Gnosis is a cosmic teaching that aims to restore in each one of us the ability to live consciously and intelligently. One of the fundamental principles of Gnosis is that all Religions teach the same thing, they teach the Path to return to God (the Authentic Path of Initiation). And this path is present in the Kabbalah and in the Tarot plates as well. God, for the Gnostic, is something which exists within, that every human being can connect with and access if they learn the methods to do so.
Something that we need to understand is that Kabbalah and Tarot cards are not a game. They are a Symbolic representation of the Cosmic Science (the Science of the Union with God) which allows us to grasp the universe and our place in it. The Cosmic Science teaches us the path which will end all suffering. When we apply this Science to our lives, we can escape the laws of Evolution and become something like a Super-Man or Super-Woman.
But in order to do this, we must be serious about the work that is necessary on the Path to return to God (the Path of Authentic Initiation). This work is synthesized into the 3 Factors or the 3 Keys of the Revolution of the Consciousness: Death, Birth and Sacrifice.
Death is the Mystical Death of the Initiates, the Psychological Death that is necessary in order Awaken the Consciousness. It requires that we study the Revolutionary Psychology of the Gnostic Movement in depth.
Birth is Alchemical Birth, the Birth of the Soul. Another one of the fundamental principles of Gnosis is that the Human Being does not yet possess their Soul. We have the Seed of Soul, which is called our Essence, but in order to create or fabricate the Soul, we have to do a very special work. The main aspect of this work is what we call the Arcanum A.Z.F. We have explained this in class 10 of the Introduction to Gnostic Kabbalah series, but it basically consists of White Tantra: to connect sexually with our spouse and then to withdraw without orgasm. There exists only one way to create Soul and it is: the ‘Transmutation of the Sexual Energy’.
In the Introduction to Gnostic Kabbalah classes we discussed the Verb (especially class 1). We have suggested that the Greek word “Logos”, which is often translated as “Word”, might be better understood if it were translated as “Verb”. The Verb or Logos is the “Initiative of God which can never remain without effect, nor can it stop itself without having reached it goal.” as Eliphas Levi puts it.
In the Book of John, it says “In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” What is translated into English as the ‘Word’ is the Greek term ‘Logos’. The Logos is the unity of the 3 Primary Forces: the Holy Affirming (the 1st Logos), the Holy Denying (the 2nd Logos) and the Holy Reconciling (the 3rd Logos), which correspond to the Father, Son or Christ, and the Holy Spirit of Christianity. These forces incessantly work in order to establish and fulfill the Will of God throughout the cosmos.
As we learned in another Introduction to Gnostic Kabbalah class (class 7), these 3 Forces within the Human Being are related to:
• the Head and the Brain (Holy Affirming, the Father,
related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Kether),
• the Chest and the Heart (Holy Denying, the Son or Christ,
related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Tiphereth),
• the Legs and the Sexual Organs (Holy Reconciling, the Holy Spirit,
related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Yesod).
In order to take advantage of the powers of God deposited in us, we must learn to manage these aspects of ourselves properly.
Gnosis teaches that the proper use of the Sexual Energy, the 3rd Logos, is to direct it inward and upwards, so that it ascends towards the brain via the spinal column. This is what we call the ‘Transmutation of the Sexual Energy’ and it can be accomplished by both single and married persons. The difference between the two is that a single person is limited in their ability to create with this energy, but married persons are able to work and create Soul (by properly using the Male-Female polarities).
Within the Sexual Energy exists tremendous possibilities. In Gnosis we say that the Sexual Energy contains Solar and Lunar “atoms”. The purpose of transmuting the Sexual Energy is to accumulate and intelligently mix these “atoms” together in order to establish a new foundation of “atoms” to work with in the Spiritual Work. This is the Fountain or Source, which is often symbolically represented in various traditions, that gives eternal life.
The creation of the Soul is achieved in the same way as the creation of a child, the only difference is the procedure and the amount of time it takes. The soul is created in phases: first we create the Solar Astral Body (related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Hod), then the Solar Mental Body (related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Netzach) and finally the Solar Causal Body (related to the Kabbalistic Sephira of Tiphereth). When we have our Causal Body, then we possess our Soul. At that point we need to create Spirit, and that is the work with superior Spiritual aspects (related to the Kabbalistic Sephiroth of Chesed and Geburah).
In any case, our work here, in Malkuth & Yesod, is to create Soul and establish ourselves within Hod, Netzach and Tiphereth and in doing so create what are called our Solar Astral, Mental and Causal Bodies, and then to continue our Work in order to finally reach the Father (Kether) and enter into the Absolute (Union with God). All symbolism (allegoric, figurative, etc.) of any Authentic Religion, is pointing us towards this goal.
Sacrifice, the last Factor or Key, is Sacrifice for humanity. To help others when they are in need, to teach others about the spiritual path and about how they can stop their own suffering, to sacrifice our time and energy for the good of humanity, etc.
So this is what we are going to study in this class, the Symbolic or Figurative explanation of how to get closer to God. Saint Augustine said, “God does not save us without our co-operation.” So now, let’s start our study of the Cosmic Science in order to really understand the meaning of this statement…
The Three Obligatory Steps on the Path of Initiation
The most elevated type of Clairvoyance which exists in the Universe is Consciousness.
All of the Avatars or Messengers from the Superior Worlds have been Supra-Conscious Clairvoyants. Hermes Trismegistus, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ etc. All of them were Supra-Conscious beings, Messengers from the Superior Worlds, initiators of new eras of historical evolution.
Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition are the three obligatory paths of Initiation. We are going to examine each one of these steps separately. Let us begin with IMAGINATION.”
– From Ch. 85 of Tarot & Kabalah
1st Step: Imaginative Knowledge
“For the wise, to imagine is to see. Imagination is the Translucence of the Soul. The important thing is to learn to concentrate the thought in a single thing. One who learns to concentrate the thought upon a single thing does marvels and prodigies.
The disciple who wishes to attain Imaginative Knowledge must learn to concentrate and know how to meditate profoundly. The best exercise for attaining Imaginative Knowledge is the following:
“We sit in front of a plant and we concentrate upon it until everything else which is not related to the plant is forgotten. Then closing the eyes we doze, maintaining in our imagination the form and shape of the plant, its structure, its perfume and its color. The disciple will imagine the living cells of the plant. The disciple must provoke sleep during these practices.
Sleeping, the disciple will meditate profoundly upon the internal constitution of the plant remembering that it possesses protoplasm, membrane and nucleus. The protoplasm is a viscous, elastic and transparent substance, very similar to the white of an egg (Albuminous Matter). The disciple, sleeping, must reflect upon the four fundamental elements of the protoplasm of the vegetable cell. These four elements are: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen. The membrane is a marvelous substance without color which is totally insoluble in water. This substance is the well-known cellulose.
The disciple should then be well concentrated imagining the nucleus of the cell as a small corpuscle where the Great Universal Life palpitates. Within the nucleus is the nuclear filament, the nuclear juice , and all of the nucleolus are enclosed within the nuclear membrane. The nucleolus are corpuscles full of infinite brilliance and beauty, residual products of the incessant reactions of the vegetable organism.
The disciple being well concentrated, must imagine with logical exactitude all of those mineral substances and organic combinations which harmoniously develop in the cellular protoplasm of the plant. Thinking of the grains of starch, and the marvellous chlorophyll without which it would be impossible to attain perfect organic synthesis. Chlorophyll presents itself in a granulated form (chloroleucite) of a very handsome yellow color (xanthophyll). The latter takes on that beautiful plant green color with the rays of the sun.
Every plant is a perfect cellular community of incalculable perfection. The student meditates on the perfection of the plant and on all of its scientific processes, being filled with a mystical beatitude and enchanted with such beauty. The mystic is ecstatic upon recalling all of the phenomena of nutrition, relation and reproduction of each plant cell.
Let us look at the chalice of a flower; its sexual organs are there, there we find the pollen, the masculine reproductive element. The Pistil, or Gynecium, the most precious feminine organ is there as well with its Ovary, Style and Stigma. The Ovary is a sac filled with marvelous ova. With respect to the Pistil, it can occupy different positions: Insertion from beneath the Ovary, around the ovary, or above it.
Fecundation is verified with the function of the feminine germs and the masculine gametes. The masculine gamete, the pollen, after leaving the anther then reaches the ovary of the plant where the Ovum, the feminine gamete anxiously awaits it.
The seed is the precious and enchanting Ovum, which after having been fecundated transforms and grows. he student, now in meditation, will recall that epoch in which, it sprouts as a delicate stem. They will imagine it slowly growing, until he sees with the imagination that it puts out branches, leaves and flowers.
Remember that everything that is born must die. Imagine now the process of death of the plant. Its flowers wither, its leaves dry up and the wind carries them away and then finally only a few dry sticks remain.
This process of birth and death is marvelous. Meditate on that whole process of the birth and death of a plant, meditate on this whole marvelous life of plants, if the concentration is perfect and if deep sleep is attained, then the chakras of the Astral Body will turn, develop, and unfold. Meditation must be correct. The mind must be exact.
It is necessary to have a logical thought and an exact concept so that the Internal Senses develop in an absolutely perfectly. All incoherence, all lack of logic and of mortal equilibrium, obstructs and damages the evolution and progress of the Chakras or Disks, or Lotus Flowers of the Astral Body.
The student needs much Patience, Willpower, Tenacity and Absolute Conscious Faith. One day, in the midst of sleep a distant picture will arise during meditation, a landscape of nature, a face, etc.
This is the signal that one is progressing. Little by little the student elevates his Imaginative Knowledge. Little by little, the student will draw back the veil of Isis. One day the plant upon which one is meditating will disappear and is replaced by a beautiful child. That child is the Elemental of the plant. The Soul of the Plant.
Much later, during sleep, one’s Consciousness will awaken, and one is then able to say; “I am in the Astral Body”. The Consciousness awakens little by little.
The instant arrives on this path when the disciple has acquired Continuous Consciousness. Once the student enjoys Continuous Consciousness, then they no longer dream, they are unable to dream because their Consciousness is awakened. Then, even when their body is sleeping, they move consciously in the Superior Worlds.
Exact Meditation awakens the Internal Senses and produces a total transformation of the Internal Bodies. One who awakens Consciousness has attained Imaginative Knowledge. They move in the world of symbolic images.
Those images which were previously seen when one dreamt, are now seen without dreaming, before they were seen with the consciousness asleep, now one moves amongst them with the consciousness in a state of vigilance, even though their Physical Body maybe deeply asleep.
Upon attaining Imaginative Knowledge, the student sees the symbols but does not understand them. He comprehends that the whole of nature is a living scripture that he does not know. It is necessary to elevate oneself to Inspired Knowledge in order to interpret the sacred symbols of Great Nature. INSPIRATION: Now we will study Inspiration.”
– From Ch. 85 of Tarot & Kabalah
2nd Step: Inspired Knowledge
“Inspired Knowledge confers upon us the power to Interpret the Symbols of Great Nature. The interpretation of symbols is very delicate. Many clairvoyants become homicidal or commit the crime of public calumny because of not knowing how to interpret symbols. Symbols must be coldly analyzed without superstition, malice, mistrust , arrogance , vanity, fanaticism, prejudices, preconceptions, aversion , envy, greed, jealousy etc. All defects are the “I”, the Myself, the Reincarnating Ego.
When the “I” intervenes, translating, and interpreting symbols, then the meaning of the Secret Script is altered, and the Clairvoyant commits the crime which can lead him to jail. Interpretation must be tremendously analytical, highly scientific, and essentially mystical. One must learn to see and to interpret in the absence of the “I”, the Myself.
It may seem strange to many mystics that we, the brethren of the Universal Gnostic Movement, speak of Divine Clairvoyance with the Penal Code in hand. Those who think like that consider Spirituality to be something separate, something which does not have a relationship with daily life. These persons do wrong, they are mistaken, they ignore the fact that what every Soul is, in the Superior Worlds, the exact result of the daily life which we all live in this Valley of Tears
If our words, thoughts and actions are not just, then the result appears in the Internal Worlds and the Law comes down upon us. The Law is the Law, “ignorance of the Law does not exclude its fulfillment ”. The worst sin is Ignorance. To teach him who does not know is a work of Mercy. All the tremendous responsibility of the Law weighs upon those who are Clairvoyant.
One must know how to interpret the symbols of Great Nature in the complete absence of the “I”. However, self-criticism must be multiplied, because when the “I” of the clairvoyant believes that it knows much, then one feels oneself to be infallible, omniscient , wise, and even considers that one sees and interprets in the absence of the “I”.
This type of Clairvoyance greatly fortifies the “I”, which ends up converting them into terribly perverse Demons. When a clairvoyant of this type sees his own Internal God, he then interprets the vision in accordance with his own tenebrous criteria, and exclaims: “I am doing very well.” One must know how to interpret based on the Law of Philosophical Analogies, on the Law of Correspondences and of the Numeric Kabbalah.
We recommend the book “Mystical Qabalah” by Dion Fortune. This book is marvelous. Study it.
One who has hatreds, resentments, jealousies, envies, pride, etc., fails to rise to even the second level called Inspired Knowledge.
When we rise to Inspired Knowledge we understand and comprehend that the accidental accumulation of objects does not exist. All of the phenomena of Nature and all objects are really intimately organically linked to each other. They internally depend upon each other and mutually condition each other.
Really, no phenomenon of Nature can be integrally comprehended if we consider it isolated. Everything is in incessant movement, everything changes, nothing is still. An internal struggle exists within every object. The object is both positive and negative at the same time.
Quantitative transforms itself into qualitative. Evolution is a process of the complication of energy. Inspired Knowledge allows us to know the interrelation between that which is, that which has been, and that which will be.
Matter is nothing other than Condensed Energy. The infinite modifications of Energy are absolutely unknown both to Historical Materialism as well as to Dialectic Materialism.
“Energy is equal to mass multiplied by the velocity of light, squared.” [E=MC2] We Gnostics separate ourselves from the antithetical struggle which exists between Metaphysics and Dialectic Materialism. These are the two poles of Ignorance, the two antitheses of error. We take another path. We are Gnostic, and we consider life as an intergral whole.
An object is a point in space which serves as a vehicle to determined sums of values.
Inspired Knowledge allows us to study the intimate relationship existing between all the forms and values of Great Nature. Dialectic Materialism does not know the values, it only studies the object. Metaphysics does not know the values, nor does it know the object.
We Gnostics distance ourselves from the two antitheses of Ignorance; we study man and Nature integrally. Life is, all in all, determined and determining Energy. Life is Subject and Object at the same time.
“The Disciple who wishes to attain Inspired Knowledge should concentrate profoundly upon music. The “Magic Flute” of Mozart reminds us of an Egyptian Initiation. The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven and many other great classical compositions elevate us to the Superior Worlds.” The disciple, deeply concentrated upon the music, will observe themselves in it, like a bee in honey, the product of all their work. When the disciple has attained Inspired Knowledge, he must then prepare himself for Intuitive Knowledge.”
– From Ch. 85 of Tarot & Kabalah
3rd Step: Intuitive Knowledge
“INTUITION: The World of Intuition is the World of Mathematics. The student who wishes to elevate themselves to the World of Intuition must be Mathematical, or at least have a notion of Arithmetic.
Mathematical formulae confer Intuitive Knowledge. The student should concentrate upon a mathematical formula, and meditate profoundly upon it. Later, one should empty the mind, and put it in a totally blank state, then wait until our Internal Being teaches us the content of the concept enclosed in the mathematical formula.
For example, before Kepler publicly pronounced his famous principle that
“The periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun squared, are equal to the cubes of their distances”,
the formula already existed, it was contained within the Solar System, even though the learned men did not know it.
[see some of Kepler’s Formulas]
The student can mentally concentrate on this formula, emptying the mind, falling asleep with the mind blank and wait for his own internal being to reveal all of the marvelous secrets contained in the formula of Kepler.
Newton’s formula concerning Universal Gravitation can also serve us as an exercise in Initiation. This formula is the following:
“Bodies are attracted to each other in a direct relationship with their mass and in an inverse relationship to the square of their distances.”
[see some of Newton’s Formulas]
If the student practices with Tenacity and Supreme Patience, their own Internal Being will teach or instruct them in the work. Then one will study at the feet of the Master; and will be elevated to Intuitive Knowledge.
Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition are the three obligatory paths of Initiation. One who has ascended the three steps of Direct Knowledge has attained Supra-Consciousness. In the World of Intuition we only find Omniscience.
The World of Intuition is the World of the Being, it is the World of the Intimus. The “I”, the Myself, the Ego cannot enter that world. The World of Intuition is the Universal Spirit of Life. The World of Imaginative Knowledge is a world of symbolic images.
INSPIRATION CONFERS UPON US THE POWER TO INTERPRET SYMBOLS.
In the World of Intuition we see the Great Cosmic Theatre, and we are the spectators. We witness the Great Drama of Life. In that world, all of the Drama which is represented on the Cosmic Stage is reduced to tremendous arithmetical operations. This is the Amphitheatre of Cosmic Science.
From that Region of Mathematics we see that there exists physical mass which is above and below the limits of external sensorial perception. It is mass which is invisible; only with clairvoyance is mass perceived.
Matter is Condensed Energy. When the vibration is very slow, the mass is beneath the limits of external sensorial perception. When the vibratory movement is very fast, the mass is above the limits of external sensory perception. With a telescope it is only possible for us to see worlds whose level of vibration is active within the limits of external sensory perception.
Above and below the limits of external sensory perception, there exist worlds, Solar Systems, and Constellations which are populated by living beings of all kinds. So-called Matter is Energy which condenses into infinite forms of mass. The external senses of perception are able to perceive very little.
Dialectic Materialism and Metaphysics are extemporaneous and antiquated. We the brethren of the Gnostic Movement proceed along a different path.
It is urgent for the men of science to study ‘An Outline of Occult Science’ by Doctor Rudolph Steiner, the great Hungarian medical doctor born in 1861. He was a friend and disciple of Nietzsche and of Ernst Haeckel, and the founder of the Anthroposophical Society.
It is indispensable that those who are lovers of science deeply investigate all of the portentous Oriental Wisdom flowing like a river of gold in the immortal pages of ‘The Secret Doctrine’ by H. P. Blavatsky. This work consists of six volumes and is a monument of Archaic Wisdom. The Great Master H.P.B. is the brilliant author of that precious treasure of Ancient Wisdom.
Those who attain Supra-Consciousness, convert themselves into true illuminated Clairvoyants. No Authentic Clairvoyant boasts about their faculties. No Legitimate Clairvoyant says that they are clairvoyant. When a True Clairvoyant sees something important, they present their concept with great culture and with supreme respect for their fellow human beings.
They never say: “I am seeing.” They always says: “We consider ”, “We have learnt.” Such are those who have reached the ineffable summits of supra-consciousness, they are distinguished by their chivalry, humility and modesty.
Read “Kundalini Yoga” by Sivananda. Meditate upon the Blessed White Lodge.
Scrutinize the Gnostic treasures. Meditate upon the profound symbolism contained in each one of the Arcana of the Tarot.
Those who attain the heights of Supra-Consciousness enter the Amphitheatre of Cosmic Science. The triple path of Science, Philosophy, and Revolutionary Cosmic Mysticism, leads us to the ineffable regions of the Great Light. Gnosis is highly Scientific, highly Philosophical, and transcendentally Mystical.”
– From Ch. 85 of Tarot & Kabalah
Additional Information
“One should also study chapter № 17: “The Esoteric Discipline of the Mind”, from the book “IGNEOUS ROSE”, which complements the chapter given here.
Meditate profoundly upon the number (85), and upon its Kabbalistic Additions.
Scrutinize with that which is most profound within your Soul, so that here you can find the key for the preparation of the Kabbalah of Prediction.
85 = 8 + 5 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4.
8 – PATIENCE
5 – INTELLIGENCE
13 – MYSTICAL DEATH3 – THE WORK WITH THE DIVINE MOTHER
1 – WILLPOWER,
4 – THE WORK WITH THE CROSS, WITH SEX.”– From Ch. 85 of Tarot & Kabalah
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