little progress. Also,
did we remember who we were and who our present
companions were, in many cases we would find it
so hard to forgive the injuries, so hard to forget the
troubles we had passed through in connection with
them that our spiritual growth would be retarded.
Since the Law, acting as Karma, demands perfect
compensation or adjustment, one great object in
each new life is to readjust the mistakes of the past.
When an opportunity to do so comes to us in this
life, if we could remember all that had passed it
would be far harder to "Love your enemies, do good
to them which hate you, bless them that curse you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you."
Hence it is in love and wisdom that the knowledge
of past lives is withheld.

Many think that could they remember who they
were in the past it would be all joy and wonder,
but in the majority of cases it would be a bitter dis-
appointment and a sad and depressing remember-
ing. Therefore we will never be permitted to re-
member our past lives until we have advanced

The Voice of Isis 271

beyond the point where the griefs, the ills and the
unkindnesses done us can affect us, make us worry
or become discouraged and thus retard our prog-
ress. We will not remember until we have gained
that poise which nothing can disturb ; until we
have become centered in the thought that to manifest
Divine Love is all there is worth striving for.

Most Souls find the memory of the trials and sor-
rows of one life as much as the personality can
bear, therefore the complete remembrance of all it
had endured in its many lives would tend to crush
it. It is memory that haunts ; that drives to insan-
ity, No one day can hold enough sorrow to dis-
hearten utterly the personality; it is the accumu-
lated burden that overwhelms. A most important
lesson to learn is to put from you all that is past.
Live in the present. "Let the dead past bury its
dead." Until the Soul has learned that what is
passed is registered within the Real Self as a lesson
learned — a needed experience gained — and can let
it go and not be crushed by its memory; until the
personality shows its strength of character by not
brooding over mistakes ; until it has exemplified
this stability in its present life, its Heavenly
Father, in loving mercy, draws a veil over the
memory of previous incarnations. When it can
bear without flinching or shrinking, the memory
of the sorrows of one life it will be ready to bear
a more extended memory.

Another reason why we do not remember is
that at each incarnation the Soul clothes itself in a
new body, the brain cells of which have never
responded to the past conditions, and only when
the brain is capable of responding to the memory
stored up in the Higher Self, can that memory be

272 The Voice of Isis

impressed upon the waking consciousness. In
other words, the personality, per se, cannot remem-
ber the past because it has experienced but the
present life. Another reason is that many, many
of our lives have been so common-place or triv-
ial that they have registered little of value in the
Real Self, hence have little of importance to re-
member. For out of each life it is only those expe-
riences and those lessons which have made for Soul-
growth that are immortalized by being registered
in the Real Self. Only good is immortal ; evil is
but transitory.

The memory of a past life is often awakened by
reading about or seeing the picture of some histor-
ical character. This arouses a consciousness of
having lived at that time or in that place, or per-
haps, that the reader was himself the character
mentioned. This is apt to give rise to ridicule, for
many upon whom the memory of past lives is
dawning seem never to have been anything but
kings and queens, or notable characters in history.
There is a reason for this, for, like most mistakes,
it is rather a misunderstanding or misapplication of
the remembrance than a deliberate attempt to de-
ceive. It is a result of ignorance of the Law. In
such a case the probability is that the person did
live at the period remembered, and perhaps took
a prominent part in the events enacted, but he was
not necessarily the principal character. The feel-
ing of peculiar sympathy or aversion that one feels
in such a case is precisely what he felt at the time
of the event. In the past he may have been deeply
interested in the characters under consideration,
and fond of imagining himself in their place. Thus,
when the attention is turned to those old times it

The Voice of Isis 273

awakens the old currents of feeling, and he thinks
he actually was what in the past he had wished to
be. Often there is another explanation. The noted
personage may have stood out as the key-note of
his time, and the circumstances that produced his
eminence were lessons that many other Souls
learned. In fact, the leading character enacted the
drama for all the lesser personalities belonging to
the same group, and all learned the lesson through
the one.

The great body of humanity is like the physical
body, composed of cells and organs, each with its
center of force (nucleus) which takes up impres-
sions and transmits them to all the atoms compos-
ing that center or organ. The hand learns to exe-
cute a certain movement and every cell of each
ringer retains the impress or latent memory of its
share in that movement. So the cells of every
organ learn their lessons not so much as separate
cells, but all together as an organ, viz., a hand, a
foot, a head, a heart, et cetera. For example,
through the action of Abraham Lincoln the whole
nation learned that slavery should be and could be
abolished, and the lesson was impressed more or
less deeply on each Soul according to its sympa-
thy or activity in the matter; but only Abraham
Lincoln actually freed the slaves. He could not
have done this, however, without the aid of the
thought-force of the nation. He was the executor of
the will of those who thought freedom.

Every character in history had many persons
who belonged to the same group — to the same na-
tion— who were carried along in evolution by the
same current; who learned by the failure or prof-
ited by the success of that character. As the Soul

274 The Voice of Isis

at first remembers only the most important events,
personages and lessons impressed upon its con-
sciousness, when that memory begins to be awak-
ened it is natural for it to think it was the central
figure.

" Many psychics receive messages which they inter-
pret to mean that they were the Virgin Mother, St.
John, John the Baptist, Elijah, Moses, or some
other noted Bible character, and find to their dis-
may that many others have been told the same.
Since they are unable to conceive how all could
have been the one character, much confusion and
loss of faith in their guidance results. The true ex-
planation is that all such personages were types, or
expressions, of some of the cosmic Rays — differ-
ing phases of experience through which their
Father had passed in His evolution. When a dis-
ciple is told, for instance, that she was the Virgin
Mary, it means that she belongs to that expression
of the Father Ray, i. e.} was emanated and started
on her earthly evolution during the period when
the Father was correlating with the Virgin Moth-
er-principle, when He was experiencing the lessons
of the Great Mother, Isis. And so on through the
whole list of characters.

There are hundreds who are sure they were
Mary, Queen of Scots; hundreds who were Mar-
tin Luther, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Helen of
Troy, et cetera. If they understood the Law, how-
ever, it would be quite easy to determine
whether or not they were great personages whose
names are given. A careful study of the character,
giving due consideration to the three streams of
evolution,1 (physical, mental and spiritual) will
readily determine this. Study their mistakes and

HSee Chapter XIII.

The Voice of Isis 275

successes and try to calculate what would be
needed, according to the Law of Compensation
(Karma), to overcome the mistakes or reap the re-
wards. Study their mentality and your own, and
know well there is no retrogression. There are ups
and downs that may seem like retrogression but
they are like the ups and downs of a gravity rail-
way; the downs are always above the level of the
starting point. A personage of historical promi-
nence may at this time be incarnated in a very
lowly station, but he will still have the same char-
acteristics that made him great. He may be placed
in a lowly station to learn lessons of patience and
humility, but his character will still be great, and
the important lesson learned in the prominent life
will be indelibly impressed upon his present per-
sonality. If he were the central figure of the
group, either for good or evil, he will always be a
central figure, no matter in what walk of life he
may incarnate. An Abraham Lincoln might incar-
nate as a plough-boy where conditions made edu-
cation and culture almost impossible, but he would
always have the ability of a Lincoln to master con-
ditions.

Many declare they find it impossible to live out
their true selves; but the inner development will
always manifest, no matter what the environment.
If a Soul fails to demonstrate that it is spiritually
advanced it simply means that it has not attained
to or created the state it desires to manifest. The
pilgrimage of the Soul is like an earthly journey.
We may see the distant goal yet may have many
sad experiences and much weary travel ere we
reach it. If one is absorbed in petty cares, to the
exclusion of higher aims, it means that he has not

276 The Voice of Isis

outgrown petty conditions ; for if he had he would
find time to follow the higher leadings and mani-
fest them in his life. Abraham Lincoln found time
to study law while splitting rails ; Isaac Watt dis-
covered the force of steam while apparently ab-
sorbed in the petty care of minding the baby. Al-
though environment does modify the expression, still
the real inner development will always manifest, no
matter what the environment. Accomplishment in
spite of difficulties is the best proof of inner devel-
opment and strength ; for difficulties oifly spur us
on to express the powers we have won.

The general rule is that, after one has cultivated his
mental faculties and developed his brain to a high
degree, he passes through an incarnation devoid of all
chance for education. This is, firstly, to give him
an opportunity to develop his heart qualities ; and,
secondly, to prove how much of the former culture
he has really assimilated. No one can prove his
character unless he is forced to depend on his real
inner powers. Hence, no matter what the gain has
been in the past, whether toward physical, intel-
lectual or spiritual perfection, he must, of neces-
sity, pass an incarnation where all outward helps
toward the things attained are lacking, that he may
prove himself.

When one is told that in the past he was some
great personage, it is wise to look up the history
and customs of the time indicated, and search for
any glaring discrepancies between his own char-
acter and the character of the person under con-
sideration. If discrepancies are found they indi-
cate error somewhere. For example, if a woman is
told that she was an Egyptian Priestess, or if a man
is told that he was beheaded while King of Egypt,

The Voice of Isis 277

a glance at history will show that the Egyptians
carefully excluded women from participating in the
Mysteries, hence there were no Egyptian Priest-
esses. History will also show that the Egyptians
had a superstitious horror of any sort of mutila-
tion of the body; this was inculcated by the funda-
mental tenets of their religion. Under no circum-
stances was a king or even a person of common
social rank mutilated either before or after death.
The worst possible punishment for the lowest
criminal was the cutting off of his ears. Therefore
this would most convincingly point to an error in
such a message. In this instance we find that
Egypt was once overrun with foreigners, much as
it is at the present time. Some of them were kings
and queens who followed the customs and relig-
ions of their own country. There were also. num-
erous cities whose names have long been lost to
history which while paying tribute to Egypt and
inhabited largely by Egyptians, nevertheless fol-
lowed their own customs. Thus a woman might
have been a Priestess or a king might have been
beheaded while in Egypt and yet not be Egyp-
tians. This will show how easily psychic messages
can be confused and how absurd it makes one to
repeat them without verifying them. While such
discrepancies do not always mean that the one giv-
ing the information has misled him, yet, under such
circumstances, a careful investigation of the mes-
sage, and a consideration of its source, is advisable.
It may be, however, that he has misinterpreted the
message ; his brain may have given it a twist in
accord with his personal bias. A careful study of
history, together with a sincere prayer for light
and help, will generally straighten the matter out.

278 The Voice of Isis

It has become the custom for untrained or pseudo
psychics to flatter their friends or sitters by telling
them they were great personages in the past. In
this connection it is a good plan never to believe
such tales unless confirmed by your own Soul or by
history. For all must come under the law of prob-
ability and common-sense.

The whole object of rebirth is for each Soul to
attain all-around Soul-perfection, learn all the les-
sons life can teach, and thus be prepared to do its
work in the Grand Plan. Even if it were possible
for a man to gain all knowledge and have all ex-
perience in one life, nevertheless the stupendous
task of evolution, from an atom to a God, would
require incalculable aeons. Comparing our life
period to a day, as well might we expect a child to
acquire the experience and wisdom of a life-time
between sunrise and sunset. If such a prodigy
were possible, evolution would still be unsatisfied,
for the child would have neither the ability nor the
organism whereby to utilize the knowledge and do
the work of a man ; for it would not have reached
man's estate. Perfection could not be attained in
one life.

When a student is earnestly and sincerely seeking
for light, and is striving toward self-mastery, he fre-
quently gets a strong impression that he has a special
work to do. This is generally the first glimmerings
of a bona fide memory of the past and of his Soul-
destiny. It is frequently given in dreams, and perhaps
is remembered in the waking consciousness only as
an intangible impression. Many wonder why they
must grope so long in the dark. But here again there
is a reason. The Soul must struggle toward the light
alone, just as a plant by its struggles gains the

The Voice of Isis 279

strength to push up through the earth to the sunlight.

One may be given the outline of the work which
he, both karmicly and constitutionally, is destined
to accomplish, but the exact manner of its ful-
fillment is always left to his own judgment. He is
helped to think and use his own powers of judgment
to decide wisely. He is shown the Goal and the Path,
then is left to his own devices as to the best manner
of following it. His judgment may be at fault, and
he may make mistakes, but if he is working in sin-
cerity and love for his fellow men, the One guiding
him must let him experiment. The Masters dare
not interfere, for They know that strength and wis-
dom come from learning lessons, and if the pupil is
doing the best he can it will be but a matter of time
ere he will reach the end of his mistaken line of ac-
tivity.

If a memory of a past mistake is necessary it
will be given him, but if the exact step in his
future work were mapped out for him he would
become a mere puppet — the executor of another's
will — and not a free agent. Perhaps when the out-
line of this work is given him, the pupil makes the
mistake of thinking that he is ready to begin at once.
In reality the command is to begin the work of prep-
aration. Such a disciple is in the position of a child
who heedlessly rushes off before he has heard what
his father really desires, or how he must prepare him-
self for the task; he hears the command "work" but
does not wait for the end of the sentence. No one
is ever required to do work for which he is not
prepared. A teacher would not teach advanced sub-
jects without special training; a physician would not
prescribe without years of technical study; a man
would not be placed in charge of a bank or business

280 The Voice of Isis

concern without long years of special training for
such work; and yet many a psychic who hears the
cry: "Son, go work today in my vineyard," never
stops to hear more, nor dreams that any preparation
is necessary. In fact, such usually take great pride
in their attitude of trust, that they have no need of
preparation or special knowledge; that their Heavenly
Father will guide and teach them in all things.
While it is true that they will be guided and helped,
yet there is an old axiom which says: "God helps
him who helps himself," which, being interpreted,
means that he who uses common-sense, and places
himself in the current, or trains his brain mind so it
can receive and comprehend the higher truths, makes
intelligent help a possibility, while he who depends
entirely upon astral communications must make him-
self so negative that his mind is a fertile field for
the sowing of tares by the enemy who is always wait-
ing to sow them among the wheat while the husband-
men sleep.

There is no royal road to Divine Wisdom. There
is, however, a straight and narrow Path to spiritual
unfoldment. It is found only by wedding Knowledge
to Understanding and Love to Wisdom. It must be
trodden step by step, often in weariness and with
bleeding feet. Even Jesus, although His mission was
announced both at his birth and at His baptism, spent
over thirty years studying with the teachers, adepts
and Masters, before His brain mind was capable of
correlating with the Divine Wisdom of which His
Soul was fully cognizant. While book-learning is
in no way necessary for spiritual development, yet
it is necessary if one is to be a teacher of the higher
laws and the higher philosophy, or is to be a leader
in spiritual thought, to perfect the instrument (brain)

The Voice of I sis 281

through which the Divine inspiration is seeking ex-
pression.

The astral world is full of false teachers who
promise many wonderful things and seek to gain
your attention by telling you how great or how
good you are ; hence discrimination is the first faculty
that must be perfected. It can only be gained by
careful training and a thorough understanding of the
Law. The astral-plane is called the "Hall of Learn-
ing," but the pupil is warned that "In it thy soul will
find the blossoms of life, but under every flower a
serpent coiled." 1 No purity of heart or desire for
truth can protect from this serpent's sting those who
wilfully neglect to cultivate their minds and familiar-
ize themselves with the laws of that plane.

If a person has not the opportunity to carry on a
study of the laws and philosophy of the Higher Life
this is proof positive that such an one is not yet ready
to teach. He may be selected as a teacher, but for
the time he is being prepared along a particular line.
For the training of the heart, or the love-nature for
obedience and for ardor and for love for humanity,
and the perfecting of patience by the cheerful per-
formance of daily tasks, has first to be developed in
the character. When the pupil is considered by the
Master to be a fit instrument in these respects (obedi-
ence, love, sympathy, patience, etc.) then will he be
brought into an environment which will give him the
opportunity to acquire a knowledge of the spiritual
laws and the philosophy. The pupil is never asked
to leave a plain duty undone to take up the work of
teacher; for just so long as a duty confronts him
which would prevent him from beginning the work,
he should know that his preparation is not complete.

1 The Voice of Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment I.

282 The Voice of Isis

Instead of chafing at the confining bonds he should
cheerfully go ahead preparing himself in body, mind
and Soul, remembering that he has all eternity before
him, and that it is much easier to make up for delay
than to rectify a vital mistake made through precipi-
tation. When he perceives the outline of a work to
be done, let him prepare himself to do it to the best
of his ability. But let him be humble and be ready
to see and acknowledge his shortcomings but without
exaggerating them and the Guiding Hand will not
let him stray far from the Path.

Pupils should, therefore, study most carefully the
law of all spiritual unfoldment. Never does the
Higher Self make a mere automaton of a pupil, nor
sow the seed of final failure by flattering him or by
appeals to his ambition. On the contrary his earliest
memories are more apt to be of mistakes than of
triumphs, and the first lessons given will be those
which will inculcate humility. His training is a
process of guiding, overshadowing and the awakening
of all dormant faculties. And once awakened each
faculty must be put to the most severe tests ere the
pupil is ready to be used. Only thus can he raise his
vibrations to the spiritual key-note. Never is the
pupil told to do this or do that blindly. He may be
the victim of the arbitrary commands of some entity
who is taking advantage of his lack of training and
discrimination to use him as a catspaw. If so, he will
find that obedience will lead him to violate common-
sense and bring him into all kinds of trouble. When
such commands are received interiorly the pupil must
consider them with the gravest doubt, and is perfectly
justified in refusing to obey; for arbitrary commands
are against the whole law of evolution, and are there-

The Voice of Isis 283

fore never given by the Higher Self or by the Mas-
ters of the Great White Lodge.

Absolute obedience to the Higher Guidance is re-
quired of all who would do the Master's work, but
such guidance never violates common-sense, and even
the vow of obedience is never required until the pupil
through repeated experiences has learned to have im-
plicit faith in his Guidance.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CYCLE OF NECESSITY.
"I and my Father are one."

The Higher Self is the Father-in-heaven who is
continually striving to lead and guide the human per-
sonality (the son) among the rocks and quicksands
of physical existence, called "the cycle of necessity,"
back to conscious oneness with Him. Until the per-
sonality can consciously receive its teachings direct,
through The Voice of The Silence, the Higher Self
must take advantage of every opportunity and event
in the earth-life to impress upon the physical brain-
cells of the personality, the main lesson which the
incarnation is intended to teach. For every earth-life
is carefully chosen by the reincarnating Ego, and is
brought about under the best conditions and in the
best environment possible, under the limitations of
karmic law, to learn a certain great lesson necessary
for the next step in experience. That is, the environ-
ment chosen is not the easiest or most pleasant for
the personality, but the one which through its temp-
tations and trials the omniscience of the Higher Self
deems best calculated to develop the Soul-qualities
necessary for spiritual advance. Often the person-
ality, owing to the denseness and sluggishness of the
particles of its physical brain centers, fails to respond
to the vibrations of this higher Intelligence and can-
not understand the guidance, hence ignorantly places
karmic barriers between itself and the desired end.
In such cases life itself must be the teacher. Indeed,
life after life is often spent in learning one great
lesson.

The Voice of Isis 285

Since the personality has free-will, within certain
karmic limits, it cannot be coerced into following its
Divine Guidance, hence if like a boy playing truant
from school it refuses to learn its lessons it must
return day after day (life after life) to the same
lesson until the lesson is built into the character as
a Soul-quality. Therefore it is of the greatest im-
portance for all students of the higher life to at least
begin to learn how to control the higher centers of
their physical brains and render them capable of
registering the vibrations sent them from higher
Intelligences. Like wireless telegraphy, no matter
how perfectly the messages are sent, unless the re-
ceiving apparatus is attuned to the key-note of the
sender the messages cannot be intelligently received.

As all Souls are but differing expressions of the
One Life, each must bring back into the One Life a
special experience. Unity does not mean an ever-
lasting recurrence of one experience for all, but all
experiences in the One. As each different part of
the body has its own function, the experience of which
is subject to and is registered in the brain — the sum
total of the experiences of all organs and parts being
necessary to complete a Man — so are all Soul-experi-
ences comprised in the One Life. Thus is personality
transmuted into Individuality. Individuality is never
lost; it grows more complete as it finds the comple-
mentary phases of individuality in all the units of the
One. The more a man individualizes the use of his
hands, feet or brain, the more perfect a man is he;
for if the hands or feet or brain are left to follow
their own subconscious (animal) instincts, the man
remains but a clod. Only man has the power to indi-
vidualize himself, and the urge toward this advance
is imparted from the Higher Self or Real Ego. A

286 The Voice of Isis

Master is one who has trained all parts and functions
of his body to their highest possible individual devel-
opment and holds them all subject to his will. Ani-
mals are subject to the will of man and can only gain
what is called "higher intelligence" in an animal,
through the emanations of man's thougiit and will.
Some animals can respond readily to man and some
cannot. Some men can easily respond to the Higher
Self and learn, while others less evolved cannot re-
spond so readily. Yet all Souls bring their individual
contribution of experiences into the One Life.

Animals _seem to follow more perfectly than man
the laws of the One Life and are less rebellious than
man. The reason for this is that animals lack free-
will and blindly and obediently follow the Group-
soul of the species. Thus all wolves have the same
instincts, all serpents the same characteristics, etc.1
Hence you know what to expect from any animal
of a given species under similar conditions.

In the beginning each Soul is given its particular
work and place in the Grand Plan, and the experience
necessary to attain this end must be gained by clothing
itself in various personalities. The faults and draw-
backs which prevent this attainment loom so darkly
before the Soul that paths are chosen which, no mat-
ter what the suffering involved may be, will correct
the faults and remove the barriers to the fulfillment
of that Soul's destiny. Perhaps the destiny of the
Soul is to be an important worker for the upliftment
of humanity, with a definite place in that work. Such
a Soul may begin the work, or at least lay the founda-
tions, in the earlier incarnations when the Soul is
young (in experience) and has not gone far from the
sheltering love of the Father's house, but later, the

1 See Letters Front the Teacher, Curtiss, Chapter X.

The Voice of Isis 287

various personalities built up life after life by the
Soul to use as instruments, may become rebellious,
stray from the Path and set up side-issues, either as
desires or complications — all of which must later be
experienced and their essence of wisdom and power
assimilated. For there must be free-will. The per-
sonality must be free to choose its path, to follow or
not to follow its Divine Guidance. Man alone, of all
the animals, can choose whether he will or will not
listen and obey.

The Father (the Higher Self) gives to each son
(the personality) the portion of goods belonging to
him; that out of which he must weave his destiny.
The son then departs into the far country of physical
existence. Each son has his own portion — the portion
belonging to him by right. If by karmic action he
has earned a pleasant portion — wealth, position, and
love of friends — with these he must cultivate Soul-
growth and bring back to his Father's house the
greatest experiences and the deepest lessons of Divine
Love that it is possible to garner through those
earthly blessings. If he has earned or chosen as his
portion poverty, loneliness, sorrow and sickness he
must garner the golden grains of wisdom from these
experiences also, for all experiences are necessary.
But the Soul who can learn from another's experi-
ence need not pass that way itself. The personality
must learn, either by actual experience or by observa-
tion and sympathy with others, that the side-issues
are not what the Higher Self desires it to experience.
And it must ultimately learn the great lesson, attain
the position and do the work mapped out for it from
the beginning.

After eons of time and myriads of incarnations the
Soul gradually gains more and more power over the

288 The Voice of Isis

various personalities through which it functions, and,
center by center, subjects their physical matter to its
own vibrations. The Soul thus learns by experience
how to manipulate matter and how better to express
itself through a physical instrument — the body. When
the Ego has succeeded in building up an instrument
into whose physical brain-centers a sufficient number
of spiritualized atoms which vibrate in harmony with
the Higher Self are emplanted, the instrument or per-
sonality may be said to be unfolding its inner facul-
ties. At this stage of evolution the greatest care is
needed; for, as indicated in a previous chapter,1 there
are many enemies waiting for the opportunity to push
back into the darkness, or mislead for their own per-
sonal ends, the one who has labored so long and
patiently to reach this advanced point. Let us suppose
that one has reached this point and has kept the
"door" of his heart, and is conscious of the loving
guidance of his Father-in-heaven. The great danger
at this stage makes a careful study of the philosophy
and laws of Being essential. The Voice of The
Silence has to penetrate into, triumph over prejudice
— the result of false education — and act through a
physical brain. Since a physical brain can only regis-
ter that which vibrates in harmony with its capacity,
and since through all the years of its life it has been
trained to vibrate only to physical stimuli, it must be
gradually regenerated or, being the medium through
which the message must pass to reach the brain con-
sciousness of the personality, all that is passed through
it will necessarily be colored by something of its per-
sonal characteristics and prejudices. In other words,
a message received from the Higher Self or from a
Master of Wisdom can be interpreted only in the

1 Narcotics, Alcohol and Psychism.

The Voice of Isis 289

terms afforded by the knowledge, training and capac-
ity of the physical brain of the personality. Thus,
without special training, misunderstanding and mis-
application of the message is more than probable.
Many psychics blunder and subject themselves to
ridicule and suffering by blindly accepting as literal
the interpretation made by their untrained brains of
messages which they know come from a true source.
If this interpretation proves misleading, they are made
miserable and perhaps turn away from the guiding
Voice which is trying so hard to help them. In such
cases the following rules should be strictly adhered to :

First, by spiritual aspiration (prayer, uttered or
unuttered), meditation and above all by love for all
mankind as shown in the daily life, raise the vibra-
tions of all the particles composing the brain-centers.

Second, by a careful study of proper books,, and
by a close observation of Nature, strive to familiarize
the physical brain with the laws governing indepen-
dent psychic and spiritual communication.

Third, carefully write out any message received, •
but do not talk about it to others. Then, before show- 1
ing it to anyone, go over it again and again, bringing \
to bear all your powers of logic and common-sense
to get its most probable application to your own life; .
for all messages from a proper source are in accord
with the law of absolute justice. No true Master
ever tells a pupil to do anything that will in any way
infringe upon the rights of another. Messages that
cannot stand the test of love, compassion and justice
are either mistakes of understanding or deliberate at-
tempts to mislead ; for it must be remembered that
there are masters of darkness ever watching and
waiting to take advantage of those whose inner fac-
ulties are unfolding. Such perverted entities, under-

290 The Voice of Isis

standing the laws of communication, are able to reach
the student at an earlier period of his development
than are the Masters of Light, because their vibrations
are more nearly akin to the earth-plane. For instance,
the Teachers and Masters of the Great White Lodge
can communicate with a pupil only over waves of self-
less love, high aspiration, compassion, purity and
humility, while those of "the left hand path" can use
vibrations of ambition, self-seeking, pride and vanity.
But their messages, while apparently lofty and pure,
especially at first, have always the germ of some great
personal power or reward to be gained by the pupil.
Subtle flattery is always a feature of their instruction,
while those from the White Lodge carefully point
out the pupil's faults and tell him how to conquer
them. The story of Dr. Faustus is a materialized
dramatization of the method used by such masters of
evil.

Until the pupil has cleansed his heart of all
self-seeking he is open to attacks from the first
mentioned source. You are never safe if the Devil —
the power of all that works against God or good —
can find a single vibration of ambition or selfishness
over which he can enter. As the Higher Self can
communicate only over vibrations akin to Himself,
so the Devil can tempt, feat but can lead astray and
deceive only over vibrations similar to his own.
Hence to protect yourself, send out vibrations of self-
less love and compassion to all humanity.

Each Soul has an evil genius created by it during
its long pilgrimage through matter. This is fully rec-
ognized and plainly taught in the temptations of the
man Jesus. For ere He could gain mastery and
enter on His earthly ministry, He was led by the
Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted. Every

The Voice of Isis 291

neophyte is led by the Spirit — the Higher Self — into
a mental wilderness where, alone in the dreary wastes
of physical experience, he is tempted by the devil of
his own creation. The fasting for forty days is that
period during which he must abstain from his old
thoughts and habits, must cease to seek for outward
help and learn to seek within ; must turn to his Father-
in-heaven, listen to the voice of his Higher Self and
refuse longer to be guided by physical vibrations.
It is a period during which the neophyte is left with-
out spiritual food and hence must fast; when it seems
that no help can reach him. Only after this prolonged
fast in the mental wilderness does the Devil come to
tempt him'. In the parable of the Prodigal Son this
is the period of his homeward journey, when he has
refused to eat the husks and has not yet reached his
Father's house. It is always here that the Devil
meets each Soul and tempts. In other words, long
ere he has really found that perfect vibration of love
through which alone he can hear his Higher Self
speak, the evil genius, or those akin to him — the mas-
ters of the shadow — can speak and tempt over vibra-
tions of selfishness. This selfishness and ambition
often require a long time to be transmuted into love
for others, for they have a way of hiding behind all
sorts of sophistries.

Up to this point the pupil has had to contend with
but petty temptations and appetites, but now, having
consciously taken an advanced step, through prayer
and fasting he has deliberately entered the Wilder-
ness to be tempted. The first temptation coming
from the side of evil is generally that of Power.
"Command that these stones be made bread." The
Devil says: "Command and demand all that you
need. You are not sick or hungry. You are The

292 The Voice of Isis

Christ, therefore command that the earth (which
karmic law has bereft of Soul-nourishment and
spiritual satisfaction) shall be turned into bread to
satisfy your physical wants," even though the very
eating thereof binds you tighter to the wheel of
physical existence. The second temptation comes
in the form of self-righteousness. The Devil takes
the hungry Soul up into a high place, upon the very
pinnacle of the Temple (the body), and there show-
eth how the Soul has conquered the flesh, growing
holier than others by the control of the lower appe-
tites, how it has reached the gates of the Holy City
and has become a guide and example for many less
holy and less pure followers. Then the Devil de-
clares: "Thou, if thou be the Son of God (or if
thou be The Christ as you have affirmed), cast
thyself down; for you can do what a lesser Soul
could not do without sin. That which would be sin
in one not placed upon so high a pinnacle of the
Temple within the Holy City is for you but a cer-
tain license earned because of your holiness. 'He
shall give his angels charge concerning thee lest at
any time thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone.'
Therefore you can do that which would be sin in
others."

The third temptation is one of Ambition. This
only comes to the Soul who has reached the
mountains of spiritual understanding. The neo-
phyte has painfully climbed the mountain, has
entered the Silence, has heard the Voice and seen
with his spiritual eyes. He has gained certain
psychic powers, and lo! all the kingdoms of the
world and the glory thereof are spread before his
sight. His evil genius points out that by his awak-
ened psychic powers he can gain the whole world;

The Voice of Isis 293

that men will bow down to him and give him fame
and glory because he is a little in^advance of the
average ; that he can charge large 'sums for inter-
views, psychic readings, etc. ; can be feted and hon-
ored and listened to by the multitude ; can be her-
alded from place to place, be interviewed by the
newspapers and receive much public acclaim. All
of which is a very real and terrible temptation, and
one which only those who have actually stood upon
the "exceeding high mountain" and in their Soul-
vision have actually seen the kingdoms of the
world at their feet, who have heard the tempter
say: "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt
fall down and worship me," can understand or
appreciate. For this temptation cannot come until
the neophyte has approached the mountain's top.

An understanding of these temptations should
make each judge leniently the shortcomings and
failures of those who have stood upon the heights,
but who have fallen down to worship either the
Beast, the Dragon or the Anti-Christ. Let every
one cultivate in his own garden the fruits of the
Spirit, namely, love, joy, peace, gentleness, good-
ness, faith, meekness and temperance. Every time
you stop to censure or condemn another an enemy
(your evil genius) comes while you sleep and sows
vile weeds in the garden of your Soul ; weeds which
will grow apace and which must be rooted up ere the
fruits of the Spirit can be garnered. Every time
you indulge in thoughts of evil you are filling your
garden with all sorts of predatory creatures, all of
which must be driven out ere you can become one
with your Father and sit down at His table to eat
of the fruits of the Spirit.

294

The Voice of Isis

The cultivation of vthe fruits of the Spirit will
leave you no time to see the shortcomings of others.
To eat of these fruits will be to sit down at your
Father's table and sup with Him. "And they shall
see His face, and His name shall be in their fore-
heads."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE PATH.

"Thou wilt show me the path of life." — Psalms,
XVI, 11.

"Now for the fourth prepare, the portal of
temptations which do ensnare the inner man." . .
"Man is a crystal ray; a beam of light immac-
ulate within, a form of clay material upon the
lower surface. That beam is thy life-guide and
thy true Self, the Watcher and the silent Thinker,
the victim of thy lower Self." — The Voice of the
Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment III.

Every student who has earnestly sought associa-
tion with this Order has done so because of an inner
urge, which, whether verbally expressed or not,
manifests as a determination to set out in earnest
upon the Path of Discipleship which leads to the
goal of final liberation. Yet few there be who are
aware of the many snares and delusions and the
many requirements necessary to attain that great
end. Many think this Path but a figure of speech,
and that all that is necessary is to live an average life,
to have good intentions, to be honest whenever cir-
cumstances permit, to be true whenever it seems to
pay, saying with a shrug of the shoulders "No one
is perfect and I am doing the best I can under the
circumstances." Such persons have not only not
entered the Path but have no conception of what
the Path is.

How many, many there are who earnestly and
sincerely believe they have entered the Path, yet
who after years of earth-life, years of striving and

296 The Voice of Isis

study and meditation, find themselves apparently
no further advanced than when they set out. Hence,
many become discouraged and turn back, saying it is
a hopeless task, or that only after many lives — some
say at least seven more — they may begin to attain.
But the truth is that unless you begin to attain
today, this present moment, you have not entered
the Path ; for this Path is made up of regular steps,
each one a definite attainment. These attainments
are not mystical dreams of a far-away perfection
to be attained in the dim future, but something that
belongs to your every-day life. The first step in Mas-
tery must be taken now, in a definite practical way ; for
until this is done the greater steps will forever remain
untaken.

The Path is the Path of Renunciation, yet it is
also a Path of glorious achievement. Upon it you
will find many things to comfort you during the
long nights of darkness and the days of combat,
many resting-places, many joys. The renunciation
does not mean the renunciation of all human sym-
pathy, all natural human traits ; for you must be
"all things unto all men," and this you cannot be
if you become what the world calls a "crank." The
renunciation must be the renunciation of the domin-
ion of the lower self and the disciplining and train-
ing of its desires and appetites ; the self you have
built up out of false conceptions of the events
through which you have gained the experience
which entitles you to enter upon this definite step.
Those who have chosen this step are like soldiers
who have donned their armor and are waiting to go
forth to victory.

The goal is reached through definite attainments,
spoken of as Gates opening into new stages of the

The Voice of Isis 297

journey. These Gates are definite attainments here
and now in this present life. Each step means a
struggle, a literal shaping of every act and thought
toward a definite end which is fully outlined in the
mind and made the objective point of the life. The
first Gate to be passed is the attainment of Charity,
and Tolerance for all, a realization of Divine Love
and an earnest desire to become one with The
Christ-force which is manifesting in your fellow
man. This is the first Gate to be entered because
intolerance is a bar to further progress. Hence
while there is the least intolerance in your heart
this barred Gate will shut off even a vista of the Path.
To conquer intolerance realize Divine Love as a
white light which can only manifest on earth
through its many prismatic colors, and that each
color, if true and undefiled, has its place in the
heart of the pure white light, for the white light
could not be complete if one color ray was missing.
The color rays symbolize the seven great types or
classes of humanity with their various idiosyn-
cracies. To attain true tolerance realize that your
brothers and sisters, with all their differences of
opinion and various ways of looking at divine
Truth, are nevertheless necessary parts of the
Grand Plan, and that without them you would lack.
Only a realization of the oneness of all and their
necessity for the completion of the whole can bring
true tolerance. You may talk of loving your
brother as yourself, but until you have at least a mental
grasp of the truth that your brother is necessary
to your own growth, can you really manifest it.
As long as you look upon yourself as separate and
aloof from your brother this great bar of intoler-
ance will remain across the entrance to the Path.

298 The Voice of Isis

In the above we have emphasized the construc-
tive idea of tolerance. For many think tolerance
means so vague and indefinite an idea of what you
yourself believe that you are willing to follow the
teaching of every phase of Truth anyone may
expound to you. But such a course is merely con-
fusing, for you cannot be truly tolerant until you
are quite sure which avenue of teaching best suits
your Soul needs. Seek earnestly for the particular
line of teaching which most appeals to you and
which proves most helpful to your spiritual growth,
then, while recognizing the good in all others and
being tolerant to all divergent views, be well
grounded in your chosen teaching, so that you can-
not be misled or carried away by sophistry but will
remain unmoved as long as the teaching feeds your
spiritual hunger. Only thus can you take your
place as a shining beam in your own color ray or
avenue of teaching. It is like a military evolution ;
the figure is perfect only when each individual is in
his own place in his own company and is paying
no attention to the others except to recognize their
part in the evolution and work harmoniously with
them.

Charity is that all-embracing Love which seeks
for the good in all. It does not mean that you are
to condone evil, for to do so is to spread it. It means
that while you are never to condemn a personality
for his or her failings, you are to stand firm for the
principles of right, truth, justice and purity when-
ever you are tempted or see them violated, so that
there can be no misunderstanding as to the prin-
ciples you uphold.

The second Gate consists of the attainment of
Harmony, both within yourself and also with your
surroundings, or the power to be so harmonized to

The Voice of Isis 299

Divinity that you pass through the turmoil and
inharmony of life without permitting them to
upset you.

At this Gate you must conquer fear, for this is
a necessary part of the attainment of harmony,
for only perfect love casteth out fear. Many pupils
knock a long time at this Gate and wonder why
it does not open to them. They desire harmony
above all else and cry out continually that they
are sending out nothing but love to their fellow
men yet receive in return inharmony, unkindness
and cruelty. If such candidates would look within
themselves instead of around them for the harmony
they seek they would find that the great specter Fear
held them enthralled. They fear a thousand things,
chiefly that the world does not understand what
they are striving to manifest, for if it did it could
not send back so much inharmony. They fear the
opinions of friends, poverty, sickness, death. In
fact their fears are too numerous to mention and
in their hearts, although the beautiful flower of love
has been planted, yet the many noxious weeds of
fear have sprung up so thickly that the plant is un-
able to bloom and send out its perfume to harmon-
ize the conditions in which it grows. Therefore
they will knock at this Gate in vain until they have
vanquished fear or until they have learned to trust
and believe in the divine overshadowing Love which
casteth out fear. When this is attained they will
awaken to find the Gate of Harmony already ajar.

This specter, Fear, while it seems a giant is in
reality but a shadow of the night. Let the candidate
realize the divinity of his Real Self, that it is death-
less, immortal and cannot be harmed. Let him re-
peat constantly "I am fearless because my Real Self

300 The Voice of Isis

is divine and there is nothing to fear. Divine Love is
the law of my being and I can trust in this great
Law to conquer all conditions. With it I am strong,
powerful, forceful. Manifesting this love I cannot
be discouraged, frightened, or turned aside from the
Path of spiritual attainment." As he permits his
consciousness to dwell in this thought there will
grow up in him the strength and power to conquer.
Then ere he knows it he will find this Gate standing
wide and the light of its portal flooding his whole
life with the glory of its Love and Harmony.

The Third Gate is that of Patience, i. e., having
earnestly cultivated Divine Love in your heart, and
Tolerance and Charity for all ; having harmonized
yourself to The Christ and to your surroundings,
and having conquered fear, there must ensue a
longer or shorter period in which you wait for you
scarce know what. This is beautifully expressed
by the Psalmist: "My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning."1 And
again, the heart cries out: "And now, Lord, what
wait I for? my hope is in Thee. Deliver me from
all my transgressions."2 You are waiting for the
Divine Law to bring to you the result of your at-
tainments. This is a very trying period in your
life, because, feeling that you have attained to Love,
Harmony, Charity, Tolerance, etc., you cannot un-
derstand why you must tarry so long at this Third
Gate. Yet there is a great necessity that it should
be so, for without the virtues of Patience and Trust,
and Confidence that whatever comes is best, you
would be utterly unable to cope with the more
active trials and temptations that will assail you
when you reach the Fourth Gate. This waiting

1 Psalms CXXX-6.

« Psalms XXXIX. 7-8.

The Voice of Isis 301

develops the Patience which affords the Soul a
chance to learn the great lesson Keep Silent, also
how to enter into the Silence and become one with
it. For you have not mastered Patience until you
have learned to quiet the mentality, enter the
Silence and realize the meaning of the text "Be
still and know that I (the great Law of Love) am
God."

When you have consciously sought membership
in The Order of the 15 you are supposed to have
passed, in a measure at least, the first three of these
Gates, and are now knocking at the Fourth; the
Gate which opens to your consciousness the Path
itself. You are now ready to obey the voice of your
Higher Self which is urging upon you a conscious
and persistent effort toward Mastery, instead of
drifting aimlessly as heretofore on the sea of life.
The entrance to this Fourth Gate is a most momen-
tous event, for it marks the end of the first great
cycle of your spiritual growth. Since from an oc-
cult standpoint the 4 contains the potency of the 10
(1+2+3+4=10), and since 4 or the square is the
most perfect earthly figure, at this point you must
square yourself as it were with earthly conditions
as you find them ; for at this step you face the fourth
dimension in which all things interpenetrate. At
this point you must face yourself, for over this Gate
is written the Pythagorian precept : "Man, know
thyself." When you strive to obey this precept you
will become aware that there is at least one great
iron bar which closes this Gate to you. But
within yourself you can find the power to lift this
bar and permit the Gate to swing open. No one
can recognize and lift this bar but yourself.

302 The Voice of Isis

Until this Fourth Gate is reached, your life has
been a more or less unconscious growth in Love,
Charity, Tolerance, Harmony, Fearlessness, and
Patience, but now you face a serious conscious
struggle. You must now begin to take account of
yourself within as well as without. You have been
able largely to control your actions and your words.
You now become responsible for your own creations,
the children of your thoughts, and must "To the
Silent Thinker be united." This Silent Thinker is
not that which is known as the Voice of the Silence,
but that silent undercurrent of thought which is
continually penetrating your brain, although what
might be called the active thoughts may, like ripples
on the surface, make you unaware of what is trans-
piring in the depths. The instant you begin self-
analysis you will find there are many deep thoughts
which come into your mind without your volition
and seem to think themselves. These are of two
kinds ; if they are uplifting, grand or beyond the
power of the physical brain to express, they come
from the Silent Thinker; if they are frivolous, con-
temptible, or vile, they are but the reflection of the
world's current of thought to which you have united
yourself and permitted to flow through you, "the
children of your thoughts, unseen, impalpable, that
swarm around human-kind." But of whatever
character they may be, they are the index of the
self you are to study and to conquer. For to "know
thyself" means to go down deep into the sources
of selfhood and decide just what the great motives
are which are determining your character and
prompting your actions. These motives can be
determined by careful study of the impalpable
thoughts which intrude themselves upon you

The Voice of Isis 303

against your volition. Thoughts are things, and
man in the aggregate during his evolution has
thrown off thoughts of all kinds, and these accumu-
lated thought-forms have become great vortices of
force into which each Soul is naturally drawn, ac-
cording to its affinity with the one or the other type. In
other words, you permit your mind to be so filled
with the currents of the world-thought surrounding
you that your brain becomes a fit vehicle for, and
develops within it definite channels through which
certain classes of thought-currents naturally flow,
just as a stream automatically follows a channel
dug for it; and the longer it flows in one channel
the broader and deeper the channel becomes, and the
more difficult it is to change the stream. It is well
known that the brain of a thinker differs from that of
a savage not so much in size and weight as in the num-
ber and depth of its convolutions, which convolutions
are developed by the functioning of the centers they
contain.

Another means of self-analysis is carefully and
fearlessly to interpret your dreams and visions.
For the Silent Thinker is continually guiding and
warning you by means of such experiences. Dreams
are of three general classes : first, confused inco-
herent ideas more or less imperfectly remembered,
the result of inharmonious physical or mental con-
ditions which keep the lower mind more or less ac-
tive yet uncontrolled by the presence of the Ego ;
second, the experiences of the human-mind wander-
ing uncontrolled in the lower astral world; third,
the symbolic dreams and visions, coherent and
usually clearly remembered, the result of the per-
sonality doing the best it can, by using the thought
materials of the waking consciousness, to illustrate

304 The Voice of Isis

the spiritual truths or lessons given by its Higher
Self during the sleep of the body. Hence a careful
analysis of dreams will show what general stage of
development the candidate has reached and what
general problems he must face and conquer. You
do not have to experience the two lower classes of
dreams if you train your brain mind to refuse to
accept such experiences. When this training is
accomplished you will dream only when your
Higher Self desires to give you a lesson or a warn-
ing.

It is with these inner thought-currents that the
candidate who knocks at the Fourth Gate must de-
terminately grapple ; first recognize, and then con-
trol. No thought-currents coming from your Higher
Self or from the Masters of Wisdom can flow into
your consciousness until, by determined conscious
effort, you have swept away all trifling thoughts and
have prepared channels for higher thoughts. At
this step you become responsible for the effect of
every outside influence that impinges upon your
consciousness. You become responsible not only
for all the emanations which you send out to inter-
penetrate all space and impinge upon every other
human being but also responsible for every thought
you permit to enter your consciousness from any
source.

While you cannot expect to conquer all at once
and absolutely shut out every undesirable thought,
still you can refuse to dwell upon a thought
and can determinately think some constructive
thought which will ultimately create a channel
through which like thoughts will naturally flow.
In other words, you must be the Chooser, the
Wilier, the Master of your thoughts. And you will

The Voice of Isis 305

remain before this Gate until you carve out new
channels through which the currents of thought
from the Silent Thinker can flow into your con-
sciousness. Hence, Patience is the supreme quality
to be cultivated at this Gate.

There are many barriers which hold you back at
this point — until you can recognize that there is
nothing in all the universe that is important enough
to stop your onward march ; that the Silent Thinker
is your True Self, one with Divinity. When these
barriers are reached, so many, many cry out:
"What shall I do? How shall I conquer? Give me
some definite step to take that I may know I have
really entered the Path." Why this questioning?
When through all the ages "Wisdom crieth with-
out; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth
in the chief place of the concourse, in the openings
of the gates." 1

The first step is plainly set forth in The Voice of
The Silence:2 "Before the Soul can comprehend and
may remember, she must unto the Silent Speaker
be united, just as the form to which the clay is
modeled is first united with the potter's mind."
Here you find the first step, the great step, pointed
out. Indeed; this step is the beginning and the end,
for only as you strive for and accomplish this feat
can you truly enter the Fourth Gate and win final
victory. How can you get from this injunction the
help your heart longs for? the definite step that shall
make you something different, something greater,
better, higher; that shall give you power? While
we do not countenance attempts to cultivate abnor-
mal powers, we are told again and again that if you
are a child of the Father and are doing the works of

1 Proverbs i, 20-21

2 Page 2.

306 The Voice of Isis

the Father, then you will have the powers of the
Father abiding in you.

How is this to be accomplished? Just as clay is
united to the potter's mind. When a potter starts
to make a wonderful vase — a marvel of beauty, a
poem of symbology, a lesson for all who look — he
does not copy something another mind has brought
forth. Such a production would be spurious. The
true potter, the artist, is original. Long before one
stroke is made, even before the clay is moistened,
his mind has created every detail of the vase. This
is an illustration of how you must go to work.
Unite yourself with the mind of the Great Potter,
the Great Over-Soul, the Thinker, Him of whom
you desire to become an expression, for to you He
must first become the Silent Thinker ere He be-
comes the Speaker. Before you can remodel your
life you must catch a glimpse of the Divine Plan
in the mind of the Silent Thinker. Tolerate no de-
fect, see a vision of the perfection you desire to
reach and work consciously in harmony with it.
This cannot be accomplished until you have realized
the possibility of closing the door of your mind to
all undesirable thoughts. To do this, practice mak-
ing your mind a blank and shutting out all thought
and when this has been accomplished in a measure
you will be ready to open the door to such thoughts
as you desire.

As long as thoughts of discouragement, impa-
tience, self-depreciation, or other similar thoughts
can fill your mind against your will to the exclusion
of the thoughts you have chosen, you have not
united yourself to the Silent Thinker and cannot
hear the voice of the Silent Speaker. Therefore,
while the task is arduous it is not hopeless. As we
said in the beginning, there are many joys along

The Voice of Isis 307

the Path, chief of which is the consciousness of
your Divine Guidance and the realization that you
are but following in the steps of every Great Soul
who has attained Mastery. And the very fact of
determinately facing this Fourth Gate brings you
into a thought-current, which has been both
created and strengthened by the many pilgrims
who have passed this way, so that it may be said
that they have left behind landmarks and guide-
posts for your direction. There is scarcely a tempta-
tion that can assail you that many of the loving
Elder Brothers have not passed through and con-
quered, hence They are stretching out guiding
hands to help you. The very force with which They
conquered remains as a sacred aura around this
Gate ; in fact, the thoughts They have left behind
might be compared to a golden thread reaching all
the way. And as long as you hold to this thread
you cannot lose your way.

"Ere thou canst near that goal, before thine hand
is lifted to upraise the fourth gate's latch, thou must
have mastered all the mental changes in thy Self,
and slain the army of the thought sensations that,
subtle and insidious, creep unasked within the

Soul's bright shrine Strive with thy

thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use
them as they will use thee, for if thou sparest them
and they take root and grow, know well these

thoughts will overpower and kill thee

O fearless Aspirant, look deep within the well of
thine own heart, and answer. Knowest thou of
Self the powers, O thou perceiver of external shad-
ows? For, on Path fourth, the lightest

breeze of passion or desire will stir the steady light
upon the pure white walls of Soul." 1

1 The Voice of The Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment I.
(Carefully re-study the chapter on Purity.)

CHAPTER XXIII.
EARTH'S FINER FORCES.

"Earth my mother bid me learn
Truth in darkness to discern;
Like thy forces, silently,
Work in true humility."
— Hymns of The Order of the 15.

In the Orient the foot is held in high esteem
for its symbology — spiritual understanding — as well
as for its beauty and symmetry. And frequent
ceremonial washings are enjoined both by religion
and hospitality. Shoes are worn only for protec-
tion, it being a breach of etiquette to enter the
presence of a high dignitary with the feet covered.
In places of worship the shoes are left at the door,
the devotee entering the holy place barefooted.
Moreover, oriental temples are seldom found with
any floor but Mother Earth. The pious Moslem
sprinkles fresh earth in his shoes so that when com-
pelled to wear them he will still have his feet upon
the earth ; for he knows that it is through the soles
of the feet that the nourishing magnetism of Mother
Earth enters the body to give life and health to her
children.

The Y ogles of the East go barefooted in com-
pliance with this law, and their habit of sitting
upon a mat of rushes spread upon the bare ground
is to gain the valued aid of the earth-forces in their
spiritual development. The magnetic forces that
enter at the feet pass out at the head, therefore the
yogi covers his head with a silk turban. Silk, being
a non-conductor, prevents the escape of the earth-

The Voice of Isis 309

forces and stores them up in his body to be utilized
for his further development. To wear silk upon
the feet insulates the body from the earth-forces
and impedes the flow of the currents of your per-
sonal magnetism back to the earth in perfect equi-
librium. As the magnetism is the force upon which
obsessing or controlling entities feed, persons re-
ceiving communications from the astral-plane are
frequently advised by their controls to wear silk
upon the feet, thus interfering with the normal
exchange of forces and storing up the personal
magnetism for the use of the controlling entity.
Naturally such practices belong to the destructive
method of psychic communication and hence are
to be avoided.

To obtain power and enter into close touch with
Nature it is desirable at certain times to put off
your shoes, and, after rubbing the feet with a little
vegetable oil, walk barefooted while the dew is still
upon the grass. While helpful and advisable this
practice is by no means the most important factor,
for true spiritual development is the result of mani-
festing The Christ-force in the heart, and all ex-
ternal forces are but secondary. Without the spir-
itual growth no amount of magnetic forces can pro-
duce spirituality. Walking barefoot in the dew
is practiced in many of the occult schools of the
East as well as by the Barefoot Friars of the
Christian era.

Very early in the morning the earth is giving
forth its magnetism most abundantly. The forces
with which the sun has filled the earth during the
previous day have germinated in the darkness (as
all life must), and in the morning are breathed out
by Mother Earth in sufficient quantity to sustain

310 The Voice of I sis

her children through the day. While the sun
rules the day, and by its creative power causes all
life to germinate, still it is only the masculine force
—the Father — and alone it cannot create ; but when
it is joined with the air, its expression,1 and com-
mingled with water — the feminine force — deep
within the bosom of the earth a wonderful alchemi-
cal change, called creation, takes place. It is thus
that moist earth (the Mother) when fecundated by
the sun (the Father) expressing himself through air,
brings forth. When the earth is parched and dry
the magnetic rays from the sun cannot penetrate
it but are deflected and dissipated, so that instead
of fecundating they wither and burn the vegetation.
It is through Mother Earth that the life-forces
are incubated and brought forth, not only for Na-
ture, but for mankind. After the magnetic rays
from the sun have fecundated the germs of physical
life they are developed and given forth by the
breath of the earth. Well has the earth been
called our Mother, for only through the dual forces
generated in the earth is life manifested and nour-
ished. It is not sunshine alone that gives life, but
it is sunshine absorbed, fecundated and sent forth by
the earth, assimilated by all vegetation through its
roots and by all animal life through the soles of its
feet, that gives the magnetic nourishment of the
dual forces which perfect life and health. Modern
medicine has accepted this fact, under the name
of Kneipp2 treatment, without knowing its rationale.
Walking barefooted is now prescribed throughout

1 The sun force cannot express itself on the earth without air, t. €.,
fire cannot burn without oxygen.

* Father Sebastian Kneipp, a Bavarian priest, son of a poor
weaver. He cured himself and a fellow student of nervous pros-
tration by a system of nature cure, and later founded a large sani-
tarium for nature cure at Woerishofen. Walking barefooted is a
marked feature of the treatment.

The Voice of I sis 311

Europe and at many sanitariums in this country
as a part of various nature-cure procedures.

In the ancient Schools of the Prophets, and among
the pupils of all the great teachers of the Mysteries,
great attention was given to the study of Nature. The
disciples, being separated from the world, were re-
quired to spend much time in meditation close to
Mother Earth, always with their feet bare and
their heads covered. The earth-forces, if allowed
uninterrupted play through man's body, bring to
him, just as they do to the plants, the kind of
magnetic nourishment suited to his requirements,
in exact accord with his capacity to utilize it, to
reach perfection on all planes. As well might we
expect a rose to grow to perfection and bloom with
its roots suspended above the earth as for man to
develop without contact with the earth. For not
only does he draw health for his physical .body
from the earth, but also a power which aids in un-
folding his inner faculties. We might give the rose
sunlight, air and water, and might tend it with all
care, but unless Mother Earth was permitted to
first irribibe the forces of the sun, air and rain and
by her wonderful alchemical power transmute them
into life-force, the rose could vnot grow. In a sim-
ilar manner a mother eats and drinks- and breathes,
and by transmuting all the constituents of nour-
ishment, brings forth their essence in the sustain-
ing life-force in the milk with which she feeds
her babe.

The prophet Isaiah says, "How beautiful upon
the mountain are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace." x The earth
breathes, the mountains acting as her lungs. They
are upheaved by her efforts to throw off in greater

1 Isaiah, LII, 7.

312 The Voice of I sis

abundance the magnetic life-force. While in the
human body impurities are breathed out and fresh
air is breathed in, just the opposite takes place in
the case of the earth entity; impurities sink into
the earth and are indrawn and purified and are
then breathed out as pure, magnetic currents of
life-force. Hence upon a mountain the currents
would be felt most strongly and a disciple dwelling
there, if it all developed, would thus be enabled to
carry the good tidings and publish peace with
greater power. It is not mere elevation that per-
mits this action but the porosity and character of the
rock formations.

Each portion of the earth's surface gives out its
particular and characteristic force which influences
not only the climate and vegetation but also the
mentality and nervous system of its inhabitants.
In a general way the force thrown out by moun-
tains is the masculine or Father-force, correspond-
ing to Will. It is a hardening force which is
exhilarating yet which makes for ruggedness and
stability and gives the power to endure. For in-
stance, the Rocky Mountains may be considered
the backbone of this continent. They form a great
wall or barrier which is continually being strength-
ened so that when the cyclic cataclysms occur — as
they must not only at the end of the Root Race
(Fifth), but also in a minor degree at the end of
its fifth sub-race — the Rockies will indeed be a back-
bone that shall preserve that portion of the con-
tinent which is destined to survive. Hence, while
excellent for hardy pioneer types, high, barren and
rugged mountains send out a force which is very
hard for a spiritually advanced or sensitive person
to withstand or correlate with. Nevertheless from

The Voice of I sis 313

them should be gained the power to endure, the
power of stability and perseverance. Only those
advanced Souls who have mastered or correlated
with these forces; or persons whose centers are not
developed to respond to them, can endure a lengthy
sojourn in high mountains.

On the other hand the characteristic of the sea-
coast, especially in southern or tropical countries,
is the Mother-force, the power to bring forth, cor-
responding to Love. This force is typified by gen-
tle moist breezes, fresh warm air and golden sun-
shine. The characteristic of southern regions near
the sea coast is growth. And just as they produce pro-
lific vegetation, so will they tend to bring forth in the
spiritual life. The dangers to be encountered and the
trials to be met will also be characteristic of these re-
gions. Instead of the over-exhilaration of the moun-
tain regions there will be a tendency to lassitude and
languor and to put forth little effort toward the
spiritual life. Instead of the depression of rocks
and barrenness there will be the depressing influ-
ence of fogs, marshes and excessive rainfall. The
daily trials will be comparable to the many stinging
insects, the prickly cactus and other thorny forms
of vegetation. Moreover, the weeds, i. e., pseudo
forms of occult or spiritual growth, will grow apace
and tend to choke out the true seed.

In the air from the mountains the Father-force
predominates, while the air that sweeps across the
sea gathers up the Mother-force which has been
purified by the action of the salt. Hence, from an
occult standpoint, the most favorable outward con-
ditions for spiritual growth should be found in re-
gions where the breath of the mountains meets
that of the sea, and far enough South to avoid using

314 The Voice of Isis

up a large part of your life-forces overcoming the
rigors of the climate.

You may thus find an explanation of many of
your trials in the character of the region you in-
habit, for the inhabitants of a region are subject
to the earth's Karma in that region. But remember
that wherever you find yourself you are there be-
cause you need the lessons of just those conditions.
And until you have mastered them, and the Law in
a natural way takes you elsewhere, it is useless
to try to escape them ; for if you run away they
will meet you in other and perhaps more trying
forms until conquered. Once understand what each
factor in your environment corresponds to sym-
bolically in your personal life and you have the key
to its mastery. Just as Nature conquers and over-
comes all difficulties arising from the environment
by adapting herself to them, so must you. Each
region has special advantages which compensate
in a measure for its drawbacks. The luxuriance of
growth which is denied to a rugged climate is
compensated for by the greater fragrance of its
flowers, the superior flavor of its fruits and the
greater energy of its inhabitants. So if your spirit-
ual growth seems hampered or dwarfed by an un-
congenial environment, remember that you must com-
pensate for this lack by giving forth greater perfume.

If your conditions permit the development of
many higher faculties and luxuriant spiritual
growth, do not forget to send forth the subtle per-
fume of love and attractiveness for which no amount
of mere growth, mere knowledge, mere intellectual
attainments can ever compensate. The perfume will
arise from your rose of life in proportion as you
conquer the factors in your life which hold you back.

The Voice of I sis 315

When the Angel of the Lord spake to Moses out
of the burning bush he said unto him, "Put off thy
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standeth is holy ground." x While this might have
a literal meaning in connection with the magnetic
forces of that particular spot, it has an inner sig-
nificance applicable to all disciples who can hear
the Angel of the Lord. It refers to an initiation.
The "bush" is the same thing often spoken of as
a Tree, the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil, etc. The tree is the spinal cord,
whose sap is the Kundalini force. It is the Tree of
Life and Death, until, by conscious power, this
force is lifted up and made to function in the cen-
tral canal of the spinal cord. Then it becomes the
Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden. To at-
tempt to force the development of this power or to
strive to awaken it without a personal teacher who
has mastered it, is to invite undreamed of disasters
on all planes and in all bodies. It should develop
only as the result of natural growth. The whole
story is most simple if looked at as an allegory
meant to symbolize an important initiation.

We read that "Moses kept the flock," and lead
them into the desert, i. e., he kept the flocks of
thoughts, inherited tendencies, passions and desires,
the portion of goods delivered to him by his Higher
Self to keep and control. "And he led the flock
to the backside of the desert and came to the
mountain of God." As all students, who have truly
undertaken to lead and guide the flocks belonging
to their lower personality, can verify, the first effect
of the attempt at control is to turn life into a lone-
some^ desert. How often do we hear the student

1 Exodus III, 1-5.

316 The Voice of Isis

complain that this period of sadness and depression
is as though he were forsaken and left alone in a
desert! Just as the shepherd, alone in the desert,
must fight off wild beasts, shield his flock from the
elements, find pasturage for them and keep them
from straying, so the neophyte must fight the lonely
battle with his lower personality in this desert of
depression that seems to have enwrapped him. But
when he reaches the darkest point — the backside of
the desert — he finds the Mountain of God. He can
only reach this Mount by fearlessly entering the
desert and conquering its terrors. Here "The
Angel of the Lord1 appeared unto him in a flame of
fire out of the midst of a bush ; and he looked, and,
behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush
was not consumed." He had met with a realization
of the fire of Divine Love ; the sun of Righteousness
had illumined his heart; he had arisen and met the
Lord. This point is reached when the pupil is able
to hear the voice of the Master. When the Kunda-
lini force has passed up through the spine and
touched the pineal gland2 — opened the third eye —
the disciple is able to see "the glory of the Lord"
surrounding him.

This is a physical effect which always accom-
panies spiritual illumination and is comparable to a
fire which burns without consuming. But while
this is a physical effect accompanying illumination,
remember it is not the cause of illumination,
merely an effect. And out of the midst of the
bush he will hear the voice of his Lord. But first
comes the summons "put off thy shoes from off thy
feet." As the feet symbolize spiritual understand-

1 The Angel of the Resurrection.

2 An organ in the brain whose function is unknown to physical sci-
ence. It is the organ of spiritual sight.

The Voice of I si* 317

ing, so the shoes symbolize a conception of Truth
which has been moulded and adapted to the under-
standing. Before the student can receive spiritual
illumination all old conceptions or coverings to his
understanding must be put off or laid aside that
the understanding may receive the Light direct. It
is not that the old conceptions must be despised,
for we do not despise our shoes when we take them
off, but that the understanding must be absolutely
unhampered before spiritual illumination can come.

The Law back of this manifests equally in the outer
world. The pioneer in any plane of activity must
turn aside from the path marked out by the dictum
of others. No doctor, scientist, or explorer ever
makes a great discovery until he metaphorically
puts off his shoes or drops the limitations imposed
by authority and strikes out into the unknown, un-
trammeled and free, even though he reach his .start-
ing point over a beaten pathway. When the disciple
does this he has reached a point where he can
receive definite instructions from the Master, and
the operation of natural forces and how to control
them and correlate with them in accord with the
divine Law of Harmony, is one of the first lessons
given.

Again we read, "He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet
upon a rock, and established my goings." * Miry
clay being non-porous, is the least magnetic, and
precludes the escape of the life-force from the earth,
while rocks, high hills and mountains are distinctly
advantageous.

Science is beginning to discover that it is the
earth itself that brings forth rather than the rain,
or even the sun. They have discovered that far

XL, 2.

318 The Voice of I sis

better crops can be raised when the top soil is kept
loose and pervious to the magnetic forces. In reach-
ing these results, however, it has not fully under-
stood the cause. The' wonderful results secured in
the arid land of the West without irrigation, by the
process called "dry farming," 1 is only proof that
Mother Earth holds within her bosom all the nour-
ishment needed to bring forth to perfection, if she
is given conditions under which she can absorb the
Father-force and transmute it within her womb. In
the process of dry farming the ground is ploughed
deeply, the subsoil packed firmly and the surface
pulverized, and kept loose and porous by frequent
harrowing. Phenomenal crops have been raised
where the rainfall was slight, and on ground con-
sidered for generations as arid and forever unpro-
ductive, owing to the impossibility of irrigation.

Science, while obtaining results, has only partially
solved the problem. It is not alone because this
method conserves the little rain that falls, for that
of itself would be inadequate to produce the won-
derful crops obtained. It is because the loose, porous
soil permits the absorption and out-breathing of the
forces to go on uninterruptedly, and the vital forces
from the sun, after being fecundated, can be sent
forth freely and in abundance. Those who have
never investigated this new process of farming will
marvel at the result, for it is real magic, the magic
of Mother Earth. It is the alchemy of the mother
transmuting the sand of the desert into gold-
golden grain for her children's sustenance.

It is early in the morning, just before sunrise, that
the magnetic forces are flowing most strongly up-
ward. This upward flow gradually decreases until

1 See U. S. Experiment Station Bulletins on "Dry Land Farming."
Cambell's "Soil Culture Manual," H. W. Cambell, Lincoln, Neb.

The Voice of Isis 319

at high noon the forces are equalized and then begin
to be indrawn again ; the Mother is drinking in the
power of her Lord, the Sun. Precisely the same
action is taking place at noon between the earth and
the sun, as takes place at the time of union between
man and woman. The Sun (masculine) is giving,
pouring out, and the earth (feminine) is receiving
and drawing into her womb the force that shall
fecundate and bring forth physical life. The very
first step in practical occultism is acquiring a knowl-
edge of how Mother Earth works her miracles, and
by what means the Divine Creative Force of the
Father combines with and fructifies the force of the
Mother, for "As above, so below."

Since at noon all the forces of Nature and man
are focused on the earth-plane it is wisest to have
the principle meal of the day at noon, for then the
physical forces can best transmute the food with the
least drain upon or disturbance of the higher forces.

From the above it is plain that the student should
contact the earth whenever possible. But, alas, this
is not always feasible in crowded cities ; for the
pavements, in varying degrees according to their
formation, are obstacles to the passage of the earth-
forces. Also the leakage from gas mains, electric
conduits, sewers, etc., are all deterents. The habits
of civilization which demand that the feet, created
to be the natural absorber and transmitter of these
forces, shall be encased in tight impervious shoes
also prevents contact with these forces. Shoes are a
necessity in cities, yet everyone should find time to
stand barefooted on the earth for a few moments early
in the morning.1

1 This is not a requirement of the Order, but is recommended. More
harm than good will result, however, if practiced only intermittently
on account of the liability to take cold. Porous moccasins may be worn,
and even shoes if of porous material.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE LIGHT.

"And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light." — Genesis I., 2-3.

"Fix they Soul's gaze upon the star whose ray
thou art, the flaming star that shines within the
lightless depths of ever-being, the boundless fields
of the unknown." — The Voice of the Silence,
B'nvatsky, Fragment II.

In The Voice of the Silence we read of four periods,
called "modes of Truth," l through which the Candi-
date for discipleship must pass ere his feet can be truly
planted upon the Path. Until he awakens to the desira-
bility of the spiritual life and has heard the Voice of
the Divine in his heart, the candidate is passing through
the first period, called in the Hindu Ku or the assem-
bling of misery, or walking in darkness. When his
gaze is turned toward the Star of Initiation he calls
down upon himself more rapidly his past Karma.
This period is called Tu or the assembling of tempta-
tions. In the third period he meets and conquers all
temptations and wipes out all old karmic debts, which
period is called Mu, the destruction of temptations.
And only in the fourth period, called Tau, does he
consciously enter upon the Path.

Just as the candidate requires four periods of crea-
tion through which he must pass ere he can create for
himself a new life and a new world (his Path), so in

1 "Ku, suffering or misery; Tu, the assembling of temptations; Mu.
their destruction: and Tau, the Path," p. 21,

The Voice of Isis 321

the creation of a planet there are four days or periods
in which there is a completion of mere earth condi-
tions (the Path of the planet) preparatory to the real
purpose of evolution, which is to prepare a field (the
Path) for the continued evolution of mankind.

The first creation is that of light, symbolizing the
light of The Christos which breaks into the darkness
of man's ignorance and sin and turns his attention to-
ward a higher life. This light perceived in his heart is
called the Star of Initiation because the first glimpse of
its glory initiates him into a new world, and the memory
of that flash leaves him no peace until he seeks its
source. This Light shines in the darkness of the un-
awakened Soul and the darkness comprehendeth it
not; it moves like the Spirit of God over the face of
the restless waters of humanity and awakens to life
that which is latent therein. The darkness is pregnant
with the potencies of all things, both good and evil,
which at the breaking forth of the light become
energized with new life and begin their slow evolution
toward perfection. As with the earth when God said,
"Let there be light," so with the candidate. The
instant he perceives the light of The Christ within,
every hidden thing within him is energized and awak-
ened to activity; for only by this fermentation can
the evil be transmuted and evolve into good.

In the second period is created a firmament and
the waters are separated from the waters. In the life
of the candidate this period is passed in learning to
separate his higher from his lower nature ; in learning
to separate the desires (symbolized by water — illusion)
which drag him down from those which tend toward
the higher life. By this separation he creates for
himself a positive ideal toward which to strive
(heaven) and recognizes the overshadowing of his

322 The Voice of Isis

Higher Self (the firmament). The acquired meaning
of the word firmament is to make firm, the true
meaning being an expanse or the circle within which
a definite creation takes place. In the second period
the candidate creates for himself a definite circle or
defines the limits of his spiritual aura within which
must evolve his spiritual body, just as the earth
evolves within its firmament or the limits of its
auric zone.1

In the third period the dry land, the seas and all
vegetation producing seed after its kind is created.
In the candidate this is the period in which he
brings forth and conquers his lower nature. He
here gains the power of standing on a firm foun-
dation (the dry land) and separating from this all
that is illusory (the sea). He deliberately plants,
and by the power of the Divine Will, brings forth
such seeds as he chooses. Only when this is accom-
plished to a greater or lesser degree can he really
enter the Path itself. Only when he has grasped
enough of the philosophy of the workings of the
Divine Law to give him a reason for the faith that
is within him, a reason that cannot be shaken by
doubts or sophistries, can he have a firm foundation
upon which to stand.

Each pupil is passing through one of these periods
of creation, but only when he has reached the fourth
has he really created the Path. In ancient Temples
the sacred shrine was approached by seven steps,
the fourth of which was a broad terrace upon which
most of the ceremonies took place. Only the few
initiated priests and priestesses were permitted to
ascend the higher steps ; for the fourth step symbolized
the Path and only those who had conquered the

1 See the meaning of the circle in Chapter XXXIV.

The Voice of Isis 323

steps of approach and had created the Path could
go higher. Some of you have reached this fourth
step or period, while most of you are struggling
upon one of the three lower, still assembling the
various trials and temptations which must be met
and conquered ere the Path is entered.

The trials that come to you are more than mere
tests. When the gods said, "Let there be light"
the light began to penetrate into the darkness —
the cast-off matter of a previous world period, all
that had not been transmuted into good. This is
the outer darkness into which the unprofitable
servant is cast,1 which simply means that all the
matter which should be the servant of its Lord
(The Christ), but which fails to respond during
one period of manifestation, must pass through
a period of outer darkness or lie in the grave until
the resurrection or the dawn of the next Manvan-
tara.2 In many respects the darkness might be
compared to a compost heap into which all refuse,
effete and unusable matter is cast, there to ferment
in darkness until the next springtime when it can
be spread upon the earth and its life-force, trans-
muted by the powers of the elements, can be
utilized to bring forth flowers, fruits and grains
for the service and sustenance of man. This accu-
mulated mass is darkness because it is composed
of dead matter, incapable of reflecting light. In
the same way the candidate in his past lives has
left a trail of darkness composed of effete emana-
tions which he has failed to redeem. This is often
poetically alluded to as the trail of the serpent. In
The Voice of The Silence, "It is the shadow of thyself

1 St. Matthew XXV, 30.

* A day period of the world as contrasted with a night period or
PraJaya.

324 The Voice of Isis

outside the Path, cast on the darkness of thy sins."
Like the darkness of Chaos, it is pregnant with the
germs of that which must ultimately come into the
light and be redeemed by its creator, i. e., be trans-
muted into force that shall bring forth life more
abundantly.

It was only in the fourth day that the path of the
earth's evolution was really entered upon, i. e., when
the greater and lesser lights, the stars, the days and
nights, the times and seasons were created. Only
when this period was reached was the earth ready for
the evolution brought over from a past world period
to continue.

The loathsome, creeping things of the darkness were
not created by the Light, but were all in the darkness
simply awaiting the energerizing force of the Light
to quicken them. The Light was sent into the dark-
ness not to stir up evil, but by the Omniscient Law,
which recognizes that only by fulfilling its destiny can
evil be transmuted into good. The evil weeds must
grow, be uprooted, die and give their life-force back to
the soil ere their power can manifest as food for man.
So with the candidate. He must penetrate the darkest
depths of his being and not deny, but face and recog-
nize all he finds therein ere he can conquer. This he
does through the divine power of The Christ when he
says, "Let there be light." There is then created in him
two great lights, the masculine force of the sun and the
feminine force of the moon, the greater to rule the day,
the lesser the night. The sun-force is the masculine
quality of reason which gives him light, courage and
power to grapple with the temptations and problems
of his everyday life, while the moon-force — lesser only
in that it is less apparent — is the Intuition which will
illumine his darkest night and give him the power to
understand the forces of his inner nature.

The Voice of his 325

The instant the Star of Initiation sends down this
two-fold ray into the darkness of his earth life, every
creeping thing, not only in his heart, but also in his
environment, comes forth. The instant he speaks the
Word all this darkness filled with thought-currents of
evil — powerful, malignant, deadly beyond description,
but heretofore inert, asleep, quiescent — will be stirred
into life, in this way precipitating his Karma upon
him. In the creation of the earth it was the assembled
gods (the Elohim) who spake, the word, "Let there
be light," and the chaotic mass out of which the new
world was to evolve began its evolution. It was the
off-scourings, that which They themselves had left
behind when They reached Godhood in previous world
periods, and consequently it was Their own creation
and Theirs to redeem. So with the candidate. The
darkness, the evil, the temptations that assail him are
his own. He has created them in ages past. And
when he comes to this conscious step where, of his
own free-will, he determines to create his Immortal
Body, all this left over material must be purified and
redeemed ; for only out of it can he build his Immortal
Habitation.

Try to think of a God Consciousness so comprehend-
ing this law and so recognizing the needs of the crea-
tures of the darkness and so filled with the determina-
tion to bring good out of evil that, in speaking the
Word, the full comprehension of all the steps of the
evolution of the chaotic darkness, with the attendant
suffering and misery through which it must pass as
a result of the purifying process, was fully grasped.
Moreover, having the consciousness that the light He
was sending into the darkness was His very Self, His
consciousness, His Soul-substance, and that all the
sin and suffering that man would pass through on the
road to redemption would be His own; that every

326 The Voice of Isis

pang must be suffered with a God-like power to under-
stand its keenest bitterness, still, in divine compassion,
seeing the end from the beginning would neverthe-
less speak the Word unfalteringly, and in speaking
it take upon Himself the whole burden of the trans-
mutation of the evil into good. This is the true mean-
ing of redemption through love. For the world was
not redeemed by the crucifixion of one man — however
much that man manifested The Christ, and however
much of the darkness was redeemed thereby. It is
by the daily and hourly crucifixion of the conscious
power of the Godhead (The Christ) in matter, the
living in the darkness and suffering with it until, atom
by atom, the whole is transmuted by His life-force
(the symbolic "blood,") that the redemption of the
world is accomplished. Every earnest Soul who recog-
nizes this principle and takes upon himself the redemp-
tion of his own creations thus becomes a redeemer
to that extent, and releases The Christ from the cross
through the crucifixion of his own personality.

Do not think of The Christ as an impersonal force,
a mere law of action, but as the full consciousness
of the Godhead which is literally "wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the
chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with
his stripes are we healed,"1 for "In him (The Christ)
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Some
conception of this divine sacrifice must penetrate the
consciousness of every sincere follower of the Light,
and in a lesser sense he must have the same willing-
ness to suffer and endure with and through his crea-
tions— and for the same reason, i. e., that Divine
Compassion which "would not that any perish, but
all have eternal life." This is an effort to make your
finite minds grasp an infinite reality, but at least a

* Isaiah LIII, 5.

The Voice of Isis 327

faint conception of this Infinite Love and Compassion
and yearning to create and redeem must be grasped
ere the candidate can hope to set foot upon the Path.
For this thought is the illumination given by the Star
of Initiation or the Light shining in the darkness.
Only the light of this star or this Divine Love can
give him strength to brave "the lions in the way."
The vision of the Light may be but a fleeting glimpse,
but it will awaken within him a response that will
forever urge him on until victory is attained.

If you carry this lesson into your own lives you will
see why so many undreamed of trials and temptations
are the first result of your determination to lead a
spiritual life. The more powerful the Light, the
more earnestly you determine to lay every corner of
your life open to it, the more you let the Light shine
out into the darkness of surrounding conditions, the
more will the germs of unsuspected traits and tempta-
tions awaken to life and assail you and evil conditions
surround you, conditions of sickness, poverty, lack
of love and appreciation and many other adverse
things. These conditions do not come to you to hurt
you, nor are they sent by any great Being who desires
to see you squirm — as a scientist might impale a
beetle on a pin or cut out a frog's heart to see how
long it would beat — but they come to you, their cre-
ator, to be redeemed because they were latent in your
personality, and the first beams of The Christ-star
penetrating the darkness awakened them to life. They
are not sent to see you prove your strength by con-
quering them, although you grow stronger with
everything you conquer, but they are the denizens of
your deep, creatures of your own past evil thoughts ;
the devils which behold The Christ (the Light) and
tremble. The word tremble is not used here with the

328 The Voice of Isis

idea of fear, but with the idea of quivering with the
vibrations of the new life as it imparts a higher rate
of vibration to the latent substance of evil. Hence a
recognition of this fact and a determination to re-
deem all by the power of The Christ will transmute
it into good.

Therefore do not be surprised if things assail you
more than formerly. Do not expect that seeking
for Spiritual Wisdom will make life easy or will
mean that all your trials are over. Do not seek The
Christ-life for the purpose of making your pathway
in life smooth, your body free from disease or your
environment free from inharmony and trial, for if
you seek it for this purpose know well that you
have not really spoken the creative Word and must
reap bitter disappointment. These things must come,
but if you are strong and determined and earnest
and fearless, and keep on crying, 'Let there be light/'
you will have the power of the Light to pass this
step; for this step is the destruction or transmuta-
tion of all temptations into the strength necessary
to enter consciously into the Path.

Take courage. Never say, "I cannot," for by the
power of The Christ within you can. There is
nothing in yourself or your environment that you
cannot transmute into good, for all constitute the
"worldly goods" given you by your Father-in-heaven,
out of which you must create your Immortal Hab-
itation. Whatsoever you put behind you and say
you cannot conquer today, must pass into the outer
darkness (outer, in that it is out of your present
life), there to remain until you are strong enough
once more to take it up and redeem it.

Your loving Father will help you. In tenderest pity
he sees your struggles and your despair. But if you give

The Voice of Isis 329

up and cry "I cannot," then, in mercy, you are lifted
out of the Path and another night's sleep is given you in
which to gather strength — you must await the light
of another day. For, know well that you must come
again and take up the task again and again until all is
redeemed.

It is often remarked that many reach a certain point
of development and then apparently fall back. This
means that they have failed in some important task
and are awaiting the coming of a new day period.
But "the enemies he slew in the last battle will not
return to life in the next birth that will be his."

Fear not. Go forward, even though the darkness
be full of life. "If thou wouldst not be slain by
them, then must thou harmless make thy own crea-
tions, the children of thy thoughts, unseen, impal-
pable, that swarm around humankind, the progeny
and heirs to man and his terrestrial spoils." 1 But
if thou "Fix thy Soul's gaze upon the star whose
ray thou art," it will lead thee into the Path.

Be not discouraged, for you are able and strong.
You shall come forth victorious, but ask not that one
drop of bitterness pass until all is transmuted ; until
you have drained the cup, and in its dregs have
found the Jewel of Great Price, for which a man will
sell all that he hath to possess. Keep on crying,
"Let there be light." Create and redeem. For
thereby shall you pass through the fifth and sixth
periods and shall come to the seventh, when ye
shall rest from your labors and the God Within
shall see His creations and pronounce them good.

Just as this is true of each individual, so is it
true of this Movement. And as a Movement it
must pass through the same periods or stages. The
trumpet blast has gone forth, "Let there be light!"

1 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment III.

330 The Voice of Isis

and all the hosts of evil are stirring into activity
at the sound. The Movement must be created by
the united effort of every candidate, for each is in-
dividually responsible for its success. "Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and hav-
ing done all, to stand . . . and above all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." x

1 Ephesians VI, 13-16.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE TWO TABLES OF STONE.

"And he gave unto Moses, when he had made
an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai,
two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written
with the finger of God"— Exodus, XXXI-18.

"Therefor, the Kabalists say correctly that 'Man
becomes a stone, a plant, an animal, a man, a
spirit, and finally God/ thus accomplishing his
cycle or circuit and returning to the point from
which he started as the Heavenly Alan. The
Secret Doctrine," Blavasky, Vol. II, 196.

The great Law of the Universe, that which mani-
fests forever in man, atom and world as the law of
spiritual evolution, works forever onward and up-
ward toward more perfect manifestations. This
freat Law, or the Flame of Divine Love burns
Drever, sending out its light, its sparks and its
fire-mist, which, cooling gradually, condenses into
ethereal and later into what we know as dense mat-
ter, producing the physical aspect of planets, crea-
tures, men. The law under which this force of
Divine Love operates is unchangeable, but its mani-
festations in any system of worlds are guided and
varied by the Planetary Deities or the Divine Intel-
ligences ruling the planets composing the system.
In our solar system these great Beings are called,
in the Bible, the Archangels or the Elohim1 and in
the Eastern teachings, the Rishies.

This earth is the culminating point of this system,
but in some respects the least evolved. It is the
point of greatest descent, the lowest arc of outward

i Note use of the plural in Genesis iii, 22.

332 The Voice of Isis

ongoing, where, having reached its lowest mani-
festation in matter, the Law must turn and evolve
upward. Ere the Law can gather up the forces of
the other six planets, complete the last note in the
octave of this solar system and make it the first
note of a higher octave of planetary manifestation,
there must be a great testing and balancing, both
of its inhabitants and of the planet as a whole.

In the foundation of this solar system it was the
force of Saturn — as Lucifer, Star of the Morning —
that was the first to emanate from the symbolic
dot in the circle and expand into the circle itself,
or the limits of manifestation during this great
cycle ; the circumference of which God is the center.
His is the force of inertia, of stability, of perfect
balance of the positive and negative forces, without
which a cosmic center could not manifest in matter;
without which the other planetary forces could not
act; and as Cronus the Reaper his force will be the
last to be withdrawn or return to the bosom of the
Infinite. It is Saturn who says: "I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and
the last." x In the book of Harmes we read : "Among
the Gods is none like unto him, into whose hand
are committed the kingdoms, the power and the
glory of the worlds. . . . Many names hath God
given him, names of mystery, secret and terrible.
God calleth him Satan the Adversary, because Matter
opposeth Spirit, and Time accuseth even the saints
of the Lord. . . . For Satan is the magistrate of
the Justice of God (Karma) : he beareth the balance
and the sword. . . . Therefore Satan is the Min-
ister of God, Lord of the seven mansions of Hades
( matter, our earth), the Angel of the manifested

1 Revelation XXII, 13.

The Voice of Isis 333

worlds." 1 As the Great Tester2 and Initiator, Saturn
initiated man into the mystery of the power to
create, by the right use of which he shall eat of
the Tree of Immortal Life and became as the gods.3
It is the perfect balancing of its positive and nega-
tive manifestations and the right use of this godlike
power to create that is the great test of mankind.
Upon the mastering of this problem the fate of this
planet depends. "Thus 'Satan,' . . . grows into
the grandiose image of one who makes of a terres-
trial, a divine Man; who gives him, throughout the
long cycle of Mahakalpa, the law of the Spirit of
Life, and makes him free from the Sin of Ignorance,
hence of Death." 4

Saturn, then, is one of the Elohim who "falls" 5
from heaven to take charge of the evolution of man
on this lowest planet, the densest field of manifesta-
tion He it is who becomes the Law-giver, he
who writes "with the finger of God" the great Law
of Divine Love upon the two tables of stone, or
man and woman, now for the first time manifesting
in separate, dense, physical bodies. He stands upon
the top of Mount Meru or Mount Sinai, the moun-
tain of the gods, and delivers to man the Law.
Those who can behold him see that his countenance
—as Lucifer, Son of the Morning, the Herald of a
new day — shines with the light of Divinity, but for
the multitude he is hidden by the devouring fire and
the clouds of smoke and they know him only as
the Tester, the Adversary. For the enlightened he
is the Fire of the Lord ; for the multitude, the cloud
upon the mountain. This same idea is symbolized

1 Quoted in The Perfect Way, King^ford Appendix XV.

'Job, chapter I.

3 Genesis, III, 22.

« The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I, 220.

5 Isaiah, XIV, 12.

334 The Voice of Isis

in the Bible by Moses receiving the Law on Mount
Sinai, Mount Sin, the Mount of the Moon, or gen-
eration and regeneration. "The numbers of the
name 'Moses' (345) are those of 1 Am That I Am,'
(543), so that Moses and Jehovah are at one in
numerical harmony." 1 But the numbers are re-
versed, hence Moses is but the reflection on earth of
the Law-giver on high. Therefore, I Am That I
Am, Moses, Mikael-Jehovah, the tribal god of the
Hebrews, and Satan or Saturn are all symbols of
varying aspects of the one great Law-giver.

In all philosophies and scriptures we find the term
"stone" used not in a literal, but in a mystical sense.
One fundamental meaning of this symbol is that
power or force which is the foundation of man's
manifested existence. Man is symbolized by a stone
because here on this lowest of the planets he has
reached his densest expression or state of con-
sciousness, a state so dense — from the viewpoint of
his Divine Consciousness — that it is like that of a
stone as compared with man. The old Alchemists
also used the term "stone" in a symbolic way. One
meaning of the Philosopher's Stone, the Alkahest
or Elixir of Life is the perfect blending of the mas-
culine and feminine forces or the transmutation of
the base principles into a perfect harmony which
turns everything it touches into pure spiritual gold.

Only when man had reached the point of densest
materiality did the Great Law, working through
Saturn or Mikael-Jehovah, make it possible for him
to manifest this foundation stone of his spiritual
evolution upon two separate tables. Hitherto man
had been androgynous and ethereal, but because he
had reached his densest state it was necessary that
this "stone" be broken or that the positive and

1 The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 11-568.

The Voice of Isis 335

negative aspects of the creative force be separated
in order to manifest in physical matter. For the
dense animal bodies of the first physical race1 (the
Third Race) were able to manifest only the lower
aspect of the positive force and were utterly unable
to manifest the negative or feminine force.

The perfect balancing of these two forces — which
Saturn demands before the Soul, on its return jour-
ney, can reach its Father's house — is the great task
which humanity must fulfill in spirit and in truth.
But it can t>e fulfilled only when the two tables of
stone become one. The positive aspect of the Law
is written upon the masculine table in positive,
raised letters. This table has been set up in the
market-place and its laws have dominated the world.
The negative aspect is graven deep into the feminine
table and its markings have been filled with the
mire and filth of man's lusts, so that for ages he has
been unable to read the writing and has imagined
that the Law was written only on his own table and
that the feminine table was a blank given to him
as a toy, upon which, with his soiled and clumsy
finger, he could trace whatever characters he de-
sired. Sometimes he has striven to write beautiful
eulogies, but in most cases lust and dominion have
been his themes. And so through all the Dark
Ages of man's mentality the idea prevailed that
this feminine stone was man's, to use as he would.
But the fires of suffering into which man has cast
the negative stone is purifying its clay and is burn-
ing the divine characters into her Soul so that
she knows the law of her being is Divine and is per-
verted only by man's refusal to recognize the writ
ing and give her her true place by his side.

1 The first two Races were ethereal, not physical.

336 The Voice of Isis

In the Bible we read of the stone that was rejected
by the builders, but which, through the power of
The Christ is to become the chief stone of the corner.
But this mystic stone can not be perfected and
become the cornerstone of the Temple of the New
Humanity until its two halves are united, until the
positive letters of the one fit into the negative
characters of the other and the two are fused into
one through the power of The Christ. Until this
cycle in the world's history every system of religion
and exoteric philosophy has rejected the feminine
stone and either taught the absolute separation of
the sexes — segregating women in convents and men
in monasteries — or has in some way rejected woman
and forced the stones to remain separate, even to the
extent of denying to woman a Soul and barring her
from Paradise except to minister to man's desires.
The day of the fulfillment of the prophecy is now
dawning, and those who can grasp the significance
of the blending of the two tables of the Law have
a great work to do, that the coming sixth sub-race
may lay this chief cornerstone, upon which alone
the Temple of Humanity can be erected by the
Sixth and Seventh Great Races.

Humanity is facing its great Initiation. Mikael-
Moses has brought down the two tables of stone.
And it must be you, if you are ready with clean
hands and a pure heart, who must set up these tables
in the Holy of Holies, instead of the market-place,
and read out of them the Law to the children of
earth who are so eagerly waiting to learn. Indi-
vidually, at the very entrance to the Path back to
Eden, there confronts you the Angel of the Flaming
Sword, Mikael, the great Regent of Saturn, with
the two tables of the Law. He gives them to you

The Voice of Isis 337

saying: "This is the Law; this the problem. Learn
ye it. Work it out and teach it to the children of
earth." Why is it such an enigma? Why must
the cloud and the burning of the mountain hide
him from your sight? Why do you let the world
go on worshiping the golden calf, leaving the great
problem of the Law to be solved by the few who
are unafraid and who are willing to climb the Mount
of Attainment and receive their great test ?

The children of earth are making mock, are degrading
themselves and burying the Law beneath the hor-
rible mire of their own sensuality, because they
will not read it from its two tables. Again and again
have the Prophets of the Lord sought to bring the
Law before the multitude. And many sincere teach-
ers who have led their followers out of the dark-
ness of Egypt, after wandering many years in the
wilderness and laboriously climbing the mountain
and receiving the dual Law, have, nevertheless,
cast it out of their control and broken it. And even
though they may be the means of pointing the way
to the Promised Land to many followers, these
teachers, like Moses, will be debarred from entering
in during this incarnation.

It takes clean hands and pure hearts and brave,
determined Souls to lift this banner of the Law
before the world, but it must be accomplished. This
is the beginning of a new cycle, when an advanced
step must be taken in this old, old problem. Every
Soul who is now interested in it has in ages past
been among those who have tried and failed and
suffered. But there must now come the strength
of all the past efforts and the wisdom which the
suffering has impressed upon each Soul. Many
as women have had the iron of slavery driven deep

338 The Voice of Isis

into their Souls and hence find within them an in-
born quality which cries out not for vengeance, but
recognition, equality and readjustment. Others as
men have helped trample under foot the feminine
stone and striven to obliterate the writing of the
finger of God, yet have found their boasted suprem-
acy unsatisfying. They have felt the need for some-
thing more than a plaything, more than a household
drudge and child-bearer, more even than an en-
shrined idol. The Soul knows its need of that
help which can only come from the complement
which God himself has supplied. For the manifes-
tations of the Law having been separated, neither
can be complete without the other. They are like
children who are reading an interesting story, but
who have lost the sequel. They find life an un-
finished story. So the two types — all those who
have reached the point of evolution where the Soul-
cry is heard — are ready for the readjustment and
are crying out for something that shall make straight
the crooked paths and lighten the great burden of
misery for the world.

The natural outgrowth of these karmic conditions
is unrest and dissatisfaction in marital relations.
The woman-question is a burning one. Many are
eager for political freedom, some few as eager to
prevent it. But the political side of the question is
but a bubble upon the surface of the greater ques-
tion of the unification of the two tables of stone,
showing that the great stream of humanity is pass-
ing over shoals which cause the bubbles to come
to the surface. Only as humanity reaches into its
deeper levels and its foaming waters and conflict-
ing currents have been blended into one steady
stream, can it flow in peace and power down the

The Voice of Isis 339

channels of time, watering all the land and making
the desert places in life bloom as the rose. Man-
kind must recognize that the Law can never be
fulfilled until its two tables have been cleansed
from the pollution that obscures the writing and
each has been given its true value and they have
been fitted together and become one. Then it will
be seen that neither man nor woman is superior,
nor can either, by any possibility, rightfully usurp
the place or perform the duties of the other; in
fact, neither one can fulfill the whole Law without
the harmonious blending and co-operation of the other.
Man is the positive expression of the Law on the
physical-plane, but negative upon the spiritual-
plane. Hence, it was necessary that he dominate
during those stages of evolution in which the
conquering of the rude outward conditions of
physical life were of prime importance to the wel-
fare of the Race. In the united life of the family
to him belongs the conditions of the outer world,
the physical labor, the fighting, the providing for
and protecting of the home, the execution of that
which is planned by the two, in fact, all outward
manifestations of the Law. True woman is positive
upon the spiritual-plane, where man is negative, and
negative upon the physical-plane, where man is
positive. To her belongs the control of all those
questions which deal with the higher life. She
must use her intuition in the directing of all activ-
ities pertaining to the altruistic side of life, just as
man uses his reason in worldly affairs. She should
be man's moral and spiritual monitor and should
be his source of inspiration and spiritual help. The
two should work co-equally in all matters.

340 The Voice of I sis

Many masculine Souls now incarnated in feminine ,
bodies are working strenuously and with all the
masculine characteristics to bring about the polit-
ical freedom of woman which they were instru-
mental in preventing her from obtaining in the past.
But it is the true feminine influence that is needed
in the political arena, not masculine influence
in feminine garb; for it is just as necessary there
as in the home, the state and nation being
but a larger family. No business or worldly affairs
should be carried on without the inspiration and
moral sanction of woman, and no feminine plans
be carried out without man's active help and co-
operation in making them positive and practical
on the earth-plane. In other words, woman, while
she cultivates her intuition, love, sympathy and
spiritual aspiration, should have those qualities
balanced by reason, logic, courage and common-
sense. Man, while cultivating the positive qualities
of courage, reason and executive ability, should
balance them with love, sympathy and intuition.
The two should blend perfectly just as Spirit pene- '
\ trates matter and is the cause back of all outward
evolution, yet without which outward form it could
not manifest on earth. Just as both sun and water
are essential to the growing plant, an excess of
either bringing disaster, but the perfect blending
of the two making the earth bring forth in abun-
dance, so should the perfect blending of man and
woman make this earth a fertile field for the perfect
evolution of the New Humanity. Only thus can the
two tables of stone fit into each other and be fused
by the power of The Christ into the chief stone
of the corner, upon which the fire of Divine Love
may act co-equally to transmute it into pure spir-
itual gold.

CHAPTER XXVI.

HEALING PRAYER.

Oh thou loving and helpful Master Jesus !
Thou who gavest to thy disciples power to heal
the sick!

We, recognizing Thee, and realizing Thy divine
presence within us, ask Thee to lay Thy hands
upon us in healing Love.

Cleanse us from all our sins, and by the divine
power of Omnipotent Life, drive out the atoms
of inharmony and disease, and fill our bodies full
to overflowing with Life, and Love, and Purity.

Many pupils when they receive this prayer either
address it to a personal Jesus or refuse to use it
at all because they object to praying to a person-
ality, be he ever so godlike. We wish it under-
stood, therefore, that in this prayer we do not
pray to the man Jesus but that we recognize Him as
the high Master who is at the head of the Healing
Hierarchy, ever ready to answer such a call as this
prayer sends out. Only such a call can pierce the
clouds that hide the earthly from the Divine, and make
a channel through which the divine healing forces
can reach you.

We also use the name Jesus because of its great
potency, the name Jesus having been used for cen-
turies in connection with the thought of personal
help and healing power. "To utter a Name is not
only to define a Being, but to place it under, and
condemn (obligate) it through the emission of the
Word to the influence of, one or more Occult poten-
cies. Things are, for every one of us, that which it
(the Word) makes them while naming them." *

TThe Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I, 121.

342 The Voice of Isis

Therefore do not hold the erroneous idea that
you are to worship any personalized deity, be He
ever so high, but endeavor to realize the divine
Presence within you of The Christ-force which the
Bible allegory makes a living factor in the world
and which the Master Jesus personifies. Pause
for one moment and try to grasp the idea that to
realize the presence of the Great Healer, as in the
prayer you say you do, is for the moment, while
the realization lasts, to become one with the
Divine. You then understand that the Real Self
is not a mere personality made up of wornout and
dying atoms, but is something Divine, one with
God, all holy and all powerful, one with all good
from eternity to eternity. This realization may be
but a flash, but in that flash you have partaken
of all that can be imagined of power and strength
and glory. With this understanding of the prayer never
repeat it without pausing at the words and realiz-
ing the Divine Presence within you, for it is not
something outside yourself, but an inflow of the
Divine made possible by the opening of your heart
and consciousness.

If your eyes could be opened to see the effect
the repetition of this prayer produces on the higher
planes, the forces it brings to your aid, you would
realize its beauty and its power.

When you say "lay Thy hands upon us in healing
love," it is a literal adaptation of the words, "Thou
hast made Thine angels Thy handmaidens, and Thy
ministers a flaming sword ;" for the angelic hosts min-
ister to all pure hearts who desire their help. The
hands which you ask the great Master to lay upon
your head are His powers to accomplish, which powers
are executed by this host of angels who have the

The Voice of Isis 343

power to carry the divine force to you. When you
recite it in harmony, the angels crowd around you
like flocks of doves, to ward off harmful forces
and protect the germ of your physical, mental and
spiritual life. For it is a spiritual battle-cry calling
to your aid the angelic hosts whose joy it is to
succor those who fight the good fight. The Bible
speaks of the angels as always beholding the face
of The Christ ; that is, their development is such that
they can see nothing on the earth-plane but The
Christ-principle, or the face of The Christ, in each
heart. If that face is obscured by clouds of selfish-
ness and impurity they cannot see you, and conse-
quently cannot bring you help. But the instant
the cry for help goes up from the heart, they fly
to your aid at the command of their Leader.

Angels have always been recognized, under vari-
ous names, in all religions. They belong to a dif-
ferent evolution from humanity, although closely
allied, and necessarily have different lessons to
learn and different work to do. They are com-
plementary to humanity, strong where humanity
is weak; weak where humanity is strong. They
stand to humanity as a true wife should stand to
her husband ; in fact, they may be said to repre-
sent the feminine aspect of humanity. They are
the "Ministers and Stewards of the Mysteries," the
"hosts of the Lord" that carry out His commands.
They are the go-betweens and messengers, and
have a might and a power unknown to mortal man.
We must never forget the love we owe these min-
istering ones.

Upon the highest plane of Spirit, life is the One
Life which can be nothing but perfection. The
repetition of this prayer is like a projectile fired

344 The Voice of Isis

through the earth's atmosphere creating a passage
through which the One Life must necessarily flow.
As it passes from plane to plane it manifests upon
the soul-plane — the plane of creation and of re-
demption— as spiritual love. Thus does the Son of
God (the One Life) descend from His Father to
redeem the world through love. When this spiritual
love reaches the plane of generation, the physical
plane, its manifestation in the body is purity. Thus
The Christ manifests on the spiritual-plane as the
One Life, on the soul-plane as Love and on the
physical-plane as Purity.

This is the rationale of all healing, and a thor-
ough recognition and realization of the presence
of this spiritual life-force, and its working out in
a three-fold manner, produces that harmony which
is health to both mind and body. It also har-
monizes conditions in your environment. Unkind-
ness or hatred in your heart produce inharmony
and sickness by condensing your aura and shutting
out this force of life from you. If you send a
thought of hatred toward a person you put a wall
around yourself which only your own loving
thoughts, and prayers such as the above, can pierce
and break down, and which shuts out the life-
force from you and permits disease to flourish.

Whenever you desire help, physical, mental or
spiritual, either for yourself or others, repeat this
prayer, meditating on each word and trying to
realize its true meaning on all planes of your being.
Realize that there are currents of spiritual force
which are potent and bring renewed life and
strength to your physical body as well as peace
and content to your mind and happiness and joy

The Voice of Isis 345

to your Soul. And in this prayer you are con-
sciously invoking these forces.

As the Master Jesus gave to His disciples the
power to heal the sick, and has never withdrawn
that gift, so every true disciple who firmly believes
this, and faithfully strives to manifest The Christ-
principle within him, has now the power, through
the laying on of hands (by the summoning of the
angelic hosts), to bring this One Life into mani-
festation, and thus dissipate ills and promote health
and harmony.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE SILENCE.

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to
thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."—
St. Matthew VI, 6.

We have so many inquiries from our pupils for
some method by which they can strengthen their wills
and hasten their spiritual growth that we desire to
give a brief outline of the first stages of this process.

We cannot emphasize too strongly the fact that there
is but one way to grow, i. e., according to the Law
of Growth followed by Nature. "Grow as the flower
grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open
its soul to the air. So must you press forward to
open your soul to the eternal. But it must be the
eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not
desire for growth. For in the one case you develop in
the luxuriance of purity, in the other you harden by
the forcible passion for personal stature." 1 In this
one paragraph is contained the great secret of all
growth and the student must grasp its significance
and master it. Indeed, until the essence of the truth
underlying the above direction has been mastered
and incorporated into the consciousness, to attempt
any practice calculated to unfold inner faculties is
fraught with grave dangers. We begin this chapter,
therefore, with the injunction to all our pupils to take
the ideas contained in the above quotation and medi-
tate upon them until they are fully understood —

1 Light on the Path, p. 5.

The Voice of Isis 347

understood not as words merely, but as vital life ex-
periences— ere they attempt further advance.

The student should pause here and clearly distin-
guish between concentration, meditation, prayer and
entering the Silence. Concentration is focusing the
attention upon a chosen object or idea. It is the
first step toward accomplishing any given end, either
in the physical, mental or higher worlds. Meditation
is turning over in the mind a thought or idea that
you may see it from every standpoint and grasp all
its phases and relations. It is an active mental pro-
cess which occupies the undercurrents of your mind
even while it may be overseeing more superficial
affairs. The proof that we can meditate while en-
gaged in daily affairs is found in the fact that if we
have some great joy or sorrow it will remain in the
background of our consciousness no matter what we
do to distract our attention from it. Apply the same
principle to your spiritual life and make the attain-
ment of that life your main thought and aim.

Prayer is an aspiration of the Soul toward the
Divine. It may also be a request, not for creature com-
forts or physical things — answers to such prayers are
but the result of mental magic — but for spiritual food,
love, light, courage, etc. In fact prayer creates a mag-
netic line of force which unites you with the supply.
Entering the Silence is an ecstatic state in which the
human consciousness is transcended and, while it lasts,
all sense of the personality is lost. While we teach
that life itself brings to the earnest seeker all the
discipline necessary to strengthen his will, and that
the ruling of his life brings the most rapid spiritual
growth, still it is well to have a definite time set apart
each day for concentration upon the end for which
he is striving.

348 The Voice of Isis

To meditate upon the above quotation let the pupil
set apart a certain time each day, preferably in the
early morning — rising ten or fifteen minutes earlier if
necessary — and sit in a quiet spot (in the same chair,
if possible) and repeat the foregoing passage with
a prayer for light and understanding, and meditate
upon it. Try to picture mentally the growth of a
flower. Follow every step of its enfoldment; first
the tiny seed buried in the dark earth, then the force
within that seed which makes it, bye and bye, burst
through its confining shell. Let your mind enter into,
in fact for the time being, become this flower. Dwell
upon the period of darkness necessary while the seed
is sending forth its thread-like feelers, groping every-
where in the dark and gathering nourishment from
the earth. With unerring instinct it follows the law of
its being, selecting such nutriment as will assist its
growth and rejecting that which is inharmonious. Fol-
low the seedling through every phase of its growth.
At each step apply the same law to vou own growth.
Think of the Soul as planted in the darkness and
loneliness of the material conditions of this earth, yet
containing within it the possibilities of fruition — its
immortal destiny.

Do not trv to follow the seed through every step of
its life-journey at the first sittine: but meditate day
after day upon one step or stage of growth, correlating
yourself with it until yott are sure you have mastered
its lessons and have realized their application to your
own spiritual growth. Above all make the point
very clear that the seed has no personal desire to grow,
nor to excel some other seed, but that it is fully
occupied in fulfilling the law of its beinsf. "to open
its soul to the air." When you have mastered one
phase of growth you are ready to pass on to the next.

The Voice of Isis 349

And only when you have, at least in some measure
grasped all the lessons thus taught you, are you ready
to enter into the Silence, where you can learn from
the Divine and hear the voice of your Higher Self
"the Master whom as yet thou hast not seen but whom
thou feelest." For only when the flower blooms does
it open its heart to the silent power of the sun and
drink in the magnetic forces which could not be assim-
ilated until the bloom unfolded. In the same way must
the student open his heart to the Sun of Righteouness
ere he is ready to learn from the Voice of the Silence.

Let no pupil think, however, that when, through
meditation, he has reached the Silence, henceforth
he has no need of meditation; for no one can enter
the Silence until by meditation he has opened his
heart to the influence of the Divine as the petals of
the rose open to the magnetic influence of the sun.
While an effort may be made at first toward its realiza-
tion, later it must become a state into which you can
enter at will, shutting the door of your mind on all
daily affairs and finding rest, peace and communion,
even in the midst of the turmoils of life. But remember
that while aids, such as concentration, breathing, etc.,
are helpful in their proper place they do not of them-
selves cause spiritual growth. They are only aids. The
growth must come from dwelling in the consciousness r
of the Divine within you and the manifesting of The
jChrist-force in the daily affairs of life.

When the ability to meditate has been acquired and
the pupil is ready to enter the Silence, he should first
spend a few moments in deep breathing, following
the method called the "Complete Breath." The greatest
factor in deep breathing lies in the thought held at
the time. This is the difference between deep breathing
as practiced for mere physical culture and for the

350 The Voice of Isis

control of the life-currents. While the physical cul-
turist is breathing merely for health, the occultist
realizes that much more than physical health is to be
attained, for through the power of breath combined
with Will, he can draw in the spiritual life-essence
which permeates the higher strata of the earth's atmo-
sphere. By the act of consciously breathing we cor-
relate with this essence and draw it more completely
into the body.

This breath is the fundamental breath of the entire
Science of Breath, and the student must fully acquaint
himself with it, and master it perfectly before he can
hope to obtain proper results. To accomplish this
requires attention, effort and persistence, but it is
essential to further the progress along this line. When
fully mastered it will become automatic. Do not neglect
or belittle it because it seems simple.1

The following exercise will give you a clear idea of
what the Complete Breath is :

(1.) Stand or sit erect. Breathing through the
nostrils, inhale steadily, first filling the lower part of the
lungs. This is accomplished by the diaphragm, which
in descending exerts a gentle pressure on the abdominal
organs, pushing forward the front walls of the abdo-
men. Then fill the middle part of the lungs, lifting
the chest and upper ribs. In the final movement, the
lower part of the abdomen will be slightly drawn in,
giving the lungs support and helping to fill the highest
part of the lungs. The three movements are not sepa-
rate, but continuous, the entire chest being expanded
in uniform movement. Avoid all jerky movements,
and strive to attain a steady continuous action.

1 CAUTION. — Students should be careful not to overdo this, either
by using too many counts or by taking too many breaths at one time.
Best begin with two or three breaths and increase gradually.

The Voice of Isis 351

(2.) Retain the breath for a few seconds, or heart
beats.

(3.) Exhale slowly in the reverse order, chest first
and abdomen last.

(4.) Rest the same number of counts as in (2).
The rule is to inhale for a convenient number of heart-
beats (6, 8 or 10), retain the breath half this number;
make the exhalation the same length as the inhalation,
and the rest between breaths the same number of
counts as in (2).

During the inhalation hold the thought that you are
breathing in the forces of love, strength, courage and
purity, or any other virtues you desire ; that during
the pause they are filling you full to overflowing, and
that during the out-breathing you are sending out
help, comfort, health and love to all mankind. Think
of what you need as flowing in direct from the Divine,
thus making a direct line of communication over
which the Divine can reach you. Dwell upon the fact
that this divine force which flows through you is not
your personal force, and therefore when you breathe
out, determine that you will send out only the force
of the Divine, untainted by your personality. Realize
that you are thus creating a reservoir of power; that
you can draw upon it in unlimited quantities, as a
seed draws to itself the power of the eternal, and by
assimilating it grows naturally, yet does not mon-
opolize that power. Realize that this power will purify
the vessel (the personal self, always to be looked upon
as a mere channel) ; that you are simply filling up the
vessel that it may overflow to all, as a flower sheds
abroad its perfume; and that if you are thus enabled
to help others it is not because of your personal attain-
ments or power, but because of the power of the
Divine flowing through you — because you have be-

352 The Voice of Isis

come "a center through which The Lodge can
work." * Remember, therefore, that you must keep the
channel pure and free from all contaminating influences
that as little as possible of your own personality shall
enter into the good you are enabled to send forth.
For a seed must be a healthy seed or, no matter how
much of the divine force is poured into it, it will never
grow. Indeed, if it has a canker, the divine force will
but hasten its decay.

It is often a help to stand before an open window,
especially one facing the East. Raise your arms in
front of you, with fingers outspread, and try to feel
the force like a tangible thing which you can grasp.
As you indraw the breath, clench your hands and draw
toward your heart, as it were handsfull of force, and
feel it permeating your whole body.2 Any action such
as this will help you to realize that you are draw-
ing in the Divine Life. Never, under any circum-
stances perform this exercise when nervous, cross or
while holding any unkind or vindictive feeling in your
heart, or the consequences will be disastrous, for you
will be drawing to you more of the same forces. If
this exercise is performed in the evening, it will be well
to fix your gaze upon the stars in such a way as to
exclude all sights of earth, if possible.

After a few short breaths, sit in an easy chair (always
the same one and in the same place, if possible) or
lie flat on your back with your arms outstretched in
the form of a cross. Meditate a few moments and send
up a strong aspiration of love — it should not even be
a definite thought, but a great yearning for the Divine,
and a realization that you, in your Higher Self, are

iSee Chapter XXXIII.

* CAUTION. — Do not take this exercise mor« than three or four
times at first, for it is a powerful heart stimulant. If you feel faint
or dizzy, stop at once, lie down and rest, and do not try it again the
same day.

The Voice of Isis 353

the master, and in the words of Malachi: "If I be a
master, where is my fear :" 1— -then sink into the
Silence.

To acquire the ability to enter the Silence prop-
erly will take time ; for you will find your mind fairly
bombarded by thoughts, often of a trivial nature,
which you must determinately still. This may re-
quire weeks or months of practice ; for as you silence
thoughts on one stratum of consciousness, your mind
will still be active, but in a more interior way. "Merge
into one sense thy senses, if thou would'st be secure
against the foe. 'Tis by that sense alone which lies
concealed within the hollow of thy brain, that the
steep path which leadeth to thy Master may be dis-
closed before thy Soul's dim eye."2 Do not get discour-
aged. "Have patience, candidate, as one who fears no
failure, courts no success." When you find your mind
wandering, bring it back and, if necessary, repeat,
"Peace, be still." Often it is a help to repeat the word
Silence or repeat your given name again and again.
But when you have gained the power of Silence, stop
even these helps. Your mind must be like a still moun-
tain lake, without a ripple, capable of perfectly reflect-
ing every passing cloud. If the surface of the lake is
agitated, even by a ripple, the images on its surface
will be distorted; so it is with the mind. Only when
you have attained to this quietude of mind can you
hope to hear The Voice of the Silence without the in-
termixture of personality, and observe without distor-
tion the heavenly images reflected in your brain from
your Father-in-heaven.

It is important that the student school himself to
think definitely and clearly of the 'personal guidance
of his Higher self — his Father-in-heaven who is the

n * Malachi 1, 6.

2 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment I.

354 The Voice of Isis

"I am I," while the personality is but the servant.
Should a student attempt to enter the Silence with no
definite idea as to whose voice he is listening for —
who the Master is upon whom he is to fix his whole
attention — and in a negative attitude, as so often hap-
pens, he is in great danger of receiving impres-
sions from astral entities, either departed friends, ele-
mentals or powerful but perverted entities, who would
deliberately mislead and deceive him and use him as
a tool to further their own ends. For this reason the
attitude of Soul that must always be held is one of
deep humility and ardent, aspiring devotion to the
Divine. There must always be the positive expectation
of entering the presence of the Divine ; of listening
reverently for the voice of your Father-in-heaven—
"He that is of God heareth God's words." There must
be a definite and fixed determination to listen to noth-
ing else, and to permit nothing else to enter your aura.
Have no fear, however, for "Fear, O disciple, kills the
will and stays all action." "The fear of man bringeth
a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall
be safe."1 Dare — Do — Keep Silent.

If two or three are entering the Silence together
let no one desire to be used as spokesman for the
rest, for the very desire opens a door for personality
and makes possible and easy delusions from the astral
plane. Let each listen only for himself, not for an-
other. If one should speak at such a time let the others
know well that if the message is true and if they are in
a state of mental poise, the endorsement will be given
in their own hearts. This power of distinguishing intu-
itively between the true and the false is often the first
conscious touch between you and your Higher Self.

That the Lord, or a Divine Intelligence, does thus

1 Proverbs XXIX, 25.

The Voice of Isis 355

guide humanity through The Voice of the Silence is
amply testified to and plainly set forth in the Bible,
both in the Old and New Testaments, as well as in all
other sacred scriptures. Indeed, the Bible is full of
allusions to those who listened to the Voice and those
who refuse to listen. As we said in a former chapter1
the Bible is a symposium of allegories illustrating the
spiritual truths needed by the entire Fifth Race of
the Red Ray. Hence, if, as plainly stated — in lan-
guage so familiar as to be almost trite — the children
of God were led and directed by the Voice in past
ages, it is equally true to-day; for there has never
been given to man any statement that would give him
reason to believe that there had been a change in the
laws of spiritual communication or that the teachings
of the Master Jesus were no longer true. The Voice
of God speaks to-day, to all who listen, as plainly as it
spake to the pure in heart of old. "Trust in the Lord
with all thine heart ; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and
he shall direct thy paths." 2

When Jesus told his disciples to enter into the closet
and shut the door, the closet referred to the Silence,
and the "door" which they were to shut was the door
of the mind. The Father who seeth in secret is the
Higher Self, who does not require words, but who
seeth in secret, i. e., in the Silence, through vibrations
of love. The open reward is the peace, comfort and
spiritual upliftment which comes as the result of such
communing with the Father-in-heaven.

1 Chapter V.

2 Proverbs III, 5-6.

CHAPTER XXVIII
NATURE'S MYSTIC ALPHABET.

"I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk
of thy doings."— Psalms, LXXVII, 12.

"The man who is endued with this devotion
and who seeth the unity of all things, perceiveth
the Supreme Soul in all things and all things in
the Supreme Soul." — The Bhagavad-Gita, Chap.

It is desirable that all occult students form some defi-
nite idea of the true meanings and relations of sound,
number, color and form, for they stand at the founda-
tion of all occult training. Although this theme is
so stupendous that nothing more than the briefest
possible outline can be attempted in this lesson, still
there have been so many vandal hands digging about
this foundation — disrupting, disorganizing and giving
mere surface interpretations, that many a student in
his bewilderment thinks the foundation is tottering.
This lesson is meant to be but a hint, an incentive to
deeper study. For everything in Nature has its voice
which speaks in tones so positive that it cannot mis-
lead, if we open our ears to it.

Every shade of color in Nature indicates a potency
which can be measured by its wave-length and its
rate of vibration, and have its tone determined. We
read — "The very hairs of your head are all num-
bered." x This is literally true, for the color of the
hair together with its texture, determines the number
of its vibration, just as the texture of a violin string
determines the number and character of its vibrations.

And the vibrations of the hair, as a part of the key-

1 St. Matthew, x. 30.

The Voice of Isis 357

note of the body, are one indication of the character
or "the measure of a man." *

Every flower and herb of the field, every leaf and
twig of the forest, by its color and form, its
odor, its environment and its manner of growing,
proclaims in unmistakable language its nature, its
potencies and its uses when interpreted accord-
ing to the Law of Correspondences, "As above,
so below." For all Nature-shapes can be traced
back to and analyzed into simple geometrical figures : —
• — , A, Q O — just as all musical notes produce*
characteristic geometrical designs when made to pass
through sand or other suitable material.2 Do not
think, however, that this analysis is a simple task,
for very few colors stand out alone any more than
there are straight lines or exact geometrical figures in
Nature. We find a multiplicity of combinations of
color and form, hence, to get their true meaning, they
must be separated into their elements.

Only the true student who can devote much time
and study to the subject can hope to penetrate far into
the secrets of Nature ; nevertheless we are told, "There
is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid,
that shall not be known." We also read, "Help
Nature and work on with her ; and Nature will regard
thee as one of her creators and make obeisance. And
she will open wide before thee the portals of her
secret chambers, lay bare before thy gaze the treasures
hidden in the very depths of her pure virgin bosom.
Unsullied by the hand of Matter, she shows her treas-
ures only to the eye of Spirit — the eye which never
closes, the eye for which there is no veil in all her

1 For science acception of this fact see an article on the relation
of hair to character by Charles Kassel in The Popular Science Monthly,
September 1912.

a See common high-school experiment in physics — covering a metal
plate with sand and vibrating it.

358 The Voice of Isis

kingdoms." 1 This is not a chimerical dream, but an
actual possibility. It is what is really meant by living
close to Nature.

Sound, number and color are the three manifesta-
tions of Deity in Nature, Nature's alphabet so to speak,
and these three produce a fourth, form. Loosely
speaking, sound is the first letter of this Divine Alpha-
bet, and according to the note of vibration (number)
of sound is color produced — although the sound may
not be audible to the human ear — and by the inter-
action of these three is form created. Thus is the
Word or the Creative Sound made manifest, for with-
out these three factors nothing can be produced.

That which is called the key-note of any personality
is never one musical tone, but a combination of tones,
a chord. There are many ways of finding this chord,
but the surest is by listening in the Silence, first ask-
ing for guidance, and striving to harmonize yourself
with the Divine that is within you, your Father-in-
heaven, then endeavoring to silence all other activities
of your mind and listen for the answer.

Many students make the mistake of selecting ex-
terior colors and notes and surrounding themselves
with them — because those colors or tones appeal to
them — and imagine they belong to them. The effect
of this is to hold back the development of their real
key-note, for it is generally quite different from that
which they imagine. The vibrations produced by the
outer colors and tones focus upon the student and
drown the inner. Moreover, your true color or tone
is something which you must reach out for and strive
to develop within you. The instant it is thus attained
the next higher color or tone becomes your key-note.
It may be said that man is continually playing his

1 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, Fragment I.

The Voice of Isis 359

Psalm of Life, in the base clef of human vibrations.
Hence he experiences inharmony, sickness and sorrow
until he listens to and strives to sing the melody of
the treble clef as sung by his Higher Self, and make
his base clef but an accompaniment. When this is
done the base clef gives fulness and richness to the
chords and makes the melody complete.

There are three primary colors, red, yellow and blue,
a trinity which may be compared to body, soul and
Spirit. Each is produced by a particular tone with
a definite rate of vibration (number) and wave-length.
These three form the triangle, the first geometrical
figure to manifest on earth. From these three emanate
four other supplementary colors (the square), orange,
green, indigo and violet, and by -the blending and
interblending of these seven, together with black and
white, are all other colors produced. In numbers also
the same law is operative, for by the blending of the
first seven — together with 8, the number of evolution,
in which the power of the numbers is evolved into a
higher octave in the same way that the colors are lifted
into a higher octave by the admixture of white, and 9
(black) the number of Initiation — are all numbers pro-
duced.

In the musical scale we again find this corre-
spondence, there being seven notes, the eighth or
repeated note being the point of evolution into the next
octave. The sharps raise the tones while the flats deepen
them. The pause or interval in which the one octave dies
and the new is born is comparable to 9 in number or
black in color. Although on earth this pause seems to
be silence, yet in reality, upon the spiritual-plane, it
is a definite tone which comprises all preceding tones
and may be called the assimilation of tones, just as
black swallows up all colors yet on earth is no color.

360 The Voice of Isis

The seven colors are born from the pure white light
(or no color on the physical-plane), which in turn
is born from darkness (black). Hence black and
white in essence are one and the same thing, the two
ends of the Divine Spectrum, with all the manifesta-
tions of color as vibratory steps between them. Pure
white is not known on earth, what appears as white
always being tinged with yellow, blue or sometimes
violet. "According to the tenets of Eastern Occultism,
Darkness is the one true actuality, the basis and root
of Light, without which the latter could never manifest
itself or even exist. Light is matter, and Darkness
pure spirit. . . . Even in the mind-baffling and
science-harassing Genesis, Light is created out of
Darkness — ('and Darkness was upon the face of the
deep') — and not vice versa. In him (in darkness)
was life ; and the life was the light of men/ >?1 On earth
all colors are swallowed up in black, for in black no
colors are visible, while all colors live in white. Black
and white are represented by the straight, vertical line,
which after its descent to earth passes through various
geometrical forms, the first of which is the triangle,
composed of the three primary creative rays, their
numbers being 3, 5 and 7.

Red is the key-note of physical man and his evolu-
tion, and its rate of vibration is the slowest of the
three primary colors. Being the most physical, it
lends its influence to all the others, yet within it are
the potencies of all. It is a masculine, not a feminine
color, although in a certain sense all three primary
colors may be called "mother colors" in the same way
that the three letters .of the Hebrew alphabet — Aleph,
Mem and Shin — are called "mother letters," and with
much the same meaning. The Hierarchy of the Red

1 Thy Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I, p. 98.

The Voice of Isis 361

Ray1 is the one now manifesting on earth, and when
man has evolved beyond red, in all its varied shades,
he will have become something more than what is
known to-day as man. Within this Red Ray, however,
all the colors manifest as sub-rays, more or less tinged
with red. All colors are raised to a higher vibration by
the pure white light of Spirit shining through them.
Hence evolution through the Red Ray is accom-
plished by the lightening and added brilliancy of its
shades. For instance a pale rose-pink is the lightest
expression of red, while the red of venous blood is its
darkest.

Red is the color of the vehicle of the life-force
but not of the life- force itself (Prana) which is orange.
Therefore, the blood through which the life-force
manifests is red. Almost everything that grows, just as
it pushes up through the soil, shows a red or pink
surface, which later changes to green. All red
flowers, fruits, grains, vegetables and meats tend to
warm and enrich the blood and strengthen the physi-
cal body. Some of the lower aspects of red are
warmth, life, passion and war, while its higher aspects
are strength, courage and love. The planet correspond-
ing to the red ray is Mars ; its metal iron.

Just as the Soul is the vehicle through which the
Spirit manifests, so is yellow the vehicle through
which the pure spiritual light manifests. Pure yellow is
therefore the Soul-color, and according to its brilliancy
does it show forth the overshadowing white light of
Spirit. It is the messenger of the gods, for it governs
the psychic powers by which the inspiration of the gods
reaches the human mind. This is symbolized by the
customary use of yellow or gold hangings upon the
altar and gold fringe or embroidery on the altar cloth
and by the flame of the sacerdotal candles ; for yellow

iSe* Chapter XIII.

362 The Voice of Isis

is the vehicle of the ray of pure Spirit or the Flame.
It is the color which lends to all other colors their
spiritual significance. All yellow flowers and foods
are vehicles through which psychic force can enter
the body to strengthen the psychic currents. A free
use of yellow corn-meal in the diet and corn-water as
a drink frequently proves a wonderful tonic, if not
a cure, for certain psychic disorders. Its planet is
Mercury, and its metal also.

Blue is the truly feminine color. It is the color of
the auric envelop and of the firmament which forms
the blue arch of heaven, which shuts it in and protects
it. It is inspiring and uplifting; for the firmament is
studded with stars, which lift the thoughts above
mundane things to other worlds. This is the office
of blue wherever found in Nature, to inspire, uplift,
sooth, calm and comfort. In all its meanings it is
the opposite or complementary of red, while yellow
lends its force to both. Blue being the color of the
auric zone is the color of the Mother-principle which
encloses, enwraps, spiritualizes. All blue flowers
would have a tendency to allay fevers, cool and com-
fort. Its corresponding planet is Jupiter; its metals
tin and aluminum.

Of the supplementary colors, orange is the color
of the pranic life-force that flows in the blood. It
is a cheering, warming, forceful color having for its
planet the sun, the symbol of life physically and
spiritually. Red and orange are the two most mascu-
line colors, the one being the blood and the other
the vital life-force in the blood. All orange flowers
and foods contain an exceptional amount of life-force,
and wherever orange is found in Nature it is vibrant
with life-force. Its corresponding metal is gold.
And because this metal absorbs and focuses the sun-

The Voice of Isis 363

force it was used to cover the roofs of many ancient
temples, and for vessels used in certain sacred services.
It is pertinent to the times to note that this highest
metal, like the highest spiritual concepts, is now de-
based and used for barter.

Green is a feminine color, the middle note in Nature,
F natural or fa, the middle principle between the mate-
rial and the spiritual. When Nature strikes her true
note and throws out her cheering green in the Spring
it penetrates into the hearts of men and awakens in
them a desire to grow, to do, to create, to accomplish.
No one thinks of calling a tree spiritual, yet who can
look up into the waving green branches of a noble
tree and not have his Soul lifted up from Nature to
Super-Nature? Green is the color of the human in-
tellect (lower manas) , the highest point attainable by
physical man and Nature. It is the key-note of the
physical-plane, hence is always restful and pleasing to
man. It is the color of worldly power and the suc-
cess due to intellectual attainments, its lower aspects
manifesting as envy, greed, etc. It is a necessary
link between Nature and Super-Nature, therefore^do
not despise this color or the humble works of Nature,
or even a perfect animal-soul, for without its perfect
functioning, there would be no stable basis upon which
and through which the higher forces could act.
There have been many ridiculous theories advanced as
to why Nature is green, some holding that it is due
to yellow sun-light pouring through blue ether, etc., but
were this true everything would be green. Nature
is green because green is the point or key-note in the
vibratory scale to which physical Nature upon this
planet responds, and to which it has evolved. Its
planet is Saturn, the Binder and also the Reaper, he
who limits physical manifestation and reaps from it

364 The Voice of Isis

the seed of spiritual attainment. Saturn is the ruler
of the earth insofar as the Saturn-force must be faced
and conquered on this planet. Its metal is lead.

Indigo is by no means blue, as so many mis-call it,
but is a color by itself. It represents Spiritual Mind,
the power of the spiritual-plane brought to earth and
manifested through physical man, as contrasted with
human mind or intellect. It is human intellect joined
to Soul and permeated by Spirit, forming the higher
triad or incarnating Ego. While green represents the
highest point to which physical Nature and the intellect
of man can reach, indigo represents this same intellect
overshadowed and inspired by something from above,
the Divine Mind. It is the power of inspiration (higher
manas), which enables man to project his consciousness
into realms above those capable of being reached by the
intellect alone. Like its ruling planet, Venus, indigo has
its two aspects. For while it always represents Spiritual
Mind, it is often submerged and held down to worldly
concerns in spite of its ability to soar into the Uni-
versal Mind and bring to man Divine Thought. All
indigo color in Nature, if properly used, is helpful
toward the development of this god-like power of lift-
ing the human consciousness above that of the intellect.
Its metal is copper.

Violet is not an earthly color. True violet is not a
mixture of red and blue — although it is usually repre-
sented on earth by such a mixture — but is a color
apart which belongs altogether to the astral-plane, its
physical counterpart being but a reflection. It is said
to be ruled by the moon, yet not really by the moon,
even though moonlight contains a high percentage
of violet and ultra-violet rays, for true violet comes
from the Mystery Planet concealed from physical

The Voice of Isis 365

sight by the corpse1 of the old moon, which will grad-
ually disappear during the Sixth Great Race, allow-
ing the Mystery Planet to be revealed to the Seventh
Great Race. The potency and power of violet is due
to the rays of this Mystery Planet penetrating to
earth and creating the astral body, the body of sensa-
tion in which the inner forces work. Where violet
is found in Nature it tends to focus the astral currents
and act on astral matter. In fact it has the myste-
rious power of holding the potency of the astral and
commanding its forces. And as the astral body of
all things is the pattern of the physical, the violet ray
can be utilized in perfecting an astral pattern of a
superior form, and in destroying harmful astral mat-
ter.2 Violet has the power of guarding the astral, ad-
mitting the helpful and excluding the harmful astral
forces. It is ruled by the moon and its metal is silver.
All other colors are mixtures or shades, or rates of
vibration between these seven colors, together with
black and white.

Among numbers O symbolizes limitless time in
eternity, unmanifested Deity. Its geometrical form is
the circle from which all numbers are born.

1 is unity, creative force, life, the Father-Mother-
Son, descending to earth in an undifferentiated state.
Its geometrical form is O the dot within the O cr
the germinal point of the mundane egg, the nucleus in
the cell.

2 is separation, the Father separates from the Mother
and becomes mundane. The dot cannot manifest on
earth without having two dimensions, length and
breadth, and two poles, positive and negative, mascu-

1 Tt is well known that our present moon is but a corpse, giving off
nothing but corpse-like emanations, hence, its malefic aspects.

- The violet and ultra-violet rays are destructive to bacterial organ-

366 The Voice of Isis

line and feminine. It is represented by two geometri-
cal forms, either the straight vertical line | or the dot
with two lines of force emerging from it, — both forms
commonly found in Nature.1

3 is the Trinity, sacred and divine because it is
the Father, the Mother and the Son manifesting in
humanity, or man and woman united in God. Its
geometrical form is the triangle. A

4 is the completion of physical creation, the most
perfect of mundane numbers as it holds within itself
the power of 10, 1+2+3+4=10. Its geometrical
form is the square, D, the base of the pyramid.

5 represents humanity or man, and is one of the
most mystical of numbers ; for man is the climax of
physical evolution, the crowning point of all the lower
kingdoms and the forerunner and image of God.
"Man is the universally structured type. In one
aspect all lower types rise toward man and are com-
pleted in him. In another aspect the specialties of
type break up and distribute downward from man
to form the lower kingdoms of life, as his proper base
and support. Moreover, man is the only species that
stands erect, with the cerebrum poised at right angles
to the spine; the only, species that utilizes two limbs
from the function of locomotion for the exclusive ser-
vice of the mind and brain; the only species whose
length of the extended hands and arms is just equal
to the height of the body; the only species in which
the segments of the spine are the measures of the
angles of the cube; the only species with a spoken
language, an alphabet, a recorded history, and a pros-
pectice future." 2 5 is also the number of the digits
of man's hands. While some animals (anthropoids)

1 The primitive streak emerging from the nucleus in the embryo, etc.
8 The Romance of Revelation through Natural History. Edw.
Whipple.

The Voice of Isis 367

have five digits, still the thumb, which in man is the
great factor in the usefulness of the hand, is but rudi-
mentary, and in primitive man noticeably undeveloped.
Thus the size and shape of the thumb becomes an
index to the stage of man's evolution. It marks the
difference between anthropos and anthropoid. Its geo-
metrical figure is that formed by man, his two feet
outspread, his arms outstretched and his head upright
forming the five-pointed star ^ , the magic pentagram.
6 is man with something else added or man con-
sidered as the Lord of Creation. 6 is primarily the
number of Nature. It is the number of The Christ-
principle, but only as it pertains to the manifestation
of that Essence of Universal Power in Nature. Hence,
6 pertains to man's powers over Nature. Its geo-
metrical figure is the interlaced triangles. The tri-
angle pointing upward is light, signifying . man's
Divine nature and his ability to receive from the Divine.
The one pointing downward is dark, signifying his
physical nature. The two intertwined symbolize the
fact that only by the perfect blending of these two
natures can man attain Wisdom. Its symbol is $
The interlaced triangles form the foundation stone
of the objective universe. Man can only attain to
Wisdom as he can correlate his consciousness with
Nature.

By some 6 is called the number of unrest and in-
completeness. This is true in the sense that it is
the unrest of Nature ever becoming, ever changing
in form that the Great Creative Principle, The Christos,
many manifest more fully. 6 is formed by a circle —
that which is unmanifested — with a line running up-
ward, symbolizing the unrest of a determined aspira-
tion reaching out to and trying to manifest ever greater
degrees of Divinity.

368 The Voice of Isis

7 is the most sacred of all numbers, for it represents
the point in man's evolution where he becomes more
than man. Its symbol is the interlaced triangles with
the dot in the center, the dot being the same germinal
point or creative center found in the mundane egg
which has now manifested through Nature and man.
In other words, it is the perfect blending of the 4 and
the 3, the human and the Divine. The 3 represents
fire while 4 symbolizes the earth. Thus 3 and 4 or
fire and earth must be blended by the great Mother-
principle water, ere creation can be perfected. This
symbol is called the Seal of Solomon or Wisdom $

8 is the number of evolution or the spiral motion
of cycles, the Breath of the Cosmos. Its symbol is
two ciphers touching and blending oo 8 is also the
double square, or the foundation-stone with the corner-
stone laid, upon which the higher life shall be erected.

9 is the number of Initiation. It is that most mys-
terious number which never changes. No matter how
multiplied or added the sum of the resulting digits
will always equal 9 i. e.t 9+9=18=9 or 3 x 9=27=9
etc. In it all numbers are swallowed up to emerge
once more in a new cycle 10. Thus it is truly the
number of initiation, for the various initiations are
steps in the Soul-life. No matter how you have multi-
plied sensation, experiences, knowledge or attainment
you cannot pass your Great Initiation until you have
returned to that from which you started, just as all
multiples of 9 return to 9. 9 is also 3 x 3 or the
trinity of trinities, Nature, Man and God.

According to Hermetic philosophy, it stands for the
Lamp of Hermes, the Mantle of Apollonius and the
Staff of the Patriarchs. "Hermes has made it the
number of initiation, because the initiate reigns over
superstition and by superstition, and alone can advance

The Voice of Isis 369

through the darkness, leaning on his staff, enveloped in
his mantle, and lighted by his lamp." l

In 9 we find again the cipher with which we started,
but with a straight line descending from it. Later,
when the Initiation is completed, this line will take its
place to the left of the cipher making 10, completing
the cycle and making man more than man.

All even numbers are mundane and pertain to
the physical-plane, while all odd numbers are Divine.
They contain something which cannot be measured
by the two forces, positive and negative, always operat-
ive on the physical-plane. These are the principal
meanings of numbers, all others must be determined by
the Law of Correspondences.

The lesson to be learned from these examples of the
One Law is the importance of little things, for to
the occultist there are no little things. Everything
that is, every thought, word and deed, Has its
sound, number, color and form. These letters of
Nature's Mystic Alphabet are always creating — spell-
ing out words, which words are telling the story of
your life, writing it indelibly upon your countenance
and upon the everlasting akashic records. Strive,
therefore, to write the history of this day of life in
letters of gold. Let all your colors be pure, bright and
radiant ; for whether you realize it or not, your colors
are continually emanating from you and are emplant-
ing your history on every person and thing you come
in contact with. They also bring back to you their
physical results which are built into your form so that,
in very truth, your physical body — as well as the
spiritual, mental and astral — is the result of your
thoughts. Truly is it said of man, "As he thinketh
in his heart, so is he."

1 Transctndental Magic, Levi, p. 87.

NOTE. — We request our students not to ask us to give their color
or key-note, for until they set to work diligently to find out for them-
selves it cannot be piven to them. Until they have reached a stage
of positiveness and have grasped some realization of how to seek
within, their colors are too indistinct and changeable to be truthfully
described.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE WORD.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth."— St. John, I, 14.

"By the word of the Lord were the heavens
made ; and the host of them by the breath of his
mouth."— Psalms XXXIII, 6.

As humanity advances a point is reached where
there is a widespread recognition of an esoteric teach-
ing beneath the letter of the law, and consequently
many scholars are digging with vandal hands into the
sacred Mysteries, and, without heeding the advice of
the Sages, are flinging to the world all sorts of scholas-
tic explanations, calculated rather to bring prestige to
themselves than in any way to elucidate the Mysteries
for the good of humanity. The day has passed when
the majority of mankind is content to accept any trans-
lation of the Bible as literally true, for, like all scrip-
tures, its teachings are given by means of parables
and allegories, both the Old and New Testaments set-
ting forth the vital truths, in symbolic language; that
is, the inner and deeper truths are veiled under symbols
which of themselves inculcate a complete moral code,
but which are not meant to be taken literally.

From the beginning there has always existed an exo-
teric teaching understood by the multitude, and an eso-
teric teaching given only to the few whose training has
fitted them to understand it. And in this cycle of
spiritual unfoldment, it is advisable that a few of
these Mysteries be at least partially unveiled, that the
spiritual discernment of the few may lead to the knowl-
edge of the many.

The Voice of Isis 371

The Word is the voice of the Higher Self — The
Christ within1 — and is the personal God of each indi-
vidual, because the fleeting human personality is but the
shadow cast by that which is a direct Ray from the
Divine — The Christ within. The sun forever keeps
its appointed place in the heavens, but its rays reach
and penetrate every portion of the earth. Without
those rays nothing could be brought forth upon the
earth, yet we do not deny that the rays are the sun
although we know the sun is still in the heavens. Just
so the Higher Self is a Ray from the Infinite, without
which nothing spiritual can be brought forth in animal
man. This Higher Self is dual: one with God, yet its
earthly shadow — the human personality — is but an
Emanation or Spark of the Higher Self clothed in
atoms of physical matter, just as the sunbeam clothes
itself in a growing plant and brings forth the
perfected fruit. Thus the Higher Self is both the
Father-in-heaven and The Christ within or the sun
in the heavens and the sunbeam imprisoned within
the fruit.

The Higher Self overshadows the personality, ever
striving to guide and teach it that it may bring forth
the Spiritual Man — its fruit. This guidance is accom-
plished in many ways ; in dreams and visions, by the
Still Small Voice — called by many the conscience —
or, if these wavs fail to impress the dense atoms of the
physical brain, the personality is permitted to follow
the dictates of its own rebellious animal will and learn
through bitter experience to listen to and obey the dic-
tates of the Word forever being spoken within. "Let
me cease, O thou Perfectly Awakened, to remain as an
Ape in the World-forest, forever ascending and de-
scending in search of the fruits of folly/'2 Ordinarily

1 See the Chapter on The Wisdom Religion.

2 Dhammapada.

372 The Voice of Isis

many, many lives are spent in sowing the seeds of dis-
obedience and reaping the harvest of suffering ere the
personality will heed the guidance of the Divine.

This overshadowing Father-in-heaven is called by
some the Over-soul and by the Roman Catholic Church
the Guardian Angel whose power over the personality
is exerted through the Still Small Voice. But in reality
this Guardian is the Real Self — the God within, higher
manas and Buddhi permeated by Atma — of whom
the various personalities are but temporary garments
worn for certain occasions and for certain purposes,
but all of which are thrown off and disintegrated when
the Real Self is clothed with immortality, just as are
the blossoms when the sunbeam clothes itself in the
fruit. Science has demonstrated that the fruit is
all imprisoned sunshine and water (the Father- and
Mother-forces — the dual aspects of the Creative Force)
except a small residue of earthy salts left behind as
ash. Just so will the Word gradually clothe itself
in spiritualized matter with but a modicum of earth.

One phase of this mystery is that as the disciple
advances along the Path to Mastery, the Word be-
comes manifested to the human consciousness for pur-
poses of revelation. Even if it be but for a momentary
flash that experience is evidence of an advanced step.
Ultimately the manifestation of the Word or the Christ-
consciousness will become continuous, as in the case
of the Master Jesus who said : "I and my Father are
one," meaning that His personal human consciousness
was so blended with the Divine that at all times He
could function in the consciousness of His Father-in-
heaven. When this point is reached the Word is con-
sciously incarnated in the flesh, or the fruit is per-
fected.

This Christ-consciousness at first may come only

The Voice of Isis 373

in moments of extreme spiritual exaltation or ecstasy,
when the human consciousness is transcended. Plo-
tinus defines this as : "The liberation of the mind from
its finite consciousness, becoming one and identified
with the Infinite." By many teachers this is called
Cosmic-consciousness, but Cosmic-consciousness is far
more all-embracing, for it is the power to enter into
and partake of the consciousness of everything in
the Cosmos, from atom to God.

To one who has obtained perfect mastery over the
lower personality, the Father (the Higher Self) and
the Son (the personality) have become one, and the
stream of Divine Wisdom flows uninterruptedly
through both. Physiologically speaking, this means
that by repeated victories of the Word over the flesh,
through the fulfilling of the Law in many lives, the
Higher Self has gradually gained increasing power
over its physical vehicles and at last has built up, atom
by atom, a fleshly body so spiritualized that the atoms
of its physical brain readily respond to the vibrations
of the Christ-consciousness, thus enabling the Word
to dwell in the flesh among men, or the Son to become
one with the Father. The human personality by
schooling itself to listen to and obey the Inner Voice
at last so stills the vibrations of the human intellect that
the Word is an infallible and ever present Guide in the
smallest detail of the earth life. In other words, the
flesh, which has so long warred against the Spirit,
has become the willing and obedient servant, eager
to listen to and carry out the will of the Father on
earth even as it is done in heaven.

Those who find it difficult to distinguish between the
voice of the Higher Self (conscience) and the desires
of the human personality can readily determine which
is speaking if they will remember that when they ask

374 The Voice of Isis

in the Silence for guidance, and put themselves in a
listening attitude of Soul, the reply will come either
audibly or as a mental impression, but it will always
come as a plain statement, clearly and concisely, re-
quiring neither argument nor justification. The in-
stant you begin to argue with yourself, or need to
justify your decision, know well that you are not heed-
ing the voice of your Father-in-heaven, but are follow-
ing the wisdom of the human intellect or catering to
the human desires. The personal self always endea-
vors to justify its decisions with most plausible argu-
ments, while the Higher Self simply asserts a fact or
commands.

The Word or the God within is Divine Essence or
Love, for "God is love." The "lost word" in one sense,
is simply the lost power of hearing the voice of the
Father-in-heaven or realizing and correlating with The
Christ within. The Wisdom Religion, as set forth in
the Christian Bible while recognizing Gods, Angels,
Seraphim and Cherubim and Spiritual Beings of every
kind, no one would think of calling idolatrous. The
recognition of all these manifestations of Deity in no
way conflicts with the injunction, "Thou shalt have no
other Gods before me," for it recognizes the divine
unity of all. In its esoteric teaching it helps man to
understand the deep, underlying meaning of this unity
and to worship Divine Love, which is the God before
whom alone man shall have no other and which alone
he must skeeancl find in all things ; firstly, in himself,
he must seek and find in all things ; firstly, in himself,
then, by a recognition of his oneness with all that is,
must find Him in all things. He must reverence, but
never worship or idolize, any manifestations of Him,
be they Planetary Angels, Seraphims, Devas, Avatara,
Masters or what not, nor must he worship Him as his

The Voice of Isis 375

own personal God — the Word incarnate in him — but
must learn to separate the Deity from His manifesta-
tions and listen to the voice of the One God — Divine
Love — of which alone it is said, "I am the Lord thy
God." As Epicurus said: "The Gods exist but they
are not what the multitude suppose them to be. He is
not an infidel or atheist who denies the existence of
Gods whom the multitudes worship, but he is such who
fastens on the Gods the opinions of the multitude."
Only they are heathen who refuse to recognize and
worship Divine Love or the Word made flesh.

Also bear in mind the creative aspect of the Word.
We read much of the limitless power of the Word
properly pronounced, and it is indeed all true, but be-
fore man can pronounce it he must gain the power of
expressing every tone and semi-tone in Nature, for
only then can the creative Word be sounded. This
creative Word is continually pronounced within him
by his Father-in-heaven — for it is this Word pro-
nounced within him that is bringing forth his spiritual
life — but ere he can pronounce it for himself man
must become more than man.

All created things are the expression of coarser or
finer vibrations, hence the Voice of Conscience (the
Word), manifesting through exceedingly high and
fine vibrations, finds it difficult to call forth a response
from a mind given over entirely to worldly affairs and
consequently attuned to a much lower rate of vibra-
tion. But if the Voice is listened for and an effort is
made to follow its guidance, it has the power to create
conditions in which it can manifest more plainly. Since
during involution "the word of the Lord" (or Divine
Law), penetrating through all the spheres, created the
heavens (firmament) and the earth and thereby in-
corporated itself within every particle of matter com-

376 The Voice of Isis

posing them, so, during evolution, must it evolve back
to its source, lifting up or redeeming all through which
it has manifested, thus creating a "new heaven and a
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The creative Word manifests through Nature as
tone, color, form and number, just as a written word
is composed of numbers, letters (symbols), syllables
and the meaning expressed. Hence, every tone in
Nature, be it song of bird, roar of beast, or thunder
of heaven, be it tinkle of fountain, surge of ocean or
rustle of leafy boughs, is an expression of the Word.
And not a note in Nature could be left out and the
creative Word be complete. Could man respond to and
manifest his true vibration (his key-note) in the cre-
ative Word with the single-mindedness of Nature all
would be peace, harmony and love. Man alone strikes
a discordant note, not only in himself, but also in the
noises of his creations, factory whistles, street noises,
etc. And the effect of this inharmony is impressed upon
all creation so that "Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee."

As man advances and learns to listen to the Still
Small Voice and as the Word unfolds within his heart
and manifests in his life, so will the tones of his voice
grow more tender and loving and lose their power to
wound. Thus will he become more able to comfort
and cheer, lead and command, for he then expresses
more of the creative power of the Word, until at last
the Word is made flesh and manifests continually.
This is the secret of the power of great speakers ; for
they express, to a greater or lesser degree, the crea-
tive power of the Word and literally create within the
minds of their hearers that which they wish to im-
press upon them.

The pronunciation of the Word is a question of

The Voice of Isis

377

manifesting its guidance in the life; for every discord
in the life produces a false note in the voice. Strive,
therefore, to be absolutely true to the Word and be
willing to face yourself and find and express Truth
in every tone and action. Thus will you learn to take
your true place and express your true key-note in the
grand symphony of life.

CHAPTER XXX.

ILLUMINATION.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me." — St, Matthew
XIV-6

"I am the Ego which is seated in the hearts
of all beings ; I am the beginning, the middle, and
the end of all existing things." — The Bhagavad-
Gita, Chapter X.

Pupils are asking continually for some formula,
some prescribed "practical" thing to do to advance
their spiritual evolution, complaining that they have
read and studied all forms of philosophy and are now
ready for something "definite." Because of this wide-
spread demand there have sprung up on every hand
those who are professing to give "practical" direc-
tions that shall lead the pupil into Illumination and
give him miraculous powers.1 On the other hand,
an equally large number are writing that they have
studied various systems, spent large sums of money
for "advance teachings," received the lessons ot the
inner section of many organizations, have passed
through many mysterious degrees of various societies
with high sounding titles and yet find their hunger
unappeased, the net result being a mass of so-called
formulas and a greater amount of discouragement.
Others turn to the Wisdom Religion, supposing that
it has to do with the development of psychic powers
and the performance of magical rites, but in truth it has
primarily to do with the development of The Christ-
force within and the showing of it forth .in the life. So-
called magic is dual. If it is the result of the recogni-

1 Some self-styled authorities go so far as to guarantee Adeptship
for a definite sum, or publish books which they claim contain the secret
of all occult power.

The Voice of Isis 379

tion and outward manifestation of The Christ within?
it is White Magic and right; if the result of seeking
for power or personal stature, it becomes Black Magic
and evil. Therefore, to all these classes of seekers,
as well as to many other hungry hearts, we bring the
old, old message, "I (The Christ Within) am the
way, the truth and the life : no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me."

What is it that all are thus seeking? It is so-called
Illumination, yet few there be who have any realiza-
tion of what this means. We have considered various
phases of this Illumination in previous lessons,1 and
we will try herein to show what the real Illumination
is and how it is attained. Illumination is the perfect
blending of the self with the Divine or The Christ-
power, so that Divine Wisdom can guide every
thought and act of the mortal man and the Light of
Divinity can shed its radiance over the entire life.

When it is remembered that the Bible story of The
Christ is the most complete and all-embracing narra-
tive ever written, not of the man Jesus or even of God,
but a synthetic picture of the Son of God — the emana-
tion from the Father, The Christ-force in humanity or
the Word made flesh — which symbolizes the various
steps each Soul must pass through and conquer, it
becomes quite plain that as this union with the Divine
takes place the life of the disciple must manifest Truth.
The whole mysterious transformation must be a
growth similar to the gradual assimilation of the life-
giving constituents of the sun by the plant, until the
full fruition or in-dwelling of the life-force is accom-
plished in the fruit. When we grasp this thought firmly
we will understand that we must and shall do the works
of our Father in exact proportion to our ability to

1 See Chapters XXIV, XXIX, etc.

380 The Voice of Isis

make the correlation with Him, just as the plant does
the works of its father, the sun — first as the blade, then
the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Therefore there
can be no rigid observances laid down for the attain-
ment of perfection any more than there can be for the
perfection of every individual plant. There can, how-
ever, be practices which develop the Will, awaken the
Intuition and stimulate Aspiration, and there are envi-
ronments which will foster spiritual growth, i. e.t
within the ranks of any spiritual movement whose
teachings satisfy your Soul-hunger, but these have
been fully covered in other lessons.1 To the aver-
age twentieth century student the effort to conquer
himself is quite sufficient to develop his Will, and
the only stimulant necessary is a burning, ardent seek-
ing for a realization of The Christ-love. Illumination,
however, can never be attained through the mere
reading of lessons or the observance of rules. It
must be the result of a vital force that comes into
each life.2 The gardener may prepare the soil, tend
and water a plant, but the plant itself must assimilate
the light and force of the sun and literally transmute
them into living tissue within its body ere the blossom
or the fruit can appear. So it is with the Illumina-
tion that each Soul is seeking. Only The Christ-force,
not only talked about and in a sense realized, but
literally absorbed and built into living tissue in the
flesh, the mind and the Spirit, can bring about this
mystical union. It is The Christ and The Christ alone
who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

As certain plants gather from the sun-force the
power to produce poisons, so can man, by using for
his own personal ends the godlike powers with which

1 See Chapter XXVII.

8 It is saia there are as many ways of attaining illumination as there
are human beings.

The Voice of Isis 381

he can identify himself, produce evil. We do not
create power, we only identify our consciousness
with the Divine which is all power, just as we might
attach a wire to a dynamo and obtain power.
Of the Divine Self alone it is said, "All power is
given unto thee in heaven and earth.'* This is liter-
ally true. All power is ours when we identify our-
selves with the Divine, and the synthesis of all power
is the ability to merge the personality into the Divine,
or become one with the Father through The Christ.
This gives all power because having accomplished
this all things are possible. As man is endowed with
free-will he can choose to take either the Right Hand
Path, merge the human into the Divine and use his
God-power to do the work of his Father-in-heaven,
or he can graft his God-power on to the stalk of per-
sonality and, by making the intellect alone his guiding
star, deliberately forswear his Father-in-heaven and
become a child of evil (or the devil) and do the works
of his father the devil — the concentrated force of man's
wrong thoughts, acts and creations, the perverted
reflection of the Good Law (the Lord) on earth. By
refusing to let the light of the Divine penetrate farther
than the intellect, he closes the door of his heart and
allows the Light to illumine only his human brain
which, without the guidance of the heart, permits evil
to manifest, especially intellectual and spiritual pride,
which are the most subtle and insidious of all evils.

Therefore, to teach mankind how to unfold inner
faculties and how to use their power for personal
ends, would be quite as reprehensible as for a gardener
to propagate in a garden devoted to raising food for
man, some poisonous vine which the gardener knew
the very richness of the soil, the sunshine and the cul-
tivation would cause to grow and finally either destroy

382 The Voice of Isis

the food or impregnate it with poison. This is why
the inner teachings of the sacred Mysteries are given
only to the few. It is no Being who gives, it is the
blossom of the Soul which opens and receives the
Light of Illumination, as the rose unfolds its petals
to the light of the sun. If you do not receive this
Light, know well that the blossoming time has not ar-
rived for you. Had it arrived no one could withhold
the Light from you.

When the divine mystery of the indwelling of The
Christ has taken place in the Soul and the disciple has
begun to realize in a vital, living way, that the over-
shadowing of his Divine Self is a real blending or
indwelling, then the works of his Father will unfold
within him just as the blade, the ear and the full
corn in the ear unfold in the plant. Then, and then
only, is he ready for the inner teaching; for he must
be trained to put forth his blossoms in the manner best
for humanity. Each step gained must not only show
in the life, but the powers that go with that step must
also manifest. // we control one selfish trait which
before held us captive we may know that we have
taken a real step upward. And the first and greatest
of all magical powers to be attained by the pupil is
the magical power of controlling himself, of day after
day mastering the little things, with no heroics, per-
haps with no one to commend him or realize that he
is making any effort, yet still controlling his little
tempers, his little impatiences, little acts of selfishness,
his tendency to criticize and all the little, trifling
things he knows are wrong, but which seem too petty
to be worth mentioning.

Let no pupil ask for special lessons until these little
things are in a measure conquered, for the building of
these little lessons into his life is the most "practical"

The Voice of Isis 383

formula that can be given him. And if there is any-
one who has thus assimilated The Christ and grown
to live The Christ-life, who has gained the power of
looking at the self, who has fulfilled the injunction,
"Know thyself," yet who says he still lacks Illumina-
tion, let him know well that there is some hidden
corner in his heart or life into which the Light is not
able to penetrate, some closed door which he refuses
to open. To him we would say, Look deeper and
meditate in the Silence and pray for a knowledge of
thyself. At the same time go forth and help to
bring the Light to some other Soul, for in so doing
in some part of your nature you will find that which
keeps out the full radiance of The Christ-light. Let
him "Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.
Regard most earnestly your own heart. For through
your own heart comes the one light which can illumi-
nate life, and make it clear to your eyes." 1

Occult formulas are more apt to emphasize self-
satisfaction and self-righteousness than to help toward
self-mastery. John the Baptist had been educated
in all the law of the Mysteries, had lived apart from
the world in the caves of the wilderness, had fed on
locusts and wild honey and had spent his life follow-
ing out the most rigid formularies of the Essences,
yet Jesus said : "Verily I say unto you, Among them
that are born of women there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist : notwithstanding he that is least
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." 2 This
means that the very humblest person who has cor-
related with The Christ within — which is entering
the kingdom of heaven — is greater than even a great
intellectual teacher such as John the Baptist.

1 Light on the Path, Part II, Rules 10-12.
*St. Matthew, XI, 11.

384 The Voice of Isis

Both intellectual development and heart development
are necessary, but if the heart is first developed and a
conscious union made with The Christ within, all
things are revealed unto you. This is, as it were, the
short cut to Mastery.

It is a singular fact that none of the Great Teachers
— Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, etc. — ever wrote a word or
were, in their day, looked upon as great intellectual
teachers, but the example of Their lives lives in
the world to this day, and can never die, because
They made this divine correlation, literally mani-
festing God in the flesh. It is neither the words
you speak nor the routine of your life that
affects the world, but something more. It is the
power of that which is "the way, the truth, and
the life." In other words, both that which you
teach and the example of your life must prove con-
clusively that it is The Christ within you that work-
eth through you both to will and to do.

It must not be a mere lip-service, it must be so true
and so convincing that it will radiate from you rather
than be a garment assumed before the world or a
mere intellectual cloak that blinds your own eyes, for
The Christ within you must be the Truth as well as
the Way and the Life.

If there is any doubt left in regard to the Path
we point out to reach this attainment we will briefly
recapitulate.

Think only constructively if you desire spiritual
growth.

Do cheerfully and well the duty that lies nearest.
Conquer the little faults as they show themselves.
Never let a day pass without its period of self-
examination, meditation and communion with the
Divine.

The Voice of Isis 385

Do unto others as ye would that others should
do unto you.

Learn to love in its truest and grandest sense.

Do not criticize others, even though your criticism
seems just, for to do so you must dwell mentally in
the conditions you criticize.

Be not afraid to face and recognize your own
faults.

At the same time be not discouraged.

Have perfect confidence in your power ultimately
to conquer through The Christ within.

For the voice of The Christ declares, "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

The following are the requirements given by a Great
Teacher to those who seek Illumination :

1. Behold the Truth before you;

2. A clean life;

3. An open mind ;

4. A pure heart;

5. An eager intellect;

6. An unveiled spiritual perception;

7. A brotherliness for one's co-disciple ;

8. A readiness to give and receive instruction ;

9. A loyal sense of duty to the Teacher ;

10. A willing obedience to the behests of Truth
once we have placed our confidence in and be-
lieve that Teacher to be in possession of it ;

11. A courageous endurance of personal injustice;

12. A brave declaration of principles ;

13. A valiant defense of those who are unjustly
attacked ;

14. A constant eye to the ideal of human progres-
sion and perfection which the secret science
depicts.

15. These are the golden stairs up the steps of
which the learner may climb to the Temple of
Divine Wisdom.

All things are possible unto him who believes.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE SYMBOL OF THE SALT.
"Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt
have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast
out, and to be trodden under foot of men." — St.
Matthew V, 13.

Salt plays a most important role in all life, both
in man and in Nature. It has also played its part in the
advance of civilization. The first great highways
known to history were caravan routes formed by
transporting salt from the deserts to points of civiliza-
tion. Salt thus became the great reason for commu-
nication between different peoples, and hence the
means by which civilization spread.

The use of salt marks an advance in civilization
from a wandering nomadic life, in which the people
subsist chiefly upon animal food containing a large
proportion of salt, to an agricultural life in which
vegetables requiring salt for flavoring form a large
proportion of the diet. Salt in the diet is necessary
for the health of all herbivorous animals. It is a
necessary constituent of all animal tissues and of the
blood. Experiments have repeatedly proven that the
heart will not beat unless there is dissolved in the
blood a certain percentage of common salt. Its use
in every-day life is as a purifier and preservative,
this being its chief function in the world. Like the
heart of man, the heart of Nature will not beat
nor will life continue without a proper proportion
of salt, for salt preserves the force which makes life
possible.

Salt was one of the ingredients in the Great Work
of the old Alchemists who reduced all elements to

The Voice of Isis 387

their mystic Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, salt sym-
bolizing that which purifies and preserves the life-
principle. Salt is found in oceans, deserts, salt
lakes, and mines, the latter being deposits left
by the evaporation of ancient seas. But wherever
salt is found the significance of its presence is due
to its purifying and preserving qualities.

The earth is a living entity, and when a portion
of its surface becomes diseased beyond repair;
when weighted down with the wickedness, crime
and sin of the people inhabiting it, that portion
gives way under the load and through great cata-
clysms sinks down to be covered by the salt brine
of the sea, where the putrifaction of the mass is
completed. Putrefaction is a form of digestion or
disintegration which breaks up old forms or bodies
and liberates their life-essences. These essences
being sublimed by the heat of the putrefaction rise
up and certain of them combine with the various
salts in solution and are thus preserved. Others
in passing up through the brine are purified ere
they pass into the regions above. As these purified
essences rise from the sea certain of them are swept
inward over the land where they are assimilated by
both vegetable and animal life, including man. In
this way all the advances in intelligence, as well as
all the advances in art, science and invention
brought forth for the benefit of mankind — the so-
called "lost arts" — are still preserved in the thought
aura of the locality. When subsequent Races reach
a corresponding stage of mental development they
are able to respond to the purified thought-forms of
the former civilizations and reproduce them as ap-
parently "new" ideas or inventions.

It is often noted that new ideas, new thoughts and

388 The Voice of his

tendencies seem to sweep over communities in waves.
They are indeed waves in the mental and even physical
atmosphere, sweeping in from the sea, invigorating,
stimulating and advancing all forms of life. All
essences not absorbed by vegetable and animal life
or utilized by man, pass into the aura of the earth
as a permanent acquisition or seed for the use of
future Races. The modern aeroplane is but an imper-
fect expression of the thought-forms left in the aura
of the earth by the ancient Atlanteans, who had devel-
oped aeronautics to a far higher degree than has yet
been attained in this age. There is no so-called "lost
art" but will in due time be recovered or "discovered"
in the same way. For every thought and act of man
is imprinted upon the Akashic Records and tends to
reproduce itself through the brain of the reincarnated
Soul who first produced it. And when so reproduced
it tends to be further perfected or redeemed, for such
is the Law of Eternal Progress.

After the rise of the submerged land from be-
neath the brine of the sea, the waters drain off or
evaporate and the purifying process is continued in
the resulting deserts. Following cyclic law, when
the disintegration of old forms is completed and the
combination of the lower essences with the salts
of the sea is accomplished, the land thus freed from
its magnetic burden of impurity slowly rises above
the surface, the waters evaporating and leaving be-
hind their accumulated salt to the further action of
the sun and air. Thus are formed the vast tracts
of land we call deserts.

As in the body an excess of salt is injurious, so in
the desert, where for ages no vegetable or animal
life can exist. Yet in the fullness of time the
salt is gradually disintegrated, sublimed or carried

The Voice of Isis 389

away by the action of the elements, and the land
again 'becomes habitable. The Great Salt Lake in
Utah, the desert of Sahara and the great plains of
western United States are examples of different
steps in this process. Thus, little by little, is the proph-
ecy fulfilled: "The desert shall blossom as the rose/'
Man passes through the same stages of purifica-
tion by salt as does the earth. His youth is fresh
and pure, is filled with high ideals, beautiful
thoughts, and vast energy. Gradually as he reaches
his maturity his pure ideals become overlaid with
selfishness, dissimulation, greed and impurity, and
his life becomes weighted down with the weak-
nesses, material desires, and impurities of the world.
Then come the purifying cataclysms of sorrow and
suffering in which all his boasted attainments dis-
solve from under him and he sinks down under the
brine poured out by the salt tears that flow from his
eyes. Here, as in the ocean, the salt purifies the
nature and preserves the essence of good in the ex-
periences he passes through, building it into his aura
for future use. The lessons of sorrow must be well
learned or they will be repeated again and again
until learned. After a period of desolation when all
comfort fails — comparable to a lonely desert — the
paralyzing effects of sorrow gradually lessen and
pass away. Then the rose that is born of suffering
and watered with tears puts forth its bud and begins
to open its petals in the purified and freshened soil
of his heart.

Analyzed from the higher standpoint, a drop of
sea water contains every constituent necessary to
life, and the same constituents are found in the salt
"Waters of Life" or tears. The well-known
aphorism in Light on The Path is based upon the puri-

390 The Voice of Isis

fying action of salt. "Before the eyes can see they
must be incapable of tears" does not mean that you
must be cold or lacking in understanding and appre-
ciation of the trials your brothers and sisters are
undergoing, or that you must be lacking in sym-
pathy ; for Jesus — the type of perfected man — wept in
sympathy with the sisters at Lazarus' tomb, al-
though possessing in its fullness the power to bring
Lazarus forth with a word — but it does mean that
there will come a period in your life when your pas-
sions, emotions and thoughts will be so mastered
and purified by the action of the salt tears — which
in your present stage of development are necessary
— that there will be no further need of the tears, for
the salt has done its work. As in a desert, where
only after the salt has been absorbed can the roses
bloom, so only after the purifying and cleansing has
been accomplished in your life can the roses bloom
in your heart and your eyes truly see.

Many ceremonies are connected with the partak-
ing of salt. In the Middle Ages the dish of salt was
placed in the center of the long banquet-board and
those who sat between the salt and the host were
said to sit "above the salt/' Only members of the
family were permitted this honor ; hence when a
guest was seated above the salt he was accepted as
a member of the family for the time being, and ac-
corded all the privileges and honors due a son of the
house. Those who sat "'below the salt" were the
squires, retainers and followers of the lord of the
house and could rise above the salt only by valiant
deeds. Among the Arabs to this day salt is held
sacred. One with whom they have partaken of salt
becomes their friend, and if by chance they partake
of salt with an enemy the enmity must be forsworn.

The Voice of I sis 391

This ceremony is called "The Covenant of Salt" and
is but another remnant of the ancient ceremony
which symbolized the covenant between man and
his Higher Self. Traces of this symbolic meaning
are found in many religions, the Roman Catholics
still using salt in the baptismal service. These cus-
toms are remnants of the beautiful symbology taught
the early Races by the Elder Brothers of Humanity,
in which the symbolic purifying by the salt admitted
the neophyte to spiritual Sonship. The self-conquer-
ing purifying and cleansing which lifted the neophyte
above the salt made it possible for him to enter the
higher realms and become one with his Father-in-
heaven.

The first conscious step of the neophyte is a strong
desire to purify his body, mind and life and preserve
the divine attributes within his Soul. This step is
symbolized by the effect of the salt. Each of you who
is ready to make the Covenant of Salt with your
Higher Self agrees to let your life be purified of all
its faults both great and small through the action of
salt tears, even though sorrow and suffering are nec-
essary to accomplish this result. When you have been
thoroughly salted and cleansed from earthly impurities
then will you become clear crystal grains wherewith
to salt the earth. Then indeed will the eyes be in-
capable of tears and be able to see the things of the
spirit ! However, this does not mean that you are to
encourage mere emotionalism, or to look on the sor-
rowful side of life. For just as in the desert an excess
of salt kills out vegetation, so giving away to excessive
weeping or emotion will make a desert of your heart
and life and you will remain in that state until you
have conquered. You will never gain the victory
until, as in the desert, the salt has been absorbed, the

392 The Voice of I sis

soil of your heart enriched by experience, and your
life has brought forth its roses.

Jesus said to His initiated disciples : "Ye are the
salt of the earth . . . have salt in yourselves
and have peace one with another." As you start out
to be the salt of the earth be not dismayed that you
are such a tiny grain compared to the great world
around you. Determine not to lose your savor. The
little grain of salt stops not to consider if it can accom-
plish its mission. It simply gives forth its innate
qualities in perfect confidence, for if it has not lost
its savor everything it contacts must be salted. And
the more it gives the more it has to give, for its crystals
grow and reproduce according to their saltness. Let
the light of your purified life so shine before men that
they shall recognize in you the element of purification.
Earnestly determine that the salt shall not lose its
savor, but that you will do your duty as a grain of
salt to wipe out and purify the world's misconcep-
tions. In your daily life, like grains of salt, radiate
the spiritual force which you draw from The Christ
and transmute the putrefying conditions in the thought
of humanity into Love and Purity.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

"Life runs its rounds of living, climbing up,
From mote, and gnat, and worm, reptile and fish,
Bird and shagged beast, man, demon, deva, God,

if one might save

Man from his curse, the whole wide world should share
The lightened horror of this ignorance
Whose shadow is chill fear, and cruelty its bitter pastime.
Light of Asia, Arnold, Book IV. p. 97.

(Note: This lesson is intended to advocate neither
meat-eating nor non-meat-eating, but to inculcate in
all that tolerance which can see others follow lines
of conduct differing from their own without condemna-
tion or a feeling of superiority.)

The command "Thou shalt not kill," is plain and
distinct, with no modifying conditions, yet it is given
upon the same authority as that which, in the vision
of Peter, said : "Rise, Peter ; kill and eat." x Although
the vision of Peter was primarily to teach him that
even though a Jew he should call no man unclean,
nevertheless the Voice of God commanded him to kill,
and he had to learn his lesson through his willingness
to do so even though against his race prejudice.

We have explained to our pupils something of the
great law of the One Life, or the Great Creative Prin-
ciple sent into chaos to evolve through all forms and
bring the world-stuff left over from a previous world-
period to perfection through physical and spiritual
evolution. We have tried to picture this Great Prin-
ciple as a stream of life-force animating and evolving
everything through which it passes. As this is the force
back of all evolution, an emanation from the Absolute

*Acts, X, 13.

394 The Voice of Isis

(which is all life)., there can be no such thing as "kill-
ing" in the sense of annihilating this stream of life-
force. But since the above command is given, and not
only in one sacred scripture but in many, it must have
an important inner meaning as well as an outer.

The only sense in which man can kill is to separate
any form of life from this stream of life-force, or to
dam it up or refuse to permit it to manifest. A good
example of such killing is given by the yogis,
Brahmacharis and Bhikshus — the so-called holy men-
dicants of India — described in The Light of Asia:
"Some day and night had stood with lifted arms, till—
drained of blood and withered by disease — their slowly
wasting joints and stiffened limbs jutted from sapless
shoulders like dead forks from forest trunks." x Such
practices prevent the One Life from manifesting
through certain parts of tjie body, hence such parts
may be said to be killed. Another form of killing is
found in the various kinds of mental torture which,
even in this so-called enlightened and Christian coun-
try, are assiduously followed by many who are earn-
estly seeking spiritual enlightenment. While we are
wont to look upon all forms of bodily torture as hor-
rible and revolting, many hold that Soul-torture is the
only path to perfection. Such think they must make
life as hard and unhappy, both for themselves and for
others, as it is possible; that they must refuse to eat
that which they enjoy; must starve their bodies or
must scourge their mind and conscience. These are
also forms of killing, because they dam up and refuse
to permit the life-force to manifest in and through
these conditions. Just as mind and Spirit are more
important than body, so is mental and spiritual torture
far more harmful and degenerating than any merely

1Book the Fifth, 9. 11 6.

The Voice of Isis 395

bodily torture that can be conceived of. And it has
exactly the same effect, namely, to separate the tor-
tured parts from the stream of life-giving creative
force, which is The Christ or the Creative Principle of
the Godhead.

The one fact which we would that we could proclaim
in words of fire that all the world might comprehend is
"GoD is LOVE/' and love is life and growth and joy and
peace and immortality. The only bar to evolution is to
kill, to separate either body, mind or heart from God-
Love, no matter what mistaken teaching brings this
about. Just as long as the idea prevails that to be
joyous and happy in life is to be far from God; just
as long as love is considered a clandestine fruit, some-
thing forbidden, to be eaten only in secret and bit-
terly repented of later on; that to gain the pleasant
things of life you must close the door on God and turn
aside the stream of the vital Christ-life from you, just
so long will this world be the hell it is today. The
only way to cleanse the Augean stables of life's mis-
eries is once more to turn the living waters of the
rivers Alpheus and Peneus into their old and origin-
ally intended channels and let the streams of love and
life and immortality flow into and through all. This
was one of the fabled labors of Hercules, who sym-
bolizes strength or power to accomplish, that God-
given power by which mankind can find its birthright.
Through the strength gained by accepting and believ-
ing that God has sent His Son — The Christ-principle,
the creative aspect of the Absolute — into chaos be-
cause His force was all that was needed to awaken
seemingly dead matter into life1 that it might evolve
toward perfection, we open the flood gates and, like
Hercules, turn this river of force into the stables that

Chapter XXIV.

396 The Voice of Isis

are filled with man's animal passions and emotions and
the stables are cleansed. "Thou shalt not kill" means
that you shall in no way dam up or cut off the life-
force.

But the question Peter had to face was: Has man
the right to destroy any lower form of life, either for
food, self-preservation or for purposes of hygiene?
The Hindus have carried the literal interpretation of
the command "Thou shalt not kill" to its extreme
limits, practically sacrificing human life in perference
to that of insects and other noxious and pestiferous
forms of life. Poisonous snakes, which the Hindus
refuse to kill, cause the death of thousands of human
beings annually; yet it is a common sight to see these
same Hindus treat their domestic animals with such
cruelty that a European can scarce endure the sight
of their suffering. It is known that the plague, which
so frequently devastates that country with its toll of
millions of lives, is transmitted by rats and other ro-
dents and is largely made possible by the unclean con-
ditions which permit fleas, lice and other bloodsucking
parasites — infesting indiscriminately the dead and
the living — to flourish undisturbed; that fatal fevers
are transmitted by mosquitoes, and that many other
scourges of mankind can be traced to similar sources,
and yet there are serious and earnest seekers after
truth who ask if it is right to destroy such forms of
life. There are many in this country who say they
have no right to kill the disease-transmitting house-
fly but who will carefully exclude it from their dwell-
ings without a thought of the suffering poor who can-
not afford screens or who are too ignorant to protect
their children from flies. Hence disease and death is
spread among the poor by the very flies the well-mean-
ing students have excluded from their own homes.

As to the killing of the dumb beasts your brothers,

The Voice of Isis 397

the literal view of not killing animals for food may be
a helpful step at a certain stage of spiritual growth,
but later on it is well to consider a wider view of crea-
tion and the inter-dependence of all kingdoms; for
using vegetables for food is just as much taking life
as to use animals for food. Man, being a step above
the lower kingdoms, owes love and helpfulness to all.

The matter of what kind of food you place in your
stomach, as long as it is wholesome and satisfying, is
of so little importance to spiritual growth that we give
it little special attention, leaving such matters of per-
sonal preference to the common-sense of each pupil.
Each one, however, is responsible for the condition of
all his bodies and must give them due attention, the
attention necessary to keep any high-bred animal, of
which high-grade work is expected, in good physical
condition.

The one essential thing is to have a strong mind in
a strong body, to live in such a way that no part of
body, mind or Soul is shut off from the stream of
Divine Life. "Will ye, for love of soul, so loathe your
flesh, so scourge and maim it, that it shall not serve to
bear the spirit on, searching for home ?" x In fact,
"Thou shalt not kill" any cell, molecule or atom in
any of your bodies. Hence, we do not presume to lay
down set rules as to diet ; for spiritual growth is not a
matter of what goes into the stomach — else those
Races which have been vegetarians for ages would be
spiritual masters long ere this — but of the devotion
with which you live out the ideals of your heart. "Not
that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but
that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a
man." 2 If your ideal is not to eat meat, and if you
find your body and mind thrive and you have gained

1 Light of Asia, Arnold, Book V, p. 120.
*St. Matthew, XV, 11.

398 The Voice of Isis

more strength, courage, vital force and mental power
without it, then live out that ideal and find out by the
results in your life if it be best for you. Study your
fellowmen and see if a purely vegetarian diet has
brought to its devotees greater health of body, vigor
of mind, breadth of Soul, love, tolerance and com-
passion.

One of the objections frequently brought against
meat-eating is the supposition that by eating flesh man
will take on the passions of the animal. There are two
points to be considered in this theory. All occult
students know that the desire-body is Kama or the
animal-soul, and that it leaves the body at the moment
of death, hence could not in any way be taken on by
eating the flesh from which it has withdrawn. The
second point is the claim commonly made by vegeta-
rians that by abstaining from meat their animal pas-
sions are lessened. The fact is that this result is at-
tained simply because, by a decrease in their stamina
and virility, their passions are temporarily masked. A
perfect man must be one with all his forces in full
vigor, but under perfect control. To weaken his pow-
ers to such an extent that they no longer require con-
trol is taking a step backward rather than forward,
for such weakened forces are only dormant, not mas-
tered, and in some life will assert themselves with all
their accumulated power and demand expression.
Persons who have thus weakened their powers are
very apt to think they have no passions, hence permit
a feeling of superiority to grow up in them. Some
time in their evolution, however, they must experi-
ence the full strength of all animal desires ere they
can even begin really to conquer. But this does not
mean, as taught by some schools, that it is well delib-
erately to arouse the passions for the sake of controll-

The Voice of Isis 399

ing them. It does mean that each must be in full pos-
session of all his powers and learn to master them
and make them his servants; for they are stepping-
stones by which he must climb.

We also hear much to the effect that all Masters
and Adepts were vegetarians, while the truth is that
only those who have reached Mastery from non-
meat-eating races were vegetarians. Right here
comes in a fact we have so often reiterated, namely,
that to reach Mastery each Soul must live up to the
light and the conceptions of Truth as revealed to him
in his own religion, nation and environment. The
truth is that many, many Souls have reached Mastery
through races that did eat meat, such as the Egyp-
tians, the Norsemen, Celts, etc., and especially those
who, living in a cold climate, subsisted almost entirely
on meat and yet reached Mastery; all of whom are
largely represented among the Masters of the Great
White Lodge. Hence, the importance of a vegetarian
diet in attaining Mastery cannot be very great; for
we cannot believe that the Elohim, having created a
planet with so many differing climates, necessitating
such a variety of diets, would shut out from attaining
ultimate perfection all who were placed in parts of
that planet where climatic conditions made animal
food a necessity for life and warmth.

It is the thought- force put into the subject that is
the great factor, namely, what thoughts you hold, to
what you constantly direct your mind. If you think
continually of what you are not to eat and how you
are to manage without it you are putting quite as much
creative thought-force upon your food as is the glut-
ton who thinks only of what he is to eat. In both
cases the subject of food is taken out of its proper
place — as anything wholesome that will properly

400 The Voice of Isis

nourish the body — and is given undue prominence,
even worshiped, making those who worship it slaves
to their stomachs, instead of looking upon food as the
mere fuel that runs the engine. The mind cannot run
constantly upon food and at the same time meditate
on spiritual things or be filled with loving thoughts
for the help of humanity. Instead you are apt to
divide the world into meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters.

As good must evolve out of all evil, so must we gain
wisdom to handle this problem, and by our thought-
force help make it possible for the Masters of Wisdom
to use every thing and condition, no matter how ap-
parently evil, to bring about ultimate good.

There is no such thing as death, merely various
changes in form in the manifestation of the One Life.

Man is the result of the normal development of all
the lower kingdoms; his body contains all the ele-
ments— mineral, vegetable and animal. This fact
alone shows that man has absorbed and transmuted
all the lower kingdoms and has thereby raised them
into a higher expression of the One Life. Hence,
the atoms of the mineral, vegetable and animal king-
doms which have been swallowed up by man have
thereby reached the fullness of life expression, just
as man must be swallowed up — and from one view-
point be killed and absorbed — in the spiritualized Being
who shall be more than man. The mineral is "killed
and eaten" or absorbed from the earth, and its form
of life expression destroyed that the vegetable may
live; the vegetable is "killed and eaten" or absorbed
that the animal may live, and the animal gives up its
life for man just as the lower personal man gives up
his life for the Spiritual Man.

Every form of life is born into the environment
where its natural prey (food) is found. If you reject

The Voice of Isis 401

the teaching of the evolution of the One Life through
the sacrifice of lower forms, then in despair you must
agree with the dictum of certain scientists who declare
the world to be but a monstrous charnal house. In
each instance, however, it is the mere physical ex-
pression of the One Life that is altered, for it is not
cut off from the stream of life-force, but is brought
into contact with a higher and more perfect expression
of that force and hence cannot be said to be "killed."
It is much as though a plant, having outgrown a con-
fining pot, was transplanted into a larger one where
it would have greater freedom and could express a
greater amount of the life-force ; or it is like a tadpole
absorbed and transmuted into a frog. This is the true
meaning of the Mosaic law, "a life for a life" — ex-
changing a lower form of life for a higher — so com-
monly misinterpreted in favor of capital punishment.
Jesus expressed the same truth when He said : "Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." x For
the seed must be "killed," or give up its form of life
and be absorbed and transmuted ere the higher form
of expression can evolve.

This is the scheme of evolution as it would be if
there were no sin and no disobedience to the Law. If
love prevailed evolution would be but one continued
sacrifice of the lower form of the One Life to the next
higher, that the more highly evolved form might ex-
press to a greater degree the One Life. But man's
disobedience to his divine guidance has brought cru-
elty and suffering into the world so that all creation
"groaneth and travaileth together." That is, all crea-
tion— whose end and aim is to give birth to and to
bring to perfection spiritual Beings — now brings
forth in pain and anguish where it should bring forth

1 St. John, XII, 24.

402 The Voice of Isis

in joy and thanksgiving. Now everything preys upon
something instead of yielding itself a glad sacrifice to
the next higher form. If no life were taken in cru-
elty it would naturally and without pain give up its
life-current that it might be turned into a higher and
more advanced channel of expression. If this did not
take place evolution would cease, and the life-wave
could never lift the mineral into the vegetable king-
dom, nor the vegetable into the animal, the animal into
the human or the human into the Divine.

Through man's selfishness and unbrotherliness
there is enmity and lack of understanding between
man and all the lower kingdoms, which can only be
remedied by love and wisdom. For instance, if meat-
eating were abolished would that overcome enmity
and cruelty ? Such changes must come from a change
in man's attitude toward life, from within, from the
heart, and not from any outward act or the mere
abstaining from an act.

At present man is swayed mainly through his love of
gain. As long as the flesh of animals has a commercial
value and commands a higher price when the animal is
improved in quality, well cared for, well fed and shel-
tered, man will go on improving conditions for the ani-
mal and thus perfecting and advancing it in evolution
far more rapidly than ages of wild life could accom-
plish, even though he does this merely because he finds
it to his financial advantage. All these factors are util-
ized by the Masters of Wisdom who are guiding evo-
lution, to give a decided impetus upward to the evo-
lution of the animal kingdom; for the animals must
reach a state of perfection as animals ere the wave of
evolution can sweep them into the next higher king-
dom. On the other hand, if animals had no commer-
cial value they would receive no attention from man,

The Voice of Isis 403

would be allowed to run wild, would be cruelly hunted
for sport, killed off to rid the fields of them, and many
starved or frozen in winter. Thus it would take many,
many more lives as animals ere they learned all the
lessons and reached perfection as animals; for even
the animals must learn the lesson of love and broth-
erhood with man and all kingdoms ere they are done
with their experience as animals, and this lesson they
must learn from man. The mere killing, which is
but a momentary pang, does not cause a thousandth
part of the suffering experienced in a wild and neg-
lected state — the slow dying of starvation, the being
torn to pieces by other animals or put to death by
their own kind, as happens to the old, the sick or dis-
abled among most animals.

Another objection to meat-eating is the brutalizing
effect the killing has upon the butchers. This is in-
deed a serious question, but those who are butchers
today are also evolving and are today a step above
their former incarnations in which they may have
been human butchers, i. e., the executioners, inquisi-
tors or the hired assassins so common in former ages.
By the time there are no more Souls who need such
an environment in which to learn their lessons and
evolve there will be no more need of butchers, for the
Great Law never places a Soul in an environment that
is not needed for its further evolution.

In protecting himself against mosquitoes, flies and
other noxious insects, man has the right to sacrifice
their form of life. For all lower forms of life which
prey upon or work injury to man are the result of
man's abuse of the life-force, hence he has the right
to make that life-force manifest through other forms
which will be helpful to the Race. Therefore, when
you destroy these lower forms hold the thought that
their life-force shall manifest through forms- that shall

404 The Voice of his

be helpful and not inimical to man. It is not true
brotherhood merely to drive them away from you to
prey upon your less fortunate brothers and sisters.
At no point in evolution, however, has any form of
life the right to take the life of its kind, for by so doing
it could not fulfill the Law of Compensation by raising
it to a higher stage of evolution. Nor would any form
do this did not man send forth murderous thoughts
and emanations. This applies even to the poisonous
weed which chokes out the life of the flower beside it ;
to the forms of life which devour their young and
their kind; for in such cases, instead of being raised
to a higher step they have to repeat the same step
again. But it does not apply to those forms of fish
and animal life which prey upon less evolved forms
of their own kind.

The whole key-note of the universe is love and as
long as man sends out the reverse of love, or
inharmony, death instead of life must result. How-
ever, the plea of advancing evolution cannot be
used to excuse or palliate the taking of life for sport
or vanity. Man has no right to assume the responsi-
bility of changing a form of life unless conditions have
proved that the sacrifice of the lower form is necessary
for the life or best good of a higher form — mankind.
To kill animals for amusement or to kill birds for their
plumage that it may add to the vanity of woman, or
to foster that state of mind which cannot see any-
thing beautiful or uplifting in the song of birds or
the gambols of a young animal, the sight of which
only arouses the desire to kill, is not only pushing man
back to the level of wild beasts, but, because it is not
transmuted into a higher form, is retarding the evo-
lution of the stream of life-force, and is spreading
enmity toward man among the lower kingdoms. It

The Voice of Isis 405

also dams up love and compassion in his heart and pre-
vents his spiritual evolution. This is killing in the full
sense of the term.

Man is a free-will agent and can choose his own
path. But certain it is that ultimately love and har-
mony must prevail else man fails to do his duty to the
lower kingdoms by failing to put the imprint of love
and brotherhood upon them, for all forms must evolve
together. Man is responsible for the lower kingdoms
and must do his duty by them and help them to take
their next step in evolution, for he has reached a point
in evolution where he must consciously become a co-
worker with the forces of evolution, must recognize,
correlate with and begin to use the great, creative
Christ Principle — which is the one Way, the Truth
and the Life — by which alone evolution can reach its
ultimate perfection. If man fails to do this he stops his
own evolution, for he cannot expect to receive from
the kingdoms above him that love and help which he
withholds from the kingdoms below him.

Man will never lay down the task of aiding the
lower kingdoms until all are lifted up and redeemed
through Divine Love.

There is always an inner or esoteric truth beneath
every phase of life, for all things work together for
good, even man's mistakes being utilized. "All steps
are necessary to make up the ladder. The vices of
men become steps in the ladder, one by one, as they
are surmounted." 1 Wisdom seeks deep into the mys-
teries of being for the germ of good beneath every
outward seeming ere condemning anything. "Seek
it (the Way) by testing all experience, by utilizing the
senses, in order to understand the growth and mean-
ing of individuality, and the beauty and obscurity of

1 Light on the Path, Part I, Rule 20.

406 The Voice of Isis

those other divine fragments which are struggling
side by side with you, and form the race to which you
belong."

Do not condemn anything but cruelty, impurity
and want of tolerance and brotherly love. Cul-
tivate love and tolerance for all your brethren and
avoid the thought that your way, or your view is su-
perior or is in any way better than another's, except
for yourself. Above all avoid the spiritual pride that
results from the thought that because you do or do
not eat meat, fletcherize your food, eat raw foods,
follow a particular dietary or bathe in a particular
fashion, you are holier than your brothers who do
differently. For there is no one thing that holds back
Soul-growth more, that is more subtle, or is harder
to overcome, than spiritual pride.

"Thou shalt not kill" means then, that thou shalt
not do anything to retard evolution on any plane, to
shut away any portion of the universe from the uni-
versal love-force, to foster separateness or to retard
the spread of brotherhood, harmony and unity on all
planes. In Light on the Path we read: "Each man
is to himself absolutely the way, the truth and the
life," and the Master Jesus, speaking of The Christ
within, said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
These two texts have literally the same meaning. The
letter "I" is formed by a straight line which geomet-
rically represents The Christ-principle descending
into matter, hence it is this life-giving force or Prin-
ciple which is "the way, the truth and the life." But
as each one manifests this in his life he can individu-
ally become that "I;" meaning, however, not the
human, personal self, which is matter, but the animat-
ing Principle of Deity manifesting through him.
Therefore, from this standpoint, each one must take
upon himself the responsibility of becoming "the way,

The Voice of Isis 407

the truth, and the life," not only for himself, but, by
his life, his influence and example — because he stands
upon what is at present the crest of the wave of evo-
lution on this planet — for all the kingdoms below him,
as well as for all his fellow beings. For the Way
and the Truth is Unity or the One Life. "As above,
so below."

Therefore, as to diet we lay down no set rules; we
only state principles. Let each pupil take the matter
of meat-eating into the Silence and find out the best
way for him to attain the above mentioned end. And
we feel sure that after he has wrestled with the ques-
tion conscientiously, and has found the many differ-
ences and the many apparent contradictions which
must be reconciled and blended ere this oneness with
all can be even approximately attained, there will grow
up in his heart such a tolerance and patience with all
his fellow students — whom he can plainly see are seek-
ing the same end — that there will be no condemnation
possible. "Let not him that eateth despise him that
eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him
that eateth." *• The instant any Soul reaches this point,
where he recognizes the unity of all, and the diversity
of- methods by which all are seeking unity, he can but
reflect in his life and conversation the illuminating
power of the divine Christ Love and will then become
an avenue through which this creative life-stream must
flow to all humanity.

1 Romans, XIV, 3.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION.

The following mantra are specially given by the
Masters of Wisdom as a link to bind all disciples into
one great unified body. You are requested to repeat
them with us morning, noon and night, keeping in
mind the ideas given in the explanation below, and
trying to realize their meaning in your daily life.

The power of prayers or mantra to harmonize the
mind and body and bring about suitable conditions
for spiritual communication has been recognized in
all countries and all ages, "sound being the most
potent and effectual magic agent, and the first of the
keys which opens the door of communication between
Mortals and Immortals."1 "To pronounce a word is
to evoke a thought, and make it present : the magnetic
potency of human speech is the commencement of
every manifestation in the Occult World."2

We, recognizing the omnipotent power
of the Great Creative Force, do make
most solemn covenant to present our
whole selves, our bodies, our minds, our
Souls, a living sacrifice to Thee.

We yield all personal desires unto the
one Great Desire, to be used as instru-
ments to create a Centre through which
The Lodge can work.

Recognizing the oneness of Thy All-
pervading Force, we give back to Thee,
for Thy use, all that we possess, and by

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I, 502.
*Ibid, Vol. I, 121.

The Voice of Isis 409

the power of the Living Christ demand
that all obstacles be removed, and Thy
work be speedily established in perfect
justice.

These mantra, while apparently but affirmations,
nevertheless contain the spirit of true prayer, for all
prayer is but a recognition of the One Life, the great
Universal Creative Force. This force is love in its
highest conception, and it is with this conception of
love, as being one with the creative energy of the
Great Breath of Brahm, that we desire our students to
identify themselves.

It is also the force that is meant in the passage, "For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begot-
ten Son." Just as the physical sun sends its forces
into the heart of the seed, and by breaking up its con-
fining sheath or shell utterly transforms it and causes
it to grow into a plant, a flower or a tree, so this force
of Divine Love pours out its power upon the immortal
seed within our hearts. It is the Son of God come to
earth that "whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life." It is that which is
created from the Father-Mother-principle and sent
into the world to redeem it.

A true conception of this great truth confronts
every neophyte at the Threshold. He must recognize
this force and correlate its inner meaning within his
own heart. This is the step so often spoken of as
"Know Thyself/' or present yourself "a living sacri-
fice," your bodies, mind and Soul, i. e., seek for and
find this stream of divine creative energy — an un-
broken thread binding and holding body, mind and
Soul to the Son of the Father-Mother — for this force
is the creative aspect of your Higher Self. Such a

410 The Voice of I sis

conception alone of the love principle can bring re-
demption.

Without this redemption, and a comprehension of
what is meant by Divine Love, the student, no matter
how much occult theory, fact or knowledge he may
store up, will still wander in outer darkness and never
find or recognize his Father's face. Once grasp this
truth with Soul knowledge, not mere intellect, and
you will find that you have hold of your Father's hand,
and nothing can ever separate you from Him, for the
Comforter has come who will abide with you forever.

Thus will you find the key that unlocks all mys-
teries, that overcomes sickness and conquers death,
and that will ultimately place your feet upon the high-
est mount of attainment.

This is the center that each disciple must find within
his own heart, yea, within his own body, that he may
realize how this creative force1 works within himself.
Having found it, let him purify the center and sanctify
it to the work of the Masters, and pour out its force
into the Great Center which the Masters of Wisdom
are forming upon the earth-plane.

This is the only way to prepare for the coming- Ava-
tar. All who use this force wisely, with an under-
standing of its tremendous power and how it works
in and through humanity, are doing their part to pre-
pare a place for the Avatar to manifest. This force,
verily, is God or the Devil, according to its use or
misuse.

SPECIAL CONCENTRATION HOURS.

We request that all pupils who earnestly desire to
co-operate in this Movement or who have the suc-
cess of this Order at heart, to pause for a moment
each day upon the stroke of noon and send a vital

1 Understand clearly that we are not referring to the physical sex-
fluid, but to the divine creative potency of The Christ-principle.

The Voice of Ish 411

creative thought of love to this Center, that it may be
perfected in purity and power to accomplish its great
mission for humanity. This should .not interfere with
your daily activities, for you have only to turn mentally
to this Center and say, "In the name of the Living
Christ may the Heart Center of The Order of the 15
be preserved as a pure channel through which Divine
Love, Life and Wisdom may manifest. May increas-
ing power be given it to accomplish its great work for
humanity."

When repeating this prayer realize that the Heart
Center includes more than those personalities at the
Center who are engaged in the work of the Order, for
the Heart Center of every movement includes the
heart-love of every member, no matter where they may
be. Hence your loving thoughts directed toward help-
ing the Order will form a magic chain uniting all true
members in love. It will also create a vortex into
which there will irresistibly be drawn the positive force
of the Divine.

Do not try to make the time coincide with the same
hour in Los Angeles. Take the time of your own lo-
cality. For as we have pupils in all parts of the world
the repetition of this prayer at noon will make a con-
tinuous stream of force pouring into the Center
unceasingly.

To come into close vital touch with this Order each
pupil should set apart at least fifteen minutes (thirty if
possible) every Sunday evening at 8 :30, during which
the effort should be made to correlate with the special
meeting held at the Center at that time.

At that time each should repeat, either aloud or
mentally, the Prayer of Consecration and the Healing
Prayer, and concentrate on coming to this Center
in thought, realizing that at this time the Master is in
the midst of His children; that His love includes all,

412 The Voice of Isis

no matter how distant ; that at this time especially He
is gathering all together to bless them, and that the
streams of love and healing power are going out over
the lines of force which connect each pupil with this
Center. Over these lines of force the pupils on their part
should send their love and help and a strong will that
this Movement shall lack for nothing (either spiritu-
ally or materially) to make it a powerful factor on all
planes to help humanity.

While the helpful forces are sent out to all alike,
nevertheless those who thus consciously correlate with
them and who give of their substance — which includes
their love and earnest desire to help on all planes —
will receive in exact proportion to the earnestness
and devotion they express, for, by their desire to be-
come co-workers in this Movement for the upliftment
of humanity, they are literally merging themselves into
oneness with the streams of living force poured out by
The Lodge through this Order; for their desires are
creative and will bring forth after their kind.

If any find it impossible to be alone at this time let
them at least send us a strong thought of loving help,
even if they are in the midst of a crowd.

The Secretary would be glad to know of any experi-
ences the pupils may have in correlating with the
Center in this service.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE MEANING OF THE SYMBOL.

The symbol of an Order is its standard or flag. It
symbolizes both its source, its object and its policy and
sets the standard by which it must be judged. Hence
it is important that persons belonging to or coming
in touch with any Order or Movement should under-
stand something of the emblem by which it is known
on the higher planes.

THE SEAL.

This Seal like all true symbols, has many shades
of interpretation — all of which are included in the
figure — and can be applied to various conditions.
These shades of meaning are applications suitable to
various conditions and circumstances rather than con-
tradictions. We will take it, however, as the Seal of
The Order of the 15 and endeavor to point out not
only its meaning, but also how it can be made a posi-
tive help to all who are striving to reach the goal of
spiritual attainment over the Path marked out by this
Order.

414 The Voice of Isis

The Seal consists of a double triangle inscribed in a
circle, with an open Eye in the center and three five
pointed stars in the spaces between the sides of the
triangle and the circle.

The circle represents Boundless Space and limitless
Time in Eternity. It marks off the space in which
creation takes place, or the circle formed by the down-
pouring of the Great Creative Force, in this case the
circumference within which this Order is working. It
is much like the circle of light projected by a magic
lantern, within which the pictures are to appear. In
one sense it is the circle of the Zodiac (the pathway of
our solar system) from the twelve Gates or Houses
of which issues the radiant light of The Christos rep-
resented as focused in the center of the Open Eye. In
another sense the circle is the Ring Pass Not (the
limit of the auric zone) which every true disciple
should put around himself, and whose Gates (corre-
sponding to the centers of the body) he must open and
close at will to admit or exclude that which he chooses.
Thus the All-seeing Eye (the Absolute) sheds its sev-
en-fold creative rays within its creations. In the case
of the Ring Pass Not the Eye is the Divine Flame or
The Christ-force within each heart. In this Order it is
the sacred altar upon which burns the Eternal Flame
of spiritual light from whose illuminating rays ema-
nate the inspired teachings.

The Triangle symbolizes the Trinity, and is the uni-
versal symbol of Deity,1 the three aspects of the Logos,
whether taken as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of
the Christians, the Osiris, Isis and Horus of the Egyp-
tians or the more ancient Father — Mother — Son. The
apex of the triangle represents the dual creative force
of the Logos, separating into its positive and negative

1 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, Vol. I, p. 138.

The Voice of I sis 415

rays; the Mother (Isis, or the Holy Ghost), and the
right hand line the Father (Osiris). These two send
out their forces to form the base line, Horus, the Son,
The Christ-principle poured forth and raining down
upon the lower world, to manifest in all kingdoms as
the Great Creative Principle which shall redeem them.

As used in this seal, the Triangle is composed of
two sets of lines, representing either the masculine and
feminine forces or involution and evolution. The
inner line, the feminine, also stands for Intuition and
Love, while the outer line represents Intellect and
Wisdom. The spaces between the lines represent the
three planes of manifestation — physical, mental and
spiritual.

Just as it is impossible to draw an equilateral tri-
angle within a circle without leaving three spaces, so
is it impossible for the Trinity to express itself within
the circle of manifestation without manifesting the
three worlds. Hence these three spaces symbolize the
three worlds or three states of consciousness.

Within each of these three spaces there is a five-
pointed star, representing man with his five senses
and five extremities (hands, feet, head). The symbol
represents man as existing upon the three planes of
manifestation and using his five senses in each of the
three states of consciousness. A man using his five
senses on three planes of manifestation makes the
number 15. Also 1+5=6, thus announcing through
the symbol that this Order is a Sixth Race movement,
and that only by teaching man to use his five senses
on all three planes can he prepare for the great Sixth
Race. As 6 is the number of The Christ (man 5 plus
Divinity 1) it symbolizes that this movement is an-
other attempt to bring the teachings of The Christ
to humanity. In other words this symbol should in-

416 The Voice of I sis

spire man to stand erect, and with all his known fac-
ulties illumined by the Light of Truth, fearlessly pene-
trate into the mysteries of his being.

THE MOTTO.

The motto of the Order is Dare, Do, Keep Silent,
hence this must be the measure of its work. These
words being placed between the double lines of the
triangle show how man can conquer the three planes
of consciousness. He must Dare to penetrate into
the deeper mysteries of life ; Dare to follow the guid-
ance of his Father-in-heaven and Dare to face himself
and live up to his highest ideals without regard to the
opinions of his friends or enemies. He must Do the
will of his Higher Self and manifest it in his daily life.
He must Do with all his heart the duty that his hands
find to do, the duty that lies nearest, and Do unto oth-
ers as he would they should do unto him. He should
Keep Silent concerning the sacred experiences of his
inner life when among those who cannot understand ;
should Keep Silent concerning his own attainments,
also when tempted to criticize others. Keep Silent
also has reference to that silent hush of the physical
and mental activities that must come ere the higher
centers can catch and transmit the vibrations from the
higher planes. These words form the triple key that
will unlock for man the doors of his inner conscious-
ness and enable him to function on all planes and mas-
ster all states of consciousness.

Taking the seal in its entirety, it shows to an Initiate
that this Order is put forth by The Lodge to help man,
through the use of his five known senses on all planes,
to unfold his higher (unknown) faculties and reach
up to the Divine. Many students of the higher life
are striving to unfold and use their sixth and sev-
enth senses before they have learned to use their five

The Voice of Isis

417

known senses on all planes. If such a thing were pos-
sible it would make a gap in their evolution which noth-
ing could bridge, and they would sooner or later find
themselves plunged into the depths of error.

The whole, being inscribed in a circle representing
limitless Time in Eternity, shows that the symbol is
active within this cycle of manifestation; moreover
that it is intended as a direct preparation for the Sixth
Great Race.

APPENDIX A.

HOW TO FORM A STUDY CLASS.

In the study of mysticism and occultism, in addition
to the careful reading and meditation upon the ideals
presented, it is helpful to have a number who are in-
terested in the same teachings organize a class and
study together. The union of the auras of a number of
harmonized students creates a vortex into which a
strong force of enlightenment on the subject studied
is naturally drawn.

Arrange to meet regularly at some convenient place,
such as a member's home, in the evening if possible,
as this permits both men and women to attend, and
choose one of your number to read the lesson. Select
a few pages of the book a week in advance of the
meeting and have each member carefully study and
meditate upon them during the week, making notes of
the ideas that seem most important.

Begin promptly at the hour designated. Open the
meeting with a period of Silence in which you still
your mind, turn the current of your thoughts from
the affairs of daily life and concentrate them upon
some harmonizing topic announced beforehand, such
as harmony, peace, light, love, understanding, etc.
Have the leader read a few lines from the lesson
selected and all who feel so prompted comment
thereon, especially giving the new ideas that may have
come to them during their study. Invite interruptions
and discussion. Any questions you cannot answer
send to the Superintendent of Local Centers, who will
submit them to the Teacher and explanations will be

The Voice of Isis 419

returned as soon as possible. Keep a kindly but firm
rein over all discussions, allowing plenty of latitude, so
long as it does not stray too far away from the subject.
Studiously avoid arguments. One should state one's
interpretation of the passage under discussion and let
it rest there. It will be excellent training in clear
thinking to formulate your opinion as definitely as
possible. Do not try to convince others or impose your
views upon them. Simply state your views and grant
to others the same freedom of thought and expression
which you desire for yourself. Above all be cheerful
and goodnatured and let peace, harmony and love
abound, for without these conditions the study will
degenerate into mere intellectual discussions and the
Voice of Intuition which you are seeking to cultivate
will be drowned out.

In this way meetings become intensely interesting
and helpful, for the different view points brought out
serve to make clear phases of the subject not always
in the printed . lesson. Thus one lesson will often
extend over three or four meetings. Strive ever to
bring out the heart or Christ side in all your discus-
sions of the lesson, not permitting the intellectual to
predominate. Seek for the loving help that is con-
tained in each lesson and always conclude by pointing
it out plainly so that all can see and carry it home
with them.

Let all the students strive continually to spread the
Teachings wherever and whenever Wisdom inspires
them, but do not seek to force them upon anyone.
Have them invite their friends to the meetings, those
to whom they are led to talk and who become inter-
ested, but not to be anxious about their coming, leaving
them free to follow the leadings of their own hearts.

420

The Voice of Isis

Try to send in monthly reports of the progress of
your meetings and of the different members, always
encouraging, however, personal correspondence direct
with the Order when a student is confronted with a
vital Soul problem.

If a name is chosen for the class remember that
names have occult powers and the class will have to
demonstrate that it can live up to the name chosen.

After the class has been working harmoniously for
some time, if it is desired to expand it into a Local
Center of the Order to carry on a more organized line
of work, write to the Superintendent of Local Centers
for further information.

I

APPENDIX B.

ANNOUNCEMENT.

"Behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy."

To all students of the higher life who truly desire
to progress, and who wish the opportunity of coming
into closer personal touch with those Masters of Wis-
dom, who, through all ages, have been the Teachers,
Guides and Elder Brothers of humanity, there comes
the following message:

In accordance with the geometrical design of the
universe, a point in evolution is now reached when an
advanced Order has been established upon the earth
plane. This Order is not an organization in the gen-
eral acceptation of the term, nor is it connected either
with the outer or inner work of any other occult organ-
ization now in existence on the physical-plane. It is a
new unifying, Spiritual Movement put forth by those
Great Intelligences who are the Guides and Teachers
of humanity. According to its fundamental principles,
only such earnest students can be admitted to full
membership as have proven their devotion to human-
ity, and have sent out their cry for further enlighten-
ment and help. All such persons are welcomed into
this Order, and such probationary lessons will be sent
them, from time to time, as will afford them an oppor-
tunity of coming into close fellowship and conscious
communion with the Masters of Wisdom. Under-
stand this point clearly: It will be only through your
own individual effort, your attitude of Soul and the
character of your subsequent life that will enable you
to place yourself in personal, conscious touch with the
Masters. It depends upon no personality but your
own.

422 The Voice of I sis

No vows or pledges are asked of Associate Students,
for only those are eligible to full membership in this
Order who have voluntarily given up their lives to
the higher law, and have already vowed allegiance to
their own Higher Self. But all who sincerely desire
the help this Order offers are welcomed as Associate
Students.

The teachings of this Order will not conflict with
any duties of life, or with membership in other organ-
izations, or membership in any religious denomina-
tion.

APPENDIX C.

SPECIAL INFORMATION.

The Order of the 15 is but one name for a great
Cosmic Order which has always existed and through
which all Souls who have reached Mastery have passed
on some plane at a certain stage of their evolution.
It has been represented upon the earth-plane at cer-
tain cyclic intervals in all ages and it has been known
under various names. Its manifestation upon the
earth-plane during the present cycle began on January
1st, 1908, in Philadelphia, Pa., and in less than three
years it encircled the globe, having pupils — including
Christian and Buddhistic missionaries — in China,
Japan, India and the heart of Africa, as well as in
almost every civilized country of the globe.

THE ORDER OF THE 15.

The Order of the 15 is a non-sectarian move-
ment for the promulgation of Christian Mysticism. It
is a response to the heart-hunger of humanity for a
clearer understanding of the laws of The Christ-life.
It is not put forth to form a new sect or cult, to further
divide up and separate humanity, or to form another
pigeonhole in which to isolate a few followers, nor
does it come to secure a following for any human
leader or personality. It is an impersonal and uni-
versal unifying, Spiritual Movement, without creed,
dogma, rules or pledges. Instead of emphasizing
the differences between its teachings and all others, it
strives to establish a platform so universal that its
pupils can find in it some one thing to which they
can agree, even though that one thing be not the same
for all — and thus become a link to join the best efforts

424 The Voice of Isis

of all into one great universal effort to make Brother-
hood manifest on earth. For true Brotherhood does
not mean all thinking alike, but each recognizing
Truth wherever found and demonstrating love and
tolerance toward those who find a different aspect of
Truth more helpful.

This Order does not ask its pupils to leave any
church, society or organization in which they feel they
can do their best work for humanity. It but seeks
to help all to understand the workings of the great
fundamental Law of Love, and thus enable them to
do their own work the better, in their own way and
place. It asks no one to subordinate his individuality
or to follow any leader, but leaves all free to follow
the Truth as revealed to them. It does not require
that any of its teachings be accepted by its students
because some authority says they are true, for unless
a teaching appeals to the heart and rings true to a Soul
it is not true to that Soul. Truth is not an abstract
principle. It is that which remains as pure gold after
passing through the fires of daily living and testing.
Hence, no authority is enforced, except the authority
of that Voice within each heart which recognizes and
witnesses to Truth wherever found.

ORGANIZATIONS.

All organizations and movements which receive help
from the Masters of Wisdom have their own particular
work to do. Whether they have succeeded in the
task set before them, or whether they have failed, is
clearly shown by their results, and the same rule must
be applied to the work of this Order. But many stu-
dents have outgrown organizations, having found
them too narrow and their necessary limitations too
binding. This is but a natural feature of growth and

The Voice of Isis 425

again proves the Great law, "As above, so below;"
just as the seed, when first planted, is confined in a
protective sheath from which, in the process of
growth, it will burst forth. Hence, an avenue of in-
struction and help has been put forth that is not an
organization and which is not limited in its activities.
This movement is not an organization because it
has no constitution or by-laws, no officers (except the
Secretary), requires no pledges and no dues and does
not restrict a student's activity in any society or or-
ganization. Therefore it is not antagonistic to, or a
rival of, any existing organization that is helping hu-
manity, but permits perfect freedom. It holds out the
hand of Brotherhood to each and gives to all
an opportunity to prove the ideals of Brotherhood
and tolerance which they profess.

AS TO OTHER MOVEMENTS.

Although we emphasized our relation to organiza-
tions in the beginning by placing the statement in
italics, yet it is overlooked by many. Therefore we
will restate our position more fully herewith, so that
in the future there may be no question as to the sig-
nificance of this Movement and its relation to all
others.

We can but reiterate that while we are not con-
nected, in any zvay, with the outer or inner workings
of any other organization now on the earth-plane f
nevertheless we stand for Truth wherever found, our
motto being, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

Under no circumstances do we criticise any. If an
organization, society or movement has helped one
Soul to take one step upon the Path to Mastery it has
not wrought in vain.

"Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these
little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a

426 The Voice of Isis

disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose
his reward! . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have
done it unto me."

The fact that a teaching attracts and helps you is
evidence that it contains the lessons needed by you
for the step you are taking. The fact that a move-
ment no longer appeals to you, no matter how helpful
it may be to others, is evidence either that your Soul
has learned the lessons that movement had for you —
even though not mastered intellectually — or that the
movement, no matter how beautifully conceived and
launched, has become tainted with something that is
not helpful, or is perhaps distinctly injurious to your
physical, mental, moral or spiritual growth. Hence,
to remain connected with an organization to which
you no longer feel drawn, or which you have out-
grown, is as detrimental to your Soul-growth as it
would be for a flower to remain in a pot which had
become too small for it or whose soil had become ex-
hausted or contaminated. No vows given to any
earthly organization can bind a Soul which, through
natural growth, has evolved beyond them.

Each movement that aims to help humanity has its
own place and its own work. Colored blocks are
necessary in the kindergarten, primers for children,
text-books for the training of the mind in school and
college; but when the mind has been trained it must
then put that training to use in a practical way: in
business, under the head of the firm or manager; in
art, under a great teacher; in spiritual things, under
a Master of Wisdom. But remember that, because
you are no longer interested in the colored blocks or
primers you once thought so beautiful, you are not to
despise the children who still cling to them, or find

The Voice of Isis 427

fault with the teachers of the a-b-c's. All have their
place, and the children will grow away from the
blocks when they have learned their lessons, just as
you have grown. And the proof that you have out-
grown earthly organizations will be the love and toler-
ance with which you treat all your brothers and sis-
ters who still feel the need of such methods. To rail
at organizations, especially one which has helped you
to reach your present state, and those who work in
them, is proof that you still need their discipline.
Every uplifting movement or teaching has its place
and has for followers those who need its lessons.

AIMS OF THIS MOVEMENT.

One of the chief objects of this Movement is to
correlate advanced philosophical teachings with the
orthodox Christian teachings; to form a neutral
ground where both can meet and recognize Truth,
and to reach the great mass of people who will not
join organizations or occult societies of any kind. On
this account we may disappoint many intellectual stu-
dents, for our language will purposely be made sim-
ple, and the great truths which we set forth will be so
stated as to appeal to minds schooled in Western
religious thought. Our great object is to enable all
sections of spiritual seekers — New Thought, Spirit-
ualism, Theosophy, Christianity, in fact all lovers of
Truth — to draw together at the heart center. This
is a necessary preparation for the near advent of the
great Spiritual Teacher for the Western world who is
soon to appear, the Avatar. The good news of His
quick coming must be given "unto all people," not
merely to a few intellectual thinkers. All schools of
spiritual thought need this preparation.

The great psychic awakening now sweeping over
the land has brought many students to the point where

428 The Voice of Isis

their inner faculties are unfolding. This is a point of
great danger, for here the two paths — the Right
Hand and the Left Hand — diverge. This Order may
be called a wayside House of Rest, placed at the
point of divergence of the paths, at whose door every
pilgrim who knocks finds welcome, and within rest,
sympathy, understanding and encouragement, also a
guide to lead him safely past the many dangers and
pitfalls that surround the entrance to the Right Hand
Path. This is a personal work which could not be
accomplished by any organization limited by set rules.

While the teachings of this Order are those of the
Wisdom Religion, they are not theosophic in the sense
of being put forth by any of the numerous societies
promulgating such teachings, for they deal with the
Christian Bible quite as much as with Eastern
teachings.

One object of these teachings is to bring to the at-
tention of the world, as simply as possible, the Pearls
of Wisdom in the teachings of the Master Jesus —
pearls that have been overlaid with wordy misconcep-
tions so long as to be almost unrecognisable.

As all religions, sects and creeds contain at least a
germ of Truth, our aim is to help each one to find
that germ in his own teachings, and to purify and
develop it into the Tree of Life in his own garden.
We thus help them to purify their conception of Truth
as expressed in their own religion.

There is a real necessity for the various presenta-
tions of Truth as given to the world; for just as the
climate, flora and fauna of a country, and the lan-
guage and customs of its people vary in different
parts of the world, so must Truth garb itself in habili-
ments suited to the modes of thought of the people
to whom it is given. There is a deep, occult reason

The Voice of Isis 429

underlying this law, and St. Paul recognized it when
he said, "Be ye all things unto all men." There comes
a time, however, in all organized bodies giving out
spiritual teachings when some student will advance as
far or farther than the leaders of the organization.
And since it is only natural for such leaders to assume
that they are more advanced than any of their stu-
dents, inharmony and dissatisfaction or even seces-
sion result.

In the development of all students a point is reached
where they need the advanced, personal instruction,
not of any leaders — who are themselves but students —
but of One who has at His command all knowl-
edge and all wisdom, i. e., a Master of Wisdom.1
It is in answer to this personal need that The Lodge
of Masters has put forth The Order of the 15 at this
time. It comes as a direct response to the prayers of
many, many hearts for more light, love, sympathy
and personal guidance in the problems of their spir-
itual life.

As this continent is to be the home of a new Race
which will ultimately perfect itself by the survival and
interblending of the fittest of all the races now exist-
ing, so must its religious thought be blended and puri-
fied that it may emerge as a pure ray which has
gathered into itself the force from all its sub-rays.

The Order of the 15 is put forth in an effort to
awaken The Christ-love in the hearts of men, rather
than to cater to the intellect or the desire for psychic
powers; for only those who can correlate with The
Christ-power can be gathered together to form a nu-
cleus in which this Power can be individualized on
earth. The aim of this Movement is especially to help

1 It is understood, of course, that the Secretary does not answer
the letters or compose the teachings. He is merely the Secretary in the
ordinary sense of the word.

430 The Voice of Isis

all Christian people to find the deep, underlying, vital
truths common to all religions in their own, and thus
truly, and in the only way possible, prepare for an
Universal Brotherhood on earth in which each Soul
shall find the same vital truths spoken in his own
language, i. e., couched and taught in terms of the
religion in which he was born.1

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS.

In this present age the Masters must work through
human agencies and the moment you determine to
give of yourself and your worldly substance to this
work you become Their recognized agent. But if
you desire to help humanity through this avenue and
to receive the personal training necessary to do
efficient work, and have no worldly substance to give,
do not hesitate on that account, for you can only give
of that which you have to give.

In such an Order dues, as such, would be impos-
sible, for there can be no price placed upon spiritual
truth. But as the workers at the headquarters give
their time and talents without salary, and as the ex-
penses incident to a world-wide Movement must be
provided for, it is expected that all who desire to
help will voluntarily aid the work by contributions
in accordance with their ability and the Law of exact
Justice. It is a primal law of occultism that, no mat-
ter how much is set before you, you are able to assim-
ilate only in exact ratio with the spirit of helping
others which you display. If the teachings help you
it will be evidence that they can help others, hence
that you can best serve humanity by making it pos-
sible to spread these teachings abroad.

Of course this Movement cannot be carried on
without financial support and it greatly needs such

1 See Acts II, 6.

The Voice of I sis 431

support — for the Law of Justice permits humanity to
be helped only to the extent that, through its own
efforts, it makes it possible for the help to reach it.
If you feel an inner urge to study with us, and if you
find that the lessons help you, you will naturally desire
to make it possible for other Souls to receive the same.
Therefore, out of pure love and a desire to help
others you will give as much as you can afford. Let
all give according to their ability.

APPENDIX D.

HOW TO JOIN.

A simple announcement of your desire to study
with us and a realisation of your obligation to help us
in return is all that is necessary. The help we ask is
just what your conscience tells you is the right and
proper thing to do in accordance with your worldly
means. Many will be unable to give financial aid and
from those we ask love and helpful thoughts. If we
demanded financial aid we would at once put ourselves
outside the radius of the Spiritual Force, therefore
we simply trust and believe that the desire to help
carry on the work will be implanted in each heart to
whom this circular appeals, and that the response will
be such as to enable this Movement to become the
great power for good that it is intended to be. To
do this, however, all interested must make it their
work and give it such financial aid as they can, as
well as the devotion and love of their hearts. In
short, it must be looked upon as a privilege to co-
operate in this great work.

All contributions, both large and small, will be
gratefully received and promptly acknowledged. No
matter what amount is given, the real offering is the
loving desire to help. "Let every man do according
as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of
necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver."

To all who desire to study with us we will send a
printed lesson each month. In addition to this,
whenever a pupil is facing a vital problem of life, or
when confronted with a question whose solution is of
importance to his spiritual growth, he has the privi-

The Voice of Isis 433

lege of writing to the Teacher of the Order and briefly
stating his need. The reply will contain the love,
sympathy and guidance needed by him for his spir-
itual welfare. All such letters should be addressed
to the Secretary, who will refer them to the Teacher
and transmit the reply in the strictest confidence.

Pupils are furnished with lessons for six months on
trial. At the end of that time if they have in no way
expressed their appreciation of the teachings, the
lessons are discontinued, for the income from con-
tributions does not keep pace with the expenses, and
with our limited funds we cannot afford to send les-
sons to those not vitally interested in the particular
work of this Order. Those who do not find the
lessons helpful are requested to notify us to discon-
tinue them.

You will greatly facilitate our work if before ask-
ing questions in regard to it you will carefully study
this Appendix to see if the information you desire is
not contained therein.

Address F. Homer Curtiss, M. D., Secretary

International Headquarters
1723 McCadden Place, Los Angeles, Cal., U. S. A.

Our correspondence is so large that we cannot
answer letters immediately, but will always endeavor
to do so within one week after their receipt.

INDEX

Abyss, the great, 48.

Acid, oceans of carbonic, 205.

Acts, quoted, 153, 393.

Adam, first was sexless, 233; means

red earth, 243; punishment of, 247;

sleep of, 243.
Adam and Eve, Third Race, 232, 242;

banished because, 246.
Aeroplane, perfected by Atlanteans,

388.
Age, Golden, 239; Kali Yuga, 152;

Lemurian or Jurassic, 232;
Alchemy, 15 the Order of, 62; of

Nature, 318; use of salt in, 386.
Alcohol, see Chapter VII; composition

of, 100; escapes into astral, 100;

results of use, 100.
Alcyone, solar system journeys round,

39.

Allegiance, to Teacher must be un-
swerving, 21.
Allegory, Bible an, 355; of Jesus' life,

342.
Alphabet, four letters of Nature's,

358; tells story of life, 369; Nature's

Mystic, see Chapter XXVIII; origin

of the, 254.

Aluminum, metal of Jupiter; blue, 262.
Ambition, astral entities work upon

pupil's, 264; third temptation, 292.
Amos, quoted, 152.
Ancestors, arts taught by Divine, 235;

Lunar, 180-1-4; work of, 180; Solar,

182-4.
Androgynous, early Third Race was,

188, 231; question of condition, 162.
Angel, of flaming sword, 173; of the

Lord, 316; the Guardian, 372; who

announced Jesus, 153.
Angels, are messengers, 342; behold

only The Christ, 343; feminine

aspect of humanity, 343; the Seven,

186.
Animals, breeding advances the, 402;

follow normal instinct, 215; governed

by a Group-Soul, 170, 215, 286;

higher intelligence in, 286; lack free-
will, 286; suffering of wild, 403.
Announcement, of the Order, 421.
Annunciation, Order of the, 62.
Ape, in the world-forest, 371.
Apes, man not descended from, 233-5;

origin of, 54.
Apollonius, mantle of, 368.

Approval, striving for, 130.

Aquarius, One of Ezekiel's four sacred
animals, 39; sign of Son of Man,
Man from the East, 39; Uranus en-
tered, in 1912, 39; Manus remains
7 years in, 39.

Arabs, use of salt among, 390.

Argument, avoid, 419.

Ark, of Noah, 263.

Arts, taught by Divine Ancestors, 235;
the lost, 387.

Astral, see teachers; bodies evolved
by, 181; defined, 156; life in the,
156-7; teachers, knowledge limited,
107; work on pupil's ambition, 264.

Astral entities, see entities.

Astral-plane, definition of, note to,
156; ruled by violet, 365.

Astral world, special training needed
before entering, 71.

Atlanteans, 236; culmination of phy-
sical man, 236; degeneration of,
237; degraded sex- force, 246; leg-
ends concerning, 236; perfected
aeroplane, 388; sixth and seventh
sub-races of, 237; worshiped the
body, 261.

Atlantis, cause of destruction of, 246;
destruction began, 189; the flood of,
236.

At-one-ment, Bible shows steps of, 77;
lessons necessary to, 132; of a
planet, 44.

Attainment, not far off, 177, 267; only
Path of, 74; Soul must prove its,
276.

Attention, focused on personality, 130.

Aura, color of, 362; condensed by,
344; determined by, 39; forces form
a protecting, 49; of earth infected,
219; thoughts preserved in earth's,
388.

Automobile, Karma illustrated by, 119.

Avatar, see Chapter X; appearance de-
termined by, 140; Avesha, how to
judge an; messages of, differ, 144;
in every movement, 145 ; body of an,
139, 151; definition of; has no
Karma, 137; Jesus a direct, 139;
Krishna, an, 140; need for an, 141;
not a mortal, 138-9; prophesies of,
147; responding to the, 26; teaches
Wisdom Religion, 147; time of com-
ing, 148; to prepare for the, 410.

Axioms, occult; as above, so below,
189; when the pupil is ready, 71.

Index

B

Baal, priests of, 264.

Babel, tower of 237.

Bacteria, origin of, 219.

Balance, the Law as, 197.

Baptist, John the, 144; 383.

Barefoot, Friars, 309; meaning of
symbol, 317; reason for going, 308.

Barnacles, symbol of the, 135.

Battle, between good and evil, 248; is
not one sided; not outside of self,
92; never fight another's, 92.

Bhagavad-Gita, quoted, 30-3-7; 140, 269,
356, 378.

Bible, Allegory of Fifth Race, 355; not
literal, 370; symbol of Red Ray, 189;
symbolic, not historical, 75; synthetic
picture, 379.

Bird, of Life, bestride the, 126-7-8, 133.

Black is no color, 360; 9 is number of,
359.

Blood circulation, illustrates Karma,
122-3; humanity the, of Heavenly
Man, 122; salt necessary to, 386;
strike on the lintel, 110; symbology
of, 189, 190, 326.

Blue, office of, 362; corresponds to
Jupiter, tin, aluminum, 362.

Boat, of personality rocks, 38.

Body, conditions for creating a, 219,
224; effect on mental, 82; evolved
by Lunar Fathers, 181-4; has normal
animal desires, 215; must sanctify
and control, 215; no function of im-
pure, 216; of humanity, 273; sex of
corresponds to Soul, exceptions 160-
1; worshiped, 183, 259, 261.

Body, spiritual; of the Avatar, 139;
151; must feed, 74.

Brain, channels in, 304; must be train-
ed to respond, 109, 289; registers
only, 288; train not to dream, 304;
when evolved into fit instrument, 234.

Bread, the mystic, 74.

Breath, Great, of Brahm, 195, 409;
how to use the, 349; man endowed
with, 233; Manus enter through the,
205; may ^ spread disease, 167; more
than physical life, 166; of the Spirit
purifies, 189; power of the, 166.

Breathing, effect of rhythmic, 350; ex-
ercises, how to use, 350; thoughts
held while, 351.

Brimstone, action of, 81; lake of, 80.

Brine, action of 387.

Brotherhood, many forms, 26; not true,
404; Universal, real, 153-4.

Brothers, Elder, evolved through lower
Orders, 52.

Buddha, descended from a serpent, 242.

Bush, the burning, 315-6

Business, find your own, 89; mind your
own, 88; minding your, helps all,
96; must be sactioned by The Christ,
32; your Father's, 95; your real, 91-4.

Butchers, effect on, 403.

Cannot, never say I, 328.

Cares, business, 31; household, 33.

Cataclysms, a partial occurs at, 41; at
end of sub-races, 312; due to al-
chemical changes, 43; due to inhabit-
ants, 387; in the life, 389; in phy-
sical, mental and psychic realms, 41;
of Atlantis, 238; of Sixth and Seventh
sub-races, 238; those who survive the
coming, 82; to adjust conditions, 42,
116.

Celibacy, results of, 250.

Cell, each Soul a, 121; not redeemed
individually, 188.

Center, of Civilization, each must find,
410; founded by Aveshas, 145; how
to make yourself a, 352; of Right
Living, 178; the Great, 145, 410; the
Heart, 112, 411; to be founded, 239.

Centers, Bible references to, 110; laya-
128, 181; left unprotected, 105; life-
forces flow through, 98; of body
protected, 98; of civilization founded
by Aveshas, 145; of mind, 167-9; of
power, 164; of subconscious mind,
167; unfolded normally, 98.

Century, forces during the quarters of,
148, 150.

Changes, Alchemical, going on, 43-4.

Channel, every, used by the Masters,
53; seek your special, 32.

Characters, great are always, 275.

Charity, is, 298.

Childhood, of the Race, 68.

Children, born lacking birthright, 225;
all mankind are, of, 188; fill the
minds of, 226.

Chinese, belong to Fourth Race, 229.

Christ, The, a consuming fire, 154;
alone worthy of worship, 37; awakens
latent possibilities, 91; becomes indi-
vidualized, 139, 142; birth of, in
heart, 77; blood of, 190; brings har-
mony, 97; causes evolution, 214;
— child brought forth, 27; descends
into hell, 83; focused in an Avatar,
137; ^ immersed in matter to, 58;
life-giving force, 395; mansion pre-
pared by, 93; must spiritualize body,
98; not an impersonal force, 326;
power shut lion's mouth, 71; — prin-
ciple, redeems, 415; seed, 154; six
the number of, 60; Star is risen, 154.

Cinders, simile of, 199-201.

Circle, meaning of the, 365, 414.

Circulation, salt necessary to, 386.

Index

vilization, of Atlantis, 236; Salt

marks advances in, 386; Souls wait

for certain stage of, 159.

airvoyance, 169.

ass, how to form a, 418.

ay, effect of, 317.

ef, bass and treble, 46, 359.

imate, karmic effect of, 120.

oset, enter to pray, 111, 355.

aal, formation of, 205, fossils in, 210.

Kffee, effect of, 101.

Dhabitation, rule for, 220; thoughts
during, 224.

bllege collects wisdom, 110.

blor, effects of. 196, 361; place in

I Nature, 358; the seven Rays, 159,

I 180.

plors, seven born of white, 360; three
primary, 359.

omets, source and destiny of, 42.

ommandment, the Eleventh, see Chap-
ter VI, definition of, 88.

ommands, arbitrary never given by
Master, 282.

ommon-sense, teachings must meet,
265.

ommunication, constructive and de-
structive methods, 107; laws ot
spiritual same to-day, 355; method of
true spiritual, 104; spiritual is in-
dependent, 105; spiritual is uplift-
ing, 106-8; subjective method, 105;
true method never depletes, 108.

ompanipn, each will have true, 268.

ompassion, first awakened, 73; key-
note of the Masters, 105.

ompensation, the Law as, 41, 194, 404.

ompost heap, simile of, 323.

bncentration, definition of, 347; hours,
410.; on this Order, 411.

ondemn, nothing but, 406.

'onditions, old fall away when, 117.

Conscience, how to distinguish, 373;
Voice of, 371.

onsciousness, A God-, 325; animal,
perfected in reason, 182; Avatar has
The Christ-, 139; Cosmic, 167, 373;
human, perfected in intuition, 182;
new state of in each globe, 207;
seven states of, SO1; sex inheres in
all states of, 160; stages in growth
of, 208; The Christ-, 372-3.

Contact, personal, must come into, 22,
63.

'ontinents, rise from sea, 388.

Conventions, the world's are necessary,
262; truth back of all, 262.

.'onversion, phenomenon of, 209; sud-
den, 103; true, 128.

Correspondence, Law of, 357; personal
carried on, 23.

. Corinthians, quoted 74, 94, 102, 215.

)osmos, seven -fold division illustrated, 50

Crank, don't become a, 296.

Create, power to, a gift of the Elohim,
225; to, a body, 219, 224.

Creation, A master's description of,
204; according to the desires, 218;
first, the light, 321; four periods of,
320; fourth the Path, 323; methods of
perfect, 224; second, the firmament,
321; third, the dry land, 322.

Creations, of your thoughts, 329;

Creating, by emanation, 187.

Creative- force, active on all planes, 218;
becomes a curse, 219; Nature suf-
fers from a perversion of, 220; nega-
tive aspect of, 335.

Crisis, for planet and individual, 42.

Criticism, avoid, 385, 425; effect of,
293, 385; tendency to, 382.

Cronus, the Reaper, 332.

Cross, of matter, diagram of, 57; older
than Christianity, 57; symbol of the,
57.

Crucifixion, of personality, 326.

Crusaders, the, 76.

Crust, of earth consolidated by, 44.

Cup, symbol of the, 266.

Curse, not a punishment, 225.

Cursed, is the ground, 225. '

Cycles, the Law as, 41, 195; Messianic,
148; of necessity; everything a step,
35; of the century, 148-9.

Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, 27.

Dare, Do, Keep Silent, meaning of,
416.

Darkness, composed of, 323-4; created
by the Elohim, 325; creeping things
of the, 324; is pure spirit, 360; men
love, 200; must be faced alone, 91;
swallows failures, 328; the Outer,
323.

Daniel, in lions' den, 71.

Day-period or Round, 205, 229; Races
in each, 229; the third, 181.

Death, conditions after, 156-7; merely
changes in form, 400; Valley of the
shadow of, 87.

Debts, karmic, none exempted, 40.

Deceived, cannot be if, 79.

Deception, many avenues of, 109.

Deep, denizens of your, 327.

Degree, fifteenth of the Masons, 62;
Fifth, includes esoteric students, 56;
First, 56; Fourth includes advanced
students, 56; Orders of the, 56-7,
when you enter the, 212; Orders of
each, 54; Second, 56; Seventh, em-
braces the apes, 54; Sixth, embraces
leaders and teachers, 55; Third, more
than human, 56; the Divine, 65.

Index

Degrees, see Chapter III; correspond
to musical scale and spectrum, 54;
humanity divided into seven, 52; il-
lustrated by plant, 51; seven orders
of each, 52, 54.

Deification, of sex, man's mistake, 259,
262.

Demon, of matter, 262.

Depression, complaints about the, 316;
follows awakening, 86; must be faced
alone, 91; reasons for, 89; strength-
ens courage, 92; to compensate for
exaltation, 195.

Desert, how formed, 388; of Sahara,
389; symbol of, 315.

Desire, debased or uplifted by thoughts,
226; is feminine, 254; sexual, natural
expression of love, 226; world of, 208.

Desires, mastered not killed, 398.

Despond, Slough of, 87-9.

Destiny, of Soul, 121, 286; must be
worked out, 269.

Development, personal, a result, not an
object, 32; psychic, as a sign of
Avatar, 151; psychic, should result
from, 104; result of, 33, 309; results
of "sitting for," 104; spiritual, noth-
ing can stop, 30-1; Spiritual, first
step awakens, 73; stage of, will mani-
fest, 276.

Devil, can tempt only, 290; children of
the, 80; composed of, 79, 381; en-
titization of, 248; origin of, 241;
self-created, 220; transmuted by, 249.

Diagram, of cross in matter, 57; of
Hierarchies, 185; of the Orders, 57.

Diet, no rules for, 407; not important,
399.

Disciples, cannot decide readiness for
advance, 71; must acquire Wisdom,
72; be proved, 72; must be trained,
109; must face self, 324; must recog-
nize Teacher, 72; must work out prob-
lems, 106; when a fit instrument, 281.

Discipline, of self required, 22.

Discord, apples of, 255.

Discouragement, Victory over, the great-
est, 45.

Discretion, shall preserve thee, 72.

Discrimination, first to be developed,
282; rules for, 289.

Disease, created by man, 219, 260; rea-
son for, 48; transmitted by rats, fleas,
flies, etc, 396.

Disobedience, not punished but adjusted,
116.

Dispensation, the New, 200.

Disturbed, when, 38.

Diver, Simile of the, 126.

Divine, action of in heart, 73; merge
human into, 381; union with the, 74.

Divorce, reasons for, 223.

Doctrine, the esoteric, 68; founded on
purity, 251; given by Saturn, 241;
given only to initiated, 69; in all
religions, 68; preparation necessary
for, 71; reasons for, 69; scientist must
study, 69; taught in parables, 69;
widely recognized, 370.

Doctrine, The Heart-, synthesis of all,
177.

Doctrine, The Secret, quoted, 54-5, 68,
70, 115, 137-8, 156, 169, 171, 180-3-4-5,
297, 230-1-2-4-5, 242-3, 259, 262, 331-
3-4, 341, 360, 408, 414.

Door, the open, 112.

Doors, how opened, 100; opened by
sweat of brow, 246; psychic, 98;
spiritual movements are, 112.

Dot, in circle, 332.

Doubt, natural period of, 86; result
of thought-currents, 92.

Dough, simile of the, 41.

Dragon, sacred, 242.

Dreams, fearlessly interpret, 303; rea-
sons for same, 168; three kinds of,
303.

Drunkard, cannot enter Heaven, 102;
duty to, 101; Masters cannot con-
tact, 102; must rebuild centers, 102;
obsessed, 103; suddenly stop drink-
ing, 103.

Duodecimal system, 88.

Duties, Life's, see Chapter I; always
has strength for real, 34; another's,
do not do, 33; attitude toward, 31, 36;
cannot leave undone, 30; classes of,
29; do your full, 134; household,
preventing study, 31; imaginary, 30;
nearest the highest, 33; never leave
a plain undone, 281; performed
through compulsion, 31; personal de-
velopment not the first, 32; real 29;
reason for, 30; results of Karma, 30;
stepping-stones, make them, 33.

Duty, a student's first, 38-2; do your
cheerfully, 384; example of salt, 392;
in Grand Plan, 124; one real, 32^10
your teacher, 385; toward organiza-
tions, 32.

Dweller on the Threshold, each must
meet, 64; in Zanoni, 100.

Dynasties, the Divine of early Races,
70.

Earth, the, becomes a sun, 44; becomes
a pole-star, 46; becomes diseased, 387;
-chain of globes, 207; created by the
Elohim, 179; culminating point, 46,
331; eighth note, 46; our Mother, 310;
prepared by serpent-power, 243.

East, Aquarius, the Man from the, 3!

Eating, thought-force important in, 399;
worshiped, 400.

Index

cclesiastes, quoted, 29.
den, Garden of, 173; path back to,
336; symbolizes, 244-6.
gg, all life from an, 128, 231; man-
kind born from an, 231; the World-
128; world hatched from an, 243.
go, Suum, 72.

gypt, followers led out of, 337; Lord
crucified in, 78; symbol of, 78.
ight, meaning of number, 368; num-
ber of evolution, 359, 368; symbol
1 of evolution, 58; symbol of Order

of 36, 58.
Eighth sphere, is hell, 79.

filohim, created the earth, 180; guide

! evolution, 206, 331; preside over the

! Rays, 180; Satan one of the, 247,

[333; Saturn one of the, 241.

Emanation, of the Masters, 188; Real

I Self an, 129.

Emanations, responsible for, 304.

Emotions, effect of, 168; purified, 391.

Enemy, your great, 91.

Enthusiasm, must die, 127.

Entities, Astral: are discarnate mortals,

; 104-6; enter through ambition, 264;
how to judge advice of, 107; mis-

| leading, 258, 354; must steal atoms,
105-7; not spiritual, 106; pervert sex
forces, 265; reach student earlier,
290; training to control, 99; use

! flattery, 290.

Entities, obsessing are, 104; obsessing
sap vitality, 106; obsessing use mag-
netism, 309; soulless, 99.

Entity, earth a living, 387.

Environment, can foster spiritual
growth, 380; can transmute your,
328; chosen by the Soul, 34, 117, 157,
284; not insurmountable, 276, 314,
328; preventing study, the remedy,
29, 31; trials characteristic of, 314.

Ephesians, quoted, 330.

Epicurus, quoted, 375.

Epilepsy, brought on by, 265.

Errors, how to determine psychic, 276-7.

Esoteric, hidden, see doctrine, also
teachings.

Essences, life- arise, 387.

Essences, 383.

Ethyl, a destructive element, 100;
narcotics contain, 100.

Evil, a negative aspect of, 199, 200-2;
how to transmute, 248-9; man can
produce, 381; reason for, 172; the
result of man, 219.

Evolution, see Chapter XIII; begin-
ning of, 192; begins from above, 179;
begun by the light, 192-3; compre-
hension of all stages, 325; connected
with Karma and Rebirth, 179; Dar-
winian theory of, 179, 228, 232; dual
begins, 233; force back of, 393;

Evolution, etc. — Continued.

guided by Rishis, 206; Man has ma-
terial and spiritual, 229; man stops
his, 405; Masters affinitized to every
stage of, 53; 9 is number of, 359;
object of, 34, 212, 401; of animals
advanced, 402; of body, mind, Soul,
183; of physical man, 184, 232; of
Soul, illustrated in Bible, 75; perfect,
must be, 183; retarded by mental
attitude, 36; scheme of, 257, 401;
spiritual repeats stages of physical,
210; The Christ-force causes, 214,
229; three streams of, 182, 274;
through all kingdoms, 229; thumb
marks stage of, 367; truly human
begins, 232.

Evolution, spiritual, from above, re-
sult of, 229; human stage, 212; vege-
tative and animal stages of, 211.

Examples, prominent characters are,

Exercises, breathing, 350-2.

Existence, aim of physical, 94.

Exodus, quoted, 110, 315, 331.

Experiences, all in the One Life, 285;
learn through others,' 287; Soul
learns by, 288.

Eye, An, how developed, 194; mean-
ing of Open, 414; opening of the,
244, 316; the Third, atrophy of, 156.

Ezekiel, four animals of, 39; quoted,
115.

F natural, 363.

Faculties, disorders of psychic, 260;
many unfolding higher, 109; practices
to unfold dangerous, 346; psychic
must unfold normally, 25; spiritual
deadened, 246.

Faith, in self necessary, 128.

Fall, of man, 182; a descent into mat-
ter, 248; an opportunity, 257.

Famine, not of bread, 151.

Farming, dry, 318.

Fasting, forty days, 291.

Father-in-heaven, knows your needs,
125; overshadows personality, 74, 182;
works of, doing the, 73, 380.

Fathers, Lunar, evolve human forms,
181; progenitors of humanity, 187;
relation of, 184; work of, 180-4.

Fathers, Solar, progenitors of humanity,
187; relation of, 184; work of, 182-4.

Faults, how to conquer, 93.

Faustus, Dr., story of, 290.

Fear, have no, 354; kills the will, 173;
love casts out, 177; must be con-
quered, 172, 299; role of, 173; the
servant of God, 173.

Fearlessness, must be absolute, 70.

Index

Feet, put shoes off, 315; symbology of,
316.

Field, as symbol of environment, 120.

Fiend, man has created a, 262.

Fifteen, meaning of, 415; see Order of
the.

Fire, a gift of the Gods, 233; destroys
forms, 81; highest element, 81; of
Divine Love on stone, 340; of the
Lord, 264, 333; the creative, 248,
250.

Fires, earthly, 264; of Karma, 81; the
49, 165.

Firmament, creation of the, 322; forces
from distant, 43.

Fission, humanity reproduced by, 231.

Five, meaning of number, 366; number
of humanity, 61; symbol of Order
of 15, 61.

Flats, effect of, 359.

Flattery, psychics who use, 282; a
method used by astral teachers, 290.

Flaws, tendency to pick, 92.

Flocks, kept by Moses, 315.

Flood, the great, 236, 246.

Fohat, seven sons of, 197.

Food, found in environment, 401; how
planets assimilate seven kinds, 51;
spiritual growth not due to, 397;
worshiped, 400.

Foot, symbology of, 308.

Force, at sea coast, 313; breathed in,
not your personal, 351; creative,
workings of the, 410; of sun is rea-
son, 310; the Father-, 312-3; the
Mother-, 310.

Forces, earth's-at noon, 319; earth's
finer, see Chapter XXIII; earth's-
vary with locality, 312; executors of
harmony, 115; of Karma not blind,
115; of sex must be balanced, 335;
earth's- use of, 311.

Foreheads, name in, 48, 240.

Form, created by, 358.

Forms, geometrical of crystal, daisy,
man, 51; of nature, 357.

Formulas, occult, effect of, 383.

Foundation, must create your, 322.

Four, contains ten, 301; meaning of
number, 366.

Freedom, political for woman, 338; so-
called sex, 265.

Free-will, man alone has, 170, 285-7;
man begins to use, 235; man's great
gift, 214; man's is limited, 122; Soul
has, 122.

Fruit, love not a clandestine, 395; of
the Spirit, 293; of the tree, 244;
sun imprisoned in, 371-2; the first,
150; the forbidden, 257.

Fulfillment, cycle of, see Chapter II;
for individual, Race, planet, 40, 47;
for movements, 49; forces released

Fulfillment, etc. — Continued.

during, 40; great cycle of lasts, 39;
influence on man and nations, 47;
influence on occultists, 48; lower
phases reaped first, 40; meaning of,
39; 1912 marks beginning of, 39, 46.

Function, marks structure, 244; not
killed out, 252; sex- not impure, 250;
sex- perverted, 250.

Functions, all must be developed, 103;
all natural are pure, 216; controlled
by subconscious, 167; must master
all, 251; perverted by thought, 216,
250; vegetative, 90.

Furnace, fiery, Lord walks in the, 82.

Galatians, quoted, 114.

Garment, personality but a, 126.

Gases, gathering for explosions, 82;

spirits of the, 204.
Gate, ere you enter the Fourth, 135;

problem of Fourth, 304; the First,

297; the Fourth, 301-7; the Second,

298; the Third, 300; the straight, 111.
Gates, lift up your, 111; of the Path,

296; of zodiac and body, 414; wis-
dom crieth at, 111.
Generation, law of, 259; path of, 263;

Purity on plane of, 344.
Generosity, when learned, 118.
Genesis, quoted, 121, 182-8, 204-5, 225-

8; 232-3, 241, 261, 320, 333.
Genius, man's evil, 290-1.
Geometry, all growth along lines of,

52; of Nature, 50, 357; 21 the Order

of, 61.
Ghost, the Holy; Isis or, 415; sin

against, 99; will teach you, 144.
Giants, in those days, 232-5.
Globe, the winged, 128.
Globes, all visible are the fourth, 207;

chains of seven, 207; earth-chain of,

207; lunar chain of, 190; man must

function on seven, 209.
Globular, humanity was, 205.
Gnosis, Pythagoras' definition of, 66.
God. Higher Self the personal, 74, 121,

375; is Love, 374; recognizing on

earth, 74; the Sons of, 67, 233, 262;

whole armor of, 330.
Gods, as, knowing good and evil, 246;

presence of on earth, 74, 184, 241.
Gold, color orange, planet sun, 362;

use of in occultism, 363.
Goods, portion of, 287; your worldly,

328.

Grail, the Holy, 15 the Order of, 63.
Gratitude, failure to receive, 119.
Grave, must lie in the, 323.
Great Deep, Spirits hover over, 204.
Great Ones, spirits of descend, 204.

Index

Green, corresponding metal is lead, 364;

office of, 363; planet is Saturn, 363;

why Nature is, 363.
Grieve, no time to, 134.
Group- Soul, governs animals, 170. 182,

215.
Growth, all along geometrical lines, 52;

'how to hasten, 346; most favorable

climate for, 313; not hot-house, 99;

spiritual must follow plant, 379;

spiritual not a matter of food, 397.
Guidance, each Soul has Divine, 221;

personal, of Higher Self, 353; taught

in Bible, 355.
Guides, an infallible, how to distinguish,

373.
Guides, misleading astral, 258; also see

Entities.
Gynt, Peer, meaning of, 260.

H

Habits, how to change, 93, 218; must
be mastered, 101; the result of, 168.

Hag, the old, 261.

Hair, color and texture determines, 356.

Halo, around sun, 186.

Hamlet, a part assumed, 156; was mis-
taken, 95.

Harmony, hos to spread, 97; the Second
Gate, 29.

Hatred, effect of, 344.

Healing, rationale of all, 344.

Health, of psychics, 108; worshiped,
163.

Heart Center, door of, 112; dwell at
the, 202.

Heaven, not a post-mortem state, 93;
seek ye first the kingdom of, 200.

Hell-fire, see Chapter V; a bogie out-
grown, 78; all must pass through,
81-2-3; Christ descends into, 83; com-
posed of, 82; consumes only the false,
84; endures as long as, 84; gates of
79; has three meanings, 79; not
literal, 81; on four lower planes, 83;
permit loved ones to stand in, 82;
is separation from God, 82; should
be a comfort, 84.

Help, when you desire, 344.

Hercules, labors of, 395.

Hermes, Book of, quoted, 332; lamp

of, 368.
Hierarchies, seven great, 179, 186; each

manifest, 186; diagram of the, 185.
Hierophant, policy of every, 70.
Hindus, curelty of, 396.
Holy City, pinnacle of, 292.
Holy Ghost, see Ghost.
Holy of Holies, once having found, 37;

set up stones, in, 336.
Horse, training of, illustrates Karma,
124.

H. P. B., explanation of life of, 163.

Humanity, childhood of, 66-7, 188;
greatest test of, 245; highest Order
of, 187; is progenitor of future, 187.

Humility, exalting your, 132.

Hymn, of the Order quoted, 308.

I

I Am, 126-7, 354.

I and i, golden, 129; illiterate use of,
130-1; individuality the, 406; symbol
of, 127.

Ideal, of this Order, 22.
Ideas, woman must lift up world's, 255.
Illumination, see Chapter XXX; claim-
ing, 133; given for, 327; if you still
lack, 383; is blossom of Soul, 382;
is the, 379; the result of, 316, 380.
Image, of the heavenly, 74; of God,

164.

Images, thought creates, 170.
Imagination, 170.
Imbeciles, reason for, 104.
Impatience, controlling, 118.
Incarnation, Advanced Souls attracted
to, 224; after myriads of, 287; an
Avatar a Divine, 138; claiming this
is last, 158; in alternate sexes, 159;
more Souls out of than in, 159;
number of, 122; often accomplishes
little, 122, 272; Soul chooses, 117,
157; Souls wait for certain time of,
159; time between, 159.
Individuality, definition of, 127; incarn-
ates, 156; is never lost, 285.
Indweller, the Divine, 183.
Inequalities, secret of, 234.
Influence, of earth, 45; of Stars, 45;
of Uranus, 40; of zodiac on subcon-
scious mind, 90; planetary, not malign,
43; responsible for disturbing, 35;
responsible for your, 303-4.
Information about the Order, 423.
Ingratitude, suffering from, 119.
Iniquity, "depart ye workers of," 112.
Initiates, Adepts, Mahatmas, 52; called

serpents, 242; Jesus a great, 78.

Initiation, humanity facing its, 336;

Job a history of an, 111, 241; life

brings about, 63; 9 number of, 359;

none can tell when ready for, 71;

of the Race and planet, 246; on

higher planes first, 63; star of,

320-1-5; way always opens for, 70.

Initiator, Saturn the Great, 45, 242-7,

333.

Injustice, social, 120; by Masters, 120.
Innocence, of ignorance; of Wisdom,

68.

Insanity, brought on by, 265.
Instinct, definition of, 182.
Instruction, necessary for personal, 429;

Index

Instructors, Divine, the first, 70; watch
life after life, 71; withdrew, 235.

Instrument, Soul uses, 287; when pupil
is trained, 281.

Intellect, perverts love, 216; power of,
165, training of necessary, 280, 384;
two uses of, 381.

Intercourse, no promiscuous, 258.

Interpretation, rules for, 289.

Interruptions, how to make use of, 31.

Intuition, a feminine faculty, 339; listen
to voice of, 266; must confirm all
teachings, 258; must illumine mind,
183; perfection of consciousness, 182;
Voice of God, 182.

Inventions, due to, 387.

Involution, 207, 234.

lion, corresponds to red; a metal of
Mars, 360.

Isaiah, quoted, 111, 311, 326, 333.

Isis, seven veils of, 253; teachings of,
59; the Mother-principle, Virgin
Mary, 27, 415; Temples of, 254.

Isis Unveiled, quoted 41, 228, 242-8.

Israel, twelve tribes of, 54.

Jerusalem, the New, 84.

Jesus, the Master: an Avatar, 77; de-
scended from a serpent, 242; head of
Healing Hierarchy, 341; is historical,
77; left no writings, 384; mysteries
of, secret, 76; personal history unim-
portant, 77; required training, 280;
Ruler of the Order of the 1, 58;
use of the name, 341; we do not
pray to, 341; wept, 390.

Jewel, of Great Price, 329.

Job, an initiation, 111, 241; quoted,
111, 241, 333.

Johannites, the, 75.

Join, how to, the Order, 432.

Jordan, baptism in, 138.

Jot, not one shall pass, 123.

Joys, many on the Path, 307; watch
out for the, 36.

Jubilee, year of, 40.

Jupiter, color blue; metals of, 362.

Justice, includes love, 198.

Kala-hamsa, black swan, 128.

Kama, animal-soul, 398.

Karma, Law of: see Chapter VIII: ad-
justs effects, 116; affords opportuni-
ties, 195; all is not, 124; Avatar has
no, 137; cause and effect, 115; danger
of invoking, 117; develops Soul-
qualities, 83, 115-6; duties the result
of, 30; hell-fire is, 80-1; illustrated
by automobile, 119; bough and wave,
114; circulation, 122; falling leaves,

Karma, etc. — Continued.

119; horse, 124; seed, 124; imp«r-
sonal law, 114; Law as, 194; Lords
of, 115; Masters subject to, 120;
minor, 269; not a punishment,
34, 83, 115-6, 194; of family,
Race and world, 119, 181, 220; per-
mit loved ones to bear their, 82; per-
sonal began, 121; precipitating, 325;
predestines nothing, 114; Saturn, God
of, 332; seeds of World sown, 236;
some is held back, 181; works to-
ward harmony, 116.

Key, to all mysteries, 410.

Key-note, of Masters, 105; of person-
ality, 358; of universe, 404; of wind
storm, 42; planet must respond to
new, 42; sounding a new, 89.

Kill, Thou Shalt Not, see Chapter
XXXII; to, means, 406.

Killed, mineral, vegetable, animal, man
is, 400.

Killing, for food, 397; for sport or
vanity, 404; insects, 396, 403; meaning
of, 394; mental, 394; thought when,
403; true, 405.

Kingdom, door closed to human, 55.

Kingdoms, the seven, 50.

Kneipp, treatment, 310.

Krishna, an Avatar; quoted, 140.

Knudalini, danger of forcing, 172, 315;
in spine, 173, 315-6; power of, 165,
171; serpent-force, 244.

Lake, of fire and brimstone, 80-1.

Lamb, blood of the, 110, 190.

Law, The, see Chapter XIV; claiming
to be above, 258; guided by Deities,
331; how to become one with, 202;
is but one, 192, 317; Jesus came to
fulfill, 198; lift banner of, 337; love
fulfills, 201; man has broken, 196;
nothing gained by breaking, 220; of
Divine Love, works ever upward,
331; of memory, 274; races follow
cyclic, 230; seven-fold in manifesta-
tion of, 41, 193; understanding of,
necessary, 87; will bring your mate,
221.

Law-giver, Saturn- Moses, 333-4.

Laws, man-made are, 221.

Lead, metal of Saturn; color green,
364.

Learning, Hall of, 281.

Lesson, learning the, 118.

Lessons, Soul chooses, 116.

Letters from The Teacher, quoted, 104,
286.

Levi, a serpent tribe, 242; Eliphas,
quoted, 260-1, 369.

Lie, the great, 80: includes, 81.

Lies, the father of, 80.

Index

Life, a day in school, 134; after death,
156-7; all is vibration, 192; Book
of, 203; care-free, 211; every seventh,
269; man's right to destroy; 396;
Psalm of 359; spiritual, not easy,
328- stage of animal, 211; Tree of
315.

Life, the One; all life from the, 225;
All Souls expressions of, 285; evolves
through forms, 393; expressions only
changed, 401; higher expressions of,
400; must not be shut off, 394; on
higher planes, 343; recognition of,
409.

Light, see Chapter XXIV; began evolu-
tion, 192-3; effect of, 324-5; gaseous,
204; is love, 201; is matter, 360; let
there be, 323; only begotten Son,
192-3; shines in darkness, 321.

Light of Asia, quoted, 393-4.

Light on the Path, quoted, 91, 192,
346, 383, 390, 405-6.

Lillith, symbol of, 261.

Lincoln, Abraham, 273-5.

Lives, many spent sowing seeds, 372.

Locality, each has special force, 312.

Lodge, the Great White; call White
because, 187; composed of, 53, 187;
back of movements and evolution, 53;
degrees and orders of, 53, 187; is
never arbitrary, 282; utilize every
avenue, 53.

Love, an expression of the Divine,
216, 266-7; Divine is positive pole,
196; Divine overlaps human, 267;
highest expression through sex, 218;
human is lower pole, 196; ideal of,
267; is God, 73, 374; learn to, 385;
must turn to Divine, 201; Negative
polarization of, 199; not limited, 73;
only endures, 198; positive aspect
must manifest, 200; reaches highest
and lowest, 197; sex an effort to
express, 226; stream of Divine, 202-3;
synthesises all, 198; temptations come
through, 197-9, 202; true conception
of, 410.

Lucifer, 247, 332-3.

Lunar, see Fathers.

Lungs, of the earth, 312.

M

Magic, black, 237, 246; is dual, 378;

white and black, 379.
Magicians, black, 237.
Magnet, simile of, 161, 196.
Magnetism, earth gives out, 309; enters

through feet, 308.
Malachi, quoted, 353.

Man, acquires speech, 235; became
warm-blooded, 232; became self-
conscious, 235; beguiled by woman,
255; blood of Heavenly, 122; con-
tains all kingdoms, 400; endowed
with mind, 182; evolution of Real,
184; fall of, 182, 248, 257; field 01
activity of, 339; first of earth, second
from heaven, 74; forms five-pointed
star, 366; governed by Father-m-
Heaven, 182; Heavenly, 121, 136;
highest point in Atlanteans, 236; im-
presses lower kingdoms, 405; must re-
deem, 405; organs of Heavenly, 124;
Origin of, see Chapter XVII; posi-
tive pole, 254, 339; powers of, 165;
responsible for, 405; sign of the Son
of, 39, 46, 150; Souls part Heavenly,
161; universally structured type, 366.
Mana, of Children of Israel, 34.
Manas, higher and lower, 169, 363-4.
Manifest, gaining power to, 118.
Mankind, seven classes of, 52.
Mansions, in heaven, 93.
Mantra, power of, 409.
Marriage, a sacrament, 220-1-4, 253;
266; holiest relation, 222; man forced
into, 255; mistaken avoided, 266; ot
the Soul, 266; priests 'should de-
termine, 141; substitutes, effect of,
250; vows and ceremonies, 223; will
have true, 268.

Mars is red; its metal iron, 360.
Master, direct instructions from a, 317;
is one who, 286; path leading to
the, 353.

Masters, the, of Wisdom and Compas-
sion, cannot contact drunkards, 102;
cannot interfere, 279; following in
steps of, 307; how to come close to,
72, 105; key-note of, 105; never use
flattery, 290; not all vegetarians,
399; presence on earth, 184; reason
postulates, 228; relation to humanity,
see Chapter XIII; subject to Karma,
120; working in all movements, 142,
187.

Mastery, attained by, 129, 286, 399;
diet unimportant in, 399; of self
the object, 22, 296; Path to, 372.
Matter, geometrical forms of, 51; Soul

must redeem, 74.
Masons, 15 among the, 62.
Meat, Masters who eat, 399; objections

to eating, 398, 403.
Meditate, how to, 248, 353; daily, 31,

384.

Meditation, definition of, 347; how to

find time for, 31; select topic for, 31.

Mediums, are depleted, 108; cause of

one class, 103; irresponsible type, 103.
Mediumship, how to judge, 108; re-
sults of, 108; subjective, 104.

Index

Race, the Fourth Root, lowest or turn-
ing point, 235; majority belong to
the, 229; received mind, 182; speech
acquired, arts taught to, 235; taught
face to face, 188.

Race, the Fifth Root, the Aryan, 238;
the Sixth, characteristic of, 239;
sixth sub, just entering, 238; this
Order a preparation for, 416-7;
Seventh, Golden Age, 239.

Races, gradually evolve, 230; pre-
Adamite, 261; rise and fall of, 230;
seven Great, 229; the mindless, 261;
the yellow, 229, 238.

Rainbow, 186.

Rats, transmit plague, 396.

Ray, personality a, 131.

Ray, the Red, a creative, 179; Hier-
archy of the Red, 360; Progenitor of,
187.

Rays, seven Great, composed of, 180-4;
diagram of, 185.

Reason, is masculine faculty, 339; per-
fection of instinct, 182.

Records, Akashic, 174, 369; contain
every thought, 388; phonographic,
174.

Red, aspects of are, 361; effect of,
196; foods and flowers, effect of,
361; meaning of, 189; metal is iron,
361; most physical, masculine, 360;
planet is Mars, 361.

Redeem, as strength permits, 181; man
must, 94.

Redeemed, world not by one man, 326.

Redeemer, man becomes a, 212, 213;
candidate must be a, 325.

Redemption, meaning of, 98, 410;
method of 188; of matter, 157.

Regeneration, of world, 177; serpent
symbol of, 242.

Reincarnation, see Chapter XI; among
old associates, 158; object of, 278;
of thoughts, 387; proof of, 155; rea-
sons for, 157.

Religion, the Wisdom, see Chapter IV.
All others derived from, 66; Avatar
teaches, 147; brought to Western
world, 163; deals with Christ-force,
378; existed in Atlantis, 67; Jesus
taught, 67; Pythagoras' definition of,
66; teaches union with the Divine, 74.

Renunciation, Path of, 296; of action,
30.

Reproduction, methods of, 231-2.

Reptiles, appearance of the, 206.

Rest, this Order a house of, 428.

Resurrection, meaning of, 323; morn
dawns, when, 84.

Revelation, an allegory, 147, 190, 332;
quoted, 85, 112, 137, 147, 256, 266.

Rib, symbol of Adam's, 232, 242.

Righteousness, must become Sons of,

49.

Ring, pass not, 414.
Rishis, guide evolution, 206, 331; the

seven, 180.

River, streamlets of force from a, 32.
Rivers, Alpheus and Peneus, 395.
Romans, quoted, 192, 407.
Rose, born of suffering, 389; on desert,

390.
Round, First, minerals dominate, 205-9;

Second, vegetable dominates, 205-10;

humanity is globular, 205; Third,

reptiles dominate, 206, 210; Fourth,

close of the, 239; generation begins,

206; man dominates, 210.
Rounds, seven required, 207.
Rules, for the higher life, 384-5.

Sacrament, definition, 225; marriage a,

220-1-4, 253, 266; should carry

potency, 141.
Sacrifice, of lower forms to higher,

401; stone of, 60.
St. John, quoted, 93, 112, 126, 146,

191-4, 370, 400; vision of, 190.
St. Luke, quoted, 73, 86, 111, 122, 220.
St. Mark, quoted, 152.
St. Matthew, quoted, 77, 111, 123,

150-5, 164, 197, 323, 346, 356, 378,

383-6.
Salt, Symbol of the, see Chapter XXXI;

action of, 81; ceremonies with, 390-1;

excess injurious, 388; Great Lake,

389; necessary to life; 386; role of

386; symbology, 391; where found,

387; ye are the, 392.
Sanctuary, door closed, 263.
Satan, as Saturn, 248; Hermes on,

332, One of the Elohim, 333.
Saturn, the Initiator, as Lucifer and

Cronus, 332; as Satan, 247; color

is green, metal lead, 364; domain of,

45; force of is inertia, stability, 332;

initiated humanity, 333; tempts Eve,

247; tests Job, 241.
Saviors, the 49 crucified, 165.
Scale, correspondences in musical, 359.
Sciences, taught Fourth Race, 235.
Scorpions, power to tread on, 220.
Sea, wonder from, to, 151.
Seal, of the Order, 413-6.
Seed, contains tree, 124.
Self, The, see Chapter IX; Ego creates

lower, 64; lower is roused, 89, 90;

must face your, 64, 21, 324, 385;

must have faith in, 128; must not

despise, 126; protects the Real, 126;

study your, 132; trouble comes from,

130; you have built up, 64.
Self, The Higher, see Real Self.

Index

Self, The Real, expression of the
Divine, 129, 136; fix your gaze upon,
134; is Divine, 342, 371; like thread
of fire, 134; needs personality, 126;
not affected by changes, 127; over-
shadows personality, 371.

Selfishness, 132.

Selfrighteousness, second temptation,
292, 383.

Sense, no sixth developed, 416.

Serpent, Symbol of the, see Chapter
XVIII; astral light the, 242; Brazen,
243; esoteric wisdom, 241; force,
244; Jesus born of a, 242; Moses,
Jesus, Buddha called, 242; Moses
lifted up the, 243 ; recognized by
Jesus, 241; symbol of sex, 242; temp-
tation by the, 247; trail of the, 324,
under every flower, 281; -worship,
249.

Seven, Symbol of Order of the, 28,
59; a feminine number, 59; mean-
ing of number, 368.

Sex, A stumbling block, 252-6 begin-
ning of perversion, 262; body same
as Soul, exceptions, 160-1; change of,
reasons for, 161-2; deification of,
262; does not change, 160; final dis-
use of, 253; -force, a test, 245;
-forces always creative, 218, 259;
-forces must be balanced, 335; -force,
not impure, 250, 262; -force when
confined to physical plane, 216; in-
heres in the Soul, 160; killing out,
252; no freedom permitted, 265; nor-
mal use, 252; perverted creates dis-
ease, 219; -question most important,
257; reform of, 262; serpent symbol
of, 242; teachings sacred, 249; teach-
ings veiled, 160, 249; the problem
of humanity, 45; -thought, vortices
of, 258; when regraded creates, 259.

Sexes, manifesting both, 162; segre-
gated, effect of, 336; separation com-
pleted in Fourth Race, 244; separa-
tion of the, 160.

Shade, that lethal, 87.

Shadow Land, quoted, 104.

Sharps, effect of, 359.

Sheaths, oily, 98.

Sheepfold, entering the, 112.

Sheol, 79.

Shoes, symbol of, 317.

Sibyl, ancient, 108.

Sign, of Son of Man in heaven, 39,
46, 150.

Silence, The, see Chapter XXVII; how
to enter, 347-9; how to find time
for, 31-3; how to, thoughts, 353;
several entering together, 354.

Silent, Keep, lesson of, 301; meaning
of, 416.

Silk, use of in occultism, 308-9.

Simile of, Abraham Lincoln, 275; auto-
mobile, 119; barnacles on ships, 135;
bough dislocating arm, 114; boy play-
ing truant, 285; bricklayer and archi-
tect, 96; child bearing a whipping,
117; child illustrating forgiveness,
124; cinders, 199; circulation of
blood, 122-3; college acquiring wis-
dom, 110; compost heap, 323; diver,
126; dynamo and wire, 381; earthly
and golden vessels, 35; Egyptian
Priestess, 276; falling leaves, 119;
farmer enriching soil, 120; gardner
preparing soil, 380; gardner propagat-
ing poisons, 381; growth of plant,
348; growth of seed into all kingdoms,
51; magnet broken, 161, 196; mix-
ing dough, 41; mother nursing babe,
311; painter, 170; perfume of flower,
351; personality as a boat, 38; read-
ing story, lacking sequel, 338; re-
moving frog's heart, 327; rose with
roots in air, 311; running a race,
133; sacred shrine, 252; schoolboy,
213; seed under rock, 124; skyrocket,
192; stream over shoals, 338; stream-
lets forming river, 32; switchboard,
177; tadpole and frog, 401,; telescope,
36; training a horse, 124; tree grow-
ing in rock, 33; tree uprooted by
storm, 42; unclean spirits, 87; wave
drowning a man, 114; well, 36; wheat
and rye, 120; wireless telegraphy,
285; wolves' instincts, 286.

Sin, the man of, 74; unpardonable, 99.

Sinai, Mt. law given on, 333.

Sins, forgiveness of, 123.

Six, meaning of number, 367, 415;
number of Nature, 61-2; symbol of
Order of the, 28, 60, 415.

Skin, coats of, 182.

Skyrocket, 192, 201.

Sodom, Christ crucified in; symbol of
impurity, 78.

Solomon, quoted, 72; Seal of, 368

Something, above physical union, 263.

Son, becomes one with Father, 373;
God, gave His only begotten, 73,
192-8, 409; if you are a, 292; Prodi-
gal, 122, 287, 291; work in my vine-
yard, 280.

Sons of God, 233; duty of, 262; make
you, 44; temptation by, 247; took
wives, 261.

Sons of Righteousness, you must be-
come, 49.

Soul, assumes various characters, 156;
chooses environment, 117, 157; is
complex, 123; man became a, 233;
manifests its development, 225; mascu-
line, in female bodies, 340; learns
by, 288; more excarnate than in,
159; must redeem emanations, 181;

Index

S oul — Continued .

no lost, 99; responsible for personali-
ties, 121; that which belongs to tne,
134; the Over-, 129; when, is young,
286; woman denied a, 336.
Soul-qualities, object of Karma, 83,

115-6.
Sound, most potent agent, 408; place

of in Nature, 358.

Soundless Sound, The, quoted, 129.
Spark, some project a, 234.
Speech, greatest of powers, 174; man

acquires, 235; power of, 164.
Sphere, the Eighth, 79, 323.
Spine, currents in, 244; sap of, is, 315.
Spirits, the Seven, 186; seven unclean,

87.

Square, 4 is number of the, 366; sup-
plementary colors form a, 359; sym-
bol of Order of the 28, 60.
Stables, Augean, 395.
Standard, choose your divine, 88.
Standards, cannot temporize with, 258;
required of disciples, 251; worlds,
must be observed, 253, 262.
Star, earth to become a Pole, 46; five
pointed, 366; fix gaze on, 320-9; in-
fluence of generated by, 45; light
of, Initiation, 321; of Initiation,
320-1-5; the Christ, 154, 327; your
ruling, 36.

Stars, forces of focused on the earth,
42; influences not malign, 43; mean-
ing in Seal, 414-5.
Stomachs, slaves of their, 400.
Stone, 8 is foundation, 368; is broken,
334; must be cleansed, 339; of al-
chemists, 334; of sacrifice, 60; re-
jected by builders, 336; the feminine
defiled, 335; Two Tables of, Chapter
XXV.

Stones, created by man, 172.
Streak, the primitive, 366.
Stream, all are in the, 125, 200; world

struggling in, 201.
Study, how to form a class, 418.
Subconscious, see Mind.
Suffering, corresponds to matter, 212;
not sent by God, 327; not uplift-
ing in itself, 40; of the planet, 40;
produces bass clef, 46; reason for,
48, 212; relation to spiritual growth,
212; result of, 34, 116.
Sun, Alcyone the Central, 44; earth
being prepared to become a, 44; em-
bodied in fruit, 371; fecundates
germs, 310; force is masculine, 310;
metal gold, color orange, 362; of
Righteousness, 349; produces poisons,
380; the Father-force, 312.
Swan, the black, 128.
Swastika, on Thor's Hammer, 41.

Sword, Angel of Flaming, 173, 246-7,
336.

Swords, the bridge of, 48.

Symbol, meaning of a, 413.

Symbol of, Adam and Eve, 232, 242-3-
6; Adam's rib, 232; a stone, 334;
Babel, tower of, 237; baptism, in
Jordan, 138; black swan, 128; blood,
189, 190, 326; brimstone, 80; burn-
ing bush, 315; cinders, 199, 201;
cross, 57; cup, golden, 266; Daniel
in lion's den, 71; desert, 315; diver,
126; divine triangle, 264; dot in cir-
cle, 332; Eden, 173; Egypt, 78; feet,
316; field, 120; fiery furnace, 82;
foot, 308; fruit of tree, 244, 257;
I and i, 127; Lillith, 261; Moses and
flocks, 315; Noah's ark, 237, 263;
ocean through coral, 205; passover,
110; prodigal son, 122, 287; Prome-
theus, 248; red, 189; sacred shrine,
251; salt, 81; school of Soul, 134;
ship, 135; shoes, 317; serpent, 244;
serpent-worship, 249; Sodom, 78;
Sons of God, 67, 233, 262; Sword,
the Flaming, 173, 246-7, 336; The
Order, 413; thousand, 144, 48, 153,
239; thousand twelve, 54; tree, in
garden, 244, 259, 315, 333; vipers,
248; winged globe, 128.
Symbols, of Nature, geometrical, 357.

Sympathy, must not kill, 390.

Tasks, never beyond strength, 181.

Tea, effect of, 101.

Teacher, appears when, 71; incarna-
tion of a great, 163; must decide fil
ness, 71; recognized interiorally, 72;
responsible for teachings, 245; rules
of a great 385; who break tables
of stone, 337; who leads astray, 250;
who uses flattery, 290; who the, is,

Teachers, see Astral; self advertised,

Teaching, method of this Order, 23;
seek your particular, 298.

Teachings, advanced must be pure,
258; do not accept unless, 113, 265;
esoteric must be pure, 251; false
astral, 281; former, from Father
aspect, 27; founded on purity, 251;
must be challenged, 265; must be
proved, 277; of this Order construc-
tive, 22; why permit false, 70.

Tears, eyes incapable of, 390; role of,
389.

Telegraphy, wireless, 285.

Temper, outward and inward, 119.

Temple, the body a, 98, 215; the great
to be erected, 336.

Temples, seven steps to, 323.

Index

Temptation, all come through love,
197; created in the past, 325; in
Wilderness, 290; Masters passed all,
307; of Eve a test, 245, 257; of
Eve by Saturn, 247; of spiritual
ambition, 135; the first, 291; the
second, 292; the third, 292; to criti-
size, 92; unsuspected, 327.

Ten, meaning of number, 369.

Test, humanity's greatest, 252; of
mediumship, 108.

Testament, the New, journey of the
Soul, 77.

Testament, the Old, Chaldean symbols,
77.

Testing, a period of, 118, 276; of man
and planet, 257, 332.

Theophania, 66.

I Thessalonians, quoted, 86.

Things, are no little, 369; importance
of little, 369.

Think, constructively, 384.

Thinker, the Silent, 129, 130, 302.

Thor, Hammer of, 196.

Thought, creates images, 170; -forces
vortices, 258, 303; is dual, 171; law
of, 170; power of, 165; sex, vortices
of, 258; tends to express, 170; use
of, 170-1; while killing insects, 404.

Thought-currents, from the Masters,
304; passive to, of environment, 92,
303; of community, 89, 93, 302-3.

Thought-forces, elevate, 96.

Thought-forms, around unborn, 224;
create personality, 64; projected by
gods, 181; reincarnate, 387; you
create, 217.

Thoughts, are things, 216, 303; how
to keep pure, 217, 304; must be pure,
216; put on eating, 399; responsible
for, 302-4; Strive with thy, 307.

Thousand, the mystical hundred and
forty-four, 48, 153, 239; the twelve
sealed, 54.

Three, meaning of number, 366.

Threshold, the Dweller on the, 64.

Thumb, significance of, 367.

II Timothy, quoted, 164.

Tin, metal of Jupiter, 362.

Tobacco, effect of, 101.

Tolerance, true, 297-8.

Tone, every in Nature, 376.

Torture, mental worse than, 394.

Touch, personal, depends upon your-
self, 421; fundamental, 22; how to
come into, 411; time for, 429.

Training, personal, how carried on,
23, 282; of brain necessary, 109,
289.

Transmutation, methods of, 227; of
tadpole, 401.

Transmute, all into goods, 328.

Tree, Angel guards the, 246; fruit of
the, 244; of Life, 259, 315, 333.

Tremble, use of the word, 328.

Trials, correspond to climate, 313-4;
unsuspected, 327.

Triangle, completed by, 267; flame at
apex, 264; meaning of the, 366; num-
bers of the, 360; primary colors form
a, 359; the interlaced, 367; us« in
seal, 414-5.

Tribulation, come out of, 85.

Trinity, Divine completes the, 263;
Hindu, Egyptian, Christian, 414.

Trouble, the result of, 34.

Truth, four modes of, 320; necessity
for various presentations of, 428.

Two, meaning of number, 265.

u

Union, perfect possible, 267-8; so-called
"spiritual," 222; with the Divine,
73-4.

Unity, meaning of, 285; realizing the,
407.

Universe, geometrical law of the, 52.

Uranus, influence in Aquarius, 40.

Vacuum, Nature abhors, a, 268.

Valley, of the shadow of death, 87.

Vampires, created by man, 218.

Vegetable, first appearance of the, 210.

Vegetarians, how to judge; not more
tolerant, 397.

Vessels, of clay and gold, 35.

Vibration, all is composed of, 375;
stands in the center, 41; the Law as,
195.

Victorious, you shall be, 329.

Violet, effect of, 196, 365; office of,
364; ruled by Mystery Planet, 364;
rules astral body, 365.

Vipers, symbol of, 248.

Virgin, Mary, psychics call, 274; the
Celestial, 138.

Virtue, lapses from, 251.

Visions, symbolic, aid in interpreting,
25.

Vitality, augmented by, 108; obsession
saps, 106.

Voice, false notes in the, 377; how
to distinguish, 373; must lose power
to wound, 175; must penetrate per-
sonality, 288; tones of reveal char-
acter, 174.

Voice of the Silence, quoted, 29, 32,
86-7, 126, 164, 174-8, 217, 269, 281,
295, 305-7, 320-4-9, 353-8.

Vows, marriage, three parties to, 223;
must be fulfilled, 129, 223; not asked
of Associate Students, 422.

Index

W

Wait, what, I for, 300.

Wall, around foot of cross, 58.

Warrior, pure thoughts become a, 218.

Wars, and rumors of, 152.

Water, Christ walking on the, 38; is
illusion, 321; sea-, contains, 389; the
feminine force, effect of, 310.

Watt, Isaac, 276.

Way, The Perfect, quoted, 333; I am
the, 379, 384, 406.

Well, a deep, in each heart, 36.

Wheat, except a corn of die, 401.

Wheel, winged, 128.

Whipple, Edward, quoted, 366.

Whirlwind, stand in the heart of the.
202.

White, unknown on earth, 360.

Will, life will develop the, 347, 380;
power of the, 165, 170; should con-
trol doors, 100; see free-will.

Wisdom, always accessible, 229; divine
gained through, 67; object of evolu-
tion, 34; Religion, 66; serpent the
symbol of, 241.

Witnesses, the two, 78.

Wolves, instincts alike in all, 286.

Woman, a priestess, 253; demands
recognition, 338; field of activity of,
339; in scarlet, 266; must free her-
self, 254; negative pole, 254; plays
on passion, 255; question, a burning
one, 338; responsibilities of, 255;
suffering developed intuition, 250.
Word, the, see Chapter XXIX; crea-
tive aspect of, 375-6; God spake, know-
ing result, 326; how to pronounce,
376; made flesh, 146, 372-3; the lost,
374-5; voice of Higher Self, 371.

Words, boastful, 176; more than, re-
quired, 384; power of, 175; respon-
sible for idle, 176.

Work, Great, of the Alchemists, 387;
not required if, 279; when given a
special, 278.

Workman, the Master, 72.

Works, of our Father, 380.

World, astral, horrors, of, 100; -Chains,
204; create your Divine, 79; created
by, 179; mental, is dual, 209; not
redeemed by preaching, 96; of desire,
208; of thoughtless action, 212; the
Queen of this, 260; the Soul and
Spiritual, 209, 213.

World-Chains, see Chapter XV; defi-
nition of, 206.

Worry, cease to, 95.

Worship, definition of, 36; never the
Masters, 374; of serpent, 249; only
thing worthy of, 37; thoughts of
phallic, 257.

Worshiping, what your heart is, 33-7.

Yellow, effect of flowers and foods,
362; is Soul-color; used on altars,
361; planet and metal, mercury, 362.

Yogis, practices of the, 105, 394.

Yuga, the Kali, 152.

Zanoni, quoted 100.
Zero, meaning of the figure, 365.
Zoahr, quoted, 256.

Zodiac, houses of the, 414; signs of
the 54.

Letters from the Teacher

nf 2% ®rtor of tty 15

Transcribed by
HARRIETTS AUGUSTA CURTISS. F. O. 15

and

F. HOMER CURTISS. B. S.. M. D., F. O. 15
Secretary of the Order.

SECOND EDITION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I The Masters of Wisdom and Their Work.

Part II Concerning The Order of the 15.

Part III Prayer.

Part IV The Astral Plane.

Part V Phenomena.

Part VI Dreams and Visions.

Part VII Health and Disease.

Part VIII The Sex Problem.

Part IX Spiritual Growth and Development.

Part X Miscellaneous.

New edition uniform with Qtye Uotrr at 3fitfl. Price $1.00. postpaid.

THE CURTISS BOOK Co.

1723 McCadden Place Los Angeles, Cal

Letters from the Teacher

A new edition of this helpful and practical volume is now in press and will
be ready for sale on or before January first, 1913. The first edition was sold out
in less than a year without a line of advertisement. Readers merely recommended
it to their friends.

The bookmaking of the New Edition will be far superior to the first edition
and will form a companion volume to The Voice of Isis.

EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE.

"The Letters from the Teacher of The Order of the 15, in answer to questions
from pupils, are of such universal interest to seekers after Wisdom that we con-
sider them far too valuable to be confined merely to the ones to whom they were
addressed. Therefore we make available extracts from the more important ones."

These letters coming from earnest and intelligent students are just the practical
questions that arise in the daily lives of those who are striving to live The
Christ-life, hence, are helping to all advancing Souls who seek to understand the
practical application of the philosophy of the Wisdom Religion, to the problems
of the daily life.

Read what that well-known Author and Lecturer, Mr. W. J. Colville, has to
say of this volume.

"Among the many occult volumes before the public aiming to assist students
who desire earnestly to master lower appetites and devote themselves seriously
and successfully to the culture of true spirituality, I know of none more useful
and admirable than the work now before me.

"These Letters are lessons of very high value, couched in beautiful but
simple language and so compiled as to forcibly appeal to the many who are sincerely
and studiously seeking to bravely tread the Path to Higher Attainment, but who
need a faithful guide to help them on the road, both by shedding definite light
over the pathway and by pointing out the dangers to be avoided.

"The attitude maintained throughout all the essays is that of a convinced
and confident Teacher, but the tone is never dogmatic or aggressive. Many
biblical and other problems are handled clearly and convincingly in a manner that
shows the instructor to be one sure of the position taken, desirous of imparting
helpful knowledge to all earnest inquirers, at the same time leaving all students
in full mental liberty.

"That this excellent book may achieve worldwide fame and do good to multi-
tudes is the expectation as well as the hope of the present reviewer, who knows
much of the help already furnished to many inquirers for further and clearer
views and applications of truth through the beneficent agency of the noble Order
of the 75."

W. J. COLVILLE,
Editor, Mystic Light Library Bulletin.

"Another interesting contribution to the department of occult science."

Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

"The letters of advice, of which this book is nearly full, bear every mark of
culture, of sincerity, and of a lofty thought."

Argonaut, San Francisco, Cal.

"There is no subject in the book that is not treated in a manner so interesting
that it is hard to lay it down, but when the chapter on The Sex Problem is
reached there is found some strong food for a strong man with a strong mind.
The tone of the whole subject is Purity.

"The reader cannot say it has been merely pleasant reading of what he has
known before. It is the sort of a book the student wants for reference, and like
most of such books, repeated reading shows some new idea. It carries its own
strength and its own Truth on every P pAUL JQNES| R a ,,.

The Soundless Sound

BY

The Teacher of Sty* ©rter of ilf* 15

A dainty book of devotion and meditation

EXTRACT FROM THE FOREWORD

This little book comes to you, dear reader, as a messenger winged with the
love of the Master, Who would gather His children from the four winds.

"To all who are yearning for love and understanding, who are weary of
waiting for the eventide when the Master shall walk in His garden in the cool
of the day to meet His disciples, this little booklet is sent."

APPRECIATIONS

"This is one of those truly delightful works which appeal forcibly to all who
are seeking to penetrate below the surface of existence and discover something
of the deep life which throbs and pulsates through the unseen universe. The
transcribers. Dr. F. Homer and Harriette Augusta Curtiss, are clearly in touch
with some fertile source of spiritual enlightenment whence they derive such instruc-
tion as enables them to be largely helpful to seekers along the road to spiritual
realization. As a dainty gift book, it is a gem, beautifully bound in green silk
cloth, stamped in gold." — W. J. Colville, Editor Mystic Light Library Bulletin,
June, 1912.

"Its message is of the Inner Voice that all must hear, and its words are full
of Spirit and Life, bearing all the marks of inspired utterance. It is a book to
take with you into the silences of Nature, these fair days, to ponder until an
answering thrill tells you its work is done, for the same Voice that voiced those
words, now speaks in your own heart." — Annie Rix Militz, Editor Master Mind
Magazine, August, 1912.

Bound in green silk cloth, stamped in gold. A dainty Christmas gift.
Order now as the edition is limited.

Price 75 cents, postpaid
A few copies in flexible leather, $1.00

THE CURTISS BOOK Co.

1723 McCadden Place. LOS ANGELES, CAL.

The Curtiss Book Co.

PUBLISHERS OF
Religious, Mystical and Occult Literature.

The Curtiss Book Company is the book and publishing
department of The Order of the 15, and the profits from its
business go to further the work of the Order throughout the
world.

The Curtiss Book Company will have any occult, mystical
or New Thought book or magazine you may order mailed
direct to you from the publisher at the regular prices.

Let us have your order for Christmas and gift books-
Order early and avoid delays.

THE CURTISS BOOK COMPANY,

1723 MCCADDEN PLACE,

Los ANGELES, CAL.

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDO^ „'

..

i-i.'-iA 1 9 laab

'93?

— — -

—

.r. *. .

uV

FEB 2 3 1996