|
We have arrived at the 15th Arcanum, the tarot card associated with the devil, which in religious studies and esotericism, constitutes as one of the most controversial topics for so-called spiritual people.
There are many misunderstandings about what the devil is. Religion, which has been sterilized of any genuine meaning, has become a caricature which people either adulate or reject, a type of mythology that people are fascinated with but who do not comprehend its genuine meaning. This type of subject is very thorny, especially amongst Jews, Christians, and Muslims. But today we will talk about the genuine role of the devil, what diablo is, who is the tempter that every initiate on the path of the bodhisattva must face in order to conquer him or herself. Many people have psychological traumas associated with religion, especially due to a poor miseducation growing up in Catholic school, learning about this demonic figure in red with horns and a pitchfork and a tail, which is ridiculous to atheists, and for which we agree, because that type of depiction of שָׂטָן shaitan, which is Hebrew for “adversary,” does not have any real meaning. People think that this figure is external to oneself, failing to realize that these are symbols. These are archetypes. These are principles. People fail to see the practical symbology of these myths, the purpose of the tempter. Without temptation there is no light. We must learn to face great ordeals given to us by divinity in order to conquer ourselves. Jesus, fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, was tempted by the devil. But that type of conflict was given to him by divinity as a test to secure his prophethood. Likewise, just as Jesus must face temptation in the wilderness, בַּמִּדְבָּר be’midbar in Hebrew, the wilderness of initiation, likewise, we too must face our own particular devil, our tempter, so that through that conflict we acquire type of training, a type of discipline. Because it is precisely through the most difficult circumstances of life when we face great crises, emotional trauma, psychological conflict and despair, in which the most submerged egos emerge within the screen of our attention so that we can see those faults and comprehend them. If there were no temptation, there would be no light, because temptation is fire. Triumph over temptation is light. The Name and Identity of Lucifer
Who is Lucifer? Lucci Feros in Latin, “bearer of light.” That name was actually given to a pope I believe in the Catholic church or a series of popes before that name became denigrated after John Milton's composition, Paradise Lost.
But that word means “carrier of light.” What is that light? It is Christ. The devil, שָׂטָן shaitan, Lucifer, is part of our Being who gives us the psychological impetus, the sexual volition, the ordeals of life, so that we can gain knowledge of who we are, what we need to die in as an ego. That part of divinity mixes with the impurities. This might confound theologians who are very used to this binary between God being above, devil being below, not understanding that Lucifer in us is mixed. He is the light of Christ but hidden within the inferno, and as we have stated in the magician card (Arcanum 1), we must descend into the inferno in order to rise up with light. Hell is the antechamber of heaven. If we do not go through the most terrible ordeals where the water boils at a hundred degrees Celsius, we cannot disintegrate what must be disintegrated. We cannot die in that which must be eliminated. Numerological Synthesis of the Card
It is interesting that in this card, 15, the synthesis is 6. 1 + 5 is 6, Indecision, the arcanum of the lovers, alchemy. How is it that we learn to conquer temptation? If one is married, one learns to face in the sexual act the temptations of the flesh, the desire and the lust to procreate like an animal, to give in to desire. But if one, in those delightful moments of love, begins to transform the psyche, then we conquer temptation and develop light.
We must sublimate the creative energies in a matrimony. 1 + 5 is 6. One faces that precise passion of animality when in the sexual act, which is why the couple in the perfect matrimony must work very hard to control the mind, not to identify with desire, but to learn how to kiss and to enjoy the delights of love with purity, without fornication. Remember that Jesus was crucified from the sixth to the ninth hour upon Golgotha (Matthew 27;45)―Arcanum 6, the lovers and Arcanum 9: Initiation, the Hermit. But of course, these meanings and symbols are very abstract for people. They do not like to think that the devil is something inside. Lucifer is our psychological trainer, our Being who knows our ego very well and who will provide us circumstances by which that type of defect will emerge, and we will see it in action if we are diligent, if we are vigilant. Lucifer, the Two Pillars, and Psychological Elements
Lucifer is diablo, as we mentioned in the lecture on Turandot. I-A-O, those are the mantras of Christ, the supreme mantras of sexual magic. I-A-O: Igneous, Agua, Origo, reminds us of the three brains: intellect, emotion, motor-instinctive-sexuality, because when a couple is united sexually, the three brains become inflamed. The mind is charged. The heart is charged. The sexual glands are in excitement. The hormones circulate. The energies fluctuate and flow and generate life internally if that energy is never expelled.
This is the meaning of the lovers, Arcanum 6. But by working with the science of love, we work with the three elements: א Aleph, ש Shin, מ Mem―Ignis, Agua, Origo―fire, water, spirit. In that way, by conserving that power and conquering the temptations of our own inner Lucifer, we gain knowledge. We gain wisdom. We gain self-realization. If there is no possibility of failure, there cannot be victory. It is a simple binary. In the same manner, this path of self-realization is predicated on the work of the death of the ego and conquering Luciferic temptation, which is the sexual fire. That fire is not good or evil. It is beyond good and evil, but how we use that energy determines whether we are working with the right pillar, which is purity-mercy, or the left pillar, klipoth, because that pillar descends down into the infernos as we explained in Arcanum 8: Justice. That fire, that serpent Ida, which is fallen, needs to be raised back up to the brain, because the solar serpent or ו Vav in Hebrew is upright. ז Zayin has fallen in us, but through the work of the perfect matrimony, that fire is raised. It is liberated. ו Vav and ז Zayin, purity and impurity: good and evil. Lucifer is beyond good and evil. If we conquer his temptations in us, if we cooperate in the great work of the Father, then Lucifer integrates with the Being in us when he is purified and makes us terribly divine archangels. But if we don't conquer his temptations, if we give in to lust, we become terribly perverse demons. The 15th Arcanum teaches the work of disintegrating the ego, and as we said, we must overcome sexual passion, desire, if we want to follow the Passion of Christ. 
Description of the Card
Let us look at the card.
In the lower third of the card, we have a depiction of two triangles which Samael Aun Weor states reminds us of גבורה Geburah, the law. גבורה Geburah is the sixth sephirah from the bottom up the Tree of Life beyond תפארת Tiphereth. The sexual strength of God is גבורה Geburah, the divine soul, נשמה Neshamah. גבורה Geburah reminds us of Gibur Ra El-גַבְרִיאֵל Gabriel. Gibur is the swastika, the cross, upon which the spirit of אל El circulates, flows, within our interior, within our chakras. Giburael, the strength of God, is precisely represented in this card because as these triangles demonstrate, it refers to the pyramid. A pyramid refers to solar bodies, solar vehicles, or the Innermost, which we build in us that temple by working with the devil, with Lucifer, by purifying this figure, which in us, is blackened. We see Typhon Baphomet as taught amongst the Freemasons, the male goat of Mendes holding a staff of power in his left hand and a serpent in his right. The serpent on his right ascends.
His hands are opposite of the magician card in the beginning of this course, where the magician is pointing his left hand up to heaven and his right hand down, indicating that if we went to ascend to Christ, we have to first descend into the inferno.
Likewise, Typhon Baphomet is the shadow of Osiris, the shadow of the Lord. He is Christ, but in hell. This duality of magician and Lucifer indicates for us that the devil figure is working very diligently with the magician, because the magician is opposite, is the Father. Up above in heaven, that force is pure. But we have Lucifer, the bearer of light, who in us, because of our mistakes, is blackened with ego, is filthy. But Lucifer works very hard on us to help us become archangels. He is not an evil figure. He is actually our best friend because if there were no temptations, no difficulties, we could not acquire the rose of virtue, the rose of purity, the development of the soul. He is indicating here with his left hand, the staff of the spinal medulla, the Tree of Life―which we must conquer in us by working with the serpent in his right hand, which is in accordance with Arcanum 8―is Pingala, the right serpent. So he is indicating that yes, he is very degenerate in us, but can become purified if we work with the solar forces. The left hand is feminine, as we stated, the left pillar, and as I said, that power is fallen in us. ז Zayin is in hell. We have to liberate that force up the spine. We must conquer the tail of the Kundabuffer as we see in this figure, which is projecting down into the infernos, by working in alchemy. The breasts of Typhon Baphomet indicate his androgynous nature. He covers wisdom with his apron, which is where his tail descends. Why is it that he is depicted with breasts if he is a male figure, or better said, androgynous figure? It is because in order to purify Lucifer in us, we must become androgynous by working in a matrimony, because when husband and wife are united, they become one unity, one force, one terribly divine אלהים Elohim. אל El in Hebrew is God. אלה Eloah is Goddess. י Iod-מ Mem, masculine-plural at the end is Gods and Goddesses. He is indicating precisely the path of passion, the Passion of Christ, the path of the crucifixion, the work of the cross, because it is on the cross in which we face all the temptations of the flesh and learn to die to the ego. We notice that the face of this figure is deformed, but that is precisely due to our mistakes. The fanaticism of certain groups that blame some external figure for all the problems with the world is ludicrous, is childish, because the devil is inside of us. That fire, that sexual energy is polarized in the Kundabuffer, in hell, because we chose fornication due to the original sin. But we have to learn to purify Lucifer, create light by annihilating the ego. Baphomet is the brass of alchemy that humanity has blackened due to degeneration. Samael Aun Weor mentions many times that we must whiten the brass, the devil, so that we can enter the temple of mysteries. He is the guardian of the door. He carries the sword of the Kundalini in his hand, saying, “If you wish to enter the Tree of Life, you must learn to conquer yourself and not be an infidel.” But those fornicators who choose to indulge in passion, he rejects and sends them into the infernal world to degenerate, to devolve, to enter the second death. But we have to understand that he holds the key to the temple because the sexual gate is the gate to Eden, to bliss. עֵדֶן Eden in Hebrew is bliss, voluptuousness, sexuality. He proposes very difficult tests to determine if the soul is worthy of entering the higher mysteries. Remember that Job in the Bible was tempted by the devil by the will of the magician, his inner Christ (Job 1:8-12). Notice the duality here: magician above with the opposite hands pointing different directions, and the tempter, this figure which scares many people. But we should not be scared of ourselves because Lucifer is in us, a part of our Being, a part of our true nature, but he is very tricky. He is very difficult because his types of methods are unusual. But he serves a divine purpose. He is allowed by God in us to tempt us so that by purifying the ego, we purify Lucifer. We generate light and therefore, we create the brazen serpent, the serpent of brass which heals the Israelites in the wilderness. Brass is an alchemical element composed of copper and tin, male-female. It is working in a matrimony that those fires are purified in us. They are perfected. We must learn to steal fire from the devil, from this figure. What does it mean to steal the fire from the devil? It means that when one is married and is transmuting in the sexual act, the couple does not give in to lust, does not feed desire, but sends the energy up the spine to the heart. That is the beginning of death, and it is the principle of Genesis. The six days of creation of the world, which are Arcanum 6, is the lovers, how we create the soul, the solar bodies. By stealing the fire from the devil, we become gods, and it means that we do not feed ego. Is Lucifer the Ego?
We make a very strong distinction here which confuses many people in Gnosis between Lucifer and ego. The ego is שָׂטָן shaitan in many senses. שָׂטָן shaitan in Hebrew means “adversary,” ego, defects, desires. Lucifer is the light of Christ, but which mixes with the impurity. It is separate but is immersed in it. That force is very dynamic. It can create stars, planets, galaxies and also create the soul. But you must learn to steal that light from desire when one is married.
The Serpents and Trident of Lucifer
In this card, we see a few symbols of which we'll talk about. We have the Hebrew letter ס Samech in the top right, indicating the ouroboros, the serpent biting its tail, the serpents of fire, the serpents of light. We have the sign of Leo, the solar forces, which reminds us of how by conquering the devil, we become Lions of Judah, Christic masters, resurrected ones.
We also have the sign of Neptune on the bottom right because that trident is the three primary forces, which I believe in Dante's Divine Comedy, he depicts the devil as having a trident, which of course in modern art is very denigrated and ridiculed, a caricature as I said. But those three points represent the three primary forces: כתר Kether, חכמה Chokmah, בינה Binah: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Because by working with those three primary forces, we work with the powers of Lucifer, the sexual energy. Lucifer, the Pentagram, and the Caduceus of Mercury
Lucifer has the upright pentagram on his head, indicating that through him is how we rise. Some people make the distinction, or better said, they become confused with the misappropriation of the pentagram in modern culture. People don't understand what the inverted pentagram means or what the upright pentagram means. They usually confuse the two.
The fallen pentagram, in which the head is descending down to Klipoth, is the male goat of Mendes. It is the ego. It is the witches sabbath, the forces of Christ descending and entering the infernal worlds to degenerate. But the upright pentagram is when those energies go up, when human being is made the pentagram, their head upright, as we do when we seal ourselves from runes or after runes.
The upright pentagram is the אין סוף Ain Soph, our super atomic star, of which Samael Aun Weor speaks extensively about, how the אין סוף Ain Soph is Christus Lucifer. That light emerges from our own true Being, which is a point of light within the abstract absolute space, our true identity. But Lucifer is the light that emerges from that star, which guides our interior. The upright pentagram is very positive. So why is it that a devil figure would have a positive symbol on his head if he was entirely evil? It is in congruous, incongruent. But we have to realize that Lucifer is our Being, who is our great helper, but also our greatest enemy. The Caduceus of Mercury in some symbols of Typhon Baphomet emerges from his sexual organs, indicating that it is through the power of sexuality in which we raise Ida-Pingala to create the wings of the spirit, and this figure is often depicted with wings as a fallen angel because that power has fallen in us. But if we return the light up back to the אין סוף Ain Soph and acquire אין סוף Ain Soph Paranishpanna, absolute knowledge of the Absolute, then those wings become heavenly, pure. This is the power of Kundalini, which is only developed in us when we dissolve the ego, because each vertebra of the spine is an ordeal, is a test. The thirty-three spinal medulla or canyons of the spine represent tests and ordeals that we have to face. In order to raise the Kundalini up one vertebra of the spine, we have to face great trials up each canyon until reaching the head, Golgotha, because you remember that 3 + 3 is 6, Indecision, the Lovers. Indecision is precisely what every couple faces when that fire is strong and desire is stimulated but by renouncing desire, renouncing ego, the couple conquers. Typhon Baphomet: An Acrostic
Typhon Baphomet is an interesting acrostic. The templars spelled Baphomet backwards as: temohpab, which is an acronym for “temple omnium hominum pads abbas,” which means “the Father of the temple of the universal peace for men.” Typhon Baphomet is the shadow of the Logos. He is part of divinity, but who mixes with impurities so that when we learn to work with that energy and conquer ourselves, he becomes purified, liberated.
He is Prometheus among the Greeks. The Greeks depicted Prometheus being punished by the gods, by Zeus, for having given fire to man. It is a symbol of how that energy of Lucifer is fire, sexual creative power, but when humanity abuses that energy, they dishonor the gods, which is why Lucifer becomes chained to a rock in which a vulture, daily, devours his his liver because in the liver we find all the forces of the sexual energy circulating. The powers of desire also are situated there, related to that organ.
We have to free Prometheus from the rock of יסוד Yesod by breaking the chains of the ego, the mind, so that he can become purified and liberated and can transform us into angels, or better said, archangels. Baphomet, Temohpab is “the Father of the Temple of the universal peace for men.” This reminds us of the common prayer הללויה Hallelujah. יה Jah is the Father, כתר Kether, but who is הילל Hillel? הללויה Hillelu-Jah. Christians like to repeat this phrase many times, even Jews. The word הילל Hillel comes from, I believe, the Book of Isaiah. הילל בן־שחר Hillel Ben-Shachar, “Glorified Son of the Dawn.” “How are thou fallen son of the dawn, Lucifer,” the light? (Isaiah 14:12) because that light is Christ, but has entered into temptation, desire, conditioning elements. Question: Hillel, what does that mean again? Instructor: הילל Hillel means “praised one,” “praised son of the dawn.” Hallelujah means “Praise יה Jah. Praise God.” So, when the Christians say hallelujah, they are ignoring that the way that you praise God is by conquering lust, by working with the sexual force of Lucifer to generate light. It is hypocritical that they condemn Lucifer, the light of Christ, the tempter, but praise יה Jah. You cannot praise יה Jah up your spinal column because יה Jah, י Iod, ה Hei is in the head, you could say if you transpose those letters. י Iod is the head. ה Hei is the throat, the verb. So, it is through the י Iod-ה Hei, and then ו Vav in the heart and ה Hei in sex in which we work in alchemy, allegorically speaking. Hallelujah is “praise יה Jah,” and the way that we praise God is by working in the perfect matrimony and not giving in to desire, ever. So those Christians who like to fornicate are really just Judas, because remember that Judas was a symbol of desire. He is an apostle who loves Jesus very much but betrays Christ because he loves fornication more. Question: How do you face Lucifer if you are in a solitary and in a married situation? Instructor: Good question, because single people learn to face Lucifer as a single person, to a minor degree. There are certain ordeals that occur as a result of working as a single, as a bachelor, and I remember having many experiences with my own inner Lucifer of which I am going to relate later in which, well, being single at the time, that experience was very profound, telling me and warning me and getting me insight about what the perfect matrimony is. Arcanum 15 occurs after Arcanum 13: Immortality, the death of the ego, which produces chastity, which is Arcanum 14: Temperance. 15 is the divine androgyny which shines rebelliously when we conquer ourselves, when the brass is whitewashed, when copper and tin, man and woman are working together. Lucifer’s Divine Origins
As we said, Lucifer is Osiris, the shadow of Osiris. Osiris is the Sun, the Platonic Logos, Christ, but we have to understand that Lucifer is that light but inverted, trapped, but who works in us very hard so that we can learn to change and cease being demons.
The devil is often depicted as being black, blackened with ego. It is stated by Samael Aun Weor that black roses were always offered to the shadow of the logos. This reminds us of the darkness of the Absolute because there are different forms of darkness. There is the darkness of Klipoth in the mind, the hell realms. But there is also a primordial darkness, the abstract absolute space, the cosmic space, the אין סוף Ain Soph, because the void of the Absolute is a type of darkness to our senses. If you are meditating and you learn to have a samadhi in that dimension, the zero dimension, the Absolute, what you will see there is a great ocean, but darkness but light at the same time. It is very difficult to explain. But if you have that experience, you can see that ocean of the great light is the true nature of the bodhisattva whom we seek to unite with. We do it through Lucifer. That light of Lucifer comes from the Absolute. That light emanates from the אין סוף Ain Soph in order to initiate creation. He is the chaos, the seed-plot for all life. He also symbolizes the element earth and the death of the ego, and here is the black rose. The rose is a symbol of love. But obviously, the perfect couple must learn to enjoy the sacrament of love, but without spilling the wine in the temple, which is what is done in the witches' sabbath. Why We Lack Spiritual Illumination
So, we must learn to work against the ego without postponement, as Samael Aun Weor states with maximum urgency. This is in order to have experiences.
Many students and missionaries even, I speak to, across the world or through email or other communications, they often relate to me how they struggle with the darkness of their mind. They lack light. I know many who are in this teaching for a long time, but they are not having samadhis, not having experiences, and they question, “Why?” Because they may engage in certain practices and think that they are being very diligent about their work. I always tell them and ask them, “What is your meditation like? What egos have you comprehended today? What defects have you been working on?” Sometimes these people are very vague and incongruent. They do not have any clear data. The problem is a lack of self-observation, a vigilance in daily life in order to see precisely those defects that Lucifer is bringing out, and in that way, I always relate to them to the death of the ego. If we want to have light, if you want to carry light up our spine, we have to die. Die to desire and not be a victim of it, because if we just give in to temptation, obviously, people are not going to have light. The fundamental problem is chastity. Many people do not want to be chaste. I have talked to missionaries in Gnosis from other parts of the world who tell me that even though they are teaching Gnosis and trying to follow this teaching, they still fornicate. It is very sad and very serious, because there is a greater responsibility for them. They know the mysteries of Lucifer, but they do not work with Lucifer. They are just devils and are not taking advantage of the difficulties of life. The Necessity of Temptations and a Psychological Trainer
Temptations are very necessary, as I said. It is only through contrasts, temptations, that flowers and virtue can be born in us. I would like to relate to you a quote from Samael Aun Weor in Tarot and Kabbalah, where he explains the method of the tempter, his purpose, how he is really here to train us to help us become very strong.
Lucifer as Ayo, teacher, mentor, certainly is exceptional, unusual, and extraordinary. In the Luciferic temptation there is an unparalleled didactic, a portentous pedagogy, an astonished attraction, an unmistakable incentive, an occult instigation with secret divine propositions, seduction, fascination... ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah: Arcanum 15
He is always instigating ordeals in our life to make us see ourselves. But there is a divine proposition there. He wants us to become angels. He wants us to conquer, but he has to be very hard to give us precisely those temptations that are the most challenging, because we have to see ourselves as we are, not what we think.
But we never receive temptations greater than what we can handle. Of course, they are very difficult. They stretch the boundaries, but they have a very divine pedagogy involved, because a good teacher will not let students be complacent with what they have, but will push them to become very strong and intellectual or studious. Even if they are very good, the teacher will show them, “Okay, well, I am going to differentiate my instruction and help you to go further at your level.” That is how Lucifer works. Lucifer-Prometheus is one with the Platonic Logos. He is the minister of the creative Demiurge and the resplendent lord of Sabbath, the seven mansions of Hades (infernos), and of the manifested world. Lucifer is he who bears the sword and the scale of cosmic justice, because to him is undoubtedly committed the norm of the weight and measure and number. He is Horus, Brahma, Ahura-Mazda, etc., always ineffable. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah: Arcanum 15
So, Lucifer, as the master explains in his books, is always entrusted with the keys of the sanctuary, which are only given to those who are anointed with the secret of Hermes, the hermetic science.
The Keys of Lucifer
I will relate to you an experience I had with my own inner Lucifer many years ago. I was on the astral plane, and I was allowed to enter the temple of Giza, the temple of the Egyptian masters. I won't relate what they taught me in the temple, but I remember when I left, they told me it was time to leave, I was walking out on the sands in the dark of night with a full moon out. Suddenly I saw key bouncing in front of me going to the distance. At that moment, I knew I had to get the key. Something symbolic there. I didn't really know the full meaning yet. Then I saw a jester, a man in black like a medieval clown with big bells hanging over his head. In his vesture, he had a rose pinned and he grabbed the key, was dangling it like this, and a group of black magicians were jumping up trying to grab the key. I was getting very frustrated and irritated. I was complaining. I said, “Just give me the key!” but this figure kept on laughing in my face, making fun of me and getting me really riled up.
I remember those figures, the black magicians who were trying to grab it. They were bald, bald headed. I later reflected on that experience years later and I realized that was my own inner Lucifer, my tempter, who was showing me that “You want to be married?” and at the time I was single. "You want to be married and work with the keys of alchemy? First you first need to overcome your own ego of sorcery, of witchcraft, because those egos are inside.” It is very rare to find someone in this teaching who does not have that type of diabolic conditioning from past lives, but there was Lucifer playing with me. But he was a good figure because he had a rose on his chest. He was showing me that “You want to be virtuous? Prove it. I am going to make you prove it very well, if you conquer.” That was his message. This was in Egypt, experienced many years ago. Something I reflected on a lot. How Lucifer Grants Levels of Self-Knowledge
Lucifer was divine before we fell and we must learn to engage in the Passion of Christ to overcome the passion of the devil through Arcanum 6, the Lovers. Arcanum 6: Indecision also reminds us of a very profound teaching given by Gurdjieff in his book Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson where he talks about how among the self-realized masters, there were different levels of knowledge, levels of being, which Master Gurdjieff explained is called objective reasoning. It is a term that simply means knowledge of divinity, the depth of knowledge one has of God when they resurrect, when they reach the very end of the path, and they unite with Christ fully.
There are different levels among the angels, different levels of knowledge of God. Some angels know divinity more profoundly because they worked much harder and faced greater temptations and ordeals, and even worked on more ego. There are levels of being among the gods, hierarchies among the angels, and they have different levels of reasoning of God, perfection. There are six levels according to Gurdjieff. The first two he never names. The third is called in the language of the gods, an esoteric language, Degindad. The fourth degree is Ternoonald. The fifth degree is Podkoolad, and the sixth and the highest is Anklad. It is obvious that when entering the path of self-realization, all masters want to acquire the highest degree. But the sad fact is, many of them reach a certain level of objective reasoning and once a master reaches that level, they remain stagnant while in this universe. They have to follow a certain procedure which is very dangerous. If they want to go higher, they have to take a wife or husband or take a partner when it is forbidden to them. The resurrected masters, when they reach self-realization, they are told you cannot engage in a marriage unless commanded by divinity, and many of those masters are denied the sexual act because the work is done. When one has worked in sexuality, one can overcome it, transcend it, but not before. First comes that which is animal, according to Paul of Tarsus. Then follows that which is spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46). But so many of these masters, they reach Degindad, Ternoonald, and they are not happy with their level of knowledge. They decide that they want to take a partner against the will of God and therefore divinity says, “I must retract from you because you are not following me.” You wish to throw the stone, according to Samael Aun Weor's language in a lecture called The Archeus. The Ark of the Covenant, the key of alchemy, and so, these masters, they descend. They do not create the ego again, but they lose all development because God withdraws and therefore, they have to start the path again from the bottom, in order that, by perfecting the stone even further, and if they reach the end, they will go to a higher level of knowledge, greater wisdom. Of course, that path is very difficult. There are some angels or masters who committed a great crime because they know that light emerges from darkness. They decide to fall. They enter temptation and they fornicate. Many masters have done this and so that leaves them in hell. They create the ego again. It resurrects in them and then they suffer for many ages until finally the Being says, if it is acknowledged or allowed by that Being, they may forgive that bodhisattva who fell. Question: Why do they take to do that? Instructor: Because they know that when they fall, eventually they will have to rise higher. But that is a very tricky and dangerous proposition because, yeah, the bodhisattva who reaches those heights will have to return eventually. But the question is when and how? Many of them may not rise again in this life if they are in the Gnostic movement again, because they have to work very hard, even harder than most people. People who have normal ego, who never created bodhichitta, the unsurpassed mind of enlightenment and compassion for humanity, their ego is much stronger. So, they have more to contend with. Many of those masters, like the heads of the black lodge today, they were once angels in the past, but they wanted higher reasoning, so they fell. No justification for that. It is very wicked, but that is a procedure that many of these initiates do because they know that by going down further, they will go up if they are forgiven. But many of them are not forgiven. Samael Aun Weor fell three times. He made the mistake of falling in love when he was resurrected or engaging in the sexual act when it was forbidden to him, and he fell. He fell because of love, and he forgot his Divine Mother. So, it is a very difficult and abstract thing to think about, but you may have experiences in your meditation is where they can show you certain things about this process. But the thing is, those who reach self-realization become stagnant at that level and many of them decide, because they want to enter the Absolute with more knowledge, they decide to either descend or fall in order to go higher, perfect the stone higher and acquire even higher degrees of objective reasoning. They all want Anklad. But that is a very hard thing to achieve because it takes a lot of work. We only know one being who achieved Anklad and that is the Jesus. He was a fallen bodhisattva too. He did the path seven times. It is forbidden to bodhisattvas to do the work more than seven times because it is too much suffering. If they fall again, they will enter damnation, meaning they will just be disintegrated in the infernos until they are annihilated to dust. The. they can return as a soul back in the mineral kingdom, to the plant kingdom, to the animal kingdom, to the humanoid kingdom. But it is a very terrible thing. There is no justification for falling because many of those masters, they can just stay at their level, and they will enter the Absolute. Samael Aun Weor said that one should not covet hierarchy. Many of these masters, they want higher levels of knowledge, but it is better if those initiates stay at their level and then be faithful to God and don't fall because it is bringing a lot of pain, a lot of ordeals. In this book by Gurdjieff, he is talking about how these six levels of objective reasoning are represented by the horns of Lucifer. One acquires objective reasoning by conquering the devil, whether it is the first time, the second time, the third time, acquiring higher degrees. 
The first trident, like we see in the bottom right of this image, represents gradations of knowledge, objective reasoning. Those horns can have on some masters, one trident, referring to the first degree of objective reasoning. Or two tridents, referring to the second degree of objective reasoning. The third for Degindad, the fourth for Ternoonald, the fifth for Podkoolad, and the sixth, Anklad, having six tridents.
So, internally, if you want to know the degree of a master, you can ask them what their level of objective reasoning is, and you will see by the horns of Lucifer. But these horns are not demonic. Remember that Moses, when he carried the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, had horns of light, which is depicted by Michelangelo, Michael-Angelo, which his name literally means Angel Michael. The angel of the sun, which we find the sign of Leo in this card. He chiseled the stone to create very beautiful sculptures, which is a beautiful parallel of this teaching of working with the stone of יסוד Yesod, perfecting it, because every time that a master works on the stone, if they fall, fell or descended, that stone becomes much more profound. Their temple, their knowledge, becomes much higher, but in the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, not an easy subject for sheep with long ears, which is really all of us. Some people struggle to conceive of how is this possible. Why would anyone fall? But if one has that level of knowledge and wants higher, then they basically, many of them commit the mistake. Very common.
The Devil in the Qur’an
This is a very beautifully paralleled in the Qur’an by the story of Iblis, the devil.
Iblis is allowed to tempt us or tempt humanity precisely so that we can acquire objective reasoning, whether this is the first time or the second time or the third time. You may find that out if you are working. They can show you things if that was your path. Not common, but there are many fallen bodhisattvas in the Gnostic movement. The word Iblis might have derived from the Arabic verbal root b-l-s, which the broad meaning of “remain in grief,” balasah, “he despaired.” Talbis means “confusion,” which reminds us of the ancient Greek διάβολος diabolos, Diablo. The Qur’an speaks about how many of these masters, these angels, rebel. This is the crime of the gods because they know that they want to go higher, but like in John Milton's Paradise Lost, the angels rebelled. Because Christ was allowed to be the Son of God in terms of hierarchy, many of the angels were furious, because in the myth of Milton or popularized through Milton, these angels wanted to be equal to God in knowledge. So, it is a symbol of a wanting to acquire higher knowledge and reasoning in God because the higher one's knowledge of God, the more happiness there is. It is a very powerful thing to have knowledge of God in a very profound way. Like Krishna said, “Out of a thousand who seek me, one finds me. Out of a thousand who find me, one follows me. Out of a thousand who follow me, one is mine” (Bhagavad-Gita 7:3). Or "out of a thousand of those who are mine, one knows me perfectly." Levels of knowledge. Like a light bulb, some light bulbs can project more light. Some masters want more light, so they decide to start over, but that is very problematic, very wrong. One can enter the Absolute with any degree of knowledge, but many of them do not want to enter as soldiers. They want to enter as a general or as a four-star general. Question: So, it's the ego? Instructor: Not ego. It is a type of longing in the soul to know God, but still, even the soul can make mistakes. There is no ego in those masters, at that point, when they resurrect. But know that they can still make the mistake by identifying with the mind. There is no ego in the mind, but the solar mind can still tempt. It is still a vehicle that is inferior, which one has until one enters the Ain, the Absolute. The Qur’an mentions a beautiful story that is not very well understood, but after this explanation, will become clearer. And mention when we said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam,” and they prostrated except for Iblis. He said, “Should I prostrate to one you created from clay?” Iblis said, “Do you see this one whom you have honored above me? If you delay me until the Day of Resurrection, I will surely destroy his descendants except for a few.” Allah said, “Go, for whoever of them follows you, indeed hell will be the recompense of you, an ample recompense. And incite to senselessness whoever you can among them with your voice and assault them with your horses and foot soldiers and become a partner in their wealth and their children in promised them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion. Indeed, over my believing servants there is for you no authority, and sufficient is your lord as disposer of affairs.” ―Qur’an 17:61-65
So even in Qur’an, the being allows Lucifer to tempt, but there is a lot of subtlety in this scripture. Why is it that Iblis does not believe, does not bow to Adam, who was made of clay? You know, the Lord honors Adam as being humble, those angels that know how to obey. They do not get proud. They do not have ambition or that longing to know God, and then make the mistake of falling. But Iblis made that mistake. He said, “I am made of fire. Why should I bow to him?” Because he wants more knowledge. He doesn't want to bow to the obedience of God.
Do not think that in becoming an angel one is done. One begins the path of knowing God perfectly at that point. Here, we are trying to know God, but once we reach that point, it is a whole other path. Iblis is a symbol of fallen bodhisattvas. They want more objective reasoning. They throw the stone because they won't bow to Adam. They desire more wisdom born from fire. Impediments in Surah Al-Rahman: The Compassionate
How does the devil tempt, as we said? 15: 1 plus 5 is 6. The gods are tempted because many of them fall in love. They take a wife if they are male and opposite, but as I said, the lovers have to work in מלכות Malkuth to raise the fire of the thirty-three vertebrae of the spine. 3 +3 is 6. In each vertebra one faces indecision, indecision, indecision, when they are dealing with lust, learning to conquer both the temptations of sexuality, but also desire, the ego.
There is a beautiful Surah in the Qur’an which relates this path of temptation, because every time we are raising the fire up a certain vertebra of the spine, we are in a sense denying God. Meaning, the ego denies God as we are rising the fire up higher and higher. The Qur’an teaches this very beautifully how there is always struggle on each of the vertebrae of the spine to raise that energy, where in this Surah the signs of divinity are related: cups of ambrosia, gardens and rivers of immaculate sexuality, which is interspersed with the following ayat or verse: "which of these two signs do you two deny?" Repeatedly. Happens 31 times (relating to Arcanum 31: Impediments). I will read for you the scripture, that Surah. It is not too long, but very compelling. The Most Merciful taught the Qur’an, created man, and taught him eloquence. The sun and the moon move by precise calculation, and the stars and trees prostrate, and the heaven he raised and imposed the balance that you not transgress within the balance. And establish weight and justice and do not make deficient the balance. ―Qur’an 55:1-9
Why keep talking about the scales, the balance? Remember that Samael Aun Weor said, "Lucifer is the one who controls the balance of the scales of good and evil." This is the work of Lucifer.
The earth He laid out for the creatures. Therein is fruit and palm trees having sheaths of dates and grain having husks and scented plants. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? ―Qur’an 55:10-13
Sometimes it translates as, “so which of these favors do you two deny?” which many commentators interpret as meaning human beings or initiates and the jinn, the Genii, the nirvani buddhas. But even on a more profound level, which of these signs do you two deny, meaning, the couple, husband and wife as they are trying to raise the fire and remembering the signs of God in their meditations, as they are dealing with lust.
He created man from clay like that of pottery and he created the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? He is the Lord of the two sunrises and the Lord of the two sunsets. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? He released the two seas meeting side by side. Between them is a barrier so neither of them transgress. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?" ―Qur’an 55:14-21
The two seas are the cerebrospinal fluid, the sexual fluid, which are divided by the heart. Those are the two seas we much join through alchemy.
From both of them emerged pearl and coral (the virtues of the soul). So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? And to Him belong the ships with sails elevated in the sea like mountains. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?" ―Qur’an 55:22-25
A ship is the symbol of alchemy. In the internal planes they show you a boat working in alchemy, working with the waters, the great Ark of Noah, the Arcanum, sexual magic. A mountain is a symbol of initiation, working with the spine.
Everyone upon the earth will perish and there will remain the face of your Lord, owner of majesty and honor. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Whoever is within the heavens and the earth asks Him every day He is bringing about a matter. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? We will attend to you, O prominent beings. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Oh company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority from Allah. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? ―Qur’an 55:26-34
So, many gods, they want to enter the Absolute, which is beyond heaven, but they need permission first. They have to serve as an angel with one of the six degrees of objective reasoning before having the right to enter the Absolute with Anklad.
They would be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke and you will not defend yourselves. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? And when the heaven is split open and become rose-colored like oil. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Then on that day, none will be asked about his sin among men or jinn. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? The criminals will be known by their marks and they will be seized by the forelocks in the feet. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? This is hell, which the criminals deny. They will go around between it and scalding water, heated to the utmost degree. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? But for he who has feared the position of his Lord are two gardens. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Having spreading branches. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In both of them are two springs flowing. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In both of them are of every fruit two kinds (and kind and Hebrew is מִין min, minah, sex, the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of Life which blossoms in the perfect matrimony.) They are reclining on beds whose linings are of silk brocade and the fruit of the two gardens is hanging low. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In then are woman limiting their glances untouched before them by man or jinn. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? As if they were rubies and coral. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Is the reward for good anything but good? So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? And below them both an excellence and two other gardens? So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Dark green in color. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In both of them are two springs spouting. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In both of them are fruit and palm trees and pomegranates. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? In them are good and beautiful women. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? (So there is a symbol of the Nirvani Buddhas who are pure and chaste in heaven, the Nirvanic world.) Fair ones reserved in pavilions (referring to the divine soul גבורה Geburah). So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Untouched before them by man or jinn. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Reclining on green cushions and beautiful fine carpets. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Blessed is the name of your Lord, owner of majesty and honor." ―Qur’an 55:35-78 
So, that verse that repeats repeatedly occurs 31 times [since this arcanum describes the struggles of an initiate in raising the sacred fire of the Divine Mother].
Impediments in Crucifying the Mind
In the book Igneous Rose by Samael Aun Weor, he relates how, when the fire enters the thirty- first canyon reaching the cerebellum in the mental body, the fourth initiation of fire, one receives the arhat’s cross. An arhat is a master of the fourth initiation of Major Mysteries. In order to reach the point, one has to face that denial of the ego each step of the way of the vertebra until reaching the thirty-first degree, which is the cerebellum, which Samael Aun Weor explains very beautifully in his book Igneous Rose, of which I will relate:
1. The fire of your igneous rose, which is situated in the larynx of your mental body, burns and sparkles within the ardent flames of the universe.
So when you work with Arcanum 15, you face many ordeals as you are bearing your cross. You have to deal with the passion of the mind, but also you follow the Passion of Christ where you are crucified, ridiculed, laughed at, mocked. But that is the way to pay what we owe. It takes great courage, but it can be done.
This is how we whitewash the brass and burn our books. That is a quote from the end of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, or the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, in which Faust in that narrative fails the ordeals against Lucifer and is taken down to hell. He complains at the end, “Mephistopheles, I will burn my books,” meaning, I will get rid of all my erudition, meaning, “my bookwormishness.” Nothing wrong with having strong intellectual culture. The problem is that we do not balance that with work on the mind. So, we must learn to conquer the dragon, Lucifer. A dragon is a creature that has power over the air, the fire, the water, and the earth. A dragon flies, conquers the ground, breathes fire, and flies. So those four elements represent intellectual brain, emotional brain, motor-instinctive-sexual brain, as well as the body, the earth. 
Satan: The Stairway to Ascend or Descend
So, this is an image of a very controversial statue, I believe in Detroit, in a Satanic temple.
Comment: But the point is up... Instructor: Exactly. The only problem with this is that his hand is the inverted pentagram, which can be read in many ways. The upright pentagram is positive. So these people who worship in their Satanic temple do not really know the meaning that what Lucifer is. Because Lucifer is Christ. The upright pentagram, it means that the soul can be elevated, can go up. But in his right hand, he has the inverted pentagram, the two fingers pointing up, which is the sign of peace amongst hippies, which is the inverted symbol, the fallen pentagram. Notice that the three fingers, the thumb, and the other two fingers that are facing down represent the head and the arms. His other two fingers are the legs, meaning that through Lucifer one can fall or rise high. It depends on whether we work with the Caduceus of Mercury, which we see represented, kind of cut off in this image, but at the bottom. There are two children looking up at them. Obviously, this statue brought a lot of debates about art and religion. We can say that the Essence must be purified or must purify Lucifer. The soul must work. We must learn to work in the perfect matrimony to conquer the devil. Once one has achieved self-realization, one renounces sexuality, but not before. So those people who practice lunar brahmacharya, meaning, they practice abstinence without having solar bodies, is really ludicrous, because they need to work with that energy. Once the two serpents, ו Vav and ז Zayin, from the Caduceus of Mercury, are raised upright, then one can pronounce sex, but not before. Samael Aun Weor mentions that the constellation of Orion relates to the 15th Arcanum. This is very beautiful because in Hebrew, Orion can sound like Oh-Aur-Aun. אור Aur is light. און Aun is strength, virility, sexuality. He also relates that the constellation of Orion relates to the absolute abstract space, the אין סוף Ain Soph, our supra-atomic star. The antithesis of that star is Klipoth, the hell realms. So, in the path of working with the 15th Arcanum, we have to fight very difficult battles against the black lodge, because anyone who is working on the ego is tested, meaning, the White Lodge uses the Black Lodge to test us, because if you know from a game of chess, white piece moves first. The light initiates. But we have to see this in action. Sometimes if you are very awake, you can see certain ordeals in action in your daily life and realize, “I am being tested here,” if we are very clairvoyant and being very awake. It is a good reminder that we need to work very hard against the ego because if we want to conquer the Black Lodge, we have to annihilate the ego. We are tested many times until we conquer. The ordeals repeat and repeat and repeat if we keep failing them. But the point is not to keep failing, but to keep trying. It is very difficult but if you are sincere and are meditating on those faults, then we can conquer those temptations. So, we learn to fight against the ego by working against the Kundabuffer organ, the inverted tail of Satan, Kali, the black goddess of the inferno. These are the crystallizations of the Luciferic fire in the spine. Samael Aun Weor mentions that the death of the ego begins by working with chastity. You steal the water, the fish will die. That is how we begin initiation. Remember that the demon is God inverted. So this image which frightens many people and alarms the sanctimonious, is a symbol, a representation of Lucifer, but not the devil, not the ego. Sometimes we say that Lucifer is the devil, but it is better if we say that Lucifer is the light of Christ. The devil is the ego, our mind. We included this image because there was an ancient ritual amongst the Gnostic Rosicrucians where blindfolded neophytes were taken to the interior of a temple. They were submitted to certain ordeals and brought to a specific place in which they found a male goat in the middle of the room, which had the upright pentalpha on their head. The initiates would tell the neophyte, “Kiss the behind of this goat.” If the neophyte was too proud, they would escort him out as a failure. But if he agreed, he would be greeted by a beautiful woman, a vestal of the temple of Isis in order to initiate him into the mysteries of the perfect matrimony. It is a symbol of how you have to face the degeneration of the mind and be willing to kiss the whip, even of your executioner, of those who persecute us most, so that we crucify our mind according to Samael Aun Weor in Igneous Rose. This is how we steal fire from the devil. We have to comprehend each ego, annihilate them so that we can emerge from the abyss by means of fire and enter the Absolute, free in its movement. I will relate another experience, how the אין סוף Ain Soph is Christus Lucifer. I remember a long time ago too, I was meditating at home and that I found myself in the astral plane moving in a hallway being led to a door and it became dark. I was told by an attendant at this place, “You need to dress up in this costume.” So, I did. In the next moment, they opened the door and I found myself in a huge cave filled with demons. I saw Lucifer sitting on his throne in the center and I immediately knew that I had to disguise myself. I had to be very careful because I knew that there was a spotlight coming from the ceiling that was focusing on these demons who are singing this song, contributing and participating and being this big orgy of demons. I knew that I had to be very careful. I knew that the light would shine on me, and I had to act in that moment, to pretend that I was a demon. The light shined in me in that moment, and I continued with the song. The demons praised me, then the light moved on and they got distracted. I decided I wanted to get out of there. I climbed up a circular stair along the side of the cave, leading higher and higher and higher towards a pinnacle to a point at the very top. I knew that I could only get out if I pushed my head through. I was pushing my head through, not realizing at the time that I was projecting myself through my Chakra Sahasrara, and at that moment, I remember leaving the cave. I popped through and I was united with my אין סוף Ain Soph, my own star , in which I was not myself. There was only the Being, Allah, Christ. It was the light of divinity. Like a point in space, a beautiful star of light that is eternal, that has always existed, always exists and always will exist, our true identity. I remembered in that moment, I fell back into the astral plane, and I saw a well in which someone was about to drown. My אין סוף Ain Soph taught me, “You must save this person within 7 to 8 minutes.” It is interesting. Samael Aun Weor mentions that the אין סוף Ain Soph is the antithesis of the Klipoth, and Lucifer has the sign of the star on his forehead, the head. So, I projected myself through the Church of Laodicea and I entered a Samadhi, Mahasamadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi, whatever you want to call it, and I was immersed in that light, my own God. But then I identified with my mind, I fell out. My אין סוף Ain Soph was warning me, “You need to work with your inner urgency and fundamental keynote,” because in the book Tarot and Kabbalah, you can follow a procedure of counting how many letters you have in your name and making certain additions relating to your birthday to get to a synthesis or number relating to one of the twenty-two arcana of the tarot. In that way, you know exactly what qualities of the tarot predominate in your life. Mine is 7 for one of them, battles. The other one is for inner urgency, is the fundamental keynote, is eight, Justice, to be patient. 7 + 8 is 15. My אין סוף Ain Soph was teaching me, “You want to you want to return to me? You have to overcome your devil.” Light above in Christ, heaven, demon below. I need to go back into my own cave and work against all these faults that I have as a symbol of my own mind. Arcanum 15 in Gounod’s Opera Faust
This is a very powerful experience which is depicted in an Opera by Gounod's Faust. I will play for you a brief clip which precisely depicts this dance of devils that I experienced and what it was like, the type of energy involved.
In this Opera, the devil goes out to a public place to sing and lead a certain chorus, which those who are listening online can pause this audio and play the clip accompanied with the pdf. That is what I experienced, a bunch of devils singing and praising hell. The devil or Lucifer in this sense, is that force of temptation which can make even gods fall. “The golden calf still stands. The golden calf has vanquished the gods.” A symbol of certain masters of the Black Lodge who have led many bodhisattvas down because they want to disintegrate in hell in order to reinitiate a new journey back up. But it is a very stupid path at a terrible price. It is really better to renounce hell and heaven and to be happy with one's union with God. Tricking the Devil through the Fourth Way: The Path of the Astute Man
The way that we work against the devil is by following the Fourth Way. According to Ouspensky, the Fourth Way is the path of the astute man, the sly man, the clever one. It means to work with the devil, the ego. Astuteness or cleverness is developed when we work in alchemy against the mind and learn how to deal with people in this physical plane and in hell, with intelligence, because we have to learn how to negotiate ourselves with humanity, as demonic as it is. You have to learn to be with devils but not be a devil, and that is precisely the symbol of that experience I had.
I had to be dressed as a devil but not be one, which is why Ouspensky mentioned that the path of the astute man is very misunderstood by people and spiritual circles. One is surrounded by demons when one is not one. Many clairvoyants have slandered these initiates who are astute men because of misjudgment. They may see the ego of that person and say that person is a black magician, which is why in the Gnostic movement, there is so much chaos in groups where they are accusing people of being witches and sorcerers, excommunicating people from groups. Some of these things are very silly, to point our finger at someone and call him a demon. It is really a joke made in bad taste. Personally, I have had that happen many times myself. Certain pseudo clairvoyants seeing my ego. However, I agree with them. Yeah. I am a big devil. But I am repentant. There is a big difference. One can continue to be a demon, or one can seek to change. So, I leave those people to their own fate, and I continue to give lectures online just to do what I need to do, regardless of what they think. 
But in the path of the astute man, one has to work with the dissolution of the ego. It means to work with the five centers of the human machine. It means to understand our personality in action because we must work with the intellectual, the emotional, and the motor-instinctive-sexual centers.
The ego can never manifest in the superior intellect or the superior heart because those are qualities of the soul that do not mix with desire. So, to have a solar intellectual center means to have a solar mind, a solar mental body, to be able to understand intuitive concepts, apprehend the meaning of scripture, and many divine qualities relating to intelligence. The superior emotional center emerges in us when we really have a solar astral body. We can travel in the fifth dimension consciously. But comprehension is what leads us to dissolution. We have to comprehend the ego in each of the centers: the inferior five cylinders of the human machine. Samael Aun Weor mentions that if we wish to work with the devil, we have to work with our five centers, comprehend all of our habits, all of our desires, our ways of thinking, our ways of feeling, our ways of moving, our ways of acting, of behaving. Our habits, mannerisms, ways of speaking, talking, moving, everything, we have to comprehend it deeply. He also mentions that thought needs to be balanced because typically, if one is overthinking, one can damage the motor center, such as when one is driving a car and is thinking too much, gets distracted. Movement is a much faster center like the emotions, much quicker. Someone can say something negative, and we react immediately, feeling very moved and hurt. With instinct or self-preservation, we have the sexual drive, the instinctual center, which is the house of many sub-human elements, demonic qualities relating to morbidity, sadomasochism, etc., fear, criminality. Likewise, we have to learn to conquer the sexual center, which is the ultimate ordeal. No one can obtain integrity or moral character, liberation without sexual energy. Sex is the power of the soul. That is the power of Eros that awakens Psyche. In this way, the sexual force develops in seven levels so that by working in the perfect matrimony, one has affinity―physically, in terms of the force of attraction, in terms of the astral plane relating to the affinity of types, according to polarity, Essence, emotion, mentality, relating to mind and causality relating to willpower, having the same will. So, the causal plane is where the complete union of the soul is performed: the perfect matrimony, the union of two beings who know how to love based of superior thought, superior feeling, superior will. By learning to die in the ego, we develop integrity. We dissolve the “I,” and then we can ascend the Tree of Life. But first we have to descend into our own conditioned elements, the inferno, so that we can liberate the soul. This is how the rose is elaborated by the perfume of the earth or the perfume of the rose is elaborated by the mud of the earth. We develop the virtues of the consciousness based off of the death of desire, the death of the mind. Psalm 119
In order to talk about this subject even further, I will relate to you a psalm from the Hebrew Old Testament, the verses 113 to 120 in Psalm 119. Each verse starts with the Hebrew letter ס Samech, which is the teachings of the serpent, Samael.
סֵעֲפִים שָׂנֵאתִי וְֽתֹורָתְךָ אָהָֽבְתִּי׃
“I hate the lukewarm,” those who are neither hot nor cold like we discussed in Arcanum 14: Temperance, to be cold with chastity or aflame within a matrimony. We have to learn to cover ourselves and shield ourselves and to depart from the evil ones in the abyss, to keep our Being's commands. “Uphold me by your Word that I may live. Hold me up and I will be saved,” because the laws of divinity are eternal, the statutes are eternal, the great arcana are sacred.
The Serpent ס Samech: The Hebrew Ouroboros
ס Samech is the Ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail, the dragon devouring itself. On the far right, we see the image of the Hebrew letter Samech. The Ouroboros reminds us of אור Aur, light, and boros, “devouring.” So, Aura can can also mean “tail,” but at a deeper level in Hebrew, אור Aur is light and Or is gold in Spanish, Oros or Horus, the Egyptian God of the Spirit. Boros in Hungarian literally means “drunk person.” It is interesting, a derivative from the word bore, which means “wine,” “to be drunk” on the wine of God, the perfect matrimony. Boros also reminds us of bar, the son, father.
If we want to enter the Absolute, we must devour our own Kundabuffer tail, destroy it. That is how we develop אור Aur, light. It is interesting also that the word אין סוף Ain Soph has the Hebrew letter ס Samech in the word סוף Soph. אין Ain means is a negation. Ain Soph means “no limit,” or Ain means “No.” Soph means limit, to end. So, in the Absolute, there is no limit. That star, when you unite with your אין סוף Ain Soph, is limitless light, perfection. In that way, we realize that the power of Lucifer emanates from that light. ס Samech, the serpent, the power of Lucifer in heaven, is אין סוף Ain Soph. But notice that the word יסוד Yesod, which is the ninth sephiroth from the top to the bottom of the Tree of Life, the foundation of our temple, has the word ס Samech in it. יסוד Yesod means “foundation” because the serpent emerges from the Absolute, descends down the Tree of Life as the ray of creation, and enters our sexual glands, our energies. Then ס Samech, basically, is the serpent trapped in the stone. I believe there is a pre-Islamic myth about the Kaaba that the Arabs used to state, that a serpent would sleep coiled inside of the Kaaba, the stone. That is ס Samech. The serpent that must be liberated. The Hebrew word סודי sodi [having the same letters as יסוד Yesod) also means “secret,” the secret of alchemy. So, Lucifer is Christus Lucifer, ס Samech. It is the beginning and the ending. The אין סוף Ain Soph, the limitless beginning of all creation and also IO Soph, יסוד Yesod, which the Kabbalists state יסוד Yesod relates to Yusuf, Joseph. It is interesting that the Book of Genesis begins with the creation of the human being, and the end of Genesis is with Yusuf, Joseph, the end of IO, because the power of the Divine Mother, IO, Ram-IO, emerges from the Absolute, descends down the Tree of Life and ends in יסוד Yesod, because that is how we work with that power. ס Samech in the Book of Revelations
The Book of Revelations teaches this very beautifully, how Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending, ס Samech.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his (sexual) work shall be (what his sexual work shall be).
I talked a lot about objective reasoning, the reasoning of gods. All of us have subjective reasoning, the ways of thinking of the ego, which we can see more clearly as we meditate and comprehend more and eliminate.
16. I, Jesus (we could say the savior of the אין סוף אור Ain Soph Aur, the limitless light, Christus Lucifer) have sent mine angels to testify unto you these things in the churches (or chakras of your spinal medulla). I (in יסוד Yesod) am the root and offspring of David (the Malachim). ―Revelations 22
David is a six-pointed star, which generates the six degrees of objective reasoning, the bright and daunting star, Lucifer. So, Lucifer is that light which emerges from the Absolute, descends down the ray of creation down the the Tree of Life, enters יסוד Yesod and מלכות Malkuth. It also descends further into the left pillar, into Klipoth, which is not represented in this image, but you can visualize that too.
Lucifer disintegrates those souls who fall in the abyss. But Lucifer is also the light that can liberate us from the inferno and in that way, we escape Klipoth. Lucifer is the sexual impulse that maintains the forces of evolution and devolution in the wheel of samsara, which you find even in ס Samech. It is the circle: evolution-devolution. It parallels that. It is interesting that Lucifer was not evil before he fell. So, it shows us that this force is divine. It just gets mixed due to our faults. How are you fallen from heaven, Oh Lucifer, son of the dawning! How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell (the ninth sphere), to the sides of the pit. ―Isaiah 14:12-15
This power was once heavenly, was a part of a great archangel, but entered temptation and desire. It says, "I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God (meaning I will obtain a higher degree of objective reasoning according to scripture). And I was ascending to the side to the north (the right pill of the Tree of Life as we talked about extensively in the opera lectures on Turandot or the lectures on Turandot)."
ס Samech is the serpent. That serpent is what supports the initiates. Literally, ס Samech means “support, to hold, to raise.” Zoharic Creation Story and ס Samech
You find a beautiful teaching in the Zohar how when divinity initiated creation, He spoke to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet to see which archetype would begin the book of Bereshit. Obviously, it landed on ב Beth, but all the letters offered their assistance, symbolically, and the letter נ Nun approaches after ס Samech.
The letter ס (samekh) entered. She said to Him, ‘Master of the world, may it please You to create the world by me, for by me סמיכא (semikha), support, exists for those who fall, as is written: סמיך יהוה (Somekh YHVH), YHVH supports all, who fall (Psalms 145:14).’
ס Samech is in the name סםאל און ואור Samael Aun Weor. The wordסם Sam means “potion, bitterness, medicine, perfume, poison.” It is “the poison of God,” “the poison of אל El.” And people read this scripture in the Zohar as if Samael is demonic, as I am going to explain from an excerpt. Many people in this day and age are very afraid of the Master Samael Aun Weor saying that he is a demon because the scriptures say he was a demon. Symbolically speaking, Samael in us is Lucifer, the devil. Samael Aun Weor outside of us is a great resurrected master. He fell before but he is risen again. You can confirm that by meeting him in the astral plane. But ס Samech in us is polarized in Klipoth, in hell. This is why the scriptures depicts Samael as being both an angel and a demon, because Lucifer, Samael, the power of strength of sex, the power of Mars in heaven is divine, but in us, is fallen. But that serpent is what can raise us from Klipoth to the heavenly dimensions. Raise the נְפִילִים Nephilim, those who abuse נ Nun, the sperm or ovum, who abuse the waters of life.
The Serpent ס Samech and the Two Trees in the Zohar
There is a beautiful teaching in the Zohar, which I will relate, and which summarizes some of these points we have been making.
“And the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why is it called so? It is not in the middle… Rabbi Abba said, "It is written: the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). The tree of life―we have learned that it extends over a journey of five hundred years, and all the waters of creation branch off below. ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
So why 500? Relating to the 5th initiation of Major Mysteries. 500 in esoteric age relates to תפארת Tiphereth. So the Tree of Life is in the middle of the garden. The garden is our sexual organs, our body, and this Tree of Life is in our spine.
The tree of life is precisely in the middle of the garden, conveying all waters of Creation, branching below, for that flowing, gushing river spreads into the garden, whence waters branch in many directions… ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
What are those waters in our body? Our garden? It is our cerebral spinal fluid, our nervous systems, the lymph nodes, all of our nervous qualities in our body which channel forces of the heavenly type.
Receiving them all is the ocean, from which they emerge in numerous streams below, as is said, watering all beasts of the field (Psalms 104:11).
What is this water that emerges from the ocean? The ocean, the abstract absolute space, the dark light, Christus Lucifer, which when in our body, permeates our nervous systems and is the forces that can convey all creation, the solar bodies in the perfect matrimony.
Just as they emerged from that world above, watering those towering mountains of pure balsam, subsequently upon reaching the tree of life, they branch below, bypass in every direction. ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
Those waters become dissipated in Klipoth, branching off in different places, symbolically speaking, through lust.
"And the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why is it called so? It is not in the middle. But what does knowledge of good and evil mean? ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
Why is it not in the middle? The Tree of Knowledge, we say it is in Da’ath, the throat. But good and evil in the right and left pillars of the Tree of Life are ו Vav and ז Zayin. The pillar of mercy on the right, the pillar of severity on the left. Because how we use those two pillars is how we determine, in a matrimony, male-female, man-woman, how one works with the forces of good and evil: ו Vav and ז Zayin.
But what does knowledge of good and evil mean? Since it suckles on two sides and knows them as one suckling sweet and bitter, since its suckles on two sides, knowing them and dwelling among them, it is called so." ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
What is the sign of sweetness? It is mercy. What is the side of bitterness? It is severity. ו Vav-ז Zayin, the two serpents which ס Samech rises in the middle up the spine.
"All those plants do well above it, while within it dwell other plants, supernal plants called cedars of Lebanon. Who are those cedars of Lebanon? The six days of Creation of which we have spoken, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted” (Psalms 104:16), certainly saplings, later firmly implanted. ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 220)
Samael Aun Weor mentions in Igneous Rose that the cedar is a very sacred plant, a sacred tree. Li-ba-non; I-A-O, the forces of Christ, representing as the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.
"From here on, ס (samekh). What is it? וַיִּסְגֹּר (Va-yisgor), He closed up, the flesh of that place (Genesis 2:21, referring to how Eve was created from Adam, from the left side, referring to how the feminine power of ז Zayin emerges from left pillar of the Tree of Life). Indeed, the blessed Holy One uprooted them, transplanting them elsewhere… (These two plants, male-female, man and woman, because each person is a Tree of Life in themselves) where they turned face-to-face for endurance. ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 221)
What does it mean that Jehovah transplants the souls of these, of Adam and Eve? Meaning the seed generates through sexual cooperation to create new Trees of Life, new people, new bodies. But in this case, “the Holy One uprooted them (these plants), transplanting them elsewhere, where they endured.” We could stay up on the mountain of initiation where they are turned face to face for endurance. So, what does it mean that two trees face each other? It means husband and wife are working in the perfect matrimony. They are face to face transmuting for endurance, to endure with the spirit.
Similarly, the worlds were joined; the blessed Holy One uprooted them, transplanting them elsewhere, where they endured.
Because the work of alchemy can only be done by intellectual animals, not animals. You need the intellect.
Similarly it is written, On the day of your planting, you become debased (ibid. 17:11), for the very day they were planted in the world, they united and decayed. We have learned: ‘They resembled the antennae of grasshoppers,’ for their light was tenuous and they did not shine. Once planted firmly, their light increased and they were called cedars of Lebanon." ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 221)
We have to work with our spine, our Tree of Life with the mantras I-A-O in the perfect matrimony. That is how we become trees firmly planted in good soil. The seed that sprouts vegetation becomes a Tree of Life. It doesn't get devoured by the birds or the thorns of the field according to the Christian parable of the sower of the seed.
Adam and Eve, as well, did not grow until planted, gave forth no fragrance; indeed, they were uprooted, transplanted, fittingly arrayed. ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pp. 221-22)
Because a man and wife shall leave their father and mother and shall cleave unto another and shall become one flesh, one Tree of Life, one Tree of Knowledge. But also, the the scripture talks about how ס Samech is Samael. So the way that we work with the serpent is with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, working with the tree of the spine.
"Now the serpent was slyer than any creature in the field (Genesis 3:1)." ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 223)
We explained in our previous lectures that now the נחש nachash was slyer than any בהמות behemoth of שדה shadeh (the field). The serpent of fire was slyer than a creature, any beast of the field. שדה Shadeh means field, which is where you get the name שדי אל חי Shaddai El Chai, the Almighty Living God, the strength of sex.
Rabbi Yose said, "The tree of which we have spoken was watered, flourished, and rejoiced, as is said: A river issues from Eden to water the garden (Genesis 2:10). The garden―this is woman, the river entering Her, watering Her, and all was one, while from there below is division as is written: From there it divides (Genesis 2:10). ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 223-24)
When husband and wife are transmuting their waters, the water doesn't divide. It doesn't split as in “spilled.” But:
Now the serpent. Rabbi Yitshak said, “This is the evil impulse.”
Meaning, Samael is the angel related to the serpent Kundalini, who is raising many initiates in this physical world. So, if one is working in a perfect matrimony, one could invoke Samael Aun Weor to work with that fire, to help transmute, because he is the serpent of temptation, but also the brazen serpent. But Samael Aun Weor, as the master, is pure as we said, but in us, that serpent is fallen.
"We have learned: At that moment Samael descended from heaven, riding on this serpent, and when all creatures saw his form they fled from him. They got to the woman with words, inflicting death upon the world. Indeed through wisdom Samael brought curses on the world, destroying the primordial tree created in the world by the blessed Holy One." ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pg. 224)
This verse has been used to denigrate the Master Samael Aun Weor but people don't understand that in the scriptures, Samael is Lucifer, the serpent ס Samech, which we need to overcome in ourselves.
"This matter loomed over Samael until another holy tree arrived―namely Jacob (who represents תפארת Tiphereth, the human soul) who rested blessings from him (who wrestled with Samael, the sexual strength) so that he would not be blessed above, nor Esau below (meaning his own animal mind. He conquered himself in the perfect matrimony). For Jacob was patterned on Adam; the beauty of Jacob was the beauty of Adam. Just as Samael withheld blessings from the primordial tree, so Jacob, a tree patterned on Adam, without blessings from Samael above and below. Jacob took what was his entirely. So, a man wrestled with him (Genesis 32:25)." ―Zohar (Pritzker Vol. I, pp. 224)
We have to wrestle with the serpent in order to become victorious.
Arcanum 15 in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra
I will conclude from a beautiful teaching by Friedrich Nietzsche in his book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He talks a lot about in the end of this chapter about the 15th Arcanum, what this path involves.
But the worst enemy you can encounter will also be you, yourself. You lie in wait for yourself in caves and woods (or our psychological country. The landscape of the ego is cited by Samael Aun Weor in The Great Rebellion and illustrated by Hieronymus Bosch in his painting the temptation of Saint Anthony). Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself, and your way leads past yourself and your seven devils (which of the seven principal defects: lust, pride, anger, gluttony, laziness, greed, envy). You will be a heretic to yourself and a witch and a soothsayer and fool and traitor and holy one and a villain (because in the field of psychological self-observation, we discover all these defects in ourselves that must be annihilated). You must wish to consume yourself in your own flame (your own Glorian, your intimate Christ, the superman). How could you wish to become new unless you first become ashes (through the mystical death, decapitation of the animal ego)? Lonely one, you are going the way of the creator (the twice born, those who build solar bodies in the perfect matrimony). You would create a God for yourself out of your seven devils (because through Arcanum 15, we clean the devil. We extract the light from the ego. We free Lucifer, we liberate Prometheus.This is the Passion of Christ). Lonely one, you are going the way of the lover (Arcanum 6: Indecision). Yourself you love and therefore you despise yourself as only lovers despise. The lover would create because he despises. What does he know of love who did not have to despise precisely what he loved? (So, in between the lines he is being very tricky here. Yourself, אין סוף Ain Soph, you love through scientific chastity, and therefore you despise yourself, your fornicating animal ego as only lovers, initiates, in sexual transmutation despise). The lover (initiate) would create (solar bodies) because he despises (his ego). What does he know of (conscious) love who did not have to despise precisely what he loved (when he was a fornicator)? Go into your loneliness (meditation) with your love (your spirit, Gedulah, your Innermost) and with your creation (your solar bodies), and only much later will justice limp after you (Arcanum 8: balancing the scales and the expiation of karma through patience). With my tears go into your loneliness, my brother. I love him who wants to create over and beyond himself (create the solar bodies through the perfect matrimony) and thus perishes (to the ego). ―Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “On the Way of the Creator"
Do you have any questions?
Questions and Answers
Question: Everyone on this earth, does your inner Being really want them to find Gnosis? Are there are some people here who are just going through the motions of karma?
Instructor: Yeah, the latter. Not all monads want mastery. Not all Beings, the spirit, the Innermost of a person, the כתר Kether of a person, wants that type of development. It is very hard to understand but you have to understand that God is not a tyrant. He respects free will, doesn't want to force His will on other people. Some Beings want to acquire more knowledge, but some don't. Personally, I know what my Being wants, has showed me many times. Anybody who has been consistent with Gnosis and has been in these teachings for a long time, it is because the Being is pushing for self-realization. So that is a good sign, you know, but as you can see from the size of our classes, not many people have that drive, or if they do, they face the temptations of their inner Lucifer and then they run away. They can't face themselves. Not all Beings want perfection and mastery. Some are content with just being an elemental Buddha of nature governing the mineral, the plant, the animal kingdom, the humanoid kingdom, until devolving again through the 3000 turns of the wheel of samsara. So, people are getting swallowed by ס Samech again and again and again and again, the serpent, the Ouroboros, the wheel of recurrence. But if you want to escape suffering, and any of us who have been in this teaching and really are practicing, we are working to liberate ס Samech, Samael Lucifer in our coccyx, to do the work. So anyone who feels that inquietude is because the Being is pushing them very hard. Otherwise, there would be no drive, no impetus, no will. But again, not all monads want mastery. This is the nature of the Being, and their God is their God, and so what can they do? They just let the souls recycle through nature. It is very actually rare for a monad not to eventually get mastery because they have so many cosmic scenarios and opportunities in the universe in different planets and places in order to do the work. I mean, some eventually do. I mean there is always a first time. But then there are those masters who are not happy with their degree, and they decide to fall or descend, go back to school, so to say. Do it all over again, but obviously at a higher octave with much more suffering. Much more difficulty. But if they succeed in the end, they will rise very high. Personally, I don't know what level my God wants but all I know is that in this life, there is so much suffering involved that there is no way that if I reach the end I would fall. Too low, things are too painful here. So we don't have to speculate. Your God can show you these things. Personally, this is what He has showing me in my experiences, my meditations. Question: On the card, why is the serpent yellow? Instructor: Because the serpent of gold; אור Aur or Aur-us, Horus, Oros, gold in Spanish, I think. But Aurus is Horus, the serpent of the Egyptian kings, the gods. So that serpent is the golden serpent or the golden path that leads from Kansas to the city of Oz in the Emerald City of that myth of The Wizard of Oz. So Oz is ו Vav-ז Zayin because you can pronounce ו Vav as an O. Oz, ץע Otz, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So you raise the serpent ס Samech, the golden serpent up the yellow brick road and get to the very one reaches the Magician. So, we need to follow the yellow brick road and not swerve. Comment: You mentioned you need the solar bodies to purify that force, to get it to raise up. I noticed that on the Magician card, he is bringing light down. To me that is solar light from what I have read... Instructor: Right. Yeah. The magician card is about that force entering the universe, descending from the top of the Tree of Life, כתר Kether, down into מלכות Malkuth, but the devil is here in מלכות Malkuth and Klipoth. So, 15 is relating to how the opposite of the magician, that light entered the universe and now we are here in מלכות Malkuth. We need to purify the devil. Question: But isn't the light the mechanism? From what I have read they say meditate, bring that light in, just don't think. Just become transparent, is the word. Somehow don't think. Have that light in your meditations. You are relaxed and calm. That will go down the spinal column to the Muladhara Chakra and purify it and it will help you by itself.
Instructor: So that is what we do every time we do Runes. As you came in, we were practicing the Rune Man. We pray to the Solar Logos. We are begging Christ to descend into our three brains. We do the seven vowels, the seven runes, which you can view the video of the Gnostic teachings website [Glorian.org].
Question: But you also mentioned as far as a mantra. You were citing a mantra, you mentioned I-A-O. That will act on the Muladhara Chakra also? Instructor: Pronounced in the perfect matrimony, these mantras will awaken the Kundalini and develop it. I-A-O pronounced in separate vowels, and which is Jehovah: י Iod-הוה Havah in Hebrew. That is the Latin version: Igneous, Aqua, Origo, or fire, water, spirit. When you do the runes, you are begging Christ to enter your three brains: your mind, your heart, your nervous systems, to charge you so that you have energy and will. So, if you do the seven vowels: I-E-O-U-A-M, those energies are descending on your own Tree of Life in your body with those mantras. Then you do the vowel “Sss…” which is taking the energy up the spine to the head. So, all that energy descends down the Tree of Life and that enters your coccyx, charges everything about your body in your Muladhara Chakra and then you do the vowel S, which sends all that crucified energy back up. When we do the prayer to the Solar Logos, “Come unto me and penetrate me, enlighten me, bathe me, go through me and awake within my being all those ineffable substances, which are as much a part of thee and as well as a part of me!” That is how we circulate God inside, so we have that power very active. Question: Is Luciferianism a religion? Instructor: There are people who follow a very mundane version of that kind of doctrine, but there are those who are much more covert about their diabolic faith. Those are the magicians of the Black Lodge. There are people in this physical plane that they say they follow Satanism, but they are just... Question: Dark Luciferian, isn't that different than light Luciferian? Instructor: So, the term Luciferians, Samael Aun Weor uses interchangeably to refer to the light of Christ, but also when it is in hell, it is the Luciferians, the demons, the Black Lodge. We should not try to get too caught up on terminology, but Lucifer in strict esoteric language, is Christ, “the bearer of light.” We can even say the Virgin Mary is the bearer of light. She is Lucifer because she bears this light of Christ in her womb through the perfect matrimony. But, in us, Lucifer is the devil, is blackened. We have to purify him, but it can be done. It just takes a lot of dedication and a lot of suffering to not repeat mistakes. When you face certain ordeals in your daily life and you are struggling with your mind, strive to not get identified. If you fail at certain ordeals, you make a mistake at work or what not, go home and meditate and reflect. The. pray to God, “Show me what I need to do. Let me repeat this situation again at my job and let me do better.” Things will change. When you are annihilating egos, your circumstances change. But for that, we need a lot of energy. As we begin these lectures on the tarot, we always do the runes. I like to do hours of runes, you know, especially when I lecture because it gives me enough force to communicate more clearly and effectively what I need to do. But if you do that every day, you'll be like a magnet full of fire and energy. Then your daily circumstances will be easier to handle. But of course, when you put that energy into motion, the light of Lucifer, the light of Christ, entering in you and circulating, you stir up the devil. You stir up the the filth of the mud of the waters, the ego. The particles like pond water, all the muck will surge and surge and circulate because you are working with that energy. You start to see things in yourself that are new and that are difficult to handle at the beginning. Question: So the desire to change, spiritually, to become a better person... obviously, you want to do it for your Inner Being, for God, but is that ego when it comes to trying to show others that you have changed? Would you consider that pride or would someone consider that pride? Instructor: It depends on the circumstance, you know. I know in some cases where I try teaching people, there is pride. Other times, it is humility. I am trying to actually help them. But you can engage that by just observing yourself. Sometimes we want to help people to change but we do it out of a position of superiority, saying, “I am a Gnostic. I know this teaching. I have experiences and samadhis” and trying to go up to people… that doesn't help anyone. So you just have to help people based on your character and your level of being and just be a good example. Then people see that and they will want to question you and say, “Well, what are you doing?” One of my clients asked me at my job, “why are you so calm?” You know, some of my clients can do some pretty crazy things, but I don't identify with them. Don't be driven by passion, but temperance, serenity. Comment: Leading by example, not by words. Instructor: Yeah, because you can try to change other people, but if we are not changing ourselves, then people will always see us more than we see ourselves, our own hypocrisy and our own mind. We say there we are such good people, but we are really just big demons. So it is kind of funny that in the Gnostic movement you have so many people who go around claiming they are master so and so. The. they start excommunicating people like the Catholic church. It is really unfortunate, but yeah, so what if so and so is a sorcerer and a witch? I don't know anyone on this planet really in the Gnostic movement who is an angel. You know, why do we have to judge other people so much? You point your finger at someone: you got three pointing towards you and your thumb up to heaven saying, “Look at me, what a fool I am!” Personally, I have been on the other side of the pendulum where I have had new Gnostic groups that I have been in, being the bud and joke of certain missionaries and people, thinking that I am really demonic, certain clairvoyant people seeing things in me that they had experiences about and were judging me saying I was no good, and that they shouldn't associate with me, which is fine. I don't want to associate with those people anyways. Those people are very fanatic. They are very big demons, but they think they are humble sheep. So, we don't have any presumptions about who we are. Personally. I know what I am and I am working to change. Comment: He who knows does not speak and who speaks does not know. Instructor: Exactly. You know, the only time I try to teach people is through these lectures. If people want to listen, that is good, if it helps people. That is the important thing. Comment: So I have been researching a lot and actually practicing fasting and just silence and that is something that is remarkable. Instructor: Yeah, which is why Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. It is a beautiful symbol, but it also refers to the actual ascetic practice of abstaining from a meal or dedicating your time at home, if you don't have work, to pray. But I warn you that as you might have seen, that when you start to do that kind of discipline, you get tested and tempted. You start to see things in yourself that are very negative. But, it is good. It is a good practice which is why the Sufis are very explicit about their teaching of being very diligent about not overeating and doing a lot of prayer. Question: To not pray? Instructor: To not overeat but to pray a lot. It is a beautiful teaching. They say that the Sufis state that one-third of the belly should be filled with food, the other two-thirds with the Qur’an. Prophet Muhammad would always fast as a type of penance. Sometimes when we overeat, we stimulate too many negative elements in our abdomen. If we eat too much red meat, especially at night, you can get indigestion and have bad dreams because there are seven chakras related to the inferno in our abdomen, our belly. Within those seven gates to hell are represented in the Qur’an. So that is why in that scripture, they talk about fasting a lot. It is part of their ritual prayer or part of their religion is fasting. It is good, you know, if it is balanced and well-organized and well done. If you have time off from work, it is good. Samael Aun Weor recommends a fast in his book Aztec Christic Magic. At the end of that book, I think he says, “read this book very diligently, daily. Practice it daily. Engage in fast with milk, fruits, and honey.” But in these times, it is hard to find good milk too. You can go around and find organic p, or you can find raw milk, which is the best. But in these times, it is very difficult to find good food, but you do your best. Comment: As far as diets and substances you can take, Steiner, among others, recommended honey. It has the solar energy. The ancients called it a sacred animal. There’s a reason for this. It’s interesting when you look at a beehive, which has hexagonal shapes, with six points. It is interesting since it is full of solar energy and great for your etheric body. But Steiner said, “Don’t overdo it.” Maybe a tablespoon or more at most. I take one every day, unprocessed and untreated, since the viscosity or treatment kills the enzymes. Instructor: The bee is often considered a symbol of the White Lodge because the bee is a devolving animal that produces something very superior, synthetic, and beautiful. Samael Aun Weor mentions that in ancient eras, there was a group or race of people that degenerated themselves, became, through many ages, the bees and the ants and the termites that we have today. Through a process of mutation and experimenting with science and getting rid of, he said “religious freedom,” the culture became very communistic, communists, and they degenerated terribly. But at the same time, the bee is an imperfect animal that produces something so essential to nature. You know, the honey is something profoundly beautiful. The honey is a symbol of the White Lodge. We are here working like bees. We are trying to accumulate the solar light through runes, through prayer, through mantra, working with the flowers of our spinal column, creating the honey of the soul, the Being and that nourishes the soul. It is the sweetness of the soul. The sexual energy, when you transmute it, is the sweetness of God. But, where does it emerge? It emerges from a devolving animal. So that gives hope for us as a symbol. Lucifer is the power of the sunlight that gets transmuted from the base pollen into the light of Christ. The sweetness of the soul produces honey, great beauty. In terms of diet, it is good as you are saying. But the symbolism of that, especially when the hexagon in the beehive represents the six-pointed star: the Arcanum of the lovers, which is why couples always use the term “honey.” If there are no more comments or questions, we will conclude. Thank you for coming!
6 Comments
Claude Rigaud
6/26/2021 04:37:44 pm
Interrested in Gnostic Meditation and Gnostic Mysteries of the Bible . 6/29/2021 09:14:10 am
Hello Claude! Have you seen the following resources?
Aum
1/2/2024 04:46:23 am
Thank you for the interesting lecture! 1/2/2024 11:23:08 am
See Chapter LXXXI: “Inner Urgency” and Chapter LXXXII: “Fundamental Keynote,” or pages 246-247 in the newest edition of Tarot and Kabbalah. These sections are provided in the Fourth Part: Numerology and Esoteric Mathematics.
Aum
1/2/2024 02:12:26 pm
Unfortunatelly, I do not see any of these chapters in the online version of the book on Glorian website. 1/2/2024 06:44:00 pm
Correct. As of now, those sections are only available in the Glorian print edition of Tarot and Kabbalah. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
The Gnostic Academy of Chicago
Free online courses, lectures, podcasts, and transcriptions. Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
