The First Rosicrucian

I googled "first rosicrucian" and the first like that popped up said "Understanding reincarnation" which leads me to the topic of today's post: Pythagoras.

He is primarily remembered today for his theorem concerning right triangles, but the history (mostly mythology, actually) of Pythagoras goes much deeper than that.

As a seeker of knowledge, he did not seem to distinguish between empirical and mystical ideas, and he was said to have been very keen to learn from cultures older than his native Ionian Greek civilization. Hence he traveled to Egypt and, it is claimed, to India.

An Indic concept of reincarnation first enters recorded western thought through the Pythagoreans, along with the concept of the monad or brahman as the source of all creation. If Pythagoras was not a real, historical individual, it certainly seems that the character must have been based on one or more real people who were exposed in some depth to the Vedic tradition and brought its ideas back to the West - kicking off a cycle of historical and legendary Westerners periodically "rediscovering" the knowledge of the East, from Pythagoras to Christian Rosenkreuz to Mme. Blavatsky to the Beatles.

Astrological Signs

I wanted to include an astrological reference in my Trojan War story, so I went digging for info. It turns out there is something that fits the narrative at around about the right time.

When Teliassa sets out for Troy, about six months before the end of the war, a quarter moon rises in Sagittarius. It's the end of October, 1185 BC - a time of change and danger for Teliassa the archer....

Trojan War Epic: Page 1 Revisited

A revised Page 1 that gets straight to the source of Teliassa's later drama :

Sing, O Muses, the heart of fiery-haired Teliassa, the keen-eyed daughter of Caprias, who longed to wet her trusty arrows in the well of Trojan misery. For the men of Ilium had killed her father, that celebrated Larissan who had sailed with Achilles.

A fierce warrior was Caprias, but in the end he fell, surrounded by many foes, the stench of cloven entrails thick in the dusty air. Indeed he had afflicted the defenders of the Troad grievously before his death.

When Teliassa heard of it, she wept tears of bitter grief and cried out to the heavens: May Troy not see victory, nor sing the glory of its heroes, but let them fall to the last man!

Thus having spoken, she called for a long-horned ram and sacrificed it, eating its eyes and tongue as if they were those of her accursed enemy, promising before the gods to repay the Trojans in kind.

Now, Ares favored Troy, but he was struck by the fervid maiden's desire for vengeance, and he granted her a boon, a peerless bow of yew wood inlaid with silver, saying: The beauty of this weapon is matched only by your own!

Teliassa resisted his advances, but Ares' interest in her aroused the infamous jealousy of Aphrodite, and she swore to revenge herself on the Aeolian girl.

Tricks of the Trade

In working on my Trojan war story, I've got the phrase ὡς δ’ ἤκουσε ἕθεν (and when she heard of it) which can be written in a couple of ways. The normal way would be to contract ἤκουσε ἕθεν to ἤκουσ’ ἕθεν. But in Aeolian Greek, the genitive object would be ϝέθεν with the digamma. And even when the digamma disappears from writing, its pronunciation can still be indicated by writing the phrase as ἤκουσε έθεν.

Tricks of the trade in a 3,000 year old language.

Trojan Epic Page 1

Been a while since I posted, but here's some of what I've been working on, a Trojan war narrative in Homeric verse.

Sing, O Heaven, the heart of fiery-haired Teliassa whose love for her father brought her to the walls of Ilium, for Caprias son of Dion was slain by the Trojans, that celebrated Larissan, sire of the fierce maiden who swore to avenge his blood in war.

Now when Teliassa arrived at the Achaean camp, the men marveled at her appearance, which was like an Amazon's, her eyes dark with the stare of one who has seen slaughter. Indeed she was not the same child who was left behind when her father sailed for Troy with Achilles, watching from shore as the ship vanished beyond the horizon. The gods had led her far and wide ere she could reach the city of Priam, site of her father's demise.

Before leaving Aeolia, she had sacrificed a fine goat to the sun god, her ancestor, and she ate its eyes and tongue, saying: May Troy not see victory, nor sing the glory of its accursed heroes!

Was Göbekli Tepe Atlantis?

Here's my case that the Göbekli Tepe civilization was Atlantis.

1) It dates from the time of Atlantis.

2) The ancient Egyptians (from whom Solon and hence Plato supposedly got the story) had an upside down view of geography. Because the Nile flows from south to north, the Egyptians thought of the south as geographic "up" and the north as "down". So for them, Atlantis was towards the left of Greece.

3) A civilization of the Göbekli Tepe builders in the Black Sea area could have come into conflict with a Proto-Pelasgian culture in the area of Greece and the Balkans.

4) Both the Greek peninsula and the Black Sea area suffered catastrophic coastal flooding after the end of the last ice age.

5) Atlantis as described by Plato featured a large stone pillar as its cultural center, and the Göbekli Tepe civilization is known for its ... large stone pillars.

So is the war against Atlantis in Plato's dialogue really a neolithic Trojan War?

The Many Faces of Dionysus

In the ancient Dionysian festivals there would be a particular mythic theme, and various tragic, comic and pastoral works would be presented which all drew from the same myth.

I have an opening line that goes like this:

ΟΙ ΒΛΕΡΟΙΣΙ ΤΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΘΕΟΙ ΟΥ ΛΑΝΘΑΝΟΝΤΑΙ ΔΕ ΤΩΝ ΕΒΛΕΦΕΝΤΩΝ

The gods see all things, and they do not forget the things they have seen.

This line could be the opening for stories in any of three classical modes. Right now I'm working on the tragic, in which case the line can be read as a warning: The gods see all things, and they recompense you accordingly.

The Fifth Force

The four fundamental forces in physics are the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism and gravity. Based on my experiences in meditation, I think if there is a metaphysical counterpart it might be called soul - not individual souls, but a cosmic soul as a fundamental force.

When it comes the question of consciousness, perhaps the cosmic soul is the software and the brain is the hardware. If you have the proper hardware, you can process the cosmic soul and you experience individual consciousness. Without the proper hardware, you wouldn't experience individual consciousness - just as if you didn't have mass, you wouldn't experience gravity on an individual level.

This leads to a sort of Spinozian conclusion that doesn't really allow for individualized immortality. It moves metaphysical reality into the realm of the universal and fundamental rather than the personal, so I'm sure it would never catch on as a major belief. It's not the answer most people want to hear. It's like arguing in the 15th century that the Earth isn't the center of the universe. But it's a possibility drawn from my own experiences.

The Song of Neferankhet

I hesitated a bit to share this beyond a small circle. I'm a bit jealous of how nice it looks. But since I don't have any other posts prepared, here it is : The Song of Neferankhet papyrus.

This was conceived as a sort of Egyptian Song of Songs, an erotically charged spiritual metaphor. The nice thing, which evolved as the papyrus facsimile was being done, is how the horizontal and vertical lines combine to allude to the Egyptian logogram for "house", as if to illustrate that the speaker is seeking her spiritual home.

The main text reads: My beloved is the young god. He calls to me as sunlight calls to a new shoot. I follow him into the reed thicket. He warms me in his arms and my mouth embraces him. My boatman stirs the waters with his mighty oar, carrying me to the birthplace of the sun. Like grains of sand are the desires of men. They are blown beyond the horizon and forgotten. But like the flood are the kisses of my beloved, making bloom the lotus of the heart. Like the pillars of wisdom are his arms, like the scrolls of Thoth his words of love. Date wine flows from his lips. Like those from the sky he announces himself with light. Like a shapeless thought he comes upon me and I am freed from my body.

Underneath the Eye of Horus the text reads: Neferankhet seeking her beloved

The Rosicrucian Quest Part 5

The third chapter of the Apocalypse of Thomas was particularly interesting to C.R.C. Its ontological vision goes against traditional Christian eschatology, expressing the idea that the material world is fundamentally imperfect, not because it was created by an imperfect Demiurge, but because, as C.R.C. wrote in his journal : Per medium coruſcans imperfecte ſpiritum Dei eſt. (It exists through a medium which imperfectly reflects the soul of God.)

3.1 I saw that the matter of the world is like a reflection on the water, and wickedness is like ripples on the reflection from the spirit ; but in the substance of the light there are no ripples.

3.2 For the Powers were moving through all things long before the beginning of aeons, and all that is not of the third body will pass away.

3.3 I saw a place with mountains of silver and of gold, and the rivers which flowed from those mountains were of pure water and honey.

3.4 And there were great sages whose spirits were occupied with investigation and learning, studying the emerald tablets of the Powers[continued on next page] and perfecting their knowledge of creation.

3.5 But this was the spiritual image.
3.6 As we have see Christ with spiritual eyes, even so I saw these things.

The Rosicrucian Quest Part 4

As C.R.C. read the second chapter of the Apocalypse of Thomas he became even more intrigued by its symbolism, and he wrote in his journal, perhaps referring to what would come to be known as the Harbaville Triptych : Inaudior vt ſit triplex in Conſtantinopolis qui imaginem Roſæ Crucis concipit. Illum video velim ſi pax cum Saracenis teneatur et peregrinatio tuta ſit poſsibilis. (I have heard that there is a triptych in Constantinople which contains an image of a Rose Cross. I should like to see that, if the peace with the Saracens can be maintained and safe travel is possible.)

2.1 Then I found myself in the midst of a red desert, and the desert reached to the horizon, and that was the desert of war.

2.2 And the Messenger said to me : Here water once flowed, carving great valleys, but now there is no life here.

2.3 And I saw that there were no moving things, and nothing green. Kindness passed like a fleeting shadow, and everywhere was desolation.

2.4 I saw mountains roaming the skies beyond the desolation, full of fire and unknowable tidings, and the abode of love was as the furnace of Hephaestus.

2.5 I wept for the flesh, which I thought to be [continued next page] a curse upon man, but the Messenger said to me : Weep not for the first body, being the body of flesh, for it is only a vessel for the second body, which you call spirit.

2.6 Likewise the second body is a vessel for the third body, which you must now fashion.
2.7 For man is born with the first body, and the second body enters into him on that day, but the third body he knows not.
2.8 Even that which you have seen in visions, which you call the Christ, the same is the third body.
2.9 It is of man, yet has no beginning ; it is of fire, yet does not consume [continued next page] nor does it fade.

2.10 And I saw within myself the golden cross, and I myself was the rose in union with it.
2.11 This was the symbol with which I was to imprint myself, inscribing it spiritually on my body, on my lips and my brow, on my fingernails and over my heart, for the realization of the third self.

The Rosicrucian Quest Part 3

The Egyptian monks with whom C.R.C. had become acquainted proceeded to show him another text, the "Apocalypse of Thomas" the Apostle to India, an early Christian revelation with unmistakable Hermetic characteristics. About the first chapter presented below, C.R.C. wrote : Spero philoſophiam naturalem comperire demum obſervationes huius viſionis de mundo. (I hope that natural philosophy may one day verify the observations of this vision concerning the Cosmos.)

1.1 It was in India that I witnessed, among the followers of Sanatana Dharma, the celebration of the Sacred Marriage which lasts nine days, and the miraculous austerities of their saints, who told me of the guardians of the spheres, of their travels in the sky, and of the ancient wars they had waged.
1.2 For they were masters of the sky, and the Earth trembled before them : they melted the mountains of ice, and dried up the great river of legend, which was called the Sarasvati.

1.3 I was received among those saints, and I purified the air by burning spices in the sacred fire, as is their custom.
1.4 And it came to pass that a wind arose, and a voice in the wind, and the voice asked : Can it be said to the endless, here is where you end and I begin ?
1.5 That was the voice of the Messenger, and the number of the Messenger is seven years and seven days.
1.6 I felt my back arch painfully, and my spirit rose up, and I looked down upon my body.
1.7 And the wind carried my spirit even higher, so that I saw the curvature of the Earth, and the brightness of the Earth, which was surrounded by darkness.

1.8 And I saw that the sun was as bright as four suns, for I had been carried above the clouds.
1.9 The whole Earth turned, showing me places whereof no writings exist : the lost places, the empty places, and the lost tribes of men.
1.10 And the Messenger said : Behold the pyramids of the desert, and of the forest, and behold the temples of Asia from the time of the flood.
1.11 Thus I beheld the Pillars of Enoch, long concealed from human eyes.

The Rosicrucian Quest Part 2

After his cryptic discovery in Greece, C.R.C. continued his journey in Egypt, where he met a group of monks who showed him an ancient papyrus. This, they told him, was part of a "Book of Sarah" concerning the Biblical matriarch's sojourn in Egypt three thousand years earlier.

C.R.C. was fascinated by the story, and wrote in his diary : Hæc theophania Sarae fidem ſuam in coniugio divino repræſentat. Depingitur aſpiciens aſteres Orionis ſignificans aſcendendum. (This theophany of Sarah depicts her belief in the Divine Marriage. She is shown facing the stars of Orion, symbolizing ascension.)

We can now display and translate the fragments of papyrus scroll that so interested him.

Sarai was conveyed to (or procured for) the house of the king, for she was beautiful and there was no husband who claimed her. She was with her brother Abram, but he was in fact her husband, and fearing violence he concealed this from them, lest they kill him in order to possess her. Thus Sarai went under the king's roof, but Abram they did not trouble, instead rewarding him.

Now the king saw Sarai and desired her greatly. He had her veiled in fine veils and brought unto him, but she resisted him. He made her to uncover her nakedness, and his eyes were fixed upon her, her skin shining like the moon, but still she would not lie with him.

Now this continued each night, and Sarai beseeched [Asherah daily to be returned to her husband.] - bracketed text translated from the beginning of the next page]

But Asherah appeared to her, saying : I have brought thee hither so that thou mayest learn the mysteries of Egypt. Therefore be not distressed, but say unto the king : Send unto me scribes that I may learn from them the ways of this land.

So Sarai said unto the king : An thou dost desire my happiness, being a kind lord, send unto me thy scribes so that they may teach me. Grant me to know thy ways as thou hast known my nakedness.

And he sent her scribes, and Sarai learned of them their writing, and the mysteries of stars and of forms, for to bring that knowledge back with her to Canaan....

The Rosicrucian Quest Part 1

I'm beginning a new series, imagining texts that Christian Rosenkreuz might have come across when searching for lost mysteries during his journeys in the East.

First up, in Greece, C.R.C. discovered a tablet fragment inscribed with indecipherable characters. He made a drawing of these characters in a diary that he began to keep. This diary was later typeset and copies were distributed to select Brothers and Sisters.

The typeset copies also included a facsimile of the unrecognizable script, in the hopes that the Brothers and Sisters might be able to someday translate it. The facsimile appears thus, with C.R.C.'s diary entry below :

Credo has fuiſse litteræ Enochi. Non eſt dubium vt ſint multum anticæ

 quoniam nemo ne inter eruditiſsimos quidem illas legere poteſt.

I believe these to have been the letters of Enoch. There is no doubt that they are

very old since no one, not even among the most learned, is able to read them.

A later Brother, identified as Fr I.D., noticed a particular sequence of four symbols that occurs twice in the short text :

Taking his cue from C.R.C.'s hypothesis concerning the origin of the characters, Brother I.D. proposed that these might be the Adamic characters equivalent to the Hebrew אדני (Adonai) but in this he was mistaken. We now know that the script is Linear B, and the four characters highlighted by Brother I.D. can be read as e-ru-ku-te, likely a cognate of the later Greek ειρκτή (prison).

The full inscription can be read : Whereas some say the body was created as a prison for the soul, I ask, is the nest a prison for the bird ?

This esoteric question surely would've intrigued C.R.C. had he been able to decipher it.

The Ascension of the Virgin

Here we have an early Latin text which tells an unorthodox version of the origins of Christianity. It's inspired by Richard Carrier's mythicist theory, as well as cryptic references from one of St. Paul's epistles and from the apocrypha regarding multiple heavens and visitations thereto.

When the first among angels appeared to the Holy Virgin, he did not know her like the angels of old, but he filled her with the mysteries.

It came to pass, when she was drawing water from a well, that she heard a voice from within it, and she began to prophesy. Her parents, fearing she may be possessed, called upon those who drive out evil spirits.

They attended the Virgin for three days. They recited the Psalm and blew the ram's horn, according to their rites.

On the third day, she lay near death. Then the men beheld the first among the Sons of Heaven, and the Virgin was roused. Thus they knew that it was

divine light which had filled her.

The Virgin said : I have ascended to the third heaven, and seen the faces of those who guard the high places, and am returned unto you. Of the second heaven I may not speak, for none may go there even in spirit, unless he be born of it, save for Enoch.

The men confessed that she spoke true, and she told them to baptize each other and become apostles of the Righteous One.

H. Spencer Lewis vs. Joseph Smith

It occurred to me that Rosicrucianism and Mormonism have certain things in common. Both movements were started by heterodox Christians who felt that the True Church was "none of the above". Both kicked off with literary works which challenged the very definition of Christianity. Both involve temple rites not open to the public. Fast forward to the H. Spencer Lewis tradition in particular, both founders could be described as charlatans, visionaries, or both.

But the original Rosicrucian manifestos were authored by intellectuals. The Book of Mormon wasn't. Whatever Joseph Smith was, he certainly wasn't a university-trained classicist. And the Church he founded was organized around prophetic doctrine and strict obedience enforced by ecclesiastical courts. It might be said that Mormonism is the Catholicism of Protestantism, whereas Lewis' tradition is philosophical and esoteric in nature, experimental rather than revelatory.

In the CR+C versions of the Lewis monographs, footnotes are provided alluding to new scientific discoveries which the adherent might want to read up on. And while I haven't read the modern AMORC variations, their official journals are chock full of articles on the mythology and philosophy that the movement draws upon. Mormonism, it seems, tends to excommunicate people whose published ideas veer in that kind of exploratory direction. There's a right way and a wrong way. (I wonder if online Mormon interactions take on that character. In my experience, online Rosicrucian interactions often take the form of "I believe X" - "I believe Y" and both parties appreciate each other's insights.)

Is the future of mysticism brighter than the future of religion ? Or will childhood indoctrination win out ?

The Apocalypse of Cleopatra

It's been too long since my last post, but I've found time to do a bit more creative writing. The following is a mystery school piece called "The Apocalypse of Cleopatra" written in first century Greek. I had to dig into the Woodhouse ancient Greek dictionary at times, but I finally managed to finish it.

I, Isis, was dreaming when Apollo appeared to me clothed in golden light. His limbs were mighty and his fingers were long, perfect for playing the lute. I said to him : "Brother, what news is there from Olympus?" He replied : "Everything is changeable, my sister. Even the gods die and are reborn. Come with me and gain wisdom!"

He brought me to Memphis by the power of Hermes where he showed me two pyramids floating in the sky, one pointing upwards and the other pointing downwards.

I saw starving men eating thistles, and women refusing to relinquish the bodies of dead children whom they had once nursed.

Crocodiles were swimming in the sand and birds fell from the sky. The bones of the dead were as dust, and the wind showed no mercy to them.

I despaired, but Apollo said : "Look closer." I looked at my reflexion in the water and I saw three faces. The first wore the royal jewels ; the second was anointed with oil ; and third was surrounded by a halo of light.

Then an elephant approached us and I saw that he had a red rose upon his brow. With my inner eyes I recognized him as the soul of Pythagoras. I saw the stars revolving around his magnificent form.

He bid me mount him and he carried me into the heavens, to the abode of Iphigenia, handmaiden of Artemis, who guards the mystery of the triple moon.

From the distant reaches of the firmament I saw that all things were in harmony. The three aspects were revealed to me, and I despaired no more.

I saw the lion of heaven devour the darkness, and Ra-Horus reigned. The earth was always fertile. Olive oil and frankincense were as plentiful as water and dates. I saw that the spirit moved among the people, and they would purify the world.

Kinder/gentler Scientology ?

A google search for Scientology/AMORC will turn up a thread from nine years ago, started by an atheist skeptic, and asking whether AMORC is just a cheaper/low-pressure version of Scientology.

I'm only a 1st degree initiate of CR+C and I've never been a Scientologist, although I've followed the ex-Scientologist movement from afar. So I'd like to give my own brief take on what I perceive to be the similarities and differences.

Similarities

Both groups posit certain ideas about the nature of the human being, the soul, immortality and paranormal experiences.

Differences

CR+C does not have a "fee per service" model. There are membership dues, as you would expect from any fraternal organization, country club, etc. These amount to US$25 quarterly or US$35 for a "plus one" companion membership for two people living at the same address. Payments can be made through PayPal for your security. Included at no additional cost are study materials mailed to you quarterly. Membership is reserved to people aged 18+ and no restrictions are placed on your religious beliefs or other associations, be they personal, professional or political.

The cost to do all twelve degrees of AMORC/CR+C initiations would run you less than US$1000. Compared to what I've heard about the total cost of getting to OT VIII in Scientology, that's a drop in the bucket. And that doesn't even begin to address the differences between Scientology's (alleged) child abuse, financial fraud and "disconnection" policy as compared to AMORC/CR+C which engage in none of those things.

In conclusion, while many people might say that both sets of teachings amount to spiritual nonsense, and that's fine, I can't help but think there's no moral or ethical similarity between Scientology and these two Rosicrucian Orders.

Atlantis through the eyes of Egypt

Continuing my faux archaeological exploration of Atlantis, here is a papyrus fragment from the Middle Kingdom which details a slightly different version of the myth.

The god of the sea is their father, and the divine bull is his son. When the world was in darkness, the people were afraid. They lived in caves as those who hunger. Then did the divine bull offer himself as a sacrifice for their sake, and he was reborn as the sun.

This is meant to allude to a stone age era of cave dwelling humans, and the myth of their salvation through the creation of the sun, which in this case represents the coming of "light" in the broadest sense. The primitive cave dwellers emerge from the stone age, achieve greater knowledge of the world and greater technological and spiritual advancement, and this is credited in a religious sense to the voluntary sacrifice of the most holy creation.

Atlantis Creation Myth

This is an invented fragment of an Atlantean creation myth, again done with Greek and Linear B script.My idea is that it's part of a later compilation, and so draws from multiple sources. Thus, like real mythological texts, there's a contradictory doublet. Enjoy.

When the woman came out of the sea, riding a bull, the land was empty and without life.

And the stars, looking down, desired the woman, and shot arrows and slew the bull.

Therefore the sun banished them to the far sky to drift forever.

But one among the stars did not shoot an arrow, who is called the North Star and the Faithful One.

Now the woman mourned the death of the bull, and the sun pitied her. So the sun sent forth a wise serpent, and the serpent said, "Do not weep, for the bull is not truly dead, but from his blood shall come life." And the land became fertile.

Then the woman gathered seashells, and she opened them, and out of them came living things of every kind to fill the land.

So the sun caused living things to fill the Earth, and he said, "It is not good for the woman to be alone." He told her to take one of the arrows that had slain the bull and throw it into the sea. And there man emerged.

Atlantis Calling

It seems that all mystics worth their salt have come up with some kind of pseudohistory about Atlantis. Of course, nothing has ever been found to verify any of it. But I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and present the closest possible reconstruction of Atlantean language.

For the words themselves, I used Greek, or conjecture about Indo-European roots for ancient Greek. Then I transliterated the phrase into Linear B script, the oldest alphabet from the Achaean and Minoan civilizations which has been thus far been deciphered.

So imagine that you're on Atlantis for the winter solstice festival, and as you make your way into the sacred grounds of the sun temple, you see the following inscription.

The sun is the light of divine perfection within you

CR+C Exercise

One of the exercises of the first Neophyte degree in CR+C basically involves awareness of and directing Spirit Force (or Chi, or whatever you prefer to call it).

As usual when doing these exercises, I go into it with no expectations. Nor do I do meditation exercises by the book, in terms of the H. Spencer Lewis method of sitting comfortably in a chair. On this occasion, I did about ten minutes of yoga followed by zazen, and nothing really happened. About an hour or two later, I did ten minutes of yoga again followed by meditation, and I experienced exactly what was described in the monograph.

This kind of justifies my decision to do these studies, because I'm not really looking for doctrinal ontological answers. I'm looking for experiences which broaden my perspective and give me new things to contemplate. So I consider this a success which I owe to the tradition.

Once I experienced what I immediately perceived as something the monograph said I might feel, I continued the meditation and experimented with it further, and continued to experience the same effect when I directed my thoughts to other parts of my body. There was no sense of resistance. It was quite pleasant.

After I was done experimenting with it, I just let my mind go. Immediately in undirected meditation I had the impression of a gently rolling sea, a clear blue sky and the sun shining, which reminded me of a Vishnu-esque scene.

So I'm still left with questions as to whether my practice has a devotional subtext (related to God in some form) or if it's just mental/self-oriented which is how it's set up to be. I don't feel any need to really answer this question.

Shaivism vs. Vaishnavism

As someone who's not Indian, my exposure to Indian religion is mostly through incarnations of Vishnu. I'm also drawn to solar deities, and Vishnu fits nicely into that. Plus there's the fact that I'm not an ascetic. I have a household, and that seems to fit in better with Vaishnavism.

On the other hand, my experiences (limited though they are compared to those of someone who's continually devoted to the path) seem more similar to those of Shaivism. My general perspective seems more oriented toward Shiva, even though Shiva is quite alien to me.

The question of whether I'm engaged in worship in my practice is not one that I have a clear answer for. And I have these questions about Shiva and whether Shiva is somehow part of my work, a hidden aspect behind the scenes.

Freudian Spirituality

Áine Órga has an excellent series on developing a personal spiritual practice, figuring out what your concept of divinity and awareness is, and so on. I would say an equally important question is "What are you into sexually?"

A lot of spiritual seekers are drawn to Jung, but I think sufficient attention should be paid to Freud as well, because Freud was right about one thing : sexuality infuses every part of our psychical being.

How do you feel about your mother?

When developing a personal practice, you are necessarily putting yourself on Freud's couch, so to speak, and working through all the ways in which your sexuality influences your ideas about your own being, about the world, about gods and religion, and the ways you connect with others. It influences what you really want from spirituality and how you're going to go about getting it.

Our rapidly changing sociopolitical environment leads a lot of people to seek out alternative spirituality. But if your sexuality doesn't really align to particular tradition, you're not going to get much out of it even if it appeals to you on intellectual principle.

Over the years, when I've lurked and occasionally posted on alternative spirituality forums, I've noticed a strong trend among those groups toward toward incorporating the Divine Feminine back into their consciousness and their lives. There seems to be a common assumption that the reason people seek out alternative spirituality is because that feminine aspect has been neglected by the western tradition, that the Patriarchy is the a priori reason why new and reconstructed traditions exist in the first place. This is true even in the nominally Christian-based Rosicrucian tradition, with its call to reintegrate with Divine Sophia. But as I alluded to in my post on The Heroine's Journey there isn't a "one size fits all" raison d'être for alternative seekers.

A question could be asked whether the continued predominance of traditional religion is not due, at least in some small part, to the fact that many people still feel more at home in it psycho-sexually than they would feel in alternative spirituality. If their cognitive dissonance resolves itself by siding with the unconscious sexual appeal of male dominance, they will stay put rather than taking the plunge into a tradition that's more in line with their actual philosophical perspective in the modern world, but which leaves them cold when it comes to their deepest sexual urges.

Needless to say, I think this is a false choice. Developing your own practice that is philosophically harmonious is much preferable, I think, even if it's driven by a desire for the Divine Masculine that isn't considered trendy in alternative circles.

No Agenda

While I was meditating last night, I thought of the phrase "You will realize by doing nothing that everything is already done."

In Latin it could be : Nihil agendo senties ut omnia iam fiant

I like this formulation because it uses the etymological root of our word agenda. The proper mindset is to have no agenda, just practice.

Personal Altars

The youtuber Áine Órga has some excellent videos about designing a personal altar, and the reasons for her own choices.

She's had a Buddha statue on her altar at times even though she's not Buddhist, and it seems this led to some discussions about cultural appropriation and why she had it there.

Personal altars are about personal symbolism. It's not about what the wider world thinks the "authentic" meaning of the symbolism is, but about what it represents to you.

My own eclectic altar could be very misleading if you take it at face value. The cross doesn't represent Jesus, the triple moon goddess doesn't represent a typical Neopagan understanding of that figure. They're personal symbols and therefore it would be wrong to assume they mean what someone else thinks they mean.

Although the Rosicrucian cross usually has four arms of equal length, and there are symbolic reasons for that, mine doesn't — and there are symbolic reasons for that too. Mine is more masculine and phallic in design, because that's a presence I like to connect with. The triple moon goddess is me, more or less, the seeker. She represents union with the masculine presence. It has to with my own inner alchemy, and not some "objective" meaning that somebody else might try to discern.

The world is more interconnected than ever before, so people are bound to come across images from outside their nature culture(s) that speak to them. All that matters is that they get some personal value from it.

Divine Immanence Part 2

I identify more with rationalism than reverence, so I can critique Spinoza's puritanical rationalism as being unrealistic. It's a bit like asking someone to connect with their child only through intellectual appreciation of the qualities of juvenile humans.

Feelings are bound to come into it, even if they're messy and make us prone to error. Hence there's no stark dividing line, but more like general trends in self-identification based on what first comes to mind when we discuss attitudes toward divinity in nature.

I think Neopagans are more likely to place reverence or even worshipful attitudes toward nature front and center when trying to put a finger on what draws them to that tradition and that label. Rosicrucians sometimes also express reverence for nature, but that tends to be less central to the practice than natural and spiritual philosophy.

"How great thou art, Mother Nature!" is not the usual Rosicrucian M.O. Rather than devotional feeling, I think we find the ever-evolving code of the universe to be awe-inspiring in its complexity, and try to understand its fundamental rationality so that we can bring our own inner beings more in harmony with its laws. Of course, this is still very generalized, and not applicable to all Rosicrucians any more than pantheism is applicable to all Neopagans.

I find my own practice straddles the fence, and involves something more like a personal god-concept, as I alluded to in my post on The Heroine's Journey even though I don't believe in a personal god as an actual entity.

To engage in finely-parsed syntax as Spinoza was wont to do, you might say that I'm a Neopaganesque Rosicrucian rather than a Rosicrucianesque Neopagan. Or to put it in quantum terms, the dividing line becomes more difficult to pin down the harder you look at it.

Divine Immanence

Many Neopagans and Rosicrucians share a belief in divine immanence or pantheism, the idea that God is present in everything that exists. But broadly speaking, the two groups differ on how they think we should approach or connect with the Divine.

If it can be said that there's a default Neopagan view on the subject, it could probably be expressed as a feeling of awe or reverence for the Divine in nature, whereas the Rosicrucian view typically follows Spinoza and his rejection of this kind of religiosity.

Spinoza felt that such reverential attitudes could easily lead to erroneous and superstitious beliefs and practices, and argued that the way we should connect with the Divine was through an intellectual understanding and appreciation of its perceptible modes of existence. The Rosicrucian call to "read the book of nature" is in line with this view.

Of course, in reality, the division is a lot fuzzier. But as a philosophical matter, the distinction may be important, and the prevailing culture within each tradition may account for why people choose to identify as one or the other.

Horizonal Spirituality

Spirituality is often assumed to be ontological. It's assumed to have something to say about the true nature of being. It's assumed to involve concepts, whether natural or supernatural, which we may not be able picture in our minds, but which we can discuss in the abstract.

I propose the term horizonal spirituality for a spirituality based on perception.

Although I'm familiar with the concept of infinity, if I try to picture in my mind an infinite number of coins or an infinite number of elephants, I find that I can't. I can only picture something that fits into a finite horizon. If I can't picture something, I can't perceive it ; and if I can't perceive it, I must doubt its existence.

Perception here isn't limited to physical sensation, or to things which actually exist. I can picture someone halfway around the world. I can picture Superman flying. I can even picture the entire universe, if I picture it squeezed into a very small space, or a subatomic particle if I picture it magnified many times. In this sense, I can perceive these things. But I can't picture a maximally perfect infinite being. This is something that doesn't fit within my functional mental horizon.

Horizonal spirituality, then, is not concerned with the God that Anselm of Canterbury and his ontological successors attempted to prove through logical reasoning, but it's not necessarily anti-theistic. Rather, it's iconic in that supernatural beings that come in discreet forms can be part of it, as can other images or items that you might place on an altar and focus your attention on. It can be pantheistic or naturalistic, it's just not concerned with concepts which are fundamentally imperceptible.

Chivalry

Many fraternal organizations use knightly imagery and pseudo-history to give them an air of legitimacy and to express their values.

A key concept of medieval chivalry and courtly love is choosing a more difficult path over an easier one. The more arduous journey is always to be preferred where the quest is concerned.

Consider the spiritual student who asks, "What is Cosmic Awareness?" What he's looking for (what he wants) is some easily digestible answer that he can easily absorb into his belief system.

But now consider how a Zen master might respond to such a question.

"What is Cosmic Awareness?"
"A rotting corpse thrown on top of a dung heap."

This is not the answer that the student was hoping for. What can possibly be meant by equating a sublime, eternal concept with one so revolting and corruptible?

In order to make any sense of this at all, the student will have to go away on his own and put in some real mental effort. And this is the point. A pat, comfortable answer proves nothing about the teaching or about the student. In each case, it's the student's effort that provides the real value.

A Zen koan is the opposite of a deepity. Whereas the deepity is a non-responsive phrase constructed to appear like an answer, the koan is an answer constructed to appear non-responsive.

There are a lot of deepities in spirituality but comparatively few real answers. Chivalry gives us pointers as to which we should choose and why.

Credere est inimicus fidei

Alan Watts observed that if you believe in God, then you don't really have faith. Believing in God means you're still clinging to something, whereas faith means totally letting go.

Belief in things like God or souls is actually easy to let go of, since those concepts are speculative. The hard part is letting go of beliefs about things that we're certain exist.

We know that life exists, consciousness exists. They invite beliefs about them which can be difficult to detach from. To look at a simple thing like a tree and say, "I don't know what that is" almost flies in the face of reason. And yet to say, "I know what that is" is to suggest that our conceptualization of reality has no limits, which is obviously false. Or is it?

Rosicrucian teachings suggest that our objective conceptualization has limits, but our subjective conceptualization does not. Our subjective conceptualization is part of a whole which is in itself an infinite absolute.

As an article of faith, this is debatable. But the only way to reach subjective conceptualization would be to acknowledge the limits of the objective.

The teachings themselves are like a tree. We have to say ourselves, "I don't what that is" in order to approach the inner alchemy that lies at the heart of the tradition. That inner alchemy, as described in The Chemical Wedding, may be less a transmutation than an obliteration. We can only know by not knowing.

The Friars of LRC

Lectorium Rosicrucianum (LRC) or the Universal School of the Golden Rosycross is a mystical organization which, unlike many Rosicrucian Orders of today, expressly operates as a religion (at least in some jurisdictions) and does have many characteristics of a Church. It has even been labeled a cult by some, particularly in France.

Having never been a member, I can't offer an insider's perspective. But I have watched a number of their youtube videos, and there are some things in their lectures which I find appealing.

For example, one of their lecturers compared the ego to a mirror, so that when you look at the world what you really see is not the world as it is, but a reflection of yourself. This is a view widely held within spirituality in general, and fits in nicely with my Zen outlook.

There are other things about LRC which mark them as being not only a spiritual school but a Church in their own right. They talk a lot about purification, and have very particular views about personal morality which do seem puritanical if not actually penitential (no drinking, no smoking, no eating meat, etc). These aren't bad attitudes per se, but in a way it seems to me that LRC members are basically expected to live as friars or uncloistered nuns, which is interesting in terms of Rosicrucian tradition.

I feel that Rosicrucianism is generally more nonconformist and less renunciate in outlook. Worldly pleasures might not be sought after as a means to a successful life, but neither are they considered doctrinally impure to my knowledge. Whether or not the lifestyle expectations LRC places on its members are enough to consider them a cult depends on who's doing the labeling, I suppose.

First Neophyte Initiation

I have done my first Neophyte Initiation into CR+C. I won't detail the procedure or the exact thoughts I've written down to be sent to Imperator Gary Stewart. I wish to relate what, as a skeptic committed to non-attachment, the materials and initiation showed to me individually.

The Rosicrucian material, as I see it, is not so much a set doctrines which form the basis of a profession of faith. It does not constitute the teachings of a Church, but another source of illumination on who you might be and what you think, and the relationship you might seek between yourself and the world you encounter.

Even the most strict materialists are capable of awareness of mind, that is to say, capable of seeing reflections of themselves, of their self-conception, in other people and in nature. The source that you choose to attribute this awareness to, whether it be strictly the evolutionary processes which have shaped the organic brain, or the soul which you share in some sense with God and the whole of God's creation, you are capable of focusing that awareness for the better treatment of yourself and your surroundings.

The Rosicrucian teachings may be couched in a language which you find overly mystical or unscientific, or contrary to the dogma of a particular religion in which you were raised or to which you belong. Let go of that attachment and you will still be able to find meaning in them.

This is not only conducive to peaceful coexistence, but perhaps to a better cohabitation of your mind and your body, your passing thoughts, your convictions, and the autonomic functions that keep you alive. I can see where taking Rosicrucianism as a religion would lead to either accepting or rejecting it. But taking it as a philosophy of religion or philosophy of the body may lead to a more harmonious indwelling of its concepts.

The Rosicrucian tradition is expressed now in many orders, groups and among solitary seekers. There are many rooms in "my father's house" into which you may freely move and accommodate yourself. It is a path forward for humanity, and a better preference than the regressive paths which are offered to us as binary choices.

Pax et amor vobiscum

Kill the Buddha

Some Rosicrucian organizations today offer complete, self-contained religious systems ; others offer a philosophy of religion rather than a religion itself. Either way, I think it's important to view all these teachings with detachment.

To paraphrase a famous Zen saying, if you meet Christian Rosenkreuz, kill him.

The Rose-Croix is an object of desire, but it's also a weapon to kill that desire within those who seek it. "I did not come to send peace, but a sword."

Random thoughts

Ex luce omnia, ex amore omnes sophiae

Göbekli Tepi

For many years, archaeologists and anthropologists theorized that the development of agriculture led to larger human settlements and in turn to the evolution of complex religious rituals and temple and funerary constructions. But the revelation of the neolithic ruins at Göbekli Tepi turned this theory on its head.

Göbekli Tepi

At this site, hunter-gatherers who still subsisted on a diet of wild grains and undomesticated prey animals had gathered in sufficient numbers and developed a sufficiently rich religious system to allow for the building of large stone structures consecrated to purely to symbolic activities. This discovery led to the theory that it may have been the rise of complex religious activities that drove the development of the agriculture necessary to continue supporting them, not the other way around.

It has also been observed that, in contrast to earlier cave art from Stone Age peoples, which seem to depict the power of nature as supreme, the ruins at Göbekli Tepi evidence a shift in human consciousness. It is now man who is at the center of the world. No longer merely a small part of the natural world, as his ancestors had been, man had begun to see himself and his awareness as extending throughout nature, influencing and guiding it in service to himself and the otherwordly powers he believed in. Man had begun to regard himself as a chosen species, elevated above all others, both materially and spiritually.

I will reference once again the myth of Adam and Eve, in which God tells Eve that henceforth she will be placed under Adam and he will be her master. If Eve represents nature herself, we can view this story as a Bronze Age echo of that first Near Eastern awakening millennia earlier among the people of Göbekli Tepi.

In the Rosicrucian tradition, the Book of Nature is seen as another Gospel, one written by God's own hand, whose esoteric mysteries are to be sought out and examined by those who wish to raise their spirits toward a closer union with the divine. Nature contains "secret sayings" as the author of the Gospel of Thomas might have put it, and salvation depends upon understanding what those sayings are telling us. Faith alone is not enough. Sacramental religion alone is insufficient. Study, meditation and deciphering one's own internal mythology as it mirrors the exterior world is necessary to achieve the fullest possible reintegration.

This is the path that Rosicrucians and the people of Göbekli Tepi before them have laid before us. It is up to each of us to take up the cross and follow them.

Purpose

Sometimes meditation doesn't reveal anything new or help me order my thoughts. Sometimes it just shows me how tired I am, how much the practice can take out of me. But that realization alone is valuable, because it reminds me that my purpose is to be and to give.

Seeking Eternity

Wise are those who seek eternity in the moment

This sounds like a typical Zen aphorism, but I think it makes sense hermetically too. According to the principle of correspondence, the eternal character of a higher plane should correspond to the transient nature of life as we know it.

If eternity can be described as timelessness, then it corresponds to a moment of "no time", i.e. the present. Eternity is without past or future. The fullness of time corresponds to the emptiness of Zen.

We cannot directly experience eternity, but we can experience its mirror image. In meditation we can encounter moments of no time, a shadow of permanence that passes as soon as it is realized.

CR+C Membership

Good news. I will soon start receiving monographs from CR+C, so I will be able to remedy some of my ignorance about the Lewis tradition within Rosicrucianism.

A word about why I chose CR+C instead of AMORC. It has nothing to do with AMORC as an organization or its members. I have enjoyed learning about both groups. But to my understanding, CR+C offers monographs that are less altered from the versions as originally proffered by H. Spencer Lewis. It's not that I think AMORC's current monographs have less objective value, but if there's any reinterpretation of the material to be done, I would rather work that out myself from my perspective as a mythicist and as someone pursuing my own personal tradition.

Secondly, having listened to Ralph Lewis giving various talks, I have a good opinion of his earnestness, and I know Gary Stewart was Lewis' choice to be the next custodian of the material.

I look forward to this next phase in my education.

Flower of the Golden Union

Lonnie Edwards, M.D. of AMORC has discussed the notion that we live our corporeal lives because our souls chose to experience the journey of mortal existence. I don't pretend to know anything about souls, but the idea does present an interesting interpretation of the fable of Adam and Eve.

Instead of being a story of paradise lost, it might be seen as a myth of two angelic beings who chose to experience mortal lives.

Flower of the Golden Union

In the above hieratic script, read from right to left, the word for flower is written with the two snake-like letters. The Serpent, instead of being cast as a deceiver who tricks the two lovers into giving up their immortality, can be seen as a symbol of regeneration and renewal.

The snake sheds its skin, and winds through the world like a life-giving river. Here he convinces Adam and Eve to shed their old lives and enter the world of mortals together, not to drive them away from God, but to help them better understand him through experiencing divine creation in new ways.

Every myth can have more than one meaning. And while I may not share all of Dr. Edwards' beliefs, I think Rosicrucianism is more about finding synchrony than similarity.

Microcosmic Awareness

Just me and my universe

Spirituality often has a stated goal of helping to achieve Cosmic Awareness in one form or another, but awareness of self — microcosmic awareness — is at least as important, in my view.

The ego has a tendency to not want to stay within defined limits. It wants to expand and intrude into more space and time than you actually occupy.

Awareness needs to include awareness of your own body, the fact that your mind is situated within you, within the extent of your physical self and the duration of your lifetime.

But the ego doesn't like to be restrained. It will fight back against meditation that tries to compel it to recognize its own rational boundaries. I've experienced this psychical push-back in the form of sudden chills, or feeling like I have a sore throat coming on. It can be a struggle but it's worth the effort.

A spirituality that strengthens the self has to first acknowledge the self, and that the power and importance and longevity the ego would like to believe it has isn't real. The cosmos encompasses you, not the other way around.

Ralph Lewis on Meditation

On youtube you can find recordings of Ralph Lewis discussing a number of AMORC-related subjects, including meditation. While much of what he said has broad, general value, there were a couple of points that struck me as odd. (Of course, a short introductory lecture doesn't reveal everything contained in the Lewis monographs, but I can only react to his commentaries.)

Firstly, I think the practice he described sells people short. Sitting in a comfortable chair and meditating for five minutes is just not rigorous enough. It's not going to train your mind and body to work together in totality the way zazen or yoga would do.

Secondly, the meditation he described sounds like a very vague New Age kind of thing. There's nothing particularly Rosicrucian about it.

I think meditating on Rosicrucian symbolism, specifically, can help you unlock an inner mythology as experienced through the prism of the tradition. For example, my visualization once drifted spontaneously to the image of a sun disk moving slowly across the sky, with Aten-like beams radiating from it. I then saw white and red rose petals fluttering down through the air, and landing in a sort of Egyptian shallow reed lake. A girl wading through the water picked up some of the floating red petals and remade them into a rose blossom, offering it as a gift to the sun god. This was the origin of the golden cross + red rose.

If, as the original manifestos suggest, the book of nature is inscribed within all living things, then you only have let it come to the surface and show itself to you in symbolic ways. But this requires more, I think, than just a short daily routine that you could pick up from any New Age website.

De Religione Catharon

Maurice Magre was a French author from Toulouse, a contemporary of H. Spencer Lewis and a fellow student of mysticism. Magre held a romantic view of the history of his native Languedoc and the persecution of medieval Cathars in that region.

He developed a notion that C.R.C. was a scion of a Cathar family, and that he and his earliest Rosicrucian brethren were educated in that religion, but this seems a little far-fetched to me.

The Cathars held a dualistic view of creation, and thought renunciation was essential to escape the hateful material plane once and for all. This is a far cry from elevating nature almost to the status of co-redeemer as the Rosicrucians did.

The Cathars may have interpreted Christian resurrection as a kind of repetitive reincarnation, with final escape from material existence only being possible once the soul has reached a certain level of maturity over multiple lifetimes, and that's not dissimilar per se to some Rosicrucian teachings and those of other spiritual movements. But a vague similarity doesn't establish a plausible link.

For the Cathars, nature was not a divine classroom but an infernal prison, and the Rosicrucian manifestos just don't share that same general outlook.

Movement

I've had the experience of moving through space during meditation, or perhaps having space move through me (connecting the polarities of stillness and movement?)

I'm not sure what else to say about it at the moment, so I'll leave that to be further digested.

Se disserere : unlocking oneself or examining oneself.

Speaking In Tongues

Χριστος (Christos) means the Anointed One, and was the basis for the original Christian symbol, the juxtaposed Chi-Rho. By this sign, early Christians could identify themselves both as followers of a particular Anointed One, and as anointed ones themselves.

Anyone who has been through the sacrament of baptism is an anointed one, an initiate of the Christian Mysteries — which is exactly what they were in the early years of what is called the Common Era. (I actually prefer Anno Domini, because at least that doesn't try to evade the question of where, which is to say from what religion, the western dating system comes from.) Christian initiation came to literally embody the journey from birth to death, and an initiation into Christian mysticism became an enlightened journey starting at a spiritual rebirth, one which took place, at minimum, at the age of majority.

The Chi-Rho symbol may have also been widely recognized in the Roman era as a figurative representation of a person on a cross, if Simcha Jacobovici is correct in his theory that Roman crucifixion was actually done using x-shaped crosses instead of t-shaped ones. Today the Chi-Rho can still be seen in liturgical use even in the shadow of the crucifix which has since been transformed into its more recognizable image.

Though Christianity is still occult in many practices, as anyone who has been to a Tridentine Sacrifice of the Mass can attest, it has also positioned itself as the enemy of occultism the further it has moved away from being a secretive fraternity. Christianity, in effect, has long since become a religion, not a brotherhood. Apart from much ballyhooed examples of masonic messages preserved in stone and stained glass, Christianity's metamorphosis has taken it from hidden meaning to a common faith of uncommon language.

Yet at the crucible point of Lutheranism, Rosicrucianism arose to simultaneously call for universal reformation and to cloak its summons in the language and symbolism of elite learned men. What can be made of this seeming contradiction ?

In the 17th century, Latin — not the languages of Germans, or Huguenots, or the English Reformation, or Muslims or Chinese for that matter — was still the language by which "proper learning" was transmitted. Publishing in Latin was a way of proclaiming "this is legit," and it still is in some cases. If you've ever heard the name of tyrannosaurus rex, you probably see what I mean.

Liberatio per artem et scientiam — liberation through art and knowledge. If I were to start a Rosicrucian Order of my own, this might be its motto. For those of us in the West, "science" is the term we use to describe that which can be known ; "art" is the term by which we describe that which could not otherwise be known.

Another word I like, which could be described as a translation of "Rosicrucian" (though perhaps by no one but me) is 芸者 (geisha) — one whose entire life could be described as an ongoing work of art.

If the term Rosicrucian does not describe someone of continual seeking and learning and absorbing things foreign to them, and expressing those thing in multiple esoteric and exoteric ways, then I don't know what it means.

Bride of Achilles - The Heroine's Journey

I would like to refer back to The Pansophy Secret Behind Western Initiation in which Samuel Robinson discussed the hero's loss of his phallic symbol and its restoration by the goddess. My question is : What if the hero is a heroine instead ? She has no phallus to lose, though she could be (re-)united with one in the form of a god.

To be clear, my purpose here is not to dispute the pansophic view of universal western initiation, which I don't disagree with. Rather, I wish to propose a complementary symbolic scheme which I think also relates back to mythic precedent.

The basic Rose-Croix image can be seen as symbolic of the union between masculine and feminine, and we have in Christianity, for example, St. Teresa of Avila and her desire to be pierced by the arrow of God's love. But what of older civilizations that have informed the western tradition ? I believe the concept does ultimately derive from them, though it was often the case that such stories were told from the point of view of masculine desire (and abduction/rape of the object of that desire) rather than from the perspective of the feminine desire to be taken.

First we have the myth of Persephone, apparently a key figure in the Eleusian mysteries. She is abducted by Hades (or runs off with him to become the queen of the underworld?) thus passing into death and being reborn in new life, both in the form of the Earth's fertility and, in some versions, giving birth to divine offspring. There is also the example of Helen of Troy, abducted by or running off with Paris, suffering "death" at the hands of Orestes and Elektra, but in fact taken up by Apollo to dwell in the heavens. Then we have the story of Iphigenia, who goes to her supposed wedding only to face immolation at the hands of her father (Elektra complex, anyone?) but who is miraculously saved from death to be transformed into a goddess or into the bride of alpha male Achilles in the afterlife.

For me, these stories illustrate the concept of a Heroine's Journey, of a seeker who doesn't start her path missing a link to the feminine and needing to be made whole by it, but rather the opposite.

The examples are not limited to ancient Greece, either. In Egyptian lore we can look at a goddess like Sekhmet, a destructive "lost soul" who's knocked out for three days, after which she achieves reintegration with the divine realm when she wakes and falls in love with a creator god. It's known that Sekhmet's journey was celebrated with temple rites and associated with healing magic.

In ancient times, women had their own mystery schools, presumably designed for and according to their own inner journeys. The Bacchae would go up into the hills and do whatever it is they did, with a strict "no boys allowed" policy. In the Christian era, self-initiation became virtually the only path open to female esoterics, buoyed on the back of a convent education or simply by local folklore.

In the modern age, some women have gravitated back toward a segregated paradigm centered on communing with their own femininity, while others have embraced a more gender-inclusive mysticism, but one originally engineered by men for the purpose of reaffirming goddess-knowledge as part of the path to salvation. The pursuit of reintegration through a Christ figure who has not been desexed has not, to my knowledge, been a focus of widespread attention, but it's one I've long felt an attraction to, and I hope this post has shed some light on it.

Internalization

When you internalize something while meditating on mystic symbols, what you receive is often hard to put into words, and impossible to teach from a technical, results-oriented standpoint. A spontaneous experience of beauty can't really be known or held onto.

That's one reason I remain skeptical of structured initiation and experimentation, though I'm willing to try it. In my personal practice, I'm not trying to achieve anything. I'm trying to be anything, and nothing. Perhaps the eternal is paradoxically transient, and the only way to connect with it is to let it pass through you and then let it go.

How much esotericism is too much ?

We're all "initiated" into a general cultural knowledge base, and then into progressively more narrow knowledge bases as determined by education level and group affiliations. So we all have some degree of esoteric knowledge, i.e. knowledge that not everyone else possesses.

Some esoteric symbols (for example, the AMORC Rose-Croix-Ankh-Pyramid design on the left) are vague enough to be appreciated for aesthetic reasons, and for individuals to project their own personal meanings onto them. You don't have to be a high-degree initiate of AMORC in order to make something out of that symbol, even if you don't know precisely what the initiated have learned about it.

On the other, consider the Rose-Croix design on the right. It's esoteric symbolism is more detailed, and thus more impenetrable to outsiders. It's less likely to be adopted by someone who just came across it on the internet and liked how it looks. You'd want to know what all the stuff on there actually means.

That might serve as an enticement to join a fraternal organization that promises to reveal its mysteries to you, but it might also make that organization's membership suspect. Putting yourself out there as part of a secretive, select group can make you a target for conspiracy theories and charges of elitism.

Wearing a shirt with E=mc² on it says one thing about you ; wearing a shirt with string theory equations on it says something else.

Both the esoteric cross and the esoteric equation communicate specific information, but only to the elite who have been inducted into the Great Mysteries. Who knows what they're really up to behind closed doors ?

That's the question the uninitiated will always ask themselves, and the answer usually isn't anything good for the initiates. Mystery schools still have to walk a fine line between exciting interest and inciting envy.

The Utopian Spirit

In reading this post on the Pansophers.com Rosicrucian Tradition blog, which references the utopian vision of the movement, I was reminded of this line from Utopia itself :

           Libenter impartio mea, non gravatim accipio meliora
           Freely do I impart my best, and not unwillingly do I receive better.

For me, this quote encapsulates the harmonious mind, an openness to sharing that which is good and improving oneself through the generosity of others' contributions.

The world is full of things to nitpick, and I am a notorious nitpicker. My natural state is too close to that polarity, in hermetic terms, so I have to make an effort to balance that out.

I think the current state of our culture is actively opposed to harmonious sharing, but in truth the times have been few and far between when it wasn't. Movements that try to change that en masse have had little long-term success, degenerating into schisms and battles of ego.

The small act of opening oneself to another's current of consciousness may be the best way, or the only way, to really change the universe.

Seven Principles of Hermeticism

The Seven Principles of Hermeticism as found in The Kybalion feature prominently in some modern Rosicrucian material. These are my own brief observations concerning them.

Principle of Menalism

Although this is philosophically debatable, I will treat it as axiomatic in order to explore the succeeding principles.

Principle of Correspondence

Here I must point out the elephant in the room : any notions concerning souls which can exist outside our bodies, or higher planes of existence, are speculation. They may be true ; but without any way of objectively falsifying them, we can't possitively assert them. We can, however, focus on this principle as a symbolic idea which can help us in our meditative practice.

Principle of Vibration

Here we find at least a degree of objective truth, in that we know that nothing in the observable universe is ever completely at rest, but that does not necessarily imply that everything that is in motion has consciousness or is connected to broader consciousness. Under the Principle of Mentality, let us allow the possibility.

Principle of Polarity

As with the Principle of Correspondence, what we are dealing with here is an unfalsifiable philosophical concept. I think it would possibly be better expressed as the Principle of Spectrum, given that theoretical opposites usually exist at any given moment on closer points that than those of infinite extremes.

Principle of Rhythm

This is perhaps the most self-evident of the hermetic principles, almost to the point of not needing to be specified.

Principle of Cause and Effect

Here I find myself most at odds with the principles of hermeticism, given what we now know about randomness at the quantum scale, de novo genetic mutations, and so on. I admit that, in my case, I have not achieved any satisfactory understanding of how to view or incorporate this principle, except perhaps to say that is the most unknowable. It may be that I simply find too much scientific evidence pointing to an unguided universe for me to work with this in any meaningful way. Even if God exists, it appears that he is completely incognito, and therefore our practice can proceed unimpeded under the assumption that he may not.

Principle of Gender

I don't really agree with the way in which "masculine" and "feminine" qualities are defined in hermeticism, which I find culturally antiquated. I'm by no means opposed to the principle itself, but I think it could also be linked closely to my proposed Principle of Spectrum, and at the same time separate from it. For me, this is the most mysterious and personal of the hermectic principles, almost impossible to define for anyone else, but unlikely to remain unexperienced in some form by individual seekers.

In summary, while I find the principles of hermeticism to be interesting, I consider them peripheral rather than central to my practice.