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.