The Golden Star
VISION 5
Spiritualism
PREVIOUS PAGE
Now Neteru-Hem beckoned Ma-u and Ma-uti, who had been fascinated spectators of all the strange phantasies around them, and led them to a suburban-looking villa, which they entered. Passing right through the walls they came to a room which, but for the faint red light from a tiny lamp was in almost total darkness. A number of people were just discernible in the gloom, and silently they sat in front of a woman who, breathing heavily, sat in a cabinet, hands and feet bound with strong cords. Myriads of elementals were also present in that room, some very grim and malicious, others howling with mad joy and prodding that gasping and unconscious figure in the cabinet; whilst others bathed themselves in the auras of the sitters and absorbed the living forces of these people, who were totally unaware of what took place around them in the dark. A swirling group of elementals were crowding around one particular member of that audience, a rather vacant-looking young girl; and they tried to enter the body of that poor soul in order to obtain a vicarious existence on earth at the expense of their victim. Suddenly a heavy shudder ran across the girl’s frame and with a frightened sob she collapsed. At that moment one of the elementals succeeded in entering her body, the rest screeching with rage at being foiled. Two of the sitters carried her outside the room and revived her, but, on opening her eyes, the vacant look was gone and replaced by one of malicious cunning. The pupils were contracted to pinpoints and the eyelids half closed, so that instead of the open-eyed creature who entered the séance room there was now a girl with a face full of craftiness; astute, sly and subtle; her destiny the madhouse, after the elemental form had used up the vital forces of his victim and destroyed the feeble brain.
Another group of elementals had in the meantime released the medium from her bonds and lifted her up to the ceiling, still unconscious, but with eyes wide open and staring.
“A levitation,” murmured the sitters. “What a wonderful séance!”
The room faded away and changed into the interior of a great lamasery in Tibet. A droning chant of the multitudes of lamas present rises up in the temple. ‘Ah-oum ma-ni pad-mé houm,’ repeated over and over again; and from the dancing beams of sunlight that enter the temple-windows the luminous form of a great Tibetan Saint separates itself in the form of a fiery cloud and holds converse with the congregation in a voice like the whisper of a breeze through the foliage of a forest.
“Here you have witnessed some of the dreams of the inhabitants of the Astral Worlds; something that really happened at a séance; and finally, in the Tibetan scene, a true demonstration of how the Adept residing in the sublime realms can contact the Adepts on earth.”
“How would you describe to us the principles of the body, the Astral body, the spirit, and other attributes of man, dear Neteru-Hem?” asked Ma-u.
“In this talk about Spiritualism, my Son, I have made use of the customary terminology of the average man investigating the occult mysteries in an untrained manner; without understanding the true meanings of the terms he uses. A man’s body is so marvellously interwoven with his spiritual parts, that it is very difficult to give an explanation of how the material and spiritual act in conjunction.
“When we talk of the Body we refer to the Temple the Mind dwells in during its earthly existence.
“The Astral Body is that etheric or astral vehicle in which the Mind dwells in the finer, or Astral Spheres, after the earthly body expires. It is built up at the same time as the material body, and during earthly life it is the body’s constant companion; except when it is used by the Adept for the purpose of astral projection; when the Mind can travel in it to near or distant places.
“There is a great difference between such projections, and what is called extension of consciousness; when the Mind fixes itself, as it were, on distant localities and can be aware of what happens there without travelling in the astral or etheric body to these spots. The astral body can be seen clairvoyantly as a misty white shape, loosely attached to the material, earthly body. The great Adept, however, can make his Astral Body so apparently solid that it becomes visible to all, and seems just as real as his own material body from which the projection was made, and which either lies entranced elsewhere, or even pursues its usual functions, guided by the Soul, although the Mind is elsewhere in his astral shape.
“The Astral Body gradually dissolves after bodily death, or it evaporates, or becomes rarefied, and when it has finally disappeared the Mind is sent into another material body on earth for the next incarnation.
“The Astral Body is of a material nature, though much more ethereal than the earthly body; and the partly material Mind uses this Astral vehicle in between the earthly incarnations.
“When the Alchemical Marriage has taken place, the Soul Mind does not need an astral body at all. It rapidly dissolves, being but an empty shell, whilst the Soul–Mind—a pure and formless Essence—passes through the Astral planes, or planes of consciousness as they are sometimes called, and returns to the First Great and Divine Principle from which it originally emerged or separated for the purpose of commencing its cycles of incarnations on earth. Or it dwells in some of the finer celestial worlds in a spiritual form which cannot be described.
“In some of the ancient teachings the Soul, Mind, and Astral Body are split up, or divided, into various sub-sections, in order to make clear the gradual unfoldment and progress of these principles; but as it would require too much time I cannot enter into these details now, and if you should wish to study these doctrines more fully you should acquire or borrow the books in which all this is explained. The sacred books of the Buddhists contain these teachings, and they can also be found in the works of the ancient Greek Philosophers.
“The Mind is that spiritual part of man which uses the brain as its directing instrument when in earthly body, in order to make this body act as it wishes. Remember again the difference between the higher and the lower Minds—the higher mind being the negative counterpart of the Soul, and the lower mind being that principle which animates and regulates the body. The Higher Mind is that part of the entity which enters the body at birth with the first breath for the purpose of learning its earthly lessons and experiences. Its main purpose is to transmute all material things and ideas into spiritual ones, in order to purify the material consciousness of itself in such a way that it reaches a state of perfection equal to the Soul itself. When this has been achieved it becomes an immortal and pure, divine Essence and joins the Soul, after which there is no further need for reincarnation.
“Both Soul and Mind have complete consciousness of their own status, and it does not matter if this status is called personality or individuality. Neither of these terms must be confused with the personal appearance of the human body in which the Mind dwells during each incarnation. Both Soul and Mind are the same in personality or individuality, though seemingly separated until the final union—which is that Alchemical Marriage to which I referred—so-called on account of the transmutation of the partly material Mind into an absolutely spiritual one when this Marriage has been consummated. This seeming separation and final union is the Great Mystery of Life in the spiritual sense, which cannot be understood by the material Mind and brain; or explained even if understood, for it is the ultimate Secret of God—the Immaculate Light.
“The Soul is the Divine Immortal Essence, a God-like Principle, without form or substance, and equal unto God—the Unknown. It overshadows and can interpenetrate the living human being; and it is often called the Master Within—although it really is without. It has full awareness of itself and of all the incarnations of the Higher Mind in material human forms; and it is always connected with the same Mind when that is incarnated.
“Spirit is the Principle which issues forth from the Divine Source—via our Sun—and holds together all material things or beings by adhesion and cohesion; this ‘Spirit’ is the Æther.
"It keeps alive the Spark which feeds on it.
“This spirit-stream is entirely apart from the Great Spirits, the Sons of God, who created all things and plants, animals and men. The terms 'spirit-force' and 'Spirit' should never be confused.
“The Spark of God—is the vital principle which animates and lights up the material body. It is a part of the Astral Fire and may burn very brightly, as in the man of genius, or smoulder dimly in the lower evolved members of humanity, or in animals or plants. It is entirely individual to the body and its Astral Body as long as either has life, and it departs at reincarnation to return to the Eternal Fires of the Cosmic Worlds. It provides the heat which the material body requires, and radiates it in greater or lesser degrees, according to the amount of response it receives from the body and the materials the body is made of. It is the Fire of Prometheus, and was placed within the body by the Sons of God, who were sent to create men and all living beings and give them Life. Such are the parts which constitute all living beings, my children; and it may give you a greater understanding of some of life’s mysteries, and the powers within all living creatures, both materially and spiritually.”
During the final sentences of the Messenger the phantom beings of the Astral World had vanished, and the coloured clouds and atmosphere had turned into a bright yellow-golden hue.
A pleasant feeling of warmth spread all around, and Ma-u and Ma-uti began to sense a change, which brought with it a feeling of intense relief. Darkness had been cleared away completely, and, following the resplendent form of Neteru-Hem, they proceeded towards the regions of the Astral Fires, where further teachings and wonderful visions awaited them. They had done with the dark abodes for good now, and their further adventures would lead them to the glorious Light of the Supreme Being and the Celestial Hosts.
PREVIOUS PAGE
READ THE NEXT VISION — THE ASTRAL FIRE
8