groups and couples we have interaction rather than lead ers, for there is no above or below and no one is more evolved than another. It is the power of the love of the work that is important, for it measures evolution and without that there is no group. The same applies in ‘use and being used’ and ‘abuse and being abused’; the abuser is also the abused. If the victim can look at the fact that he is also the perpetrator, because he or she had to experience the abuse, then eventually we see that they both undertook the experience and both have to stop playing the game. There is nothing to abuse, there is only spiritual energy floating through a space bringing up shapes and forms, so that it can recognise its evolution at the time. Once that level of understanding is reached, we won’t put ourselves into those situations as abused or abuser. The initiate won’t engage in it mentally or emotionally, because matter is of no importance. The body is only a manifestation at the time, a tool being used by energies and the world is an energetic world. We cannot take seri ously what happens to our personalities in that sense, but Soul can inform them so that the instrument can translate what needs to be understood through it. Being able to gather the emotion from that type of experience is more than important and worthy, though the experience itself is not important. The emotions have to be named and purified by the higher mind, so that we understand which feel ings are personal. The feelings are there because the personality thinks it is important and doesn’t understand its link to divinity. The way through to this understanding is through the Soul work, when we start activating the star of Bethlehem. The three-fold personality has to give up all its needs to be the instrument of the Soul, which in turn has to give all its love to be at the service of the karmic spiritual energy that moulds the Universe - so who is using who?
Figure 4. The final alignment of the personality/Soul/Spirit connection.
The unveiling has to be realised all the way down, so the star has to drop down into the great sea of the subconscious, restoring wisdom to everyday life.
The work is done only through taking the conscious mind into the unconscious, which is the Soul of nature and was there before us. Nature had to find a unit in herself that could be a little star, a torch, or a light and so she gave birth to awareness in the human kingdom. We go in and feel everything, eventually realising it is not ours! We should not personalise what we feel; we are only lit tle light-bearers going into the experience to feel and name it. The initiate has understood that the content of his subconscious is part of the previous experience in the unconscious of nature, that is why he can walk up and down with his torch and nothing bothers him. The feelings of ‘It is unfair’ and ‘I am being used’ are not there; he is not afraid of anything he finds there, because he is cleansing and bringing in more and more light. Once the big star is at the bot tom in the full light, we have redemption or re-creation and every thing is seen for what it is. The Star comes down increasingly, for the Soul knows it has come back for service and is full of enthusiasm. The amnesia that the Soul had when it first comes back can only be dissipated through the one that experiences (Soul), when the experi ment and experience make one. We go in and dig deep and look at everything from that very deeply felt, emotional hurt that the world carries. As we become more and more aware, we vaguely remember having been there before, so the work that needs doing becomes clearer and clearer. We have the star and the light, so we need not be overwhelmed by emotions, because we realise they are not per sonal. We are in a big sea of emotion and have to ride it to see where it takes us. The waves take us to a point of rest at the top, when we think we are the saviour. Then when we are at the bottom, we drop the self-pity and feel the black velvety rest of the overshadowing of the wisdom of the world. Suddenly peace is there and the Soul brings comfort in the subconscious amongst the monsters, except there are no monsters! So we keep on doing the work, deeper and quicker. What a privilege it is to look, understand and be aware, so that we can translate the process. We can thank God we are doing the work! It is all about knowing that the personality is of no conse quence. We can liken it to screaming at a horror film; even though we know it is not real, we can still be afraid, but we know the differ ence between the drama and the real thing. We scream because we know we can go into drama and it is okay, it is not really happening, the real alchemy is in silence.
The High Priestess is herself a veil in a way because all that she is going to confer to us, with her keys and her book, is what we truly have to absorb. We are talking about Soul work, for Soul absorbs and retains. Soul is a sea of memory, or a memory bank and she is showing us that. We don’t see the other side of her throne, just as with The Magician we only saw three of the four legs of his table, the other one being hidden. Her right side is not seen, but we can imagine the white sphinx there hidden by her cloak.
Whether or not we are facing The High Priestess, the human ity of our nature needs to be completely honoured, loved and cel ebrated. There used to be an official near the Pope whose job it was to remind him ‘you are only a man’, just in case he was losing a bit of humility in thinking he was God on the planet. It is a tradi tion that should be kept. Do we want to become a God and escape being a man? Why would we want to escape? It is the same with the work we are doing, if we don’t completely own one hundred percent what we are at the time with love, compassion and humil ity, whether we are the abused or the abuser, then we cannot fuse with the higher understanding of the Soul that is infused with the light of the Star.
Through the wisdom of The High Priestess and the secret of knowing that we are not this, that, or the other, we can actually fuse with the divine through the mind, the Soul and the higher intel ligence. When this is happening we may not be able to describe or sense what is going on. We must go through the intense purification of sulphur, for that is what is expected. Ancient Wisdom says that until the sixth initiation we are still in illusion, so there’s still a lot of burning and dissolving to be done.
The leaves on the silver key represent the three virtues of religion, which are the beginning of the work of faith, hope and charity. They are still of the personality and require that the personality thinks and aligns to goodwill. Then, once the intellect is dropped, they are not needed. Faith is unnecessary because we know; we don’t need hope because we are in the now; we don’t need charity because we have compassion. We don’t matter and yet we are priceless! On the way there is always an exoteric lane and an esoteric path. A lane leads to a path and when we are going towards the esoteric path there will always have been an intellectual lane beforehand, such as a teaching, a guru, or something else exterior. The esoteric is hidden inside and the minute we go there we work with Soul.
The intellect is the intermediary principle and the way through, for it is only through the intellect that we are able to translate the knowledge and vision of the Soul. Whichever form of expression we use; words, arts or sciences, we still have to use mind. To have rendered the intellect into a very well ordered, obedient servant to some higher quest is something quite beautiful. To be seen as intel lectually clever can bring difficulties, because even if we have been touched by the Soul, this does not obviate the fierce battle between the intellect and Soul. The seat of the Soul is in the heart and there fore in the emotional body, but the first contact with Soul is through the intellect. Active Intelligence is the divine side of intellect. A rise in consciousness has to come from a contact with the higher mind and the will. It manifests as a change of perception; it is the
