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command the Elder Brothers have evolved a system of healing which combines the best points in the various
schools of today with a method of diagnosis and treatment as certain as it is simple, and thus a long step has
been taken to lift the healing art from the sands of experiment to the rock of exact knowledge.
On the night of the 9th of April, 1910, when the new moon was in Aries, my Teacher appeared in my room
and told me that a new decade (cycle) had commenced that night. The night before, my work with the newly
formed Los Angeles Fellowship Center had terminated. I had traveled and lectured six out of seven nights a
week and several afternoons besides. Since my Chicago publishing experience I had been sick and was
withdrawing from public work to recuperate. I knew it was very dangerous to leave the body consciously
when ill, for the ether is then usually attenuated and the silver cord breaks easily. Death under such
conditions would cause the same sufferings as suicide, so the Invisible Helper is always cautioned to stay by
his body when it is suffering. But at my Teacher's request I was ready for the soul flight to the Temple, and a
guard was left to watch the sick body.
CHAPTER XXI. OUR WORK IN THE WORLD
PART II
As we have stated previously in our literature, there are nine degrees of the Lesser Mysteries, of whatever
school, and the Rosicrucian Order is no exception. The first of these corresponds to the Saturn Period, and the
exercises having to do with it are held on Saturn's day at midnight. The second degree corresponds to the Sun
Period, and that particular rite is celebrated every Sunday. The third degree corresponds to the Moon Period
and is held on Monday at midnight; and so one with the remainder of the first seven degrees. Each
corresponds to a Period and is held on the day appropriate thereto. The eighth degree is celebrated at the new
moon and the full, and the ninth degree at the summer and winter solstices.
When a disciple first becomes a lay brother or sister, he or she is introduced to the rite held upon Saturday
nights. The next Initiation entitles him also to attend the midnight services at the Temple on Sunday nights,
and so on. It is to be noted, however, that while all lay brothers and sisters have free access in their spiritual
bodies to the Temple during all DAYS, they are barred from the midnight services of the degrees which they
have not yet taken. Nor is there a visible guard who stands at the door and demands a password of each as he
desires to enter, but a wall is around the Temple, invisible yet impenetrable to those who have not received
the "open sesame." Every night it is differently constituted so that should a pupil by mistake or through
forgetfulness seek to enter the Temple when the exercises are above his status, he would learn that it is
possible to bump one's head against a spiritual wall and that the experience is by no means pleasant.
As already said, the eighth degree meets at the new and full moon, and all who have not attained are debarred
from that midnight service, the writer among them, for this degree is no mere mummery to be obtained by the
CHAPTER XXI. OUR WORK IN THE WORLD PART II 46
 Teachings of an Initiate
payment of a few paltry coins but requires a measure of spirituality far beyond my present attainment, a stage
to which I may not attain in several lives, though not wanting in effort or aspiration. You will therefore
understand that on the night of the new moon in Aries, 1910, when the Teacher came for me, it was not to
take me into that exalted gathering of the eighth degree, but to another session of a different nature. Besides,
though this session was held in the night as it occurs in California, the time is different in Europe. The
exercises of the new moon had been held in Germany hours before, so that when I arrived at the Temple with
my Teacher the sun was already high in the heavens.
When we entered the Temple some time was devoted to an interview with my Teacher alone, and in it he
outlined the work of the Fellowship as the Brothers would wish to have it carried out. The keynote of it all
was to refrain from organization, if possible, or at least to make organization as loose as we could. It was
pointed out that no matter how good the intentions may be in the beginning, as soon as position and power
are created which may gratify the vanity of men, the temptation proves too great for the majority, and in the
measure that the free will of members if interfered with, the object of the Rosicrucian Order, to foster
individuality and self-reliance, is defeated. Laws and by-laws are limitations, and for that reason there
should be as few as possible. The Teacher even thought that it would be possible to get along without any at
all.
It is in line with this policy that I had printed upon our letterheads, AN INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICS"; for there is a vast difference between an association that is entirely voluntary
and an organization which binds its members by oaths, pledges, etc. Those who have taken the Obligation as
probationers in the Rosicrucian Fellowship know that THAT OBLIGATION IS A PROMISE TO
THEMSELVES and not to the Rosicrucian Order. The same tender regard for the maintenance of the fullest
of individual liberty is in evidence throughout the whole range of the Western Mystery School. WE HAVE
NO MASTERS; they are our FRIENDS and our Teachers, and they never under any condition demand
obedience to any mandate of theirs nor command us to do this or that. At most, they advise, leaving us free to
follow or not.
I may say here that this policy of not ORGANIZING had already been adopted in starting the study centers at
Columbus, Ohio; Seattle, Washington; and Los Angeles; but since then I have gone further along this line in
trying to spread the teachings to individuals from a WORLD CENTER rather than to establish more centers
in different cities. In some places bands of students have desired to unite for study and spiritual elevation. To
this end all assistance has been given them, but as said, I have made no effort to bring about formation of
study centers but leave students to do as they feel prompted.
The new work of healing, of which I shall presently speak, necessitated permanent headquarters. As we are
living in a concrete world under material conditions, it seems to be necessary that headquarters should be
incorporated under the laws of the land in which we live, so that that which belongs to the work may remain
available for the use of humanity after the present leaders have been released from life. Thus far we cannot
escape hard and fast conditions of organization at headquarters, but the ASSOCIATION AT LARGE MUST
REMAIN FREE so that the highest spiritual growth and the longest life may be attained. It is sad to
contemplate, however, that though such are our intentions, the day must come when the Rosicrucian
Fellowship will go the way of all other movements; it will bind itself by laws, and usurpation of power will
cause it to crystallize and disintegrate. But then we have the consolation that upon its ruins will rise [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]