When the one, indivisible Light of the original prana touches the microcosm of the pupil, we find that this Light is absorbed by the seven aspects of the microcosmic system. As it was explained in the previous chapter, the complete microcosm has seven aspects and each one of these aspects may, in turn, be divided into seven others. So, when we allude to the holy Sevenlight, we mean that the one indivisible Light of the original prana is active in some way in the sevenfold microcosmic system. When this work in the microcosm is completed, the reborn human being holds the seven stars in his right hand. Then all the structures of the microcosm are again in complete harmony with the Light of the original prana and this victory is reflected in the entire system.
It is an absolute condition in all transfigurism that the builder demolishes and builds with the aid of and through the Light of the original prana. For this Light is the bread of life and by eating it, the true life is restored to the microcosm. He who can eat this bread has eternal life; he possesses Tao. He who can eat this bread will find that the Light of the original prana rushes through all parts of the system as a pure stream of force, as the wine of the Spirit. It is the universal river upon whose banks the city of God, the reborn microcosm, must be built.
The partaking of the bread and the wine is the meaning of the Last Supper; it means being completely enveloped by the Light of the original prana and its workings. There is little value in celebrating the Last Supper as is customary in religious circles. It even presents an extremely dangerous aspect, because when man of this nature, living on the horizontal plane of existence, celebrates the Last Supper through mystical habit or adoration, there will be no inflowing of the wine of the Spirit, but a renewed binding with the hierarchy of the reflection sphere, an attachment to the wheel for the umpteenth time.
Years ago, when we began the work in the School of the Rosycross, we had in mind to restore the true celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We sought the door according to the word: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and wil1 sup with him and he with me’.
We began with a simple, completely symbolic act, in order to awaken preremembrance and maintain it until the appointed time. It is simply a matter of intelligent directedness that every pupil should ask himself in what way the Light of the original prana can be connected with him, so it can become active in his microcosm in a regenerative manner, conducive to rebirth. It is a matter of intelligent directedness to consider in what way a pupil can progress to true freemasonry.
The original idea of freemasonry and more especially the idea of ‘free” does not point to intensified individualism, to common self centredness. Being free means being able to work in, through and with a truly liberating power. Therefore, every effort made cut off from the Gnosis will be negative in its effect and wil1 contribute to increased suffering and sorrow. The power ofliberation, the Light ofthe original prana, the bread and the wine knock at the· door. How can we open this door?
‘If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I wil1 come in to him and wil1 sup with him and he with me.’ How shall we succeed then in opening the door? Now this is exactly what the School of the Rosycross teaches you to do: how to open the door to eternal freedom. It is for this reason that we wish to speak to you of the descent of the seven rays of the Light of the original prana.
If you look up at the starry sky you wi.11 see several so-called clark spheres. All these spheres revolve in a vast field of light, but they themselves are clark and we perceive them only because by their presence they reflect something of the cosmic light. Thus it is with all clark objects. We perceive them because there is also light. Similarly, you will be able to imagine that there is also the omnipresence of the Light of the original prana. It forms a field of light in which we revolve like clark spheres. Sometimes we are more or less conscious that we are in this light, that we exist by the grace of this universa! love, yet this awareness in itself has but little value. Sometimes the messengers of the universa! Light break into the drab realm of our existence to tel1 us, ‘The light is here. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ This call comes to direct our awareness to the Light.
We cannot respond, ‘Let the Light touch us to help us in our darkness’, in the same way we would switch on a light, for you will realize that darkness, when it is illuminated mechanically, is nevertheless darkness. In exactly the same way an entity of the reflection sphere, wrapped in his mande of light ether, gives no proof whatsoever of the Light of the original prana.
The entire dialectica! reality of being and existence, all that exists is designated in the Holy Language as darkness. That darkness and the Light of the original prana cannot be reconciled with one another. This is why the door remains closed and why it will remain closed until you have the courage to accept the holy conflict in your life.
As soon as you think that the Light comes in order to illumine you in your present state of existence; as soon as you show any sign of satisfaction with this, the connection must be attributed to the false gnosis with which you are then in natura! equilib rium. The pupil must come to the discovery that his whole existence, no matter how it may be lit up mechanically, is total darkness and does not offer the least perspective. He wiI1 come to this dis covery after he has tried all credited possibilities for liberation without avail and has become a purified and at the same time a thoroughly disillusioned dialectica! person.
When anyone has come to this discovery, tired and defeated, he can then adopt two different attitudes. He can refuse to accept what he has discovered, along with its logica! consequences and he will then camouflage his deplorable state and feign an appearance of peace and balance. On the other hand he can accept the holy conflict, which means that he opens the door and gives entrance to the holy Seven-light. In this case, the peace and the solace and the comforting touch as of a spring sun will not carne to him, but instead he wil1 allow a new series of conflicts to enter his life. But these are conflicts about which it may be said, ‘This illness is not unto death, but in order that life itself may be born’. It is the reality of darkness, which must be broken off and die; the delusions of life must be swept away. This is why the Last Supper is a meal before death. After the Supper the delusion with all of its numerous conflicts will be destroyed. It will all be destroyed on the way of the cross and on the morning of the resurrection.
Before participating in the Christ Being, before being able to carry the cross of transmutation, before being able to attach the rose of the resurrection to the cross, you have to celebrate your Last Supper. This Last Supper is a meal before death. It is related to the descent of the seven rays of the Light of the original prana. In the Spiritual School we speak of the ‘Last’ Supper because this state of being shows that there is a parting. The day of the old, ordinary, dialectical life passes. In the evening of the day the pupil turns to the etemal new day, whose morning crimson he hopes wi11 soon appear.
The School of the Rosycross is an effort of the Universal Brotherhood to lead you to this Last Supper. You will not get there automatically, you must make your own resolution. You yourself must end your day of nature by intelligent, personal directedness. For this reason the Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross begins with the specific information that on the eve of Easter Christian Rosycross was preparing his beloved paschal lamb.
So we can discerm four main phases of the path as being firstly, the preparation; secondly, the celebration of the Last Supper; thirdly, the way of the cross, and fourthly, the resurrection. We know that many pupils in the School of the Rosycross are willing to break through to the second phase. In view of this, the School wishes to inform you about everything to which your attention should be directed and in which your readiness must be proved.
In the second phase the Gnosis, the Light of the original prana, begins a process with you; a process for which you have made the decision yourself. This process is a struggle, it is an attack made upon the entire dialectical being by powers which are not of this world. The pupil must be pulled out of the pit. As we have already described seven ropes must be lowered into the pit of mortification for this purpose.
The fact that this concerns the beginning of an intense struggle, is clearly proven by all the reports given in bonafide literature. Johann Valentin Andreae speaks of a feeling of being heavily chained with a great multitude of others, swarming like bees in a hive. None of them can see or hear a thing. There is a fierce struggle because each one seeks to climb higher than the others. Each one reproaches the others as though responsible for his own blindness and captivity.
When the Light of the original prana then starts the process, the fight is on in all earnestness. Each one strikes and kicks about him. Christian Rosycross says about himself that he warded off many attacks with hands and feet. Violence and chaos increase as the ropes, are lowered; Christian Rosycross is unable to describe this agitation in detail. We must try and explain this violent commotion.
As you have read in one of the previous chapters, the Light of the original o
prana makes an attempt first of all to change completely the state of the subconsciousness, which has its seat in the sacral plexus. Such a changed sacral plexus farms the door to the renewal, to the transmutation of the entire microcosm.
When the sacral plexus is able to fulfil its function of reflection correctly, the bread and wine of the Gnosis can then perform their task. So the care of the work of freemasonry, during the second phase of salvation, is for the pupil to exert himself to the utmost in order to polish the mirror of his subconsciousness in the right manner. We can tel1 you the following about this work, which the pupil will necessarily have to accomplish in spontaneous response to the touch of the Gnosis.
It is common knowledge in the universal doctrine that there are forty-nine plexuses in the body, seven times seven, seven groups of seven plexuses. By far the majority of these forty-nine nerve centres or ganglia are not visible under the microscope, which is the reason why they cannot be found in any textbook. These seven groups of seven plexuses are spread over the human body.
The first group is located in the head, with the throat plexus as its centre.
The second group is in the neck, lying as a garland around the larynx, with the larynx plexus as its centre.
The third group is in the lungs, having the cavern osum as its centre.
The fourth group is located in the heart, with its centre a plexus situated in the aorta.
The fifth group is in and around the stomach with the epigastrium as its focus.
The sixth group is in the pelvic sanctuary and is connected with the sex organs.
The seventh group is to be found in the serpent fue system, with the sacral plexus as its centre. It is the seventh group that governs the entire system of plexuses and this is why one can say that the sacral plexus is the core of the forty-nine ganglia.
To have a clear view you must understand further that this system of plexuses must be seen in close cooperation with the internal secretion system. There are equally forty-nine internal secretion organs, which are similarly divided into seven groups of seven. The forty-nine blood aspects should be seen in the same relationship. The status of your existence is such that the state of your blood farms the basis of your existence, whereas the internal secretion, in combination with the system of plexuses, determines your state of consciousness and your actions.
These three aspects are in constant interaction. A change in the activity of the plexuses necessarily results in a change in the internal secretion, and the internal secretion in turn can bring about a direct change in the basic blood state. If a pupil, by persevering long enough in a line of action, succeeds in changing the basis of his blood then this chosen line of action will fmally not demand any effort on his part. He has won a victory which is etched in his blood. A new possession has carne into existence. Now pay attention to what follows.
When you are tired of struggling in this world and comee to the discovery that darkness can never become light and that only mechanically a substitute for the light can be produced, your activities in life, your general behaviour in this world will give evidence of the fact. If you have grasped what has just been indicated, it will be clear that the basis of your blood has been changed by this understanding.
The School of the Rosycross can then guide you into the first phase of the process of sanctification on the basis of this new blood. The School can direct your attention to the other kingdom, to the Gnosis, to the original prana, to the reality of the true life. Then it may be that after you have been exposed to this radiation of love you will decide to tear yourself away from your present phase of existence and really undertake the path to the one true life. If this decision is not taken emotionally or intellectually, hut out of a real, vital need, then it is a valid action affecting the internal secretiori and the blood. By this action you open the door yourself.
Because, what is happening here? As a result of this radical decision and because our action has influenced the internal secretion one of the roses in the head opens somewhat. As soon as the rose opens, the first ray of the Light of the original prana can penetrate, like a rope, into the serpent fire and endeavour to awaken the system of the sacral plexus, which is asleep, as it were, with respect to the higher life. If this endeavour of the Gnosis is successful, the result will be a new life of action, as a consequence of which the second rose will open and the second rope can be lowered; and so on until the Seven-spirit has fulfilled its task and the pupil has responded in a sevenfold manner.
Then the Last Supper is celebrated and the pupil starts on his way of the cross. In subsequent chapters we will give you a detailed description of the seven liberating acts during the Last Supper.