the enigma that is put in front of him.
The power of the initiate is not so much what he can do; it is an inner power and so doesn’t have to manifest in any specific way. Like The High Priestess, the initiate is somebody very dangerous to come near to. This is not because he would harm anybody, but because there is something in his clarity that will bring people in front of themselves. The black sphinx of The High Priestess is doing exactly this, mirroring what the initiate has in him and if he has something to face, that is his enigma. This is ‘Man know thyself’ and if the man doesn’t know himself, the black sphinx is there to show him exactly what it is that he doesn’t know. Knowing ourselves is only being aware of our behaviour, which is driven by our subconscious. It is having a little light down there in the subconscious and always being honest and strong enough to say “I vibrate to that, I react to this and I react to that, so I understand why this happened and why someone might commit a crime, because I have already recognised that in myself”. When we can do that we automatically defuse it and there is no blame, because there is only an act that occurred, which doesn’t need to be repeated. An act is only a movement in time and isn’t permanent. We have all been violators, because we are only repeating the step that nature took to survive, so we need to recognise that and be strong, as it is our work to go through the inner purifying flame. Self-development can cause distress; we can see the word differently, as ‘de-stress’ and stop stressing about it, let the tension go and relax.
The steel of the sword of truth has to be purified. When we really come in front of our own truth we must have the courage to take the sword, put it into the fire again to be purified and then dip it straight into the water. Things need to be destroyed quite quickly, so that all the impurities in the metal can be burnt out. The more we put the blade into the fire to be beaten into alignment, the stronger the steel becomes. The steel symbolises the spiritual will and the stronger and purer it is, the more the intuition and light can come through it. It is therefore dangerous in everyday life, because when we are going for self-purification, we can get obsessed by it and that can destabilise the instrument mentally, as we bring the shadows up to the surface. We may be too self-obsessed and so fall back into think ing that the world is there for us.
The work will bring pain, but also elevation and uplift, or rebel lion and fall. Rebellion is the important and necessary first step towards listening to the higher mind, as in its extremes it ignores anything from the outside. We can see an example of this in the rebel lious adolescent who wants to be seen to be the best and the most obnoxious, yet at the same time wants to be loved; that is personal ity. With the rebellious adolescent, we must wait until the silliness has stopped and then help them to comply if they want to be good in society. If the person sees the possibility of rising and yet refuses to work on the inner plane, as they carry on in their rebellion, then they are not at ease in the world. The opportunity for change is there but they do not want to hear the inner call, so they keep on being socially dysfunctional; it is a disorder, or un-ease. Rebellion is a state which makes us hate any outer authority that restricts us, because the Soul is after its own inner guidance and once we have got hold of that, we naturally comply with the laws of the land to show that the work has been done. These two states have the same aim and one comes after the other, so remember not to judge for we all have to fall.
When the initiate comes in front of The High Priestess her face is blank and unreadable. He will misread her if he thinks she is a brick wall, because that is not the case. She completely ignores him because if she had any expression on her face that said “Come on, I know how you feel”, or “Don’t be an idiot”, it could stop the man in front of her from accomplishing his mission. The mission is to unfold his destiny and to follow his own star, which is the true seed of divinity. As he faces her he is aware that he could get lost, for he doesn’t know if it is life eternal on the other side of the veil or not and he’s aware of the dread of not knowing. She completely ignores all that and so appears to be stern and impartial. He has to decide from within himself to stay and knock at the door. His persistence is a true sign of courage, which says that the steel of his inner truth has been sufficiently tempered.
Whenever we are very close to the truth, discrimination through the intellect must be used; otherwise the initiate at the door hasn’t really rendered his intellect useful. The only job the intellect has, after he has gone through that door, is to serve. Right up to the door he has had to see whether he is taking his intellect seriously or not, but after going through it discrimination becomes a spiritual quality. We still have to weigh everything up carefully, because we remem ber that mistakes are always likely. Even Jesus (the Soul) on the cross was weighing up and asking; “Is this really happening?”
He could go on living the double life, for on the one hand the ini tiate or disciple is driven towards the goal of illumination or fusion with the highest; on the other hand he knows that he is weakened with temptation and can be charmed. In taking the next step and going through the door, he will have to let go of that double life and then it is really a single life, with the focus on the highest, but stay ing with the behaviour of the profane. There are no more excuses of “I am only human and I am not completely aware”, which allowed him to go back and play the game. Jesus (the Soul) said; “When you are in a foreign land you eat and behave as a foreigner” so the initi ate does not say, “I am special and I am different”, but rather obeys the social laws of the country he is in and the laws of the Earth, even if he knows these laws are temporary. The laws are temporary in the sense that they will carry on until the Earth herself is divine and then we will be under divine laws, rather than the laws of life and death. If he pleads ignorance that is covering up the fact that he still wants to enjoy the sensual life.
The real word for The High Priestess is gnossos, or connaissance, which is what we are born with. The wisdom is not that we are in the world, but that the world is in us. At this stage we know that, because we have learned to understand what incredible instruments we are. We are a memory-bank for the God we live in and we each have the capability of entering every single room in that great vault of knowledge. Each cell in our bodies is a room that we can enter into and decipher the knowledge therein; this is the kind of instru ment we are. The world is actually not out there, except when we need to check the little black dogs we have within us, which are our reactions as we play the game. Once we truly know the world is within us, then everything is accepted and loved and there is no problem. We can go and visit any room with as much courage, hon esty and love as we can fathom within us, for we are custodians of our house; that is what makes us true co-creators. Creation isn’t to do with planting trees; it is to do with truly understanding that the world is the way it is because of an idea or a mental process. Each word or thought creates a true entity. Self work is necessary, also witnessing and service are a by-product of the greater plan, which is to make planet Earth sacred. In this work we are essential but not most important, for we ourselves are just by-products by which the planet can move on.
The whole of the planet’s psyche is polluted by a murky, lust ful, wishful, wanting, needy atmosphere. Cleansing our thoughts, desires and needs is necessary, so that our instruments can exteriorise the good will and pure intent of the Soul into the highest attainment, by the work of service; this doesn’t mean being a ‘goody-goody’. If we can hold that intent, then even when we are living for biological survival, we can recreate the world with the power of our thoughts; for example the more people think peace, the more peace will hap pen. If we see the possibility of that, we can see how it is going to replace the lower needs. All of us are breathing an atmosphere that is full
